Life by Juju

. . . Let Me Sum Up . . .

2010-08-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

Our July vacation was beyond wonderful. I think everyone must visit the Pacific Northwest. The trees, the weather, the seafood . . . sigh. Wonderful. But just in case you were thinking this was going to be a travelogue post, think again! We'll get to that, but first, 'what did you read on vacation, Juju?' I'm glad you asked.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor. Newberry winner from 1977. This was a painful read, but I can't wait to do it again. If you want to do a little civil rights study, pick this one up. It's so painful to think that this story took place in my parents generation. This was not 200 years ago, safely removed from all of us. This is a safe read for kids. It's dark, but not grotesque. Thanks to our road trip, I went through this one in a flash.

Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale. Newberry honor from 2006. Fantastic! So fun, but with a great message. I read on Shannon's blog (note how I call her Shannon, pretending we actually know each other?) that she never sets out trying to write a book with a 'message', but they usually just end up that way. This is a darling story, but not a 'useless princess is saved from the mean ogre by the all-capable warrior prince' story. I don't want to give away too much on this one. You MUST read it! Also a very quick read and not too hard for the young kids. Bug read this one in the second grade, and still remembers it.

Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Holy Cow! I purposely avoided this one, not wanting to buy into the hype. But any book that keeps me totally engrossed for 12 hours is a definite winner. BJ bought me this one before we came home, knowing he'd have four children asking him 'are we there yet?' every five minutes unless he did. The plot twists in this one were crazy. Totally unique plot, well written, fast paced . . . perfect vacation reading! I'm so excited for the second book in the series. I'm only number 128 on the library's hold list! Yeah, me!

And since we returned from vacation, I finished The Giver, by Lois Lowry. Newberry Award winner from 1994. Ever wondered what life would be like if we had chosen Satan's plan? Read this book and find out. This would be an amazing book group choice. Tons of discussion threads, an easy-quick read. And for the literary critic in all of us, lots of technical 'stuff' to chew on. I personally did not care for the ending. And from reading reviews on Goodreads, most agree with me. But, I think the way Ms. Lowry ended the book was totally intentional, and meant to be another book group discussion topic. ;)

On my nightstand right now? (drum roll please) Dracula, by Bram Stoker. So far I'm loving it. It's kind of like Jane Austen decided to write a horror book. There's murder and mayhem going on all around, but we're being very polite about it, and we're all impeccably dressed. Only downside is this is not the quick read-pick it up at bedtime-for a busy lady who still likes to read, kind of book. There is much concentration and slow turning of the pages going on right now.

And don't worry, I'll get to that travelogue soon. And the first day of school, and the toothless wonder at our house, and the finished landscaping . . . sigh, I need a nap!

By Popular Request

2010-08-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Just don't tell her you saw this. ;)

Keep On Smilin!

Don't Land In The Brocolli

2010-07-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

Has it been over a month?! Well, I was distracted by non-Newberry reading for a bit. If you're interested in those, you'll just have to check out my goodreads list! Are you intrigued yet?

My return to Newberry-land was a doozy! 2010 Newberry Award winner When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, was fantastic! You've really got to pick this one up and check it out for yourselves, especially if you're a fan of A Wrinkle In Time. It won't take you long to read, don't worry. I finished this one in a few days of quiet before-bed reading plus a mini road-trip.

The writing in this book is excellent. The voicing, the format, her syntax . . . they all combine to draw you into Mira's world. A special treat was how the author inserted great descriptions of Mira's surroundings. I could feel the textures of the walls as she describes them. Excellent! The story is so clever and unique and tackles several ideas seamlessly. And don't quit before the end or you'll miss one whopper of a plot-twist! Well, maybe I should say, it was quite a twist for me. A contributor to a message board I read said he had the whole thing figured out. I guess I'm just not quite that fast on the uptake!

Definitely put When You Reach Me on your reading list. And then call me so we talk about it!

I've got quite the road trip coming up, so I'm packing two books with me: The Princess Academy, and Mr. Popper's Penguins. Stay tuned, everybody!

Have You Ever Felt Like You Just Didn't Belong?

2010-06-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

I recently finished The Moorchild, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, an honor award winner from 1997. For anyone interested in 'fair folk,' Scottish folklore, and an interesting commentary about who 'fits in' where, give this one a go. As I'm reading these Newberry books, I'm learning that a big part of what makes a Newberry a Newberry is a timeless story with several levels of meaning, that could hold meaning for an adult just as well as a child. A literary onion, if you will.

On the downside, this was kind of a chore to get through to the end for some unknown reason. I guess a great thing about the library is the deadline. And I'm nothing if not sensitive to a deadline. Ithink if I didn't 'have to' finish it, it would still be sitting on my nightstand. And my nightstand is a pretty busy place right now.

I'm taking a temporary Newberry detour for my next few books. Those pesky libraries and their deadlines! I've had these books on request from the library for so long, I totally forgot about them. But don't worry, I'll be back! Think Penguins and Pigs and Princesses, oh my!

Why Bri and Adam Should Sleep With Their Camera Under Their Pillow

2010-06-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

Random Monday afternoon, not much to do but play with Bri's camera!

This little one definitely has the Hallstrom eyes, but her mother's Type-A tendencies. Remember how there is absolutely no middle ground with this little girl? Euphoric happiness or the depths of despair. Take your pick.

This tween of mine (yikes!) has discovered iPods, biking with friends, and e-mailing. Lucky for me, she hasn't discovered boys yet. I'm really not ready for that yet.

Apparently, Guy's pics were so great, the computer was jealous and won't let me post them. But trust me on this one, my Guy can take a picture.

I'm frantically trying to get prepared for the summer months. So far I've got zoo trips, movie madnes, lots of reading and (gasp!) music practicing, rec classes, swimming lessons, museum trips, art projects, maybe teaching the girls to sew (meaning I'd have to learn first myself) . . . I figure that should last us until about June 15th. Ahh, summer!

Those Lucky Storks . . . and two Guest Interviews!

2010-05-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

I just finished The Wheel On The School, by Meindert DeJong, this afternoon. This book was the Newberry Award winner from 1955. I was a tad worried about the 1955 issue, but found the story to be sweet, charming, and engaging. I felt I was reading one of those Russian nesting dolls. Stories weaved into stories, and those stories had stories to tell. Plus, I have a new, sudden urge to make myself wooden shoes and a weird pointy hat.

What I learned: This would be a great story to read if your children are studying European History. It would lead into a great discussion of what life was like in Holland at this time, and what Storks meant to their society. In fact, we may just have to do that here at home. Ooh! A summer acivity in the making. My children won't know what hit them.

Now, on to new and better things: a Guest Interview with Bug, quizzing her about the book she just finished: Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater, a Newberry Honor book from 1939.

Me: So, Bug, did you like this book?

Bug: It was good.

Me: Fascinating. What made it good?

Bug: He took care of 12 penguins and went all over the country to perform.

Me. I see. Would you like your friends to read this book?

Bug: Yes.

Me: Care to elaborate?

Bug: In the end, he goes to the North Pole for two years.

Me: Sounds like a great place for an ice cream cone. Well, thank you, Bug. You've been great to have here on my blog. Now go to bed!

Bonus: Guest interview with Belle, who just finished Mercy Watson to the Rescue, by Kate DiCamillo, Newberry Author extraordinare. This is an easy-reading book, but with all the wit and fun of a DiCamillo book.

Me: Belle, you just read Mercy Watson's first adventure to me. A perfect book for a 1st grader getting into reading indepently. What did you think?

Belle: It was really, really, good.

Me: Sounds wonderful. What was your favorite part?

Belle: I think it would be the part where Eugenia was chasing Mercy.

Me: My stars! Belle, this is the first book in a series. Are you going to bug me until I buy you the rest of the books?

Belle: Yes.

Me: Well, talk to Grandma. She's the one with the Barnes and Noble card. Now, off to bed with you!

We're having a great time with our evening reading. Both Mr. Popper's Penguins and Mercy Watson were bestowed on our family by my mother, a former elementary school teacher and librarian, who has a little known talent: she has absolutely 100% fail-proof taste in books, especially kidlit. Don't believe me, ask for a recommendation. You won't be disappointed.

Next up: Mr. Popper's Penguins (you didn't think I was going to let Bug have all the fun, did you?), The Moorchild, by Eloise McGraw, and The Baseball Box Prophecy, by Bruce Newbold (Brett's Mom handed me this one, and I can't resist). I think I may need to wish for a back injury, a massive bout with insomnia, or something of the like. Then again, maybe the pile of books on my nightstand will topple over and kill me in my sleep. ;)

Happy Reading, Everyone!

P.S., if you'd like to see some incredibly cute and well-bred children, take a peek over here.

Can You Scrumb Your Savvy?

2010-05-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

I just finished Savvy, by Judith Law, last night. Can I just say I'm loving reading these books? There's so much less pressure reading a short kidlit for a few nights right before bed than an 800 page epic, requiring a dictionary and several e-mails back and forth to my more intelligent friends, asking for clarification!

Savvy was a Newberry honor book last year, and is a perfect fit for the pre-teen crowd. It has a fun story, but also has a lot to say about growing up, friends, and finding your place in the world. I tried reading it to the girls with my best midwestern drawl, but I'm afraid I left a little to be desired. I thought the character of Mibs was a great example to girls; someone who didn't have all the answers and wasn't perfect, but still knew right from wrong. Plus, there's nothing like a bunch of kids getting themselves in one crazy mess to make a story really interesting!

In conclusion ;), I feel totally comfortable recommending this book for you and your little ones. Or just you. Or just your little ones. You get the idea.

And just in case you were worried, I am working on a multitude of other projects. Summer's coming on fast (!), and I'm going to be ready! Plus (wait for it), I sewed yesterday! Yep, that's right. Don't get too excited, it was just a straight seam, but baby steps, right?! Plus, I'm a few closets closer to being able to die peacefully. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. The chance that my mother will be the first person in my house in case of my untimely demise keeps me extremely healthy!

Next up on my nightstand, The Wheel on the School, by Meindert DeJong, Newberry Award winner from 1955. This could be interesting.

A Project! Because Apparently I Have Nothing Else Going On

2010-05-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across a couple blogs this last week of people who set about to read all the Newbery Award books. The Newbery Awards have been given out every year since 1922. That's a lot of books to read, even in the kidlit division! So, I'm beginning the task of chipping away at that list. So far, I've finished the 2009 and 2008 winners.

The Graveyard Book, by N. Gaiman. This was very fun to read. A very unique story, extremely well written. Kind of dark in a Harry Potter/Twilight way (but then again, isn't everything these days?).

What I learned: When referring these books to children, don't just assume that if they won the award, they're totally appropriate for any age. Check for a YF or JF designation. YF is for Young Adult fiction. The Graveyard Book is definitely Young Adult fiction. JF is for Juvenille Fiction. Much better for the younger ones.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, by L. Schlitz. Totally interesting, well written, containing new information to me from the medieval period. The play format was very cool, and I could see my daughter's 4th grade class reading and performing this book aloud. Absolutely safe for children of any age. I read this one in a couple of hours over about three nights.

What I learned: A Newberry book should be a book that is written very well, and one that children will enjoy reading. Although this book is written very well, there is no way 99% of the children of the world would pick this book up and read it for enjoyment. It would be like one of us saying, 'Gee, I think I'm going to pick up a copy of Grey's Anatomy and peruse it this weekend'. Sorry, not going to happen.

Right now I'm reading Savvy, by I. Law. This was an Newberry Honor book from 2009. I also just received from the library The Wheel on the School by M. De Jong, the 1955 award winner, and The Moorchild by E. McGraw, a 1997 honor book.

What I'm enjoying most about this list is I can just do a little before-bed reading and get through these pretty quickly, for the most part. I know I'll slow down at some point and actually read a book meant for an adult, but for now I'm having a great time.

If you'd like to read a few of these with me, check out this link. http://www.slcolibrary.org/rc/rcwr/pdf/booklists/booklistNewbery2010.pdf. This link is courtesy of my friend the librarian. Doesn't everyone need one of those? I think so. Again, check for the YF or JF designation when deciding to let little ones read these, or to read these to little ones.

Oh, and remember how I'm really offended if you're not a Goodreads friend with me? Yep. I am. And there's only one way to redeem yourself. You know what to do.

Merci Beaucoup!!!

2010-04-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have such an amazing support group of family and friends. It's positively marvelous! As of this afternoon, our team has raised over $1,200 for the MS Walk 2010! That's so great for our first year doing this. Thank you all so much! Really, you are all wonderful. You support us in so many ways, and to have you contribute by walking and donating to this cause so close to us, is just fabulous.

There's still time to join us tomorrow or donate. Here's the link for the walk. http://walkutu.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WLK_UTU_homepage

From this page you can either sign-up to walk or donate to our team or an individual walker on our team. We're the Hallstrom Family Team. (Note to Self: think up a much cooler name for us for next year! ) For all you bikers, the Bike MS ride in Logan is coming up in June!

Again, thank you all so, so much!

Well, Have You Signed Up, Have Ya, Have Ya?!

2010-04-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

We're getting close to the Salt Lake MS Walk date, Saturday, April 24th! I would love it if you would come walk with us. Or even better, donate to this great cause and walk with us!

We are so close to a real stop to this disease, I just know it. The MS Society helps fund research going on around the country, and provides services to people fighting MS and their families.

Let me know if you're interested in joining us, and I'll send you a link. And if you have signed up, you should have received an information packet by now. You have to bring the donation envelope (even if it's empty) and a waiver form with you to participate next Saturday.

Love to All!

Bon Anniversaire, Ma Belle!

2010-04-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

So we spent Belle's birthday driving back from Canada. 12 hours strapped into a booster seat. Happy Birthday! But, we partied like it was 1999 on Friday, and as you can see, she seemed to do just fine for the most part on her big day.

How we love this little munchkin! Some of the Belle Highlights of this year -- 1st Grade! Full day school, school lunch. It's all very exciting

-- New House, New School, New Ward, New Friends (that one took about 30 seconds)

-- Riding a Two Wheeler, all around the neighborhood, all the time!

-- Lost her First Tooth

-- First Sleepover

-- First Cupcakes all by herself! Pink and Purple, of course.

We just adore our little sweetheart. Her absolute favorite thing to do is help people. Brother, Sister, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Cousins, Friends . . . she loves them all and loves to help them and feel grown up.

Happy Birthday, Belle!!

Oh Yeah, and Then There Was Easter!

2010-04-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

We had a really great Easter this year. Conference was amazing as always, and I'm feeling really motivated to do better. But, since none of you read my blog for my random blatherings, hear are some pictures of the kids. I know where your loyalties are!

But wait, Juju, don't you have three children? Why, yes I do. But my third was naked at this point in the day and refused to put his outfit back on. So, stay tuned for Easter outfits redux, including all three children and much, much, much better pictures!

Notice the Guy didn't miss the candy portion of the day.

Goals for Next Year: Easter Egg Hunt (didn't get that done this year), decent Easter pictures (my camera! oh, my camera!), baskets on the Saturday before Easter (you know, to celebrate Easter, not the arrival of the Easter Bunny), and an Easter countdown. So, all of you check in on me next year and see how I did, ok?!

Next up, a certain little girl has a birthday!

So, What Do You Post About When You Really Have Nothing To Post About?!

2010-04-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly harassed by my 'blogging' friends about how often I post. "This is your Family Journal," they say. "Your kids will look back on your blog and wonder what you did as a family!" Well, let's try to sum up the last two months, to catch y'all up!

-- Belle is up and running on her two-wheeler! Yeah, Belle! She's having a great time crusing the neighborhood with her friends.

-- Guy's decided he wants to ride the smallest two-wheeler, with training wheels. Sometimes. Some days, it's just 'too big.'

-- We survived another piano evaluation season for Bug. Two Saturdays of performance and other evaluations in sight reading and technique. I think we're both a bit worn out, because there has not been much practicing going on this week, since we've finished up.

-- New cabinet pulls and a new patio! Stay tuned for sprinklers and grass and everything! Woohoo! And we're using under our stairs as a new reading cave for the kids. They love it! Plus, it keeps that area much neater than using it for toy storage. What a nightmare that was!

-- Severe crafty blahs! I have plenty of projects screaming my name, but all I want to do is sit in my chair and read. If you're not a Goodreads friend with me, by the way, consider me offended.

-- Niece Maggie arrives this month! We're not sure when exactly her parents are going to get to hold her. Maybe they can have the 10 pm - 7 am shift. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. But I can't wait to hold a baby again! The smell, the tiny head, the cute little tongue . . . heaven.

-- On the other end of the spectrum, my oldest nephew will be married next month and moving away to Ohio. I was one of the first to babysit him after he was born. Is he really old enough now to be getting married? Am I really that old?!

-- I am desperatelyl seeking a new hairstyle! I have a great friend who cuts my hair and does a great job, but I'm so styling deficient and have SO MUCH hair, it always ends up looking the same. Suggestions? Kind ones, please!

-- Conference starts tomorrow. Everyone make sure and watch Sunday morning session, you may just see a familiar face. Just saying.

Have a wonderful week everybody. I promise to post again soon with finished projects, home projects finished up, and kids lapping up the sunshine!

So This Is What The Sky Looks Like!

2010-02-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

For the President's Day Holiday, we ventured down south for a little sunshine. January is depressing enough, but it seems like mother nature always agrees with us and seals our little valley of happiness in a grey, smoggy, nasty haze from December 26th to March 1st. Very blahh.

But down here, the sky is shining, the birds are singing, the kids are playing soccer (a lot of it), and the retirees are cruising around in their custom golf carts.

This sums up our vacation very nicely. Lots of playgrounds. Yes, we do have them here, but apparently not only is the grass greener, but the slides are, in fact, slipperier on the other side. We didn't do Zion's, no jaunts to Vegas or Mesquite for a $.99 all you can eat prime rib dinner. It was a quiet, slow, great weekend.

What vacation would be complete without a corndog the length of your arm? This was the real deal folks, dipped and fried while you wait. And The Guy ate every crumb.

No fathers were harmed in the making of this photo. I didn't think my dad had this in him. There's certainly something to that Dixie air.

These kids were spoiled like crazy by these favorite people of mine all weekend long. They're already asking us when can go back. I think Grandma and Grandpa need a little recoup time, but we'll definitely be back.

Ahem Merry Christmas!

2010-02-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

Just to demonstrate that I am not a bad mother, shirking my duties of "memory preservation." I present now, my painfully cute children.

Please ignore the slight glossy look in Belle's eyes. She tore her tights at church (don't ask, you don't want to know), and was very upset that I might include her knees in the picture. This one's future husband is going to have the ride of his life, let me tell you!

Doesn't he just look like a GQ, Jr. model? We all agreed that vests are a fabulous look for him. I'm currently in the market for a cryogenic freezer to keep him little. The thought of him growing up makes my heart break, just a little.

Whever I look at this picture, I think of a song from The Sound of Music. I must have done something good somewhere along the line to deserve these beautiful spirits in my life.

Have a fabulous week, everyone, and be sure to appreciate every blessing in your life!

MS Walk 2010 -- And This Time I Mean It!

2010-01-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

OK, so I'm not giving myself any excuses this year! My team is all set up and I'm registered. The Salt Lake walk in on April 24th at the Gateway. I hope you'll all come with me.

For even more info., click here: http://walkutu.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WLK_UTU_homepage

Send me a comment or an e-mail, and I'll respond with our team name. It doesn't cost anything to sign-up and register, but they do give you a suggested fundraising goal. Anything we can do will help, I'm sure. My goal is to have 30 people on our team this first year, whether you walk or not.

So let's all get signed up and get going!

p.s. There is also a bike ride and walks in other areas around the state and nation. No excuses here, people!

A Christmas Copycat

2009-12-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

Santa left a message for the Guy!

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/51cb73f2650cdfa1c5b2dd96527b3214

My sincerest apologies to Meghan, but this was so fun, and my Guy loved it so much, I had to post this.

p.s. Meghan, am I still on your Christmas Card list? ;)

Merry Christmas, everybody. Try to slow down, simplify and really enjoy what this season is all about!

An Apology To All My Faithful Readers And A Glimpse Into The Weirdness That Is Me!

2009-12-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

Wow, that's a lot of words for very neglected blog. I have only myself to blame. The tech gods are not smiling and I'm not the best at adapting to such things. But we're up and running and functional, no thanks to Dell and their laptops!

So, to make up for my lack of pictures (still working on that one . . . again, just lazy), here are some really weird things to laugh about me and my family:

1. I cry . . . a lot. I cry when I'm sad, frustrated, angry, tired, scared . . . or happy, excited, or thankful. The only way to keep me from crying is to go for an extremely boring middle ground. Just ask BJ. I cried at choir practice today while watching my oldest sing a Christmas carol. I need serious help here!

2. I hate it when toilet lids are left up. Not the seat, which is a univeral given, but the lid. I've been known to walk into random strangers houses and put their toilet lids down. No joke.

3. Messy, disorganized rooms make me extremely cranky and irritable. Now, you would think this would mean my entire house is extremely neat and organized. Yeah, you'd think that. Let's just say, my kids have learned secret hand signals for "duck and cover." Momzilla is alive and well in Utah!

4. My youngest has a very creepy habit of coming to our bed in the middle of the night and just standing there, staring at us until we wake up. Very creepy.

5. Bug has recently become my theater buddy. We went to a production of "A Christmas Carol" (of movie fame). Very fun mom/daughter time. Middle child, on the other hand, refused to go. Flat out, no thank you. Rather than fight this battle (there are many with my darling, much loved, middle child), we took one of Bug's friends. A great night. As we were leaving, Belle almost sings to me 'I'll go next time.' Sigh.

6. We are arts lovers at our house, all types. We love to read, draw, play music, all that stuff. Math and science are constant struggles. I've been helping Bug with her math every night for over an hour. And she's still getting some of the problems wrong! Me worried? Nah.

7. I love to shovel snow. After it's stopped and warmed up a bit, mind you. I actually prefer to shovel it by hand, over snowblowing. It's a quiet time to be outside during winter and think. I'm also a bit compulsive about it, though. Everything has to be completely clean and dry and track free. It irritates me when people drive on my driveway before I shovel it. Please don't do it.

8. I have a secret crush on the entire Duggar family, of "18 Kids And Counting" fame. Anyone who can literally build a house themselves, homeschool 18 kids and still form a complete sentence, must be very cool. I won't comment on their oddities, I've got enough of my own to worry about!

9. I go to bed very early most nights. Some nights my kids are barely in bed before I'm headed there myself. You want to see me cranky? Tell me about a project that needs to be done for the next day at 8:30 the night before. (Or leave a toilet lid up, or put me in a messy room . . . that will work too.)

10. In an alternate reality, I live on a cattle ranch, have my own horse and extremely cool boots, drive a big truck and listen to country music openly. I blame my pioneer stock.

OK, now you can laugh at me at will.

Please stay tuned for our favorite Christmas traditions and our month-long Holiday Fest-a-palooza!

New Pencils and a Pink Pearl Eraser

2009-08-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

My girls ran for the bus on their first day of school this week, hardly even looking back to see their mom bravely trying to hold it together. I'm doing really well, if I do say so myself (after a few days' perspective).

I have grand plans of accomplishing much and doing much good while I have a few relatively quiet hours with just me and The Guy. I'll let you know how I do. I'm trying to think of some activities we can do together to keep both of us engaged and entertained during our quiet day and take advantage of this precious time I have left with him. We've done the park, the library . . . and way too much screentime! I've only got two years until he starts kindergarten, too!

Deep Thoughts . . . While Weeding

2009-08-17T13:46:00.001-07:00

We had the amazing opportunity yesterday to sit here yesterday and listen to a Prophet of God. It was, well, amazing. (OK, so I'm not one of the professional writers in our family, I'll admit.)

As I stood on the front steps of this temple, I saw this (which is also where I had just been to drop off #2 and #3 Messmakers, a short ten-minute drive away):

From that same spot, I saw this:

On a clearer day, I most likely could have seen this:

And about a 25 minute drive away, just around the bend in the mountains, I knew this temple stood:

When I walked out of my garage this morning, I looked across the valley and saw this:

Within an hours drive from my home, I can attend one of eight temples. In my state there are 13 operating temples (well, come Monday).

At the temple dedication, BJ's dad spoke about families in Mongolia, who in order to receive the blessings of the temple, sell literally every one of their earthly possessions, and travel by train for three days (and this is no Amtrax, people) to receive their endowments and be sealed as a family for time and all eternity in the Hong Kong temple. Add the three-day train trip home, this family has traveled by train for one full week and sacrificed everything they own to attend the temple. It takes me 10 minutes to drive to the closest temple. And talk about a temple district: the Hong Kong temple serves half the population of the world. Our temple district serves the population of one small county in one small state in the U.S.

As I took a painfully honest look back at my temple attendance over the last 11 years of my life, I was not exactly thrilled. We have not been horrible in our attendance, but it sure wasn't a track record I'd be comfortable presenting to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, given my amazing access to temples here.

How many people do we know who, while living in the shadow of the temple, have chosen to walk away from those covenants? And do you think that family who sacrificed everything they had and spent an entire week just to go to the temple once would ever dream of betraying those covenants after those sacrifices had been made?

IT OCCURS TO ME THAT (wow, this had better be good, I'm using all caps here) the things that matter the most to us in life are the things that we have sacrificed the most for. Maybe when things are just a bit too easy, we end of taking them for granted. Perhaps if we really had to sacrifice for what we believed, it would mean that much more to us. Perhaps.

Maybe if I had to run away from a mob with my three children, leaving my house and everything in it behind, just because I believed in a book; or maybe if my entire family treated me as if I were dead, or even tried to have me killed, because I listened to two white, Christian missionaries from some strange church; or maybe if I poured my own actual blood, sweat and tears into building a temple so that one day my great-great-great grandchildren could pass by six temples in the course of a day . . . maybe I'd make that temple an absolute center point in my life. Maybe.

So, next time you're weeding or scrubbing your house or exercising or any one of those tasks where you distract yourself by letting your mind wander, think about what really means the most to you in your life, and the sacrifices you make every day that make those things so important to you.

11 Years Down, Eternity to Go!

2009-08-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

It truly does seem like yesterday, even though this picture screams otherwise.

Happy Anniversary, Honey. I love you!

Happy B-Day to the B-Jay!!

2009-07-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

My darling hubby turns ____ today. In truth, he doesn't have the same age issues I do, but since we're the same age, I can't tell you how old he is today!

BJ is my best friend and the person I want to tell everything to. Sometimes he doesn't want to hear it all, but I want to tell him all the same!

We love watching movies (Star Wars and Star Trek are two of our favorites), road trips (Canada and maybe even Alaska?!), and anything we probably shouldn't eat! Topping our favorites list there is Chinese and Mexican, and did I mention dessert?! Sad but true, our house is the house where every good-intentioned diet goes to die!

I'm a little bit embarassed to say he's the master chef at our house. Man do we eat good around here! Remember how our house is a diet graveyard? Yeah. Anyone who's stayed with us knows exactly what I'm talking about.

BJ refuses to do anything for himself, and spoils his children outrageously. They love him for it! The Guy can now turn on the crocodile tears on demand and get just about anything he wants from his dad. Truly, anything. Pray he can't do that when he's 16 or we may have a Mustang sitting in our garage on his birthday.

He works so hard every day and has made my dream possible of staying home to raise our short, noisy roommates. I 150% respect him as the priesthood leader of our home and express gratitude every day in my prayers to have a worthy priesthood holder in my home.

I love him a million swedish fish. His kids love him a million blue M&M's.

Happy Birthday, BJ!

How Is This Possible?

2009-07-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

My baby turned Nine over the weekend!

(She was obsessed with the sand at our uncle's lake in Calgary.

Apparently a trip to Hawaii is in order.)

We bought her a hat which she immediately put on and pulled a very teeager-ish attitude, for about 5 minutes. She now insists on ordering for herself when we go out to eat, can't be bothered with anything with a "character" on it (except for The Jonas Brothers, heaven help me) and carries a purse with her wallet, lotion and lip gloss in it everywhere she goes. Where did my little girl go?!

The beautiful thing about my Bug is that we are becoming better friends the older she becomes. Knock on wood that we can keep that up over the next 12 years or so! She is so helpful with anything I need, much more than any other child her age I've seen. She's beautiful and talented and just about perfect, as least as far as this mother's concerned.

I've loved every minute of the last nine years (yes, even the gross, frustrating, tiring ones) and I am so glad that this sweet little spirit is mine for all eternity! I guess I can let her go to school next month, but she'd better hurry right home at the end of the day!

Why We'll Miss Hong Kong . . .

2009-06-29T11:19:00.001-07:00

Totally unique, one of a kind bath linens!

(Don't worry if you don't get it . . . it took us three years and a six year-old to figure this out.)

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in my life!

My father is an amazing guy, probably because he'd think you were crazy if you said as much to him. Everyone needs someone like my dad in their life, someone who loves you totally unconditionally, no expectations or judgments attached. I honestly can't remember many examples of my dad sitting me down and teaching me things as I was growing up, but so much of what I know today came from watching him work and serve. His testimony is borne everyday by the way he lives his life and serves him family.

My two brothers are also fabulous dads. It's so interesting to see their differing styles with their children but how they both have managed to raise incredible kids, who I'm so happy to now call my friends. Our favorite bit with my Guy is to ask him "Who loves you?" His first reply is always "Daddy." His 2nd answer is always "Uncle Paul and Uncle Tom."

My father-in-law is such a great example to us and so loving and caring to all of his family. You will never hear him talk about the sacrifices he has made to serve Heavenly Father wherever he's been asked, because to him they are not sacrifices. He has a fabulous way of knowing what each of his children need and does whatever he can to help and support his family as they work to accomplsih their goals. His testimony and example of service are a fabulolus gift to myself and my children.

The father of my children is my favorite person on this planet (obviously !) So much of what I'm able to accomplish everyday is because of what he does everyday. Because of some struggles that he has that most people do not know about, everyday tasks are much harder for him than for the rest of us. I know I should tell him this a lot more, but everyday in my prayers I express gratitude to him for all he does everyday for us. He is a such a tender parent, spoiling his children outrageously because he just can't stand to be the mean parent! (Don't worry, I pick up the slack there.) He's a pretty stoic guy, but you'll often see tears in his eyes if one of his kids has to be seriously disciplined. Most families will say they always needed to know where their mom was, but in our family it's a daily countdown to when Daddy comes home, particularly for my Guy, aka Daddy's Shadow. My kids are so incredibly blessed to be able to grow up with his loving influence in their lives.

So, I've been pretty serious and poetic today, but I seriously love all of these guys. Us moms usually think so much about our rolls, all the work we have to do everyday, all the pressures heaped on our heads, you know the drill. But these guys of ours labor daily under such incredible pressures. They are painfully aware of how much we rely on them, and how great their responsibilities are.

So, give your dad a hug today and tell him he did a great job . . . just look at how spectacular you turned out!

Welcome Home!

2009-06-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

OK, so here we go, as promised. But before we begin, I must say I truly need about 8,000 photography lessons. Please bear with me.

(I'm suce a lemming . . .)

I'm a huge fan of the exposed beams, and the color, and the huge porch . . . a real fan.

Please let me intrudoce my fourth baby, our new piano! It's so fabulous, I barely let anyone touch it. But that will soon change, something that is both good and bad!

Where all the action happens, including totally inappropriate amounts of video game playing.

Here we have the living room fireplace. No, I haven't hung up any pictures yet. Hammers and I have mutual phobias of one another. I tend to mutilate walls with about 50 holes before I have it right. I'm waiting for the experts!

My Bugs room. She's having so much fun putting things in just the right place, and not having to worry about a brother and sister "messing with her stuff." Yikes, I'm seeing puberty on the horizon here. Please send help!

Smellies room (shout out to Kara!) She sleeps in a different bed each night. ;)

My FAVORITE room! It stretches around the corner and under the porch. Imagine it filled with a year's supply of tomato soup. I already have three Costco sized packages of toilet paper, or "Mountain Money" as BJ calls it. I figure in an emergency it will become legal tender.

So, there's a quick tour of our new home. We're having so much fun getting settled, organizing and putting things away, meeting new friends and becoming a part of the community.

We're definitely having a "Staycation" year this summer, with the exception of a much-loved trip to Canada! We're looking forward to a bike-riding, roller-blade riding, swimming pool visiting, memory-making summer!

Dr. Spock, Eat Your Heart Out!

2009-05-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

My extremely brilliant son potty-trained himself this weekend. Seriously. There were no charts with stickers, treat boxes, towels on every surface of my house, begging, pleading, screaming, patches of hair missing from the back of my head. We're just done.

What is this miracle, you say? How did you manage such a feat? Please, publish a book so we can all bask in your brilliance! Well, if you insist, here's my sure-fired, no-fail potty-training method.

Ahem . . .

1. Wait until your child is embarassingly old. I'm talking voice is changing, we're checking out colleges, his dates are wondering why his mom has to come too.

2. At this point, he'll be the laughing stock of the junior class and will simply say to you "mom, this whole diaper thing just isn't me any more. I love you, but I need to be my own person." You sniff and wonder why he's abandoned you, but you respect his decision.

3. The end.

I'd love to post pictures of his cute little backside is his new boxer briefs (his dad was very specific on this point). However, something tells me I'd probably be arrested.

Still unpacking boxes. Dont' worry, pictures are coming!

She's a Weiner!

2009-05-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

My Bug actually won a bike at school today! All that reading this year paid off big time.

Our school participated in the Ken Garff "Road to Success" reading program this year (I thought I'd give them a little plug . . . they gave us a bike). Four lucky students' names were drawn to receive new bikes. Yeah, Bug!

OK, so here's the fine print. Because Bug is at the top of the lower grades and the top of the tall scale, the bike they chose for her age group is a bit small, in case you can't tell. We're currently in negotiations over how to handle a hand-over to younger, shorter, sister. I'll let you know how it goes. We're currently up to $20 Canadian for our trip this summer, a movie date ("Hannah Montana The Movie") and one of my kidneys, if she ever needs one . . .

Up next, a 30-second virtual tour of the new abode. Just let me unpack a few thousand boxes first.

I Almost Forgot!

2009-05-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah . . . I have a blog. Sorry, faithful fans. I can only beg your forgiveness and offer up the following as an excuse.

-- Nana and Grandpa and moving back home! Hip-hip-hooray! Well, sort of, because now I afraid I'm actually going to have to buy clothes for my kids. Not sure how that one's going to work out, stay tuned.

-- Erin is moving back! Double hip-hip-hooray! This just goes to show you that the constant whining of a certain 8 year-old really does work. Keep it up, kiddo.

-- Swine flu. My husband had to hand me a paper bag several times and tell me to breath deeply. I'm doing much better now.

-- Spring! Flowers! Snow shovels thrown into the Great Salt Lake! WARMTH! It's all very distracting.

-- I've discovered Facebook. Nothing like connecting with people you never realized you were missing, right? I've found old high school friends (one of which has a PhD in Chemical Engineering, show-off), old college roommates, and friends of friends of friends. Plus I can play mind-numbing, time-wasting games! What more could you ask for?!

-- Oh, and yeah . . . we bought a new house and we're moving.

So, dear, faithful readers, thank you for your loyalty and if you can come help us move, I'd really appreciate it!

She's Six! She's Six! She's Six!

2009-04-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

My little sweetheart turns six today. All of my kids are very unique, but Belle is truly in a class with herself. As if there could only be six reasons her family just adores her, I'll list some of my favorites here.

-- My Belle has a smile for everyone she meets. And cute little dimples that make you want to squeeze her tight and never let go. She also has a frown no one ever wants to meet, but we all have! There's no middle ground with my Belle.

-- She has a precious heart. Bug often finds her bed has been made, The Guy has a constant supply of sippy cups and pbj's and her dad and I are mounting up am amazing collection of original Belle works of art. She does these things not to get something she wants but because she loves her family and wants them to be happy. I chalk that up to good parenting, actually!

-- She, like her big sister before her, listens to every word that is said around her. There are no adults having adult conversation at our house. We always have to watch what we say, because it could definitely come back to bite us! And she can spell now, so no spelling out things thinking you can keep a secret!

-- Belle is a social butterfly. More days than not she is at her best friends' houses, or here, or both, all day long. Five minutes later, she's asking for the phone so she can call and talk to them!

-- My little Mademoiselle keeps all of us on the straight and narrow. We can't miss a family prayer or FHE without her letting us know. We're beginning to suspect family prayer is partially a bedtime stall tactic, though. And early morning church . . . not so much. My little Rigattoni is not a morning person.

-- Ellencake keeps our household energy meter ramped up to Maximum. I think our couches have tracks around them for all the laps that have been run around them. She's always working on a project (yesterday's was puppet show in her bedroom, the day before that, it was scrapbooking), and she can't stand to be left out. If you're running errands, she wants in . . . if you're putting up drywall, hand her the hammer . . . got a doctoral thesis to polish, she's your girl.

We just adore our Belle. She makes our home a better place. Happy Birthday, my Sweetheart!

A Man With Class

2009-03-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Grandpa passed away last night, after struggling for several years with, mostly, missing his sweet wife terribly. We've all cried a little bit, but more than that, we know that Grandpa was ready for the next step. He was greeted with loving arms by his amazing wife, his youngest daughter, and his Heavenly Father, who is incredibly proud of him.

I married into Grandpa's clan, but I quickly learned that Grandpa and Grandma were superglue holding their family together. I feel so blessed, and more than a little intimidated, to have their example to look to as I raise my family.

I think one of my favorite memories of Grandpa was when BJ and I visited Hawaii with our two girls, who were then three and almost a year old. Bug's favorite thing to do was go into Grandpa's office and sit on his lap and just talk to him. I'm pretty sure he didn't understand everything coming out of her cute little mouth, but he listened intently to every word. I, too, enjoyed just visiting with him. He loved talking about the church talks he was listening to on tape, his temple trips with Kathie K and his weekly phone calls with Kathy Jo.

I know there's a presumed "celebration" that's supposed to go with your 100th post. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to acknowledge the life of a great man who left behind him a big mark on the world.

We Love You, Grandpa!!

Sunday Dinner

2009-03-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

Once a month my family gets together for dinner . . . all 22 of us. Last night we had 21, we lost one to wisdom teeth recovery. Feel better soon, Kiddo!

So, instead of sharing a favorite conference talk this week (which would be President Uchtdorf's Saturday morning talk if you just can't stand the suspense), I thought I'd share our menu with you.

When feeding a crowd, we've learned over the years to be simple, even boring. You'll never completely satisfy the diverse tastes of 22 people, washing and ironing 5 tablecloths and 30 napkins is not my idea of fun, and dishes . . . I don't think so. Yes, that groaning sound you hear is Brett's fabulous Grandmother rolling over in terror. She would not agree with me on anything I just said.

We served baked potato soup last night. I'd like to post pictures, but the soup disappeared too fast to get any pictures. So, without further ado, here's the recipe. Don't blink or you'll miss it.

Bake 4 large potatoes. Cool to handle, peel & cube.

Sauté in butter:

1 cup diced celery and 1 cup diced onion

Make white sauce:

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup flour

¾ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. celery salt

¼ tsp. pepper

6 cups whole milk

Add potatoes, celery, onions and 1 cup sour cream. Heat but do not boil. Correct seasonings and thickness.

Serve with thinly sliced green onions, grated cheese & crumbled bacon.

Double (or triple, in our case), and leave in a crock-pot to keep warm as you eat. Serve in bread bowls (everyone thought I was being clever, but remember how dishes and I don't get along?) We used 2% milk that we had on hand. If you bake your potatoes beforehand, this should take you about 30 minutes, start to finish. You could easily use skim milk and fat-free sour cream. If anyone tries it that way, let me know how it tastes. BJ also added some frozen corn, which was fantabulous.

Big sister served a drink she called "Friendship Punch." Combine light cranberry juice with diet grapefruit Shasta. You expect it to taste like cran-raspberry and sprite, but it has a lot more tang to it. Very fun.

All right, there you go. Now, go try some for yourselves. Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Nana!

2009-02-25T13:18:00.001-08:00

Point of debate in our family: when do you celebrate birthdays when the birthday celebree is 15 hours ahead of you? Well, I guess you can just celebrate for two days, eat cake twice, get twice as many presents . . . I like this idea!

Our Nana is a fabulous lady. This ddl (that's darling daughter in law, in case you were wondering) is always more than a bit intimidated by her organization, creativity, intelligence and thoughtfulness. She is truly an elect lady, in every way.

Our Favorite Tour Guide --

So, today, yesterday, whenever . . . Happy Birthday to our Fabulous Nana! We love you!

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Holland

2009-02-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

I always love Elder Holland's talks. He has such a kind demeanor and his words always lift, encourage and strengthen. His talk, "The Ministry of Angels" is no exception.

The older I get, the more I see the angels around me. Think of the Alabama song "Angels Among Us." I think it often takes the benefit of a few years distance to see how Heaveny Father has blessed you as you struggle through trials. I know I am just beginning to see some of the blessings that have been poured out on my little family as we've made our way through life.

Elder Holland talks first about scriptural accounts of angels ministering to man. Look some up, you'll be amazed at how long your list becomes. Then he talks about being worthy of angelic protection. We must "search diligently [study the scriptures], pray always and be believing [have Faith] . . . and remember the covenant wherewith we have covenanted. [temple attendance]" Interesting. Seems I've seen this list somewhere before.

Elder Holland then turns his attention to mortal angels. I think each one of has been blessed to know a few of these. I loved the story he relates about the young boy who found himself, by his own mistake, on the wrong side of a raging river. Only by his father not only following the list above, but by living in constant conversation with the Spirit, was he rescued.

I am eternally grateful to have been born into a family with two watchful parents, my own personal angels, the greatest big sister ever and two big brothers who constantly watch over me. I was equally blessed to marry into a family where two angels watch over all of us and sisters who love my kids like their own. I also have been surrounded by friends and neighbors who have somehow known when we have needed a lift.

I now have a new favorite scripture. D&C 84:88. "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left . . . my Spirit shall be in your heart, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." Who could doubt with promises like that. (In case you were wondering, my favorite scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6.)

Watch for those angels around you and try as Elder Holland says: "may we all try to be a little more angelic ourselves -- with a kind word, a strong arm, a declaration of faith . . . perhaps then we can be emissaries sent from God when someone, perhaps a Primary child, is crying, 'Darkness ... afraid ... river ... alone.'"

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Hales

2009-02-13T18:35:00.000-08:00

I have a sweet and very personal connection to Elder Hales and will always love him for some very specific things he has done for my family. I always listen carefully to his words, and his talk last conference was a real favorite.

I often find myself apologizing for my beliefs, backpedaling, not standing up when I should . . . you know how it goes. Some current political problems to remain unnamed have made me a tad nervous, because I find myself uncomfortable projecting my values on others. Elder Hales tells us that if we're in tune with the spirit, we will be able to stand up for our beliefs and deal with criticism in the appropriate way. He calls it Christian Courage.

"Through the years, we find that challenges to our faith are not new, and aren't likely to disappear soon." So, I guess we'd better figure out right now what we stand for, and learn how to deal with certain opposition! Only by being in tune with the Spirit will we know how to deal with each particular criticism they face. Each time it will be different, requiring constant conversation with the Spirit.

His last words will always echo in my head. We do not believe we are better than anyone. We respect all and feel we are all equal as children of our Heavenly Father. We do believe we have a better way, Christ's way. "To help them, to be an example for them, is not for the weak. It is for the strong. It is for you and me, Ladder-day Saints who pay the price of discipleship by answering our accusers with Christian Courage."

True courage. Christian Courage.

Why We Could Never Be Vegetarian

2009-02-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

This has become one of our favorite digs. I hesitated posting these pictures for fear of being accused of a: letting my children each both saturated fats and high fructose corn syrup and b: increasing my family's carbon footprint. But I think one bite into these beauties and all would be forgiven.

p.s. I'd love to tell you the family took a jog around the block to detox after lunch . . . yeah, I'd really like to tell you that.

p.p.s. These pictures were taken pre-lens cleaning. There is not a fog machine going on behind Belle and her dad.

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Oaks

2009-02-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Have you ever listened to a talk that made you adjust yourself in your seat, cough uncomfortably and look down at your hands, instead of at the speaker? Well, Elder Oaks talk was one of those for me.

For 8 1/2 years now I've used the excuse of "oh, I have little children, it's ok if we're not perfectly reverent all the time during Sacrament meeting." I figure if I show up, I'm good. Elder Oaks, in his very cool, very direct but also very kind way, presents the idea that Sacrament meeting is so much more than just showing up. We get out of it what we put into it, skwirmy kids and all.

How do I prepare for Sacrament meeting? Well, moment of truth here, despite every desire to be early to the meeting, sitting pressed and steamed on the third row, that does not happen every Sunday. There are certain Sundays that we screach into the parking lot, steam coming from my ears, yelling at my adorable children to hurry up. Wow, I can't believe I just admitted to that! But we're working really hard to plan and prepare beforehand (remember the old primary song "Saturday is a Special Day" . . . yeah) so that we can arrive on time with some semblance of the spirit still with our family.

I loved his words about preparing and passing the Sacrament and personally pondering the importance of the Sacrament. The Sacrament is so important we repreat it every week, giving us a new opportunity to be better every week, skwirmy kids and all.

Why It's Important Not To Take Yourself Too Seriously

2009-01-30T10:36:00.000-08:00

I should call this The Ram Dialogues, in honor of Chinese New Year and my favorite little Ram.

Kindergarten Show and Tell was the letter "U" this week. Belle and I talked about different things at our house that started with the letter U and decided she should take her ladybug umbrella to school. We were hurrying this morning to get ready for school because we were all going together so I could just the science fair (no snickering, please) and I honestly forgot all about Show and Tell. After judging, Guy and I went to pick up Belle a little early to go home. She hadn't done her Show and Tell yet so her teacher asked her to show everything what she brought so we could get home. As I'm standing there next to her teacher, Belle pulls out a (very clean, mind you) white pair of Underwear from home.

I have a very smart daughter who knows Underwear starts with the letter U.

When asked why the change, she said "I wanted to make everyone laugh, mom!" I'm sorry, but weren't Rams supposed to never defy authority?

Conference Talk Friday: To Learn, To Do, To Be

2009-01-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, our Relief Society studied this talk from President Monson. Our discussion was a little different, being from a women's perspective. President Monson has such a wonderful way of expressing himself, I can always hear his voice in my head when I read this talks.

To Learn: We spend our entire life in the church learning. At 18 months we are put into classes where we are taught and guided. But that's not where the real learning should come from. We should never walk into a Sunday School/Priesthood/Relief Society lesson where we haven't already studied and prayed over the lesson to be presented. Our children should learn nothing from primary that they haven't already been taught at home. Good thing we have a lifetime to work on that one, right? President Monson used my new favorite scriptures from Hebrews 12, "Lay aside . . . sin[;] . . . let us run with patience the race . . . set before us, looking [for an example] unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."

To Do: Once we have learned, we must do what we have learned. What a logical progression, but one that many people do not get! It truly frightens me to know if I don't do my best I will be held responsible for those souls I might have helped had I done my duty!

To Be: I try to ask myself this question frequently: "Do the people around me know what I stand for before they even meet me? And do they feel the same way after they meet me?" Depending on my answer, I can do a little self-check. As a result of all of this learning and doing, we, little by little, will be one with Christ.

Have a great week, everyone!

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

2009-01-27T20:26:00.000-08:00

OK, so mom trumped me in the holiday celebration department . . . again. You all really need to check out mom's post about her Chinese New Year's celebration.

I love exposing my kids to other cultures. We are totally blessed to have some very direct ways to teach them about other people and how they live their lives, like travelling there to visit! We kept our celebration very simple, just indulging in some takeout and using our blue and white dishes. But we will definitely keep celebrating.

Some highlights.

a: realized someone had been playing with my new camera, hence the foggy pictures. No, it's not steamy in the room, those are little fingerprints all over the lens.

b: how long does it take one five year-old (who, for the record, defies authority at every turn, mom!) to eat one piece of brocolli . . . 10 minutes. But she did it!

c: Guy's favorite dish: "noodles and catchoo chickn!"

So, goodnight from the rooster, the ram, the golden dragon (always new my girl was something special) and their parents, the two oxen!

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Wirthlin

2009-01-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Elder Wirthlin is one of those men I would love to call Grandpa. I can just imagine sitting on the couch chatting with him. His talk "Come What May, and Love It" stood out to me, especially because we lost him soon after conference. I loved his story about losing a football game and his mother's reaction. Our children's problems are very real and we need to be sympathetic, but wouldn't you find yourself smiling thinking how much you would love to have your greatest trial in life be a lost football game?! I also thought he was very kind to share with all of us his family's trials of trying to help his grandson with autism and his daughter's serious chronic illness.

I have a total testimony of the fact that how we deal with trials says a lot about our character and also has a lot to do with how happy we are, trials and all. When "the dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to each of us,", often I feel our inclination is to either a) make sure everyone knows every one of our problems and feels very sorry for us, or b) hide all of our problems and constantly pretend everything is "just fine." I love it that Elder Wirthlin tells us that we shouldn't pretend we don't have struggles, but we should work very hard to pick ourselves up, learn from our trials and do our best, given our individual circumstances.

I will always remember his advice to laugh, keep an eternal perspective, and trust in my Heavenly Father. "'The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to him.'"

I'd love to post about all of our family's exploits these last two weeks, but, sadly, there has been very little exploiting going on around here. Stay tuned for some fabulous Chinese New Year festivating, or at least some fabulous take-out!

Conference Talk Friday

2009-01-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

I have posted about President Uchtdorf's talk from Women's Conference before, but honestly, it's become a bit of a mantra to me. I am way too easily swayed by the voices in my head and around me saying that what I contribute to this world is not good enough.

As I gave his talk a second, third, fourth, fifth read, I started to focus on all of the main points of his talk, not just his point about being creative beings (I used that one for a while to justify my CADD). I have been thinking a lot lately about God's happiness. God's happiness is not in living in the biggest, newest house on the block, driving the biggest car, taking your kids to the most lessons of anyone in your neighborhood. God's happiness comes from being creative (our Heavenly Father is the most creative being in the universe), being compassionate (sometimes a chore with tired, whiny three year-olds), and being an instrument in His hands.

This last point is very interesting to me. The instrument does not dictate the path, it is used along the path. This requires us to give to our Heavenly Father the only that, really, He did not give us, our own will. Wow can that be scary sometimes! How often have we felt we needed to do something, even though our own "rational" thoughts are telling us otherwise? And what would we have missed if we had applied worldly logic instead of listening to the Spirit?

Read through President Uchtdorf's talk as soon as you can. Or watch it in the website, he's so much fun! You'll feel better about yourself and inspired to do better.

Have a great week!

CADD

2009-01-15T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hello, my name is Juju and I have a problem: I call it Crafting Attention Deficit Disorder.

Exhibit A: Crochet.

I have the following projects "on the hook": One baby blanket, an afhghan, and a grocery bag.

Exhibit B: Knitting.

OK, so this one is still in the "think system" stage. But I'm determined. If my left-handed sister can teach herself how to knit right-handed with no help, I have no excuse with my army of knitting goddesses behind me.

Exhibit C: Scrapbooking.

Sigh. Double sigh. But I've got plans . . . big plans!

Exhibit D: Sewing.

Various projects in various stages of completion, from fabric waiting to be made into something (I'm thinking lounge pants or floor pillows from Amy Butler's book In Stitches or maybe something from her new book Little Stitches) to blankets that have been tied and need to be finished off to be donated to the LDS Humanitarian Center. Oh, and the pile of repair work that needs to be done.

And after all of this confession time and shameless listing of my faults to the public (I will probably never hear the end of this from BJ), my favorite place besides my house is still my local crafting store, 40% off coupon clutched in my sweating palms. So my goal this year (yikes, that kind of sounds like a New Year's resolution!) is to get a handle on this pile. Well, truth be told I'll probably just replace old projects with new ones. Honesty among friends, right?

I'm starting to make Chinese New Year plans. It comes this year on January 26th and is a favorite holiday of ours. Any excuse for some takeout, right?!

Conference Talk Friday

2009-01-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

I have such wonderful memories of this talk by President Monson at the close of the Sunday morning session of last conference. We took Bug to her first session of conference at the Conference Center. I woke up at 6 a.m. to get Bug, BJ and myself "church ready" then woke up the other two and got them ready to go to Auntie Kara's house. We packed a backpack full of various toys and snacks so Guy and Belle wouldn't take their boredom out on her darling house (even though, as it turned out, they spent two hours trying on Kara's hats and boots . . . monster boots!) We arrived at Kara's house more than an hour before we needed to be to the Conference Center, dropped off two kids, and headed to conference. By this point, I needed a nap and was, to be brutally honest, not feeling the "joy of the journey".

As I listed to Presdient Monson promise me that one day my house would be empty and there would be no more children to dress, feed, and love, I completely lost it. How could I wish away one moment of this precious and short time with my children? Talk about a wake up call. I couldn't clean the fingerprints off of the library door upstairs for a week. What if no one ever put fingerprints on the door again?! (don't worry, Mom, they were cleaned . . . eventually!)

President Monson's message was primarily aimed to young mothers like myself, who are still "in the trenches," so to speak. But his words could apply to all of us. How often do we hear (or think) 'as soon as I get married, I'll be happy' or 'as soon as we buy a bigger house, I'll be happy' or 'as soon as we retire, I'll be happy'? Happiness is a daily decision, not a product of our personal circumstances. (Note to self: really try to live this principle!) No matter what our situation in life, let's all resolve to today to be happy with all the wonderful blessings we have, especially in the throws of January blahs!

To Boldly Go . . . to Peppermint Bark Brownies

2008-12-30T14:58:00.000-08:00

A relative of a relative posted a link on her blog to someone who had a recipe for these brownies on her blog. I guess that's why they call it the web, right? Well, here's my production: (that's a drum roll you hear in the background, in case you were wondering)

These were very delic, using Martha Stewart's brownie recipe. So, how do you serve a dressy brownie like these? With peppermint ice cream and homemade chocolate sauce, of course.

Overall, I really liked this recipe. I wouldn't use Martha's brownie recipe, though, I'm happy with my own. Plus, I'd double the amount of chocolate available for the two layers, at least the white chocolate. I liked the idea in the blog of how to cut and serve the brownies, making them even more dressy, but I don't know what BJ would say if I ever pulled out a ruler to cut a pan of brownies!

A Holly Jolly Report

2008-12-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

We had one of our best Christmases ever this year. And (surprise, surprise), it had nothing to do with the packages under the tree. (But don't get me wrong, those were great fun . . . thanks, everyone, for your love and generosity). I think my kids got the idea this year that Christmas is about loving everyone around us and being generous with our time, talents and resources. Every year my family does a service project, most often we donate to a "Bishop's Storehouse" where bishops can send families in need to shop for Christmas. Bug was totally into it, Belle did very well and Guy didn't understand why the man at D.I. was taking his toys away. We'll keep working on him! After that we had a great night of family, food, stories and games. I honestly don't think anyone would have noticed if we hadn't opened one present. (But, again, we did, and they were fabulous. Thanks, everybody!)

A Boy And His (well, his Grandparents') Train . . . Priceless.

Christmas Eve was a fabulous day. A huge storm had been promised on Christmas Day so we visited with my parents just in case we couldn't see each other the next day. It was so great to be relaxed and calm and just have a chance to visit. Oh, yeah, and there were presents. Great presents!

I think my favorite Christmas memory was listening to Bug and her Grandpa play "chopsticks" on the piano. I tear up everytime I think about it. My kids have the incredible blessing of having the best four grandparents ever.

In the evening we had a cyber-Christmas Eve. What a blessing to have web-cams where even if our family is half-way across the world, we can still be together. We sang, read scriptures, told stories, laughed and cried (literally . . . would you expect anything else of me?).

Christmas morning was a typical child's Christmas: chaos. There were puzzles and books and clothes and candy and dolls and balls and candy and candy. I always insist that there at least be an orange involved somewhere in the mess!

Really, I promise, there's a house here somewhere.

After all of our storm-planning, the snow didn't arrive until evening. So, Grandma and Grandpa came to our house, too. It was great fun, but full of chaos and a very cranky, over-stimulated three year-old. We were lucky to have Erin and Kara with us not just for Christmas Eve but the next night as well, due to our late-arriving storm. Thanks, Mother Nature!

We were blessed with an amazing Christmas, one that I will always remember as a favorite. We hope yours was just as great!

A Christmas Photo Shoot

2008-12-21T17:54:00.001-08:00

Take One:

Really, Guy. And I thought my girls were dramatic.

Take Two:

Not bad, group. But do you think we could all look the same direction?

Take Three:

Well, two out of three isn't bad, I guess.

Take Four:

And we have a winner! Merry Christmas, everyone! Have a fabulous week.

Self-Portrait #1

2008-12-17T19:27:00.000-08:00

Apparently the self-portrait obsession is genetic, and does not skip a generation.

Deck The Halls

2008-12-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

It was the elementary school Christmas program tonight. This was our first year participating, so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a zoo. 600 kids, 2,000 parents/relatives all with at least two cameras and a camcorder in tow, all vying for prime picture-taking spots. It's a jungle out there, people. But it really was a great night, one of those memory making moments I'm working really hard to build up with the kids.

We had a fun night and enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa with us (they were presented with medals for being the best sports at a grandchild's school event). We're screaming into the yuletide home stretch and I must say I'm enjoying Christmas so much more this year. Slow down, make memories, enjoy the season, bake a lot, watch Christmas movies, read Christmas stories, look at all the Christmas lights, enjoy this great time of year.

Speaking of baking (well, sort of) I made myself a batch of this delic stuff tonight. To give away, of course. Oh, don't worry, I'm not a selfless baker/cook. My batch is coming up tomorrow. This is a great carmel popcorn. Do not ask for the recipe unless you're prepared to look the other way as you combine obseen amounts of butter and sugar. This batch is for the girls' teachers and Bug's piano teacher. They're welcome.

Up next on the baking schedule, spiced nuts and Christmas bread (minus the pectin . . . sorry, Mom). Stay tuned!

A Ghost of Christmas Past

2008-12-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

Meet my old friends, my Department 56 Dickens Christmas village. We haven't put this out for about 6 years now because we had small children and nowhere perfect to put it. But after a visit to a friend's house and seeing her village on the floor, 6 children under 12 notwithstanding, I got brave! The Guy helped us put it out, and both BJ and I told him "Now Guy, we don't touch this, right?" about a million times. I did notice our firemen had been rearranged after my shower this morning, but no damage done, so we're OK.

This is one of BJ's favorites, our hotel. Love the doorman?

I'm glad I dusted this guy off. The kids already love it and I can tell it's going to be a fun new tradition to pull it out and set it up. I'm also glad we gave him a break, too. It felt like we were opening something completely new last night. I think I'll put a few more things away and pull them out in about 5 years. Great way to save on the shopping bill!

On 8 more shopping days left!

Priceless

2008-12-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

-- Reflections is over! I only had one mom come up and question the judging. She started the conversation with "I don't want to be one of 'those' moms, but . . ." and then proceeded to be just that. But overall I think it went really well.

-- We celebrated St. Lucia day today. Well, Bug served breakfast. We're going to continually add to our St. Lucia traditions. What a great way to stretch out Christmas!

-- A great big snowstorm with nowhere to go!

-- A rousing game of "Grocery store" taking over the whole house. I'll let you know how well the cleanup goes!

-- Christmas is coming and I'm actually ready for it, not stressed out about how much I have to do!

-- Comfy pajamas and no reason to take them off!

-- A new crochet project and a complete lineup of Christmas movies!

Watch for those priceless moments in your life. They pass by way too fast!

Ebert & Roper . . . & Me

2008-12-10T13:51:00.000-08:00

OK, so I saw "Twilight" this weekend with my sister. Giggle, giggle.

This was my sister's third viewing. But I'm not judging. It really wasn't a fantastic movie, but I would go again. Two hours of giggling and knowing glances with my sister. I was twelve again watching "The Man From Snowy River." Only four people on this planet get that reference and they've all been sworn to secrecy.

My favorites about this movie:

-- The casting. I think they did a good job capturing Edward, Bella, the Cullen clan, Charlie and Billy.

-- The soundtrack. Very cool. I'd own it. Hint hint.

-- The "Edward/Bella" chemistry. Wow. I loved the first seen when Bella goes into Chem. class and Edward looks like he's going to throw up. It just gets better from there.

-- Charlie. Nothing like a small-town Sheriff cleaning his gun, drinking beer and then introducing himself to the boyfriend, shotgun at his side.

Nice try, guys, but:

-- Edward's hair and the hand-me-down girl's coat he wears. The mother in me wanted to spit in my hand and flatten his hair. And for all the money the Cullens have, you think they'd have spent money on the coat, even if he didn't need it!

-- Edward's jumping and scaling of trees, and the "diamond skin" look. Sorry, it was just weird.

-- Carlisle's skin in the opening scene. It only bugged me at first, and then got better, so all's forgiven there.

The best thing about this movie was it helped me finish "Breaking Dawn." Not a fan of that book, at all. But that's another post for another day . . .

On a completely unrelated note Christmas is coming together quite nicely around here. We're to wrapping stage (it only took me 10 years to get this organized about Christmas!) and we're ready to go. Next week I start baking! I'm determined to try some of mine and BJ's Christmas favorites. Wish me luck! Have a great week, everyone.

Everyone's Doing It . . .

2008-12-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Both Erin and Bri have done random lists on their blogs, and since I'm running dry right now on "bloggable" material, I thought I'd give it a try, just so you don't miss me too much!

-- Our Thanksgiving was great but I really feel like I shortchanged this important holiday. We were so busy cooking turkey, eating (way too much, twice) and decorating for Christmas, I did not take even one picture! Feeling more than a few guilts about that one.

-- I will create a new blog design this week, you hear me! It's a matter of personal pride now.

-- I have every phobia you can name . . . water, enclosed spaces, open spaces, heights, public speaking, should I go on? I added a new one recently: that I will die and some well-meaning relative/neighbor will go to my house to clean and open a cupboard or closet. It's a great motivator, however. My closets have never looked better! My sister and I have a pact that we are the only ones allowed to clean each others houses if we have a stroke. Don't judge me!

-- We are 90% done with our Christmas shopping! This is a first for us and we're both busting with pride on our organizational abilities. Of course, if we go into the storage room and see all of the presents from Nana, alphabetized and categorized by age and favorite color, we realize we've gone some room to improve.

-- I volunteered to chair the PTA Reflections Contest at our elementary school this year. Why didn't anyone warn me?

-- Dark Chocolate is good for your heart and therefore considered a member of the fruits and vegetables food group in our house.

-- Bug "found out" about Santa this year. This kid is just so smart! Sigh.

-- My sister has seen Twilight twice since it hit the theaters and I'm going with her this weekend. My mom would probably say our time would better be spent cleaning out our closets. She'd be right!

-- I think I was born about 120 years too late. I love going to Gardner Village, This Is The Place State Park and watch reruns of Little House on the Prairie and Avonlea. I have a secret urge to darn socks and churn butter.

-- I am a closet country music fun. Remember "Go Team Shelton!"?

OK, there you go. Now I'm off to clean a closet so I can die in peace!

Hail To The Guy

2008-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

(Guy's newest picture-taking phase -- "smile, Buddy!")

My sweet little boy turned three on Friday. Steady girl . . . deep breaths. He is such a funny little guy, he really makes our house a happy place. It's almost impossible to discipline this kid. The crocodile tears just come falling out of those gorgeous blue eyes, and it's enough to melt the toughest of parents, which I'm not!

Guy loves anything with a motor, and anything with a screen. We're looking forward to our guest house on his estate he'll build after his dot com goes public. He also loves running around outside. We can't pass the park fast enough before I hear "Go to the park, Mommy!" from the back seat, repeated about 100 times.

He is definitely his Daddy's boy. Those two are a dangerous pair, I tell you. Remember the incident with the alien's head being chopped off and Guy telling us, "It's OK, I'll kiss it better"? Yeah. They are just about inseperable and all day long I hear "When's Daddy coming home?" The minute BJ comes home, he becomes a little "Parent Stalker", and Guy will hardly let his daddy take his shoes off! However, I selfishly think there's a pretty special bond between the two of us as well. We love reading books together and playing on the floor with all of his cars. Did I mention he's additced to anything with a motor or a screen?

We were up North on a road trip visiting Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, so his wasn't a traditional bday this year. We did go to their ward dinner that night and the cute ward sung Happy Birthday to our Guy. It actually made me cry! (That's my DH in the background you hear saying "Really, that's so unlike you!")

We just love our guy! Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Can I Still Blog About Halloween?

2008-11-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

I know, it's been over a week, but I have a laundry list of excuses. More on that later.

We had a short Halloween due to rainy weather and one reluctant superhero. Our evening started out at Auntie Kara's, where we took all her candy because we decided no one was going to knock on her door. Well, the kids decided that, anyway. Bug and Belle canvassed a couple of streets in our neighborhood and then had enough sense to come in out of the rain. (I've always wanted to say that!)

I'm so sorry that this picture does not do justice to the Halloween costumes, particularly Belle's. She truly was the most glamorous kid on the block. Bug and I just kind of put hers together, but she had a lot of fun with it. "But where's the Guy?" I hear you all shouting at me. Well . . . in the car, having absolutely nothing to do with Halloween. No mask, no door knocking, nada. He clung to my sister's pants until I thought she'd be arrested for indecent exposure, so we let it go.

Until . . .

It's amazing how big his smile got as we started sharing some of the candy his sisters got. Well, not really that amazing if you know Guy at all, I guess. Luckily we bought their candy back before he could eat the whole bag at one sitting!

We finished up our evening with pizza (a firm tradition in our family) and a double-feature of "Ghost Whisperer." So, not the most exciting of holidays but we all enjoyed and I made copious notes for some fun ideas for next year!

Confessions of a Halloween Non-Lover

2008-10-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Julianne, and I really don't like Halloween all that much. There. Thank you. I feel much better.

I hate the creepy side of Halloween. Since when did eating gummy severed fingers become cute? No skeletons and ghosts, blood and gore for me. And I hate the teenage trick-or-treaters pounding on my door, demanding free sugar.

So, to couneract my own bad attitutude (is that BA is blog-speak? I don't know), I'm going to force myself to "fake it 'til you make it" with this day. The kids have darling costumes (well, Bug's is kind of a cop-out, but she'll still look darling anyway) and I'll make it a great day for my kids sake. Halloween in DH's family was a totally cute family event, and those are memories I want my kids to have. But I'm not dressing up, do you hear me?

So, since I've laid it all on the table for you, it's your turn now. Do you really like Halloween, or are you just going along with the crowd on this one? Come on, we're all friends here.

Everything With a Plug Hates Me Today

2008-10-16T13:51:00.001-07:00

Electronics are not my friend today. Let me 'splain.

Exhibit A:

Camera's still sand-fritzed. Mom took her's back (fair enough, but where's the princess special treatment here?) It's not under warranty anymore but a fab little camera. So until we bite the bullet and take it somewhere to get fixed, I'm outta luck.

Exhibit B:

Turned on brand new laptop yesterday afternoon to see a black screen telling me my hard drive can't be found (IT'S RIGHT THERE, YOU MEAN LITTLE MACHINE!!) So, until DH calls India (can't do it, just can't), I'm again outta luck. Thank heavens for our workhorse desktop, which was supposed to be the kids computer. Problem here is, I took everything off the desktop and put it on the laptop. Now the desktop runs like a champ, but is completely empty! (AAAAHHH!) DH even told me he's got a Costco card for my bday to print out some scrapbook pages. Great idea, thank's hon, love ya tons, but until I can access some of those scrapbook pages I've been slaving over, well, you see the problem. (DOUBLE AAAAAHHHH!)

So, if my next blog post is scratched on a rock and hurled through your front window, you'll know why. Wish me luck.

Creation . . . Compassion . . . God's Happiness

2008-10-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

Thank you, President Uchtdorf. I was completely blown away by President Uchtdorf's talk at the Relief Society Meeting last week. So simple. So "easy." So true. I think women have an innate knowledge of this truth, which is why we, by our very natures, love the creative process and are so compassionate, or at least that's how we should be.

Read his words again and look around you at all you've created today, even if it's just a mess! Take advantage of all the opportunities around you to show compassion. Be happy!

Would It Really Be That Bad?

2008-10-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

With all of this talk of our crumbling economy and what our government should do to fix it, this thought keeps coming to my mind: Would it be that bad for us to learn some of the lessons our grandparents learned from the Depression?

-- Would it kill us to only have one car in our garage?

-- Would we all expire if Christmas was just a time to be together with family?

-- Certainly our children be scarred for life if the family all had to work together to raise a garden and preserve fruits and vegetables for the winter, right?

-- Isn't it illegal in some states not to have your children enrolled in 4 after-school activities each? (says the music teacher sheepishly)

You get the idea. Now, I'm certainly not promoting we return to a time when umemployment was at about 60% and many people went hungry, but I think it's interesting that the children of the Great Depression grew up to be labeled by many as the Greatest Generation in our nation's history. Could it be that having few material possessions causes you to be creative, hard working, unselfish and empathetic? And could it be that having more material possessions than you can possibly handle makes you expect everything (including answers to financial disasters) to be handed to you on a silver platter?

Certainly one of the biggest contributing factors to this mess we're tangled in right now is the fact that we as a generation have grown up believing that the only symbol of a successful life is the accumulation of material wealth.

Maybe its time to redefine what "successful" really means.

A Gold Star Moment

2008-10-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

There are certain moments in my life that I consider "Gold Star." I will never forget them and I will always treasure them in my heart. Saturday was definitely one of those days.

It was funny, but I went to write in my journal that night, and all I could write was "Bug was baptized today." There were no other words that could describe how proud I was of her and how much I love my babygirl. She's growing up to be a greater person than I could ever hope for.

I love you, Sweetheart!

Pause To Think

2008-09-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

My niece told me yesterday that I needed to update because she was running out of things to do at work. Let's hope her boss doesn't read my blog!

I had two "thinking" moments this weekend. One while reading the "Oprah" magazine at the hairdressers, the other in church today. Actually, that just gave me a third "thinking moment"!

Oprah's "A-ha" moment this month was written by Angela Bassett. It was the last paragraph that caught my attention. Her basic idea is that if you are doing what you love, what you are passionate about, you won't be able to do it in an average way. It really made me think about the effort and passion I put into every part of my life.

A sister in our Relief Society made a comment today that I never want to forget. She said that it is the "Seekers" in life who will be the happiest in the next life. The ones who seek the Spirit the most, the ones who are constantly seeking opportunities for learning and service. She said you can almost predict how they will act in any situation because they are a Seeker. Later someone else made a comment about being doers of the word and not hearers only. The phrase "Seekers and Doers" has been ringing in my ears all day.

Think of how we would act if we were all Passionate Seekers and Doers! I think we might even get this political system of ours straightened out!

Happy week!

Will the Best Candidate Please Stand?!

2008-09-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

Beej and I have been following the presidential election very closely and I have to say, the whole thing is really starting to give me a monstrous headache! Here's why:

-- We live in the absolutely, hands down, no doubt about it, most wonderful country on earth. I truly believe our Heavenly Father guided the establishment of our nation. Read David McCullough's "1776" if you don't believe me. BUT, most of our politicians (notice I didn't say leaders) are doing their best to mess that up by making us a nation of sides: culture v. culture, man v. woman, party v. party, religion v. religion, rich v. poor, etc. When has that ever really solved any problem? I guess it keeps all of us wondering, the debaters screaming, and their paychecks coming.

-- I would love to make a completely educated vote in two months (I absolutely refuse to vote straight party-line, sorry Mom), but I don't know that I will ever be able to do it. The truth is buried under about five thousand layers of spin, hidden somewere between sound bytes, rallies of party die-hards, celebrity endorsements, and media bias.

-- We seem to have come to believe as a nation that all you need to run this most fabulous nation on earth is the ability to give a fabulous speech. I'm pointing an accusing finger at both sides here, people.

-- There are still many true patriots left in our great nation. They must be even more frustrated than I am, having the desire and ambition to work for all of us but being hog-tied by a system that only rewards and promotes those who follow the party-line. I'm sure some of them have simply thrown their hands in the air and left the life of public service.

-- On a very self-critical note, it also seems everyone in this blessed nation of ours is an expert, knowing exactly what should be done to solve all of our ills, how each of us should live our lives, and what each of us should think, but being totally unwilling to do anything about it. We have too many people clucking their tongues about "how broken the system is" but who are more than willing to let someone else do the dirty work, whether they do it right or not. I'm one of those apathetic voters, I admit. But being a more educated voter is a start, right? Right?!

So I'll climb down off of soapbox now and continue my quiet life of raising three kids in the 'burbs. I'll keep trying to do my best to sort through the information being chucked at me at the speed of light and try to find a patriot to lead our nation.

Will someone hand me an Excedrin, please?

Whoops!

2008-09-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

So, DH calls me this afternoon and starts quoting my last post to me, telling me I've made promises to my blogging public and I didn't follow through. Bad me, bad! It always takes me a week or two to adust to the school-year routine! But we're now safely into our routine, getting up before dawn, packing backpacks, doing homework . . . all those fun school-year to-do's.

So, here's some 1st day pics. It went really well and I didn't even cry! Well, not much. I just miss my kids when they're at school! Belle had no problems adjusting. She kept asking me, "Mom, do you really have to be here?!"

Cutest 3rd Grader. Ever!

Bug's more nervous than her sister! Go figure!

"OK, Mom. You can go home now." (Sigh.)

And we're back ... sort of.

2008-08-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

Mom gave me her camera for a couple of days, so I can show you what we've been up to and I can take some "1st day" pics.

First off: my missionary returns!

My more than a little handsome newphew served his mission is Cambodia, but spoke Vietnamese. All of the sudden he's this grown up man, ready and able to take on the world! It's great to have him home.

We also had our annual "putt n' swim" end of summer mini golf/swimming party at my parents house yesterday afternoon. How fun is it to be together with your family, laughing and just having a great time?!

So tomorrow morning I send my girls off to school. Don't worry, I've got my kleenex ready. It's a great thing to get back into a school-year routine, but I'm sure going to miss my little stinks all day long. I'll post some more pics tomorrow before I have to give my mom's camera back to her. Thanks, Mom!

Sorry, guys, I got nothin'!

2008-08-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to think of something clever and witty to dazzle you with, but . . . nothin'. I'm more than a tad bugged because my camera's on the fritz. We may need to pull in a birthday favor a little early. Sigh.

The highlight of this week was the return of my handsome nephew from his Cambodian mission. Seriously ladies, line forms to the left! I guess we share some common genes, but I can't see any. I'd love to show him off, but remember how my camera is not functioning right now? Sigh.

I've purchased my back to school box of Kleenex, two this time! We're excited and ready to go. And in case you're worried about me, my back to school blues last about 5 minutes and then I'm headed off to buy myself a celebratory soda! And I'm sure the Guy will make sure I still feel needed.

So, I promise to resolve my camera dilemma and post a list of some of my latest pet projects soon! Think scrapbooking, crocheting, sewing, canning ... have I gone off the deep end a bit? Don't answer that!

Calling All Readers!

2008-08-06T20:10:00.001-07:00

All of you readers out there (you know who you are) why don't you join me at Goodreads? I've been having the best time tracking what I'm reading and getting great recommendations for a growing "to-read" list. If you sign up and want to be friends, let me know.

Happy Week to All!

Aloha!

2008-08-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

After several days I'm finally emerging from my jet-lag haze (I'm pathetic, I know) and getting back to real life!

Our vacation was one word ... fabulous! We can't thank everyone enough who made it possible for us. Grandpa, Nana, Jim and Kathie... you're all amazing. Some of our favorite spots:

-- Kua 'Aina Hamburgers (of course)

-- Liliha Bakery cocoa puffs (we had these bad boys in our hands within an hour of arriving)

-- Ala Moana mall (if only we could afford to actually buy something there!)

-- Lovely Ladies' Luncheon (Thanks Kathie!)

-- Matsumoto's Shave Ice ... these are no snow cones, people!

-- The Polynesian Cultural Center (ask Adam about this one!)

-- Teddy's Bigger Burgers (sigh, more food!)

-- Kailua Beach (at least the big people liked it (Bug and Guy both got slammed into the beach, end of beach experience!)

-- A true favorite spot was Jim and Kathie's pool and home theater. At least I think the theater was our favorite spot, I never really stayed awake long enough to find out!

-- Haleiwa Joe's, where the scenery is gorgeous and the Prime Rib is indescribably huge!

But beyond all the food and the fabulous scenery was the great time we had being with our family and friends in Hawaii. We celebrated Grandpa's 90th birthday, caught up with old friends and were generally spoiled! I have to admit it was a little hard to come home!

But we did come home to our life, family and friends here! We're now getting ready to start school, 3rd grade and Kindergarten! Get your kleenex's ready, people!

A Mountain Party

2008-07-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th weekend, we all gathered at our cabin for a birthday party/4th celebration/general family cabin fun-time. All my family was there, except for my missionary nephew (who comes home next month -- yeah!) and my nanny niece who was too busy raking in the money to join us. Didn't blame her a bit, though. I look at the money some of these babysitters make and sometimes I think I'm in the wrong line of work!

The birthday "kids." Bug, her Daddy, Uncle P. and her Auntie. Happy Birthday, everyone!

Our three trouble-makers cooking up a cousins' team for the Wasatch Back Relay next year. I volunteered to drive the van and hand out the band-aids! C'mon, Adam, you know you want to!!

I have cute kids. 'Nough said.

Two of my all-time favorite ladies, doing one of my all-time favorite things . . . dishing up cake and ice cream!

My favorite pic from our day. My greatest happiness in life is knowing my children have such a strong relationship with all of their grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins and just love being with them. It makes me think that between the temper tantrums and messy bedrooms, I must be doing something right!

Up next: Aloha!!

Celebrating the Fourth and Auntie Kara Returns!

2008-07-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Our home is right across the street from the local golf course, and every year they do a big carnival and fireworks show. Sounds like a reason to party, don't you think? So we gathered BJ's cousins and family friends (honestly, I think Lindsey Lohan could have showed up and we wouldn't have noticed, there were so many people there), fired up the barbeque and celebrated!

The carnival, to be honest, was alot more pricey and not as much fun this year. But the kids didn't know any different, and had a great time.

(BTW, see those sock's Bug's wearing? I made those . . . just sayin'.)

After dinner, the cousins started running laps around the house. I think my favorite moment came from my favorite red-head. She climbed on the rock wall, and yelled: "Attention all parents, look at me!" At this point she started doing a striking impersonation of Elvis singing "Aloha-oi." I love you, Maddie!

This is about a third of the kids at our party. We had a great time, and nobody got lost! Yeah me!

The next day our favorite Kara returned from her London adventures! Yeah us! How did we celebrate? We ate, of course! What did we talk about at dinner? What we're going to eat on our Hawaiian vacation, of course! We're not stress eaters, we're celebratory eaters! Erin also came up for the weekend and we enjoyed a 7 hour game of Monolopy and a good old-fashioned run through the sprinklers. Nana made a very true comment as we watched Aunties and girls run through the sprinklers: "We don't need a pool, we've got sprinklers!"

Right after I took this pic, they all dragged Kara through the sprinklers, just so she could match Erin. Thanks, ladies!

Up next: A Mountain Party!

A Road Trip, Eh?!

2008-07-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

It's been one of those summers where we've been so busy living life, I haven't had the time, or the energy, to blog about it. So I'm backing us up a bit to our road trip up North. The kids are fabulous road-tripers, except for bug's motion sickness, so we really enjoy a nice long drive. And now that I have a lap-top, guess what I spent most of the drive working on? Digital Scrapbooking, of course. Stay tuned for an update on that one.

The Guy really took to his Great-Grandpa while we were in Canada. This time we camped out at their house instead of the local hotel, which gave us a lot more time to just visit and have fun. Grandpa was a fabulous sport to let Guy "push" him in his chair, and Grandma gave cooking and punch-needle embroidery lessons. We even attempted Chinese Checkers. Help, Erin!

So I came home with more projects that I left with, which DH is absolutely thrilled about, and we're already trying to decide when we can go back. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Next up: Fireworks and the Return of the Roving Kara!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T17:30:00.001-07:00

Today is Father's Day, even though you'd never hear BJ mention it. His Father's Day celebration? He took Belle home from church during Sacrament Meeting with a fever. What a day! BJ is the best dad for my little kids. They adore him. There's nothing like the screams that erupt from our house when he walks in the door. He lets them eat candy, stay up late up and watch TV shows that are too mature for them, and they love him for it! And I love him for being such an active, engaged Daddy.

Here's my daddy with his girls. My dad is my unfailing champion. He never tells me anything but that he loves me and he's proud of me. The best gift he's given me as an adult is his respecting me as an adult. I'm sure (ok, positive) I make choices in my life he feels are wrong, but he would never say anything. He never checks up on me, never says or does anything to make feel like less of an adult, he just lets me make my own, very large, pile of mistakes. I adore my daddy!

And I have to mention BJ's dad. His devotion to his faith and his family are amazing to me, and inspiring. He sets a very high standard for himself and inspires others to do the same. I'm so grateful for the things he's teaching my children by his example, and, selfishly, that my two year-old has a passport thanks to his service. We love you, Dad!

So, to all of the Dad's in my life, have a wonderful day. You're strong and loving and inspiring. Thank you for working hard every day of your life in service of your families!

My new toy . . . I mean, um, essential household tool

2008-06-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you, President Bush!

Our stimulus check (or bribe money, I don't know) came on Monday. Guess what we came home with Monday night? Our new Dell Inspiron 1525. I'm in love. Sorry, Honey. And don't worry, Mom and Dad, there's still plenty left to stimulate our bank account, thanks to my three mess-makers. It was definitely time for an upgrade in the household technology department with all the work I do on the computer. And, thanks to Beej, we have a brand spanking new copy of Office '07. So sweet. Outlook is my new best friend because it will color code my numerous appointments and tasks. OC but not D, right everyone?

Other than a new computer at our house, it's been a very quiet beginning to the summer season at our house. Here's a picture of my graduate, the preschool graduate, that is.

Ellie and her Preschool Teacher, Miss Sue

So if you'll excuse me, I need to go check Outlook and see if it's time to brush my teeth yet. Have a great week everyone!

Remembering

2008-05-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

We had a very fun, busy Memorial Day weekend. I love to go to the cemetery each year I can to visit the graves of my grandparents. They all died before I was born, with the exception of my paternal grandmother, who died before my first birthday. So to me, visiting their graves is kind of like going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The girls have gotten into the spirit and enjoy it as well. My sister and niece went with us so it was kind of a party!

My kids loved being with their beautiful cousin. She'll graduate from Murray High School this weekend (go David!) and plans to study child psychology. Let me know how that goes, kid!

A new stop this year was the Salt Lake City cemetery, where DH's great-grandparents are buried. He'd never been there, so I was excited for the hunt. We scrubbed and shined the tombstone and were pretty happy with the results.

Monday, we had a "barbeque" (meaning we grilled chicken outside but ate downstairs) with some old Hawaii friends. We love the rain (mother nature's irrigation system) but it certainly can be inconvenient! But I'm sure we'll get more than our share of sun. Belle's preschool graduation was today, out in the sun. I forgot how cranky that can make me! Sorry, world!

I'll do another post from "graduation" this week. Take care, everyone!

A Springtime Concert (and a Major Undo!)

2008-05-21T06:02:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: Houston, We Have Video! Note to Self: Seriously work on videography skills!

Bug had her Spring Concert last night and did very well, I must say. Daddy stayed home with Belle and The Guy who are still hanging onto our stomach flu, so it was just the two of us. Grandma and Grandpa came for moral support which was great fun. My Dad always has a book with him wherever he goes and sat on the back row reading until Bug was up. Not sure about the social appropriateness of that one, but oh well. After three tries, my video won't upload for some reason, so no video for y'all right now. If I can get it to work later today, I'll update.

The program itself was actually a game of Name that Tune since it was a "Pops" concert with mostly recognizable songs, which I won. Just sayin'. There was also Music Bingo and door prizes. Very different and very fun, and it gave me some great ideas for my own studio.

On a completely different and very whiny point, I have to undo a pretty good section of the Afghan I'm working on. In knitting I understand they call this "frogging." Either way it's very sad and I actually haven't had the heart to do it yet. It's killing me to flush that block of time down the toilet. But what can you do? I'm just about done, and looking forward to curling up with my creation, a good book, and a glass of ice-cold bubbles!

We're heading to the cemetery this weekend for Memorial Day activities. After that, we're cruising into Summer! We've got some fantastic plans and we're all ready for a change of routine. Swimming lessons, anyone?

p.s. Just talked to DH on the phone. Remember our stomach flu? Well, we managed to give it to Adam and Bri. Please show me to the closest rock I need to hide. Does anyone know the appropriate gift to say "so sorry I infected you with a disgusting intestinal disorder?" Is that paper or sterling?

WARNING: Parenting Spoiler Ahead, Read At Your Own Risk!

2008-05-18T08:16:00.001-07:00

80% of my family is suffering from some sort of stomach flu right now. Bug's doing the laundry and making us all dry toast and Ginger Ale. You must all know someting about me before I begin my tale of woe: I do not do stomach flu. I become 7 years old again, crying for my Mommy and having her bring me my "special towel" and some Sprite, and watching my favorite show on TV. I've been known to literally call my DH at work and tell him to please come home, one of the kids just threw up. No joke.

So, to all of you who a: haven't had this situation come up yet in your family, or b: are considering one day having children, please consider the following:

1. One day a situation will arise where both parents are sick. Who's takes care of the sick kids who could care less if you're about to, well, you know . . . ?

2. Motherhood + elevated gag reflex = a big problem.

3. When building a home or replacing carpet, go for the stain resistant stuff. Trust me.

4. Avenge is the best carpet cleaner ever. Hands down.

5. There is no such thing as a washing machine that is "too big."

6. Never be without Lysol and Febreze. And a big stack of old towels.

7. The "throw up bowl" should be clearly designated, and you should have more than one. If you have more than one sick kid, you need more than one bowl. The sharing rule does not apply here.

So, consider carefully and plan ahead. Now, if you'll excuse me, someone just . . . sigh.

For Auntie Bara

2008-05-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our Kara's birthday. We all just love our Kara and we are so excited for her adventures. Well, Bretto and I are excited for her, the kids keep asking when she's coming home!

We hope you had the best birthday ever, Kara! Eat a Swedish meatball for us and enjoy your European tour with Erin!

Love you tons!

To All The Moms In My Life

2008-05-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

My mom and dad's 50th wedding party. Mom's the one trying to hide on the side, always letting someone else have the spotlight.

My mom is the most incredible lady I know. She has taught me so much and I have so many great memories of growing up in her home.

-- She can out yard-work & garden anyone out there. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom at the top of our crab-apple tree, doing the fall pruning. She mowed the lawn every week and kept that yard looking emaculate, pretty much by herself because of my dad's work and church assignment schedule.

-- You can literally eat off of any surface in my mom's house. The toaster oven she's had for 4 years looks like it's never been used, really. While most people spend months preparing their house to sell, it would take mom about 5 minutes, long enough to put up the sign in the front yard.

-- No one knows half of the service my mom does for everyone around her. She doesn't talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, she lives it.

-- My mom's favorite recipes: brownies, spaghetti sauce, homemade pizza and stuffing at Thanksgiving! When I was living in Israel, she made me a batch of brownies, froze them and mailed them to me. I was in heaven!

-- Because I'm 10 years younger than my next sibling, she did many things twice. I will always be grateful for my own dog, birthday parties, swimming, dance and piano lessons, mommy/daughter dates and disneyland trips, all when she should have been cruising into the teenage years and looking forward to an empty nest!

-- One of my funniest memories of my mom is when my oldest brother was playing around with her and put her on top of our fridge. And left her there, by the way. I don't think I've ever heard her squeal like that!

-- Mom is an amazing artist, although no one has seen her work without prying it out of her. Her handwriting is perfect and every poster she's ever made or scrapbook page she's ever done is lined and mapped out with mathematic precision.

-- Mom really dislikes mother's day! She always conveniently tries to go to St. George on Mother's Day weekend. With all the wonderful things she does, she always thinks she should, or should have, done more.

Mom's surgery last week went extremely well and her doctor's say they've removed all of the cancer. She's working on recovering and will them do a month of radiation treatments, but should be all done after that. We're all so grateful for a quick diagnosis and skilled doctors who helped all of us over this bump in the road.

Mom and Dad posing by the lake during a family trip to Canada. We should have had them face away from the sun, in retrospect.

My Mom H. is the other most amazing lady I know. We all think she must have 36 hours in a day for all the things she seems to get done.

-- Any event is a reason for a celebration! Only our Mom could turn her table settings into a blog post! Preserve your memories because soon your children will be grown and you won't remember what they looked like on their first Christmas morning. Parties with Mom are like nothing you've seen.

-- Life is an adventure. Embrace it! Most people would be scared stiff to live in a foreign country. Within months this lady knows her way around better than veteran tour guides!

-- Never pay retail.

-- Although she's not a professional writer like our sisters, I think they get a lot of their writing talent from her. She is very eloquent in her writing and it's a joy to read about her travels.

-- She's contstantly trying new things and stretching and improving in everything she does.

-- Her children and grandchildren absolutely adore her. Anyone who can inspire this kind of love from those around her must be doing something right!

I'm so blessed to have such amazing moms in my life. I hope my kids have half the mom my hubby and I did.

We love you!

Two Projects, A Bracing Reality Check & My Epitaph

2008-04-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

That sounds like the beginning to a really bad joke, doesn't it?

First off: Our two projects.

Here's Bug's first tied quilt. She did 90% of this herself, and she did a great job. Now I've just got to get the edging finished so we can take it to the L.D.S. Humanitarian Center. She told me last night that she wants to make sure and hug it a lot before we drop it off so the little boy or girl who gets it knows there's lots of love in it. Could anything be cuter? I do, however, think I've created a monster. The quilt was off the frame for, oh, maybe 3 seconds before she was grabbing more fabric. We'll put one on at the end of FHE tonight, I think.

My project is a purely selfish project for home. I made one of these afghans for Bri and Adam for Christmas and they almost had to pry it out of my hands. So I'm trying to get one done for us, just in time for swimsuit season! Yeah me!

Second: my bracing reality check. In the midst of my projects last week I found out my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It's totally small and operable and they haven't even mentioned chemo or radiation so no one's getting too excited just yet, but I now officially have a big red target right on top of my head. Her mother died from breast cancer, two of my dad's sisters have had it (and both beat it). Anyway you look at it, genetics has it in for me. So I told DH I'm going to have to make some serious lifestyle changes, unless he likes the idea of raising three kids by himself. I now officially give all of you permission to bug me about taking much better care of myself! It made me realize that fancy clothes, a nice car, all of that, really won't mean anything if you get a diagnosis like that. Don't let the cost or your fears of doctors stop you from taking proper care of yourself!

Lastly: Cute Cassi tagged me last week for an exercise to describe yourself in six words. I really had to think about this one. So, if my kids are really cheap and I have a really, really small tombstone, I think I'd have to describe what drives me every day: my love for my family and friends. My six words are ETERNAL COMPANION, MOTHER, DAUGHTER, SISTER, FRIEND. This was an interesting way to look at my life because it really forces you to get the core of who you are. I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, but if any of you want to try this out, send me a link!

I hope you all have a marvelous week. Stay healthy and happy!

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes!

2008-04-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

My Bells turned 5 today! I've been thinking today about the morning she was born. And now she's getting ready to start kindergarten! Where has life gone?!

Since, of course, every 5 year-old needs to have 5 birthday parties, I'll have to wait to post pictures. We've only had one party so far, and we're just getting started! So Happy Birthday to my sweetie . . . Mommy and Daddy (and everyone else for that matter) love you very much!

A Dr. Seuss Weekend

2008-03-31T06:08:00.000-07:00

We were all overjoyed, for six months were just way too long,
To welcome Nana and Grandpa back home from Hong Kong.

They unpacked their bags and their first order of biz
Was to do something fun with Hubby and I and the Kids!

We knew there was really only one thing we could do
We'd go and see the new movie "Horton Hears a Who!"

Everyone sat so quietly the whole movie through, except for the Guy
Who tried to wander the aisles to say "Hi" to everyone close by!

The movie was so grand, we each had a super marvelous time
And it seemed all we could do for the rest of the day was Rhyme!

But what could we do after such a superly-fun family time stop?
Why, we'd get colored pancakes with eggs and ham at IHOP!

The suckers were great but the green eggs, well, they took a while
We said a great big "thank you" to Nana and Grandpa with a smile!

So now I can finally quote my favorite "Hortonism" with joy and with glee,
"You worry about your meatball Mr. Mayor, and leave the freaking out to me!"

(Author's Note: ouch!)

Hippity Hoppity

2008-03-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun Easter weekend. We spread the joy out over two days, doing most of our partying on Saturday and taking time on Sunday to enjoy, well, Easter. But we still had one doozy of a sugar high at our house on Sunday, don't worry.

The Guy and I enjoyed some "bonding" time. Actually, this just kept him out of the easter egg dye!

My nieces were designated "easter egg dye engineers." My girls were in charge of watching them dry.

Here the cousins are evening out the egg-treasure. Grandpa snuck a few dollar bills in there just for fun, so everyone made sure to keep things even-steven.

Sunday, we tried to enjoy the real meaning of the day a little more. But somehow the Easter Bunny still made it to the house.

After the sugar OD, we got everyone cleaned up and ready to go. We clean up pretty well, don't we?

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and you are enjoying some great Spring weather, for now. Have a great week!

Make Good Choices!

2008-03-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

I cringe when I think of the day I say that to my own kids. Will I then eat a fortune cookie and become 16 again? I certainly hope not. But I hope all of us make good choices when it comes to the information we put on our blogs.

I read an article in our local newspaper today about information we put out there on our blogs. I just wanted to encourage all of you to be safe out there while blogging. So, just in case we all need a little reminder (which, frankly, you probably don't, but oh well), keep in the mind the following (these are my ideas, by the way, and I make no claim to being an expert):

-- Always remember, any information you put on your blog can be seen by the entire world. With that always in the back of your mind, I think we'll all be careful and stay safe out there.

-- Set up your blog so you have to approve any comments before they are published. Anything weird that comes through never even sees your blog that way.

-- If you designate your blog as "public", set it up so that you can't search for it on Google or any other search engine. The people who you want to see your blog will get your link, and you don't want just anyone to come across your blog while searching for information on how to build an underground bunker.

-- Avoid using real names (especially last names), in posts or comments for that matter. Also be pretty broad in referring to geographical locations.

-- Check out these posts for some other good ideas.

-- Blogging is so fun and a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. But like so much out there these days, it's a great tool that needs to be used wisely. Have fun and stay safe!

We went hopping down the bunny trail this weekend. More pics to come later!

Pressure!

2008-03-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

All of the ladies in our family now officially have blogs! I'm going to have to really stretch to keep that creative bar raised high! Lucky for me I have funny kids who provide me with plenty of blog-worthy moments:

Picture if you will last Thursday evening. It was a dark and stormy night (actually it wasn't, I've just always wanted to say that). The Guy fell asleep for about 15 minutes right before bedtime and try as I might to change his clothes and transfer him into bed quietly, he woke up and was ready to party! At this point he became his dad's problem. Dad was watching "Angel" on DVD, a show about a vampire with a soul who goes around taking care of the bad guys. In this episode one of the demons loses his head (of course filled with flourescent green goo).

Guy: Uh-oh!

Dad: Yeah. The bad guy's gone.

Guy: It OK. I kiss it better.

So now Guy's on a mission to make sure all the bad guys have someone to kiss their owies better. I'm such a proud mother.

Happy Spring!

First Day of Spring, Huh?

2008-03-20T08:18:00.001-07:00

Could've fooled me.

I sincerely hope that wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you have beautiful Spring flowers and temperatures in the mid-60's. Please send them our way!

Happy Spring!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

I've done a horrible job of celebrating holidays in our house, but today I took a baby step in trying to remedy that. I've been reduced to a near-panic lately at how fast my kids are growing up. We have them this little for such a short amount of time, and I want their childhood to be full of great memories for all of us.

When Bells woke up this morning, she found she had been kissed by a Lucky Leprechaun.

I actually got the idea last year here. Just a silly little thing, but it really excited her. Her brother and sister didn't get kissed this year, so she kept asking if she was going to have more luck than them. We'll see. Maybe her mom will get lucky and she'll start waking up happy instead of grumbling at me for two hours every morning, particularly when I want to take her picture. Who knows.

So, make some green pancakes for dinner tonight and enjoy the people around you, big and little alike. Life goes so fast. Enjoy the ride!

We're On The Road to Avonlea, Because There's Nowhere Else To Go

2008-03-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

Both Bretto and his mom reminded me yesterday that I haven't posted in quite a while. Well, sadly, there is a very easy explanation for this: there's been nothing to blog about! Unless you're all interested in my routine-of-late of get up, make beds, teach music lessons, clean house, "nurture" children (refrain from yelling for 15 minutes), teach music lessons, make dinner, supervise homework, go to bed, repeat, well, there's just not that much for me to share. Sorry, but I've been really boring lately!

I suppose this could also have something to do with it. I did not watch Avonlea when it was first aired on the Disney channel. But Kara gave us a Netflix membership for Christmas and DH wanted to watch Avonlea with this girls. There is something addictive about being able to watch a show sans commercials. One episode turns into one DVD, which turns into one season . . . get the picture? And remember how we started this to watch with the girls? Well, they haven't seen as many episodes as their parents, that's for sure! I told Bretto I've decided I want to move to a farm and churn butter. And smart husband that he is, he just smiles. He's smart enough to know that I'd last about 30 seconds on an actual farm, but even smarter to know not to say that out loud!

So, when I complete my triatholon or run for public office, I'll have much more interesting posts, I'm sure. Until then, you'll have to content yourselves with housework and TV overdoses! I do promise some updates on some craft projects I'm working on finishing up, however, so stay tuned!

Smart Habit Saturday -- JOURNAL WRITING!

2008-02-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

At the end of January I attended a meeting focusing on journal writing. I've always been nervous to write in a journal, afraid that someone besides me will actually read them some day, but after this evening, I felt OK about just writing for me and not my great-great-granddaughter! So, I've been writing every night since then. It's been great in a lot of ways:

-- I can work through some feelings on paper rather than having my eyeballs pop out of my head,

-- I feel more structure to my day, so I've actually been doing better on other habits around the house,

-- If I forget what happened last week, I can look back and see if I've written about it, and

-- I can preserve those moments with my kids that are passing me by all-too-fast.

99% of what I write I'm sure will never be of any interest to anyone. And I think I'll probably need to leave a note before I die on which pages need to go into my coffin with me. But it feels great to take a moment at the end of each day and look back.

I've also been working on Lara's habit of doing a load of laundry each day. I only do one load a day and it just takes a few minutes to load and then switch to the dryer. But I love just doing laundry at my house, not LAUNDRY. I know you all know what I mean. And it's kind of tying into my journal-writing habit, too. I'm such a creature of habit, routines, crossing off to-do lists, getting these particular projects done . . . yes, my husband is right now rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up in the air at the same time. It just feels great to have some of that structure to my day.

So pop in a load of laundry and then sit down and record some of your thoughts for today. And have a fabulous week!

OK, It's Official . . . I'm Old (And Apparently Deaf)

2008-02-11T07:49:00.001-08:00

Let me set the stage for our "I'm SO old" drama last night.

My teenage niece and nephew were at our house having homemade pizza last night for dinner. (We're on a quest to perfect pizza crust. Yes, that is Kara you hear saying 'Hallelulia! I'm on the other side of the globe, safe from my brother and sister-in-law's OCD baking habits'.)

Niece: "For crying out loud, Alex, answer your phone! It's driving me crazy!"

Blank stares from the adults.

Apparently Alex and Kenna both have the mosquito ringtone on their phones. So, here's the test for all of you: follow this link and play the ringtone. My kids hear it, my husband can barely hear it, I get nothin'. So, let's see how many of you are old like me!

By the way, that's a hint to tell me a: "no, you're not old, you're young and darling!" or b: "don't worry, I can't hear it either." My husband likes it when I give him the right answers, too.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

2008-02-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

This morning was one of those days I have to remember because my kids are growing up way too fast. I'm crossing my fingers that they will perfect cryogenic freezing and I can preserve my kids while they're young, fun, still listen to me (most of the time) and, frankly, still need me. A great little "Tender Mercy" I need to keep track of.

The girls have been very much into creating elaborate schemes in their play lately. We started with the "music" concerts a few weeks ago. Then we started playing "Daycare" with namecards, nap mats, snacks and an organized curriculum. Today, we had Saturday morning breakfast. I was upstairs working on laundry and cleaning and Bug asked if she could make breakfast. Man, I had no idea what I was agreeing to.

Let's see, I see milk (of course spilled on the tablecloth, but don't worry, there's a towel under there and the tablecloth is already washed, ironed and back on the table), juice, chocolate syrup, about 20 different types of cereal, waffles, cinnamon toast, bananas . . . they really went all out. We even had placecards, menus and personalized cups (oh, and little Valentine's Day hearts for that added little touch).

I think they understood a little better the work that goes into feeding a group. They've already put in their request for next week:

This afternoon, we've been working on a play fort. I don't hear any power tools being pulled out, so I think we're OK . . . so far.

Have a great week!

Till We Meet Again

2008-02-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I said goodbye, for a short season, to someone very special to me, someone who I truly admire and who has greatly shaped the person I am, or hope to become. I never met President Hinckley, but I will always think of him fondly and I will always seek to "Stand a Little Taller" because of what he taught me.

To honor President Hinckley, I am making the following goals:

-- I will read the entire Book of Mormon by October conference. This will by no means by a speed-read. I am taking until October conference because 1) April conference is just too soon, and 2) I want to take some time to really dig deep into these scriptures he loved so much.

-- I will attend the temple twice a month until October conference. President Hinckley will always be known as a builder of temples, and I think it's so important that we all use these buildings that were so special to him.

-- I will read his biography. I have read bits and pieces but I want to read the entire book.

It's probably more than a little strange to publish goals like this on a blog, but I am hoping that you will all quiz me on my progress to keep me going, and maybe you will be inspired to make some similar goals of you own. I look forward to sustaining new leadership of our church and honoring the memory of someone who meant so much to each of us.

Have a Wonderful Week!

Happy Friday, The Sequel

2008-01-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

Again, I'm loving Ali Edwards' blog and wish I had the creativity of her pinky. Here's a project she's done that I might like to try and have to forward on to all of you. She wrote her book to her husband, but I can think of a million people who would enjoy something like this; sisters, children, parents, anyone who needs a reminder of all the reasons we love them.

If I do actually put one of these together, I'll be sure and share. Of course, that means dusting off my sewing machine and getting reacquainted . . . eek.

Happy Friday!

An Apology and a Tale of the Neighbor-Good-Deed Hot Potato

2008-01-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

I'm starting out with an apology to Kara. Being healthy is not easy to do in this house. But maybe it's like New York City. If you can stay on a diet here, you can make it anywhere. We're doing our best to keep her resolve strong.

Exhibit A:

And this was just the platter we gave to our neighbor. Guess how many there are left for me to eat? Too many. I think I'll eat them tonight while I'm watching The Biggest Loser. I love to do that, it's so ironic.

We gave this platter to our next door neighbor. She had brought over dinner last week and we took back her dishes with these little diet busters. However, not to be outdone, she sent us home with gourmet popcorn. A neighborly kindness hot potato, if you will. Do you know anyone like this? She's the type of person who asks you "How are you?" and means it as a question, not a greeting like most of the people around us. And she wouldn't let anyone leave her house without a treat or a genuine kindness. We all need neighbors like that. We all need to be neighbors like that.

So, be good friends and neighbors, and eat a fabulous sweet roll. Life is good!

The January Blahs

2008-01-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

I have a bad case of the January Blahs. Acknowledgement is the first step to recovery, right?

I keep trying to do something creative, and I'm getting nothing. I can barely even write this post. Bretto called and asked me what I wanted for dinner and I just went "uhhhh...." Nothing. I think my brain is hibernating until warmer weather arrives.

I'm in good company, though. Bretto and I have a running contest over who's being the grumpiest. Poor kids. And I guess it's a widespread phenomenon, talked about at length by TV broadcasters during a slow news day. I may try a few of their ideas, especially the organizing tips. Heaven help the next child who comes to me with "Mom, do you know where my ... is?"

I did do a little bit of creative work this weekend. I've become a digital scrapbooking junkie. I love the fact that the only money I've spent is on Photoshop Elements. All of the papers, embellishments, etc. that I use are freebies I've downloaded off the internet. I also love that the only storage I need to worry about is on my computer. I used to have to drag all of my boxes out when I wanted to work and then put them all back. I must say though that you wouldn't know it looking at the closet in our computer room. It looks like a paper factory exploded in there. But I do still like to make cards occasionally, and I have plans to do a scrapbook of Bug's postcard collection. So it will get used.

Shout out to Kara's phenomenal knitting skills. I must humbly admit that Bells makes the hat. Don't you think?

Sister's Night was organized by Erin several years ago and has always been one of my girls' Aunties' favorite Christmas traditions. So when Emma asked last year if Ellie could sleep with her I was thrilled. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right Erin? Although it hasn't lasted more than 15 minutes yet, it's something the girls have to do on Christmas Eve.

I said back in December that my siblings and parents like to do a gingerbread house at our Christmas party. With Bretto's siblings this year we did sugar cookies. All I can say is . . . too fun. I think my favorite was Adam's Mean Frosty.

So I'll continue my work and let you know if anything great comes out of it. Wish both the DH and I luck in working through the January blahs. And if you have any miracle cures, let me know. Have a great week!

Happy Friday

2008-01-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

Since I'm still feeling decidedly non-creative, I thought I'd show you all one of my favorite blogs I lurk at. I really, really, really like the quote she posted today. Check her out here and have a fabulous weekend. I'm hoping to get a lot of scrapbooking done, but without a shot of creative juice, I'm not seeing it happening. Cross your fingers for me.

Next up: Something creative and thought-provoking!

What a Week!

2007-12-28T12:29:00.000-08:00

Remember how I was going to show you my fridge? Well, here it is:

It was a very "aftful" season by both girls. I think my favorite was Bug's card to her dad: it read "I would hope you would keep this card." He did.

Well, it's been a crazy busy week. I'm sure all of you felt the same way. It started out with dinner with my friends, including my friend who is leaving in a few weeks for Afhghanistan. I tried to hide her suitcase but she went back to D.C. anyway to get ready. We'll keep her in our thoughts and prayers ever day until she comes back in the summer.

Next up was dinner with my parents and siblings. My nieces and nephews are all quite a bit older than my kids, but they are so fabulous to play and have fun and make them feel a part. We have a delicious dinner, a program, and (of course) presents. I think the girls' favorite part was decorating a gingerbread house.

I need to add that our gingerbread house had some structural integrity issue and did not make it home intact. But we enjoyed snacking on it for the next two days.

That night, Erin came to town. We have had such a great time being with her and Kara and Bri and Adam. I think our favorite part was decorating sugar cookies (our favorites seem to be focusing around food here . . . interesting). I think the adults had as much fun as the kids, but The Guy seemed to think it was OK. Christmas Eve brought another program and another fabulous dinner (yep, more food), courtesy of Erin and Kara.

Christmas day was very fun, except for the seven year-old curled up in a ball in the corner and running for the bathroom every thirty minutes (too much food? nah). Merry Christmas. "Santa" resolved to keep things very simple this year. The kids got one small toy each and a new set of sheets. Funny thing is, by the time we were all done opening presents from Nanas and Grandpas and Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles . . . well, I'm still digging out. But such fun gifts, such generous and loving family. We are truly blessed.

So, there's my week in a nutshell. I'm just about finished digging out from all our "festivating", and, strangely, enjoying putting the Christmas decorations away and getting simplified and organized. It's been so chaotic for two weeks, it's really refreshing to get put back together and hit the new year running.

Question for the Week: Where do you all stand on New Year's resolutions? Mine usually last about five minutes, so I've strayed from them the past few years. I love the idea of making a new start in the new year. I just think it's become very cliche and very few of us really intend to making meaningful changes in the upcoming year. What do you think?

I'm hoping to feel much less fried and much more creative next week so I can dazzle you all with my wit and keen grasp of syntax and grammer. Until then, I'm off to take a nap.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Traditions: Reads For The Adults!

2007-12-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

My reading list for adults is very short, probably because at Christmas time, the last thing I have time to do is read. Particularly because this year I've embarked in the secret crafty present thing. More on that later.

My favorite Christmas reads:

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (I usually read this one upstairs in the library, wearing my smoking jacket, which would I'm sure be much more impressive if I actually smoked)
Two From Galillee, by Marjorie Holmes (my sister-in-law gave this to me when she was my youth-group leader about 18 year ago -- it's a sweet story about the love between Mary and Joseph)

So, there's my list. Now I need your help to add to my list. What do you read at Christmas time, besides credit card statements? Help me out!

Sidenote: I have a new addiction, this show. OK, so this show's choir led by Blake Shelton. Go team Shelton! It's good to know I'm in good company. Check out Erin and Kara's posts too.

Next Up: A Virtual Fridge, full of my girl's artwork! I bet you can't wait, can you?!

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: Listen To The Music!

2007-12-17T07:41:00.001-08:00

I'm a music nut. Especially at Christmas time. While my DH (ok, my husband . . . the DH thing is just too weird for me) decorates earlier and earlier each year, I turn on the music earlier and earlier each year. Seem fair, don't you think?

My brother called me last week and offered us tickets to go here last Saturday night, but after taking 45 minutes to travel four blocks, we missed it. The bug was sad she couldn't pretend she was eight. After discussing the moral ramifications of fudging my daughters age by seven months, we determined we were in better shape than the people who were auctioning off free tickets to a Temple Square concert for $100 a pop to "help out a family in need." Yeah, right. I need a Wii. But after it was all said and done, it just strengthened our resolve to try to go next year, and the violin on the tree at Little America where Bug and I took our picture after dinner was as musical as our evening got.

Yesterday, however, we added a little more music to our world. I know, I know, again with the shameless child parading, but I love her and I love Christmas music. So it works. Hey Mom, don't you think Bug's teacher looks like my teacher when I was her age?

All in all, a pretty musical weekend. Now I should share with you some of my favorite CD's in our Christmas box. Here goes:

Josh Groban "Noel". Sigh.
Bing Crobsy Christmas Collection
The Carpenters. Actually my husband made me say that. I'm not a fan. But it's in our box.
Anything by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We had one Christmas record growing up. I'm surprised I didn't wear it out. But I've always associated Christmas with "the choir."
Jim Brickman "The Gift."
Johnny Mathis Christmas collection. Again, more bretto's favorite than mine.
David Foster "The Christmas Album." So fun. However, currently AWOL. I think one of the kids ate it.
Charlotte Church "Dream a Dream." It's just fun to watch DH run screaming from the room.

And we've got a couple more that we listen to selected tracks from. And thank you to radio stations who now start playing Christmas music in August. There's just something about Christmas music that makes your house a home and makes everything seem cosy, warm and inviting. Don't you think?

Up Next: Christmas Reads for the Adults!

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: Movietime!

2007-12-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

My hubs and I have always been big fans of television. I'm sorry to say we don't run marathons and we don't have any plans to start a couples bowling league. We're working on that one (the running part, not the bowling). We have always especially loved watching Christmas shows and movies. The kids all love popping some popcorn and curling up with the tree lights on and just being together. Here are some of our favorites:

-- White Christmas (ok, my favorite -- hubs won't even be in the same room)
-- It's a Wonderful Life (turned this one into a FHE last year, probably reaching a bit, don't you think?)
-- Polar Express (we all love the story even if some of the animation is very strange in a way I have yet to identify)
-- Christmas Vacation (no cats were harmed in the making of this movie)
-- The Grinch (this one creeps me out a little but the kids really like it)
-- Christmas With the Kranks (an exact, and humorous, picture of what has gone seriously wrong with Christmas)
-- Santa Clause 3 (our addition this year, both of our girls really love it)

We also enjoy watching the made-for-tv movies on the cable networks. Wouldn't it be great if all of our problems in life could be solved in two hours, not counting the commercials?!

OK, so now here's the deal. Everyone who reads this entry is officially "tagged" to respond or post on your own blog your favorite Christmas movies or television shows. So what are your favorites?

See you next time for my personal favorite part of Christmas: MUSIC!!! (hint: Josh Groban, anyone?!)

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: Breakfast at Tiffany's

2007-12-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it wasn't really breakfast, it was brunch. And it wasn't at Tiffany's, either. It was at the Little America, but you get the idea. It's times like these when I need Erin and Kara to give me a cool quote from a Jane Austen novel to use as the title for my blog post.

These young women and I have known each other for a very long time. Since we were all 12, to be exact. (And no, I won't be doing any math for you. I'm 29 years old. I like this age and I'm sticking with it. It's worked really well for me for a while now.) We get together for birthdays and at Christmastime, swap work and home stories, cry a little over the trials life has handed each one of us, and laugh over the silly memories we have, when all we had to worry about was how to get our hair to be the biggest in the group. And just so you know, I would always win. We're missing a couple members of our group, one who is living in Washington, D.C. and heading out with the U.S. State Department to Afhghanistan in January to work on the government's justice programs over there, and one who is living in Denver with her family. I love each one of my friends, mostly because I feel younger when I'm with them. Each of our lives is unfolding in different ways, but we have a commond bond of shared memories and a desire to keep our friendship going. Even when it takes three weeks, five calendars and a note from our mothers to get together, right ladies?! So I'm very thankful today for good friends to laugh and cry with and also for patient husbands who take over at home so I can have a lunch without my children. Thanks, honey!

Stay tuned for Christmas Movie time!

Hello, I'm a Children's Book Addict

2007-12-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

Doesn't the saying go that "Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery." Well, here's my problem:

But, when your kids curl up in your lap every night to read a Christmas book, how can you resist? The girls never miss a night with one of their Christmas stories. In all fairness, my illness is not entirely of my own making. For our first three or four Christmas seasons after the Bug was born, my darling mother-in-law would send us clues to books she was sending to us. My mom also got into the act with several selections of her own. And I just had to have a few from a sale at the local book-selling giant. So, you can see how things got a little out of control. But I love every one of our Christmas books.

Some of our favorites:

Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera

Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas by Elise Primavera

The Mitten by Jan Brett

Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

Angelina's Christmas by Katherine Holabird

The Polar Express by Chris Van Alsburg

Christmas in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

A Snowman Named Just Bob by Mark Kimball Moulton

Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

Dream Snow by Eric Carle

Olive, the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore

I'll Be Home for Christmas by Holly Hobbie

Eloise at Christmastime by Kay Thoompson

Sorry, I must go now. My sponsor is calling.

Stay tuned for the Ladies' Brunch!

Life by Juju

. . . Let Me Sum Up . . .

By Popular Request

Don't Land In The Brocolli

Have You Ever Felt Like You Just Didn't Belong?

Why Bri and Adam Should Sleep With Their Camera Under Their Pillow

Those Lucky Storks . . . and two Guest Interviews!

Can You Scrumb Your Savvy?

A Project! Because Apparently I Have Nothing Else Going On

Merci Beaucoup!!!

Well, Have You Signed Up, Have Ya, Have Ya?!

Bon Anniversaire, Ma Belle!

Oh Yeah, and Then There Was Easter!

So, What Do You Post About When You Really Have Nothing To Post About?!

So This Is What The Sky Looks Like!

*Ahem* Merry Christmas!

MS Walk 2010 -- And This Time I Mean It!

A Christmas Copycat

An Apology To All My Faithful Readers And A Glimpse Into The Weirdness That Is Me!

New Pencils and a Pink Pearl Eraser

Deep Thoughts . . . While Weeding

11 Years Down, Eternity to Go!

Happy B-Day to the B-Jay!!

How Is This Possible?

Why We'll Miss Hong Kong . . .

Happy Father's Day

Welcome Home!

Dr. Spock, Eat Your Heart Out!

She's a Weiner!

I Almost Forgot!

She's Six! She's Six! She's Six!

A Man With Class

Sunday Dinner

Happy Birthday Nana!

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Holland

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Hales

Why We Could Never Be Vegetarian

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Oaks

Why It's Important Not To Take Yourself Too Seriously

Conference Talk Friday: To Learn, To Do, To Be

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Conference Talk Friday: Elder Wirthlin

Conference Talk Friday

CADD

Conference Talk Friday

To Boldly Go . . . to Peppermint Bark Brownies

A Holly Jolly Report

A Christmas Photo Shoot

Self-Portrait #1

Deck The Halls

A Ghost of Christmas Past

Priceless

Ebert & Roper . . . & Me

Everyone's Doing It . . .

Hail To The Guy

Can I Still Blog About Halloween?

Confessions of a Halloween Non-Lover

Everything With a Plug Hates Me Today

Creation . . . Compassion . . . God's Happiness

Would It Really Be That Bad?

A Gold Star Moment

Pause To Think

Will the Best Candidate Please Stand?!

Whoops!

And we're back ... sort of.

Sorry, guys, I got nothin'!

Calling All Readers!

Aloha!

A Mountain Party

Celebrating the Fourth and Auntie Kara Returns!

A Road Trip, Eh?!

Happy Father's Day!

My new toy . . . I mean, um, essential household tool

Remembering

A Springtime Concert (and a Major Undo!)

WARNING: Parenting Spoiler Ahead, Read At Your Own Risk!

For Auntie Bara

To All The Moms In My Life

Two Projects, A Bracing Reality Check & My Epitaph

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes!

Ahem Merry Christmas!