THAT friend...

Do you have THAT friend...you know, the one you lost touch with years ago but you still think about? THAT friend who you miss sharing things with? THAT friend who you would love to call but you feel that it's been too long and you might not know what to say? THAT friend who you can't even remember why you stopped being friends?

For me, THAT friend is Vanessa.

A little bit of history:

Vanessa and I met in Kindergarten in Daisy Group (the prequel to Brownies which is the prequel to Girl Scouts) and became instant friends. It helped that we went to the same school (Collier Elementary - go Cougars!). We were BFFs long before it was cool to talk in acronyms.

Through 6th grade and into 7th we were BFFs. We did everything that BFFs do and then some, including:

• sleepovers/all-nighters
• running our own "radio station" (the early version of The Good, The Bad, and The Gossip)
• attending the Alan Jackson concert together
• nights at Lakeside Sports Complex while her parents bowled
• hanging out at the park
• talking/dreaming about the future in which she was going to be a nurse and I was going to be a teacher and we were going to get married to handsome brothers and have babies

We kept up with the latest hair and make-up styles (circa 1992).

We celebrated the important days with laughter and smiles (circa 1993).

And we prepared to part ways as middle school approached. I was supposed to attend St. Cyril and she was attending Magee with the rest of our friends.

As it turned out, I didn't go to St. Cyril (that's another story for another day) and I went to Magee also! Vanessa and I were thrilled that we would be at the same school (circa 1994).

But, as frequently happens in middle school, we drifted apart. We were growing and maturing in different ways and we both found new friends. Sometimes I think of how different my middle school years would have been if Vanessa and I had stayed BFFs, but I digress.

In high school we did part ways as I went to Salpointe and she went to Sabino. Distance and busy lives made us drift further and further apart. We wrote a few letters and heard how each was doing through the grape-vine but, alas, these were the days before facebook.

So after meeting and becoming friends about 22 years ago, Vanessa became THAT friend. The one that I missed and wanted to reconnect with (actually the one I wished I had never lost touch with, but since there is no such thing as a Hot Tub Time-Machine, that is not possible) and thanks to facebook, we were able to do just that!

Which brings me to today!

This afternoon Shyla and I met Vanessa and her adorable 20 month son, Mikey, at the water park for some fun-in-the-sun!

My beautiful friend, Vanessa, and her son (circa 2010).

Shyla (a rare shot of her wearing her hat) and Mikey "playing together."

Shyla doing her thing in the splash pad; notice she would rather hold her hat than wear it!

And Vanessa with the babies!

As I am sure you have guessed, Vanessa and I didn't marry handsome brothers. But, we both have handsome husbands who are both goof-balls and, thus, we can't wait to get them together. Vanessa is, in fact, a nurse and I am, in fact, a teacher and we both, quite obviously, have babies.

It's too bad that we have missed the last decade (or more, yikes!) of each other's lives but I am thrilled that we are friends again. I look forward to many more playdates, get-togethers, and fun with THAT friend!

Moral of the Story:

Keep your friends at any cost. But if you do lose touch, the good friends will come back easily.

Father's Day 2010!

This past weekend was Father's Day!

We started our morning by letting Stevie sleep in, then giving him his presents which included:

• The above arts and crafts picture created by Shyla
• A magnet picture of Stevie and Shyla for him to take to work
• The 2010 Eegees coupon book
• The Little Critter Book, Me and My Dad
• and a new sunshade for his car since Pancake destroyed his

Next we went to the zoo for a quick visit with Chelsea and the Yager kids. Shyla and Stevie (and Carlos) got to spend quality time together.

Chelsea and Lilly got to spend quality time together.

Shyla and Zac got to sit together and drink from their cups.

After the zoo we went to Steve and Pat's house for lunch and for a nice visit. Shyla played with the big stuffed duck, while showing off her denim diaper!

Unfortunately, Pat wasn't feeling well but we got to spend a lot of time with Steve before heading across town to my parents.

For various reasons, lots of people had to cancel. Stevie was the only dad in attendance for the first couple hours so we asked him to hold the cake in a fatherly fashion and this is what he came up with.

And, as it was the 20th (and Zackary's half-birthday in fact) we tried to get a picture of the 3 grandkids together. Tried.

Father's Day certainly has new meaning now that I am married and have a baby, but it makes me appreciate my daddy even more. He is the best dad I ever could have asked for:)

The Rule of Three

One of my friends tagged me in her blog to do this, so here it is: way more information about me than you ever cared to know!

Three names I go by:
KP

Mrs. Forgacs

Mommy (soon, at least)

Three jobs I have had:
Teacher
Relocation Coordinator

Receptionist

Three places I have lived:
Tucson

Vail

(that's all:)

Three favorite drinks:
Diet Coke
Carmel Machiatto

Diet Cherry Limeade

Three TV shows I watch:
Big Brother

Biggest Loser

How I Met Your Mother

Three places I have been:
Bahamas

St. Thomas

Rocky Point

Three places I would like to visit:
Alaska

Washington DC

Hawaii

Three favorite dishes:
Eggplant Parmesean

Pizza with Mushrooms & Anchovies

Chef Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

Three things I'm looking forward to:
the arrival of Baby Ratcliff

family vacation to Disneyland

more lazy summer days

I don't know how to tag other bloggers but I'd love to learn these funny facts about my friends so...do it!

San Diego 2010

One thing I forgot to mention in my Scottsdale post is that, while there, Shyla came down with her 6th ear infection. We spent the majority of Memorial Day Monday in Urgent Care waiting for the doctor to tell us what we already knew. Once she did, we were on our way with a prescription for the antibiotic. The diagnosis, as always, explained the fussiness and sleepless nights.

Our plan was to leave Scottsdale on Friday and drive to San Diego to continue our vacation. With Shyla being sick we spent a lot of time debating that portion of the trip.

However, she started to get better so off to San Diego we went. We were especially concerned about driving through the mountains because of the pressure on her ears (Stevie and I once drove to San Diego when I unknowingly had ear infections and it was awful and teary and painful).

We tried to go around the mountains by going through Indio. We do not recommend this route. There were still mountains. There were only 2 lanes. There were speed limits of less than 40 MPH. There were still mountains.

Anyway, we made it!

While in Indio we stopped at McDonalds and let Shyla play for about an hour. She LOVED it and we loved that she was out of her car-seat running around and burning energy.

She and her barbeque sauced face slid down the slide, climbed up said slide, pushed bigger kids out of the way, and yelled for the heck of it!

Once in San Diego we stayed with Dan and Erin (another huge THANK YOU to you two!) and on Saturday we went to the beach with the members of French Toast Mafia who were there for the race!
Shyla loved the beach! Erin had given her a bucket and shovel for the sand. She liked to put things in the bucket and she liked to use the shovel to get as much sand as possible into her mouth. We also discovered that she likes pickle spears, even after they get dropped in the sand!
Dan, Stevie and Shyla had a lot of fun in the water!

...And, yes, this is a picture of my butt. But Shyla looks so cute peaking through my legs that I had to include it!

Sunday was race day! We were there for the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. Another big thank you to Dan for driving us to the shuttle at 4:30 am and to Erin for taking care of Shyla while we ran!

At the starting line. Yes, AT THE STARTING LINE, my IPOD decided to quit working. That meant I had to be alone with my thoughts for hours. Terrible.

Anyway, all of the FTM racers successfully completed the race! Stevie did awesome in his first long-race coming in under 2 hours! I did my personal worst coming in at 2 hours 43 minutes but, to me, every time I cross the finish line is a successful race! Tessa and Jeremy did amazing (of course) and a HUGE congrats to Andy, Scott, and Kristen (on her birthday) who completed the FULL MARATHON (26.2 miles...yikes!).

In my life I have done 4 half-marathons:

2006 Tucson (with my "running partner" Karen)

2009 Tucson

2009 Las Vegas

2010 San Diego

I am already signed up for 2 more:

2010 Mt. Lemmon

2010 Las Vegas

It is fun to have goals to work toward but I cannot explain how nice it is to be doing something and NOT have to be the best at it! I love it!

Scottsdale or Bust!

Okay, this post really stinks but it is late and I am tired.

The reason it stinks is that all of the pictures are out of order. So, use your imagination and pretend as if it makes a shred of sense.

Speaking of making sense...my husband is a weirdo.

My daughter loves water; the more up the nose the better.

Splash pads are awesome! Moral of the story - we need to buy a water table. Stat.

Old friends are the best! Above is Joe. Joe went to high school with me and Stevie and lives in Scottsdale. He is a gem and we had a great evening catching up with him!

Speaking of old friends, Rachel and I have been friends for about 15 years and she has 2 beautiful kids:)

Well, we are back from our 10 day vacation! We had a lot of fun and we hope you enjoy the pictures!

On Sunday I attended a mini-Alleycat-reunion. Some of my best friends (Pauline, Rachel, Maren, and Cat) met for lunch at Zinc then they all came back to our villa for an afternoon by the pool. The afternoon turned into evening and night as we talked, caught-up, laughed, debated, and cried. They are my history and they helped make me who I am. One thing that we all agreed on at the end of the day was that through years, marriages, babies, loss, joy, jobs, joblessness, good times and bad...no matter how many things change, we all remain the same.
Stevie and I have a time-share every even numbered year so we needed to use it this year. With Shyla being only 1 year, we thought more of a "stay-cation" would be easier than something exotic. Because Scottsdale in summer is not exactly "peak-time" we had extra points that we used on getting a 2nd villa for our families to stay. My parents, Chelsea, and the kids came up first. As you see above, Grandpa Palmer got some quality time with his girls.
Everytime we have been to Kierland Stevie has bored me to tears on the golf course and this trip was no different. This time, though, I got the added bonus of chasing Shyla around and keeping her away from the golf-carts.
Isn't she a beauty?
One great thing about Kierland is the pools and our little water baby LOVED them! She has super adorable swimwear and she showed it all off. She is fearless; which makes Mommy fearful.

Picture Day at School

I love that they do picture day at Shyla's school.

The most recent one was when Shyla was about 11 months.

And, apparently, really scared.