Abundant Recompense Copy

We interrupt this blissful walk down memory lane to whine and complain about how I am stretched totally beyond capacity and ready to run away to Tahiti. That's right, we're potty training. And Bryn started kindergarten this week. And I'm still nursing. And the bus stop, which I visit three times a day with littles in tow seems like 45 miles from my front door when it's really only a block. And my house looks like an explosion went off in it. Yesterday afternoon I was, you guessed it, in the bathroom. We'd been there on and off for two hours straight. Yep, two. Leah was poised for success on her frog potty and I was sitting across from her on the grown up potty cheering her on by reading books, reminding her that she could earn a smartie and a video, singing, coaching her on body awareness, challenging her to fill her little frog to capacity, you name it. (I myself was not going to the pot, thank you. There's just not a lot of seating options in the bathroom.) Th...

Baseball in the park. A great exercise in sportsmanship, sweating and fun. I love this little series of Bryn The boy slid home. It wasn't actually on purpose. Bryn and Juliann. These girls' mothers both have impeccable taste. They happened to have matching flip flops too. And ain't little Jackson cute? So great to see Beck and Ben and their growing clan. Trevor's hair is so cool and Alexa's eyelashes are perpetually curled to perfection. We really enjoyed all staying in the same room, believe it or not. Plenty of space for everyone and the kids did great together on the floor. Leah especially had fun gathering toys and books from around the house and planting herself on the floor of our room with her pile of goodies to go through. Around the kitchen table. I love these pictures of Grammie and Leah. They did a lot of bonding over this "dress the princess" book. A lot. Chilling with Trevor in front of the tube. Although you can't tell from this picture, ...

Am I totally overwhelmed by the number of things I want to blog about the Georgia trip this year? Oh yeah. Must've been a great vacation. Here are a few things we did. Totally rocked the trains and planes we rode on. All of 'em.  Visited with the Grandmas. They are both so delightful. Played some hilarious, and occasionally heated games of Scum. Best hat goes to the queen, and so on and so forth down to the scum, who gets to wear the diaper hat. Nate and I mainly traded off with the diaper. Made fabulous "ear-bobs," as Dad would say, with Mom and the sissies. I've been discovered by kids who are in need of snacks and assistance with glittery art projects, but get excited, because there's lots more to come!

We got back from our Georgia trip early in the morning last Friday (the 8th), and then I had to turn around and drive down to southern Utah to give a lecture at the community center in Springdale. It was a fun trip, and I had originally hoped to get in a couple slot canyons while down there, but my planned companions bailed on me and I changed plans. So my newfound hiking buddies Addison and Bryn agreed to come along. Once again, we sorely missed the rest of the family but had a good time. After spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house in St. George, we headed up through the tunnel (which the kids loved) to Orderville, where there's a small slot called Red Hollow. Dad came along for the trip because he's always game for an adventure. The kids got really hot, and Addison still gives me a hard time about the "shortcut" I led us up on the way back, but it was fun. Add the Spaz After a Subway lunch in Mt. Carmel, we headed back down to a swimming hole me and ...