Four Months Later...

It's been four months since I last made a posting and my life hasn't changed much since then. Austin finished up his spring semester with good grades. We embraced our summer and were so excited for the time off from school. I call summer "magical rejuvenation." Once school is out and summer break officially starts, to me, there really is something magical about that. I love feeling carefree and having an open schedule to do what I want with. Summer is rejuvenating because we work so hard and are so busy in fall and spring that we really need the summer to relax and prepare for next fall and spring.

One of the things we did this summer is watch all three of Disney's "High School Musicals." When they first came out I hated them, thought they were really stupid and vowed never to watch them. Well, I was living up to my vow until last year when I ran into a friend who wouldn't watch Harry Potter. She liked the HSM shows and we made a deal: She would watch the Harry Potters with me and Austin if we watched HSM with her and her husband. My devotion to Harry Potter is such that I had to make the deal. After watching HSM for the first time, I thought, maybe I should watch the rest of the movies - just to say I did. Well, Austin and I watched them and we really like them. Yes, they're silly and really silly sometimes, but - they teach good things and I love to sing, so that lured me in too.

Austin and I have been busy going to many family reunions. They have all been really fun. We love our families, but hate all the travel that goes into seeing them, especially in the summer when all the activities seem to happen at the same time. It's not too fun to buy fuel all the time for the car.

I've been helping my parents do some dejunking in their house this summer. I've gone to their house for two weeks (at different times) and I have another week coming up. I have a flexible job that allows me to do this and even though I'm the furthest child away from home (aside from my cute brother on a mission), I am the only one in a position to help out that much. I really like being the one to help. It's very satisfying for me to work hard at a project and see the end results and say, "I helped with that." And I like knowing that I am helping my parents.

My sister had her fourth baby in June. Lincoln Raymond. He's a cutie - as are all my sister's children. I've been able to see them a good handful this summer, which has been so fun.

My boss decided to retire a year and half early. She's been slowly moving out this summer and yesterday, all of her office things were completely gone. I'm really sad to see her go. She has been an excellent boss and a great friend. I hate change and have a hard time with change unless I'm the one changing things. This has been a hard adjustment for me.

I found out yesterday that my little sister is moving to Arizona for six months in January. I'm very excited for her and the opportunity she is getting by going, but I started to think about her being gone yesterday and I had a hard time thinking that I wouldn't see her for six months. I had to stop thinking about before I got too emotional. I will miss her. But, she will be in Logan for fall semester, so that will be good. :D

My little brother reached his one year mark on his mission in June. Woohoo!!! He is too cute. I love hearing about how he is doing and the adventures he is having. I can't wait to see him again.

I am making plans for my Halloween costumes. We already have some of our props and come mid-August, I will have the time to start working on them!!! I am really excited to attack this new challenge. I am a self-taught seamstress and that gives me a lot of stress sometimes. But, I learn as I go and have found that youtube is a very useful source. I will keep you posted on that for sure.

I am grateful for the friend I have (mostly online due to geographical distance) that encouraged me to write again. Thanks :)