Stalling

A girl and her shoe.

I know, I know. 

I said I was going to move my blog from this location to Medium ... but it turns out (for now) the conversion isn't as easy as I thought. I probably need to call in a tech person vs. try and figure it out solo. So for now I plan to blog here as usual (more usual!) and possibly move at a later date.

So HOW ARE YOU?

Me? I'm good. I'm still finding it hard to fit blogging in for some reason. To be honest, sometimes I worry that the blog is so self-centered. I love it for the journal part--to record life and hear about other people's lives (via comments or email). But I think since Survivor I have felt like I should be aware of being too self-focused. If that makes any sense? I guess it's really just this nagging feeling that all of our lives are important, and I don't want others to have the impression that my life is all rainbows and unicorns. (And sometimes that happens when I am choosing what to write about.)

That being said, blogging is something I love to do. It does make me happy to write each day. I need to stop thinking so much and just write.

Woo. Thanks for letting me work through that. (Bah ha!)

Anyway, my point!

Since my last post, life has been pretty hilarious here at our house. But hilarious in a good, hard, funny way.

I hope you and your family are well.

Here's a sampling of our nuttiness:

--The kids all started school ...
and it feels like they have more homework than I ever had in school (all grades)! Much of their afternoons are spent doing homework--which is great for the noodle, but a bummer after such a fun summer. It's a radical shift from spending their days swimming or boating and getting $1.00 ice cream cones at the bakery down the street.

One highlight is that they are active in a lot of church activities each week. Volleyball started yesterday and they had a great time.

Team Zombicorn (half zombie, half unicorn).

First day of school. 6th grade for both!

--My new semester at BYU is back in full-swing.
I love being on campus and really like my students this term (which is pretty much always the case: BYU is a kinda special place in my mind). The Wasatch Mountains that border the campus are beautiful in the fall. Like amazing. When I think about it, I realize it is a really nice thing to work in a place that is really beautiful.

--Dave is busy ... with work and helping 5 kids with math each day (Because I am horrible at math. I took Geometry TWICE, and I still don't love it.). Psst: I do help with language arts and history.
--Papaya, our 15 year-old, injured her wrist.
And said-injurt caused some OWIE THINGY to develop on her joint. So she has her wrist in a brace for the next month. No fun. Luckily not her writing hand.

--We are lowering the mouse population in our 'hood.
I'm not proud of this, but in the last 3 months our cat (CityKitty) has caught 37 mice from the ravine near our home. Everyone says that her bringing them to our home each morning is a sign of love for us. But oddly it doesn't feel that way when we are the First Responders on the animal crime scene. The carnage. Ugh.

CityKitty.

--I began working out about 15 days ago.
Even though Survivor was 2 years ago, I've had a hard time getting back in shape post-game. I think I came home just BEAT and decided I was taking a break. 

And then I blinked, and 2 years had passed, and here I am wearing my food storage (get it--extra weight). Put it this way, if I played Survivor now, I wouldn't need a reward challenge for food; I'm already full. Hahaha. 

So ... I began doing weight training and cardio again at the start of September. My goal is to lower my blood pressure, cut out sugary drinks, caffeine, and gain muscle. Hopefully, I drop some weight, too. But I am trying to measure my health with other things than just the scale.

Anyway, the most hilarious part about this new health/wellness plan: I got a new pair of shoes to motivate me at about the 2 week mark. And then yesterday I learned that my foot has a stress fracture and some torn ligaments. AWESOME SAUCE. You all know how easy it is to exercise with a boot. 

Wish me luck because I just can't give up on this plan. I felt so much better when I was more mindful of my physical body. Being in good shape just changes everything about your life. I know that. For a fact.

Okay, enough of that. Here are my cute shoes. I can only wear one of them though. LOL!

My cute running shoes. (PS: First new pair since Survivor. For reals.)

--Elder Meehan is still serving his mission in Indiana and he is loving it. 
He has met the most incredible people in Indiana. I hope we visit the state once he is finished with his service. There are so many people to thank. He and his companion are treated so well, and watched over. It makes me so happy for him. This is experience is life-changing. 

And yet for all of the changes, he is still his same joyful, hard-working, humorous, thoughtful, (borderline hyper), self.

Elder Meehan at Sunday services.

The missionaries helped with the Speical Olympics. He said it was AWESOME.

--Our friends and neighbors did the ALS Bucket Challenge for our BFF.
This was an experience I will never forget. We had more than 100+ people there to do the challenge in honor of our BFF Janae who is battling ALS (And has been for the last 6 years. Yup, for SIX years.) Here are two of our friends who also ride in a bike race each year in honor of Janae. It's called Saints to Sinners--and it travels from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas. Their team is called Team Janae (see the jersey). 

Team Janae: Liz and Whittney
(PS: Whittney went to the Phillipines as my 2nd loved-one for the family visit on S26. LOVE her.)

That's Janae's husband in the red shirt.

Okay, off to carpool.

Have a beautiful weekend.

LOVE!