Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Freshman Year First Week of School

Around this time every year, I think about the many memories I have of going back to school. I remember my first day of Kindergarten. I remember my first week at a new school in First Grade. I remember going into Fifth Grade and feeling like I was on top of the world since I was one of the "older kids". I remember going into 7th grade and having a fear of grabbing the wrong books for my classes.

But, no first week of school can top my freshman year of high school. Why, you ask? Well, sit back and listen to a story that shaped my entire high school experience. A story that is quite hilarious :)

My brother was a popular one....I mean, everyone liked my brother. Being his kid sister made me known as "Luke's little sister" and while it wasn't a bad thing, I wanted to make a name for myself. Be known for "Erika", not just my brother's sister. :) Well, I became "known" alright!

A high school girl invited everyone to her place for a party. Since I went to a small Christian school, the majority of my high school was there that night. So, what do a whole bunch of Christian school kids do at a party? Well, around 9:00, someone got the brilliant idea to TP someone's yard. Mind you, I was 14 at the time.....I had no idea what TP'ing WAS, but I was always up for pranks, even at an early age.

Grabbing a whole bunch of toilet paper, my friends and I ran to a classmates house.....a classmate that just happened to live 2 blocks from the police station. Our first mistake!

I still remember throwing the toilet paper into the trees, watching it flow in the wind and having the time of my life! After quite some time, we were starting to finish and were looking for our rides to go back to my friend's house. In the distance, I saw car headlights and thought it was my brother. However, when you have 20+ teengaers throwing toilet paper around someone's yard, you are just destined to have someone call the police on you. Suddenly I heard someone say "Run!!"

Running to my brother for safety, I ran right toward the car lights until suddenly a flashlight stopped me in my tracks "Stop! Police!" the policeman said.What!?!?! I felt like a criminal as he made me follow him to his car with the toilet paper still in my hands. I watched as my other more intelligent friends were running to the bushes and down by the river. :)

5 of us got caught and were forced to stand and get a lecture on how tp'ing is wrong and someone could get hurt. My eyes were probably huge at that moment as I was scared stiff. How would I explain THIS one to my parents? My first high school party!! I was always one to follow the rules and not get into trouble but now this!

Pretty soon, the police officer got friendlier and was telling us to not do it again, stay out of trouble, etc. However, he needed to write up a report of the incident. We had to state our names and date of birth. When he got to me, I spouted off my name, and nicely told him my date of birth. He stopped writing and looked up at me. Confused, I wondered what the problem was.

Little did I know that our town had just developed a 10:00 curfew.....for children 15 and under. I was out past curfew! HA! My night was only getting worse!

The officer explained he would need to take me in and have my parents come and get me. Another girl and I were put into the back of the police car, bars and all, and were "transported" to the police station 2 blocks away! On the way, the officer called in and said, "I  have two female juveniles coming". They had to get our rooms ready! Ha!

They put us in two different conference rooms (don't worry, we didn't get a cell...THAT would have been crazy!) and we were given our "one phone call" to call our parents and tell them to come get us! I called and asked for my dad who I don't think quite believed me at first (since I was known to try to trick my dad on the phone from time to time! My family loves jokes!) :) but finally he and my mom came and got me. :) We were sent home with a document stating that if I ever got picked up past curfew again I would need to do community service......it was quite the night!

Needless to say, the party was over :) And, since I grew up in a town of 5,000, news spreads quickly. People got quite the laugh out of it since it was SO unlike me and such a crazy situation! I definitely learned my lesson, that's for sure!

On Monday, I mustered up the courage to return to school even though I knew the teasing would begin. I walked in to a sign that said, "Top 10 ways to TP" with Number One being "Don't TP with Erika Albertson" :) I never lived it down my entire high school career.....but at least I made a name for myself :)
Some of my partners in crime :) High school....such fun memories! (I'm the one on the bottom right in case you can't recognize me!)
 
*Epilogue: I went on to become a DARE role model and laughed heartily with the police officers I worked with about this story! :) Oh, and yes I most definitely TP'ed again...just not until I was 16 :)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Bye, Bye Summer!!

Pics of our last week of summer:

Tristen is convinced that Aubrey needs to play with his toys....balls, trucks, animals....this girl might never play with dolls :)

Sweet Summer Baby!!


Water fun!! 

This one has been smiling so much lately! LOVE!!

Zoo fun!!




These 2 will be fast friends, I'm sure!!

 
I'm sad and happy to see summer go!!
 
Sad because we can't enjoy hot weather and cool water anymore....
 
....but, happy because we all know what comes after summer.
 
Autumn...
my most favorite time of year :)

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Date Night!!

Ahhh, our first date (without children!!) since Aubrey was born. SO great and refreshing!!
 
Now off to hang out with my family at the Zoo and then organize, organize, organize my house and life!! Can't wait :)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Last Week

This week is our last week of summer break!! You know, I'm ready.....Aaron's ready....I think our entire family is READY for this season in life to be done. Starting Monday, we go full force until July 26th of next summer when my husband will be DONE with school! Well, at least with his second Bachelor's degree :) We've gotten the question a whole lot over the last few weeks if he will in fact be done or will keep going on in his studies.

The answer is: We don't have a clue :) We'll see and we'll keep you updated when that decision is made. For the moment, we are just focusing on getting done, getting a job, and getting our feet on the ground again.

And, for our last week, we are headed North for a little vaca (aka, spending time with both families and just RELAXING!) I'm hoping to get completely better while I hand off my kids to our parents. Oh, I should update since my last post.....everything is better except I developed blisters in my throat (from a different viral infection!) so I went back to the doctor yesterday and she gave me some meds to clear that up. Now I just need some serious sleep.....exactly what I'm hoping to get this week :)

Speaking of sleep!!! Guess who has been blessing me with 6-7 hours at night now!?!? Yay for Aubrey!! Last week she was only sleeping 3 hours at a time again while I was sick (which was SO not cool!) but Friday she decided she wanted to sleep 7 hours! *sigh* Just what I needed :)

And with that, we're off. I feel SO blessed to live so close to family who have been amazing help in the last 7 weeks of Aubrey's life. I know this might not last much longer (who knows where Aaron will get a job!!) so I'm soaking this up as much as I can :)

Hope you all have a great week!!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

The Wedding

Nate and Sarah got married on Saturday! And, I know, it's taken me this long to post any pictures. But, I have a very good excuse....

On Sunday, I was exhausted from all the travels and taking care of children for the weekend.

On Monday, I felt funny....my throat hurt but I thought it was from the weekend.

On Tuesday, I ran a fever of 103.8. Umm, yeah....something was definitely not right. I found out I had an ear infection, mastitis, AND strep throat. Yikes!!! I have not been this sick since a kidney infection in 2007. It was AWFUL!

I'm slightly on the mend....I can at least get out of bed and take short walks now but I think I won't be 100% for a couple of days.

I told you it was a good excuse :)

But, here's a couple pics...the wedding was beautiful, the kiddos went down the aisle without tears (even though they screamed during rehearsal!), and now Nate and Sarah are married. All is well!!






The four of us girls were all camp friends and Nicole and Rachel married brothers and Sarah and I married brothers. So cool, huh?
Nicole and I are going to arrange a marriage between these two....so, Aubrey, here's your future husband :)

"Hey, Evie, let's ditch this whole wedding thing and just play with toys, okay?"

Fun stuff!! Now to sleep a little more and try to get better :)