Eliminate Chaos

Just a couple of responses to comments on my post yesterday:

Nate will be serving in the Canada Edmonton Mission. He enters the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on September 17, where he will spend approximately 3 weeks before going to Canada. He will serve for two years. We will be able to communicate with him only through e-mails and letters. He can call home two times a year -- Christmas Day and Mother's Day.

And thank you, Jen for your nice comment that when you first met me you didn't think I looked old enough to be the mom of a soon-to-be missionary. You made my day!! :)

And on to today's post....


Hi, my name is Margaret and I'm a packrat. Sad, but true. I have a hard time throwing anything away. This is, I believe, an inherited trait that goes back for generations. My sister Jan and I are definitely the recipients of the packrat gene.

There's a great book Jan bought a while back called "Eliminate Chaos". It's all about dejunking your life. It's written in a fun-to-read, non-condescending, you-can-do-this style. I really do want to eliminate chaos from my life, and Jan and I have come up with a plan to do just that. We will switch off doing de-clutter projects...one week at my house, one week at hers. Wednesday is our official day. Today was our first meeting. Our project: My hall closet! Yea! And the best news is, we threw away two big bags of junk and took one more bag to the D.I. By the way, it's amazing what you can fit into one itty bitty hall closet. When we were done, we went out to lunch. This is going to be our Wednesday morning routine now that the kids are in school.

I can't believe I'm actually sharing these photos, but here goes.

The closet before:

The closet after:

I keep opening it to admire our work. :) Can't wait to help Jan next Wednesday. It's so much easier to throw away someone else's stuff than my own! :)

He's Grown a Foot or Two

In our church, there's a song the children sing about going on a mission when they've grown a foot or two. Well, Nate has reached that point. We did some missionary portraits last night. He was a nice boy to humor his mother. We did outdoor shots. We did indoor shots. He was patient thorugh the whole thing, even when I set the strobes up in the garage, where it was very hot!!! (It was 98 degrees here yesterday).

Here is a sampling of my handsome missionary.

First Day of School

Each fall, this day is full of mixed emotions for me. In some ways, it's exciting...my kids get to have new experiences, learn new things and make new friends. On the other hand, the beginning of a new school year is another reminder of how quickly time is passing. Parker started high school today. EEK! Mallory went to 6th grade -- her last year of elementary school. YIKES! And Alex started 3rd grade. WOW! Nate was kind enough to remind me this morning that I must be getting old because Parker is going to high school. Well, to make me feel really old, I realized that this is the first year since 1994 that Nate hasn't gone to the first day of school. Last year was a bit different because he started his first day of school at BYU. But this year he won't be starting school at all because he leaves for his mission on September 17. Let's not even think about that today. The first day of school is traumatic enough.


Anyway.....here are some first-day-of-school shots of Parker, Mallory and Alex.

Salt Lake Photo Walk

I went to a get-together with some of the Utah Peas today. We had wanted to be part of Scott Kelby's photo walk, but they had already accepted all the cities they were going to when one of our members applied to be part of it. We decided to have our own anyway. We started at the Gateway and did a few pictures there. Then we headed up South Temple, did some more pictures, then hopped on Trax to Temple Square. We did a few pictures around the temple. It was very crowded with weddings today. Then we rode Trax back to our cars at the Gateway. It was hot, but fun! Here are a few of my shots from today.

These first few shots are of the fountain at the Olympic Plaza at the Gateway. It's a popular spot filled with kids in bathing suits running through the water to cool off.

This historic house sits among all the other modern buildings around it.

Waiting at the Trax station for the next train. That's Travis and Paisley standing by the sculpture.

Several couples got married at the Salt Lake Temple this morning. Here is one posing for a photo.

.......and here are several photographers capturing the moment.

And finally, the Salt Lake Temple. The sky really was that blue!

Happy Birthday, Nate!!!

Incredible as it may seem, it's true! Nate turned 19 today. I can hardly believe it. Seriously, where did the time go?

Today was a big day for Nate. He, Derek and Parker left early this morning to spent a few hours riding at the sand dunes. They had a great time, despite the wind and heat.

Then, when they got home, Nate, Derek and I got ready to go to the temple....Nate's first time. It was a wonderful experience to share with him. After we went to the temple, we took Nate for dinner at the Garden Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had a fabulous window seat with a view of the temple. It was wonderful!

When we got home, Nate opened his presents. Sorry, when you're 19 and about to leave on a mission, your presents aren't as fun as they used to be. He got an electric razor. Woo hoo! And a set of luggage! Yea! He was grateful, nonetheless.

And speaking of the mission, it's less than month away!!! Yikes! It's exciting, scary and sad....all at the same time.

Hope your day was great, Nate! You are such a wonderful young man. I am proud to be your mom!

Big Blue Bash

Over the weekend, Parker, Alex and I attended the Big Blue Bash -- a big old BYU fan fest in Salt Lake. The highlight of the night for Parker and Alex was their two seconds of face time with Max Hall, the BYU quarterback and wide receiver Austin Collie. I snapped some quick pictures before the powers-that-be at the Cougar Club whisked us out of the way so that other fans could have their chance to greet the players. My favorite part was the refreshment table...yummy vegetables and dip and little cheese cubes. Yum. The pink lemonade wasn't bad, either. Too bad they didn't have my favorite BYU catering treat -- toothpaste brownies -- those yummy brownies with the green frosting underneath a layer of chocolate frosting. I may have to drive to Provo if I want some of those.

Max Hall, Parker and Alex

Parker, Austin Collie and Alex

Bridals

I went along with my friend Jen the other night to do bridals. Kaitlyn was a lot of fun to work with. Tonight's the wedding and we're shooting pictures there, too! Wish me luck! :)

Libby Libby Libby

Libby is 1! Today we had a perfect day for a photo session...overcast, but not raining. (Until we were done). Libby is loving her newly learned ability to walk. She doesn't want to stay still for long, so we had to be quick.

The Girl Next Door

So, here's my neighbor Nicole. We had a fun photo shoot last night. She was great to work with, and we laughed A LOT! I can't believe how grown-up she looks in these pictures! Time flies.