Adjustment

*They found our camera and are mailing it up! (Yahoo!) But still no pictures for a week or so.

Last Saturday we had a killer moving sale! I'm a bit of a yard sale extraordinaire (in my opinion anyway) and this was by far the best one. Both in terms of money made and overall experience. We got rid of our kitchen table(the only thing I was slightly sentimental about selling), 2 bar stools, 1 chair, 1 bookshelf (even after a gust of wind knocked it over and broke the top!), 1 stroller, and then a bunch of other stuff. We DI-ed the rest of our kitchen chairs and an end table. Our house is really starting to feel empty. As in, it echos in certain areas for lack of stuff. Crazy.
Speaking of moving....
That night after the garage sale, we packed up a few essentials and made our first-of-the-season-trip to our river spot. The entire experience I felt like I was battling two personalities inside of me. "Wow, this is so beautiful!", immediately followed by, "Why can't we just be eating at our kitchen table!! Gahh!! Gwen stop eating the dirt! MILES! Don't you DARE get near the river without Mom or Dad!!!!" Camping, in any form, usually stresses me out more than anything, but for some reason I still love it and crave it. We roasted dogs and mallows, made sand castles, became monsters and destroyed the aforementioned sand castles, looked for frogs, played peek-a-boo from inside the tent, went on a walk and climbed on rocks, got too far into the river, changed kid's wet clothes and then tore them away from the sand and strapped them into their car seats crying. Right before we made them get in the car, during a quiet moment, I turned and saw the sun settling into the river behind a grouping of trees. I watched the smoke of our dying campfire wind it's way through the yellow grass and my heart just broke. Did you know, not all heart-break is sad? The first time my heart broke was because I was having a hard time comprehending the beauty of my surroundings and the people in it. How did I get so lucky? However, it was immediately followed by the sad kind of heart break. We are leaving Eastern Idaho and everything about it that we've come to love, especially including "our" river spot. 6 years is a good amount of time. It's hard to imagine life anywhere else. It will be a wonderful adventure I'm sure.

Pinch Me

The only downside to our SLC trip this past week was that we left our camera somewhere on temple square and we haven't been able to locate it. So no pictures for a while. But I guess the written word is better than nothing.

Richie and I have been looking forward to our 5 year anniversary for about a year now. We planned on going to SLC and dropping the kids off with his folks, getting a hotel, sleeping in, going out to eat, not having a schedule and on and on. Then after Richie got hired, we found out they have a training for all new hires and their wives in SLC that they completely pay for. So we nixed the idea of going down in June and combined our anniversary celebration with a new hire celebration. Did I mention it was free? Yeah, it was.

We dropped the kids off Monday night and crashed at "The Plaza". So fancy, yes? In fact, this entire trip we felt super fancy. You should probably read this post with your pinky up. Tuesday was full of meetings. Lots of info to digest, but it was all good. We got down to the nitty-gritty about pay and insurance and all that technical stuff. In between meetings, we dined at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. Before more meetings at the Church Administration Building after lunch, we went to the very top, 26 floors up to be exact, and admired the view. We took a picture here, so just imagine it. We finished meetings around 5, crashed at the hotel, re-grouped, re-focused and headed out for a night on the town. We walked to the Gateway and ate at an Asian restaurant called "Thaifoon". (insert chuckle here) It happened to be a lot like the restaurant we tried in Eagle, Idaho on our first anniversary, so that was kind of fun. We took a picture here of us eating the first sushi we've had in 4 years. It was awesome. Then we went and, get ready for this, saw a full-priced movie! I told you we felt like big spenders. "The Avengers" wasn't disappointing like I was expecting. I'll venture so far as to say, it was rather good. The pool at the hotel closes ridiculously early, so we hit up the JB's attached to the hotel and got us some ice cream and ate it while we walked around the block. We kept having to remind ourselves to slow down. "No kids to go pick up, nothing else to do, just relax. Let's just stroll."
Wednesday was also full of meetings on temple square and we ate lunch at the JSMB again. This day was more training on how to be an effective teacher. We listened to some great info from the top dogs of church education. I'll tell you what, The Church is amazing and incredibly efficient and effective. We got a teeny-tiny glimpse into how one if it's departments runs, and it was eye-opening to say the least. We can't believe we get to be a part of something so big and important.

After the meeting closed, we headed straight back to the Garners to see the kids we had been missing so much. I don't really think they even missed us that much. Which is good! They had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa and all their uncles, who I'm sure gave them their undivided attention. We were so grateful to have family that was available and willing to help us out so much.

Now it's back to the grindstone. At one point we looked at each other on the drive home and realized we probably won't get to do something like that for a loooong time. And then we sighed. It will remain a memory of an almost perfect get away with each other that will hopefully sustain us through the next 5 years! :)

The Week of May 6th, in which...

I caught up on some babysitting for a good friend. Each kid had their own personal play mate! Later on in the week an old friend came to visit from OK. (Hi Shelley!) They also brought kids with matching ages to the mix. I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of us 2 moms hauling 6 kids under the age of 4 to the park. :)

We ate some delicious smores! We try and do something fun on Friday nights with the kids. This usually means we pop popcorn, set up the tent and watch a movie together. This Friday, it meant a special treat. They thought it was pretty cool.

We celebrated Mother's Day. I was pretty beat by Saturday night, so Richie said my Mother's Day celebrations were starting early and he got me set up with a hot bath and a good book. The next morning he surprised me with not one, but TWO pairs of new, cute shoes. I even got to take a nap and didn't have to make dessert for our regular dinner with friends. Richie makes a mean batch of peanut butter brownies. Quick side note about Gwen's dress... It's one of the only items of clothing I've ever had to buy her (thanks to generous friends and family). I saw it at Wal-Mart when I was pregnant with her and knew I just had to buy it. I've been waiting for her to fit into it for 14 months, and when we put her in it on Sunday, she was almost too big for the 18 month dress.

Glimpses

*It's 11:28 pm and I can't sleep...again. Maybe next week, I won't indulge in a Sunday nap.

*Richie's school had a bomb threat last Friday and he got to come home early!

*In the last 9 months or so, I've lost a nice bit of weight. However, this week we used a gift card to get ice cream, I ate chocolate cake at a stake event on Saturday, and I ate 2 big pieces of carrot cake and ice cream to celebrate a birthday today. I have major eater's remorse.

*A family in our ward tragically lost their 12 year old son this week. It's been a traumatic event for the entire ward, myself included, who didn't know the family well at all. Lots of thoughts and prayers going their way.

*The previously mentioned stake event was actually a dinner that myself and one other girl, around my age, were asked to provide for 30 stake leaders who couldn't make it home in between sessions of stake conference on Saturday. Tiny bit daunting, but a really good experience overall.

*Do you ever feel hungry and look in the fridge only to realize nothing sounds good to you? I'm feeling that...on an emotional level. Deep, yes? I can't seem to find the magical balance between ambition and contentment, so I sit at the "fridge", my mind goes 100 miles per hour, and all I end up feeling is frustrated.

*I put a Pinterest idea into practice the other day. Who knew we had dinosaur eggs in our front yard!? Does this picture look familiar mom?

*My mother in law gave us all these great flannel board characters she had made up years ago. However, we didn't own a flannel board. So I got a piece of scrap wood from a friend and flanneled it up on one side. "What a shame to waste the other side." I thought. So I painted it with chalkboard paint. Ta-Da! This has been a real hit round these parts.

*Miles was a real trooper during stake conference today. Speaking of stake conference, who's bright idea was that? 2 hours is a loooong time for kiddos. When the last speaker finished and the closing hymn started to play, Miles knew it was over. He threw his arms in the air and shouted, "WE DID IT!" He's been saying lots of quotable things lately. And yes, I'm writing them down.

*Richie starts getting paid a salary next week. Like a real job! Whaaaat?! Which means, hopefully, this will be the last month of our entire lives that we will ever go "in the hole" again!!! I'm imagining that last sentence sounding like an announcer at a football game.

*I've been thinking a lot about Ezekiel 33 lately and the lesson it teaches about the watchman on the tower. Richie taught it in seminary this year and then told me all about it. We all have lots of responsibility in our spheres of influence. I'm trying to be better about that.

*Our house looks like a disaster area. There are boxes and packing materials in all the wrong places. Lots of homey things are packed up already. If they asked us to move next week, we could no problem. I guess that was the idea behind packing up so early. That and making it easier on me, so I wouldn't have to pack everything at once. We take loads of boxes to our storage unit at least once a week. It's good, but...now I'm more anxious than ever to figure out where we are going, and then get there!