slow down

My job is important.

I was reminded of that last weekend when several talks during general conference mentioned parenthood. I was also reminded of it when I read this in the Book of Mormon just the other day:

Mosiah 4: 26
And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.

I realized I do that every day.

And it seems mundane and tedious most days. Especially when "noisy children are clamoring for attention." (see Julie B Beck's talk)

So, I decided to slow down. And I have noticed some things. The other night Ana and I were playing together and I noticed that she runs everywhere. There is so much life and energy bursting out of her. And yesterday I noticed that Jack says "Hey, Mama" a thousand times a day, just to hear me say, "what, Jack." And I noticed that he gave Ana a big hug when she was in time out and said, "I love you, Ana." And I noticed that Ana makes up nonsense words all the time, but that she always follows it with "that means ____".

On the way to dance I turned off the radio and just talked to Ana. She said she wants to live on a farm with pigs (just pigs) and that she wants to name one "Kris" and she wants to ride them. Then she also said she wants cats and asked why her cousin's cat died. And I noticed that she's really curious about death.

There are a thousand things to notice. A thousand reasons to find joy. A thousand reasons to not envy those with great jobs or who travel the world. A thousand reasons to take advantage of these "protected years" when "Satan's use of the mists of darkness ... is blocked." (see Henry B Eyring's talk)

My job is important. And that is humbling. I hope I'm up to the task.

easter weekend

Saturday morning was windy and snowy. I was up early getting ready for a 5k in Twin (about 40 minutes away.) After a series of texts with my running friend Alisha, we decided to go ahead and do it anyway, but that I would drive instead because "my car is good in the snow." That part is true. But we still got stuck. In Alisha’s driveway. In what I thought was Alisha's driveway but actually was the field next to her house. (In my defense, both the driveway and the field looked like dirt covered in snow. How was I to know?)

Luckily we were in good moods and so we laughed the whole time her husband pushed us out of the field. (I'm not sure he thought it was as funny.) And we laughed all the way to Twin. And any time we thought about it all weekend. Dave laughed, too, but I think that was more at me than with me.

After a great run (in the wind and cold), we went to Target, Costco and a couple other stores and went out to lunch. And we didn't have to say "don't touch that" or "stay by mommy" or "sit down" even once.

We got home in time to watch the 2nd session of general conference. I love general conference. I look forward to it every year and it felt so weird to miss a session, so I listened to part of it this morning. I feel rejuvenated to be a better mother. Julie Beck's talk was amazing. One of my favorite quotes: "The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation, is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life." Awesome!

The kids enjoyed Easter morning candy and surprises. Nothing big, just a few quiet activities for conference and some candy. I'm excited for their new Sunday clothes.

We had an incredible dinner and awesome dessert, so overall it was a very satisfying weekend. And now its back to real life. But that is good too.

Can/Should this ever be done??

So, we are thinking about selling my Mazda pickup before moving to Vermont. That doesn't leave many options for transporting the canoe I am building. As far as moving there I think we can get it in the moving truck but for actual camping and using it once we get there...


Don't be afraid to click on the picture and see the bigger version. Also, I love Microsoft Paint.

questions

*How did my family of 4 manage to use 27 cups in 1 day?

*Will Ana ever stay in her bed and fall asleep before 10 pm?

*How does Ana come up with some of the things that come out of her mouth? (For example: "I guess the world drinks rain.")

*Is there anything in the world cuter than Jack saying "I love you, Mama" and needing kisses for his owies? (I think not.)

*Where did my housecleaning motivation go? Did I ever have it?

*Will I be able to run that 5k on Saturday and not get dead last?

*Have you found your spot? (Mine includes Fort Collins, Colorado, which was already on our list of places we could probably live when we grow up.)

Any answers?

family gathering

My brother - the mighty military man - had a few days leave from Iraq this month. So yesterday we had a family party at my parent's house. All but 2 siblings were there (we missed you, Wendy and Teri!).

We had an Easter Egg hunt in which Jack totally caught on and picked up as many eggs as he could and Ana taught the younger kids that there was candy inside them.






(I thought this picture was really cute! Some of the grandkids ages 2, 3, 5, 4, 2, almost 2)



(this one includes my brother being his normal, crazy self and his 2 year old, who somehow was missing from the picture above)

And what is an Easter Egg Hunt without a snowball fight?




We always have lots of fun, food and NOISE!

a little anxious

I don't like March.

It teases just enough to want to do this:



and wear these:


But it is still too cold and windy most days. So we end up doing this:


Of course, I still wear my Chacos even if there is snow on the ground. And we did get to go to Boise to visit my sister over Spring Break. So I guess March isn't all bad.

Is it summer yet?

kids

Yesterday we had a quiet afternoon. Most Sundays we would come visit Dave's parents, so it seemed wrong to leave their house. But it was weird not to go anywhere. I looked up at the clock while we were all playing in the family room after dinner and thought, "is it really only 6? This day has been so slow." About 20 minutes later I realized that we hadn't changed that clock yet.

This transition has been hard on Jack, I think. He's been grumpy and contrary this week. But the other night the kids put on a couple of Aprons like capes and ran around the house saying, "Super Why to the rescue!"





(they had just got out of the bathtub and hadn't got their jammies on yet)

Its weird to think that Jack is the exact age Ana was when we moved here, into this house, 2 years ago. I usually don't remember this because Ana and Jack are like night-and-day, but today when I told Jack he could have a bath and he went to the cupboard and got all of Grandma's boats, I remembered that Ana used to do that too.

Ana says funny things. She's been into big words lately, like:

"Oh look, mom, that doll is adorable."
"Mom, stop being so enormous." (??)
"Uh, this is so disgusting!" (usually she says this when she is frustrated about something??)

She's also been talking about how she wants to marry her friend Carson. Last night she was "on the phone" with him.

"Carson, we're going to get married. (pause as she listens to his response). Uggh, Mom, Carson said no."

She also talked on the phone with Nemo ("Hi, Nemo, I was thinking about how wonderful the world is.") and Jesus ("Jesus, how did you make the world?") Incidentally, Jesus said he just "put all the pieces together."

Oh, and one more. The other night when I told her she had to stay in her bed or she would get a spank she said, She cried in a most teenage worthy dramatic voice, "Mom, you don't love me." I didn't think I'd hear that for another 10 years.

Today I have a list a mile long of stuff to do, so I better get busy.

weird week

Last Sunday Dave's parents left on their mission to West Virginia.

On Monday we took Ana to the dentist. Her teeth are rotting, basically. *two thumbs down*

On Monday we also learned about Dave's placement on the alternate list at our #1 school of choice - University of Washington. Basically that means "you get to wait even longer."

We've spent the entire week slowly moving over to the in-laws house. Our old house is a mess trying to separate what we want to put in a box until July and what we want to be able to use for the next 4 months.

Yesterday I cracked. I yelled, I swore, I cried.

This morning I woke up with an eye infection. Ana had one last weekend and Jack started to get one in the week, but we staved if off with Ana's left over eye drops. At 6:00 this morning I woke up and couldn't even open my eyes. Nice.

So this morning I cried some more. Then I got into a sock fight with the kids. (A fight in which we throw socks at each other.) It was very therapeutic.

Maybe I've just gone crazy.

On a positive note: having a dishwasher makes my heart happy.

this morning...

(unrelated picture of Ana at dance, taken by my phone)

This morning I made recycled cryaons with the kids.

Correction: this morning I made recycled crayons for the kids.

I thought Ana would LOVE taking the wrappers off of the old, broken crayons because I usually have to tell her to keep the wrappers on. But she wasn't that into it.

Mostly it was her sitting there watching me do it (and asking a million why questions like "why do you have to take the wrappers off?") and Jack throwing all the other crayons around.

After they were all done and cooled, we colored with them for about 10 minutes and moved on to something else.

And I thought to myself, "wow, that was pointless." Especially because half of them cracked while they cooled in the freezer. (I should have let them cool longer on the counter, I guess.)

But then I remembered that while we waited for them to cool Ana snuggled on my lap and we watched youtube videos on how crayons are made and she got to ask another million "why" questions.

And that at least she wasn't watching TV or playing on pbskids.org like she has all day the last two days.

So I guess it wasn't pointless.

In fact, I think it was worth it.

why do i have to get so darn emotionally attached?

I just read this book for book club.

It was a good book.

I will recommend it to you, but I have a warning - it is sad. Or maybe I should just say that it is full of sorrow. But its happy too.

Its the story of a girl's life from ages 18 to 38. And she lived in the "wild west" so naturally there were all sorts of sorrowing that happened during those days.

The problem I had with this book is that I saw myself (and Dave) so strongly resembled by her (and her husband). So that meant that everything that happened to her I felt like it was happening to me.

I spent all day (literally) yesterday reading. I gave Dave a big hug after it was over and I was crying and he was like, "I really don't get this" but he gave me a hug back and smiled at me anyway. He is one who doesn't get emotionally attached to stories like I do.

This is how I am with most books that I read. Or movies that I watch. I just get so into it that I can think about nothing else. Which is why I can't put a good book down. (When we were reading the Harry Potter books together I thought of nothing else for weeks. I even dreamed about Harry.)

Anyway, I'm trying to think of something to cheer me up. I think I might need some peppy music. Or reading Pride and Prejudice (at least my favorite parts).

What I really need to do is practice the song I'm playing in the adult session of Stake Conference on Saturday. (yikes! I totally agreed to accompany someone without realizing where she was singing.) I also need to continue packing.