I'm baaaaaaack...

I have blogged twice this summer. Give or take. And that's crummy. Because I have way more to say than that. Way more going on, in lots of wonderful ways. I've been less than grand at communicating with the world at large, partially because it seems I owe money to everybody and their dog - so that tends to hinder my natural desire to answer the phone. (Which is already hindered by my antisocial nature.)
All that being said, I'm trying to get my life organized to the point that I can occasionally do something I enjoy rather than housework and chauffeuring and errand-girl extraordinairiness. Part of that comes in the form of a really cool website that lets you and others track and maintain several different schedules. It's called Airset, and it's pretty cool - and free. Trying also to streamline paper trails, which will become infinitely easier when I get my new computer. Sometime. Maybe. And trying to square away all of that 'owing money to everyone and their dog' piece. Sigh.

Anyhow. We had a wonderful vacation earlier this month, on the heels of moving. (Pictures coming, I promise.) Literally, we unloaded the last u-haul load into the garage at 1:30 on Sunday and left for Sturgis 4 hours later. It was a great time - lots of good riding and sightseeing; got to have fun dressing up (okay, down) and pretending to be any number of things for a week.
Seriously, it was SO MUCH FUN. Then, luckily missing the hellish baseball-size hailstorm by a day, it was off through Montana, down through Yellowstone (a less than notable riding day, 12 hours of rain and hail and snow and muddy construction and buffalo-gawking tourons) and a relaxing few nights at mom and dad's in Soda Springs. Picked huckleberries, made some jam, and enjoyed showing Scott around all the big doin's that used to seem so much bigger...



Now it's back to real life and kids are back in school and everybody's doing well. For Scott and me, work is the same as ever. Plenty of people doing dumb things and just plain old getting sick, and once in a while we can make a difference for somebody. I'm charging full-time now, which I really enjoy, because I still am able to take care of patients each shift as the madness allows, even while running the joint. And still get to see Scott a lot, both when we're working and when we're not, because our schedules jive pretty closely except for all the extra shifts I've been picking up (see aforementioned "owing everybody and their dog"). Scott is gearing up for coyote season, can't wait to get out there and cause some carnage and pest eradication.

Stephanie is crazy busy with soccer and school and the nonstop social life of a 15 year old - and to boot a beautiful, smart, and funny 15-year old that has boys beating a path to the door (despite my staunch advice that all boys are stupid). She's driving on her learner's permit now, which means she has to have one of her three parental figures in the car whenever she drives, till she gets her license next summer. Which is sorta terrifying. ;-)

Madaline is busy too, track is in full swing right now and she's doing well there - save for a nasty divot out of her shin compliments of an uncooperative hurdle. School and friends keep her schedule maxed out continuously.

Hayley was completely excited to find out that she got into the 5th grade class of the teacher she most wanted (and in honesty, I wanted her to get into his class too - I have been doing volunteer work at the school since she was in kindergarten and know all the teachers, and he is absolutely top notch) - and she is really enjoying school. She's auditioned for the Madrigal Choir, finds out this week whether she made that or not - and she'll be starting in the orchestra as a beginning violin player (and Mommy is maybe going to learn to play at the same time!!). She starts volleyball next week too, which is the sport she's seemed to settle on as a favorite. Her stepmom is coaching her team, which is pretty cool too.

Kyle is in first grade and really is enjoying it so far. He says first grade is "way better than kindergarten" and ended up with a wonderful teacher he likes a lot. He's playing soccer too, has started practices but hasn't yet had a game - but playing on a good team with a seemingly really talented coach.

And Gabriel is in first grade also - he likes his teacher a lot and is happy to have lots of friends in his class. He continually cracks us up with some of the witty and sharp things he says, and leaves us shaking our heads - and he's always full of hugs and kisses for me and his dad which just brightens the day all the time.

More to come, soon. On the docket this week: Coffee with a dear sweet friend I've gone way too long without seeing. More work, of course. A massage, perhaps. And we're starting the Atkins crunch again on Tuesday, which is bound to kick my ass for the first few days and get really old after a week or so. Scott is better at following through with that than I am, and it shows in his 30-35 pound weight loss in the three weeks we did it earlier in the summer. (No, I'm not trying to lose that much, and yes, I do cheat liberally - can't live without my carbs.)

And I will get some pictures posted. Lots of catch up to do here, and over on Envisage, as I'm about a month behind there. Oh! Of note, Hayley and I are both doing the second year of Envisage together, and that starts September 1 as well. I'll post a link in a couple of days on that so everybody can keep up with us there too.