Thursday, April 25, 2019

Easter, Blomquist Visit

Mara and Ricky arrived late Saturday night while we were sleeping. It had been kind of a rough day for me. James worked mosquito abatement and wasn't around. I started getting a cold on Friday, so all my plans of getting the yard cleaned up just didn't happen. To be honest, I'm still feeling a little crummy due to interrupted sleep. I get random coughing fits that are really bad, but I am on the mend.

Sunday was Easter! I had grand plans for all the boys to match, but Lewis misplaced his bow tie at the last minute. Oh well. I still got a good picture or two. Church was good despite my illness, and we dyed eggs after lunch. We of course enjoyed cheesy potatoes and ham for dinner with hot fudge cake for dessert.

Monday, those were weren't at school went to Fantasy Canyon. We looked around at the cool rocks and had a picnic lunch. Then, we went to the Ouray wildlife refuge to look around. For FHE, we did a little lesson and an egg hunt since we hadn't done it one Saturday.

Tuesday, we went shopping for Mara's baby shower and got lunch at James's favorite Taco Tuesday spot. The adults (not including me) went rabbit hunting. I took Joseph to pack meeting while everyone else stayed home.

Wednesday, we went to the dinosaur museum in the morning and relaxed in the afternoon. I even had time to catch up on my new website. 10 more weeks! Mara and Ricky left after dinner, a treat from Dad (KFC). James did mosquito abatement, so I got everyone to bed and planned the rest of the details for the baby shower. I'm a little stressed by it because planning parties is not my strong suit, but I'm still glad I'm doing it for Mara. I think it will be really fun. Though I'm not the most fun or outgoing person, I am really good at making lists. :)

Today, the Heads are coming to visit. Until then, I'm going to take it easy as much as possible so I don't go crazy.

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Sleep Training, Mosquito Abatement, Yard, Corolla

Samantha is now going to bed the same time as the other kids, unswaddled, and without any help! I'm so happy! I feel like I am free now from 7:30-10:30 P.M.

James went to Salt Lake on Saturday for his mosquito abatement training, so today is his first day out in the field. It's not as stressful as it used to be. I have TV shows I like to watch without him, a blogging class to work on, and the actual blog that needs tons of work before I officially publicize it. 11 more weeks!

We worked in the yard some on Saturday. The trash can is overflowing due to all the trash that has blown into our yard over the past few months. My plan is the work on the yard in sections so we can actually keep up with the weeding this year. Looking at it overall is way too overwhelming, but one section at a time should be doable.

We are a 2-car family again! James had the brilliant idea of donating our old car, the Corolla, to the school to be a dummy car for the auto shop class. The teacher was really excited about the idea, so we drove it there yesterday. I'm really glad to have that space on the driveway available again.

Other than those things, it's been a pretty great, sunny few days. I'm so glad it finally feels like spring. The kids have been cooped up for so long, it's not even funny.


Thursday, April 11, 2019

Spring Break in NC

It's been a pretty busy 2 weeks, but I'll give the short version as well as I can.

Friday, we traveled to our hotel, stopping along the way for meals and to explore the mall. It was long, but mostly uneventful. We ran into some snow and Kenny got carsick.

Saturday, everything went well with our flight to NC. We hung out for the rest of the day.

Sunday: Church, hanging out with the family. We all had dinner  and scriptures together.

Monday: We took a walk around the lake at Apex Park and Mom and I went birthday shopping. I found 3 shirts that I liked at Kohl's. We saw tons of animals at the lake: a blue heron, turtles, and ducks. James went birthday shopping for Kenny and I updated the family scrapbook I made a few years ago. After all the missions and weddings have happened, it will be complete!

Tuesday: We visited the Museum of History in Raleigh and the Museum of Natural Sciences next door. The rain ruined our plans of visiting the arboretum, which was a bummer. We had Bojangles' on the way back. Dinner was at Christian and Rachel's house.

Wednesday: We drove to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham and got a snack at Cook Out on the way home. We watched some TV after dinner.

Thursday: We went to Jordan Lake and had a picnic lunch. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! I even got a touch of sunburn, not intentionally, but at least I won't be so white anymore. I don't think I'd been to Jordan Lake since high school. The kids had been asking all week when we were going, and I was really surprised they wanted to be in the frigid water, but hey, whatever works. I'm glad they had such a good time in the sand and water. They never even got on the playground. After the lake, James took the older 3 to Brinson's shop while I did laundry and kept an eye on the little ones.

Friday, it was raining again, so we took a chill day at the house with a couple of short errands. After dinner, we celebrated Kenny's birthday with cake, ice cream, and presents.

I tried to be healthy for the first few days, but I failed miserably. It wasn't all my fault. The cereal was really stale and the fruit was freezer burned and sour 2 days in a row. When I cooked grits, they were really gritty and unpleasant and the eggs overcooked while I was waiting for them to be done. There are also so many delicious snacks around, I'm tired because I'm on Mountain Time with my sleep but not with my meals, and I haven't been exercising. Oh well. This month will just not be a super successful one.

Our trip home on Saturday was smooth and again, uneventful. We figured out that Kenny doesn't get carsick if he takes frequent breaks from looking at the phone to play games. I got everything unpacked and finished putting it away on Sunday.

We listened to Conference on Sunday. I didn't get much out of it because I fell asleep. Whoops. I'm glad we can read it after the fact.

Monday, James had his first meeting for mosquito abatement.

I finally got drawers in my kitchen! I'm so excited! I can't remember the last time I had 4 functioning drawers. Everything is finally organized again the way I like it.

I decided to upgrade my blog again after a lot of encouragement from my husband and other family members, so I have my own .com website now. My goal is to roll it out officially around my anniversary since it will be 10 years of marriage and almost 10 since I starting blogging. I should be done updating all the pictures by then. After that point, I will work on adding more content and looking into earning money on it.