Our new sunroom/trips we could have taken

Our new sunroom was finished about a week ago. It's beautiful. It is built like a real room, no curved glass and metal windows, no choking heat, no leaks in heavy rainstorms. It was a nice room while it lasted but it just wasn't pleasant anymore. Our neighbor Jordan was our contractor and did a superb job. He stressed about wrong windows and getting behind on his promised time of one month, but it was fine. We even saved some money because of the window problem.

The ceiling is higher than the rest of the house and has three skylights, one that opens. The big picture window frames our aspens outside. There are real doors with blinds on the inside of the glass, a woman's invention, I'm sure. Since we had to pick paint for the new room we went ahead and had the living room and hallways painted too - a beautiful, soft yellow that really livens up the whole house. And new carpet throughout most of the top floor! Of all the man-made items in the world, new carpet that looks nice and feels soft on your toes is a joy to behold. Yes, I love the carpet.

Besides the new room and new carpet we had a new roof put on. We loved our old cedar shakes but they were causing leaks and the roof had outlived its life. So we have a nice new asphalt roof as well. And new insulation in the attic. We've never done this much to a house before. Our Austin house only got a new roof once, and the deck and a used hot tub, but this house is the one we'll be in for a long time so it needed the TLC. I kept thinking about all the trips we could take with the amount of money we were spending on the new construction and decided it's worth it to have this new room over several trips. It's wonderful to sit in and when we do go on a trip, it will be wonderful to come home to.

It's amazing what a long nap will do

I got back from camp today - five days of high mountain fun and spirituality. OK, four. I left Thursday morning to come home to work and go to a wedding reception, but it felt like five anyway.

I was in charge of the whole she-bang last year as stake camp director. What a difference a year makes! I loved both years - last year the planning and seeing through of a zillion details, this year - just being there, walking the camp without a huge load on my shoulders, visiting with camps and pitching in where needed. Some things I always come home grateful for: sweet, mature leaders who don't gripe, cute girls who get along and help each other, wards that feed us delicious food, the smell of the pines and aspens, wonderful ward and stake friends, good weather (although it was 32 degrees this morning - there was ice on my car ...) and a renewed testimony of my love for the beautiful things Heavenly Father has created just for our enjoyment and knowledge.

I didn't sleep well this week so this afternoon my bed beckoned. It was lovely to catch up on some well-earned zzzzzz for a few hours. Yes, I have laundry and grocery shopping to do but it's good to get back to normal life. And I have a new house! The sunroom is done, the paint on the walls is soft yellow, the roof is complete and we have lovely, soft new carpet! It's like walking into someone else's house but it's all mine!

I missed my family. I haven't seen Andrea, Jason or Brandy for five days. I saw Riley and Amy on Thursday while I was home for a bit and Riley came up to camp last night as part of the bishopric who brought pizza to the 10th ward.

Life is good.

Insanity reigns

I don't like reading blogs where people whine and complain. It's not enticing. So if you don't want to read this, don't. I'm basically writing this to get it down so that I can look back and see that I made it through a crazy time.

I'm not sure why my life has to be so busy. I've even cut out a number of things so that I can focus on the most important. Yet, I'm still swamped. Right now we have construction on the house. We need to pick out carpet. That means we need to move all the stuff off the carpet. Since the carpet will be out, we will paint the living room and get rid of the pink, yes it's pink, paint. That involves unloading the huge antique secretary by the front door and moving it, draining the fish tanks and moving them and moving the piano. All of this needs to happen in the next few days. I work Friday. I work Monday, including Monday evening. I go to camp Tuesday through Saturday. I still need to take care of my mom, and my husband, and my family, and my calling and my visiting teaching (probably won't get done ...) and sleep. At work the semester is winding down. That means a semester end party to coordinate, new editors to hire, grades that will be due, working out details for next semester and other heavy duty things. I think I need to use a lifeline.

My sissy

That's what I call her - my sissy - my one and only sister Jan. We have some good times, me and my sissy. We laugh our heads off, sometimes about the dumbest things. We dress up crazy and eat other people's french fries, (we need to do that again soon) and we have some pretty fun memories from our teen-age years. Mamamamamamamama. (She'll know what that means.) The best thing we do for each other these days is vent and listen. We have some heavy duty things going on right now and we are there for each other, every minute of the day, several times a day, if need be. We get a little weary about stuff but we lift each other up and sort things out and problem solve and put out fires. I'm pretty sure we'd be depressed and frustrated without each other.

I love my sissy - she's been through a lot of crap in life and she's come out on top. I'm pretty amazed at her stamina and she has some incredible lessons to teach others. So for this Sunday, when I want to give thanks for something good in my life, today, it's my sissy. Love ya sissy.

Being a grandma, sort of

I don't have any of my own little grandbabies yet and this isn't a plea for any, just a statement on how fun it is to be a grandma to my little Parker grandkids. Abby, the most vocal of the bunch, calls me "Grandma Kaye," sometimes a couple dozen times in one night - "Grandma Kaye, can I dig in the garden? Grandma Kaye, can I have some ice cream? Grandma Kaye, where's the cat? Grandma Kaye, I want a beetle." I love it. And little Logan isn't too far behind. He's working on the birthday song and putting sentences together. Little Jane and Parker are in the rolling around and crawling stage for now. It's so fun to have these little people in my life and I'm glad I get to fill in for Jera who is the real grandma, or Marmie, as her little folks call her. Just some sweet joys in life.

Oh, and nearly 3-year-old Abby will not be stopped if she has a mind to go visit the compost and garden. The other night she disappeared and Maegan went looking for her. Abby emerged from the compost area, held up her hand to Maegan (indicating "stop") and said "No! No! Let me dig!" So there. She can crunch all the eggshells she wants, even if Riley isn't here to coach her.

Two weeks down

Riley has been gone nearly two weeks and returns two weeks from tomorrow. He just called from Uyench, Mongolia, near the China border in western Mongolia. He said he ate turkey pate and saltine crackers for breakfast this morning and that all is well. What an adventurous life he leads! I'm never tempted to go on these month-long excursions to Mongolia. I did love the month we spent as a family in Tahiti but hey, here's the difference: Mongolia: wind-swept landscape, rocks, dirt, camels, mutton. (Riley would describe it more beautiful than that ...) Tahiti: deep blue lagoons, palm trees, sand, stingrays, banana po'e. Hmmmm. He'd say he loves one as much as the other. But then he's the adventurous one. Hurry home.

I love fireworks!

I love fireworks -- the bigger the better! Every year a bunch of friends gather at our house to walk a half block to see the fireworks at the stadium. This year the get-together just didn't materialize for whatever reason. (People had other plans, our patio is covered with construction materials, etc.) Then on Friday, I got word that I could get some free tickets to Stadium of Fire. I've always avoided this event for a couple of reasons - it's really pricey and battling the crowds to get home is a nightmare. Plus, I remember back in the early 80s when Provo had fireworks in Kiwanis Park and everyone got to see them without paying. So I've always been a little miffed at the SOF people.

But free is good and I thought going once wouldn't hurt so I took Jason and Brandy, Kristi, Ben and Logan Parker and we had a great time! We even sat by neighbors and friends. From the flyover of the jets and helicopters to the dancers and fire performers on the field, to the two musical acts I'd never heard in my life - SheDAISY and Jonas Brothers, to the giant flag held up by two cranes to the fantastic fireworks - it was a memorable, enjoyable event. I got lots of pics of fireworks and when Andrea and Amy come home they can show me how to add photos to my blog. (I could figure it out ...)