The Seven of Us

Well, I had my first root canal today.  It wasn’t unexpected; I’ve had 3 teeth crowned this year. I’ve had some tooth pain. I booked the appointment and went to Greeley fully expecting I’d end up having a procedure- or two. (I guess I was lucky: Only one. (But I’ll need another soon.)  I do not enjoy going to the dentist. In fact, it’s become emotionally difficult. I had perfect teeth until I had children---just one small cavity. I also had braces. My teeth were pretty, and they were healthy. I always brushed and flossed and had regular dental check ups. (Still, after my fourth baby was born, I needed a mouthful of fillings. In the sixteen years since, my fillings have fallen out and been replaced with deeper ones. More teeth have needed work. Which brings me to today.  The dentist. It’s hard for me to go there. The past few times, I’ve cried. right there in the dentist's chair, during procedures. I’ve cried tears of frustration. Tears that come, unbidden, ...

The title of this post isn't the best; I've been told a sentence should never end with a preposition. I couldn't help myself, though:  I am truly in a good place. And it feels literal and  physical, not just metaphorical. I haven't blogged much for awhile. I haven't journaled much, either, but my thoughts are always there, swirling around my crazy mind. And my heart is one big, open book. I become more honest every day-- I'm not good at hiding my feelings and am sometimes too honest or even blunt (I always regret being blunt, but never being honest.  I'm thankful I'm comfortable enough to be honest. I hope I never hurt anyone's feelings. In reality, my goal is just to be authentic, real, and true to myself and my convictions.)  Also, I've realized how much I benefit from listening to others who are honest, even about their hardships. I want to be like that. And I think I'm getting there. Back to this place I'm in, though. Sometimes...

With my parents when they visited in 2017. A picture of me on a ride.  I haven't blogged for a very long time, so here's a recap of the last 22 months. December 2016: We went to Washington for Christmas. The kids weren't all sure they wanted to walk away from their lives for nine days, but everyone ended up having a great time. At the time, Caleb was a senior and was dating Allie, and it had been a difficult 6-9 months with him as we tried to navigate through that situation. Taylor had been to BYU- Idaho for an entire year, but had transferred to Ft. Collins and was midway through her first year at Front Range Community College. So we had some different dynamics at play than we had previously. We arrived on Christmas Eve afternoon and stayed about a week. Everyone was begging to stay longer. Caleb was cousin Caiden's buddy, Taylor and Kenna slept the vacation away, Isaac had fun playing with this new drone, and Corbin enjoyed pla...

This week I attended trek in Wyoming and had a great experience. I was able to meet a few new friends while experiencing a little bit of what the pioneers endured on their journey. I wasn't bothered by the walking, which made the rest of the experience easy to enjoy. I had a cool family, with the keys being the  parents (the Mackeys).  This is me with Kaylea, a girl from my family. Last night   was probably the best night of my life. I had the privilege to live my life's dream, ever since I was eight years old: pitching a perfect game. We were playing in my Babe Ruth championship baseball game, the last one that I would be young enough to compete in .   It was Haxtun versus SedgeCo. I started off the game with a 3-0 count on a batter, and I was thinking that I had better make some adjustments if we were going to win.   Fortunately I proceeded to come back to strike out the next two batters. After 3 innings, I realized that not a single batter h...