On the market

For the past several weeks (OK, for the past four years), we've been getting our house ready to sell: painting, improving, planting, maintaining. And now, it's done. Whalah! No more projects, just like that! Here's a shot of Michael and me after finishing the last of the major spring gardening. See how pleased we are?

Now the task is to keep the home, at least for a few weeks anyway, looking as if we live in immaculate bliss. So we don't keep any dishes in the sink or clutter on the countertops, and we regularly restock our fruit bowl with fresh bananas and a pineapple;

after playing we promptly tuck the toys away and vacuum straight lines on the carpet;

and we adorn the bathrooms with fresh hyacinths and bleached white linens. And wait a minute...what's this? No laundry? It's done? It doesn't even smell like dirty rags in here. It smells like...what is that? It smells like Bounce dryer sheets!Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about cleanliness. But I feel like I'm getting a little OCD here. Do people really live like this all the time? Really? If I had to go on keeping the house looking this...what's the word?...romantic? unrealistic? impractical? Yes, if I had to keep on making the house look this impractical, I think that I would have to hire someone to do all the things that I used to do before we put our house on the market and I acquired OCD.

At least there are the showings. Ah, the showings! After two hours of "last-minute" cleaning, we leave to have Forced Family Fun, which has actually been Relieving And Delightful Family Fun (or RAD, for those of you still cool enough to use the term). Here are some favorites:

Zachary enjoyed digging for fossils at the Natural History Museum.

When we visited the farm, the boys were most interested in flying kites and then going on "an adventure" by the creek. We saw the spring baby animals, too.

And of course the best place to experience springtime is on Temple Square, where the gardens are almost as beautiful as the principal structure.

We were even calm enough to go inside the visitors' centers and tabernacle,

and then we let a little loose.

Which is exactly what I'm going to do when the house is sold. Heck, I might even let a LOT loose and throw dirty clothes on the laundry room floor. Track dirt on the hardwood floors! Leave a stack of books on my nightstand! It all sounds so decadent.