A Heartwarming Tale

So settle in Ladies (and Ryan and Kent who, I'm pretty sure, are the sum total of my male readership). My story begins in High School. As a senior attending Apollo High (go Hawks!) I had some odd quirks and thankfully I had some quirky friends too. Two of my friends, Audrey and Annie, and I would eat lunch at each other's houses on a rotating schedule. And though we had no trouble entertaining each other and we had a wonderful time, there were times when we brought along a "ringer" or someone who would be very entertaining and fun to have along. My favorite ringer was a junior named Carson Emmons. The four of us "acted" in the theater - I put quotations around that word because Carson and Audrey were very talented actors but Annie and I. . . well, we need quotations around that word, and no I don't feel sad saying that about Annie on live blog because she will never ever read this (burn!). I love you Annie! Back to the story, Carson was a funny type of boy, he had a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor and he totally fit in with us odd girls.

Fast forward to a couple years ago (see how good I'm doing at keeping this story succinct?! Ryan rolls his eyes. . .). I was dropping some kids off at Primary at Church one beautiful Sunday when who do I see dropping his kids off in Primary at my very ward? Yes, that's right, it was a taller Carson Emmons! I was baffled because Carson was not, in my memories of him, a Mormon boy! And here he was, knowledgeably delivering his little girls to the correct classes and expertly using words like CTR 4 and Singing Time and Nursery and stuff like that. Well apparently in the decade since I'd seen him last he had up and become a member of the Church, married an adorable girl and had two little girls, he also became a lawyer and did I mention that he got taller? Well, I had just the most wonderful time getting re-acquainted with him and meeting Gaby, his wife. Turns out they live in Flagstaff and when they visit his mom, who lives in our ward boundaries, they plan to attend our ward! Woo-hoo. So Gaby and I went off to Relief Society whereupon I immediately decided we had to be friends and she had to move her family down here to live because she was adorable! She had this saucy short haircut (I decided to cut my own hair, it was so cute) and she was so fun to chat with and to top it all off and seriously, it meant so very much to me, when we sang the opening hymn we switched parts flawlessly and smoothly and we blended so well and she sang the tenor part an octave up and, oh, it was like I was singing with Annie or Audrey or my dear departed (to Chandler) sister Whitny. Lovely.

I am totally coming to the point but honestly, you people need the background information! So fast forward again to a few months ago when Carson Emmons befriends me on facebook. I was glad to see him and all but my immediate communication was something along the lines of, "Yes I'll be your friend, but where's Gaby? Why haven't you been down to see your mother in forever because I need my singing Relief Society buddy back!!" Or something like that.

Fast forward again to a little over a month ago when out of the blue Carson Emmons calls me on the phone. Now, here is a little known fact about me, I do not have caller ID. I think we are the only household left alive who doesn't but I kind of like it, it's like a guessing game. I imagine it's sort of like how it was when there were no ultrasound machines and you had to wait until the little "person" slid out and you got to see for yourself. So Carson started chatting with me and I am really proud of myself because I smoothly pegged him for Carson Emmons after having only spoken for a few seconds! I rock! Seriously, I don't think we'd ever spoken on the phone before - it's my highly trained ear. Maybe I could be a specialist for the FBI. . . But I digress (again, Ryan rolls his eyes if he is even still reading this.) Carson proceeds to tell me a story and he sounds all nervous and kind of embarrassed, he says that his wife is preggers (it's another girl, woo-hoo!) and she's been sick as a dog and her due date is April 3rd and they are having a second VBAC and because of that complication the only doctor that would deliver her is here in Phoenix, nobody in Flagstaff has the nerve, the chutzpah, to attempt such a challenge (wimps). So he was wondering, and it's totally okay and perfectly reasonable for me to say no way jose, but he was curious to know if we might be willing to take on a boarder for a week, at the most two or three weeks as she wraps up her pregnancy and delivers the little girl. Frankly, I was kind of excited about the possibility, it would be so much fun to have a friend come stay with me but I immediately remind Carson that we have FIVE kids and if it is peace and quiet she needs. . . He tells me that it is fine, not an issue, she is a tough broad. I say that I'm jazzed about it but I have to ask my Ryan, I'll call him back in a sec. So I call Ryan and right away he says yes (because I married the most wonderfullest adorableest and bestest hubby ever!). So I called Carson and said we were in! He said they would drop off our little bundle of joy on or around the 13th of March.

Fast forward to the 10th of March. I was ironing and watching the Biggest Loser on my compter when I got another call from Carson. They were down at the hospital because they thought her water had broken that morning so they'd driven down and gone to the hospital but it turned out that it was false labor and they were wondering. . . I said come on over, the house is a mess and so am I but get over here! So they came over and Carson stayed a while but he had to go back to Flagstaff and get stuff organized there and so he was gone and left me with Gaby who was exhausted from the lack of sleep and fun stuff that goes along with being a preggo.

And that brings us to today with a little bit of yadda yadda-ing. We've been having soooo much fun with my Gaby, I've managed to keep the baby in her all this time by saying, "Well, you can't have her until after such and such day because we have this to do." It has worked so far, the latest one is that she can't have her until after we go to the zoo tomorrow because she doesn't want to miss out on that! Carson has come and gone many times, their girls have come to visit and Carson has Tierney (their oldest, in Kinder) up in Flagstaff so she can go to school and he can go to work, and Avery (almost 4) is staying with us because her momma missed her and she is a little fun spitfire, she is hilarious with Peter! I'm telling you people, this has been such a wonderful experience, we have laughed and laughed and had such a fun time. She is now dialated to a four as of her last appointment on Friday (seriously, a four, when I was a four it was about a half our until delivery time!!) and can go any time now but this is a bitter-sweet time for me people, she feels yucky and is a bit stressed about the whole thing, so having the baby would be nice for her - I guess - but I don't want her to leave! I love having her around and I'll miss her ever so much when she goes. But I think I've scored myself a fantastic friend and so that is a good thing.

So there's my story, told 'ya it was a long one. I'll keep you posted on the delivery!
She is going to hate that picture! But I like it, she is more adorable than that in real life though :)