Up and down

Up with... Girls' Night Out! On Saturday I had a fun dinner at PF Chang's with a bunch of girls from my ward. It's always so fun to get out with girlfriends.

Down with... my boys waking up at 6 a.m. nearly every day in the summer. Connor has always been a rise-with-the-sun boy, which in summer can be painful for me. It's not just that he gets up early, but he wakes up Lucas, who then yells, "Mom! I stuck! Get out!" until I get him up. Grrrr. It's reason enough for me to want to usher in the shorter days when the wake-up time is closer to 7.

Up with... new babies in the family! Brian's sister Kelley is due 1/1/10 with baby #2, and my sister Kristina is due 2/12/10 with baby #2.

Down with... having to make big life decisions.

Up with... losing. On Monday Brian played in the annual University of Colorado Golf Tournament; he was invited as a member of the media. Of the roughly 150 tournament players, he finished with the worst score of the day (and 2nd worst of the entire tournament history). At least he had fun (and he does like to golf, actually). But for coming in last, he did win a $60 gift certificate to the pro shop. He said of the day, "sucking so bad has never felt so good!" The kids had fun checking out his new hat, glove and balls.

Down with... Jon and Kate. Seriously. Get over yourselves and stop putting money ahead of your family. Just my little opinion.

Up with... unlocking the cookie secret. You might know that I have struggled my entire life to make decent cookies. I think I'm fairly adept in the kitchen, but cookies have always eluded me. They are always flat and lifeless and just don't look too appealing. Then my friend suggested I cream the butter and sugar for at least 6 minutes. Well, so, I did. And guess what? I produced my first really good batch of sugar cookies! So the secret's in the creaming. I feel so empowered, like I can do anything! I just might try chocolate chip next, which have always been the worst of the batch. I tried to capture how thick and lovely these turned out. I have risen from the ranks of cookie loser! It's a minor miracle.

Down with... The movie "Up." Did you see it? I took the kids a few weeks ago, and have to say, I really thought it was kind of much for young kids. My kids don't scare easily at movies, but Isabel ended up in my lap during this one. That pack of mean, killer, talking dogs was over the top for me. I liked the overall adventure concept of the movie, but thought several aspects of the story line were just too intense. However, the Pixar short film "Partly Cloudy" that previewed before "Up" about the clouds making babies for the storks to deliver was DARLING! I'd watch that one again - so clever.

Up with... watching summer sunsets over the mountains from my deck:

Down with... friends moving away. Went to a going away party for my friend Mary Alice last weekend; she and I met 10 years ago, shortly after I moved to Denver. We sure had some crazy times back in the day! Good luck MA, you will be missed!
But on the upside, I got to see a lot of friends at the farewell, including my friend Janae and her gorgeous twins:
Up with... my parents arriving on Saturday! They'll spend 3 days here, then drive me and the kiddos back to Minnesota (family reunion, seeing all of my siblings, lots of outdoor northern MN fun, seeing friends, shopping with my mom and sisters!). Brian will fly out the next week, spend a few days, then drive us home. When I get back, there will be only a week until SCHOOL STARTS!

Up with... summer temps that are slightly down this year. We have not hit 100 degrees yet; usually by now we have had several triple-digit days. It's been warm, but not hot; I am SO not a hot weather girl.

Up and down with... Jodi Picoult. I just finished The Tenth Circle-
It's the fourth Picoult book I've read (also read Plain Truth, My Sister's Keeper and Nineteen Minutes). I sort of have a love/hate relationship with her books. I don't particularly like her writing, she can be too edgy, she jumps around a lot, she sometimes states the obvious and that drives me nuts. BUT she tells a compelling story with lots of twists that grabs me and makes me have to find out what happened. For the record, Plain Truth remains my favorite Picoult pick. I would like to see My Sister's Keeper movie. I was surprised at the choice of Cameron Diaz for the mother, but I hear she does the part justice.