Not Me Monday....

This is my first try at doing this type of post so here we go, let's see what we get.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not go for a ride this past weekend with my husband, to find a camping spot for our vacation next week, and drink 1 gallons, yes 1 gallons of water, in two hours. Nope not me. I then definitely did not have to go potty 4 times on the side of a dirt road and almost get caught by two motorcycle riders the last time. That would definitely not be me, I would never do that. Oh we did find a great camp site, midMan is so very very excited about it.

And I did not bake another 7up Cake with Mountain Dew and jump up and down because it didn't turn out to be rubber in the middle, like everything else I bake lately. Nope I definitely did not get really excited about that one. And I did not cook a great dinner and only tailEnd and I ate it. Nope, that would never never happen in my house.

And I did not wander aimlessly around my house wondering where everyone was this past week. Nope not me I would never be sad to have an empty house. I love to have an empty house so I would never ever be lost when everyone was gone. And I did not get excited when tailEnd came home from a week long camp out with the scouts. Nope I did not jump for joy, again, when I saw all of the dirty laundry to do. No I definitely would not do all of that because I was bored. Never, never, never.

And I would never forget that my middle son, Dayton, was in Las Vegas on Sunday morning and keep telling midMan and tailEnd to 'Please be quiet, Dayton is sleeping.' Nope my age would definitely never think to show it's ugly head and make me forget things. Nope definitely not me, nope never.

Oh, and I would never ever keep calling my brother at 9:00pm at night, while he was at the movie, to please come and get his dog that I was babysitting and then feel really bad about it. Nope I would never ever be so rude as to do that just so I could go to bed. Nope never happen.

Nope I would most definitely would not do any of that. Nope, never, not me.

Love to All,

midRae

Getting To Know You.......

See that cute little button, on the left, that says 'Getting To Know You'? Well click on it and you will link to a really great idea. It's a way of getting your blog out there and visited by a lot of other bloggers, and seeing a lot of blogs that may interest or inspire you, or connecting to someone that may become a friend for life. Check it out and see what happens, you may find some of the answers you have been looking for.


Meanwhile, sit back and think about all of the challenges you have faced in your life, reflect on them, really think on them, then with all of your heart and all of your might find the good that came about because of them.


Love to All,


midRae

4th of July Parade

OK, so this past weekend, as you all know, was the 4th of July. Now we as a family are not really into all of the parades and the all day park activities. We just don't really get into it, our family is usually up in the mountains camping, fishing, and hiking. But this year was different. tailEnd, our youngest, had to march in the parade with the Cedar Middle School Marching Band. One last opportunity for a good picture of him playing his Sousaphone for the last time.

This is the best one that I could get, pretty sad when you realize he will not be playing it ever again. At least not in the next year or two unless he decides to start playing it again. But between the heat and all of the other people wanting pictures and the fact that he was a moving target, I will just have to be happy with what I got.

Now the parade itself was not to bad, it just really seemed to be a great big section of the advertisement page in the newspaper. It was pretty awesome seeing all of the Veterans and to see all of us showing our love for our country but there really wasn't much else to see because of all of the people standing in our way. It was really funny. Here we are sitting there, midMan and I have our chairs, we are ready with water, and we are at what we thought would be a great spot. Then the crowds descended.

At first we were a little taken aback with all of the people standing around us, remember we are not parade people, but then we decided to just laugh it off. I even managed to nicely hand a girl back her balloon, which she was holding, which was bopping me about the head and face, I tell you I almost didn't survive the beating. And security was no help, they were only interested in getting free food from the Quizno's cup.

Then there was the family just to the right of us. Here they came with their 8 chairs and all their other stuff. The husband didn't want to block traffic from the cross walk but his wife insisted that it would be just fine. She then proceeded to leave, along with everyone else except the husband and one kid, left sitting there with 8 chairs to watch over. When another gentleman and his children went to walk through the crosswalk, Familyman decided to inform the gentleman that 'there was going to be kids sitting there, they could not stop there!!!' We though a fist fight was in the making. But the gentleman gave way and proceeded across the street to the other side, what Familyman didn't realize is that the gentleman was only using the cross walk not taking over his spot. When Familyman's wife finally returned with their 3 year old, no one else ever did return, she proceeded to stand in front of us for the entire time we were there and the chairs ended up just taking up space.

After tailEnd was done marching, and acquiring heat stroke along the way. We chose to go home halfway through the parade, which we couldn't see anyways, so that tailEnd could feel better for Fireworks later that night with Jordyn, his friend who just happens to be a girl. tailEnd even managed to throw up on the ride home, yum....... HASHBROWNS! Eeeewwwww!!!

Life was grand at this years 4th of July Parade. And one of the cutest things I saw was this little clown.


Love to All,


midRae

To All The Young Couples In The World......

You know how you have all these little children running around your ankles wanting all of your time and energy and you can't wait until they are older so that you and your significant other will finally get to have that wonderful alone time together that you have heard so much about?


Well guess what? By the time it happens you are to tired, have to go to work, need to mow the lawn, need to clean all of the bathrooms, need to vacuum, need to dust, need to clean out all of the gunk from the sink, need to take out the trash, and you also need to finish up the laundry, along with countless other tasks and responsibilities that need to be taken care of.


So here is what happened in my little world. Dion and Ada moved out about 4 months ago. Great!!!! Two down and three to go. Now two of the other three, Dayton and Shannel, don't seem to be going anywhere which is OK with me. They pretty much take care of themselves and live on a totally different schedule than midMan and I do. We don't see them much, but we do see them enough to know that life is moving along for them. Now number three will not be going anywhere for at least 4 years, you know he's only 14, we can't kick him out for at least that long.


Please, please, please, don't get me wrong. I love my children and would love to have them with me 24 hours a day. I love our conversations, I love our laughter, and I love our disagreements, because you know we never fight, only disagree. I am one of those mothers that needs to know what is going on in my children's lives every minute of every day, they have gotten used to it, which is good, they love to humor me. I really do love to have my children around.


Now here is the thing. Dylan, tailEnd, left yesterday for a scout camp. WhooooHoooo!!!! He was so excited and I was a little sad, he has become one of my best friends lately. We laugh so much!!!!!!! But yeah, he will be gone until Saturday afternoon. One down and two left at home. Now today I get a call from Dayton telling me that Shannel and him have made it to Vegas OK. I'm thinking, 'OK, I didn't know that you were going but I sure am glad that you got there OK, have lots of fun for Shannel's birthday, be safe, and make sure that you come home to me. I love you.'


And just like that we are down to midMan and I, alone for the rest of the week. Now what?!?! I think I forgot what couples do without all of the other interruptions. Hmmmmmmm.......Maybe it will come back to me. After we catch up on the sleep that midMan missed last night because he got called into work after only sleeping 2 hours, and after we mow the lawn, and after I workout, and after I cook dinner, and after midMan goes to work in Mesquite and Vegas for the rest of the week, which makes him really really tired, and after I work all week too. And after all of that we are just to tired and have taken on all of those other responsibilities to remember that yes we could go to the movies, we could go out to eat, we could just go for a walk, we could just sit and talk, we really could just sit and cuddle.


Hmmmmmmm...............maybe I do remember. And maybe all of that other stuff just doesn't matter and maybe I'm going to go home and just cuddle.


Love to All,


midRae

Grandpa Trees

I have always been fascinated with the trees here in Cedar Valley, there are so many that convey time, knowledge, age, and beauty all at once. I am drawn to these trees just as anyone would be drawn to their Grandparent.

I just look at them and wish that I could understand all that they have to tell me, all that they have seen, and all that they have lived through. I wish that I could here their life stories and grow as they have.

These ancient trees have lived through at least two World Wars. They have lived through the depression and seen the world change, for better or worse it is for us to decide. They have watched us pave over their lifeblood and take down their brothers. They have watched us take over nature.

What might this tree tell us if we could hear and understand? How many children have climbed it's body and how many sheep have nibbled at it's skin? How many sunset's has it seen and how many conversations between a father and his son has it heard?

It has shared it's shade and given of it's fruits, but have we as humans forgotten the beauty that is there to see? Do we take and not give back? Have we forgotten?

Take a moment in each day to thank God for what he has given us. Take a moment to see what there is to see. Take a moment to let life slow down and savor what is right there in front of you. Take a moment.....................to remember.

Love to All,

midRae