For the past couple of years, we have celebrated Labor Day in Park City at Mountainside.
This year, the offer was extended to us once again.
Of course, Raleigh was totally on board. I, on the other hand was not as spunky or excited about going up there. We were just there for the 4th of July. AND..... I had literally JUST started my new job. I was a bit stressed out over that and packing myself and all three kids up and getting the house cleaned and ready to go on vacation seemed overwhelming to me.
I had to work until 5:00pm on Friday and Raleigh and the kids were waiting for me in the parking lot of my new office and I jumped in the car and we drove 4 1/2 hours to Park City. I thought I was going to be absolutely miserable. But, I wasn't. It was fun and for some reason, my stress level was a 1 out of 10, which was so unlike me.
We arrived at 9:30 and stayed up fairly late talking.
The boys were up before the sun, so excited to play Hobble Creek.
I begged Raleigh to take some picutres.
I am shocked I got these.
They absolutely did not meet expectations.
What would have been better would have been, the two of them standing next to the Hobble Creek sign wearing their "team shirts"
But, NO...
I got these lame and not very flattering photos.... looking like they were having the time of their lives. They were playing with two other guys. Would it have been SO hard to ask them to snap a photo?
MEN....
We had a wonderful weekend and I am so incredibly happy that we drove up there. I didn't worry one minute and I was completly relaxed. I even slept well. It was so good for all of us.
On Saturday, while the boys were golfing at Hobble Creek, Nana and the kids and I had quite the experience getting lunch at a variety of restaurants. The hysterics mostly revolved around Nana and how she goes a tad bit kooky when she drives in Park City, for some unknown reason. I have experienced it TWICE now, so it's definitely a thing. It will be a memory we will not soon forget.
Allie came up later in the day and she and I had a very much needed talk and I am SO glad we did that. It was good for her, and SO good for me. I cried my eyelashes off, but it was worth it. It's hard to be a mom. It's really hard to repent to your child for mistakes you made 15 years ago. I was a complete disaster 15 years ago. I was literally living hour to hour. And I for sure didn't know if I was coming or going. Some of the hours, I managed to make coherent and semi-rational decisions. But for the most part, NO. I am the first to admit, I was the furthest thing from a good mom back then. I was super robotic, just going through the motions, just trying to survive. I was doing the best I could with the mental skills I had at the time.
At this point in my life, thanks to time and big changes and a ton of hard work.... I know better, so I am doing better. I am blessed Allie is giving me an opportunity to do better with her.
I love her.
On Sunday, Kate and Allie came back up and we went to dinner and walked up Main St. It was blazing hot. 2022 has been the hottest on record. Usually when we are up there, we have to wear sweatshirts in the evenings. Not this year. It was in the 90s. That is disappointing.
Of course, we had to rock in the rocking chairs.
Truly my favorite part of Mountainside
Also, on Sunday we spent almost 3 hours researching ansestory.com
It was a blast. Nana found a pioneer relative on her mom's side that she never knew she had.
She wasn't an ordinary woman either. She was pretty incredible.
I also found this picture of my Grandpa Little. My new favorite.
Look at his cute rolled up jeans.
He was not a fashionable guy, but this picture is so great.
While I was inbetween jobs, I was able to take a week off.
It was such a blessing. I spent the days listening to podcasts and doing a bit (actually a lot) of self reflection and research. I took meticulous notes and vowed to make much needed changes in certain areas. I truly feel that I am at a crossroads. I can continue down the same path, it's not a bad one. But if I am really meant to grow and change, I have to choose the road less traveled. It will be hard because change is hard for me. But, I recognize that I need to make several adjustments. It seems like the perfect time, what with my new employment offering me an opportunity to be in a humble/teachable/vulnerable mode anyway... I might as well be in that mode in my personal life as well and just do a makeover altogether.
Walt's freaking watermelon plant is overtaking our entire backyard.
It choked out one of our bushes and we can't get in or out of this gate.
I cannot believe it.
I really hope we have enough time in the season to allow a melon to grow long enough to get to harvesting season. Ryker is going to burst when he sees his first one. I wonder how many we will actually get.
Hot Shots Golf opened in St George this month.
Raleigh, Ryker and I went one Friday night I am really glad Raleigh made me do this.
He is the sexiest golfer/husband in the world
I, on the other hand am ridiculous
And Ryker, poor kid, golfs like he is swinging for the fences and misses the ball 9 times out of ten because the ball is NOT in the strike zone.
My sweet lover. He loves sitting outside on the patio. He takes his iPad out there and plans his lessons or watches football or baseball. I really love him.
The girls had an opportunity to go to the temple.
Nana found some names for them to do.
They had a great experience and it will be fun for Nana to tell them who they did work for and how they fit into our family
The Strength Of The Youth
Oh my word.... this watermelon plant is going to overpower our entire house. I cannot believe the success of this thing.
And then IT happened...
We have fruit people.
I am so relieved. I thought I was going to have to mend a broken heart.
Farmer Walt is the happiest person ever. He goes out and checks on it several times a day.
He has researched the life of a watermelon. And he knows exactly when it will do what and when we need to pull it.
Somehow I managed to not only get myself trapped into being a model in a work photoshoot, but I got Raleigh all involved in it too. It was so super awkward. I am sure every photo is going to be horrible. And they will probably feel like they have to post them, so they don't hurt our feelings and then I will have to die. We had to pretend we were laughing and talking to fake friends. We had to walk to a railing on a balcony, while a drone was filming us, and pretend we were looking out over the lagoon, drinking our fake water while having a fake conversation. Raleigh kept saying things like... "I like your boobs" and "you have a really nice bottom" and I kept laughing. Hopefully a lip reader doesn't see our video and rat us out.
I wore a hat and glasses, so maybe people won't recognize me. So embarrassing.
We were playing pickleball one night and all of the sudden out of nowhere a freaking taratula appeared on the court. It was so GROSS. He just crawled all around like he owned the place. Rals scooped him up in a bowl and took him to the field accross the street. And I have had the oogies ever since.
I cannot believe we have things like that in our vacinity. In all our time here in St. George, we have never seen a scorpion. One time we saw a little black and white harmless snake. That was disgusting. But this was just way too much. I was a bit traumatized.
My new job is going really well. I am settling in. Originally, the plan for me was that I would be in kind of a "training" position until October 1st. That would be one month. I burned through the training modules in 7 work days. I learned SO much. The processes are SO dialed and top of the line and they have done a really good job at training me and I have SO much knowledge and I have grown and changed so much in the past month it's crazy. Anyway, they turned me loose after 2 weeks. And I tried to feel like I didn't know what I was doing, but I actually just fell right into it. It's like riding a bike for me. Pretty freaking fun.
My dad gave me a blessing the night before I started. And MAN.... it has totally helped me. I can feel daily, if not hourly help. I ask every day for that help to continue because I am literally trying to change parts of myself that have been a part of me for a very long time. And they say that changing a bad habit takes 21 days or something. Well, I have been doing this bad habit stuff for a really long time, so it will most likely, in reality, take me 21 months. I totally intend to conquer this though. So with divine help, I am going to persevere. I have been meeting with all of my new homeowners. A couple of them are kind of a big deal.... like well known publicly and slightly famous. One of them inparticular, I am really excited to be friends with.
The kids are kicking butt at school. They are doing really well grade-wise but even better socially and emotionally. I am super proud of all of them. I love getting them ready in the mornings. We have cute conversations, they say the funniest things and they are such good kids. KK is particularly funny. She has very adult humor. She had a crush on the boy across the street a few years ago until he "got all sassy" and she had to cut him loose. And she is a little bit bitter about it. So the other day while I was curling her hair she goes..."Mom, did you know that Jaxon is in the orchestra?" I said "No, I didn't. What instrument does he play?" And she goes.... "I. Do. Not. Know.... probably something super un-impressive like the cow bell"
And I died. She is so funny. Poor Jaxon. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Raleigh continues to kick butt at his job. And his church calling as well. I just love him. He is spectacular. Everyone loves him. We always sit on the back row of the chapel in church.... it's an anxiety thing for me and the family accomidates. But anyway, so everyone has to walk by us at some point and literally EVERY SINGLE MAN that walks by fist bumps him or slaps him on the arm or shakes his hand. They walk past every other man, but when they get to Rals Lund they acknowledge him big time. That is so fun for me. Our Uncle Jamie and Aunt Amy received their mission call this month. They leave on January 1, 2023 and they are serving in London, England for 18 months. SO.... we have decided that we will go over there and visit them before they are released. I am sooooooooo excited that I get to go back. We are already starting to save our money.
Well, this was a pretty great month. It could have gone one of two ways. But it went really well and I couldn't be happier about it. The only complaint I have is.... It is still way too hot. I need it to not be so hot anymore. I have some really cute boots I would like to wear, if you please.
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