Friday, April 29, 2016

a little piece of quiet

Do you hear that?
My house is quiet...and almost empty.
Wayne is in China.
Monson andLexi have moved to California.
 Tru is off to a work trip and then officially leaves the nest May 15 for Delta.
 Addison, Bre and Alf aren't around much and Landon, Alex and kids are in Eagle Mountain and we see them maybe twice a month.
This is crazy.  If it weren't for Laila  I would be running around naked.
I had all of my carpets cleaned.
I have started putting the basement back together.  I'm getting all of my art stuff out again into the big room under the kitchen.  There is room for a sewing, scrapbook, craft and painting area.  I'm looking forward to painting again.  I will try and channel my inner Mom and Marcie.  They were both such good artists.
The "nursery" is now the exercise/bike room.  I have all of the bike stuff and exercise equipment down there now instead of in the office behind the stairs.  I can actually see the carpet in the office again.  It's amazing.
Laila has taken over the downstairs bathroom for showering etc... she wants a bed room down there, but not yet.  She is upstairs with us for a few more years, or I would never see her.
All of the basement furniture from dad's basement is going into the down stairs family room.  It's in my garage right now waiting.   Patiently waiting for change to happen.

I know I'm not going to always like the quiet...and I miss my kids and the crazy that swirls around them...but right now a little piece of quiet feels great.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Monson and Lexi's next adventure

....and they are off!   Monson, Lexi and Tayla are heading to Fresno, California and I miss them already.  They have been living in my basement since last August and I have enjoyed having them and their friends around.  Tayla is a joyful baby and  gives me smiles and giggles all day long...so I will really miss her. But.....they are excited to be off on their next married adventure.  Monson is working for a pest control company selling in and around Fresno.  He will be with some mission buddies and wives and I hope he works hard and this ends up being a great move for their family.  They will be gone atleast a 1 1/2  years.  
Lexi's mom, Rebecca and Landon are driving with them to Cali, then they will both fly home on Saturday.  I'm so glad they have help and extra drivers.  It was hard seeing them all drive away on this rainy, dismal day.  It was a great and terrible, good and sad experience.
I'm not worried about this move for them though.   One of Lexi's talents is making friends and feeding missionaries and Monson gets along with everyone, so it will be a fun thing to watch them grow.  I'm just so happy for facetime, so I can see my little TAYLA when ever I like, and I'm happy for flight benefits that will be kicking in with Tru as flight attendant so I can fly to Fresno when ever I want as well.   Life is changing around here.

Monday, April 18, 2016

House hunting...buying

We have been house hunting with Addison and Bre.  They want to live in south Davis County...so their max budget is not going  very far.   They don't want a new build, or anything cookie cutter.  They love old houses, with all of their "problems" and charm.   They have made offers on several but never got the house....then they realized why.  They needed to buy this home in Kaysville.
515 North 100 east Kaysville...
hopefully the inspection will be great...and they can sign and move in May 24th
4 bedrooms, 2 baths... most everything is new including roof, furnace, ac, flooring, paint, electrical


Couldn't be happier for this cute family!







Tuesday, April 12, 2016

I feel

I feel so helpless sometimes
I feel angels are looking out for my children
I feel like my old parenting style has been tipped on its head because it's not working and I need to learn new skills
I feel sorrow for my troubled child
I feel great love and admiration for my husband

I ran away from my life and when I got back it was all still here.  Funny how that works. 

Friday, April 8, 2016

NYC girls trip.

Laura had a buy one get one free airline ticket that was driving her crazy.
Laura wanted to visit some different school models for her state school board job to get some insight.
Melinda's life was driving her crazy. Melinda seemed to be going from one crisis to the next for years now. 
Melinda suggested NYC as a joke. 
Laura said why not? And made NYC school appointments.
Melinda smiled
Wayne was sad to see Melinda go but knew she needed a break
Melinda gets to see 5. shows
Laura gets to visit schools
Airline ticket gets used
Win win win.  
And that's how come I'm in NYC with one of my besties seeing shows, not eating great food because that's not Laura's thing, but sleeping in and did I mention seeing 5 shows because that's my  thing!   

First show Kinky Boots. We loved it. The message is be yourself and accept others who are being themselves. The drag queens in the show were gorgeous and astonishing.  

Day 2 and second show:  Something Rotten. It's all about the fake beginnings of musicals during Shakespeare's time and Shakespeare is a rock star. It's just funny and  so CLEVER!  We moved out of the nose bleed balcony at intermission and say just a few rows back. It was delightful
Evening show #3 was School of Rock. We are counting it as one of our school visits- hee hee.  It was soooo good. I liked the movie but I loved the play. The rock music was really played by the kids on the stage and the lead Jack Black part was so full of energy. Couldn't get over it 

We keep putting our name into the Hamilton lottery and haven't won yet. But I figure I can see five shows for the price of one Hamilton ticket. 
But we did see Ham 4 Ham and Lin-Manuel Miranda and the mayor of NYC
Thursday we went to the 9/11 museum. It was so touching and totally sad and head achey but I'm so glad I went.  This is a pic of the last column taken away from the devastated site. 
Show #4 The Color Purple.  The people in it were amazing and the voices were through the roof.  It was heart wrenching and inspiring. Totally deconstructed so it wasn't about sets or costumes just story and feeling. Jennifer Hudson was in it, she was great But 
the lead Celie was out of this world!
The COLOR PURPLE.  Last lines in the show just resonated with me how when we rely on God and let our burdens be lifted we feel it. 
I DON'T THINK US FEEL OLD AT ALL. 
I THINK THIS IS THE YOUNGEST US EVER FELT. 

We visited an urban high school and spoke to administrators, teachers and students. It was so interesting. We sat in an on current events class. They had a state legislature there that they were interviewing. He is a democrat and representing that view point. When they found out that Laura and I are conservative and republican the attention was focused on us. If we had been Donald  Trump supporters we would have had tomatoes thrown at us. As it was we felt like unicorns. They had never seen or talked to a republican before. Crazy really.  
We spent time at the New York Temple then ate lunch at Tavern on the green in honor of my sis Marcie who loved to eat there. . This was our first expensive meal and it was delicious!  Infact the food on this trip has been really cheap. 
Show #5 Beautiful the musical the Carol King story.  Once again we saw a winner. Every song familiar and now I know what inspired them. I cried like a baby during "You Got a friend" sitting with my friend Laura. It's been a tough week but I always know she's got a shoulder for me to cry on and really good perspective on life. So happy to have had this time with my busy friend  and thankful to have Wayne at home dealing with "stuff."