Hi-Lo

Current Highs:

• Getting to attend the Portland Temple with my hot husband. He has been a member of the church for a little over a year and attended "temple prep" classes and was interviewed by the Bishop to determine that he has a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and an understanding of the covenants that he would be making in the House of the Lord and that he is striving to keep the commandments. It was a beautiful experience and I'm still amazed that he even decided to join the church...actually I'm still amazed that he announced out of the blue to the whole congregation that he knew that it was the true church and he had known it for several years. In a few more weeks we will be going with our children to be sealed for time and all eternity as a family. Again, not something I can even get my mind around happening for us. Amazing.
• It's autumn. I love the smells and the colors and school starting and football season and crunchy leaves and having only two kids at home all day and no Kindergartner. It's much easier for two kids to get along with each other than three. Even when one of the two is Vee.
• My husband started off the morning of September 11th by gathering us together in the living room to kneel in prayer. He offered a wonderful prayer of gratitude for our safety and relative peace and asked for blessings for those who were affected by the tragedy and for the men and women serving our country in the military. It was a beautiful gesture and I'm so grateful that I have a husband who would think of that. It made me cry. Not easy to do.
• Got to hang out with Heather tonight at Mom and Dad's house. I wish I lived close enough to do that much more often.
• Kaila FINALLY returned from her family reunion trip to Hawaii. It was a very LONG week and a half and she started off the school year by missing 5 days. She was, incredibly, able to catch up on all the missed work within days of being back. Thanks to her natural brilliance and some great help from our friend Calli.
• Our friends/neighbors/Chris'-other-family have continued to take great care of us. Fixed our lawnmower (again) and found us free tires for the van and installed them for us. It was SO needed and such a blessing for us right now. This is the family that Chris goes to for a second dinner if he didn't like what I cooked. He knows that her food is guaranteed to be amazing and that he's always welcome.
• Everybody is healthy and happy and life is good!

Lows:

• The mortgage industry. Yikes.
• Searching for scholarships already. Yikes.
• Keeping up with schedules for five kids. One who is on the volleyball team (woot woot!) and one who is in too many things to even list. Yikes.
• Vee goes weeks without an accident and then days in a row where she never once makes it to the toilet. Not once. Today was one of the not once days. The last accident was while I was getting them buckled into the van to drive out to Hillsboro. I had just changed her, too. She just stood right there looking at me while she peed all over the floor of the car. Don't worry, I knelt right in it after that, so not only does the van smell of urine, but so do I. At least Jenny isn't riding in my car anytime soon. Yikes.

Highs totally outweighing the lows. Gotta love that, right?