Ridiculously Idyllic

We cut our own tree this year. It was nothing like Christmas Vacation. It was one of those ridiculously idyllic days that happen only very occasionally; and which trick you into starting some sort of tradition because you hope it'll always be like that.

Ford should put us in a commercial, that kind of idyllic. Well, except for how N looks like he's about to crawl under the truck.

And yes, we lasted two months as homeowners in Utah before we bought a truck

The Barter Bar

So, in my rural Utah location there is a call in classifieds radio show. So every morning on one of the local radio stations you can call in and let all the faithful listeners know that you're selling your old tires, or goats, or spinning wheel. Perfect for getting rid of my moving boxes I thought. But here's the thing, it's really hard to get through. People are just burning up the line trying to get the word out on their junk. So, I had to resort to email, which they read on air. Then my line was burning up with people who wanted to come and get my free boxes.
The lucky recipient? My garbage man. Yup. He said, "Oh, I know where you're at I pick up your garbage on Thursday mornings." When he came we had a nice conversation about trash, you know, how my neighbors forget to put out their garbage, or the lady who lived her before me didn't produce much. Turns out that's what living in a small town's like.

Alternatively

Alternatively, I can just release the J-vac.

You're Gonna Be So Jealous

If you are well over 30 and/or have multiple children you're so jealous:

That is the central vac intake located underneath my kitchen cabinets, which means I don't need a dustpan. I just sweep all the crumbs, cheerios, and dried mac right over in front of it, flip the switch and it all gets sucked away. So, until the boys realize how cool it is and suck up something sticky and it ceases to work I am just going to enjoy it... it and the rest of our new house.

The Party

We did a combined birthday party for my boys this year. It was supposed to be N's turn but since he wasn't too pleasant on his actual birthday,

I decided three-year-olds aren't ready for mass present reception and we went with the combined party, no gifts.

Since we have so many boxes I decided we'd build a box city at the party. This is part of the reason I couldn't just call it off after N's shenanigans at the family party. This was the perfect plan to re-use my boxes (and be forgiven by mother earth for the carbon footprint of those pants...maybe).

Pre-party, land development, - with cousin D
Cousin D really got into the whole thing
Creating the building of their choice

The nice thing about moving so much, is that you only have to be slightly creative once, then you can do it over and over...
N loved using the glue

city at completion

It really got fun when we pulled the basket of matchbox cars out.

Defending the Galaxy (again)

I made my boys use the same costumes as last year (they were great costumes), plus we had an important addition:

Nacho is a lot easier to throw together than Chewbacca

A full range of anticipatory emotions

Sometimes I Worry

Sometimes I worry:
that I'm doing this parenting thing all wrong
that the tone in our voices and in our house is too critical
that I spend too much time organizing and cleaning and party planning
that while I worry, I don't seem to be able to change

Posting on My Mind

Frequently things happen and I think: I've got to blog about that. The last few weeks have been filled with such moments. Here they are all at once, pace yourself:

Oct. 7 - Biggest D@&! Carbon Footprint
I unpacked a pair of pants I bought from Old Navy.com for S before we left for India, not realizing that clothes are cheap there. They never fit him while we were there so I packed them in our shipment, not realizing it would be a year before we saw those things again. I looked at them today: Made in India. Which means that $7 pair of pants were made in India shipped to the US, flown back to India, packed, stored, and shipped back to the US. Now they are too small. Sorry Mother Earth.

Oct. 4 - Greatest Friends Ever
A number of my friends from Dallas helped me pack up (nearly two and a half years ago now!). The messages they left on the boxes had me laughing all day. AND MISSING THEM!

Oct. 3 - Ah, General Conference Weekend

We love General Conference Weekend

Oct. 1 - We Did It!

We closed yesterday!

Which means our last 11 months of living like this:

Are pretty much over. Thank goodness for the minivan, eh?
Sept 26 - Fall

We are between houses. My mother in law sold her house, and so, she was finally able to get us out of her basement. Our new house is under contract and we are waiting for it to close. We should be moving in Oct. 1!! In the meantime we are living in the family cabin. It's about a 45 minute drive to school and work and I was kind of dreading these two weeks, but it's been beautiful and quite relaxing.

Sept. 23 - Baby J

Sept. 14 - My Condolences to Facebook

Facebook here I come. I got a new job at church, I'm going to be working with the teenage girls. I didn't like teenage girls when I was a teenage girl (my mom says that's not that unusual and that's part of the problem with teenage girls). So, it looks like to communicate with them I'll have to get a facebook account. Of course, they are likely to doubt my cred, what with my brandspankin' new account and all.

As I've shared, I'm about the latest adopter around and my joining/buying/using usually coincides nicely with the sharp decline in popularity of said fad. My condolences to facebook. Good thing they got the movie out when they did.

Don't bother looking for me yet, I haven't even had a chance to blog over the last few weeks.

Smile

Quote of the Week

Oh, she is well trained. She used to be a life guard. She can blow her whistle louder than any of the other teachers.
S, reassuring us on the topic of his first grade, first-year, teacher

Pass the Mustard

Hazards of Costco and helping your mother-in-law move:

One gallon of mustard, expired Jan 2010, never opened.

Things with OUR house are moving along and it looks like we'll be in at the beginning of next month. Really looking forward to our own space and unpacking all the boxes we packed up over two years ago, expired mustard and all.

Monopoly

UGH! Inspecting the inspectors findings, "initial fees worksheets" and "good faith estimates" that don't match up, looming deadlines, and Phil, who never gives up on numbers, who just gave up.

Remember how in Monopoly you could mortgage your property by flipping the card over? That sounds good.

Summer Break

So, in case you haven't noticed, and I really hope you have, I took a Summer break. I should have posted something notifying you of said break, but I didn't. That was all part of the break. But school's back in, we're no longer traveling back and forth between Salt Lake and my rural Utah location, the kids are in bed at a reasonable hour... I should have time to blog a bit.

The summer photo recap:

Hiking the Mormon Trail above Salt Lake City

Realizing that you went the wrong way and your ride is nowhere near

Hogle Zoo Classic

Baseball and Fireworks, July 4

More Baseball and Fireworks, July 24

The shipment from India came, but we still don't have a house, so it still looks like this.

And we saw so many of you as you passed through Salt Lake or as we passed through Dallas. It was a great, all-American Summer. I'm looking forward to the next one already.

Realtors! Honestly!

So, it looks like we're gonna take the plunge, you know the big one, the one we've so far avoided in our nine years of marriage. A house.
Somewhere in all the rentals and sublets we've gone and gotten all opinionated, which it turns out, makes it difficult to find something that we like. We went out with a realtor on Friday. Not my mother in laws realtor, his name is Jim Shorts. I can't even say it without laughing, how could I make serious decisions about my families home and financial future with Jim Shorts? If the Simpson's ever sold their house they'd list it with Jim Shorts.
No, not Jim, another realtor who took me to a few places I asked to see and a few of her listings. Nothing doing. Then we started discussing lots and building and she told us about a beautiful 3 acre parcel with a beautiful view she's just listed. It's out of town a ways. We drive out there. It did have a beautiful view, once you looked over the freeways and past the train tracks and turned your back on the substation. No joke. Three acres sandwiched between a freight train spur, the freeway and the regular tracks, bordered to the south by a electrical substation. Oops, I guess I just forgot to mention those drawbacks?

More of the Same

We are residing walking distance from an upscale little strip mall. Do those go together? I guess I should say upscale little shopping centre. There is a White House Black Market, Chico's, Subway, Asian-ish furnishings store, gelato place, charming children's store, fabulous toy store. Just like the last upscale little shopping centre that we lived within walking distance of. They both even call themselves "Something Village". Eerie.

And quite the opposite of the shopping villages sandwiched in between:

Not So Conflicted

Apparently, the woman from whom we're subletting this summer is not as conflicted as I am about toy weapons. My boys love her.

Calling all Trappers

This arrived by mail one day last week. Thankfully it was misdelivered. It's only my neighbors that read this, not anyone I actually live with. Time to move you think?

Oh, now that you mention it, we will be moving on. We're headed north, to the capital for the summer, see if it has me claiming it's the place. So if you're passing through (and I actually know you, and you don't read Trapper and Predator Caller) let us know.

More Baby J

And a couple of N, who seems to have it all figured out:

Tooth Fairy

This is my Grandmother, a.k.a. The Tooth Fairy

A few weeks ago while visiting, S mentioned that he had a loose tooth (he'd already lost two teeth that week). She heard this and started in with, "Oh really, come here, let me have a look at that... hmm... I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure if it's ready." And he walked away.

"Not loose enough?" I asked.

"Yeah" he said as he felt it with his tongue and then in all sincerity, "Hey, I can't find it. Which one is it?"

And I knew she'd done it again. He was elated when he realized she'd pulled it out. I remember standing in front of the mirror at my uncle's house and her doing the exact same thing when I lost my first tooth. I'm still trying to figure out how she does it.