Oh that Marti Jo...

I am a little disgusted with myself. My sister's birthday was a month ago and I am just doing her birthday post. I had very specific pictures I wanted to use for this and kept hoping they'd appear. BUT, a month later I still can't find them so I figure I'd better just move on with my life.

Marti is the oldest, and I'm the baby which means there's a 7 (I think) year gap between us but it's never stopped us from being great friends. Even when I was a little girl I wanted to go wherever she was going. Once I begged long enough for her to take me with her to the store that she caved and let me go, but for some reason didn't make me wear shoes...our car (and by car I mean the giant white cattle truck we drove) broke down and I remember walking home, groceries in hand, and barefoot. I kept telling her she had to carry me because it was her fault I wasn't wearing shoes. She never carried me, but I forgave her and we continued on as friends and have only gotten closer as we've gotten older. Marti Jo is a GOOD mama to her 4 kids, and I'm so proud of how hard she works to give her family a good home. She works so hard and sacrifices so much to make sure that all of her kids get all they need (even when they clearly don't understand or appreciate the sacrifices she's made.) She also has the softest heart, and is always making something, or cooking something for somebody. She's the first person to offer help to anyone that might need it.


Marti and I have been through a lot of happy and sad times together. She's one of the few people that I can call any time night or day (whether it's to share great news, or to cry my eyes out) and know that she'll always be there to listen to me. I'm so grateful to have her as a sister and a friend. Sure do love you Mardith Jo Bennett Winn!!! Happy (super late) Birthday!!!

Days of our lives...

Some days are just meant to be. Yesterday started out perfectly with the sound of my husband screaming a high pitched scream when I poured ice cold water on him while he was in the shower. Work went smoothly with no major disasters, and mutual was a success with none of my young women arguing or making something into some sort of absurd competition. Best of all, for dinner I had macaroni with tomato juice that I bottled myself (with the help of my mom and dad)and for dessert had rainbow sherbet. Yes, yesterday was one of those days that was just meant to be. Today? Today I somehow convinced myself that it was possible to keep sleeping after my alarm went off and just wait for Joe's alarm to wake me up. Then when Joe's alarm did go off (a half hour before I should be at work) I was able to convince myself that I could sleep until his snooze went off. Once I was completely awake I remembered that I had a client coming into the office at 8:00 a.m. With the help of my husband, I miraculously made it into the office by 8:04 a.m. only to discover that instead of one client waiting to meet with my attorney, I had two. One client was supposed to be here to prepare for his arbitration that started at 9:00 a.m. but I couldn't figure out why the other client was here. Well, turns out that my sweet client and her husband drove up from PROVO because the letter I mailed her regarding her mediation on October 19th, told her that she should come to the office TODAY to prepare for it. Really? Really. She pulled out the letter and showed me. Directly underneath the wrong information was my signature. I begged for forgiveness, got that situation solved and moved on to continue my work day. Next I had to hand write a few things for one of our clients. First time, I wrote it wrong. No big deal, I just started over. FOUR TIMES LATER, after making the same mistake each time, I finally got it right. It's barely noon. Can I get a re-do?

Happy Birthday Joseph John!

Today is Joe's 32nd birthday. I thought it would be so easy to write a quick little post about how great Joe is, but I can't find the words to express how great he really is. There are just so many things I love about him, the best thing to do is probably make a list. A few things I love about Joe are:
1. How he has to google every new thing he hears about, or sees on TV.
2. How he tolerates my madness, and is always game for my last minute plans.
3. He wears bow ties to church 98% of the time.
4. How he FOUGHT getting a dog, then turned into a bigger dog lover than I am.
5. How diligent he is about paying all of our bills on time.(This is very helpful for me, as I am the COMPLETE opposite. Automatic withdrawals are my best friend.)
6. The fact that he uses words or phrases that only 80 year olds use.
7. How much he loves me. Ahh...sweet.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather and wasn't quite up to planning a birthday extravaganza; when I apologized to Joe for having a lame birthday planned all he said was "You feeling better is the best present I could have." Oooh, so cute, right? That's my Joe, always the nice one. I should take lessons. He really is the best, and deserves the best birthday ever. (Even if I didn't plan one for him.)

Happy birth moment Joseph! Love you! (If you don't watch the office, you won't get it.)

Karma Mom's the birthday girl!

My mom celebrated a rather important birthday last Saturday, but I had some struggles with my blog posting, and then became deathly ill (which is an exaggeration but a very tragic story all the same) so this post is a little late. (I'm awfully sorry Mom.)

I believe I've mentioned this before, but Karm is basically just amazing. I don't know anyone I'd rather be like than my mom. She's who I call for basically anything I need, or to share a funny story with, or to call and complain about work, etc. One time I asked Joe if he worried what I'd be like when we get older and he said no, because I'm already basically my mom. If only that were true...(For the record, just because your mom was incredibly disciplined about housework and staying physically fit doesn't mean you will be. True story.)

My mom is truly just the best mom there is. I'm sure plenty of people say that but I'm totally serious. It just doesn't get better than Karma Jo.
Sure do love you mama, happy **th birthday!!!

To Kristin, with love...

This post is for my dear friend Kristin. It's basically a few random things about me that don't mean much to anybody.

I went on a first date with a boy that took me to Temple Square to make wishes in the fountain for each year of my life. (Making 25 wishes all together.) About an hour in to the date my only wish was to be home.

When I was 17 (and 40 pounds heavier) it was not uncommon for me to buy a box of donuts and eat the whole thing within an hour or so. I would then wash it down with 32 ounces of soda.

I have used the "Oh I must have bad reception" excuse to hang up on a boy, and never call back. (I know it sounds awful but a girl can only take so many awkward conversations before she snaps.)

I once threw buckets of rotten fruit at a neighbor girl that I didn't want to play with. (Ash knows who I'm talking about. J-j-j-junkson.)

One time I spent the afternoon telling my brand new mission companion awful scary stories about skin-walkers (wikipedia them if you're not familiar) and then waited until we had blown out our candles (no electricity at the time) and had gone to bed. I waited until I knew she was almost asleep, crawled silently across the floor, grabbed her shoulder and whispered her name. It worked, she was scared.

Every once in awhile I will rearrange things in an attorney's office at work. I've stacked chairs, moved books to different shelves, things like that. She is CONVINCED that they are hate crimes, and that someone is trying to "send her a message." I love it.

To Kristin, I love you, here's a post.

Stevie Boy's big day!

Steven Kade Bennett has a birthday tomorrow, but I'll be on the road so I thought I'd better send some love tonight. My youngest memories with Steve aren't always the best (mostly I remember things like locking him downstairs when he would babysit me, or him chasing me with chairs and other heavy objects, or him giving me my one and only bloody nose) but as the years passed by and I was old enough to not be an embarrasment, we became good friends. I sure do love my Stevie Boy. He is so knowledgable about so many things and is my go to guy when it comes to purchasing anything that's used outdoors. He can always convince me to do ridiculous things like climbing multiple fences, and hiking dangerous hills with fishing poles in hand, only to go fly fishing in FREEZING COLD rivers with rushing water up to my waist. He's a good boy, that Sam. He's a great dad and has become quite a softie (which is a miracle of all miracles) with his babies and the rest of us too. Happy Birthday Viejito! You look more like dad every day! :)

Is honesty TRULY the best policy?

I am not a naturally nice person. Those that know me well can tell you that it is a constant battle for me to keep myself from saying something that I proably won't, but should regret later. One thing that does come easily to me is telling the truth. Something I've learned is that sometimes nice and truth don't mix. I tried mixing them and this was the end result:

Coworker: I never feel a very warm welcome when I come downstairs to the lit (litigation) department.
Me: Oh that's too bad.
What I'm really thinking: Probably because you're an awful human being.

Coworker: No I'm serious. I don't feel like anybody really cares for me on this floor.
Me: Oh I'm sure that's not true.
What I'm really thinking: If you weren't such a bad person people might like you more.

Coworker: No really, I'm not kidding. Tell me Kacey, do you consider me a friend?
Me: (using what I consider to be superhuman levels of restraint at this point)Sure.
What I'm really thinking: NOOOO!

Coworker: I'm not joking around. If you were at home telling a story to your husband that involved me would you call me your friend?
Me: Probably not.
What I'm really thinking: No. Not only would I not call you my friend, I would probably use lots of descriptive and possibly inappropriate words to explain how awful I feel you truly are.

Coworker: See now that offends me. It hurts my feelings that you wouldn't consider me a friend and it bothers me even more because I don't think you're alone in the way you feel.
Me: Oh my opinion doesn't matter, and I'm sure I'm alone.
What I'm really thinking: I'm not alone. I checked.

Coworker: No, I don't think you are. I've noticed that I am just not well received by this department.
Me: I guess you probably don't want to come around much then.
What I'm really thinking: Please don't come back into my office ever again.

I really did try to be polite, but something inside of me HAS to tell the truth. Please take note that I while I'm willing to attempt kindness, honestly always wins out with me. If you remember this simple fact, you might help both of us avoid an awkward conversation.