Mom's brag time...

Here's my not so little girl...


It's so amazing to me to think that just yesterday I was carrying Adree on my hip and holding Drake by the hand and I blinked... Nine years later my little girl is in the 4th grade, has oodles of friends and activities and isn't so little anymore! I try not to brag too much about my kids, I think they are awesome good kids, but I am definitely biased! =0) I can't help it this time though! Adree and her choir group had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City to the capital and perform! Their school has quite the comprehensive music program, they learn violin, drums, xylophone, Drake and Adree are reading music! Drake will be able to start out in intermediate orchestra next year at Intermediate school (6th and 7th grades)! The program is in danger of losing funding next year and the choir group traveled to the capital to show the law makers what they are learning to do and why it's so very important they maintain their funds. There was even a short article about it in the Deseret News:

Desert News - Drumming up support for the arts
February 16, 2010
Students from Dixie Sun Elementary School in St. George play tubano drums in the Capitol rotunda during the legislative session in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. The fourth- and fifth-graders also played violins and sang in the House of Representatives. The school takes part in the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program.


I love it! I know that they will just continue to have more activities and friends and interests as they grow into young adults *sniff*=0) Okay, enough with the bragging...but, hey you have to admit that is pretty darn cool! =0)

So totally beyond busy...

Happy Valentine's!
So long to the Kwooza...

It's been a phenomenally busy week thus far! I say thus far, meaning since I asked for my birthday off, (Sunday) I have the illustrious pleasure of working on Saturday too, blech! The kids and I went to Page over the weekend to attend Cara's baby shower (which was super fun BTW...) and since I lost a weekend being gone I have yet to catch back up since! I worked everyday up to today (Hooray for days off! even if it is only one...) and the kids have had multiple activities and things to do besides.
Monday wasn't too bad, aside from taking Drake to school early for Safety Patrol and then coming right home to go with Lee to rescue the PT Cruiser from the shop (where it had been for the better part of 2 weeks) so that it was at home to be viewed by people interested in buying it from KSL and/or Craig's list. I then, went to work until 5 and got home to attempt to find something for dinner and catch up on laundry, ha! =0)Lee and I stayed up late to watch a movie (since I missed him over the weekend) and the day that began at 7am finally ended around midnight, sheesh! =0)
Tuesday I had to work at 10 after taking Adree to school at 8 for choir practice and taking Drake at 8:35 for Safety Patrol and Seth sat in the car until 8:50. *sigh* I worked until just after 4 and got home with the kids only to discover Seth hadn't bothered to do his homework for like 2 weeks! Seth and I sat trying to catch up on it for over an hour, (joy!) while I tried to get another load of laundry done and then made dinner. During the day Lee sold the "Kwooza", Snoopy decals and all, to a couple that had seen it on Craig's list. They had been saving for almost 4 years to get a better car and I hope they enjoy the PT Cruiser, it's fun to drive, just somewhat impractical for our means anymore...Aside from major engine failure, they should be good with it 'cuz like all the parts are new! LOL! =0)
Wednesday I took Adree to school at 8 again for choir practice and Drake to Safety Patrol at 8:35 and again waited with Seth until 8:50 ( I can't let him go any earlier, he tends to get into mischeif...hmmm...). I worked at 10 again and wasn't able to get away from work until after 4 again. I picked up the kids from Daycare and went to Ross and Target to get a present and a card for G'ma Brenda (her b-day was Thurs.). Wow, we didn't get done with that until after 6:30! Of we had to get Valentine's cards and things for the house too...=0) After picking up Wendy's for dinner and stopping at Albertsons on the way home it was well after 7 when we got home for the day. The kids finished their homework I completed another load of laundry, somehow... and put them to bed. Lee worked on the computer for a little while and we sat down to watch TV about 9:30, where I promptly fell asleep! And I stayed that way for about an hour, before I got up, announced I was going to bed and I don't recall anything else until the alarm went off at 7 the next morning!=0)
Thursday...dun, dun. dun!=0) Only had to take Drake early, hooray! =0) I sat in the car with Seth and Adree until 8:50, before booting them out to go home and be ready to be at work at 10. I opted to skip breakfast for the time being so I actually had time to wash my hair, is that bad? =0) Took breakfast with me to work, worked until after 4 and picked up the kids to go home. We got homework done, Valentine's signed and Adree changed and her hair curled all in about an hour to make it to Adree's choir concert at 6! =0) (sorry no pictures...) They sang until just after 7 and Lee and I loaded them up to race across town to get Drake and Adree to their 4H activity/meeting that started at 7!=0) Lee, Seth and I wandered around Walgreen's for 40 minutes and when back to pick up kids and order pizza on to pick up on the way home. Finally at 8:30 last night, you would have found us eating dinner and the kids went to bed at 9. I put the kids to bed and Lee had a bunch of work to do on the computer and I put on pj's and crawled in to bed to watch TV. Lee came and kissed me goodnight at 10:15 and I don't remember anything else until the alarm went off at 7...=0)
As for Friday, my one day off, I will have washed at least 4 loads of laundry by day's end, carted kids home and Adree to an activity. I have to brave Wal-Mart and color my hair today too...*sigh* I should probably clean something too, seeing as though I get to work all day tomorrow. Lee actually said to me the other day, "You only have to work 6 hours and then you're done." What?! done? I'm a working Mom, my day starts at 7 and I lucky if it ends by 10! And time to myself?...does a 10 minute shower count? =0)

You can never go home...

I spent the weekend at my parents home in Page, along with my three kids and my sister, her husband and their three kids. Throw in my parents and their three rowdy beagles and we had quite the house full! It was fun to spend time together and reminisce about how things were and how things have changed.
I'm sure you have heard the saying about how "you can never go home again...", talking about home as you remember it as a child and not how you see it through adult eyes. We drove through part of the town and it's apparent that the economic situation has gotten the better of a lot of people. Neighborhoods that had mostly nice, well kept homes are looking sad with just a few well kept houses. Neighborhoods we walked through on a daily basis as children, that I wouldn't even walk through myself now. My parents house has changed very little in the 13 years since I lived there full time, aside from a recent face lift (see picture above). They have slowly updated various rooms as they have emptied out their nest, but the feeling of home remains the same. I sleep uninterrupted amidst familiar sounds and smells with a familiar feeling of warmth and love and acceptance. My parents are getting ready to retire here soon and will be moving from our dear Page, which will be strange to think I won't have my childhood home to return to soon.
I pondered things as I drove home this afternoon, alone with my thoughts and surronded by the beauty of a rain-soaked landscape. (The kids enetertained themselves with a DVD and headphones) It made me think of how where we are from weaves itself through the very fabric of our makeup. I'm made up of towering buttes and pink sand and sage, of endless blue and skies ablaze. I'm made up of dust devils and rain while the sun shines bright, of breath taking views and crisp starry nights. The rush of the Colorado River runs through my veins, the sun, the Lake, the breeze wraps 'round me to take. I've left and moved on, I've ran far away and still home you do make.
Whoever said "you can never go home again..." was right in a sense, things may change and people move on and things may never seem the same. Where you came from is what makes you well, you! I'm a small town girl who left the small town, the small town never just never left me. Deep roots in the southwest under vast skies and endless sand, simple living, and child-hood memories envelope my being. I left home, home never left me. =0)