Dwayne the Bathtub, I'm Dwowning!

Did your friends tell you that joke in Elementary school?

I'm having one of those weeks months where I feel like I can't quite stay afloat in my little teacup of responsibilities. I have so many projects and priorities pulling me at all times that I just really want life to stop for a few days so I can catch up. Anyone know how to arrange that?

I've been staying up too late trying to get stuff done, and then not waking up until the boys wake up, which always makes for a rougher start to the day, and seriously cuts down on my scripture study time, so I know that's one place I need to make a change. So that's my goal for tomorrow - start the day with reading my scriptures, and end the day at a decent time. And clean the bathroom. That's my other goal.

Here's to staying afloat through the Holidays

Home again, home again

This last week flew by, and it's hard for me to believe our Thankgiving trip is already over and we are home again. It was a great trip, and I am so Thankful for my wonderful in-laws for hosting us last week and for all the fun activities they planned for us while we were there! Some of the highlights of our week were:

The Train museum with Grandpa
Jumping all our energy out at a inflatable play place followed by Graeters ice cream
Going to see Dolphin Tales (I didn't have to take anyone out of the theater the whole time, which felt quite epic and wonderful :))
Going to see cousin Austin's Eagle project at the park and playing on the swings there with cousins
Black Friday shopping
Christmas lights at the Cincinnati Zoo
A kid-free craft fair trip with Mom and Marcia
My first experience with a Hibachi grill at a Japanese Steakhouse - I have never had so much fun watching food be cooked, and it was so delicious.

Packing....

I remember when I was young, my mom had these packing lists she would pull out when we were going somewhere - one for picnics/bbq's, one for camping, and one for other trips.

As a child I didn't appreciate the brilliance of those lists, but having packed only partially successfully for numerous trips now, and having my kids sleep in my t-shirts instead of pajamas and using water cups to store my contacts in, I realize just how awesome they were.  But I never think of those lists until I'm already deep in the throes of the packing madness, and I always think "I don't have time to do that now, but when I get home, I'm definitely going to make that list".

Well, here I am again, packing for a week in Ohio with Grant's parents, without that list...

When I get home I'm definitely going to make that list.

Contribution

It's been a while... A busy couple of months, but isn't life always busy? So that's really not an excuse.

Last time I posted, I just posted that quote from President Hinkley about introspection, and my dear friend Marie asked "How does someone contribute and help their kids contribute when they must be so busy contributing to their children all the time?" And I thought that was a really good question, and I've been thinking about it.

Both my moms have been on my mind a lot this last month, so I started to think about my moms, and the contributions they have made/are making. I feel so incredibly blessed both in the family I was raised in, and the family I married into, and I have AMAZING moms. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of both my moms is this pervading sense of acceptance, and love. And then they both just have this ability to look at any situation or person in life and put a positive spin on it/them. Every time I spend time with either of them I come away feeling inspired to be a better person myself.

Sometimes it is SO EASY for every second of my day to get filled up with just the business of raising little boys and keeping a house that it's really hard for me to feel like I have time to contribute to the world in any significant way. But as I thought of my moms, I thought maybe the best way I can contribute right now is through the attitude I have as I go about my days. Maybe if I'm a little more kind, loving, accepting, supportive to the people I interact with doing those mundane things, maybe that's a contribution I can make, without another check-mark on my to-do list.

Introspection

I just read this quote from Gordon B. Hinkley: “All of us ought to pause once in a while and just stop and think. … We are prone to talk too much and do too little. I think it is a wonderful thing to just indulge once in a while in moments of introspection and see what we are doing with our lives and what contribution we are making and where we could do a little better than we are now doing. I feel we would all benefit from that”

SAFARI!

Well, not a real safari - but amazing all the same. Read on my friend.

We have had such a fun week with Erin and then Lucas here - I love hanging out with my family, and wish I could do it much more often.

Yesterday we drove Lucas down to SVU. Last week we were looking online for something to do in that area that might make the day of 8 hours of driving slightly more survivable for the boys. I was looking at going trough some of the caverns in the area, but Grant found the Virginia Safari Park. I was skeptical - my experiences with privately owned zoos in the past have been less than stellar, but we decided to try it.

In the end it was hilarious/terrifying/awesome. You drive through the park with your windows rolled down and buckets of animal feed, and while that may sound tame and boring... I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time. I got llama spit in my hair and our entire car was covered with animal spit and feed before we were through, but it was so worth it. I keep trying to type more about what it was like, but as they say "words can not express" so here are some pictures.

Before we went in, with no idea what we were in for...

A llama blocking our car with his "I know what you have in there and you aren't getting by until you get me some" stare

Jefferson feeding an Emu

Lucas feeding a Fallow Deer

Me feeding a bunch of Blackbucks

An Eland and a Zebra sticking their head in my window

The highlight of the day was probably Lucas wrestling with a camel for his feed bucket (Lucas won, but got thoroughly slimed in the process). Grant is working on editing the video he took of the event, and I will post the link when it is finished. While I'm somewhat unsure how they manage to keep it all safe, the animals all appeared very well cared for, and it was all very clean and well maintained, and like I said, we were all laughing so hard we could hardly talk, so I would say, if you are ever in that part of the world - go for it. But be prepared to vacuum your car out and take a shower after :)

Favorite Quote

I guess it was about 10 years ago now, when my sister Erin and I were roommates, and I was having a rough time with some things. One day she gave me a little card, with the following written on it:

I believe I am always divinely guided
I believe I will always take the right road
I believe God will always make a way where there is no way