Everyday Miracles

Round 2 (and this time he got it right)

2012-02-02T17:12:00.001-07:00

It's not even been 4 months since our last visit to the doctor for a foot x-ray for what turned out to be a false alarm, but Joseph and I found ourselves there again today for the same purpose. This time was not a false alarm. His turn for redemption, I suppose.

Yesterday he kicked the door frame to his bedroom as he was heading in to get ready for a trip to the temple with the Teacher's Quorum. He managed to hit it hard enough that he has a small crack on the large (most proximal) phalange of the middle toe of his right foot. There's nothing to be done but let it heal. He'll keep it taped for a while and maybe try crutches for a couple of days to relieve the pain. It's the worst of both worlds- the pain and annoyance of a broken bone but no cool cast or brace for sympathy purposes. Oh, the trials we are called on to pass through!

Very Limited Time Offer

2012-01-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, time to talk about another child. Today it's Steven.

Steven is currently working on several merit badges for Scouts- this afternoon it was the Communications merit badge. Requirement 7 has 3 options. One is to start a blog. He decided that would be a better option than designing a newsletter for an organization or writing a letter to the editor of a magazine or newspaper. I'd probably agree. He going to write about his experiences with his month-long fencing trial. The merit badge only requires 3 postings. The first was posted today at fencersteven.blogspot.com. One down, only 2 to go. They may become collectors items as there's a real possibility there will only be three. Better hurry and check it out before it's old news!

Licensed to Drive

2012-01-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a big month for Spencer- contacts and now a driver's license. (Yes, it was snowing that afternoon.)

This is my second child to obtain a license. The third will get his permit in 2 months. It's hard getting into a car with a newly permitted teen. It's almost harder letting them drive without me. Does it ever get any easier to wave goodbye as they head out on their own? I never thought this right of passage would be such a mixed bag. I dream for years of them being able to get themselves every where and when it happens I'm on pins and needles until they're home. What a crazy mom I am some times.

Congrats, Spence!

(Cant' you just frame the license and hang it on your wall. It will look great there!)

Free at Last! (well, almost)

2012-01-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Day One of new contacts. So far they don't bother his eyes at all. Only a couple of days to get his eyes used to longer and longer wearing and the glasses can stay on the shelf. This is one happy young man.

Routines and Being Educated by a Bag of Cheese

2011-11-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Our family loves cheese- and not just because it's in a three-way tie for Ryan's favorite word ("banana" and "stuff" being the other lucky winners). We eat more of it than is probably good for us. As such, I buy shredded cheese in big 5 pound bags at Sam's Club. We eat it more sparingly if I buy smaller bags, but the price is better in big bags. To get the best of both worlds I buy the big bag, cut open the top, and then divide it into smaller bags which are stored in the freezer until we need/want them.

It's usually a process that creates quite a mess on my counter because there just isn't a real great way of getting a handful of finely shredded cheddar from one bag to another without dropping some on the counter. I've done it this way for years and never gave it much thought.

Forward to today. I cut open the top of the bag and it split down the seam that runs the entire length of the bag. At first I was irritated. Then I realized my life was just simplified for years to come. Do you realize that with the bag split open like that I can fill a baggie right over the open bag? Any cheese that drops falls right back into the pile of cheese ready to be part of the next handful. I don't even want to mention how many years it took me to realize this and I didn't even do it on my own. I really need to get my life out of it's rut more often.

Makes me wonder just how much of every day is wasted because I do things the way I've always done them.
(Oh, and I'm feeling incredibly brilliant right about now.)

Not Quite the Horrible Parent I Thought I Was

2011-10-27T22:04:00.000-06:00

Joseph and I had a little visit with the orthopedic doctor today. Turns out he most likely does NOT have a broken foot (parental redemption!) but a strain of some sort on either the tendons that attach to the 5th meta-tarsal or the growth plate at the end of the bone. He even took an x-ray of his other foot to prove he has the same "break" in both feet. He recommended a set of shoe inserts and gave Joseph some pointers on ways to change his gait when he runs. Joseph tends to run on the front of his foot and toes more than he should and that puts strain on those insertion points. He should see improvement soon. If not, we go back in three weeks.

So glad it's not broken and the treatment only involved a trip to an orthopedic supply place this afternoon. That is a much better option, in my opinion, than surgery or a brace for several weeks, or whatever else. Joseph is still not completely convinced that the doctor isn't scamming us, but does agree that the inserts feel "squishy" and better on his feet. They also make him a little taller. That alone makes the day worthwhile.

Amazing Parenting 101- Step by Step Instructions

2011-10-20T23:24:00.000-06:00

Step 1:

When your child complains of a sore foot, tell him to give it some time because he probably just strained it participating in PE that day.

Step 2:

Figure it must have gotten better since he doesn't ever complain about it again- just mentions it in passing.

Step 3:

When he brings it up again in the middle of soccer season 2 YEARS later, tell him it's probably just from soccer and see how it feels when the season is over.

Step 4:

Ten days after the season ends, finally take him in to the doctor.

Step 5:

Bask in your amazingness as you tell the doctor and the nurse and the x-ray technician- out loud and to their faces- that your son has had a sore foot for 2 YEARS (even though he hadn't really complained about it and played soccer two more seasons, and had 2 rounds of PE, and all that other stuff and seemed to be fine.)

Step 6:

Be totally impressed with your son when the x-ray appears to show he's had a broken foot for 2 YEARS and he's not really complained about it and played soccer two more seasons, and had 2 rounds of PE, and all that other stuff and seemed to be fine.

Step 7:

Be somewhat concerned that even though it appears to just be an avulsion fracture it still hasn't healed in 2 YEARS and agree that a referral to an orthopedic surgeon is probably warranted.

Step 8:

Agree to not make said son do the mile run in PE on Tuesday, but stand firm in demanding that chores be completed. After all, he's not really complained about it and played soccer two more seasons, and had 2 rounds of PE, and all that other stuff and seemed to be fine for 2 YEARS. I think a couple more days of vacuuming the living room before seeing the orthopedic surgeon isn't going to make matters all that much worse. (But go ahead and buy him a cookies and cream candy bar. You don't have to be totally heartless.)

Sorry Joseph. I've said it before and I'll say it again- It's amazing, sometimes, that humans live to adulthood.

There's probably some way to mark this, but I don't know what it is. The fracture is the edge of the bump on the right. The doctor circled it with a pen, so it looks like a dark line of shadow surrounded by a hairline fracture. The hairline fracture is just ball point pen.

Welcome Fall!

2011-09-16T18:18:00.001-06:00

Today started out like summer and is ending like fall. Shorts and t-shirts to school, sunshine for the walk. Rain arrived right as the last child got home. I baked cookies and we had tomato soup, pop corn, and grilled cheese for dinner. Temp is at 58 and falling. The windows are open and the smell of rain and chocolate chip cookies is everywhere. We got the final layer of our new street yesterday. Greg is on his way home from 100 degrees in Houston. Perfect start to the weekend!

Post Vacation, or, What happened to all that time that was looming before me just a few weeks ago?

2011-08-04T17:45:00.001-06:00

I think I take longer to recover from vacation/being gone than I do to get ready to go. It's taken 10 days, but the laundry is caught up, the house has been completely cleaned once (not in the last half of the 10 days and really could use it again!), groceries are in the cupboards, and the check book is caught up. 2 sons have left for a week-long camp and returned, the husband has left for his camp out. I spoke in church, got Erica to and from work, and Spencer to and from band, enjoyed visits from several family members, had a birthday, planted carrots for a fall garden, found several geocaches with another son, enjoyed some AMAZING rain storms, attended a sealing and an endowment session with Greg, took the kids to the temple for baptisms, registered the last son for 5th grade, bought most school supplies, helped a friend move (a little), took same friend to the airport, saw HP with most of the family, and slept at least 7 hours most nights since getting home.

I still have a newsletter to write, 6 closets to sort through with their owners, 2 other birthdays to shop for and celebrate, soccer practices to start, school clothes to buy, one child to get moved into a dorm, the schedule of one high schooler to get changed, several days to spend helping my Grandma, and an anniversary to celebrate (if we're every at the same place at the same time again!) all before school starts on the 22nd.

Ahhhh, life! Someday I'll think about recording things on a blog again. (Thank heaven for plants!)

Thank You!

2011-07-07T12:16:00.000-06:00

A road is the only thing that could trump the washing machine yesterday. What a great week! The rest of the summer is looking up- we'll be able to get out of the driveway without dropping off a small cliff to enjoy it!

Happy Sounds

2011-07-06T22:35:00.000-06:00

Know what the best sound of the day today is? Ok, besides the sounds of pavement being laid on the street outside (hopefully done in the next few days!)? It specifically is a sound that has never been heard in this house and generally a sound that hasn't been heard for almost a week. (That's not a good thing, but it could be much worse.)

It's the sound of this:

washing this:

because this:

had given us everything it had and earned a rest.

Soon the old one will have a final resting place at the dump. Until then the camp and garden stuff is keeping it company. The new one is on it's second of countless washes to come in it's lifetime and at least one more tonight. Hope it's up to the task because the picture of laundry above is just the stuff that's made it to the laundry room- a mere fraction of the love we're waiting to share.

It's a good day!

An Open Letter to Greg

2011-06-29T11:32:00.000-06:00

Dear Greg-

Thank you so very much, I think, for bringing home that box of heavenly goodness. Please feel free to do so at any time. Loretta must be one amazing cook. I do think it is a good thing that you do not travel to New Orleans very often and that we live on the other side of the country or your wife would seriously weigh 500 pounds. I think that stuff should be on a DEA, FDA, or ATF hit list because I CANNOT stop eating it. I hope you got some before you left because there's like a 99.99999998% chance that all you get when you get home is a box with a picture on it. I don't even want to know how much butter is in it. Good thing it's the 5th ingredient in a list of 6- right behind sugar, which is at least behind pralines and pecans. One redeeming quality is that I can pronounce all 6 ingredients. That means the calories are better for me, right? I must admit that I'm not totally up on what a praline is, but I'll fix that as soon as I'm done here. They are yummy, whatever they are. Thank you so much for thinking of us. We all appreciate it, but mostly me. So glad you're home!

Love,
Shan

pra·line/ˈprāˌlēn/Noun

1. A smooth, sweet substance made by boiling nuts in sugar and grinding the mixture.

2. A crisp or semicrisp candy made by a similar process.

PS-I've decided that I love online dictionaries!
PPS- Maybe it's not such a good thing that pralines are the second ingredient behind praline flavoring. Looks like listing pralines at the top gives one a distorted view of how much sugar there really is in this box- and I notice there's no nutrition label. Convenient.. This is definitely a time when ignorance is bliss!

Mission Accomplished

2011-06-25T15:57:00.000-06:00

For the last several years I've thought it would be cool to make freezer jam from strawberries we grew in our backyard. Yesterday it finally happened. We went from this:

to this:

in rather short order.

It's been declared "yummy" by Steven and now I'm off to try some myself.

pave·ment

2011-06-13T12:44:00.000-06:00

pave·ment (pvmnt)

a. A hard smooth surface, especially of a public area or thoroughfare, that will bear travel.

b. The material with which such a surface is made.

2. Chiefly British A sidewalk.

Use it in a sentence:

The best thing about pavement is that we have some (the thoroughfare kind, that is, not the sidewalk kind!). =)

Curb Appeal

2011-06-04T13:23:00.000-06:00

curb/kərb/

Verb: Restrain or keep in check.

Noun: A stone or concrete edging to a street or path.

Use it in a sentence:
I never thought I'd need to curb my excitement over the fact that a curb was poured, but I do.

Isn't it beautiful?

It might soon be followed by a road. After 6 months, I don't think I could curb that much excitement.

Oh, happy day!

Graduation Flashmob

2011-05-31T16:11:00.000-06:00

Other people had functioning cameras at graduation last week. I'm glad, because they were able to record this:

Fun memories!

It Really Does Happen

2011-05-27T12:11:00.000-06:00

For all those who feel like these days will never end...

I'm here to say that they do- even though I didn't believe it back then.

And you really will turn around and wonder where the time went.

And you'll wonder when, exactly, did her friends switch from the stuffed, plush type to the living, breathing help-you-be-the-best-you-can-be type?

And you'll feel happy and sad at the same time. But mostly happy.

And you'll wish that you had fully charged the battery in your camera before you left home. Because then the picture of your child leaving the auditorium to get in line to be announced as a graduate won't be the last picture on the camera with a good "zoom" function.

And you'll be left taking the picture of her big moment with your cell phone. (Which at least you'll have and be grateful for it!)

(Still not perfect parents- not sure exactly when that part comes- but blessed to have such amazing children, anyway!)

Congratulations, Erica!

Leaving the Comfort Zone

2011-05-22T23:05:00.001-06:00

3-part miracle for today:

1) Sang a duet with Erica at Seminary Graduation.("Oh How Lovely was the Morning" arranged by Janice Kapp Perry)
2) Sang all the words.
3) Did not pass out from stage fright.

Good day all around. I've earned a good night's sleep. 'Night!

The Hope of a Seed

2011-04-24T10:31:00.000-06:00

I like seeds, all kinds of seeds. I love the process of watching/helping them grow. There is great satisfaction and joy that I get through the entire process from seed to sprout, to plant, to flower, to fruit. I'm not a master at what I do, but I enjoy it immensely.

At last year's Women's Conference a speaker used an analogy I'd never thought of before. I wish I could remember the class or the speaker, but I can't. I'm grateful the idea has stuck with me. She pointed out that in order for a seed to become what it was meant to become, it had to be willing to be destroyed. If it held on to what it currently was and fought against the changes that were meant to occur, it could never grow into the plant it had the potential to become. The new life is fragile, but exciting. Given enough time, sunlight, water, and nutrients it has the potential to become a full grown plant that not only has the strength to grow, but also to produce fruit and seeds of it's own.

We are like that seed- put here on this earth to grow into something infinitely more grand than we can currently see or even imagine. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it might hurt. Sometimes it is beautiful. Even the very first evidences of growth are more majestic and complex than the original seed. Each the smallest bit of further growth is cause for excitement as it brings us one step closer to the being we were meant to become. Someday, given enough time, experience, patience, and effort we have the potential to become just like our Father who planted us here.

I also like the idea that Heavenly Father is up there tending to this large garden of his which happens to include me. I like to think that he watches me sprout, produce new leaves, mature and begin to flower and bear fruit. He knows why I was planted and what He hopes me to become. My job is to give myself over to the process and grow, fulfill my purpose her, and bear all the fruit I was meant to bear.

The Savior was, as in everything, the perfect example of losing himself in the process of fulfilling his mission and becoming who He was meant to be.

"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (John 6:38)

Everything He did was to please the Father and accomplish His mission of atoning for the sins of the world. And, He did it. And, I am eternally grateful. Because, as much as we'd like to avoid it, we're all going to make mistakes while growing. He lives again and wants nothing more than for us to return home. The Saviors atonement allows us to repent, change, and get back to the true business of becoming that being we are meant to become. As long as we keep trying, there is hope. That is the beautiful message of Easter.

Christmas Anyone?

2011-04-03T08:43:00.001-06:00

Don't the backhoes and chain link fencing look almost magical when covered in snow?

(No, not really.)

Irrational Fears

2011-04-01T04:41:00.108-06:00

It's 4:41 am and I've been awake for 41 minutes. I'm somewhere between nervous and scared to walk my children to school today. That seems really dumb to me. I knew from past experience that dislocating my knee last month would result in one more activity added to my list of "Do Not Participate"s. I assumed that activity would be cross country skiing, since that's what we were attempting to do that day. Instead I find it to be walking down hill. If you know where I live, you know that being afraid/nervous to walk downhill creates a few issues with life- one of those being walking to school.

Just to be clear, I have still added cross country skiing to my list- just like downhill skiing has always been on the list and I've never even been to a ski resort. No injury involving that sport, just common sense that sliding down a hill at possibly great speeds with skis to act as levers to create extra torque on certain joints wouldn't be very smart for me. It's also pretty easy to avoid tether ball or gymnastics since you tend to reach a point where those activities drop out of your life anyway. I'd still occasionally play around with soccer or basketball a little, but nothing remotely intense or competitive at all. I've never been nervous about something that's so much a part of everyday life.

I've taken a few walks up and down my street since February 21 and my knee does fine. Until this week, I couldn't bring myself to walk down the hill to church. I'd stand at the top and look down the hill and move on. The stupid thing is I'd continue to walk up to the top of the hill on my street and then turn around and walk back down to my house. That hill doesn't bother me as much. Maybe it's not as steep, I don't know. That's part of the "irrational".

I don't like being scared of something so minor, so my goal on Monday was to walk to my friend, Lisa's, house and back. That would require me to go down the steepest part of the hill but not be too far in case it was too much for my knee. I wasn't going to visit or anything, just walk to her driveway and back. Lisa must have been inspired because she called and asked if I wanted to go for a walk that morning. I explained my fear and hesitation and she said she'd be happy meet me at the top to walk down the hill with me. What a good friend! I made it to the hill before she did and decided to bite the bullet and just go down. Know what? It was totally fine. I met Lisa part way down, my knee felt great at the bottom and we ended up walking a good mile or more that morning. It felt fabulous! Exercise is so good for me in a lot of ways and I'd really missed it.

In the excitement of my success that morning, I promised Steven and Ryan after school on Monday that we could walk to school Friday morning. It's supposed to be in the 70's today, no snow/rain to worry about, and nothing I really have to be in a rush for so we can take our time if needed. I do have physical therapy this morning, but that was part of the plan. I could go get a good dose of ultra sound, electric stem, and ice if the walking really bothered me. I'm sure it won't, though. I walk all the time. That's the rational side of my brain. The irrational side is coming up with all sorts of other possible scenarios. I'm ignoring it, or at least trying to. Hopefully it will fade away in time.

It's only been 4 days and I know I've walked down that hill once, but I'm still nervous. I guess it's like most situations involving trust- the trust has to be earned. I do feel a little "betrayed" by my knee since I wasn't doing anything very unusual when the injury occurred. I am slowly allowing myself to trust it again, but I think it will just take time and experience. It is feeling and performing much better than it was and every day it gets better. My brain just needs to let go a little. Like with people, I need to give my knee a chance to "prove" it's "trustworthy". I think that's almost the hardest part. Too bad there's not some ultrasound or electric stem for that! All I've got is determination and the freedom to choose and I refuse to let something like this rule my life. So, off to the shower and to face my day head on. That way I'm ready for the rest of my day (rational) or at least I'll be clean when the paramedics come to scrape me off the sidewalk (irrational). Should be an interesting morning!

Update: The walk went well. Yea! Downhill was a little more tiring on the non-existent quad muscles. The all downhill and then all uphill was a little more strenuous than flat, but it wasn't too bad. I think things always look better in the morning. Thinking about things in the dark always makes a much bigger mountain out of them than it really needs to be. One step closer to normalcy!

Room With a View and a Very Warm Welcome

2011-03-25T16:18:00.020-06:00

Pack your bags! Have we got the weekend getaway destination for you! More fun and excitement than you'll know what to do with.

First, directions:

Drive up the hill to our street. Head south until you see this sign:

Ignore the Detour and drive right on by, as you aren't going all the way thru, just part way.

If you're coming between the hours of 7:00 am and 5:00pm, keep driving until you see this sign:

(There are actually 2 signs. I just didn't get out to take a picture until after 5:00, so they'd been moved off the road already.)

This time there will not be a "Detour" sign, but the road will now be officially closed. Ignore the sign and drive around it.

You're almost there when you see this on your left:

If you are coming after 5:00 pm and before 7:00 am, look for this sign and stay to your right:

Chances are, you won't be able to see much on your left because it will be dark most of those hours. The orange pylons are your friends. Follow them unless you want to extend your stay with a visit to the local hospital (it's very good, by the way) as well as drive either a new car or a badly damaged one home from your fun weekend. Optional towing services are available, but are not covered by this package.

Depending on the actual placement of the last 2 signs, you will most likely need to drive past a couple more houses to get to your destination. We'll try and move the company cars up as close as we can to the establishment so you can fit in the driveway because this sign is sitting right out front:

Don't ignore this sign. We haven't actually seen anyone towed, but they have come around asking if we know who owns vehicles left on the street. Also, there are several signs just like this on the street. Make sure you have the right sign in front of the right destination.

Once you are here, we have a nice comfy bed waiting for you:

It's nothing fancy, but it's warm inside and has a second bed hidden away underneath. That means you can bring a friend. This gets better by the minute! We'll do our best to make the company entertaining.

In case you're looking for a quiet, alone time, there are other activities that are sure to meet your every whim. Some of the decor has been provided by the natives- made by hand and everything:

(Good job, Steven! Not bad for a 6th grader, eh?!)

When you get tired of looking at the artwork, you may feel free to turn around and take in the view out your window:

If you hurry, there will still be snow to see as well. No guarantees after tonight, though. However, since it's after 5:00 on Friday, I can guarantee the large equipment until Monday morning at 7:00. It might even serve as your complimentary wake-up call if you choose to sleep in that late.

FYI, it's a much better view than yesterday. This bad boy was right across the street from your window until this very morning:

If you're feeling very adventurous, you can go explore the canyons that are just across the street:

Unfortunately, at this time, there are no tours or other activities allowed in the canyons. They are as deep as the long arm on the backhoe. We have mountains that are much taller than the canyons are deep just a little way beyond. As I mentioned, there may even be snow on the them to look at/enjoy in person if you hurry.

Once you're all tired out, you are welcome to return and take a luxurious nap lulled either awake or asleep by the gentle rattling motions created here:

The canyons are being created right before our very eyes. The head of that large backhoe crashes delightfully on top of those posts to drive them into the ground and create the walls of the natural wonder just outside your window. What an opportunity. It is not to be missed. (The only phenomenon we've found to be better was living in NH and they had to use dynamite when redoing the road outside of that house. Quite fun!) The canyons extend a good way south from here and are slowly working their way northwards. Their creation makes this delightful getaway pretty much inaccessible from the south, so make sure you come in from the north.

All of this can be yours for the very low (right!) price of the gas it takes to get here. Everything else is included at no extra charge to you. This is a first come/first served invitation, so don't delay. Operators are standing by.

Branching Out

2011-02-24T09:36:00.004-07:00

It's getting to be that time of year- gardens are on my mind. In an effort to meet a few wants- mine to record what going on and yours to avoid being inundated with more gardening posts than you care about- I'm recording the adventures at growstoreeat.wordpress.com. Wordpress also serves the purpose of broadening my technical abilities- which I'm finding are lacking. So, check it out if you'd like, or don't, but I'll spare you the gory gardening details here. Happy planting!

Monday, Monday

2011-02-21T17:38:00.006-07:00

I hadn't planned to post anything today. I mean, this is the third year in a row we've gone to Aspen Grove for President's Day. You can read about snowshoeing in 2009 here and cross country skiing in 2010 here. I mean, really, how many ways can you write about the same thing?

Lucky you, we found a way to mix it up a little bit.

The day started out like this:

We opted for cross country skiing again because everyone but me liked it better. It was a beautiful day. We got our skis without any trouble. The snow was out in abundance. They told us they had 2 feet of new snow just yesterday. We were enjoying the day on our way over to the trail head. That's pretty much all of the activity that I saw. You'll have to check out Erica's blog to see the rest, when she gets pictures posted.

My afternoon looked like this:

(You should pay attention to the clean room and floor. It makes me happy when it occasionally shows up!)

Those of you that knew me from 6-10 grades may realize that this was once a regular scene from my life. I dislocated my left knee cap 7 times in that 4 year span. The list of sports in which I dislocated my patella is also the list of sports I no longer participate in- gymnastics, dodge ball, soccer, tether ball, tennis, basketball, another one I can remember. I also generally avoid softball because I sprained my right knee when at bat once. I had surgery twice in an effort to keep all body parts where they belong. I've sprained my left knee twice since then, but no dislocations. Apparently, I'm trying to reconnect with my childhood because I dislocated my knee again after all these years. I am happy to report that the two surgeries have held up. This time it was my right leg instead of the left.

We were walking down the road to the trail head wearing our fancy non-tread ski shoes, carrying our skis and poles. Ryan was running behind Greg and me and I turned slightly to tell him to be careful and not slip in the ice when I wasn't careful and slipped on the ice. Nothing like being an excellent example of why we do what our parents ask us to do! My skiing was done and I never even got to put the skis on. Good thing, too. Can you imagine what might have happened with long slippery sticks involved in the fall?!

Greg and an employee helped me back to the dining hall. By then the shock and initial pain had worn off and I sent Greg out to have fun with the kids. I could sit on a chair at home or sit on a chair at Aspen Grove. Might as well let everyone else enjoy their day. After we got home, Greg drove me over to Urgent Care. I was pretty sure it was sprained and they'd just tell me to wear my brace and take it easy for a while. I wanted to know when I could walk on it and drive again or I'd have just stayed home.

Turns out to be dislocated, not sprained. The ligaments all felt tight to the doctor and the x-ray showed all the bones back in their correct spots. I have a new bendable knee brace to add to the collection (which we can't find!). I do have to take it easy, but not like I did when I was younger. Back then it was 6 weeks in a straight leg brace and then rehab to regain all my atrophied muscle- which I apparently didn't do very well since I kept repeating the injury. This time I wear the bendy brace all the time for 2 weeks then as I need it for a couple of months, move it a little more each day, get off the crutches as soon as it feels ok, and drive when it feels good enough. I like medical advances.

Right now, it's swollen, but feels pretty good here on the couch. Erica took over and made dinner- thank you! Greg is out getting ice cream, and we're going to have a nice quiet Family Home Evening. Oh, and I am happy to announce that skiing is officially on my list of sports that I no longer participate in even though it;s technically not a skiing accident. Next year, I'm just going to plan ahead before this activity. Greg and the kids can do their thing. I'm just taking a book and finding a comfy chair in the dining hall with a donut and some hot chocolate before I get hurt.

Sweet Heart

2011-02-19T20:10:00.004-07:00

It's dance season again. Erica is off tonight at the Sweet Heart dance. No sweet heart for her, just a good friend- Ben. She wanted a red or pink dress and lucky her, we found a fantastic deal on the perfect dress at the first store. Some body upstairs must love her! She has the camera with the other pictures, so this will have to suffice for now.

Progression (on a Wordless Wednesday)

2011-02-02T19:31:00.003-07:00

Training

2011-01-25T08:21:00.003-07:00

I have a need to get up on my soap box today. Bear with me. If you are offended, it's not that I don't like you. I just feel a need to clarify my stand on this particular issue.

We had our annual Ward Conference at church on Sunday. Being the Bishop, Greg had the opportunity to speak during Sacrament Meeting. He gave a great talk and I enjoyed listening to him. After the meeting was over, a friend, who happened to be male, stopped me on the way to Sunday School and said, "You did a great job training him."

"Training who to do what?" I asked.

"Training your husband to give such good talks in church."

"No", I responded, "he's that good all on his own. In fact, he's taught me a good chunk of what I know about teaching and speaking in church."

My friend replied something to the effect of, "We all know that good men are only as good as they are because they've been trained by their wives."

While I appreciate what I think was meant to be a compliment, I have real issues with the prevailing attitude that women are some sort of unfallible being who consent to spend their existence on earth with hopeless men who should spend their every waking minute singing praises to the women in their lives for saving them from themselves. Why would I want to spend eternity with an "inferior" someone? Why would that someone want to spend eternity always feeling inferior? It doesn't sound very pleasant for either person.

Contrary to some popular beliefs, men are very capable people. Yes, most of them have mothers who love them and do their best to teach them while they are growing up. Once they leave home, though, they are on their own, or should be. When they are married, those skills are used to manage their own families. Yes, they then have a wife, who shares in the responsibility of raising a family and maintaining a marriage, but it's both parties working together that makes things work.

I met Greg after he'd served a two-year mission for the church on the other side of the country and been home for over a year. On his mission he was three time zones away from his mother. He did have a mission president's wife whom he loved and we still keep in contact with, but she did not get him up, manage his time, shop, cook, clean, budget, wash clothes, or choose outfits for him. He did all of those things on his own. Several of them all on one day a week- his Preparation Day. On top of basic living responsibilities, he made and kept teaching appointments, studied the gospel, knew and obeyed mission rules, served in any way he could, strengthened his relationship with his Heavenly Father, and added to the very solid foundation of his testimony. He came home giving good talks, so that was a skill he'd developed well before he even knew me.

After his mision, Greg came to BYU where we met. He lived in an apartment with 3 other guys. And, once again, he and his roommates cooked, cleaned, decorated, went to school, shopped, dated, worked, attended church, and all of the other things that people do to survive and have fun at school. I met him when he'd been home almost 18 months and we were married 18 months later. Was he perfect? No. Was I perfect? Heavens no. I didn't expect perfection, but neither was I looking for a "fixer-upper". I was looking for, and found, a capable person who loved the Lord, wanted to be a good husband and father, was willing to work hard, and loved me for who I was. He was my best friend well before we were married. He helped me to see how be a better me and I just plain liked being around him. I could see the kind of person he could become and I wanted to be part of that process. I know we have both played a role in shaping each other into the people we are today- not because he or I "trained" each other but because we loved and encouraged the good while helping to remove and replace the bad.

Now we've been married for nearly 2o years. That means I've known Greg now about the same amount of time than I didn't know him. Looking back, neither if us is the same person in many respects that we were when we got married. We have tried, experimented, cheered each other on, talked, cried, failed, succeeded, learned, and tried again TOGETHER on so many different things that there isn't room enough in my available computer memory to list them all. Our kids have managed to survive us so far and the working together has strengthened the team that we are.

Do we do everything the same way? No. On the really important things we are very united and the same. We both love our family and God, have similar views on the raising children, the importance of education, budgeting money, etc. On others, not so much. Do I shop, cook, and clean house "better" than he does? Maybe. I certainly do those things more often and am thus more familiar and maybe more efficient than he is. However, he steps in just fine when I am gone or not feeling well. Being more removed from those situations sometimes allows him to see more clearly a way things could be done better. Do I provide for our family better than he does? No. Could I? Maybe, but I couldn't be as good a mom if I also had to be the dad at the same time. That's where the team work comes in. There are so many "jobs" that need to be done in a family that it's nearly impossible for one person to do them all. Ask any single parent. There are things that just have to go when there aren't two of you. Heaven knows there are enough things that have to go when there ARE two of you. Neither of you will be as good as the other at everything. I shop and make dinner a little more efficiently. So what. Throw me into a molecular biology lab or a teaching room at the library and see how "efficient" and "productive" I am all of a sudden. It's not that I can't do those things. It's not that Greg can't do what I do. It's that we work together to meet the needs of our family by taking on different responsibilities and hoping our combined efforts cover everything.

With time, experience, and communication we've even become better and more efficient at helping and supporting each other in our different responsibilities. We learn skills the other has, what it takes to keep everything ticking, then help it to get done. Greg has bent over backwards in this department. In fact, most of the time I feel like he picks up more of my slack than I pick up of his. The best part is, I just still plain like being around him and he's still helping me to be a better me.

So, it all comes down to this. I need him and he needs me. Neither of us can get to the Celestial kingdom without the other. I learn from him every day. I'm grateful that he has skills and abilities where I don't and vice versa. We compliment and learn from each other creating better halves of a more and more complete whole. Maybe it's training after all. We're just working out together under the watchful eye of the same Coach.

Miracle Worker

2011-01-23T09:24:00.003-07:00

Last fall I ran into an old friend of mine. Justine and I were friends from 4th-7th grade in northern Michigan. We lived in different towns, but were in the same small branch of the Church. Her family moved to southern Michigan and mine moved a year later to Arizona. We saw each other a couple of times while we both attended BYU, but lost contact after that. Last fall she happened to be standing in front of me in line at Parent/Teacher conferences at the middle school. We have sons the same age and in several of the same classes. I had no idea she lived in the same state, much less the same school boundaries.

We've gotten our families together twice, now. The second time being last night. My parents are visiting us, her parents live in UT, and we all got together to have dinner and catch up. It was lots of fun. It wasn't until this morning, though, that I realized she'd worked a couple of miracles last night.

The first involved Joseph. For most of Joseph's life, he has been a bit of a social enigma to me. He hated play groups and going to the park. He never wanted to go visit anyone. He was just happy to be at home doing his thing and he could make life kind of miserable for the rest of us when we did go out. I worried that he'd never have friends. To my surprise, he's been a very social and out going kid. He has lots of friends and has a couple he spends as much time with as he can. He still hates to go places and visit people, though. He'll tolerate the drive over, about 5 minutes there and then he's ready to leave. Often he's not very discreet about it , either. It's lots of fun for the rest of us.

This morning I realized that not once last night did he say anything about wanting to go home. In fact, he didn't even come upstairs from playing except to grab another cookie. I can't remember the last time that happened. He is friends with Justine's oldest son at school. I hope they hang out more often. I might actually get a chance to visit with one of my friends occasionally.

The second miracle involved me. My friend is involved with a small magazine called Segullah. It publishes essays, poems, and artwork by LDS women about twice a year. I'd never heard of it before, but I read through some of the articles this morning and enjoyed myself. I have no grand aspirations when it comes to writing, but our conversation last night reminded me that I hadn't written anything besides a family newsletter in months. I realized I missed it. That's saying something because I hated writing in high school. Somewhere along the way I've picked up the idea that writing can be fun and my brain was missing it. I've sat down to post something to the blog several times in the last couple of months, but nothing came to mind that seemed worth writing about. I blamed it on being busy or tired. This morning my head was flooded with ideas and I'm still busy and tired. Maybe it was some sort of writer's block. Maybe I was just too tired and busy from all the holiday stuff going on. Either way, it was gone this morning. Too bad I didn't sit down and write while all the ideas were flooding, because you might have something a little more interesting to read at this point. At least the ideas made an appearance. That felt nice. Maybe they'll trickle back in and I'll put them into words here. That would feel nice, too.

So thanks, Justine, for dinner, conversation, fun, and reopening a door I hadn't noticed swinging shut. I needed all four.

HALLELUJAH! It's almost Christmas!

2010-12-16T09:50:00.003-07:00

I saw this on Momza's blog this morning and couldn't help but share the smiles. Have a fabulous day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
(In case my posting record remains about the same, see you in January!)

Splitting the Sky in Two

2010-11-12T13:00:00.005-07:00

I'm generally not a huge poetry fan, but the following quote has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks. I'm thinking of memorizing it, but for now I've just been letting the imagery run through my brain and find little spots to lodge itself. It is the end of a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay titled "Renascence". I read this portion on the first page of Virginia H. Pearce's book A Heart Like His: Making Space for God's Love in Your Life.

The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky,-
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away
On either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two;
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat-the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.

There are lots of applications and lessons to be drawn, but for me, right now, that quote is the perfect word picture of gratitude. Have you ever spent the day holding a pity party because you don't have this or that or life isn't fair because ___________? I wind up feeling pretty pinched and crushed. Have you ever sat down and listed the things you are grateful for? Sometimes the list starts out slow, but as I think and start writing, the list grows faster than I can get it out. Suddenly, I see my surroundings with new eyes and I feel like I have the world at my feet.

Thanksgiving is 13 days away and counting. I hope your day and holiday season is spent with the sky split in two.

Ramblings on All Hallow's Eve Eve

2010-10-30T18:16:00.004-06:00

It is Day 2 of Halloween 2010. Yesterday was costumes at school. Today is trick-or-treating. Tomorrow is the actual day, but probably be the most un-Halloween of them all. That's good. I think we'll all need a day to come down out of the sugar stratosphere. (I'm glad I'm not subbing in Primary tomorrow!)

SuperDad is traversing the neighborhood in the wind and rain dressed as his alter-ego, Greg, and accompanying his two youngest sons on their quest for the largest candy haul ever. I haven't seen anyone else out, so the chances are good. I, the Mom, sacrificed her fun and super hero status to stay home in the dry house and man the front door. I think I'm ok with that. It's quiet, so I thought I'd sit at the computer and see what comes out the ol' fingertips. Then, I'm off to make pumpkin seeds. Ok, the pumpkins made them. I'm going to bake them. And then eat them.

1) We watered the dirt in what used to be our garden for 30 minutes in the rain today. Seems a bit over-the-top, but we added sulfur to the dirt to make it more acidic and it needs lots of water to start dissolving. I never knew that sulfuric acid is one of those things a garden needs to grow, but apparently it is. Here's hoping for a bountiful strawberry crop next spring!

2) I'm being very creative on the costume front this year. On Day 1 I was an undercover Tobacco and Firearms agent masquerading as a mom. Today I am an undercover CIA agent masquerading as a YW Camp leader. I have the shirt and everything. Tomorrow, I'm going to be an undercover FBI agent masquerading as a Latter-Day Saint woman at church. See, very creative. I thought of that all by myself while I was doing dishes this afternoon and made the idea retroactive to yesterday.

3) I cut up all the bell peppers we grew and put them in the freezer this afternoon. They were either not all the way ripe or hotter than the ones you buy in the store because my hands were tingling for over an hour after I finished and I had washed them several times. Never had that happen before. I'll have to remember to use them sparingly.

4) It's been 35 minutes since my family left to go trick-or-treating and we just had our first visitors who are not related to me or are one of the relatives friends. I'm seeing lots of left-over candy in our future.

5) The garage smells like heaven because of all the apples out there waiting to be made into sauce. Mmmmmm! Can't wait.

6) We actually got about 5 pounds of potatoes out of our garden and some of them were actually regular potato size. They'll be dinner next week.

7) 10 more minutes and trick-or-treating set #2 has just left. They thought our Halloween decoration that consists of 5 jack-o-lanterns with a glow stick inside one of them was cool. They are my favorites.

8) Greg pulled out the little 3 or 4 foot pine trees growing on either side of our garage this morning. I love having them gone! Neither one was doing fantastic, but one of them really was about dead. I don't know how long the trees have been there, but we've been here over two years and they were here when we arrived. Greg tied a rope around it a pulled it out with the car to find that it's roots were all still in a ball. No wonder the poor thing looked like it was about dead. The weeds underneath it seem to be doing pretty well, though.

Ok, the rain has stopped and the doorbell keeps ringing, so I'm out of here. Although, what's up with the teenagers trick-or-treating without at least attempting a costume? Maybe they are undercover secret agents, too. We're all over the place, I tell you.

Have a happy Halloween!

When You're in the Service of Your Fellow Beings...

2010-10-24T16:56:00.002-06:00

...You might just be helping yourself.

Earlier this week I noticed that someone had pulled out the last roll of toilet paper in the main bathroom. I was grateful and mildly astonished that the plastic packaging actually made it into the garbage can, but no one had gotten a new package to go under the sink. Thinking I'd be nice to whomever was caught paperless at some upcoming point I decided to grab a new package and place it in the cupboard. Well, guess who found herself as the paperless user in there this afternoon? Yep, you guessed it- Me. Let this be a reminder that no act of kindness is ever unrewarded!

Frosting

2010-10-19T12:52:00.002-06:00

Joseph made dinner last night. It was a requirement for his foods class at school. He had to include an appetizer, main dish, side dish, beverage, and dessert. All the food groups needed to be represented. At least one of those items needed to be made from a recipe. The rest could be packages that were prepackaged. He also had to set the table and clean-up the dishes afterward.

He opted for Black Bean Quesadillas because he likes the beans and we hadn't had them in awhile. He also opted for broccoli as his side dish because it's one of the few green foods he'll tolerate. Chips and salsa was the appetizer (but really, what family do you know that serves an appetizer before dinner?!), water the beverage and applesauce cake the dessert. I don't buy many prepackaged anythings, so he got to be an over achiever and have two made-from-scratch recipes.

A friend came home with him to do homework and then they played on the computer for a little bit. He didn't say anything about dinner, so at 4:30 I asked when he'd like to get started. He made the cake first, so it would have time to cool before we ate it. While it baked, I went and picked whatever was ready from the garden. Lucky Joseph, not only were his recipes made from scratch, several of the ingredients came from his backyard and were started from seeds. Doesn't get much more "scratch" than that! We had cantaloupe that didn't look totally ripe, but the vines were dying, so I brought two of them in and they were added to the menu.

Shortly before the cake was done he chopped the green pepper and made the insides of the quesadillas. The cake came out of the oven, and he put the quesadillas together and put them into the oven. Then he chopped up the broccoli and put it in a pan, then sliced the cantaloupe (too ripe, but we'll try again next year). He flipped the quesadillas once, set the table, removed the quesadillas from the oven, dished everything onto plates, and called everyone to dinner. After we said the prayer, he looked down at his plate and said, "It's weird to sit here and know how much work went into my dinner."

That comment made me think. We don't eat overly fancy or complicated meals. Our kids are not ignorant of the ways of the kitchen. They make their own breakfasts and lunches. All of them could fry an egg in elementary school better than I could when I left for college. They used to help make dinner every night (years ago, now) before evening schedules got to be too crazy. They even still like to come in and help sometimes while I'm finishing things up. I guess they've all gotten used to the fact that dinner is dinner and it's something we eat every night. It's just always there. It was good for Joseph to be reminded what all goes in to making it be there.

After dinner, Joseph got up to wash dishes. We almost never have frosting on our cakes because one, it's an easy way to cut down on fat and sugar, and two, by the time I actually get around to it, it's to late or I'm too tired. We had talked previously about frosting the cake and he thought he'd like it. I asked Joseph about it again on his way to the sink. He asked, "Do I have to make it?" I replied, "Yes." He looked right at me and said, "No." The other four kids piped up with, "Yea, we should have frosting" and "Why can't we have frosting?" Only the one doing the work could really decide between what was a want and what was a need.

I wondered, how many things do I completely overlook in my assumptions that they'll always be there? I don't think much about the cars until one of them ends up in the shop for something or other. The water is always just a handle turn away, until it's not working. Electricity- at my fingertips until a truck takes out a power line. 2,000 square feet is a minimum for living space until you find that your family being together is most important and that can happen in 700 square feet just as well. There's always going to be another full moon, fall leaf, or blooming flower until something happens and my eyes don't work right. A walk to school is no big deal until my knee is in a brace and even walking to the bathroom is out of the question. My Grandma has always been here, but she's nearing 90. That won't last forever. A loving family is always there and willing to forgive my faults, but that may not always be the case. An illness, disaster, or hurtful comments or actions could take it all away- and sometimes without much notice.

This morning I realized, "Wow, it's weird to sit here and think how much work goes into my happy life- and I don't do but the tiniest little bit of it." Most of the things that I take for granted in my life are here by someone else's work. I pay the electric bill, but their technicians keep the juice flowing. I pay the house payment, but I don't earn the money nor did I build the house. I can plant flowers, observe stars, or call Grandmas. I chose to marry my sweet husband and gave birth to my children, but it's not me that keeps any of them here, growing and blessing my life. The one who really does all the work makes much better decisions on what's needful and what's wanted in my life. He knows much better than I what I need. I have been blessed beyond measure- and with much more frosting than I could have ever hoped.

A Princess in Gold Cloth, Rags and Tatters, or Both?

2010-09-24T16:27:00.006-06:00

Today is September 24. For once, I don't have anything on my mental calendar for this date. It's just a regular Friday and I'm happy to have one. Erica is at a cross country meet, Greg and Steven are on a camp out, and the rest of the family is chillin' at home. Soccer is almost over and a blank night on the calendar might actually be looming on the horizon. Better not blink!

A friend and her children are coming to visit UT this weekend and I can't wait to see her. It's been a couple of years. We've been friends for just about as long as we didn't know each other. We've stayed in contact for all the time and miles- and a good portion of that pre-email and Facebook. At times as far away as opposite ends of the country and then as close as the same town. We have children the same ages, almost exactly. Our girls are both graduating and heading off to college next year. How crazy is that?! We have snapshots of the two of them next to each other in their infant carriers and now they'll be leaving their respective coops together. It doesn't seem to matter where we are or how long it's been, we pick up right where we left off. Everyone needs friends like that.

This weekend, and the last month, has had me thinking, though. I still have cleaning that hasn't gotten done, baking I need to do, tomorrow will be a crazy day with activities and the Relief Society Broadcast. Sunday will be it's own kind of busy. I've even been a bit under the weather today and enjoyed a forced day of rest. Then there's all the background pushings and pulling on time and energy that never seem to go away. Sometimes one starts to feel a little put-upon. After all, I have plans and dreams for my life and I seem to be diverted from them frequently. My life is certainly not the hardship that I sometimes make it out to be, but the selfish part of me wants to know why my life can't go as I want it to. I'm trying to be a good person, doesn't that count for anything?

Right about now is when I'm given a gentle reminder of what's what. As an "assignment" for a wellness activity we're participating in through Greg's work I re-read the book "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett this week. I read it years ago and remembered the gist of the story, but was delighted by all the details I'd forgotten, and now better appreciate somehow as an adult than I did as a child.

The main character, Sara Crewe was raised by a loving father in India until she was sent to a boarding school in London. For a couple of years she lived as a princess, but was never a mean or proud girl. She befriended those around her and tried to make her world a better place. Her father died both suddenly and penniless. Sara is only kept from being turned out into the street by the fact that she is a bright girl and the headmistress plans to force her to work until she'd old enough to become a teacher at the school. She spends the next two years living in unloved squalor, doing every imaginable horrid chore, and being treated as less than human sometimes. Sara has a vivid imagination and decides, there's the key- she decides- to live her life as if she was a princess. She refuses to lower her behavior to match those around her. She shares what she has with those who need it, which most of the time means all she has to offer are her imagination and her friendship. It drives the headmistress crazy to see a girl who should obviously be in disgrace carry herself as one who is of noble birth.

"What ever comes," she said, "cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it."... This was not a new thought, but quite an old one by this time. It had consoled her through many a bitter day, and she had gone about the house with an expression in her face which Miss Minchin could not understand and which was a source of great annoyance to her, as it seemed as if the child were mentally living a life which held her above the rest of the world. It was as if she scarcely heard the rude and acid things said to her; or, if she heard them, did not care for them at all. "

In the end, what is rightfully hers is returned. She hadn't lived a life that deserved punishment before, but she faced a pretty sore trial none-the-less. Her experiences, however, combined to make her an even better person than she already was.

It reminded me of Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk at the last Young Women broadcast.

"Today I want to draw your attention to something very significant, very extraordinary. On the first page of your Young Women Personal Progress book, you will find these words: “You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a sacred and glorious purpose.”¹ UAdd a Note

"Sisters, those words are true! They are not made up in a fairy tale! Isn’t it remarkable to know that our eternal Heavenly Father knows you, hears you, watches over you, and loves you with an infinite love? In fact, His love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of “once upon a time,” complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage, and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.” UAdd a Note

"But such a blessing does not come without a price. It is not given simply because you desire it. It comes only through understanding who you are and what you must become in order to be worthy of such a gift."

"In each of these stories, Cinderella, Belle, and the miller’s daughter have to experience sadness and trial before they can reach their “happily ever after.” Think about it. Has there ever been a person who did not have to go through his or her own dark valley of temptation, trial, and sorrow?"

"Sandwiched between their “once upon a time” and “happily ever after,” they all had to experience great adversity."

"My dear young sisters, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity. None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength." UAdd a Note

"It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop."

"As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I leave you my blessing and give you a promise that as you accept and live the values and principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, “[you] will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.”¹⁰ And the day will come when you turn the final pages of your own glorious story; there you will read and experience the fulfillment of those blessed and wonderful words: “And they lived happily ever after.”

Whether dressed as a princess in cloth of gold or the rags of a beggar, we choose our reactions to the situations in which we are placed. Some situations are the result of our own actions and some are not. It doesn't really matter. What we do with each one determines how we travel through them and the outcome each provides. It is easy to be happy, kind and charitable when things go "right". It's a little more difficult to do the same when things go "wrong". But, like Sara said, it's more of a triumph to do and be the princess we really are inside at those times. Trials are not given to punish, but to bless us and help us live up to the potential we have as children of God. The rewards are there and will be given to those who really want them. The choice is up to each of us.

Band post, again

2010-09-17T15:48:00.002-06:00

Sorry if this is too repetitive. I'm trying to learn something new and you get to share in my experimenting. Have a great weekend!

Timpview High Marching Band

2010-09-17T15:36:00.000-06:00

This is the band performance we went to last night. Let me know if you can pick out Spencer. He's the one in the white shirt, blue pants, has a plume on his hat, and is carrying/playing a trumpet. He spends a lot of time on the right side 35-45 yard line. For the 2 seconds that they spell out THS he is the person closest to the camera on the left leg of the H. Enjoy.

Timpview High Band

Oh, I've never posted something by sharing it from an email. Hope it works.

10 minutes

2010-09-16T16:49:00.002-06:00

Ok, we have 10 minutes until we have to be out the door for soccer and a band performance. I'm skipping dinner tonight. I have officially run out of time. I canned 19 quarts of pears and a couple of quarts of peaches today. Then Erica called and needed me to pick her up at school unexpectedly. So, I drove to school instead of showering. When we got home I showered instead of making dinner. Believe me, it's kinder to humanity that I showered and didn't make dinner instead of the other way around. The kids are thrilled because I said they could make their own breakfast for dinner. I have no idea why that is so appealing, but it is.

Now I find myself with 7 minutes to spare. Still no time to make dinner, but time for a few random thoughts. All of which just left my head...

First- if you have children in elementary school or younger and you're trying to delude yourself into thinking that life will slow down when they get to high school and can drive themselves everywhere and not need nap times and rigid schedules, stop. It is a fallacy. Reality is going to slap you hard in the face. Practice now to schedule out huge blocks of time so you won't miss them later. Also, practice just getting in the car and driving from one point to another all over town for a couple of hours now so that in a few years the seat is already molded around your derriere. Ask a neighbor what the good radio stations are and just set your controls there now. It will save a lot of headache when no one can find the songs they want. I never set mine before and they went to randomness or static. Not any more. You could also check into automatic pilot functions for places like the schools and soccer fields. That will give you a few extra minutes to just think when you're on the one-way portion of the trip that has no one else in the car.

This is not a complaint session. For the most part, the drives are a good time to visit with your child or listen to their conversations and stay up on their lives. Just one night in September I'd like to all be home at once. Maybe I'd even make dinner for such a special occasion.

Oops, over on time. See ya later!

Thanks, Thanks, and Thanks

2010-09-04T20:49:00.005-06:00

“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs”
Spencer W. Kimball (“Small Acts of Service,” Ensign, Dec. 1974, 5).

And sometimes he meets our wants. And sometimes it's in ways we wouldn't necessarily have chosen.

This week has been a great example. The screen door on our house has needed to have the screen replaced since we moved in. (That would be over two years ago, in case you've lost count!) Every morning I look at it and think how terrible it looks. Then I remind myself I don't have time to take it off it's hinges and replace it, so I walk on through and do my best to ignore it. I think Heavenly Father got tired of my silent wishes. This week the screws on the lower hinge pulled out of the frame. Twice. I now dreaded going through the door because we really didn't have time to fix it until today and it now sounded terrible as the bottom dragged across the porch. And, if I thought the screen had looked bad before, well swinging in every possible direction from only the top hinge wasn't doing anything to improve my opinion of the situation.

Enter today and my sweet husband. He spent the better part of the day working on the frame and hinges. I spent the better part of an hour on the screen. He wins the prize for doing the most work, hands down. End result is that we have an unblemished screen on a door that not only is hung properly, but now closes all the way by itself, no scraping sound effects included. Bonus!

Or, how about that food storage we're always working to build? Some days it seems like we aren't getting anywhere. Nearly a year ago we signed up for Sunday papers to get coupons. I hadn't had a ton of success over the summer and was considering canceling the paper. This week Macey's had Libby's canned veggies on sale for 3 cans for $1. That was a great price I hadn't seen in a long time, so I ad matched it at Wal-mart and bought 2 dozen cans. Then, on Sunday, both the Parade magazine and one of the coupon inserts had coupons for $1 off three cans. Well, they were still on sale for $.33 each at Maceys so off I went and bought 33 cans for something like $.34- I still had to pay sales tax. New printable coupons for $1 off 3 cans of Libby's veggies came out the day after the sale went off. Drat. Figures! At least I'd gotten what I could. I'd just save those coupons and hope for another sale before they expired. Greg brought home a copy of the Daily Universe from work later in the week. Macey's ran a one page ad that included 3/$1 Libbys veggies extended until Friday at the Provo store only. So, happy, cheap date night, we went and bought 24 more cans for $.25 total. The shelf is full and the wallet's not totally empty.

And, sticking with the finance theme, Erica was in the market for a Homecoming dress. She'd been asked by a nice guy from school and was looking forward to a fun evening. She and I have looked a bit for dresses, but not found anything. Someone mentioned yesterday that Penneys had dresses on sale- and clearance prices at that. We headed over there this morning. Lo and behold, the second one she tries on looks great and is modest. It also has a clearance price tag for $27. Mom and daughter are both very happy! Upon checkout, it rings up at $13.97 for a with-tax total of $14.91. Even happier! Less than an hour of shopping, a cute dress, and a fabulous price. Who could ask for more?

Now, none of those things mentioned above are needs in the sense that we were going to die if we didn't have them. A screen does allow us to enjoy the cool breezes while keeping the bugs out of the house. We are counseled to have food storage and there have been times when we've really needed it, so we do our best to be obedient. Homecoming isn't a required event, but it sure is a fun date and a memorable part of high school. (However, if you agree to go to the dance, you do need to wear clothes. That one is an absolute must.) Wants they all were on some level- verbalized or not. I like to think that Heavenly Father was watching over us this week and through many different people, most of whom have no idea who we are, gave us little gifts to lift our spirits and brighten our journey here on earth. None was big or grandiose, just something small to let us know He's up there and aware of us and our needs. I know that I'll be saying silent thank-yous every morning on my way out the screen door, each time I open a can of vegetables, and as I smile and wave Erica out the door to the dance. And, those are just three of the reasons today I have to say thanks.

Yoga

2010-08-20T15:13:00.002-06:00

Since I had two questions about yoga, I thought I'd answer them in a post.

I've participated in a yoga class put on by a sister in Relief Society every Thursday for about nine months now. I'd never done yoga at all before and wasn't sure what to expect- other than I was sure I'd feel incredibly foolish and uncoordinated. That's how my one and only aerobics class made me feel, anyway. The teacher of our class happened to be the secretary in Young Women last fall. We had a yoga night for a combined YW activity and I surprised myself by totally loving it. Janet is not a real intense yoga-er and I left that class feeling totally relaxed. I hadn't even realized how stressed out I'd been until we were finished. Several of us commented to her that the class had been fabulous and we felt great. She mentioned that she had taught classes off and on before. One thing lead to another and last October she and her daughter started classes as a weekly RS Activity. They actually hold classes Tuesday evenings and Thursday mornings. Tuesday evenings don't work at all for me, but Thursday mornings were great until school got out. I've missed most classes this summer for one reason or another- usually involving me being in the car, driving someone else somewhere. School starts again on Tuesday, so next Thursday should finally be free. (Yea!)

I've learned a couple of things:
1) I'm usually more stressed out than I thought each week when I go. We start stretching and I suddenly realize how tight everything is. I would probably really benefit from a class a couple of times a week, but for now I'll settle for once a week and have it to look forward to.

2) Yoga, even in a class setting, is very individual. It only took a class or two to realize that the only person who cared how I was doing was me. I don't feel foolish at all- though that one week we almost had to hold class outside would probably have crossed that line for me! Each move I just try to do a little better than the time before, stretch a little more, pay attention to the moves that seem difficult, try to figure out why and what I can do better, and breathe right. I ALWAYS go home feeling great.

3) Most of the time I don't feel uncoordinated at all. There's no rush on anything and you only go as far as your body allows. Each pose is usually held for a little while which gives me the chance to concentrate on getting where I want to be instead of rushing from one move to another- with a body that has very little rhythm and very sporadic coordination.

4) My favorites are stretching poses and relaxation pose at the end. Yoga has, or can have, a lot of strengthening poses and I enjoy them but the stretching is what makes me feel the best. Relaxation pose at the end almost gives me a little nap and we all know I can never get enough of those!

Those are a few of my thoughts. I've never taken a class anywhere else, so I don't have anything to compare to. I've loved my yoga experience, though, and would highly recommend someone at least trying it.

Week-At-A-Glance

2010-08-14T18:47:00.003-06:00

I read a post today that said a blogger should aim to post something at least daily, but every two or three days at the minimum. Oops. Not so good about that. If I HAD written everyday this week, you would have gotten to share in the following:

Sunday, Aug. 8- The Relief Society sang "Come, Follow Me" in Sacrament Meeting. Very quiet day after church. Dropped off birthday notes and dehydrated ice cream for Greg to his hike leader to surprise him later in the week. I had absolutely nothing else on the calendar in the afternoon and took a 90 minute nap. Great start to the week.

Monday, Aug. 9- Cleaned all three bathrooms, including the floors, in the same day! We also celebrated Greg's birthday 4 days early.

Tuesday, Aug. 10- Dropped Greg off at church at 6:00 in the am for the 5 day-50 mile hike in the Uinta Mountains. Picked up a friend at the airport who flew into town and needed to borrow Greg's car since there were 0 (read a big fat zero) cars available to rent in the entire state.

Wednesday, Aug. 11- My hairdryer overheated, sparked, and the cord blew out when I was startled and dropped it in the sink. Finally remembered to take Ryan to scouts and he was the first one there! Met a couple of cousins at the park who were in town for quick visits. Soccer practice started.

Thursday, Aug. 12- Missed yoga to take Spencer to the orthodontist. Picked up the car from our friend. Finished grocery shopping. Tried to see a few meteors during the meteor shower but learned later I was looking in the wrong direction.

Friday, Aug. 13- We sang Happy Birthday to Greg on his voice mail. Went to the temple. Got a new 0xygen sensor in Greg's car so the "check engine" light could be turned off. Took Steven as my date to a wedding reception.

Saturday, Aug. 14- Walked a couple of miles, mowed the lawn, and got Spencer and Joseph to soccer practice all by 8:00 this morning. Took my Grandma to the Woffinden Family Reunion and met a bunch of very extended cousins I never knew I had. Greg gets home tonight! Will be wrapping presents tonight for Steven's birthday tomorrow.

So, nothing majorly exciting. Just a normal, crazy week. Makes it easy to keep the post short, which is the other rule bloggers are apparently supposed to observe. It helped me realize I got more done than I thought, though. I've been looking at the weekly "to-do" list I made last Sunday and being frustrated that I didn't get much accomplished. Turns out I got a bunch done, I just didn't realize I'd be doing some of this stuff when I originally made the list. Let's hear it for flexibility and carpets that never seem to get vacuumed!

So, how was your day/week? Anything exciting? Bet you got more done than you thought.

Sunset

2010-08-08T16:13:00.005-06:00

We've had monsoons moving through this last week. They've brought a fair amount of rain, cooler temperatures, and beautiful sunsets. The following are the sunset from Wednesday evening as the sun made it out from behind the clouds for a bit and then fully set. We'd had a huge downpour with hail a few minutes before. A beautiful evening. I love rain!

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

2010-07-23T09:21:00.006-06:00

Technology is wonderful. I am a very infrequent family history addict. In fact, I was up until midnight last night entering some new information. I can't make myself stop sometimes once I get going. Hence, the reason I only let myself work on it infrequently. And, the desire seems to strike at the most inopportune times. I really don't have the time for family history right now. A month ago I was in D.C. Two weeks after I left for girls camp. Now I've been home almost a week and my sister and her family are coming to visit. I am totally excited to see them and should be doing things like cleaning bathrooms (because guests would really appreciate that sort of thing!) and not staying up adding names to New Family Search. How can one resist, though, when the information delivers itself right to one's inbox?

I received an email yesterday from Larry, a person I'd never even heard of, containing the full name of an individual I've been trying to find for several years. Mr. C.N. Woods has eluded more complete identification ever since I learned of him. Besides knowing that his full name was Copland Norcross Woods, Larry also said he had birth, marriage, and death information, child information, and parent and sibling information. What!!! We emailed back and forth several times yesterday. Larry is retired, has done what he can on his family history for the most part, and now spends his time compiling a database of pioneers and residents of the Eureka, CA area. What an ideal existence. He began work on Greg's Nelson line a couple of days ago and found the work that we had done on New Family Search and wanted to let us know he had more. Wow! That means the program is working exactly as it's supposed to. The church set it up so multiple people could work on and share the information that was available. He sent me the information he'd told me about, I sent him some info, and he's supposed to send his database of 53,000 names. Maybe we can finally make some headway on a couple of dead ends.

See why I was up so late? How exciting! Sorry, Beth. I'll do my best to get right on those bathrooms today, but now those names are sitting there waiting for me to finish entering and submitting them for temple work. I'll do my best, but forgive me if the bathrooms aren't quite done when you get here!

Library Success

2010-07-20T08:09:00.004-06:00

Here's a little promo for the BYU Library (HBLL), as it pays Greg's salary, and libraries in general. Who'd have thought a library commercial would go viral. You just never know. Have a great day!

Life in high gear

2010-07-19T23:18:00.003-06:00

Girls Camp (including a Bishop's night), Teacher's High adventure, Scout over night, Webelos Day camp. That's what 6 of the 7 of us were doing last week.

Naps every two hours. That's what I've been doing today.

I may get back to blogging at some point, but for now I'm going back to bed!

Happy 4th (on the 5th!)

2010-07-05T08:36:00.003-06:00

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."

~Erma Bombeck

I saw this quote this morning on Safely Gathered In and smiled. This country is all about helping families grow in peace and safety. Have a wonderful holiday weekend.

Happy 234th Birthday, America!
(And many more!)

You Take my Breath Away- and my Burned on Food, and my Dirty Floors

2010-06-18T18:49:00.003-06:00

I don't usually have something to post twice in one day, but I suppose it's been an unusually productive day. And, since our camera is at youth conference today, I learned to download pictures from my phone. I thought I'd share. Lucky you! Hope you can see them.

Now, on to our regularly scheduled post.

Meet my stove.

He/She/It does a fantastic job of cooking our food and is used by almost every member of our family almost everyday. For some reason I never got around to lining the drip pans with tin foil when we moved in and they've been great at collecting lots of stuff that we spill every day. So, every week (ok, every month, but it's on the schedule for every week!) I let them soak overnight to get as much gunk off as possible. Despite my good intentions the front two drip pans looked like this after soaking all night and scrubbing this morning:

In case you can't tell by the wonderful photos above, they are covered in burned-on who-knows-what (eggs being a very good first guess). I scrub and scrub but am slowly being beaten out. This morning I remembered that ammonia is great at removing burned on messes in ovens. Maybe it would work for the drip pans, too.

To use ammonia in the oven, just fill a small bowl with ammonia. I use the small Corelle ones. (I don't know if it has to be glass or not, but it seems a little less reactive to me than metal. Plastic may work, too, but don't forget and leave it in the oven when you turn it on!) Set the bowl in the oven, close the door, go to bed. In the morning, get up, shower, etc, remove the bowl from the oven, wipe out all the burned-on spills, rinse sponge/rag, be done. Notice I said "wipe", not "scrub". It really is that easy.

I didn't want to use the whole oven this morning. (To be honest, we have a gas oven and I'm not sure if it's smart to fill the oven with ammonia fumes when there's gas and a pilot light near-by. I need to check in to that still.) I also didn't have all night before I needed to use the stove for dinner tonight. So, I created a small enclosed space with a large glass bowl and glass lid. I put the small bowl with ammonia at the bottom, the two drip pans on top (curved sides facing each other so the fumes could circulate) and then put the lid over the whole thing and left it for the day.

Right before I needed to cook dinner, I pulled them out. I did need to scrub because it had only been a few hours, but EVERY bit of burned on anything came off.

So, I'm thinking that for less than $2 a 64 oz. bottle of ammonia, I can have clean and shiny drip pans for a lot less money and work than covering them with tin foil. Woohoo! But wait, there's more! A little scrubbing with a little straight ammonia not only cleared my sinuses right out, it also cleaned off the stuff that burned to the stove top underneath the drip pan. (Don't ask me how that happened. It just did.)

And, I learned last week a cup of water, 1 tsp. of ammonia, and 2 Tbsp. of a gentle liquid soap of any kind makes a great jewelry cleaner. A little ammonia in a bucket of water does wonders on a kitchen floor. And, I'm assuming there's some sort of glass cleaning possibilities since Windex is all about having ammonia in it. I'll have to Google that.

The best part is, you don't have to order at all, much less in the next 10 minutes or even before next week, there are no special codes to enter, or coupons to find. This baby is available at your local grocer sitting humbly, probably on a bottom shelf, on the cleaning supplies aisle. If you're lucky, your grocer will also carry the lemon scented kind. Wal-Mart doesn't, but our grocery store (Hannaford's) in NH did. It doesn't clear our your sinuses as well, but it is a little more pleasant to be around.

So, remember this little guy the next time you're ready to throw your drip pans out the window and buy new ones.

It was the easiest cleaning job I've had in a long time.

Knowledge is Power

2010-06-18T12:15:00.003-06:00

About 10 years ago we went took the kids to visit my grandma in California. On the way home the car stopped working, thankfully not too far from a friend of ours who was a mechanic. We made it to his house, his wife fed us, and the family put us up for the night. The next morning Chris had the car apart, the new part in place, and we were on our way shortly after lunch. I remember telling him what a mystery a car, and pretty much all mechanical devices, are to me. I could give you a run down (at least then) on the components of the nervous system in your body but had absolutely no idea what happened to that wire under the hood of the car once it disappeared from view. He said something about not having a clue about the human body once you got deeper than the skin and we both agreed it was a good thing that there are different people with different knowledge bases in the world.

Over the years we've had lots of opportunities to learn new things. I can now patch and paint a hole in the wall, remove wall paper, paint, repair broken doors, install a new counter-top and new light fixtures, install a new disposal, and do very minor plumbing repairs to name a few. I have pretty much avoided machines, though, and they remain a large mystery to me. So, with that, let me just say:

I replaced the heating element in my dryer today.

Actually, it took me two days- yesterday I took the dryer apart and figured out which part was broken. (Thanks to my neighbor for muscle to pull a part out and for having an ohm meter to test it with.) Today I bought the element, put it in (with my own muscle), tested it, and had no left over parts.

That may not sound very impressive. In fact, to summarize the process in just a few sentences somehow trivializes my last two days. Let me say it again, I replaced the heating element in my dryer. I even have a bloody knuckle to prove it. I realize a service call could have had the whole thing taken care of in a matter of hours, but, doggonit (is that really a word?), I have a brain and shouldn't I be able to figure this out- and while Greg was gone at youth conference to boot? The best part of the whole thing is not even the functioning dryer. The best part is the amazing feeling of accomplishment that comes from figuring out something new- and made even better by having it actually work. One hour or two days- it feels good to say I fixed it because I'd never done it before and, to be honest, it always seemed a bit intimidating to me.

It's a very empowering feeling to break outside of your boundaries, and try something new. The occasional success is icing. It's the trying that provides the long term education. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Knowledge comes by eyes always open and working hands; and there is no knowledge that is not power." Watching something is not the same as trying it first hand. Watching is interesting. Trying something first hand opens the doors to new possibilities and the confidence to explore them.

I realize that we're just talking dryers here- and only one quarter of the schematic diagram that came with the installation instructions for this particular dryer. But, today the dryer is more than a white box that spits out heat and requires a specialist to keep alive. I can open the panel door, look inside, and know what's where in that corner. Next step are the other three schematics. Who knows, maybe I'll even tackle the washing machine someday. The car is still pretty much a mystery to me and the bolt that fell off the other day makes me nervous since I can't see where it fell from. But, we'll take one machine- and one break down- at a time. If I can learn how a muscle works and the anatomy of a human body, man-made machines can't be that hard. It's just a matter of doing it- and having the right equipment. Looks like "ohm meter" will be making it's debut on my wish list.

Good Things to Come

2010-06-15T11:59:00.001-06:00

Have a great day.

Good Things to Come

Dances, and Cameras, and Little Girls All Grown Up

2010-05-21T19:20:00.003-06:00

Tonight is Senior Ball. Our camera was temporarily unavailable so I borrowed one from a friend. I don't normally post a ton of pictures, but the camera was so nice we had lots of fun figuring out how to use it and pretending we knew how to set up a shot. What a great daughter I have to be ready early so we had time for this! Here are some of my favorites.

She did have a date, too, but I tried to not be an obnoxious parent and take a million pictures after he got here. That means I just snapped a couple of them together and sent them out the door. Tanner was her date to Prom last month, in case his picture looks a little bit familiar.

We Grow 'Em Big Here

2010-05-21T14:53:00.002-06:00

So, this Spring all the daffodils and tulips popped up just like they were supposed to. Mixed in among them we had a couple that never bloomed, but I didn't think much about it. They kept growing and growing, though, and today were about twice as tall as any of the other plants.

I was out talking with my next door neighbor this afternoon. His little boys broke the tops off of the tallest plants and suddenly we could smell onions. Wally's garage was opened, so he got a shovel and we dug up what we discovered were the biggest green onions I've ever seen.

This is one that I bought last week at the store:

These are the ones we dug out of the flower bed this afternoon:

I think I'll look up a recipe for onion soup unless anyone knows something better to do with them! (Then, I'm going back to gardening school until I can tell the difference between all the plants.)

Happiness for $1.66

2010-05-15T21:55:00.003-06:00

This is currently one of my favorite dresses.

(Pardon the lovely presentation. I didn't think to take a picture with it on me. Instead, enjoy the closet background.)

I'm kind of a suit person. This one not only is light weight and cool, it also has the ability to make me feel like I look nice, AND it is machine washable as well. A dress made in Heaven.

Imagine my dismay when it came out of the wash with the shoulder looking like this.

There must have been something in the wash the last time that bleached it a bit and the fabric turned pink. I tried washing it again, on the 1:1,000,000,000 chance that it was a washable stain and not a color washout.

It didn't help.

I was sad and the dress hung in my closet for several weeks because I just couldn't bring myself to toss it.

One morning I had an epiphany.

In the third grade, I was Daisy Duck in the third grade play. (I know, you're jealous.) My costume included 2 baseball hats worn together to look like a duck bill- because everyone knows that ducks have their bills on their foreheads- AND a pair of orange tights because everyone knows that ducks have orange legs with saggy elephant knees and baggy ankles. Guess what. They didn't sell very many pairs of orange tights in the 70's (don't know why) and my mom ended up dying a pair of white ones to give me beautiful Daisy Duck (not Daisy Duke) legs. If I ever find my childhood pictures again I'll have to post a picture for your viewing pleasure.

So, 30-something years later, I remember Daisy and wonder if there might be hope for my dress.

Here is my hero for last week.

It was close enough to my dress color that it was worth a shot.

Add the dye with some hot water and salt to the washer. Insert dress. Agitate for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.

And, voila!

Slightly darker but perfectly wearable and no pink mark on the shoulder. See.

Right here would be the perfect spot to insert a picture of a smiling me wearing the dress last Sunday, but I didn't take one. I did wear it and I was happy and two of my children asked when I got the new dress and didn't I have one kind of like it already. The other three didn't notice.

Mission accomplished. I am one happy woman with a wearable blue dress.

Hope of America

2010-05-04T22:59:00.005-06:00

Steven participated in the Hope of America concert tonight. Greg couldn't be there, so I videoed some of the songs. I'm posting them here in the hopes that they are easier to see. FYI- Blogger is making me title each video, but my computer isn't letting me see which song is which. So, the titles are a little free floating and subject to my memory of what I actually recorded. Also, I sometimes missed the beginnings and once thought I was running out of battery and once did run out of memory. It should be rather obvious why I am not a videographer. I'm sorry you have to be punished.

As for Steven, if you have the eyes of an eagle you should be able to spot him. The concert takes place in the Marriott Center, If you're familiar with it, the choir fills the entire bench seating section below the concourse- that's one entire long side. Steven's school makes up the bottom 1-1/2 rows of the blue field. There are no white stars in either row. Steven was the 4th person in from the right on the next to last row of blue. Let me know if you spot him.

What is the Hope of America concert? It is a patriotic program hosted by Provo's Freedom Festival (they also sponsor the Stadium of Fire on July 4th) and involves 5th graders from all over the county. Beginning last year they had to split it to 2 nights because there were so many children. There are about 8,000 5th graders participating this year over the two nights. The kids practice at their individual schools and then gather for a dress rehearsal for everyone on the day of the performance. It was really quite impressive to watch.

Oh, the last video starts out all dark, it's not a camera problem.

Cute Faces

2010-04-28T04:43:00.005-06:00

See this cute face?

If you have a good imagination and can picture it with open eyes and cut and combed hair, it would look just like the picture on my sidebar labeled "Ryan". (Not to give out names, or anything.)

See this cute face?

It does not have a name, but also belongs to the child named Ryan. You don't really need a good imagination to visualize it, but pretend you noticed it on the wall next to the bed of the cute face above one night as he was going to bed and asked him about it. He might give you the same answer he gave me. Isn't that cool?! I made it by scratching off the paint."

Got that all imagined in your mind? Question. What would your face look like?

Good thing Ryan has such a cute face on his head that I love a lot because his cute face on the wall was not giving me feelings that made me have a cute face at all for a second, I'm sure. I think the whole thing is a bit funny, now, but don't tell Ryan because I'm not rewarding this behavior, I'm just documenting it. (That's why all the pictures were taken after he went to sleep and you have to imagine him awake.)

Anyone want to come help him paint?

The Princess and the Prom

2010-04-24T17:08:00.003-06:00

Once upon a time there was a princess in the land of Timpview. She and three other royal friends decided that it would be fun to go to the annual Junior Prom, so they planned to go together. There was much excitement and anticipation, but the great day finally arrived.

The 4 royal friends created their own corsages, spent the afternoon at the park, ate a royal dinner prepared at the castle of one of the princes, dressed in their finery, danced the night away and had much fun together, then ate ice cream and visited until the clock struck 12:00. At that time, they were spirited back to their homes in a royal chariot and entered an enchanted slumber and slept happily ever after- until they were awakened early (at least at this castle) to don their finery again and head off to church.

Music Moment

2010-04-21T22:33:00.005-06:00

Being up on a hill, we get to see a lot of cool weather. It's one of my favorite things about this house. This is what we saw tonight as the sun was setting after a cloudy, rainy day.

It looked like someone had cut a little slice through the cloud layer with a light saber. After the initial Star Wars thought, the lines from two very different songs took over and I can't get them out of my head. I thought I'd share so you can join me in trying to figure out a way to make them meld: "So, when life gets dark and dreary...the sun'll come out tomorrow".

A little "Annie" meets the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. A great thought, but a very irritating combination. However, some days it's good to remember that somewhere up there the sun is shining and someone hears and answers even the littlest, quietest prayers that we offer. So, ere you leave your room in the morning, I'll bet my bottom dollar that if you think to pray, tomorrow there'll be sun, to change your night to day.

Happy humming. (You're very welcome.)

Don't forget to pray.

White as Snow

2010-04-04T07:19:00.008-06:00

I woke this morning to a not-so-typical looking Easter morning. The sun hadn't risen all the way, yet and I wasn't even sure it would poke it's head out because of all the clouds. It's not often that you see a "White Easter", especially when you didn't really have a "White Christmas" or even much of a "White Winter".

My first thought was of the scripture in Isaiah 1:18, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow". Everything was so clean, pretty, and white. Then I looked a little closer and saw the poor daffodils.

They were struggling with what looked like the weight of the world on their tiny little shoulders. That's what you get for being an early spring flower. Timing is everything. There are warm, beautiful days and then there are those days when they probably wonder why they bothered poking their heads out of the ground. In fact, we could get several inches of snow tomorrow, too. Good thing they are made of tougher stuff than they look.

Then I realized what a perfect morning this was to be an Easter morning. The whole point of Easter is to remind us that the Savior came to earth, lived a perfect life, died, and was resurrected so that not only could we someday go where He has gone, but to remind us that He has "been there and done that". He's lived on earth in much harsher circumstances than I and did so perfectly. Then He took on Himself all my imperfections, mistakes, wrongs, and sins so that He could 1) understand my pains and trials and 2) pay for them because there was no way I could do so on my own. He opened the door for me and everyone else on earth to return Home and have everything He has. All he asks in return is that we follow Him and do our best to live as He would.

This life wasn't meant to be easy. It was meant to be a test to help us learn and grow. Timing is everything and life in the Last Days is far from perfect. There will be beautiful, warm, Spring days. There will also be days when we not only wondered why we bothered to get up we will wonder if we can possibly bear everything that is placed on our shoulders. Sometimes the weight is there because that's just the nature of mortal life. Sometimes it is there because of the choices we made. Either way, the Savior is there to help us through. Even as I stood there taking pictures with the first light of day, I could here water dripping in rain gutters as the weight of the snow began melting away in the face of the rising sun. If we can remember to turn to our own sun- or I should write The Son- the weight of our burdens will melt away. They may not be gone, but they will be lighter. And, I think we'll find that we are made of tougher stuff than we look.

Since taking pictures this morning, the clouds have moved back in. Right now I can't even see the mountains across the street. I know they're there, though, and that somewhere above the clouds the sun is shining brightly. What a perfect Easter morning. The greatest miracle of all is that He lives and because He does, so can we! Happy Easter!

An Anniversary

2010-04-02T07:11:00.006-06:00

This is us roughly 10 years ago:

Miracles then: Greg had finished his PhD (hallelujah!), we'd bought our first house, and had children who'd survived our parenting long enough to actually start school.

This is us today:

Miracle for today: Among others- such as having 5 children survive to start school and being done with post-docs and one semester from Greg finishing a Master's- I've made it 10 years (only missing a couple of times) of writing a family history every month. It's sent out in letter form to those poor souls we impose our lives on, but it's also printed and put in a book for each member of our family. For some reason it's easier for me to keep up with than a blog and there's a lot of joy satisfaction when we look back over the story of our lives.

I am blessed to make this journey with 6 pretty great people. Can't wait to see what the next 10, 20, or 50 years brings our way.

Do You Do Voodoo?

2010-03-12T22:28:00.003-07:00

The Witch Doctor has worked his magic.

Greg and I were on our way to our romantic evening of router shopping (or "router hunting" as Joseph put it). I wanted to demonstrate Greg that Alvin and the Chipmunks were saving our sanity by keeping the clock running and giving the CD motor a break. So, I pulled the CD all the way out. And nothing happened. Silence. The clock continued to display the time. No motor started. I put the CD in to see what would happen. Track 1 ("Bad Day"), the only one I remotely like, began playing. I hit "eject". The player obeyed, with normal results. I put it in again. Track 1 again began playing. We listened to the whole thing. Track 2 (original "Christmas Don't Be Late") started. We quickly hit "eject". Normal results. Weird. I'm thinking it has something to do with tracks 5 and 15- two different versions of "Witch Doctor". Maybe there's some magic in the music.

We thought about heading home and just laying the CD on top of the router for awhile. Would lightening strike twice? We were practically to our first stop and opted for reality over superstition. We did find a router at an ok price and the laptop is now back in business. The DS still won't connect, but neither parent is going to lose sleep over that one. Still, if your electronics are out of whack, let us know. You're welcome to borrow Alvin. You just never know...

March Madness

2010-03-12T15:17:00.003-07:00

I'm finding that March is not my favorite month of the year. It has something to do with the end of the third term at school and every teacher thinking that warrants some sort of project and/or extra concerts. I think we're about done with the projects and half way done with the concerts. Can you believe we have 7 school-related concerts this month alone?! At least the last concert will feature 3 of our 4 instrument playing children in one concert, so that should help me feel like it's a time-saving venture. I mean "feature" as in they'll all be playing in the orchestra, not that they are featured performers.

Don't tell Joseph, though. March=birthday for him and he's counting down the days. He keeps trying to find out what he's getting by asking "So, what am I getting for my birthday?" at random times. I keep disappointing him by answering "Nothing, yet." I haven't really gotten around to birthday shopping because I've been helping with science projects, building bridges, and making electric eel habitats. (3rd graders should never be allowed to pick their own animals to report on.) Add in the "taxi-driving" aspect of motherhood and I feel like I'm never home between 3 and 5, never mind monitoring homework and chores. The actual school part of the day has been pretty mellow, and that's a good thing because that's when I'm catching up on all my sleep instead of other needful things like vacuuming and bathroom cleaning. And, somehow, my brain doesn't function very well when it's sleep deprived. (Oh, and I really do have a couple of presents for Joseph, but if he knew that he'd never leave me alone. So, it's all hush, hush right now.)

Tonight is the first night this week that I don't somewhere to go, at least not that I can think of right now. If you know of someplace I should be, please keep the info to yourself. I'm going to pick up Erica from track and then take the rest easy. Oh wait, I forgot. Greg and I get to go shopping for a new wireless router because ours died yesterday. I should also stop and get Ryan the Starbursts I promised him earlier this week. Happy Date Night to us, I suppose! It's been kind of nice not having internet capabilities on the laptop. The kids are "bored", but they also aren't glued to a game. But, there are papers to be written and information to look up and I can't read the information that Steven's orchestra teacher emailed because our Word program on this computer is too old and can't open it. The new program is on the laptop, and I can't check the email there, so a-shopping we will go.

Speaking of technology, we were challenged in that department yesterday. The CD player in the van is on the fritz and spends all it's time trying to eject something that's not in there. The poor little motor just keeps running and the screen says "Err". We tried putting in a CD to see if it would kick start it somehow, but it just turns on the radio, spits out the CD, and goes back to saying "Err". I discovered today that if I let it spit out the CD and leave it there, half way out of the player, that the motor stops running and the screen shows the time like it's supposed to. So, I've spent today with "Alvin and the Chipmunks" hanging out of the CD player. I chose that CD because I'm so sick of it that if it breaks in half I won't be sad.

And, that brings us back to March and Joseph because he got that CD for his birthday, in March, a couple of years ago. I think I'd take another school concert before I'd listen to that CD right now. Good thing I can't, in the car at least. Joseph is definitely getting something else for his birthday this year, but that's all I'm going to tell him!

This, That, and The Other Thing

2010-02-18T14:40:00.004-07:00

There's no real rhyme or reason to the title. That's just what came to mind. I'm also posting this now because I'm hungry for something that I don't have and am hoping that this will prove a good distraction.

So, a while ago I mentioned on Facebook that I was finally getting around to hanging curtains at our house. Last night it was suggested that I post pictures for the whole world to see. So, here we go. I am NOT, by really any standard or definition, a decorator and am most grateful for anyone with talent along those lines that help me in anyway. These curtains were made by our friend and decorating hero, Yvonne, in NH. She was, once upon a time, an interior decorator who took pity upon me when we were selling our house in Manchester. She took me shopping, tried to teach me some basic rules for decorating, and stayed up MANY nights sewing curtains for every room in our house. I'm not much of a drapes/curtain person, so they're all valences. And, I must admit, I would have loved to have our house look just like it did when we sold it for the whole 3 years we lived there. Some of the valences are made to exactly fit the windows in Manchester and I don't have windows here they fit, but the ones in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom do. I also have some that still aren't hung, but I'm working on it.

These were taken last night, because I thought the colors would be easier to see in controlled lighting. You'll see I was right if you get to the bottom.

Here's the living room. The painting between the windows was painted but Yvonne. She's a woman of many talents and very few of ours in the creativity department overlap. The walls were green when we bought the house. Luckily it still works with the furniture and curtains. I'm not really up to painting right now.

Here's the dining room. You can see Yvonne's painting better. My favorite, which you can't see, are the little red berries in the blue picture. The lamp has similar berries on it and the red chairs in the living room are the same color. Tied it all together! Also, the other painting was done by Greg's mom. I'm not sure when, but they've had it as long as I've known Greg. I like the fruit and it's a little reminder of her.

Kitchen. Yes, Yvonne, I know you hate the little magnet board, but we use it too much to take down. Also, funny story, my camera must still be set on New Hampshire time because these pictures have the next day's date on them, even though it was just after 10:00 when I took them.

Living room today. I include this only because you can see how sheer the fabric is, not because it's such a great picture.

This is the bathroom curtain. It's made out of the same fabric as the shower curtain, courtesy, again, of Yvonne. I'm such a sucker for plaid. Love it!

This one, too, had a hard time with the lighting. Oh well, I'll take others later and hopefully post better pictures at some point.

Ok, mission accomplished and I'm now late to get the boys. Still hungry for something I don't have, though. Oh well. I'll see if I can forget while I'm out of the house!

Winter at Aspen Grove-The Other Half

2010-02-16T11:23:00.009-07:00

Yesterday being President's Day, our family headed up to Aspen Grove to participate in the annual Snowshoeing/Cross Country Skiing event they hold. Last year, we went snowshoeing, had a great time, and saw half of Aspen Grove in the winter as opposed to our usual summer remembrances. This year we thought we'd try cross country skiing as none of our kiddos had ever been before. The snow wasn't as deep as last year and one mom told me the skiing trails were more slick and thus "faster" than they've been in the past. I'm willing to try again pretty much only if we run the course in reverse to see if I'd like "slower" snow and skiing mostly uphill better. Most of us had a great time, though, and we got to see the other half of Aspen Grove in the winter. There are a bunch of pictures of cabins that you will not likely find interesting unless you were there with us the last time we went. You may not even find them interesting if you were there. Feel free to scroll right on by either way.

The cross ski trail leaves from in front of Beckham Lodge and follows the dirt roads by the fish pond, ropes course, arts and crafts building, and around the cabins. Spencer took off like a shot and loved it the most. He said he was a natural. I told him it was the Norwegian in him. He must have an extra dose in there somewhere.

I'd put in pictures of everyone skiing down, but they all look pretty much the same, just fewer people at the top. Greg took the camera and went down first. This one's Joseph. The small dark shape on the right at the top is Steven sitting on the side of what was Dan and Melissa's cabin the last time we were there for a reunion. I went last. All I will say is that I prefer walking down on a dirt road to skiing down on the snow. There's just this thing I have with not ever wanting to do anything to hurt my knees ever again. Don't look for me on a downhill slope unless my life depends on it- and even then we'd be talking some pretty serious danger before I'll voluntarily go.

This is Erica and Joseph's hand as they came up to the bridge over the stream by the ropes course. Notice that some members of the family felt they didn't need a coat. Erica took her's off part way into the course, but at least had a sweatshirt on underneath. Joseph took his off before we even started and was quite happy to be wearing just a t-shirt. I think Spencer did the same. Crazy kids!

Ok, that's it for the family, the rest are pretty much just pictures of the places we were a couple of years ago for those that would like to see the difference. Enjoy if you feel like it!

The road up.

The main lodge- check out those icicles! Some of them were solid ice several inches thick all the way to the ground. Obviously there aren't many kids up there to break them off!

I think this is cabin #22. I tried to get shots of each family's cabin, but some weren't accessible.

Steven in front of that counselor cabin right near our set.

No idea what numbers they are, but I remember that some of our family stayed in them. They weren't on the trail, though that doesn't seem to have stopped people from heading over there.

#26

Bathrooms and laundry.

#28

This is the side of #27. I thought the splitting snow gave a better idea of how deep it was.

Arts and crafts

The kids arts and crafts lodge thing. I can't remember what it's called.

Ropes course

Fish Pond
It looks like they take out the walls that make the dam and just let the stream run in the winter.

At the End of the Day

2010-02-13T22:14:00.002-07:00

My mental calendar has been taking me back 17 years. There's no good reason, it just is. 17 years ago Valentine's Day fell on Sunday and we were blessed with a President's Day vacation the following day. Greg and I were approaching our 6 month anniversary and still students. If I'm not mixing up my visits, my sister and a friend spent part of the weekend with us and we dropped them off at the airport so they could spend the weekend at home in AZ. We'd learned that Les Miserable would be coming to Salt Lake City and we wanted to see it. Tickets went on sale at 6:00 Monday morning. No sleeping in for us that holiday. Being the "savvy shoppers" we were, we decided to beat the crowds and get up at 5:00 to be at the head of the ticket line at Smiths. Boy, were we outsmarted! We arrived to a sea of people outside the store, some of whom had been there for the better part of the night. I had only heard of that for rock concerts, and never experienced it for myself. Afraid we wouldn't be able to get tickets, we took turns trying to get through to buy tickets over the phone. This was pre- ubiquitous internet and cell phones, so it meant using a pay phone when we could while waiting in line. We were successful, though. By 11:00 we had ended up with 2 sets of tickets- feast or famine, I guess! We eventually sold one set to some friends and I remember having a great time at the show- despite the "morning" sickness that was in full swing (all day) by the time the play actually arrived in town.

I'm not sure why that particular event has been on my mind lately. It really isn't something I've thought much about in the years since. Maybe it's because we're back in UT. Maybe it's the long weekend sparking a memory. It has been interesting to see where life has taken us since then. In some ways we've come full circle. In others, we're miles away down a straight road. Physically, yes, we're back in the same town. We aren't really the same people we were then, though. For one, our little family is now 7, not 2. Schooling is pretty much behind us and our children are edging quite close to that brink themselves. This year I'm planning to sleep in and spend some fun time with my family no where near a Smith's.

I've learned alot about myself and life in general in the last 17 years. Back then, arriving at the point where we'd have children old enough to go to college seemed a world and lifetime away. I somehow hadn't thought about what kind of life existed beyond that point. By then, surely we'd be expert parents, have all the answers, be done "growing up" and be living life on auto pilot. Don't ask me where I got any of those ideas. They seem pretty crazy from here.

Now, I find us approaching that vague point. I've learned alot, but haven't managed the things I'd imagined- no expert parenting, missing a bunch of answers, still have tons of "growing up" to do, and if there's an autopilot button for my life laying around, no one has told me where it is. I do know that we're nowhere near the end of this learning process and we still have more of life before than behind us. At least, I hate to think that my current state is my finished product. There are too many corners that need to be rounded and too much polishing to be done. It makes me wonder what the next 17, 34, and maybe even 68 years will bring and how many of my current preconceived notions will turn out to be as off the mark as my earlier ones. Does the learning slow down or speed up as you get older? As they sing in Les Mis- "At the end of the day, you're another day older..." Hopefully that means you're a little wiser, as well. Only time and experience can really add up to that.

Love One Another

2010-02-12T08:02:00.002-07:00

"In the enriching of marriage, the big things are the little things."

James E. Faust

I might add that little saying applies to any relationship. A smile, a hug, a sincere "How are you today?" go farther in building and maintaining relationships than anything else. Validate that someone is important and you'll change their world. Thanks to all those who make a difference for me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta

2010-01-16T20:06:00.003-07:00

If you're like me you read that title and had two thoughts. 1) "Sausage and pumpkin together? Gross." 2) "There is no way my family would eat that, especially if I told them what it was called. Who eats that stuff?" I stand corrected, because, apparently, my family does. The amazing part was that everyone liked it- even after I told them the name. Most had seconds. Steven took his first bite and declared it "disgusting". I chose to ignore him and was surprised a few minutes later to hear him declare it "delicious" and go back for more. In fact, he just came back in for another serving and we finished dinner 2-1/2 hours ago. Thinking that was just about as miraculous as it could get, I thought I'd share the recipe. I did make a few changes for tonight and I'll put those at the end.

Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta
Healthy Cooking Magazine Dec/Jan 2010 p. 61

Prep: 20 min.
Cook: 15 min.
Yield: 4 servings

2 cups uncooked multigrain bow tie pasta
1/2 lb. Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed
1/2 lb. sliced, fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup white wine or additional reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, in a large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook the sausage, mushrooms, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the chicken broth, pumpkin, wine (extra broth), sage, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until slightly thickened.

3. Drain pasta; add to the skillet and heat through. Just before serving, sprinkle with cheese and parsley.

Nutrition Facts: 1-3/4 cups equals 348 calories, 9 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 38 mg cholesterol, 733 mg sodium, 42 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 23 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 2-1/2 starch, 2 lean meat, 1 vegetable, 1/2 fat.

Now, for the changes:
1) I hope it goes without saying that I used chicken broth and not white wine.

2) I'm fresh out of pumpkin, but I have a TON of zucchini from the garden this summer. It's even already pureed because I hide it in lots of dishes. I made a double recipe tonight, so I used 2 cups of pureed zucchini, but did not add the extra 1/2 cup (1 cup for a doubled recipe) of chicken broth because the zucchini was pretty runny.

3) I used a 1 lb. chub of mild sausage that I had in the freezer. I'm not a sausage aficionado (or how ever you spell it), so I don't know if that changes the taste at all.

4) Most of our family doesn't like mushrooms, so I added the same amount of TVP instead to keep up the bulk. (Don't know what TVP is? Click here for an introduction.)

There you have it. A miracle in a cook book. Hope it's as big a hit at your house as it was at ours.

Monday

2010-01-11T13:20:00.004-07:00

It's 1:30 (in the p.m.) and I should be taking a shower, but I'm allowing myself to be slightly distracted for a little bit.

My day started out just fine. I even got up a little early to read my scriptures before everyone else was up and the noise level increased. The idea was that when I got back from walking my boys to school and getting some exercise I could come right in the house and get busy cleaning my bathrooms. Today was my day to do a complete Houseblessing. (If you've never heard of a Houseblessing, click here and scroll down to "Basic Weekly Plan".)

I was thwarted. Trying to be a cool mom and remember what it's like to be 16 with a freshly minted drivers license, I finally agreed to let Erica drive the van to school. Her Auto class will even wash it and change the oil for practice today. (Good deal, if no one dies and nothing gets munched in the parking lot. I've driven in that lot and others like it and am not totally sold on the idea.) The idea being that Erica can drive and I have to be home with my house blessing because I can't let a little errand- like that stamp I need- distract me.

I left the house with my boys right on time. We walked down to our friends and were just leaving their house when Ryan informs me he forgot his backpack. Not a big deal, except that it's a bit of a walk back up to our house and would require running all of the 3/4 of a mile to school to be on time. I'm all for exercise, but not so much for killing myself. I contemplated making him go to school without it and dealing with the consequences but today is "Penguin Parade Day". I had to get up at 7:30 (the only day to sleep in last week, mind you) on Saturday morning to help my 3rd grader make "clothes" for a paper penguin out of material scraps. I'll be darned if they don't get to parade! I didn't have a car to make the clothing run later or to drive Ryan to school. I probably should have just made him run and/or be late.

Deborah, my friend and hero of the day, offers to drive me back home, then to take the kids to school. (She's the best, by the way.) I thought I'd go for the drive so we could visit a little bit. Still trying to make Ryan somewhat responsible for his actions, I gave him the house key and sent him in to get the backpack. He did just that and very obediently locked the door with my keys still sitting inside on the chair. AHHHH!! Deborah added "Drive Shannon to Greg to get a key" to her list of things to do today and even managed to not laugh at me too much. Greg did, though.

Deborah and I visited for a while- longer than we would have on our walk- which was way more fun than cleaning bathrooms. I grabbed a midmorning snack and got going on the bathrooms. I got 1-3/4 done. The second just needs a floor job. I did get the floor in the laundry room washed, too. That's amazing in and of itself. The third bathroom will just have to wait. The rest of the houseblessing? Maybe next week, or later this week if the stars align.

So, here I sit with dry skin on my hands and the rest of me in desperate need of a shower. I need to leave in an hour to get the kids so that I can have at least a little exerecise today. My to-do list was hardly scratched today, but I'm thinking the following. It's sunny and almost 40 outside. If I don't look up, I can even ignore the terrible air quality from the inversion. The cleanliness of the house is a notch above what it was this morning. I have a family who fills it with love (and sometimes other stuff!) whenever they're here. They all love to be home and have their friends here. I have friends who are willing to help out at a moments notice and like me even if I haven't showered. I am blessed and wouldn't have it any other way. I'll clean the bathrooms and whatever else when I get to it. Someday my days and house will be quiet and empty much longer than the current school day. For now, I'm happy and in 30 minutes I'll be clean. What more can I ask for?

They Didn't Come

2010-01-06T22:26:00.003-07:00

Joy For Your Journey asked about our shoes this morning. Sad to report they were still all over the floor and had nothing fun or exciting in them. Too bad. Mine would fall into the "large and therefore prosperous" category for this particular holiday. Maybe we should leave a treat as a good will offering next year. I should also not put my shoes away if I want them filled, huh! On second thought, Ryan has been overly concerned with robbers breaking into our house lately. He prays every night that none will break in and if they do that they will be caught by the police and we'll get our stuff back. So, maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to invite strangers in just now. Greg went to work, church, and school, the kids went to school and scouts, I went grocery shopping, and my Visiting Teachers came to visit. They gave me two messages since they didn't get here last month, which was sweet. One even went back home to get my Christmas present she forgot- a box of chocolate covered orange sticks. She didn't put them in my shoes when she came back, though. We had a smattering of rain, but no snow. Pretty normal day on the whole. Off to bed. Night!

Happy Dance

2010-01-06T11:50:00.005-07:00

Have to take a moment and be pleased. I stopped at the store today and bought 3 boxes of Trix, 2 boxes of Cocoa Puffs (the kids only get one box per week, don't think I'm dooming us to hyperactivity!), 5 tubes of toothpaste, and 1.5 pounds of tomatoes all for $6.65. I love hitting a great deal!

If You Leave Them By The Door, They Will Come...Maybe

2010-01-05T20:32:00.005-07:00

It's not something we celebrate here, but tomorrow is "The Day of the Kings" in some parts of the world. We have a friend in New Hampshire who is from Spain and she makes sure to celebrate with her family every year. The kids even get to skip school. Our kids wished they could be adopted every Jan. 5.

How does one celebrate? In essence, one leaves their shoes out with treats for the Wise Men and their mounts and wakes up in the morning to find treats and presents left as a Thank You. As Erica said, "This is one day when people with big feet prosper".

Why do I mention it? Well, if you were to walk in our front door right now and through the living room, you'd think we were trying to entice every wise or semi-wise man who ever lived to stop by and visit tonight- at least the children here are. It's one of those "If I had a penny for every shoe (coat, backpack, etc.) by the door..." kinds of days. We aren't leaving any treats out, unless crumbs count, so I'm fairly confident that no one will stop and we'll wake to find the shoes right where they are and just as empty as they will be when the lights go out.

I'm not trying to make light of a holiday, especially one that marks such an important day. And, I'll admit, the shoe/coat/backpack situation has been worse so I shouldn't complain. Most of the coats are even heaped all over a coat rack instead of all over the floor. It's just nice to think that once a year the shoes can be left out and all around for a reason, no matter how remote.

So, Happy Day of the Kings if you're from Spain. Have a great Jan. 6 if you're from the US- and all you kiddos have a great day at school!

It's Finally Here!

2009-12-24T16:43:00.004-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The cards didn't get out and the snow we had is melting, but the baking is done, the presents are wrapped, our family is all together and healthy and, most importantly, this particular holiday can be celebrated anytime and anywhere if we keep in mind the real reason for it. How grateful I am for the star, the shepherds, the angels, and wise men and most especially the Baby that brought them all together so long ago. Hope you have a most wonderful Christmas!

The Real Meaning of Christmas

2009-12-21T19:08:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas!!

Vinegar, a Link, and Merry Christmas!

2009-12-18T07:55:00.005-07:00

This one's for me, but I thought I'd share a little. I follow a blog called "The Simple Dollar" and really enjoy it for the most part. It's a financial/frugality blog written by a guy named Trent and in general I agree with the stuff he writes. Sometimes I beg to differ, but, hey, different opinions are the spice of life. A couple of days ago Trent posted an article about 15 things you can do with vinegar. I've recently been introduced to all the great things vinegar can do and I wanted to put his list somewhere I can always find it (because heaven knows the last thing I need is another paper to keep track of!) So, here's his list and a link to his blog so you can check it out for yourself if you're interested. Merry Christmas! (At the rate things are going- only 4 hours of school time left and counting and a "to-do" list still too long- this is all you're likely to get from us. Enjoy!)

15 Uses for Incredibly Inexpensive White Vinegar
Posted: 16 Dec 2009 12:00 PM PST

One of the best bargains in your local grocery store is plain old white vinegar. You can get a 32 ounce jug of it (half a gallon) for about $1.50 and it has a multitude of uses beyond the edible ones (like pickles and salad dressings). Here are fifteen uses for white vinegar, most of which I use myself.

Toilet cleaner: Got a toilet bowl that’s difficult to clean? Before you go to bed, dump a cup of vinegar in the bowl, then close the lid. I usually spread the vinegar around the bowl a bit with a brush to coat the sides. In the morning, the whole bowl will be really easy to brush. I can’t remember the last time I bought actual toilet bowl cleaner.

Refrigerator cleaner :I take a gallon of warm water in a bowl, add about two cups of vinegar, bust out a rag, and use that solution to clean the inside of the refrigerator. It does a great job of cleaning things up without much effort at all. If something’s really bad, I’ll put a tablespoon or so of pure vinegar right on it, let it sit for a bit, then give it a scrub.

Sunburn: Is your skin a bit sunburnt? Just rub some vinegar on the affected area and it’ll feel much better really quickly. If it’s bad, you can reapply the vinegar a few times.

Kitchen drain odors: If your kitchen drain has an odd smell, pour a cup of white vinegar down the drain, then don’t run any water for at least an hour. When you do run water, run quite a bit of it to flush out the drain. This usually takes care of any odors – if any still linger, repeat this a time or two.

Fabric softener: Instead of using fabric softener, use about half a cup of white vinegar. It has largely the same effect without coating your clothes in chemicals and costs a lot less.

Rusty tools: Just soak anything that’s rusty in vinegar overnight, then clean it thoroughly with a brush. The rust will wipe away nearly as well as it does with any expensive rust remover I’ve ever tried.

Vinyl flooring: If you have a vinyl floor that needs cleaned, mop using equal amounts of water and vinegar. This works really well for getting up stains, especially if you go over it twice. Don’t do this with wood or wood laminate, however, because vinegar can react with the wood.

Window cleaning: Forget Windex. Just put some vinegar in a spray bottle and get to work on any glass surfaces. It works really well and doesn’t seem to streak much at all.

Eyeglass cleaner: If you use eyeglass cleaner, just take an empty container and fill it with vinegar. It cuts through grease on your lenses really well, leaving them looking great!

Microwave cleaning: Put a cup of vinegar in the microwave, then run the microwave on high for three minutes. Let it sit undisturbed for half an hour, then remove the cup. The gunk in your microwave will be very easy to wipe down.

Carpet odors: Did your dog do something funky on the carpet (or your toddler, for that matter – yes, I have used this tip to clean up some early potty training accidents)? Pour half a cup of vinegar on the spot that smells and just let it dry. This will kill off the odor and it’ll also make it easier to clean any stains.

Garbage disposal odors: If your garbage disposal smells a bit odd, vinegar alone usually won’t do the trick because it doesn’t get into all of the cracks and crevasses in there. Instead, fill up an ice cube tray with vinegar and put it in the freezer until you have vinegar ice cubes. Toss those cubes into the disposal and run the disposal for five seconds or so (with water). Then let it sit for an hour or two, then run it again. This always works for us.

Air freshener: Got that spray bottle of vinegar from the window cleaning? Spritz it in the air a few times to kill general odors. It smells vaguely vinegary for the first minute, then it just smells clean.

Nasty air: Got a room that really reeks of smoke or paint fumes? Put a bowl of vinegar in there and just let it sit. If the room’s really bad, put out two or three bowls. The odor in the room will drastically improve in a few hours.

Whitening clothes :Put a cup of white vinegar in a load of whites along with a quarter of a cup of baking soda. This will whiten your whites as effectively as bleach without the harshness.

These uses just scratch the surface. Whenever there’s a cleaning mission in my home, I usually tackle it with vinegar and baking soda as the first line of defense.

Thoughts on a Monday Evening

2009-12-07T21:13:00.004-07:00

This is another one of those times I feel like writing, but don't really have anything to say. So, I'm going to ramble and see where it takes me.

1) It snowed today. Alot. Well, ok, Southern UT could get up to like 40 inches, so our 6 or 8 isn't really all that much in comparison. Try driving down our hill when it hasn't been plowed and has several inches of snow and your friend's house is at the bottom with the garage watching you head right at it and then it feels a little more impressive. I like that the school district doesn't cancel school for snow,just football. The kids seem much more excited to come home and head out to play in it than they do if they've had free time all day.

2) Greg finished his last paper for the semester and turned it in this afternoon! Woo Hoo! Christmas break has arrived, at least for one aspect of our lives. The kids are very jealous, though some seem to be struggling with the concept that he still has to go to work even though he's on a break. It doesn't help that he works at one school while attending another, so whose Christmas break are we talking about, anyway?!

3) I really enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf's talk at the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night. I'm going to spend a little more time this Christmas season making sure I can still see the reason for the season and not just the season.

4) My mental calendar just reminded me that today is the day Pearl Harbor was bombed and entered the US into WWII. My grandparents were married in July of 1941 and then left almost immediately for Honolulu. They were there during the attack, so I always think of them. Grandpa was a weather forecaster for the entire South Pacific, so he didn't have to ship out, but they spent the rest of the war in Hawaii and Grandma has some intense stories to tell about being married 6 months and then not knowing if her husband was alive after the bombing, driving around with headlights blacked out except for quarter-sized navy blue circles in the middle, giving birth in a hospital by flashlight, having to seal off every window in the house in the middle of the night so no light could escape before warming a bottle, and torpedo watches every morning and evening on the ship sailing back to the mainland to visit her parents. They sure make me grateful for the sacrifices made by those who serve in the military and their families and for the life I live today.

5) I love white lights on Christmas trees. They look like little stars to me.

6) I bought Pillsbury brownie mixes last week for $.48 a piece. I thought it was a smoking deal until I made them tonight for FHE and they gave me heart burn. Guess I should make them a lot this month because they aren't tempting me at all. That might help the waistline.

7) The Christmas bins are still sitting in my living room. They're beginning to bug me because it's been 10 days since we started decorating and they are now becoming tables that everyone is putting stuff on. What are the odds that I'm ever going to finish getting the rest of the decorations out? I'm thinking that I'll enjoy this season a whole lot more if I stick with the tree, the stockings, and the one nativity that's already out on the piano and get the bins back downstairs.

8) Our mail carrier is also the Bishop in the ward next to ours. He told me today that one of the kids in their Primary saw him all bundled up (which means he's wearing a coat, hat and boots with his shorts. Must be related somehow to our boys!) and said he looked like a ninja snowman. Kids have the best imaginations!

Ok, I just had to go back and correct the spelling for almost every word in the last sentence. I think that means my brain has passed some limit, especially since they weren't really complicated words! Have a great night and enjoy your tomorrow!

Mother/Daughter Time, round 2 and Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T20:58:00.005-07:00

Thanks to the school district for giving Erica and I some more fun mother/daughter time. The entire school district has Wednesday off for Thanksgiving, but for some reason, the highschool only has a half day on Tuesday as well. It worked out well for us, though. See, Erica turned 16 recently and her permit was expiring soon and she finished her driving course at school so we made good use of her time today and went to get her a drivers license. Woo hoo!

One Happy, Licensed, Young Lady

(When did we we get over training wheels?)

(Side note- It's kind of weird for me still. I'm not too excited to have her take the car out the first time alone. I think it's the control freak in me and a little paranoia sets in when I think what COULD happen, though probably WON'T happen. I've already explained to her I'll probably be a little weird about it and to just be patient and humor me when I don't want her to go farther than the church! She just smiled and said ok and then very wisely didn't ask to drive today. A nut case mom can only handle so much excitement in her life in one day! I got over driving in the car with her, I'm sure I'll figure out not driving in the car with her. Surely I was an older 16-year-old- not that she's a problem child, I just remember changing diapers and helping her learn to ride a bike. There was much more time between those things and driving for me, at least from my perspective!)

There was a miracle involved with this experience. School got out at 11:40 and I was 5 minutes late picking her up at school. It's a 15 minute drive, or so, over the the Driver's License Division from school. We were done and driving away at 12:24 on the van clock (which is set 3 minutes fast, so it was really 12:21). In case you don't want to do the math, that's 36 minutes from pick-up at school to finished at the DLD. Never, in my wildest dreams would I have thought a person could get a new driver's license in such a short time. Granted, she did both the written and driving portions of the test as part of the driver's ed class at school (finally found a good reason for that school fee!) so all we had to do was turn in paper work, pay for it, and take her picture. Still, I think that's pretty amazing. Here I was, hoping that the 3 hours I had before Steven and Ryan got out of school would be enough and we were done in 36 minutes. We ran a couple of errands on the way home and celebrated with Sam's Club deluxe pizza at the end. (I know, you're jealous!) Pretty fun day thanks, again, to the school district and their days off.

Tomorrow everyone (except Greg) is home. The kids are planning an all day Star Wars marathon and I'm starting the baking for Thanksgiving. If everyone shows up for the movies that has said they're coming, I may have to bake a bunch of extra goodies! We'll see!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

What are you grateful for this year?

Football or New Moon...Decisions, Decisions

2009-11-20T15:03:00.006-07:00

For those of you not following the UT 4A High School Football playoffs (and that would include us), Erica's high school made it to the championship game. It happens to be today. For some odd reason, they play these games in the middle of the day on a school day. Maybe it's just because we're a 4A and not a 5A school and the 5A might play tonight. And, since they play at the U of U and there's a chance the U of U might want their team to play on the field tomorrow and not ours. Either way, the school district has this little policy that if the school can pre-sell 1000 tickets to the game, they'll cancel school for the day so all the students can go. Erica pointed out that there are very few high school students who wouldn't pay a couple of bucks to get a day off, whether they actually go to the game or not. She assures me that she did not do that, though. So, it's been an anxious week as they've waited to hear on the school status for today. The great news arrived during lunch yesterday. 1000 tickets had been sold! No school at the high school today! Erica called to tell me right then and woke me up from a nap, so I was less than excited or supportive in this wonderful turn of events.

I suddenly found myself with some quantity mother/daughter time and I changed up my plans so it could be quality time as well. She chose to sleep a bit this morning, which was fine. I walked the boys to school like normal and then planned to take Erica shopping to get the items I meant to get for her birthday (Happy Birthday!) but circumstances prevented my actually getting to the store. She had other plans and met me at the door when I got home excitedly announcing that there was a showing of "New Moon" at 10:00 this morning. We could see it and still have time for me to get back to help out with Book Club in Steven's class. Why not?! She's been pushing for this movie to be the "reward" movie for all those in the family with no cavities- which would be everyone but me. I know for a fact that Greg doesn't want to see it and no matter how much Erica tries to convince herself and them otherwise, I'm pretty sure her brothers don't want to see it either.

We picked up friend, Katie, on the way and had quite a bit of fun. The movie's better than the first- at least at following the storyline. We had to split up because we weren't three hours early for seats. I got to sit behind Erica and Katie, right next to 2 pre-teens who were skipping school and at the movies with one of their mothers. Judging by all the twittering and nervous giggles, they weren't the only ones who should have been in school and were not. Pre-teen girls should not be allowed to watch this movie. They also should not be allowed to be interested in boys. There are way too many new hormones trying to figure out where they belong and too many parts in the movie that get them all out of whack. Pre-teen boys would probably be ok, though they'd wonder why a good action flick has to be interrupted so often with all the lovey stuff. Either way, I've now seen it, Greg hasn't, the boys are off the hook, and Erica, Katie, and I had a fun morning. Thanks, football team, for making it to the championships and giving Erica the day off.

Oh, BTW, we won 35-6. We learned that from the teen-age boys in our house who went to school today and saw snatches of the game on TV there. Maybe the school district should hold school and just show the game instead of holding class. Just a thought. Of course, I wouldn't go to school to watch with Erica, so maybe this way's better in the end- quality, quantity mother/daughter/friend time. Though, showing the game and holding school would not result in my being anywhere near twittering pre-teen girls on a Friday morning. Ah, decisions, decisions!

Nice Surprise

2009-11-11T19:53:00.002-07:00

I found out today that there are at least two radio stations here who are playing Christmas music all day everyday already. Bit early? Maybe. Sure did make me wish it would snow today, though! I'll have to pace my listening so I'm not burned out by December!

Metamorphosis

2009-11-09T17:44:00.002-07:00

I was released as YW President yesterday. It was a bittersweet day, tempered somewhat by the fact that I get to be the new YW Camp Director, so I still get to hang out with the girls. The up side was that I suddenly found sections of free time that I didn't previously have on my calendar. So, I had grand plans for today.

Today's schedule included the following:
8:00-9:00 walk the boys to school and take the long way home for exercise
9:00-11:00- read my scriptures and check/answer email, shower
11:00-2:00- make apple and pear sauce out of the remaining fruit in the garage so the van can be parked in there before it snows.
2:00-2:50- clean-up kitchen and run a vacuum through the living room.
3:00-4:30- start dinner (Dinner in a pumpkin which takes a bit more time than normal) and help kiddos with homework.
4:30-5:00- pick up Erica from orchestra rehearsal
5:00-6:00- finish dinner to eat when Greg gets home.

It's amazing how little things can change the entire direction of a day.

1) Was reminded by Erica at 7:00 that I needed to stop at the store and pick a book for her. She needed it last week. Decided to delay the applesauce a bit so I could run to the store after my shower.

2) Left home at 8:00 with my keys to walk the boys to school. Realized part way up the street that Ryan forgot his back pack which helped me to realize that the house key Erica had borrowed yesterday was no longer on my key ring and we couldn't get back in the house.

3) Walked home the short way so I could use the car keys to drive to Greg's work and get his house key so I could get back into the house, get Ryans back pack, take it to him, and then get back home to get back on track for my day. (FYI- my neighbors do have a copy of our house keys just for times like this, but they couldn't find it. I appreciated their efforts, though.)

4) Spent a touch longer on the scriptures and email than planned, but it was for a good cause (see previous post). Still pretty close to target to get the book and get it to Erica, but Applesauce may have to be moved to later in the week.

5) Showered and got out the door to the store. The 30 minute trip became a 2 hour trip when the first store didn't have the book and had to run to the next store. And store #2 I realized I'd left my planner at store #1. Store #2 did not have the book, either. Returned to store #1 and searched high and low for the book. Spoke to the cart guy outside as he was picking up my cart, the service desk, the cashier, the service desk again, then found the planner in the cart corral, still in the front of the cart. Applesauce is out, so is pretty much any house cleaning.

6) Got to home a message on the phone from Hollywood Video. They had a call from the library where we had accidentally turned in our Hollywood Video DVD last week. It needed to be returned to Hollywood today or we'd be charged an extra late fee. Switching dinner to something else (who knows what) so that I can help woth a little homework, then leave to get Erica early and have time to stop at the library than Hollywood on my way to school.

7) Thank heavens for cell phones so I could talk to children and my aunt and make more use of the drive time.

8) Home from school. Still no idea on dinner. More homework. I can do algebra, but not in my head. Algebra student has head-ache and is somewhat grouchy. 8-year-old suddenly obsessed with earning money and is constantly asking for extra jobs to do. 12-year-old (scored major points with his mom) helps with algebra and takes over making dinner (scrambled eggs and toast) so mom can have a few minutes by herself (which is a nice thought but not a reality).

So, now I've made unplanned trips to Greg's work, the elementary school, 1 store, the library, and the video store and not made applesauce, or dinner or done anything to clean the house except throw away a couple of papers. I'm ready for bed. First, though, I will go eat my eggs and toast, talk with my sweetheart, and have family home evening. I think those were in the plan for today at some point.

Thoughts on a Monday

2009-11-09T14:16:00.003-07:00

A friend emailed this morning. She was concerned about the world, politics, and changes she sees occuring in America. She also asked me what I knew about the 7th seal spoken of in Revelations. I have read about it, but don't know a whole lot, so I opened to Revelations and read again. It does sound pretty scary, especially since there aren't too many specific dates listed so you know whether or not now is the time to begin worrying or to get yourself and family prepared. It was a thought provoking hour trying to come up with an answer for her. There are a couple of things I do know, though.

1) D&C 77 is a "question and answer" session with the Lord about some of the things in Revelations. That would be a good place to start if you have questions about it.

2) Matthew 24 and the Joseph Smith Translation are also about the signs of the last days. They, too would help.

3) We know that before the Lord comes again our nation and the constitution are going to hang by a thread. In my mind that means it's going to appear that the inevitable conclusion is that they are going to fall and that means that there's a very good chance that politically, socially, and economically things will be pretty bad. Like most things, there's a chance it will be a gradual decline over decades, with maybe a few spikes, that most people don't notice. Just look at the difference in TV over the last 50 years and that gives you a pretty good idea which way things have been heading for a long time already. Satan generally can't take a people from righteous living and drop a bombshell that will cause the constitution to hang by a thread over night. He can get us to a point over time where the bombshell will be effective, though, and we need to be careful about that. He's working just as hard to make his side win as we are.

4) In those days the ONLY safety and security is going to be found in the gospel. The scriptures say that the saints will be gathered together in Zion and that the wicked will fear and tremble at the sight of it.

5) The Lord promises all over the place in the scriptures that the righteous will be protected. Mosiah 2:41 talks about the happy state of those who keep the commandments. I think that means not only day to day, but also when times get tough, and even afer we die. Another great scripture with respect to both keeping the commandments to be happy every day and to receive protection in the trials of the last days is D&C 64.

See, we aren't just working to keep things at a status quo. We're working to prepare for the day when the Savior will come again and life on earth will be better than we could ever dream it could be. Yes, there are going to be some pretty dreadful things that happen between now and then. Yes, our government and the people in our country are going to have some very difficult times. Yes, it's hard to know it's going to come and wonder if "this is it". That's why it's so important for us to be aware of what's going on, do our part to see that good men and women are elected to serve in government, and that we make our voices heard on the issues. Satan and those following him are certainly going to do so.

The most important thing we can do, though, is take care of ourselves. I don't just mean food and money, though that is part of it and will be important. I mean that the time will come when we all will have to decide where we stand with respect to God and His commandments and the Church. The world is going to go to heck in a hand basket, but we don't have to. The Lord has promised protection and guidance here and exaltation in the world to come if we choose to be humble, obedient and follow Him. No, it's not easy, but it will so be worth it in the end. We also don't have to worry or face it alone. We're all here to help each other through and the Savior will be there to guide, direct, and comfort us as well.

Have you ever really thought about what it means when we say that the Savior stands at the head of the Church and guides and directs what goes on here on earth? It literally means that He is in charge- not some human trying to guess the next step. There isn't one thing that is going to happen that He isn't aware of and that He can't stop if He chooses to. Most of these trials will be to create a people worthy of the Savior and to separate the "wheat" and the "tares". The Lord is going to let us choose where we end up when all is said and done. It's not a popularity contest or random judgement. He's a loving God and will let us go where we will feel and be most comfortable- and that in large measure is chosen in earth life. Do we want to humble ourselves pay the price now to live righteously and have an eternity of happiness, or pay the price later and live with an eternity of regret and sorrow?

President Kimball once said that there is no sorrow in death, only in sin. I think the idea behind that applies to these last days, too. There is no need to worry or fear if we are right with our Father in Heaven. If we're in good standing, it won't matter if the government collapses, nations fight against nation, or disease ravages the earth. We will be ok. We will be safe- at least (and most imprtantly) in the spiritual sense. The physical is temporary by design, anyway. That being said, it's somewhat easy to write all this when we aren't actually living through most of it and I hope that someday my faith is strong enough to carry me through everything that will come. For now, though, I'm just trying to work on the basics and be a little stronger today than I was yesterday. I can say, without a doubt, that Christ is standing at the head, He is directing the affairs of the Chruch and the world in the last days. If we choose to plant ourselves squarely on His side, then let the rest rage around us. We will be where there is safety.

Best Thing About Today

2009-10-28T21:32:00.004-06:00

I was up at 4:15 this morning. That was not the best thing about today. Being at the temple first thing with my children was pretty good, though. I'd say it ties for first. Coming home and getting everyone else out the door by 7:30 was also nice. Not as good as a nap at 7:40, though, made even better by the numbers "10:12" on the clock when the phone woke me up. And thus we have the other half of the tie! I should get so much sleep all the time.

Second place was the Fall Festival at church tonight. How could one not have a great time with guys like these?

Yes, Greg's dressed as a tourist.
No, he does not dress like that all the time.
Spencer is his bodyguard.
(As if the outfit wouldn't keep harm at a very safe distance!)

What a day! Must be time for bed. Again. A body can only take so much excitement.

Tomatoes

2009-10-22T18:10:00.003-06:00

2 bags in the fridge this morning= 11 quarts in bottles this afternoon.

5 bags to go.

Good thing I love tomatoes.
I might feel like eating them again sometime after Christmas.

Right

2009-10-20T21:23:00.005-06:00

I should be doing dishes, but I don't feel like it. I want to write something, but haven't figured how to put what I want to say into words. Rock and a hard place. Tough one.

For those that don't know, we've had a pretty amazing weekend. The kids had Fall Break beginning last Wednesday. It happened to coincide with the first available time at the Mesa Temple for my one-year-ago baptized brother-in-law to take my sister and their sweet family to the Mesa temple to be sealed for eternity. Greg, his dad (Tom), and I were able to spend part of an afternoon in the Mesa temple with three of our children doing baptisms and confirmations. Another brother was able to schedule his 8-year-old daughter's baptism for the same weekend. All of my siblings, most of their spouses, both of my parents, my father-in-law, and my grandmother were able to be together for a few days. I love my family, all of it, both sides, and I love every minute we get to spend together.

The kids picked up perfectly timed cases of gatroenteritis on the drive home. Even this turned out to have several silver linings. Since all 5 were all sick at the same time they kind of watched out for each other. Sunday morning found them all on the floor in the living room with blankets and bowls, keeping each other company. That sight continued while Greg, Tom, and I went to church that afternoon. We were met there by Greg's brother (Mike) and his wife (Terri) and later my Aunt Nancy. They were all in our ward to be present while Greg was sustained as our bishop that day. All 5 of our kids missed it. I tried calling home on the cell phone so they could at least listen on the speaker phone at home, but the mike on my cell phone wasn't strong enough. The sweetest part came when Tom and I got home after church, though. The kids had really wanted to be there and were bummed when they couldn't hear anything. Since they couldn't hear what was happening and when, they picked a random spot during their meeting and all raised their hands to sustain their dad on their own. I don't know why that meant so much to me. I guess I just felt like that was the end of any issues we'd have with dad being bishop and gone alot. I hope I'm right.

I slept more and better than I had in weeks that night. Probably had nothing at all to do with getting no sleep the night before with kids sick all night. I know it had lots to do with a feeling of peace and that everything was right. Travel was done, we'd had some great family time, and the stress of keeping hushed about the bishop news was over. Everyone keeps asking me how life is going now. All I can say is great so far. Regular life hasn't been affected at all (knock on wood at the end of day three!). The kids are all back on their feet and back to school. I'm coming to grips with the fact that my remaining time in YW is rapidly growing very short. Even the dishes and backlog on the rest of the housework haven't been able to disrupt this feeling that everything is just "right" with the world. I don't know how long this will last, but I'm loving it.

Oh, What Can You Do In 15 Minutes?

2009-10-13T11:11:00.003-06:00

I've just been going over the errands I ran this morning in the 15 minutes I have until I need to head out to another and was amazed at what actually got done this morning- yes I guess I do occasionally have days like that. I had kind of imagined that these things would take all day, but really they all took about 15 minutes, maybe 30, each, not counting drive time. Wanna see what you can do in 15 minutes?

1) Normally, take a child to the orthodontist. Today they were dealing with a fussy bracket that didn't want to stay on, so it took a bit longer. No complaints from said child who was missing school, BTW and I found out the orthodontist went to Westwood High School in Mesa. Small world.

2) Pick up YW Medallions at the Distribution Center. (Definitely less than 15 minutes.)

3) Stop at the library for some books on CD. This one was probably closer to 30 minutes because I didn't know exactly what I wanted.

4) Stop at the music store for bass rosin and valve oil (for a trumpet). Again, definitely less than 15 minutes.

5) Have a screw removed from your tire, repair the hole, then rotate and inflate all tires to proper pressure. (I suppose I should say read the newspaper and Ensign while someone else does all those things to your tires!)

6) Drive past Taco Bell twice, while hungry, and not stop to by your favorite soft tacos and mexican pizza. (Less than 15 minutes, for sure, but had those moments where it definitely seemed longer!)

7) Heat up a quick, non-Taco Bell lunch. (It was good anyway.)

8) Catch up on blog reading.

9) Write my own blog post.

10) Make a bed. Definitely less than 15 minutes, and boy would I like to use the spare minutes to climb in said bed and nap. Oh well. I can avoid Taco Bell, I can avoid a nap.

How about you? What can you do in 15 minutes today? Bet it's a lot more than you think. Good Luck!

Final Harvest

2009-10-06T21:43:00.004-06:00

A week ago our thermometer read 100 degrees in the afternoon. It's somewhat high because the outdoor sensor gets some reflected heat in the afternoon. The actual temp was probably in the low 90's. The next day we had rain and highs in the 50's. I don't think it's been out of the 60's since then. Steven said today that winter is kind of slowly sneaking up on us. I told him I thought it jumped out of nowhere and grabbed us by the throat!

The cooler day time highs make for lower lows. Most of what was left in the garden doesn't do well below freezing so last week we picked just about everything. The zucchini had pretty much produced its last already. The tomatoes had come up so late that the plants were loaded with tons of green tomatoes. I was promised that the green ones would ripen, so we picked the bigger ones and have had them sitting on the floor in the dining room where they are slowly turning red.

Tonight were are supposed to be down in the high 20's, so we decided to gather what remained. As I'd picked the last round of tomatoes in the dark I missed a few, so Steven and I picked another 1/2 bag or so tonight . We figured we ended up with 135 pounds, give or take, from 35 or so plants. Not bad for not giving the plants a whole growing season. The picture above shows most of them. There's a bag in the fridge that has already turned red and a bag of green that wouldn't fit on the table. Can't wait to try my hand at canning them if I can convince Erica to leave us a few. The two zucchini are the two we decided to leave and let grow as long as we could. The boys thought it would be cool to see if they would explode, but it was not to be. They've been growing a month or so. Next time we'll have to leave them out all season and see what happens. I have no idea how many zucchini we ended up with, but the freezer is full, the kids are tired of eating it , and the neighbors don't like to see me coming anymore! The 2-liter bottle is there just for size reference. We've not figured how to grow soda, though I'm sure the kids would love it. 5 pumpkins grew, but I accidentally sliced into the skin of one when I tried taking off the vine a couple of weeks ago, so it's already been cooked and eaten or frozen.

That's about it. There are onions still outside, but they're pretty small still. I've been told that they winter-over pretty well so I thought we'd leave them and see what happens. The strawberries are still producing on occasion, too, but I think that's about done as well. All in all, it's been a good experiment and the backard was put to much better use this summer than the weed factory we had last year!

Of Life and Parenting

2009-09-18T14:42:00.006-06:00

I remember as a young girl planning to have the perfect family. I was going to be done making mistakes by the time I was grown up. (Go ahead and insert a big hearty laugh right here!) When Erica was a baby I decided I'd just live perfectly today and then get up and live perfectly again tomorrow. I wouldn't worry about the future because all those perfect todays would create a perfect past and set a habit for future ones. (Another laugh.) Because I would be living perfectly, of course my family would as well. (And another.) My children would always do what was right and have clean bedrooms without my asking. (And another.) Now, this isn't a confession of any major sins, but somewhere along the line I missed a day or two (or 10,000) of those perfect days. Despite my best intentions I keep making mistakes and so does the rest of my family. I'm not including a clean bedroom count for today on purpose because it would not be a very large number by any measure!

Having a child who has as many months left in high school as I have fingers and toes has led me along some interesting thought paths lately. I've been thinking for the last little while about helping children grow and be independent- and not just financially. My mom told me once that one of their goals as parents was to have their children be completely responsible for themselves by the time the reached the age of 16. That way they could have two years of making decisions and living with the consequences of those decisions while they lived at home and had a huge safety net around them. I've always thought that was a good idea. My oldest is almost 16 and I find myself wondering how we're doing. There are lots of questions. Can she wash clothes, buy and prepare food, handle a bad day, find a job, maintain grades, safely drive the car, make good choices, be responsible, choose to be happy? I'm realizing that no one is going to show up and hand me a "parenting diploma" when each child reaches the point of independence so I know we're done. We have to hope we've done enough when it's time for them to spread their wings and fly.

The darn thing is that each child is different. Erica is great in certain areas while each of the boys have their own strengths as well, but none of them is the same. Each one also has their own, individual, weaknesses- alot of them handed them by their parents! That means that where we step in to support one child will not be needed for another. I think "one-size-fits-all" parenting is easier! This different personality thing leads to too many questions. Where does one draw the line? When does helping out your family members and doing something nice cross the line to enabling? How do we make it "fair" for everyone? How do you know you've taught lessons well enough that your children will be able to live healthy, productive lives on their own? I don't pretend to even come close to having any, much less all the answers, but there are some things I'm slowly beginning to understand.

1) I wasn't perfect starting out on my own, so why should I expect my children to be? It's ok to make mistakes, hurt feelings, and bounce a check in the process of growing up as long as we learn from the experiences, change, and don't make them habits. Sometimes one returned check will do more to prevent any others than all the discussions and teaching by a parent. As a perfectionist, though, it's hard to allow mistakes to happen when there's something I can do to prevent it. Too bad my children's lives are theirs and not mine! Experience is one great teacher.

2) Heavenly Father loves me, warts and all. The least I can do is pass that along to my earthly children. I want them to understand and forgive me when I make mistakes, I can do the same. We love each other, no matter what.

3) The Atonement. Do we REALLY understand the amazing blessing it is? Do we REALLY understand what it means to have a mistake- large or small- removed, gone, cleaned up, paid for; that each of us can be clean and have a fresh start from wherever we happen to be? There is work involved, to be sure, but it's possible. The absolutely amazing part is that Heavenly Father wants it for us and has done everything He can to make it happen. He doesn't turn His back at mistake #1 say, "Forget it." and move on. He comes back everytime that we let Him. The other part of that is that He promises to make up any shortcomings we have as long as we're trying the best we know how. My best effort will be different than any of my children because we're different people, but the shortcoming will still be made up. Amazing.

4) There is nothing more valuable than knowing and doing for ourselves. I heard on the radio yesterday that studies show that paying children for grades or rewarding them with cash or treats for finishing schoolwork does absolutely nothing to help them scholastically. I think life is the same. If I choose to help out a neighbor because I will get a reward, I have very little chance of doing so a second time unless a reward is offered again. If, however, I help a neighbor because I love them and like the good feeling it brings, then my chances of repeating that behavior goes up dramatically. The same holds true for any choice we make. If we choose to do what's right because we want it and not because we're bribed or forced into it, we repeat it and become better people along the way. The key is it takes time and experience, neither of which is in huge abundance at the age of 18. Hopefully there has been enough before then to keep us trying afterward.

5) Keeping your eye on the end goal does wonders for motivation. Reaching that goal does wonders for confidence. Watching your kids do both feels fabulous. The only way it really happens, though, is to step back and encourage them from the sidelines. They have to decide for themselves what path to take and then move along it. I can advise, direct, and bounce ideas, but as they grow my job shifts to cheering, supporting, and encouraging.

So, two months to 16 and 20 months to "adulthood". Where are we? Pretty good in some ways, some work to do in others. Erica has done pretty well, despite the lack of experience on the part of her parents! How come I don't have all the right answers at this point that I seem to remember my parents having?! Guess we all keep trying our best and trusting our shortcomings will be made up in the end.

Never Mind (too good to be true)

2009-09-16T15:22:00.003-06:00

Erica came home from school to tell me that Parent/Teacher conferences for the high school are this afternoon. She just found out herself. That's the second major thing they've neglected to send notice home about. I'll have to check the school calendar online better, I suppose. Guess the rest of the shopping will have to wait.

Ahhhh!

2009-09-16T13:03:00.003-06:00

Did you know there is only one thing on my calendar to do this afternoon, and technically, since it's not until 6:00, it's not even in the afternoon? I also have another thing at 7:00 and a couple of regular things that have to be done but don't make the calendar (like "fix dinner"). I think I'll finish my grocery shopping in one day this week! Wow, I can almost kick back and put up my feet. Weird. Sure is nice after a Tuesday like yesterday.

Great Day

2009-09-12T17:10:00.004-06:00

The kitchen floor was mopped today. That's the biggest miracle in you-don't-want-to-know-how-long, so it doesn't really fall in the "Everyday Miracle" category. However, I'll take any miracle that might occur, and it really looks nice. I'd take a picture, but the batteries died this morning at soccer- can't have everything! Even Spencer noticed the floor and was a bit perturbed when his sock was wet. He looked up at me and with shock in his voice said, " You MOPPED the floor?" Guess it's been too long. We are eating dinner at the ward picnic, so the floor might get to be clean for several hours in a row. It won't know what to do with itself.

Oh, BYU won again this afternoon, 54-3 over Tulane. Yea! Go Cougs!

Happy Saturday night!

This Afternoon

2009-09-10T14:16:00.003-06:00

I've found that, lately, I've only had the time and memory space for 1 sentence "updates" on Facebook. Even a paragraph on a blog has been beyond my reach. Not much has changed today, other than I have 11 minutes and I feel like trying to link three sentences into a paragraph. Done. 10:30 to go. Cool.

So, this afternoon I get to go to SEP's (I think that's short for Student, Educator, Parent- basically a Parent/Teacher conference) for Steven and Ryan. I'm running out of kids at the elementary school and only have to juggle 2 schedules this year. Strange.

Afterwards I get to stop at church for a blood drive. Last May I donated and asked them to submit a tube of blood for a platelet count so I can get back into donating platelets again. They took the tube and filled out the paper, but I finally spoke with the coordinator this week and she never got any of it. So, we'll try again today for the platelet count and she went ahead and set up an appointment since I've donated in other states before. It seems weird to me that the different regions of the Red Cross can't communicate with each other to just transfer the info, but they can't. The coordinator assures me they are working on it. That's what the coordinator in NH told me, too, and it's been two years. Sounds like a computer novice, like myself, is doing the working.

Tonight we have 2 soccer games- Steven and Spencer/Joseph. Can I just say that I am SO grateful that soccer is only 5 weeks. We're about half-way through and I'm exhausted- and I'm not even doing the playing. I'm not sure who plans for soccer and school to start the same week, but they must not have kids. The big plus for me is that once soccer is done, I'll actually feel like we get a little break, which is unusual for our family in October.

About a month ago I gave myself a massive paper cut under the nail of my pointer finger. 12 hours later it woke me up aching terible. I got up to find this large chunk of very red skin sitting on the side of my nail that was able to sense if someone was even thinking about walking within 10 feet of my finger. No idea what happened. There were two points to this little story. 1) The chunk of skin has almost, almost gone, but is still pretty tender if it is hit. It looks like somehow a section of nail bed was lifted on top of the nail in my sleep that first night. I don't recommend it. Extremely painful. 2) I just realized that the weird typing style (1st finger pointing up in the air and 3rd and 4th finger doing all the work) I've had to use since then has become semi-permanent. It's hard to even consciously use that 1st finger to type. Just one more thing to make me unique, I suppose. I'll work on reteaching it to type.

Ok. Time's up. Off to SEP's. Have a fabulous day!

Reaping What Was Sown

2009-08-30T10:04:00.007-06:00

See these peaches? This morning they were still hanging on a tree, ripening in the sun. I've never picked peaches off the tree and then canned them. It's pretty cool. Thanks goes out to my neighbors that didn't want their fruit. There are more to do, but they're not quite ready yet. Maybe by Labor Day.

In other food news, fall must be somewhere near by as there are foods ready to harvest, eat, and store.

The season's first batch of peach pit syrup. It's made from peach pits some of my friends were canning last week. Hopefully there is a lot more to be had as I work on our peaches.

Here's some of the corn we ate for dinner. Lest I imply that all the corn cobs looked this good- the reason they got to be eaten for dinner was that they looked like real corn.

And here's most of the corn we froze. I didn't realize when I took this picture that I'd forgotten a batch that was still blanching on the stove. So, we ended up with 5 quart bags in all. It got to be cut up because these particular corn cobs were rather deformed looking and usually only partially filled with kernels. The earwigs got to quite a few of the strands of corn silk before everything could be fertilized. Darn bugs. At least I had the satisfaction of cutting down the corn stalks and creating lots of homeless bugs. Hope they move out of state.

One of our "watermelon" zucchini, but not the biggest we've had. I either forget to go out and check on it, or don't get the chance for a couple of days and then we end up with zucchini clubs.

Yep, that's all from one zucchini. It made 12 cups of puree that is now in the freezer waiting to be added to spaghetti sauce.

September is starting out crazy busy like August was, but there is something oddly satisfying about filling our shelves with jars of food. It's keeping me sane. Who'd have thought?!

Observations

2009-08-26T14:12:00.005-06:00

I sometimes notice the strangest things. Like, have you ever noticed that the hours between 8:30 and 2:30 go by much more quickly from, oh, say mid August to the end of May? Then again, maybe it's just a phenomenon that occurs in our city or house. I always have this list of things to do and never quite seem to cross everything off. Weird.

Also, I think someone is coming in and stealing my hours from 3:00-5:30. I keep looking up at the clock and they are just gone. Another great mystery. If you happen to see my hours laying around would you call me or wrap them up and mail them back? I could really use them. Thanks!

A Couple of Give-Aways, if you're interested

2009-08-25T12:42:00.003-06:00

My sister-in-law introduced me to the website $5 Dinners today. It's an interesting challenge to think about making dinner for 4 for less than $5 a day. They are running a couple of great give-aways this week in honor of their 1st "Blogiversary". This week you can still sign up to win a Sam's Club membership with $50 gas card and a $250 gift card to the grocery store of your choice. Just doing my part to get the word out (and enter to win!). Have a great day and good luck!

You're Invited!! (Or at least you should have been.)

2009-08-22T19:06:00.015-06:00

It's August. At our house that means lots of things are going on. This year the list looks something like this so far: the end of youth conference, Shan's birthday, a little Nelson reunion, Greg's birthday, Steven's birthday, friends visiting for BYU Education Week, the start of school, the start of soccer, the start of school again, the start of soccer for a second time, and our anniversary. I always hope that September brings a little bit of calm, but I'm giving up on that this year. So, bring on the rest of the birthdays and holidays and I'm looking forward to a fabulous nap in January. I've included a few pictures, if I have them, so you can feel a part of our month and all the celebrations, even if I forgot to send an invitation in time.

Shan in Maple Canyon on her birthday and at the end of Youth Conference (It's a "two-fer-one" shot. Facebook has the rest of the Youth Conference pics or email and I'll send you an invitation. The other birthday pics are of me blowing out candles with wet hair. They will not be posted here or on Facebook. Not even if you send me an email.)

Most of the Nelsons in town for our little reunion.
We're on the observation deck at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake trying to not be blown off. Majorly windy day. Others joined us later in the week, but I don't have any pictures.

Happy Birthday to all the Nelsons who have a birthday in August!
(Shan, Terri, Julia, Greg, Steven, Mike, and David)

Happy Birthday, Greg!
(He's holding the wooden knives that Steven carved for him.)

Happy Birthday, Steven!
He's holding the wooden knife Greg carved for him. It was a carving week. He also wanted this picture left just the way it was because, and I quote, "We look AWESOME with red eyes."

It was also an electric week capped with the complete dismantling of an old boom box when Steven got a new one for his birthday (which was still in the box at this point!). And I quote, "This is even better than video games!" So, I guess they really are happier without real presents. It may not be boxes like when they were 1, but old radios seem to make great presents. That should save on money spent at Christmas. (hint! hint!)

I forgot to take any pictures of our the two sweet ladies who stayed with us during Education Week, but they would go right here in our time line if they existed. I would like to make it to Ed. Week at some ppint. Unfortunately, it falls on the first week of school and I kind of feel like a mom ought to be around that first week. Maybe I'm crazy, but Ed. Week will still be there even when I don't have to think about the magical First Day of School.

That brings us to the first First Day of School:

Joseph- 7th grade

Steven- 5th grade

Ryan- 3rd grade (Yes, I TRIED to tell him those shorts didn't really match and couldn't he PLEASE make a better First Day impression and change into jean shorts, but he was quite adamant that black goes with blue and this is what he wanted to wear on his first day. Oh well. Moms worry about that kind of thing too much, I guess.)

The first First Day of school was also the first soccer game for Ryan this season.
(Don't you just LOVE his shorts? He does.)

A small diversion. Greg was working on a video project for the Library this week. This is the Science section at the library on the first First Day of School for us. Notice that it is empty. They have not started school, yet, and for some reason the people at Education Week don't stop down there much. I kept trying to get my friends to go down there for a nap because it's quite and there are soft couches to lay on, but I don't think even they stopped in. Oh well, their loss!

We had two first days of school because the middle school and high school use the first First Day of School as an orientation for the incoming 7th and 9th graders respectively. So, Joseph, Steven, and Ryan went on the first First Day. Erica and Spencer went on the second First Day.

Erica- 11th grade
(Yes, she catches the bus at "Sun-rise O'clock"- at least for now. Later in the fall and winter she catches it pre-dawn.)

Spencer- 8th grade

If we had a kindergartner we would have a third First Day, but that's not until next week and thankfully it won't impact our lives. Whew! Our little friend, Lizzie, is very anxiously counting down the days, though.

The second First Day also happened to fall on our 17th anniversary. It did not even dawn on me to take any pictures. Greg took the following:

because the second First Day and our anniversary also happened to be Steven's first soccer game day. It was also soccer practice for Spencer and Joseph as well as the open house at the middle school. Greg went with Steven while I took Spencer and Joseph. So, in order to have a little celebration, Greg took the day off and we went to the temple and out to lunch at the Sky Room Restaurant at BYU. (There are many, many Ed. Week people that visit the Sky Room. Maybe that's why they're not in the library.)

Well, that's it for now. Greg, Spencer, and Joseph had a scout camp out last night (no pictures, aren't you glad!) and we had a Stake picnic tonight.

As my friend, Lisa, named her- Erica Shortcake

Our friend, Dallas.
And everyone thinks we are boring people. Just look how wild and crazy we can be.

I thought it was nice of the Stake to fix dinner for me to celebrate our second-day-after-our-anniversary. Do you celebrate that day? We usually don't either.

Of Currents and Stiffness (and current stiffness!)

2009-08-12T21:40:00.004-06:00

I woke up today non-stiff and ache free for the first time in almost 2 weeks. I didn't even realize it until I was almost completed with an activity guaranteed to not allow that to happen twice in a row, at least this week. We had a little mini- Nelson family reunion last week here. For some reason, all the sitting and trying to sleep in the car while driving all over the state for various activities was not pleasant for my body. (I'm sure it had nothing to do with doing things like sliding on a slip and slide at Youth Conference two days before!) Tonight I got to go tubing with the Mia Maids (14-15 year old girls), Beehives (12-13 year old girls) and Teachers (14-15 year-old boys). The girls classes are combined right now, we weren't excluding the Deacons (12-13 year old boys).

The aching comes because I had naively assumed the activity would be like my most recent tubing adventures- the lazy rivers at various water parks. I was 16 the last time I actually tubed on a REAL river and it's not as lazy as the others. There were a lot more motions- like paddling and kicking- and slippery rocks in the real river than the lazy rivers I've encountered. I'm not saying it wasn't fun, I'm just saying that I'm stiffening as I speak. When, exactly, is it that all the exercise and push-ups correspond into non-stiffness during other activities? Isn't that supposed to be a benefit of regular exercise?!

Being the pre-novice that I was (am) to real river tubing, I was excited and a bit nervous. I was also suddenly very much more aware of the strength of a river current and the very noticeable lack of marked exits. The water was also F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G. I was told today it's about 52 degrees. All I know was it didn't take long for feet to be numb. I kept a little prayer running through my mind that went something like, "Please just keep me on this tube all the way to the end."

It wasn't to be. I did a pretty good job managing the "rough" (Hey, you don't get any water like this at Sunsplash, ok!) water. I was in a spot I thought was pretty mild when my tube suddenly flipped me into the water. It wasn't very deep- less than 18 inches- but the current was so fast and the rocks so slick that I couldn't get my feet under me. I was immensely grateful for the required life jacket I had on. I'm not sure I would have kept my head above water, otherwise. The whole experience was not long enough to be life threatening, but it was more than a little scary for those few seconds. I just held onto the tube and tried to get on it while scraping along the rocks for a bit.

My prayer changed. Now it was something like, "I can't stand up. This is hurting my shins. I don't want to do this anymore." Finally I remembered, "Help me." Then, I realized the rocks could do some pretty hefty damage if I stayed on them long enough. I still couldn't catch my footing and I just said, "Heavenly Father, I need to stand up now." And I did. And I eventually got back on the tube and made it to the end of the ride. And I really enjoyed it.

So, tomorrow I'll ache. And probably the day after and the day after before it fades away. But, I'll also know that when things were completely out of my hands and I had no where else to turn that the help I needed arrived when I needed it most. And hopefully that knowledge never fades away.

Mohawk Walk

2009-08-04T22:20:00.002-06:00

Trublu's question is what was the best team building activity. That's a tough question in a way. I think that, by nature, team building activities build on each other. So, it kind of makes sense that I think our best one was the last one. We'd had two days of doing things together and it all came together in the last one, called the Mohawk Walk.

The object of this one was to get everyone on your team completely along the rope without falling off. The rope itself was only about 6 inches off the ground, but was long enough to be a real challenge. You can almost see the whole thing in the picture. The beginning was along the left-hand side and the end was just past the boy in blue in the back of the picture. It took us awhile to figure out that you can't just scoot along on your own, or even just work in pairs. It took the entire team to get everyone across. We helped get team members out to each point to serve as anchors and then they helped everyone around. It took us a good 30 minutes for a team of 11.

As I said, though, this was the last in a line of several games we either spent time playing together or were specifically designed to increase our trust in each other. Our ward was even divided into two groups for most of the ropes course on the second day. And, while we did some of the same activities, we didn't do all of the same activities. I think the lessons learned and talked about carried over to the group as a whole, though.

Youth Conference

2009-08-03T15:47:00.004-06:00

I'd thought about posting a detailed account of youth conference, but decided it was too much work. (Can you say L-A-Z-Y?!) Then, I was asked about some of the things we did, so here it is. Thanks to trublu for getting my brain in gear and my fingers moving.

Our youth conference was just for our ward, so I think things ran a bit differently than it would for a stake. Our speakers were all from our ward- the YM President (knowing who you are)., YM 1st Counselor (building positive self esteem), the Bishop (the Atonement and repentance), and myself (modesty). Myself and the YM President were the first evening. The 1st Counselor and Bishop were the second evening.

As for activities- the first day we had the Snow Follies (lots of water and team building games- crab soccer, duck, duck, goose with dripping sponges, concentration, tug-of-war, etc.) and a huge water fight. After dinner we had speakers from 6-7:30, played Ultimate Frisbee for an hour and then let the kids have free time on campus until 10:00. Usually for free time the kids went over to the Activity center and either swam or played __________ (basket ball, volley ball, raquet ball, wally ball, etc.) or gathered in one of the apartments and played Uno, Phase 10, or Risk.

The second day- we did the ropes course (some ropes in the trees, but mostly team and trust building activities) from 9-12. After lunch we cleaned fire trucks for an hour, and had free time until dinner. After dinner we had two more speakers, then went to the dance held for all the youth groups there from 8:00-11:00.

Saturday morning we drove part way home and stopped in Maple Canyon for our testimony meeting. We hiked for about 15 minutes and met in a little box canyon with a water fall. It sounded very cool when we sang "Oh How Lovely was the Morning" and everyone's voices echoed off the walls. Afterward, those who wanted to stay, went rock climbing for a couple of hours and then went home.

The kids were great about all the activities. Some were not so excited about the Ultimate Frisbee, but everyone participated pretty willingly in most everything. They were great about participating in the talks in the evenings and watching out for and having fun with each other. Other than being completely exhausted from very little sleep, I could have gone another day or two. I really couldn't have asked for a better weekend with them.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like more/different details.

Never Say No

2009-08-02T18:50:00.006-06:00

We always talk about the fact that Heavenly Father in in charge and gives us the things we need. Sometimes they are things we think are fun and sometimes things we dread. The big kicker is to really believe that whatever comes our way is for our growth and happiness- despite our initial thoughts or feelings.

It's been almost a year since I was called to be the YW President. Wow, has time flown. The last big "first" was this past weekend. Our ward held a youth conference at Snow College in Ephraim, UT. It was so much fun! We played water games, participated on a ropes course, played Ultimate Frisbee, cleaned fire trucks for the city, listened to some great talks, hiked in a cobblestone canyon, and had very little sleep. A perfect mix with some pretty amazing people.

I think back to a year ago and how nervous I was to work with a bunch of girls I didn't know. Some experiences have been painful, but most have been incredible. How grateful I am that I didn't rob myself of these great experiences memories by thinking I was smarter than my Father. He really does know what He's doing.

Taking a Break from a Normal Day

2009-07-27T14:10:00.005-06:00

I was just thinking that I didn't have anything really to post about today when I heard fire trucks coming down the street. I opened the blinds to find a little diversion.

No word, yet, on how it started. The fire investigator thinks it's probably a cigarette tossed out a car window. That's the third fire this month within a block or two of our house. A little bit (or better yet, a LOT) of rain would not be a bad thing right about now. Let's hear it for such quick acting fire fighters!

Now, back to our boring, regularly scheduled day of cleaning which was already in progress.

I should probably write...

2009-07-23T11:56:00.004-06:00

As the title of this blog is "Everyday Miracles", the idea was to record everyday, or at least close to it. Who knew July 8 was so long ago!

So, what's miraculous about today, or even any of the last 15?

1) The pumpkins have lived and we actually have a pumpkin growing. For some reason, there are currently LOTS of male flowers on the plants, so one is all we have, but it appears there may be a couple more female flowers opening soon.

2) Two days ago I got all the laundry washed, folded, and into the right bedroom. Yesterday was the same, only because I never put any laundry into the laundry room. As a result, the baskets in the laundry room were put away and empty for more than 24 hours.

3) We had a Young Women presidency meeting that only lasted 45 minutes.

4) I found out that even though school is going to be starting a day later than originally announced, all of the extra days off have been canceled- I assume for budgetary reasons. Now we only have days off around actual holidays. I'm happy, Erica is not.

5) Steven and Ryan have somehow kept themselves nicely entertained even though Spencer and Joseph are at scout camp.

6) The heat has reminded me that the person who invented air conditioning deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

7) Sparkling blueberry frozen yogurt is really yummy. Another wonderful invention.

8) Saw a perfect clear double rainbow right outside the front door.

9) Made tofu spinach dip and people (most of whom were not related to me) actually liked it. Erica was the only real exception, though I'm not sure Greg ever had the chance to try it.

10) Watched Greg run the games for the little kids at the Library picnic and was reminded why he's such a great dad.

11) Joseph told me he likes baby carrots. (About fell down at that announcement.)

12) Ryan said he's beginning to like green beans. (Good thing I was already sitting down at the table. FYI- I don't know what the current "# of times to try before they like it" guide doctors are telling moms these days, but for us it was 8 years, 1 month, and about 2 weeks of having green beans a couple of times a week.)

13) USM didn't raise their tuition for Greg's MLIS program for the fall.

14) After a year of living here, Greg and I fixed the sprinkling system. Now, not only do all the heads spray like they should, not one of them needed to be replaced. They just had dirt, rocks, lint, and grass inside the filters or needed the spray levels adjusted.

15) I hiked up to the "Y" twice in 3 days and had fun doing so.

16) Saw the chewed piece of gum that some passerby thought would be funny to stick on the black car door handle in the hot sun before I put my thumb in it when opening the door after shopping and had a piece of paper handy to remove it.

So, what little miracles have happened for you today?

Repellent

2009-07-08T13:18:00.005-06:00

Trublu asked about the homemade repellent. My sister, Meri, gave the recipe to me over the phone. I've made it twice- once with the recipe and once without because I can't find where I wrote it down. It's probably a good idea to have it written down somewhere, though, so I can find it so next time I want it. So, here it is off the top of my head. Mer, if I got it wrong, leave a comment and let everyone know!

Insect Repellent (for plants, unless "salsa" is your fragrance of choice and you like a little tingle in your day!)

1 small onion
1 jalapeno pepper
2 cloves of garlic (I think, last time I made it I put in 4)
1 tsp. Murphy's Oil Soap
1 tsp. vegetable oil

Pulse the onion, jalapeno, and garlic in the blender. You don't want to liquify it, just make it into a pulp. Pour the pulp into a quart jar and fill with hot water. Let steep at least 2 hours. Mix the liquid from the pulp and water in a 3:1 ratio (water:pulp liquid). (I bought a spray bottle at Wal-Mart that has the amounts marked on the side.) Add the oil soap and oil. Shake and mist your plants several times a week.

Lessons from my massive one week of experience:

1) The first time I made it, I kept the pulp, adding fresh water every day, for a week. The potency lessened over the week, so I up-ed the concentration to 2:1 towards the end.

2) I did not keep it in the fridge, no real good reason why.

3) I spray every morning, except Sunday.

4) One spray bottle will do my entire garden- heavy misting on the zucchini and pumpkins, medium on the tomatoes, light on the corn, whatever's left on the strawberries and raspberry plant.

5) I do the tops and bottoms of each leaf of the zucchini and pumpkin, just the tops pf everything else.

5) At a 3:1 ratio, I can get at least 2, and pretty close to 3 spray bottles of mixture. At a 2:1 I get 2.

6) Doesn't seem to bother snails (drat!) outright but insects will take off if you mist them. Though, maybe they just don't like getting wet.

7) It's a great child repellent, at least at our house. The kids do NOT like the smell and complain and move away whenever I open the jar. (If that helps you have a quiet moment on any given boring summer afternoon!)

As I said before, I don't know if it really works or not, but I don't see the miniscule red bugs on the zucchini and pumpkin plants any more and they are growing new leaves that are pretty much chew-free. The corn hasn't had a bug problem at all and neither have the tomatoes that I know of, but I spray everything at least a little when I'm outside. Hope this helps!

So Far, So Good!

2009-07-07T17:15:00.004-06:00

We've finally had some really hot, sunny weather and the garden loves it. (Just to be rude and rub it in for my loved ones to the south, we finally have had the A/C on this last week!) A couple of months really makes a difference. The plants are up and mostly doing fine. The watermelon and lettuce never did make it past the planting stage. The cantaloupe came up, but that's as far as they went. The peppers have been pretty slow going, but it looks like they'll at least have leaves by the end of the summer. We'll see about actual pepper production. We had a few berries from the strawberry plants and now they're beginning to send out runners. Yea! Let's hear it for the ground cover! The tallest corn plants are almost up to my waist, which, once again, is a corn record for us. We've got a fabulous crop of weeds going on amongst the tomatoes, which will need support soon, and the snails have had a grand time with the pumpkins and zucchini. Sunday we had our first zucchini blossom and today there were 7. Hopefully we get zucchini soon. The pumpkins are beginning to produce vines, but no blossoms as yet. To be honest, right now I'm thrilled they seem to be overcoming the snails.

A neighbor originally told me the zucchini and pumpkins were being eaten by squash bugs which, according to her, are immune to all insecticides. All you can do is throw away the leaves that you find them on. That pretty much wiped out one plant. Thankfully my sister suggested a little homemade insect repellent. We've used it for a week or so now and it seems to help, but I'm not sure. As I said, we have a bumper crop of snails right now and I KNOW they were eating the plants. (Spencer picked a bucketful for me one day and threw them across the street. They are SO gross!) So, I don't know which pests were doing the most damage. If it wasn't insects, the plants at least seem to really like the spray. They're nice and green at the moment. The snail bait we put out last week seems to be cutting down on those pests and hopefully a little round-up will help me get back in control of the weed population. I've also found several black widow spiders, but we're out of spray and I don't really feel like going after them with my hands. They don't seem to be too interested in the plants, but I'm not sure they'd feel the same way about my fingers. One more thing to add to the list for tomorrow.

So, for my enjoyment and remembrance, here are a few pictures from this morning.

Forgetting

2009-07-02T13:36:00.004-06:00

Happy July! I had some time to myself at Sam's Club today and was thinking about aging and forgetting. Sometimes forgetting is good- like when you forget long enough about "that one time your son broke the faucet handle in the back yard three days before you were supposed to close on the sale of said house and spewed so much water you were sure the basement would flood and there goes the sale of your house" that now it's funny to remember. Sometimes forgetting is not so good- like when it involves leaving your lesson for YW home on the counter and you don't remember about it until you stand up to give the lesson- but I'm over that one now, too.

I haven't stopped forgetting, though. I do it frequently. And, from what I hear, I'll get to do more of it in my future. (Maybe I won't remember that I forgot. That would be nice!) For right now, I'm just staying in practice. Today is a great example.

A couple of weeks ago we invited two guys from a program called "Slow the Flow" to come to our house. As part of their water conservation eforts, they'll check out your sprinkling system to see how well it's functioning and give you steps you can take to more efficiently water your lawn. I was told that I needed to be watering my lawn 30 minutes a day every 4 days in June. That 30 minutes needed to be broken down into 3- 10 minute segments every hour or so to allow the water to soak deep into the grass. That encourages deep root growth and the roots of our grass were too shallow. (Probably because I was only watering 10 minutes 3 days a week. It's enough to make anyone shallow!) We also have a few sprinkler heads that need to be cleaned or replaced, but we haven't had time to do that just yet.

Back to today, I was outside checking on the garden when I noticed that one section of our side yard was drying out nicely. It gets full hot sun most of the day and since the sprinkler head there happens to be broken, it was getting 0 mintes of water every day. In an effort to save the grass, I turned on the hose with a little sprinkler head for 15 minutes on one half of the dry section and then moved it to the other half. Then I had to run inside for a minute.

I shut the door and that part of my brain turned off. I switched laundry, I read my scriptures, I grabbed my shopping list, I went to the post office, I got gas, and I went shopping (the really big- "Wow, you have no food in your house!"- kind of shopping) at Sam's, unloaded the car, talked with my Aunt Nancy and brother, Keith, and was working on putting the groceries away when I decided I was hot. It's a cooler, overcast day today, so all the windows were still open and the A/C was off. It's still only 80-ish, but humid as thuderstorms are supposed to be developing this afternoon. I turned on the A/C to dry out the air inside a little and began closing my windows. That's when I saw the sprinkler still sprinkling merrily away- 3 hours later! So much for slowing our flow!

Our side yard happens to be on a nice hill. So, one good thing about this whole esperience is that not only was the second half of the dry spot now very well watered, the over spray and drainage had also nicely watered the first half. Wish I could somehow average out all those 30 minute segments for the next couple of weeks.

Turns out that forgetting the sprinkler was also good for one other thing. As I was headed back in the house I noticed the box of frozen Eggo waffles still sitting on the ground behind the van. Where I had asked the kids to leave it as they were helping me unload. So I could put them in the freezer outside and not inside. I forgot. They were mostly still frozen as it had only been 15 minutes instead of 3 hours.

There are some definite reasons I am a list and routine kind of person. I need to go find both because I forgot where I put them.