Grateful Sunday

A big week of gratefuls:

• I'm done with school!!!! I am a graduate!!!! So unbelievably grateful for the opportunity to go, to finish, for the support I got from everyone, but especially from Aaron and the kids - I have an amazing family!
• Clearly, I'm grateful for exclamation points.
• So thankful for Laurel and her kindness - sharing her Primary treat with Henry because he didn't get one. Actually, all my kids and their little kindnesses this week.
  
• James told me I was his best friend. Can't beat that.
• A week at my parents' house - the fair, friends, fun and air conditioning. And cool Uncle Robby on Friday before we left.
  
• A lovely thunderstorm that cooled things off last night. It was miserable (90 degrees inside the house!). I slept so well.
• Classic children's literature - Laurel and I finished reading "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" yesterday and, as promised, she got to watch the movie. She loved both and wants to read more.

Have a great week!

Grateful Sunday

Grateful for:

• Amazing speakers in sacrament meeting. Really, we have a great ward here in Moscow and I've been inspired so many times. Today, I came to some conclusions and decisions that have been weighing on me and I feel so peaceful about them. I love that!
• My hard-working law student - he's more organized than ever, he's motivated and he's ready. Wish I could be around this week (more on that later), but I know he'll do well and get his routine established.
• My awesome kids - I just love them - their creativity, their friendships with each other, their interest in all sorts of things. Life is good in the Tracy household.
• The prospect of a week at Gran and Opa's house while they tear up the carpet/flooring in our living room/dining room/kitchen/office. I'd rather not be around, keeping four kids out of their way, thanks. So we get to go play at sprinkler parks and go to the fair and hang out, do some shopping and just have fun. It's going to be great! And then we get to come home to new carpet and flooring (and hopefully not much mess!).
• My Gran - she's been on my mind a lot lately. I think about her almost every day - something will just remind me of her and, rather than getting sad, I'll smile, knowing she's still there, still the same Gran. Love her and I do miss her. I hope she's teaching my baby girl her tricks.

Have a lovely week!

Real Friend or Fake Friend?

Uh-oh, Jennie is waxing philosophical. It's what you get when I've got pregnancy induced insomnia. Can't sleep, so I start thinking.

I want to be a better friend. (And no, this is not fishing for comments on how I already am).

Let me 'splain.

I've been a member on a web board that is mostly women. I usually just go on there for the pregnancy thread and it's pretty supportive. Sometimes I post my own questions, start my own threads. It's here that I find out I really, truly have nothing in common with these strangers. Because no matter how well I think I know them, no matter how personal they might get in describing pregnancy woes, when I find out what they really believe about other things important to me, I find myself feeling rather lonely. Facebook is kinda the same way - I have "friends" on Facebook, but sometimes I go through the list and say "Really? Is that person really a friend or just someone I met and now we're connected in some way?" It's even stranger when you are Facebook friends with someone from church whom you rarely talk to in person. That's weird to me.

I don't know if this comes from moving around so much and finding it difficult to make friends over and over. Oh, I'm friendly at church. I like people. But we're talking kindred spirits here. I've gotten lucky a few times. I'm content knowing that it might not happen again.

I suppose it comes from failure, thus far, in Moscow to make a friend. I go to playgroup and Relief Society meetings and ward activities. I chat with other moms. But I have yet to meet someone who I'd call up and want to hang out with for an afternoon. Doesn't mean I'll stop trying, but it is slightly discouraging. I've tried to not limit myself to just law school wives or other student families. There are some potential buddies out there, but it's going to take some more time.

This is starting to sound like I'm depressed. I am definitely not - in fact, it makes me so grateful for the awesome friends I have. My Mom, who tolerates my phone calls several times a week. Adrienne, Rebecca, Aunt Annette, Rachel. Just wish they weren't all long-distance friendships! But I love you all the same and can't wait to see you again!

So, here's to better friendships, and real ones at that!

Happy Two!

It's my Henry's birthday today! We celebrated last weekend with Gran and Opa and had such a great time eating pizza and cupcakes.

First, you should know Henry LOVES Cookie Monster. As these cupcakes looked super easy (and they were), I figured I could handle them.

Kinda blurry, but when you're dealing with a two-year-old and a goofy hat, you take what you can get. This was part of the birthday package Gran made for our family for Christmas. It includes the hat, the special plate, a place mat and a birthday banner to hang up.
Gift #1 was a Star Wars gun that actually shoots nerf-like bullets. I should know - I got shot in the nose with one! He loved it. Gift #2 (no decent pic of that one) was a Mater duplo set that also shot little rockets. Projectile gifts are always a great idea, especially when it's the grandparents giving them.

From us, he got two new Tonka trucks - you can never have enough of these. They are now permanently parked in the sandbox and have been put to good use.

Now, let me tell you about Mr. Henry. Just a few things.

1. He LOVES his brothers and sister. Especially James. He is so excited to see them in the morning, and with James, he runs up and hugs him.
2. He wrastles with James all the time. It's one of my favorite things to hear (as long as no one gets hurt!).
3. He is an apple juice junkie.
4. He loves my long hair - he plays with it when he's sleepy and it almost always puts him to sleep.
   
5. He will eat anything - one of his most often used words is "Bite?" You'd better share what you're eating, because he'll just keep saying it over and over until you do, and it gets louder with each repetition!
6. He likes singing the ABC song - misses a few letters - and he likes to count.
   
7. He likes to swing at the park.
8. Loves to snuggle.
9. He has wonderful manners - really, he does. He says "Excuse me" when he burps and loves to say "thank you" and "welcome."
10. He is an awesome helper - if I ask anyone to do something, he'll do it first - shut the door, clear the table, pick up the toys.
    

Happy birthday little Henry! We love you!

Winchester Lake, Idaho

With law school looming (early welcome starts on Monday), Aaron and I got to talking and we realized that we hadn't made a "fun family" trip all summer. So we checked and booked a yurt at Winchester Lake, about an hour away. Our yurt was a deluxe yurt, which meant it came with a canoe and life jackets. It also had a deck with Adirondack chairs, a picnic table on the deck and it was bigger than the yurts in our past. It was awesome! 2 days of exploring and getting dirty was just what this bunch needed.

So be prepared for a picture heavy blog. I had a lot of favorites this time.

Perfect. The Marshmallows were good too.

Marshmallows and cocoa (love James' face here).

Laurel's perfect mallow.

Master and apprentice. Aaron has skills!

James just liked burning them.

William too. Neither of them would eat them.

Now Henry, he'll eat anything.

Waiting patiently for the fire to be lit. Yes, these are out of order!

While Aaron was working on the fire, we went down to the lake to play for a bit.

Laurel brought her drawing book and was working on pictures of all the animals we saw on our trip. For the record, we saw osprey, turkey vultures, a deer, an owl, gophers, chipmunks, the noisiest squirrels you ever heard, blue heron, Canadian geese, rainbow trout and perch. We went to the wolf research center nearby but didn't see any wolves while we were there. Laurel was sad about that.

The canoe. We paddled across the lake to a playground. Note to everyone - do not ever get into a canoe with Aaron. It is not a good relationship builder. His Indian blood is just fine, but he has trouble passing along his canoeing skills to others. My performance was unsatisfactory.

Henry, saying his favorite word lately: "No!"

Got a hiking stick. Have to have one of these!

That's the bell hanging from his waist. The other kids get whistles, but the littlest guy gets the bell. Oh, and he found a gun stick. Very happy with that. Shot a whole lot of squirrels with it.

Laurel found some antlers.

My happy campers.

Will finally got to help build the fire on the second night. He was pretty proud of himself and was very careful to listen and put the stick in just the right place. He made sure I got a picture to document the event!

Doesn't the dirt make his blue eyes bluer?

The like to name things after lawyers 'round those parts of Idaho. Just wondering if this is where they toss the ones they don't like . . .

This picture requires an explanation. When I was little, my dad always managed to find the windiest dirt roads in the mountains that were very narrow and had no guardrails and insane cliffs just over the edge. Ever since, I've been terrified of these kinds of drives. Even the ones with guard rails, you can't get me to look down to save my life. While we were out exploring, we wanted to head from Nez Perce to Kamiah. Saw a sign and we followed it. Note to self - highway 64 is EVIL! Narrow gravel/dirt road. Scary cliffs. It's up there, in that picture somewhere - we took the safe, longer way home. What made it even more fun? Comments from the kids, like "Whoa, that's a big cliff!" and "Where's the bottom, Mommy?" I've never prayed so hard in my life, mostly that we didn't meet anything up there because there was no way there was room for two vehicles to pass each other. No way! And we'd be passing on the cliff side!

Saw all these John Deere tractors in Nez Perce and Will just had to get up close and personal with them. All the kids scored a miniature John Deere, and Henry got a cool hat. He looks like a farmer, but I have yet to get a picture of him in it.

Gotta love a town that names itself after a rifle - for serious, they did!

Taking turns with the "goggles" at the wolf research center.

Tuckered little Henry on our little walk.

If I had to pick a favorite picture, this would be it. Love that these two are best buddies!

This must be the street in Winchester where they run over the lawyers.

All in all, a great trip! Even though we've got weeks of summer left, with school starting for Aaron so soon, it feels like we're done. We'll still get to go to the aquatic center a couple more times, but our adventuring will have to wait until next spring/summer. Although in the winter, you can ice skate on the lake and snowshoe (they provide the snowshoes with the yurt!). Hmmmmm . . . maybe go up there at Christmastime?