The Wandering Plate

Living the Dream

2012-02-04T06:48:00.003-05:00

So, over Thanksgiving break, my kids finally saw the movie Tangled at Uncle Nathan and Aunt Jessica's house. I was in and out and didn't really see much. But the boys loved it and wanted to check it out from the library when we got home. One morning I sat down with my three year old to watch it and didn't get up again until the closing credits. I loved it! I laughed. I cried. What a great uplifting movie. I dropped hint after hint to my husband that I would very much like the movie for Christmas (to no avail--will buy it for myself at some point). I think the reason it was so powerful for me was because of the message so clearly conveyed that we must hang on to our dreams, that dreams can change, and pay attention because you just might be living your dream!

I think these ideas came to me because of a conversation I'd had with my sister-in-law over Thanksgiving. Jessica is a remarkable young woman. She is talented in so many ways. She married my husband's brother when she was very young after going to college when she was younger then most. She graduated from college in much less time than it takes many. She's been working in a really wonderful and satisfying career for a few years and is about to have a baby in the late Spring and "retire." But one of Jessica's most outstanding talents is her ability to sing. And when I say "sing" I mean she can really sing. She spent most of her life singing and writes music and even went to Nashville and has a demo CD. Her dad really wanted to see her chase her dream from growing up and working towards a career in music. To some degree he felt like maybe by marrying so young she sold herself short. She would never be able to live that dream.

But, Jessica told me that, while she certainly had that dream and still uses her outstanding talents to bless other people, she has new dreams--dreams the include a whole broad of children and supporting her dentist husband and being happy and adventurous and serving in the church.

So that got me thinking about my own dreams. And getting back to Tangled, it was in the middle of hearing Rapunzel ask Flynn Ryder what you do when you finally find yourself living your dream, that I realized that I was in the middle of living the most splendid dream I can imagine! It was while sitting in the middle of a kitchen that needed to be picked up and to the sound of the third load of laundry that day, that I just felt this great surge of emotion that I'm living my dream! I'm not sure I ever really thought much about what my life would be like with a family. It was always something on the list, but not something I sat around dreaming about. I guess what I mean by living my dream is that I had this wonderful sense of contentment. I am happy and feel loved and feel like I can serve and bless those around me. I have a beautiful family and that it is really the best dream anyone can have.

In the movie, Rapunzel sings a song asking "when will my life begin." What she doesn't realize is that all the things that she's doing to try to pass the time, to learn, to grow, to develop her talents are the things that eventually make her life so rich and full when placed in the right circumstances. There is no sense in waiting around for our lives to begin. Why not start now.

Sometimes I think things are really going to be great when I no longer have children in diapers, or when everyone in the house sleeps through the night (got woken up four times last night--and that was the two older boys). I tire of hearing people say they sure don't miss this or that about having a baby or young children. I will probably feel that way, too. But in the mean time, this is very much part of my dream. It's taking the bitter with the sweet and savoring the sweet. I suppose it's a little like a really great See's chocolate. It's small and it lasts only a moment, but the flavor and satisfaction linger so much that even when your eating the ho hum, you have a sweet memory of something better and will for sure go back for more when the chance comes up!

So thanks, Disney for making a movie with such beautiful, redeeming ideas. I'm doing it. I'm in the middle of living my dream!

The Short List

2012-01-30T23:25:00.001-05:00

I love to write. Really I do. I am making a commitment to myself to write a little more in this blog space of mine. Here's the short list of blogs posts that I've been turning over in my mind that I intend to write about soon, very soon.

1. Tangled and being in the middle of living my dream

2. The promise that my days would be lengthened

3. Amish love stories (really)

4. A tribute to some of my favorite artists and musicians

5. Great pictures of my kids

Quite the eclectic mix of topics. But these ideas are floating around in my mind and if I don't at least write down the ideas, I'm afraid I'll loose them for good.

In the mean time, today my seminary class was studying about King Saul in the book of 1 Samuel. One of the boys pointed out the verse that said that rebellion is like witchcraft and stubbornness is like idolatry. Wow did we have a rousing round of "ughs" from a few of my extra stubborn (using their own words) students. I've chuckled about it all day. How often do we take some level of pride in our stubbornness? Wouldn't it be great if we could learn a little better how to be more humble without having to be compelled to be humble?

I'll look forward to writing a few posts when I can make a few minutes over the next days and weeks. Check back now and again. It's nice to hear from you.

Will Duck Tape Work?

2011-11-05T20:04:00.004-04:00

This week holding myself together has been really...hard. The last few days especially. Nothing out of our busy-life ordinary has happened. No major tragedy or unexpected (or expected) unhappiness has occurred (unless you count that unplanned $650 car repair). If anything I've found myself having a few great moments of simple satisfaction. But there is something that I seem to keep grappling with or searching for that just seems to be. just. out. of. reach.

Hummm.

I remember once helping with a column for my high school newspaper about the top ten things you can do with duck tape. I'm wishing a little silvery tape would hold me together when at any moment it physically feels like I might just fall apart.

On Thursday night I told my husband that I need something that I can be really good at. I've spent a lot of my life able to do a huge number of things, none of them exceptionally well--one of those jack of all trades master of none. But wouldn't it be nice to know that I'm really, really good at SOMETHING? In retrospect, though, I wonder if I feel that way because I've let myself drift off course a little and have been caught up in the idea that other's validation might bring me up a little. Still...

I just finished reading a fun blog post of a friend who had just finished a beautiful creative project. In the comments section her mother wrote a hearty congratulations to whom she called her talented and creative daughter. For a moment I so wanted that compliment to be mine. Too bad I don't have a lot of attention span for doing crafty projects.

I do recognize that there are things I am good at. I'm a really good story teller when I can stay awake to read to my kids. I'm a pretty good public speaker. I'm not so bad at teaching early morning seminary. I'm excellent at making sure I get to the temple every month.

But here's where I start to fall apart. It's the every day things that need my constant time and attention. I am realizing more and more that for as happy and beautiful as my growing up experience was, there are a few fundamental life skills that I don't have. Like, oh, housekeeping. And this really bogs me down. How does one simply get things done. You'd cringe if you knew how long it has been since I mopped my kitchen floor. I'm a piler-er. Things get shuffled in to piles all around the house instead of really being put away or beng tossed out.

Most draining is just being exhausted and unmotivated. I'd so much rather go take a nap than tend to the laundry or the dishes or the toys (who wouldn't!) Most days I just give in and take a nap and then have no clean clothes or clean dishes and still no motivation.

Sigh.

The other day a funny cartoon made its way around Facebook. It was a picture of a woman looking haggard sitting on the table in her doctor's office. The doctor is looking at her chart and says "What you have is a bad case of motherhood." When I look around, how is it that it seems I am a little more haggard than most. I know. I know. There is no good in comparing. But, I want to know how they do it! What are they doing that I'm not that I could learn from?

Forgiving me if this post is a little of a downer. I've had a flood of things on my mind this week and here it all comes spilling out. I used to walk with a friend of mine a couple of times a week before she moved. We'd call them our therapy sessions. Since that outlet isn't available, the great wide world of blogging gets to be my shameless therapy. That and a roll of duck tape might just come in handy.

Take Away Moments

2011-10-09T20:37:00.003-04:00

I love Stake Conference. It is one of my favorite things that we do in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All of the local congregations gather together in one central church building for a few hours of teaching and lifting and strengthening. We talk of Christ and rejoice in Christ and teach of Christ. I'm unbelievably saddened by the recent article I read about a prominent leader from a different church who chose to call the church to which I belong a "cult" and made straight-faced claims that we are not Christians. Talk about someone who missed the boat.... But, I digress. What I really wanted to share were my two favorite take away moments from Stake Conference, both said by our Stake President.

First, in the evening session of conference on Saturday night (my all time favorite meeting in the entire Church) President Standage said "There is a teaching moment in EVERY verse of the scriptures." Perfect. Our children will learn even just one verse at a time.

Second, the mission president for our area asked President Standage why we've seen a drop off in the number of convert baptisms in this Stake as of late. In the past President Standage said he just did not know. But today he knew. He said we will have few convert baptisms if we cannot learn to take care of our own and we are not taking care of our own. Wow. Way to put us in our place. He made a frank plea for us to do much, much better in our home and visiting teaching efforts. Why is this so stinking hard at times? I'm on it though. It's on my mind and I will do better. No excuses. Children of God deserve a little more than what I've been willing to give, especially when it's been a while since they've been reminded of that great eternal heritage and worth.

Enough said.

The Heart of a Runner

2011-09-21T12:33:00.005-04:00

I am a runner. I never imagined that I'd ever really say that. But, here I am: a runner.

Early on Saturday morning I was out at about 6:30 running. It was the first really chilly day of running this season. I had prepared well. I had on a hat and running gloves. I wore my long-sleeved plumb colored compression running shirt. I was warm and on my way to a great seven-mile run. A mile or so into the run, I passed a runner going other direction. It was a relatively young guy wearing ALL the wrong things for cold weather running if you are a "real" runner. He was wearing a heavy hooded sweatshirt and warm up pants, no gloves and a baseball cap. He yelled hello from across the street and I smiled and called back. Runners are generally very cordial and always nod or smile, at the very least, to other runners (at least in my experience).

In that moment I had the great thought that ANYONE, {anyone} can be a runner. It's about having the heart of a runner. You don't have to have anything fancy or neat to just lace up and go. You dont' have to run fast or run far for it to have meaning. You can be any age, any skill level, any person at all.

So, what is the heart of runner? It means doing something because it makes you stronger. It pushes you to be a little better. It means that you do it because it makes you feel good inside and out. It means that you dig out that last stretch even when it doesn't feel like there is anything left to give. It means that you know that running gives you a place where you can calm your mind and put back into perspective those things that have gone askew. It is a place of sanity when so much around you feels a little insane and outside of your control. For me the heart of a runner is not necessarily about the constant push to be faster or find that competitive edge.

If anything, it might just be the opposite. I have a friend who picked up distance running about the same time I did. She's ultra fit and I love to talk runner with her. But running has become so important to her that it is starting to become more important than other important things and I've gradually started to see her make surprising life compromises. She's always looking for a race to run or a time to beat. Don't get me wrong. I would LOVE to be faster. And I love running races. But sometimes I feel a little like the guy wearing the over-sized grey hoodie. It's not about the time or the race. It's about balancing life with what you love and learning how to put first things first. That is the heart of a runner. Balance. We run to find balance and to make everything make sense and to be reminded that we can and are worth the effort.

I wasn't born with the heart of a runner. It's something that I've learned and developed. It's unlikely that I'll ever run fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. In fact it is unlikely that I'll ever run a marathon. I'm a half marathon runner at my best. And I'm unlikely to run more than a couple of races a year. But I love running. Even on the days I don't feel like running and think I might hate running, I still love running.

So I guess maybe that is what gives me the heart of a runner. Instead of wearing my heart on my sleeve, I wear my heart in my shoes.

Christmas Came Early to This Frazzled Mom

2011-09-04T21:00:00.005-04:00

I got an unexpected early Christmas present on Thursday. After an incredibly long week of being stressed out, overwhelmed and on the verge of nervous break downs multiple times each day, the surprise came as such a welcome relief. Let me explain WHY my life has taken such a dramatic turn over the last few weeks.

A lot of things are changing rapidly in our family right now. My husband has a new, further away job that is wonderful, but causing me a little stress in anticipation of the longer hours and school work (this new job also comes with a chance to earn a master's degree paid for by his company). Our oldest is starting kindergarten after we pulled him out after just three weeks last year to give him a little more time to mature. I am trying to manage my new seminary calling, being a primary teacher, serving as ward organist, and keep up on a visiting teaching route that some times can be time consuming. Change is wonderful. These are all good, exciting changes. But even good change, happy change can cause negative stress.

Now that you know why I'm a little fragile right now, are you just dying to know what my Christmas present was?

I got home late from teaching a Thursday night class and the second I walked in the the door my kids yelled that I had a Christmas present waiting. And sure enough, there was a square box all wrapped in metallic green, red, white and silver polka dot Christmas paper with a big tacky gold stick-on bow on top. I could not possibly imagine what my husband had in that box. When he took this new job, he also took a pay cut( short term loss=long term gain--it was such a good opportunity for career growth that we were willing to take the cut for the time being). So budgeting has been on the TOP of my mind a lot lately. I am keenly aware of all the pennies being spent and I was pretty sure there weren't any extra pennies left over for an unexpected present. I suddenly remembered having had a conversation weeks ago where I mentioned that with my new seminary responsibilities maybe this would be a good time to replace my old, large print, hand-me-down scriptures that have started falling apart. But as the weeks wore on towards the end of the summer, I'd put the thought out of my mind as other expenses were mounting.

So to my utter amazement, I opened that box to find a beautiful black leather bound, gilt-edged large print set of scriptures. There they were! I was speechless. J had cashed in a bunch of cash back bonus bucks from our credit card early so I could start the new year as a seminary teacher with that new set of scriptures. So sneaky. He had even ordered them using his personal email account so I wouldn't get any order confirmation emails.

I can't even begin to express how special this gift is to me. I love the scriptures. I love how I feel when I read them. I love how boldly, but lovingly the Lord through his prophets speaks. I love that the scriptures have real answers to real problems in real life. Some years ago I heard an excellent talk by a prominent woman in our church named Cheri Dew, where she spoke about learning how to figure out how God speaks to you personally. It is different for everyone. I learned a long time ago that if I want to hear what God has to say to me, I have to open my scriptures. Those are the moments when he speaks. Those two books represent so much potential for me and my personal growth. My heart just yearns to have all that goodness fill my weary soul.

So merry Christmas to me. Oh, and by the way, new scriptures smell a-mazing. You can't help but want to open them and just see what is inside!

Fly away Night Owl

2011-08-25T21:36:00.003-04:00

I have a new responsibility at church. I am now the early morning seminary teacher. That means that five days a week I will have between five and eight or so teenagers at my house at 6:00 a.m. Let's just get it out in the open now that I am NOT an early morning person. And that is entirely because I am quite a night owl.

That being said, I sense that the Lord is preparing me for this new responsibility because the last few days, once it hits 9:30 pm, I am useless. Don't call. Don't send me an important email in hopes that I'll reply that night. The night owl in me seems to be heading out.

Goodbye late night reading until the wee hours of the morning. Goodbye quite house while all children and husband are asleep; I'll be right there with you. Goodbye last minute treats or late-night loads or laundry.

Hello inspiration. Hello feasting on the Old Testament. Hello sleepy teenagers. Hello quiet of the morning.

And now come all the morning cliches: The early bird catches the worm. Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Cease to sleep longer than is needful (okay, that one is a scripture). I know that whom the Lord the calls he qualifies. He's got some work to do with me. But I'll do my best to do my part. Wish me early morning luck! I've got two more weeks to "practice" getting up early. And as my mother always says, practice makes perfect!

Adios, night owl. This early bird is ready to hit the hay.

Malibu Barbie and the A-Frame Little People House

2011-07-02T00:01:00.002-04:00

If clothes make the man, then toys make the child. I have spent lots of hours sorting through old boxes of toys and books at my parents house this week, trying to help them pair down what they have amassed over a lifetime of nine children. I'm not the first sibling to have done this and I suspect I won't be the last. But in the mean time it was fun showing my kids the toys I played with when I was growing up.

In several big brown moving boxes I found things like an old magic kit with most of the pieces missing. There was the stuffed smurf, the drum full of maracas and a yellow tambourine, the rainbow colored xylophone with the long yellow chord that you could use to pull the little thing around on its red wheels while it make little tinkling noises. We also had a box of my old My Little Ponies in all their pastel glory. I have vivid memories of the year I got the show stable for Christmas. And there was the stuffed Idaho Potato with his embroidered face and gangely arms and legs. And then came two big boxes of Little People and Dolls.

My parents have a vintage collection of Little People. They don't even make these little people any more because of "choking hazard," though the nine of us made it though just fine. My two favorite pieces are the A-frame house with the absolutely perfect miniture kitchen and a balcony on the second floor and a Main Street USA town. When my boys discovered the main street, they were in heaven. It has a jail (their favorite), a dentist office, a movie theater, a barber shop, a police station, a garage, a restaurant, and an apartment. There is also a stop light on a bridge that connects the two sides of the store and office fronts. At one point while I was sorting other toys, my almost three year old had set up the two sides of the buildings and the stop light and arranged four or five cars driving down the street with little people inside. Classic toys are generationless.

Among the toys I found a big box of toys filled with Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls. There were five blond hair, blue-eyed Barbies, all of whom would have easily passed for Malibu Barbie (one of them was Peaches 'n Cream Barbie; her dress used to smell like peaches). I found the Barbie who's hair I cut and the Hawaiian Barbie with the super long black hair that got all frizzy after I undid the braids my mom told me not to undo. I found a dress made of Kleenex and cream colored lace tied on to Barbie with a ribbon. I found the Ken doll with the missing leg and the Barbie-sized GI Jo with the battle scare on his cheek. Oh the hours we would play Barbies. It was never "play with Barbies." It was always, "play Barbies."

While I know that the number of toys is so completely unimportant, I hope my children enjoy their toys and look forward to playing with grandma and grandpa's toys, too. I know that for me they represent countless hours of imagination and happiness and life skill building and just good old fun. Sometimes I worry I'm pushing my kids to grow up too quickly. Weeks like this one remind me that toys really do make the child. They have their whole lives to be grown ups. Toys give them a place that is all their own where they can think and do and be anything. I don't have many specific memories of specific moments. But I remember being happy and full of a little kid's big dreams. I hope I can give my children that same gift.

So, what are your favorite childhood toys and what do they mean to you?

Belated Mother's Day

2011-05-15T16:25:00.005-04:00

Let's start by saying that my two year old can't keep a secret. My L is just the best. On the day before Mother's Day my good husband had all three boys while I went to teach my morning Weight Watchers class and then to present at a Stake Relief Society Women's Conference. The boys ran some errands and unbeknown to me, picked up a Mother's Day present.

Later in the day we were all in the car going somewhere and Mother's Day came up. Mr. L from the back seat heard the words "Mother's Day" and yelled "Mommy. Mother's Day. Flowers!" Big brother sitting next to him sort of knows the virtue of secret keeping and just as ardently said, "We didn't get you anything, Mom, really. Nothing!" To which L again said, "Yes. Mommy. Mother's Day. Flowers!" And back and forth it went. J and I were in the front seat just laughing hysterically at the two arguing over weather or not I really had a Mother's Day present.

To say the least I had a great Mother's Day. I got to stay in bed until the breakfast of my choosing was ready (I don't really like the idea of breakfast IN bed). The boys ran from the kitchen to get me when Dad gave the word. They bombarded me with hugs and kisses (with three boys, bombarded is the perfect word). They pulled me to the kitchen and showed me that indeed they had picked out a spectacular pot of red-pink tulips. We had eggs and sausage--my all time favorite. All of J's regular before-church meetings were cancelled so I had extra help getting the boys ready for church. I tried to pull the "it's Mother's Day so wear what I want you to wear" card. It didn't work. Two temper tantrums and two personally picked out outfits were just fine by the end of the morning.

After church I got to take a nap. And thanks to my excellent planning skills, dinner was cooking away in the crockpot before we even left for church in the morning.

The boys set a lovely table, complete with China for the grown ups and a scrumptious homemade chocolate cake (I have an AMAZING husband who can turn whole wheat flour into unbelievable creations).

All in all, I felt so loved and so very much like the queen of the family. Some days are more physically demanding than I can almost bare with three busy boys. But I sure wouldn't trade them for anything else!

What a great day to be a woman and a mother!

Book of Mormon Challenge: House of Order #2 WORRY LESS; PRAY MORE

2011-03-29T23:10:00.002-04:00

The theme that keeps coming back to me lately is something I came across last week in the last few teachings of Nephi. He basically told the people if they prayed more and worried and wondered less, things would work out. I keep trying to tell myself that phrase over and over: Pray more; worry less.

Boy is it hard.

I can be a bit of a worry wart I guess. I'm not very good at letting go of things that I can't control very well. I worry that I'm not a good enough house keeper. I worry that I'm neglecting the less active children in my primary class. I worry that I'll never become a faster runner. I worry about the library books and movies that are over due (okay, I can control that). I worry about people that I love and the choices that they are making and the potential sadness that they may experience as a result of it. I worry that if I had just said this or that, maybe I could have helped someone a little better. I especially worry about the future. Where should we live, what job should we look for, when will that happen? And so on and so on.

Nephi had the unenviable job of really letting the people have it when they started getting themselves into trouble. So I suppose it should come as no surprise that his words were so clear to me.

Stop all this worrying! Pray more. Do it.

I worry too much with too little action. Moving forward with faith is definitely the goal of a lifetime.

Applying this specifically to my Book of Mormon topic of study of getting my physical and spiritual house in order, I am finding that I'm worrying an awful lot about what isn't getting done. I told my husband the other day that things just never seem to change. Nothing every changes. When will things change? I keep doing the same things and getting the same results. It's making me crazy!

But here's the long and short of it when it comes to keeping house: I'm pretty sure that the Lord will help me make a do-able plan and then execute it if I keep praying and then act instead of worrying and wondering so much about what to do and feeling like a failure for what I'm not doing.

Besides, there is no such thing as failure, only feedback.

Book of Mormon Challenge: House of Order

2011-02-09T23:26:00.002-05:00

The subtitle of The Book of Mormon is "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." "Testament" also means "covenant." The Lord's order is to provide structure with promised blessings if we uphold our end. So I'm looking for what that structure is shaped like and how to create it in my home.

There are several places in the BOM where it is make clear that this is an "abridgment" of other records. When I read that I immediately felt this great wash of relief that this question of how to set my house in order really can be answered in real world, practical ways by looking to the scriptures. Knowing that this is an abridgment tells me that I can be confident is not having to hang on to everything that comes through my door. School project, letters, old bills can all be thrown out, while only keeping the very most important or specially, without any feeling of guilt or question of need.

I also see the value of caring for that which is of most value to me. My things deserve care.

In the introductory pages that include the testimony of the three witnesses and the testimony of egith witnesses I learned that live really is a shared responsibility. Never over look the opportunity to include my husband and children in setting our house in order. The practical application of this was sweetly demonstrated last night as we were cleaning up dinner dishes. My oldest has decided that hand washing the dishes that can't go in the dishwasher or are too big for the dishwasher are going to be his responsibility. He pushed a chair over to the sink and started washing. Not to be left out of the mix, younger brother quickly pushed a chair over and stood next to big brother. Big brother handed dishes to little brother and little brother arranged them in the dish drain. I couldn't believe my eyes, frankly. It was amazing.

I'm learning that all things take time. I want to have the perfect schedule right now. I want it to work perfectly and have everyone check off their jobs completed and move on. Order, real change, takes time and hard work.

One impression that I had as I began the body of the book 1 Nephi was that I need to be teaching my children how to order and organize themselves. Early preparation also seems to play a significant role. Logistically it must have been quite a feat to get Lehi's family out of Jerusalem.

We must never neglect worship and thanksgiving.

I need to see to it that I show my children that I don't need a lot to be happy. Lehi's family lived in a tent! This is certainly part of the Lord's manner of organizing and keeping order. I see over and over how the Nephi and Lehi make plans before they moved forward. They created everything spiritually before it was created physically. There was a clear plan in place.

The Lord also does a great job showing how Lehi's family realized that they need not bring a lot of things with them. The Lord would provided.Never be afraid to rid myself of those THINGS that just burden and bog down.

A New Challenge

2011-02-09T23:02:00.002-05:00

My sister-in-law Amy recently issued a challenge to read the Book of Mormon by June. She invited anyone who'd like to participate to choose a topic, or rather, a question, and really investigate how the Book of Mormon can and does provide answers to that specific question. Through life's experience, I know that the primary way that the Holy Ghost speaks to me personally is through the scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon and look forward to this challenge.

So here are the logistical details: In order to finish by June, I need to read four and a half pages a day. I do well with concrete goals like that. It generally takes me about 35 minutes to get through that many pages, depending on how many children are awake and how tired I am. I try to read very first thing in the morning and have been getting up around 5:45 to make that happen. It is the only quiet time of my entire day on many days.

The question I decided to focus on is something I've been thinking about and struggling with for just about forever it seems. At first glance it many seem sort of trite or trivial, but this seems to be encroaching on every other aspect of my life right now and I need some solutions.

The Question: What is the Lord's patter for organizing--physically and spiritually? What does the Book of Mormon teach me about how to set my house in order.

When I told my husband what topic I had decided on, I jokingly asked him if he thought the Lord could help me with my paper clutter problem and, wouldn't you know it, my sweet husband found a great scripture about only recording on the plates the things of most worth. The Book of Mormon really does act as a guide for our lives. I can't look up "paper clutter" or "laundry schedule" or "clean floors" in the index. But I can see patterns and I can ponder on the whys of a house of order. And as it turns out, the Lord is putting impressions and thoughts in my mind about the technical structure of how to organize a Christ-centered house of order.

My hope is to post what I'm learning once a week. The margins of my scriptures are filling up quickly. There is so much there that gives me hope, courage, and wisdom. Enjoy the journey along with me. When I post something specific to the challenge, I'll label it "Book of Mormon Challenge: House of Order"

A House of Worship

2010-11-06T19:50:00.002-04:00

Today we took the boys to clean the church. They've set up a new system where each organization in the ward is responsible for a different part of the church building and it was my husband's turn to clean the Chapel.

This is a somewhat tricky arrangement and today was a challenging day to need to meet this commitment. We had a MILLION things that needed our time and attention, which, now that the day is nearly over, did not get done. We had tired boys. I mostly just fed the baby. But my sweet husband rallied the troops and put every able body to work. He brought kid-sized dusters and a small hand vac from home for the boys. They straightened hymn books and vacuumed crumbs. I also practiced the hymns I'll be playing on the organ for sacrament meeting tomorrow. The whole thing took nearly an hour longer than we had planned/hoped.

But what a privilege it is to care for our house of worship. I was trying so hard to explain to my two year old why we don't play soccer in the chapel. Over and over I kept saying this is Heavenly Father's House. This is where we take the sacrament. This is the most important room in the whole church. As I spent every few minutes breaking up a fight or calming a crying child, I had to remind myself that those words really are true. What a remarkable thing it is to show our love for the Lord by caring for his holy house. I've lived in places where the house of worship was a small rented house with no running water and electricity. I've met in churches where hundreds of people would fill a chapel (and over flow, and gym) every Sunday. The spirit of each ward is different, but one thing remains the same: we come together to worship in the Lord's House. No matter our differences, no matter our strengths or weaknesses, as we worship, we are one. A body of Saints. No longer strangers but fellow citizens in the kingdom of God.

Gum

2010-09-14T23:14:00.004-04:00

Today on the phone one of my sisters asked me how I was adjusting to life with three kids. I was happy to say that we are doing well and seem to be settling in. Life isn't without its crazy moments, like the point this afternoon when I turned around to see what L was doing in the kitchen only to find him standing ON the counter chewing at least three pieces of gum that he had gotten out of the cupboard by his not-yet-two-year-old self. Gum is one of his favorite words and favorite things.

Today's life lesson: put the gum on a higher shelf.

Honestly I think his mischievous nature is bubbling up rapidly right now because he is adjusting to big brother being gone to full day Kindergarten and he doesn't have anyone besides his mostly immobile baby brother to distract his sly tendencies. But this new school schedule has given mom and middle son sweet bonding time. I'm surprised, when I look back, on how much less attention my younger son has received, simply by being the second child and time got divided. Older brother, A, is a chatter box and can articulate everything he wants/needs/feels/sees/thinks very well. My days used to be a constant conversation, albeit somewhat limited in scope (think like an almost five year old--bugs, outer space, dinosaurs, roller coasters, soccer--and I'm pretty much an expert).

One of my goals with A starting kindergarten was to spend more quality one on one time with L. It has really paid off. He is sweet, fun, and learning to talk so much more. In the last week I've read a ton of books to him. His interest in book used to be minimal. Now it has exploded. I think the above picture is adorable. I happened across L "reading" to his baby brother. We spend our days reading and singing and dancing. L's got the musical gift of the family. Boy does he have pitch and rhythm. The ABC song is a staple. I think he sings it unconsciously. It reminds me of the way my dad whistles. You just know he's there by the music he's making.

He's a joy to be around, even when he's ravenously engorging himself on Raspberry Lemon Obitz gum behind my back.

Welcome Baby!

2010-08-31T14:41:00.001-04:00

We are so happy to welcome our sweet new baby boy into our family! What a joy it is to have our family grow. Six weeks has flown by. The planned c-section went extremely well--best delivery of the three, by far! I have a great doctor and the a great husband who provided so much love and support.

Baby S came out crying and, unlike my other boys, a robust eater.
He was bit jaundiced and had a hard time gaining weight for the first three weeks, but he's doing just fine now. The big brothers have slowly started adjusting. The oldest, surprisingly is the one who's struggled the most with this change. He's just trying to find his new place and role in the family. We'll all be glad when school starts next week and we can get into a regular routine again.

In Two Weeks from Now

2010-06-30T14:37:00.002-04:00

In two weeks from now I'll be frantically vacuuming my house and cleaning toilets. In two weeks from now I'll be making sure there's food in the fridge and plenty of extra toilet paper in the bathrooms. In two weeks from now I'll be giving my two boys as many hugs and kisses as I can possibly manage while I can still give them as much of my undivided attention as possible. In two weeks from now I'll probably take my kids to the pool and then go out to dinner because I'll actually be too tired to do anything else. In two weeks from now I'll calmly take a shower, ask my sweet husband to give me a blessing and then proceed to sleep restlessly thinking about our new baby that will be born the next morning.

I haven't made mention of it here in the last eight months, but baby boy #3 is coming in just two weeks. There is so much emotion build up with this pregnancy I can hardly believe it's already time. We're excited and a bit anxious, but will look forward to every moment that comes.

Robot Valentines

2010-02-23T10:59:00.000-05:00

A's class had a Valentine's Day party while we were out of town. Before we left he made thirteen robot valentines to have his teacher hand out for him while he was gone. He designed them and picked out all the paper. They learned how to do the accordian folding at school and wanted to do that for the arms and legs. Great job, A!

Everything Under the Sun

2010-02-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

Minor Updates

2009-12-20T16:39:00.002-05:00

Since time passes by at alarming rates these days, I thought I'd do a quick update with just a couple of things we are up to.

In the last two months all the boys in our family have had birthdays. L turned 1; A turned 4; and J turned 30! It's been a full, fun time of year.

L is finally gaining a little more confidence in walking and is also finally getting another tooth. That still only makes three. He's got another two or three on the verge of bursting through, though. He's been a little hard to handle because of all the discomfort. Last week the boys and I all got sick. The boys both had ear infections, A had a viral infection in his lungs and I had pink eye. Tell me. How does the mom get pink eye in both eyes if neither child has it. Oh well. We are finishing up our last doses of antibiotics today and hopefully everyone will stay relatively healthy through Christmas.

We're keeping busy trying to keep warm. It's been at least a week since we've seen above freezing temperatures. Gratefully we haven't had any ice storms like this time last year. We finished putting the next wood seal plate and new roof on the house earlier this year and hope that will keep us from getting the terrible leaking like last winter.

A is having a ball at preschool. He just loves his class of 14 boys and his two teachers. He is absolutely certain there are elves that live in the ceiling of the school (he says his teacher told them they live there and are watching to make sure they are good boys). Everyday he comes home with fun projects, games, stories and activities. He's so interested in letters, and sounds and reading and writing. Even though he'll be at the very youngest end of his class, he will be a happy kindergartner next year.

A few months ago I was approached about training to be a Weight Watchers leader. With in two weeks of training me, they offered me a job and my own meeting. It has been so much fun. A few weeks ago they also offered me another meeting. It is a fun way to stay connected to my health and wellness goals as well as help people to work through difficult things in their lives and reach their own goals. And it doesn't hurt that they pay me. Not much, but a little extra is nice. J says it is my running money: it supports my running habit. It's enough to pay for new shoes and entrance fees on a regular basis.

J has had a lot on his plate as of late. He switched from a rotating shift work schedule to a new position that allows more regular hours (though he still works a ton). He has been making up a lot of lost time with his responsibilities with the Elder's quorum in our ward that have sort of gone by the wayside over the last year or two with his previous exhausting work schedule. So, he's still gone quite a bit. But I see a new fire and light and energy in him. We've also been working like crazy to figure out what in the world is going on with his body. He can't seem to gain weight (this is only a problem if you are 6'2" and weigh less than 140 lbs. We think we've hit on something good and gratefully he has put gluten back in his diet. The biggest effort right now involves J applying to MBA school. We were going to wait another year, but had a pretty frank conversation a few weeks ago and decided that if this is what we know we want to do, we just need to go for it now. If we don't get in now because of the lateness of the application, we'll just do it again next year. But we feel like we've at least got to try. We don't exactly know what this is all going to look like just yet. The plan has been full time MBA program to get it done and finished, but we may pursue something more part-time. We don't know if it means staying here or going elsewhere. This is a big thing in our lives and once Christmas is over, it will probably consume most of our time for a little while. If you have suggestions on schools, programs, or other advise on career changes/moves, we are all ears. We're listening to everything right now to try to flesh out exactly what we want to have happen next. Happy thoughts and prayers are also always appreciated.

I promise we'll post pictures soon. It has been a long time, I know. Enjoy the holiday season and look for a Christmas card/New Year's card from us in the next few weeks. Merry Christmas!

The Contents of My Small Brown Purse

2009-07-30T21:37:00.003-04:00

My husband says that I should occasionally take everything out of my purse/bag and make a list of everything in it...for my posterity...so they can see how much junk I carry. I think it is kind of a fun, clever way to capture a bit of my own personal history.

Since the contents of my diaper bag that I usually carry are extensive, to say the least, I thought I would record what's in my "kid-less" purse a/k/a the purse I carry when I have no children with me. It was the last bag I carried today.

Pink water bottle, half full
Package of Dentyne gum, spicy cinnamon (my favorite)
Package of cute striped note card from the $1 spot at Target. I think they are still there from a baby shower I went to last week that I never actually wrote a card for.
"Bright Tastiness" Weight Watchers coupon book
Check book with three checks left (the first check in the book was written almost a year ago for tithing; the last check was tonight for a weight watcher's meeting)
$20 bill
Weight Watchers pocket guide and daily food/activity tracker
Two napkins from Chipotle restaurant
Four receipts
Wallet including the following: driver's license, insurance card, credit card, debit card, "MasterInCharge" card, library card, blood donor card (B Positive), Sam's Club card, Borders Rewards card, New England Aquarium Membership card (expired), Price Chopper grocery store advantage card, current temple recommend
Cell phone (last phone call: my husband called me on his way to work the midnight shift looking for a phone number for someone in our ward)

So what stories does your purse tell?

Legacy

2009-07-27T23:06:00.002-04:00

Sunday morning I got a phone call from the ward organist saying she had a sick child and asking if I would fill in for her. I love to play the organ and readily agreed. The closing hymn was "Come, Come, Ye Saints." As I sat tucked behind my extra-large print hymn book playing that hopeful hymn, my heart was touched. I was overwhelmed by the spirit of those early saints and the sacrifices they made to live close to the Lord.

Tears come easily to me and this was no exception. With both my hands and feet busy and a corner of my eye committed to watching the music director keep the beat, I hardly had a second to compose myself. In the end, I couldn't. By the middle of the second verse the tears were hot and stinging and by the third verse they spilled over and streaked my face. By verse four I was lucky I could see the music at all for the abundance of tears and they began to drip down and splash onto my lap.

I suspect no one saw my moment of emotion. That moment, however, was one deep in my soul and long in the making. My pioneer heritage is one I've always treasured. I want to make sure my children know the stories that have most blessed me and have left such strong impressions on my faith. It is impossible to separate me from my forebarers. I thought I'd record a couple of my favorite stories and memories of important people in my life and family history. I'll probably do them one at a time as time and a little memory touch up allow. I am certain that one reason we are to do our family history work is that we might become more well rooted in who we are, understand where we came from and go forward armed with the knowledge of where our ancestors were going and how we, too, might get there. My stories hail from Norway, Wales, England and New Zealand and trecks West for the most part. But I think I'll also include some of those stories of my loved ones who have braved new roads in other ways. It is vital that I remember these people and their experiences.

Just this past Saturday I was sitting in the Celestial Room of the Palmyra Temple stuck in a moment of befuddlement when I quieted my mind and suddenly had the words, "all is well, all is well" enter my thoughts. I sense that recording these memories will help me sort out some of the things that are on my mind lately. So between peanut butter sandwiches, long swims in the pool, and the piles of laundry to do and floors that need mopping, strength will find me as I find the strength of those who have gone before.

Oh to be Three

2009-07-22T21:53:00.005-04:00

There is magic when my three-and-a-half-year-old son comes in the room. He is a delight to be around and everything he touches {or laughs at} just turns to gold. I thought with only a few short weeks before A starts his days as a preschooler and things will forever change, I'd pay a little photo tribute to my boy.

Photo above: A decided he wanted to be a magician one morning when we were folding laundry and he found his cape in the closet. He insisted that he needed a magician's hat and wand. We spent the rest of the morning looking at pictures online and in books until I had the exact picture that A wanted for his magician paraphernalia.

On a side note, the beautiful cape was made by my sister-in-law, Juli, who even in the mist of her own suffering with a loosing battle with cancer made this for A's birthday. We just got word that Juli is only anticipated to live a few more weeks. What a fitting tribute from my son that he should want everyday to wear that cape made by the aunt whom he prays for in every prayer.
The Smith Farm in Palmyra, NY.
Sacred Grove, Palmyra, NY
Cousins. West Lafayette, IN
Raspberries from our garden.
J sent A into the house to give me a big fat raspberry on the first day of picking. A promptly showed it to me and ran out of the house. When J asked A how I liked the berry, A just shrugged. J asked what happened to the berry. A's response: "I think it accidentally got into my tummy!"
Korean War helicopter at a local air museum.
Happy Hollow, IN
Father and Son Campout.
Cleaning the mess hall at the Father and Son Campout.
Avoiding the rain while hiding out inside the tiny pup tent at the Father and Son Campout.
Dancing on a Thursday night at a local concert in the park.
An geologist in the making: "take a picture of my rock, Mom."
Or and archeologist: "Take a picture of this piece of glass I found."
Blowing bubbles for Dad for Father's Day
Hoggle Zoo, April 2009

A Child's Prayer

2009-06-07T22:07:00.002-04:00

Getting A to pray can be a chore. He just doesn't want to sit still and calm down his little body. This morning he came into my bedroom while I was kneeling down to say my morning prayers. He has learned to be quite and save his questions for when I am done. Later he saw his father kneeling in the office saying his prayers as well.

He came in and told me that he'd forgotten to say his morning prayers and told me he was going to go pray. I asked him if he needed help and with an excited little "no" he ran off to kneel by his bed. I listened from the kitchen as he offered the sweetest (and longest without-help) prayer. He asked Heavenly Father to help him feel the spirit at Church today, among other things.

For all the poking and prodding and reminding and asking and crying and laying prostrate rather than kneeling that happens, it is moments like this that make me think that maybe, just maybe I'm doing something right.

(Photo: Hoggle Zoo, Salt Lake City, UT April 2009)

My Mother's Laundry

2009-05-09T23:16:00.005-04:00

One of my favorite stories my mother tells is about a day when she was drowning in laundry. She had five or six children at the time and was feeling a bit overwhelmed. She thought to herself as she sat among the mounds of laundry, "what would the Savior think if he came into my house right now?" Immediately the impression came to her that he would just sit right down and help her fold laundry.

In many ways I take after my mother. I'm not a spotless house keeper. I have a somewhat short attention span for lengthy projects. I tend to have a bit of a temper sometimes. But, I also hope that I am as kind as she is. I hope that I love the Lord as much as she does. I hope that I will always be willing to do and serve in any capacity that is required of me, just as she has and continues to do. I hope that I can learn to listen to the spirit as carefully has she has though out her life.

My mother is a joy to have in my life. Growing up she used to always tell me how important it was to be well rounded. Mostly I'd roll my eyes and head off to another piano lesson, or tennis match, or to write a story for the school paper. She really believed that talents came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. She is my inspiration in many of the decisions I've made in my life. She encouraged me to do and be anything I wanted. There was no limit to my capacity. For the most part I've taken that philosophy and run with it. I hope that when I grow up I might be like my mom and be the same kind of inspiration to my family.

Thanks, Mom, for always seeing in me what I couldn't see in myself or could only just catch a glimpse of at the time.

Here's to you on this Mother's Day. Here's to all the laundry that never got folded. Here's to the moments that will be sweet in my memory because I let the laundry slide. Here's to the most noble calling a woman can have. And I learned it all from my mother.

You Might Need a Haircut When...

2009-05-05T19:08:00.002-04:00

About six weeks ago I lost my favorite hairclip. It's torteous shell. It holds my hair well. I tried to buy some news ones and the Target I went to didn't have any. Then I went on vacation for a few weeks. I took a hairdryer and didn't even take it out of my suitcase. I rarely dry my hair. I don't usually need to because I like taking night showers and have naturally curly hair. Last Sunday I had to take a morning shower and got out the hairdryer to dry my hair for Church and found that the hairdry was broken. In that moment I realized that between my missing hairclip and my broken blowdryer, I have worn my hair in a ponytail every single day for nearly two months. It is probably time to get a haircut. I always say when all I ever do is put my hair in a ponytail, it is time to get it cut. Maybe that will motivate me to get a better start on my day and get my feet under me a little better so I feel a little more forward-looking on tackling the tasks of the day. Thanks, Tisha, for the reminder that doing your hair can make a big difference.

13.1 in 2:24

2009-04-26T18:14:00.004-04:00

The SLC Half Marathon was so much fun. I ran 13.1 miles in just over 2 hours and 24 minutes, a little slower than I had planned, but I finished. (That was the first question my primary class asked me today, "Did you finish?") I ended up running the 1/2 marathon with two sisters, one brother, one-brother-in-law, and one (and only) husband and, somewhere in the crowd, my good friend Maren who got me started in this whole business. My sister-in-law ran the 5K. My brother ran the 1K with five of my nieces and nephews. Two other sister and two other brother-in-laws along with my kids my parents and a few other nieces were fantastic cheerleaders throughout the race course. My Colorado sister planned on coming, but she got snowed in and couldn't get out of town due to the three feet of snow that fell.

My parents were at the bottom of one giant hill at about about mile 11. I was about ready to walk the rest of the way and then I saw them with my two boys and that got me motivated to push through and keep going. By that point my arms of all things were just aching. Next time I'll work on upper body training.

All the way up the hill I just kept thinking that when I turned the corner onto South Temple I'd be right there at the Salt Lake Temple. When I saw the temple I started to cry. For anyone who has read my previous blog entries about running when I cry, you'll remember that I tend to hyperventilate. This was no exception. I had to calm my self down and just breath. I was about a half a mile from the finish line and felt so grateful that I'd come so far and was almost there. It was like this great metaphor for life. We work hard, we prepare and we pass through difficult moments, but, seeing the temple reminded me that, just like in the race, life is so worth the effort.

J and I crossed the finish line together and it was so great to finish with him (he hardly broke a sweat, by the way). I thought I might die for the hour following. But I think it was just lack of sleep and eating the wrong food before I ran (and the night before, and well frankly, the whole week before). It was amazing. It was a stretch physically and mentally. I learned a lot and will do a few things differently next time... and yes I plan on there being a next time. Who wants to do it next year? Hopefully there will be other chances for races later this summer and fall that are closer to home.

I am so sorry to those of you we planned on seeing and didn't get a chance to see. Having the two boys by myself for two weeks turned out to be way more stressful and exhausting than I imagined. We do love you and hope you will still be our friends anyway.

I feel a little like Paul when he wrote to Timothy, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith."

Whatcha' Reading?

2009-03-17T23:30:00.004-04:00

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think that decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." -Anna Quindlen

In my free time lately I've been doing a lot of reading (that amounts to about twenty minutes or so a day, by the way). I've just read and am reading two books that have compelled me to take a deeper look at how I'm doing to truly live my religion as a practicing Christian. I just finished Three Cups of Tea and am currently reading The Robe.

Three Cups of Tea is a true story of one man who fights poverty, illiteracy, and terrorism by building schools and doing other humanitarian projects in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book focuses on educating girls in particular. We must never underestimate the role a bright and confidant woman can have in the lives of her children and those around her. More than anything the book has made me take a hard look at this war that we are fighting. I think I've all but ignored it mostly out of habit. I took and interest to it when I read the fantastic book A Thousand Splenid Suns and then the interest waned. This story, however, is true and really give me hope that good will prevail. It also forces me to face the idea that I do very little community service. I tell myself that my family and my church responsibilities keep me busy enough. But I feel like those are just excuses some times. There is more to me and I would do well is get out of my comfort zone.

The Robe is an entirely different book. It is the fictitious story of the Roman soldier that got Jesus Christ's robe after the Savior's death. I'm still working through this book, but so far I'm intrigued by what Christianity must look like to one who has not been raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The philosophical exchanges between characters show how there are questions and problems like who we are, where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going that resonate with every religious, and irreligious, tradition and culture.

The book also makes me think about my outward oblations as they compare to my inward commitments and covenants. The church to which I belong has a number of rites and rituals that are a physical outward reminder of our personal covenants. This was a way of life--to the extreme--for the Jews 2,000 years ago. I often find my mind wandering and wondering about the sincerity of my outward worship. As do most people, I believe that my actions are sincere. I avoid hypocrisy, but also acknowledge that I am far from perfect and too often give in to my lesser human nature (like the way I just polished off half a package of cinnamon graham crackers while writing this blog entry). The author paints a remarkably ugly picture of the Sanhedrin in particular. They embody and define hypocrisy. On the other hand, Christ is a real and super-read being in this book. People can identify with him, yet he is so much more than a leader and a king. I think I forget what a personal connection that is well maintained with Christ himself can do for my soul.

Both books have made me look more introspectively into how I spend my time, who I am helping and how I live what I know to be true. Both are good reads and worth the time and effort.

Happy Anniversary

2009-02-24T22:59:00.002-05:00

Last week J and I celebrated our seventh anniversary. We had a fantastic evening, thanks to a couple in the ward who came and watched out kids. We went dancing and had a private ballroom dance lesson at a local ballroom dance studio and then went out to dinner. The dancing was so much fun. We used to dance a lot, but it's been a while. I had to dust off at least two years of dust on my dancing shoes. It was so nice to just be with my husband and doing something that did not involve children, work, or money discussions.

So here's to another fantastic seven years.

Hyperventilating on The Treadmill

2009-02-24T22:39:00.002-05:00

Saturday I was doing a five mile run and decided to load up my iPod with some new music. Almost as an afterthought, I put on a song by Hillary Weeks called "Come Take Your Place." (Thank you, thank you Jennie for giving me the Time Out for Women CD.) It isn't exactly fast-paced running music, however.

As I was pushing through at about mile 4.5 the song came on. Saturday's run had been very introspective and I had spent a lot of time thinking about where I'm going (I mean besides no where very quickly on my treadmill) and what I'm doing with my life. A was playing in the playroom next to me and I could see him coming in and out building things and, of course, crashing them down. As I listened to this song and watched my son, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the place I am right now in my life. I was meant to be here, now. I was meant to be the mother of these beautiful boys. I was meant to stand with my amazing, loving husband. This is my place, even that part where I teach occasionally unruly six, seven, and eight-year-old primary kids. I have no regrets about passing on grad or law school (for the time being). I have no regrets leaving a career I enjoyed to choose to be a full-time, stay-at-home mother. If anything I appreciate those choices more because I MADE the choice. I understand there are certain expectation as women of faith and I understand that I must find that path through my own faith and prayers. I have much to do and much to live up to.

So here's me, crying my eyes out as I'm touched by this song and suddenly I realize, "I'm running five miles an hour and, wait a second. I can't breath!" I was literally hyperventilating. That is not a good feeling. So I'm trying to get a hold of my self, because, silly me thinks, "But I'm not to five miles yet!" Eventually I got my emotions under control and could breath and of course, what did I do? I played the song AGAIN! Hyperventilating part II. Luckily I was a bit more prepared and quickly got my emotions in check. No passing out. No falling of the treadmill.

All in all, it was very worth the few tense moments of breathlessness to be remided how specific Heavenly Father's plan is for me and how I'm doing just fine because I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

650 Calories

2009-02-17T07:29:00.004-05:00

Saturday night I needed to run 4 miles to be on track for my race training. J had all the extension chords in his car at work so I had to wait until after midnight to do my run when he came home and I could actually plug in the treadmill. J stayed up to keep me company while I did my death run during the middle of the night. Did you know that when you run 4 miles and then do some walking cool down you can burn 650 calories! I know. Crazy. It took me just over 55 minutes. I'm on track to run 10 miles this week.

Wish me luck!

Socks Make The Woman

2009-02-12T19:06:00.004-05:00

I bought some new socks to wear while I run. They are heavenly. I just love them. They are Champion brand and have an extra moisture wicking property that keeps my feet from getting too hot. They also have this awesome support portion that wraps around my arches. They are so comfy. I'm now in the market for some new running shoes. Do you have a favorite brand/style?

Training update: Last week I ran six miles and cross trained on Tuesday and Thursday.

Yesterday the weather was almost 50 degrees and I got to run outside. I ran just over three miles. It is amazing how much faster I ran when I was just running sans treadmill. I had the thought when I was just finishing up that I had just run a 5K! Tomorrow I cross train and on Saturday I'll run 4 miles (on my treadmill, sigh... it will be too cold to run outside again).

My theme song for this half-marathon is the Kung Fu Panda version of Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting. Check out the lyrics below. They give you a real shot of adreniline!

Chorus:
Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting
Your mind becomes fast as lightning
Although the future is a little bit fright'ning
It's the book of your life that you're writing

You're a diamond in the rough
A brilliant ball of clay
You could be a work of art
If you just go all the way
Now what would it take to break
I believe that you can bend
Not only do you have to fight
But you have got to win

(Chorus)
Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting
Your mind becomes fast as lightning
Although the future is a little bit fright'ning
It's the book of your life that you're writing

Oooooouuhhh

You are a natural
Why is it so hard to see
Maybe it's just because
You keep on looking at me
The journey's a lonely one
So much more than we know
But sometimes you've got to go
Go on and be your own hero

(Chorus)
Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting
Your mind becomes fast as lightning
Although the future is a little bit fright'ning
It's the book of your life that you're writing

A Birthday Present for President Lincoln

2009-02-12T18:45:00.004-05:00

Today is the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and A thinks that is fantastic. We've been reading a beautifully illustrated children's chapter book about Abe's childhood. When I told A that it was good ol' Abe's b-day, I asked him what we should do to celebrate.

A: I don't know. Maybe we could get him a present.
Me: Oh, really. Like what?
A: Maybe a bulldozer and a crane and a book about trucks.
Me: Hum, interesting idea. And anything else?
A: And a train.

Always thinking of others. I was thinking he'd say something like make a birthday cake or something like that. We built many Lincoln log buildings in Abe's honor today. Here is a cute pictures of the boys and the Lincoln log towers.

Making Progress..mostly

2009-02-01T22:18:00.004-05:00

I ran six miles this week. Next week I will run seven miles to be on track in my training for the half marathon.

If only the other goals in my life where this easy to measure and have definite starting and ending points. (and to be honest, my goals are things like get up, change diapers, feed everyone--but not too much, and don't watch too much tv. I guess it's time to re-evaluate my long term goals)

If anyone has tips on how to get your three-year-old to sleep past 4:30 am, we're all ears. Baby is sleeping great, but I'm exhausted thanks to my early riser.

Also, I'm taking tips on how to get motivated to get my house clean and organized. I'm sure part of it is just this frustration with our leaky roof. The drips have definitely slowed down or stopped for the most part. However, Friday a new spot started leaking. Sigh. All in due time I guess. The insurance agent sounded hopeful.

On a bright note, we went to the temple this week and (thanks to Stella) actually got to do some sealings together. Additionally we feel like we got some much needed peace of mind with regards to some thing things that have been leaving us a bit unsettled. Remarkable how personal revelation works. How blessed we are to have that wisdom and knowledge. Anyone want to foot the bill for $20,000 a semester for J to go back to grad school to study, of all things, nuclear engineering?

The Testimony of A Three-year-old

2009-01-26T19:51:00.003-05:00

Our son has been asking to bear his testimony in church for the last couple of fast Sundays. We ascribe to the counsel that little children should be given a chance to share their testimonies at home until they are older. So, we've been having a little testimony meeting during family home evening the last few weeks. Tonight's testimony was classic: I know this Church is true. I know the temple has lots of doors. I'm thankful we get to have banana splits. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Salt Lake City Half Marathon Here I Come!

2009-01-25T23:52:00.003-05:00

I'm putting together a team (a/k/a running buddies) to run the Salt Lake City Half Marathon on April 18. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you. Two of my sisters are already on board and I've got another couple of people thinking about it. Here's the link to the website. They have a fantastic expert training program (for all levels from beginner to advanced) that helps you plan, track, and monitor your progress. It cost $60 for the half marathon. There is a 5k if you're looking for something more low key and a full marathon for those looking for a challenge.

Ask yourself: "Can I give more?". The answer is usually: "Yes".
Paul Tergat

Hope to see you in the top of the mountains come April!

Water Dripping from Everywhere

2009-01-22T07:53:00.002-05:00

So, we have a leaky ceiling...in four different places! We have had so much snow and ice build up that that the bottom layer of ice closest to the roof started melting and getting under the shingles and running into the house and pooling up on the ceiling and finally came through. These are officially called ice dams. We've never had them before, so this is a new and crazy experience. Water dripping through one of the lights in the kitchen, water dripping in a spot in our office, water dripping between the walls of the laundry room, water dripping over A's bed. J accidentally put a hole through A's ceiling where the drywall was soaked and the insulation was also sopping wet.

We're doing everything we can to prevent heat from our house from escaping through the roof and cause more melting. Unfortunately there is not a whole lot we can do until the ice is completely gone (a/k/a when spring comes), even though I've been up there carefully chipping away what ice I can. Yesterday when we were saying family prayers, J asked Heavenly Father to heal our house.

We've spent everyday many hours a day for the last several days trying to deal with this. The insurance claims person will come this week and tell us what it will cost to clean, replace, and repair everything. For as overwhelming as it has been at times, I am not loosing sleep over it and know it will work out. We just keep working and trying to prevent more damage, clean up the exisiting mess and moving on. I'll post the great pictures when I have a few more minutes to catch my breath and upload them!

Our Best Life -- 2008 Year in Review

2009-01-02T11:20:00.004-05:00

Best Life

2008-12-08T23:44:00.005-05:00

I have the best life! I love my family and enjoy the way they make me smile and laugh (and cry) and appreciate being alive. May my two boys and my wonderful husband know how truly loved they are!

Today

2008-11-17T22:34:00.003-05:00

Today I ate five servings of fruits and veggies, had plenty of water to drink, and have a clean sink. This is just a reminder to myself that even when I yell too much, eat too much, watch TV too much, and leave the laundry, scripture study and bill paying too long there are things that I am doing right. Tomorrow I may not have that clean sink again. Tomorrow I may not drink enough water. Tomorrow I will probably eat more than I should and neglect the laundry once again. But tonight I go to bed knowing that at least a few things are right in my world and that tomorrow I can try a little harder to do a little better.

A FewThings about Me

2008-11-02T17:26:00.003-05:00

Since I've all but disappeared from the blogosphere since having had my baby, I'm just now catching up on other people's blogs from the last five or six weeks. As it turns out, two different people have tagged me to blog about six or seven weird or unusual things about myself (thanks Sandra and Erin).

So, here goes my list of side show attributes:

1. I have incredibly flexible toes, over which I have lots of control. I can spread them out really far and move them all independently from one another. I never knew this was unusual until I met my husband and he told me it was, well, different. It appears that our children can do the same.

2. I love to watch the news and read the paper. Maybe this isn't weird, but I think it is becoming less and less common these days. Besides the front page and local news, I especially like to read the OBITUARIES. That is probably weird. I had a professor in college who got me into it. He read the section religiously because he said you could learn a lot about someone from their obit and you can keep track of those who you know or loved ones of people you know.

3. I hate being scared. I don't like scary movies; I don't like roller coasters; I don't like being alone in the dark.

4. I am afraid of heights. I think this is a derivative of an inner ear problem that also makes me extremely car sick and causes some balance problems. (Maybe that is why I dislike roller coasters so much.)

5. I love to read cook books. I know some may think that is beyond boring. I've read lots of them--a couple just about cover to cover. I really enjoy seeing how things are made, the combinations of ingredients to achieve a desired outcome, and how I can experiment to modify the recipe according to what I have on hand or for a healthier version. (Note: I have read Deceptively Delicious, Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, William and Sonoma Grilling, and a couple of Weight Watchers cookbooks as well as three or four Relief Society cookbooks almost in their entirety.)

6. My mom used to say that you could tell what mood I was in according to what I was playing on the piano that day. I'd say that is still a pretty accurate gauge of my emotions, that is when I have a spare moment to play and my children will let me do it (A likes to dominate the keyboard just about every time I sit down to play).

7. I can watch the same movie an almost infinite number of times, depending on the movie of course. My husband says he can watch a movie once or twice and he's content to never see it again. I have probably seen the movie Annie at least 100 times. I've also see several Jane Austin movies at least thirty times. That said, I have only seen three movies more than once in the theater: The Saint with Val Kilmer (still one of my favorite movies), The Net with Sandra Bullock, and Napoleon Dynamite (all viewings at the dollar theater).

I'd be curious to see what the following people have to say about what they think is weird about them: Musemeg, Amy Lynn, and Lindsay (no rush since I know you just had a baby, too)

A Brief Baby Update

2008-10-28T16:08:00.003-04:00

Minus the almost three-year-old who is having a rough time adjusting to a new sibling, we are all doing pretty well. I'm pretty tired and the baby has had a hard time gaining weight. He's been monitored for a little bit of jaundice, but is doing fine now. He seems to be on the up swing in gaining weight, though he is almost a month old and still isn't up to his birth weight yet. We decided to start a little formula supplementation and that seems to help.

My c-section recovery has had it's ups and downs. When things are calm I'm doing great. When things are stressful with A.B. or with the family around, or the garage project, I'm a lot more tired and achy. I'm having trouble with my incision being really painful on one side right now. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow to see what is going on. Hopefully it is just a sign of over doing it a little bit and not something more serious. It is painful enough at times, though, that I'm very glad I still have a few super heavy duty pain pills left, even though I can hardly function from sleepiness when I take them.

J's dad and my dad have been helping work on our new garage and that has been stressful to say the least. I dread every time someone says "I'm just going to run to the store to pick up something" because they come back with $50 of stuff. Multiply that by the 20 times they've been to the store and we've far exceeded our original budget. Anyway, I think I've made my peace with the project and will have a fantastic collage of pictures and videos to blog about in the next couple of weeks when the thing is finished! I think I'll have J write a blog entry about all the life lessons he has learned over the last several months of moving this project along. By the way, the people at the project desk where we bought the garage package asked me if I wanted to come work for them. I've been there so many times in the last few months to ask questions and clarify or get help on something that they just about know me by name. I've become pretty proficient at construction work even though the only physical thing I've done on the project is nail in a few nails. I've been too sick, too tired, too pregnant or too sore to do much of the manual labor part. I should have gone into construction management!

When I feel like sitting at the computer for more than five minutes I'll write up our birth story and post some more pictures of L on his baby blessing day.

The New Baby!

2008-10-04T07:10:00.009-04:00

The baby came on Thursday. After a few hours of prep work, C. had a c-section. The baby arrived at 11:17. He weighed 7lbs 9.8oz and was 21 1/2". C. and the baby are both doing well and will come home tomorrow. Here are a few pics and a movie:

A. was really excited to see the baby:

The O.R. Playlist

2008-09-28T18:27:00.002-04:00

In just a few days I'll be checking myself into the hospital to have baby #2. Since part of this delivery will be spent laying flat on an operating room table, I thought I'd go a little bit more prepared than last baby delivery. I'll go armed with good music. I'm loading my iPod (1) to keep me from having the panic attack I had when I was having a c-section with baby #1 and (2) to give me something to do while I'm being stitched up and I have some alone time when they whisk my baby and husband away for clean up, measurements, etc (baby, not husband).

So, what would you be listening to if you were in my shoes or, well, unsightly hospital gown? I'm working on a playlist and I'd love the hear your suggestions. I'll also be in the hospital for the better part of four days, but am only allowed to have the baby in my room (at least for the first two days) if someone else is in there with me (c-sections make you fairly immobile). So any great downloadable books, short stories or other fun ideas would be great.

One of My Heros

2008-09-21T04:47:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I had the chance to meet one of my heroes.

Jane Clayson Johnson used to be the host of one of the nationally broadcast morning shows. She had a very distinguished career in broadcast journalism. However, when she met her husband, she decided to leave the work she had been doing to start a family. She received a lot of criticism from the industry. I met her two biological children yesterday and, I'll tell you what, I'd trade them any day for all the interviews with presidents of nations, celebrities, and anyone else news worthy.

Sister Johnson and her husband were in town from Boston for Brother Johnson's son's baptism. Brother Johnson is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his own teenage son from a previous marriage lives in our ward and decided to be baptized. The son has been coming to church for many months and I've associated with him through my calling in the Young Women's program. But I don't think anyone in our ward knew who Sister Johnson was before yesterday. Oddly enough I had the thought yesterday morning that maybe this young man's dad was married to Jane Clayson and I secretly hoped I'd get to meet her at the baptism.

I first heard Sister Johnson speak at BYU shortly after her daughter was born. She gave a speech that I think startled a few young aspiring females in the audience. She basically said you can't have it all, meaning children, career, happy marriage, all at the same time. There are times and seasons of life. Make the most of what you have in the moment, but don't put off the most important.

She's written a fantastic book called I Am A Mother. It is inspiring. I read it at a time in my life when I needed some reassurance that my life could be complete within my stay-at-home-mom life. She is as kind and amiable in person as I would imagine after reading her book. Her son is about a week younger than mine and is just as cute!

Some may argue that the best kind of heroes are the people that you can observe day in and day out, someone close to you that you know. We live in a society that idolizes people for their sports prowess or their musical ability or their political power. While I'd never met this woman before, I feel a special connection to this woman who is a shining example of how to live your best life without compromising your best self. All said and done, it was just very, very cool!

And in her own words: "Never be afraid to aspire to be a mother."

A Few Silly Things from My Almost-Three-year-old

2008-09-14T21:51:00.004-04:00

This week A said and did some things that just made me laugh. I thought I'd share in the joy:

1. While drinking regular Sprite soda (which I'm not sure he's ever had before) said, "It's too sweet. It has too many apples in it."

2. While looking through a book, A started singing "where is Jesus, where is Jesus," then knowingly and in a very serious tone said, "Oh, I found Him."

3. We were at the library and A needed a drink. This drinking fountain just had a small button to push instead of a long bar across the front. He got very creative with his knee.

4. During bedtime scripture reading we had this conversation (we were reading the children's Book of Mormon reader about the Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman when they were in prison)

Me: "...and Nephi and Lehi looked toward heaven."
A: "Mom, where is heaven?
Me: "Humm. Well, it's in the sky over the earth. Heavenly Father lives there."
A: "Oh, by Jackson's house." (about 10 minutes away)
Me: "No, in the sky."
A: laughing "No, Heavenly Father's house is by Jackson's house!"

5. Another night, instead of the Book of Mormon reader, A wanted to look at a Book of Mormon picture calendar from Grandma for scripture study. Daddy turned to the first page, a picture of Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem.

Daddy: "I spy with my little eye a camel." (A loves I Spy books)
A: Very confused, turning to mom, "That's not I Spy."

6. I was on the phone in the other room when A came and asked if he could have a lollipop. I said yes and kept talking. Some time later I came out to the kitchen to find six bare lollipop sticks and then nine wrappers! I'm not sure where the other three sticks ended up...

Where Were You?

2008-09-11T13:59:00.002-04:00

This morning A and I went outside to hang our American flag. We put it up to commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York City and Washington D.C. I once asked my parents where they were when they heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII. Even though they were small children, they remembered very specific details about the day.

As for my own memories of September 11, my then-boyfriend, now husband had come to pick me up from my apartment, to walk me to work on his way to class, as always. It was about 7:45 and J asked if I had heard what happened that morning. His roommates or neighbors had been watching the news and heard the initial reports. Things were still very unclear as to what was happening. As we walked up the long flight of stairs past the BYU botany pond to campus, everyone in the busy 8:00 rush was talking about it. I remember one kid on his cell phone calling some far away friend to incredulously share the news.

At work it was all we could do to keep ourselves focused. We were glued to the internet and any updates available. CNN.com, thenytimes.com, and thewashingtonpost.com stick out in my mind. There was no live streamed video, just pictures and mostly second hand accounts of the events. We knew that planes were down, but some missing. We knew that people were trapped. We knew that nothing was certain as far as how safe we were every where else.

It was a Tuesday and BYU's traditional weekly devotional was canceled and the university president, President Merrill J. Bateman, spoke instead. There is something incredibly reassuring having a general authority speak at such a complicated and confusing time. J and I usually attended the devotionals together every week and it had been a while since we had seen such a packed house in the Marriott Center. President Bateman reassured us that we would be fine, that we would figure this out, and that we had to proceed the best we could under the circumstances.

I went to other classes that afternoon, knowing that the twin towers had fallen, the Pentagon had been hit and a plane had crashed somewhere else, ultimate destination still unknown. One or two classes were canceled. One went on as planned, but with much less enthusiasm.

By the end of the day, we all just sat mesmerized by the reports on TV and the images of people jumping out of windows, huge clouds of black billowy smoke and ash swirling through Manhattan, and the beginnings of the loss of life reports.

Eventually the "bring the story home" journalism started to touch our BYU campus. Reports of the BYU interns in the affected areas having gone out to dinner together the night before and all getting such bad food poisoning that none of them could go to work the next day and people's cars not starting or decisions to take the day off from work unexpectedly were now common. I had one friend who worked high in one of the twin towers and just a week and a half earlier left his high-paced job to find something a little more family friendly. While I know that as followers of Jesus Christ and members of His Church we are not immune from danger and heartache, it is remarkable to think how many people were protected and able to avoid harms way.

I've always been a very patriotic person and often get choked up when I sing the Star Spangled Banner or say the pledge. I am grateful for a nation of such resilience and such desire to overcome. This campaign year has brought a lot of questions about our national security and the well being of our nation with regards to our economy and health care and quality of life.They all talk a lot about change. In the last seven years since those attacks, so many things in my life have changed: my marital status, my economic situation, my parental status, my residence to name a few. But one thing never changes: we are a people who will rise above. We have a spirit born within us that will not let us give in or give up.

What a legacy we have. Will we pay the necessary price to perpetuate that? Will we teach our children to love our country and take pride in the values, opportunities and challenges that come with citizenship in this great community? Perhaps that was one of the great lessons that the 9/11 attacks taught us. We are a group with much in common, regardless of out differences. To borrow words from Paul in the New Testament, we are no longer strangers, but fellow citizens in the kingdom of God.

So wherever you were that day, where are you now? And where do you want to be in the future of this great nation? President Gordon B. Hinckley often said, it isn't enough to be good. We must be good for something.

Let's go be good for something this year. Let's not let 9/11 anniversary #8 come without having made our communities a better, safer, more optimistic place to be. Let us find within us that same strength and pride and open our arms a little wider to expand our personal communities. Let's do it!

Three Weeks and Three Days

2008-09-08T14:16:00.003-04:00

So here's the belly shot that, if posted in a timely enough manner, is supposed to bring we a well behaved child who learns to sleep to the night at a good young age. I'm scheduled for a c-section on October 2. My nesting instincts are really kicking in this go around. For anyone who might be interested and would like to come for a visit (if you don't already live here), we are planning on blessing our baby on October 19. Church starts at 10:00.

Vacation Part 2

2008-09-07T16:29:00.005-04:00

Our vacation adventure continued with so many ordinary events that made for extraordinary memories, especially for little A.

THE 4th OF JULY: Family Reunion Day 1

The Tank

Since the 4th of July is just about my favorite holiday I thought I'd add a couple of more tank photos since the Hellcat tank was such a huge hit in the Provo parade. Tree Climbing

Aunt A and Uncle C took A to a Freedom Festival Celebration activity and, of course, A's favorite thing was the tree we sat under to eat lunch. This was really A's first attempt at seriously climbing a tree. I think he saw his cousins and the others kids giving it a go. It was almost like this tree was made for climbing; get a load of the huge knots on the lower trunk.

Great Grandma's House

I think the thing that makes the 4th of July so special to me is that we always spent it as a family and had some great traditions. Any of the family that is in town for the holiday always ends up at my Grandma's house (my dad's mom). She's 93 and, with the help of her children and grandchildren, always hosts a fantastic afternoon of lazy summer activity. She lives in a farm house on the west side of Provo that used to belong to the foreman of the sugar beet factory and farms that in days on gone by dominated the area. My dad was raised in that house. I get my red hair from Grandma. Someday I hope I can grow up to be like her, full of wit and wisdom and a jar full of apricot jam for every person who walks through her door.

This old tire swing has been at Grandma's house for as long as I can remember and I'm sure much longer. From it you have a spectacular view of the Wasatch Mountain, Mount Timpanoogos, and Y mountain, all defining places for my grandparents. As a girl I spent countless hours with my cousins in this swing and even had my engagement photos taken here.

The Great American Meal: KFC and A&W

We have always had the 4th of July tradition of eating fried chicken and getting a gallon of ice cold A&W rootbeer right from the tap at the restaurant (it even comes in gallon jugs). This year was no different. I love this tradition and fully intend to keep it up in my own family. Only once as a little girl do I remember not being able to hold it down. Though I think it was more the effects of a long day in the sun rather than the food choice. I remember that year because I was so sick I slept through the fireworks and wore my too-small Strawberry Shortcake PJs because I was so hot and sunburned. Here is mom and son enjoying the tradition and below is A with his cousin ED sharing a little extra.

FAMILY REUNION DAY 2

Oakcrest Girls Camp Adventure

My sister's responsibilities at church include a regional assignment to help with a local girls' camp facility. She made arrangements for us to spend the day there as part of our family reunion. We went on the zip line, did archery, did a ropes course and just enjoyed being together. J got this great idea that he could take A on the zip line, which scared my whole family to death. It turned out well, A liked it so much, we figured out a way to tighten the harness so he could actually do it himself. He loved it. See the video below.

Following the leader. A wanted to be where the big boy cousins were and did the whole ropes course, with help!

TEMPLE VISITS

One of the things we told A about was how many temples we would see while we were visiting Utah. Grandma and Grandpa C have a spectacular view of the Timpanoogos Temple right out their front window. We also saw the Salt Lake, Provo, Jordan River, and the unfinished Draper and Ocher Mountain temples. Six temples within a half hour drive! It was great.

ONE LAST DAY WITH COUSINS

On our last day in Utah we went to the Bean Museum on the BYU campus. It is full of hundreds of stuffed animals. It is a really fun place to go. Grandpa and a few cousins met us there and we had fun seeing everything from Polar bears to zebras, to alligators to enormous fish. Grandpa asked A which animal he liked and wanted his picture taken in front of. He chose this grizzly bear. Afterwards we got ice cream cones at the BYU creamery. You can't go all the way from NY to Utah and not get a cone at the Creamery.

This is one last shot of A playing in his cousins' castle. He had so much fun being with everyone and enjoying their company. We look forward to another get together soon.

Vacation Part 1

2008-08-06T09:35:00.004-04:00

We spent a wonderful week visiting family in Utah at the beginning of July. Our focus was to try to absorb as much "cousin" as we could on this trip since it was a bit shorter than the trips we usually take out West. A had a blast playing with every single one of his cousins, literally. All 23 grandkids were there for at least a few days. Since A is the youngest and his oldest cousin is already starting her third year of college, it made for some interesting dynamics to keep everyone busy and relatively happy. But it was worth every minute.

THE FLIGHT

This is the first time A remembers going on an airplane. He's old enough now to have his own seat, which he just loved. He sat next to the window and laughed at every take off and landing. I'm glad he handled it so well since we had a bit of a bumpy ride through some of the flight. I guess it proves that if you give a kid enough Starbursts, he can get through anything. The flight attendant at the first gate said to make sure A touched the side of the plane before we boarded. When A reached out to give a slap to the blue strip of the Southwest logo, he just giggled and giggled. That set a nice tone for the rest of the trip.

A loves trains and as a special incentive to be good we gave him a new train to play with on the plane. It was George the steamroller (from Thomas and Friends). He played well enough by himself that J and I were able to read and have some quite time. I didn't think anything of it until another passenger commented on how well behaved he was (too bad she didn't see him melt down in the driveway and the airport and about five other places earlier that morning). Another passenger commented on how contagious A's laugh is. She said she wished she could just bottle it and take it home because it made her smile.

WE'VE ARRIVED!

For several weeks preceeding our visit, A insisted on calling Grandma and Grandpa in Utah almost every day (we usually only called once or twice a week). We looked at pictures of our aunts and uncles and cousins and tried to learn names, too. So when we finally arrived A did a pretty good job recognizing at least some people. It was so good to see A's smile and hugs for his extended family.

From the minute we arrive we were on the go. We spent lots of wonderful hours swimming in my sister's pool. Well A and I played in the pool. My brother-in-law collects WW II artifacts and acquired a tank several months ago. J spent a few hours helping get the tank ready for the 4th of July parade. He even got to mount the .50 caliber machine gun! Very cool. (Recently one of J's co-workers was out in Utah rock climbing and broke his foot. The supervisors made mention of his absence at their daily planning meeting and sort of joked around about how it all happened. After jumping down off the tank one afternoon, J jokingly wondered how he would explain a broken foot from jumping off a WWII tank in his brother-in-law's yard).

All in all we handled the 95+ degree weather pretty well and we did get J to come swim after the tank was ready to go. He is a magnet when it comes to nieces and nephews. They had some fun pool races and water fights among other things. A really took to the water and wanted to try it by himself with a life jacket.

AN EVENING TO OURSELVES

Aunt A and Uncle C very generously watched A overnight so J and I could have a little getaway of our own. We ended up staying on the 14th floor of the downtown Marriott is Salt Lake. It was kind of funny walking in to the hotel at first. We both looked a little bedraggled and we were definitely in our summer traveling clothes. I don't think J had shaved since before we left NY. It seemed everyone was very prim and put together and the desk clerks were dressed to the nines. Oh well. As long as we pay the bill who cares what we look like!

The view from our floor was pretty amazing. We arrived after dark and looking out the window in the elevator lobby was breathtaking. It overlooked Temple square. It was majestic being right on the level with the Temple it seemed. The next morning we saw the construction site where the old Crossroads Mall used to be. Oh the hours that I spent there on Spring Breaks, after Conference, and visiting grandparents. There was a sort of nostalgia that lingered when I thought of the silly "license to kiss" that I had made at some novelty shop and first pair of Gap jeans that I bought in that mall and the number of soft serve ice cream cones that I bought at the Golden Spoon. It was fun to tell J some of those stories and make some new memories, too.

It was nice to have a little bit of time to ourselves. J humored me and we went out around 10 pm to find a place that would make me a milk shake. Not sure why, but boy, I couldn't get that shake out of my head until we'd made it to JB's Diner and in about two minutes demolished the entire thing. Oh, and J had a piece of pie (I think I ate most of that, too. So much for romantic sentiments when you are six months pregnant.)

Back from Vacation

2008-07-12T23:00:00.003-04:00

Between getting ready for vacation, going on vacation, and recouperating from vaction, I haven't updated for nearly a month. Watch for new postings over the next several days documenting our super fun, super busy trip to Utah. When we got home A asked if we could do it again tomorrow. Sigh. It's hard living so far away from family sometimes. I guess he really enjoyed it.

A patter

2008-06-16T21:21:00.003-04:00

We were sitting at the kitchen table after FHE tonight when we hear A in the living room swatting something against the couch. We were working on a little craft project and had a bunch of sticks in the kitchen and I was sure he had grabbed one and was using that. Without looking at him I just raised my voice and said, "A, what are you doing?" His response was "patting, mommy." That caught my attention as it was a somewhat unexpected word to use. I turned around to see what was making such a noise against the couch. A had found a fly swatter and was "patting" the the couch. Perhaps only a two-year-old would use such a gentle word for such an activity.

The Big 3-0

2008-06-03T21:44:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday to me! This is slightly belated, but last week I turned 30. I've never really been huge on mulling over ages, etc., but surprisingly enough, this one really caught me off guard. I'm a thirty something. By the time my mother was thirty she had her teaching degree, taught school, put her husband through a BS and a PhD, lived all across the US from California to Connecticut, and had six children. Many of my high school friends married much younger than I and have children who are nearly baptism age. So I got a little bit later start.

I'm grateful for all the fantastic things my thirty years have brought. My life has been full and I am in awe of the miracles that I have seen in my own life and the lives of so many of the people I love. The Lord is truly gracious and merciful. I've got a great husband and a beautiful son with a healthy little baby boy on the way this Fall. I've got the gospel of Jesus Christ and the choice to live the best life I can every single day.

So a little birthday recap: My great home teachers brought me some lovely Salvia flowers to plant in my garden and my visiting teacher brought me a package of Dove chocolates (sooo decadent!). I threw my own birthday part and had a lot of fun breaking a pinata and making homemade ice cream. I also bought myself a very love bouquet of flowers. From my husband I got a sparkling kitchen floor. He scrubbed it clean on his hands and knees. I asked for it and was so pleased to get such a great gift! I'm also getting new guitar strings from him. Thanks to all who were so kind in sending cards, packages, gifts, etc. It is nice to be reminded that you are loved. I also got to share the spot light with my friend who had her birthday a few weeks earlier. That was so much fun as well. It will be a sad day when she moves away in a few weeks.

I've already eaten most of the chocolates from my visiting teacher; I've already read the entire Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book another friend gave me; I've already found a place in my garden for another pot of flowers from another friend; I'm waiting to eat the chocolate and Cinnamon bears another friend gave me until I'm past a little bit more of my pregnancy sickness (I really want to enjoy them); and I won't let anyone else touch the foaming hand soap and lavender lotion and bath wash other friends gave me (A wants to try everything I have, and then try it again and again...). Oh and I downloaded a nice CD of music from another friend onto my ipod. A likes to tell me to turn on the music in the car so he can listen, too.

So thanks again for all who just love me and bring such happiness and joy into my life. You are the great people that make me who I am. I can't imagine what it must have been like for my parents to finally get me after many years of trying and hoping and praying. I always love my mother's story of how I was no accident (I was born eight years after my older sister), but rather much hoped for and much anticipated. I guess the Lord just knows where we need to be when we need to be there. Thanks to my parents for not giving up and listening to that still small voice that brought me in to the family. It was a very happy Memorial Day for my family back in May of 1978. Life really is full of greatness!

Baby pictures

2008-06-01T19:54:00.004-04:00

Here are a few cute pictures from our ultrasound last week. They are "4-D" images. The first one is of the baby with his hand on his head; the second is of his little feet; and the third is his head and torso. As we were saving the pictures on the computer, A said, "That's my baby brother! That's great!" It was so fun. He still thinks we should name the baby "milk."

Ultrasound Results

2008-05-23T21:58:00.002-04:00

So the two-year-old called it! We're having another boy! We are so excited for A to have a new little brother. If we let A choose names his suggestions have included lollipop, brother, and ice cream cone. We took A to the doctor's office for the ultrasounds and he was just enthralled! All day he had been saying that we were going to doctor's office to see pictures of mommy's baby. It was very sweet. How fun this new adventure will be for all of us. Can't wait to reuse all the super cute boy clothes that my sisters, sister-in-laws, and friends have supplied us with over the last few years. And the new baby will be wearing clothes A outgrew during just the right seasons. I do keep telling all my sisters that they must hang on to their cute girl clothes, just in case down the road.... Until then, I'm going to enjoy being the mother of boys! This makes the sixteen boy of my parents 24 grandchildren. We love it!

It's Been A While

2008-05-20T21:39:00.007-04:00

The other day a new friend asked if I scrapbook. That was a resounding "no" on my part. Instead I blog, I told her. Well since I have have used blogging as a good excuse not to scrapbook, I have decided to renew my effort to update my blog more regularly. So here are a couple of updates and a few pictures:

Happy Mother's Day to me! I got a much longed for ipod. It's a little ipod shuffle that I can clip to me and run, walk, what ever to work out. It was such a suprise when I opened it. My husband said he's never seen me so excited over a gift before.

J took A to the Father and Son Campout with our Stake a few weeks ago. It was all A could talk about all week. He couldn't wait to roast hotdogs, marshmallows and sleep in a tent. He loved it!

We've been doing a ton of work in our yard this Spring. It feels like every spare second it spend doing some yard work, hauling dirt or mulch, tilling soil, planting trees and shrubs, cleaning up debris from last Fall and the Winter. Our son is such a trooper. He has a few of his own tools and pulls things around in his red wagon.

Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears

2008-04-23T16:02:00.004-04:00

I have to pay a belated tribute to my sweet husband. For our anniversary back in February, J heard me say that one of the things I miss most about my college home town was the chocolate covered Cinnamon bears. So what should arrive by mail from in sister-in-law in a beautiful little BYU Bookstore bag the day before our sixth anniversary? A happy little one pound package of chocolate covered Cinnamon bears. This week I ate the last blessed one! I stretched it out to last all these glorious weeks, eating one or two here and there. Now and again I shared. But mostly I just savored them myself.

These yummy bears of goodness bring back great memories of studying late into the night at the food-banning Library and sneaking in my bag of non-drowsy bears tucked in the deep recesses of my backpack. I remember 1/4 lb bag-fulls taken to International Cinema to enjoy while I watch Chinese and Latin American movies for my humanities classes. Best of all I remember buying bags by the pound during the two-day pilgrimage my sisters and mother and I would make to BYU Women's Conference every Spring. Oh how we bonded over those bears. I think we get it from my mother. It must be in my blood.

Thanks, good husband, for the wonderful walk down memory lane!

Of Pie and Buttered Bread: Thirteen Weeks

2008-04-02T11:25:00.002-04:00

Today I am officially 13 weeks pregnant! My due date is October 8, though I will have a scheduled c-section about a week before that. We are so excited for A to be a big brother and are so greatful to have been blessed to be able to get pregnant again.

So here are a few of the interesting things that have been a part of this first trimester. This pregnancy has been similar to and different from my pregnacy with A.

I'll start with the things that are the same:

Food aversions. I can't stand the smell or taste of most meat, especially chicken. Though the thought of a good cheese burger has crossed my mind several times, especially if I dont' have to see or smell it cooking. I can't eat veggies, though occassionally I can stand a carrot or a piece of celery. Very few things sound appetizing.
I'm sick all day--none of this morning sickness business; it's an all-day affair.
I'm tired. All the time. Tired (that's why I haven't updated my blog in quite a while)

There are a few differences, too:

I love pie and cake. I eat it every single day (really). I especially like strawberry ruhbarb pie. With A I couldn't eat sugar. In some forms and in large quantities, it still makes me queezy.
With A I ate a lot of pizza (several times a week). With this baby it's buttered bread. I eat it for breakfast and snacks, and sometimes lunch or dinner. Carbs seem to be the only thing that really settles my stomach.
I am able to take a nap every day. Before, I would try to sneek in a power nap for 15 minutes in my car on my lunch break. Now I can sleep for a solid hour or so while A takes a nap. This helps so much because...
I can't sleep. I remember this happening before, but not this early. I can't get comfortable as I try to train myself not to sleep on my back.
My clothes don't fit. It seems like I could fit into my clothes for a lot longer before. Though I have to admit it is probably because this is my second child and I bought a bunch of new clothes when I lost all that weight and they were very trim. I'm going to have to go buy an intermediate size pair of pants until maternity clothes actually fit.
I'm trying hard to exercise. I rarely did anything until I was in my third trimester with A. I get in a good, brisk walk and even an occassional run on my tredmill a few times a week. I'm hoping with warmer weather and less queeziness in the second trimester it will make that a little easier. It better help because I've been eating a whole lot o' pie!

Here's one quick funny thing that happened to me the other day. I was so sick and trying to get lunch ready. We have several children's small plastic plates from Ikea, each one a different color. When I opened the cupboard door to get out lunch plates, I saw the orange and lime-green plates stacked on top of each other. In that moment that I saw those colors together, a wave a nausea came over me and I thought I'd throw up right then. That was a first. Smells have always bothered me, pregnant or not. Foods are bad. But, come on, the sight of colored kids plates! I can't wait until this phase is over. It usually lasts into week 15 or so. Here's hoping it doesn't keep going like it does with some of my sisters!

I can't get our scanner to work so I can't get the ultra sound picture we have to post. I'll work on it. I'll have another appointment in a couple of weeks and hopefully be able to show off those pictures.

The Pursuit of Happiness

2008-03-24T14:55:00.004-04:00

Just a quick post about a movie we saw over the weekend that we loved. It is The Pursuit of Happiness staring Will Smith and his own son. It is the story of a young father who has real get up and go, but no money. His son's mother leaves them and he has the chance to take an internship at a stock brokerage firm in San Francisco, but without pay. If, he impresses the bosses, at the end of the internship he could get offered a job. He has twenty other interns with whom he is competing for one spot.

But the real story is how he fights so hard to take care of his son and provide for him. They sleep in subway stations, cheap motels, and mostly homeless shelters all for a chance to make it and create a better life for the family. It is a true story and the man about whom the story is was a consultant on everything. It is very true to his real experience.

We loved it and highly recommend it. The movie was rated PG-13, supposedly for language. However, we were surprised by how clean it it was. There is one scene at the very beginning where the five-year-old son reads some graffiti on a wall and asks if it is spelled correctly and I think that is the only reason it is rated PG-13. Go check it out. It will make you feel like you can do anything!

Turning Wheat into Gold

2008-03-17T13:43:00.004-04:00

So you all know the story of Rumpilstiskin and the girl who can turn straw into gold. Well last week our stake organized a huge food storage order from some giant Idaho food distributor. Food storage has always been a hobby of sorts for me. But as of late, the price of wheat has increased significantly and has really got me thinking about how we are doing and if we needed to place an order. When I commented on the price of wheat, J reminded me of that Brigham Young quote where he says that there will come a day when wheat will be more valuable than gold. On Saturday morning I was listening to public radio and heard the Market Place Money Report which announced that gold has reached a new high. It is trading for more than $950 an ounce! My thought was, "Boy, I can't wait for my hundreds of pounds of wheat to appreciate that much!" Maybe that extra hundred pounds of wheat I was thinking of ordering will come in handy one of these days as a long term investment strategy...

(Okay, reality check also says that if my wheat is more valuable than gold, I probably need to keep it because the state of the world will be such that my basement may be the only grocery store I have access to for quite a while.)

Long story short, Saturday night we did an inventory of our food storage and found ourselves fairly satisfied, minus a few exceptions. The peace of preparation far outweighs the price of gold.

BTW, the Church has emphasised a little different strategy for food storage as of late. It emphasizes a complete three month supply of food and then a years supply of the very basics (the three months supply can be part of that year supply). That may not really sound new, but if you go to providentliving.org, the approach is slightly different and the recommended amounts have changed some what.

Have You Ever Tried a Netie Pot?

2008-03-12T17:01:00.005-04:00

So I went to the doctor today and have a particularly bad sinus infection. My nasal passages have been plugged up for quite some time now and I generally feel awful. Besides doping up on Tylenol, the nurse told me on Monday when I called to make the appointment not to take anything else until I could see the doctor.

I was getting desperate for some relief. A nurse friend of mine suggested trying a netie pot. It's like a tiny little watering can than you hold up to your nose and let the water drain through one nostril, circulate through your sinuses and then drain out the other nostril.

I tried it! It's really interesting. At first I felt like I was drowning. You look kind of stupid with your head cocked and a pot stuck in one of your nostrils. A just kept coming in to see what I was doing. (It sort of reminded me of a picture in one of A's books, No David, where mom tells David to keep his finger out of his nose.)

I did it once on Monday night. It took forever because my sinuses were so clogged up. But I'll tell you what, so much came out of my sinuses it was remarkable. I didn't think it did much as far has helping me feel better until I woke up on Tuesday and felt so much less congested. Tuesday was a really busy day and I didn't have a chance to do it again and today I'm feeling terrible. I don't know for sure if it has to do with the netie pot, but I'm willing to keep trying. Put that together with my antibiotics from my doctor and hopefully I'll be good as new in a few days.

Before and After

2008-02-22T13:37:00.006-05:00

I was browsing through some family pictures that we had taken this past December and thought it would be fun to compare before and after shots of myself pre- and post-weight loss. Looks pretty good! (Compare May 2006 to Dec. 2007)

Say Cheese

2008-02-21T17:18:00.016-05:00

It's been a cold and fairly uneventful winter around these parts. A has a knack for brightening every day. Here's a bunch of cute shots we've taken over the last several weeks.

After FHE one night we made berry smoothies for treats. A really got into his. He's a little young for a moustache...

Just being silly with a wide open mouth.

Doesn't it almost look like A is reading the music. He pretends to read the music, play the piano and sing to himself.

Building towers in a favorite past time. I think A used every block to build this tower.

A loves to help in the kitchen. This day we were making muffins for breakfast. Can you tell which muffin cup he filled?

We took A to the New England Aquarium before going to the Temple in Boston several weeks ago. He and his little friend had so much fun. So did he and dad!

Lifetime

2008-02-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I reached one of the pinnacle moments of my life as of late. I became a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. Essentially that means that I set a goal to loose a certain amount of weight and was able to reach that goal and stay within two pounds of that weight for six weeks. I realized that the health benefits are tremendous, but the knowledge that I could harness my own bodily appetites, exercise self-dicipline, and set a goal and achieve it are the truest rewards. I also feel like I have shaped my life and that of my family for a bright and healthy future.

Here are the brief stats:

September 2006:
weighed around 174 pounds (more than when I was eight months pregnant).
started running (very, very slowly) nearly every day and actually decided I liked it. I attribute so much of my innitial motivation to Erin. Thank you so much. I don't know if I could have dug out the stamina without your support.
began attending Weight Watchers
December 2006:
Reached 10% goal. I had lost 10% of my body weight, 17 lbs.; rewarded myself with the new Gladys Knight CD.
January 2007:
First weigh in of the new year showed that I had LOST 2.5 lbs over Christmas (WOW)
September 2007:
Started attending a different meeting with a different leader, who I love. This kickstarted me all over again and helped me really decide why I was doing all this. I had been trying to loose about 12 lbs for six months.
October:
Decided I wanted to set a goal to loose 5 lbs by Thanksgiving.
November:
Weigh in just before Thanksgiving showed I had lost nearly 5 lbs. It felt good to set a small goal and meet it. Thanks to Sundee for joining me in that goal.
December 2007:
Reached my goal weight of 127 lbs.
February 7, 2008:
Became a lifetime member of weight watchers.

Total Weight Lost: 45 lbs
Time: 70 weeks

I feel a little like the blue engine in A's favorite book, The Little Engine that Could. She just kept telling herself, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..." And after she did it, she said, "I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could." Through most of those 70 weeks I never doubted.

But, as Satan will always do, just as I was coming down to the last few weeks, I was overcome with doubt. I didn't think I could do it. Then I read a portion of a talk by Elder David A. Benar, "Clean Hands and A Pure Heart." Essentially it said that it will never be enough to think we can have enough willpower to change our lives; we must solicit a higher power. I had kept the Lord abreast of my goals all through this process, but in that moment I read Elder Benar's talk, I realized I hadn't trully turned it over to the Lord. I still let my pride roost inside of me. After all, I had done it "by myself" for so many months before. Why not now? Well, the Lord is a great humbler and a great healer of our souls. He will give us the power to manage our temtations and bodily appitites if we will let him.

I did it! I'm so glad and so greatful and learned so many other lessons. One of these days I'll post a list of the life-lessons I learned. So, here's too a lifetime of success!

I've been Tagged

2008-01-30T22:09:00.000-05:00

I don't know if there is any tagging "ettiquet," so here goes. (Thanks Tisha!)

1. Best thing you cooked last week?

Broiled halibut with steamed broccoli and caulifower and mashed butternut squash. It does your heart good when your two-year-old asks for more fish, please.

2. If money, time and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who?

I would take my sweet husband back to France to visit the southern coast, pick wild strawberries and eat pate and blue cheese with crusty baguettes in central France, spend a day in Normandy and Mont San Michele. Then we'd go to Belgum, Norway, back to Finland, down through Germany, Switzerland over to the Cezch Republic, visit Albania, specifically Transylvania (I'm sort of into vampires... go Stephenie Meyers) spend a few weeks in Italy, boat to the Island of Malta, sunbath in Greece for a few days, pop over to see the pyramids and the Nile, and finish out with a visit to Jordan and the Holy Land. I'd spend a day sitting on the shores of the Sea of Galilee reading the Sermon on the Mount. Of course we would try every local cuisine, stay at bed and breakfasts (maybe a castle in France), and enjoy the sights and sounds and smells of everything fun. And come to think of it, I might take my son, too. I wouldn't want to leave him out of such a fun trip--is that what a nanny is for?

3. When was the last time you cried?
Night before last. I was nearing the end of Sense and Sensibility and, unlike the movie, Willoby comes back when Mariann is so sick and tries to make aments with Elinor. He's still unceasing selfish, poor guy.

4. Five things you were doing 10 years ago:

1. Trying to choose a major at BYU. I remember sitting on the floor in my appartment crying on the phone with my dad, asking him what I should do with the rest of my life. I was finished with my GE's and had just almost failed statistics. My dad said, "Well, you wouldn't be the first one of my daughters to serve a mission because she wasn't sure what to do with the rest of her life." I know he was joking, but still...
2. I was involved in the Student Leadership Seminar at BYU where I learned a lot about mentoring, Christ-centered leadership, organizational behavior, and making sure my "ladder" was leaning against the "right" wall. (Goals and priorities)
3. I was living in Liberty Square Appartments. I made some life long friends, but resolved after a very short time living there that I would not renew my contract. After I signed my contract my brother told me it was known as the "Melrose Place" of Provo. Great... I did meet Dan Marriott of THE Marriott family. Nice guy. Look for him to aspire to political office someday.
4. I took my first public relations class. Who would have quessed it would lead me into a communications degree a few years later.
5. I had a major crush on a kid named Brant. He later married a friend of mine from high school (I was not, by the way, involved in them meeting. She was actually going to Utah State at the time. How random).

5. Five things you were doing 5 years ago:

1. I was about to celebrate my first wedding anniversary. Who ever said the first year is the hardest never made it past two years.
2. I was working at BYU Independent Study with a year's distance between me and my own college graduation (yes, I finally chose a major and a minor--Communication Studies and Humanities with an emphasis in culture studies/Latin American studies)
3. I was living in the smallest one bedroom appartment. It is amazing how quickly you grow into things. (I think that was the first time Tisha was my neighbor. That was the beginning of a beautiful, inspiring friendship, a true mentor who taught me to "trust my instincts")
4. I was serving as the Relief Society Pres. in our ward. The night before I was to meet with the bishop, I had a dream that I was called as the official ward cake decorator.
5. I was supporting my husband in his indecision about what he wanted to do with his major. He was studing chemical engineer, but had just decided that going to medical school was not what he wanted to do after all. Too many problems with malpractice. I secretly and then openly rejoiced when Jim made that decision. I wanted to support him in what ever he wanted to do, but I wasn't thrilled with the idea of being a doctor's wife.

6. Five things you were doing 1 year ago:

1. I was getting my feet wet as the brand new second counselor in the young women's presidency in our ward. I had about eight very busy beehives.
2. I was experiencing my first ice storm. I'd heard of them, but never seen one.
3. I was watching my son learn to run. He pretty much skipped walking.
4. I was settling in our our first home.
5. I was reveling in the fact that I had lost twenty pounds since that previous September and was anxiously trying to loose another 25 (which, by the way, I have!!)

7. Seven of your favorite hobbies:

1. Writing
2. Cooking
3. Reading
4. Playing the piano
5. Finding new and engaging ways to exercise (jump rope is a current favorite. I also like to play basketball at the church with my husband. Skipping.)
6. Personal Finance--I keep asking Jim when we are going to do our taxes. I am probably so weird, but I love to plan and save and figure out how to invest and prepare for the future. I even hatched an idea in my head the other day that by paying off a portion of our mortgage with a little chunk of money that I have from my days at BYU, we could get rid of our PMI and actually reduce the life of our home loan even more. So far in the year and a half we have lived in our house, we have reduced our 30-year mortgage to a 19 year mortgage. It is all about paying down the principle. Even just a little bit extra every month makes a huge difference. Check out the amoritization tools at providentliving.org or on your bank or mortgage company's website.
7. Blogging (this is way, way better than scrapbooking--sorry all my scrapbooking friends)

8. Five favorite foods:

1. Spinach
2. Fuji apples with blue cheese
3. Fresh pineapple
4. Peanut butter
5. Salmon

9. Five places you've been:
(I cheated. I did five outside of the US and five in the US)
Foreign
1. Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Mexico City, Mexico
3. Santiago, Dominican Republic
4. Paris, France (though I enjoyed other cities and villages in France much more)
5. Montreal, Canada--yummiest French food outside of France. Who knew they really do speak French everywhere there.
Stateside (a few of my faves)
1. Boston, MA
2. Charleston, SC
3. Great Smoky Mountains, TN
4. New York City
5. Kirtland, OH (along with Nauvoo, Palmyra, and Salt Lake; I just love Church History)

10. Ten Favorite Memories:

1. Lip syc with my sister to "California Girls" by the Beach Boys when my dad brought home our first CD player and sampler CD.
2. White water rafting with my family on the Snake and Salmon Rivers
3. Thanksgiving every year at my Grandma Anderson's house
4. Cousins' dinner every month at my Grandma Carr's house
5. Hearning my parents tell us about what it was like as little children during WWII; what New Zealand was like when my dad was a missionary there; how my parent met; how they chose my name
6. Having my mom read to me from a children's book of Shakespear stories. We'd sit on the front porch after school in the warm fall or spring sun. I especially like the Tempest and the Taming of the Shrew.
7. Hearing my mother tell a story about when she was knee high in laundry and four or five little children all around, she wondered what the Savior would think if he came to visit the house that day. She had the distinct impression that he would just sit down and help her fold clothes. That has really stuck with me, especially as I have a little one and often feel somewhat overwhelmed.
8. Seeing my son for the first time. It had taken so long to get him.
9. Going to the Temple for the first time. It felt like...going home. I felt so loved as a daughter of God and so anxious to live up to the promised blessings, especially of the initiatory. Even now, if I need an extra special pick me up if I am feeling low of self worth, I try to get to the temple to do initiatory work.
10. Having my entire family at my wedding--nine kids plus spouses and children. They all made so many sacrifies to be there that day. It was wonderful and perfect and sweet and tender. Jim also wrote a song for me and sang it at our reception.

Now I tag a few people. Cimberly, Suzanne, Stella, Maren, and anyone else that would like a walk down memory lane. It's kind of fun!

To Be Warm

2008-01-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up to a toasty warm house with a blazing fire in the stove. Sweet husband stoked the fire and added wood before leaving for work so A and I would be warm when we got up.

J and I spent an afternoon last week stacking wood, lots of it. I was so proud of myself for all the work I did. Boy do I admire pioneer women! There are four more rows that you can't see.

Preparing to meet God

2008-01-14T02:05:00.001-05:00

It's the middle of night while I'm writing this. I can't sleep and am thinking about a talk that I have been asked to give next Sunday. It is on preparing to meet God, how we do that, and why do it now. If you were going to sit through 12-15 minutes of me talking next Sunday, what might you find helpful, interesting, or insightful? What do you wish you were doing better, knew more specifically, want to recommit to, or just need encouragement to do? I often ask my Beehives why do we even care about all this stuff? My answer is always the same: so we can return to live with Heavenly Father; never loose sight of that goal. And by the way, it will be worth it!

Three Things I Love about My Two-year-old

2008-01-14T01:56:00.000-05:00

1. He loves pockets. Sometimes he walks around the house for several minutes with his hands in his pockets. He puts trains, stray coins, cranberries, the occasional chocolate chip, and what ever he can find in his pockets. Yesterday he spent several minutes trying to put his sippy cup in a shirt pocket that is hardly larger than a quarter.

2. He laughs at himself all day long. I ought to take lessons from him...

3. He is learning to pray by himself. Today when dad asked him if he wanted to pray before dinner, he promptly started by himself saying "Heavnely Father, thankful for day, thankful for food, please bless it (he said this at least twice), name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!!! (note emphasis)."

Making Bread

2008-01-04T22:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I made bread. This is not uncommon at our house. Most of you have eaten my bread even. But with the craziness of the holidays, it has been several weeks since I've completely this weekly ritual of bread making. As my dough was finished in the mixer and I began to shape it into loaves, I felt the most remarkable sense of satisfaction with the world. I was connecting with the nurturing instinct inside of me, I guess. The dough was smooth and warm and rich with that soft smell of fresh ground wheat. I couldn't help but imagine what it must be like to be an artist molding and shaping an inanimate lump of clay or stone and breathing life into it. My bread is far less complicated and much less creative; but it is my craft, my art, my life-giving gift to my family.

Happy Holidays

2008-01-02T21:34:00.000-05:00

Here's a little recap of our holiday adventures both in New York and visiting family in Indiana.

Our family at the Albany Stake Christmas Devotioal Fireside. It was so fun to sing in the Stake choir. J also got to play the cello with a small orchestra for the Hallejulah chorus finale. A sat with my sister and was quietly watching the WHOLE time

We had a wonderful church Christmas party. A practiced singing Jingle Bells, his favorite, while we were decorating. I sang my favorite, The Christmas Song, and J and a friend also sang the song that was in the December Ensign, Guard Him Joseph.

A loved the train we put around the bottom of our Christmas tree (see previous post). I spent many hours turning the train on and putting it back on the track after A knocked it off and needed help to "fix train, mom."

He also really enjoyed playing with our nativity set. Every day it was all arranged differently. We never did find baby Jesus.

We spent a really fun week with Grandma Brooks in Indiana. Grandma gave A a flashlight to play with and A and his cousin spent a whole afternoon entertained!

One of my favorite traditions in the Brooks family is to make chocolates. J's grandpa is a pro and taught me how a few years ago. Here's an action shot of me "beating" the fondant (the cream filling) while Nate and Jess are dipping some of the others. We made orange creams, rum hand roll creams, crispy rice, carmel pecan, almond creams, chocolate truffles, peanut butter, and nut clusters. If you living in NY, we are making chocolates for our Feb. cullinary institute!

CHRISTMAS MORNING
A enjoyed ripping off all the paper and then tossing away what ever was inside. Thanks so much to everyone who gave us such thoughtful gifts even if our son didn't show his appreciation very well!

A is really into trains. He got two sets, one from Santa and one from his Coates cousins. I think I can call him a locovour (lover of locomotives).

Check out this canvas that my sister painted! She is a remarkable artist (she also sent a water color portait of A that she did). She sent some trains and this canvas adventure with mountains, lakes, caves and everything. Yesterday when A was playing with it he thought it was so funny that he put the tains in the water. He just laughed and laughed. "look mom, trains in water!"

Books, books, and more books!

2008-01-02T21:18:00.000-05:00

I've updated my list of "Books on my Nightstand." Thanks to everyone who posted some great audio book ideas for me. As always, I'm looking for good books to read and if I can listen to them while I'm working around the house, that's great, too. Thanks to Zeeny for her endless supply of books. She's turned in to a library for me!

Also, thanks to Lallie for introducing me to the readthescriptures.com website. I've never read all the standard works (or even the entire Old Testament for that matter) in one year and she motivated me to do it! This is a great website. It sends you an email with your reading assignment for the day and you can either read it right there in the email, go online to read it, read it right from your scriptures or listen to an audio file of the assignment for the day. Every day it sends you a new email with the next assignment. It's really cool! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Books on CD Recommendations

2007-12-17T07:59:00.000-05:00

Hey friends. We are driving to visit family for Christmas and are looking for good books on CD to listen to in the car. If you've read or listened to any book books lately, will you post your recommendations for me! Thanks!

Baby Jesus is Missing!

2007-12-13T08:41:00.000-05:00

This year when we set up our Nativity, we realized that the baby Jesus was missing. We've looked all through our Christmas boxes full of lights and bells and books and ornaments and stuffed snowmen and stockings. Last night as I lay in bed unable to sleep, I was thinking about the missing figure. In that moment I saw a profound truth about how I have treated this Christmas season.

I've busied myself with putting up and decorating the tree. I've dedicated time to making cookies, tons and tons of cookies. I've shopped for and made presents. I've been to parties, decorated for parties, cleaned up parties. I've listened to countless hours of Christmas music. I've spent many hours practicing musical numbers for Christmas parties, firesides, and sacrament meeting (as well as for my own pleasure). I've read The Story of Christmas boardbook to A about a hundred times. I've even helped organize a large Christmas serivce project for our youth and prepared a food basket for a family in need.

But, when I stopped to think about it last night. I realized that maybe the baby Jesus was missing, and not just from his little resin manger under my Christmas tree! Each of the things I've been doing have been good, fun, traditional, and many have been service oriented. I've mostly done these things out of the spirit of giving and love. But I've been so busy doing these things, I forgot to take care of my year-round relationship with my Savior--which is what will, at the end of the day, be what gets me through every other thing.

So, here's my resolve! I still can't find baby Jesus to put in his tiny manger, but I know the place he keeps in my life and commit to finding Him anew everyday in the scriptures, my personal prayers and relationship with my family and friends.

What We Do When We are Tired

2007-12-05T23:43:00.001-05:00

After a super fun evening out with some of my girl friends, I ran over to Wal-Mart to get a few things. It was nearly 11:30 pm when I started home. I knew I was tired and thought it would be a good idea to get a little something to munch on in the car to help keep me awake on the drive home. So, I bought a bag of mint flavored M&Ms, which I love, love, love and you can only find at Christmas time.

After checking out, I made a mad dash to the car in the cold, fished around for the bag of M&Ms, threw my bags in the back seat, and took off for home. In the dark of my car I fumbled around to open the bag and pulled out a few. They were shaped like little moons. How odd, I thought, for a Christmas candy to take on such a shape. But it was dark and I was tired. I popped one into my mouth, fully expecting a tiny crunch of red or green candy coating and then the sweet, minty goodness of the chocolate to cover my mouth. Instead when I bit down, all I got was a hard bite and a bland taste of nothing.

Suddenly I remembered I had bought a bag of dried red kidney beans, and in my tiredness and haste to get home , I had just opened a bag of hard-as-rock red beans instead of my velvety smoothness of mint M&Ms. Arrgggg!

In the end the M&Ms did keep me awake on the way home; all of I could think of was how silly I had been and how much I couln't wait to get home to break open my green and red rounds of rich mint chocolate.

Overcoming the Crazies through Gratitude

2007-12-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

So, this week I sort of turned into crazy mom. On Saturday in particular I think I went nuts. I spent most of the morning pouring out tears of frustration over my little son, who was in turn, crying because I had gotten so upset with him several times.

Last night I decided I'd had enough and knelt down to pray (for about the millionth time yesterday as I tried to regain my composure every ten or fifteen minutes all day). I absent mindedly started counting my blessing and soon found myself in the depths of a heartfelt thankful session and discussion with my Heavenly Father over what has been going on in my life. I made a plan. I gave thanks. I feel so much better.

I've noticed lots of thankful lists on other people's blogs this past week. Thanks to all of you for sharing your gratitude. It really is contagious and has helped me feel a desire to think more about what I have been given!

Here are some things I've been thinking about and for which I have felt greatful lately:

My son
My husband
My family far away
My friends near and far
My testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ
My current temple recommend and the oportunity to use it every month
My warm home
My kind neighbors who gave us tons of firewood
My young women in my Beehive class
My talents (sorry to those of you who had to suffer through my terrible rendition of Christmas songs in sacrament meeting today; Christmas songs really are the hardest on the organ)
My cupboards that are full of food
My basement that is full of food storage
My visiting teaching assignments and the lessons I learn each month about pure religion
My new home teachers
My husband's willingness to bless the lives of others through the priesthood which he holds
My body and my physical health
My connection to the outside world through the internet and my phone
BYUTV (which I love to watch online when I'm making dinner or just need a happy pick me up)
My Savior, Jesus Christ
My goal to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year--it gives my study purpose
My life in general

Mom is boobah

2007-11-25T16:55:00.000-05:00

We had a funny two-year-old moment this week. We were in the car and I was looking at myself in the mirror. I turned to A and said, "Mom is beautiful. Can you say that A. Mom is beautiful." In his best immitating voice, he said, "Mom is boobah." Jim and I burst in to laughter. For those of you who have never enjoyed the endless entertainment of the pbskids.org website, Boobahs are large colorful dancing blobs of goo (or something giggly). A love them and always ask for them when we are sitting in front of the computer. So in short, I am a giggling dancing blob of goo!

Black Friday

2007-11-23T23:08:00.000-05:00

I went out shopping this morning to work through my list of post-Thanksgiving sales. I found almost everything I was looking for and got some great deals.

We found ourselves at Home Depot looking for a birthday present for my sweet, do-it-yourself husband. We saw a train set almost as soon as we entered the store. We've been looking for a train to put under our Christmas tree. Of course A loved it. But even more than that, Daddy's eyes just lit up as he watched the train round the track. We didn't immediately pick up a train set to put in our cart. There were eight or so boxes and didn't think much of it.

After a half an hour of looking around the store for the other items we wanted and debating about how much we could really afford to spend, we went back to look for the train set. But to my dismay, they were all gone! My heart just sank as I watched my husband's countenace fall. Just then a woman walked by with a train set box in hand. It was one of the saddest moments for me in a long time. It's funny. It was just a little train set, one that we could probably find some place else at some later date. But I think Dad was just so excited to share something with Son that my husband's disappointment broke my heart. I'm so greatful for a husband who love his son so much and wants to provide special moments of love and sharing with him.

To put a happy ending to this story, I went and asked the customer service desk if they would sell me the display model and they said yes! It always helps to have my happy little two-year-old in the cart when I'm trying to convince a bunch of women to sell me something. So at the end of the day, we brought home the train. Dad and son immediately set it up in the living room when we arrived at home. A walked around for the rest of the afternoon saying, "Choo, choo. Train on, mom. Train on, please."

A family birthday

2007-11-20T17:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was A's birthday! We had a fun little party just the three of us. I can hardly believe that two years have passed. My how my baby is growing into a little boy. He's sporting a new haircut thanks to dad and his vocabulary is exploding. We've been working on learning to pray, say please and thank you (without having to be reminded), and say "I love you." When grandma called last night to wish him a happy birthday, he said "bye grandma, I love you" without any extra proding. It's suprising what a proud moment that was for me.

As we put A to bed last night, I felt such love for him. I just wanted to hold him close and tell him how much I love him and how proud I am to call him my son. We always hear that the little spirits that Heavenly Father is sending to earth at this time are stronger and brighter than ever before. Rather than finding that an intimidating responsibility to raise a child with such potential, I actually find peace in knowing what a partner I have in my child in trying to do what is right and make a difference in the world.

We can do this! Happy brithday my beautiful bright boy!

To Have Enough

2007-11-18T18:46:00.000-05:00

This week I've been thinking about what it means to have enough.

So what is "enough" and how do I know when I've got it? How do I say, "that's enough" and be satisfied. In Latin culture when you are full at the end of a meal, you do not say, "I am full." Rather, you say "I am satisfied." I read an article in the newspaper about how the price of food has risen significantly in the last year. What a normal family could count as "enough" just 12 months ago, may not be enough today. I called the local food bank to work out details for a youth service project I've been working on and they said that this year our county has a significant need for donations of all sorts.

It is easy to say, "Well, they should have known better and managed their money better and not complained so much." But we'll never be in their shoes. We hear the endless list of welfare needs or we look at our own pocket books and think of all the sacrifices we are already making and it is tempting to just say we can't do any more.

But what if this year we did things differently? What if this year we suspended all, and I mean ALL, judgment and we dug a little deeper to give up one of the special things WE want (or that we want for our children ) in order to give something special to someone who does not have enough, regardless of why they don't have enough?

I suppose they wouldn't call it sacrifice if it didn't pinch a bit.

The New Computer!

2007-11-12T11:32:00.001-05:00

After weeks of dealing with our computer spontaneously shutting off, we finally got a new computer! (Who knew that computer monitors could be so big!) It's nice to finally catch up on everyone's lives and see what fun things others are doing. You don't realize how much you use your computer until you don't have one--looking up phone numbers, googling a recipe, mapquesting an address, working on a Sunday lesson, you name it! So it's back to the electronic grind.

A Place to Begin

2007-10-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

I've given in to the inevitable. I've found a home for the numberless half-written personal essays and day to day observations of my wanna be writer self. Besides everyone needs a little spot of ground which they can call their own. It's about time I had a piece of blogging real estate. So, here's to those of you who keep asking if I've gotten around to building my blog and here's to that inner voice that loves having a place to tell stories, muster hope, brag about my family, vent my frustrations, and put in to words all the things I dream about.