June 19, 2007

Hello from the middle of total chaos!!

Ok, so this is officially our NINTH move since our marriage. Doesn't seem like it should be as big a deal since it's only about a mile and a half away, but still it is a big job! We were planning on getting things boxed up this week and then doing the big move this next weekend, but Saturday our friend Eddie had a big moving van he was already using and was nice enough to let us use it during the day. So we hired a couple of moving guys and they got almost all the furniture out of the house as well as all the storage boxes and boxes of books out of the garage. I wasn't really planning on this as my weekend was already quite busy, but I think it was a good move (no pun intended), because this way I can hopefully be TOTALLY moved out by the end of this week and that gives me all of next week to get this house cleaned.
The only problem is that I wasn't really ready for the move in that I had a bunch of loads of laundry to do, and the house wasn't as organized as I'd like it to be. The result is that I'll have several boxes of things that are not organized and that makes the unpacking harder. But oh well, it will eventually get done. Right now our rental house is pretty chaotic and our new house is extrmely chaotic!! It makes me sooooooooo stressed out not to have things organized and this move really is not an organized one. But I'm trying not to let the stress get to me. Ben would say not very successfully as it is only Monday and I already called him in tears and he really nicely left his meeting and came home to rescue me at 3:30 in the afternoon. THANK YOU BEN!!

My photoshoot on Saturday went well. The weather cooperated and I had fun, although photoshoots are always exhausting. Why is that? I guess just walking around, carrying my camera bag and in this case a chair and a basket thingy for the 1 year old to sit in, and then having to think on my feet getting everyone posed and making sure I'm not overlooking any weird branches sticking into the frame or strangely posed hands and feet, or other things that cause me a lot of headache in the post-processing stage. The family was the older dad and step-mom, one grown son, one grown daughter and her husband and one year old little girl. We did several posed family shots in various locations, plus some couples shots, dad and kids shots, brother/sister shots, husband/wife shots, mom/baby shots, and some shots of just the baby (she's about to turn 1). I haven't had time to even upload them onto my computer but I'm pretty confident it went well.

The boys are happy to be in our new house. They think this whole thing is a big adventure. I'm glad someone does! Mister and Angel are settling in. We're trying hard to get Mister to only use one corner of the yard for his potty, but he's not a very trainable dog and it's not going too well. But I just REFUSE to let that dog have the WHOLE backyard as his personal potty. It's just not gonna happen. So I'm basically potty training a dog again, but not a cute little puppy, but a dumb old dog. I'm not trying to be mean, Mister is just not well known for his intelligence, and at 8 years old, he is getting "over the hill."

I bit the bullet and told the photographer I was working with that I can't do it anymore, but maybe in the fall if things get less crazy for me. It's really hard for me to say no to things, but it is a relief. Now if I can just get through this move, my trip to Florida, and organizing our new house!

Yesterday was Father's Day and I got Ben a gas grill for our back patio. The one we had since our Denver days was so old and yucky we didn't even move it out here from Florida. So he has a nice stainless steel triple burner grill with a side burner for boiling corn or something like that. It is nice and Ben broke it in last night grilling us some steaks. Yum! I'm so lucky to have such a great guy to be daddy to my boys.

Well, this will most likely be my last update until next week since the cable doesn't get switched over to our new house until next Monday. So if you don't hear from me that is why.

Abe, CONGRATULATIONS on graduating from high school!! (well, by Thursday you will be graduated). I hope your recital goes really great tonight. It is starting right now and I am thinking of you.

Rachel and Naomi I'm so jealous you are home with everyone right now. I wish I was there to hear all about Rachel's adventures biking (cycling?) from Tucson to Provo. Naomi, please have someone take pictures of you in your dress and email them to me, I cant WAIT to see it!!!! Also, I sent in a request to the printers to have the invitations overnighted to you in CA, so I'm hoping, praying, and crossing my fingers that they get there in time for everyone to help you with the addressing, etc. I'm not going to email the final result until I know they have been mailed since I don't want to spoil the surprise. But I think they turned out beautiful.

Happy Anniversary Mama and Daddy (also on Thursday, right?). I hope you have time to do something special to celebrate 34 years together. 34, right?