He's Counting the Days... me, not so much

 Tyler is SO busy, we haven't even had time to get photos taken of him for his farewell announcements, the newspaper and so forth. So today when I had him home for about 15 minutes,  I had him throw on a shirt and tie and snap a couple shots. 

 I am going to miss this guy SO much!!! 

 He had a fun shopping spree with Ashli, Mack and Riken in St. George yesterday and is just about done buying everything he needs for his mission. He leaves in 5 weeks, and I am SO not ready. He's been working in Cedar City all summer, so I only see him on Sundays for a few hours. I guess it's probably good.. baby steps to the 104 weeks where I won't even see him on Sundays (except for the two May Sundays where we get to Skype. Yay!!!!) 

This one is my favorite. His new Nike shorts for P-day are super comfy and look smashing with his new tie. 

My Dad's Birthday

I really was super busy yesterday, but my little sister planned a barbecue for my Dad's 70th birthday, and I knew I had to be there. I asked Abby to close for me at work, got Ken to handle checking in the Manti pageant guests here at the apartments, and took my buddy Kyle to Grantsville for Dad's birthday. I was glad I went. It's not very often that my Dad is with all his kids at the same time, so it was a good night:) 

Steppin

I'm not a very good Stepmom. I want to be. I try to be. But I don't even know HOW to be.  I always saw myself as more of a Susan Sarandon than a Julia Roberts in the whole Stepmom scenario. The kids are all adults and 75%  of them are female, so it's like... really, really hard to keep them all happy, while still keeping my husband happy, my own kids happy, and myself happy.  Ken and I spend a LOT of time with my kids and not as much with his kids. Which of course I document on facebook. Every breath Riken takes gets a full facebook album posted by Grandma. Yup, that's a problem when your husband has 11 OTHER grandchildren as well. There's no vicious motive here or anything. Ken's daughters spend a lot more time with their Mom than they do with their Dad, and I think the same is true of my kids, me and Kurt. Families just naturally gravitate toward moms and grandmas, and if dads and grandpas are married to someone else, it takes a lot more effort to carve out time together. So, take a breath. Learn a lesson. And try to do better. Oh, yeah, and when you can't make EVERYONE happy, probably focus on making sure the husband is happy, yes? That's the key relationship here, after all.

Paula Deen

I'm not necessarily the biggest Paula Deen fan but come on, who is the bad guy here? The one who held up the bank or the one who made disparaging comments about the CRIMINAL? Pretty sure I'd have some choice words for a guy who held a gun to my head, be he black, white or yellow. She has not made racist comments on air as part of her job. Yeah, I've seen her apology. It's probably insincere. She's a Southern woman, set in her ways, wealthy and arrogant, and I imagine she uses the word in her home. But I certainly don't think it warrants this kind of action. This woman makes millions of dollars for a whole lot of people and I hope she continues on her own and continues making millions that she can spend on whatever the heck she wants to without having to answer to anyone for her personal life. 

Temple with Tyler

 Tyler received his endowment in the Manti temple today. He had some great support from people who love him. 

 His best friend Kelton was his escort. Kelt leaves on the 19th for his mission in Oregon, so it was awesome that they got to share this experience before he goes. 

 McKenna and Tami had the exact same color on when they arrived. SO CUTE!! 

 Tami is always so supportive of everything my kids do. She drove a long way this morning to be there for Ty. Love her:)

 My boys and their dad

 Us:)

I'm blessed with two amazing sons. I love these guys beyond words. 

Tuesday

This was not a good day. I cried a lot. But then I read this 

http://www.thislittlemiggy.com/

and saw Miss Lamp coloring pictures on her door holding the marker between her toes and thought 

"OK, I can do this." Someone always has it worse, right? 

And maybe tomorrow will be better. 

And Saturday Tyler goes through the temple for the first time so that will be a day like no other in the history of days. Ever. I can do this. Right?