Time flies! Catching up and a jumble of thoughts.

I know I've used that title many times.  I find myself forgetting to just sit down and pull up this blog and update it.

So since I last wrote, Rich and I got to go on a cruise to Progresso and Cozumel in Mexico.  We loved the entire week.  It was fun to have time away from the kids, see new sights, eat food without having to prepare or clean it up, and travel with friends as well.

We've decided that we are ready for another cruise in the future, so if you have one you want to go on, and are looking for friends to take it with you give us a call. :)

School is over and the kids all passed.  Alex will be going into 6th grade next year and that's a transition that I think I'm more nervous about than he is.  He is excited.  Angela will be in Kindergarten.  I only have one more year to have her at home with me for part of the day.  It seems like she is so little, but she will be 5 next week.  Time really does fly.  I don't really have a baby, or toddler, or pre-schooler any more.

I've also realized that we have lived here in Oklahoma in one house for longer than almost any other place I've lived in my life.  The only time I've lived in one place for longer than the 5 1/2 years we've been in this house was when I was a kid growing up and we lived in Maryland from my 1st grade year through my 7th grade year at school.  6 years... that means 6 more months and I will have lived in Oklahoma for longer than any other place.  Even Utah when we lived there I was at home for 4 years, then I moved out and got married and then moved away.  I was there for 7 years, but lived in 5 different places during those 7 years.

I find myself looking around the house trying to figure out where I can move things and "change things up" around the house.  I think that's really because I'm just so used to change.  I'm used to packing up, and moving and having new places to live that I have to figure out how to arrange things in different spaces.  Our house is sufficient for our needs and while a little more space might be nice, we really do fit in it just fine.  We finally have figured out the configuration of who's room should be where and what the other rooms purposes should be.  After 5 1/2 years I'm finally getting a little tired of the same color throughout the entire house (except for 2 of the kids rooms- everything is the same color we had it painted when we built the house).  Next month while I take the kids to Nashville to visit my sister and her family, Rich will spend his evenings after work with a project of painting 3-4 rooms in the house.  I think that might satisfy my inate desire to change things up in the house. :)  I'll also be painting Alyssa and Angela's room upstairs and turning it into more of a "girly" room.

Now that the kids are all home for the summer I feel like each day is slipping past us.  We haven't done anything worthy of any great summer vacation stories.  I was able to go to Girls Camp for one night and two days and I had a great time there with the Young Women in our ward.  Other than that we've had days filled with friends playing, swimming at the pool, and lots of movies and tv and video games.  I think I'm getting past the "honeymoon" phase of summer vacation and I'm ready to start putting a little bit of structure into our days...  like requiring the kids to turn off all electronics once I'm up and we have breakfast and playing outside for a little while.  Also cleaning rooms... and maybe even sorting through toys and clothes and bagging up what we don't use/need anymore.  We can get stuff done in the mornings before the pool is open and then still have the whole afternoon left to swim and play.

But we shall see... I'll admit I LOVE that I'm able to sleep in and wake up and not worry about the messes I might wake up to- entire boxes of cereal dumped into the carpet like I have in past years. lol!