Everything I Need to Know....

Okay, well maybe not everything I need to know, but I sure did learn alot this summer and over our latest vacation. For example, did you know that 18 holes of golf always includes lunch and a beer afterwards? I did not know this was a "standard." Thank you for my husband, mother-in-law, and good friends, Mary, Kari, and Scott for clueing me in on this one. Isn't it unfortunate that four and a half hours with the kids (while said husband is golfing) doesn't also include lunch and a beer? Hmmmm. I also learned that our latest vacation was "Ryan's vacation"...I was just "on summer break." Honestly? I love my husband more than words, but please tell me he didn't really say this to me during our time in Bellingham. What has my summer break consisted of? Let me tell you. Lots of throwing up, lots of feeling cruddy, cleaning (okay, not as much as I should have), laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, day trips with the kids, and playing with the kids. Oh yeah~that's what I ALWAYS do! Thanks honey! I love my life but let's just dream for a minute that we experienced a "Liz's vacation" moment. Although I wouldn't be golfing, I would definitely take four and a half hours a day, four days in a row to do whatever I please and then have lunch and a beer (okay diet coke since I am pregnant) afterwards. Then, I would return back to my family just as the kids had started napping or were ready for bed. How dreamy! I know I sound bitter, and really I'm not. Ryan loves to golf, and it's also a huge part of his job. And, for the most part, it's free for him. So, what am I complaining about anyway? I think I need to find a hobby other than being pregnant or sorting through maternity clothes right now!

Everything I need to know I have learned in the past nine years of marriage. So, maybe I still have some learning to do, but feel much more equipped to have a successful marriage now after celebrating nine years together. I have learned that most importantly, not everything is worth an argument. Although my way is more than likely always the right way (wink, wink), I shouldn't criticize the effort of those I love. I have also learned that no matter what, Ryan and I have always found a way to work it out, make things work, or go to work and start fresh when we get home that night. Life is hard. No one ever said it was going to easy. Raising kids, working, and having a happy marriage is not always a cake walk. I have learned though, that if you focus on all the negatives~of your spouse, your situation, your job, whatever it may be~it just makes you more annoyed and frustrated. We all have our flaws. Thank goodness my husband looks past mine and loves me for who I am. In nine years I have reminded myself that we fall in love with a person for who they are~not for who they might be someday. I love my husband~flaws and all~tremendously.

I have learned this summer that my kids LOVE every vacation they take to visit one of their six sets of grandparents. They don't need a theme park. They just need a grandpa and grandma that spoil them, love them to pieces, and give them oodles~I mean oodles~of attention. Family is so important. Too often we see people put work, money, and/or possessions before family. Can our family frustrate us? Absolutely. Can they get on our nerves? Of course. Do we do the same to them? Undoubtedly. But in the end we are family~those are the things we do best! :-) Families argue but remember this~you will never get that time back. Every moment spent angry or upset with a family member is a moment lost. My dad taught this to me early on. Every moment is a gift. You will NEVER get that moment back. I have learned that it is so much easier to forgive, forget, love, enjoy, laugh, and count my blessings. Life is too short.

I have learned one more important lesson this summer~I really stink at being pregnant! As if I didn't recognize this from my first two children, it really stares me in the face now. I am eternally grateful and blessed to be able to get pregnant so easily, but watch out. Once my body figures out was is going on~oh boy! This will be our last child, and I have slowly learned to enjoy this pregnancy as much as I can when I am not throwing up~and cherish these moments. I will never get them back!