State of Obvious

First of all - 400? Really!? Gosh I talk too much! - Moving is not fun . I mean, once you get past the picking out new houses and such. The packing, unpacking, losing, dinging furniture up and general upheaval ranks right up there with getting a splinter under your fingernail. - New Mexican food = Yum . Especially Blake's Lotaburger. It's like heaven on a bun. - I don't have enough closet space. Not for clothes, for the other stuff. - I have too much stuff! - Family. It's just great. Truly . - People are nice. Mostly . - Dear memory foam pillow top, you have saved my life. Thank you. - Rain makes everything prettier - when it doesn't happen every day. - Kidney stones, well those suck. Especially when you live 45 minutes from the nearest facility that provides legal drugs. Just ask Eric (who drove himself to the hospital for mercy because he didn't want to wake the kids up). - I need more nails to hang things up. Or less things to hang. - Hey Cute Pam, I foun...

So I am not sure if you realize this but June is almost over. 4 more days until we hit July and the year is half gone. That's right people, it's only six months til Christmas. And I haven't even started thinking about shopping. Here's a little something to ease the pain: I feel better, don't you?

Daddy to Carly: What's bothering you? Carly to Daddy: Joshua is torturing me. Daddy to Carly: Go tell Joshy to stop being a terrorist.

A sunset in Edgewood, our new home town:

When I was about 12, give or take, ( ohmygoshIjustrealizedthatwas 20 yearsago ) we moved into a new ward. A ward is the fancy Mormon word for congregation, basically. This wasn't our first family move, in fact by this point we were pros at the whole moving thing - I had never lived in one place for more than 3.5 years in all my life. But now we're talking about formative teenage years. And awkwardness. Oh, and also the age where you are old enough to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. That's the main meeting for our church that everyone in your ward attends. Kids, adults, peers. I can feel sweat prickling on my neck now, just remembering. So there I was, new to the ward, 12, and terrified. My Dad gave me advice on talk prep. He provided a newish copy of the Ensign - our church's magazine - and said I should pick something from there and read it/discuss it. There was a fairly lengthy article about pioneers in there that he particularly thought would be of int...

We've reached that point. You know, the point where we don't live here anymore but all our stuff is here. We are halfway between packed up and living in jumble. The problem is, my brain won't stop. OK, I know, that's a normal thing for me, the constant whirring. But in this case my mind is focused. Focused on the million tiny things left to do. Like double checking that all the clothes are clean and ready to be packed. Like making sure I've cleaned out my office so that stray trash won't get shipped across country. Like examining the floors and marvelling at how much trash a family makes in just a few days. Especially when they are cleaning things out. Tomorrow the movers arrive. They are going to pack up our life's collection into a truck. They're going to box up the Michigan phase of life and stow it for safe keeping. There is no going back now, no changing our mind. Our future lies somewhere over the horizon, south and west. These million...

- the big events sneak up on you. Suddenly it seems like they just happen , even if you have been waiting and waiting. - time speeds up the older you get. Maybe it's because you move slower. - the water never stays hot quite long enough. - a good book never feels like it's over. - saying goodbye hurts even if it's the third or fourth time. - you always have to go to the bathroom when you least want to get up. - there is nothing on TV. But you keep watching. - children are always fascinating. Even when you see them every day. - na na na na, life goes on.