text: . . . at the crossroads . . .: March 2009
  A Little 'Crush'
  I'm not ashamed to admit it -- I had a great time at the David Archuleta concert last week! Alana, a good friend of Kristi's, gave her a ticket to the concert as a birthday present, so Alana and her mom went, plus another friend Shannon, plus me of course. Like I could stay away! Our seats weren't bad, and we were also able to walk down to the front to get quite close. So we see-sawed back and forth. Here's the proof!
  Waiting in line beforehand:
  At our table, waiting some more:
  What a cute kid, and wow, can he sing. He sounded amazing and we all had lots of fun. Kristi and I continue to think that after a couple of years of performing his music, he'll decide he needs to continue his education at, say, Brigham Young University. And then one day, his path will cross with Kristi's in, hmmm, the Harris Fine Arts Center, and the rest will be . . . history. Stranger things have happened, right?!?
  Posted by Karen at 11:20 AM 2 comments:
  Wow, if you just keep your eyes open, "blog-worthy" things can be found everywhere.
  I could not resist sharing this, although I'd rather pretend it's not real. Austin told me last week that he had been invited to a birthday party given by a girl at school. Hmmm, a boy/girl party, I thought. My little Austin. Hard (for me) to believe he's old enough for this stuff. It was on the night we had planned to take Kristi out for her birthday, and when I mentioned that, he assured me he wasn't interested in going to the party anyway. That made it easy; schedule conflict averted; boy/girl parties for Austin postponed until the next invitation.
  This morning I ran out the door with the lunch he almost forgot to take, and as he was putting it in his backpack, I noticed a bright piece of paper sticking out. He handed it to me, saying it was the invitation to that party, and that I could just throw it away now that it was over. So then I looked at it and noticed something, well, blog-worthy. See what you notice.
  Let's look a little closer:
  Did you catch that? My 12-year-old was not just invited to a boy/girl party (which I CAN wrap my mind around, despite my reluctance to), but he was invited to a boy/girl sleepover. Yup. This I cannot wrap my mind around. I think I may need to go lie down.
  The really important news of the day is that it's Kristi's 16th birthday. Perhaps I will blog more about that later??
  p.s. don't ask my why the date on the pictures that I took this morning say 5/4/06!
  Posted by Karen at 7:54 AM 5 comments:
  One of the things I really love about living in northern Nevada is the big blue sky. Blue skies happen so often out here that they are almost monotonous to some. Not to me. And when the blue skies are punctuated with amazing cloud formations, then I could just gaze at them all day. Perhaps one of the reasons that I love looking at the sky so much is that looking at the ground is not very exciting. Unless it's developed, Nevada ground mostly looks like this:
  And the vistas look like this:
  So your eyes are naturally drawn heavenward, at least mine are.
  Today has been a 'beautiful skies' day. The kind that has made me grateful for nature's beauty, the kind that has refreshed my spirits, and relaxed my mind.
  Posted by Karen at 4:41 PM 1 comment:
  (First of all, don't ask me why I've become a blogging machine lately. I'm sure it's a phase which will pass.)
  Some of you know that we have a dog. Some of you also know that I am not a 'dog lover', but rather a 'dog accepter'. We've had Copper for almost 9 years, and now that she's a mellow older dog, my blood pressure is usually not affected by her existence anymore. And despite the fact that over the years, other than walking her, I really spend no 'quality time' with her, she loves me and is eager to be around me.
  The other night as Keith, Dallin, Copper and I were hiking up the mountain behind our house, Dallin was commenting about how he's had Copper his whole life, how great she is, and how much he loves her. It caused me to think about the vastly different perspectives he and I have about this animal. He literally doesn't remember life B.C.. They have been great friends, and shared lots of fun and mischief together over the years! He looks forward to seeing her after school every day and especially after vacations. She is a big part of his little life! And when I stop to think about that, I guess I would say am glad.
  The rest of this you've certainly seen before, but here are some things that Copper has tried to teach us over the years:
  "When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
  When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently."
  Last Friday, Keith had a "camp-in" with his class of 14-15 yr old boys from church. They came over to eat pizza, play wii, and have a crazy air soft war in the sagebrush field behind our house. Kristi and I decided it would be a good time to sneak away for a girls' night out. We had a blast. I am sooooo grateful to have a daughter that I can truly call my friend. We talked and laughed and sang to David Archuleta's CD in the car (as she drove). We're going to his concert in Reno on Wednesday night!!
  We ate mexican food and had to unbutton our pants in the car afterwards (hmmm, too much information?). We did some birthday shopping since her sweet 16th is right around the corner. We just had fun!
  I love being with Kristi. She is a wonderful, sweet, funny, friendly, talented, lovely young lady. I've told her several times that she is what I wanted to be when I was a teenager. When she was little I used to comment to Keith that I was just so excited to watch her grow up and see who she would turn out to be. Now many years later, I can say that it continues to be a fun ride. I admire Kristi and feel very privileged to be her mom.
  Posted by Karen at 8:15 PM 6 comments:
  I have no idea how the basketball tournaments are going -- my March Madness has more to do with having teenagers who can't seem to keep their rooms clean or make it to seminary on time. Come on, guys -- you were so much easier to control when you were little!! This free agency thing is getting completely out of hand now.
  In all honesty, I love having teenagers. I love watching them, listening to them, trying to figure them out. Some days I think mine are hopelessly NOT ready for adulthood, while other days I am in awe of the people they are becoming. They are fun and funny and delightful. They are messy and moody and annoying. They put scratches on the car and tell us that it should have been worse and we should be so grateful. They leave all the lights on, forget to inform us of many things, and often forget to say thank you. They give me a hug unexpectedly, or leave me a nice note, or say "I love you" on their way out the door. They look like they're zoning out during scripture reading, but know all the answers when we ask them what we read. They tell me they're too busy to do something with me, but when the phone rings they are miraculously available for their friends. Sometimes they laugh with me, sometimes they laugh at me. They are sweet and helpful and grumpy and selfish. See? It's MADNESS. And not just in March.