What a week already

I had to take Dan to Little Rock and drop him off at the airport on Tuesday. 3 hours to get there. We stopped by the commissary since we were there, and its always nicer to pay less for groceries. Dan also stopped by the Law School, but only one of his professors was in. We were able to visit a friend from BYU, which was really nice. There are so few people I keep in touch with, and I've known Sylvia for 10 years now. It was neat to see her. The drive back home was not as great as I had hoped. The girls only napped the first hour and I managed to miss a crutial turn, and added an hour to the drive as I took the wrong road and ended up in Searcy. Oops. Anyway, here is a shot of what I spent too many hours looking at as I drove!

Lots of green. Lots of hills. LOTS of turns. Not so much fun.

There were ducks in front of the Law School, and Callie was so happy to see them. We fed them cereal and they followed us around till we ran out. Callie liked to eat the cereal as well. They had a very good time feeding and chasing the ducks.

Yesterday we had lunch at the park and the children had a blast. They enjoyed it more because my friend Wendy was there with her smallest children and they had fun playing while I had fun visiting with Wendy.

I had something I was going to write, but now I can't remember. My train of thought was totally derailed here- Marian was sleepwalking and then I have no idea what happened, but it involved lots of crying and screaming and pee on the bed. This is to cap off an evening where Delaney fell off a chair and then bashed her lip on the bath tub and bled everywhere. Its been a red-letter evening for me! I miss Dan!

Culture Shock

It was fun to go to church yesterday. And very wierd. I realized that I have had a pretty sheltered life with growing up in the military. My parents have now lived in Mountain Home for about 12 years. That's the longest they have been anywhere in my life. And since I have a bad habit of returning home to see them, I have gotten to know the ward and their friends fairly well. This is the first time I've seen people (that I'm not related to!) grow old, grow up, and/or change drastically. I am realizing that a military benefit is that you don't really see the bad stuff- you move away! It was tough to be in church and see some of these people I've known now for 10 years, and to see how old they are getting and to see them stricken with health issues. It was kind of depressing. And to see some of the kids I knew, now grown up and making stupid choices. Ug. Seeing the mess some of them have made of such promising lives is sad. When I was growing up, we just moved away. I never saw people I really knew making train wrecks out of their lives. Now I come here and I see it and it really hurts. I mean, I knew this stuff happened, it just didn't happen to anyone I still kept in touch with. It was always news I heard third hand and it didn't hit me personally. And that is my depressing thought of the day- real life isn't always fun!

And now on to the part that IS fun! The chitlins..... Here they are, enjoying life in the boonies.

Delaney was thrilled to discover this dilapidated car hidden in the back yard. Hosed off, its now a favorite item. Callie and Delany are missing some skin off their toes, thanks to some high speed rides from their siblings. I'm just happy that they are so highly entertained.

The fountain in the front yard is a big hit too. Not so much fun after Grandpa said no more wading in it. Joshua is balancing on the rim, and that is still a lot of fun.

Finding pill bugs in the garden is a fantastic way to spend the afternoon. It does require some supervision to preserve the garden. Grandpa was not happy to see the destruction wraught the first day. They are better now, and still enjoy the garden without pulling of leaves and petals.

Fun in Arkansas

I got this fun pool at Walmart so that the kids would have something to do in the boondocks of AR this summer. We set it up on Wednesday and they had a blast. Unfortunately, they also got sunburned. Oops, we weren't in the tree's shade as much as I had thought!

Don't Ask- Don't Tell! Just kidding.... After swimming, I took off Callie and Delaney's swimsuits. That was when they decided they were not done. I thought, hey, there's no one around, the neighbors are far enough away and no one will see. Plus, this is Arkansas, we'll fit right in!

We love Grandma's office. She has so many great books. Marian cracks me up because she sits here and reads to herself, but she can't actually read, so she's just making it up. Very cute.

How am I, you ask? I am grumpy. I got up early yesterday so I could drive over to Cooper Park and run. It is lovely and 3 1/4 spins around the path make 3 miles. Now, I may have mentioned that my hips (the left one more so) have been hurting, but this was the first time they hurt while I was running. They have hurt at other random times, and it baffled the doctor as to why they wouldn't hurt while I was exercising. Yesterday they sure did. And it didn't quit. I hobbled around all day yesterday, and the stairs were awful. I'm not yet 34 (give me a few weeks!) and it worries me that my body is falling apart already. I need to find a chiropractor here.

Other than that, life is good. The kids are so cute and helpful with Delaney. Right now Joshua is at the swingset with her, helping her play and keeping an eye on her so that I can do this!

Grandma and Grandpa's!

We made it! We arrived at my parent's house about 4:30 yesterday afternoon after a total of 19.5 hours of travel time. There were too many "I hafta go potty" stops and one barfing incident, but other than that, it went well. I am glad to be staying put for a bit, although it is a little unsettling to not be in a permanent place. The kids are delighted to be here and everyone slept well last night. This morning Dan was up before 6am to go help roof our house. I don't know if you knew we bought a little rental home last year, but it needed a new roof. I took the kids over to see the progress this morning and they were thrilled to "help". Here are some pictures of the last few days....

This is the house I think we will be living in when we get back up to the DC area. The location is too perfect to pass up! The house is nice and the ward was great; I'm sold on it!

Here is Callie reading the map for me. She did pretty well for the trip. Dan and I rotated sitting in the front and sitting in the middle of the van and letting Joshua sit in the front seat. Yikes, did that even make sense?! Callie liked it when I sat next to her. She thought she was so special.

This was Marian's favorite thing. She jumped out of the car at gas stations so she could wash the windows. She did remove some of the bugs, but needed a little assistance to actually get it clean.

Here is the house getting a new roof. Yes, Grandpa let Joshua and Marian climb up there. Dan is up with them, and the roofing guy, Jason is there in the front. Dan got so dirty, but the kids loved being helpers, and bieng up on the roof was a definate highlight for them. It should be finished this afternoon.

As for me, I'm staying inside for a bit. I am allergic to something here, and I am miserable now. I did my time with spring allergies in NC! I should be done! I had quit my Flonase, because I didn't need it, and now I am dying. We'll see how long it takes it to kick back in.

Are we there yet?!

I have 15 minutes of internet time left on my card. It stinks to have to pay for it! I'm out of time to write my family letter/journal this week, so that will have to wait. I am really excited though. We may have found our house. We definately found our location. It is right next to a big park with a running and biking trail, and it is by the river (not as close, but nice!). The neighborhood is fantastic and friendly and out of the city craziness. I want to live there. The house is an odd floor plan and the kitchen is tiny. But it is big and it actually has a yard and a garage.

We looked at 3 other places, and I was not happoy about any of them. One was really nice, but not a great area. None of them were in a great area- I do not want to be a sardine! And I don't want a townhouse with 3 floors of steep stairs and no yard. I can live with a tiny kitchen to have a great place for the kids. And its a little over half a mile to the bike trail. Oh, and we could walk to church.

So that's what we did the last few days. The kids have been very good about everything. And tomorrow we head off to Arkansas. Wish me luck! 2 days of driving with all the kids..... not my first pick for fun!!