Don't worry Ruby, I feel the same way when Daddy kisses me...

I knew I would get a fun husband. I predicted he would be funny, crazy, energetic, ambitious and he would tease me a lot. I bargained he would be tall... and from a far-away place (Australia). I knew he would love God. All this came true for me, I am so happy. What I didn't bargain for, is how deeply he would love my children. Unless I want tears to start flowing on a Saturday, I will end this post, but you get the picture.

The Last Trip of the Summer!

My bros and me, hamming it up. Jared, on the left, took all the photos at the temple with his super nice Nikon. I love having a photographer in the family.
Photo of all the girls in the family. Hannah, in the middle w/ the white shirt is 8 months pregnant.
Mummy and Daddy.
Miriam and Ruby together, I thought it was an interesting shot of Ruby's "What did you say to me?!?!?!" face, and Miriam's "I am an Abercrombie Model" face.
Rachel, Hannah, and me. We go way back :)
Left to Right: Naomi, Bethany, Jared, Rachel, Miriam, Gideon, me, Isaac and Hannah. There was not one moment of silence the entire weekend.

My dad phoned me the night before we were to leave for Sacramento. He changed plans and he decided it would be best to stay together and spend the weekend as a family, and not driving down to Yosemite in separate cars and some hiking and some people not, but to stay in Sacramento all together. I was disappointed that I couldn't go to Yosemite, but also relieved that it would be a more relaxed trip. We stayed the first night in a hotel, went through the temple the next day, stayed the next two nights at the Sacramento KOA (which is a comfy little city campground). It was funny when we went to church on Sunday up in the hills of Folsom next to the temple and then went back to our cars that we were basically living out of... we were out of place there but it felt good to be a Medley again.

A Medley vacation is a sweet experience, including but not limited to: always camping, granola bars for breakfast and lunch, either hiking or walking longer distances than one is accustomed to, a continuous and uncontrollable stream of laughter, no showering, lots of weird words and noises coming from my brothers, games late at night, singing harmony, scripture discussions, blissful and constant hyperactivity, and lots of bathroom humor (to my parent's chagrin).

So, basically, it was lots of driving, lots of love, lots of junk food, and TOTALLY worth it.

My family really is, no less than, THE BEST.

Buy this house!!!

Here are some pictures of our Investment Property... We put it on the market yesterday, For Sale By Owner, and if anyone out there knows anyone who is looking for a house, point them in my direction! This is the same floorplan as we live in, and we love it! We picked out colors/appliances and I think they turned out great.

This home is 4bd, 2ba, 2000 sq ft and we are asking $299,000. It is located in Lehi, UT, East of the Freeway and close to the Alpine Highway.

We'll see how it goes!

Quiz

Session with Sarah Take my quiz! Take This Quiz See Scores Make Own Quiz

Art and the outdoors.

Well, we are leaving on Friday morning for the last trip of the summer. We are heading to Sacramento to go through the temple with Miriam, my sister who is leaving on a mission.. I can't wait to see the Sacramento temple, too! That's all on Saturday. Then on Saturday night, we will drive to Yosemite National Park and camp there, waking up super early on Sunday to hike to the top of Half Dome. I have done that hike a couple of times, but I am out of shape in a bad way, I am going to be rather winded. We are excited, though! My mom is going to watch the kids in the valley while we hike ALL DAY. It's about 18 miles round trip, and the last mile is climbing a rock face using wood planks as stepping stones and a cable as a railing...(see top picture).
Laurel, my friend from CA, came with us the first time and I remember sitting on the very edge dangling my feet... I was so dumb! I would never do that now! I've got kids to raise :)
Enough talk for now, I'll be bloggin' when I return.

Not on the same subject, these are very similar paintings, I am in love with each one just as much. The Venice Twilight is on my living room wall, and the colors match my paint really well, I think. The Starry Night is in our bedroom above our bed. These bring so much color to our home, I love them! And they only cost 30 bucks on eBay!!!!

Kids, etc.

I got these recently via email from Jake's mom. She got a lot of good shots of the entire family on the beach in Florida, she is an amazing photographer.

I am in a very reflective mood. I can't believe how old we all are!!! My best friend growing up, Laurel, is going to start 2007 with a 4-yr-old!!! I will have a 4-yr-old in March! Soon they will have kindergarten teachers, then lose some teeth, then I'll be carpooling to junior high???? That's a question more than it is a statement.

Sometimes I feel so stressed out being the mother of two girls. They are bombs waiting to go off and they constantly push me. I tell myself to be patient the whole day and at the end of the day I feel like I have NOTHING left in me. No patience. No buffer for my feelings. Sometimes I end up blowing up over... a pretzel on the ground.. or something. And I thought I was going to have 8 kids!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I don't know how these moms do it.

But.. a lot of times I am so happy I could die and I am happy mostly because of the two aforementioned little monsters of energy and emotions. They literally breathe the breath of meaning and life straight into my lungs. Does anyone else out there feel stressed out and exhausted but wouldn't trade it for the world? That's what I thought. Probably all of you.... except those perfect moms out there that don't get frazzled :)

I'm glad I have friends. Thanks for listening.

"Graciegirl" and "Dubes", "Dubies", "Dubinator", "Lubylou", "Rubyluby"

Let me take a few moments to talk about my girls. If you are sick of hearing about them, I don't blame you and please, hit the back button and browse again in a few days when this child love fest is over... because this is only for those that appreciate children for being: loud, whiny, perfect, stinky, wet, sticky, fun, funny, hilarious, gorgeous, and completely worthy of all the love we give them.

This photo of Ruby's hand draped over Jake's shoulder was a must-have. If you look close, she has peanut butter and jelly stuck between her fingers from lunchtime...which was at least 5 hours before this photo was taken. There is a photo of Ruby with a green twig behind her ear. Her face in that picture is the same as every other thing you "put on her head". She will get a washcloth and drape it over her hair and waddle over and beg eye contact and a gush of praise from me, or whoever is around. Then she'll walk off with the most serious look on her face as if she's in a fashion show and MUST NOT fall off that runway at all cost.

The photo of Grace sitting on a rock at the foot of Bridal Veil falls--- I have stared at her hands and fingers all of her life and most of mine (I feel like I started my 'real' life after I had kids). When she's thinking or concentrating intently, she will touch her fingers together like that and move her pinkies around. And don't her legs look so cute with her cotton striped pants rolled up like that? Thanks for rolling those up, Miriam!
Ok, phew. Deep breath. I'm done.
---I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!---
Ok, now I'm really done.

Meds unite.

Miriam and Gideon. "Mirs" and "Gidbones". Words can't describe, but I always give it a shot, so here it goes...

When Gideon was born, I was assigned to be his special guardian. I come from a big family and mom and pop created this custom for us to take care of each other. I remember feeling like it was my big moment--my guardian child was finally coming and I would be his mentor and he would definitely bow to me (although I only vocalized to my mother a feeling of "excitement" and skipped the "tyranny" bit). Into the hospital room I charged, and pulled my 8-yr-old self onto the chair next to my mother's bed. All I saw was a big brown head wrapped in a white blanket.

Then I got to hold him and he was big from that moment on. Big head, big shoulders, big eyes... Then a few years later, he started talking and didn't stop until he was 16. Then he stopped talking. Funny faces? yes. Weird noises? yes. Funny smells, lots of video games and wrestling? yes, yes, and yes. But not too much talking. He started talking a little more lately, and my brother Gideon is now one of my best friends and I can't help welling up inside (he would kill me and mop up the sap) when I think about how much I love that kid. He will be a man when he comes back from his mission. I will miss him.

Miriam. I feel like I go through life talking to people. Talking and relating and befriending. My mind makes connections with certain people and they are chemical connections, full of a thousand different mental paths and each person is equal to the sum of those mental paths .... uh... ok... I'm losing my train of thought.. point being, Miriam has the highest sum of connected brain synapses with me. Our brains connect whether we say a thousand words or one. It's quite amazing. She is one of the smartest people I know. Hard to imagine her in San Antonio for 18 months with no phone calls!?!?! But she will be in a state of higher learning and of course, serving Heavenly Father and preaching the truth to Texans. She is just the woman for it. I love you Miriam.