Busy busy

Wow! Has a whole week really gone by? I feel like this week was gone in seriously two days.  Crazy.  I feel like I've had about 2 or 3 hours of down time this whole week.

Last Friday was my grandma Stephenson's funeral. She had dementia for several years but what lead to her health decline was a skin cancer removal surgery about a week before her death. I remember her as petite (only about 5'2 and 100lbs), vibrant, quick, thoughtful, and probably one of the classiest people I have ever known.  She taught me to crochet, cross stitch and knit.  She also permed my hair when I was 11 or so.  Mostly I just remember her as making me feel special and important.

In the past couple of years I've only seen her maybe once or twice a year and we only live an hour or two apart.  Why have I seen her so little?  Probably just because I just feel really awkward around old people that have a hard time remembering who I am.  Does that sound just so heartless or what?  I hate that about myself but it's the truth.  Trying to make conversation with someone who can't make conversation is just really hard.  At the funeral I was really sad because of the grandma I knew when I was younger and the way  I remember her.

So what has been consuming my days?  Car searching.  I finally found one, and purchased it BY MYSELF. Torry hasn't even seen it (he's gone hunting for the weekend, and said go for it if I found a good deal).  It's a 2003 GMC Denali with about 100k miles on it.  True I would love something newer with less miles, but this just happens to be in our price range.  Even better is that we paid CASH; no car payment.  Torry & I have owned 2 sedans (the LAMO Volvo and the Hyundai Sonata) for the past 9 months.  The plan was to save up and get an SUV.  Well we got the SUV just sooner than expected.  The kids love it.  Camden has asked several times, "Mommy, can I go play in the car?"

Katelyn is gone at her friend Janae's house for a sleepover, Torry is gone hunting, and my brother Rob went fishing all day with friends.  That leaves me Rob's wife, Tiffany, Camden & Lucy.  What do we do? Go shop.

First we went to make a few changes at Ivory Homes design center (Did I mention we are building a house?).  Tiff helped me make some decisions on the flooring.  I changed the carpet & hard flooring.  Tile is still the same.

Anyway, then we went to Hobby Lobby to make these (see right).  What are they, you ask? Totally awesome pom pom jars, one for each of my kids.  When they do something good, they get a pom pom.  When the jar is full, we will go on a trip to the dollar store and they can pick a toy.  It was Tiff's sister's idea, and I copied it.  I thought it was such a cute idea.  Hopefully it will help them want to finish dinner, do chores and be nice to siblings.  We'll see how it works...

I also picked out a few bead chains at the craft store to make some necklaces.  (the white & turquoise beads)  Each necklace will only cost me a total of $5!

After the craft store we went home for a bit then decided to go the Women's Expo at UVU where I got the necklace on the left.  I know, I know, these seem to be everywhere right now but I love it.  And it was only $15.  I've got to try to find something to wear with it tomorrow to church.

Well, off to watch a Dateline NBC show on Drew Peterson who killed his wife. Or I might watch something on Netflix (yay! I signed up for an account!).  Torry's still gone hunting so I have control of the remote. ;)

Annoying Day- Not Completely

Torry's car got fried yesterday.  Nice.  So we've had this Volvo for about 2 years.  We were excited because we were able to pay cash for it, and not have a car payment.  Not anything fancy, but at the time it worked.   Well the yesterday, Torry was driving home from a hunting trip in Richfield when the engine overheated and stopped running.  And won't turn on again.  And there was oil bubbling from the engine.  That's not a good sign.  We're thinking it's going to be $3-$4k just to fix our $5,500 car.  Awesome.  And we were planning on selling it this fall anyway to buy an SUV.  Just wish I had that same $3-4k to use for the new car. Not repairing the old car.

Tennis today was annoying.   It's really like my brain was not working.  Maybe it was  the time? I woke up at 6a to be there by 6:30.  The coach kept giving me pointers on my ground strokes (like follow through, "shaving" the ball and turning my body before I hit). I would remember his pointers for 2 shots, then revert back to my old ways of doing things.  I didn't do very well this morning.

Kate & Camden were totally on each other's case today.  It's like they were doing everything they could just to bug each other.  I even bought them new toys today (which I NEVER do except for birthdays and Christmas) because I feel like they have been bored lately. Annoyance.

On a more positive note,  I was able to enjoy these sweet moments with my kids.

Lucy has been insisting on eating at the bar with Kate & Camden.  I love her cute hair.  It's like this baby fine, thin hair that will not do anything that I want.  But I love it.

Haha my mom usually picks the veggies every other day or so.  Well, she forgot for a few days.  And we got some giant zucchini.  Giant.  I'm giving them to Torry's co-worker for her to shred freeze. 

Lunch.  YUM.  Blake (my 24 year old awesome brother) made me this lunch.  To.Die.For.  So so so good. It was a balsamic vinegar reduction drizzled over tomatoes, mozzarella, and toasted bread with thyme on it.   I've just got to figure out how to quickly make this so I can have it every day.

Cute Kids & Tennis

So I'm turning into my mom.  I now play tennis. A few times a week.  And I absolutely love it.

I started going back in June.  I've always wanted some sort of activity to keep me in shape that's not lifting weights and running. I've tried both, and I really don't like either one.  So, tennis is now my thing.  I think playing soccer in high school really has helped me.  I feel like I've caught on quickly and I'm getting better each week. 

After picking up Camden & Lucy from the gym daycare, Camden really wanted McDonald's for lunch.  So we went to Burger King (so much better than McDonald's.)  Awesome, right?  I worked off all these calories at tennis, then ate a Whopper Jr, small fry and Diet Coke.  So healthy.   Anyway on the way home, this was my conversation with Camden.

C: "When I'm a dad, can I be a police man?"

M:  "Sure.  You can be whatever you want!"

C: "Can I be a Burger King man and a police man?"

M: "Yes.  You can be whatever you want."

Right then I look in my rear view mirror and he has a giant smile on his face and whispered "Yes!"

It was hard for me not to say, "No you can't be a police man, you'll get shot." and "No, you can't be a dirt bag and work at Burger King as a dad."  But I'm trying not to limit my kids. Reach for the stars, honey.  Hopefully just not for the Burger King and Police man stars.  But I didn't say that.

Lucy ate her chicken nuggets the whole way home with her Burger King crown covering her eyes, resting on her nose.  She wore that thing around all afternoon.  So cute.

Katelyn had her SEP conferences this afternoon with her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Woodbury.  She is doing great!  Her teacher said Katelyn is great to have in class. She is quick to follow directions, always finishes her work first, and seems to be the only kid to know how to whisper. (Pretty sure that came from me whisper-yelling "Be quiet! Lucy is sleeping!") 

She knew all of her letters, and only missed 4 letter sounds.  She does tend to reverse her letters and numbers and write them backwards.  We will work on that.

Rob & Tiff (my brother & sister-in-law) are coming back from Texas tonight! YAY! They have been gone all summer.  So excited for them to come home.  

I've got a cleaning bug..... going to clean the bathroom and do some laundry.

Falling Behind

So lately I've had this overwhelming feeling that my life is moving so fast I can hardly keep up, much less remember it all.  I know it's so so so cliche but I feel like I've blinked and Katelyn is suddenly in first grade.  Camden is in his 2nd year of pre-school and Lucy is almost 2 years old. Seriously?  Am I that old?  Maybe if  I were to take just a few minutes and write it down I could remember what I did last week, last month or maybe last year.

It makes me sad how day to day memories fade.  I heard a quote that made me bawl.  "The biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make... I did not live in the moment enough.  This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs.  There is one picture of the three of [my children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six four, and one.  And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded and how they looked when they slept that night.  I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book bed.  I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less"  (Anna Quindlen, Loud and Clear 8, 10-11."  Ugh.  I read one lazy Saturday morning in bed and it made me feel awful.  I got in the shower and just bawled.  Then I came to the decision that I really need to be better at recording my days.  Even though they may be sometimes the same as the previous day, I know that there will be a day that I long just to hear Lucy's little voice say "no", Camden's play car noise and Katelyn's constant talking.

So instead of feeling like I must write for an audience and everything that comes with that, I've decided to just write for me and my family.  Because even though it is a little inconvenient now, hopefully it will be priceless someday.