Spring Break Part 1... "Tried and True"...

So, this is a really, really hard blog to write! Mostly because I've been so totally obsessed with this guy for 8 years now and suddenly... it sort of, kind of feels like it's finally over. But I've already been through 2 divorces, so it seems this should be old hat for me by now.

I even owned a blog about him once! Yes, really.

Please don't get me wrong, he'll always hold a very special place in my heart, we've been through far to much for him not to. I think I've seen him in concert something like 36 times (give or take a few). But his last tour closed in San Francisco on Saturday night and from his lips to our ears has basically said he has nothing else at all planned at all for the future. Maybe it's me, but I don't see him being all that motivated to continue on doing this forever. All he ever really wanted to be was a teacher. He got talked into going to the American Idol audition! I don't think he ever even fathomed the extent that it would change his life.

I'm sure there will be those who will spend the next year on the message boards speculating on what he'll do next and continuing to kavetch over his hair. Because there are those who have pretty much done nothing else for nearly a decade. It's a hard habit to break. Perhaps he'll finally just buy a home in Branson... and semi-quietly raise his son. Who knows? I honestly and sincerely hope he doesn't do that...

But still, it was so much fun going to Ft. Wayne this one last time with my Grand Rapids peeps!!!



And to finally have a good picture taken with him! The last picture I got with him 7 years ago in Salt Lake City... his hair was sticking up all over the place and it looked like he'd just rolled out of bed!...


Wait...

(Whit and I had tons of fun playing around with his collegiate UMASS hoodie the other day. Actually I was just using the opportunity to give her a quick tutorial on PhotoShop...)



Anyway, here's his show closing banter from his second to last show in Mesa, Arizona. See if you can spot his major "shout-out" to me at around 00:23...

And here's the beautiful rendition of "In My Life" that followed...



And if you'll just humor me with one more... one of my favorite songs from this tour... from his stop in Pittsburgh.



*sigh*

I think I'm really, really, going to miss him...

Two More Weeks!...

Ok... so since the only two people who ever read my blog are my kids, I'm really not quite sure what the point is in posting these pictures... since I got them from THEM... except for the fact that I'll probably love looking back on them someday, remembering how adorable and tiny they were.

I get to hold them and squeeze them and hug them in just 2 weeks!!!

And I don't care what anybody says... I seriously have the cutest 4 grandchildren on the planet!

Jade... who has taken to Princess role hopping is now raising princesses of her own in the form of toilet paper origami...





Here she is as "Rapunzel"... or as she calls it... "Tangled."



Princess Jade...


Even in her sleep...



I'm not sure I can say that I've always looked forward to the day that someone would call me "Grandma"... but when SHE says it, my heart definitely melts.

Meanwhile Rachel... who is now 4 months old, is already doing 360's in the blink of an eye.



I've only had the joy of holding her for a couple of days in her short little life so far. Can't wait to do so again. She is such an adorable little precious!








*sigh*

As for "The Boys"....



Ah "The Boys"...


Well, I have no idea, because I haven't had the immense pleasure of meeting them yet!

*sigh* again...


But I simply cannot wait to schnuggle those little monkey butts!!!

The Little Ones...


The Big Girl...


I just absolutely HATE living 1,540.06 miles away!!!

Finally! A Snow Day for Grownups...

Apparently we just had one of the biggest snowstorm in these parts in over a decade. One of the biggest? Well, I've been here for 2 decades and I don't remember any of them being bigger.

But the even bigger news was that work was cancelled. Seriously. And that's never happened in the 17 years I've worked for this company!

I don't have any meteorologist equipment on hand or anything so this isn't exactly precise but still, it was a lot.



I tried to find the most accurate place in my yard to stick my measurer. I know that it looks like a drift, but it's not.

Speaking of drifts... I just went out front to attempt to shovel my driveway and promptly came right back in. I think I'll just take a nap.

Oh yes, and my class has been cancelled for tonight as well.

So sad...

Lightyears...

I'll never forget that day, staring at the college catalog and wondering how in the heck I'd ever manage to ever be able get that degree. It's gonna take lightyears!!!... I distinctly remember thinking that.

But I registered anyway...

That was in 2001... and my first class landed the day after 9/11. I truly didn't want to go, I just wanted to stay home and watch the news, but I was already registered and had already paid and everything. It was French class... And so I went and that night we pretty much put the curriculum aside and just talked... And I'll never forget my French professor... she was just awesome. One of the best I've ever had. So awesome, in fact, that if it hadn't been for her I'm really not sure I would have ever had the motivation to continue.

So I kept going... But I'm not gonna lie, it has been really, really tough.

But now, ten years later, I'm on my last class! My Science/Lab (The Science of Light) which, by no coincidence, I saved until the very, very end thinking that it would possibly give me some sort of momentum to... get through it! And it worked!

So here I am... So close to my goal and at the same time realizing how much I've learned in the meantime, because really...

The light-year is a measure of distance, not time. It is the total distance that a beam of light, moving in a straight line, travels in one year. To obtain an idea of the size of a light-year, take the circumference of the earth (24,900 miles), lay it out in a straight line, multiply the length of the line by 7.5 (the corresponding distance is one light-second), then place 31.6 million similar lines end to end. The resulting distance is almost 6 trillion (6,000,000,000,000) miles!

So I guess I was wrong because I haven't put anything close to that much mileage on my car in doing this...

Some fun stuff I'm learning...








Ugh...

Even though, surprisingly... some of it makes sense! lol!

In particular...





And it's been really interesting learning how to calculate my driving speed in the actual lightspeed scheme of things...



Not...

What's In A Name?...

I can't tell you how many times over the past week, when I've told people the names of my new grandsons, they've said... "Wow, super cool names... but where did their parents come up with them?"

Well, I'm really not sure... so I'm just taking a stab here. Whitney and Aaron, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Aaron Everest
Well, his first name is obvious, but his middle name not so much. Until you see this...


Grand Tetons


And while it's not exactly Mt. Everest, ya still get the gist, right?

Calder Reed
Even given his daddy's middle name as his middle name, his first one would still remain mysterious if it weren't for the fact that his daddy is a sculptor and his mommy grew up in Grand Rapids. Anyway, here's a pretty cool pic of both his mommy AND his namesake...


Calder Plaza Grand Rapids

Making a little more sense now?

And then there's Jade who was named after her mommy's middle name, which came by no other reason except that I loved it and it was also the name of the heroine in "Endless Love." And Rachel who I think was probably named by her parents, Daryn and Jon, to ensure that nobody would ever, EVER mistake her for a boy... and plus it's a really pretty name.

And Let's Not Forget About The "Big" Girls...

I am so thankful... and SO truly blessed.

A Couple of Early Valentines...

A couple of little miracles!



Aaron Everest - 5 lbs. 3 oz. - 17.75 in. - 4:56 pm



Calder Reed - 4 lbs. 3 oz. - 18 in. - 4:58 pm

They'll be in the NICU until they're strong and healthy enough to go home. With Mommy and Daddy's love along with all the good care they're getting at the hospital, hopefully it won't be too long.


Everest


Calder


Mommy and the Boys

Hope I got them right! They look identical to me. It's SO hard being 1,500 miles away!