CAMPING!!

Oh we loved to camp.  We love it love it love it.  We are going up for the 4th of July weekend.  I think the best thing about camping is the bacon and egg breakfasts.  The next best thing is the relaxation.  There just isn't a whole lot to do at the campground.  It will be perfect for me to study.  Then when the kids arrive we will play games.  I love games.  Our game master is Kyle.  He always has interesting games that get people all excited to play.  My favorite last time was "Oh Hell."  We played it 3 or 4 times.  I never won.  In fact, every time I played I came in pretty much dead last.  But it was fun.

I love that the grandkids sleep in the camper with us.  I love that the awning works.  I love that the slide out works now.  I love my new fire pit (thanks kids!).  I love my new campground.  I love that we get internet at the campground.

My obsession

I am sorry to write twice in one day, but I couldn't really write about this on my temple post.  So here goes. I am a fanatic about my weight.  I weigh myself every single morning, after I have gone to the bathroom, before I have showered. I mark my weight on a chart on the wall.  Today was a bad day. . . 20 days ago I weighed 3 pounds less than today.  I would like to say that it is just water, or it is just a blip, but I know, deep in my heart, that I shouldn't have been eating so much Taco Bell, or that popcorn and ice cream last Saturday.  And it isn't so much that the food is "not healthy" as it is that I eat too much of it.  I should have stopped at 2/3 of my Nacho Belle Grande last night.  I was plenty full.  Same with the Giovanni's calzone the night before.  I am a big girl and should know when my stomach is full.

So I am dieting today.  I am dutifully downing my Herbalife shake this morning, with plans for one this evening and a very light lunch.  I will get down those 3 pounds, and another 6, just for good measure!

The temple

I am very excited I get to go to the temple this morning.  Ever since we have had a temple in our city, my desire has been to go every week.  Unfortunately, I don't usually get there every week.  I would probably say my average last year was 2 times a month, and this year, I will be lucky if my average is one time a month.  No excuses.

But I will tell you that the temple is the best place in the world if you want to have a positive outlook on life.  I am not even sure what it is that causes that feelings.  Every time I walk out of the temple after doing work there, I feel like I am walking on sunshine.  I want to sing and I want to call all my friends on the phone and tell them hi.  I pray prayers of gratitude all the way home in my car.  It is amazing.  I wish I could go every day.

I am saving up a bunch of names to go to the Orlando temple and have them sealed.  I have about 410 cards for sealings.  I have been working on the family history for Paul's mother.  I have had some amazing experiences with these people.  I "stumbled" upon 1500 names in one particular family.  It is 5-6 generations with ages, names, birthdates, occupations, residences, etc.  So I have been working for about 2 years to verify and submit the names.  It has been a true blessing in my family's life as I have continued in this project.  I have probably another 150-200 names left to submit.  Every Sunday morning I get up early and try to work for 1-3 hours on it.  When I am done. . . it's back to scrapbooking!

I'm a geek

I love Chemistry.  I tried so hard to get into a Chemistry class at school this summer.  I went 3 times a day for 4 days in a row.  They finally kicked me out, even though, if one more person had dropped, I was in!  I resolved to study the subject on my own.  I have studied Chemistry before, and loved it in the past, but that was about 27 or 28 years ago, so I thought it would all be foreign to me.  However, since Chapter 1, I have been engrossed in the subject.  It all comes back pretty quickly.  Not only does the information come back, but the excitement to learn more has come back.  Each morning I get up and study for about 3 hours.

Which brings me to the subject of school.  I just started going back school, to re-take pre-requisites for pharmacy school, since they have to be less than 8 years old (!).  I have found that I am a way better student at my age, than I was when I was younger.  I am way more competitive, and not necessarily competitive with others, but with the subject at hand.  I want the maximum amount of points available to me, extra credit and otherwise.  If the teacher grades on a curve, 100% is not enough for me.  If there is extra credit, I want it, I need it.  Just to give you an example, in my microbiology class last semester, I only needed 6 points out of 100 on my final to get an A for the class.  However, I studied and studied and only got a 93% on the final.  That brought my final grade to about 106% for the whole semester.  Instead of being ecstatic about that, I was bummed that I didn't ace the final.  I am a true geek.

Adam and Caleb

Yesterday we got to spend the day with two of our grandkids, Adam and Caleb. We started the day by taking them to the new movie, Toy Story 3. The theater was filled with lots of families and lots of children. We bought a big tub of buttered popcorn and M&Ms and a large lemonade. We got there early so we munched and munched and chatted and watched the previews (some of which are surprisingly of the indoctrination type). The movie started and the boys were mesmerized. They sat and stood and sat and stared, loving every minute, even the post views. It was a great movie, moving me to almost-tears (but for the fact that I refuse to ruin a good pair of contacts by crying). The little chatter boxes talked all the way home about Woody and Buzz Light-Year. But we were all exhausted. With the promise of ice cream, Caleb promptly took a nap with Grandpa for 3 hours. Adam, not as easily persuaded, "rested" downstairs while I worked on Chemistry. We decided that a nutritious dinner of french fries and ice cream was in order and took them to Burger King, then Rite Aid. MMMMmmmm. It was awesome and the boys were in heaven. So were we. It doesn't get much better than grandkids, ice cream, Toy Story, popcorn, M&Ms, lemonade, and french fries!

Ew!

We went to dinner last night. I had suggested saving money and going to Wendy's for a quick burger and fries, but Paul wanted pizza. We have a great pizza place close to where we live. Chris joined us because Emily is out of town. We had great fun and good talk while we were eating. After we were done eating we each sat back with the satisfied full feeling that you get after a great meal. We were just chatting about life and the future, when Chris looks at the pizza, looks at me, looks back at the pizza, and asks, "What's that?" pointing. I reach over and pull a 4 inch, very black hair out of the pizza. Um. . . gross. Dad immediately starts his gag reflex, and I am pretty sure chunks are going to start flying. I tell Chris to move so dad can leave the table. Dad gets calmed down, while we try to get over what just happened. Chris keeps staring at the pizza, and I try to keep dad's mind off distracted. Pretty soon, Chris gets up, takes the pizza to the counter and comes back without it. Dad asks him if he asked them to box the left-over pizza to take home. He kind of chuckles, and says, "No." Waiting for the bill, Chris informs us that there were at least 4 other hairs in the pizza, and that he pointed them out to the owners. We got up to go pay, of course, there was no charge, even for the salad. The owners were mortified and fell all over themselves apologizing. So we got a free meal, and it was really good. The ride home was pretty quiet as we all contemplated how many hairs we had each individually ingested. . . ew!

Beginning Blogger

I am a little bit nervous to actually open up to the world and let my thoughts be known. I have enjoyed others' blogs so much and thought it only fair that I add my daily thoughts to them..

This morning, particular, I am missing Clayton. I have been missing him all week. He sent me a very sweet email earlier in the week, he said,

"Have I ever told you how much I love you and miss you. I really enjoy the new relationship that we have and I hope that it will continue to grow when I get home. I love you mom and I really truly think that you are the best."

It is wonderful to get little messages like this while he is away. See, before his mission, he spent all of his time finding fun things to do. Living at home, just isn't fun for a teenager. He wanted to go to parties and hang out with friends. It seemed like the world kept pulling him away. So yes, we have had a closer relationship through our letters these last two years, than we had the two years prior to his mission.

I am hopeful, but not expectant, that he will want to hang out with us when he gets home.