Its vacation time. When you are going on vacation with kids, you never know quite what to expect. Or exactly what works to make the trip run smoothly. This trip, I filled one huge bag up with snacks, and each of the boys had their own toy and activity bag. It worked pretty well to keep them entertained during the driving.

But ultimately having a good trip is sometimes just luck. Today we made good time, the kids weren’t too whiny in the car, and our activities were fun. The only hiccup was this kid getting sick. Luckily, he felt much better after throwing up.

We drove straight through to the Utah Field House of Natural History in Vernal. It was a small but good museum. Our kids blazed through it.

We went out to the Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument, which they also enjoyed but went rather quickly through. I was still fascinated by the wall, listening to the ranger, and searching for things, but the kids were already on the way to the car ready to go.

Peter had his sights set on a the pool at the hotel we are staying at. And we got to the hotel and went to the small pool and he loved it. Kids like very simple things.

I had a rough day yesterday, and this morning I went on a walk pretty early in the morning. I don’t think I could stay sad talking a walk early in the morning. I love being outside and hearing the birds and thinking without anyone else around.

It was conference today. The great thing about technology is you can pause TV, go to soccer, and pick up conference right where we left off. Except we still were behind and need to catch up on a hour tomorrow.

I had a neat experience later, and conference is a great way to realize the spiritual nature of many experiences. I told the boys we had to pick up before we watched a movie. They went outside to play, and I cleaned it all up anyway. When they came back in, I pointed it out and said that because Mom cleaned up, they had to do something special for me. Peter offered me some of his money, which I responded I didn’t want. I told him I wanted them to listen to me and obey me without complaining. That was it. That is exactly what God wants of us as well.

In between conference and soccer we planted some bare root plants: one plum tree, two grapes, two hazelnut bushes, two honey berries, and four black cap raspberries. I’ve got four more fruit trees coming, which will be a good start in our yard. The chickens did a great job of clearing the land for us, the soil looked great, so I’m excited to get these plants growing and have fruit in my yard!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately of not being overly critical of myself, and also not comparing myself to others. Rather, I want to respect where I am at life and simply be trying my best.

Here’s my yoga practice. I’ve been practicing for years, but still find I’m not overly flexible, I can’t do many poses that I would like to, and I am nowhere close to the level of many other yogis. Lately instead of being frustrated by this, I am happy with where I am at. I happy that I can get out my mat nearly everyday and practice, that my body is getting stronger and more flexible even if it takes far long than I anticipated. I love to feel my body work within the confines of its own imperfection.

Oh, and if you didn’t notice, my kids often take over my practice and create opportunities for cuddles, horsey rides and more. I welcome this, because even if it makes my practice a little more slow, it means I am sharing it with others.

We are all at different levels. Too often I look at the people above me in envy and look at myself in criticism. I don’t want to anymore. I am strong and powerful, just where I am at. I don’t need to be better or comparable to anyone. All I need to do is to keep going on my own path.

My goal at the beginning of the day was to live so I didn’t feel stressed. A lot of that was ignoring the clock and not criticizing myself. I also stayed on task better but also didn’t try to just rush through things and try to fit too much in.

One of my chores today was weeding. I’m a non traditional weeder. I only get rid of some of the weeds. And I eat the other ones. Seriously. Here’s how to eat weeds.

1. Collect dandelion greens and some leftover beet greens.
2. Saute with olive oil and mushrooms
3. Add some ham and put on the bottom of a casserole dish
4. Pour in 6-8 beaten eggs (from our own chickens) mixed with salt and pepper
5. Top with cheese and bake at 400 for 30 minutes

We went to the park for a picnic and stopped by a restaurant for ice cream cones. It was  bit cold and rainy, but fun nonetheless. Later I let the kids play with oobleck. I don’t think Henry has ever played with it before and he loved it.

Tonight was Peter’s first piano recital. He was bright red, but played really well.

After getting ready, I attempted to do too many things all at the same time. It seemed like a good idea at the time: I could do the budget and other things on the computer and just take breaks when the kids need something from me and also to clean up and get my chores done. But in reality it just made everything take about twice as long as it needed to and left me feeling quite a bit stressed.

I had a decent break at story time at the library. We left with these quite hefty non fiction books. While we were there, Peter asked me where the airplane and car books were. I made him go ask the reference librarian. He was quite shy about it, but did it, and she of course knew right where they were and had a few words of advice for him.

I try to meditate every day, but it usually turns into a tiny nap. I love tiny naps. I nearly finished my landscape design later in the day while the older kids played outside. Joe got off work early so I was able to get a much needed haircut. In the evening after dinner, we went on a walk around the temple. It is a very frequent walk we take and the kids love it.

Mid way through the day I thought about what I would do if I had a lot of free time. But I do have a lot of free time. Daily chores and obligations do not take up all of my day. Sometimes I feel busy, but that is by choice not obligation. My time is mine to spend as I want. Generally my only limitation is involving the children in what I do.

Today in my free time, that I enjoy in abundance, I started to organize some books. I played with my children. I planned for an upcoming vacation. I took a nap. I continued to work on a landscape design for a client. I finished reading a book, and I put together a new necklace. Towards the end of the day, the only thing I thought was missing was other people, so I went and visited a friend.

Peter perfecting a block tower with his free time

This kid loves to read. Chapter books now! I found an Encyclopedia Brown and he loves it. 

I filled my free time with purposeful activities that I enjoyed. I’ve been caught up so much in what I think I have to be doing that I often forget to enjoy the free time I have and do things that I want to do.

My laptop came today too. I’ve been sharing a desktop with the rest of my family, and it wasn’t very flexible. I haven’t actually had a laptop for about eight years. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get one. I think I thought it would cost too much, but it wasn’t hard to find a good deal. (I ended up getting a Lenovo Yoga 11e, cost right around $300, and so far I’m very happy with it. The only thing I’ve done with it is install Microsoft office and write a blog post though.)