Happy

Sometimes I feel like I just need to stop and realize how lucky I am. I don't think I remember it nearly often enough. I mean, day to day life can get anyone down if they let. Work can wear on you, everyday responsibilities can frustrate you, and life can be hectic and crazy. So sometimes it takes getting away from it all to remember how great life is. I have a great home, fantastic friends (both locally and across the world), a good job, two furry animals who love me unconditionally, and the opportunity to travel and see the world as often as I would like.

This week I am at Jessica's lake house. Today we spent the day playing with the babies, and then handed them off to Dusty for a couple of hours so we could head down to the lake. We got on our tubes and floated in the water for almost two hours. Now, while this might have been a poor choice, based upon the SPF 2 sunscreen I had on, and the now burned swimsuit lines I have on my chest and legs, we had a great time. We just stared at the sky and chatted about life and how I need to marry rich (seriously, anyone know anyone??). We made several good attempts at solving the world's problems, but came up a little short when it came to world hunger. Otherwise, though, we did pretty well. We watched a truck try to pull a boat out of the water for the better part of an hour. We watched a ghetto family take the buoys from a boat that didn't belong to them into the water to float on. Basically, we just enjoyed life. It was two hours, but it did me an amazing amount of good. We spent the rest of the day at the house, where I took a huge nap, and woke up so drowsy it took me 20 minutes to figure out exactly what was going on. You know that was a good nap! This evening we cooked dinner. Or rather, the boys tried to cook dinner and we supervised. And Aunt Debs fed some babies and enjoyed some time with these two little angels who now smile when you smile at them. Yea, I get nothing done now that this happens. We took the girls for a walk and solved some more world problems (ok, or my problems, the world can wait). There were no fireworks tonight, but that's ok, I didn't seen any last year either, and I made it through. It actually made me think about some of the cooler Fourth of July nights I have had. Two years ago I kayaked out in the Galveston Channel and we watched the fireworks above our heads while enjoying a cold beverage, or four. I spent a Fourth of July in DC with Joy, we did it up right with the fireworks at the Capitol and the long bus ride home. Joy and I also spent several Fourths on the beaches of Santa Cruz, digging holes and watching hours of fireworks going off over our heads (this was also the death of my favorite fleece after I was hit with a firework...probably a good thing the fleece was on me, or it might have been much worse). I spent some nights at Astrocamp watching the Hemet fireworks from my porch after long days of camp parades and red, white, and blue wars. Last year we hung out at Dawn's parent's house in their pool with Dawn and Chad and Becky and Thomas, drinking watermelon margaritas and barbecuing. Yea, I have had some good summer holiday celebrations.

So, life is good. I am hanging out relaxing this week, and then off to Vegas this weekend for Lacey's bachelorette party. Looking forward to more fun in the sun (hopefully this sunburn won't be a problem by then). And then I am back in town for a while, which is nice, since I feel like I have been in a different city every week since May. I love traveling, but I love being at home as well.