Rainbows

I woke up yesterday (Saturday) to the phone ringing - Jared was at Sand Hollow ready to start his triathalon and he'd forgotten his helmet. We were planning to go see him finish the bike part and do the running part, but he needed us to come earlier with the helmet. As I stumbled out of bed all bleary eyed - this is what I saw outside my window.

The picture can't even start to capture how surreal the lighting was and how amazing everything looked with a big storm and a bright sunrise seeming to compete with each other. Then a huge double rainbow appeared, spanning the whole sky behind our house. I ran and got the kids and we all marveled at the beauty and the unrealness of the lighting and the soft heaviness of the wet air.
Then the rain really moved in and the rainbow started to disappear - all but one end where it got really intense and bright before finally dying.

After the rainbow was gone and the rain started in full force, we quickly scrambled into the van and took off for the triathlon - only to find that it was canceled due to white caps on the lake (hard to swim through that!) and slippery mud roads for biking and running. Strike two for Jared on triathlons! But they'll probably reschedule and we found a fun place for breakfast then came home for a nice relaxing day of watching movies and just enjoying hanging out together for once while the rain poured down like crazy and made everything smell so nice while bringing out the desert colors so beautifully. We made our first batch of pumpkin cookies to welcome fall and just relaxed for the most part. Precious, great day!

We spent a lot of time Friday and Saturday night explaining Mountain Interiors to our friends Justin and Jessica so they can take over handling orders. So nice to get that in good hands! And our kids had a great time with their kids so everyone was happy.

The kids went to a pirate party for their friend Peyton on Friday night and had a fabulous time. They really wanted to send you the picture of them all dressed up for the party.

Today it's gorgeous - sunny, sweetly cool. Jo just took us for a ride around the neighborhood in his fun new open air Jeep. We had FHE out on the balcony. Everything's sparkly in the sun after the rain. My lesson in YW went great and I'm really loving the four good Mia Maids (have to say "Mia Maids" is a pretty funny name) I have right now. We've got great kids. Life is good. Life is hard - but it's so good. The kids about drove me crazy at dinner tonight - got to love making a really nice dinner and then not getting a chance to eat more than a bite or two before it gets cold as you stop to dish for everyone else, break up fights, try to engage everyone in a half-decent (and very interrupted) conversation about what they learned at church and dish up again and again and again for the kids (especially the twins) who never seem to be able to get enough. After most attempts at a family dinner I'm exhausted at best and despondent at worst! But in the midst of the craziness, there are always the beautiful moments thrown in - like yesterday morning's surreal beauty and the opportunity to delight in it along with my kids - that somehow make everything else OK.