Summer Recap- more picts of Mass

Big Red and Darren

Paul and Grandpa Shep on the big red tractor

This is Darren's Uncle Jack and his girlfriend Marie and Marie's daughter.

Darren and Tim- his best friend from High School

One afternoon everyone but me picked blueberries. I was feeling pretty sick that day so I stayed home and rested. Can you believe the blueberries!?

Right across the street from Darren's house is an old set of train tracks- with an old train just parked there. Darren said it has been there about 20 years. It has grafitti all along the outside of it- and looks like a great gathering place for the homeless. I can't believe they just let it sit there. Anyways, grandpa was brave enough to take Paul inside to explore.

The old train.

Here are some more picts of us on the lawn at Tanglewood.

I love our family.

More fishing pictures

Yuck! People actually like doing this?

The fishing pros

I don't think Kyle likes fishing as much as Paul.

Well, maybe he likes this part:)

So we came home and left Paul with grandma and grandpa. A week later they came to our house to bring Paul home and see Ellie get baptized. (that will be the next post) Here is our house with some beautiful Zinnia's David and Marilyn and I planted from seed and grew in their greenhouse. And that is grandpa and grandma's dog Kylee.

Darren and his dad

Darren and his mom

Kyle and Kylee

I had to make some bread for Ray and Sheila- so here I am making bread. I always wear an apron and a hat (to keep my hair staying out of the dough) when I make bread.

The finished product. Beautiful! This is the best bread recipe ever-and trust me I have tried them all! You can try it out at...
www.thesisterscafe.com/2008/02/homemade-whole-wheat-bread

Summer Recap- Trip to Mass Part Deux

This is Darren and I with Darren's mom and dad in front of their house in Housatonic, Massachusetts. It is in the Birkshire County- a beautiful, fun place to vacation. We had such a great time- even though I still had a little morning sickness. Here are some of the highlights.

Grandpa Shep, Grandma Sheila, Darren and Emily

Paul has a serious love of fishing. He could go all day every day. Grandpa Shep is a great fisherman and took him almost everyday.

Here is one of the fish he caught on the first day. I think they caught like 7.

Paul caught this beautiful Brown Trout. 18 inches and over 2 pounds. He and Grandpa Shep took it to the Fish and Wildlife center and Paul is going to get a State Pin for catching such a big fish! Good job Bud! It was a HUGE fish. The pictures hardly do it justice.

There it is!

Can you believe the size of that thing??!! And yes, Paul really did catch it himself! Those 2 are some serious fisherman!

Paul with Big Brown again.

Ok, so Grandpa Shep told Paul about these little Gecko's called Red Efts. He said they could go catch them- but only after it rained. So everyday Paul would check the weather just dying for it to rain. One night it rained and in the morning the Paul and Grandpa were out of the house by the time anyone else woke up. Around 10 in the morning They came home with a bucket full of them! They were awesome!

Paul holding a Red Eft

Those things looked like they were plastic and had come out of the quarter machine at Walmart.

LOL- hope you don't have a fear of lizzards!

Kyle holding one. At the end of the day we let them all go back into their habitat. No Red Efts were harmed in the taking of these pictures.

On Saturday we went to Tanglewood. We got to listen to the Boston Symphony Orchestra Practice for their Sunday Performance. It was pretty incredible to listen to them.

We sat on the lawn and listened while they played. We had snacks and the kids colored and danced on the lawn in their bare feet. I think that lawn was the most perfect grass I have ever seen and felt. It was a beautiful day. And the acoustics were incredible- I couldn't believe how far out on the lawn we could be from the arena and still hear the music perfectly.

They had this table set up for kids to do crafts. They each made their own Conductors. It was pretty fun.

Kyle's conductor with a funny mustache.

Ellie's conductor

Ok- so you know how most older people like to buy a fancy car or toy when they retire? Well, Darren's dad bought a tractor- it's like his Corvette, but a lot cooler. Everyone rode that thing around the yard a couple of times and had a great time. It is pretty cool and can actually go pretty fast. Darren accidentally put it into 3rd gear instead of 1st and he went flying by! I wonder if they would allow that thing on a golf course.

Darren on the Tractor.

These 2 had such a great time together. They are both fishermen and nature lovers. So- at the end of the trip I just had to leave Paul with Grandma and Grandpa to get some more fishing and frog catching in.

Paul stayed with Grandma Sheila and Grandpa Shep for a week after we left!

"Mom!! I'll be fine!!"

I was so sad to leave my little buddy- and cried for a while in the car. He had such a great time, I think it will have to be a summer tradition. I think he could have stayed a lot longer- but I missed him too much! We had such a great time!

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.