love that jeter

cute jeter always wants to have a toy in his mouth.  he has such a great personality--loves to cuddle, never barks or bites.  and he loves to give kisses.  he is always making his laugh.  romeo, on the other hand, a little more fiesty...

got to see evan today.  i feel like the days of seeing evan are sure numbered.  he came up for a doctor appointment and it was so fun to talk to him and be with him.  we did find out that he has to have surgery right after school gets out in april.  just a scope of his knee, but still.  he either has a torn meniscus or another injury caused when he had to get all those stitches after the slip 'n slide at byu.  sure glad we took him in now so that his knee won't be a problem on his mission.  it's hard to sit japanese style with a sore knee.

early out all week for isaac.  yay.  it's nice to have someone to keep me company in the afternoons.  we had his parent teacher conference today and found that he is very popular with his teacher.  that's a relief, because his fliter breaks a lot and i always worry about what's going to come out of his mouth.  he seems to be doing well though.

review of morning church

i have been waiting and waiting and waiting for two years to have morning church.  honestly, after a month of it, i'm not sure it's the best thing.  i wrote last week that there is more fighting.  that was better today because craig is back in town.  but i think people aren't very productive.  we've decided to have our main sunday meal right after church so we can get it cleaned up and out of the way.  then we have pancakes or crepes in the evening.  so today we had steak and baked potatoes.  that went well.  then we read scriptures because it's hard to do later.  then what?  well, i took a nap.  and truthfully, i'm not sure what anyone else did.  i think caroline embroidered something while watching lord of the rings for the 1,000th time (not kidding).  jake probably studied because he's always productive.  craig definitely did something productive.  i've got to be a better sunday mother.  i will resolve to make next sunday more spiritual.  oops, next week is the super bowl, definitely not going to outdo today's spirituality.  ok, the next week.

saturdays are giving me the blahs

another saturday, another blah day.  i know i should be looking at these saturdays between football season (when we have games every week) and baseball season (when we sometimes have six games on a saturday) as a time to be productive and accomplish something, but i have definitely been bored.  the highlight of today was caroline putting together our new exercise bike.  she did a great job--doing 98 percent of the work and craig helped her with the other two percent.  thank you!  i'm excited to use it.

i took caroline driving in the morning.  we got a good 1 1/2 hours in.  we drove to ogden and visited two of my favorite stores:  the needlepoint joint and the shepherd's bush.  then we stopped at target and got 13 more cases of coke zero, which was on sale ridiculously cheap.  we arrived home in time to watch byu play at the pit in new mexico.  as is often the case, so much energy and emotion was put into beating sdsu this week, we lost to nmu--a major contributor to the blahs.

the boys were somewhat productive, delivering salt, going to basketball practice, doing a food drive (sam did this for school and collected over 200 lbs. of food for the food pantry) and craig prepared his sunday school lesson.

craig and i went to a movie tonight.  we saw "the way out" a story about some prisoners who escaped from a siberian prison and walked to india.  on a scale, i enjoyed it more than i didn't, but we did have to watch a lot of walking.  and dying.  i was glad when they finally got to india.  some of the prisoners in the movie were polish as it takes place at the beginning of world war two, so then i dreamed we were harboring poles.  what an exciting life we lead.

derby

craig and i realized tonight that this is probably our last pinewood derby--untill we have grandkids i guess.  it was a fun one to end on.  isaac and craig spent a lot of time these past two weeks making his shiny car and it did very well.  isaac (or issac as the board said) finished fourth overall.   the first 45 minutes of the derby were spent racing head to head.  everyone got a turn on each of the four lanes to make the competition fair.  after the top four winers were named, it was a fun free-for-all, racing whoever you wanted.

 there was some discussion amongst the parents about whether we came to win or to have fun.  i definitely came to win.  and actually three out of the four parents i polled said they also came to win.  cindy said she came to have fun, but i suspect she wanted to win too.  president eyring was in attendance to watch his grandson race.  i didn't ask him if he came to win or to have fun. 



tough crowd

went to an afternoon movie today with one of my besties.  there's something about skipping out on home in the middle of the day and going to a movie where only three other people are in the theater that makes my week.  we decided to do it more often.

sam had a basketball game tonight.  i was warned not to go because we were playing a team we have a long and winding history with.  he came home from his game upset because of some incidents.  i have a little experience with youth sports and i have seen my share of bad stuff going around, but i have to say that there is a group of parents in sam's age group that ruin things for everyone.  they are bad sports.  they only think about themselves.  they don't care about anybody's feelings, including the kids who are around when they display bad behavior.  i hate to be around them and i wish i never had to see them.  bountiful would be a better place without them.

craig is still in dallas.  i guess he decided today to act like a local.  steer competition and a rodeo.  he asked me what else he was going to do and i said i'd rather put my jammies on, get in bed at the hotel and watch tv than go to a rodeo.  i have allergy issues though and i don't enjoy horses.  he probably had fun.

jimmermania

last night's big game definitely lived up to expectations.  with anywhere between 22-26 nba scouts in attendance at the marriott center in provo (along with 25,000 other crazy fans and four parrys) jimmer fredette dropped 43 points on previously undefeated sdsu to bring the cougars a very big win.  jimmer outscored his whole team.  sam said attending this game passed roy halliday's perfect game for his favorite game ever.  i have to say, it was pretty amazing and the talk of espn now for a solid 24 hours.  it's a great time to be a cougar fan.

 yep, that's jimmer.  i'm actually surprised he made it out alive.

 my four boys were some of the people who "stormed the court" after the game.  probably not kosher, but an experience they will never forget.  evan's poster says "teach me how to davies", which is a play on a song called "teach me how to dougie" and davies is his favorite cougar.

 photo courtesy of sam.  i'm so glad they documented the mania.

the boys were lucky enough to be by the tunnel when jimmer left the court.  he high fived isaac and sam and when sam leaned in and took this picture, jimmer gave him a high five.

jimmermania will pass someday and who knows how successful he will be in the nba, but for now we are enjoying the fun of a very high national ranking and lots of media attention.  so glad the boys could go to the game together.

big game tomorrow

#9 byu is hosting #4 sdsu tomorrow.  big game around these parts.  we have four tickets so jake, sam, isaac and i were going to head down tomorrow evening.  i guess the student ticket hand-out was a disaster though so evan called and said he probably wouldn't get a ticket.  i gave him mine so that the boys could have a brother outing.  i'm so excited for them.  i only hope the game isn't a disaster for byu.  caroline was a little unhappy because she said she was looking forward to being home all alone, so i told her we could stay on different floors and i wouldn't talk to her.  i'll be watching the game anyway.  in hd.

sam went to school late this morning.  he needed a ride right at the height of a little snow storm.  traffic galore on 1800 s.  i went to the temple after i dropped him off.  i thought the weather would keep all the old people away, but it was a very crowded session. 

"it's my job"

sometimes jake feels like i hound him.  today i reviewed a list of teachers he needed to talk to about different things and he said, like he often does, that he had it taken care of.  what jake doesn't understand is it's my job.  i asked him tonight if he just wanted my job to be wash, which is boring.  he said no, food should be my job too.  but i think hounding kids to get things done and preparing them for life without me are also my jobs, so i'm going to keep doing them thank you very much.

craig is in dallas this week.  i asked him what was up in dallas?  he said, flat.  he deposed a witness today who happens to be a former stake president and his attorney is his former counselor so craig said he is having a hard time being mean to them because they are being so nice to him.

so it was just a regular monday, not much else to say.  school.  carpool.  errands.  lots of wash.  sam had basketball and baseball.  isaac went to bed at 8:15 sick--i'm really hoping he doesn't go down with what jake had since i already got a letter from the school telling me he had missed too much school and i know of five more days this year that he is going to miss--can't afford any sick days.  caroline continues to amaze me with her abilities and her efforts to be nicer around the house.  ok, she's a little grumpy in the morning, but who isn't.

9:00 am church means more fighting

so, i love 9:00 a.m. church.  i love getting up and starting the day in sacrament meeting.  i also love being "done" with church meetings at noon.  today i took a nice nap and we are enjoying conference championship games.  craig left for dallas this morning and what i discovered today is that being done with church at noon just gives my children endless hours to fight with each other.  today i refereed a wopper of a fight between caroline and isaac.  name calling and even physical contact.  it's interesting to me how each person has a completely different recollection of what actually happened.

as i said, we are enjoying the nfl playoffs today.  most of us want the steelers to beat the jets.  here is sam laying on my bed waving his "terrible towel".  earlier this afternoon the packers beat the bears. 

i forgot to announce yesterday that jake was selected to attend a leadership conference that will be held at valley forge, pennsylvania in march.  he had to fill out an application, write an essay and go to an interview.  i think it sounds really, really fun.  we have to pay $300 towards the four-day trip, but the rest of his expenses will be paid by the utah freedoms foundation chapter.  hopefullly this helps him on his way to his goal of being the history sterling scholar at bountiful high.

mostly unproductive day

a minor health scare today took us to instacare.  isaac (of course) was giving the dogs a bath and reacted to some unknown allergen.  it was almost an epi-pen moment.  he had major trouble breathing.  after a breathing treatment we decided he wasn't getting better so we headed to instacare.  all is well now after some steroids.

this is how you know that jake, sam and isaac have had an utterly unproductive day.  when craig went into the room where they had been playing halo for several hours, sam said, "i'm going to do something productive in a minute--watch the byu basketball game".  not exactly what i would consider productive.  but still, i'm grateful for a few saturdays during the year when we don't have basketball, football or baseball.  the boys are normally so busy and so productive, i don't mind a saturday here and there wasted with video games.

and i don't know what's up with craig (actually i do, i think it was evan's mission call), but he is on a japanese food kick.  today he took caroline driving towards her 40 hours of driver training and they headed for the japanese market downtown.  he made mobuldofu for lunch and yakisoba for dinner.  yumm-o.

p.s.  i got my project approved.  i got my project approved.  i got my project approved.  can't wait.

obsessed

i am obsessed with this stove top.  i hate it.  i imagine every day what it would be like to have my island counter top completely unobstructed.  the things i could do with all that counter space.  i think about it every day.  sometimes i dream up ways to solve the problem, all of which plans cost thousands of dollars.  i finally decided a few weeks ago that i seriously wanted to make a change so i began planning again in earnest.  i got a great counter top bid.  i found someone to move the stove top to another counter and i found a great double oven to put into my kitchen (also an obsession).  it was the perfect plan.  our estimate started at $7,000, but then the counter top bid was so great, we were down to $5,000.  i was ready to move.  but i was foiled by maytag.  they said a double oven with a stove top on top was too much heat.  i was super sad, but decided to let it go, which i did for 12 hours.  i decided to ask one last person for an opinion.  rye.  mr. puggs.  he suggested moving the stove top over my existing single oven.  one problem solved.  then he said why didn't i put my second oven in the mudroom?  not my first choice, but a fine solution.  i called the appliance store and the new oven i want is on clearance for $800.  well that puts my grand total at around $3,000.  waiting for the big guy (craig) to give the go ahead, but i have to order the oven by tomorrow.  using all my convincing skills.

caroline and jake went to the bountiful/wx basketball game tonight.  bountiful won again.  i wonder if wx gets tired of losing to us.  jake has had a fever now for four days, but decided to venture out to the game.  when the game ended, he hitched a ride home with a friend, leaving his car neatly parked at wx.  who forgets their car?  lame-o.

running ragged

i have made a blogging resolution this year.  with craig's encouragement, i'm trying to use my blog as more of a family record this year.  i realize much of what i include will probably seem mundane and may bore anyone who might read this, but it's really more for us, so don't expect excitement every day.

today was one of those days when i was run ragged by my kids.  i had some time to myself while they were at school, but 3:00 rolled around and i was bus-ee.  i took isaac to his baseball coach's house to get a ride to practice, which is halfway from here to the airport.  before he came home from school i had to pack up all his baseball stuff, make him a snack, and pack his basketball stuff so he could go straight from baseball to basketball.  caroline had fencing in kaysville, so i took her to matt's office to catch a ride to layton.  matt was nice enough to drop her off at fencing so i could go to isaac's basketball game.  which his team won 20-0.  yes 20-0.  i don't think i've ever been to a basketball game where the other teaam was shut out.  i also don't think i've ever been to a basketball game where one person got almost every single rebound.  all isaac has to do to get a rebound is stand flat-footed and reach his arms all the way up.  after his game i headed to kaysville to get caroline.  i had an extra few minutes so i went to dsw (most awesomest place ever) and got some sandals.  i sent craig and isaac to get jake a keva juice since he's still sick.  craig had just enough time to drop off the keva and the child before heading to sam's basketball game.  whew. 

when craig finally sat down to eat his curry chicken (which i made and is delicious-o) at 10:30, we found out that evan had just been asked to give a talk in his ward sunday so craig spent half an hour looking for a talk that evan had given in our ward that he could recycle.  i crashed in bed and watched american idol, which, by the way, is amazing this year. 

here's hoping tomorrow is more calm.

jake has a fever

january in utah is not my favorite.  december is so shiny and full of celebrations.  then january comes.  it seems like the snow is just dirty and it's cold and there's nothing really to look forward to.  today was kind of one of those "blah" january days.  it was the first day of the term for the kids, but i heard complaints about having third lunch, new teachers, unfavorable schedules and no friends are in my lunch, etc.  but still, we've made it halfway through the school year, so i think we can adapt and finish the course.

jake probably had it the toughest today.  he came home from school with the flu, fever, chills, the works.  i ran in to one of his friends who said he missed a "gnarly" math assignment.  face it, if i took ap calculus, all the assignments would be gnarly to me.  i hope he will be back at it tomorrow.

caroline is an office aide this year.  she had to sign a paper saying she wouldn't talk about anything that happened in the office while she was there.  she made it about four hours before telling a juicy story from today.  hopefully she doesn't get kicked out.

and evan's visa paperwork came today...i guess he really is going to japan.

good dad

craig is the best dad ever.  he is constantly doing things to help our family.  he is so so busy at work right now and yet, since the kids had the day off school, he took the day off and took sam and isaac skiing.  they always come home with the best stories that i know the kids will remember and i know they will remember how much their dad did for them when they were growing up.  today isaac decided to wear a "camelback", a canteen backpack, so he would have water to drink all day.  apparently the tube got stuck on the chairlift and he couldn't get off.  he laughed when he told me that they had to stop the lift and it took "like five minutes" to extract him from the chair.  after skiing, craig took the boys out for dinner in park city, came home, took isaac to baseball practice and then they are going to have isaac's pinewood derby car shaped at someone's shop.  i feel asleep last night early, but i heard that craig was up until after 1:00 a.m. working on the wheels for isaac's car.  this is only one day in his life.  imagine 364 similar days in 2011.

jake declined skiing because of a headache.  my immediate thought was brain tumor, but that's probably overkill.  instead he spent the day studying for the act and reading the ap psych textbook.  he's not taking the class.  he heard that you could study the book and pass the test.

i know evan is hurting today.  another of his best friends is leaving for the mtc in the morning.  i'm sure june 1 seems so far away, but i know if he stays busy at school, it will be here before he knows it.

caroline and i went to gardner village today.  we had a great time together browsing the various shops.  we should do that more often.

no school

no school today.  the kids were happy about that.  two skiers (caroline & ick).  one shopper (sam).  one studier for the act test (jake).  and one bored college student whose friends are all ditching him for missions (evan).  we crossed 'winter coat' off our mission supply list and mom got a new laptop (yay!).  the day ended with delicious homemade bread (uncle steve) and bean & ham soup (mom) and a beautiful sky as the sun went down.

a missionary in the kingston, jamaica mission was killed today, caught in the crossfire of a gun fight between the police and some criminals.  an elder from our ward, joey nelson, was in the van that this elder was riding in.  no one else was hurt, but it was a close call.  we will be thinking of him tonight.

farewell

farewell to two more missionaries today.  joe leishman is on his way to the phillipines and mitch johnson is headed to frankfurt, germany.  love this picture.  evan and jake are enjoying mitch's company at his open house where he served bratwurst.  soon bountiful is going to be a class of 2010 ghost town, but it is so much fun to keep track of these young men all over the world. 

every which way

definitely a blog title that could apply to almost every day at our house.  craig, sam and isaac went skiing.  a beautiful warm day on the slopes of park city.  i know how much isaac appreciates craig taking him skiing.  a few weeks ago, isaac was distressed to find out that spring training started at the beginning of march.  i wondered why because he loves baseball season so much.  when i asked him he said, "I only have six more weeks to ski.".  craig was nice to take him even though he is extraorinarily busy at work right now.  sam skied with his ski buddy, colin.

caroline and i met steve at scott & kim's house and helped paint a bedroom for one of the girls.  a great pick-me-up for kari i hope.  caroline proved to be a great painter even though she was a rookie.  we had fun with steve.  afterwards, steve took caroline and some of the kids to cafe rio for lunch. 

jake slept and cleaned, at the risk of being grounded.  and we all watched the ravens/steelers play-off game.  many strong opinions about that game.  lots of shouting when good plays happened.  steelers won, which made sam and me happy. 

we were happy that evan came home for a few days.  he arrived in time to watch the game with us.  of course, we talked a lot about japan and looked at some of the things we need to buy and get done before he leaves.  craig took evan and caroline out for japanese food tonight.  we'll try to introduce evan to the food a bit.  he's rather sad that his chances of having mexican food during the two years he is in japan are pretty remote. 

jet lagged

i shouldn't complain because craig got up and went to work today, but i feel like i've hit a brick wall.  after waving good-bye to the kids, i just climbed straight back into bed. 

tonight we were treated to an amazing christmas concert at the high school.  jake is in the a'capella choir and they were one of the groups performing.  christmas concerts always get me right into the spirit of christmas.  jake's choir sang the theme song from home alone, while carrying candles down the aisle.  it was so amazing. but the best song of the night was sung by a combined men's choir:  innkeeper.  i dare you to listen to this song and not cry.  it was beautiful. 

"i'm bored"

i'm not sure why my kids think i'm responsible for their boredom.  haven't i given them enough things to occupy themselves?  i think so, but they still tell me their bored.  sam had a friend over and they were occupied for a time, but then decided they wanted to build a plastic cup tower.  i was against it.  didn't want germs on my plastic cups when they tumbled to the floor, which they did.  i have to say, the tower was impressive when it was complete.  probably worth a few germs.

sometimes i wish that medical problems could be spread around a little amongst people.  it seems like isaac has more than he really needs.  today we were working on eyes.  one of isaac's eyes is defective.  he gets chronic sties.  in fact, he almost always has one and often more than one and it's a big pain.  i thought they could do a surgery that would fix him all up because he had surgery on a sty about six years ago.  but it turns out they can only operate on glands that become clogged and will not unclog, not glands that have sties develop, go away and then return.  boo.  so now we just have to use hot washrags and antibiotic ointment (which makes it really hard to see).  it's doesn't really seem like a solution to me.

jake and caroline went to the bountiful high basketball game tonight.

the morning after

woke up this morning still not believing that evan actually said nagoya, japan.  he did.  we're still excited.  i'm so happy we will have a month between the end of the semester and the day he leaves.

there's an empty spot in the driveway now where thomas used to park, which is good and bad.  love the space, miss the boy.

sam had a basketball game today. jake had a football banquet.  evan had fun announcing his mission call, especially to his sharing the gospel teacher.  caroline, isaac and i went to my nephew monte's birthday party tonight.  craig has been so busy at work, i hardly talk to him during the day.  more depositions for him tomorrow.  and tonight there's a big storm underway. 

i wonder what tomorrow will bring?

hello, goodbye

we said good-bye to elder hamilton today, dropping him off at the mtc after a fun lunch at brick oven in provo.  evan, mitch and chris johnson, craig and I enjoyed pizza, a last game of slug-bug in the car (which thomas won) and fun conversation before having thomas wrenched from our hands to enter the mtc.  he was like a smug bug all day knowing where evan was going on his mission before the rest of us.  we will miss elder hamilton, but he will be a great missionary in florida.

we said hello to evan's mission call.  he brought a fleet of people up from byu and invited what seemed like everyone left in bountiful that he knows.  they converged on our house and we were delighted and completely shocked when evan said he was "taking his talents" to the japan, nagoya mission.  this is the exact same mission craig went to 25 years ago and one week from the day evan is leaving.  i would have guessed all of north and south america, most of africa and europe and the pacific islands before i would have guessed japan.  i still can't wrap my head around it.  having said that, i know without a doubt that this is the place evan needs to serve and that he will learn japanese and be a fantastic missionary.  it was a very exciting night and i'm so grateful to see all the support he has.  he leaves june 1. 

elder t

special day today.  thomas was set apart as a missionary for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints.  president taylor, bishop tueller, johnny and three of his sons, and the johnsons joined us for the setting apart.  for the parrys it was kind of a dry run.  now we kind of know what to expect emotionally in a few short months when evan leaves.  it's not good.  president taylor called on several people to say a few words about thomas.  it was very tender and many great things were said.  the spirit was very strong.  i'm grateful for the opportunity to have had thomas here for a few short years.  he has made a difference in our lives and he will be a great missionary in tallahassee, florida.  we will miss him.

food, football and a plan

national championship day finally came, a day long anticipated at our house.  we were glad this year to have a solid oregon team to cheer for since the auburn program didn't really appeal to us.  evan brought four friends up from byu, we had other friends drop by, some to say good-bye to thomas, mitch johnson and his dad chris came and my brother matt and his wife celeste came for part of the game.  we had yummy chocolate and cheese fondue, chicken wings, chips and dip and banana slush.  i believe a great time was had by all, even though the ducks lost to the tigers in the last few seconds.  sam kept saying how sad he was that this was the last college football game of the year.  but for me that means baseball is around the corner.

evan's mission call is supposed to come tomorrow.  it's all i think about.  craig pointed out last night how much the place you go on your mission can change your whole life.  look at what craig has done with his japanese.  i know evan will go to the place he's supposed to go, but it's such a huge thing, i can't wait to see where it will be.

helam heimuli, evan's good friend, is already in the mtc, but his mom called yesterday and reminded us that she works at the post office.  she wants thomas to be able to see where evan is going before he has to go to the mtc at 1:00 tomorrow, so she offered to bring the call up in the morning by 7:00 a.m.  but evan can't make it up here until tomorrow night and he wants the rest of his friends and family to see him open his call, so evan came up with a plan.  thomas is going to open evan's call in the morning, see where evan is going and then tape the call back up.  he will go to the mtc and be able to tell all the b-town kids where evan is going and we will all find out tomorrow night with evan.  hopefully it all works.

the sundee before a big week

stake conference today!  love church in the morning.  snapped this picture quick before we headed into the meeting.  no one was happy about it.  the whole time we were in hawaii, jake kept trying to stand next to craig on the sly so we could see who was taller, but craig usually caught on and stood on his tip-toes or slumped so we couldn't really tell.  judging from this picture, i say jake has him by two inches.  changing of the guard.

just heard from the stake clerk.  call has been issued.  it's on its way.  i couldn't sleep last night, and don't expect to sleep until wednesday.  i probably won't sleep then either though.  hmm, this doesn't bode well for me or the people who have to be around me.

thomas is heading for the mtc on wednesday.  he moved the last of his stuff out today.  we have enjoyed having him and i hope we have made a difference in his life.  it's ironic that evan's call is supposed to arrive here at home on wednesday.  thomas will miss hearing where evan is going by a few hours.  we will write him, but it won't be the same.    and g-dawg is on her way to antarctica.  she texted me today from the faulkland islands and reminded me to e-mail as soon as evan opened his call. 

hum drum saturday

saturday started early here.  jake had an interview out in granger.  he applied for a history leadership conference that will be held at valley forge in the spring.  his essay passed and he was chosen as a finalist, so the interview today was to be chosen for the conference.  he presents himself well, so we're hoping he makes it. 

craig had to work all day long.  i hate it when he's not home on saturday.

the nfl play-offs started today, so those of us stuck at home watched the defending super bowl champs lose to the seahawks and the jets beat the colts.  niether game went the way i wanted it to. 

jake and caroline are my heroes this weekend.  after great help yesterday, jake cleaned out drawers for me today and his friend, who spent the day here, vacuumed the floor in the kitchen.  when i was cleaning up christmas stuff, i broke one of my favorite things, a large ceramic pineapple made in mexico.  i figured it was a lost cause, but caroline insisted on gluing it back together.  she did an amazing job.  so grateful for her persistence.

sam spent the day with jackson at basketball practice and hunting down a mouse at his friend's house.

i heard isaac answer the phone today.  it was for sam.  he said, "sam's not home and i don't know where he is, so don't ask".  looks like i need to work on manners with that child.

and evan is texting me tonight asking me if his call has been mailed.  i've been stalking the stake clerk, so i thought it was time for him to text the bishop.  waiting to hear back from him about what the bishop said.

thank goodness it's friday

today was a good day.  i made my first 2011 costco run and besides the loads and loads of food to feed teenage boys, i bought a new garbage can.  i am surprised the satisfaction i felt the rest of the day because of this garbage can.  it's shiny, has a lid and i can open it with my foot.  i love it.  it's amazing what little things can make you happy.

i took a big dive into the post-christmas clean-up.  it's so overwhelming.  i am so lucky to have great kids.  caroline surprised me after school by totally undecorating the tree (a huge job) and jake put all the wreaths and garlands and lanterns back up into the attic over the garage.  he did come in and ask me if it was ok to step on the ceiling, at which point i knew that his leg had put a big hole in the garage ceiling, but i didn't care.  it's only the garage and i was so happy to have everything put away. 

sam had friends over tonight.  i thought that when evan and thomas and all their friends left on their missions i would have a little break before sam and jake's friends took over, but it looks like no break for me.  jake and his friends passed through for (weird) clothes to wear to the stomp.  i'm glad they aren't dancing with me. 

hey, there's sand in my dirty clothes hamper

it's hard enough to come home from hawaii to 20 degree temperatures and air that is thicker than soup--i even had to use isaac's nebulizer and give myself a breathing treatment--that's how bad the air is.  it's hard enough to come home and have piles of wash to do and christmas decorations to take down and put away, but when i get to the bottom of that dirty clothes hamper and find sand--that's hard.  but there are bright spots to coming home.  evan texted and said he was 3 for 3 for classes today--he loved them all.  caroline, jake and sam didn't miss much and there grades are good.  isaac is breathing way better than i am.  and i'm getting my sports fix, even if it is just basketball.  craig is the only one in a hole, a deep one, at work.  looks like long days for the next few weeks.

home

we are home from hawaii and not happy about it.  everyone is unpacking and telling me how sad they are.  sam said he can't stand thinking about the happy memories, which seems counterproductive since we went to hawaii to create happy memories.  lots of complaints about heading back to school.  our red eye flight landed at 7:45 and then we made the slow trek to drop everyone off at a different school.  evan headed straight to provo, then we dropped off sam at millcreek, jake at bountiful, caroline at mueller park and isaac at valley view.  then craig headed off to a few very busy weeks at work.  it was particularly hard for me to come home.  i was dreading returning to my life where evan is leaving soon and scott is still dead.  we're trying to move on now to waiting for the postman to bring us that very important letter.  my guess all along for evan has been somewhere in the polynesian islands, but this week i can't stop thinking about dublin, ireland.  weird.  he probably won't go either place. we'll keep you posted.

golf, surfing, and the spa

awesome day today, maybe my favorite.  caroline and i spent the morning at the spa getting massages, facials, body scrubs, sitting in the whirlpool and steamroom, eating lunch, reading.  perfect relaxation.  the boys all went surfing and then went golfing, except for jake who wanted to study ap history.  the day ended with the perfect sunset. and you can tell that caroline's skin is glowing.

starting off a new year

we welcomed the new year with an early flight from hawai'i to oah'u.  i liked the early flight because i didn't want to waste a beautiful day in paradise sleeping.  after we checked into the marriott, we went down to the pool to play in the sun.  i read a book while the boys and caroline played in the pool.  as i sat there i couldn't imagine being happier than in that moment.  everyone was laughing in the pool.  i was reading a book listening to happy people and feeling the sunshine on my face.  i truly had a joyful heart.  i will always remember that moment.