Fall begins

I keep thinking of so many things I want to record on here. And then a few days pass, and then a few weeks... and then a few months. And then I can no longer clearly remember what it is I wanted to record. So I decided, instead of trying to catch up, I'll just start with what's on my mind most recently, and see if I can be a more consistent writer on this blog. I feel like this stage is of life is going to pass too quickly, and I really want to be able to look back and remember it. The good and the bad.

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend. Temps got up into the 80's, so we decided to go to Walden Pond Saturday afternoon. That has become our favorite spot to swim at. Even though it's often a little crowded, it always feels peaceful, with no motor boats, and surrounded by trees on all sides. Fall is just beginning and a few trees have begun to change colors. Pete rode his (well my) road bike out there, and I decided to try running home. It was about 7 miles, took a little over an hour, and was hard. The longest I've run in almost a year, since having Sam, my legs felt like lead. But it did feel good to workout and was a beautiful run.

That night was the General Women's meeting. I didn't time things very well. I didn't get home till 7:20, had a crying, hungry baby that needed to be fed, needed a shower, and thought I should at least eat something before heading over. You can watch the meeting at home, but I thought I would get more out of it if I was at our church, so I showed up 20 minutes late and was completely exhausted. I don't think I've ever been more tired during a meeting. Don't ask me what any talk was about. The only seat I could find was in the very back, it was dark, and I'm embarrassed if anyone saw me sleep through the whole meeting. Needless to say, I'll be watching the meeting again on my own. I do remember, the music was amazing. But that's about all I remember.

Sunday was an equally beautiful day. After dinner the kids did some quiet time, Pete and I sat on the back porch and were able to just talk. We talked about our life right now. Things that are hard at work and at home. And things that are good. Life is not easy right now. But is it joyful. At times :) It was nice to take a break and enjoy just sitting there, if only for a moment. Our neighbors tree has changed colors. It's a bright orange and looks like it's on fire when the sun hits it. We watched the squirrels and chipmunks busily going about, collecting their acorns before the weather turns cold. We watched 200+ black birds fly into the trees overhead and chew on the acorns, and listened to the acorns fall like a heavy (and fatal) hail storm. We got out the binoculars to watch them and couldn't figure out if they eat the acorns, just chew on them or if the acorns were mostly just falling because of their weight on the branches.

Quiet time (1 hour) went by quickly, as it always does, and before we knew it, the kids had joined us outside. With the acorns falling, John quickly placed buckets around the porch to see if he could catch some. Then got a small net and tried to catch them by hand. He was followed by little Will, bare foot, up the steep dirt/rock hill behind the porch, getting hit every now and then by an acorn. It's easy to complain about not having grass and much of a yard, but I'm grateful to at least have something. After the acorns had fallen and the birds flew away, Pete blew off the porch, we laid out an old rug and blanket and played Sorry, the kids favorite game, as it grew dark. Then made some homemade triple berry ice cream to celebrate one of the last warm days of the year. It's sure to only get colder from here.

Monday was quite the contrast to Sunday, in many ways. There was laundry to be done, food to cook, kids to rush off to school, groceries to be bought, piano practice, the whole bit. I attempted to make a meal to take to a family in a ward who just had a baby. It shouldn't have felt like such a complex meal, but what would normally take an hour or hour and a half to finish, took about 4 hours. I got a late start on it, after grocery shopping in the morning and trying to get Will down for a nap (which was unsuccessful).  I made chicken enchiladas with a black bean and corn salad on the side (pretty simple, right?) and had to stop a couple times in the middle of things to feed Sam, helped Will go potty, played Battleship with Joe, walked up the street to get the kids off the bus, helped with their piano practice, had to help break up the occasional fights, look at school stuff, help with homework, hold the baby, answer questions... I was reminded that there is a time and a season for everything. This is not the time for me to spend a lot of energy and time cooking complex meals. Cooking to some extent is obviously unavoidable, but keeping things simple is essential. And not just with cooking, but with a lot of things. The kids need me.

(I just realized I never got around to finishing this post a couple months ago... and now I can't remember what else I was going to write, so I guess I'll just post it unfinished...)