dear michelle,

[editor's note: this is an email written to paul's little sister who's teaching english in the ukraine. i didn't want to re-type the info to be blog-worthy, so here it is, in its virtually unedited glory.]

dear michelle,

please oh please don't hate me. i'm so sorry i've been neglecting you for the past few weeks!!! things have been crazy around here, but that's no excuse.

i loved reading your last email. other than being sick, it sounds like you're doing great. oh, 'cept for the stinking cockroaches. ugh. seriously. ewwwwww. with my latest house-cleaning skills and motivation (or lack thereof) lately, i'm sure my kitchen is just inches away from being invaded by some nasty creature as well. good thing they can't get through the snow easily...

carson was kind of picking at his hind-end the other day, and i told him that's gross, we don't need to touch our bum. his hands kind of moved a little to the side, and he started grabbing a cheek in each hand. "what are dese, mom?" um, your bum. "no, DIS [moving hands back to the middle of his bum here] is my bum." oh, true. well, those are your bum cheeks, then. "my BUM CHEEKS?!?!?! ahahahahahaaahahahahaha..." he thought it was hilarious. i tried to add something about how they're actually called gluteus maximus so he would maybe focus on that rather than proclaiming his newfound knowledge about the "other" body cheeks, but to my chagrin, he busted out a lecture to katrina all about bum cheeks a short while later.

layla's into hitting things and people when she's frustrated. and gesturing like she's going to hit. great. actually, she's so hilarious most of the time, paul and i can hardly stand it. she loves her toy dolls and dotes on them something fierce. like, she can't even stay in her chair at dinner or anytime during the day, because she's CONSTANTLY putting her baby down for a nap, then hearing her wake up and going to get her, then rocking her, then unwrapping her, then reading to her, then wrapping her back up, then then then... she takes her job very seriously. it's rather sweet. borderline annoying, though, because she thinks those stinking dolls are way more important than anything, and she gets ticked if, say, i'm showering while her baby happens to come unwrapped and needs immediate attention.

speaking of, that baby logan of tonya & jeremy's is one cute little dude. and he's got some sweet hair to boot. you're going to love him.

katrina and i made a late-night arby's run the other night for paul and jordan. don't worry--the old fred meyer bass-pumping weekend truck gang has migrated slightly north to the arby's parking lot. we got whistled at, "hey ladies, where you going?" ew. i would've been 100% grossed out, except one of the guys was seriously carrying a bat and kind of swinging it around, so i was probably more like 85% grossed out, 15% afraid for my life. k & i have never been to arby's, so i actually asked the check-out lady "what's good here?" i know, so lame, but i really didn't know. i think she thought we were weird. we all scarfed down arby's uponst returning home, and us girls felt a little sick. slash, really sick. probably will be the last time an arby's commercial calls...

we got to miss stake conference for joshua's baby blessing yesterday. (yes, that's a happy thing, with two toddlers who can barely eke through a sacrament meeting--half as long as stk conf--unscathed.) john did a really good job, and josh looked just about edible in a cute white sweater onesie-type thing. he is seriously so beautiful. we missed you.

we're back to basic cable around here and are missing out on some serious jazz games. nuts. it's probably for the best, though.

welp, this was a random email. i don't really lead an exotic life like you do. it's sunshiney today, and warm (almost 50!!) so the kids and i are going jogging this afternoon. other than that, i have to work a little bit on the computer and figure out what's for dinner. life is good. love you!

brittney