Summer Recap- Trip to Massachusets

So, since I have had morning sickness, moved etc. I never got to finish posting our fantastic trip to Massachusetts to visit Darren's mom and dad. We had a great time!

Well here we are at the top of Monument Mountain. We spent a day hiking up to the top of this mountain close to Darren's home. It was hot and humid- and we all were pretty sweaty by the end of the day!

Darren and Ellie

Our family:)

This is Tim. He was Darren's best friend in High School. It is always fun to see him and have him hang out with us.

Kyle was climbing all around! Actually all the kids were.

More of Kyle climbing.

I think we are going to have to take this kid to do some real rock climbing when he gets older. And I'm not pregnant.

Darren and Tim

Paul caught 3 frogs on the hike. He is our little nature guy.

Kyle and the frog.

Ellie kissing the frog.

Paul sliding down this rock slide. It was like an outdoor playground.

It's getting better.. it's getting better all the time

Ok, so I have struggled with the move. But things are starting to go really well. We went to the beach a couple of days ago and it was the best time I have ever had at the beach. There were hundreds of live Fighting Conch shells everywhere! There were fish, and sea shells gallore. It was pretty cool. Then tonight we went to the beach and watched the sunset. We all played in the waves and the weather was perfect. The waves were a little bigger- so the kids had a GREAT time (usually there are practically no waves). I don't think Kyle stopped yelling "Yahoo!" the whole time we were there. It was an epic evening at the beach.

What it's all about

I was laying on the couch today taking a nap. Paul came up to me and gave me a kiss on my forehead- then went on his way. He didn't know that I was awake. It made me think. I have been struggling with moving and other things- but family, and love- that's what it's all about. I felt so grateful to be together as a family- to have all my kids around me, and a husband who loves me. That is all that matters.

Here we are

Well, we moved. And I haven't posted anything for a while. The truth is that I am really struggling. My mom always says, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." - So I haven't said anything. You know, part of me wants to be so positive and only talk about all the great things. The other part of me wants to tell the truth. My venting side is winning tonight. I will spill it all tonight- tomorrow I promise I will get on with life and be more positive.
I read this article that talked about the 5 top stressors in life-1- death of a loved one, 2-divorce, 3- having a new baby 4-moving and 5-change of jobs. So I am currently living 3 of the top 5 stresses. Moving is just really hard- put being pregnant on top of that and I really struggle to stay afloat. Add downsizing to that and I just feel like I am overloaded. I am not saying any of this for sympathy. I am just getting it out so I can move on. So here goes some "getting it out"

First of all it like a million degrees here. When I am not pregnant I don't mind the heat. But being pregnant and going out in the heat makes me feel nauseous. When we moved in, the guys who helped us were literately all dripping sweat.

Second, Downsizing- I recently spent 3 months sick as a dog, while trying to sell more than 1/2 of my belongings and food storage. Literally 1/2. When we moved to Tennessee we had 2 trucks full of stuff. When we moved to Florida we had 1. And we are still way to crowded and going to have to get rid of more stuff. When we move out of this place we will probably have 3/4 of a truck. I guess it feels good to cleanse. It's just getting old, and I am feeling so claustrophobic STILL after all of my work! In Rigby we had a great house, yard, garden, shed and great neighbors. We had chickens, fruit trees, strawberries, and a big ol' raspberry patch. I thought we were settled. Then- Surprise! We are moving to Tennessee. Not so bad, we can live by David and Marilyn, we found a big beautiful house to rent on 7 acres. We took all of our food storage and all of our belongings. Moving all that stuff was really pretty hard and traumatic. Darren was already in Tennessee, so I pretty much did it all with help from friends. After we moved my kids cried every night for at least a month. I figured we would be there at least 4 years. A year later we find out we are moving to Florida. Into a 3 bedroom 1580 square foot townhouse. Which- after a weekend of conference and with stuff EVERYWHERE is feeling so claustrophobic. You know, it's just really hard to downsize so much. I feel like we have taken a huge step backwards in life. I know we haven't- and this is the best route to go- but it's just hard.

I am sure in a couple weeks after I get rid of a bunch more stuff and unpack I will feel better. But you know what? I am tired! I am pregnant! I am hot! I am uncomfortable! I don't feel like working all day long everyday for the next couple weeks! I want to just rest. I want to send the kids to school for a day and sit on the couch with the air conditioning on and watch tv all day.

Third- I am moving to somewhere I have never wanted to live! I don't want to live in Florida- I want to vacation in Florida. I want to live out West by my family! I want to see the leaves change color and fall. I want to go to Gardner Village with all my sisters and mom for the Witch's festival. I want snow for Christmas. I want to see tulips and daffodils in spring. I know that so many people would love to live in Florida by the beach. But I'm not one of them. I want to live by the mountains.

Overall it's all ok. Life will go on and I will get probably end up crying when we leave. I am sure later in life I will look back and think- "I really should have enjoyed my time in Florida more." LOL- So guess I will start doing that right now and looking at it more as an adventure.

Harder than I thought

Well, last night was Darren's last night working the night shift after a year and a half. And I must say it was harder than I thought. At first I tried to have a really good attitude and say it wasn't that bad- but the truth is the night shift STINKS. We haven't slept in the same bed at the same time for a year and a half. Church is always a daze for him, and he typically sleeps the entire sacrament meeting. I can never make my bed in the morning, or clean upstairs because he is sleeping during the day. He misses a bunch of ward activities cause they are at night and he is usually at work. Saturdays are hard, because I want to get the kids going on doing some good cleaning, but we can't because it's to loud. And Darren is just never quite his normal energetic self because he is always tired. But not anymore!!! HA HA HA! Now he gets to start hard core school, but hey he gets to go to bed at night, and we can have normal family dinner. And he will go to bed early and get up early and work out and feel great cause that is how he is. I am so thankful he is done with the night shift!

Boy trouble

So today Ellie and Darren and I were talking and we were telling her she can't date till she is 16. She said,"I wish I could date now, there are just so many nice boys." oh boy. Then she says, "how old do I have to be before I start kissing?" Darren told her never.

Washington DC

Here are some more pictures of DC. This is the Air and Space museum. You know to be honest, it just wasn't our thing. It was worth going to, the museum is really cool, but our kids just weren't that interested. They wanted to go to the gift shop and then leave. oh well.

Ellie being cute.

LOL, Darren is such a great dad.

This is at the Museum of Natural History. My kids loved this museum. It's to bad we went here after the Air and Space Museum- we were ALL so tired. We only spent a half day there and easily could have spent the whole day there. They loved the dinosaurs, animals, ocean, bugs, and we really like the geological section with the jewels and rocks.

This is Paul's specialty. He is such a little scientist. They had little tables around with college students doing little demonstrations and teaching the kids. Paul went to a table where the college girl put out 6 plastic animals on the table. A T-Rex, Plesiosaurus, Pterodactyl, Triceratops, Dimetrodon, and Stegosaurus on the table. She said, "can you tell me which ones are dinosaurs?" Darren and I thought,"this is a trick question, they are all dinosaurs" Paul, however, knew better. He quickly sorted them into two piles, and named each one of them as he separated them, "well, the Plesiosaurus is not a dinosaur because it swims, the Pterodactyl is not a dinosaur because it could fly, and the Dimetrodon was before the dinosaurs- although it was a reptile like the dinosaurs. To be classified as a dinosaur it must live on land, be a reptile, be cold blooded, lay eggs, and lived in one of 3 periods of time- Triassic, Jurassic, or Cretaceous periods. The T-Rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus are dinosaurs." Darren and I looked at each other and started laughing and the college girl's jaw dropped open. She said, "how old are you? You should be the one doing this!" I just said, "thank goodness for the Discovery Channel."



Kyle playing the drums and Krissy and Sins. I think we could have stayed there a lot longer- the kids had so much fun!

Ellie and Lucy got along great!

All the kids again.

We went to this really fun ice cream place. The kids loved the ice cream, and I loved the way it was decorated.

Fun times!