Summer!

I've been neglecting this blog again, and for that I'm sorry. I've just been so distracted by... well... life.

I've started working out a few times a week at a beautiful new women's gym just a few minutes from my house (score!), plus a couple times a week here at home. I love this gym; it's such a great fit for me. Thanks to my friend Alison for introducing it to me!

My niece/goddaughter has also been in town for the past month, and she's been staying with us the majority of the time. (The rest of the time she stays with Grandma and Grandpa.) Em and I enjoy having her here. It's nice having someone to play Mario Kart with and to accompany Em outside when I have other stuff to attend to! And she's just a fun person to be around, period. :-)

Now I'm also preparing for my sister's arrival on Thursday... and Friday is my parents' 49th(!) wedding anniversary. Then, of course, Saturday is the 4th of July (which we'll be celebrating at my beloved alma mater, USD)... and we have a birthday party to attend on Sunday. We might have a dinner party to attend next Tuesday... and I also want to sign us up for a Family Campout that the City is hosting on the weekend of the 18th. I'm also hoping to get us back to Legoland at the end of July, because Em *loved* the water area and we just didn't have enough time there when we went a couple weeks ago. We need to go on the rides we missed, check out the really cool-looking Aquarium, and spend a nice chunk of time in the water (this time with bathing suits!). And then, we have a few of our nieces and nephews on the Lawless side coming to stay with us the first weekend of August. They'll be in town for a friend's wedding, and we're really looking forward to seeing them all. We're especially eager to meet and see baby Anna. I'm so glad I'll be able to get a new baby fix!! ;-) And THEN, of course, Stephen is going to visit his family in Oklahoma the second week of August. Actually, everyone will be there except for me and the girls; it's going to be a Lawless reunion. I'm sad we won't be able to attend. :-( Hopefully, Stephen, the girls and I will be able to go out there together in a couple years (perhaps spring of 2011?). We won't be able to go next year because we'll have too much going on (and therefore too much expense!): my parents' 50th anniversary (next July)... and our 10th (next October)!

So anyway, as you can see, we've got a lot going on, just like we do every summer. I really wish I could be disciplined and post updates every time something significant happens. Instead, though, I envision a very lengthy all-in-one post in August, detailing all of our summer adventures. I guess it's better than nothing.

I also want to take this opportunity to express my profound sadness over Michael Jackson's tragic and untimely death. I hate that he had to suffer such horrendous abuse at the hands of his father. I hate that he was such a pained soul who had to endure, in Lisa Marie Presley's words, the "awful vampires and leeches". I hate that in life, he was so insecure that he never felt the immense love so many of us had for him. I've always loved him, his music, his talent and his genius. Whenever I see a clip of him dancing on TV, I stop dead in my tracks and watch in awe. No one will ever match his talent. He's a legend, he's one-of-a-kind, and I will forever miss him.