Sweet!

I must say that I have the sweetest and kindest friends and family. I appreciate you lending me a hand and offering to help me in my time of need. Seriously, thank you.

Now, I need to address the wording of my gratitude statement. Some of you may balk at being called sweet. That's o.k. I completely understand. Hopefully this won't embarrass Joseph as I explain.

This weekend I was going through old picture albums and journals. In one of the albums I came across an old list. It was Joseph's hopes for his future wife. Now come on. Most of us either wrote a list or had a mental list of some kind. Mine went something like this (and just so you know of my shallow-ness, I think it was in this order):

1) Good looks (check. oh yeah!)
2) Brains (check!!! He's an absolute genius.)
3) Money or the potential for making it (check, we'll never be rich, but I don't care anymore)
4) Returned missionary (check, loves the people of Guatemala and wants to go back)
5) & etc

Anyway, Joseph's list was something I had come upon before he even asked me to marry him. I gasped as I read it. There were things I would never qualify for. One item in particular. Sweet. Now some of you know me and some of you really know me. I have a super saucy side. I've never once thought of myself as sweet and it certainly wasn't my goal then. (Though I love sweet people.) Still, my good husband, then boyfriend, decided to marry me. I can only guess that he saw my potential and had a store of superhuman patience for the wait for my transformation (still waiting, I assume).

New topic:

Some of you know that I like to blog and that if I'm not blogging, something is wrong. More than one caring person has called or e-mailed to say that they noticed I wasn't blogging, is everything ok? I'm so touched by that! This is just a heads up to say that I won't be blogging much at all for the next two weeks or so. Don't worry. I'm gonna be o.k.!

Sucker Punched

So, yesterday, I taught Cindi's primary class of 6 year olds at church. During a lesson from one of the primary leaders, the kids were all asked to show what strong looks like. While all the other kids flexed their muscles, the boy sitting next to me reared back, punched me in the nose, and said "That's what strong looks like!" He was so proud of himself!

I tell you, I saw stars! My nose still hurts!

Faith Promoting Stories

I could really use some faith promoting stories today, if you'd care to share!

Haunting

No, not Halloween.

Memory lane. I like how Andrea put it, "Holy cerebral whiplash!"

I've been trapped in the past for a little while. Just processing, I tell myself. I've done it before, but it's like an onion. There are many layers. One day I'll get to where the moment is the only place I live in. I got out my journals from when I was a teenager and my first two years in college. Had to check on some stuff there. Crazy mixed up kid, I was.

I was talking to Joseph about it today, saying, too bad I had to go through the teenage years as stupid as I was about life. Too bad I couldn't have done it with what I know now.

Anyway, I like this song called "Old Park Bench," as sung by our favorite a cappella group, Inside-Out. I've told Nathan it has a haunting melody. Perfect for my mood.

You can listen to a clip by clicking here. Next click Music, then the black CD cover called "Innocence." Finally, click #10 "Old Park Bench" and over to the right you can click lyrics if you want to read the words.

Dedicated to the old times!

Sit Back From the Edge of Your Seat

Well, first off, I get to say that everyone was wrong! But, if you guessed a pomegranate, you were at least in the ballpark, because it is a fruit. I had never seen the insides of this fruit. I wonder how many people have. It's part of the inside of a papaya. If you had seen this photo with color, would you have known?


Now for the juicy part. It comes from parasitology lab, so if you're squeamish, you might want to skip this.

I've never seen a bloated tick, alive. I once saw one skittering across a walkway at Cascade Springs in Utah. I think my cat had them regularly in Massachusetts. We lived in a heavily wooded area. But, I spent my time around ticks in the Parasitology Lab at BYU, I first took the class while doubling up as a teaching assistant and then TA'ed the class two more times. We had loads of ticks as they look when they've loaded up on blood. These papaya seeds made me take a double take when I looked down and "saw" rows of bloated ticks (sans the heads, but you wouldn't see those anyway, if they were buried in their hosts). Then I remembered the papaya Joseph had cut up for dinner. So, I grabbed it out for a photo. I had planned on writing about how we all see things in a different way blah, blah, blah!

Bloated ticks are usually larger than these seeds and also some have a somewhat wrinkly look about them. It was the seeds with the wrinkly look that I saw first.

Crazy Fluke!

Earlier today I logged on the the lds.org website (website of my church) today to get the phone number of my Relief Society President. The sign in window came up and since my computer saves passwords and Joseph signed in last, it had his information in the little boxes: username and password. I clicked the "Sign In" button which takes you to the page with a link for ward directory. This was when I was confronted with the information that my husband has the address: Revere, MA 02149. Great! When did he move? I swear he was here this morning getting ready for work like usual, now he lives in Massachusetts!?! I wish he would have consulted me first. I could have told him that the Massachusetts State Tax form is really hard to fill out. That you practically need a Master's Degree in forms in order to file taxes there. I would have told him that Plymouth Rock is really just a big rock that's cemented together housed in a big shrine, stamped with 1620 (Oh! wait a minute, he's seen it). I would have told him that the aquarium in Boston can't hold a candle to the aquarium in Monterey, CA and the coastlines can't compare either. (Hmm, he's seen both). I would have told him that people in MA are cold and unfriendly (Wait a minute, he married me, didn't he?). Maybe he made a more informed decision than I'm willing to admit.

Well, honey, I'm blowing you a kiss (hand to mouth, Ppfffwah!, blowing). I hope you decide to come back. I'll miss you.

P.S. It's true. By some fluke, Joseph's church records have been transferred to the Revere 1st (Spanish) Ward!

Jump Rope Team!

Complete with their team t-shirts, the Rockets performed this morning to show off all the diligent work they've done since December. I'm not going to upload the freestyle video because it's so large, but there were some really impressive single jumpers and some duos that were spectacular. Below you'll find some video of the teams that performed. Again, so impressive. The thing that amazes me is that they all look so placid. I know I'd be huffing, puffing and tripping all over the place!

They are the only team in the city (or surrounding cities). How lucky we are to participate!

And to think May started the year as a "non-jumper!" These shows are a real hoot to attend with Sariah because rope or no rope, she stands up and jumps her heart out to the music. She's planning to join the team when she gets to third grade just four years from now!












I can't fail to mention Mrs. Lorraine Ware, Miss Carroll and Mrs. Grooms who have taken so much of their own time to coach these wonderful kids. Thank you!

Chin Faces

I'm now referring back to an earlier post about my sense of humor. Here's the one time I recall just letting loose and having fun. In my own defense, when Nathan looked at the pictures and asked why I would do this, I said, "For fun. Can you imagine me having fun?" And he answered with a resounding, "Yes!" Maybe I'm not as dull as I think I am.

I got my college photo album out to show May a picture of a pencil drawing I had done in my freshman year. She's trying to draw faces and I was trying to explain proportions and thought I'd show her my one and only sketch of a human. In doing this, I flipped through the whole thing to show her what my life was like back then. She agrees with me that my nose is bigger now than it was then. I'm aging! ACK!!

In my freshman year at BYU, I was assigned to Erin as a roommate. We had both decided to live in the Honors dorm, where we would be quiet and studious. Erin and I became fast friends. Across the hall lived Allyson. We befriended her and had a great time together. Many times people thought Erin and I were twins and there were times when the three of us were hanging out together that someone would ask if we three were triplets.

Anyway, on said fun night, Erin gave us the idea of making chin faces and we ran from room to room putting on a show for anyone who would watch us being silly. A good laugh gets rid of some of the tension during finals week!

Here you go:

Note: My hat's off to both of these ladies, who I have continued to keep in touch with over the now 17 1/2 years since this picture was taken. Erin has 3 kids including a set of twins (I just know that I never would have survived taking care of twins!). Allyson has 8 kids and the last recent two were twins! They both have beautiful families and are beautiful people. And hopefully they won't mind that I posted their pictures on the internet!

Take a Guess!

I found this in the garbage the other night. My first impression of it was very different from what it actually was. What do you think? After other people guess or give their best impression, I'll tell you what it is and what my first impression was (I figured out right away what it was, but because of my past experiences, the first thing that came to mind was a little bizarre). I zapped the color out of it, just to make it more challenging.

Perspectives

There's a major stresser around here that I have decided it would be best not to blog about. I had decided to do it and then somebody pointed out that it might not be good to draw attention to it. I've been working on handling things in a healthy emotional way. I'm trying really hard. Have you ever noticed how painful it can be to change your ways? Even going in the right direction to new behaviors that are so much better, there's pain in leaving the old behind.

At any rate, yesterday afternoon and this morning, I took my camera outside, hoping that the fresh air and beauty would get my mind on other things. I'm looking around for things that I can see from a new perspective. I've never cared much about photography, except to make sure I had pictures of my kid's important events. I still know next to nothing about it, but it appears to be an outlet for me for now, so bear with me.

For Peter

Ordinary Miracles

This post is right on the money! Make sure to watch the video, it's very touching. You might also enjoy following his "ABC 11" link to a news story that recently aired. It's beautifully done.

Healthy Heros

This post goes out to Julie, a friend to me in a crucial and difficult time of my life and marriage. I'll never forget how you listened to me go on and on about my problems. I called you almost every day and you listened to me complain, cry. You listened to my desolation. You didn't let me give up. You told me I could do this. You loved me. I'll never forget!

So, I'm approaching parenting (finally!) in a new way. It's not that I haven't done this in the past, I just haven't done it consistently or with as much anticipation and excitement for the results as this time. I'm working with a new awareness and it's pretty exciting. The whole deal is that every interaction is meant to create RELATIONSHIP. Rather than me barking out orders of things that have to be done NOW, I'm trying to take the time to explain how things work and why they need to be done. When a child misbehaves, rather than dishing out an immediate consequence, I'm trying to look eye to eye and lovingly explain why it's a problem and how I'd rather they don't repeat that action. I guess I'm willing to do this several times over if need be. This is still in the works. I don't have it all figured out. It's a good thing I believe in a God who works in my life every day, every hour, every minute, if need be.

I look for extra opportunities to build relationship as well. We listen to CDs in the van each morning, but we turn it off when we drop May and Elijah off at their school, so they don't miss anything. That means I have a few minutes with Nathan before I drop him off at his school. We have a deal that he gets to sit in the front seat to and from school because otherwise he'd have to be cramped between two car seats in the back. Sometimes we just flip on NPR but the last few days I'm talking to him more.

Last night I sat Nathan down to answer some questions about himself. My sister, Jodi, has started doing this with her kids (she also writes in their journals on their birthdays each year about the preceding year) . She sent me her questions and so I've begun to record the answers from my kids. One of the questions was, "Who is your hero?" Nathan answered, "Well, it used to be President [Gordon B.] Hinckley, but now it's President [Thomas S.] Monson." I thought he made an excellent choice.

This morning as we were driving away from the Elementary School, we saw Nathan's fourth grade teacher, Mr. Ulrich. Mr. Ulrich was just who Nathan needed last year. He thought Nathan was spectacular at a time when Nathan was really down on himself. I said to Nathan, "Maybe Mr. Ulrich is a good hero?" Nathan agreed, but obviously thought his previous choice worked better. Now here comes the part that Julie taught me. She teaches her kids something that she first learned herself called "Healthy Heroes." I can relate to this also. There isn't any one person who is perfect. I can choose a hero, but there may be a way in which they disappoint me. Then, my tendency is to trash the idea of hero. Why have a hero that will ultimately just let me down. The idea of "Healthy Heroes" is to find many, many people, all with different characteristics that we admire, while also realizing that they will have their shortcomings as all people do.

I taught Nathan about this today and told him to look for heroes all around him. I enjoyed it and I think he was listening. After all, it's about relationships, right?

Trying New Household Tricks

I've been reading a great blog fairly regularly. It's called "The Lazy Organizer" and it's got lots of ideas for...well, organizing (home, time, etc.)...but also it's a place where people share ideas about lots of other things. I like it a lot and I've been gleaning some ideas that I'm trying to put into practice.

One idea came from the blog writer herself, Lara Gallagher. She said something to the effect of "If Momma's working, then everyone is working." I liked that idea and started watching what was going on in my home. I realized that even though my kids do chores, there are lots of times when I'm the only one working. Many times I'm working and still being pulled in several directions at once and it's very draining.

Lately, I've tried to be aware of times when I'm working that one of the kids could be helping me or doing a job in the close vicinity. One of those times was this past Saturday. My husband had just finished sanding the wall so that he could prime it and had vacuumed up a lot of the dust. I turned around and there was the vacuum, all dusty-dirty, and there was also a son in need of something to do. I immediately enlisted him to start wiping down the vacuum (isn't it funny when we have to clean the things that clean our house?? I've always thought it an oxymoron). I also grabbed a cloth and started working. It was great! My son didn't mind helping at all and we got to accomplish something while having extra time to interact on a more personal level.


We also took Lara's idea of a Mom's bank (I think she calls hers a credit union.) You can read more about that here. So, we've separated out the kid's allowance from their jobs. They have to do jobs simply because they live here. They get their allowance with some stipulations. 20 percent to savings, 10 percent to tithing, 10 percent to their charity of choice, and the rest stays in their "checking account." For now, they are all responsible for buying their shoes and socks plus whatever toys or extras that they want. This is all done on paper and makes things so much easier than having all the cash around. We're just in the first month and I'm sure we'll have some kinks to iron out, but I'm glad for the new system.

To read more from Lara, click here!

Shadows!

I was blog hopping the other day and came across a picture of the long shadows of a family in the late afternoon. It was really cool, so I want to take one too. Yesterday, on a whim I stayed outside after picking the kids up from school rather than rushing in to make dinner and we had some shadow fun.

Brigham--loves to go outside with Elijah. Elijah leads Brigham around the yard and the near neighborhood with a jumprope.




Sariah--alien head




Elijah--has taken up jump rope sport recently and in his own words, "I'm really good at jump roping!"




May--has a jump rope club show coming up this weekend, so she's practicing





Nathan--swinging the golf club



I'm glad I took a minute to just be outside with the kids. It seems Brigham has gotten a taste of the outdoors, though, and it's going to be interesting keeping him couped up inside for the rest of the "winter."

Little Boy Tricks

Watch as Brigham does death defying tricks at break-neck speed. From now on, I'll be leaving the room as he performs!

Portrait of Babyhood

The other day as we came home in the van, Brigham fell asleep. I was sure that he would waken if I put him in his bed and opted to hold him for a few minutes while he slept. I haven't done that since he was very small. It was one of my favorite past times with all of my babies. The camera was right there and I decided to capture some of his sleepy sweetness. Maybe it's all the baby blogs I read...

What does he dream about?!

LONG lashes!

Kissable.

Still chubby cheeks.

Sweet little hand dimples.

Feet that run pat-pat-pat all day long.

It's hard to wake up.

Tears.

Papa came home and cheered him up with some snowballs! He doesn't have any dimples, but I love the way his cheeks are shaped when he smiles (hey! I'm a mom, cut me a little slack if I seem overboard!).


His pal, Diddy. Don't know what the significance is here.

He can hunt eggs and jelly beans with the best of them!

All dressed up for church. Handsome. He is growing out of babyhood.