the krauses are coming! the krauses are coming!

so last night we got to hang out with josh and heidi, which we haven't done since oct 1, 2005. so it was really fun!!!! they came over for dinner with the knoxes (mmmm carne asada!) and then we hung out. the boys smoked cigars out on the porch and us girls talked inside where it wasnt so stinky. then we all went to universal citywalk and walked around. after trying ever so unsuccessfully to get into several clubs (josh was wearing shorts - a problem... josh was wearing flip flops -also a problem...) we wound up at bb kings blues club outside on the patio. the dj was hot (and by that i mean spinning great tracks, and spinning them well, not so much attractive) and heidi made new friends... we danced and talked and generally had ourselves a grnad old time.

we got home super late and slept in... this was our first saturday without the beach in a looong time! but we are going on wednesday for the fourth so it will even out.

i went to the library and we watched west wing and what not to wear. possibly one of the best days in a looong time.

tonight is gonna be fun!!!!!

!m!

porto's is another way to say happiness

porto's is another way to see happiness for three main reasons: potato balls, meat pies, and guava cheese pastries. i took myself there after the doctor because i was starving - it was annual physical time and all of the bloodwork is done fasting. so i skipped breakfast, which at one point would have been completely normal but now is like torture.

last night was bible study and we saw the dronens. it has only been a couple weeks since we saw them last but christina looks more pregnant now for sure. which is super exciting. we started planning the baby shower. i would just like to say it is going to be the best shower ever. thats all.

we get to see josh and heidi tonight for the first time since we moved to la. and we used to live across the hall from them and see them all the time. so it is exciting. they are staying with the knoxes so the 6 of us are hanging out. yay!

tomorrow is going to be the coolest day - the girls are doing something really crazy - i will post pictures... keep checking back. (good teaser huh?)

!m!

it's a girl!

anna made it home safe. i know you all were worried sick. it was back to work for me - yesterday and today were pretty typical days. i am working on mailing grades home and updating all the transcripts. soon i will need to venture down into one of the garages and start cleaning out old records. that will be fun. actually i mean dirty and gross and sweaty. maybe i will get hazard pay.

kayla and ricky got the results from the ultrasound today - they are having a girl! hurrah! kayla is soooo happy. so i am too.

!m!

two more cool things

this bell tower was pretty cool looking. it was called the tower of babel... i mean the tower of hope. but it was pretty in the sunshine. the other pretty thing was eduardo verastegui, one of the three amigos - the hip new (to america) directors from mexico - all the rage at this past academy awards. i didnt take any pictures of him there since he was being interviewed on stage by bobby senior and that would have been kinda awkward but i found a photo online. he has a new movie coming out, bella, and i think he, i mean it, looks really good.

crystal cathedral = creepy cathedral

there are a lot of really cool things about the crystal cathedral. take for example, the huge organ behind us. also all of the natural light that somehow compelled me to wear my sunglasses inside. also the wall that is actually a door that opens perfectly timed to music to display the waterfall outside that rises and falls with the beat of the hymns... oh wait. i think thats creepy. the womens bathroom was one of the nicest ive ever seen, pausing anna and i to revert to our high school ways and take bathroom pictures. you wont find them posted on this particular blog. the thing that makes that ok is we werent the only ones.

we did take some pictures of the sculptures on the church campus. jesus is creepy in every single one of them. i am gonna post the big picture and the up close of a couple. i think you will see what i mean.

my one question is this. if you went to this church because you had seen the hour of power on tv (set your tivo for july 15, we are in the audience) and had never been to church before i think you would run screaming from the alien invader baby jesus. thats all i am saying.

sonicflood was performing a song so we got to hang out with justin after. we went to the block (grove-ish) and walked around, did some shopping, ate lunch...

after a really long drive back (immigration rally - BAH!) anna and i went to my dads favorite grocery store vallarta. we got carne asada and asparagus (2 vs 1 jeremy lost that battle) and strawberries and came home and made the best dinner ever. we played cards (learned two new games) and we were all practically falling asleep in our berries and cream so we hit the hay.

the good news is someone prayed for us today.

!m!

one piece of advice: wear sunscreen

we actually did load up on the sunscreen. i still burnt on my chest, anna on her back, jeremy on his nose, and we all reapplied. what is the deal? al and lottie and arianna met us out there... we had a nice relaxing day. we didnt see anyone get busted for alcohol but there were three different incidents involving the emergency teams: firetrucks, lifeguard boats, ambulances... etc. i was perfectly happy to stay on my safe little balnket.

after the beach, anna and i drove out to pasadena and did some shopping. we had several encounters with some incredibly rude people and one girl who needed to look at a full length mirror from behind but we managed to find some great deals on really cute clothes.

came home and made burgers and NOT corn on the cob. grrr. the salad was good though. and jeremy bought ice cream.

all in all, great day.

!m!

she is here!

after work last night we drove out to santa clarita to eat dinner and hang out with ashlyn, jeremy's ex-co-worker. we went to olive garden (where we always go with her) and had a great time. we left her place and went straight to the airport to pick up anna. on the ay there, she calls and says... i ran into steve knox and his ride didnt show up and he left his cell phone in kansas so can we give him a ride home?

weird. how often do you run into people you know at the airport, especially lax? although i do see people i know rather often (aunt, uncle cousin in atlanta with jeremy on the way to our honeymoon, senior prom date on the way to florida with my parents and brothers, etc), at lax you really have a better chance of seeing someone famous than someone you actually know. anyways we took him home then went to hollywood billiards with people from my work to celebrate the school year's end. even though i still work year round, i really enjoy when the kids and teachers and counselors arent there. it is really quiet, there is always good parking, and we get to leave early.

anna and i played darts. overall she definitely beat me but points wise, i won two out of three games. actually we both kinda suck.

jessie - this is my shirt i was telling you about...

!m!

Stress Free

graduation is over. we had to run around like little maiacs because the guy who was supposed to help us out with the chairs and canopies didnt get to work until 8:30 and graduation started at 9 so we got every single chair and bench from campus and set them up. kinda hodgepodgy but at least we had seats. he did wind up bringing the canopy so that was good. the food was good and the speeches were really inspiring.

this picture is really funny. the woman to my right is theresa, the principal and the other woman is karla, the assistant principal. we have so much fun!

this is me with cara and kayla (in the middle). only four more days until we find out if kayla's "peanut" is a boy or girl. she is hoping for a girl and her husband ricky wants a boy and i just want a new baby to play with...

i am SO glad graduation is completed, finito, over with. everyone had nice things to say but there are so many things i wish had been done differently. if i am still helping or in charge next year, i will know what i want to do differently.

now i just have to cross my fingers that the kids get their diplomas as promised. oh yeah i am in charge of that too. does the responsibility never end around here?!?!?!? sheesh.

HELLO! My Name Is...

so in elementary school i knew this guy named tim. he moved, but the we found each other on facebook and are friends again. great huh? well he sent me this picture and emily and i cannot stop laughing about it. i wish i was the one that thought of it.

the princess bride is definitely one of the best movies ever. because after all, if you havent got your health, you havent got anything.

!m!

Check

exit IEPs completed: check
graduation programs: check
gifts for graduates - purchased: check
wrapped: check
barricades picked up: check
cakes ordered: check
laundry: check check check (out of quarters!!!!!)
clean sheets and towels for anna: check
sleep: uncheck

!m!

good bye to you, good bye to everything that i knew

well... sunday was father's day. jeremy made breakfast for jeff and the three of us kids went to give him breakfast in bed. he had been awake but had fallen back asleep so when jeremy poked him he jumped like three feet in the air. it was pretty funny. he opened his presents and ate, then jeremy and i said good bye to him and jessie. we had to be at church early because we were directing and they had to go to the airport so they didnt come to church too.

after church, we ate at chipotle, jeremy's favorite fast food place (russ invited us for a fundraiser). we came home and relaxed. we started watching marie antoinette but i fell asleep. so i moved from the couch to the bed and could not fall back asleep. grr. we watched the will smith marathon on tbs - men in black, then hitch. both of those are SO funny!

back to work today... the street closure motion is final, i am halfway done with graduation programs, the volunteers are lined up (thanks emily), the robes and hats are at the dry cleaners, i have the money to go buy the gifts. things are really coming together for graduation.

YAY!

!m!

dolphin attack!

ok so they didnt actually attack but the boys got really close to them at zuma beach... like mere feet away.

you can only kinda see them in this picture... but there was about 8 of them swimming right in front of lifeguard station 3 (thats our spot) back and forth.

the boys went boogie boarding and the girls mostly suntanned. jessie did venture into the water but to me cold salty water just holds no appeal. give me a hot tub any day (can i get an amen - heather? paige? jessie? random woman that thinks andrew is my son?) dan, his sister and his wife bridget and of course al and lottie joined the four of us kocis for the day. we had a fabulous time. we played volleyball - i am sorry to say that the boys beat the girls. anna - not gonna happen this saturday huh?

after the beach jessie and i showered and headed to Xi while the boys went with al and ryan allen to the pistol range. jessie and i met up with lottie and chantal and i found the cutest dress for graduation on friday!!! hurrah! we wore our new matchie dresses. the cool thing is #1 we were also matchie skin matchie matchie pink pink and #2 i left the tag on my dress that has the size on it. so everyone in Xi and starbucks knows what size i wear.

everyone came over for a bbq and hung out. kevin and nikki, dan and bridget, al and lottie, ryan and chantal, and us. a good time was had by all.

aftetr everyone left we played one last game of pitch. despite going set twice (and perhaps because jessie is a CHEATER) jeff and jessie won out in the series. i demand a rematch!

!m!

friday after working in the morning, jeremy and i took jeff and jessie on the subway to pasadena.

when we were getting on the train at the lankershim station, we got to be in an LA Go Metro commercial. pretty greaking cool huh? so if you watch whatever channel they play those on... you might see us. i have high hopes for my television career now that i can add that to my resume.

we ate lunch and shopped... yay h&m!!! jessie and i got some really good stuff. we took the train back to hollywood and highland and shopped some more. we got ice cream at coldstone and the lady doing the comes was really mean! she wouldnt let me order a kid's size because i wasnt 12 or under. so i just asked if i could pay for the regular size and only get a kid size amount and she almost wouldnt let me do that. jerkface. we looked at the hollywood sign from the bridge and walked around the shopping center and graumans chinese theater. jeff and jessie had been there on thursday so we didnt spend a ton of time doing the touristy thing. we got back on the subway for the short trip home. after a short regrouping, we headed back out to cpk for dinner. the waiter asked if i was on tv and i just laughed. but now that i think about it, i should have asked if he had seen the new metro commercial.

then it was pitch time (series score 2-1) and beddie bye...

had to rest up for beach day!

!m!

still aggravated!

last night after work jeff, jessie, jeremy and i (which one of these is not like the other ones?) went to sharky's YUM for dinner. we went back to our house and played part of a game of aggravation which i was losing, but thankfully bible study people started showing up so we paused. the game board got shifted so we will have to start over. so ididnt offically lose. whew!

after studying jude (interesting guy) we hung out with the peoples for a while then everyone left because of work the next day and all. sheesh. we stayed up late playing pitch. jeff and jessie - 1, jeremy and meaghan - 1, rematch/tie breaker tonight. i kept getting my sixes and sevens confused (i know, i know) but it is all good. jessie refused to let me cut the deck (cheater!)

half day of work today (YAY) then we are headed to pasadena...

!m!

they are finally here!

jeff and jessie's flight was delayed an hour but they finally arrived last night. we played aggravation on our handmade by grandpa koci board. i had never played before but the rules were a lot like sorry so i caught on pretty quick. jessie won because she cheated, jeff came in second, and i barely beat jeremy. anyone for a rematch?

8 more days until graduation and anna gets here!

7 more days until i find out if the street closure motion came through...

6 more days until my second to last day of ieps unitl july!!! :)

5 more days until our awards ceremony at school...

4 more days until the monday blues (somebody has a case of the mondays) :(

3 more days until we get to see the crystal cathedral and justin play with sonicflood again!

2 more days until we get to the beach again!!!

1 more day until jessie and i get to go shopping!

0 more days until i have to get back to work (oh thats right NOW)

!m!

Amazing... You Need to Try This!

so for christmas jeremy got me, among many other things because he spoils me rotten, a gift certificate. this was no ordinary gift certificate... no this was a massgae gift certificate. and not just any massage gift certificate... one where they come to your house whenever you want so you dont have to fight traffic and find parking etc.

last night, tania came over for a hour. she did the whole kit and caboodle - neck, shoulders, back, legs, arms hands, face... wow! nothing like it!

shameless plug: gomassage.com they are in several states and i think they have a referral program so mention my name. :)

very positive experience.

jeff and jessie get here tomorrow! yay!

then they leave on sunday and there is only fice days until graduation (graduation=last stressful thing i have to do at work) and anna gets here! the next two weeks are going to be peachy!

!m!

Little Ethiopia

jeremy and i directed service sunday morning. we had a few close calls ( you preach i dont have anything prepared, no you can man i really dont either, id really rather not, well i got nothing, ok ill do it) but the message was actually really good. dana and sabrina sang and thats one of my favorite combos (yes that is sabrina sloan of american idol fame thank you very much).

after church we went to lunch with al and lottie ( you guys made the blog twice in one weekend - woo hoo!) they took us to nyala, an ethiopian place in little ethopia of all places. the food was served on a big plate in little piles and looked alot like baby food. you scoop it with the spongy bread stuff. a little odd looking, but tasted very good.
me: you know who isnt eating ethiopian food today?
jeremy: who?
me: paris hilton
al: yeah she is prolly asking please sir may i have another bologna sandwich?

after lunch, we went to target and got a new dvd player to replace the one that broke. jeremy set it up when we got home then worked on fixing his laptop that paddy broke. seriously could anything else that we have break? the one thing that we have that is fully covered under warranty is our car, and it runs the best (of course).

more xbox, some seinfeld, bed. life was great until somehow it became monday morning. bah!

!m!

Life's Beachin'

saturday we headed out to the beach with al and lottie. it was the perfect beach day. not too hot, not too cold, the sun was shining, the waves were crashing. aahhhhh. i should have reapplied my sunscreen but you live and learn. the best part of the day was as follows:

al: you know who isnt at the beach today?
me: who?
al: paris hilton.

yep, because she is back in jail where she belongs. hah.

we saw dolphins and i heard some guys talking about a baby seal but i never saw it. we did see several people get busted for alcohol (not fake busted like us - cmon man we were with our bible study and kids - do you really think we would be that stupid to bring alochol to an alcohol free beach). one guy got to take his cooler back to his car but he and his buddy both got tickets. another guy got a whole case of beer taken away. i guess the lifeguards had run out in the break room.

saturday night i actually felt like eating fish (doesnt happen too often so when it does jeremy knows to take advantage). he grilled tilapia outside and it was yummy. then we played xbox. :)

I Just Want to Celebrate

friday night we were invited to not one, not two, but three different events. we were able to make it to two of them and we had tons of fun.
first, we headed out to northridge to surprise kayla for her birthday. the guy who was supposed to unlock the door for us was over an hour late, so jeremy and i hung out in the hall with cara and her son nick. finally we got in a nd got set up. ricky and kayla came home and we yelled surprise and she said she knew something was up all day. so the surprise wasnt that good. but it was still fun to play along. ceci and javier and the babies were there. baby javi is too cute! i couldnt hold him because of the whole sinus infection thing, but i could look at him. at the end of the night valerie gave me a big hug and kiss so that kinda made up for it.

we left there and headed to the shivelys to hang out with her mom and step dad. he was the original marlboro man. but he doesnt smoke marlboro which is kinda funny. they are both cool people - kims mom and i watched american idol finale last year so we have a deep and abiding bond. some girls from in his presence were there; we had met them at her birthday party a couple weeks ago. we had wine and cheese and sherry and just relaxed. it was very nice.

early to bed means earlier to get to the beach!

!m!

another celebrity sighting?????

well, sinus infection, nasty sounding cough, some scary looking eye rash (i am NOT wearing red eyeshadow!), laryngitis, etc etc etc. and all i get is a lousy z pak? are you kidding me?

but way more fun is on my way to the doctor's office i am behind a vehicle with the license plate reading MOE MNY (more money). and i would think oh hummer, beamer, merecedez, rolls, something. nope. it was a ford explorer. not even a super pimped out one. and the hand coming out of the drivers door was covered by a golfing or raquetball or something glove. maybe it belonged to oj.

home, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet home

sunday morning jeremy got up and went to his old church. jeff, jessie and i did not make it out of bed for service. instead, i cooked us breakfast and we just relaxed. when jeremy got home, we packed up all of our stuff and headed over to the hamptons for lunch and the "official" house tour, which i actually don't think we ever got. huh.



this picture of me and darci is really funny for three reasons. one is quite obvious - there is a plant coming out of the side of my head. and i am wearing brown and she is wearing black - which is opposite of the clothes we wore for the rest of the weekend. and third, we spent probably the most time together but this is the only picture i have of just the two of us.





we orderd gambinos, of course, and the boys went and picked it up. there was a HUGE black snake laying dead in the road, and darci and i deliberated for several minutes as to when it actually appeared. strange i know. we hung out in the living room, listening to the music channel on tv (well i'll be doggone) and chilling. jeremy left for a while and almost didn't make it back in time for us to leave for the airport. grandma and grandpa koci drove us to kansas city for our flight back to june gloom in la. which is ironic. because june gloom means some cloudiness in the morning and 90 degrees by the end of the day but it was gloomier than that for most of the time we were in kansas and everyone there was happy with the weather. i guess it is just what one is used to. our flights were pretty uneventful; we stopped in salt lake city and i had some hot tea... somewhere over the course of the weekend i lost my voice. i can't find it anywhere. i have looked under the bed, in my purse, in my desk drawer at work... i must have left in on the plane. or maybe the mean lady at mci took it when she took my jam that was supposedly too liquid to go on the plane. whatever.

wedding day

saturday was ryan and amys wedding. they got married in the afternoon, so we were up and about early to get to the church on time for pictures. jeremy and shane left before me and darci and the kids (and all the luggage) but mysteriously arrived later than us at the church. interesting huh. with not a single piece of jewelry or even starbucks to make amends. darci and i wound up not being needed for very many pictures so we sat around the church for a couple of hours waiting for the actual event to begin. the one fantastic thing: jeremy looks great in a tux. i guess most men do, but it helps when it is the man one is married to. thats all.

after the wedding and reception, we went back to topeka to their house with new carpet in the basement. hurrah! casey and emily came over and we ate dinner and played with the kids, taught andrew some naughty words (c-r-a-p - and that was all casey), and after a while, we went back to jeff's for beddie boo. i finished my second puzzle of the trip while we talked. we all went to bed pretty early; i was personally quite worn out from the traveling etc. and also from the strain of looking hot all day, as evidenced below. i would imagine jessie was pretty tired too.

Thomas the Tank Engine

on the way to kansas city with shane and darci and the kids, we stopped in some little town whose name is escaping me for a thomas the tank engine and friends "day out with thomas". we got to ride on a train "pulled by a giant thomas, watch movies, play with train sets, watch andrew stand in line for a jumper and a slide and not actually go on either (that was so fun!), get tatoos of the characters and get pictures taken with sir topham hat. oh and best of all slog through the mud. hurrah!

in kansas city we checked into our hotel and went to ryan's rehearsal for the wedding on saturday. afterwards, we went to the rehearsal dinner at kc masterpiece, where after much finagling, we got a koci family picture taken. yay! it was great to hang out with family and have time to catch up before all the hustle and bustle of the actual wedding day. and just for the record, i am wearing clothes. it was a strapless dress and i took off my sweater because it was hot outside. it was not so hot that i took off all my clothes as the picture may appear. just for the record.

Turkey Day

how appropos that turkey day fell on a thursday. the moment we have been waiting years for finally arrived. jeremy and shane killed a turkey. it was a jake (a young male) and they skinned that thing and froze it. jeremy even scalped it (took the beard off - ew! he left it on the kitchen counter! yuck!) i believe the delightful task of cooking the wild thing falls to darci. good luck!!!

thursday afternon we went over to grandma and grandpa kocis for lunch. eric was there too. the boys went and got pizza and we hung out. we went outside and looked at stuff in the barn and eric took me for a ride in the trekker. (aunt tam - he was a very careful driver!) we stayed there until we had to drive into topeka and get jeremys tux for the wedding and trade vehicles with shane. i got to drive grandpa koci truck home - that was fun!

thursday night we went to casa with the brinkmans for ron and dennis's birthday celebration. it was great to see everyone that we do not get to see very often. i got to sit with my sisters and my neice. us four girls had a grand old time.

there was a tv up in the corner that was just kind of on in the background but when wheel of fortune came on you guys should have seen linda go - she could win a fortune on that show! nice work!

Up, Up and Away!

we ate at roly poly for lunch, my moms new favorite place. seriously - they have eaten there everyd day since we left. ok just once but still! bryce met us and "gave" us a copy of his band's cd. check them out on myspace: www.myspace.com/thebrittlelens . wednesday afternoon, my mom drove us to topeka. when jeff got off work, he and jeremy and i went to the driving range. none of us had ever done it before, and hilarity ensued. jeff has been golfing with people from work and such so he had all the equipment; jeremy and i had to rent. i am lucky they make long ladies weight drivers. the farthest one i hit was about 100-125 yards but it bounced a lot further. jeff and jeremy were hitting them like 300+. jeremy almost hit me with a slice. i almost nailed another guy over the top of the safety net, but luckily he was somewhat self aware around us beginners. then it was off to olive garden... alfredo dipping sauce = not on my diet. but boy is it good!