July 31-Aug 3

Sunday, July 31st-

Today was a hard day and a great day. Some Sundays are just hard. I have been used to getting kids ready on my own for a couple of years now, but some mornings are just harder than others. Cleod and Ryan didn't feel good so they didn't have to get ready but they weren't as helpful as they usually are. And sometimes I just feel overwhelmed.

The great part about today was that I felt a lot happier about my calling as the Primary Pianist. The last few weeks have been hard for me to be in primary. Some days I really just want to be in Relief Society and feel the Spirit and the fellowship there. I want to met new people. Also, sometimes Molly doesn't want to go to Nursery right away so I have to drag her to Primary and then run out when she is ready. Anyway, there are lots of reasons and I was ready to be done but I am feeling ok. I can feel the Spirit in Primary. I can still be a mom and people will understand if my husband isn't always there to help too. I need to be more positive and see the good in my life.

Monday, August 1st-

What? Summer vacation is almost over?!? It has been as super crazy busy summer and I am bummed it's almost over. BUT, I'm also feeling the need for change. The need for structure and routine. Every summer we go through this. The last few weeks the kids start to bug each other more and things that are normally not a big deal become a big deal. Even the girls are arguing about toys or books. That never happens! Maybe Molly is getting to the age when it will start happening more, but it's new for them to bicker. It's kind of sad. The boys are having a harder time doing things together and want to watch a lot more tv. And I'm feeling stress from recovering from one trip (mostly laundry) and getting ready for the next trip so I have let them watch more shows than normal. Bleh.

Today I got all the laundry done and started packing. Packing for a couple days is easier than for 10 days…

Tonight Silas taught the kids about “striving” for home evening. He talked to them about how we all struggle to do what's right sometimes. We talked about how we need to fight to choose the right. It was a good lesson. He's a great dad and a good teacher.

Tuesday, August 2nd-

Last week Lasse asked if I would like to teach the 5:45am class that I go to regularly. I said yes and have been prepping for it since. Yesterday I mentioned to the ladies in class that I was teaching it and Amie asked if I wanted to teach the 9am class too… So today I taught my first and second class at the gym.

The early class was with the stability ball. I think it went well. I basically used things Lasse has used throughout the summer. For the 9am class I did an aerobic warm up, a ladder (starting with 1 minute, then 45 sec, 30 sec and 15 sec for each move) with high impact aerobic exercises and then 25 minutes of the stability ball. Daneene was the only one that ended up coming for that class, which was fine but I wasn't as formal as I was planning. But we had fun and chatted a lot. I don't have experience, except working out at the gym for more than 10 years but I wasn't nervous at all and I think both classes were good.

In the afternoon the kids and I went with Deruchette and her kids to Hidden Haven, a hike in Parowan Canyon. It was not too tough, although the kids and I were pretty tired after. It was a beautiful hike!! We all loved it!

Waterfall at end of hike

Wednesday, August 3rd-

Funny conversation I heard today:

Cora: I don't know what to wear.

Molly: You have plenty of things in your drawers!

Playgroup today was nice. Cleod just read, but it didn't bug me today because he hasn't been reading as much lately. The other kids had such a great time with their friends. We haven't made it to playgroup as much lately so they haven't really been able to play with some of the ward kids as much.

Boys did the paper route in less than 45 minutes. Cora got hurt at the end of the route and Silas came home and gave her a blessing. She seems to be doing fine but we'll have to watch her.

The kids and I did some errands this evening to get ready for the trip and it started raining crazy hard while we were out. We had umbrellas in the van but we still got very wet. But we got a couple of things done on our to do list: dollar store stuff for the car trip and prescriptions from Smith's. We also got some of their school supplies while we were at Smith's.

The rest of the evening consisted in me yelling at the kids get them to take showers, put their laundry away, clean up a few things, and generally help me finish packing. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by kids who don't listen. I need to remember that they are usually really good but everyone tonight was spacey and unhelpful. I'm trying not to freak out about the trip, but I kind of am.