Seattle, Part One

I'm getting ready for the drive back home. I been trying for a few days to get this post done. Finally, late at night, here it is.


As I was looking at Lynea's pics I found a few from my visit here in May 2008 with just Sarah. It's crazy how quickly these kids age. Sarah doesn't even look like the same child without hair. It's sad Lynea doesn't live closer...

Now for some current photos. These next few are from visiting my parents in Hermiston, Oregon on the way.

McNary Dam. Pretty cool place.

Lake Meridian in Kent. There are so many lakes here to enjoy.

Hair makes a difference...

Point Defiance Zoo. (Sarah's first time at an official zoo. How embarrassing.)

Pike's Place. Crazy. Busy. Insane. Tired kids. Tired moms. Accomplished.

Hair. Oh, the hair.

Backyard campout. (Thanks, Dave.)

Lynea's boys, Hunter and Zachary.

Lynea's garden that we had many fresh salads from.

NOT a Utah backyard.

They back on a greenbelt. Camping in the backyard is pretty close to real camping.

That's it for now. Here comes the long-awaited drive home.

Update

So, I'm in Seattle at Lynea's. We went downtown to Pike's Place today. What were we thinking? It was insanely busy. INSANELY. I am spent.

The night before last I woke up with the room spinning. I couldn't stop it either. It was a crazy horrible sensation which quickly turned to intense nausea. Sort of like motion sickness on steroids. I dragged myself to the bathroom and spent much of my night there being ill and disoriented. Vertigo. It is not something I wish to ever experience again. I'm still feeling some waves of it.

I'm dreading the drive home.

I was hoping to do a post about the Wasatch Back before I left for this trip, but it was not to be. I lost motivation after I read Kerri's great post on it that summed it up nicely. You should check it out. It really was an awesome experience.

Ugh. I feel dizzy.

Now THIS is babysitting!

I love my nieces. They make for some of the best babysitters there are (WHEN THEY ARE AVAILABLE!!). However, this surprised even me. I came home from a morning of errands to find that Krystine had built THIS with Adam:





A diorama! Adam's ideas, Krystine's execution. Yeah, I was impressed too. Oh, they were eating lunch and the house was clean too. There was no trace of the project.

The picture below is just to say how dear my husband is. He knows I have a hard time remembering to do things I should sometimes, like take vitamins. (Yes, they are all vitamins.) Because of the big race he is trying to help me take good care of myself. He gets them out for me when he remembers. (Don't tell, but they are still sitting on my counter. I'll take them soon, but I have such a hard time taking anything at all. I struggle even using Ibuprofen. I try not to overuse anything that it makes it a little difficult to put anything in my body. I know this sounds crazy to some of you.)

On a random side note, I had never tried an energy anything until this week when I drank half of an energy drink. It was nasty and didn't seem to do much. I'm sure there are others out there that would be better, but I worry so much about what's in them/the effect on your body.

But heaven knows I could use some more energy.

Family Pictures

I finally got up the guts to call Suzanne (on my side bar) and have our family pictures done. I am so happy I did.

Here's a link to some of the best ones. (There are a total of 330 or so.) If you click on one of them, you get to see a few more.

http://suzannereneephotography.blogspot.com/2009/06/b-family.html


I'm so excited to use them on my blog and put them on my walls!

Thanks again Suzanne!


P.S. Isn't the orange couch awesome?!?

Milestones

I've put this post on the back-burner because I really wanted to include pictures from the past. Well, it looks like that's not going to happen, so I'll just type it up.



I have been feeling restless for a while now. I haven't been sure why or even what I want. I think I figured some of it out finally....



Our lives are full of lots of milestones.



In mine own, some of the first ones I remember are finally getting to go to Kindergarten, getting baptized, and moving to Layton.



Then each year of school is an accomplishment.



I remember junior high and young women's.



Oh, and high school, TURNING 16 (one of the biggest days of my life), driving and dating.



And there was high school graduation and working to support myself.



Then college in Logan. I had always planned on college.



THEN I got married and graduated from college.



And I taught junior high math.



Then we moved to Salt Lake and had our first child.



We bought our home.



And we had our second child.



I remember someone asking in Relief Society (at about this point in my life) if anyone's life had gone according to plan. I don't remember if I raised my hand or not, but I do remember thinking that mine had, more or less. I had done everything I'd planned up to that point. In fact, in eigth grade I wrote a autobiography which included my predictions for my future. It is weird how accurate I was.



So anyways, then we started trying to have our third child- which took a bit longer than we hoped, but eventually we got her. (Note - yes, I sometimes have a hard time with the spacing of my children, but everything works out like it's supposed to - right?)



And then....

...






Up to this point in my life I have had a map in my mind. I've had mileposts along the way, marking the passing of time and telling me when I had arrived at the next destination.


The problem is that I'm not sure what the next one is. Where to now? We are not planning on having more children (which might seem to some like the natural progression with Sarah being 2 1/2). So other than the kids just growing up (and reaching their own milestones), I'm not sure what is ahead for me.



I've been itching for a change of some kind and I think that's why.



Now, don't get me wrong (I am knocking on wood as I write this post), I am VERY GRATEFUL for the blessings in my life and do not wish to lose any of them.



I just wonder what God has in store for me.

Have any of you dealt with a stage like this in your life?



Update:
A good point was mentioned in the comments that I had thought about. What about just enjoying watching our kids reach their milestones?

It's true that I find much joy in their accomplishments and plan to do much of my living vicariously through my children. However, I chose a purely selfish perspective for this post. It's a view that has become apparent to me only recently as I've thought about my life beyond the child-bearing years. Simply (and somewhat vainly) stated, what happens now with ME directly?