Guest Blog: "#newleaf" by Drama Queen and Curly

Change can be really hard.  It's hard to change our attitudes when we don't feel good.  It's hard to change how we treat others.  Sometimes its even hard to change our pants - especially if we're putting on skinny jeans.  But change can be really important.  There are good things that won't ever happen without change: like butterflies, students learning at school, and even ice cream when it gets frozen. 

This year our family is trying to make lots of changes.  For me (Drama Queen), my big change is to lose weight and get ready for a mission.  For me (Curly), my big change is to try to be more organized and help Sport keep our room clean.  The Beast had a big change - he got married to Beauty!  Bossy and Gamer had a big change too when they got sealed in the temple last week.  Princess is going to have a big change when she graduates high school in the spring.  Dog Walker is also going to graduate - he'll start going to a different college and maybe get a job, too!

There are so many good, good changes we can make, but those changes take a loooooot of work.  Drama Queen has really realized this this week as she has started to change the way she eats.  Ice cream is a lot of calories!!  It can be really hard to give up something you like, but in the end, you can get something you want even more - just like a caterpillar who has to work very hard to grow wings.   It probably isn't very fun to be a caterpillar in a chrysalis, but its important to move to a new stage in life.  That is why we make changes.  What changes are you making?  Use #newleaf 

Field Trip!

You know it's January and that means my little ones are off-track. Last week was so full of sick kids and preparing for Bossy & Gamer's party that we didn't have time to do much. So when I saw that today was the free day for the Natural History Museum, I jumped right on it.

We left the house about 12:45. It was raining and our tickets were for 1:30. We arrived with a couple of minutes to spare in spite of the rain. We caught the shuttle up the hill so at least that kept us dry, and the kids loved riding the little bus.

After we got checked in, we started to explore the museum. We have been there several times, so the kids knew what to expect, but we were surprised to get time in the playrooms with the toys and puzzles. Even though it was a free day, it was pretty quiet and we had plenty of time to explore each exhibit.

We were about halfway up when I got the call from Grandpa. His plane had just landed and he needed a ride. I left the Dog Walker and Drama Queen to finish our museum tour and and I took off for the airport, but with the weather, things were slow. We didn't get back to the museum to pick up the kids until after 4:00 and that put us right in the middle of rush hour traffic.

By the time we left the east side it was snowing pretty steadily. Drama Queen kept things calm by reading Lord of the Rings aloud to all of us. With 8 people in the minivan we were riding pretty low, but that made us more stable on the wet roads.

We finally got home about 5:10, just in time to get Curly ready for his dance class. It was a fun field trip and other than gas (for which I paid $1.64/gallon!) the trip was free.

My favorite price.

Followed by a Nice Down Day

If you read yesterday's post, you know I've had another crazy week followed by a huge party for Bossy and Gamer and their family. So today I decided to take the day off.

Really.

When the alarm rang at 8:00 so I could get the kids up and ready for church, my sweetie was already in the shower. I hit the snooze button a couple of times, but I was just so tired. I hate to admit that the majority of the family slept in until about 11:00. Except for the Dog Walker. He texted me from church, "Aren't you coming?"

I rolled over and went back to sleep. I did repent and took most of the family to the 3rd ward. Their meeting starts at 1:00.

We ate leftovers from the fiesta for lunch and then I went back upstairs and took ANOTHER NAP!!

Only a short one though, Sport had a Priesthood Preview meeting at 5:00. It was nice and they served huge chocolate chip cookies when it was over. (I've got to start taking this January diet thing seriously!) My sweetie made bread during my second nap, so we had that along with salad and fruit for dinner. Then we sacked out together on the couch and watched the end of the Disney movie that was playing on KBYU.

I love those old movies. This one was The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes. So much fun! The kids had never seen it before and Curly came in for about the last 20 minutes. When it ended, he said, "Start it over, Dad. I want to see the whole thing." These kids are certainly living in a different world from the one I grew up in...

I did do a little rapid cleaning so I wouldn't have to face a disaster on Monday morning. Then it was homework help and now I'm writing a post. Dog Walker starts his final semester tomorrow, but he only has his Math 1050 class and a workshop so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm hoping for a slower week, but that rarely happens.

At least everyone is feeling better. I'll be glad when the inversion finally blows out of the valley.

And how was your weekend?

A Good Day

Today was a good day. It was the day Bossy and Gamer were sealed in the temple, making their marriage eternal rather than "til death do us part." They were so happy and they had so many friends and family members there to support them, it was amazing!

The ceremony was at 6:00 in the evening. We had a fiesta to prepare so my sweetie spent the day cooking sweet pork and tacos while Bossy made tamales. She and Drama Queen wrapped them all last night. I took some of the kids over to the church so we could set up tables and chairs and prepare for the onslaught of people.

I think we had at least 200 people come through during the two hours we were partying. At one point we had a pinata. We set up nine round tables with 8 chairs each and they were always full. I was afraid we were going to run out of food, but we managed to feed everyone and still bring home a few leftovers.

My awesome brother-in-law, Glen, took pics for us just like he did for Beauty and The Beast's wedding, but I don't have any of them yet so I will just leave you with the one that Drama Queen took at the church plus a few that Princess snapped when we were finally back home and cleaning up.

First thing this morning I noticed that my blog counter reached half a million pageviews. Thank you so much for stopping by to read about our crazy lives!