Cute Faces

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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!