People Who Make Me Smile

There are some people in this world that just make me smile. And I'm not talking about the cheesy forced smile that is used in pictures. I'm talking about the kind of smile that creeps across your face when you are driving 75 down the interstate, and you think about them. It's the kind of smile that you get when you tell your husband about how these people just made your day.

I'm talking about 4 people in particular here, and the amazing thing is, I don't even know their names! But, they do have a dog named Ginger.

It was around a year ago that I was first introduced to these two couples. And by introduced, I mean James and I were at Costco, in line, in between these two couples. How we managed to get such a great spot in line, we'll never know. Couple #1 was in front of us, with their dog, Ginger, in the shopping cart (I guess Ginger has her own membership card, thus was permitted to enter the warehouse). Couple #2 was behind us, and they had a highly coveted Costco rotisserie chicken. Couple #1 needed a rotisserie chicken, real bad. The problem was that couple #1 was at the front of the line. Husband #1 sends wife #1 off to get a rotisserie chicken, he's sweating bullets, that's how bad he wants a rotisserie chicken. Husband #1 comes up with a great idea, he will take the rotisserie chicken from couple #2, and when Linda* returns, she will give her rotisserie chicken to couple #2. The whole time these two couples are figuring out who will buy which rotisserie chicken, husband #1 is talking to Ginger, telling Ginger to sit down, etc. James and I, stuck in between these two couples, were doing our best to stifle our giggles. To this day, James and I will still bust off the occasional "Ginger! Sit down, Ginger! Can I have your rotisserie chicken? Linda's gettin' another rotisserie chicken." Maybe the fact that we had a new baby and we were still sleep deprived made this whole scenario 10x funnier to us that it is to anyone else. Or perhaps it was couple #1 and #2's passion for the Costco rotisserie chicken, along with Ginger, who was not sitting very nicely in the shopping cart.

I'm fairly certain these two couples were shopping at Sunflower this past week, and lucky me, I was stuck at the meat counter in between the two of them!! Here's how their conversations went this week:

Wife #1-Did you see this?? They've got turkey legs!! We love dark meat, and look at that, Manager's Special!! Oh, wife #2, did you see, they have coffee samples over there.
Husband #1-In a conversation with the meat counter man....
Wife #1-Well, if you don't want to go out for dinner tomorrow night we can have these!

Later, in the produce section:

Wife #2-You want bananas? They got bananas? I think I want bananas.
Husband #2-Ummmm, ok.

Overheard near the chicken stock:

Wife #1-I wish they had one of these stores on our side of town. I think it would do really well.
Wife #2-Oh yes, I agree. I am surprised they don't have one.
Wife #1-Oh yes, a great selection, I think it would do well.

Lastly, near the wine section:

Wife #1-Did you see ALL this wine?!

As soon as Zack and I got into the car I called James to tell him about our favorite people. He cracked up. Sadly, Ginger was not in attendance this time.

I am looking forward to my next shopping trip that involves these people. I hope I see them at Target. Surely they will become unglued with excitement, over all the amazing finds that Target has. I will probably become unglued as well, and bust out my cell phone and take a video of them.

And, that wraps up this story about pretty much nothing. Hope you enjoyed it. I hope when I am retired I can do all my shopping with my best friend, and have as much fun as these 2 couples do.

*Linda may or may not be her name. But it flows well with the story.

B-E-A-U-tiful Sunrise

This morning I decided to get up before my boys and go for a run all by myself. This was especially nice for 3 reasons.

1. It doesn't feel nearly as hot at 5:45 as it does at 6:45.

2. It's MUCH easier to run without the jogging stroller. I love my little Zack, but he's HEAVY! And, whenever you have someone as cute as Zack in a stroller, nearly everyone you see while on your run feels the need to say something to you. And, since I am Karen the Friendly Runner, I also feel the need to say something back to them. This greatly slows down my momentum.

3. The sunrise was extra B-E-A-U-tiful this morning. I've never really considered myself to be a morning person. This, however, is changing. I think there is something amazing about the few moments just before the sun peeks out from behind the mountains. Everything seems to peaceful, quiet, and undisturbed. I love being out running, having those peaceful and quiet moments with God. Not only did I have those peaceful and quiet perfect moments with God, I also got the treat of the sunrise being extra beautiful. It's a wonderful way to start the day.

My Latest Hobby

Hi, my name is Karen and my new favorite hobby is sitting around and waiting for repair guys to come and attempt to fix my brand new refrigerator. I'd prefer at least 5 different visits, so that I can completely get my fill of the excitement that is involved in getting a phone call giving me my 2 hour service window, waiting for the repair man to arrive, and then the excitement of waiting to see if any ice will actually be made.

James and I bought a new fridge on the first of the month. 27 days and 5 (yes FIVE!) visits from the service department later, we have our very first ice cubes. All it took was replacing every single part in the freezer side (1 part at a time) and a brand new door (because that's where most of the parts are, and where there was likely a wiring issue, and it's easier than replacing the whole fridge). One critical call to the sales guy greatly helped this process.

I don't know what I'm going to do next week, when I don't need to call the company, and then sit around and wait for them to come and not fix my fridge. I need to get a new hobby.

11 Years Ago

It was this week, 11 years ago, that I first met my sweet James. We were both about to start our freshman year at the University of Arizona. I got a call from my uncle, telling me that there was someone he thought I should meet. You see, my uncle is a pastor, and at one point, he had been the pastor at the church that James and his family had attended when James was in elementary school. Over the years, my uncle had made his way to Tucson, the whole time, remaining in contact with James' parents. So, he tells me there's this guy I should meet, and that I should come to the early service on Sunday.

So, the day before James and I started our freshman year, we were awkwardly introduced. His whole family was there, seeing their first born son and older brother off to college for the first time. For whatever reason, my parents attended the 1st service at church that day. After church, my uncle introduced James and I with both sets of parents watching. I think we said about 7 words to one another. AWKWARD.

I, of course, thought he was cute. The next day I did my best to contact him, but the boy had no phone. It hadn't been set up yet. So I just hoped that someday I would come across this cute boy once again.

Finally, that October, I saw him again! His parents were in town for the weekend, and brought James (who was car-less) to church with them. Afterwards my uncle set up lunch for his family, my family and my uncle. It probably should have been awkward, but I was smiling from ear to ear, cause I finally got to see cute James again. During lunch he asked for my phone number, and asked if I would be willing to drive him to church. I gave him my number and told him to call me, and I would for sure give him a ride. Did he call? Nope.

But then, one day, among the 20,000+ students at the U of A, our paths crossed again. He told me he would call me, and he did. I started giving him rides to church, and one day he called and asked me if I wanted to go to a volleyball game with him and some of his friends. Somehow it ended up being just James and I at the game, no one else was available. Or maybe they just didn't know that we were going, cause James never told them. Either way, it was one of our very first dates.

And here we are, 11 years later. We're married, with a house, a dog, and the sweetest 1 year old ever. And more in love than we were yesterday.

Karen the -FAST- Runner

Today, not only was I a friendly runner, I was also a fast runner. An incredibly fast runner. I typically say hi to every single person I see when I am out running. And, when I'm running in the neighborhood (like I was today), I run a couple of laps around a big loop. When I do this I generally see the same people more than once, so I say hi to them more than once. I even say hi to their dogs.

Today I decided to run my typical route in reverse. I don't generally like going this way because I feel like it's steeper than going the other way. So, I run for a bit, then take a stretch break. As I am finishing up my stretch break an older man comes jogging up behind me. I didn't want to start running right as he went by because I thought it might be awkward to jog a few laps around the neighborhood with an old man that I don't know. I walked a bit to let him get up ahead of me. When I started running again I could tell I was gaining on him. I was hoping to myself that he would be done soon, so I wouldn't have to run along side him. At one point he started walking, and I thought he was done for the day. Nope, just a water break, and a quick one. At this point I was right next to him, and we were coming up to a long hill. So, I kicked it into high gear, and Zack and I left him in our dust.

I continue on my merry way and when I'm on my last lap I see a lady in her motorized scooter out with her dog. They are up ahead of me, and on the other side of the road. I know you can see what's coming. Yup, I passed the lady on her motorized scooter. Those things are fast, you know. Surely they can get up to 15 MPH!

But that wasn't even the fast part of my run!! That was still to come. You see, an Olympic runner lives in our neighborhood. He's for real, a professional runner. His legs are probably as long as I am tall. The dude was made to run. We see him out running quite often, this morning he was probably out on an easy 10 mile jog. I see Abdi up ahead, and then, I just jog right on by him, saying hi as I go by. Yes, Karen the Friendly Runner ran past an Olympian. As James likes to tell me, "that's how it feels to be a champion."

Now, don't go thinking I'm all kinds of amazing for running past an Olympic runner. He was running the opposite direction, so"we ran past one another. But I really did pass the old man (on a hill, with a jogging stroller!) and I most assuredly did pass the lady in her scooter.

Vacation!

We just got back from a wonderful vacation. We stayed in a cabin right on the Yuba River, up in a teensie tiny little town called Sierra City, which is in Northern California. James' parents, sister and brother in law and their baby, and an aunt/uncle also joined us.

The first full day we were up there we did lots of exploring. We tossed Zack in the hiking backpack and headed out for a nearby waterfall. We attempted a family self-portrait. It was not successful.

Along the path we saw a big pile of fresh, wild animal poop. We took a picture for Brandon, thinking that he would really enjoy it. We were calling it bear scat, just cause we found that to be fun. The day before when we had checked into our cabin, the owner told us not to leave food in our car, cause there have been bears in the area, but that they hadn't seen any recently. We went along our merry way, enjoying our hike. After the hike we explored some nearby lakes, then came back to the cabin for nap time.

The next day the rest of the family had arrived. When James' aunt and uncle checked in they were told a different story about bears, that a mama and baby bear had just been spotted the day before. James' sister didn't sleep well that night, she was afraid the bear was going to come in the cabin and snatch away her baby. We figured the dirty diaper smell would keep any bears far, far away.

The majority of our time at the cabin was spent playing with dirt and sticks, or throwing rocks into the river. Zack loved it, and he loved all the outdoor time. He's never had such grubby fingernails, he was in heaven.

On our last full day up in the wilderness we took a trip to Lake Tahoe. When you are that close to Tahoe it is a requirement to visit!! Zack enjoyed playing on the sandy beach, and even took a little dip in the water. Just like his parents, he too loves Lake Tahoe. It must be genetic.

We've been home for a few days now. It's been great to sleep in our own beds, and have the beagle back to clean up after Zack at meal times. We do miss the much cooler temps, however. And Zack is pretty mad at me for not letting him play outside every waking hour, like he got to do while on vacation.

As a side note, I just googled "bear poop" and lots of lovely pictures came up. My quick google research has confirmed that the big pile of wild animal poop did indeed belong to a bear. YIKES!! I sure am glad we didn't encounter that mama bear......

Just wondering....

I'm wondering when the post meal clean up will no longer involve cleaning food remnants out of Zack's ears and nose, and off his forehead, armpits, and feet? Oh, and the back of his neck, and his hair too. And sometimes the dog's head and shoulder as well.

I love my messy boy.