No Regrets

As I sit here writing this last blog posted from Price, I feel somewhat like Old Mother Hubbard; my cupboards are bare, my closets are empty, and the windows stare at me like vacant eyes. Tonight we are packing up our memories, ending our Price story. Tomorrow we begin a brand new chapter of our lives in St. George. I have to admit it's a little bit daunting to leave what we know and head off into the unknown.

I've had time the past few weeks to reflect about this change, and one vein of thought keeps pulsing through my head. Did I do enough while we were here? Has anyone's life changed because of my actions or example? I have to admit that I have been content to just sit back this year and let others get involved, content to cheer from the sidelines. There were so many things I planned to do - teach piano lessons again, befriend a crippled neighbor who lives next door, invite the family across the street for a BBQ and game night. And suddenly, there is only one tomorrow left and no time to follow through with my good intentions.

As the insurance commercial states: life comes at you fast. There are no guarantees, no status quo. Things can change quickly; an unexpected move, the loss of health, the demise of a loved one. We can't predict what will happen - we can only live the best we can and make sure that we treasure each moment, doing what we can while we still have TODAY.

I love the phrase Carpe Diem - seize the day. As I leave tomorrow with unfinished plans, I am determined to have no regrets in the future. I challenge each of you to do the same :)

Oh, The Shame of it All!!

This picture of Bronson and Krissia was taken on our Stake Temple Day, held almost three weeks ago. I love it, but that's not the reason for this blog.

In preparation for our move in a couple of days, DEl and one of his college students drove two of our cars down to Hurricane yesterday and are coming home with my father-in-law's truck and cattle trailer this morning. This leaves us with only one car, and two high schoolers that needed a ride to school this morning.

My day is pretty full with packing, cleaning, and other obligations, but I thought I could spare 15 minutes with the right planning. I got up a little earlier than usual so I could be dressed and ready, and woke Mathison up early to take him with us.

This was the kind of thanks I got. As I pulled up in front of Carbon High, I noticed Bronson was slouched in the front seat. Before I could ask him what was wrong, he asked,"You're dropping us off in the front?!"

"Yes," I answered hesitantly, wondering what I'd done wrong.

"This is so embarassing!!" Bronson exclaimed. Krissia agreed emphatically. We were boxed in by OTHER parents who were dropping off their kids, so I couldn't move even if I'd wanted to. There was nothing for my teenagers to do but (gulp) exit the minivan in front of the school in full view of their peers.

You're welcome, kids. And tomorrow, we'll slink around to the back side of the school and save you the humiliation of having a parent drop you off!!

The Great Mystery

I just packed up the closets in the laundry room, and this was lurking on the top shelf:

That's right...a large basket of unmatched socks.

I've checked drawers, moved furniture, searched nooks and crannies - and no mates have appeared.

This also happened last year as we moved - a huge pile of single socks with not hide nor hair of their mates.

So....where do all the lonely socks go?

If you can solve this mystery, you're smarter than I am!

A HUGE Sigh of Relief

I've been wanting to write this post for three weeks, the one that says we've finally found a house to move into!

As many of you know, DEl was offered the position of the Dean of Students at Dixie College. For those of you who hadn't heard.....surprise! His starting date is October 1st. We feel that this is a great opportunity for us; it's the next step DEl needs to take in his career and we will be much closer to our families. However, we've had a great year in Price and it will be hard to walk away from the many friends we have made.

Anyway, we weren't anticipating having difficulty finding a place to live in St. George because it's such a buyers market right now. Yet, it seemed that everything we looked at was either too small, too big, too expensive, no yard, in the wrong area, etc. Or, if it met our criteria, it wouldn't be available to move into for several months. DEl and I traveled down to Washington County on three separate occasions and came back each time feeling frustrated and confused. In the meantime, the clock was ticking - our deadline to move out of our current house is Sept. 27th.

Finally, things fell into place yesterday with one of the houses we'd seen and actually really liked. It is located in the new Desert Hills subdivision in Bloomington Hills - in fact, it's just up the street from the brand new Desert Hills High School, the school we were wanting to get Bronson and Krissia enrolled at. There are lots of families there, and our backyard opens up to a hill that is BLM land.

This certainly has been a test of our faith, but we're confident that house and neighborhood will be a great fit for our family!

Sweet Innocence

In a day where children seem to grow up much too quickly, it's nice to know that there are many things that my 11 year old is naive about.

Tonight at dinner, Krissia was flipping through a fashion magazine when she stopped at a particular page and stared at the model. Making a face, she said that she thought that the girl in the picture looked like she was stoned. Bronson took a look and agreed.

Of course, Jefferson had to look too.

"Yep, she looks stoned to me," he said.

Krissia and Bronson started to laugh, teasing Jefferson by saying that he didn't even know what the term "stoned" meant. Jefferson emphatically said he did, and offered this explanation:

"You know, like in the Bible where people are getting stones thrown at them."

None of us offered the real definition - we were too busy laughing :)

Retraction

I'd like to print a retraction regarding the "One Terrific Toddler" post.

The title should read "Toddler Troubles" or "Terrible Toddler Talks Back".

Case in point:

Two days ago, we were staying in Hurricane for a quick overnighter while we did some house hunting. As I was getting Mathison's playpen ready for him to sleep in, I noticed he was messing around with a heating unit mounted into the wall. I asked him to stop a few times, but he ignored me.

Frustrated, I said in my meanest, firmest voice, "I SAID NO!"

He turned away from the wall unit, looked me straight in the eye and replied, "I said YES!"

We're headed for big trouble when he turns two!

The Fairest One of All

Well, at least for Carbon County.

Krissia was recently selected as Carbon County's Outstanding Teen. The Outstanding Teen Pageant is directly affliated with the Miss America System, and Krissia will be competing for the state title on October 4th in Provo. So, consider this your official invite! The pageant will be held at the Covey Center, and tickets are $12.

Wouldn't you know that the pageant is being held a few days after our move to St. George. That's life.....our life, anyway!

My Cheatin' Husband

No, this is not a title to a country song or anything associated with what that might imply. Rather, I caught my husband doing something that he claims to NEVER do - cheat at games.

Actually, this heinous crime took place at the Beatty Family Reunion. Those of you who were there might remember when we were separated into two teams and each team member had a bag with a mystery activity inside....well, it was near the end and Team 1 (my team) was slightly ahead when Katie and DEl came head-to-head. Their activity was to chew and COMPLETELY swallow 4 pieces of Starburst. Even though Katie began first, DEL managed to complete this task in near record time, giving his team the edge - and ultimately first place. Afterwards, Katie asked me how DEl had finished so quickly.

"Well, he has a bigger mouth and really strong jaws," I replied.

Gullible me.

The real reason came out last week, when DEl was recapping the relay with one of his acquaintances and PROUDLY let it slip that he had actually only swallowed part of the Starbursts - he'd hidden the other half of the candy glob on the top of his mouth!

Should I be surprised?

No, I understand the competitive drive to cheat, and have done so a time or two myself.

But at least I'll admit to it!

Notice

NOTICE: Child laborer for hire. Male Caucasian, age 21.5 months. Works very quickly, no supervision required.

Will work for juice and crackers. Specializes in fruit picking. Here is just a SMALL sample of his handiwork:

Warning: Calls green tomatoes "apples", refuses to stop picking when you tell him to, cannot tell ripe produce from unripe!!!!!