a blended life

Newsflash: I'm completely exhausted. Old news: So is everyone else I know. I sit down to my blog, which is my cozy place for writing my thoughts and random life tidbits, but most of the time the only thing that pops into my head is "Holy moly, I am wasted." Everyone is tired. All teachers, students, moms, dads, grandmas and construction workers are tired. I am taking 13 credits right now, teaching one 30 minute math class every day, teaching piano one afternoon a week, working the the Young Women at church and hauling two monkeys around to various activities. That doesn't sound like a lot so I don't know what my problem is. I mean, I'm not even working full time. I just don't have a lot of mojo right now. Maybe it's the snotty kids I'm working with in math. And I do mean snotty. Maybe the heat this summer messed with my head. Maybe I haven't been on enough vacations (my favorite option). or Maybe I'm just really sick of scho...

Let's start with the weekend fail. This is actually quite depressing. Hannah doesn't like visiting her dad. She stresses about it for days and comes up with ways to get out of going. When I take her there on Fridays, she wails and bawls and clings to me and begs me to take her back home. She doesn't want to leave anything at his house, probably hoping that she won't have to go back. The whole thing is completely miserable for all of us involved. A few nights ago, this was her prayer: "Heavenly Father, please bless Mom to be ok until I get back from Dad's house." I want to scoop them up and take them home and pretend like we have a perfect life where people don't get divorced, everyone on the playground is nice and chickens don't poop a lot. About once a week I say to myself, Is this really my life? Alas. Now that the sad stuff is out there, here are some happy thoughts.  Some of you may not know that my girls spend every other weeke...

I've been making a mental bucket list of things I want to see in Utah. Not because I'm leaving, but because I've lived here too long to ignore the fact that I've lived in a bubble and haven't really experienced the many cool things this place has to offer. Yes, there are some cool things that Utah has to offer (that was for you out-of-state folks that are snickering right now. Or in-state folks.) One of them was going to the state fair. It's right in the middle of Salt Lake City, so not too far away.  Here are a few more bucket list items: --Take the girls on the Alpine Slide --Antelope Island --Visit each state park (there are 5!) --Go to Goblin Valley --A few hikes: Timp Caves, Stewart Falls, and maybe Ensign Peak Anyway, we made a VERY last minute decision to go to the State Fair. Is it capitalized? One of the best parts of the fair is the food--so many yummy things! This picture is of an enormous plate of french fry/potato skin/somethi...

Today I will not complain. I won't whine about the price of my contacts tripling. I won't complain that the optometrist changed my prescription and now I'm nauseous with a blooming headache. I won't fuss about my schedule or the fact that I desperately don't want to teach piano this fall. I won't even bore with the details of my financial situation, except to point out that I can't work until student teaching is over.  Instead, I'll remember some good things. There were many. Just give me a minute. ................................................................................................ Hannah started off the morning saying, "I know the Star Spangled Banner. It goes 'Jose, Can you see?"  I wonder if Jose knows he's in the national anthem. I made a to-do list. And we all know how I feel about those guys.  Then I accomplished the to-do list.  Leah played with someone at recess. This is big. Plus, ...

When my church builds a temple, it's open to the public for a month or so to look around the rooms and see what the inside is all about. Everyone is invited to come--all ages and backgrounds. My kids were begging me to take them to this one in Brigham City (about an hour and a half drive). Our Saturday plans with friends got foiled due to me having a stomach virus, so we decided to not let Labor Day weekend go completely to the toilet. It was tempting, though.  Also, everyone in the state of Utah decided to go today. We got there early enough that it wasn't too bad, but by the time we left the line to get in was wrapped around the block and then some. The girls were so excited and I didn't want to pass up the chance to let them know how special temples are to me.  I treasure my temple experiences and want so much for my kids to feel that same love and understanding of God and our plan here on earth that I feel when I go. All temples have a sign that says, "Holines...

Beginning of the school year? Bring it on.  Hannah started kindergarten this week. It feels like two steps backward from where she was. She used to go to preschool 4 hours a day. Now kindergarten is 2.5 hours. And a very useless 2 hours. She came home from her first day and said, "All we did was sit on the rug. BORING." I have a looming suspicion that school and Hannah will always have a love/hate relationship. I think we're in for a long road, folks.  Hannah can read quite a bit, do simple math, put on an entire family home evening, do her own hair, sell eggs to the neighbor's without help, bark orders at the household on any given topic, and is allergic to bees. Her favorite show right now is Baby Story. She would watch it for hours if I let her. When the baby comes out, she gets emotional and says, "Isn't it so cute, Mom? I was cuter though." She was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up at kindergarten. Her answer: a delivery nurse. S...

A few weeks ago we had a family Lagoon day--and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it :).  These pics were taken by my sister and dad since my camera was still MIA. Did I mention it was in the car the whole time? Typical. If you don't know what Lagoon is, it's an overpriced amusement park with mildly entertaining rides and an absolutely disgusting water park. Actually we had a fun day and my attitude wasn't nearly as bad as I'm making it sound. The pictures kind of speak for themselves so I won't laboriously travelogue each one. We went on August 7th. Yes, I am slow this month.  This ride made me super nauseated. Plus also I lost my sunglasses on it--even though they were in my pocket.  Here's someone else's picture of the ride. I *might* have closed my eyes for some of it.  One of my cute nieces and a piece of ham: The last time you'll see these sunglasses: I love Leah's look here...