Insert Witty Title Here. I'm Sleep Deprived.

I feel change coming. Not sure how serious, not sure how soon. I just feel it on the breeze. Or smell it, although I'm not sure if it's a good smell or a bad smell. Either way, it's coming.

I've rewritten this paragraph five times. Each entry was so boring I couldn't keep writing. I was THAT bored. I know it's not my life, because that, dear reader, is not boring --most of the time. I think it can stem back to the fact that the baby has hit a big growth spurt and won't sleep longer than 2-3 hours anymore. It's been going on for 5 days now, and I'm pretty sure my brain has melted inside of my head. I'm literally a walking zombie. And don't tell me to nap --even though I got a great nap today! --because my kids are out of school and that means stuff going on ALL the time. All day long. They are underfoot and under stimulated. Ah, the joys of summertime.

Last week the kids and I went to Idaho and enjoyed a splendid vacation with family and friends. Ice cream, hiking, the zoo, the park, pizza, a birthday party, and movies. Pretty good week, I claim. I love going back to my hometown; it's cathartic. About two hours outside of my place of birth, I begin to remember. The entire area is simply riddled with 18 years of memories (maybe 19), and it gets better as we spend time in my parent's home (we moved there when I was 14), with high school buddies (love them so much!), and in all my old haunts (which aren't that many, actually). I felt sadness when we left --I can't really pinpoint why, but it's as if my youth is slipping away with each visit; my memories start to dim. I'm getting older.

Anyway, the reason we went to Idaho was because Brandon was on High Adventure with the Priests in our ward (Priests are 16-18 year old young men). They went camping/hiking down in the Escalante area (Utah) and for the first 3 days, 11 of them backpacked through non-cell-service wilderness. They went into an area that many of the boys had hiked before (four of them already have mission calls --this was an older group of boys), but unfortunately, that led to an interesting adventure: Three of them got lost for 15 hours, which included overnight.

Long story short, the boys were fine, everything turned out fine, but Brandon taught our kids this lesson: If you get lost, STAY PUT! The boys had kept going because they thought they remembered the trail from last year --and ended up missing it completely TWICE. The other lesson was, follow the trail! There were cairns (rocks piled in towers) along the trails, but one of the boys was sure that a cairn was wrong. All in all, the boys were blessed with safety and the week ended without any more incident. Phew!!

Other fun things going on:
1. #1 is going to sleep-a-way camp this week and she is so excited.
2. Brandon has finally relented and realized how important it is for him to see Avatar: The Last Airbender and we're rewatching the whole series (as a family. Sort of). If I could recommend only one animated series for kids/youth --this is it, hands down. I can't compliment it enough!
3. I really like Church. Even when I'm exhausted

Links I loved:

Club Unicorn

What Love Isn't

And now I'll leave you with some awesome quotage:

"I have spoken over the years with many individuals who have told me, “I have so many problems, such real concerns. I’m overwhelmed with the challenges of life. What can I do?” I have offered to them, and I now offer to you, this specific suggestion: seek heavenly guidance one day at a time. Life by the yard is hard; by the inch it’s a cinch. Each of us can be true for just one day—and then one more and then one more after that—until we’ve lived a lifetime guided by the Spirit, a lifetime close to the Lord, a lifetime of good deeds and righteousness. The Savior promised, “Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.” "
~President Thomas S. Monson