Oh, This Week

We woke up to the news of Las Vegas on Monday morning, and well, the rest doesn't seem important. It was the kind of news that pulls the rug out from under you and makes you question everything you thought you knew about humanity and your faith. My God. Really, there are no words. Scary and awful don't even scratch the surface. But, this is the world we live in, and we all just have to try our hardest to do better and make change and press on. As it tends to do after a tragedy like this, life continues. Our children don't know any better, and that is a good thing. We go to our jobs and eat our meals and spend time with our family and exercise at the gym and just wonder how in the world we are so blessed.

It's a funny space to be in...we hear about tragic violence and hurricanes and earthquakes and famine and political unrest and nukes and climate change and children without access to clean water/food/medicine, and it's like a punch in the gut every time you're reminded that these things are happening to millions of people all over the world. Actual human beings. And here we are spending time and effort planning our children's Halloween costumes and complaining about being tired or finding time to go to the grocery store. We are all just people, and it's how we operate. What I try to remember is that we are all here with a unique God-given purpose. Our journey is not like any other person's. Maybe we have countless blessings and are fortunate beyond measure, but we also have gifts to share with the world. So as long as we're out there doing our best, then that is good enough. (May I direct you to the "For the Love" podcast where Jen speaks to Glennon Doyle about this type of thing? And also direct you to every word that either of those women have ever written because you will be better for it?)

Dylan had a trip to Vegas planned for Monday, and he will proceed as planned. The least helpful thing we can do to our society is to let deranged people and news of sickening violence keep us from living our lives. Our world is scary for so many reasons. It's a hard time to be alive. But we are alive, so let's just live our best lives and make every moment count. And, can we all just try a little harder to be kind to one another?

...But without further adieu, may I present you with the happenings of our past week. (How's that for a shift in gears?!)

For a week that started off crummy for just about everybody, we wrapped it up with a five-star weekend. Some weekends are for taking short getaways. Some are for taking it easy with not much on the books. As long as we're all together, the weekend is always great. But the very best kind of all is a weekend full of sharing meals and laughter and time with friends and family, which is exactly what we did.

Dylan started the fun mid-week with his college pals for the annual Octoberwest celebration and alumni golf tournament in Prescott. He made it back on Friday afternoon, shortly after I had delivered the boys to my mom. We met up in Old Town and first had a drink with Dylan's friend from work at CPH. From there, we moved to Geisha a Go Go to hang with Ben and Amanda. Where we used to frequent work parties and events and hang out with these guys quite a bit, that part of my life has taken a major dump. You, know, it's just life. The workplace has evolved and my life has evolved, and it is what it is...neither good nor bad. Anyhow, with a kid-free night on our agenda, we figured an adult night out in Old Town fit the bill. Dylan was coming off some pretty extreme late-night partying followed by an insanely early tee time, so I'm not so sure he was feeling it. He was a trooper, nonetheless. It was so much fun that my car had to spend the night in Old Town, and we made the road trip back to retrieve it on Saturday morning.

Acting something out from Gavin's children's magazine.

Dinner and playing outside. The mornings and evenings are so nice!

Gavin's version of hunting for fireflies. I don't have the heart to tell him that we don't have fireflies in Arizona. Also, this guy is into dressing himself, and man does he have STYLE.

Graham loves to count to 3 before he slides.

My mom went to Gavin's baseball practice and sent some photos to me.

The 4-year-old version of doing push-ups

Just beastin' around with my beast baby.

We got this photo from Kellan's birthday party a couple weeks ago.

Dylan was gone for one night, and Gavin made him this masterpiece while he was away.

Beast on the move!

Acting silly at Nonna and Papa's house!

So happy to see a smile from him after a really rough Friday.

Gavin caught a lizard on their trip to the park on Saturday morning!

Nonna and her boys.

The boys spent the night with my parents and then did the Home Depot craft with them and their cousins in the morning. D and I planned to go on our first bike ride of the season, but since his tire wouldn't hold air, the only place the bikes went to was the maintenance shop. I took a jog instead, which was nearly as good. Moving my body outdoors is my number one favorite activity. Anyway, we rounded up the boys, picked up my car and spent the afternoon at home. Later on, we greeted our friends for some slip 'n slide fun and carne asada on the grill.

Insta-famous! Look who was on the Crossfit Instagram...and luckily doesn't, himself, post photos of his workout.

Dylan had to get innovative with a leaf blower, funnel and duct tape to blow this thing up. We bought this slide for Gavin's first birthday...it's amazing that it still works!

Graham called it a "boat" and had the best time.

Introducing a Miller Family favorite game to our friends.

Tracing each other's feet. (Dylan's idea...he always has the fun ones.)

Sunday morning found us at church. Afterward, Graham napped while we took care of some chores around the house, and then we packed up the crew for pumpkin carving with the family. Gavin has been talking about it all week and tells me every day which pumpkin is for him and which one is for Graham. It's a fall event we look forward to every year, and it did not disappoint! Kristin has the best, most fun decorations. She baked individual cakes for each kid, and we enjoyed chili with apple cobbler for dessert. The boys ran through the sprinkler (some of them naked), and they were all so spent by the end from all the fun.

He goes crazy for the donuts as soon as we pick him up from the toddler room.

I think he said "donut" a 100 times this morning.

Building with cousins!

Gavin's pumpkin is a bug face, and Graham is borrowing my dad's because...we didn't feel like carving one for him.

Trying to deadlift a pumpkin. This went on for a while.

A post-sprinkler run snuggle with Dad.

Caaaaake!

These photos just showed up via text. Kristin always puts in the effort to get a good shot, and I'm so thankful! Between her and my mom, I always get good photos from family events but sadly don't contribute much...

It's hard to come off such a great weekend and face the realities of life, but we've done it before and we'll do it again. If I look closely, I can get Friday in sight, which will get me through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...maybe even with a smile!