Voted "Most Imaginative"

Sarah graduated from Bloomington Preschool today.  Mrs. Morris is wonderful.  She taught all four of my kids.  But she always gives out these awards at the end of the year that make me wince a little.  My kids always get an award like "Free Spirit" (Noah) or Sarah's "Most Imaginative" which are both nice ways of saying "Lost in their own little world and don't listen to instructions very well."  I'm okay with that description.  My kids are going to change the world.

Weekend in Laguna and graduations

Something we all need to remember more often.  I saw this a lot when I was serving a mission in Brazil.  It really changed the way I live my life, knowing I don't really need "stuff" to be happy.

On a lighter note,  Ron and I went to my nephew's wedding in Cali last weekend.  We turned it into an anniversary trip for ourselves as well.  We had a great time!

 Outside the Newport Temple.

 My nephew, Curren and his new wife, Brooke.  (With my sister, Melanie and the rest of their family.)

 At a mexican restaurant called Javier's.

 On vacation with Ron is ALL about the food, as maybe you can see.

 We went somewhere that I picked the last night.

 Edamame potstickers.

Ron got a buffalo burger that came with cooked kale and sweet potato.  Hee hee.

 L.O.V.E

 Graduation from Title 1.

 Leading the Funky Chicken.

A little Tom Petty.

Steve Jobs and Me

 I wouldn't know much more than what is on the news about Steve Jobs were it not for my oldest son. He's obsessed with all things technology.  I, myself am more of a minimalist.  Less is more for me.  But, because of my son, I have become interested in people like Steve Jobs and what got them where they are, etc.  I came across this address he gave at Standford and realized a few things that I can relate to about his life.  He talks about a few times in his life when he was in a sort of no-man's-land, and how that time when he wasn't climbing any ladders was actually the times when he was growing and progressing the most.  Learning the most important lessons and accomplishing great things, even though he wasn't really realizing it at the time. I've gone through times when I've regretted not being more serious about college from high school age and not knowing exactly what I wanted to do at the time, so that I could have blazed through and earned a degree. Instead I floundered a little bit and traveled a lot. I realize now though, that the time I spent working in Arizona after my freshman year was one of the most important learning experiences of my life. I fall back on things I learned and felt there to this day and I know I will continue to do that. The time I spent in Logan at Utah State could have looked like a disaster. I'm pretty sure that to my mom it was. I decided I wanted to go into dietetics and ended up not finishing. My grades dropped from As to Cs by the time I left. It was the first time I really lived away from home though, so it was there that I realized how strong my own wings are. I also learned that I really hate college. But the important things, like spirituality and friendship...  I figured out who I am.  I continue to recall the things I learned about myself during that "wilderness year" and those truths are my internal compass.

I think I'm still experiencing times of wilderness and I guess that's the point of life.  Going through the tough stuff, hanging on to faith and then coming out the other side knowing better who we are and feeling stronger, knowing that we're better for it.

Getting back to normal

 One other thing that has helped me, and I think the kids too, feel like we are back to normal and in *our home* is cooking meals and sitting down together to eat.  Yesterday I made breakfast for the first time instead of just having them eat cold cereal, and cooked dinner.  Sarah loves to help me cook.  She usually chops up carrots, even if there are no carrots in the recipe, and then I'll let her stir whatever is cooking.  My life would be so sad without her.

 There are some fun/strange things about this house.  One of them is this fire pit in the backyard.  When the boys saw that for the first time, they decided this wasn't going to be so bad.   Noah especially was always asking to build a fire at our old house.  We never let him because of course there was nowhere to do something like that.  So I promised him that in this house he was going to get to build a fire on any night he wanted and roast marshmallows.  Right behind the kids other other side of that white fence is the park.  It's really nice to be able to just go through the gate and play at the park for a few minutes.

I had a good experience with this guy yesterday.  Ryan and I butt heads a lot.  I don't understand him and the feeling is mutual.  I have enjoyed watching him find himself a little this past year though.  He gets how smart he is now and sees that he can understand concepts that maybe are tough for others.  He takes pride in those things and it's helping his self esteem.  He falls back on those gifts when he has no friends that want to hang with him.  I'm really proud of who he is turning into.  (I just would like him to care about a few things more, like taking a shower.)  Anyway...  yesterday I get a call from his school, which happens on a regular basis.  The conversation always goes something like, "Mom?  I forgot my _______.  Could you bring it to me?"  This time it was the nose cone for his rocket that was due that day.  He totally forgot to DO it.  He was asking for me to bring him some duck tape so that he could throw it together quickly during class.  I couldn't find the duck tape, so I said, "Sorry, Bud!  You're going to have to get a 0!"  I was so angry because this happens so regularly.  Luckily, I was needing to run to the store right then though, and so I decided I could just pick some up and take it over to him and just hope he had enough time to do it.  They had GOLD tape, which I knew he'd be super excited about, and I felt so bad about getting upset at him and telling him I couldn't help him that I also picked him up a little treat and took them over to him at school.  Turns out his rocket did the best in the class during the launch.  I was so grateful that I had a chance to make that little argument as right as possible and at least let him know I do love him.  Sometimes I think I probably thinks I don't because I'm so hard on him about certain things.  I don't get him.  I don't know if I ever will understand why he won't just at least try to take my advice.  It's hard to show love to a kid that refuses to listen.  So I'm going to be grateful for these little opportunities to support him and give him things that get him excited.

Shaking things up

 This has been one of the most trying seasons of my life.  I was about to say two weeks or month, but then I remembered that it's really been the whole winter and Spring that has sucked.  A good friend of mine said to me of our moving plans, "Well, sometimes you just need to shake things up."  I decided this is the attitude I'm taking with this.

We moved out of the house on Lake Cir, which was fine because we had always planned on moving again sometime.  It was emotional though because we had really put our hearts and souls into that house.  It was the first home Ron built for us and Sarah was born there.  I loved my porch and garden.  I was sad to say goodbye to all my plants I had nurtured.  Especially the ones that were being bulldozed as we were moving out!!! (See below.)  A few days before we left, this Ranunculus flower bloomed for me.  That was the first time I cried.  It felt like the most awesome "Thank you" and "Bye."  I know we left someplace more beautiful and better than we found it.  That is the most one can hope to do in life.

A picture of our upstairs while we were cleaning things out and the backyard being torn apart.  I just happened to be there packing the last of some things when the pool guys were there starting construction.  That was the second and last time I've cried about the move.  Watching that really helped me feel like, "Yep, this isn't our house anymore."  and just let go of it.

This is our *new* backyard.  This picture looks pretty sweet...  but the pool isn't really working right now.  Everything in this house is broken.  We are picking our way through stuff that needs to be fixed as quickly as we can while we are organizing.  It is half the size of our *old* one, so there's boxes everywhere.  I'm not sure where we're going to put so many things.  I'd really like to be comfortable here and "settled."  I want it to feel like home, and not like we are in transition.  So I want to unpack and decorate as much as I can.

One of the things that made this move so tough was two flat tires in a week.  The story is just too long to type....

Sarah and her friend having a jam session in the *new* house's "music room." (The small room where I am putting the piano and drums.)

This bookshelf is also in the music room.   I really loved our bookshelves in the old house.

I spent yesterday planting with Sarah.  If this stuff can stay alive I think it will help me feel more connected to this new place.  It's amazing what a few pots and plants can do to a house.  I am so grateful for nature.

Sarah is learning to write her name.  I know that's not that special for a 4 1/2 yr old, but for Sarah who was hardly talking a year ago...  It gets me pretty excited.  I'm so sad that her scrapbook stuff is so disorganized now (I don't even know where it is) that I'm not really documenting these awesome milestones.