Table for Eight

 And the winner of the  Mr. Bubbles Giveaway is ... Sarah L. (Sarah, please email me a snail mail address so Amazon.com can get your bubbles to you ASAP! dawn_meehan@byu.edu) And thanks to everyone who entered (about 100 in all).   *** PS: Have a beautiful Sunday--wherever you may be. Me? I'm spending Sunday time with family, going to church, writing a letter to Jay on his mission, and making Julia Child's "potato leek soup"--with hopes it will FLUSH my dang bronchitis away. (I've had it for 18+ days! For. The. Love!) I never met a leek I didn't like.

I'm not exactly sure what I did for Memorial Day weekend LAST year, but I'm pretty sure it was something like this:   (c) CBS, 2012. And thanks to SurvivorFever.net for the VC. Or this : (c) CBS, 2012. But not this year! Here's what we're planning THIS Me morial Day weekend ...   Did I mention--this is m y first one in the US in two years? (PS: So rry to beat a dead horse with the whole "My First Summer Sans Survivor ," but it's such a weird thi ng to be out of the country two summers in a row -- es pecially when you are a wife, mom of 6, who doesn't even go to Target with out at least 2 members of her famil y. ) Anyway, my poi nt! This is the first year I won't celebrat e Memorial Day with Cochran on a de serted island.  Ha! Gotc ha. My point !   I am so grateful to celebrate this Memorial Day weekend with my family here in Salt Lake C ity : -- We're going swimming. (In any bathing suit I wanna...

Because Bam's not a big cake or ice cream fan, we took to Pinterest and found this awesome CANDY CAKE to make as her birthday cake. (Thanks to Papaya and Aub for making it!) Happy Birthday Bam! Just think, in two short years, I'll be referring to you b y your real name on the blog. (HAHAHA! ) We hope you have a beautiful SWEET 16 Birthday! We love you so much and are so grateful to have you in our lives. You are a beautiful person inside and out. You are creative, thoughtful, forgiving, insanely good with animals, a friend to those who feel friendless, a great sister, a super babysitter, a great singer, a professional nail polisher, a silly girl, a girl who loves her Dr. Pepper and Mc Donald's spicy chicken sandwiches (which, PS, we need to cut back on--haha), and most of all a genuinely light soul. You bring peace to our family and make life feel so FUN and GOOD. We love you. Have a great day, Bam! Bam at the lake, 2013. Christmas 2012. ...

Lots to rememb er and  honor here in the US today: 1. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life, legacy, and birthday observance today. 2. The Inauguration of President Barack Obama. (c) Lainey Melnick, via @pinterest at the Inauguration Ceremony ***** I hope you have a beautiful start to your week! PS: I wanted to share this with you today.  Yes, it's religious. Ye s, it's forward of me. But for me, God is LOVE--regardless of your belief-system. So everywhere and every time I hear GOD, I think LOVE. Much love to you today. God Is Able by Smokie Norful God is able, God is able God is able and He won't fail Tell me who can make a mountain Move out of my way And who can make a miracle Because of my faith And when the doctor says no Who can still say yes And when I'm in trouble Who's right there to help me pass every test God is able, God is able God is able and He won't fail Tell me who can make a r...

Me and Chewy. Friday was Dave's Christmas party at Adobe--a nd wow, it was the most unusual Christma s party I've ever been to. It was like a mashup: part sci-fi, part Christmas. They had the most incredible activities, food, and program. I'm still kind of in shock over the whole thing. And while it didn't feel entirely like Christmas, it was definitely a neat way to celebrate the holidays with Dave's co-workers. (Did I mention that we heart Adobe?). Here are just a few of the things at the party: They had professional dancers. Doin' the robot. Me, Darth, and some Storm Troopers. They had a team of Segways you could try out. (Pretty fun.) They also had an oxygen bar--which we'd seen, but never tried before. That is, until now! (PS: If I'm ever on oxygen in a hospital in the future, please get me a colored whatever-this-thing-on-my-nose is called.) They also had these trapeze artists (Cirque de Adobe). ...

Our kids with Heather at her wedding on Saturday night. (We were neighbors for 6+ years and we love her guts.) I look at this p icture and think, " Wow, life really is amazing and beaut iful." But to be honest, there's a reason I haven't been blogging lately : L i fe has been hard -- super hard . And that's made it hard for me to journal/blog. You see, I'm usually a really po sitiv e person , b ut lately I've had a hard time SEEING and genuinely feeling positive.  I know it's just the roller coaster of life : --You win so me; you lose some.  --You've got the world on a string; the world has YO U on a string. -- One day you have immunity; the next day you're on the chopping bl ock.      --Etc., etc., etc.) . . . B ut it's sti ll hard and that's a bu mmer. (Ca n I get an Amen? Amen ! ) So there. That's the vague, yet genuine truth : w hen life is super hard, I don't have a ton of motivation to ...