Where have we been all your life?

That's what you've been asking yourself since I've been away, isn't it? Yes, yes, I thought so. I am skilled in ESPN, ya know.

Well, golly, nothing huge has happened but things are happening so let me break it down for you Reader’s Digest style. But first off, wasn't April the longest month ever? By May 1st I felt like I had lived two Aprils already and now that it is May, I feel like it is almost June.

After we got home from our anniversary trip, I had three week days to catch up on and one was a Monday so that counts as two days really. Here’s how we’ve been keeping busy:

Olen and I have been making a big push to get our back yard up to speed for the summer. There are only four weeks left of school and I do not want to hear one “I’m so bored”. We’ve never fully unpacked and there are still boxes of Olen’s manly mechanical toys on the back porch and the storage shed we built still needs further organization so that we can clean out the storage room (off the back porch) so that we can clear out the pantry. It’s a lot of work, but once we get it done it will be so great. Our back yard is a little tricky because of the Sister Missionary’s apartment in the middle of it, but it’s not impossible. We’ve got some ideas up our sleeves and once completed I anticipate it being the preferred summer hang out spot.

You know Olen - any excuse to go fishing. He is the home teacher to a newly baptized family, a husband and wife, in our ward. The husband loves to fish off the banks of the Mesa canals but has never been fishing in a boat on a lake before. Did he say the right thing to my husband or what? The next day Olen and a buddy made plans to take this brother out and do some “real” fishing. They went to Canyon Lake last week and had a great time. How can I complain about such a gallant fishing trip?

With only one file left to close, my real estate practice is nearing an early semi-retirement. I sure do love keeping the ol’ brain ticking, but I think I am ready to take a break for a while and wear one less hat. Of course I plan on attending continued education courses and keeping my license current just in case.

I’m turning 29 in eight weeks. I’m not excited; my twenties have been pretty fun. So to help me enter my last year as a twenty-something in style I am trying to get back into my pre-pregnancy jeans by my birthday. Loosing weight is an evil nemesis in my life and the only way I can fight it is by getting my trash out there and working out. I am blessed to have such sweet friends in our ward that let me tag along with them on their 5am workout and enjoy great conversation mile by mile. Getting up early means I have to be down early so if there are things that didn’t get done before 10pm that day they’ll have to wait till tomorrow. The blog usually falls into this category.

2010 - the year of the babies. Friends and family are making their announcements of expectancy almost daily. No, not really. I couldn’t be more thrilled because it gives me a reason to go to Hobby Lobby and buy stuff. I’ve been smoking up my sewing machine making baby blankets this past week and I’ve got a few more to go. I love these blankets; I’ve made and given away so many over the past months that I have lost count.

I have been the volunteer art teacher in Porter’s 2nd grade class this year. I go in on Fridays and do a little art lesson and project with the class for an hour. It is such a great time, and I love seeing Porter in school-mode with his peers. With only four weeks of school left, I’m running low on steam (and ideas) and am not sure if I’ll volunteer next year. Or maybe I will, but not every week. Porter is doing wonderfully in school. He loves his teacher (seriously, I think he loves his teacher. He is always saying, “Oh, Miss. Steiner did the funniest thing today…” and then just sighs and looks off into space. I’m like, “And? What did she do?” and he’s all, “Oh, you had to be there mom.” Okay…) and he’s made the Honor Roll all year. Each time he does he earns the privilege of “taking” the family out to eat somewhere. This quarter he chose Red Lobster. We knew Port loves shrimp and now we know London does too. But not scallops, she almost gagged on spot.