Life ...

This post will probably end up sounding as haphazard as our life has been over the last month or so.  May 30 we closed on our house, and it has been full speed ahead since then!  Normally, I would guess when people close on their house, they get the keys and excitedly have some sort of celebratory picnic on their new bare floors, or at least start moving in right away.  Not us ... we knew when we ended up closing at the end of May that our move would be gradual.  June is just a crazy month for us to begin with!  So we closed on a Wednesday, Grant had a conference Thursday and Friday in Midway, so the boys and I picked up the keys and toured our new home together Thursday, then I met Grant on Friday for a much-needed getaway weekend.  We came home and commenced the packing that had been put off by marathon training and hospital stays.  I ran my half marathon on June 9, recovered while packing up our house the following week, celebrated baby Zach's first birthday (yes, seriously ... where, oh where, did this year go?!), moved the next Saturday, and we've been in our house since the 16th of June.  Now we're back and forth between the two houses, cleaning the old one and unpacking the new one.  Life is a little chaotic right now, I'm not going to lie.  In the middle of all of that, the boys have both picked up terrible colds, bad enough that I started fearing another hospital stay for Zach, we've had car problems, unexpected additional employment opportunities come our way ... in short, our bodies are aching and our minds are reeling.  The boys are definitely suffering from the effects of stressed out parents and their little world changing all around them. We've all been quite a bit crankier than usual. :)  BUT, despite all the madness, life is good.  Several times a day I express either aloud or to myself how much I LOVE this house.  I love it.  I've always been a bit of a home body.  My home is my haven.  It's my refuge and place of peace.  And this house could not be more perfect.  My boys could spend hours in the sandbox if I let them.  The inside is light and bright and airy.  It's not overdone or overwhelming.  But it is lovely, and comfortable, and pretty.  There are of course things here and there I wish I could change (just ask Grant who hears me mutter something about my "stupid kitchen cupboards ..." on a daily basis!).  It's not perfect, but close to.  I had fresh-picked raspberries from our backyard on my waffles this morning.  There are peaches growing on my peach tree.  The bees are busy pollinating my blackberry vines in the corner, and I smile when I see them, thinking that this house has blessed me with a little piece of Oregon.  The birds love all the trees in our yard, and I love hearing the train whistle in the evenings.  Our neighborhood is hopping with activity all day long and into the warm summer nights.  Kids riding bikes and scooters, neighbors fussing over their lawns with lawn mowers, families out for walks ... it's the perfect neighborhood for this stage of life.  Neighbors have brought us cobbler and stopped by to chat while we're out trying to figure out how to take care of a yard, and I have this glimmer of hope that all this change and chaos is going to amount to a change that is much-needed and full of promise and opportunity.  I hate change (have I mentioned that before?!), but this was the time for this move.  This house if perfect for me and my family.  I'm not sure why Lehi, but I'm excited to find out.  In the meantime, we're busy trying to find coloring books in all the boxes, trying to figure out which Wal-Mart is closest and most convenient, and trying to squeeze in normal-life activities in the midst of moving madness.  I will try to get pictures posted once we're settled.  Settled.  Can't wait for that!