I am loved....

If you ever hear me complaining that no one loves me, remind me to read this post. If it doesn't remind me that I am loved, I don't know what will.....

Last Friday, I went to visit my most adorable niece, Malena. I may have mentioned her before. My mom, sister (mother to Malena) and Malena picked me up at the airport. I haven't seen Malena in just about seven months and to a nearly four year old, that might as well be an eternity. But as soon as she saw me, even with no prompting from an adult, she recognized me and came running, with outstretched arms. She was my constant companion for the next three and a half days!

She held my hand in the parking lot, everywhere we went. At Costco, Kohl's, and Sunflower Market. We played all sorts of fun games together. We played with all her "kids" (aka stuffed animals). We had tea parties while drinking water from plastic cups with plastic spoons. We read stories of a daddy that is afraid of monsters and a giant that becomes king. We had a parade throughout the house, using a drum and noisy-makers. She let me use her barrettes and sleep in her big girl bed. She rode her bike in the neighborhood and we followed her "sister" (a middle school-aged girl walking in the neighborhood) around the block. We had such a fun time.

She turned four and had a princess birthday party. She planned it months ago. It had to be pink and purple. She insisted on a pinata. Her cake was chocolate and included cup cakes. Her mom spent hours making the cake--a pink castle with glittery purple turrets. Malena woke up and was so disappointed it wasn't chocolate. She jumped up and down when she saw her pinata hanging up outside.

As I was getting ready to leave, I told her good-bye. She burst into tears and told me not to go. I told her I had to go home....Darrell was waiting for me and missed me, my house missed me, I had to go to work. She told me she wanted to go with me. I reminded her that her mommy and daddy would miss her. She told me that Grandma and Pop could live with her mommy and daddy. I told her I would come and visit her again.

I called her when I landed back in Arizona and she was excited to talk to me. I told her I got home okay and Darrell was happy to see me. I told her I would call her again and visit her later.

Today, her grandma told me Malena wouldn't sleep in her bed, since Aunt Stephanie was going to sleep in her bed. This morning, she was convinced I was coming back and she should keep her bed waiting for me.

I guess she really does love me!

I also have friends at home who love me....my friend Lucinda called me several times this weekend, with no return call from me. She drove past my home and saw my car in the driveway--when it should have been at work. I wasn't available on Facebook, which was rather uncharacteristic. I didn't show up at church and didn't have a substitute for my Primary class. I guess I forgot to tell her I was going out of town. She was so worried, she and her husband came over to our house during Sunday School. Darrell was home, but in no mood to answer the door. But she was persistent. What Darrell didn't know was, she had talked to a homicide detective in our ward who advised her to check out the house and call the police if there was a foul odor (good thing I washed the dishes before I left!). Darrell finally answered and Lucinda felt relief immediately. We weren't murdered by local drug lords! I'm guessing from now on, I will give my friends a better idea of where I am if I go out of town!

But, I know I'm loved.

PS--I'll post photos of my weekend when I figure out how to transfer them from my camera!

Hi Malena!

I don't know if I've mentioned my niece, Malena, before. If I haven't, sorry.

She is the cutest thing ever!

Here are some of the things that endear her to me:

At Christmas, she asked me, "Aunt Sephernie. Where's your hubsband?"

She and her dad (former Army special ops guy) went to Costco. She saw the jewelry counter and said, "Oh, look at the sparklies!" Her dad said, "The sparklies are for mommies." Malena replied rather matter-of-factly, "Little girls like sparklies, too!"

My sister and brother-in-law have birthdays ten days apart in April. Malena got to "plan" their birthdays. I think she got to choose where they ate, what kind of cake they got, and the presents. Malena's birthday is in July. She turns four. Malena has been planning her birthday since April. (Imagine this in little girl voice--I do a pretty good version in person) "I want a princess party. And it will be pink and purple and red. I want a pinata. I want a chocolate cake with cupcakes. I want to have [names of ten friends from church] to come to my party. I want [giant list of toys that she wants--longer than the receipt you get at Fry's when they have their case sale]."

Yesterday, I got an email from my sister. The subject was "hi." I opened it. It read, "i love you malena" She is practicing her typing. You can't start too soon.

One night, as she was saying her prayers before bed, she said, "Bless mommy to keep me safe. Bless daddy to be nice and give me fruit salad."

She obviously loves fruit (see above). My sister has told her, "Malena, you can have more fruit after you eat all your chocolate cake." Jennilyn (the said sister) may be the only person in the history of the world to utter those words.

The Easter Bunny came to her house while she was at church. It had snowed that day. She told her parents that her daddy had to be the Easter Bunny since there weren't any bunny tracks in the snow. Do you think she'll fall for the tooth fairy?

That little girl is as cute as a button. And I love buttons. I am going to visit her for her princess birthday party in two weeks. I can hardly wait.

The Sound Track of My Days

Remember when you were a teenager and you would record the radio on your crappy AM/FM radio? And you would hit play, stop, rewind, play so you could figure out the words to all your favorite songs?

I even would use my dad's fancy Pioneer head phones, turn the music up really loud, and write down the lyrics (or what I thought the lyrics were).

Well...I still do that.

Sorta.

Now, what I do goes something like this:

I'm watching TV and hear an interesting song. I grab the closest pen and paper and the remote. I rewind the TV (I really LOVE my DVR!) and frantically write down as many of the lyrics as I possibly can.

Next, I run into our home office and pull up Google.

I type in as many of the words that I could decipher and hit enter.

Most of the time, I find the song this way.

If not, I type something like this "song in Law and Order 5/24/09."

I love this! I have been introduced to some of my favorite artists/songs this way.

Hem-Half Acre (a Liberty Mutual commercial)



Fisher-Beautiful Life (Toyota commercial)



Landon Pigg-Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop (Some car commercial-I think. Nope a diamond commercial)



Teddy Geiger-For You I Will (Love Monkey)

Craig Cardiff-Smallest Wingless (I don't know where I heard this, but it was recently--I remember now--it was blog I read about a stillborn baby)



I could go on and on. But I won't.

Suffice it to say, I'm glad for modern technology.