Whirlwind trip

We made a brief trip to the motherland over the weekend for a variety of reasons. Mom and Dad have graciously offered to dogsit for TWO WHOLE WEEKS while we are in Napa. No, we aren't going to be in Napa for 2 weeks but darling Annie will be away at summer camp for that long until we return to Springfield for the Bright's 4th of July extravaganza. We also came down to have a belated birthday party for yours truly (the sun has just about set on my twenties), a belated Father's Day, and to see the newly born and incredibly beautiful Mylie Beth Bright. Here are the highlights of the weekend:

• Mom continued her streak of always providing a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for my birthday. I think she may be up to year 18 or something.


• Springfield has also continued its streak of having the most bizarre weather in the continental US. Two hours before the cookout, it hailed so much Dad had to shovel the back deck. By the time he lit the grill, the sun was shining.


• There were 5 little ones ages 3 and under at the house on Saturday night. It was loud, hilarious, and felt like family.


• Baby Mylie got confused when Mom was holding her and decided it was time to eat. She went in, tiny little mouth wide open, for Mom's chest.


• While the boys played hooky and went to the golf course on Sunday, Mom and I went to church with Grandma. I sat downstairs with Grandma & her buddies and listened to a chorus of dying hearing aide batteries through the entire service.

Jeff and Jackson

Big brother Austin

Brooklyn and Daddy (shortly after she demonstrated to me how to breastfeed with her baby that I gave her).

Home Improvement

Projects, projects, projects. We are always in the middle of something with this lovely old house. This week has become the install-wood-flooring-in-the-upstairs week. I had my doubts when Jeff told me before we went to bed on Saturday night that he wanted to rip out the carpet the next morning. I was thinking "yea right". We, being the childless folks that we are, had rolled in around 2:15am and I was looking forward to that "no work on Sundays" part of the Sabbath. But I was wrong. And here's the progress.

The bedroom

The hubby hard at work on the hallway.

Annie hates the mess and the noise.

Don't feel sorry for Jeff. He's not doing all of the work. I was on carpet pad staple removing duty the first day. I was excited to help on a task that Jeff had successfully convinced me was very important to the whole process. By the end of the day I painfully learned why he didn't want that job - I had blisters on my fingers. I declared myself out of commission the next 2 days. I was then demoted to water fetching duty. I'm happy to play waitress though because So You Think You Can Dance is on tonight and y'all know that can't be missed.

Here we go

I’ve been threatening the hubby for a while that I am going to start one of these things. You see, the thing is he is an intensely private person and I’m the polar opposite. I simply cannot keep information to myself. For those of you who know us, its no secret that we’ve gone through some pretty significant changes in our lives over the past year. We went from cultivating a wonderful long distance relationship into joining the married club. I left my job, home, and single status of nearly 29 years in Springfield, MO. So is now the appropriate time to start this silly blog? I can’t think of a reason why not…….