A few days at Katies

I have been staying at Katie's with her kids since Monday. They were lucky to take a trip to Miami for a week. I have to say that I am totally jealous and that I can't wait until my next vacation. Wow, three kids are a lot of work. If I thought even for a moment that I have my hands full with Ava, I was wrong, I've got it pretty easy. I also had Grant during the day on Monday and today too. I am proud to say that I pulled it off, without too many hitches. Bed times and nights proved interesting, but hey who needs sleep? Bath time was really wet, but everyone had fun and there were no tears. Katie was smart enough to leave me pre-made dinners that I just had to warm up. She knows that cooking is not my specialty. I CAN do it, it just takes work. I even managed to keep up on dishes and the house isn't completely a mess.
I love Cooper and Savannah so much, they are great kids. I am so lucky to have had the past few days to spend one on one time with them. I am so glad that Ava and her cousins are such cute friends. It is so cute to see Cooper and Ava be so excited to wake up together (we all spent the last few hours of the night together, not the most comfortable for me). I am so thankful that Ava has kids to grow up with. I have to admit that I am looking forward to my night alone, with no kids. Ava is going to her Dads until Saturday night, so I am off the hook for a few days. I am definitely getting a pedicure and I am thinking a movie might be fun.

Day off, or was it?

I have been looking forward to having the day off today. Here is how my day went, you decide if it really was a day off. Wake up at 7:30, make Ava breakfast, then wash all the dishes. Dress Ava, put in the first load of laundry, play beauty parlor and fix Avas hair. Grant arrives at 9:45, I feed him, clean up, then get him dressed. Jenna arrives shortly after, put in another load of laundry. Jenna has an accident, so I clean that up and get her dressed. We all pile in the car and drive to Layton cause I left my makeup there yesterday (no I couldn't go one whole day without it). Get home clean both of my bathrooms, vacumm my room, change the sheets on both of our beds. Change the laundry again, fold and put everything away. Make lunch for four people, Jenna and Ava throw all there strawberries on the floor, so I clean all that up, then wash dishes again (I don't have a dishwasher). While Ava is napping I sweep and mop the kitchen and the hallway, change the laundry again, fold it and put it away. Cleaned up three barfs from Grant through out the day. Play ring around the rosie, read some books, do puzzles, sing popcorn popping and two rounds of three little monkeys jumping on the bed. All together I did six loads of laundry today. The sad thing about this is that I wasn't behinde on laundry and when I go to bed tonight there will still be dirty clothes in my house! My house is the cleanest it has been in months, which is sad to say. I just don't usually do everything in one day. I seriously tried to remember when the last day off I had when I didn't have to take care of any children, go to work or church or do anything at all. I can't remember. I am sure that this is not rare for a lot of people, but right now I just want a day to do anything I please. I miss those days when I could sleep in half the day the soak in the tub for hours, get a pedicure, go to dinner with friends, and not have a curfew. But, there is a wonderful part of my day. My mother is in town for the evening so we got to enjoy her company for dinner. It is so wonderful to see her play with her grand kids. They all completely adore her. Yes, I did not have to go to work today, but a mothers work is never done.

We went to Temple Square last night for family home evening. It was such a beautiful evening and the flowers were breath taking. There were tons of tulips! I can't believe how many different colors and variations there are! I think that has been my favorite part of living here, everyone seems to have tulips growing in their yards. It was a so nice to be so close to the temple and hear Katie's kids talk about it. I think that I really needed the reminder of what my goal is lately. I find it really easy to lose sight of the big picture sometimes. I have been faced with some tough decisions lately that would put the goal of a temple marriage in jeopardy. It was nice to be there and realize that nothing is worth putting that on hold for me. I have worked really hard to make the changes that were so necessary to be temple worthy. I actually understand now what my mother meant when she says "don't worry about how or when you will meet Mr. Right, just worry about being the right girl". I get it now. I am so thankful that for the first time in along time I know what I want. I am so thankful that I am no longer the moose between the fence and highway any more. My coat gets shinier everyday and soon enough I just might grow a few antlers.