Casa, Dulce Casa

Coming home was so very sweet. I was glad I stayed up until 3am cleaning and straightening before I I left with the kids for Chicago. There's nothing like coming home to a clean house-- something my mother imparted to me long ago. Her reasoning was a bit more morbid-- "In case we die on this trip, at least I'll leave behind a clean house" is what she used to say. Of course it didn't take long for the children and I to make our house look like we never left, but the sweetness of coming home to my house didn't go away, even after breaking it back in.

I think what made it so sweet was that I have a home to come home to. It is a feeling I never want to take for granted. I feel so grounded here. It's so nice to have a safe neighborhood for my children play in, wonderful neighbors who take great care of us, and to live so close to family, too. Paradise perhaps?

We have wonderful neighbors and family that went above and beyond while we were away....I was very touched by all the kind and thoughtful things that went on in our absence...this is just scratching the surface to give you an idea:

• Randy, Kyle's brother mowed our lawn...then later discovered it was dying and spent a great deal of time with our next door neighbor fixing a sprinkler that had been broken by a tree root.
• Dick, our sweet next door neighbor was the mastermind behind the sprinkler. Once fixed, he came out at 10pm to give our dying yard a good soaking.
• Bula rescued my Mother's Day plant Cade gifted me and watered it while we were away. She also took notices and stuff off my door so people wouldn't know we were gone. She saved the RS announcements for me so I knew what happened in the ward while I was gone, too.
• Jon, my sister's hubby along with a number of other favors, vacuumed out our dishwasher (it doesn't drain all the way when finished with a wash cycle and I ran it just before leaving and forgot to vacuum out the water) with our shop vac that was already full of water that was smelly beyond description, and he got to deal with that yuckiness. Ew.

Suffice it to say, we are indebted to a lot of people now. :)

Having Kyle in the same state has been wonderful. He has come home for a brief "visitation" what I jokingly refer it as. He pulled into the driveway just in time for us to head to the Stadium of Fire to celebrate the 4th of July last Saturday. Before we left, he had the kids come to the living room so he could show them a surprise courtesy of the drive through Wyoming....(pics to come)

By the way, the Stadium of Fire was incredible! I found some discounted field tickets (thank you, Craigslist!) and bought them, crossing my fingers Kyle would be able to make it. While it was a blast being on the field, I think I'd try for the front row stadium seats next time so that we could see more of the field performances. Kyle and I were excited to see Lou Diamond Philips as the MC for the night, and he did a great job. The entertainment was certainly entertaining. I've never seen the 5 Browns perform before and that was.... an experience. :) If you were there, you know what I am talking about. I would have to say Savvy had the best time of all. She took over the field dancing away during Carrie Underwood's performance. And the fireworks? Well, there were like 5 grand finales it seemed. We never knew when they were going to end, they just kept exploding above our heads and it was beautiful. I grew up watching the Washington, D.C. fireworks each summer and have always been partial to those (not to mention that was Kyle and I's first date), but I'd have to say, the Stadium of Fire showed up the nation's capitol for a fireworks show. Easy. I'm hooked and look forward to going next year.

Kyle spent a few days home finding things that needed to be fixed and then left for High Adventure with the scouts (they roughed it boating at Lake Powell this year). Today was his first full day home and he spent it buying and installing a new dishwasher, buying and installing a new toilet, and of course-- yard work. We are all feeling the pinch that time is running out and we have a lot to do...especially before our world's are rocked and Woodbury Baby #3 makes her appearance, but it's also a nice feeling of normalcy being back at the abode busily tending to house-ish things.

I like it.