First Week of Summer, Joseph's 14th Birthday

It's been a crazy week, and things won't slow down next week since we leave for NC on Tuesday.

Saturday ended up busier than expected. We helped James's coworker Katie move, then the older boys and I went to vacuum out the van at the car wash. Katie had given us some furniture, so we rearranged the living room, got rid of a broken cabinet, and cleaned everything in the process. The girls also cleaned their room to make space for some new shelves. It took pretty much all day, which meant I didn't get to some of the other things I wanted to do.

Monday, Memorial Day, we went into Dinosaur National Monument to see some petroglyphs and a few cool overlooks. We had lunch at a campground before returning home. James and I played a board game and then relaxed somewhat for the rest of the day.

The rest of the week has been so busy that I've had to rewrite my planner by the hour. By Friday afternoon, I will been to/done 4 birthday parties (1 hosted here today for Joseph), 3 play dates (one of which was a long drive), 3 dental/ortho appointments (1 that got added last minute), 2 haircuts, and 1 presidency meeting. There's also a doctor's appointment on Monday. Oh, and there were also activities for Katie, YM for the boys, and a lunch date with Kenny to use a few certificates he got from school and a lunch date with James while he was working.

Naturally, James has been working since Tuesday and will do all of this week plus Monday. I've grown weary of driving places, even the fun ones. I know I won't write again until after I return from NC, so here's the rundown of the next few days:

Today: Joseph's 14th birthday. He invited a few friends to play board games and video games. I'm making several kinds of pizza, chocolate PB cheesecake, and PB fudge ice cream.

Tomorrow: Last playdate of the week, chores that I don't want to do on Saturday.

Saturday: chores, a baptism

Sunday: the usual

Monday: prep for the trip

Throw in a couple of small organizing projects on the side with a dash of "I'm bored; what should I do?" and that's my summer so far. I'm really looking forward to the trip next week while also dreading the really long drive.

Last Week of School

All the cars are back! The Yukon has a few things that could be fixed but don't have to be if we're not taking it on any long trips. The van was leaking transmission fluid, so we took it back in and got it fixed under warranty (bad gasket) since they'd just done work on the transmission. I'm crossing my fingers, but we should be good to go for our trip after I get the oil changed today and the kids clean it out this weekend.

It's been an okay week. It's seemed like a month long, not just a few days. I keep thinking that it's a day ahead of what it actually is, and that doesn't help. Tomorrow is the last day of school!

We did a short game night with Katie since she's moving this week. It's sad, but I get it.

I helped with Field Day for Kindergarten on Tuesday and today I'm going to see a skit done by the 4th graders. Katie says she's the narrator. I think she's started to come out of her shell this year and isn't just the quiet kid in the back.

This next week will be spent sleeping in and getting things ready for the long trip. I'm really hoping it goes well with NO car problems this time. Having a much newer car should help, and if it doesn't, I quit!

Logan, Almost There

We had a wonderful trip to Logan. We left on Friday around 1:45. James actually came home from school a bit early and realized he had a fever, so I had a mini breakdown because I was worried about him. He took some meds and a little nap before we hit the road, and the fever never returned. I was a little tired during the weekend, but I finally feel like I'm 100% better. A few of the kids are coughing a tiny bit still. Our drive to Logan was uneventful. Dad had meetings in Salt Lake last week, so we met him for dinner at KFC in Bountiful with Nash. It was a really nice stop, and the rest of the drive to Logan during sunset was absolutely gorgeous. I don't know what I was expecting the city to look like, but I was blown away by how much bigger and greener it was than what I expected. We went swimming in the hotel pool, and the kids went to bed way too late.

Saturday, we went to the Pepperidge Farm outlet, Big Deal, Gossner's (a cheese factory), and Costco. We got enough snacks for our NC trip for very good prices. Then we went to the temple to wait for Elizabeth (James's cousin) and Spencer to come out. (They ran out of room in the sealing room, but that's all right.) After pictures, we went to a park on the USU campus to eat Costa Vida. The reception followed afterward at the art museum. We took the kids swimming again and gratefully retired for a better night of sleep than the one before. (The girls' coughing kept me up a lot.)

Sunday morning, we quickly got ready and attended a 9:00 Sacrament meeting in town, finished packing up, and drove home, which was uneventful. James got me a bunch of random snacks for Mother's Day. We got home around 3:30 and got everything unpacked and cleaned up (mostly).

I'm glad for the time I've had to recover this week. It was also really good to take the van on a "test trip" before we drive it cross country. There were no problems, but I noticed that it's leaking a tiny bit of something (oil, maybe?) on the driveway, but we have plenty of time to get it fixed before we leave. The Yukon is currently at the shop for a few weird noises it's making, but after talking to Dad, they are probably nothing to worry about, just a sign of its age. Either way, it needs a new seatbelt in the front since it constantly locks up, which is really annoying. Yes, it's been quite a saga with the cars, but we should have them all fixed up within the next week and then not have to worry about them again for a while, I hope.

School is almost done for the year! One week and one day to go! I can't even express how excited I am for this. Of course I'm excited about our trips, but I also look forward to sleeping in and really enjoying the nice weather. I enjoy the time in between trips as much as the trips themselves because we get to do small outdoor adventures in our area, work on projects, and keep a more relaxed schedule. Bring on summer!

Cars, Plans

Things have improved a bit since last week, even though they got worse first. I felt extremely tired on Friday so I cancelled my playdate. By Sunday, things started to turn around and I had more energy. A couple of the kids are coughing now, so I'm sure it's just been a (mostly) asymptomatic cold.

The G6 started having problems, and Walmart told us it was both the alternator and the battery. The old battery was covered under the warranty, so we got the new one for free. When I picked up the van from the shop on Monday, I swapped cars. The G6 didn't end up needing an alternator, so that was nice since the van ending up costing a lot more than we originally thought. It's had all the maintenance it needs before heading to NC in less than a month!

We've been working on planning our NC trip. Having it all typed up in a chart makes it seem real. We're pretty certain about where we're going to stop and what things we want to do on the way; we just don't have concrete reservations for anything yet. The first trip we took in 2021 went much better than expected and we spent a little more money and time to make it more fun. Our trip in 2022 had some bad luck with car trouble, bad weather, and less time for travel overall, which made it a lot less fun than the year before. We've learned from both of those trips and are going to make this one a combination of the 2021/2022 trips. I really hope those "bad luck" things stay to a minimum because no amount of planning can do anything about them!

I'm excited to go to Logan this week for the wedding. The weather is supposed to be nice (finally!) and it's always fun to see family.

Meh, Wins

It's been one of those weeks that feels like it's dragging on forever. We took the Yukon in last week the get the regular tires on, and a few days later, I noticed it had a flat. James took it in, and it needed a new tire. I wish they could've figured that out before we had to spend another few hours worrying about it. We took the van to the shop yesterday for maintenance and will pick it up today. That makes 5 car-related trips into town in the past week. Ugh.

I've been reviewing Spanish by doing 20 pages a day in James's old college textbook. So far, so good. I've mostly forgotten some vocabulary, but I remember all the grammar stuff so far. I'm trying to do the reading parts out loud so I won't get too tongue-tied when we're in Ecuador later this summer.

I have a presidency meeting today, and I'm worried that I'll end up with a giant to-do list of stuff I've been neglecting. I'm excited to go to a baptism on Saturday, though. They are always special.

The weather hasn't been great either. It's windy, cold, and cloudy with only a few moments of sunshine. I hope the nice weather comes back soon.

There have been some wins, though. 4 of 5 kids needed new shoes (some more than 1 pair). We started at D.I. and got 6 pairs of shoes, 2 of them Nikes, for less than 20 bucks. We found the remaining ones at Walmart for not too much. My total cost per pair of shoes was about 5 bucks. A few days later, Lewis said he needed church shoes, so we pulled out the hand-me-downs from the trailer and found the next size up for him, no trip to the store needed. I'll give it about 2 months before someone needs shoes again, but at least for now, everyone is good.

Things are not terrible, really, just boring right now. The trip to D.C. was so fast-paced and exciting that it made regular life look like a drag in comparison. That's okay, though. We're going on a little trip to see James's cousin get married in the Logan temple next weekend. Though I've lived in Utah for 12 years, I've never had a reason to go to Logan until now. I'm excited to see a new city that I've heard so much about. It will also be great to see everyone since the whole Lee side will be gathered and we won't see the Heads again till July.