Memorial Day Kick Off

When we were traveling around Southern Utah last month I was continually reminded of my Uncle Tony, who passed away 10 years ago. I went on a couple of his famous "Indian Trips" with him. These were the trips around the Southwest where he would purchase things for his incredible Indian collection. It was an amazing collection. It used to be on display at the family cabin. Before he died he got his collection in order and donated it to the Utah Museum of Natural History. I gave the museum a call and we were able to arrange a tour for the Taylor clan. They tagged all of his collection and took us into the bowels of the museum and we got to see it again. It was really amazing.

The stuff in this room was made by Uncle Tony. My favorite

are the Navajo Blankets he wove on his loom.

He had an incredible mask collection:

Most of us:

Dinner after at Lone Star:

It was the perfect kick off for Memorial Day weekend!

That's What She Said...

On Monday after FHE we were playing hide and seek. Tucker pushed Anders down at one point and immediately felt terrible for doing it. Clara who witnessed the whole event started yelling at Tucker, "We don't push our friends. Anders is our friend. We don't push him down. That isn't nice!"

Clara's room was in disaster mode and I sent Clara in to clean it up with the help of her siblings. She was not happy about that. "Mom is so mean. This is her job. She should be cleaning my room. She is mean. This is not my job."

Clara was being insane as 3 year olds are apt to be and Rob was losing it with her and she in her fit of tears pleaded, "Be patient with me." I guess it broke the tension!

Warrenton, Virginia

As you all know we are moving to Virginia. Warrenton is about an hours drive outside of DC. If you are Jennette and family, it only takes about 2.5 hours from Wilmington Delaware (excluding traffic, which I am sure will never be a problem). An easy distance I should think (think of Mr. Darcy discussing distance). If you are flying in, it won't take you long to get there from Dulles or DC National airports. We'll even pick you up at the airport.

This is where we will live. It has a four star luxury guest room with a bathroom just waiting for you:
This is Wegman's where we will buy groceries to make you delectable meal's when you come to visit. Wegman's is all the rage. It's a pretty cool grocery store:

This is Warrenton, a place you will enjoy exploring:
It is surrounded by horse farms with rolling pasture and LOTS of trees. Green, green, green:
This is an amazing little bakery we like. When you come to visit us we will take you there:
This is main street, which is very picturesque. You'll not want to miss it when you come to see us:

See you soon in Warrenton!

A Most Excellent Mother's Day

On Saturday night the kids and Rob prepared a feast, wrapped presents, and set up a fancy spread. It was good fun. I am a lucky mama and love these kids and their Dad to pieces.

Spring Soccer 2010

This year, disenchanted with the Taylorsville league, we signed our kids up for soccer in Murray. For the boys it has been okay. They have had fun and played well, but there haven't been practices and the coach hasn't been the greatest (although not volunteering to coach makes it so I shouldn't have the right to complain). For Lucy it has been fantastic. With only girls and an amazing coach the team has played really well. They pass (miraculous!!!), they play their positions, they are aggressive, and they are having a blast.

Meet the Monkeys:

And the Lions:


It has been a lot of fun to watch the games this spring! Looking forward to the boys finding a good team one of these years!

Too Much On My Mind

It is late and I should be sleeping, but my mind is racing, and I am tired of tossing and turning. I need to vent.

Rob and I have been training for a half marathon, and today was our 10 mile run. Besides a hurting foot, it was a great run. But now, at the end of the day, my knee is stiff and sore, and I think my foot has some kind of stress fracture or ligament strain. I'm worried I'll have to pull back on the training or worse, I won't be able to do the race. I have been psyching myself up for it and training hard. I will be pretty devastated if my body fails me. I am worried.

We are going to Virginia this week to look for a house to rent. There is so much to get done. Packing the house, selling the car(s?), finding a car(s?), setting up new utilities, shutting off current utilities, figuring out the cheapest way to get our family to VA, figuring out how we are going to afford the move. Scheduling the moving truck. We plan on getting rid of most of our stuff. It's cheap, handed down, used out; rubbish for the most part. But it needs to be replaced. We are unsure we can afford to replace it all, right off the bat, especially considering that our first priority upon arriving in VA is to find someone to take all our money and slap braces on Lucy's insanely crazy teeth. Maybe we should keep the crap. Maybe we shouldn't. The list of things to get done before the move goes on and on and on and on and on. It is stressing me out.

For a long time I've been worried about Tucker and Anders speech. They don't say their R's and Tucker seems to mispronounce other sounds as well. I talked to the special ed. teacher at the school. They were evaluated and both qualify for an IEP foe speech therapy, but there isn't enough time left in the school year to set it up. They would start in the fall if we were still going to be here, but we won't be. I want them to get started now. I feel like an awful mom for not acting on my instinct last year and getting them going then. But I didn't. And now I am stressing that they will have speech impediments for life. But that is only because it is late and problems seem bigger in the middle of the night than they do in the light of day.

And there is drama in my calling at church. I love my calling. I hate drama.

I especially tried to schedule our trip to Virginia around kids activities. With the end of the year they/we are busy people. Among the other things coming up soon, they have their school programs. I emailed Tucker's teacher to find out the date of his program so I would be sure not to miss it. The 13th she told me. So I wrote down on my calendar that it was the 12th and we scheduled a flight to leave that afternoon, right after his program. And then Tucker came home and said, "Mrs. Sinca said the program is on Thursday, but you said it is Wednesday." And then I looked at my calendar. It said Wednesday. I pulled up the email and it said Thursday. Great. Stupid clerical error. I am the queen of those lately. Maybe they are stress induced. Anyway, after all our careful planning, we are missing it. He cried. It made me cry. It's my job and my wish, to be there for my kids. This is a big deal to him. I know, we will all live and there will be no lasting damage, but it still makes me sad. And I'm missing Lucy's mother daughter activity day.

And last but not least. I am devastated to leave the kids school. They have good friends, wonderful teachers, and they are thriving. I am in love with the curriculum and they have learned amazing things and are doing so well. It breaks my heart that they only have three weeks left there. I've been toying with the idea of continuing the same curriculum next year with homeschool. I've been researching and networking and talking to people who have done it. Sometimes I feel really good about it. There are a lot of things that really appeal. And then sometimes, like tonight, I toss and turn, not knowing if this is a big mistake. Maybe the schools in Virginia will be above average and they won't cater to the lowest common denominator like so many public schools do. But maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe they need to be in a school setting. Or maybe they would thrive at home as well. I've been doing my homework. I've talked to A LOT of people and researched curriculum's and lesson plans. There are pros and cons to both options. My kids education is really important to me. I feel insanely passionate about it. They have had such a great start. I just want the very very best for them. I feel massively overwhelmed. I go from feeling completely positive about the decision to homeschool to terrified. And mostly I feel upset thinking about how much we are going to miss NPA. And how much I am going to miss my gym buddies/classes/therapeutic workout conversations. And Harmon's. And the mountains. And my book club. And my calling (minus the drama). And Sunday dinners with family....

I guess moving is hard.