Stand in mom

So…I realize I have been an absentee blogger of late, but I have been out of town the last few weeks. My parents went on an impromptu trip to Ireland (!!! I know, right!!!- awesome) and I went down to “babysit”, or rather, chauffeur my younger brother while they were gone. We had a good time, but it made me realize how grateful I am that Rya is only 2; if for no other reason than I still have 12 years reprieve before I have to start taking her to early morning seminary. Nothing against seminary, maybe I am just getting old, but man, waking up at 5:30 am every morning really wiped me out around mid morning. (Respect for all that my mother just continues to grow!)

We did manage to make it down to the beach for a few days of sun and surf. We went with Sterling and Rebecca and Ethan (cutie in the yellow), and Clayton (of course).  It was Rya’s first visit to a Texas beach (we visited one in California, but the weather had us all shivering after an hour or so). The water was warm, the weather was beautiful, and when the kids looked as though they would fall over from exhaustion we had to drag them away. It was a fabulous weekend.

The rest of the time, aside from running Clayton to his countless extracurricular activities, we hung out with Rebecca and Ethan, which both Rya and I enjoyed. But, two weeks as stand in mom for my brother was enough- I will gladly enjoy the simpler pre-teen years we have and just be grateful to my mom for all that she did and still does for me and my siblings.