Craziness as usual

My boss resigned on Friday afternoon, and I decided to follow suit. The only problem is that they're insisting that I give them two weeks notice, so my plan to be home with my kids the last two weeks that they're here isn't working out quite the way I had hoped. I'm taking the rest of this week off and am planning on doing some fun (and hopefully cheap) things with the kids, and then putting them in camps next week. We're coming up on the girls recitals, and the day after recital will be the day they leave town for the summer with my mom, so my last week of work will be easier since I won't have to worry about what to do with the kids. Although it's stressful to be quitting, it's been such a relief to me. As soon as we came to the decision that I should leave my job, I've been so much happier about being there. And although I know it's going to make some things harder, it's a relief to finally quit a job that I truly hate.

Much better

I really hate how sometimes I let things bother me to the point that it affects everything else in my life. But, a few days ago I decided that I was over it and I was going to feel better and I've really been doing much better since then. I just needed to make up my mind that I was going to be happy and so far it's working. My stamp therapy definitely helps, and I'm trying to do as much of it as I can because it really does relax me and makes me happy. I think another thing that has helped has been the boot camp that I'm doing. One of my friends is running a boot camp this month and it's great to get out there two days a week and have her really work us. It's nice to have those endorphins working for you and it really helps to see the progress in my weight as well. The last thing that's really been working for me is watching the college softball world series. One of my favorite sports to play and watch, I look forward to the world series every year (mostly because it's about the only time you can find fastpitch on tv). UCLA is rocking and I'm loving that my kids and J will come watch with me.

A little therapy

It's been another difficult couple of weeks for me. The kids are out of school, which I know they love, but it's really hard to take care of them and deal with work at the same time. And it always falls more on my shoulders than J's because my job is less important (and I've got more freedom too--I've at least been working reduced hours since they got out). But it's still stressful to try to be a good mom and worker at the same time. In the same vein, work is horrible. It's so boring it's not even funny, and it's really a relief to have the reduced hours right now. But, it just adds to the stress that I'm already dealing with. Hopefully that stress will be gone in a few days, but there's no guarantee, so I'm kind of in limbo waiting for things to happen that are beyond my control. On top of all that, I've been in a horrible funk for the last couple weeks. A family member hurt me very deeply in a very public way, and I'm finding it really difficult to pull myself up and act like everything is back to normal for me. So I was hoping that a little stamp therapy might help me.




I really liked the paper that I had for these and I wanted to try to use up as much of it as I could so I wouldn't have scraps left over, so these three all ended up with the same color scheme. I'm hoping to take some more stamping to work tomorrow, so maybe in a few days I'll have more to post.

End of the year

I can't believe it, but tomorrow is the last day of school for my kids. This year went by so fast. And I know I say that every year, but it seems that they go by faster each year and it takes me by surprise. With the end of the school year taking me by surprise, I didn't really have a lot of time to make teacher gifts. The only things I could come up with either I had done them already or my teacher that I bounce ideas off of (aka my mom) didn't think it was the best idea for an end of the year gift (beginning of the year, I might have to do it though). So I ended up with the standby of gift cards--at least I know that's something they can always use. However, being the person that I am, I couldn't just send the gift card to school in a card or bag or anything normal like that. I had seen this idea a long time ago, so I decided it was time to attempt to make them.

I think they turned out pretty cute. After I took the pics, I also used my label maker to label each teacher's name to the bag cause I thought that was cute, but I didn't think they would appreciate my posting their names all over the internet.

Deaf or death?

The kids and I were talking yesterday while they were eating lunch and the subject of being deaf came up. Lindsay says, "I don't want to be death". I said, "Do you mean you don't want to be deaf?". She says, "Oh, I thought death just had two meanings". I started laughing so hard! Silly kiddo.

Pinewood derby

Last year's pinewood derby occurred two weeks after Cole became a cub scout. Not having done one as an adult, J didn't realize how much work went into them (especially when you don't have the right tools and are left to carve the shape with a dull handsaw), so it was last minute when the boys put the car together. We scrounged around the house for things that we could tape to the bottom as weights just trying to get it finished on time. And the time we spent on it showed at the track when poor Cole Buddy didn't win a single race. So we've been talking about it all year about what we were going to do different this year and how we needed to leave adequate time to complete. We were given the kits a month ago and we started coming up with ideas, but you know, time is always scarce around here. The biggest concern again was that we just don't have proper tools to carve the car. I had seen some derby stuff and Michaels and decided to take Cole there for decals and other fun stuff. Well, we hit the jackpot. On clearance, Michaels had cars that were already carved for you, so the biggest obstacle was gone. So I picked up a few other things to decorate and a few sets of weights. Then J went and picked up another kit that is designed to make a speedy car, not to mention spent a lot of time on the internet researching how to make a fast car (for instance, he's read that most people think to put more weight in the front for faster takeoff, but it's actually better to weight the back to give it more speed). And I have to give J props because, as frustrating as it must have been, he did have Cole there with him every step of the way helping him make this car, so this really was not a mom and dad project (although I have to say I did provide the paint job, with lots of direction from Cole, as we were running out of time).

Our pack did a really great job, the cultural hall was decorated really cute and the kids each got a pit pass as they checked in their cars and everything.
The track we used was really cool. I don't know if they bought it or made it, but a sister from our stake primary presidency provided the track and was the judge to make sure it was all fair. Her track had a sensor in the finish line for each lane so it would begin timing as the cars were released and then it would sense when they crossed the finish line so we would know who really won. So then to make it really fair, each car raced on each lane six times (since each track always has a faster lane). The track was also hooked up to her laptop so the computer calculated the average time (and mph) of the car, which ultimately determined the overall placings.
If you see with the results, our hard work paid off as Cole came in third overall and (only lost one race). The kid who came in second place had the same average mph as Cole and only came in at 1/1000 of a second faster than our buddy. We had so much fun cheering him on and seeing him get so excited about winning. And then of course we had treats after, which Lindsay enjoyed the most I think.

Not posting lately

I've had a really hard time posting lately. There's still so much going on, it's always madness around here. But that really isn't why I haven't posted lately. I've made no secret that Arizona and I don't get along. It seems ridiculous to me that after being here for almost four years I still don't feel at home here and don't seem to have very many friends. The worst part about posting when I feel this way, though, is that it makes me sound ungrateful for all that I have. I really have such a wonderful life--an incredible husband who spoils me to no end. Three talented, beautiful, brilliant children that I love more than anything else in the world. That right there sums up why it's hard to post when I've been feeling so blue. They are my whole world and as long as I've got them, my life is complete. I'm working on improving my outlook on the things that I'm struggling with, but I thought I would fill you in on why I've been so absent lately.