whoa-where has the past week gone?!

Some days it feels like I am so busy I am going to explode, so blogging is unfortunately the last thing on my mind and gets put on the back burner...only to feel like an even more insurmountable task when I do get to it! 

We have had many busy days since last week, but they've been good busy.  I barely get a moment to sit down lately it seems, but I like it that way.  Here is a quick recap:

1. Found this cute idea on Becky Higgin's site.  She had a Q&A and this is what she was asked & how she answered:

Q: How do you find the time to do everything? I’m a working mom and feel like I never have enough time. I bet you don’t watch TV, huh? Is that the answer?

A: "You’re a smart woman and exactly right. I hardly watch TV. I wouldn’t say I never watch it. It’s just incredibly limited. I absolutely rely on my toddler’s naps and my kids’ bedtime. I recharge with regular date nights with the hubby. I try to cut out anything in my life that doesn’t fit into one of these categories: essential, enriching, serving. Being over-committed isn’t all that fun. But being busy and serving and doing … that’s all good. I try not to multi-task if I can help it. I struggle with that, but I’m working on it. I also use iCal to keep all of my commitments organized."

I totally agree with these concepts.  As life has just gotten busier this year-with new baby, new calling, new job, etc.-I feel like somedays I am swimming with my head under water the whole time.  I'm often asking myself, "Am I doing enough with the boys, for Zac & our marriage, for my primary kids, in my creativity, for my personal spirituality, for my tsfl clients, for my extended family, with my friends, with our Cricket business, etc. etc. etc."  I find myself staying up later and later each night trying to squeeze every minute I can out of an already extremely busy & productive day...only to make me more tired & irritable the following day.  I'm finally admitting to myself that it really does so often come down to me making a conscious choice between good/great/better/best and what I want to do most with the precious little time I'm given. I've decided that although I do have to be extremely organized if I want to get the all the things done that I want to do (I-like Becky-also use & depend greatly on googlecal & icalendar), I daily need to look at my list & calendar and remember to choose mostly things that are essential, enriching, and serving.  This will weed out the unnecessary & truly unimportant things right now.  I was so thankful for her answer & the thoughts that it provoked in me.

2. I was going stir crazy on Friday and just had to get out of the house.  Packed up both boys and headed to Nampa for some errands I had been putting off.  It was my first time taking both boys with me shopping anywhere other than Wal-mart.  Let me just say Cash & Carry is not the best place to go by yourself with two kids because they just have the big push trailer things.  Both boys did great though and we got lots done...and lots of extra groceries we didn't need at Winco!  After that we went and visited/played with my friend Katherine and her kids.  Jacob & Grayson are only a week or so apart in age and played fabulously together.  Wish they lived closer so we could have playdates more often!  Her baby girl and Beckham are only a month or so apart but Bex is HUGE compared to her!  Cute kids and cute mama and it was fun visiting with them.  I'm glad I braved the day with both of them.  Of course they both crashed the whole way home which was nice too.

3.  Had a great family barbecue last Saturday for Layne's 40th birthday.  I have to brag a little bit about Layne and what a great brother in law he is.  He has always treated me like a little sister & friend.  I am completely comfortable with him and feel safe with him.  He loves our kids & treats me and Zac with so much respect.  He is extremely in tune with people and serves without blinking an eye.  He often calls to check up on us and our kids.  He remembers little events and is handy & helpful anytime we need him.  He genuinely cares about the people around him and we all love "Zane" a lot around these parts.  The whole family was there and it was so fun to see Grayson interacting with his cousins.  I realized that these were the people who would always be a constant in his life.  He will have great friends in his life, but his cousins will be at every family event we have and he will rely on them for their friendship and support at different times in his life.  The older cousins just dote on him and he eats it up.  And, he and Jadzie are just beginning to realize they are the same age and can be playmates-love it.  He is the oldest cousin on my side, so it will be interesting to watch him be the leader for the cousins on that side.  It was a great party & I even made the ever-tempting and delicious favorite cake for Layne.  Everyone that ate it said it was yummy and it looked pretty dang good to me too!

 4.  Sunday we had a yummy dinner at my dad's parents to celebrate their "sixty-one" anniversary (as McCall called it when she said the prayer over the food) and it was all delicious.  Grayson and Beckham were well loved and we were all well fed.  That evening we took the boys out to see Brett Nielsen who was recently in a bad 4-wheeler wreck. He's in our bishopric and he's over the primary so he and I talk pretty frequently.  But he's also always been someone I've looked up to and I've admired his relationship with his wife and their little family since I was a kid.   It was fun visiting with them and I'm so thankful he's okay and getting better every day.  He and I had a little impromptu meeting for primary and toward the end I mentioned how great Zac is as a husband & dad.  He told me to remember that and protect that and to always nurture my marriage and that relationship because it's hard sometimes when you're with your spouse, but it would be so much harder without them.  I thought about that a lot afterward because with how busy things have been, Zac has often had to take a backseat to everything & everyone else and he never complains and is always so sweet to me.  I realized that no matter what, he should come first and as much as I do cherish him, I need to remember to make sure he knows that on a frequent basis.

5. On Monday we had Ally over to play in the morning which was fun for Grayson.  They play relatively well together and I got quite a bit accomplished while they were playing.  At one point he was combing her hair...hmm. (:  She's a cutie & it's fun to have a second cousin as your neighbor to play with!  Taylor's fiance' Talon over for dinner that night and to hang out for a while.  He is such a great guy and we are so excited to have him in the family.  The boys love him and he is great with them and so similar to Zac so of course he's easy to love! (:

6.  Julie & I have started weight lifting together again on Tuesdays & Thursdays and I was definitely feeling it this week.  Pretty crazy how weak I can get after not lifting consistently in over a year.  It feels so good to be doing it again though and it's especially nice to have company & get to chat with Jewels a couple times a week.  We do legs on Tuesdays & upper body on Thursdays.  Just barely able to walk better today which is saying a lot about how out of shape I am!  Zac was getting ready to leave for work Thursday morning while Julie was there and later when we were talking I had to laugh at something she said.  She was so impressed that while we were talking with Zac in the kitchen that morning, he had made his own breakfast (eggos & scrambled eggs).  He had also offered to make Grayson breakfast and cleaned up his mess.  I was totally laughing because first of all, eggos are pretty easy breakfast and he does make great scrambled eggs...and secondly, that is unfortunately an almost every day occurrence at our house these days.  And usually he makes dinner for himself too!  He's such a good natured man and so willing to help out whenever needed.  So grateful for his leniency and that he isn't the type to give me a hard time about not having breakfast or dinner always perfect for him.  It also however, brought to light the fact that he had been doing that too often and I need to make an extra effort to do those little services for him that I can do and that I know he appreciates even if he doesn't expect them.

7.  Wednesday Beckham stayed at Grandma Cleaver's while Zac and I took Grayson to see Dr. Lee (his eye doctor).  He totally rocked his appointment and pointed to all the pictures, let her patch his eye & read the charts, followed her toys & fingers when she wanted him to do his eye movements, etc.  I was proud of him and he seemed so grown up.  He talked her ear off as usual and the ending consensus was that he has to have surgery for his misalignment (different than the ptosis surgery at 5 months) on October 11th.  So more pre-op visits, surgery, post op visits, etc.  We are so grateful she is so knowledgeable and great with him and that even kids at his age bounce back quickly from things like this.  Afterward we took him out for lunch and then Zac had business at the store & I had business at the bank, so Gray stayed with me for a while and then hung out in the store for a while.

8.  When we got home, Grayson was so excited to see baby brother and tell him about his experiences.  They are pretty cute together and although Grayson is OFTEN playing too rough or kinda of lovingly-torturing Beckham, Bex just smiles and laughs so hard and encourages him.  I try telling Beckham that he needs to cry so Gray will stop, but he just lights up when he sees big brother around.  Crazy kids.  Grayson wanted to make a fort one day last week and Bex just laughed at everything Grayson would say and do. He often asks to hold him or take him for rides (Taylor helped him before she moved back to UT).  Another day they were both in their diapers (yeah, still not working on that with Grayson-so sue me!) and were being so cute.  I can't say enough how much I love having two boys!

9.  Beckham had his first try at rice cereal and green beans and didn't care too much for either.  It's funny because he acts so ready for solids, but doesn't want to use the spoon and just spits it back out.  He makes pretty cute faces throughout it though and we'll just keep trying.

10.  Friday was spent at home working like crazy.  I worked out that morning and then didn't even make it to the shower all day.  Gross, huh?  I just got right to work on house stuff & work stuff and didn't get any farther on myself.  Zac worked in Boise all day and the boys played pretty happily and then both took a super long & late nap, so I got conversations in with Candace & Athena.  I am in charge of compiling all my high school classmates information for our class reunion which is coming up quickly next summer and I had totally dropped the ball on that, so I spent a good chunk of time yesterday working on that.  I'm also doing sharing time this month and worked on that a lot.  Helped Morgan with some things in the evening and the boys played with Grandma and we got home late and into bed and I was EXHAUSTED!  But it was a good & productive day and you can't complain about those, right?! 

Good times, good weeks, great passing of time!  This all leads me to today...Taylor turns 20!  Happy birthday to one of our favorite people ever & more to come later on our great birthday Saturday!