God Bless Us, Everyone

God Bless the U.S. Postal Service. And God Bless Greg and Shannon.

Today my mail carrier (whom I don't know whether or not he is the hottest, or she- as the case may be) delivered an amber envelope of BYU blue and white goodness.

My friend Shannon sent this treasure to me, courtesy of her husband Greg, who happened to find it in the BYU bookstore- on clearance. It is a t-shirt. One that, I personally believe, was commissioned in honor of my username. (and possibly even my blog) (yes, I believe even my blog) (although I lost two followers over the past couple of days--- why didn't you stop in to say goodbye, ex-followers? we totally could have had a going away party for you. oh well, God Bless You.)

And I have resolved to don the shirt (at least mentally) each time I write a post. Because it will give me inspiration. And besides that, I can't wait to wear it!

Finally, God Bless BYU.

Although, I didn't have the heart to tell them that they spelled Tru Blu wrong. I guess BYU doesn't use spell check.

Thank you, Greg and Shannon! If there was a blog award dedicated to recognizing the stellar individuals who champion the username of other bloggers, I would definitely make sure it was awarded to the pair of you. That's what it's all about.

The Giving Couch

**my family= the neighbors

Once there was a couch.
And it loved a little boy who had just graduated from college.
And everyday, the boy would come and gather her pillows and prop them behind his back when he played video games.
He would climb up on her cushions and sit and watch sports.
And when he was tired he would sleep on her cushions.
And the boy loved the couch... very much.
And the couch was happy.



But time went by.
And the boy got a job.
And the couch was often alone.
Until the boy met a girl.
And they would spend a lot of time together on the couch.
And the couch was happy.


One day the couch said, "Come boy, come and climb up on my cushions and watch sports and take a nap."
And the boy said, "I am too busy to take a nap. I want a wife. And I want children. And I want a house. Can you give me a house?"
"I have no house," said the couch, "but take my cushions and my pillows and make yourself a house. And then you will be happy."
And the couch was happy.


One day the boy married the girl.
And they moved the couch to their new house.
But it would not fit in the front room.
And so they moved it into their bedroom.
And the couch would wait for the boy to come and play.
But the boy was busy.
And he stayed away for a long time.
And the couch was happy, but not really.


And then one day the boy came back and walked by the couch
And the couch said, "Come boy, come and sit on my cushions and gather my pillows and play video games and be happy."
"I am too busy to play video games," said the boy. "I have a child now. And I have a wife."
And the couch said, "Come and sit with your child and read books to her and be happy."
And the boy sat on the couch and read books to his daughter.
And the couch was happy.


And the boy had some neighbors and they saw the couch in the boy's bedroom.
And sometimes they sat on the couch.
And the couch was happy.


One day the boy moved his family.
And the couch was placed in the family room.
And the children would race onto the couch and jump from its pillows and play and be happy.
And the couch was happy.


Until one day the couch said, "Come boy, come and sit on my cushions."
And the boy said, "I want leather. Can you give me leather?"
And the couch said, "I cannot give you leather. But take my cushions and prop up your head and enjoy my comfy seat."
And the boy said, "I will get some leather. And I will take you to the neighbors who have sat on you and you will stay in their loft. And you will be happy."
And the couch was moved to the neighbor's loft.
And the neighbors were happy.
And the couch was happy.
But he missed his boy.


But every so often the boy would come and visit the couch and sit on its cushions and watch a basketball game with his neighbor and watch his kids play in the loft and wear a blonde wig.
And the boy was happy.
And the couch was happy.


And the couch would watch the neighbor's children play.
And they would gather up her cushions.
And make forts.
And play and giggle and be happy.
And the couch was happy.


And the couch would say, "Come neighbors, climb up on my cushions and watch movies.
And read to your children.
And brush their hair and their teeth.
And be happy."
And the neighbors said, "We want leather. Can you give us leather?"
And the couch said, "I cannot give you leather. But take my pillows and enjoy their softness."
And the neighbors got leather.
And they were happy.
And the couch was in the garage.
And she was happy, but not really.





And one day the neighbors' newly married sister came and got the couch and took her off to her new home.
And the newly married sister was happy.
And the couch was happy.


And then one day a lot later, the newly married sister's mother-in-law took the couch to her new home.
And again, the couch was happy.


And then a lot of days later, the mother-in-law was moving into another house and could not fit the couch into her new home and gave the couch to a nice girl.
And the couch was happy.


And then one day a lot lot later, the neighbors created a blog.
And they advertised the sale of their oldest daughter's Girl Scout Cookie sale on their blog.
And a nice girl read the blog and ordered some cookies.
And the oldest daughter was happy.


And the neighbors hopped in their car.
And traveled a few miles to deliver the Girl Scout Cookies to the nice girl whom they had never met.
And when they walked into the nice girl's apartment,






they saw a couch.
And it looked like a couch they once had.
And the couch straightened herself up and said, "Come neighbors, come and climb up on my cushions and gather my pillows and make forts. And be happy."
"We are too busy to sit on your cushions and make forts in the nice girl's apartments. And our children need to get home and get some sleep. But, we will take your picture and blog about you and we will be happy."

And the couch was happy.




And so was the nice girl.

The Corner Store

Pssst! You wanna hear something about me that I am not totally proud of, but looking back I think it is kinda funny? K, since I totally trust you and I know that you won't let it go beyond this moment (you won't, right?) I am ready to share. Yay us! A new stage in our relationship- the trust stage. This is huge.

I went to Esma (yeah, I know) Lewis Elementary School in Rifle, Colorado- home of the fighting Eagles! Those were some great times. Oh, yeah, this is the school with the third grade teacher who can't pronounce orange. Remember that one time I told you about her? Yeah. See, we are even in the stage where we can remember stories together. This is awesome!

I had a great friend who lived down the hill from me and we did pretty much everything together, including a vicious fight and break-up EVERY DAY followed by a sincere make-up the next morning on our walk- uphill both ways- to school. We were total BFFs.

Most days our moms told us, "Girls, come straight home from school- no stopping at the Corner Store." And most days, we would. But then some days we wouldn't. Those days when we wouldn't go straight home we would stop at the Corner Store for a treat.

The thing is, I didn't have a job in the third grade, and therefore no moolah. So what did I do? I basically picked the pockets of my family. Loose change pretty much belonged to me whenever I "found" it around the house. Not too proud of that. Sorry Mom and Dad- even sisters- that you have to find out like this. Did you suspect? I probably owe you about $10. Do you take payments?

One day in particular, my friend- let's call her Mindy- and I stopped at the Corner Store for an after school treat and found ourselves about a quarter short for what we wanted to purchase. What would we do? It didn't take me long to hatch a brilliant plan. We would tell the clerk that we were trying to make a phone call on the pay phone outside the store and it ate our quarter before we could place our call. Genius! No fail. So that's just what we did. We told that clerk our sad story, expecting full sympathy. What we were not expecting was his response. He told us that his phone didn't accept quarters- only pennies, nickels and dimes. (Uh-oh, didn't see that one coming) But, he would get the key from the office and check it out.

The clerk disappeared in the back of the store and into the office.

You know that song that goes:
"My teacher told me I should never tell a lie,
Because a lie will bring you trouble, sure as pie.
It's an awful thing to do.
And it's true as true as true.
You'll get caught and then you'll start to cry.
You'll have a horrid, painful pounding in your head.
And you will feel your face get hot and turn bright red.
Then your heart will start to thump
In your throat you'll get a lump
And you'll feel so bad you'll wish that you could lie right down and die.
You're much better off to never tell a lie
Not even sometimes,
Remember, Never ever tell a lie....."

That totally sums it up. All these are the feelings Mindy and I experienced as the clerk walked back to his office.

What were we going to do? The only thing we could do, of course. We took off running as fast as our little Esma Lewis Fighting Eagles legs would take us. And we didn't stop. Not even when we got home. Until we were safe in Mindy's pantry. And the door was securely barricaded. With stacks of food storage. And we didn't come out. For a long time. And we listened. To every sound. Because it could be the cops.



K, bring out one of your skeletons from the deep recesses of your walk-in closet and share a "corner store" moment. Please? I'll give you a quarter.

Is Change Good?

I never wanted this day to come. And yet, I knew that eventually it would. Our best friends of the past eight years are moving tomorrow.

These are the friends that you click with the moment you meet.
These are the friends that, once you start talking about what you have in common, you are blown away and CONVINCED that you must have been separated at birth because there are too many parallels to be coincidence.
These are the friends that you are dying to meet where all of you get along- not just the wife and the wife, but ALL of you.
These are the friends that were your cul de sac neighbors when you bought your first house and they brought over brownies to welcome you into the ward.
These are the friends that had their first daughter 3 months before you had your first daughter.
These are the friends that you not only wish, but dream, that you could build a bridge from your house to their's.
These are the friends that you call when you need an egg or almond extract or a ladder- and then you keep the ladder for like 2 months.
These are the friends that move with you when you move to a city 30 miles away, and still your houses are within 2 minutes of each other.
These are the friends where you spend the night at their house because your a/c is not on in your brand new house yet.
These are the friends that have a son 4 months after you have your second daughter.
These are the friends that forgive you when you act stupid.
These are the friends that don't judge you.
These are the friends that you share milestones with.
These are the friends that have a daughter 18 months after your first son is born.
These are the friends that you trade babysitting with on a weekly basis.
These are the friends that you make extra dinner for.
These are the friends that you call and say, "We have chicken- what do you have? Let's combine and have dinner."
These are the friends that you call when your tire blows out and your battery dies and they come and jump start your car.
These are the friends that say, "Here, I'm done with my maternity clothes. Do you want 'em?"
These are the friends that support you in your calling and come and help with every move.
These are the friends that golf with you.
These are the friends that don't judge you because of your lack of organization.
These are the friends that you look at and want to be like.
These are the friends that let you take their baby to Relief Society while they play the piano in Primary.
These are the friends that are your daughter's nursery teacher.
These are the friends that have the number one chocolate chip cookie recipe on the planet.
These are the friends that come over and help bless your sick child at a moments notice, in the dark of night. And then, return the next night to bless the next one.
These are the friends that invite you to their parent's cabin.
These are the friends that have an awesome garden and they give you gardening tips.
These are the friends that have a son that your youngest daughter wants to marry.
These are the friends that you confide in.
These are the friends you go to the park with.
These are the friends that step in to help whenever help is needed.
These are the friends that take care of your children the same way you would.
These are the friends that become more than friends.
These are the friends that are FAMILY.
These are the friends you are going to miss terribly...