Ready to grow up?

This week has been one of reflection on accepting that I am no longer 29. It has been many years (9 to be exact) that I have been telling people that I am 29. I think I actually believed it myself. A few things this week have made me realize that I am getting older and that I just need to embrace it.

*Brett started drivers ed. This has been an experience for Mark and I. The day after Brett got his learners permit Mark agreed to take him to a church parking lot right next to our apartment to practice. A couple of days later I let him drive to pick up the girls from school. That was the first time he had driven on the road and I think I grew a few new gray hairs that day. But that's how I learned to drive...by just getting behind the wheel and going. Mark still isn't ready to be in the passenger seat while Brett drives, but I think he's actually doing pretty well on the roads. Parking lots are a different story though.

*We had to go to a parent informational meeting for Kehli to begin middle school. The dual language program is only in its second year at the middle school level and they needed an idea of how many families were willing to commit to another year in the program. So next year we will have two kids in high school, one in middle and two in elementary. CRAZY!!!! So grateful to still have spoiled little Adam at home to keep me company during the days.

*It's been since November that I've had time to get my hair done. Every morning I see more andmore gray hair. I have accepted that my hair is turning colors although I will not discontinue coloring it. I have a two year old. I'm not dropping him off at Kindergarten in a few years only to have the other kids ask, "Is that your grandma?" Accepting my gray hair will have to come another year, probably 20 or so down the road. That's okay, right?

*20 year high school reunion this summer...REALLY?! I totally feel like I just graduated and moved on to college not too long ago. How is it possible that it's been 20 years already? This has blown my mind this week as I see posts on facebook about planning the reunion. I hope I am able to go and see "old" friends. I'm sure at least some of them feel the same way about growing up.

I know I will look back one day and regret "missing" my 30's. So many wonderful things have happened the last few years and I don't want them to be a blur just because I am too vain to accept getting older. I want to associate all the blessings that have come to me and our family at the appropriate time they happened in my life. So come July I hope to be able to admit that I am turning thirty-something. It's a good thing I have a few more months to practice saying the real number because as I write this it's still difficult.

Life's Update

We are so happy to be back in Kennewick even if we are living like sardines in an apartment! It's not too bad but does get quite loud sometimes. I'm sure the neighbors are already asking the manager how long we are going to be here. The kids are getting along better than I expected. And it's easy to keep an eye on the little boys so that is always a plus!

We have started getting bids for the new house. It is actually going quicker this time because Mark can email the construction drawings and get replies back the same way. It is so much faster than driving around delivering prints then having to back a few days later to take them to another business. It looks like we will wait a few extra months to start building though because there are issues with the water pressure on our lot. The neighborhood where we are going to build was annexed into the city of Richland, although our kids will still go to Kennewick school district and the city limits are right across the street. The problem is that their psi for water is different and not up to code for Richland. So, we either have to pay for fire sprinklers to be installed inside the house ($$$$) or wait until the system is updated. We are choosing the latter. We are told that it is supposed to be complete by May but the City Planner thinks July is a more realistic date. If we go in to get a building permit before the system is updated we have to install sprinklers even if our occupancy date is after it is complete. Kind of silly. We asked if we could get our permit ammended if we are still building when the system is updated and they said that no one had ever asked that before. So, hopefully they will work with us. It's so silly to waste that money that we will never be able to recover in resale. If the city is nice we hope to start by March 1, but it looks like it may be later in the spring. Keeping our fingers crossed it is sooner rather than later!

Here is the kids new favorite play place because playing hide and seek in 1300 square feet of space isn't always easy. They even make Adam's bed in there so he can snuggle with his stuffed animals. Whatever makes them happy!!

Grateful for the small things

Last November I had the opportunity to go to Time Out For Women in Salt Lake City. We were given a small, leather bound notebook and I am using mine as a "Gratitude Journal." I have done this in the past, but hope to make writing in it a permanent habit instead of just having a few entries. I want my children and their children to know how grateful I am for all of my many blessings - no matter how large or small they are.

I have committed to recognizing the small things in life that make me happy. Some of them may seem silly, but they make me happy non-the-less. Here is one of them with an explanation following:

I have always liked cereal, but have never enjoyed eating it. When I was young my mom made us drink every drop of milk in our bowl when the cereal was gone. That made me want to barf so I rarely chose to eat it for breakfast. I also HATE, HATE, HATE soggy cereal. So when I do eat cereal I have to add a handful of dry cereal to the top of my bowl with a small amount of milk at the bottom, being very careful to not mix the two until I am ready to take a bite. The kids know to not bother me if I have milk in my bowl because if I had to set it down the cereal on the bottom of the pile would become soggy and therefore uneatable. For Christmas Mark's brother, Brad, gave me this fabulous bowl. Eating cereal has never been so enjoyable!!! I don't even have to hold the bowl up so if I am interrupted by an "emergency" my breakfast isn't ruined. This is one of those small things in life that make me happy and therefore I am grateful for it.

2 1/2 years already?

WOW!! I can't believe that it has been 2 1/2 years since I last blogged. So much has happened that there is no way I could catch up on what was missed. So I will just add photos from 2011 as a year-in-review. They are not in order because I am too lazy to rearrange them. I will try to do better for this coming year! Enjoy:

Kendall turned 8 in May and was lucky enough to have cousins visiting WA for her baptism. In June Brett participated in his first Pioneer Trek.

Adam enjoying the sprinklers at Lagoon.

Bingham Copper Mine

visit from the Birch's

Utah's Hogle Zoo

Halloween

our house we sold in Kennewick :-(

where we lived in Salt Lake City

funny faces before the Orioles game

PG County (white) girls!

Washington, D.C. Temple

U.S. Postal Museum

fun with the Kelley's

National Zoo

Mark & Adam walking on the Mall after the trip up the Washington Monument

in front of the White House

Heath girls

Virginia Beach

American History Museum - Spring Break trip back east

Easter

Evan played on his first T-ball team in the spring

Christmas jammies

Did you eat him???

Here is a short conversation that I had with Evan this morning:

(Holding a bottle of baby lotion) Evan asks, "What is this for?"
Me: "It's lotion for a baby."
Evan: "Where is our new baby?"
Me: "He's still growing inside of me."
(putting his hand on my stomach) Evan: "In your belly? Did you eat him?"

We have a roof!!

This first picture was taken yesterday (8-12-09). The roofers came out and rolled out the paper in one day. Mark got out there last night and painted all the soffet and fascia first so we wouldn't have to tape anything off. Brett, Erin & Kehli spent all afternoon cleaning up in the front and did a great job - probably the cheapest cleaning crew on a job site ever! As long as they could play in the mud when they were done they were happy.

Then came out today (8-13-09) and roofed the whole thing, finishing around 7:30 pm. It looks better than we expected so we are very happy. Plumbers will finish tomorrow and HVAC will probably finish tomorrow also. The electricians are scheduled to start Monday. A couple of windows and one door were installed today, the rest should go in tomorrow except for three that are still on order.Here is Brett ice blocking for mutual last night. It looked like fun, but the other leaders weren't letting me have a try in case I fell off and rolled down the hill. I guess it would have hurt a little. Everyone had a blast, especially the young men.

August Update

This picture of Evan was taken at the Child Family Reunion at the Moses Lake Water Park on August 1. He thought he could do ANYTHING with that life jacket on. I'm glad he wasn't afraid of all the water, but the sprinkler park was a nice change of pace for a bit. He kept running off wanting to go on the surfing wave and the big slides (that you have to be 4 ft. to go down) - even got to the top of the stairs once or twice. It's interesting how many people would just stand there and watch him try to do things that he obviously shouldn't be doing. The best part of the day was when Evan discovered the sprinkler that they had attached to a hose to keep the concrete cool just outside the locker rooms. Evan is fascinated with sprinklers, maybe I have mentioned that before. Anyway, at first he would just turn the sprinkler to squirt people on their way by. Then, I guess that wasn't fun any more, so he picked up the sprinkler so he could get a closer shot at people and even chase them a little. The lifeguard that was closest thought it was pretty funny and so did most of the people, but there were a few stinkers (at the water park!!) who weren't amused at getting wet a little. I wish I had had my camera handy. Here is my most recent trip to Rite Aid. After rebates and coupons I got these 12 items for only $4.34. They would have cost me over $45.00 if purchased there at regular price. And all of them are items that I would have to buy anyway - including the Werther's chocolate!! I love rebate programs. I should have take a picture of our school supply shopping trip that we took on Monday - lined paper, rulers, pencil pouches for 1 cents each, 6-pack highlighters & 2-pack pink pearl erasers for 29 cents each, 12-pack pencils (the good kind!) for 5 cents each. And I didn't mention before my steals at JC Penney on Saturday - 15 items for $112 including 6 pair of jeans for the kids. Plus I started Christmas shopping - only one gift so far, but it's a start. It has been a good week for us at the stores!

Here are the most recent pictures from the house. These first two were taken on Monday, August 3. The first one is right after the trusses got delivered in the moring. It was 105 that day so I felt bad for the framers. The second picture is in the evening when they were done working for the day.

These last two pictures were taken this morning (8/6/09). The first is a front view, the second is from the back. They should have finished the roof sheathing around lunch time and then finished the garage exterior walls. The windows and exterior doors were delivered yesterday so those will start going in either today or tomorrow. Mark will paint the soffets on Saturday afternoon before roofing starts. Roofing, plumbing, HVAC and electircal will all start next week. It's so exciting to watch!!