Sun

I have brown kids
The pool opened this weekend and after only a few hours at the pool check out how dark Wes is. I think I have the brownest and the whitest of my parents grandchildren.

The Sky

I LOVE THIS BEAUTIFUL PLANET

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

This video gave me goosebumps, and it reminds me why I studied this earth and the beauty that grows and lives here.

Downtown

We headed to the National Mall a couple of weeks ago, when Joel was in town, with Emily and Tyler. We saw the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. We had a picnic and then went to the American History Museum. It was a fun time! The kids had fun running around and we got several looks and comments about how kids shouldn't be at Memorials, whatever.

I knew that statistically Vera had a bigger head, but this picture makes her look super top heavy! And you know how I like to compare pictures, so here is Mae at the same age, same place, which makes them look very different to me. (And makes my photography skills look bad too.)

Neighbors

Before we left we spent a Saturday at our house. John had been dying to spend some time on the property fixing things up, so he went around and gathered up all the scraps, garbage, and debris. The kids played in the dirt and collected rocks, and talked with our new neighbors, the horses.

I spent some time inside working out some logistics and I christened our front entry with my favorite scripture. This was revelation given to Joseph Smith regarding the temple, and I think how appropriate to establish our homes after the order of the temple if we truly want our homes to be a refuge. I have always liked this scripture and have kept it in the back of my mind in regards to our home, wherever we have been living.

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" D&C 88:119

Gymnastics

The kids took a gymnastics class this winter and really loved it. It was so fun to watch them learn new things and improve their skills. Mae's teacher praised her during each class and told us that she was especially talented for her age. She kept thinking she was a year older but we assured her that she really was just two. She said she was "intelligent, well spoken, and coordinated". Mae's class was a Mom and Me class and I really loved being her "assistant", I am so glad that we had that time just to ourselves and I could focus on her. It was great to see that she was so good at gymnastics, I never really thought of her as being talented at physical activities, she really surprised us. Wes had a great time in his class as well, it was a great way to get some of his pent up energy out. Although he didn't always do what his teacher asked him to do, it was fun to catch him trying new things and being proud of himself when he figured it out. This will be a definite repeat for next year.

More finger and thumb

Oh my

So I was catching up with a friend the other day and I was talking about the usual things, kids, stress, our crazy life, etc and she said, "Really? It's kind of good to hear that you struggle, your life just seems so perfect on your blog."

Um, our life is far from perfect and lately I have been so overwhelmed. I was looking back through some blog posts trying to find what I wrote when I was stressed out about something, but I never wrote it down. I wanted some advise from myself but it wasn't there. So for these two reasons I am writing this post, and also to vent.

I am so stressed out, and so overwhelmed with everything that I have taken on lately. I feel like I'm running and running as fast as I can and I'm still falling more behind.

I wish I could talk to my Grandma about how she did it. When she was my age she built a house, ran my Grandpa's practice, and managed several properties. I miss her.

I have such a long to do list for our house that it makes my stomach literally hurt
John went from working at home several hours a day to working away from home 10-12 hours a day
John has so much going on that he really needs me to lighten his load, I have so much going on that I need him to lighten my load, so we are holding hands and drowning together.
I have fed my family more pizzas, burgers, cereal, and granola bars than I want to admit
Sometimes the kids are fighting and I just ignore them
there are days when I'm putting the kids to bed and remember to brush their teeth, but I just put them to bed anyway because I'm too tired
the house is always a mess
I rarely have time to actually sit down and play with the kids
the kids watch way more movies than I feel comfortable with
my iphone has become a main source of entertainment/distraction for the kids
I never write thank you notes to anyone anymore
I like to think that my kids are well trained and good sleepers but one if not all kids wake up every night, which makes me a zombie and compounds my stress
I never shop for deals or sales anymore because I don't have time, I pay full price for most things because I need them asap, which I hate doing
the kids are always running around with dirty hands, faces, clothes and diapers
I buy bottled water and paper plates and use them every day
most days I don't wear any makeup and don't even touch my hair
I have very little milk due to stress etc and have to feed Vera bottles
guilt
guilt
guilt

So, really it's not as bad as it sounds and some of these are probably exaggerated but I am really looking forward to the end of the summer when our house is done, when we can move in and be settled and disappear into our own little lives and sit on the couch and watch a movie without anything else to do.

On a happier note:

the weather is beautiful, and we spend at least one hour everyday outside where the kids can run and play and dig
John works SO hard and provides for us so well
we live near family that we love and get to see often
Vera learned to sit, swallow food and put things in her mouth this week (all things I was worried about)
Really, I am so blessed and grateful for everything that I have, and I realize that most of these things are self induced and temporary. It actually feels really good to work hard and push myself, that is how we learn and grow right?

Well, I am going to go snuggle on the couch with Mae, and then do a fun activity with Wes and then enjoy a delicious dinner that John is making us. Happy Mother's Day!