Change

Have you ever wondered about the way things change? I like for things to stay as they are. It’s comfortable. It makes me feel safe and warm and content. I like my house… I think I’ve always been a home body at heart. I do get the urge to get out and see people, after being in my house all day, every day, for a few days at a time. But I always get the happy, fuzzy feeling when I know it’s a “housework day” and I get to stay home all day long. And yes, I have done a lot of hard things in my life that involve change. I’ve survived and have even bettered myself because of the things I’ve had to leave my comfort zone to do. But still. I’d still rather stay in that comfort zone.

Lately I’ve been struggling with a part of my life that has changed. I have a friend who at one time I thought I would be close to forever, but we grew distant. And for a while, I was OK… I thought it was just a dry spell and that we’d pick up where we left off sooner or later. I was wrong. It had been a while since I’d talked to this friend when I decided to give them a call, and the conversation was extremely awkward. I found myself not knowing what to say and felt like my friend was struggling too. I hated it. For the past year or so, I have thought about my friend throughout the day, every day, and can’t seem to get over the idea that we will probably never be close again. I have thought long and hard about conversations that we’ve had, and wondered if I said something to make my friend feel distant from me, which then makes me wonder why they wouldn’t confront me about the so-called thing that I’d said. I feel that too much time has gone by now and that the window of opportunity for us to reconnect has long since passed. My friend is married now, which is an amazing thing, but just makes me feel like it’s one more thing keeping us from reuniting. I know my friend has other friends who they are closer to, and that hurts. I try not to feel jealous… just envious that our relationship didn’t get to that level.

Sometimes I wonder what it was I was supposed to learn from having this short friendship. What were they supposed to help me learn? How am I supposed to grow without the good feelings I had while friends with this person? And how could I possibly feel so close to my friend while they didn’t reciprocate the feeling? I just don’t get it. I have been invited to family functions, graduations and wedding receptions of their siblings. I invited my friend and their parents to my own wedding and reception, high school graduation, baby showers, lunch dates, and more. And it’s not that I expect “things” in return- I don’t. I just thought that there was more to the relationship. I don’t know how to get over this. And I miss my friend.

Scott’s Bottom

Last Thursday, on a whim, we decided to take a drive. So we called up my SIL Rachel and she and Naomi, and their giant lab Brutus, came too! We dropped Haylie off at school, jumped in the suburban and we were off! It was a bit of a rough drive out there, but SO worth it! The river was so shallow that we could all walk across to this little island. Except Maggie. She wasn’t havin’ any of it!

SO she just sat in the sand and watched all that was going on around her.

Cousin Naomi joined in on the fun. But she had other things on her mind, and didn’t last very long just sitting in the sand…

It took Lady about 5 years to where she wouldn’t run off, the first chance she got. She’ll be 6 years old in November, and she has become a wonderful family dog. She loves to explore and she will go for little adventures, but doesn’t go too far. She was completely in her element down at the river… all of the dogs were. So many smells = Beagle Heaven!

Oh… Connor. Why, why, why?
I don’t know if it’s a phobia or what, but Connor won’t wear wet clothes. So when he immediately took his shoes and socks off and started wading through the river, I had to wonder at the way his brain was working. Sure enough, as soon as he realized that he had to get OUT of the water and put his socks and shoes back on, he FREAKED. We all know how hard it is to put clothes when our skin is wet… aye, aye, aye. In these kinds of situations, I (usually, unless Joe isn’t there) quietly make my exit and Joe handle it. Luckily there was lots to see and do, so it kept Connor’s mind off of his wet pants.

More of Maggie… the colors in this little shirt just popped with the greens, blue and browns in the background. Plus, she’s cute. :) Maybe I’m biased…

Guess who!

OK, so maybe the water wasn’t so bad… unfortunately, these little pants are hand-me-downs (Thanks Rachel!) and are a little too big, so she got soaked. Especially when Lucy came running and knocked her flat. THAT went over well…

Time to dry off! Maggie lost the wet pants and muddy shoes, Naomi lost the jacket and we started exploring!

And then Brutus and Lucy realized that they both like to run! Well, mostly Brutus was just chasing Lucy… notice here how they’re stopped? Lucy is giving him the look. You know the one- tilted head and arched eyebrow… “THE look.”

Still thinkin’ about it…

I guess he didn’t get the memo. She’s all out TICKED, here. See how’s he’s leaning to the side? She had just barked at him right before I took this picture and he’s ready to bolt!

I can’t wait to go back!

The boy is in preschool…

Someday I hope to get a picture that has the smile from the first and the eyes from the second. For now, this will have to suffice.

Sometimes I worry about this one… he is a huge momma’s boy and homebody. Recently, both he and Haylie started swimming lessons. Haylie got moved up to Level 2 while Connor will stay in Level 1. After he realized that he will be in the class all by himself, he told us that he doesn’t want to go anymore. I think it will be really good for him to do some things on his own and to take directions from a teacher(s) without Haylie around, but at the same time it KILLS me to see him anxious and nervous. So far, he is loving preschool though! He is getting to do some fun crafts and other activities… and meanwhile, Maggie goes down for a nap while he is at preschool, so I get some peace and quiet to do whatever I want! I think this is going to be a really long year, but I am grateful for all of the chaos to keep me busy. Hopefully I won’t be able to dwell on how hard life is right now…

GRAMMA JACKIE CAME!

Woohoo! And I didn’t take any pictures until she was almost gone. :( We walked down the bike path to the mountain bike park (about a half mile or so). The kids love going down there and REALLY wanted to show Gramma Jackie. I had just had very minor toe “surgery,” if you want to call it that, so I was a little unsure of how it would feel, but it was fine!

I got almost  three pictures of Haylie, and this is about as good as it gets! That girl was all over the place. And when she was tired of riding her bike, she ran around the whole park (literally) non-stop, which is probably a good half to 3/4 of a mile total. If this girl doesn’t run cross country or do track, or both, in middle and high school, I will be shocked!

See? What’d I tell ya’?

Woohoo!! Here it is! The only picture we got with Gramma Jackie, and she’s not even looking at the camera. :( Oh well… at least we have proof, right?

(Sorry about this next picture.. I couldn’t get the editing right.) We had Joe’s parents for dinner on Sunday, and then after we all drove up the mountain and walked a little bit. Gramma Jackie WAS there, I promise.

Look what she brought me! A set of work bowls from Williams-Sonoma! I love them! Thanks Momma.

We also did this! It took us two days but it was SO fun! Mom brought a bunch of produce from home, including a big box of Gala apples from Larry… Thanks Larry! You wouldn’t believe the difference in taste of apples right off the tree to apples in a Wyoming grocery store… yuck! We are LOVING having a little piece of home. :)

We feel so blessed to have had her here, all to ourselves for 5 whole days. I don’t know what I would have done without her… I never had a dirty dish in the sink, never had any dirty laundry or dirty floors, and she took care of all the meals including on the day that I had my little toe “procedure.” :) She took Haylie to school in the morning and picked her up in the afternoons. She took Connor on errands. She made sure Joe had food in his belly before he had to go to bed at 5 and we watched chick flicks EVERY NIGHT. We are missing her terribly. Christmas is a very long ways away…

Bear Lake, UT

Joe used to go to Bear Lake for scouting trips when he was a kid, so it was fun to see a place where he spent some of his childhood!

I just couldn’t resist…. this picture is hilarious!

And we got this swimsuit from my SIL… looks SO cute on Maggie.

Connor, being the Nervous Nelly that he is, wasn’t too sure about being buried in the sand, but when we finally convinced him that he would be able to get out all by himself, he was good to go!

Haylie, on the other hand, was all for it!

Shocked?

Connor just asked me if this is his daddy. No, Connor, it is not. Although, I think Joe may have been a little jealous… his mountain man side was longing to be set FREEEEEE!

Joe was inside the gas station when I spotted this handsome hunk… he didn’t see me taking pictures of his backside, but his friend did. I was a little embarrassed. But come on… chances are slim that I’ll ever see a real live human dressed like an Indian (and driving a car). :/ At least he’s fit, right? We later learned that this guy, and his equally authentically dressed wife and kids were headed to the “Mountain Man Rendezvous” in Fort Bridger. The reason we know this, is because we went to the “Mountain Man Rendezvous” in Fort Bridger. And we saw MANY MANY more people dressed this same way.

(Sorry for the “bu-thigh” shots.)

Ulrich’s Fossil Gallery

Over Labor Day weekend, we got ditched. Joe’s sister Rachel and her family ditched us, his parents ditched us… so we had to make the best of it. And we survived. It was actually a lot of fun… Joe had 2 days off of school so we had lots of time to play! On Saturday we took a drive to Bear Lake, UT. On the way, we saw this sign that said, “Fossil Butte.” We didn’t actually make it to Fossil Butte, but we did spend about an hour at Ulrich’s Fossil Gallery.

The Ulrich’s (I’m guessing) live in this gigantic house/fossil gallery. Up those stairs, through the door and up some more stairs to the right is the gallery. They have some fossils that are millions of years old… they were incredible! The left side of the house with that little sunroom, is where they live. We didn’t meet “Mr. Ulrich” but his wife was SO sweet. She told us all about the fossils and how they started their business… amazing.

This dinosaur fossil is displayed right outside their home… Connor was in awe!

The Ulrichs have some employees who take tourists up to the mines to look for their own fossils. When they come back, they unload them all, and turn on their electric saw and then cut off the edges and whatnot to make it square. The pile of rock on the left side of the picture is where they throw all of the extras. Mrs. Ulrich gave each of the kids a hammer and chisel to look for their own fossils right outside the house. I can’t believe how interested both Haylie and Connor were in this… It was like 600 degrees in the shade, and we still spent a good 45 minutes splitting rock. And the coolest part was that we got to bring all of the fossils that we found, home!

This is the one Connor found… cool huh?!

Poor little orphan Maggie.

Pure…

…silence.

For a minute anyway. It was one heavenly minute though, let me tell you!

(more to come on the “Bear Lake” part of the trip)