Sign Time

Making signs is always a huge inner struggle for me. I love the creative part. I love the finished product. I love seeing people so happy with the result. I have really grown to love the designing process. But so often, it feels like that "thing" to eliminate from my life when I feel overly busy or chaotic. I constantly have to suppress conversations in my head, with myself, about whether I should stay and drink it or not. I try not to let myself make decisions when I am in the middle of a crazy day. But I also want to make sure my parities are straight, especially with the kids. I know my house will be cleaner if I did not make signs. I also know that I might have a little more spare time to spend with them. Today, I had a couple hours to myself, and I feel a little less guilty when no one is at home. That way I'm not making a mess or neglecting anyone. When I get those chances, I like to my recorded Oprah shows on the TV and listen to them while I work. It's actually therapeutic. Which is probably why I have not stopped making signs :-) 

Today, I thought I should document and give a sneak peek of what my home looks like when I am in sign making mode.

Back to School!

Somehow we blinked in the summer went by! It seemed to be a whirlwind of cousins, playing, and fun. The girls had a good summer, but also seemed ready to go back to school. I don't know how long that will last though!

These are some shots from the day before school started and the first day of school.

Doing some chores to get ready.

Making some muffins for the morning.

Playing a game. Not that that has anything to do with school LOL

My mom and I were talking about Harmony, and if we were going to be able to sing this season. And about 20 minutes later I found the stone in one of my boxes. I told her maybe it was a sign?

I have always loved to this quote by Joseph B. Wirthlin, ever since he gave the conference talk a few years ago. This is our theme for the school year. We watched part of his talk, and talked about what this means as a family.

Lunch pails ready to go! It sounds so much easier to do hot lunch, but the girls pretty much hate the hot lunch their school has.

Crazy sisters!

All ready to go! Like 30 minutes early!

I felt like the worst mom. The girl said they did not want me to walk them to class. Technically, that is hard to do at Clay School because all the children gather on the blacktop for flag and announcements when the bell rings. So they don't go to class until about 15 minutes after the bell actually rings. Anyway, they told me they did not want me to walk them. But when I got to school, I was literally the only parent not getting out of the car and walking with their kids! It was one of those moments where I felt like maybe I missed the memo or something. I figured they will survive. But it did make me feel like a bad mom for a minute.

It's tradition to go get an ice cream on the first day of school. We had Nataly and Suzanna come with us as well.

I dropped the girls off and was able to go to Home Depot before it got too hot. Had lots of wood to get cut!

I don't feel as guilty working while they are at school. In the summer, it's a lot harder to me (mentally) to leave and go work. Since the girls were at school, I was able to spend another five hours with Mia before she starts college this week!

Paperwork!! The school had incentive for us to get all the paperwork in two days after school started. In fact, if we did not do that, our kids would not be able to go on the roller skating field trip! I have done the paperwork every year for the past eight years. This time, I let Tucker partake in the fun!

Hightop Converse are the thing the girls wanted this year. Lexi complained to me this morning that she only knows how to tie a shoe using the bunny ear method and that it is way too slow!

Finally...this made me laugh...I bought a variety box of chips from Costco. The variety box only has like four barbecue bags, which are Lexi and Peyton's favorite. Apparently, Peyton hid all of them in her room so Lexi could not pack them in her lunch! Today, she proudly pulled one out of her dresser and kind of gave Lexi a look like "too bad for you! "

Returning Home!

After a long road trip, coming home always sounds so good. We had asked Jenn Hale to housesit for us. She had texted me the last day letting me know that our dogs had crawled under the fence and escaped a few times. This resulted in mud being brought in our house. Walking in the door at 9 o'clock at night and feeling the disgusting feeling under my feet on the tile did not make me feel happy. As I walked around the house I saw the mud dried on the couches, the pillows, and the beds. I wanted to drive my house through a car wash! This is how gross just one tile was, this dirty paper towel. So I spent the next hour cleaning my floor and throwing my pillows in the washer.

I was so relieved the next day we had a grooming appointment for the dogs! Rusty was caked with mud and needed to be practically shaved!

The night we were driving home, I texted my mom to tell her we were close because I knew she had been worried about our safety. This time of year brings back memories and feelings of Lindy moving and Ryan's accident. When she texted me back letting me know how incredibly sick she had been for about 24 hours, I was immediately concerned. She had gone to the InstaCare the day before for a staff infection in her thumb. So finding out the 24 hours later she was incredibly even more sick made all the red flags go up in my head and I immediately wanted to call 911. Long story short, she is doing a little better now after a few days in the hospital, I will do a separate blog post on the details. It was scary though, I will say that.

Jordyn was so nervous about getting her seventh grade booster shot. She psyched herself up for the most horrible experience. I told her it is so crazy how many immunizations she has had in her life, and literally does not remember one of them! Goes to show you it is definitely worse for the mom!

I love these kids, they play so well together! And the dogs are just as happy to be in the mix with them!

So, I officially got the job with Kings County office of education! It is a 50% position, which means I will be contracted to work 92 out of 180 for school days. It is strictly orientation and mobility, and I will be serving children in the entire county. So I will drive to different schools in the area that have visually impaired children. I have done most of the new hire orientation's and fingerprinting, and I still have some new hire paperwork to do next week before I officially start. I am excited and feel like this is the right move for me!

Since the McLeod's car needed some unexpected repairs, the cousins will have to say goodbye for the second time. That part is sad, but it is been fun to have another week together! My mom found the swimsuits at Walmart for seven dollars each!

 This picture of Kylee keeps making me laugh!

 The most fun part of the swimsuits is that the girls discovered they can blow them up into a flotation device!

I love this big ruler that Lindy made for a customer. I also love Kylee standing next to it holding Rylee!

I think these kids would be in heaven if they could always just live at grandma's house.

Last Few Days in Utah

So, we have now been coming to Utah for over 11 years to visit. Nearly every summer, and at least one time in the fall. I always try to make a point to see my dear friends. We may not live close, but when you share a bond with someone and you have so many memories, there is just an extra special friendship. Tiffany and I met up in an unusual way. Without kids! You don't usually do that these days. We met at Apollo Burger and got to catch up. Heidi met us there as well! After that, Tiffany and I decided that I had to try a "dirty Diet Coke". They are very popular in Utah. So we went to a place in bountiful called Swigg. A dirty Diet Coke has coconut and lime flavoring in it. It was good! We chatted for a while and then decided that we weren't done. So instead of driving back south to Murray, I drove north to Farmington.

When I walked in the door and saw her cute kids, they were so sad that my kids weren't with me! We realized that we had made an error in judgment in our plans to not include the children! So we quickly decided to gather the kids and go to Gam and Pa's to swim. Of course I checked with Jeannine, and she is always more than willing to accommodate my crazy changing plans. Which I appreciate more than she will ever know! It was so fun to have the kids all get together and swim, and then Jeannine was kind enough to feed us all dinner. I love you Tiff! You are forever among my very favorite.

I have to steal some pictures from gams blog because she does such a good job taking them! These few pictures were actually from Brock's birthday earlier in the week. How fun to be in town for a cousin's birthday party!

Tucker and Greg were throwing the kids high into the pool. It was all fun until Peyton landed wrong. I heard a slap and knew she was going to be in pain. When she got out of the pool, I could tell by the look on her face she was trying to act like she was totally fine. But when she looked over at me and caught my eye, she couldn't help but start to cry.

Poor baby. I hugged her and told her and she did not always have to be so brave. She had quite the red spots on her thighs from how she landed.

While we were in town, Neal's stake had a golf tournament. He was so excited to invite Tucker, Greg, and Jeff Gertsen. They sure like to golf! I don't think anything would ever stop them. Rain, wind, snow, heat, no sleep, injuries, you name it and they would still go.

I am blogging on my phone and don't know how to turn this picture. But we were having an adult game night for Jeannine's birthday and had some of the kids at Maren's and some of the kids at Lynda's house. When I got a call that Peyton had hurt her ankle on the trampoline, I was, admittedly, sad. I always fear that something will interfere with dance. And we have had several injuries on trampolines, and we do not even own one! It was bad enough for Annie to take Peyton to her emergency room (where she works) and have them look at it and wrap it at 2:30 in the morning! I felt so bad. 

 The next day when she got back to gams house, I took her to an InstaCare. I wanted to get x-rays to make sure it wasn't fractured like last time. It was extremely swollen and even though the x-ray did not show a fracture, they were not totally sure and gave us a big boot to keep on it and told us to get more follow-up care in California. Pey had crutches and a boot for two days! I was sure she would not be able to participate in dance auditions. But that little stinker ended up dancing on that swollen ankle almost the whole three days of auditions! Thank goodness it was not broken. And she was determined! I am grateful she had such good care out at the Gertson's house from Emmi and Annie.

Cousins swimming! So fun to have gam's pool so close to her house.

I am so grateful that I have a mother and a mother in law who both cherish traditions and memories. It has become a definite tradition for the girls to watch Gam, and help her, make bread while we are in town. Not only do they love to devour it, but she lets them make their own little loafs. This time, they shaped their loaves into their initial of their first name! Lexi says that she learned how to braid from Gam teaching her how to braid bread!!

We all took a quick trip to Costco for Tucker to help Neal & Jeannine pick out a TV for the basement.

Our once a year Mah Jong game!

We did a rare thing...and had all the adults gather for dinner! Jeannine picked Litza's Pizza in downtown SLC. Then, we headed back for game night! It is rare that we play games with this many people anymore because there are just too many children around. It was so different to be able to play uninterrupted.

We even got Greg to sit at the game table for a few hours, which is a miracle unto itself! Sadly, Jeff was not feeling well so he and Mindy had to leave before games.

Playing one of our all-time favorites, "what were you thinking"!

I think I caught Tucker mid blink in this self he because he looks a little dreary eyed.

The final day, the cousins got to hang out for a while. It is always hard to say goodbye. Pey seems to be extra sensitive to goodbyes!

I thought this was a fun picture that damn captured of us driving away. Always so bittersweet to visit. It is so fun to make memories and catch up, and always hard to say goodbye. I feel so thankful that we have such a welcoming experience when we come. We love to stay at gam and pa's house and I'm so thankful they always make us feel so welcome. Having the basement is so perfect because we have our own space to spread out. I always appreciate that family members take time and arrange their schedule to spend time with us!!  Until next time!