My Dad & Me From A to Z

For Father's Day this year, I really wanted to do something really special for Cam. He is such an amazing dad to Nash & Gray. He does so much for them and for me and he loves every minute of it. Late at night, we talk about going to Texas. Almost every night he expresses how nervous he is to be so busy with school. He doesn't want to miss any part of their childhood. They are so important to him. However, providing for our family is also super important to him. School is a must. And it is demanding. And he will have early mornings and late nights. We won't get to see him near as much as we do right now. So I decided to make sure our boys get a healthy dose of their dad on the nights he won't be home before bedtime. This book was my solution:

I started by making a list of A through Z and writing out something specific to Cam and the boys for each one. I outlined the major things I knew I wanted to hit on: church, fun, family, bathtime, bedtime, etc. and double checked they were accounted for. Then, I created a very simple base template with one large space for a picture, one large letter and a short piece of text explaining the letter. The result was a simple, beautiful book that shows just how appreciated Cameron is. I am so pleased with how it turned out. It just makes me giddy. The boys love reading it. I love reading it. Cam loves reading it. And it's so wonderful to see pictures actually printed and simple, short details of their lives right now.

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If there's enough interest, I'll make the templates available for use. Otherwise, I will just enjoy this little piece of happiness sitting on my bookshelf.

BYU Graduation

This weekend rocked. In a major way. For starters, my mom came into town on Wednesday night. We went to a late night dinner at Outback to celebrate C finishing his finals [woot!] and then stayed up talking until 1 am like teenagers. [My mom is more of a best friend at this point in my life. Love LOVE that.]

I worked a half day on Thursday, C & mom came to pick me up. They met the boss, who congratulated me on finishing college and handed me the key to the company car! A sweet black 2009 infiniti coupe. It was mine for the weekend. Note to self: be an AWESOME employee. Marketecture rocks.

After we drove home in the BEST car ever, we picked up my cap & gown and got ready for commencement. Long, big meeting where they tell you to pay the school back after you pay off your student loans. I was ready to walk out the door when C hands me a little package. Do you remember this? Well, it has a permanent home on my left wrist. It even brought along its two matching buddies to adorn my ears. Husband.of.the.year.

We finished up commencement & spent the rest of the night trying every single dress on in the new Mikarose outlet at Provo Towne Center. We bought two dresses and mom vowed to take my sister, Jessica, back the next night. Too much cute stuff at VERY reasonable prices!

Went to bed & got up bright and early for convocations. [had to be there by 7:15am. OUCH.] Remember my morning person post? We haven't made much progress. I'm still desperately in love with my pillow. C on the other hand popped out of bed and had his A-game on to save seats.

The whole family came. I got to see my dad for the first time in months and even wonder-mom Emilee came down with her two little girls! [She's also the one who snapped these great pictures: thanks Em! I didn't have time to edit these, but they look pretty good as is!]

Me and Mom & Dad McGuire

Parents + C & K

C & K

The whole McGuire family minus the Moores in Denver. Wish you were here!

The Call Clan minus Amberlee, Adam & the boys. [Adam & the boys came later. We sure missed you Amberlee!]

Remember my awesome sister who goes to culinary school and turns out treats like this? Yep. She was here the WHOLE weekend. Ask me how that was. YUM.

The whole shabang.

Then, I took off my gown and Em saw the Mikarose dress I was wearing and insisted I take a few more pictures.

Yep, that's the chewlry bracelet on my wrist!

Then my mom noticed how a blue in my belt matched my dad's shirt.

...and I noticed how C matches me. So we took another picture.

The rest of the weekend involved building a garden, mini golfing, arcade dominating, and visiting Em & Adam. I'm way excited to tell you all about our little garden! So stay tuned!

Pomp & Circumstance: Save the Date

If you're related to me and/or live in the Orem/Provo area and received one of our Christmas cards, there's one in the mail headed your way! If you're not related to me and didn't receive a Christmas card, but would still like one, don't be shy! Send me your address and I'll get you one asap!

Rise & Shout!

I am a BYU cougar. My parents both attended BYU. My sister, her husband, me and my husband all attend(ed) BYU. I was actually born while my parents were living in BYU married housing. My entire family is able to sing the BYU fight song start to finish at a ridiculously young age. We bleed blue.

It starts out "Rise & shout! The Cougars are out!" My parents used this as a mechanism to get us out of bed in the mornings. The end of the fight song is a series of "Rah rah rahs" followed by "GooooooooOOOO Cougars!" [For getting us out of bed, they'd replace Cougars, with Kristin, Lindsay, Jessica, etc.]

Here's where my dilemma comes in. I no longer have a zealous parent to get me out of bed in the mornings. I've been doing alright getting my fanny to work in the mornings by 9, but I received an e-mail today explaining that our office hours are now 8:30 to 5:30 or [in my case, to avoid cutting into my "wife time"] 8:00 to 5:00.

Also, this comic accurately describes my outlook on the entire "early-to-bed; early-to-rise" mentality. So all of you morning people can just keep your condescending comments to yourself.



So, the question is: how do you convince yourself to get out of bed in the morning?

Just to give you an idea of the severity of the situation....my first thought is generally: "No. Way. I won't get to sleep again for [x] hours." Yep. I'm in trouble.