Back to life. Back to reality.

I want you to sing that song when you read the title of this post. All breathy and sultry like the girl who sang it originally. And I want it stuck in your head all day. And maybe you could stand up and throw in the running man while you're at it. It's a goodie.

We've been on family vacay for the past few weeks. There's lots to report on. The prospect of writing this post has been a bit daunting to me. It's been so daunting that whilst tossing and turning at night, I've managed to pinch a nerve in my neck and thus having no choice but to walk around slightly zombie-ish, unable to turn my head and look from side to side. (This means when looking from side to side is necessary, it's a full body experience. And it's weird.) But today, I've resolved to give this here blogpost a whirl. And to touch briefly on recent happenings instead of giving a full history. Just stop, stop it! I know you want every little detail of every second of every day and every adorable little thing both children of mind have done/said in the past few weeks! But I just can't do it! Love you so much though still!!

Before I touch on some of these said happenings of the past few weeks, I want to tell you a little story. A story that took place at our house three mornings ago, on July 15th. A story about a friendly little weirdo who visited us and who we're sortof missing these days. No, it's not one of the guys working on our landscaping. It's no distant relative. In order to protect identities, I like to just call him "Mr. Squirrel". I'm not trying to be offensive calling him that, but he did have teeth that protruded slightly just like a squirrels' do and long rodent-like claws on the ends of his little mitts. But we'll mostly call him that because he was a squirrel.

So Jason and I open up our backdoor early that morning to let some fresh morning air in and let the girls wander outside onto the patio. We turn to head outside to rejoin them, and Jason spots something out of the ordinary, and quickly starts saying, "Mer, Mer, Mer," with some urgency in his voice. I look out to see a big fat bushy gray squirrel curiously staring Scarlett right in her face. As in an inch away, nose to nose. Apparently Jason watched it make a run for her clear from the woods.

Naturally, some freaking out ensues that includes rushing towards the two and making strange animal noises myself in attempt to shoo. And Mr. Squirrel shoos. For a moment. Gets about 10 feet away from us and makes a full on U-turn. And bounds directly towards Jason's legs. Here he comes.

And then he just perches. And sits directly in front of him. Just enjoying the morning sunshine with us.

Then came the attack. Just kidding. It wasn't an attack. But it was sumpin' crazy! That little varmint didn't hurt that sweet husband of mine; no biting or aggression at all, but it was indeed some loony wild stuff that went down in the moments following:

Jumps right up onto Jason's leg and starts turbo-scurrying around it. Round and round and round, and Jason's squeelin' and gigglin' all the while. It's like this squirrel is being reunited with a long lost loved one. It's like Jason's leg is his favorite uncle. The kind of uncle you're in love with. And he doesn't stop. He starts to pick up even more speed scurrying around that husband of mine's leg, and starts to make him uneasy. We were uneasy from the get-go, let's be honest. Pretty soon Jason's yelling at me to Get inside! Get the girls inside! as I'm watching this relationship escalate and turn sour right before my eyes. You can't scurry so much around someone's leg the first time you meet them Mr. Squirrel! You appear over-eager. And that's not attractive to anyone.

So I run the girls back inside and watch from the window as a scene unfolds much like the killer rabbit scene from Monty Python... I see Mr. Squirrel take a flying leap for Jason's jugular... Suddenly hubby's down on the ground steamrolling all around our yard with that squirrel attatched to his neck. Just kidding. But hubby did take some time gettin' that crazy varmint off his leg!

And when he came back inside and we just sortof had to stand there in confused silence with furrowed brows staring at each other for a moment. Because we're both just so weirded out at what just took place.

We immediately got online and read up on rabid squirrels and were relieved to learn that it's really uncommon... because they're smaller animals rabies usually kills them before they even start showing symptoms. It did however say on the website, "Healthy squirrels can be noisy, bold and curious. They often chatter and make scolding sounds at humans and dogs. Rambunctious behavior in squirrels does not denote rabies." So that's what we'll call that? Rambunctious behavior? I think he was mentally disturbed. And I'm still creeped out about it.

Jason left to work shortly after our encounter with Mr. Squirrel. And I had babysitters come over and tend the girls so I could go to an appointment to address said pinched nerve in neck. (Alright, it was a massage... and that masseuse worked wonders on me!) You can imagine my terror as I round the corner to get home to our house and see not one, but two cop cars in front of my house. And I see two officers standing in my doorway talking to my cute little 11-year old babysitters. So I pull into my driveway and duck and roll out of my car, hide behind a tree with a fake gun pointed at the cops and tell at them to FREEZE!! and PUT YOUR HANDS UP!! (You never know when they might be impostor cops) when the officers tell me "Don't be alarmed ma'am, but we heard there was a squirrel attack here this morning."

Wow. Really?? A squirrel attack? I told them, There was no attack officers, in fact I'm not even sure what it was I saw go down between that squirrel and my husband... but it wasn't an attack. There was lots of love involved. And I invited them in to show them these very pictures I've shown you. They thought it was kinda funny too. And weird.

We decided that was no rabid squirrel. We decided he was just slightly mentally deranged. But ya know, that little guy seemed really over the moon happy about his derangement. The kind of loony-happy I aspire to in this life. We don't know what ever happened to that Mr. Squirrel. We know he's out there somewhere. We wish he'd write. But keep his distance at the same time. Just wave from the tree the next time you're in the hood, Mr. Squirrel. Don't rush up on my baby ever again.

Phew. I'm glad I got that off my chest. Can you believe the police came??? Turns out Jason mentioned the incident while he was leaving on his morning run to our neighbor and she made the call. I love Provo, Utah so much. Never leavin'.

I'll tack on just a few more pics for your enjoyment and then I'm gettin' outta here!

Nessa and Sam and company came up for a week or so before the 4th of July... it was glory in its finest. Now they live clear on the other side of the country. :(

Anything better than summertime as a child? No. Nothing.

Then the rest of the fam came down to the good 'ol Wasatch mountains and we were able to go to the temple together. It was wonderful. So grateful to be a part of this family.

This might be the best pic though. Especially Abe.

Then we all headed up to Idaho Falls for the Independence Day festivities! Grandbabies watching our Sam and Walid shoot off fireworks in front of Grammy and Papa's house.

Yeah... look at Lucy... as I'm motioning for you to do in the photo. Mind was blown!!

My Ma and Pa... proud grandpappy and mammy

Scarlett showing off her pearly whites

My favorite women. Nothin' like sisters.

After Idaho Falls we drove directly to Moab for the annual Christensen Family retreat!

I may or may not have soiled my drawers... repeatedly... on this hummer tour.

Spent a day at Mesa Verde and hiked over to these ancient cliff dwellings. Aren't these ruins AMAZING? They speculate that they were inhabited from about 550 AD to 1300 AD. I loved this day. Partly because Gma and Gpa insisted that we all leave our babies with them for the trek. And that meant they had 4 kiddies ages 2-4 and 4 babies from 9 months to 16 months. 8 total. Yeah... I caught a glimpse of the S on Grandma's chest underneath one of her button up shirts. I even spied a wee little cape hanging in her bedroom. She's not foolin' anyone.

The next day we tried to tell Lucy she couldn't go on this hike... mostly because it involved hiking clear down a huge ravine and hiking back up on the other side to see more ruins... but she threw an absolute fit. And that meant daddy caved and took her.

The other side. This was like that scene from Rocky in Philadelphia when he runs up the stairs and does repeated fist pumps in the air... I think eye of the tiger was playing somewhere in the distance.

You are officially caught up. Love you so much!