I'm on vacation this week with a moderate list of things that I want to get done. The list includes some landscaping projects, some house keeping items, and some personal indulgences (like brushing up on my Lao). Of course, it would be wonderful to have everything on the list complete, and I actually enjoy the project doing, but things seem to always come up. Adelyn, for example, needs someone to hold, feed, and clean her. Amelia is an attention vacuum. She's not satisfied with just being a princess. She wants someone to watch her be a princess. Last night, Ansleigh needed Daddy to lay with her after having a nightmare about spiders. And Dalton is, well, a force of nature. By the end of some days, mine and Ramee's nerves are the mental equivalent of Katrina leftovers.

As I was closing in on the end of my day, around 3:30, I was feeling a little frustrated and thinking that my list of projects would just become a list for another time. I couldn't think of how to get things done with the many interruptions that surface so often. But then I thought a little further and realized that these "interruptions" were actually the only things that brought me real happiness during the day. I thought about how Adelyn smiles at me everytime we make eye contact. I thought about all the kisses that Amelia gave me throughout the day. I thought about Ansleigh's great sense of humor (she is really funny!) and how she came to me for reassurance and safety. Dalton and I worked on his multiplication homework together, which became a rare moment where he and I were on the same page.

(Ramee, in case you're feeling left out, I didn't include you here because you're never an interruption!)

So this bout of introspection helped to ease my despairing. Although I didn't get anything done that was on the list, I did work on what matters most: relationships with my family. And doing this brought more happiness than having an empty list ever will.

My Family

So I was looking at the family picture at the top of this page and it is CRAZY and a little SAD how fast my children are growing up! I need to remember this feeling in the moments when I feel so flustered because I hear 3 little voices saying"mom" and needing my assistance and a baby crying to be held and/or fed.
My friend Maka and his awesome little family are the best blogspotters ever! I showed Jared their blog and asked him to be our family blogger. I asked him to do this and then get it bound for me every year for my Christmas gift! I got that idea from Maka too! We will see how that works out. I will try to get caught up with the kids scrapbooks and he can do the family journal. There is an amazing quote from our past prophet Gordon B Hinckley that I want to post on here because it captures what a family journal is all about. I am going to try to post that on the side bar of this page. It's about our life experiences.
These precious moments , these "life experiences"are flying by way too fast!! And to think that my last baby is not a "newborn" anymore causes a physical ache in my heart!
I love my little family! I am going to make a greater effort to capture and enjoy all of these SPECIAL experiences!

A BLOG about why I'm not planning to BLOG

We have not created a "BLOG" yet! I need to do this like I need a whole in the head! Jared and I just started that whole "facebook" thing - thank you April for introducing that into our lives. But this blog thing seems neat - like a family journal for your loved ones to keep track of you! I don't think anyone is really that interested in us though. We are pretty boring folk. Once we become exciting I will start this exciting thing called "the blog"! Or maybe when I start taking all the pictures I want to start taking! It's like my moma always says... "shoulda, woulda, coulda..." I wonder when either one of those things will take place? Although I must admit typing away my random thoughts is quite refreshing. I 've never kept a journal because it hurts my hand to write so much. This isn't hurting my hand. The other reason I never kept a journal was because when I tried Chrissy would read my deepest darkest secrets and then black mail me! I should have had a "BLOG" then. That's when my life was interesting!