Everyday Live Happy

Yesterday I took my oldest daughter to school. She isn't going far and I appreciate that. She is going to a university that is about an hour and a half from our home. She's had her schedule lined up for a while now and her housing worked out too. She is going to be a junior this year so she knows what she's doing, however this is her first year at this school. So I went with her. We packed up our car with the things that she would need and headed out of town. She had originally thought that she would be attending a different school in the fall. Then in May she changed her mind. The school that she's going to offered her a half tuition scholarship and it's known for its education program. She wants to teach elementary school. So it was the perfect fit. But she knows no one there. She luckily found an apartment to rent but doesn't know anything about any of her roommates. Yesterday we found the apartment that luckily was a nice place. (Since she never went to see ...

School is just around the corner - actually it starts in 2 days for us - and with that comes a question. What's for lunch? I don't know what your kids like, but at our house we have one that eats school lunch everyday and one that only eats it occasionally. And at my job I only get a 1/2 hour lunch break. That's not enough time to grab something from somewhere and still have time to eat it. That means making a home lunch most days for both my daughter and me. Luckily she can make her own lunch, but that still leaves the question of what to eat. Honestly you can only eat so many sandwiches and there aren't always a lot of options. What to do. So I did what I usually do when I have a question, I went to Pinterest. Again. I spent quite a bit of time on Pinterest today looking at home lunch ideas. There are TONS of them! Literally so many ideas. It can get overwhelming looking at so many different ideas. Because they can't just post one idea, you have to go to their b...

We officially have one week of summer left. Next Thursday will be our first day of school! How has summer come and gone so fast? Our school is starting early this year than it ever has before. Supposedly its because we are getting longer breaks during the school year. Not sure how I feel about that.... Today I spent time filling out all of the paper work and reviewing schedules for my kids. One good thing is that our school district has gone to online forms. That means I fill the form out once and it covers all of my kids. And technically I didn't even have to fill out our Family Data form. I just had to update anything that needed to be changed. It was a much quicker process than most years. I hope this means that the only things that I have to sign on the first day of school is syllabus notes from teachers. I am happy to be getting back to a normal schedule. But after a summer of staying up late and sleeping in, it's going to be a bit of a rude awakening! That's why s...

We always love going to other places and seeing what is there. I've been to New York and seen the sights there. I've been to California and spent time on the beach and at theme parks. I've been to many other states and visited the sights there. Something that I'm not very good at is exploring my own backyard. There are many places in Utah that I've never been to or that I haven't been to since I was a kid. That means my own children have never been to these places either. Not okay! There are people from all over the world to coma and see all the parks in Utah. So I've been trying to do more seeing whats in my backyard. This week we went to a place that isn't a national park. No one will come to see it from other countries, but it is somewhere that we had yet to explore. About 2 years ago a small community next to our small community built a fun playground and splash pad. Now my daughter thought that she was too old to go to a playground on her own, but...

Clutter. It really should be a four letter word. It can take a house that really is clean and make it look a mess. Clutter really is a dirty word! When there is clutter laying around it looks like you never clean your house. It makes it look like you're a slob. It does not show you in a good light. So why is it that I always have clutter laying around? Why is it that I can't seem to get rid of it? There are a few answers to those questions. First an actual legitimate answer is that we moved a few months ago and I still have boxes that need to be unpacked. Then I realize that I moved 8 months ago. Can that be right?! In 8 months I should have taken time to finish unpacking. Another answer is that I have a hard time throwing things away. The real answer though is probably that I have more stuff than places to put it. I have a quote that rattles around in my brain quite often - especially if I'm cleaning.   "Do not keep anything that you do not know to be useful or b...

Summer always seems like it goes by way too fast. Maybe it's because we enjoy having lazy days without school. Maybe it's because we enjoy the warm weather. Maybe it's because we try to pack in as much fun as possible. I'm not sure which one it is, but I'm pretty sure that it is a combination of all of them. We love staying up late talking and watching movies.and then sleeping in. We love being outside in the warm sun. We love trying to fulfill each days fun "schedule." It seems like time is always flying by. I'm not sure who said that my kids could grow up so fast. It seems like every time I blink another year goes by. I heard recently that we only have 18 summers with each of our children. That scares me! I did not agree to only 18 summers. That is not enough. That makes me want to cram even more into our summers than I already do. It can start to drive me crazy! That is not what I or my family want. I'm working on enjoying the moment and letti...