Dreamy St George. Uh, did I say that?

It has been 2 years since I've been 'home' to visit family. It felt good. To hear my dad call me Futhie. To eat my mom's food. And even to get all the advice they have for me--yes, I have matured. For a couple of 70-somethings, they kept us hopping with The Itinerary. My dad had it all planned out. Cowboy action shooting in the morning--I don't have to tell you that Soren soaked that up. Realtor type drive around St George's equestrian communities. I soaked that up. Tuahcan production of Little Mermaid (I saw Melissa Gilbert in the audience). Dinner/Drive/3-d Green Lantern at Zion's Canyon. Of course church on Sunday so my parents could prove that they do in fact have children. (Not many of us 7 stay with them over church-going day so their fellow parishoners don't see them as founders of a great brood.) Mom took Ellery shopping, we watched BBC videos and FOX shows (yaya for BBC, yawn for Fox)--but my parents are still trying to convert me. My dad says at church, "See that lady over there? She voted for Obama. She was kind of a fish out of water when she first moved here from Massachusetts. . .but now she's just fine." He wanted me to know that there really were my kind in this small Utah community. He said if I move there, he would come over and we could muck stalls together. Dreamy.

Soren's gotta finish high school first though. (oh and that monumental task of selling a house under present circumstances). He got accepted to the science, engineering, and math academy here. He bull-dozed right over me to do it too. They had orientation camp today and made battling robots. He is so happy. So I'll drive the extra 10min at 630am to get him there, remind him to do his online Seminary, make Ellery come with us, get her ready at Starbucks. . .I hope she doesn't revolt.

The type of architecture in So Utah. Where is the landscaping? Honey, that eeeeeis the landscaping. Oh.

Sum Sum Summatime

Last month was a lazy June. We slept in, swam, hit the library and the movie theater and the BBQ.

Then we went (as a family) to housesit for the horse trainer that lets me ride his horses. It was a fun farmhouse with horse art and books to gaga over. And these purple kitchen cabinets--who wouldn't love these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! K you can tell I do. Next house I am getting purple kitchen cabinets. It is wearing trying to keep things organized and keep kids in order in an unfamiliar place. It was even more wearing trying to herd 6 donkeys into their pasture--the circus of Cyler running 20 acres, soren with a broken lunge whip and me on a golfcart trying to get these donkeys in their house. Hilarity or a really bad reality show challenge. We did it though.

And then there was being able to walk out the door and pet the beasties. We rode everyday. Soren hadn't ridden in a year and never on a gaited horse-he suprised me how well he did.

Ellery usually complains on Saturdays when I want to take her riding. It's a long drive (45 min) and when she's done with one horse she plays with the dogs while I ride one or two more. It's hot and humid. But while we were housesitting, she would just jump up at a moment and say "I wanna ride. Let's go!" I had SO MUCH FUN!!

So did my dogs--so we had 5 dogs, 6 donkeys and 9 horses to feed water and keep safe.

t'weren't nothing.

Cyler and I went to a "Grape Farm" (winery) because I saw their cute gift shop--I want to make these for my next house.

Two days after we got home from Azle, I loaded up again sans Cyler (had to work in Albany) and traipsed 18hrs to visit my parents in St George. More about that later. We were able to visit Colby, Nicole, Melissa,Blayne and his family and Shannon for a whirlwind stop in Vegas on the way home. We are home for a week and then off to Colorado with neighbors to their condo. For such a crappy year $-wise this will be a fun summer.

I get to ride Friday with my favorite Walking Horse Trainer DUB. Between now and then I am going on a wholesale weeding spree AND. . .wait for it--I am powerwashing the exterior of my mud-dauber, old-crape-myrtle blooms, spider-web, grime encrusted home. We have listed it on the market so I need to get it sparking and shiny. I have mixed feelings about selling it--one hemisphere of my brain says do it (and buy land in So. Utah) while the other says stay with what's familiar and doesn't entail packing, moving, storing 8 years of our lives, and making the kids adjust. We'll see. And plan,-and powerwash.