Still here!

So I'm still alive. I just never make time to post anymore. I have trouble justifying computer time when I still have a messy house. But since I'm pretty sure I will have a messy house for a couple more decades I decided to go ahead and check in!

I will get my act together with some photos soon but we're basically super excited for summer around here! We have lots and lots and lots of fun things planned. Trips to the library, the local pool, Sonic, etc. Okay, so this summer is really boring compared with last summer. It's been bitter sweet to look back and think where we were a year ago. As school ended we talked about how a year ago we were packing up our house. A few days ago we talked about how fun the first few days of vacation were...driving through Georgia and eating peaches, the silly car games, etc., getting to SC and visiting cousins (wish we could see them again), fun times! I didn't realize how much I would miss that vacation but right now I have the itch to travel.

This summer will be an adventure all it's own. And maybe one day we'll abandon everything and travel again...but not this year! This year our dear, dear KIA is not going much more than 10 miles from home. I have yet to fix the A/C, which wasn't so bad up through May. Things were pretty mild (for Houston). And then June happened. Have you watched the weather channel? Holy hot! It's been over 100 degrees several times this month. I know I'm getting really thin blood when I get in the van and think "it's kind of a nice day today, a little cool even" and then I see the thermometer is at 89...at 8:30 in the morning...awesome. When I drive Dan's car I turn the A/C down super low and when we're in there together I have to close my vents because it's FREEZING (and by freezing I mean "below 80"). We debated back and forth about whether it was worth fixing and by the time I decided that yes, it is worth it, it's kind of too late.

We're in the process (hopefully) of buying a new (to us) home. It's not actually new at all...it's a HUD foreclosure and so it needs some 'TLC'. How much TLC we don't really know yet...that's why we're still not sure it will be ours. Long story short (and oh, what a LONG story it is turning out to be) we don't really have 'extra' cash for frivolous things like vehicular A/C when we might need it to buy a bathtub faucet or build a new wall or pay some random fee that might pop up unexpectedly (that seems to happen a lot). Basically we're on the fence right now about some things so it may or may not end up being our house...we'll be sure to let everyone know. BUT, I've decided it's just not worth it to fix the car right now. If we go somewhere more than 5 miles from home I pack a cooler full of ice packs. We pass them out and tell the kids to stick them in their shirts for portable A/C units. So, so sad (and rather embarrassing if we happen to have a guest in the car). I just tell myself that one day they will look back fondly on this memory...or at least they will have a good story to tell their children...it's the Houston version of walking barefoot in the snow, right?

Okay, it's late. I'll have to play catch-up later. My goal is to finally upload all the photos from my camera to the computer before we move again. I have sad goals. Have a 'Hoppie Day'!

Spacey

I have noticed that the spacing on my blog is weird. When I write a post it seems fine...and it's okay in the preview but when I publish it things go funky. Any suggestions?

Millers!

We had a great spring break. The first part was spent just trimming down our 'to-do' list. THEN we got to spend a few days with the Miller family. We love them. They recently moved from Boise, ID to Lubbock, TX and that put us within road trip range, woohoo! We got to do a whole lot of just playing which we really, really needed to do.

They arrived late on 3/16 so our dear Tyler decided to make us yummy green pancakes the morning of 3/17. (I love that he's manly enough to wear an apron).

Our St. Pat's breakfast was followed by a day at the beach. We could have used a bit more sunscreen (a LOT of really white people in the sun at the beginning of the season, yow!) but other than that it was fabulous.

The next day we tried to go bowling...but since so did about a bazillion other people we decided to bail on the 2 hour wait for a lane and pick strawberries instead. I love me some Froberg's strawberries.

The last day we decided to visit the Houston zoo, because we really needed to crisp up their sunburns one last time before we put them in a car for their all day journey back to the tumbleweeds.

We also did a lot of what some might call 'larding'. We watched movies, played games, and ate copious quantities of whatever was around.

Thanks Dave and Kellie for a great week!

Darn that integrity...

Wednesday afternoon I went to the bank to cash a check. I was in a big hurry and, rather than count the money in the envelope, just tossed it in my purse and drove off. I got caught up in the activities of the day and didn't open the envelope until the next morning.

The amount written on the check in question was $173.23. In the envelope I found:

15 $100 bills

11 $20 bills

1 $10 bill

1 $1 bill

2 dimes

3 pennies

Did you do the math?

It equals $1731.23...just one little tiny number away from the correct amount...

One little tiny number that created a $1558 error...

IN MY FAVOR!!!

That bank manager's jaw may still be on the floor this morning and some poor teller might still lose his job but at least he won't go to jail...

Sorry for the generic photo, I was in such shock over the situation that I didn't think about the blog possibilities until I talked to my sister yesterday--AFTER I took the money back to the bank. It was a weird thing, but it makes for a fun story ;-)

STOP THE WORLD!

Can somebody please push the pause button on the whole world EXCEPT for me so I can get caught up on cleaning, laundry, organizing, grocery shopping, and yard work?

Any tips?

Jimmered

We headed up to the Dallas area last weekend for a way too quick visit with my sister's family and a fun little Saturday afternoon of BYU basketball. Great times. I love the Cougars...I love that there were more BYU fans than TCU fans at TCU. I love that we got to see the Millers (and meet their cute new one...and I guess we were finally meeting their cute older ones as well, not enough Miller in our lives), and the Egans, and the other Egans...sad it was such a quick trip, we need to do more of those. (Oh, except that we had to buy a new set of tires and our AC went out...so maybe people need to come visit us instead).

Julie thinks we should put 'because I'm the Mom' on the back of these shirts...whaddya think?

Oh yeah, and Kyle lost ANOTHER tooth...this time in the car, as we were driving to the game. And the tooth is actually lost...somewhere in my car...HAPPY DAY!!! Looking forward to more Jimmer...this week on CBS :-)

Aunt Jill

This post is a little late...but better late than never, right?

We recently enjoyed a visit from my sister Jill, no real reason for the visit, just because. I love 'just because' visits. There is no pressure to follow a schedule or prepare for an event, you just get to hang out and enjoy each other. It always makes me wish we lived closer to family members...big sigh.

Jill got to enjoy our wonderful 'snow day' here in Houston...we had a nice fire, some hot chocolate, games, bowling with friends...all we were missing was snow. HA! (It really was truly cold here, I promise. We needed coats and everything, for real...I saw ice.)

[and for those in the Baybrook ward who are confused as to why the Northrups would hang out with my sister...Jill and Megan were roommates in college so Jill got a double fun visit]

She also helped me pick out a new phone at the mall...we were tempted to purchase this $1200 Easter egg/bird cage chair, but we would have had to take the seats out of the van so we passed...

Thanks for a fun week Jill, come on down to Houston the next time we don't get any snow...or something...