Random Bits of Life....

Summer keeps creeping away and the days are speeding by. Why is it that when I was a child summer seemed to drag on forever? Even Christmas break was long and relaxing. These days I feel like I am whizzing through the weeks like I'm on x8 speed on the DVR with no pause or stop button to be found. (Though it won't keep me from looking...) Time stands still for no one.

I think we have adjusted back to eastern time, but I'm not looking forward to the buzz on the alarm at the dreaded hour of 6:30 AM early next Wednesday morning. A tiny bit of me is still registering that is 4:30 AM in Utah. There are countless things I'd rather do than wake up zombie boys when it's still nearly dark and toss them in the shower five days a week. Yes, Rich has gotten up earlier than that almost all summer and is the one that always hears the alarm and wakes the rest of the sleepy bunch up, but I've gotten soft this summer. I have been lucky to often wake up when the girls start hollering to get out of their cribs or when I hear the garage door closing after Rich drives off for work. Not a bad set up (since I do wrestle with the kids all day), but I do have a bit of guilt when I know I've a few extra hours of shut eye more than my sweet, tired husband. No wonder he wants to go to bed before midnight. He's the only one living with a schedule. I'm already beginning to miss our lazier routine and huge amounts of free time, but know starting school will be good for us all. Those first few days might feel like baptism by fire since Matt could not stay awake through sacrament meeting at 9 AM on Sunday. Early to rise should equal early to bed-at least I hope that applies to us since we'll be needing it next week.

We started our back to school errands yesterday. No new school clothes for this bunch. The boys' closet is bursting full of near new things we have amassed over the years. I'm trying to weed those less worn out and give them to Goodwill. The mall was not our starting point. Knowing me, you won't be surprised to hear Wal-mart was our one and only stop on the list. We spent two hours happily school shopping at the mega superstore down the road. No, that would be lying. Two tortured hours would be more honest. Every moment I was left wondering why in the world I didn't just pry open the wallet this past spring and hand out $60 dollars per child for supplies. The huge massive list that ranged from Puff's facial tissues 216 count (not to be found might I add...) to Expo Fine Tip Dry Erase Marker, Black, Low Odor to Elmer's Glue Stick .77 oz quantity: 15 could have been tossed in the recycling bin when it came in the mail last week. While I do not mind shopping and hunting for items here and there, it is a bit more difficult hauling around two 2 year olds and 3 boys who are distracted by things like random cereal with free toys found inside and dog toys on end caps. Our cart was near tipping point and we were only half way down the forever long lists. While my cart was parked blocking half the Crayola products I said a quick sorry to a women we were in front of. She replied, "It's fine. I was lucky and left mine home." Wish I could have done that too... After criss crossing the store at least four times and asking three store employee's if they had any idea if they were sold out of Mead composition books (which they were) we steered toward the check out. I sheepishly put up 2 bags of open Goldfish crackers, a half eaten bag of Family Size Doritos and 1 cup of empty pop corn chicken on the belt. I really blushed when I confessed my daughter had ripped open a banana with her teeth and eaten half of it. I hoped she would just weigh one banana twice thus allowing me to pay for the food in Brynn's stomach. Not a great day of shopping, but proof of success can be found my 12 bags of supplies that line the counter and top of the washing machine in the laundry room. Now I'm left to ponder how the boys will actually haul this stuff to school on the first day.

With summer on it's way out Rich was wise and opened up Trey's cub scout book. This was the one thing I just didn't find time to squeeze in when homework and swim team ruled our days. Thankfully he did since we have only 7 weeks until this Bobcat runs out of time to earn his Bear and a few requirements take a month to complete. I'm all about checking things off we have done this year even if we had no idea is was fulfilling a cub scout project. I think he'll be fine. The month list is printed off and I am glad we are at least beginning to step down the Bear path.

Today was forcasted to be the hottest day of the week with temperatures in the mid 90's and muggy/steamy conditions to top that off. I quickly checked the wild life reserve off the list of possible events as I couldn't stand to be out in that and neither would the animals. So we headed to the pool only to find cloud cover, low 80's and later thunder and rain. Yes, I shouldn't complain since my aunt and uncle live in Galveston and were hit by Edouard today (what a mess!), but I really have no faith in our local weather men. I think flipping a coin might be as accurate as they are. At least we didn't get sunburned, we got to visit with Tiffany and her cute little girl as we swam and the thunder held off until we were about to leave.

So with rain pouring outside and the girls down for their nap I finally dove head first into Stephenie Meyer's last installment of the Twilight saga (sorry, just typing that makes me laugh). I got half way and I'm enjoying the read. I'm not quite sure how she's going to end this thing, but I have my ideas. Hopefully I'll find a few extra minutes to read tomorrow and wrap this thing up. And FYI for you reading enthusiast- my dad and little brother have been reading the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson and really enjoying it. I also purchased a few of the Grimm Sisters (children's lit) books on Amazon.com last week (check out their 4 for 3 books). I'll have to let you know how I like them. Also, my mom raved about The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He died last week from cancer. She told me it was full of wonderful life principles. I'm going to buy it on my next trip to Sam's Club.

Tonight is my kid's guilty summer pleasure: WIPEOUT on ABC. The boys saw the advertisements and have not missed a show. In fact they are so in love with it that they'll ask me what day it is and then tell me that we HAVE to be home at 8 PM or else we'll miss the show. I think Trey even programed the DVR to record all new episodes. You know summer TV is on you when they have an entire hour devoted to people slipping, sliding, spinning and falling every direction. A great show- especially if you are eight and under.

The show I've been dying to see is Project Runway, but I've managed to miss them all. Yes, Trey can work the DVR, but I never seem to remember to turn in on. I did catch up on a few bits on Bravo.com and I'm very interested in seeing the whole hour hopefully soon.

And last- to my few thoughts on blogging in general. I really enjoy this online world of people's lives. I love how it keeps my family up to date with the kids. I love to write. I love to record our daily happenings and my thoughts on various subjects. I love to connect with family and friends and I love to read other people's stories. But I sometimes I feel like it's one more thing to do. So I took a nice long break when I was away. And I didn't miss typing one bit. I didn't even do a Tuesday Tell All (gasp!) while I was in Utah. And you know what, I was really fine with it. I think to truly enjoy something, you often need stop and just get to the point when you are ready start fresh again. After a year of at times intense documentation, it was wonderful to let it go and just not think to hard. To just live life and not feel the need to write it all down. Sure, I'm still going to post pictures of my trip for my blog journal, but I was with nearly all of the people I love and that was enough for then. So I'll be trying to catch up on my blog and yours, but I've learned to just go at my own pace and be happy whether it's a fast or slow one.

Though I didn't type, there were two blogs I discovered and read during my trip to Utah. These two blogs are as different as night and day. The first one is silly and very, very exaggerated, but it still makes me laugh. It's called Seriously So Blessed (http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/). It just pokes fun of how crazy sometimes bloggers can be.

The second one has touched my heart to its core and moved me to tears on more than one occasion. Sally introduced it to me and I hesitated at first to read it, because I knew the pain I would find there. But along with heartache, I found myself being lifted up, inspired and challenged to be a better wife, mother and person. It is written by Stephanie who lost her young daughter on June 13, 2008 in a drowning accident. She is a powerful writer and has amazing insight and stories. You can read her blog at http://adailyscoop.blogspot.com/. It's something that will linger with you long after you stop reading.

After I read Stephanie's post today and thought about what to include in my little random bits, I thought I'd toss in my favorite parts of the past few days. Sure, that might turn my blog back into our 'family highlight film' but sometimes the best parts are the only ones worth remembering.....

HIGHLIGHTS

* Dancing and twirling with my girls to the iPod in the kitchen

* Watching the girls play Ring Around the Rosy just the two of them followed by a picnic in the living room with the beach chairs and half of my dish towels from the drawer as their blanket

* Hearing the echo of my boys' laughter as they played together in the basement

* Seeing the boys' bright faces modeling their new $5 'Crocs' as we left Wal-mart

* Matt talking and delving into the mysteries of his mind while I try to type this post

* When needing a moment of a quiet from the girls I dashed into the bathroom only to soon see 16 little fingers pop out from under the door wiggling hello to me.

* Seeing the boys' new swimming trophies proudly on display on their dresser when I tucked them into bed

* Saying hello once again to the hermit crabs after our long absence

* Holding the phone to my girls ears and them question me if it is Grandma or Kristi?

* Trey rushing to Rich to show him his just received baseball trophy when Rich walked in from work yesterday

* Spying Trey lying on Matt's bed with a brother on each side listening to him read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing aloud

* While digging weeds in the backyard with my trusty knife notice two girls zoom into the house only to return with their own butter knives ready to assist me with the task at hand

* Receiving a gorgeous handmade necklace in the mail from a wonderful friend

* Escaping to the mall alone on Saturday night to purchase Breaking Dawn while Rich happily watched the kids

* Gobbling up Julie Martinez's Cafe Rio Pork recipe wrapped in our special -flown in from Utah via my suitcase- just baked tortillas. Delicious.

* Hearing Rich's keys in the door coming home from a long day at work

* A month of no call

* A Saturday together as a family swimming, grabbing Taco Bell and watching X-games with the boys.

Life truly is good.