Random

It seems like I've only been posting events lately & not taking time to write some of my thoughts & feelings. For what they're worth, here's some thought nuggets that have been banging around my brain lately:

-Cedar. I am still REALLY loving living here. I drove to my good friend's (Lena) house a couple weeks ago & drove over the mountain, past Duck Creek Village & down 89. I mean, I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road. It's SO beautiful up there! Anyone want to buy me a cabin up there?? Pleeeeease?

-Weather. Well, darn it. It must be spring in Utah. Last week, my girls were running through the sprinklers with their swim suits on & today we have to wear warm jackets. Our closets are bursting with both winter & summer clothes. Can't wait till it decides to be warm for good! (course then it will be hot & I might just complain about that ;)

-Routines. It took a while after all our trips in April, but I think we finally settled down to where the girls aren't fighting their morning chores as much and are acting better in homeschooling. We have a pretty good system where we have FHE on Mondays, Tuesdays are playgroups at the church, Wednesday is picnic in the park with daddy, and Fridays are Friday Fun Days, where we go to playgroup & usually another "field trip" somewhere. We've been to the park a lot lately.

-Camping. I can't say exactly why - maybe it's because we didn't hardly go camping at all last year - but I am REALLY craving some time in the mountains. And guess what? We bought a camping trailer! I'm so excited. I am really looking forward to a lot of camping trips this summer. Who's game?

-Buying/Building. After we got the trailer, this has REALLY been on our minds lately. We have walked through probably 10 houses. We have driven to see dozens and dozens of lots. It's getting a little stressful because we have this house on a 6 month lease and we've already been here for 2+ months (wow - really?). If we're going to build, we're a little behind the game here. But anyone can tell you that we don't make decisions quickly - and especially something of this magnitude and importance. We really want to be where the Lord wants us. We just need to figure out where that might be - Hamilton Fort, Cedar, Enoch, Summit, Parowan? We have started looking at home plans & my mind gets boggled by all the options and things to consider, but it is exciting to think of all the things we've been wanting to incorporate in a future house.

-McKinley's schooling. This is also still a decision that is very much in our minds and prayers. At this point in time, I am leaning more toward homeschooling. I'm not going to list all the reasons right here, but I'm sure I'll do a post in the future once we've decided for sure. I'm also trying to decide how much homeschooling we'll do in the summer.

-Summer Plans. I'm looking forward to this summer. This weekend we are going to Vegas for our anniversary weekend. We're planning on heading North for Memorial & going camping with family. A race in June. 4th of July in Richfield, Ireland's 4th Birthday, Potts Family Reunion in August, and another race. And in between - swimming lessons, camping, hiking, and exploring. I'm very much looking forward to this summer!

-Girls growing up. Lately it seems I've been able to get outside of the moment-to-moment enough to really see my girls growing up. McKinley's hair has been getting so long. I catch glimpses of her & just can't help but see what a beautiful girl she is - on the outside & inside. She still is our never-ending question-asker, but I try to be patient and explain things minus all the exasperated sighs :) Ireland... almost four years old. The past 2 days with her have felt like a dream. Don't know what has happened, but she has done her chores without complaining - folded an entire basket of towels this morning and put them all away. She'll say I love you out of the blue and is always there when I'm cooking something so she can help. I'm sure we're not completely done with tantrums and throwing fits, but I think we might be getting closer! Kezia - wow. She really is a little girl. She's starting to put words together - make sentences. She's also started to be picky with what she wants & she can express it now enough for us to understand - but now she is having a hard time learning that even though we know what she wants, she can't always have it :( It's a difficult thing to learn. She is sucking in so much from her sisters.