Last Day

Today was the last day of school.  THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  That means it was the last day my three oldest children will be in the same school together.  (And the last day any of them will go to this particular school which has been very good to us.)  Which also means it was the last day my oldest child will attend grade school!  Soooo, it's been an emotional day for me.  Partly because "Aunt Flo" is here for her monthly visit, partly because I'm still tired from spending the last two weekends out of town looking for a house and then attending the Power of Moms retreat.  (All moms know what going out of town means - punishment in the form of piled up laundry and papers!)  But mostly it's just that these kids of mine keep growing and I don't like it one bit!

That's not entirely true. I've actually had some pretty fun conversations with Kate recently when I could  start to see the person she will grow up to be - and I'm starting to think it's going to be nice associating with my children as grown ups someday.  Yesterday, we sat up on the kitchen countertop together talking, and she told me for the first time that she had her whole life planned out. (Oh, really?)  First, I warned her not to get too disappointed when things don't turn out exactly as planned, but then I had to hear the plan - right?  It involved college, missionary work, paleontology, art, and of course -  4 or 5 kids.  I was happy to hear she had actually incorporated some of my lectures on choosing to study and pursue interests that would allow her to be a stay-at-home mom.  But she even "got it" more than that - she talked about what she would do once her kids were grown and gone.  That's the way to think!  One of my favorite parts of last weekend's retreat was the "Picking Your Priorities" panel discussion.  (It might of had something to do with getting to sit next to Linda Eyre and chatting it up with her like we were old buddies . . .) A big take away for a lot of people was the idea that LIFE IS LONG.  We have a lot of years to do a lot of stuff, and we don't have to worry about doing it all right now when our small children still need us so much.

Back to the last day of school and me swallowing my tears all day:

It was the last kindergarten half day for Elizabeth.  I've had the two "little girls" to myself half days all year long and haven't relished it enough. It's going to be a little lonely next year for Rachael when Elizabeth is in school full time.  Sniff, sniff.

It was also the last time I would walk to that school to pick up Elizabeth from kindergarten.  I've thoroughly enjoyed walking my kids to and from school.  I think if we get the house we're thinking of in Utah, the kids will be bused next year.

Here's what I was met with when I arrived today, post party:



It was the last "Charlotte's Web" play.  Okay, so I only did 2 in the four years we were here, but it was weird for me to push Rachael in a stroller to go attend this little third grade play and feel like it was just yesterday that I did the same thing with Elizabeth to go see Kate as Charlotte.  (Will was Templeton and the pizzazz of the play if I can be honest.  I hope he does drama when he gets older because he is FUNNY!)  Will and I had a discussion this morning over his bagel egg sandwich about the word "bittersweet" - which is what he was feeling about the last day of school.  I know how he feels.



The last field trip - ever!  (At least, I don't remember ever having field trips after grade school.) The 6th graders all went to a place today with go carts, lasar tag, etc.  Right after I took this picture, Kate said she was feeling a little bit sad.  We are going to have to do something FUN tomorrow to snap us all out of our post-school/pre-move FUNK!

Rachael on the kindergarten playground after school.

Also on the playground.  These girls can be so cute together.  Little bit tomboy, little bit Barbie. 

Walking home from school, looking for "roly polies".  

Childhood really is so stinkin' short!  Oh, I'll feel better after a good night's sleep.

WOW

That's just about all I can say.  Everyday is a marathon these days.  Today was Kate's 6th grade promotion ceremony at 8:30 in the morning.  (Aren't they cute?)

Lots of phone calls between me, Brandon, and our realtor in Utah about a certain house we are interested in.  (We need to be out of our house two weeks from this Friday, so we'd better get things figured out quick!)  I finally got a moving company to come for an estimate tomorrow.  (I'm just happy they have availability on such short notice.)  With a half hour notice, a super messy house, and a toddler and pre-schooler under foot, my realtor here called to see if Brandon had told me that the appraiser was coming at 1:30.  (Deep breaths while moving FAST!)  The usual piano lessons, canceling our membership at the YMCA (had to be in person), a distraught Kate who forgot she needed to create the final draft of an essay TONIGHT (i.e. I did the typing so she didn't get in bed too late . . .), Will having a fit because they messed up the yearbook and he found himself next to a random fifth grade girl instead of his other third grade cousin, Rachael discovering two VERY annoying singing Barbie dolls in the closet and insisting I speak for one of them for hours on end, playing a matching game with Elizabeth while hashing out house details with Brandon . . . it went on and on like this all day.

But none of it really bothered me.  I took it all in stride.  Why?  Because I'm still on a little high from my AMAZING weekend at the first ever Power of Moms retreat.  I desperately need to get in bed, so you can read all about it here and here, but in short, it was a thrill of a lifetime for me to be a part of it and feel like my little offering was appreciated and benefitted some "other mother".  Not to mention the honor of presenting alongside April and the Eyre girls.  Those ladies are just cut from a different cloth, let me tell you. And the women who attended the retreat?  Inspirational, fun, down to earth - loved them all.

Perkinyaki

We're in Utar. (That's NOT a typo.)  We have two days without out kids to find a place to live.

When we left here 13 summers ago, we never thought we'd be back.  We lamented that as poor, busy students there was so much of Utah we had never explored.  We never climbed Timp, we never went to the Great Salt Lake.  There's a really long list, actually.  And now we get to do all that fun stuff with our kids.  I'm surprising myself -  I think I'm gonna like it here! (Name that song/movie.)

Right off the plane I noticed how much sky there is (and of course the gorgeous mountains).  It's nice.  We'll get to see sunsets.  It's opener here in the wide open air. (Name that book.) I know we were just here in April for a family reunion, but I'm looking at this place from a totally different perspective now.

We couldn't resist trying to find some Japanese food for dinner.  We found a Tepanyaki place right off the freeway in Lehi (where Footloose was filmed - yeah!) and tried it out.  Pretty mediocre.  It was DEFINITELY a remodeled Perkins and the inside was full of lots of fake flowers.

That's okay.  We're not moving here for the restaurants.

A Few More . . .

 . . . things to miss.

Will is outside my bedroom door right now chasing a lizard.  In our yard, the kids find lizards, big snails, and praying mantis all the time.  Kate bought a plastic tank recently for a ring necked snake she found walking home from school. (Classic Kate - she researched online and found out it burrows in damp ground and eats ants and worms - which she catches.  When we went to the pet store for the tank, the store owner tried to tell her how to take care of it, but she had it all figured out already!) Just today, Will came home with a miniscule baby praying mantis he found on a leaf walking home from school.  We also frequently see hawks and/or falcons, hummingbirds, coyotes, wild parrots - once we even saw some type of egret or crane!  Then there are the occasional mountain lions that creep into local neighborhoods making off with small pets . . .

Basically, more than anything, I will miss the land of California.  The wildlife, the mountains, the ocean, the vegetation, the agriculture (the Farmer's Market's are wonderful!), the weather, the National Parks.  But I can survive without the rest of it.

Except the restaurants.  (Oh, the pain!)

Memorial Day 2010

My day began ironing on patches so Elizabeth could be all ready for the parade.  She and her fellow Daisy troop girls would be riding in a firetruck.  FUN!  

No small town Memorial Day parade would be complete without uniforms and horses: 

Old cars: 

This was a really old Rolls Royce with a cool license plate.  I don't know why, but I dig license plates. 

Best Mexican in town, owned by a friend from church.  His son on the skateboard has been at those swing dance classes I've been going to with my 14-15 year old girlfriends.

Could this be any cuter?  

There's that firetruck!

And a fuzzy, zoomed pic of the cutest little Daisy in town!

Several loud and large planes and helicopters passed overhead.  My favorite!  (The pounding of the helicopter actually reminded me of getting evacuated last summer . . .not my favorite.)

Brandon's brother and his brother-in-law with their cute pre-schoolers.  (You would not believe how many preschools walk in our parade!)

$1 to the disabled veterans got Rachael this cute flag she was very happy to wave. 

To the city park after for some of that yummy Los Gringos and a petting zoo (among other things).  One little kid (as in baby goat) got a hold of Rachael's hair right after I took this picture and started chewing away!  When I finally got the hair out of it's mouth, it was covered in green slimy grass!!  Blech.  

Requisite food and treats to be enjoyed on this day: sno cones, hot dogs, watermelon, ice cream.  Check.

I was sorry I found these paper horns for the kids to blow.  Oh man, did that ever get annoying, but Will especially loved another way to make a lot of noise. 

Afterward we went to my in-laws for the traditional first swim of the year and BBQ.  (Going to miss that . . .)  Lots of friends and family, great discussion, yummy food.  Too bad I didn't take any pics.  I was too busy cleaning up the TWO big poopy diapers that got all wet and gross in Rachael's swim diaper - one that even squished out all over the cement by the hot tub, requiring a bleach clean up.  (The hot tub water was looking a little cloudy after that.) Other than that, a GREAT day.  

On the drive home I couldn't resist a picture of my FAVORITE house in town.  The only thing it is missing is a white picket fence to go with those roses in front . . . 

A Different Top Ten

Once again, in no particular order, the top ten reasons to leave this beloved place: 

#1 Exorbitant cost of living.  If we had moved here a decade ago, it might have been somewhat reasonable, but moving here at the peak of the real estate insanity . . . not good.  Southern California is expensive in general, but you can imagine the cost of a beautiful, quiet, safe, small town with it's own school district (which is always at the top in the state) that is just minutes away from both downtown and Hollywood.  That is really what we are paying for.  Not just a community like this (because there are plenty of those all over this country), but a community like this with such close proximity to L.A. and Hollywood.  We don't need either L.A. or Hollywood for Brandon's work, so it doesn't make sense for us to keep parting with our hard earned money.  Not after nine years of sacrifice and toil.  (Plus four here.) And while a bigger home for MUCH less money is attractive, our main motive is to be as debt free as possible and be able to save, save, save for emergencies, our children, our retirement, you name it.  No amount of great weather and beautiful trees can help us feel at peace about our inability to prepare for the future in the way we would like.  

#2 Earthquakes, fires, mudslides.  I know, anywhere you go there is something.  In Iowa it was tornados and flooding, in Utah it will be . . . what natural disasters do they have there?  Just checked wikipedia and they had one tornado in Salt Lake in 1999 and they do get wildfires, but they are pretty much restricted to wilderness areas.  Not bad.  (Isn't there a fault line running through Salt Lake and Utah counties?  That would be funny.  Not really.)  I think if you are from here, earthquakes are no big deal. (That's how I feel about tornados, but Brandon thinks tornados are worse since you sit in your basement and watch the path of the tornado by doppler radar on TV as it edges ever closer to your house.  At least you don't know when the earthquake is coming, so you don't worry about it - this is according to Brandon.) But earthquakes really bug me.  Not the little ones, but the potential for "THE BIG ONE".  I really do hate the thought of being here for that, and they keep promising it is coming sometime in the next 20-30 years.  I am so nuts about it that several times a week I wake up in the middle of the night in a panic simply because Brandon rolled over in bed.  I know, it's dumb, but I can't really imagine what it would be like here if there were a major earthquake.  With all these people, and only one major freeway to get out if we needed to.  You can't even get out of here on a Friday night because of all the traffic. 

#3 The population.  It's way too crowded here.  And many of the people outside our little city walls are obnoxious to live next to and interact with whenever you leave these little city walls.  The diverse cultures in our town all seem to work well together and are on the same page.  Not so in neighboring communities.  There are certain ethnic groups that keep to themselves, don't want to assimilate, yet desire all the benefits that the state gov't is way too excited to dish out to them.  It's obnoxious.  Just last night we went to dinner at The Americana in Glendale - supposedly "the place to be"and truly a visually beautiful place - but the people there were so obnoxious and it was so crowded.  It just made everything seem so hollow and not at all enjoyable!  Brandon deals with many of these populations at work and it drives him nuts.  He has really loved working with his dad, but he can't tolerate working with these people and getting ripped off by them for the next 30 years of practicing medicine - especially the way things are going with Obamacare.  Enough said.  

#4 Fall here is a drag.  Fall used to be my favorite season, winter the least.  Moving to Utah, that will reverse back in place.  I'm trying not to focus on losing the gorgeous California winters, but I have to say every fall we have been here I've missed that back-to-school/football season smell, the leaves changing in September and October, chilly Halloweens -I LOVE fall, and fall here is a hot drag.  

#5 - #10  (I'm tired and everything else kind of rolls into one)  State instability/Political kooks in Sacramento screwing everything up/Deteriorating culture/Insane freeway traffic/Illegal aliens/Being a target for terrorists/Increased lack of water and other natural resources/I'm going to bed . . .

Shrinky Dinks and Other Obligations

Last week was nuts.  (What's new?)  Rachael was sick, I thought I had a kidney stone, I was trying to coordinate a plumber and a handyman to come fix a little thing we needed to take care of before the physical house inspection on Thursday, I had my motherhood class to prepare for and present also on Thursday, I taught a bunch of kindergartners about Brahms one afternoon, there was an early morning kindergarten music program another day that threw the whole a.m. routine into chaos, (and of course Kate needed a special shirt at the last minute for "twins day" that same morning - told me at 7:45), I had a swing dancing class with the 14&15 year-old girls at church one night, there was Open House at the school followed by a friend's going away party another night, a book report, a cello lesson, a science test, and merit badges to work on with Will, and so it goes.  

Sometimes when things start getting too crazy and I'm feeling stressed, I instinctively do things that will at least create the illusion of calm so my stress doesn't rub off on the kids too much.  I think it's as much for me as it is for them.  I try extra hard to keep it cool at home and make things feel "normal".  Even though it's counterintuitive, I will just do something in the middle of all the chaos that feels like we have all the time in the world.  Another reason I like to do this, is because I feel like the little girls get short changed.  When the older two were their age, we DID have all the time in the world.  I only had two small children and no school, no lessons, no homework, etc.  Life really was pretty slow and simple back then.  (It didn't feel that way to me compared to life B.C. - before children - but looking back now that stage was easy peezy lemon squeezy.)  

So last week, in the middle of all that insanity, I indulged the little girls in a craft project in the middle of the day.  Shrinky Dinks.  I always wanted them as a child, but it took my own daughter getting them as a birthday present from her friend, Grace, to actually do them.  Right before I took this picture, I was right down there with them!  It's pretty fun to watch those things curl up and shrink.  And look at the super cute results below.