Family is Fantastic!

Greg & I just got home from a very fun weekend up in Idaho. We were up there for Grandma Lindsay's 80th birthday party! It was incredibly fun to see so many of my cousins and aunts and uncles all in one weekend. It brought back such good memories of how things used to be. We used to get together much more often.
I got a little teary on Sunday. I just sort of miss my family and the closeness we used to have. I am grateful for them and so happy I got to see them all. It is hard to see how life changes. Life is good, it's different, but good. I miss my grandfather so much. Greg & I stopped by the cemetery on our way out of town. I am sure he would have loved to have been with us at granny's party.

Well, life here in the Barber basement (we're still living downstairs in my folks' house) is moving along. We're still working and trying to save some money on the side for a home. I have been fighting the winter blues lately. I get that seasonal depression pretty bad, and this year has been particularly difficult. I've been seeing a doctor since June and have been on 6 or 7 different medications since then. All of them have some side effects and some are worse than others. I was starting to feel despair, but the sun came out and gave me enough strength to keep trying. :)

I am so grateful for a patient husband to put up with it all! He's the sweetest man! He opens doors for me and buys me flowers and is always checking to make sure that I am happy and comfortable. I guess it REALLY does pay off to wait for the right one to come along. Thanks to all of you for encouraging me to keep waiting for him. He's a dream come true!

And now for a question... To my stay-at-home mom friends: Recently, someone who I really respect and care about told me that my dream of becoming a stay-at-home mother was not going to happen for me, that I was always going to have to work and that being a stay-at-home mom is not as great as I have always thought it is - nor perhaps something to be respected as much as a working mom. This broke my heart. I have been thinking about it for nearly six weeks now.

My mind is full of questions. I want to know what are the good things about it... and what have you found to be different than what you expected? And of course, what about being the stay at home mom is less than ideal? We're not trying for a baby yet... but of course it has been on my mind. I want a family so much. Almost everyone I am close to who is in the "mom" years and has children is a stay-at-home mom. But I'd also like to know the other side of it, so if you've known it from the working mom side of things, I'd sure like to hear about that too.

It's 10 again. :-/ I'm trying to go to the gym at 4:45 a.m. so I guess I better get some shut eye. Greg's been asleep for an hour and a half now. He's going to be all bright eye'd and happy and I'll be a grouch. ha! Well, Goodnight!

Thinking of Blogging

Here's a behind the scenes video of one of our photoshoots.

I really really wanted to blog tonight... but alas, it's 10:30 almost... so I'm off to bed. I've been wanting to blog forEVER... I'll get back here soon.