My husband is the king of presents. He always does a fantastic job (leaving me stressed to the max about what on EARTH to get him... sigh). This year for my birthday he got tickets for Wicked!! We are going to see it on May 23. And we have good seats!

I am so excited.

Every spring for the past three years I have driven past this spot (Palms and McLaughlan for those who live here) and wished that I had a camera handy. It looks SO beautiful! So finally this year I remembered and took my camera along for my early morning jog.



I love the lilacs! (Thank you MOM! It's Wisteria!) The whole walkway and gate and bush look like they were transplanted from some country cottage, and plopped down in the middle of west L.A.

Since I already did a card on Jesus Christ, this one I had to be a little creative with. :) Which is good because for my LOVE card, I used my grandparents and so now I get to show off my Craiger in a card. This photo was actually taken in one of those shopping-mall photo booths when we were engaged --eeee! 9 Years ago! But since we've had kids it seems harder and harder to find us BOTH in a picture together!

We have both always felt so lucky that we have an easy time getting along with one another. Especially since he asked me to marry him 5 days after our first date!

The other night my husband and I were talking and for some reason one of us made a joke about me outliving him and I said, "I really don't want to outlive you." And he got all serious and looked at me, "Don't worry, you won't. You're accident prone and you have strange diseases."

It was really funny at the time, and still is; except that it's also sadly a little bit true. :) But he made me laugh (as usual) and I thought I'd share that tender moment. Haha!

Anybody know anything about this book? An interview I read of the author makes me think that it's actually a CLEAN Vampire novel, the likes of which I have not seen anywhere but with Stephenie Meyer (YA Bestselling author). Which is why I haven't been able to read many vampire novels. The not-clean-ness I mean. So I hear this one is okay --- somebody want to let me know for sure? :)

This week's prompt: Your initial

I went with short and sweet this week. Sorry the photos are washed out. I copped out on adding any color, or anything of interest for that matter. I'm trying to catch up to my son's 1st grade curriculum in the homeschool department. We're a few weeks behind. It's feeling a little all-encompassing right now.

My sisters sent me this picture last week. Or, I guess that would be three weeks ago according to the date stamp. Has it REALLY been that long? Wierd. No wait, that stamp says 2006! HA! That date stamp is totally wrong!

Anyway - the point is, I miss the snow sometimes. The soft puffiness. The going-too-fast-on-an-unsafe-object-down-a-steep-hill. The quilt next to the fireplace, with hot chocolate. Okay yes, I miss hot chocolate too. :)

This is my baby sister Jacquie. She's ....*doing math*....11. She was 2 when I got married and 4 when her first nephew was born. She cannot remember me living at home (sob!) and she cannot remember life without my husband in it. (well, who would want to, really?) :)

It's wierd that my sisters are growing up without me around to watch. The past 8 years we have lived in Provo or Los Angeles, each a 12-hour drive from Home. Sharon and Nancy are practically adults (18, 16 respectively). sigh. I miss you guys.

HAHA! Thanks for the intro Mike. I wasted most of my day here yesterday. http://www.xkcd.com/

Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 8 started today in Comic Book form! I bought two - one of each cover - and one more for a fellow fan. Just finished reading it. *so. happy*

(Sticky) Note to Self:

Emily's prompt this week was "note to self". This is one that I tend to need upon occasion. Okay, frequently. I can usually find a lot of reasons to sit and vegetate and be useless. Time to self motivate!

Today is the 10 year anniversary of the beginning of a wonderful show. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Let us celebrate.

I have not found in television a writer whose skills equal those of Joss Whedon. He could tear my heart out and make me like him while he did it. I look forward eagerly to the comic book, but I know deep down that it will never satisfy me like the television show did. *sigh*

I finished my week 9 card: "Inspiration Found" Now that I've finally done it I think it feels all generic. But I was happy to be able to use the wings this week. I've been wanting to for some time.

Since Saturday's accident, I have been so overwhelmed by my friends. They have done so much for me and for my family. I knew I had good friends, but these past few days puts me so much in awe of them, so much in debt to them. I am so grateful for the kindness and love and caring and WORK that they have done for me. Also the love and concern from family has been appreciated. You will all be glad to know that I am in good hands here!

We are all okay. Connor and Fletcher have not had one complaint besides sore shoulders the next day. My knee is healing up rapidly - the bloom has gone from purple to green-and-yellow - I've been told this is a good sign. :) We thank God for blessing us all with safety. I know it could have been so much worse.

Kristen

This is all that is left of RedMonica.

Dear Santa Claus, I have been trying very hard this year to be good. Harder than any other year, in fact. And things are going well. I really, really think that I deserve this. I'll even keep it clean! I promise!

And while I'm in fantasy land, this is a picture of me painted a few years ago by a dear friend... WHAT?