I’ve been thinking for a while that I want to start documenting more of my everyday details here on my blog. I used to do this quite a bit but I’ve slowed down as the popularity of blogging has also slowed. But I love having the details down, so I’m setting myself a goal. And let’s be honest, I’m perfectly aware of how bad I am at following through with a goal like this. But I’m going to try to do the following:

Every Sunday, post my favorite picture from the week before and write down some details about the week.

Here’s my pick for the week of September 3-9, 2017, from Labor Day:

Haley spent Sunday night at our house, after dropping her friend Dani off at the airport. We had breakfast for dinner that night (pancakes with blueberries, hash browns, and bacon). I was hoping Jake would come, but he was recuperating from a cold.

Nathan and Kaleb also had a cold this week; Kendell caught it on Thursday and I caught it on Friday.

On Labor Day, we got up in the morning and did one of my favorite things. Kendell drops me off somewhere in Provo (I decide where before, it’s not random!). He drives to his work gym and works out there, and I run there to meet him. For my Labor Day route I ran through the cemetery and stopped at my dad’s grave. There might’ve been some crying. I’ve been feeling like I’m starting to spiral down again, and so I stood by his grave and had a little conversation with him, asking him to send me…something, I don’t know. Something to help. Anyway. After running, we did some grocery shopping, I prepped for dinner while Kendell showered, and then we went out to do some yardwork. Kendell mowed, I pruned a whole bunch of dead stuff out. All of that time, Haley, Jake, and Nathan were at the mall together! For dinner we had burgers (Haley had a salmon patty), pizza pasta salad, and watermelon. I meant to make some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies but it didn’t happen.

This week we discovered that our favorite little Mexican place to get take-out nachos from, El Azteca, closed down. Sadness!

On Tuesday, Jake and Elena came for dinner. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, and watermelon. The meal kind of made me laugh—I should’ve cooked some veggies but I wanted to eat the melon before it went bad. Kind of didn’t go together but everyone seemed OK. We ate that meal out on the patio, too. It’s lovely to have the weather start to cool off.

Kaleb had a soccer game on Wednesday and Saturday. He scored his team’s only point on Wednesday. They lost on Saturday and he didn’t score any points.

Stuff we watched on TV or discussed: the approach of hurricane Irma; all of the wildfires in the west (Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, and Utah all have fires), the earthquake in Mexico, the situation with North Korea.

I didn’t exercise much past Monday because the air is so smoky. Zero hiking!

On Friday Jake had an ortho appointment and I went with him. After he came over and hung out at our house before he had to be at work. I made him breakfast and then we talked about physics. (like…what was here before the universe? and…how can you conceptualize the fourth dimension?) He even went to Target with me. It was so nice to spend time with him.

For my lunch break on Saturday, Kendell picked me up and we went to Costco, where Nathan was waiting so he could fill up his car. We wandered around Costco together and got some pizza. Just a regular activity but it made me pretty happy.

I finished The Last Neanderthal and started reading The End of The World Running Club.

Sore throats, coughing, and bad air aside, this week held some great moments!

A list of good things that happened this week:

• On Sunday night at 11:00 I ate a Ghirardelli dark chocolate + peppermint square…and then I devoted myself to not eating any sugar until Easter weekend. I have gained so much weight since last October when my hamstrings started giving me grief and I couldn’t run anymore. None of my clothes are comfortable and I just…I just don’t like my body like this. I feel muffled. But I also have a really hard time losing weight (hypothyroidism). So, drastic measures: no sugar. I have let myself have one piece of fruit each day, but (as Kendell likes to tease) no cookies, candy, cakes or snacks. Or delicious beverages. As of this writing I have gone 143 hours without any sugar.
• Jake had the state HOSA competition with his Parli team. They won! Which means he gets to go to Anaheim in June for the National competition. I’m so proud of him! (I think this was also a good thing for him. He was pretty glad to get away from home for a few days, even if it was just to Layton.)
• Nathan had his first freshman track meet and he won the high jump. 5’8”! He was nursing a slightly-sprained ankle so that made the success even sweeter.
• Three times this week I ran for 6 or more minutes. My hamstrings are very, very slowly starting to get better, and I am very, very slowly becoming a runner again. (For clarity, I did exercise for longer than six minutes. I walked and got on the elliptical after the running.)
• On Friday night, Kendell and I went for a long, lovely walk on the PRT. We talked and laughed. I ran for six minutes and my legs only hurt at the start, but even better was just spending some good, peaceful time together. It’s good to remind yourself that you love your husband!
• Also on Friday, I had a nice conversation with Haley over Skype. It was good to talk to her, even though she is having some heartache right now.
• I saw my cousin Jamie at Costco. No one ever said that we Allmans were a tight-knit group. We grew up in the same little town (my dad and his two brothers and all of their kids) and we saw each other exactly once a year, on Christmas day. I will probably always feel far less cool than my cousins. But, still. Seeing her brought my dad to mind in a happy way, because I think she is the most Allman-looking of all of us. (I don’t look very Allman at all.) It made me think about the way families, even the every-so-loosely-knit ones like the one I grew up in, still influence us. Still carry little parts of us.
• To celebrate my starting-to-heal hamstrings, I exercised in my new orange running skirt. Then, right after the gym, I had to run Kaleb to a birthday party and then stop by Costco. I got some funny looks for my outfit (orange skirt and a big black and purple sweatshirt) but I mostly didn’t care because it was proof: I’m starting to run again!
• Kaleb had his first soccer meet today. He scored five goals! It’s crazy how he moves on the soccer field. He just instinctually gets it. He’s fun to watch and was so happy he played well.
• My mom is out of her rehab, where she was recuperating after having her spine fused. (Her entire spine! From T4 to L5.) She is now moved in with my sister, a place I am desperately hoping she’ll stay. That’s not resolved yet…but at least she is out of the care center and starting to figure out her new life.
• I made a few scrapbook layouts. I’ve been in a scrapbooking slump for a while. It feels like I’ve already done everything that can be done (that I want to do). I need to move my life into different pursuits but I don’t know how to give it up entirely. Or, how to not be entirely devoted to it. I gave myself permission to just enjoy my supplies and not worry about anyone else’s opinion. I enjoyed it! Here’s one of the layouts I made, which kind of proves my point that I was just trying to enjoy my supplies, as everything on this layout is at least three years old, and that “adventure” tag is older than Kaleb!

• I’m starting to feel a little bit better. I didn’t realize how dark a place I was in during January and February until I started moving out of it. (I’m sure the running has helped!) It is good to be transitioning towards a light-filled place.

How was your week?

• on Sunday morning, Haley came home. She spent most of the time with her boyfriend, but she did come to the family party we had at my sister's house. I was glad she could be there and see everyone! It was a usual party...good food, kids swimming, and grown ups talking. But it was something I didn't know I needed. I love seeing my family! I made a chocolate cake and a coconut cake; not many takers on the latter because it doesn't look very appealing—just sort of a dry-ish looking bundt cake. If you take a chance on a slice, though, oh my: delicious.
• on Monday, Haley and Adam took Kaleb to Seven Peaks. I went for a long walk while Kendell worked out at the gym, and then we all went home and just sort of vegged. We got our carpets cleaned a few days earlier and I was still working on getting everything put back together. (Who am I kidding? I'm still working on it!)
• on Tuesday I tried to console Nathan. He neeeeeeeeeds new jeans desperately, but holy cow: it is HARD to find 28 32 jeans! I finally ordered some online, but who knows if they'll really fit? Tall and skinny: good, until you have to buy pants.
• on Wednesday, I did one of my favorite things: went shopping for fabric. Now that the kids are all rearranged into different rooms, Nathan needs a new quilt. I still have two others I need to finish before I start his, but I couldn't resist the shopping once I figured out what I wanted to do. I love picking out patterns and coordinating colors for a quilt—it might be my favorite part of the process!
• on Thursday I ran a ton of errands, including meeting Kendell at the mall. They'd had a barbeque for lunch at his work, so he brought me a half of a hamburger, a half of a hot dog, and a scoop of potato salad. Which sounds like I was eating off his leftovers...and, ok, I was, but they still tasted good! Later that afternoon, we did some other errands together, and everywhere we went there was a new rainbow. Kendell was a little bit annoyed that I kept on insisting we stop so I could photograph (with my cell phone!) the rainbows, but they were making me happy so I didn't care:
  

  This was my favorite rainbow, as it stretched from Buffalo Peak, across Squaw Peak, over Rock Canyon, and then ended at the Y Mountain summit. All of which are places I love to hike!
• on Friday we went to dinner with some friends. We sat at our table at Red Lobster for nearly four hours, just talking. It was great! (We left a big tip to compensate.) Trips to Red Lobster for all-you-can-eat shrimp (for Kendell, I think seafood is disgusting): a sure sign that fall is here!
• on Saturday, I had this post up on Write. Click. Scrapbook. That morning, there were no kids in the house. Jake was at a meeting for work, and Nathan and Kaleb went to the ward campout with some neighbors. A house without any kids is becoming a more regular occurence lately and it's just so strange! I realized at 8:30 that the baby shower I still needed to make a gift for actually started at 10:00, not 1:00. Luckily I can whip out a simple baby quilt in three hours, including the time to wash and dry it! It was in Salt Lake, so Kendell went up with me and then we went to lunch at Lone Star Taqueria. They have the most delicious tamales! When we got home that afternoon, the clouds were starting to gather, and about 5:00 we had the most awesome rain storm hit. The wind was ferocious and the rain poured. Two hours of rain is so uncommon here in Utah! Our power went out; Jake went to work and then Kaleb & Nathan went outside to play in the rain. I sat by the window and re-read the first Harry Potter novel.

Funny...when I sat down to write this, I didn't think there was anything to note about this week! Guess there's always something.

• Sometimes it's easier to just take vacation time than to get your whole department worked up because you're trying to switch schedules with someone.
• It is so much easier to pack everyone for a trip when everyone has a good bag of his/her own. (Also, Ogio bags are pretty awesome, despite my initial wish for a pretty bag instead of a functional one distrust.)
• Haley and I really should've gone to the Nordstrom sale way, way earlier than 4 days before the end.
• But! Like last year, we found way more stuff (and much better prices anyway) at the Rack. Trust precedence!
• Write down the restaurants you want to visit if you're going to south-east Idaho, rather than thinking you can use the bookmarks on your phone while you're driving. Phone service is spotty there. Spotty at best.
• Mesa Falls in Idaho? Pretty amazing. (Pics to follow when I can cope with all 700 I took on our trip.)
• Small restaurants in tiny towns have a hard time dealing with 18 people showing up all at once. Plan to wait for a long, long time, and order ice cream at the same time as your meal or you'll wait even longer. (Or just skip the ice cream...it was mediocre.)
• Floating down the Snake River is transcendent, while sitting on the very tip of the raft's nose during class-3 rapids is terrifying but exhilarating.
• I still miss my mother-in-law and I have a pocket of anger at the Universe or God or Whatever Took Her Away Too Soon.
• I don't have that same angry pocket over my father-in-law's death. Having the time to say goodbye makes a huge difference.
• The Tetons are just as awe-inspiring as I remember.
• Traveling with family is fun but complicated. Pack a lot of patience.
• You notice things about your kids when you travel with them that you don't see any other way.
• Traveling with one missing kid (in this case, Haley, who couldn't get off from work) makes things feel both more spacious and more lonely. I kept trying to keep track of four kids instead of three and then feeling sad when I remembered I only had three with me—and that that is going to be our new normal.
• My kids are pretty amazing. My husband found some great stuff for us to do on our trip. And even three times in one week is not too much eating at Taco Bell—although, BK does make a pretty delicious ice-cream Sunday. (We did eat at other places besides fast food...)

How was your week?

It seems that all I can write lately is book reviews and weekly reviews. I think summer has something to do with it. And my general sense of a frustration I can't explain yet. Can't explain because words about almost anything won't come.

I'm just going to sit with it.

Things will feel better eventually. Right? Yes. Of course they will. But until then: yet another week in review! Try to contain your excitement!

I spent a long, lovely Monday working in my yard. It needs a ton of work, but I am still researching what to do. My trees have gotten so big that everything is in nearly-constant shade. I need to pull out a bunch of plants and start over. It's just that the options for shade? So boring. I love the color, texture, scent, and experience of flowers—waiting for them to bloom, seeing the buds open, deadheading and feeding and mulching. Ferns and hostas and greenery (which seem to be my only choices) don't feel the same. I did find a few other things to plant (whose names I've promptly forgotten). We'll see how they do under my maple tree.

This was the week of fifty different directions. Kaleb was in Seattle with his aunt Cindy. I think he had fun. They went to the beach several times, and into the city where they went to the aquarium and Pike Street Market, and rode the ferry. He had fun with his favorite cousin, Jace, and  had a great adventure away from home.

On Wednesday, Jake left for a scout camp out at a place in southern Utah called Entrada. He went river rafting on the Green River, hiked, rappelled, and rode bikes. He came home exhausted, sunburned, bug bitten, and thoroughly happy, with that happiness only physical exhaustion can bring.

Nathan also went on a camp out; his started on Thursday. His troop went to Goblin Valley, where they hiked one day. The next day they hiked in a slot canyon called Little Wildhorse. 

Here's the thing with boys going on scout camp outs (aside from me being terrified the entire time that something bad will happen) : they go to these cool places and have all these fun experiences, and I never have any pictures. It makes me nuts!

On Wednesday, Haley and I drove to Logan so she could have her university orientation at Utah State University. Once we got there, we checked out the campus and found her dorm, and then we drove around to as many pharmacies as the GPS could locate so she could drop off her resume. No one was hiring yet, but hopefully she'll find something eventually. My friend Sophia graciously put us up at her house for the evening. Her daughter had just had surgery, so she extended hospitality when she was already spread thin, which I appreciated so much!

On Thursday (you know: the day Kendell was home without anyone else! That never happens!) we went to her orientation. I had a moment of sheer, heart-pounding anxiety for her: all the planning and the time managing and the work she has to do! But I also thought (and said) about 1,000 times "I wish I was 18 and just starting college!" I am so happy for her that she gets to have a real college experience, and not only because it's something my choices didn't allow me to have. She worked hard to earn her scholarship and I think she will have a good experience there. I hope she makes friends, meets people who influence her in positive ways, and begins to learn who she really is.

On Friday, I spent some time online trying to find some reasonable restaurants in Jackson Hole. We're going there in August to visit Kendell's mom's grave (she and his dad are buried in Driggs, Idaho, which is a little town on the west slope of the Tetons) and I wanted to be prepared. Apparently a not-hideously-expensive restaurant is impossible to find in Jackson Hole (remember...I'm feeding five people with adult-sized appetites), but I did read a lot about food. I found myself craving something very specific: a peppercorn burger from Chili's. So Kendell and I went there for our Friday-night date. I was bummed to discover that the peppercorn is no longer on Chili's menu...but then the waitress told me they could still make it for me anyway. Despite the gajillion calories it was exactly what I wanted.

By Saturday, everyone started trickling in, and now we're all home. I missed my kids, each of them, while they were gone, but I suspect that this is just the start of my time of scattered kids. 

My life feels so weird right now! How about yours?

My favorite thing about this past week? The rain. We usually get summer thunderstorms, but not until later in the season, so four days with rain (and cooler temps!) have been such a nice change. Is there anything better than waking up at 3:47 a.m. to the sound of rain on your roof?

Some other highlights of June 30-July 6:

On Monday, Kaleb and I went to Target together. Which is hardly noteworthy, except it's rare these days we do things with just him and me. He picked out snacks for his cub scout day camp the next day and looked at toys for awhile (he loves wandering the Lego aisle!). When we got home, I took Nathan and his friends to the top of the PRT so they could long board down the canyon, then I drove to the bottom of the trail and went for a walk while I waited for them. Walking? Not as physically taxing as running. Sigh.

On Tuesday morning, I started making a lemon cake before work. But I ran out of time to frost it...holy cow. Kids (and one grown up!) were soooo anxious for me to get home and frost that cake!

We started the Independence Day celebrations a little bit early by going out to lunch on Wednesday (Burgers Supreme for you locals!) and then went to the colonial fair. The kids were relectant to go, and one teenager especially made it known that it was not fun. But it was still fun! I love historical stuff. Replicas of the Mayflower...a broom-making shop...antique baskets....even the guns are interesting. One tent had a few sets of period-authentic armor which Nathan and Kaleb both got to try on.

On the fourth, we went to my sister Suzette's house to swim and eat. I didn't swim much, but it was so nice to hang out and talk to my sisters and mom! Then back to our house for fireworks with the neighbors.

On Thursday we went to Kendell's sister's house to watch her daughter Hilary open her mission call. She's going to Mexico!

Friday was the wedding of one of my friend's daughters. Kendell, Jake, Nathan, and I, along with some other neighborhood boys, spent the afternoon setting up the tables and chairs at the park they'd reserved for the wedding. When we went back a few hours later for the party, it was pouring rain on the other side of the lake...and it took about thirty minutes to make it across to our side. Just as the bride & groom arrived it started to rain. So everyone gathered up the decorations and we moved it all to a church. I was impressed with how well both families handled this—no anger or recriminations or weeping or gnashing of teeth! I also remembered...as happy as I am for the bride, I still don't love weddings. It's not that I'm anti-wedding.It's always fun to see the bride and eat some cake and celebrate. But they stir up all sorts of difficult stuff in me. And the older I get, the less I enjoy them (which is a problem because there are more and more weddings as I get older), because I am starting to really realize what it must feel like for the mom of the bride or groom. Weddings are a beginning but they also signal the end of something. I might've cried more than was allowed for a friend of the bride's mom...

Saturday's big news was that Kaleb was invited to go to Seattle with his cousin Jace. Since I was working, Kendell mostly got him ready. Well...Kendell took him to get some new shoes, which he desperately needed, and ended up coming home with some for Jake and Nathan, too. (They all got Vans.) I got him packed (luckily I'd been doing laundry for most of the week so there wasn't a last-minute scramble for clean clothes!) and we took him to Target for some water shoes. I confess: I'm super nervous about sending my littlest away without me. I miss him already!

How do you feel about weddings?

Somehow (Ragnar exhaustion and then the reading-all-Sunday-afternoon thing) I missed doing my weekly round up for two weeks. And here it is, half way into the third week, but I’m just going to play catch up and then move forward. Here’s a recap of June 16-28, 2013:

Nathan spent a week at scout camp. He loves hanging out with friends so this was a long, perfect week for him! He got five merit badges: wilderness survival, rifle shooting, chess, emergency preparedness, and soil & water conservation. The also learned about whittling a little bit. Last Thursday he started a whittling project (after sharpening a knife that his grandpa Kent had given him and he’d forgotten about and then found in his sock drawer that morning) which was quickly derailed by the knife slipping. He cut two fingers, one of them deep enough that it needed stitches. The pediatrician (it was one of the rare times we needed stitches during the time we could make a regular appointment) glued it instead of stitching it—which I will NEVER do again. It looks awful.

After much waiting and many phone calls, Haley finally got her pharmacy technician certification. Which means now she can apply for a pharm tech job or two. She needs to save more money for college so we’re desperately hoping she finds something! She also had a job interview at Zurcher’s, a party-supply store here. I don’t think she got the job, but it was still encouraging that she at least got a call back! I think the thing that’s holding her back from landing a job is that she only needs it for the summer. Wanting to work but not being able to find a job: frustrating! (I know that plenty of people are feeling the same frustration.)

Jake worked two extra shifts. I’m so glad he has his job! He is much happier, even though all his money is going into the bank. We went to eat at the restaurant where he works with my sister-in-law and her family, and the owner came over and told us that Jake is one of his best workers. Ahhh, moms love to hear stuff like that!

Kaleb lost a tooth, one of his top little incisors. I’ll be SO glad when the permanent ones push through, just so I can finally see if they are dwarf ones or not. Haley’s are dwarf, which means they’re really, really small, so we had to have them capped. I’m hoping that Kaleb’s come out the normal size, but even if they are dwarf, at least I can stop worrying about it. (And saving to get them capped!) This is his first tooth that he wiggled out all on his own! I put the money together (I fold a dollar bill around the coins into a little packet) but Nathan slid the money under his pillow.

Last Saturday, Kendell and I drove up to Salt Lake. I need some new shorts desperately, but alas: my combination of freakishly large thighs, regular-sized waist, and the need for long shorts means that it’s just about impossible to find anything that works. Shorts=one of the reasons summer is not my favorite season. I did hit up the Dillard’s sale (love a good extra percentage off sale at Dillards!) and at least found some short-sleeve shirts I liked, as I seem to have gotten rid of everything I wore last summer. After the mall, we ate at a little dive of a taqueria in Salt Lake called Lone Star. Oh, my. I had a tamale and it was delicious! We also hit up the new outlet mall. It was nice to spend some time together.

Our old friend Paul, who used to live here and then moved to North Carolina, came back to Utah for some work training. It was so nice to see him again!

And...so far we are all surviving the triple-digit heat. But only barely. Because, you know...I'm still wearing pants. How are things at your house?

(A little bit late posting this...but Sunday was crazy!) Here's a recap of last week (June 9-15, 2013):

Sunday: We had Kaleb’s grandparents’ party. (Yes...even though we’re down to one grandparent I still think of it in the plural, because their spirits are there if you watch and listen.) He wanted crispy chicken with mashed potatoes AND brown rice. Two sides are sort of strange but that’s how we roll: the birthday kid gets to decide (within reason!). He said "you can pick whatever kind of other things other people like" so we had watermelon and fruit dip as well. And Score cake for dessert. His grandma gave him a set of scriptures (it’s her traditional eighth birthday gift for her grandkids; also, as Kaleb is the youngest, her last time to do this) and we got him a skateboard.

Later, after I’d recuperated and could actually stand up without quivering, I took Haley and Nathan to the mall. Nathan needed new boots to take on his upcoming scouting trip (we didn’t find any) and Haley needed a new swimsuit (found) and sandals (found). I bought myself a new slip and some summer nightgowns.

Tuesday: Kids went to Seven Peaks. And I bought myself Taco Bell for dinner!

Wednesday: We had Kaleb’s friend birthday party. I am SOOOOOO not a good mom when it comes to friend parties. I never know what to do at them. (Especially boy birthday parties. Like...what do you do for a 13-year-old boy’s party?) But since Kaleb has a summer birthday, and since I have a generous sister, we had his party at his aunt’s swimming pool. Perfect! Low key! We had chips and drinks and cake and swimming. No fights. Everyone happy. Especially Kaleb, which is really all that matters.

Thursday: The first day in three months that I haven’t worried about something and felt entirely too busy. I took Nathan to Kohl’s to find some boots for his scout camp out. (Hiking boots are surprisingly hard to find in the summer.) We found him a pair...he thinks they make him look like a Rescue Hero (he wears a size 12!) Then I cleaned out my closet, bathroom drawers, bookshelf, and dresser.

Friday: Worked all day (was told that I smile too much...), then rushed home to get to the movie theater with Kendell. We saw the new Superman movie, about which I have a half-written review almost ready to post. Haley was out with her boyfriend and Jake was working, so we took Nathan and Kaleb to dinner with us, at Mi Ranchito.

Saturday: I went running! Kendell found some new flip flops! (His last two pair broke over the past two weeks, which is a problem for him as he wears flip flops all summer long.) I searched in vain for some new shorts. I think that clothes are the reason I don’t love summer. Chunky thighs are harder to work with when it comes to shorts.

How was your week?

I think I'm in a creative slump. Part of this has to do with my current Big Picture class, Textuality. When they asked me if I wanted to re-run it, I only had about three weeks to make revisions, and I wanted to make a lot of revisions. I had tremendous creative energy and I ended up making 35+ new layouts (that is a lot for me in such a short time) as well as doing some fairly heavy revisions on the text, too. Once that was done I started working on Haley's denim quilt, which was really a fun project but physically exhausting (it's hard to quilt 15+ pounds of fabric!). Add to that some emotional strain caused by relationships that've gotten tricky and a general feeling of wanting to be finished with drama (but not really knowing how to excise it from my life)... 

My creative well feels fairly dry.

I'm not quite sure how to refresh it, either. Running hasn't worked very well (except for two mountain routes that gave me a trickle). Reading has been blah. Usually reading poetry invigorates me---but not lately. And writing? Well, writing has felt impossible. (Hence the rarity of my posts.) Anything that requires outwardness has felt difficult; I need things that rejuvenate without asking for anything back. Actually, what I really want to do? I'd like to go to Lake Powell. Except...I want to go as my 14-year-old self, with my bossy older sister and my annoying younger sister. In our old yellow boat and with my dad there to pull me on water skis. (I never feel completely safe when someone other than my dad is driving the boat.) Not that things weren't drama-free in 1986, but it was a simple sort of hysteria. And so much less emotionally draining to be the child who was certain I had all the answers rather than the moronic parent with no answers at all.

I'm just...out. Trying to compensate for this empty dryness by drinking lots of calories and baking a lot, but sugar overload isn't really helping.

Still, it bothers me that I haven't really been writing down anything. Some good things have been happening in our lives, and there are always those small, sweet moments to celebrate. So I'm doing something new on my blog. Not revolutionary, mind you (I'm too tired for revolutionary). And maybe a little bit annoying, as I never wanted my blog to only be a chronicle of our family experiences. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just have wanted to write here more than record.) But I'm going to try doing a week in review post every Sunday for awhile. Just to get down some stuff I want to remember. On the off chance that one day my creative well will refresh itself, I suppose.

So! During the first week of June (June 2-June 8, 2013):

• I got to see one of my oldest friends on Sunday, at a barbeque my sister-in-law hosted.
  Brooke and I have been friends since 1994 or so. She moved to Arizona and we keep in touch with Christmas cards, but she holds a sweet spot in my heart; it's one of those friendships you can pick right up again when you finally get to see each other. Seeing her reminded me of how it felt to be a young mom. She has eight kids (seven boys and one girl) and seeing her with all of her kids also reminded me of how much I love my own, because I could sort of see them through her perspective. Fresh eyes helped remind me how unique and wonderful and funny and smart and individual they each are. (Plus I brought sheet cake—one with chocolate frosting, one with caramel—to our barbeque.)
• the kids had their first week of summer break. I have big plans for helping them to actually be productive during the day, but I gave them as much of this week to just veg. They did go to Seven Peaks (our water park). Haley started her first days of working (she is being a nanny for the summer in the mornings). She rode her bike to her job, which makes me happy for some reason. Maybe because on Wednesday when I was out running, we passed each other (she was already on her way home) and she looked so happy riding down the street. Free of all her worldly cares! Jake also worked (he has a job at a restaurant called Pizza Pie Cafe), the most he's worked since he started in May. Nathan, too, is working—he does yard work at two different houses. He's working on paying us back for his skateboard which we drove up to SLC to get for him last Saturday.
• Kendell has been sick all week. Some strange cold virus, so he was home every day but Wednesday. I sent him to work on Wednesday because he thought he felt better and because it was his birthday and I was trying to engineer a few surprises. He ended up coming home early after no one wanted to sit by him because of all the coughing during a meeting. My surprises were ruined! But we still had one of his favorite dinners (the chicken enchiladas I used to make when we were first married, with mushrooms, olives, green chilies and a sour-cream sauce, along with pasta salad) and desserts (key lime pie).
• A birthday surprise neither one of us expected: we got in a fender bender! We were at a stoplight and the girl behind us thought it was time to start moving...even though we hadn't yet. There wasn't a lot of damage—the bumper on our little Corolla will have to be replaced—but Kendell snapped his neck pretty hard. I talked him into going to the doctor on Friday for an x-ray just to make sure everything is OK.
• Kaleb got to start Cub Scouts this week. His first activity was the Raingutter Regata, which he thought was great fun. You know what's awesome? He's my third boy, so I just had to get the cub scout shirt off the hanger. No stressing about buying cub scout clothes (which are, let's face it, ridiculously expensive and never on sale). He won three out of four of his tries, but no one was keeping score, a fact that bothered Jake to no end (I made Jake and Nathan go to the pack meeting, even though neither was very excited about it). (Also, snide remark of the week: a regatta is not a boat. A regatta is a boat race.)
• Friday was Kaleb's eighth birthday. As tradition dictates I spent the evening before his birthday looking at baby pictures, remembering the day he was born, and sniffling a little bit. To celebrate, he went to see Iron Man 3 with Nathan and then he, Jake, and I had a late lunch at Texas Roadhouse (he got the ribs, and he pinpointed exactly why I don't eat ribs, ever, when he said "Mom! Ribs are just like eating an animal!"), capped off with a couple of hours spent at the trampoline park with Haley and Adam. Plus he really, really wanted some blueberry muffins. Which, if you know Kaleb, is hilarious because he DOES NOT LIKE blueberries. Except, apparently, now for some random and unknown reason, in muffins. I was happy to oblige!
• On Saturday Haley and Kendell left early in the morning so she could be at the testing center in Salt Lake right at 8:00 to take her Pharmacy Tech certification exam. Except when they got there they discovered the power was out, so she had to wait for FOUR HOURS before she could take it. BUT! She passed! I'm so proud of her!
• I've been reading a recipe book called Salad as a Meal by Patricia Wells. I've decided that a recipe book that contains text like "I like to call this a summer house recipe: you know, you rent a summer house with a plan to cook, but there is hardly a pot or a pan to be found" (oh yes! I know that feeling exactly!)  and "I have a small kaffir lime tree growing in my courtyard in Provence" and even "I first tried these croutons at my favorite spa in Mexico" is just way too fabulous for me.
• the kids all had their six-month dental check-ups. Nathan had a cracked filling and a chipped tooth (Nathan nearly always needs some kind of dental work), but no one had any cavities.
• I ran some miles but not enough. I fixed the binding on Haley's quilt in the spot where I messed up. I made two layouts and wrote THIS blog post. I hosted the chat for my Textuality class. I didn't do any of my cleaning projects, nor get the kids to wash Kendell's truck, nor make any progress in my flower beds, which all need to be ripped out and replanted because I have too much shade for the flowers I have planted there. I'm trying to let that go and focus on doing more next week. 

How was your week? Or...tell me! How do you get out of your creative slumps?