Basketball, Elections and Homework

So Payton started basketball last night. Well, he started GOING to basketball. He's 12 days out from breaking his collarbone and already trying to go shoot with them. One of my absolute biggest fears is that he's not going to heal correctly, end up re-breaking and having to have surgery on it. He just has such a hard time sitting still. So I'm going to keep letting him go, as long as he doesn't particpate until he's cleared by the Orthopedic Surgeon. But his coaches know to watch out for him and know not to let him play and all that jazz. Hopefully he heals soon because he drives me crazy when he's going stir crazy!!

It's actually been a slightly good thing he's been out, though. He's had MOUNTAINS of homework from missing 4 days of school.  I cannot imagine what those faced with serious illness or having to miss more have to deal with. He has been sitting every single night, in his chair, that is his chair, his bed, his couch, his resting spot; the only place he can sit comfortably and do anything. Anyway, he's been sitting there for HOURS every night, trying to get caught up. I feel pretty bad for him sometimes. Me? I would put it off to the weekend. He just has something in him that doesn't let him procrastinate like that.  I often wonder how effective some of that work is in teaching him what he needs to know. How much is busy work, how much does he take away from he's doing, and how much do his teachers really pay attention to his writing, his working out of math problems, etc. I hope it's all super worth it!

One of the things that started me down this path of wondering was his homework for Honor's English the other night. He was reading his assignment (to continue a story) to me and I couldn't help but think what an amazing writer he was. He has a fascinating imagination. And i wasn't particularly interested in what he was writing about, but his style, tone, and ability to hold my attention were amazing to me. I wondered if his teacher would notice. And then it made think of my own shortcomings as a writer and the differences between us. But, seriously, I was hoping that his teacher wouldn't overlook his writing abilities because they were remarkable, in my humble, non-biased (ha!) opinion.

This election is so weird to me. I know it's because of social media, but i cannot believe how much hate I've seen. And how posts on facebook can incite such anger and fierce debate. I don't like watching the debates (but it took watching three of the four for me to realize that) and I don't think I'll watch them in future. I love the rhetoric that happens afterward on twitter and facebook, but realize I don't have much of a sense of humor when it comes to many of the issues. I guess I take life too seriously. And I guess I'm not all that interested in politics. Especially national ones. I'm trying to get Payton's interest sparked, but so far, he's not all that interested either. 

Ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES

Okay, it's time to for me to admit something: I suck at blogging. I'm okay sucking at it, I suck at a lot of things. But I'm still going to try and work on being better at it! It's one of those things that I need to just stick with for a while...I know I'll get better!

This year has completely flown by for us. We were busy with baseball, basketball, and track in the spring. The summer came and went very quickly, with lots of stuff changing for us. I graduated college this summer! (finally!) We sold our old camper that we had put some money into with Rae and bought a (new to us) old motor home! We visited Lincoln City with our family for a week. We found out we will be a new aunt and cousin; Baby coming in November! I tried to get a new job at Simplot. I made it to a third interview, thought I had it in the bag, got my hopes up way too high and did not get it. But it was an amazing learning experience for me!


Fall brought us soccer, football, lots of little day trips with Rae and Lu and my new online book club! We found some amazing places all within about 2 hours of Pocatello. I love the area we live in, probably very most in the Fall. It's beautiful and we need to explore closer to home more and appreciate the area around us. This Fall, I got on a waterfall kick. Well, it started in the summer, and continued over. We have so many amazing ones here. Some are little trickles, some are huge falls, some are blocked off and regulated and some you can climb right into!Here is one of the boys at Fall Creek Falls on our way home from a Jackson soccer day. My goal next summer is to find several more!

During football, we kept super busy, as always, and it was constantly in the back of my mind that this was Payton's last little league season. He decided to go out with a bang, I guess, because in the 2nd quarter of his last game, he broke his collar bone. It was very scary, but he was very brave. And he's already doing more with it than I or anyone else thought he would be. 

Payton's doing great in school, even after missing almost a week, has straight A's. We are planning Laura's shower and getting excited for the baby (sex still unknown!) and Thanksgiving in Boise! That's all for today!

March.....already.

(late) 

I’ve never been one to make New Years resolutions. But this year, I decided to think about it. Think about what I could do, that would actually make a change in my life, that I could keep up with and that would be something meaningful.  After the death of a formerly close friend, the struggle of watching a friend lose her mother, and thinking of the regrets I might have in my life if I were to lose those closest to me, I decided to make a resolution.  NO REGRETS. It’s a New Year’s resolution that I’m hoping will last a life time. I want to keep my angry words out of my mouth and out of my head. I want to tell all my friends and my family that I love them and have them know that I mean it. I want to show these people that I love them.

My next resolution has been an on-going struggle in my life. It’s to find balance in everything I do. I need to understand that sometimes I don’t have to go (pardon the expression) “balls out” in everything I do. A good, healthy balance of the things I need and want in life are the answer to the happiness that I always seem to be in search of. I have all of these unfinished projects and ideas because I throw my all into them and don’t feel like if I can’t devote hours and hours to something, it doesn’t deserve the 30 minutes I DO have to devote to it. I want to work on this and change it.

The next one is to get involved. In something, anything! Church, gardening, community projects and in anything that sparks my interest and awakens the passion in my soul. Today as I’m writing this, I have two goals to complete by April 1^st. 

The first goal is to get involved in KONY 2012 and get at least 3 other people involved. I want to purchase the “kit” and encourage one other person to purchase it and go from there.http://kony2012.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

 The second goal is to finish my mom’s mantel that I started for her over a year ago. I’m committing to working on it for 2 hours this weekend. Hopefully I can gather some strength, insight and learn to focus on the things that matter in life, rather than on things that just aren’t really worth it.

I also know I need to be better about updating my blog. Not because I’m worried that anyone reads it, but because I know it’s a project I started and would like to continue with.