A Day in the Life...

Married this guy 15 years ago and it was the easiest decision I ever made.  We celebrated by dumping our four children (you know, counting Red) off to Amber's (we're taking their kids and dogs for their anniversary in a month, so fair trade).  It's a new tradition to head to Bryce because it's close-by, freaking beautiful, and you can hike near everything you want in a weekend. It was a bit rainy and in the 70s, so pretty perfect. We also stopped by Red Canyon National Forest for a couple of easy hikes and out of this world scenery... I can't decide what I like better- hiking around the very top of the canyon and taking pictures looking down, or hiking all the way to the bottom and taking pictures looking up. Either way, all I see no matter where I look is a God who had vision of beauty. My daughter, the aspiring scientist, wisely states that God made science, and God made everything that makes the world beautiful. I agree! Marriage, for us, has gotten better every ...

Cousin time.... These girls are especially close because their moms are best friends... These are my best friends at work. We've had some heartbreak over the last week, after administration terminated our director. I hate the government I work for sometimes. We literally fell apart. It's been rough. So us three (locals) took ourselves out to dinner- lamented, showed gratitude, and left with hope. So I guess it was a good night.. Annual firework party. It's always an amazing time. I think Amber and Ty collected about 5K worth of fireworks from her dad's stand by helping him man hours and load/unload hundreds and hundreds of pounds of fireworks every day for weeks... So we had a pretty amazing show! The aftermath of the finale- my brothers strung a whole bunch together by fuse; 1500 shots one right after the other! I should have taken a video- it was pretty sweet. For anyone worried- it was safe! They'd constructed a wooden box to keep any of them from turning over or...

My niece asked me to teach her how to crochet because she wanted to make this little cow. I said no because she's never crocheted before and I don't have patience exhuming from my body. So I made it for her, and then decided I definitely  am not teaching her how to do that.... :) But it is cute. So, Happy Birthday Madisyn. Tim and I took the girls to the Mt. Timpanogos temple on Sunday morning to walk around and sit somewhere peaceful. We used to go all the time when the girls were little, then life keeps getting busier and busier. I thought it'd be wonderful, and it was good for us. I just realized we don't have a lot of spiritual moments together, so "peaceful" is still just a bunch of thoughts and talk going in every which way. I should have prepared us better. So, a good lesson for me and I hope next time our time together can be really focused. Note to self: don't walk around the temple in the sun when it is 99 degrees either. This chicken keeps getti...

  One day I came home from work and Micah had taken EVERYTHING from her room and piled it in the middle of her floor so she and Dakota could switch rooms.  I'm quite proud of myself for not freaking out or raising my voice. Instead, we went through the gigantic pile (which included every article of clothing, every drawer, cubby, shelf, closet space, under the bed, etc. etc.) and decided what to keep and where to put things. We did not switch rooms. The highlight of the 7 hour project was this note I found. She'd written it to Dakota during the last week of their 5th grade school year. It highlights everything Micah is: funny (without trying to be), thoughtful, considerate, strengths-based, and sensitivity to others needs. I love everything about it. We're working hard to figure out how to help Micah best with the things she struggles with. She's a nervous wreck about school starting again, so anxiety is elevated. Headaches are coming back and she's sleeping more dur...

It's been awhile since we got a Thanksgiving Point pass.  We splurged.  Last night we checked out the newest things at the curiosity museum and today I left work in the middle of the day so we could go to the dinosaur themed gardens.