Etsy Fever

Just wanted to...ahem...point out the new widget on the sidebar over there ------------>

I'm selling bracelets on Etsy!  They're a little kitschy and a little cute and a little adolescent (the teenagers in my neighborhood love them) and also a little fun.  You're certainly welcome to buy one, even if you're 50.  It'll make the cool kids *jealous.  

(*Disclaimer: I have never been cool so any claim to know what will make cool kids jealous is totally fabricated and clearly says I have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Thanks for looking!

Bring it on 2012

I feel bad when I don't blog.  The neglect of the blog sits like a brooding animal at the back of my mind, nibbling at my conscience until I convince myself it's been too long since I last blogged and I may as well just shut it down all together.  So I get on Blogger, sift through the links, peruse past posts, chuckle over the comments of my friends (some of you are hilarious, by the way) and then fall in love all over again with blogging.

I guess I did that tonight.

I also take pictures, dozens and dozens of pictures each month.  They are carefully stored on my computer and there they sit.  Doing nothing.

Does anyone out there scrapbook?  I can't bring myself to do all the froofy cri-cut stuff where you have all these paper accoutrements in awesome layers angled around each other on the page...with one picture.  But I can handle it if it's just cutting and pasting and writing cute stuff and adding some fun paper with stickers or something.  And yes, I'm 12.

But I have NO scrapbooks of my children, just boxes and folders and computer files full of mementos.  Will someone please come and organize me so I can make scrapbooks for my children?  (Yes, mom, I agree, we need to get my craft room in order so I have a place to work.  Will you come over one night after the kids are in bed and do it with me?  Will my neighbors too?  That'd be great. Thanks.)

What other random thing can I bore readers with....food?  My kids love barbecue sauce.  Which is why, every day that I teach piano lessons and I finish right at dinner with no time to prepare anything we eat quesadillas with some kind of meat and barbecue sauce.  Doesn't matter what else is in it, they'll eat it if there's barbecue sauce.  Come to think of it, I'm kind of like that with chocolate sauce.  Or Nutella.  I've eaten that on tortillas before.  I guess it's true about apples and trees and all that.

(Speaking of which...about piano lessons, not about barbecue or chocolate sauces or Nutella or even apples...if anyone's interested I'm teaching piano again...)

See, this is why I don't blog more.  I could bore anyone to tears without even trying.  

I'm trying to declutter.  I got this burst of energy the last 10 days or so that translated in my brain as "you have too much stuff and your house is messy and unorganized and cluttered and wouldn't you like to live in a place that looked like it belonged in a magazine with only a few tastefully selected items on each surface and all color coordinating and bringing life and energy into your living space?"  My head voices are long-winded like that.  Of course, I can declutter all I want.  I will never be able to make a house look like it belongs in a magazine.  I need to bring in some talent for that.  One thing at a time...first I have to convince my husband that it's OK to throw things away.  The stories I could tell of the things he keeps ("we could totally use that!") and after months of sitting on a desk, the floor, a bookshelf, it hasn't been touched and I just throw it away.  See?  He never even misses it.  (Except that he does occasionally check on this blog and might actually KNOW that I do that stuff now.  I love you sweetie!  Let's go watch 'Hoarders' k?)  Just trying to do my part for our family.  Keeping my sanity, that's what's good for our family.  (On a related note, I found a website that is currently my inspiration: Discardia.  If any of this un-cluttering nonsense appeals to you, check it out.  It made me happy.)

There is quite a list of things that I'd like to work on, improve, change as this year begins.  I never actually made a list of resolutions or anything like that, it's more like just a feeling of things changing or getting ready to change, of wanting to be different somehow.  Better different.  That obnoxious, talkative burst of energy that pushes me to become more how I envision myself and less how I apathetically settle into life.  Does that make sense?

However, it is 9:00 and I'm feeling more settle-ish than energy-ish so I'm settling in for the night to watch (again) "Once Upon a Time" from this week. *excited giggle*

What about you?  How do you make changes to yourself or your life, especially on those long days where all you want to do is put in a movie and fade into oblivion???

Lessons Learned

Just thinking tonight about some of the things that I've learned that last few years that I never would have learned without my children in my life.

1- You can't imagine how something so tiny and adorable one moment could be so irritating the next.
2- Impromptu dance parties are the spice of life.
3- Adjustable waists in pants are brilliant...but they never get completely dry in the dryer.
4- Never would I think it permissible to wipe another person's nose with my hand.  But it totally is.
5- The amount of sleep I get is directly (and negatively) proportional to how early everyone wakes up the next morning.
6- You think that there's nothing worse than a sad, sick child that you want to heal immediately but can't...until they all get it and then it is definitely worse.
7- It is possible to want to desperately protect someone with your own life and still want to strangle them in the same moment.
8- The amount of time it takes my children to break something personal to me is directly related to how sentimental I feel about it.
9- I never realized how much my own parents loved me until I held my first child in my arms.
10- I don't know how I ever lived without having a little head nestled on my shoulder.  I also don't know how I'll live when that time is done.  I can't even think about it.
11- My kids can make even the most simple, mundane task absolutely exhausting.
12- It is in all likelihood possible to go literally crazy from saying the same things over & over & over & over...
13- It's easy to know what my kids size will be in the next year so buying a size up for them on the clearance rack has been the biggest money-saver ever.  (Already have Miss Em's Christmas clothes for next year).
14- When people say how important it is for women planning on being stay-at-home moms to get the best education possible because it will help them teach their children... they are exactly right.
15- I am not as patient as I thought I was.
16- I don't have to give up my life for my kids.  I can still have one of my own, too, with my own goals and plans.  It's just bigger than I planned it to be.
17- It took me a while to figure out why scriptures teach us to "become as a little child" because, honestly, sometimes they are hellions.  ('Submissive'??  He obviously never met MY kids!!)  But they are THE MOST FORGIVING little things on the planet.  I'm trying to be more like them.
18- I forget how amazing and exciting everything seemed when I was a kid.  The world seems brighter when I see that through their eyes and I remember.  (Sprinkles! Puppies! Trampolines! Snow!! The list could go on & on.)
19- Phases pass.
20- I never imagined that watching my kids all help each other unload the dishwasher would bring me such exquisite joy.

Twenty seems like a good place to end.  Plus, it's late and I still want to read for a while.  It was nice to sit here and think about the good things I've learned as a mother.  It's a crazy, upside-down, unrelenting, rewarding, exhausting job but it's the best one I've ever had.

Alert the media!

I want it known that I made doughnuts today!!!  (If you're curious I used THIS RECIPE but I swapped the strawberries for cranberries.)  I have never, in my 32 years successfully fried anything.  Ever.  In fact, I've only unsuccessfully tried 2 or 3 times.  But now I've made doughnuts.  And they're not too shabby.  I even fried some plan dough, sprinkled it with sugar and spread it with some vanilla honey butter (from some cinnamon roll thing I tried earlier in the week) and it was divine.  My whole life will now be divided in 2 sections: B.D. and A.D. (before doughnuts and after doughnuts).
I'm going to celebrate with some fried dough.

Letter to Stephanie Meyer

(So I published this note on Facebook but usually when I have an opinion I want to make it heard as much as possible (as my sweet, patient husband can probably attest) so I'm copying it here as well.  If you're tired of hearing anything about the Twilight series, if you don't like reading the personal rantings of people you don't know, or if are a Latter-day Saint and you loved the latest Twilight movie, then I apologize in advance.  This is kind of long so in the off chance that you actually do make it through the whole post, I'd appreciate a comment about your feelings.  It caused a bit of a stir on my friend's Facebook page when she linked to it and it led to some rousing discussion, so please feel free to share!)

‘With great power come great responsibility…’ how many times have we heard that in as many contexts?  Truisms tend to do that, get repeated in various settings.  And here’s the thing: they’re always true.   And this case is no different.  Stephanie Meyer has been “given” great power in terms of worldly influence because of her pseudo-celebrity status.  People (women, mostly) sit up and take notice to what she says, what she writes and what she represents.  The problem is that she has come to represent the LDS church because she is a member of that church.  So for the millions of women world-wide (who know the name Stephanie Meyer, acknowledging that there is a large portion of them who don’t) who are also members of that church we take very personally what she produces.  I am one of these women.  Her writing, her movies, anything with her name tied to it will be a representation to the world of what I believe, of what millions of women world-wide believe.  We want to be women of God.  We want to stand for honesty, integrity, morality, family togetherness, and love.

                So it was with great chagrin that I have watched her legacy play out in the media.  Her books were generally either loved or hated.  People have different tastes so there is allowance for that.  In fact, although I haven’t always appreciated everything about her books I could always say one thing: they stayed true to what we believe.  The characters represented virtues similar to my own and I never found anything incongruous with the LDS beliefs.  Until the movies started.  ‘Twilight’ the book was a delightful, quick read full of (albeit admittedly strange) romance that—and here’s the kicker—was CLEAN.  Morally clean, I mean.  I loved Edward’s “old fashioned” ideas of abstinence.  There was nothing gratuitous or graphic.  So I admit to being disheartened when watching Kristin Stewart in the movie making out with Robert Pattinson on her bed in her underwear.  Really?  Come on, that’s not what we stand for.  I grimaced for Young Women of our faith (and others) all over the world.

                Disregarding all that happened in the intervening years I’ll skip to the latest movie, ‘Breaking Dawn.’  While reading Stephanie’s books I admit to being continually pleased at the cleanliness of the writing, the themes, I felt there was even an almost subconscious influence to teach young girls to be morally clean, to save their bodies, not get involved in sexual activity.  And in the book ‘Breaking Dawn’ the main characters are married before they have sex.  Totally in line with my beliefs.  However, the thing I loved most about those scenes – that they were clean – was totally wiped out with the production of the movie.  In the book I loved that Stephanie glossed over the intimate moments between husband and wife, leaving room for the individual imagination to take over, and only returning to the marital bed the next morning.  Nothing gratuitous, nothing graphic.  Perfect.  And how dismayed and disappointed I was to see that Stephanie Meyer, as PRODUCER, no less, allowed that basic virtue, moral cleanliness, to be taken over by Hollywood and reduced to a graphic, gratuitous, uncomfortable sex scene.  Why was it so uncomfortable?  Because I’m a Mormon, just like Stephanie Meyer, and she has basically just declared that I think that was ok – desirable, in fact.  But she is wrong.  I don’t think sex scenes in movies are ok.  I think the public sphere is not the place for panting and moaning and naked bodies.  I would be mortified if I had a teenage girl who wanted to see that movie.  I am almost more horrified that a fellow Mormon would have the audacity to produce that scene in a movie.  Even as I write this I am filled with anger.  Disappointment.  Humiliation.  Resentment.  (Strange words for a Christian to use, perhaps I should calm down for a minute…)

                Sadness.  That is what I am left with.  Great sadness that in seeing (many, many, many) dollar signs, Sister Meyer has sold out.  She sold herself out for millions of dollars, and in doing so sold out the rest of us as well.  Congratulations, you just found the price of your integrity.

                So I want to make it perfectly clear, I do not condone what was in that movie.  Any woman who professes moral cleanliness would not be happy with that movie.  (Yeah, you know that uncomfortable feeling you got watching that scene?  You know what voice that was and shame on us for ignoring it.)  Now I am far from perfect, there are probably a handful of people that could rightfully cast stones at me and the difficult thing for Stephanie Meyer is that there are millions more that know her name and could cast stones if they wanted.  But I will still not sit idly by and have someone in the spotlight, someone who has let LDS women down, dictate to the rest of the world what I believe.  In all probability I will never have that kind of spotlight but it doesn’t mean I can’t have a voice.

A Little Revealing

1. I have not been able to concentrate on one thing for more than 20 minutes since 7:30 tonight.
2. Can you develop ADD overnight?
3. It's more likely that I know I should be doing something else and I'm avoiding it.
4. It's really helping me to number my sentences right now.
5. Can you develop OCD overnight?
6. (No comments allowed from my husband about me already having OCD.  I don't. *whispered*I don't.)
7. I think Facebook and Twitter have made me dumber: I can only think in sentences of about 140 characters.
8. Except when I read Jane Austen, then I feel smart and my sentences are longer and peppered with Victorian language.
9. I love Jane Austen.
10. I know it's not Jane Austen but I'm re-reading 'Jane Eyre' and I still love it just as much as the first dozen times.
11. Michael just got home.
12. It's 10:53pm.
13. I had to stop writing so we could fill each other in on our days.
14. Although there wasn't much to say since we've already spent roughly a cumulative of 40 minutes or so on the phone together during the day.
15. He calls me whenever he's at Costco getting gas in his truck, just in case we need 400 rolls of toilet paper or a double pack of elephant-sized bags of chips or a 17 lb. bottle of vitamins.
16. I think this is possibly the most boring blog post I've ever written.
17. Don't comment on that.
18. (Michael, this means you, too.  Again.)
19. Now my husband is waxing philosophical on me and demanding more attention so I have to actually listen and answer questions so I will end this.
20. But since I'm OCD I can't end on 19.

Summer recap

This doesn't even come close to re-capping our summer, but I thought it would be nice to prove that we are all still alive.  Emily's hair is getting longer (actually I think this was taken a few months ago...it's past her shoulders now) and is regularly in either pigtails or, more recently, braids.  Yay for having a girl!



The kids have been CRAZY loving the pool at G&G Snow's house.  I think we were there about twice a week for the entire summer and still going strong.  The pool is getting a little cold for the wimpy mom over here but kids don't care about silly stuff like numb appendages when there is fun to be had!



This is a freaky photo of me with all of my "Joseph" makeup on.  I participated in the Herriman community theater doing a production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" which was crazy-busy, a TON of fun and a great way to make new friends in my community.  For anyone that doesn't know me it doesn't actually look like a lot of makeup...trust me, it is.  I'm usually good with a little blush.  The black eyeliner in this show took me about a week to take off.  But I didn't mind cause I had a blast.  I also have to send MAJOR, ASTRONOMICAL, UNBELIEVABLE props to my sweet husband who picked up all of the slack during the rehearsals.  For the last 3 weeks I was gone EVERY night and for half the day on Saturdays, while he took care of kid-duty, bedtime duty, sometimes meal duty.  He did all the major outside work as well, but our front garden looks like rubbish piled on top of weeds because that was my job and I was never around to do it.  Oh well, there's always next year.



We had our first garden!  We grew an insane amount of tomatoes (all of which were mushy...can someone tell me what we did wrong?) and cucumbers, different peppers, onions, garlic...and the best part was how much the kids loved to help weed, water, and generally care for the garden.  They also loved to harvest, which is what is pictured below.  David is carrying an onion inside for me.



Michael and I did our first triathlon in years.  It was a little pathetic but at least we finished!  This is a 'before' picture at some ridiculous time like 5:30am.  Just 2 hours later I was nearly drowning in icy water that felt about 2 degrees.  Yikes, just thinking about it makes me panicky.  Good experience but I'm not sure I'll be doing an outdoor swim again anytime soon.



Emily took this picture, I just thought it was cute.  Also, it shows the families' favorite hangout...mom & dad's bathroom.  Why is that?



Also cute.  Love my boys.


I have a ton more photos but they're all still on my camera and it will take me an hour to download and blah, blah, blah... I'm lazy and want to go eat ice cream with Michael.  I love weekends.

On a more somber note I was thinking of all the things I've done in the last 10 years since the Sept. 11 attacks.  Just 2 weeks after that happened I was boarding a plane for England to serve an 18 month mission for my church.  (It was strange because I got used to the British calling it "11th of Sept." cause they write their dates differently, with the date before the month, and I had to get used to it being called "Sept. 11th" when I got back.  Anyway I found while being away that most people were sympathetic, supportive and almost apologetic towards me as an American.  It was an interesting perspective to have after such a nationally traumatic event.)
After my mission I met an adorable guy who made my knees weak, we got married a year later.
We bought our first house.
We had our first baby.  A boy.  We became parents and changed forever.
We moved to Asia (for reasons we can never quite explain) and had a life-changing experience and met some life-changing people.  We also had a little girl who changed our family dynamics forever.  For the better.
We moved back to the US.
We had a baby boy.  He's the happiest little goober I know.
We changed jobs at least 4 times.
We lived in at least 6 different houses.
With tragedy striking 10 years ago and every day, everywhere, somewhere, since then it makes life seem that much more precious and I feel almost anxious to hang on to every second.  My favorite parts of my days are when I'm with my family.  Like today, playing Uno.  So silly and unimportant but also so memorable.

I can't even imagine what my life will be like in another ten years.

I can't wait.