Monthly Update...

After church on Mother's Day, we found out that Dale's parents were in West Valley City. We thought, "Hey, that's only three and a half hours away. Let's go visit with them!" And so, we did. We left at 2 in the afternoon and got home around midnight. Dale's parents were staying with his brother Charles and his family. His in-laws live close and have a veritable zoo at their house, so they decided to spend the day there. The kids loved seeing the animals--there were al pacas, llamas, camels, ponies, miniature horses, goats (including fainting goats), pigs, a yak, cows, chickens, geese, and rabbits. The camel in the picture with Dale was especially friendly and tried to give us kisses several times. He loved to follow everyone around.

Elora is on the verge of an obsession over My Little Ponies, so of course, her favorite animals were the ponies!

Kydee made friends with the horses that were generally known to be unfriendly and people-shy. She was quite proud of herself!

Dalan loved the little baby goats and they loved him. They would let him pick them up and pet them and they followed him all around the yard.

Elias' favorite animals were the chickens for two reasons. First, they were smaller than he was; and second, they were in a fenced yard so they couldn't get to him. The other animals, he was rather nervous about. (Although, by the end of the day, he decided the dogs and baby goats weren't so bad.)

Well, I've just realized that another month has gone by without me updating my blog. Why am I so bad at this??? Oh well!

It's almost two in the morning and I'm having some very pell-mell, helter-skelter thoughts, so I'm going to ramble. I was just thinking about how much I HATE being cold and how ironic it is that I live in Idaho and that I'm not looking forward to being here for at least 3 more winters. (Okay, let's face it; living in Idaho is like having 3 seasons of winter, so it's more like I'll be living through 9 more winters here! Ugh!) That reminds me of our yard (winter-snow-outside-yard, follow me?) and how much work I want to do out there. I want to build a patio and rock walkway, a play area, and some raised gardening beds so that I don't have to deal with weeds. Then I'm left wondering why I want to do all this, since it's only warm enough to go outside for 4 months of the year!

Oh, and speaking of pointless things, I was just thinking about cleaning my house. Sometimes I wonder why I bother, until I have a day like today. I spent most of the day in my room cleaning and sorting drawers and miscellaneous boxes and piles. Mom, you'll be glad to know that I've turned into you! I can't believe how much junk I found! It did feel good to get rid of stuff, come up with an organizational plan, and put the things that I kept away. It was just depressing that it literally took my entire day.

Which leads me to my next thought (depressing, taking a dang long time) about the computer! I just spent the last five hours on the computer transferring photos from our old computer to our new one, sorting through those pics, creating photo playing cards for Christmas presents (I had a coupon code that expires tomorrow), and checking email and facebook. It took forever! and now I feel guilty for wasting so much time!

I feel guilty a lot about my time. It seems like no matter what I choose to do with my time, I feel guilty for not doing something else. For example, when I clean my room, I feel guilty for not cleaning the rest of the house because that's what everyone sees, so why should I worry about my room?! When I clean the rest of the house, I feel guilty for not spending time with my kids having fun or teaching them things. When I spend time with my kids, I feel guilty for not working on the yard, or cleaning out the van, or cleaning the house, or making a nutitious, gourmet meal for dinner! Am I the only mom out there that's this crazy? I really hope not, but when I tell Dale about it, he just shakes his head and either gives me a look that tells me I am crazy, or he says I need to just be happy with whatever I choose to do!

Man, I am hungry! That happens to me whenever I stay up past 11:30. I try to go to bed and just hurry and fall asleep, but without fail, I have to get up and have some toast or cereal. (That's another thing that Dale thinks is wack-o about me--he says eating after 11pm is just plain weird.) Maybe it's because my mom always asked us if we needed something to eat before we went to bed, so I have this subconcious need to eat before I can sleep. (Yes, mom; I really can blame you for all my problems!)

Okay, I'm tired and hungry, so I'm going to sign off for tonight, or should I say for this morning, seeing that it's now 2:15am?

Moms, good luck out there! I appreciate all your stories of messes and mistakes because it helps me realize that I'm not alone. I hope that this little blog session where I just wrote whatever came into my mind helped you smile. (Heck, you were probably laughing at what a nutcase I am!) I look forward to reading about your misadventures!