First I have to say that Toenails & Testimonies last April was a huge success & we were able to beat last year’s record by several blankets. We donated 26 to Fernside – not bad for a 2 hour block of time. I did finish 2 blankets up after though.
Summer rushed in & rushed out… the temperatures sure didn’t. Fall took forever to come and it’s nice to finally be seeing some fall colors – those most of my backyard is still green.
Anyway, since my last post:
Dot Graduated…. what??? How is this even possible when just a year or two ago she was still a little anklebiter! lol. She is doing all collegy stuff now & working – saving all her funds. She wants to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Go, Dot!! She will start her paper work next Feb or March and soon we’ll have one less in the house. Which seems odd & I often wonder how hard it will be. We are used to having one less of our kids in house and knowing she will be coming home, maybe it won’t be so tough. Then again, I’m sure I’ll cry plenty.
We took a family vacation to Nauvoo!! We loaded up the Tardis (our blue mini-van – the great big van we called the ark finally died) and 4 of our children – Dot had be to responsible and stayed home working. We missed her. A lot. and went camping in July in Illinois. It was hot. Really hot. It was humid. We were cranky. It was wonderful!!! No seriously – it really was. Cranky hotness & all. I love that place. We, of course, were able to see both the Nauvoo pageant & the British pageant. And I watched my kids fall in love with the place, their ancestors & strengthen their testimonies of Jesus Christ and His gospel. The humidity, hotness & bajillions of chigger bites were totally worth it.
Em turned 16 and started going on dates…. that’s really weird too. lol
School started. Soccer started. Marching band started. Golf started. Basically, chaos ensued…..
Robert turned 8 and chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I finished the hardest 1st draft of a book I have EVER written. A middle grade book based on our daughter, Elizabeth. It will be called Testimonies & Teardrops.
I ran away… but I came back! I started this crazy trip last year & I did it again this year & it was the best! So all by my lonesome I drove across the country & back. I started by driving to Arkansas & saw my Bro & fam, then crashed a night in a hotel in ABQ, New Mexico, then I landed at my cousin’s place in Mesa, AZ. And there I attended the ANWA writer’s conference!! Woohoo!! It is awesome. It is wonderful. I got to hang out with some of my best writer buddies ever & make new writer buddies. I learned stuff and I talked to an agent about my manuscript…. as in I had sent in a query & ten pages previous to the conference and she gave me feedback & it was awesome feedback which ended in her requesting 10 chapters of my book (a YA fantasy fairy tale re-telling of Blue Beard). Squeee!!!! Then I drove to Utah and visited my sister & a plethora of nieces & nephews, & my bro-in-law & his fam. I hit Colorado next & visited my other sister, my mom & a few less nieces & nephews before going on to Kansas City for ANOTHER writing conference – woohoo again! I spent more time hanging out with amazing writer friends & making more amazing writer friends! And then I drove home. 2 weeks. All me… and this time I didn’t even blow a tire!! (last time was, well, interesting?)
I co-hosted our annual writing retreat in PA again a couple weeks ago & it was amazing. I got editing done & got to hang out with…. you guessed it- more amazing writer friends!
The galavanting is over – my amazing supportive husband is probably sighing with relief. And now we stand here at the end of October getting ready to step into the holidays. Golf ended a while ago. Soccer ended yesterday and marching band is about done. Soon we will revert back to minor chaos. It’s been a crazy six months. A wonderful six months. And everyday I feel so blessed. I have an amazing family. I miss my girl through it all, but I am so grateful I have my other 5 with me. Too soon they will all be grown & gone…. but then come the grandkids 😀 wow. did I just say that? I feel way too young to be talking like that. lol. Where have the years gone?
Fun and Flawed 