The Start of our Summer.

The day the flood began Jesse came home from school and said "Mom, our house looks different." I asked how and he said "It looks like a palace." At the time I had no idea what he meant but a couple of days later I had my Mom and Greg living with us and every once in a while I would look around and think, my house seems bigger than usual. I think Heavenly Father in some way made our house seem larger to accommodate my family.

It's been so nice having my Mom and Greg stay here. Dallas is Jesse's favorite person and Jesse gets to play with him for a bit every day. My Mom is such a helpful person who is always looking for ways to serve. I think those are the best kinds of people in the world. Here are my kids in High River only a week before the flood when Brad was finishing off my Mom's deck. Let's hope it's still there, they get to go back tomorrow!!

More High River pre-flood. Oh how I miss riding my bike and walking down the middle of the road. The freedom!

We will be spending a lot of time there this summer helping with cleanup.

One night after the kids were in bed Brad and I went for a bike ride. It was so fun, even despite all of the mosquitos and the fact that we had to keep turning around when we ran into a large and unexpected puddle of mud/water.

Jesse started reading chapter books and now he's hooked. I didn't realize what a good reader he was so I got him some beginner books but he would finish them in an hour and ask for another one. I'm so excited to find more books for him.

And even though there is a water ban I filled up the pool a little and let the kids splash around. It's been SO hot and it's going to get hotter this week. We are camping in Radium this week and I plan on being by water the entire time. 35 degrees, yikes!

It was strange having the last week of school cancelled for the kids. I can't tell you how much I've looked forward to school ending but it happened so abruptly that I didn't have time to get used to the idea. Either way, I plan on enjoying EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of summer.

Lazy summer, here we come!!!

One for the record books

"Honeybees are driven to pollinate, gather nectar, and condense the nectar into honey. It is their magnificent obsession imprinted into their genetic makeup by our Creator. It is estimated that to produce just one pound of honey, the average hive of 20,000 to 60,000 bees must collectively visit millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around the world. Over its short lifetime of just a few weeks to four months, a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon.

Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey is vital to the life of the hive. The bees depend on each other. Work that would be overwhelming for a few bees to do becomes lighter because all of the bees faithfully do their part."

-Russell M. Ballard

Thoughts on housework

Before I was a Mom I used to let the mess build up until I couldn't stand it anymore. It could get really quite disghusting. And then I would vigorously clean, loud music playing and lots of dancing and singing until it was all done. It was extremely satisfying because when it was done it was finished! Yay!

I became a stay at home Mom and evolved into a house-cleaning fanatic/perfectionist. It wasn't so practical but I put my heart and soul into my homemaking. I would block my housework into days and do it when Jesse slept because otherwise I was entertaining him, and not quit until it was finished. My house was almost always clean and nary a foot would enter my home unless it practically sparkled. It was still satisfying just more constant and bereft of awesome loud music. After my second child, my house was no longer always clean, but I still wouldn't let anyone in without embarrassment unless it was. I also felt frustrated that I couldn't get it clean and it wasn't as satisfying...more "exhausting". And finally after my third child I evolved again to what I am now. I work hard at keeping my house tidy and organized but it is rarely clean. I clean the kitchen after every meal, tidy up a bit and sweep every day, do laundry twice a week (always); clean the bathrooms and wash the sheets weekly (most of the time), vacuum and wash the floors every couple of weeks (sometimes). My house is still generally a mess and I don't care and I especially don't care who sees it. I haven't washed the baseboards in years. Dusting? Who dusts??? Most of the time it's not very satisfying because cleaning is always something I do while I'm doing something else, such as helping with homework or making a snack or holding a child, and it happens in between stuff like running out the door to pick someone up or remembering to make a phone call. Maybe it would be more fun if I could still pump the music and dance away with no distraction. But I stil do it. A lot. It takes up a  huge portion of my day to day life! And then one day someone I admire said to me:

"A clean house is a sign of an empty life."

An empty life. *Sigh* Perhaps, yes. But I love my home to be clean and organized. I love it more than a lot of things. It gives me peace of mind. It makes me feel like everything's under control and my family and I can relax.

If nothing else, I hope I'm creating a home where the lives of my family can be full to the brim.

Next step in the evolution: Empty out those kids' lives a bit and teach them to clean up after themselves because I'm sick of picking up after people all day.