Weekend Welcome

I'm looking forward to the weekend tomorrow, starting at precisely 3:25 pm. Nothing extraordinary planned. Maybe just some Harry Potter reading, a few bike rides and some tennis with #1.

Here are some pictures from last weekend's excursion to the Salt River.

In the spring this rock is nearly covered by water.

"Just be careful and don't get your feet wet!" I yelled from the side.

#3 loves this picture. Perhaps it's her authoritative pose with her arms folded and hip cocked out. And she is towering above her brother and sister. Yep, I'm pretty sure that's why she likes it.

Playing in the cat-tail skeletons. The kids burrowed tunnels and made "homes." This kept them busy for at least an hour. Spouse and I lounged in the warm sun. One of us was reading a Harry Potter book.

"Don't step in the water! Don't..."

Doh!
Two wet sneakers.

family updates and stuff

Between December 22 and now Spouse has worked a total of 5 days. Most of that time off was planned vacation time. What we didn't plan on was pneumonia visiting our house and attacking our breadwinner. I am happy to report that although his violent coughing keeps me up at night, the worst is over and he is back at work.

After #1 and #2 left for school the house seemed very quiet and empty and I realized how much I had enjoyed having Spouse at home (even though he was too sick to be any fun).

Now Spouse has contracted a different kind of bug. The Harry Potter bug! The past couple of months I've been enjoying the Harry Potter series for the first time and now it looks like Spouse is addicted too!

The good thing about reading these books 10 years behind schedule is that I can just read them one after another without having to wait a year between publications. The bad part is that I feel like I came to the party after the pinata has already been cracked; the cultural excitement has all but died out.

I've been doing an OK job at my new year's focus (feeling joy). A few days ago I caught myself imagining what it would be like to live in a bigger house. So I decided to try to think how my tiny house is a joy to me.

1) There is a lot less to keep clean.

2) When I tell people I vacuum twice a day, it sounds really impressive. (But it's not. Read: the house is tiny)

3) Everything I need is always within a few paces away. It makes collecting and distributing laundry a cinch.

4) I have enough furniture to fill it.

5) I am forced to keep things organized.

6) Because I know that anything I buy I have to find a place for, I buy less.


See? Not so bad, huh? I bet you're all wishing for a small house now.



Hmmm. What else can I add to this most random post of mine? A picture? Ok, you got it.

JLJ 2.011 (and a late and short Christmas re-cap)

I'm not making a list of resolutions for this year. There is just one. Joy. This year I'm focusing on feeling joy, thinking positively and smiling and laughing more, even if it gives me more wrinkles. I'm not talking about pleasure. Hopefully, I'll have some in 2011. But I'm talking about a shift in attitude, a change in the way I internalize my life.

I've never been a fan of the glass-half-full-or-half-empty model. I'm too practical. If it's less than 50% full it is half empty and no positive attitude is going to change that fact. It's senseless to me to try to see things differently than what they really are.

I guess I'm concerned with what I do with (or how I feel about) whatever is in my glass. And this year (and hope for the rest of my life) I am going to choose to not just accept the fullness of my glass, but find joy in it.

And I'm really, really hoping that regardless of it's fullness that glass has Diet Coke in it.

Now for the late and short Christmas re-cap

Little angel, #3 dressed for her part in the Christmas Eve nativity pageant. Oh and just to inform you so the rest of my pictures make sense: We broke with our stay at home in AZ for Christmas resolution and drove (with a VERY large roof bag) to Northern Utah to be with family. And although we got plenty of snow while we were there, we drove on clear, safe roads :)

Buster sitting on Santa's lap at Grandma's Christmas Eve party. Isn't he a wonderful Santa? You can't tell very well in this picture, but his suit was gorgeous and his black boots were shiny with real reindeer spurs.


#1 and #3 on Christmas morning at Nana at Papa's house. We shared Nana and Papa with 5 other cousins. What could have been a chaotic morning was actually relatively tame and very, very fun.

Aaah, the Christmas afterglow.







And now, my gift to you:

Happy New Year! What are you resolving this year?