Still Here

I'm not dead.

Just letting you know.

I'm still here --- just taking a . . . break? no. that's the wrong word . . . siesta? nope. I wish . . . I'm taking some time to reboot. Yep. that's about right.

I feel that throughout the summer -- and really much of the time since Violet was born -- I've been "escaping" into my blog, other people's blogs, or facebook. It's been fine, because I've had a new, little baby and she likes to be held. A lot. However, I find "just a second" turns into "just another hour" and my limited amount of productive time in the day just slips right through my fingers.

I'm trying to get caught up on a few of my "To-Do's" and reboot my schedule.

Hazel started school last Thursday. (more on that later) It's been wonderful and she LOVES school, but it's been a bit crazy jumping back into a schedule before I'd really been planning on it. Crazy and awesome. Lilie starts school on Monday and even though I've tried to convince her that she's too little or that she doesn't know enough (ha ha), she's still determined to leave me for half the day. :) Frankly, the longer that she's home without Hazel around the more ready I am for her to have something to occupy her. She and Elsie . . . are two of a kind, in many ways. They've been keeping it . . . real around here the past week.

Elsie is sassy as ever and we are making a renewed effort to teach her that princesses are always kind and they always obey and that they never lie and tell their mommy that they buckled themselves into their car seats when they really didn't.

Violet is ON THE MOVE!! Can you believe it? She's 5 1/2 months old and hasn't all the way gotten the hang of crawling, but she's almost there and can scoot herself quite efficiently to whatever interesting object catches her eye. She loves eating solid food. We've had to explain to Elsie several times that Violet can't eat Cheetos, popsicles, or sandwiches and cannot play with marbles. Lilie has never been interested in dollies in any way, shape, or form, but she LOVES Violet and wants to carry her around and play with her all the time (that and clean her fuzzies).

Nels finally finished his HUGE HUGE project for work. We got to go down to Utah for Melaleuca's convention and watch it play across the five huge screens that they had. It was awesome and Nels did an incredible job. Seriously. I'm always freshly impressed at his skill and talent. While there, my mom, Kelly, and I took the kids to Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake. It was so fun. I was worried that perhaps the girls wouldn't think going to look at trees and flowers was really all that entertaining, but they had a good time with their cousins and absolutely LOVED the Children's Garden area. SO FUN! I loved all of it, but I particularly loved the herb gardens and the medicinal garden. So cool. Note: do not pick random peppers (especially black ones) and eat them. They may be edible, but . . . sorry Mom. :)

Nels also managed to finally find time to fix his car. Can I get a HALLELUJAH?! How about another one? I'm so happy!

As for me. I did end up going to my Class Reunion. Good for me, huh? I was so brave. :) Nels and I met up with an old high school friend of mine (and now second cousin-in-law). I was able to catch up with several sweet friends. I loved the people I was able to see and chat with, but most of my really good friends from school weren't there. I'd have loved to talk more to the people that were, but it was so loud that I could barely hear the conversation at our table - so we ditched out early. We took advantage of our time with no children and went and got ice cream from Baskin Robbins and ate it on the steps of the Bountiful Tabernacle (a favorite activity of mine from high school).

I finally finished painting and hanging my shutters that I didn't like, so I took them down, got rid of them, decided that I DID like them, so I bought new ones, and then let them sit in my garage for over a year. I'm cool like that. Pictures are forthcoming. I also finally finished my filing cabinet redo that has been in the works since the beginning of summer. I'm cool like that too. My laundry is getting under control, I can see the floor in my bedroom, Nels has clean underwear and socks, the garden is weeded, my first batch of beans is canned, my kitchen floor is mopped, the bathtub is sparkly, and my grass is once again green. All things that seem to have been waiting around all summer to be done. LOL! :)

On top of all that ---

Nels and I have now been married eight years. We celebrated by taking the kids out to Pizza Hut. :) It was awesome. I don't think we've been since we went with Ben about six years ago. :) Then we watched Reign of Fire -- actually I did while Nels fell asleep. Romantic, huh? :)

I'm overwhelmed by what a beautiful life we've made together. Me and this wonderful man. I love him so much. And he thinks I make the best cornbread around. :)