Frankfort

When I got back from Utah, I had a few items on my 'must do' list before school started. We had limited to what we could do this summer with swim team every morning, so I was ready to check a few places off. So Monday at noon we loaded up the van and headed due west to Frankfort- our state capital. We had driven through years ago when Rich was in medical school and the capital building reminded me so much of the Salt Lake Capital. This time I wanted to go in and explore the surrounding area (Photo: Kentucky River and Historic Frankfort). Thankfully, after years of being dragged here and there by mom, my boys were happy to go along with my plan. If fact I think they were as excited as me. Okay, maybe not, but they had a great time and didn't complain one bit. (Except seven hours after our adventure began while heading home I made a wrong turn as we drove past the distillery and had to backtrack 11 miles each way on the Bluegrass Highway, but I digress....)First stop: The Capital. We entered from the west side and found no ramp or handicap access. So after a few quick photos the boys I lugged the massive double stroller up 3 sets of stairs. I laughed the entire time thinking how ridiculous we looked as Matt kept falling down and we struggled to move the girls forward, but I knew if I let the girls out to walk I might never get them back sitting down. After a bit of sweating we finally made it to the top!After a quick check in with photo ID, metal detector and another flight of stairs we made it inside (and happily discovered elevators and a handicapped entrance in the basement.)It was well worth the effort. It was gorgeous inside.Carved marble The imposing dome above the rotunda, which houses sculptures of famous Kentuckians, was modeled after the one over Napoleon's tomb in Paris, France. At the center it rises seven stories. A statue of Abraham Lincoln in the center of the rotunda stands above others of Jefferson Davis, Henry Clay, Alben Barkley and Ephraim McDowell. Office of the GovernorCross Stitch Mural of each of Kentucky's 120 counties.The girls enjoyed the dolls of each Kentucky First Lady.Massive marble stairways modeled after the Paris Grand Opera House rise to the second floor--or the judicial floor. This is where the Supreme Court, the state law library and the state reception room, which was recently restored, are located.The newly restored State Reception Room was designed in the Louis XIV period and includes a handwoven Austrian rug which designed expressly for the room in 1910. It has French style furniture and elegant wall murals and decorative finishes. The House of Representatives and the State Senate. The boys were amazed that these were the real rooms and were used to make laws and run our government.The beautiful floral clock behind the capital.The Governor's Mansion located just east of the capital. It was closed for tours (only open on Tuesday and Thursday). The Mansion's exterior was modeled after the Petit Trianon, Queen Marie Antoinette's villa near the Palace of Versailles in France. Next stop: Frankfort Cemetery We visited Daniel Boone's grave. His wife Rebecca is also buried there. As we drove up, I noticed a large statue of what looked like a solider and graves placed in a circles around it, which seemed odd. We went down and explored. It turned out to be a monument honoring the Confederate soldiers and the small graves were those of soldiers. It was very fascinating. Kentucky was a divided state during the Civil War. I am sure there were Union graves as well, but we didn't have time to hunt for them.Next up: Rebecca Ruth Candy Tour and Retail StoreThis candy shop was established in 1919 and is the founder of Kentucky's well renowned Bourbon Balls. They mix Kentucky made Bourbon into a candy center and top with dark chocolate and a pecan. No, we didn't sample them, but the boys did enjoy the chocolate they gave to them at the end of the tour. While the boys enjoyed a DVD in the back seat and the girls were passed out in their car seats, I drove through Frankfurt's historic section and snapped a few pictures of a few of the lovely homes that have a bit of history. On Wapping Street you can find a home whose architect also built the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs, and where the phrase, "Dog is Man's best friend" was born. Frankfort was breathtaking.Our last stop: The Salato Wildlife Education Center, which we found out was closed on Monday. But that was fine. We did find a vending machine that worked and explored a pond stocked with fish. We are planning to head back next Friday to visit the museum and fish since the boys do not have school that day.Kentucky have been a lovely place to live these past almost 8 years.Next up: Finding a time to visit this place: The Woodford Reserve Distillery. I might be able to talk Rich into going to a Bourbon Distillery since it is a National Historic Landmark- it's the birthplace of America's Whiskey. I've got my fingers crossed.And on the drive home we passed the Castle. It's almost done. Like I said, Kentucky's been a great place to live and explore.

Exploring Lexington

Sometimes it's great to explore far off cities and places and other times it is just great to stay close to home and see what fun you can find there. Today we visited our new Chick-fil-A restaurant for lunch and tried out their play area.I know the girls and I will be back often.Then we visited a store I have long wanted to see, Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Trey even took a class field trip here when he was in 1st grade.To say it is just a bookstore would be like saying December 25th is just another day of the year.It's massive. There is a little water feature behind that over looks a lake. The girls threw in pennies and we all fed the Koi fish.Then we spent an hour in just the children's section. The girls loved the train table and marble toy. Trey sat in the round and devoured as many Bones books as he had time for. And we found the largest selection of Webkinz I've ever seen. Josh and Matt used the last of the birthday funds and bought one each. I'm sure I'll be back, soon. Maybe like next week. This store is like heaven, if only I didn't have 2 littles to chase. At least I can find an endless supply of books to entertain them with!

Headly-Whitney Museum

I have passed a sign on New Circle Road for years for The Headley-Whitney Museum. Then my friend Jonni and later Nancy took their kids, so I was ready to take a peek at what they had to offer. Tiffany and Savannah met us and we explored the grounds. Then the kids and I toured the museum. It houses bibelots- which by definition are: a decorative or rare object of art, notably small or a bauble, knickknack or trinket, doll houses and other jelwry made and collected by George Headley. His jewelry was made from the finest gold, gems and precious stones.

George W. Headley III (1908-1985) studied art at the Art Student's League in New York and l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He later apprenticed as a designer with the New York Jeweler Paul Flato in the 1930s. In the 1940s, Headley opened his own jewelry boutique in California at the Hotel Bel-Air and cultivated a clientele including such Hollywood celebrities as Fanny Brice, Mae West and Joan Crawford.

After nearly a decade of success on the West Coast, Headley returned to his family farm, La Belle, in Lexington and continued his career designing jewelry and bibelots.

Headley opened his distinctive Jewel Room and Library building on the scenic grounds of La Belle Farm. The museum complex was completed in the 1970's with the addition of the Shell Grotto and the main building. No pictures were allowed in the museum or other rooms, though I took one of Josh by the Shell Grotto (room decorated completely with shells, even the floor is made from slabs of cut coral) before I knew I couldn't take it. I was a bit nervous to have 5 little ones with me while we toured the museum, jewelry room, library and Shell Grotto but we survived, didn't break anything and the kids liked what they saw. I'd say a successful day all around. I enjoyed the tour, but I'd say it was a one time only stop. After we treated ourselves to McDonald's after we discovered our local Wendy's had been demolished and is being rebuilt and ended the day with a movie (Super Mario Brothers) and nap for the girls. Good day indeed....

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.

Eclipse

While thousands of females (and a few males too), young and old, eagerly stay up until midnight across this country standing in long lines at various book shops- some in near hysteria- dying to get their hands on final Stephanie Meyer book in the 'Twilight saga' (her own words- not mine) I am guessing few if any realize they truly missed the real treasure of the day. Ask any of her faithful fans what the world 'eclipse' means and I'm sure they'll recount a fanciful tale of a love triangle between a human, a vampire and werewolf.

Though I've read her books and found them amusing, to me there is one and only one thing that the word 'eclipse' brings to mind. Pure magic. A bit of heaven on earth. A true gift from God that many in the world will never appreciate, understand or fathom its perfect beauty.

Yes, today brought one of those rare moments of wonder. A once in a lifetime, never forgotten precious few minutes for a few lucky souls. So if you were like me, you probably didn't happen to make it to Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia or China this morning, but you can still see the total solar eclipse. Just not in real time. It occurred starting about at 6:15 AM ET. A man from the Russian Federation posted his home video on http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-54612?ref=feeds%2Fnewsiest. It captures the excitement of all who had the privilege to view it.

NASA has a pretty step-by-step photo collage of the event as it unfolded. You can view it at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/eclipse/index.html

While watching a video and seeing still photos is not quite as incredible as seeing in person like I had the opportunity to back on July 11, 1991 on the Big Island of Hawaii, hopefully you can grasp the importance and miracle of it all.

Home....

Yup, we are back in the great state of Kentucky. In some ways our three week getaway was long enough and in other ways it simply made us miss Utah and our families and friends there. I decided if I only go home for a week, then I stay in complete vacation mode rushing here and there, checking off lists, while the days fly by like hours. But if you stay longer you suddenly can imagine yourself living there and realize all there is to offer and what you're missing when you are away. It a tough spot to be in since we have two more years here in Lexington and a year fellowship who knows where after that. Sure we are already eight years in this long trek, but knowing that my little brother Rhett, who will be a senior in high school this year, will be half way done with his mission when we are finally through makes it still feel like the finish line is still not close enough to sprint towards.

Though I am not complaining. On my final day in Utah I watched my younger brother Jeff and his wife Sarah, with the help of Rhett, load all their belongings into an ABF freight trailer. They were headed east towards Wisconsin the next day marking the beginning of their medical school adventure. Rewind to December 2000 and we were the ones packing up our condo in Provo and loading it into the ABF trailer and found ourselves saying goodbyes to loved ones. How the time quickly passes. I am excited for Jeff and Sarah and this new chapter in their lives. I have found most of my dearest friends over these past eight years and I appreciate all I have learned and accomplished while in Lexington and Louisville. I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything- even owning a home with a Utah County zip code.

While the end of living far away is still a bit off, this short break was the perfect way to spend the middle bit of our summer. Baseball was complete, swimming had wrapped up and Rich was going to be crazy busy when we were gone so there was really not much we were missing out on here. It had been two years since we stayed in Utah for more that seven days. Back in 2005 when we were there for two months, I was trying to juggle newborn twins and knew I still had to move from Louisville to Lexington. It wasn't quite as relaxing as this summer was for us all. This time it was about seeing people we love and enjoying all the things Utah has to offer. And that is quite a lot.

I loved that for the first time my girls realized there people they could know and love outside our little Kentucky bunch. They fell in love with their grandparents. They would call for and ask for Grandma all day long. Now when the phone rings, Brynn and Kaitlyn ask if it's Grandma. I found Brynn walking around with a play phone chatting away to Grandma. And when Rich made Kaitlyn get off the table Kaitlyn asked for Grandma. I would too if I were her. She knows who loves her. I'd say she's one smart girl.

We loved seeing all our new family members. Brad and Jana's wedding was lovely and we couldn't have found a better fit for Brad. They are perfectly suited for each other. We girls cooed over all the newborn babies we met- Julianne's handsome William, Heather's little Ava and Kate's darling Oliver. All the sister in laws were so sweet to my girls and let them hover and pat their little babies. They even let Brynn peek while the babies nursed. What saints.

Yes, being in Utah made me see my girls are part monkey and are non speakers, but the words are slowing coming and I've been the counter/table police hauling them off the danger zones whenever I spy them. They might not have a lot to say, but they certainly keep me on my toes- here and there.

Utah adventures were full of friends and family. I got to spend time with blogging buddies, friends from Louisville, old time friends from high school and Lexington lifesavers. Each visit made me realize how blessed I have been to have amazing women in my life. Thank you to all.
We saw all our family, hugged and kissed every grandparent and I look forward to when our visit will be on a more frequent basis.

We also managed to stop at nearly every fun place we could find and eat at every delicious restaurant our stomach growled for. We went bowling, miniature golfing twice, visited the zoo, the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point, Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, The Clark Planetarium, saw Kung Fu Panda, splashed and slid in the Alcorn's back yard, bounced and dug sand in Amanda's new back yard, played at Chuck-E-Cheese, sang along to the iPod with Rhett, played Guitar Hero with the boys for the first time, went swimming at Jackson's, climbed around McDonald's play land, hit a bucket of ball with Grandpa Jackson for the boys, plus real golfing with Grandpa J. for Josh, bounced and got wet at the Howlett's new home, walked to the pond to feed the ducks, hiked to a waterfall in Payson canyon, temple session for me, endless croquet matches in Salem, ate at Cafe Rio, PF Changs (finally!), Wendy's, Hogi Yogi, Chili's, Papa John's, gobbled banana Creamies, stopped at every Shaved Ice stand we could find, and enjoyed delicious BBQ's at home with both families. Seriously, who could ask for more?!

In fact I had Rich take a stab at how many photos I uploaded to the computer last night from our trip out west. He guessed 180. Nope. 260. Not even close. How about over 1,300! Yes, I am a photo freak. And if you were near me for even a brief second I probably snapped your picture. Thank heavens for digital! I can't even begin to fathom how much that would all cost to print out. I have to admit I wasn't too surprised when blogger informed me I had reached my maximum quota. I paid my 20 bucks yesterday and am hoping they'll allow me to upload new photos shortly. If not, I'll probably start getting the shakes from not blogging about the trip. Sad, but true.

Our trip back home went nearly perfect, which was such a relief since I was flying solo with the kids. Rich had to come back 2 weeks before us for work and even jetted down to Miami for half a week for a board review coarse. It seems that the saying 'no rest for the weary' applies to us quite well. I secured a gate pass from Delta for my mom and I was grateful she got us up to the airport, helped us through security and waited with us at the gate. They were boarding out flight when we got there. I wanted to be the last one on the plane. Yes, I might bump every seated passenger with the 2 car seats, camera case, tote bag and purse I had loaded onto my body, but even 5 extra minutes off the plane sounded good to me. Besides a hold up in first class with Kaitlyn asking me "What's this?" and pointing at every person and then the girls' lack of desire to walk to the rear of the plane (row 34 and 35 for us) we finally did make it to our seats, strap in the gang and I finally stopped sweating by the time we took off 30 minutes later. The girls were amazing. The boys sat in front so they could happily kick away with out me freaking out and soon 3 1/2 hours later we safely landed in Cincinnati. I think I worried Rich a tiny bit when it took us over 35 minutes to get off the plane to the security check point to where he was waiting, but you can only go one speed when you are loaded down with 200 pounds of gear and 5 kids- SLOW.

The girls spotted their daddy from a long ways off and their happy shrill screams hello warmed my heart. It was good be to back together. The second thing to welcome me back was the intense oppressive wave of thick hot air that blasted us as we exited the Cincinnati airport. That is one thing I didn't miss while being away. I love dry climates and mountains. But I also love lawns that don't need to be watered and the intense green found wherever you look here in the Bluegrass. I am lucky that I truly do love both of our 'homes'.

I am finally feeling like we are getting back to the swing of things. The boys watched TV and played video games all day on Tuesday and Wednesday and I really didn't mind. The weather was gloomy, rainy and hot outside (you wouldn't think those three things would go together but they do) and after six weeks of swim team and three crazy busy weeks in Utah I was ready for some serious down time. By the end of day two, all the suitcases were in the storage room, the floors were cleared of clothes and shoes and after a late night marathon trip to Wal-mart with my trusty shopper Kaitlyn there was even food in the fridge. I did laugh though when the checker eyed my crazy full shopping cart (other shoppers were catching items as they fell off!). At the end he wiped off his brow, handed me the extremely long receipt and informed me that was the most food he had ever checked. Guess he didn't know how many hungry mouths I have to feed back home. Then yesterday at Great Harvest an older woman questioned me why I was purchasing so many loaves of bread. I had four on the counter- one for a neighbor who picked up our mail and watered my plants and the other three were for me. I just smiled and told her my kids loved toast. I never question the large quantities I buy, but to some it looks very odd. I guess it's what you are accustomed to.

Through all the goodbyes and hugs and well wishes I didn't get very emotional. I guess years of living away can do that too you. Plus we rarely go longer than six months with out seeing family so I know I'll see them again soon- but I was nearly brought to tears last night. After spending a full hour and two Mr. Clean Erasers scrubbing the kitchen sparkling clean from top to bottom, Kaitlyn rushed in from the garage and tossed a can of diet root beer on the floor. It burst open and whizzed around at top speed hurling brown liquid from the top of the cupboards to the floor boards below. I was ready to sacrifice my body and throw myself on top of the can, but in seconds flat the can's contents were over the room. I wasn't pleased. Not one bit. I often feel like my life is in constant rewind. My days and chores are repeats from the previous one. But in the mist of my anger I recalled something my mom and dad had just said to me. That after a summer full of grandchildren and chaos their house would be too quiet and clean, no sticky floors, no smudged glass and that it was a sad day for all when we left. My heart was soften and I was buoyed up knowing that life does move to quickly and while we bring clutter and messes where ever we go, we are missed when we leave. It touched my heart and nearly brought a tear to my eye. And if there ever was a good reason to cry it's this- knowing you are loved.