Happy Vacation, people! :)

So there pretty much isn't anything cuter than my 4-yr-old niece strutting around in her little blue jeans and pink sunglasses. And I do mean strutting. Pretty much makes me want to die...of...her cuteness...

So here's what I've been up to:

- one week at sister #3's house in central CA with her and her 4 kids, Mom and Dad, and sister #4 and her 2-yr-old. 900 degrees outside--ugh.
- two weeks with sister #4 in southern CA. 60 degrees outside--aaah.
- now--partway through another two weeks with sister #3 and her fam
- then--2 weeks in UT with the parentals and sister #1 and her 7-yr-old

WOOOHOOO! :)

So there's been a lot of the following:

- being pleasantly awoken (waked up?) by cheery little 2- or 4-yr-old faces and giggles :)
- snuggling with small, and not so small, children at bedtime and in the morning and at random times during the day
- reading books to some of my favorite people on the planet
- enjoying air conditioning, someone else's cooking, and garden-fresh produce
- otter pops :)
- thinking, thinking, thinking
- organizing sister #3's house. Heehee! :) You think I'm kidding, maybe, but I'm not. I suggested that we do some big project while I'm there (here), since having another adult around can be really helpful. So she suggested, giggling, that we reorganize her ENTIRE HOUSE--new containers for things, labels, the whole shebang. Woohoo! :) So far we've done her junk drawer, the games/linen closet, and her walk-in closet. SO FUN! :) I just hope I don't get burned out of cleaning and organizing such that I won't want to unpack into my new apartment when I get home.

Um, what else? OH! Girls night in southern CA with Sarah and my sis, and dinner with her and Nathan and cute little Molly. Molly and my niece are almost the same age, and pretty much totally hilarious together. Friends like Sarah are rare, and hence a treasure.

OK, I'm off to shower and clean a closet and shuttle kids to playdates. :)

Gardening

So my sis has a garden. Well, ok, ALL of my sisters have gardens. But this afternoon my 2-yr-old niece and I walked toward the garden of my niece's momma, the sister of mine that I'm currently visiting, who has a garden. Ya with me?

And she was coming toward us, from the garden, with 2 little round squash (squashes? squeesh?) in the pocket of her hoodie. Her squash plants have been transplanted twice this season, due to some unforeseen circumstances, and my sis has been worried that they're not doing too well, so she explained that she picked those two squash, which are a little small for picking, in order to allow the plant to put all its energy into recovering from the most recent transplanting experience, rather than into producing those squash.

And I thought...I wonder how often Heavenly Father does that to us, and we don't recognize that that's what's going on. We think, "Hey look, I'm producing this great fruit!" and then He picks that fruit, takes it from us, and we mourn, not recognizing that what He has in mind is for us to be bigger stronger plants.

(And as I'm writing this, I feel like it sounds like I'm really depressed, but I'm not. :) It was just a cool thought, and I thought I'd try to capture it in writing before I lost the feel of it. :) And I'm not sure I captured the real feel of it, but there you go.)

They ARE listening...

My sister wasn't feeling well, and said, "oh I feel like poop on a stick." Her precocious 2-yr-old copycat daughter said, "Yeah, yeah, poop on a stick."

heehee

Too corny

I was jokingly praising myself for doing such a great job shucking the corn for dinner and my BIL Chris said, "Yeah, Margaret. You really shuck."

Um, thanks?