Slacker, Hail and Celebrations

Wow, I am such a total slacker. I have not written in way too long.  So, here is a little bit of a catch you up on the Clayton's!

Not my picture, but a good representation of the storm

Following our wonderful Anniversary on the 8th, the kids and I took a trip. In the afternoon of June 9th, the kids and I hopped in the car and drove up to Wichita. an hour out of town, we get a friendly call from our friends we would be staying the night with "There is a tornado warning expected to hit our area in about 15 minutes." Silly me, I continue driving. I pull into Wichita KS and I hit a little bit of drizzile. It starts to pick up pretty badly, so I pulled off the road to the gas station off the highway. As I pulled in under the awning the hail started pounding down. I had Jaicie screaming in the backseat, scared to death that a tornado was going to kill us all, Collin laughing in the middle row, thinking the hail was hilarious, Felicity sitting calmly stareing out the window, and me on the phone with Justin trying to stay calm and figure out what exactly I should be doing.  Luckily, we were able to wait out the hail, escape without a tornado touch down and finish the 15 minutes to our friends house. We spent the night with our good friends the Brobergs (whom I do not get to see nearly often enough).

Friday morning, June 10, the kids and I piled into the car again, by 8am this time, and we drove from Wichita KS to Loveland CO. It would have been a rather excellent trip were it not for the fact that Collin kept me up the WHOLE night. So I was horribly exhausted. I drank too much caffiene, ate too much sugar and then drank one of those awful 5 hour energy drinks just to get me the last 4 hours. I felt like throwing up the entire drive and the last little while was by far the worst. Luckily, we made it safe and in one piece and without actually falling asleep at any point in the drive. Loveland, in case you don't know is a small city about an hour north of Denver. It is also home to my sister and her family. I was so happy to get to spend nearly a FULL week with them and loved every minute of it! My sister is someone I don't spend enough time with too, and it was a much needed visit.

While there, I got to see my sisters awesome new shop that she and her friend just opened, called Cherry Lime Boutique. It is the cutest little store. It has a bunch of different vendors in it, and they sell the cutest stuff.  If you are ever in the area, you definitely need to check them out. I also got to experience her other business, Party in My Kitchen. So I know I have blogged about it before, but I have to really tell you about this business. She is working on building a consultant group all around the nation. It works similar to a tupperware party, where the consultant comes in to a Host's home and together the host, their friends (up to 4 friends) and the consultant put together 20 meals for each of the families. They are stored mostly in freezer baggies, but some in casserole dishes and fit perfectly on a shelf in your freezer. It is the most genius thing I have ever seen. It was so much fun putting the meals together (sadly, for other people). I only wish I didn't live so far away and could have brought a freezer full of food home for me too!  Anyway, she is looking at getting consultants that want to learn the process and make money, and meet new people and all the fun stuff. Everyone leaves the party with food for the month. So it isn't like you are trying to sell anything. I am still trying to figure out if I have the time to fit it into my schedule to be a consultant--Because I loved it!  Anyway, if you are interested in being a consultant, go to the website and contact her! She'd love to talk to you more about it!

I also got to just spend time with my sister and her kids. It was wonderful. Now I have to figure out how to do the same with the rest of our families! :)

Sadly, our trip did have to come to an end. On June 16, the kids and I packed the car back and headed out. We made the drive from Loveland CO to Wichita KS and stayed the night again with our friends the Brobergs. We got to hang out a little longer in the morning. BUt about 10:00 we made our way out drove the last 3 hours home.

It was a wonderful trip and I am so glad that I took it, even if it meant being in the a car alone with my 3 kids for a total of 24 hours. My total mileage for the trip was 1611 miles. That means that I drove 1600 miles with my children and no one to help me drive! GO ME! :) It was great though and maybe next summer I can do it again! 

Since then we have had lots to celebrate. Justin had a birthday, he is now 31. Felicity turned 6. But the biggest of all celebrations was last Thursday night. We went out to Freddy's Frozen Custard (Yummy) and celebrated the completion of Justin's first year of Residency. AS of that point, he was half way through his medical training. 5 years down, 5 years to go (including fellowship)  It was quite a milestone for me...Halfway done...its all downhill from here right, an easy coast...hahaha, i know i know...There are a lot of hills ahead. But Justin is now officially an Orthopedic Surgery resident. No more butt surgery or any of the other stuff he didn't enjoy last year. On to 4 years of just orthopedics. Not so excited about Night Float this month, but hey, we will be strong. Plus i have like 2 weeks with Family visiting! 

Oh yeah, Jaicie turns 8 on July 14, and on July 16, 2011, at 10:00am, she is getting baptized a member of our church. All our welcome, all our invited. Just let me know if you are coming. She is so excited and so grown up. She also gets to have her ears pierced on July 12. Yay! :)  


That is about all the catching up I can do right now. The post is a book after all.