Not A Day Goes By

Yesterday I was driving in the car and I put on one of my old Lonestar CD's. I haven't listened to it in forever! Mostly because Matt doesn't like country music. One of my favorite songs ("Not A Day Goes By") came on and it brought me back about seven years. Matt was on his mission and as I was leaving an IWA (Institute Women's Association) sleepover, this song came on the radio. I had never paid close attention to the lyrics before, but at that particular moment, I heard the words for the first time and I began to cry. It made me think of Matt (especially the chorus).

Got a picture of you, I carry in my heart

Close my eyes to see it, when the world gets dark

Got a memory of you, I carry in my soul

I wrap it close around me, when the nights get cold

If you asked me how I'm doing, I'd say just fine

But the truth is, baby, if you could read my mind

Not a day goes by, that I don't think of you

After all this time, you're still with me it's true

Somehow you remain, locked so deep inside

Baby, baby, oh, baby, not a day goes by

I still wait for the phone, in the middle of the night

Thinking you might call me, if your dreams don't turn out right

And it still amazes me, that I lie here in the dark

Wishing you were next to me, with your head against my heart

If you asked me how I'm doing, I'd say just fine

But the truth is, baby, if you could read my mind

Not a day goes by, that I don't think of you

After all this time, you're still with me it's true

Somehow you remain, locked so deep inside

Baby, baby, oh, baby, not a day goes by

Minutes turn to hours, and the hours to days

Seems it's been forever, that I've felt this way

Not a day goes by, that I don't think of you

After all this time, you're still with me it's true

Somehow you remain, locked so deep inside

Baby, baby, oh, baby, not a day goes by

It wasn't until that moment, hearing that song, that I realized I had deeper feelings for Matt than just our friendship. Matt and I met in high school and became good friends before his mission. I wrote him the entire two years, but it wasn't until those last six months that something changed for the both of us. I started to realize how important he was to me and how much I cared for him. He also started realizing something had changed when he got a package from both me and his girlfriend on the same day, and he was more excited to open mine than hers. I found myself thinking of him more and more as the countdown began for him to return home. Not a day went by without my thoughts turning to him, and wondering about the possibilities for a future. Now, many years later, I love that whenever I hear this song I think of Matt and that first moment when I wondered if he could be more than a friend.

Radio Interview

Yesterday afternoon was my first radio interview. In fact, it was my first time on the radio. Ever. It turned into quite a chaotic afternoon, but thankfully everything worked out! My interview was scheduled for 4:00pm. Since I was calling into the station, I obviously couldn't have Kalianna pulling on my legs and trying to grab the phone away from me (as she often does these days). So I made arrangements with a neighbor to drop her off a little before 4:00 so I could have a quiet house and concentrate on my interview. I put Kalianna down for her nap as usual, but the little stinker refused to sleep. I could hear her talking and playing in her bed for over an hour! She hasn't done that in a really long time! Normally she takes really good naps! So just when I was about to give up and go in to get her, she fell asleep. Awesome.

4:00 started creeping around the corner and she was still asleep. I thought this was awesome. She will just sleep through my interview, no big deal. I text my friend and told her I wouldn't need to drop her off after all. 3:52pm Kalianna wakes up. Great. At this point, it's too late to rush her to my neighbor's house. Plus if I pulled her straight from sleeping and ditched her somewhere, she probably would have just screamed the whole time. So I scooped her up, ran down to the basement, (grabbing a brownie and her sippy cup on the way) and stuck her in front of a movie. I turned on Winnie the Pooh, handed her the brownie, kissed her on the cheek and said, "Mommy will be right back." Then I booked it up the stairs (shutting the gate behind me so she couldn't come find me and interrupt the interview) and called in to the station with 42 seconds to spare. My interviewer was afraid I wasn't going to make it! So I sat down, took a deep breath, and showtime!

It was crazy, but I had a lot of fun! And people told me I didn't sound breathless on the interview, so that's good. She asked some difficult questions, but I hope it all came across well and I hope it will inspire people to go pick up a copy of my book. I haven't actually listened to it myself, but I don't like hearing my own voice. So I'm not sure if I will. But you can! The station sent me a link to the interview if you would like to hear it: http://www.eckobooks.com/page/3/Ecko-House-Radio/

As the interview was nearing the end, I could hear my sweet little girl crying, as she realized I had locked her downstairs. I felt like the worst mom ever! But thankfully I had given her chocolate, so she wasn't too upset. And the second the interview was over, I came to her rescue. Maybe next time I will make sure to have an extra set of hands...just in case.

Impromptu Trip

Matt and my brother, Bryan, went snowboarding Friday night. So Ricci came up to hang out with the girls and have a Gilmore night with some friends from work. It was so fun! After snowboarding, the boys came home and Bryan and Ricci stayed the night. On Saturday we were talking about how Ricci had never been to Logan before, so we said "Let's go!" We packed a diaper bag for Kalianna and took off. Unfortunately we couldn't show Ricci how pretty the canyon is because it was super foggy that day! We first went to The Bluebird for lunch. It's tradition to go to the Bluebird whenever you're in Logan. It would be blasphemy not to go! Neither Bryan nor Ricci had ever been, so they got to enjoy their first taste of Iron ports and bluebird chicken. Super yummy!

After lunch, we took them to see the Logan temple. It was freezing outside, so we didn't stay long.

Then we took a little drive and showed Ricci our old house, a few of my old apartments and a little bit of the USU campus. It turned into a little bit of a "Princess Sisters" tour. We ate at The Bluebird and then showed her all the places where the characters go in the book. It's always fun to see the places you've read about! We had a really fun afternoon! Before we left, we had to make one last stop at the USU creamery for some yummy ice cream.

Girly Girl

Kalianna has never been much of a girly girl. She is very rough and tumble! But lately she has decided she likes girl things. It's very cute! Every day this week, she has insisted on wearing a dress. No pants. She loves necklaces or her "necks" and I gave her some old lip gloss and a makeup brush. Her ensemble is not complete for the day until she has put on her "make". And she loves wearing her boots. This little girl cracks me up! She is still the same rough and tumble personality, she is just dolled up a bit now. I think she is the perfect combination! Not super prissy and girly, but she still likes to look nice.

Cricut!

My mom recently got a Cricut and I've been able to play with it a lot lately. I love this thing! It is so much fun! And it makes my projects turn out super cute! Here are the cute cards I made for card group this last week. It would have taken me forever to make these without the Cricut!

I've also been using it to make a calendar to hang in our kitchen. Isn't it cute? I only have the first three months done so far, but I figure as long as I get the rest of them done before the actual month, it will all be good. This is definitely my new favorite toy!

For Grandma & Grandpa Carroll

They gave Kalianna this cute kitchen set for Christmas, and I've been meaning to post pictures of her playing with it so they could see. It's right at the bottom of our stairs, so this is a sight I often see when I look down:

She likes to play with it when I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner. Notice her food is spread out all over the place. She's not quite sure what to do with the food yet, but she loves taking out all the dishes and putting them back again.

Taking a break, resting on the bottom step. Playing is hard work!

Cousins!

This is Kalianna and her second cousin, Malia. Every month the Howell family gets together for a Sunday dinner, and last Sunday was it. Malia is my cousin, Steve's daughter and they are only two months apart. They were so cute together! Kalianna has played with other kids before, but she has never clicked with anyone like she did with Malia. They jumped together, played the piano together, tossed balls back and forth, etc. Not once did they fight over a toy or cry or anything. They followed each other around all night, playing the same games. I just wished they lived closer, so the girls could play more often! It was so fun, now that Kalianna is getting older, to watch her interact with Malia. She is finally getting to the age where she actually plays with other kids instead of playing next to them.