Friends, Football, Family, a Fetus, and A Sweet Idea

This past week was awesome and I didn't immortalize enough of it on film. Here's why I'm happy:

1) I got to hang out with 3 of the coolest women in the world (3 of my freshman friends from BYU).

2) I got to watch my husband and brother's flag football team beat the other flag football team and THEN watch BYU stomp on UCLA

3) I got to celebrate my 4-year-old niece's birthday party with family

4) My baby's weight became a higher number (in pounds) than the number of weeks I have remaining until she leaves my belly

and

5) My husband spoiled me with a dozen roses and a love note, thanks to a brilliant idea I had.

So here are the details of # 1,2, and 5 for those of you with a little bit more time to read on.

1) Hanging out with marvelous women: One of the things that is most important to me in my life is to stay in touch with and know how my friends and family are doing. Every time I have visited Utah, I have tried to see old college friends, and now that I live here, I get to see them with more regularity. On Tuesday, Valerie and I and our two little boys went to the park together and hung out. Her little boy, Brendan, is the only child I know who matches Isaac's enthusiasm, so Val and I have a blast watching them run around and be excited. We placed bets on which of our kids would splash in the puddles and biff it--both of our kids ended up soaked in the filthy puddles.

Then on Friday, I got to hang out with two more of my freshman friends, MaryAnn and Lindsay, and their husbands. We had the luxury of being childless at the time and I laughed so hard I cried. As Doug and I left Lindsay and Carl's house, I thanked Doug for being such a good sport as we girls took our trip down memory lane. I also remarked on how one of the great things about friendship is that we can be vulnerable--exposing our faults and imperfections--but still laugh about it with real friends. I feel like more as a result of my friends' love, even when I know I'm achieving less than my potential.

#2) Doug and Troy (my brother) are on the most intimidating flag football team at BYU. They are saturated with ex-BYU players and minor league players. Doug and two other guys on the team are the only ones who didn't play college ball. So their game Saturday morning was awesome! Doug scored the last of many touchdowns (all for our side) thanks to a great pass from Troy. What a blast.

And then BYU did this right in front of me: #5) After giving Doug several subtle hints about how nice it would be to spoiled during this pregnancy, I decided to be a little more specific.

"Doug!" I bubbled forth one afternoon last week, "Wouldn't it be awesome if you did something sweet for me to celebrate each of the last six weeks before our baby is due?"

Doug thought about it briefly and decided that sounded great. So to celebrate my pregnancy with six weeks to go, I got a dozen roses and a love note. They're both up on my kitchen counter and the roses still smell wonderful. My self-appointed job is to remind him that he should do something special for me each week and his job is to do that sweet something. So this will help make these last several weeks more fun than they might otherwise be.

President Monson always talks about how God gives us wonderful moments and memories to serve as roses in the decembers of our lives. I'm thankful for the roses.