We're back!

We are back in town. Although I should qualify that by saying that my physical being may be home but I think I left my mind somewhere on the 9 hour road trip! Hopefully I will recover enough to muddle through the next few busy days and post some pics from Mema's birthday. Until then I am off to vegetate...

Too many rocks in my wagon

It is one of those days when I think I have put too many rocks in the wagon that I am struggling to drag uphill. But of course my stubbornness stops me from taking any out as I may need those rocks some day!

I feel like I have been going nonstop since we got back from Boise on Saturday and I am pretty sure that between mission team meetings, ballet, volunteering at school, trying to fit in training for my walk, catching up on laundry and getting ready to head out of town again on Sunday I am not going to find much downtime in the next few days. I guess it beats being bored, though, and when all is said and done I wouldn't have it any other way. After all, it is in my nature to fill every vacant spot in my calendar so it doesn't make much sense to complain when it is full, does it?

I am off to fold laundry and watch some quality television programming (maybe my soap opera or Real Housewives of Orange County). I do always manage to find time to squeeze in a little reality TV!

Meeting Oliver...

Jeremiah and Mesha came to Boise today and Grant and I got to meet cousin/nephew Oliver today and he is a cutie! It is already hard for me to imagine that Grant was ever that little. And Cheryl flew back in this evening, so we are enjoying some time all together before Grant and I head back home tomorrow. We have had a lot of fun here but it will be nice to get back home and see Aaron and Bryn!

Hanging in Boise

Grant and I are still hanging out with Dad in Boise. We are basically just chilling out and going on a daily outing (bookstore, Walmart, grocery store) to get Dad walking on his knee.

And in Grant news...we had an almost official crawl. He is not quite up on hands and knees, but he is doing a variation on an army crawl/scoot so I think he is on his way! And his second bottom tooth finally broke through. Boy, they grow up fast!

Book Reviews

I am finally going to review some books I have read for Annie's What's in a Name 2 Reading Challenge. I am not going to give away the endings of any of these books so my reviews are short and sweet...

First up is Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. This book fits the "time of day" category. I am pretty sure that the last thing anyone needs is another review of any of the books in the Twilight series, so I will make it brief. I got the Twilight books for Christmas and obviously liked them as I read them all by the beginning of February! I must say that I was ever so slightly disappointed after reading the first one...not because it wasn't a great book, but because my expectations were so high due to the hype around this series. I did enjoy the way the final book wrapped everything up and would recommend any and/or all of these books.

Second up is my book for the "relative" category, The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. This book was recommended to me by a friend from college who works for Scholastic books and is an avid reader so i figured I'd enjoy it. I did! The book is set during the Salem witch trial era and the main character is a young girl whose mother is put on trial and imprisoned as a witch. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but I think the most interesting and frightening aspect of this book was how it took only one disgruntled neighbor or family member to accuse a person of witchcraft and send them to prison. Not really an uplifting book but very much worth a read.

Third and last is my book for the "medical condition" category Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. This was a fun and relatively "fluffy" read about a modern day girl from L.A. (who is obsessed with Jane Austen) who wakes up one morning to find herself inhabiting the body of a young lady during Jane Austen's time. As Courtney comes to terms with the fact that she is stuck in a new body in a time with new rules and much less freedom she has many adventures including running into Jane Austen herself. I have to admit that I have never read a single Jane Austen book and I therefore likely missed a lot of the finer nuances in this book but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

As Seen on TV

Dad and I hit Bed, Bath and Beyond today and got sucked in by the As Seen on TV wall...I was extremely surprised to find out that the Smooth Away pads actually do remove hair! Now hopefully I just won't wake up with some horrendous rash from smoothing my hair away! We also purchased a couple of other items but I can't tell what they are as someone is going to be getting them as birthday gifts soon!

Out west...

Grant and I are in Boise taking care of the house and dad after his knee surgery while Cheryl is in Memphis with Mema. We had our first day of horse, dog and cat duty...everyone is still kicking so I think it is going well so far. The plumber did have to come and fix a leak in the upstairs toilet so I am already breaking the house!

Aaron and Bryn are at home and I am betting they will get their fill of Mario Kart while I am gone! Miss you guys!