No Disco ball for the gophers!

I

found

my

RING!

Actually Jason found it tonight in his pajama pants pocket.  We have looked everywhere including my entire acre with a stinkin metal detector.  It’s like having an old friend back.  

Sigh. 

Life is good.

She doesn’t.

My sweet friend asked me last week how I did it.   Keep my house clean (ha ha), raise my kids, support a husband in school, and work 20-30 hours a week.   The truth is…  I don’t.  I can’t do it all.  Especially not at the same time.  My days are like taking a handful of balls and throw them all up in the air at the same time and then trying to catch them.  Sometimes you catch one, and all the others fall.  Once in a blue moon, you catch the majority of them and feel pretty good about yourself.  Today I caught one ball.  Two women walked out of the salon with their hair looking better than when they walked in.  It’s something right? 

• I dropped the parenting ball when my kids dumped all the macadamia nuts in the boys room, stripped all bedding off beds so they had a better jumping arena, dumped water all over the couch and jumped on it, played mermaids in the bathroom and made a real ‘ocean’, finally one fell asleep on my bed, and then peed on it. 
• I dropped the wife ball when I didn’t call my husband all day because I didn’t have the energy to support him and tell him to study hard, because I knew I just wanted to tell him to come home. 
• I dropped the cooking ball when I fed my kids coco puffs for breakfast, cheerios for lunch and Mac and cheese for dinner. 
• And well,  the clean ball was never even reached for. 

I know I know,   Wo is me.

Diamond in the rough

Jason and I was discussing my recently lost wedding ring while lazily laying in bed this morning and it went a little something like this…

“I really do love my new wedding ring,  I have had a lot of compliments on it” I say. 

He acknowledges my comment with an mmm hmm.  

Then, still being a little tired I say, “I wish had I had some sort of super power that I could feel or hear if it were nearby…”

Smiling now he  says,  “yeah I can just hear it’s little screams now.”

I am into it now,  “help me! help me you idiots I am right here!”

Jason says…  (sorry still laughing at this…)  “Yeah, it’s probably outside in the dirt and some gopher is using it as it’s disco ball.” 

I must still be so tired.

Laughter

Best compliment I’ve had in a while…

Jayce:  Mom, you laugh a lot don’t you?

Life’s too short not to!

Tree of Thanks

Last Thanksgiving I cut out a tree from cardboard and a handful of leaves and for family night we sat and wrote each thing we were thankful for on the leaves and it stayed up for a few weeks.   This year I found this tree at Michaels and bought a leaf punch and put it up when Autumn began.   I wanted to remember to be thankful a lot longer than just one night.  So, I hung a bag of leaves and a marker next to the tree and welcome anyone who enters my home to fill a leaf on my tree with what they are grateful for.  This was the first day we hung it, and it has slowly been riddled with words of thanks by many.  I hope to have a beautiful fall tree by Thanksgiving Day!

Small and Simple thing #1

Marjorie Pay Hinckley said:

Life is full of challenges.  Many of them involve balance and temperance.  Complete abstention may be easier than moderation.  It’s easier for me to completely abstain from smoking than to try and balance my day- a little for this, a little for that, a little for him, a little for her. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson expresses a majestic thought when he said: “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

I have been struggling with balance in my life.  Trying to decide what I should try and balance in, or if I should completely abstain from it.  It was a few days ago that a little 5x5 inch purple book on my bookshelf seemed to call to me.  Sister Hinckley's book entitled ‘Small and Simple Things’.   In it I found this thought.  I read it and reread it and have repeated it to myself over the course of the last couple of days and each time it becomes more clear to me what a simple practice it is, and yet so difficult for me. 

San Francisco

Thank you to the Hambly’s for letting me bombard them for a day and being such great friends.   I love you guys.

I wish I didn’t live so far away from my dear friend! 

And I’m sorry, is she not just to die for?  I had the day to spend with these two ladies, and a part of the day to share with the boys of the fam, who are equally as wonderful!  (but not as photographed apparently!) 

Thank you to my parents for feeding me, housing me, and allowing me to tag along.  I love you guys.  

YES. That is the golden gate bridge.  I went over it.  Twice!  It was pretty cool. 

Ok, and the reason for this trip in the first place was to attend Jess and Tami’s Engagement party and I didn’t even bring my camera to it!  Sheesh. 

So, it was beautiful and filled with ALOT of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.  They were all so kind and gracious.   Jess and Tami looked stunning-

(like Arabian Princess Barbie and Ken.  Seriously.) 

Ok, but without all the fluff.   Great company, great food, and glad to be home!

At the cracking of dawn

I put the kids to bed early last night.  Jayce was up at the crack of dawn at 5:30.   He came flying in holding a plate of goodies that the Phantom Ghost had left on our porch last night! (Thank you!)  I of course told him to go away and let me sleep.  It was when I finally (at 6:45) woke and found my kitchen in a bit of a mess that I realized the potential of my sweet children.  Jared had changed his own clothes (into another pair of jammies, but still) Jayce had gotten dressed, made a valiant attempt at making pancakes (with flour) and all were coloring at the table very quietly together.  Well, truthfully Jayce was coloring while the other two begged to help him.  I actually had a glimmer of hope that someday Jayce might be able fill the role of babysitter.   My dreams came crashing down when he came over and told me his pants felt weird and kept slipping down in the back.  

Jayce.  Your jeans are on backwards.