Back on the Home Front

Well, we made it home, safe and sound. The weather was great for traveling and we were able to spread things out by splitting up the driving between 3 days. We left Riverside Saturday afternoon and spent that night with our friends, The Trout's, in Henderson Nevada. We had a nice visit with them Saturday evening and Sunday morning, then went with them to sacrament meeting before getting back on the road. Before leaving Nevada, we drove through to the North end of Las Vegas to visit our friends The Sprouls, who moved there from our neighborhood a couple years ago. We had just a short visit there and then drove the 100 miles or so to St. George, where we stayed Sunday night at a condo. Of course, the kids LOVED the condo. Even better, this time, we were on the bottom floor and the playground was right out our back door! Once the kids were up and dressed Monday morning, they were able to run out and play while I got things packed up again. We left the condo just after noon and filled up with gas at Costco. Then, before leaving town, we stopped in at the local Deseret Industries, just in case there was anything we "needed." We found 3 pairs of PJ pants for the girls to share, a nice fleece sweater for Alexia, a "basketball" shirt for Austyn, a new toaster oven and a massaging foot bath (for those kids who always wake up with growing pains in the middle of the night). Oh yeah, we also found a dress for Adalyn and a little care bear. So, by about 2:30 we were finally on the road home. We made it to Orem, and Mary & Frank's place, by 5:45, just in time for dinner. We were there for just an hour and then finished our trip home, arriving just before 8:00.

So, for the most part, it is nice to be home. Nice to be back in My office on My computer in my nice comfortable office chair. Glad to be back with my big boys. However, not so glad that it is 8 degrees at night and only up to 23 degrees during the day. Way Too Cold!!! A little disappointed that the clean house I was promised, consisted mostly of just a clean living room and kitchen. Not that I don't appreciate that, it's just hard to remember the nice parts when there are piles of not so nice junk in the other rooms of the house, as well as pieces of the vacuum in the tub and an unfinished bathroom project that was also going to be "completed" by the time we got back. Maybe our extra 2 weeks away just was not enough time. Don't get me wrong, Ryan did work hard on the projects at hand, but sometimes he just gets carried away in his improvements and doubles the size of the once small project. (Example: Instead of just patching the wall and re-hanging the towel bars, Ryan decided to cut a much larger hole in the bathroom wall so he could reinforce it with a board, so the towel bar will not pull out again. Which is a great idea, just bad timing.)

So, I have spent much of the last couple days slowly unpacking our stuff from our trip and organizing the other stuff around here. I resorted the clean laundry and paired up some socks. I removed all the large tools from the game cupboard and drawers and put them in a separate container, thus leaving the space available for our Games. Much Nicer! The vacuum parts have been removed from the tub and the bathroom walls and counters wiped free of all the "sanding" dust as we prepare to paint. I also took down the Christmas tree and most of the decorations. I dusted the piano and replaced the pictures that had been displaced by my stereo, which had been displaced by the Christmas tree, which was now put away, so everything is back in its place. I made a much needed trip to Costco Wednesday afternoon, picking up some dog food, butter and milk. (Just the basics.) I also made a short trip to WalMart, for apple juice and cereal. We also needed bread, but anything of any substance (100% whole wheat) was too expensive, so I opted against that purchase and we headed home. Needing bread and not wanting to venture to anymore stores, I decided to make some. This particular batch turned out quite nice and light (why doesn't it Always turn out this good?) so I was quite pleased with my accomplishment for the day.

The only thing I have not done much of this week is work, which I am sure I will be feeling come next payday. Work availability has still been low and as I have been playing catch-up on everything around here, I have not been making an extra effort to try to get my full-time load each day. Today looks to be more of the same, though I have made some progress. Unfortunately, with the low availability of work, I will not be able to make up for lost hours over the weekend. :-(

The kids go back to school next Tuesday and they are actually looking forward to that. So am I!!

While we were in California, Ryan signed Andrew up for the Cyprus Swim Team. They practice 4 days a week, which will be good for exercise during these winter months. Thankfully the high school, where they practice, is only about 2-1/2 blocks away, so Andrew can walk there if the weather isn't too bad.

This weekend we will go to Mary & Frank's for a birthday party for Anna and Rob. Anna just turned 5 two weeks ago and Rob turned 3 this past Tuesday. So far the weather outlook for Saturday is favorable for a drive, hopefully it will stay that way.

Things should be back to the norm around here by next Tuesday, and I think we are all ready for that! As for now, Adalyn is climbing onto my lap and pulling me from my computer, so it must be time for lunch and a nap.