12 of 12 January

1. Playing in the snow from the night before.
2. Snuggled up under our quilt from Grandma. It's been getting a lot of use.
3. I love the light in our house when it is sunny after a snowstorm. So bright!
4. Spending part of nap time menu planning. Why is it so hard? And yet it makes the week so much better if I do it once instead of 7x/week when everyone is already hungry.
5. A sweet email from Truman's former occupational therapy. I sort of wish he still qualified for OT, just for the Katie visits.
6. Waiting for Dad to get home.
7. Millie always requests a smiley face on the back of our Sam's Club receipt. Much happiness that today's marker was magenta, and Darlene drew her smiley face to look just like her!
8. Replacing the sweep on the front door so we don't have to cover it with blankets to retain warmth in our house.
9. Kept the kids busy coloring on the white board while dinner was cooking/the sweep was being replaced. Millie scheduled in a little happiness. :) Also, she's been rocking Article of Faith memorization.
10. Despite the chaos of the evening, dinner was really, really enjoyable. (Hat tip to Millie taking a nap.) We had chicken tacos, but letting the kids make and roll their own somehow made it really fun and less stress. I'm not sure how it worked out that way, but it did. I love this family of mine.
11. Chris helping Millie with her FHE lesson.
12. Each week both choir directors insist on their own podium for conducting. And they fight over who gets the tallest one. Then Truman jumps off during Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam and gives me a heart attack.

12 of 12 December

1. Sent these two birds to school with Chris to see the life-sized gingerbread house and huge tree in the Purdue Memorial Union. (Please note all the girlie-patterns Millie is working.) I was able to get some Christmas prep done.
2. This is the best picture my photographer provided.
3. Cute boy on the ride home.
4. Opening our Christmas book from Aunt Ann.
5. Sometimes it's hard to be the one home in December. It took a lot of will power to leave this box containing Chatbooks of all our Instagram pictures intact to be wrapped up.
6. Connor came to play. Millie and Truman love Connor. Connor's dad has a hard time when Connor plays with our "My Little Pony" figures, so this picture had me cracking up all day long.
7. A lot of hand sewing on the ottoman I recovered to trade for our family pictures.
8. Truman immersed in a library book.
9. Chris lost his other dress glove last weekend in Chicago. I suggested taking it as our white elephant gift. Nikkala suggested naming it this and it was a done deal. (It made a four-year-old girl cry when she opened it.)
10. The spread of food at Chris's department Christmas party. My fruit platter was so impressive (if I do say so myself) that everyone just assumed it was store-bought. Psh.
11. Millie, Collis and Jared at the party. Jared is Chris's classmate, office mate and an all-around class act.
12. When Chris's professor sent out the invite he said he is known to put up "a few Christmas lights." The kids thought the Dineen's house was amazing.

Solo Parenting is Hard

Lately Chris has been gone doing fly out job interviews. Which is awesome. Except that it's really hard.

I am so much better with him with me than I am as a single mom. Except for that rare day when I know I'm flying solo and have mentally geared up and I am an awesome mom. Then I crash and am cranky and impatient and tired. Or when the alarm doesn't go off for Chris's 4:55 shuttle, but Millie wakes up yelling just in the knick of time and kicks us into high gear. Once the adrenaline wears off and I fall back to sleep morning comes to soon. Kids don't nap. They fight, throw tantrums and cause trouble. It's all I can do to read our two verses of scripture, say prayers and put them in their beds. Then dinner dishes are waiting for me, along with Truman's bowl of potatoes and squash he threw all over the floor.

I am not used to doing this alone. (Thank goodness.) I'm used to being able to check in with Chris during the day.

I've been weighing it in my brain how lots of women do it full-time, and lots of women have it way harder than I do. But that doesn't make my hard less. It's still hard. Chris will be gone 8/10 days when this little stretch is over. He's basically coming home to get clean clothes, give me a bit of a breather and catch the next shuttle and flight, criss-crossing the country to opposing oceans. As soon as this round of fly outs is over there will (hopefully) be more.

Even if there aren't more Chris is teaching a night class second module this semester that meets twice a week. Conveniently placed in the middle of the week so he can book end the weeks with fly outs without having to miss class. And there's a dissertation to write. He was getting up at 4:30 the weeks before his proposal to get it finished. I feel like we're sprinting the last half of a marathon. (And I'm not a sprinter.) We have a school year ahead of us and it feels completely overwhelming.

I keep wishing we lived close to family so I could have someone who felt compelled to bail me out. Or that Chris was a dental or medical student and we lived in an apartment building with six other families in our exact situation. Or Chris was a business man making big bucks that I could spend to help myself (a maid, babysitters, cute clothes, etc). But we don't. We're graduate students living in our cozy little house in Indiana. And sometime I feel really alone. (Despite good friends.)

I'm writing this in the hopes that I remember clearer what the last year of a PhD program felt like. That when someone mentions their hard thing I don't try one-upping it with a "Oh, but when we were in graduate school..." or dismissing it with "It's not that bad! Get over it. I went through worse." I want to remember hard is hard. And once it's hard, it doesn't matter the degree of hard. Validating someone else's difficulties doesn't take away from my experience.

I can do hard things. Chris can do hard things. I am so grateful to be sending out a capable, socially adept and amazing husband for these interviews, because his role in this is grueling. I am very much looking forward to the PhD phase of life to be over.

Then the tenure clock starts...

12 of 12 August

1. Banana chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. We watched Sophie and she told me (more than once), "I think I want a muffin now" when she saw the left-overs on the counter.
2. This is August in the midwest? Sign me up! It has been so cool and rainy this year, and other than a few complaints that I wanted more swimming, it's been pretty alright by me.
3. This year's garden.
4. D@mn squirrels. Eating our tomatoes before they fully ripen. Makes me so mad!
5. I feel like a success when I have something in the Bosch.
6. Playing with sister's dress-up clothes while she's asleep is so much fun.
7. I might be a bad mom, but I find this succession of pictures so hilarious. I couldn't remember what consequence I was enforcing that caused the melt-down, but Millie saw it and asked, "Why am I crying? Because I came out of my room and couldn't watch 'tutu'?" That was it.
8. This kid is a full-on walker now.
9. Reading stories with the door open. Ahhhh, heaven.
10. Pioneer Woman Herb Bread. Made the random lentil soup I threw together seem decent.
11. Truman clapping and yelling to scare away the squirrels stealing tomatoes from the garden. Don't know where he could get that. (At least he hasn't picked up on choice squirrel language. Oops.)
12. Bath time is the best. I would bathe my kids multiple times a day if it didn't require costume changes.

12 of 12 July: Miserable Day

1. For those not familiar with Lafayette, Chris's phone would be at the ER.
2. Truman woke up in the middle of the night screaming with rapid and short breathing. Nothing calmed him down, so we finally decided that the ER was the best choice. We've never had a middle of the night ER visit before. (I found it interesting that one of our high councilors was the doctor on call. I didn't know he was a doctor.)
3. Breaks your heart.
4. Who is excited to go do chores with Mom?
5. A dragonfly as big as her hand.
6. We didn't mind the Hendersons being gone while their raspberries went crazy. Or gathering eggs, either.
7. Chris had planned to be up early like usual (4:55 am) and spend a couple hours at school before we picked him up to go to Riverfest. Instead he went in mid-morning and I got to deal with Millie throwing up. I was so glad it rained like crazy so I didn't feel like I was missing anything as I tended to sick kids.
8. She seemed much better after her bubble bath.
9. "Scrambled feet!" (She was "scrambled" all over after the luxurious soak she had!)
10. I was reading in bed when Millie woke up from her nap. She crawled up in bed with me and promptly fell back to sleep.
11. We had a picnic in the living room, watching Daniel Tiger and eating left-over pizza for dinner. Because we just didn't care.
12. She wrote this all by herself for Aunt Amy's birthday card and I about couldn't believe it, despite watching her do it. (I would tell her which letter was next.) The blob/stick thing is an exclamation point, obviously.

12 of 12 June

1. Off on an adventure to the strawberry patch and only one kid was feeling cooperative
2. My "helpers." They were good in the stroller but that's about all I could ask of them.
3. Four pounds of little strawberries. The picking was slow.
4. "We're in the forest!" It still surprises me how Millie finds the dense vegetation extrodinary, since this is her life.
5. Visiting teaching. I don't love dragging two kids along to appointments and having to police them while we're there. But I do love that early that week Millie pointed to an apartment building and asked, "Mom, is that where we go visiting teaching?" We go visiting teaching. It's what we do.
6. Slice of summer.
7. This kid is getting so funny. He was sticking his finger in his nose and giggling, and then sticking his tongue out and laughing.
8. Race you...
9. ...to MaryLou's Donuts. We saw it on our way to the strawberry patch and Millie couldn't leave it alone all day. Why not?
10. Planting some annuals for color in the front flower beds. I think I'm trying to make up for completely and entirely missing my peonies and irises blooming.
11. Dessert with the girl who was still in her pajamas after dinner. As she so kindly pointed out to the cashier at the nursery.
12. Got an email from the library that The Fault in Our Stars was ready for my to download. And there went the rest of the night... and into the next morning. (It's set in Indianapolis and I loved knowing where some of the things are.)

12of12: Travel Adventure Edition

En route to Hawaii we had to get to SLC to hand off the kids to our parents. The 12th happened to be the day we left Indy. Late afternoon IND-> LAS-> late night into SLC was the plan.

1. Getting the circus through security. Kids = baggage. And a car seat, and stroller.
2. Lunchables are our favorite airplane food for kiddies.
3. My first time ever using a barf bag. As I gave Truman one of the mini-pretzels I thought, "This might not be a good idea." *Hands it over.* It wasn't. It got stuck in his throat (not a full on can't breath-choke) and he whined and fussed for a very long two minutes. Chris and I were freaking out a bit, but trying to keep it cool. Truman refused water, but finally accepted some banana, dislodging the pretzel and his Lunchable. Glad I had the bag at the ready. (Don't worry, the bag wasn't this full. We used it as a trash bag.)
4. Tired, tired kids, running on EDT.
5. Hello, brown desert.
6. Our flight was delayed and Millie would not go to sleep, so finally I strapped her in the car seat and turned on her lullabies. It didn't take long to have two zonked out kids.
7. Our flight was then canceled. Due to weather, so Southwest wouldn't put us up. The desk agent suggested people try HotelTonight for accomodations. Since we're big HT fans, I saw an opportunity, so I started offering up my referral code of DHARTWELL to anyone who would wanted it. $25 off for them, $25 credit for me. These were my people. Are you sure we can use it? All of us? Be my guest!
8. While waiting for Chris to get our new boarding passes, I was hanging out watching the kids. In my Coke bottle glasses. Out the corner of my eye I saw this woman and thought, "Hmm... she looks familiar. Are you Becca...? Yep, Becca Plotts, went to good ol' Burley High, a few years older than me. I ended up giving her diapers to get her baby through until they were home.
9. I hate McCarran. And Vegas. Especially late at night.
10. I only made $100 off the HT gig. I got emails saying several people had used the code but didn't spend $25, so I'll get the credit if they do. Darn you, cheap Vegas hotels.
11. Our nearly $50 (FIFTY DOLLAR!!!) cab ride to our hotel. I hate Vegas. And crooked cabbies who take you the long route. And late nights with travel-weary kids.
12. I think it's safe to say we all felt like this, once we finally got to the hotel room. The non-smoking room that was on the side of the hotel with the band playing outside. (That thankfully we didn't hear). Once the crib finally made it to the room. (We'd given up and gone to bed, Truman still strapped in his car seat.) It was all made worse knowing we had to be up at 4:30 to make our early morning flight. That's the only time I was glad we were running on EDT.

Oh, the joys of air travel with kiddos. Thank goodness they are bona fide troopers who take it all in stride. Champion travelers!

12 of 12 April :: Spring has Sprung!

1. Oh, Mildred! I had to Facebook our breakfast conversation. 
2. The most beautiful spring day for SpringFest. We love this awesome activity Purdue hosts. It's so fun and almost everything is free!
3. Hammock, trampoline, and face paint. She's set.
4. "Leave your brother alone!" 
5. Went on a walk and had to haul these planters home from Rural King on the stroller (Beast of Burden, indeed). Re-planted the blueberry bushes.
6. This kid systematically takes down towers, block-by-block. He isn't so much into crashing them over, though rest assured he will not let a tower stand.
7. Girl in need of a manicure.
8. Months ago we drove past Meijer and Millie started singing, "Meijer, we're dancing through the fire!" We thought her song was random, and she has sung it ever since. When this came on she exclaimed, "It's the 'Meijer, dancing through the fire' song!" A-ha! She's as good with lyrics as her Aunt Karisa! (The lyrics really say "I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, I'm dancing through the fire.")
9. We've been loving the Little House on the Prairie picture books, despite the looks of Miss Sassafras. I love to hear her say "Ma, and Pa and their good old bulldog, Jack."
10. A rousing game of Go Fish before bed. 
11. My favorite part of Saturday— going to bed with a clean kitchen floor. I know it will stay that way until morning. Truman is in the stage where he throws everything off his tray, and it seems like wasted effort to stay completely on top of it. This too, shall pass. 
12. The worst part of gel manicures is the soaking with acetone to take it off. Double-duty, scripture reading and getting the polish off my nails. 

12of12 March: Yet Another Snow Day

1. After the winter we've had I could not believe that schools were canceled. It snowed just a skiff outside. Ridiculous.
2. A little Tom the Tamer before breakfast.
3. She can't be old enough to read the back of the cereal box yet. She might not be "reading" it, but she requested it turned around to face her and she told me all about having watched The Magic School Bus at preschool (love me some Frizz) since it, and other Scholastic characters, were on the box.
4. I think it's required to post a "Gosh, he's cute!" picture every month. Playing peek-a-boo with the toy bucket.
5. Kicking around Truman's therapy ball.
6. Left-over flowers from our RS birthday brunch. Sunshine at the bathroom sink.
7. Therapy has left me saying things like tall kneeling, short sitting and reciprocal patterns of crawling. (Tall kneeling pictured)
8. My reading, and a creepy reflective self-portrait. It's the story of the Pride and Prejudice household help. There were a few very brief scenes that made me wonder if I should put it down, but it mostly redeemed itself.
   
   *Sidenote: how do you handle scenes like that? One of the children's librarians has started giving me recommendations, though this wasn't one. She says she just skips bad parts, but I'm not sure how one skips the questionable, knowing when things get good again. Plus, the junk is already seared into your brain. For the most part. I've stopped taking her recommendations. I think it's better to just go for virtuous, lovely, good report, praiseworthy kind of stuff. But how is one sure they've found it?! And why do authors throw in gratuitous crap?*
9. It snowed a little bit more late morning-early afternoon and I loved the sparkle in our hedges.
10. This little piggie went to market... (then lots of giggling from both parties)
11. Couldn't choose who I loved in bed most, so I chose both. Kids in bed are about the best thing ever. Plus all activities at the church were canceled, so we had a relaxed evening with Chris!
12. Went to Target with Kanien to get some stuff for Ashley's shower. Came home with a coupon organizer and organized my coupons. My purse is grateful for that $1 purchase.

12 of 12 AND my 1000th post

1. I love the light streaming in after breakfast. It was concentrated enough we had a little shadow puppet show.
2. Marcella's hand-me-down dance costume became her ice skating outfit. (PJs there for warmth. It's cold around these parts!)
3. Is it strange to admit that sometimes I look at these two and can't believe how adorably cute they are? And that they're mine?!
4. She was fixing me some hot cocoa / "lemolade" in her kitchen.
5. Folding the load of colors always gets me. Chris and I dominate darks and whites, but little clothes win here. And it takes a lot of little clothes to get tall stacks.
6. Truman turned a corner recently and has gone to town on the food. And even sippy cups. It's so encouraging! He has his first therapy appointment on Friday.
7. Cutting out heart glasses for Millie's preschool Valentines.
8. Slobberiest kid ever. I got hit with a big drool bomb on my forehead with this picture.
9. One can only take cleaning up so many times during a day. Yet it drives me crazy! So I end up giving up and Chris usually comes home to a scene like this.
10. Lucky for me, I got to run away for a bit when he got home. Happy hour at Hot House Market means cupcakes! Thankfully my friend Melissa works there because I forgot my wallet. I owe $2.40 for Millie's scarf I got for her Valentine present.
11. Independence is hard. For everyone. I think that's a lesson I'll have to learn over and over again.
12. Snuggles with my "baby monkey" are the best snuggles.

Fourth First Day of School

When you don't teach or have classes, the first day is pretty insignificant (so much so that we were still in Idaho when the semester started). The only thing that changes with the semester is Chris's wardrobe. So long shorts, t-shirts and Chacos!

I made Chris promise that I can take first day pictures for the rest of forever. I love seeing the progression of things. It went from Chris, to Chris with baby Millie, to Chris with toddler Millie, to Chris with his arms full. To say nothing of this house we're actually starting to love. (Shout out to the last gladiola for hanging on and being in the frame.) Retrospection makes this ride all the better. So does the hope that maybe, just maybe (and not all too likely) this is the last first day of his PhD program.

Strange Satisfaction: Potlucks

Recently I've noticed I get a strong sense of satisfaction from some of the strangest things. Tonight's pleasure? A well-balanced potluck.

Months ago Chris called me from the grocery store. "They have ten pounds of ribs for $12.99. Is that a good deal?"

Not buying ribs often, I wasn't sure that it was stellar, but knew it wasn't terrible, and left it up to him to make the final call. He went for it. Not being at the store, I didn't realize the ten pounds of ribs were frozen together in a box. Into the freezer they went, taking up 1/3 of it.

I figured Memorial Day weekend was as good as any to encourage the cooking of these ribs and a party was born. Chris spent the day tending to the ribs, while I got to go shopping with Millie and help a friend with her moving prep.

We had a nearly perfectly balanced pot-luck. There were chips, soda, green salad, potato salad, watermelon, corn on the cob, chicken, raspberry Cool Whip salad, corn bread, rice and popsicles for dessert. I love when it works out like that. Some pot-lucks end up being a feast of four pots of baked beans, or all desserts, or nothing remotely resembling a vegetable, but tonight's was spot on.

Added bonus that I threw out 5:00 as the starting time, and about 6:30 the heavens opened and a downpour commenced. For the most part every one was done eating and we just had popsicles left to polish off while we played sardines in our cozy (and humid!) kitchen.

A very satisfying night.

On the Bright Side

On the bright side:

•  The slippers I wanted were back in stock, and the 5-10 day shipping ended up being two day shipping (perk of living close to all the shipping distribution sites in Kentucky). I have warm, cozy slippers.
• Millie loves playing at the play place in the mall. Her mom doesn't care for it, but she can spend hours going up the small stairs and down the small slide.
• We had story time yesterday that kept us busy and out of the house all morning.
• I'm still pregnant (one week from today is my due date), so I don't have a small baby.
• The dishwasher needed ran, clothes need washed and dried and dinner needed cooked in the oven.
• We like snuggling together as a family, reading books, telling stories, watching "shows" on phones and playing games while cuddled under blankets.
• I bought a couple space heaters last year on clearance at Target, for our emergency preparedness stash.
• Our house is small.

On the not so bright side:

• It's colder than it's been in a while.
• Our furnace broke yesterday. It blows cold air constantly unless we turn it off at the breaker.

A repairman is coming this afternoon, but until then, we're congregating in the living room with space heaters running full-force. I'd remark on the joys of home ownership, but we've had worse situations while renting, and we weren't in control of it then. So here's to appreciating central air when it works flawlessly.

Something to Say

Hod Podge

• Millie has mostly made the transition from two naps to one. Boo. Hiss. I resisted as long as I could. Mornings are my productive time, and I tend to waste away my afternoons. So it really cramps my style when there is a little one making messes and always underfoot as I try to get things done.
• Millie is getting good at playing on her own. She's obsessed with "baybuhs." Watching her play with her dolls and few stuffed animals cracks me up (giving them drinks, sharing kisses, piling them all on her mini-stroller). She's still very much obsessed with books. She empties and hauls the content of her bookshelves to the living room daily.
• Whenever I talk to Nik on Facetime and start talking baby-ish to Gracie, Millie knows and comes running to see the "baybuh!"
•  Millie is obsessed with giving high fives. Chris said she kept trying to give them to a 10 month-old yesterday at church. He didn't get it, so she'd go up and tap his hand anyway. She gives great virtual high fives.
• I got sustained yesterday at the RS Committee Chair. I'm all for callings that are basically party planning. Still sad to not being in young women, but excited to be here.
• We've gotten a good bit rain over the past few weeks. Our lawn has greened back up and I don't feel quite so trashy when I see our yard.
• Despite my last post, I'm feeling very ready to be done with the grad school phase of life. Mostly I just want to be back in Cache Valley, frying doughnuts with Nikkala on Halloween. I want it more than would appear normal. If anyone wants to sponsor this, let me know.
• All the local produce was frozen after our abnormally warm spring and one late freeze. Peaches shipped in from out of state are at least $2.00/lb, with the cheapest bulk I've found being $35/bushel for seconds. No apples either (and there weren't any blueberries earlier). The empty jars are increasing and it appears they won't be getting refilled this year. Bummer. It doesn't feel like late summer without canning.
• On that same note, our garden is pathetic. No canning there, either. Attempts a chipmunk trapping, yes. Produce, no.

And that seems to be all from the home front.

First Day of School, Year Three

If you would have told me two years ago that this day would come so soon, I don't think I could have believed you. I'd have wanted to, but I don't think I could have.

Classes started yesterday but Chris didn't have anything until today. He is taking one class (because he wants to; he should be done with coursework) and is teaching. Today was his first day teaching. He said fewer than 80 of the 90+ students were in class. They don't know what they're missing out on.

If things go my way, we're at the halfway mark. If things go the ridiculous longer route, we're 2/3 done. Let's hope I get my way. We'll get there, either way.

Every year I feel a little better about our house. Our flower beds have definitely made some strides in the past year! Slowly. We're getting it there.

Seventh "Copper" Anniversary

Chris and I celebrated seven years of marriage on Saturday. Well, we celebrated on Friday, too.

Years ago I decided I wanted a Glacier National Park Pendleton blanket for our seventh anniversary, since the gifts for seven are copper/wool. Back when I decided this they sold crib sized blankets. But not anymore. And spending that much money for a blanket seemed ridiculous, so I told Chris he could scrap the idea, despite it being a sentimental reminder of our honeymoon to Glacier.

Chris changed his route and decided to go for the copper. A week before he told me we needed to gather up all the pennies in the house. And I started wondering what he had up his sleeve.

Kanien had been willing to babysit and I knew we'd get to enjoy our Friday evening together. But then I was told that we'd be leaving about 2:00 in the afternoon. I was intrigued.

Earlier last week we drove past the Copper Dog Cafe downtown and I was so proud of myself for figuring out that element of our date.

Friday afternoon we packed Millie's bag, dropper her off and the Wallins and we were on our way. Chris pulled out the GPS and selected destination #1. It directed us toward Indy. I was really intrigued.

As we got into Indy I told Chris that I needed to use the bathroom and asked if this destination had a bathroom. He replied it did, I had used it before and he was pretty sure it was a nice bathroom. What?! I racked my brain. Finally I realized we were headed toward the Shane Co, our jeweler, to drop off our rings for their annual cleaning. He couldn't fool me.

After dropping off our rings Chris trusted me enough to man the GPS and pull up destination #2. As we were driving through Indy, near the airport exit, I told Chris, "It would be awesome if you had our bags packed, our passports at the ready and we were going somewhere awesome for the weekend.  Sigh ...One day, right?"

I remarked how Indy was bigger than I thought, because we just kept driving. Then I looked at the arrival time on the GPS and it said 5:58. Almost two hours later? That couldn't be right!

Chris confirmed that it was, indeed, right.

What?!

He decided since I was captive and we were well on our way, it would be alright to share the plans. Millie was staying with the Wallins overnight. Our bags were packed in the trunk. We were headed toward the Copper Kettle in Charlestown for dinner. Then we'd head to New Albany to the Mansion Row Inn to stay the night. The next morning we'd go to the Louisville temple, do a session. After that we'd hit Copper Cupcakes on our way home, and he might have programmed a Hardy's into the GPS as our last stop, for my anniversary present to him. (East of the Mississippi we have Hardy's instead of Carl's Jr, and Chris misses Carl's Jr. We don't have a Hardy's in town.)

After the craziest, twistiest, make you sick to your stomach road I've ever ridden on, we made it to Charlestown. Southern Indiana is really pretty, but it was weird to still see blue tarps on roofs from the tornadoes this spring.

Dinner at the Copper Kettle, meh. It was decent, but it was just a little mom & pop and nothing special. Decent, for sure. And there were lots of locals eating there. It was just the beginning to a weekend where we were called, "honey, darling, sweetie, etc" more than the past seven years combined. Welcome to the south!

A nice patron saw us trying to take our self portrait and came out to help us.

From the Copper Kettle to Mansion Row Inn. After dinner, I was a little bit worried about what we might find in small town southern Indiana. But there was no need to fear. We were impressed with beautiful Mansion Row in New Albany and with the bed & breakfast. We read on the patio, walked around the neighborhood and enjoyed the gorgeous, cool evening weather.

Chris did really well packing. Except he forgot my makeup bag. I'm not the most high maintenance girl, so whatever. Except with no makeup in pictures. Eeep. Oh well, this was the only picture we took of us at the inn.

The 12' ceilings, 8' doors, and all the original trim work made my heart go pitter-patter. It was really a pretty place. Breakfast was a bit of a disappointment in the morning, sadly.

No, the Mansion Row Inn has nothing to do with copper. And the Abraham Lincoln room (Abe -> pennies -> copper) was booked. It just happened to be in the right vicinity.

I really like the Louisville temple. The layout isn't as confusing to me as Chicago. BUT! It's always freezing. This was our second time going there and the second time an older woman near me told me, "I always wear my long underwear and a sweater when I come here." I was debating whether or not to grab my cardigan or not, but that answered that. So, for future reference, dress warm when you're in the Louisville temple!

The last official stop was at Copper Cupcakes. It is in Norton Commons, this adorable little neighborhood. I was in love. I love mixed use neighborhoods. And it seemed like it really was a tight-knit community. We had lunch at the market just up the street from Copper Cupcakes and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. 

Chris said that it was a very climatic weekend. Copper Kettle was alright. The bed and breakfast was good, but lunch and cupcakes were awesome and such a good way to end it.

Despite Kanien's offers to keep Millie Saturday night and return her at church yesterday, after a stop at Trader Joe's we came home and resumed responsibilities as parents. Millie seemed so much bigger and chatty. I think spending lots of time with older kids will do that.

Yesterday at church a friend asked Chris if I did alright without Millie. Chris responded, "I think I had a harder time than Deidra did!" What can I say, I was too busy enjoying the surprise weekend to spend much time worrying. And I knew she was in good hands.

(As for the pennies and the Copper Dog Cafe? Pennies were a red heron. And the Copper Dog Cafe hadn't crossed Chris's radar. If it had, the weekend would have probably stayed closer to home. But it worked out that we headed south near the temple.)

This weekend reminded me so much why I love being married to Chris. He's great at planning surprises (and I'm really good at being unsuspecting). He makes things happen and he always has our marriage at the top of his priority list.

Seven years, no itch. I love my husband!

12 of 12 August

1. Millie tried using my keys as a remote for turning off the lights in the chapel. It didn't work. (But I love that she thought it would.)
2. Remember my first lesson with the Laurels? Today was my last lesson, since the whole YW was reorganized. There were tears. And lots of sad hearts. No new calling yet.
3. Chris canned pickles on Saturday, and they look beautiful. He's the pickle canner at our house.
4. Watching team rhythmic gymnastics. And sad the Olympics are almost over. (Fun fact: Jon and Kanien's friend was a cameraman for rhythmic gymnastics.)
5. Making milk chocolate frosting for zucchini brownies. Yum.
6. The kids next door greeted us every time we left or came home.
7. Claire and Marcella had picked peppers from the garden. Claire dropped hers and Millie quickly claimed it and didn't want to release it.
8. Eating candy off the Wallins' patio. It was spilled at Claire's birthday party the day before and then got wet. I removed the peanut M&Ms and let her go for it. She was a mess when she was done.
9. Walk with the Wallins, Ordynas and Wilsons. There were 13 kids between the four families. (We have one, the Wallins have two....)
10. She loved swinging.
11. Nest necklaces I just need to put on chains and send off.
12. The aftermath of Sunday my wardrobe changes. Sundays are the worst for this.

Heat = No Motivation

Lately I've had no motivation. No motivation for anything but reading, really.

You see, this heat wave/drought we have going on? It's sucked the life out of me. Going outside is torture. Our grass is icky brown. This state I loved for its greenness? It's dead.

Coupled with the fact that it was beautiful while we were in Idaho and Utah earlier this month. Cool nights, mountain air. I forgot how much I love that. (It was 81° this morning when we woke up.) I haven't felt this ready to be out of here/homesick since that first month two years ago. Two years ago(!) It was greener in the middle of the desert than it is in Indiana. The golf course at the country club here is brown. It's just blah. No good.

I know I've complained about the heat and humidity here before (and often), but this is setting records every day. And without storms rolling in to cool down things, it's just been gross. We started full-blown summer in April, so I think I'm ready to be done with it.

Millie and I hunker down in our house. Laundry gets done when we finally need it. The garden gets watered when I convince myself I want to sweat just standing there. And I read and play with Millie. And that's about all that's happening 'round these parts.

Roadtrip from Hell

Oh man. Two weeks ago our little family left early morning for our road trip to Utah. Several months ago an acquaintance (she's in our stake and we played on a city league VB team together two years ago), asked if anyone would be willing to drive out with her and her three kids in exchange for a free ride.

 Life lesson 457: There is no such thing as a free ride.

Starting out and naive.

Things were going pretty well.  The kids were well behaved. Going through their surprises and presents like crazy, but they were good. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop where we about melted into puddles. The temperature was supposed to hit 100° in Lafayette that day and we were all glad to be heading to cooler temps without the humidity.

It took only a few minutes for the red faces and sweat curls to appear during lunch at the rest stop

Stopped again in the early afternoon at another rest stop. Chris drove and I was in the passenger's seat while Jessica was in the back with the kids. The A/C was blowing in hot humid air after the rest stop, but I turned it off and back on and things were good. We passed an electronic billboard that said the temp was 94° with a heat index of 104°. Ewww.

Then, as we were coming up on Omaha the A/C stopped working. First it was coolish but humid. Then it was hot and humid. And all sorts of miserable. Poor little ones in their carseats were being steamed like carrots. We pulled off and there wasn't any coolant in the car. We ran the little ones in the C-Store and bought some coolant. Chris filled it up and we loaded back in the van (no quick process with 4 little ones). I turned on the heater and the temperature dropped like a brick. A/C restored! Hallelujah!

Jessica wanted to get things checked, just for sure. As we were driving to get it checked the van lost power and died in an intersection. Some nice men hopped out and helped Jessica and Chris push while I steered us into a parking stall. The car started so we drove over to a Walmart where we died for good.

I don't want to relive the FOUR hours we spent in Walmart (my own personal hell), but a lot of it was spent trying to figure out what was wrong with the van, what to do, gathering what we needed out, wondering how quickly we'd make it back on the road. A lot of it I got the kids while Chris and Jessica dealt with those details. When we realized we weren't making it to North Platte, NE where we had hotel reservations we canceled those and got a hotel room in Omaha. At the closest hotel. Since you know, we didn't have a car. When we'd grabbed our bags from the van before it was towed we didn't know how long we'd be there. We were all hopeful it would only be a few hours, but grabbed stuff for overnight. If only we'd grabbed our swimming suits! We lived for a couple of hours out of shopping carts full of our luggage, bags and carseats in the McDonalds in Walmart.

Life lesson 895: Don't laugh at others. One day, you just might be The People of Walmart.

We got a couple taxis called and made our way to the hotel (we had the worst cabbie in history and Jessica had the best). The hotel wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst, either. Got two cribs for the two littles who didn't want to sleep in them. Millie ended up spending the night with us. In our full bed. Cozy. (And miserable.)

The shop called in the morning and said the van should be done in four hours. It needed a new water pump. We were excited to be on the road about noon. Jessica got check-out extended until noon. And then the van wasn't done yet. So we moved to the lobby (they wouldn't push back our check-out time any more).

Long story short, the fix-it time kept getting pushed back. Sometimes we'd hear from the shop, but most of the time we just kept waiting and waiting. It took all I had to be somewhat positive. I tried so hard, but it was frustrating. Each of the adults had some moments where we could be fun and keep the kids entertained. We had some dance parties in side hallway, some games, lunch and treats, but there was a huge portion of frustration and annoyance. (Maybe mostly from me? But I don't think so.)

Life in the Lobby. It looks nice enough, but it was hot and the floors were filthy. Filthy floors = filthy kids.

Finally, a little after 4:00 the shop called Jessica to say the van was done and they'd come pick her up. When I got a text from her saying it would be at least 15 more minutes before it was done, I thought I might lose it! But [mostly] kept my cool and it all worked out.

The most frustrating part of this was not knowing when it would be finished. If we'd known from the beginning that it was going to take so long we would have gone to the Omaha Zoo (it's supposed to be a pretty good zoo). But instead we just kept thinking it would be done any minute. That is a state of agony.

We loaded that van as quickly as we could and got on the road. It was disheartening to realize it had been a full 24 hours. So when we drove past North Platte at about 9:00, we all recognized that we should have been there the night before. Spent the night in Laramie, then headed out. Made it to Ogden the next afternoon where we met up with my Mom, Nikkala and Gracie at Target. After a little shopping, huge ice cream bars at Costco, we were on our way.

Finally.

The Suburban had some struggles starting, then Mom said it wasn't responding well. The battery indicator was at zero and we were losing power. I diagnosed it as the alternator, a call to Dad confirmed and we got off the freeway and parked it in the shade with the semis at Flying J in Willard. Nik couldn't get in touch with Chod, Tameka and Ty didn't have a car big enough to fit us. Nik and I took the babes inside and hung out watching the NCAA lacrosse championship game in the truckers lounge.

Nikkala's phone was lighting up like a switchboard. But with all the calling, Tameka made a connection that my Aunt Kathy, Uncle Bret and Baylee were driving home from SLC and just about 15 miles before Willard. They came and rescued Nik, the babes and me and made a detour through Logan to drop us off.

Ty got an alternator (it was about 4:30 on a Saturday), my mom had tools in the Suburban and he came and had it switched out in thirteen minutes. Chris and my mom timed him.

So, a day and a few hours later than planned, we made it to Logan! Sweet relief.

And looking back, it's funny to see how blessed we were. What if Jessica had been by herself? What if we had broken down in the middle of nowhere, not the middle of Omaha? The Robins just happened to be headed our way and Tameka had called Katelin and found it out?

We may have been the joke of the trip; no one wanted to let us in their cars, but we made it and no other cars broke down on the trip.

The flights home were uneventful and reminded me why air travel is my preferred method of travel.