I’ve been really enjoying my job lately.  I was a little nervous about this year because the head librarian and the full time assistant that I worked with last year (that I really liked) moved on to other positions.  I was a littler nervous that I wouldn’t like my new library friends as much as my old ones.  I’m happy to report that I’ve been blessed with great wen to work with again.  The new head librarian that I work for (Cindee) has some great ideas and is more willing to delegate and projects.  Which I love. Because basically that means I get to work on fun projects and be a little creative.  She also brought me along to a district wide library conference which I really liked.  I learned that there are a lot of learning opportunities for me.  I’d like to take advantage of trainings and certifications that will be available to me through the district.  If nothing else it will keep my knowledge a little more up to date and be good for a resume. I’ve also enjoyed the full time assistant I’ve been working with.  She was an elementary librarian before and is now at the same school as both of her boys.  I think we’ll make a great team.

This past week has been Halloween costume central at our house.  We have a ward Halloween party on the 19th so I’ve felt pressure to have everything done early this year! Ainsley’s costume is a cinch.  She’s being the boy on the movie “Mean Girls” that dresses in a hoodie and sunglasses and says, “she doesn’t even go here.” If you don’t know what I’m talking about go watch the movie.  It’s funny.  Owen is going to be an old mans and use the walker my mom has to get for her knee surgery this last summer.  Emmie is going to be a hippie.  Her costume has proven a little more labor intensive.  This week we’ve fashioned a fringe leather vest.  Sewn bell bottoms.  Which happened to be much trickier than I thought they would be!  And then Ainsley painted a cool hippie flower pattern on her pants.  I’ll have to figure out how to add pictures.  They look super cute.  And I’m dressing up as Emmie and my friend Heather is dressing up as her daughter and Emmie’s BFF Elsie.  Heather and I are dressing up as the girls as soccer players. So we bought shirts the same color as their soccer uniforms, long soccer shorts and socks, and then ironed on the girls names onto the backs of our shirts.  I hope Emmie and Elsie love it and think funny!  We’ve been planning it for months!

Lately I have been exhausted.  Between work, and violin repair, and primary, and soccer, and swim, and piano, and activity days,  and young women’s, and scouts, and trying to get up early to exercise, and trying to keep my house cleaned not filthy, and doing laundry, and keeping food in the cupboards, I’m feeling like I’m drowning and just can’t keep up! This feeling FHA’s reminded me of two conversations.  One with Erin Hansen when she had a high schooler and an elementary student.  She told me that she never slept and was so tired because she was burning the candle at both ends.  I remember thinking that having high schoolers could in no way be as exhausting as having little kids.  I humbly admit that I was wrong.  I might be a different kind of tired.  But I’m more worn out.  Mentally and physically.  And yet in the back of my head I know that I will miss the crazy that I feel right now.  When I interviewed my grandpa Welch a few years ago he was reminiscing about when his kids were younger and he was more involved with the youth and with his ward.  He was remembering how busy he was but also how fond the memories were.  I know that one day I’ll feel the same way.  So even though I feel run down and sleepy all the time, I’m trying to enjoy every minute.  Because I’ll be so sad when it’s all over.

My dad loves Chile  rellano.  Although he hasn’t been able to find amazing ones in Boise. And he turned 60 last month. Therefore (because the man has everything and we didn’t know what else to get him) we took him to a Mexican restaurant (a month late) that claimed to have excellent Chile Rellano.  I’m not sure if we found him a new favorite in Boise…but we did have a lot of fun taking my parents out to dinner in celebration of my dad getting old.  Which also means I’m getting old. Ugh.

This past summer we went camping at Warm Lake with our friends the Flakes.  While we were there we hunted for wild huckleberries.  We found some just outside of our campground.  Brooke had never seen wild huckleberries and picking them on her own was a bit of a life long dream.  Until this camping trip huckleberries had been her unicorn.  Needless to say she was more than thrilled with our find.  Once we found the bushes we picked the little berries forever.  With all of us picking we came home with probably 4-5 cups of berries.  Our plan was to make them into milkshakes.  This last weekend our milkshake dream finally became a reality.  And it was worth the wait.  I might sound crazy, but we made the best huckleberry milkshakes I’ve ever had.  Huckleberry ice cream is kind of a thing in Idaho because of the wild growing berry.  I’m now convinced that everyone else skimps on the berry to ice cream ratio.  And now I’m committed to picking huckleberries yearly, because our homemade shakes were just that good.

And since I feel like this update is more about me than the rest of my family, here is a fun family fact:

Ainsley learned how to snap her fingers…this month.