It was like going to sleep on Christmas night

You know after months of anticipation, planning, parties, tradition, shopping, and all else that comes with Christmas, when you go to sleep that night you are so sad it's over!! (I know you hear me Cami). That's how I felt when I went to sleep on Saturday night.

I've been excited for this weekend for months. My good friend Charis came into town for the So You Think You Can Dance concert and we just made a party of the whole weekend.

Friday night we took a walk at the golf course. Since John is there almost everyday, he pulled some strings and got us a couple carts for a ride. All you can eat wings at Wingers, some funny websites and an Office episode started things off right

Saturday morning we went for another walk and then got massages.

Then shopped at Tai Pan

Then shopped and had dinner at the Gateway

HOORRAY! To the concert. We died of laughter at the people sitting in front of us...

Seriously? They were easily in their 70's and were SO into it. I never had the guts to ask why!

So I didn't take a lot of pictures because I realized I was missing dances to take pictures...

The Butt dance

Janette (for Shelbie- she's not my favorite)

Touching the stage at intermission (it was a short walk, seeing as we were on the 10th row- HOLLA!)

One, Singular Sensation!

Zombie- LOVED IT
FINALE

I didn't take pictures of Addiction, but it was AMAZING!! I love Kupono. But even more, I could not get enough Brandon. He was incredible in real life.

What did John do while I was off duty?

Austin had the flu last week (given by me- oops), which he shared with his sisters. His moved to an ear infection and the girls were just plain sick, so he took all 3 to Urgent Care. A shot in the bum for Austin and $150 in perscriptions later, we're all doing fine!

I just have to put a plug out for tama flu. It's the medication that's gets you over the flu faster. I didn't bother with it for Austin because I figured he'd be fine, but a week later and he's still coughing and recovering from two nasty infected ears. He hasn't been to school in over a week! I caught the girls early (you have to start it within 48 hours of symptoms) and got them on it. After just 2 days, they are almost back to normal.

John's got a new golfing partner

Isn't she cute? Our cute new neighbors wanted to do a double date to the golf course.

I haven't been golfing with John for about 8 years, so it was fun for me to see him.

The girls were real professionals

Check out that form

I was awesome. I averaged about 10 per hole. YES!

Halloween '09

I spent most of the week last week in bed with SWINE FLU (jk! I didn't have that. I just like to be trendy). Since the week before that I was a victim of jet lag and the weeks before that...you know, I really was kind of a lame mom this year.
I laid on the couch while John helped the kids carve pumpkins
Church Halloween Party
Adeline: Dorothy

Bailey: Snow White
The parade

These two cute girls were at the church party (a fat man and a tennis ball) so we had to make them hug

Treat or Treating (and eating the candy as we go along)

Austin: Scary Skeleton

We always trick or treat in my parents neighborhood because the houses are closer together and it's flat. The girls were thrilled to have Papa with them.

Warms my heart

Are your kids already asking about costumes for next year? We'll wait a bit to commit!

I think it'll all be worth it...

From March 3rd to March 31st this will be my home on the island of Boracay in the PhilippinesOn this beach
Can't wait!

For My Val

I have some explaining to do. This is my cousin Valerie...Isn't she pretty?
She is the ORIGINAL Garlock Girl. See, there were 8 babies born in 3 years on the Garlock side. 7 of us were girls (Sorry Darren!) I ignorantly only refer to these 7 as the Garlock Girls. The truth is, Val is the older than all of us and there are even more pretty Garlock Girls younger than us. I just grew up so close to the ones close to my age that I have only referred to them.
I don't know why.
I consider myself fairly close to Val too. When I was 12, she moved to Utah to go to BYU. She took me to her apartment and let me help her set up house. Do you know how cool it is for a 12 year old girl to be in a college apartment?
So Cool!
When Val met her husband, they were never too busy to take us to a movie or to ice cream.
At Bass Lake (our annual Garlock family vacation) she would make up songs and dances for us younger girls. One of her songs is a classic and has not only had verses added to it, but has been taught to younger generations.
Now Valerie is a beautiful, patient and kind mom. I got to watch her and her husband Alan fall in love and have never seen anything less than that between them.
Sorry I haven't recognized you as a Garlock Girl Val, but know that I love and respect you more than my stupid blog lets on!

PS I know some of you may be confused. My maiden name is Claybaugh. Since my mom was an only girl, everyone else was a Garlock except our family. I love my Claybaugh name, but I'm still half Garlock!

Gma Marilynn's Birthday Party

This actually happened about a month ago, but it was the weekend before we left for London, so I just haven't gotten around to posting about it.
My Gpa Jerry threw this amazing party for his blushing bride's 80th birthday. (And when I say "Gpa Jerry" I mean he was the "founder of the feast" but as it goes in this family, the women really put their hearts into the details of pulling this off).
Gma Marilynn is my mom's mom. She had 5 children, 4 boys and my mom. My heart is full and my eyes are watery as I think of her and how to describe the woman, grandma, mother and wife that she is. She is STRONG, SMART, completely SELFLESS and DEDICATED. She truly is GRAND.
Since most of the family lives in Southern California, we were so grateful they were willing to travel and meet us (a little more than half way) in St. George.
We got in Friday afternoon and swam with cousins
Since Addie doesn't have any girl cousins, she LOVES to get together with MY cousins and their daughters. Haven is all girl and Addie adores her.

We had Pizza and Cafe Rio at the pool for dinner. Then we headed to The Tuachan, one of our favorite theatres, to see Annie! (a family favorite)

Reese is another favorite girl. Look at these cute babies!

Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast and a beautiful program for Grandma. I want to be just like her when I grow up!

The 3 generations

Most of the original Garlock Girls. There are 7 of us, 6 of which were there, we just took the picture after Amber Jo left (boo) and Cyndi was excused for being 8 months pregnant and in Mississippi (excused, but missed!)

Happy Birthday Gram!

For "Pete"

Do you know I'm talking to you?

In my jet lagged stupor late last night, I remembered something....
...John's employee "Pete" that I told you about in my last post told me that he reads my blog.

Since the rest of the story was so long, I left out unimportant details. One of them is that John had asked me not to use his employees real names. They are so valuable to him and his business and since my blog isn't private, he doesn't want their names to get out. He's scared of losing them!! So I used fake names. Sorry P! I didn't forget you already.

These are two stellar guys!

Even though you can't know their real names, you can know that they were two of the most polite and patient guys I've ever met. They hung with us through loooong car rides, interesting boat rides, some pretty scary moments. I would even ask them "Aren't you bored?" or "Isn't this lame?" But they still never complained!

Even though I made our time in the Philippines sound awful, I really enjoyed the beauty of the country and the people. Not one person was ever less than nice to me. Even when I thought I was being kidnapped, no one was ever mean or even rude.

And, YES!! We are still going back to spend a month there (and, yes, you are still coming Nicole)