25 Random Things

1. I shower naked.

2. The best and hardest thing I will ever do is be a mom.

3. Growing up, I never imagined myself as the mother of anyone over the age of 6.

4. I decided when I was about three that I wanted to be a teacher and never changed my mind.

5. I graduated from Utah State with a degree in English and History and the day after I finished school (summer semester) we moved to my teaching job. I taught jr. high/high school English for 7 years.

6. I believe that a mother loses brain cells with every child. I am not nearly as smart now as I used to be.

7. I seriously LOVE the Olympics. It is the only sports program I ever watch. There are at least a dozen VHS tapes at my mom's house full of old Olympic programming...my family can tell you about each and every one. Eight years ago, I ordered cable so that we could watch the Olympics and then cancelled it two weeks later when they were over.

8. I love to dance, especially ballet. I took ballet classes clear through college and I wish I could have a ballet studio in my basement. But I hate to try to dance any kind of unchoreographed dance moves. If it doesn't have set steps, I don't do it.

9. I love books!! We have so many in our house and I feel it is a crime to throw away a book. We go to the library at least once a week and my kids get trips to Barnes and Noble for rewards.

10. I will publish a book one day. Historical fiction about the Holocaust or a memoir. I remember in grade school we made a time line projecting our future and I wrote down that I wanted to be published by the time I was 30. I seriously had such a hard time turning 30 because I hadn't accomplished that yet.

11. I hate the kitchen. I hate cooking in it, cleaning it, everything about it. We have three kitchens...one upstairs, one downstairs and a big outdoor kitchen.

12. I want to lose 30 pounds but have absolutely no will-power. I don't exercise when it is cold, raining hot or windy. I only run when I am in danger. I have tried running so many times and I will be running down the road thinking, "this is stupid. I have no destination, no one is chasing me, really I could stop at any time" And then I do.

13. If I could go back to school I would study interior design. I would love to decorate/design hotel rooms or condos.

14. I will someday wear a hood at a graduation ceremony. I will be one graduating, not some crazy lady in a hooded sweatshirt in the audience. I think it would be so cool to get my Masters and then still be able to stay home and be a mom. Maybe it would make me feel better about #6.

15. I am a red personality who might have a few control issues. And I am a perfectionist.

16. I am abnormally interested in other people's lives. I could so be a stalker, but I hold back. I particularly like to see the inside of other people's homes (and medicine cabinents, J/K!)

17. I absolutely freak out if any part of my body is confined in any way. I once got my leg, from the knee down, stuck in a ditch we were digging for sprinkler lines and completely lost it! I broke out in a cold sweat and was screaming and hyperventilating. I will never be arrested because they would have to tranquilize me to get the handcuffs on me. I pray I never have to have an MRI.

18. I love to travel and want to see Israel and Greece before I die. And lots of other places, too. Favorite places I have been include The Great Barrier Reef in Australia and Cancun, Mexico.

19. My favorite place to be is at the beach, a warm beach. But I don't like to get in the water, I just like looking at it and listening to it.

20. I once seriously considered becoming a funeral director after working at a funeral home. I found it very rewarding and fulfilling work.

21. I like to be involved in the community and love coming up with new and creative ways to do things. I could be a party planner.

22. I feel lonely a lot, even though I am always surrounded by family. I wish I had a close group of friends that lived nearby.

23. I do not have an adventurous bone in my body. My husband reminds me of this often. I also don't do spontaneity. I like my life to be safe, careful and planned. I start Christmas shopping in August and balance my check book daily. I plan everything.

24. I have a big box full of letters to and from a missionary. I will never throw them away. They represent a great relationship and an important time in both of our lives.

25. I hate the societal more (don't know how to make that little accent mark above the e) that says that, once you are married, girls and guys can't be friends anymore. Two of my best friends ever were guys and I really miss them. And that kind of sounds like my husband isn't my friend, which is not what I meant.

An Eyeore Day

I just finished dumping four bowls of soup down the kitchen sink. A new recipe, you ask? No, noodles, cheese, carrots and chicken. All ingredients that all four of my children like. Just not what they were in the mood for, I suppose. Just like last night at dinner, and yesterday for breakfast. To make matters worse, I am on a diet. So I fixed this appetizing meal knowing that I would not even be eating it. I had a salad instead. A salad with no fruit, which is what actually makes a salad good. And so I threw out the soup (and choked down the salad). I could have used a stop watch to time the interim period before I heard, "Mom, can I have a snack?"

My kids have been running around the house like banshees today, dragging and dumping, and yelling and screaming -- except the 12 year old, who took his literature into the living room and immediately fell asleep on the love sack. Awesome.

Maybe things aren't that much different today than they are any other day. Maybe it is just me. Perhaps it is hormones or the fact that my allergies are raging so badly today that I am actually hoping that there is no vegetation of any kind in the next life. Particularly no salad.

In any case, we have shut up the school room for the day, ignoring the fact that we are only through half of our scheduled assignments. We are heading to the nature trail to burn off some energy. I might have to drag my starving children back by their toes. And we might get rained on. What a fantastic day.

Do you ever have days like this?

Happy birthday to me

Disclaimer: Be forewarned that this is bound to be a sappy, sentimental reflection on my life. Feel free to skip ahead but I want to record it anyway. A coming-of-age post of sorts.

Today is my 35th birthday. I am now closer to 40 than 30. But, as horrible as turning 30 seemed for me this was not bad at all. I have thought a lot today though over the events of the past year. The things I've done, the things I've learned, my blessings and trials and growth. It is really important to me that I am changing and growing and living this life that has been given me, rather than just 'being' until my existence is over. I have always been a girl that needed a plan and, at the end of the day, I want to be able to map out my path and see where I have been and where I am going.

I never would have thought 20 years ago that I would be where I am today. Oh, some of my plans have worked out just as I wanted. I graduated from Utah State and spent seven years teaching school. I married a wonderful man and got to be the momma to four beautiful children. I have had opportunities to further develop my talents in writing and teaching. I got to stay home and be a wife, a homemaker and a mother.

Then there are other events that were never in my plan but which I consider a great blessing, like living in this great house right in the middle of the neighborhood in which I grew up and being able to school my children at home.

And I have to acknowledge that the horrible things that I didn't want to ever figure into my plan have been few. They include losing loved ones and dealing with disappointments and failures.

But, overall, my life plan has worked out pretty great. I like to think that I can take some responsibility for that but I know that, ultimately, this life and all that is in it is an amazing gift from a Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me and does always what is best for me, in spite of my plans.

This past year He has led me through heartache and loss that I had not even imagined and never thought I was strong enough to endure. This year I have learned about patience and faith and relying on the Lord. The past year has given me opportunity to laugh with abandon with my children and to walk in reverence and awe among God's great creations.

And this year has blessed me with love. With a family who loves me fiercely and supports me undyingly. And with wonderful friends. With friends I have recently met but whom I feel like I have known even before this life. A friend who surprises me every time we are together by how much we have in common and how much she can teach me about who I want to be. And by a friend from my past that now seems as though was never not in my life. Friends who came as answers to lonely prayers and whom I know will now be with me through this life and into the next. God's angels to walk by my side.

I am looking forward to the coming year. To friends to laugh and love and cry with, to another year with children who grow so very fast, to learning and growing and becoming.

And to more answered prayers.

We spent conference weekend with Grandma and Grandpa George this year. Grandma taught Emily how to crochet. Somehow, Emily missed the part about how to make her crocheting wider so she has now made a whole ball of yarn into the world's largest single crochet chain. She is very proud of it but maybe we need to make another visit...

Dollar Tree topiaries

Are you sick of my crafty posts yet? Are you even reading my blog anymore? I just had to show you these simple topiaries I made in about half an hour one night. I used the pots that held my sugared eggs at Easter and made these for the buffet in my kitchen. They remind me that it might really be spring soon!

To make them, I just painted a dowel with brown craft paint and hot glued spanish moss from the dollar tree onto a styrofoam ball. Then I assembed it and stuck it into a piece of florist foam inside the pot with some of a different color of spanish moss around the bottom. I love them!

The new-to-me couch

Isn't she pretty?

You should have seen her before! I wish could find a picture. My parents bought this couch when they were newly married. It was in the used furniture section of Lee's (I guess they used to have one of those). Anyway, they paid $10 for it. When Kevin and I got married, they passed it on to us. It was a red and green plaid. We once had a Kirby salesman over to do his shpeel and, at one point in the demonstration, he was supposed to vacuum a couch cushion. He took his vacuum over to our couch, made one swipe across it and decided that he was afraid it would fall apart if he vacuumed any more. So it was getting worn but it was SOO comfortable! Like you almost wanted to be kicked out of bed so you could sleep on this couch! Serious. I hated to get rid of it so my mom showed me how to recover it. I mostly just assisted her but I had a hand in it. I think it turned out absolutely beautiful! Think it will last another 40+ years?

Are You Ready?

Porter has a map that shows the tectonic plates of the earth (thanks Nat Geo!) Following the earthquake in Chile, we got out the map. We formed a theory that the earthquakes that were happening at each fault were pushing the next plate and would trigger an earthquake at that plate. Well, in the following weeks we heard reports of more earthquakes. It started with Haiti and moved to Chile, then continued along the plates to Turkey and Thailand. With Sunday's earthquake in California, that leaves only one more plate to complete the pattern. Can you guess where that plate is? Are you ready?

For nation shall rise against nation; and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. ~Matthew 24:7

Simple Pleasures

1. General Conference in the conference center with Kevin and Porter.

We decided this would make a great 12th birthday gift for our kids -- a trip to conference with their mom and dad. We went to the Saturday afternoon session and then the guys went to priesthood. My favorite part? It is silly but my favorite part of conference is when it is over and we all walk out of the conference center. I find it so empowering to think that all these people just heard the same voice of a living prophet and believe the same things that I do and now we are flooding out of the building to go out into the world and be better followers of Christ. That is power! And my other favorite part is walking down the sidewalk between the two lines of men singing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" to drown out the protesters. I can't do it without getting goosebumps and tears in my eyes. How blessed we are to have a loving Heavenly Father who speaks to His children through a living prophet on the earth today!

2. Holding a sleeping newborn. There is nothing better.

3. A successful Relief Society birthday dinner themed "Sisters Around the World". Everyone came through and it turned out great!

I think she has caught it...

the reading bug, that is! We have been to the public library twice this week and to Grandma's library too. Emily went to Twin with me to go grocery shopping and read all the way there and all the way home again. Right now it is the Ramona books. This is what afternoons at our house have looked like lately. I love it when my kids learn to love reading independently. There is always an adventure awaiting in a book!

Happy birthday Noah boy!

My Noah boy turned six on March 29. He is so happy to be able to say that he is six instead of 5 and a half. This little guy captured my heart from the moment I saw him and he makes me smile every single day! He is the life of our home, always singing at the top of his lungs and with an imagination the likes of which you have never before seen. He keeps us all laughing and I love his happy spirit.

Stuffed animals and dress ups are his favorite things to play with. Here he is with "Blue Bear" who is one of his favorites. Emily, who always makes each person a homemade gift on their birthday, made this little felt jacket for Blue Bear all by herself. I didn't even know she was doing it. Noah also got a big kid booster seat, a nerf gun, a camoflauge backpack to keep his guns in, army men, a magic show kit, star wars legos, and a bunch of spy stuff. He was a pretty happy kid!

In fact, this was his expression about every gift! Every time he would open a present, he would yell and holler and jump up and down all excited! It was fun to watch him loving all his gifts. He is always so grateful, thanking people for everything that they do for him. He is such a good example to me of someone who enjoys life, no matter what he is doing.

Happy birthday, Noah! I love you with all my heart!

Cuties!

Yep, we have been crafting again. I bought a couple of plain t-shirts at WalMart and used fabric scraps to make Emily a cute ladybug,

and Aleise a hoot owl, with lace around the bottom. Cute, huh? This was an experiment and now I am excited to find some fabric for twirly skirts and make shirts to go with them. I think they are perfect for sunny summer days, which I hope are on the way!