my dad is famous for sunday afternoon drives. these aren't the usual 45 mph drives to no-where-land. these are drives throughout PA's magnificent forestry/scenery, homes of the elite, etc. we would drive to homes and my dad would teach me about how to build houses, the styles, the flaws, and brick by brick, he would dissect the homes of my dreams-which only allowed me to dream in more detail. thanks dad.

one day as i sighed, for the billionth time, he continued driving and told me a story, about when he and my mom were first married. he and my mom would drive and look and houses, dreaming of what they would and could one day have. until my mom got all sorts of down. living on the tiniest of budgets and then looking at mansions prob isn't the way to appease the 'save now, buy/invest later' feeling. back then, my parents were living in Fullerton, CA, and like all newly married couples, were poorer then dirt (thanks Nancy for giving me that term :) but over the years, i think my parents have done really well for themselves. they've earned, invested, saved, persisted, overcome cancer (both of them by the will of the Lord), and raised (still raising) 4 kids that are crazier then the kids in your local sacrament meeting combined.

so why am i posting this? i'll be frank - i only have 2 semesters left until i finish a 2nd degree and school starts again on monday. i can't even remember the last time that i could just sit and do - nothing - and love it. until i started blog-stalking and began dreaming, once again, of the future instead of living in the present. sometimes you just want the baby without the labor pains (one of my fav quotes from oceans 13) - yet how robbed would i be without this middle section that i want to skip? some friends and i talked about this last night - ty and i are pretty grateful that we weren't given everything as kids, teenagers, young adults, etc. we're just grateful for really great examples, like friends, parents, and others who have gone before us.

now its time to go and do something productive. like fold laundry. that's an eternal chore if there ever was one :) dreams will continue to be dreamed...just within reason for now.