Keep on Keeping On

Wow!!! It’s already Wednesday; I’m way past my week span for updates.

Really nothing all that interesting going on with the Cranes, I’ve been busy at work with lots of different projects going on, which his good, I like being busy, but it’s hard to keep up with what is going on at home when I’m really busy at work. I’m not sure if this is a “mom” thing or just a “Michelle” thing, but I’m extremely whiny when I find I’m missing a lot of Jake’s life because of work. These years of Jake’s life are so short, and so important, I just hate missing anything, I know I have to, we have to have a house, food, cars, etc. and as being "gentlepeople (to be PC) farmers" is out of the question, a job is a necessity. It sure is hard sometimes though finding the balance some days, between the "work" me, and the "family" me. I know we “moms” at work talk about this quite a bit, not so much the guys, but I’m not sure if that is just something they don’t talk about or something they don’t feel as keenly (not that it’s something I think a lot about, just something I noticed, all us chicks whine about this a lot, I rarely hear the guys mention it).

Anyway, Jake and Rob have been doing their normal routine stuff, school, swimming, gymnastics, play dates, soccer games, hiking, housework, house projects, etc.; so they are very busy themselves. Jake ended up being much more homesick than I think we or he thought he would be with our trip; he’s been quite the home body, and last week he even wanted to skip swimming a couple days to just stay home and hang out (we let him stay home on Monday to hang with dad, but he went on Wednesday).

We had a great weekend though, which started with a soccer game (which we almost forgot about) Saturday morning. The “cousins” team looks a bit better than they did in the fall, but I’m still under the impression that soccer may not be the boy’s strongest talent (I think the entire point of the game is completely escaping them, Jake told me he likes the "running part, and the treats part, but not the soccer ball part"). They look darn cute though. Jake and I did a grocery shop, it’s been awhile since we’ve done a planned menu, so that took a bit of time, but we saw Ryan and the kids at Smith’s, stocking up on peanut butter. Then home to make treats for Aunt Loretta and Uncle Ken’s farewell on Sunday. Circe called and said that she was over at the Castle Park with the kids and did Jake want to join, and of course he did. Aunt Circe is always lot of fun and stayed at the park with the kids for quite awhile, and then took them to the movie to see Spiderwick Chronicles, I’m not sure how you do it Circe, with everything you have going on, but thanks for always taking such good care of all the kids in the family, I don't think there is any kid in the family that doesn't love hanging out with you guys!!!

I stayed home, and made a big double batch of Cherry Chocolate Bars which are always a big hit (but kind of take a long time to make so I don’t make them often), and Rob went on a long hike; and then we watched “No Country For Old Men” while Jake was gone, which neither of us really “got” at all, although I generally like the Coen brother’s movies (loved "Raising Arizona", "Barton Fink", "Fargo", and "O Brother Where Art Thou").

Sunday Jake and I headed up to Bountiful for the farewell, while Rob stayed home to teach our Sunday School class. It’s really hard to get people to take your class in our ward for whatever reason, so Rob volunteered to go to our ward and teach so I could go to the farewell. It was a really nice meeting, and I loved the song that the young women in their ward sang, it was nice to see that many young women in a ward, enough to have an entire choir, we only have about 4 or 5 (I’m not sure of the exact count just the ones that are suppose to also be in our Sunday School class, and we have a few that are inactive).

After Sacrament Meeting we all went to Jodi’s house for a nice lunch, lots of great food!!! It is always fun to get together with everyone, and Jake was thrilled to be able to see Olivia again, he doesn’t get to see her all that often, but I think he has a little crush on her. She was very sweet (being older) and played soccer with him upstairs for awhile, which he talked about all day.

Let’s see it’s now Wednesday, I’m sitting here doing an entry for my lunch time instead of going out to eat. We’re trying to eat a bit healthier, Rob is doing great (he’s already lost pretty close to 20 pounds I think, maybe more), me not so much. I need to figure out something that works for me, as a long term plan, and I’m not sure what it is yet, well intellectually I know what I need to do, I’m just not feeling it yet, despite the fact that I’m bigger than I ever have been before. I’m a foodie through and through, so I need to figure out how to get as passionate about the healthy stuff (there are actually lots of great recipes for healthy stuff), as I am about the less healthy stuff. I think I’m going to try an Ellie Krieger thing (the nutritionist, and chef from the Food Network) because I like her recipes that I’ve tried so far. Loosing a few pounds is my goal for the summer, so hopefully I can get my butt in gear, and catch up with Rob.

That’s it for the Crane’s, where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average…