May 8

Dear Elder,
Hi! We got your letter yesterday. We really liked it. It made our day! I'm glad you like your companion and the other missionaries and learning the language, etc. It was all so good to hear.

Katrina wanted to watch the high school's spring play, Sherlock Holmes, for FHE last night, so that's what we did. It was a wonderful production. Kenny in our ward was Sherlock.

Dad says Grandma's renters called--there was a flood upstairs in the rental. Fun stuff, huh? He's sure losing lots of weight and really looks great.

Miriam is home, sick, today. She has a cold and went back to bed after breakfast.

Thomas is planning an "I love lunch" flash mob for the school lunch room with the student council. He made student council for next year, by the way.

Jon called last night. He made it to Canada and was in his hotel room. It was really great to Skype with him. I guess he starts work today, in fact, he may have done a bit last night, he was thinking that he might need to.

I also talked to Cassandra yesterday. She says Lily is walking really well and that she has a video of it. They are planning to post it on their blog soon. I can't wait!

I've been learning a lot from other moms with sons in Culiacan like how to keep bugs off, etc. BTW, please let us know if there is anything you need. It is way easy to send stuff to the MTC, but almost impossible to send anything to Mexico. Also, you left the second pair of pants to your suit so I will be sending those to you soon along with your driving record, so let me know what else you need or want. Also, in the papers you brought is an insurance card. Will you put it in your wallet if you haven't already? Thanks.

I got on Jacob's mission blog today. Julie and Kelly had posted his first email and also the pictures he's taken so far. I was wondering if you'd let me do a blog for you. I could post the address on your facebook acct if you wanted me to and everyone could go there to see what you are up to. Please let me know if I can do this. Also, are you taking pictures? It would be really nice to see what your companion looks like, etc.

Well, I hope we get a nice email from you soon. We love you so much and pray for you every day.
Love,
Mom

May 8--Letter From Matt!

On May 8, we got our first letter from Matt.  It was four hand written sentences long, but it was a letter!  It said he is happy at the MTC and that he's been getting my letters.  He didn't answer any of my questions including telling me if I can publish his letters on this blog, so I'm just paraphrasing for now.   It is amazing how much happiness four sentences written in bad hand writing can cause!

May 7

Dear Elder,
Happy Monday the 7th! I hope you had a nice weekend. I also hope we are sending you enough mail! I just heard that MTC missionaries don't get to call their moms on Mother's day--That stinks, but I'll survive :)
I hope you get to use your email soon, we are all waiting to hear how you are doing.
Things are going pretty well around here. I got a call from Cassandra which was nice. It's fun to get caught up. Can't believe tiny little Lily is walking!
Yesterday Renee and Becky came over and we had a nice visit.
Thomas and Abby from across the street are planning a birthday party together. It will be Friday in Abby's back yard. Thomas is pretty bummed that his actual birthday is on Mother's Day, ha ha.
I love you very much, Matt. It's so exciting to have you in the MTC. I hear it's not easy, so I hope you are praying hard and hanging in there.
Love,
Mom

May 6

 Dear Elder,

Hi, how are you doing this Sabbath day? What are Sundays like on a mission, BTW? Are they different than other days? How are they different?

I saw Jerron's mom in church. I had no idea she had come to your farewell. That is so sweet. She said she mentioned your farewell to Jerron and he said he'd been wondering about you and where you were going on your mission. Also Jared's mom told me Jared says "Hi" and that he hopes everything is going well for you in the MTC. It's always nice to know people care!

We had nice church meetings today. In testimony meeting many people talked about the importance of gratitude and in Sunday School we talked about the people of Zeniff and the importance of following the prophet. In Relief Society we learned about prayer and I bore my testimony. As a mom, I rely constantly on prayer. I hope you know that I know Heavenly Father answers our prayers and that, whatever happens, I am always praying for you.

I love you very much.
Love,
Mom

May 5

Dear Elder,
Hi, from Mom! How are you doing? I hope you enjoyed your Cinco de Mayo package. We had lots of fun putting it together for you.
I am wondering when they will be letting you make your Mother's day call. Please let us know so that we will be home. We are available any time besides during church. If you need to call during church, we can do that, too. Just let us know.
Sorry about all the boring business stuff. We love you very much and pray for you. I'll write again soon!
Love,
Mom

Matt's Cinco De Mayo Package--a pinata full of candy, chips and bean dip, and chocolate covered donuts--Matt's favorite

May 4--From Brian

 Dear Elder,
Hi! Mom just told me how to do this this morning so I thought I would write you a letter!
How is the MTC? What do you think of your group? What building are you in? I really have enjoyed having you home these last months, I wish I had been less busy and had less stuff going on. I hope you are feeling good about life, I know what you are doing can be pretty intense. Things around home have sure changed alot since you left, well actually I'm joking! but I DID find your secret MP3 player!!!! funny! I made Miriam give me all of the money from your truck, I told her it was that or she had to pay for her insurance :) Now I am almost a buck and a half richer!!! okay, here is what has really been happening, I had a really bad tooth ache after you left and I literally only slept for half an hour, so the next day I went and got a root canal which wasn't too bad, but I still had to go back to work and then to wash hut. when I got home @ 4:30 I crashed until 10, woke up for 2 hours and then slept till morning. Jon is coming home today.
I really, really, enjoyed our last day togeter, it was weird how you were gone so suddenly.
Well, I can't wait to hear about life for you.
Know that I am very proud (the good kind of pride) of you and love you very much. Angels are watching over you to help you in the work.
Love,
Dad

May 4

Dear Elder,
This is Mom. I say that because I made this account available to other family members who want a simple way to write to you. I hope you get a few letters from others soon. Happy Friday. How was your first full day at the MTC? I hope it was great. Have you seen anyone you know yet? Have you moved beyond what you already knew in Spanish yet? Ha ha.

Yesterday Dad had a root canal, lucky guy. Actually it was lucky, or rather a real blessing, because he was in lots of pain and the doctor/dentist guy just happened to have a cancellation, so he was able to fit Dad in. Anyway, he's feeling lots better. He came home from work and slept till 10:00 pm.

Thomas and his friend, Kolby, finally got their Rube Golberg project to work on Wednesday. I think they invested about an hour of work per second of video. Thirty seconds=30 hours. Pretty wild. Today Thomas finds out if he gets elected to student council. He says he's not sure people even know he's running because he never put up new posters; he just left up his student body pres posters.

Katrina has a choir festival today which I hope I am going to be able to attend. I look forward to listening to her sing and also talking to her on the drive home.

Miriam and I are going up to a cabin for an over nighter with leaders and other girls her age to plan our up-coming girls camp. I'm really looking forward to spending time together! Dad gets to stay home and take care of Grandma. He's sure sweet to do it!


Jonathan is coming home today for the weekend. He leaves for Canada on Monday. Can you believe it? He will actually be the first of our kids to live in a foreign country, if you can call going from hotel to hotel living, ha ha. Anyway, I really look forward to seeing him this weekend.

I watched the cutest video of Lily yesterday. She crawls up to a cupboard, and her favorite thing is the cupboard door. She sits opening and closing it forever. I told Cassandra that now I know what I'm getting her for her birthday. Yep, a cupboard door.

Cassandra shared a good scripture on Facebook, it's one of my favorites. It's Isaiah 41:10 which says,
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
I know that Heavenly Father is with you and will answer your prayers and strengthen and sustain you. I know that he will also answer our prayers on your behalf.

I sure love you, Matt, and hope you have a good weekend. May the Spirit be with you.

Love,
Mom

May 3

Dear Elder,
 How was your first night in the MTC? I hope it went well. How is the food? Do you like your companion?
After we saw you off yesterday, we went over to Grandma's to clean up her yard. Then we came home and the kids had waffle Wednesday while I slept. Last night Dad and I carried Grandma down the stairs in a folding chair and out to the van. We loaded her up in "shotgun" and took her for a ride. We stopped at Don and Renee's for her to say "hi" to them, and then we drove back home. It was kind of funny because she really liked it, but on the way home, Dad asked her if she enjoyed the ride and she said no because her son drove too fast and too dangerously.
Grandma and Grandpa called yesterday to ask about you and how dropping you off went. They said to say, "Hi."
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your first full day at the MTC. We love you very much and can't wait to hear from you when they let you email.
I forgot to send you your driving record, so I will do that sometime. Have a great day!

May 2

Dear Elder,
 Just thought I'd write you a letter this morning so that you'd have one waiting for you at the MTC. It was so wonderful to be there last night when you got set apart. I really felt the spirit. I am looking forward to today, going out to eat with you and the fam, and seeing you off around noon. I am corresponding with tons of other moms whose sons are in Culiacan, Mexico and asking them tons of questions; it's fun! I'm sure I'll probably have tons of questions for you, too :). Please let us know what it is like at the MTC so that we can imagine you being there. I love you very much, Matt. I know the MTC will be hard, but worth it!
Love,
Mom

Flood Warning

Okay, just to warn you, prepare for a flood of posts as I catch up to where I need to be on my blog.

 First, an update.  We saw Matt off to the LDS Missionary Training Center on May 2.  It was a happy and exciting day for our family to see our boy leave for 2 years to serve the Lord.  He will be at the MTC till July learning the Spanish language and training to be a Missionary.  This training consists largely of learning how to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Before going to the MTC, we went to the park, ate MacDonald's breakfast and played frisbee.

Taking a rest.

Trying to get the frisbee out of a tree (Matt was the Frisbee Hero who saved the frisbee.)

Then we went home, Matt changed into his suit, and we left for the MTC.

We had no one to take our picture, so we had to do it in shifts.

 Matt at the MTC, excited and nervous

One of the 3 nice Elders who helped Matt unload

 Proud Mamma

Since I write to Matt on a daily basis to keep him posted on family happenings, future blog posts will largely consist of my letters to him.  The letters will begin "Dear Elder" because LDS missionaries go by the title "Elder" as in Elder Smith, Elder Jones, etc.   Enjoy!

My, my. Look at the time!

Where has the time gone?  I haven’t written in ages!  Here’s a quick run down of what we have been up to:

Easter- -We had fun.  We made bread bunnies.   Saturday morning, the kids each followed their own color of yarn as it wound all over the house and ended up at their Easter basket.  After that we feasted on boiled eggs, bread bunnies, Easter candy and pistachios.  Have you ever noticed that pistachios are egg shaped—a nice and salty balance to all the sweet.  On Sunday we had an Easter celebration highlighting the last week of the life of Jesus Christ.  Our celebration incorporated good food and gifts.

Spring Break—I went to an amazing new shopping complex nearby three times!  Once with Brian and the kids, once with my scissors, Sarah Stoddard and Elizabeth Teichert, and once with Brian for my brother, Rick Haws’s birthday.  All of my Utah siblings were there with their spouses except Elizabeth’s husband Daniel couldn’t make it.   I had a blast each time.  You would think that I’d get tired of going there, but I didn’t—It was so wonderful to be out enjoying people I love in such a beautiful setting.

Brian—Brian’s been working hard.  He lost his summer teaching program which sets us back lots of money, so he’s been figuring out how to make up the difference.  He’s also been working at his mom’s house getting it ready for the new renters.  We went out Friday night and had a nice time.  I love him!!!

Sally—Sally has been more cognizant of her surroundings lately, which is a pleasant surprise.  It is nice to be able to communicate with her a bit as we care for her.  She has had some good visits lately.  Her sister and brother-in-law, Alice and Earl came during spring break and she loved that.  This week Sally’s daughter and grand daughter, Renee and Becky also visited as well as her son Paul with his daughter, Abigail and her boyfriend who seems like a really nice guy.  Sally loves visitors, so it was a good week for her.

Cassandra, Emerson, and Lily—Cassandra and Emerson celebrated their anniversary this weekend by getting a baby sitter for Lily, and going on an over nighter.  I’m so excited that they got to do that and I can’t wait to find out how it all went!  Lily doesn’t get babysat much so I’m sure it was quite an experience for her, too, but I’m also sure that she survived just fine.  She’s a very active and busy little baby, and has actually taken a couple of steps lately!  We love the pictures, videos, and updates they send to us.

Jonathan—Jonathan came down for the weekend which was really nice.  He and Matt did errands during the day on Friday and then on Friday night, he, Brian, and Matt had fun playing a game together.  Jonathan wrote a poem that got into his college's literary journal.  He considers it a dubious honor, but we are so proud of him!  He brought the journal home with him and I got to see his poem in print.  Like I told Jon, I don’t really understand poetry, but I like the feeling of the poem he wrote.  He is a very insightful man.

Matthew—Cassandra and Emerson invited Matthew to visit them before he leaves on his mission, so yesterday he flew to their neck of the woods.  He gets to stay for a week, and the rest of us are quite jealous.  I know he’ll have a lot of fun, and I think Lily is going to love him.  The day after he gets home will be Matt’s farewell, and then he’s off to the Mission Training Center the next Wednesday.  It’s hard to believe he’ll be gone so soon.  Where did the time go?  We are so happy and proud of him!

Miriam, Katrina, and Thomas—All three of the youngest kids got hired to work at a local water park this summer which is pretty exciting.  I hope it will be a good experience for them.  It will definitely keep them busy.  Miriam is planning to go to prom next week, and she has a beautiful dress for the occasion.  She took the ACT last week and we are waiting to hear her score.  She really studied hard for it!  Katrina is busy getting good grades, participating in drama, and hanging out with friends.  She and her friend Veronica spent the later half of yesterday re-watching Lord of the Rings.  Thomas went on a campout yesterday and helped the scouts aerate lawns for a fundraiser.  He is taking trumpet lessons and weight lifting with the high school football team.  He is also in the process of running for ninth grade student body president, but doesn’t think he’ll win.

Me—I’m busy being the glue that holds it all together, and let me tell you, the glue sure get spread thin sometimes, but I’m hanging in there!  

That's it.  I'm sure I forgot a lot, but you get the idea.

Also Announcing...

Also announcing the much anticipated, Waffle Wednesdays!!!  (The Brain-Child of The Wizard of Amazingness, Himself....BRIAN BO BIANNNNNN!)
That's right folks, starting this very Wednesday, our house will be filled with teenagers and the aroma of waffles as the children of Brian bring starving friends home from school to partake of a veritable smorgasbord of waffles, pancakes, and delicious toppings.  Come one, come all, and join the fun!!!
Certain exclusions apply--See Mom for details :)

Announcing...

Announcing...The most amazing baby in the world!!!
Yes, indeed, folks, the incredible Lily has done it again...this time by defying gravity by lifting her chunky little body up on all fours and CRAWLING (Applause, please)!!!!  But that's not all, no, this amazing child can also stand completely up on her two little feet and walk, yes folks, walk, using only a table or a finger for support.  But stay tuned, because soon she will be walking with no support at all!!  And how old is this death-defying dare devil?  Seven Months Old!!!  Lets hear a cheer for the world's cutest, most amazing baby of all tiiiiiiiiime!

Our New Arrival

Ways that having Sally here is like having a new baby

-She has to be changed,

-She has to be fed,

-We worry and fuss over her,

-When we give her milk to drink, sometimes she blows bubbles instead, just for fun,

-After watching "How to Train Your Dragon" for the first time, she began purring like the Dragon in the movie.  We took her for a walk, and she purred her tongue the whole time.  If I hadn't known better, I'd have sworn her wheelchair was motorized.

Ways that having Sally here is NOT like having a new baby

-No one congratulates us on our new arrival,

-No one says she's so cute,

-Lifting her is not fun,

But then again...

-She doesn't cry,

-She doesn't keep us up all night,

-And most importantly-- Although we don't know what the future will bring with her, we do know that she WONT grow up to be a teenager!!!!

Once again, the good outweighs the bad :)

Good, Bad, and Ugly

Good:
Jon stopped by and visited for awhile on Sunday.  We had a fun time talking.
Miriam is on choir tour in San Diego.
Brian and I got to hear Thomas play his trumpet in a jazz festival today.  He did great!
Katrina and Thomas are at a Beauty and the Beast cast party tonight.
Sally (Brian's Mom) and I sat on the deck and gazed at the popcorn popping out on our giant apricot tree.
I got to go to the Relief Society birthday party tonight with the ladies in my ward (congregation).  The Relief Society is the LDS church's women's organization--the largest women's organization in the world.
Bad:
I'm kind of going stir crazy.  It's one thing to be a homebody by choice, it's another thing to be stuck at home because you have to.  Yesterday, I slept practically all day.  I did better today, though :)
The Ugly:
I changed 4 messy diapers today and four yesterday.

And that, folks, is my life.  It's a good thing that "Good" far outweighs bad and ungly!

Can We Do This Without Me?

Well, it has been quite a week.  On Friday Brian’s mother, Sally came to live in our home.  Also on Friday my parents came to visit for 5 days.  The reason for my parent’s visit was to accompany Matthew when he went through the LDS temple for the first time.  That occurred last night and was one of the happiest experiences of my life, se eing my son worthy to enter into the temple of God and make sacred promises of righteousness to Him.

My parents also went to Katrina and Thomas’s play, Beauty and the Beast where Katrina played “the aristocratic lady” and Thomas played “Le Fou.”  The kids did a wonderful job, and my sister, Sarah and her family along with my sister Elizabeth also attended.  Everyone was quite impressed with their work. Miriam was in a festival the day my parents arrived and we got to see her do that, too.  Her choir won for the whole festival!  My parents really enjoyed listening top her sing.  Jon was also at home for the weekend, which was so nice.  He, Brian, Thomas, and my dad worked on Jon's car.  They found out that he needed new tires.  It was deceptive because the treads looked okay, but were coming off of the tire in some places.  Weird.  Anyway, they got new tires.

I don’t know how I would have made it through the last few days if my parents hadn’t been here.  Not only did they help Jon with the cost of the tires, my mom has helped me restore the house to order after the upheaval of switching around rooms in order to make place for Sally, and my dad helped me with the heavy lifting, and since Sally can’t move her left side, there is a lot of that.  I have done more physical work in the past week than I have done for years, and it is quite a chore.

Still, we have had our laughs.  The other day Sally told me about someone who told her to go to “H-E-Double Q.”  I cracked up laughing on the inside.  Then there was the first time my dad and I tried to use a lift to hoist Sally from her bed.  We had no idea what we were doing, and Sally’s conversation rambled aimlessly as we turned and tugged and pushed at her, until she spoke up loudly saying, “Can we do this without me?”  My dad and I laughed quite a bit about that, and I told him that I wanted out, too.  Sally’s question sticks in my mind and I find myself asking, especially when her care becomes a strain, “Can we do this without me?”  It keeps me laughing on the inside.

Her Love's Masterpiece

Last night I dreamed I was in my Grandma’s house.  She was gone, but  I wasn’t worried; I knew she was happy.  Then I looked out the back door into the back yard and it was all paved over in blacktop.  At first I was excited like a child and zoomed around the smooth surface in an office chair.  I noticed that the back fence was gone and the blacktop of the yard blended in with the paving of the alleyway.  It was then that I realized the yard was paved for a parking lot to accommodate the house’s future role as a small apartment complex.  Distressed, I fled back inside and ran through the rooms, trying to drink in each feature with my eyes but I finally realized it was useless; looking preserved nothing.   It's strange I woke up crying; mourning the loss of memory-soaked ceilings and walls.  I wonder now why I cried less for my grandma than for her home, but then where does her home end and she begin?  Her heart is in every brick, every tile.  My grandma’s future departure didn't bother me till I contemplated losing the privilege of visiting and remembering inside her life's masterpiece of love.

Miriam's Madlibs Birthday Party

Seventeen nanoseconds ago, our hipsters were delighted to offend Miriam onto our beach.  Since then she has grown into a blithering, slithering, and withering young woman, and tonight we are excited to be licking her mustacheday.  For the celebration we will be spewing hamburgers and cake and ice cream.  We will also be orbiting a movie called “That Whosie Whatsie You Do” which is a geometric favorite. 

Since I magnified the above paragraph, we ate the kolaburgers and they were delicious.  We also had ugly sweet chocolate fries.  Now we are just talking around Thomas’s left elbow.  Miriam is wearing a t-shirt with a giant nosester stache on the front that she shotgunned on herself.  Brian just said he remembers when she first flushed Miriam.  She was very sparkly—very putrid, but very sparkly.  Jon said that if he could stall her anything in the world, he would give her...um... “this hoopdy mart ”—picking a bug off his unicornburger bun.  Then we had to tell the story of when Miriam was little, she picked an atomizer seed off of her lemurburger bun, Jimmereded it to someone and said sweetly, “Here.  Now you can zoom a hamburger.” 

Brian said that when she little and fetching the doctor said she was too belligerent to be walking. 

Al gave Miriam bamboo for an epidermis she got today.  Katrina gave her pinky toenail polish,  Walt Disney got her a Zelda t-shirt which made her laugh.  She said she’s now officially an astronaut .   

If we could bury Miriam anything in the world we would bury her:

Elmo:  27 ½  years in the depths of despair and a shopping trip to finishing school

Gerald:  Every Hello Kitty product ever made.

Walt:  a 5-use negative twenty pound card

Zelda:  Her own transmutation circle

Me:  Life long guilt and persistence

Blanche:  A miniature Link that would run around and swashbuckle.

Now we’re eating the pickled squid.  Happy toe jam day, Miriam!!

Miriam's Seventeenth Birthday

Seventeen years ago, our family was delighted to welcome Miriam to our home.  Since then she has grown into a kind, loving, and beautiful young woman, and tonight we are excited to be celebrating her birthday.  For the celebration we will be eating hamburgers and cake and ice cream.  We will also be watching a movie called “That Thing You Do” which is a family favorite. 

Since I wrote the above paragraph, we ate the hamburgers and they were delicious.  We also had yummy sweet potato fries.  Now we are just talking around the table.  Miriam is wearing a t-shirt with a giant hispster ‘stache on the front that she sewed on herself.  Brian just said he remembers when she first saw Miriam.  She was very cute—very purple, but very cute.  Jon said that if he could get her anything in the world, he would give her…uh… “this sesame seed”—picking a seed off his hamburger bun.  Then we had to tell the story of when Miriam was little, she picked a sesame seed off of her hamburger bun, handed it to someone and said sweetly, “Here.  Now you can buy a hamburger.” 

Brian said that when she little and walking the doctor said she was too short to be walking. 

Thomas gave Miriam bamboo for a pot she got today.  Katrina gave her fingernail polish, Preston got her a Zelda t-shirt which made her laugh.  She said she’s now officially a nerd. 

If we could give Miriam anything in the world we would give her:

Brian:  Four years of college paid and a shopping trip to New York

Katrina:  Every Zelda product ever made.

Matt:  a ten-use negative twenty pound card

Thomas:  Her own beach

Me:  Life long joy and happiness

Preston:  A miniature Link that would run around and play.

Now we’re eating the cake and ice cream.  Happy Birthday, Miriam

Caring for Sally

We are busy these days getting Sally’s house to rent and keeping her comfortable and happy in the care and rehab center.  We also are constantly dealing with the insurance company who denied her any physical therapy after she left the hospital.  We appealed the denial and won the appeal, but they continue to deny us every week or so.  This last week, our appeal was also denied, and now we have to make a second appeal.  It is a process meant to wear us out and make us give up.  Most other insurances automatically give 100 days of rehab, but Sally has bought the worst insurance available; all the social workers say so.  It is Blue Cross/Blue Shield Med Advantage.  Still, Heavenly Father continues to comfort me, and I try not to worry about that end of it; Brian and his siblings are doing a good job of taking care of things.  When Sally does leave the care center, she will be living here with us if possible.  We are willing to take care of her, but want her to have as much physical therapy as possible before she comes so that she can have a good quality of life for the rest of her days.  Is that too much to ask?

Cafe Rio, A Gringo's Guide

Okay, I'm hoping that my last post will cause some of my family who have not been to Cafe Rio to try it, but I've decided I need to walk you through the process, so here goes.

You:  I would like a tostada on a soft corn tortilla with no rice, please.
Worker:  WHAA???
You:  TOSTADA.  SOFT CORN TORTILLA.  NO RICE!
Worker:  YOO WA BLA OR PEENTO BEEN?
You: (Beans.  Choose either. They are both good).
Worker:  WHA KINE-A MEE YOO WHAN?
You:  Chick...I mean...CHICKEN!!
Worker:  GREEL CHEECKEN??
You:  NO, SHREDDED CHEECK..I mean...CHICKEN!!
Worker:  LAYTUS, CEELAWNTRRRRO, MAYSICAN CHEES, GUACAMOLAY, AN CORN CRUNCHEESS?
You:  YES!!
Worker:  SOAM COS ESTRA, OKAY?
You:  WHAT??
Worker:  SOAM COS ESTRA, OKAY???
You:  Oh, some cost extra.  OKAY!!!
At this point you become pro active and yell:
TOMATILLO DRESSING, PLEASE!
Worker:  DAY OLSO COS ESTRA.
You:  OKAY!!
The worker smiles a big friendly smile and sends you on the way to the checker where you just bob your head and smile as you hand over your credit card.  At some point, state your drink preference.
You:  WATER
Worker:  You don't have to yell anymore.
You: Oh.  Water, please.
You are done.  Don't forget to take a mint.  They are cinnamon, not peppermint, so take two.  You earned it.

Cafe Rio Me-o

On Valentine's Day, Brian and I went to Cafe Rio for dinner.  I know that's a bit lame, but we were too worn out to think ahead and make reservations anywhere shmauncy.  The food was great and the company was breathtakingly handsome, so t'sall good.

Brian and I are getting the hang of ordering at Cafe Rio although Brian still needs me to translate what the workers are yelling at him from time to time, ha ha.  And since I have finally perfected my Cafe Rio salad, I will record it here.  First, may I mention that if you order the regular salad, it will be gargantuan.  They will build it on top of a giant flour tortilla or 3 regular sized corn ones.  For this reason, I order a tostada on a soft corn tortilla with a small salad dressing on the side and ends up being just the same as a small salad.  Anyway, here's the masterpiece.

Tortillas:  Corn or Flour?  Corn.  Their corn tortillas are delicious, and I think their flour tortillas are so-so.
Rice?  NO RICE.  I think their rice is yucky.
Beans:  Black or Pinto?  Either.  Both good.
Meat:  Shredded chicken, grilled chicken, grilled steak, or pork barbacoa?  Shredded chicken.  Pork barbacoa  is sweet and not good and their most popular meat.  Weird.
Salsa?   No.  Their green salsa is gross, and I haven't tried any other kind.
Lettuce, cilantro, guacamole, pico, Mexican cheese, fried corn crunchies?  Yes!!!
Sour cream?  Nope.  Too fatty.
Dressing:  Cilantro lime or tomatillo?  Tomatillo, yummm!  I've loved it so much that I haven't even tried cilantro lime.

Well, there you go.  The result of much trial and error and very worth all the trouble.

A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a  Valentine's Day fairy who got off to a very bad start one Valentine's Eve by forgetting to send valentines to her son Jonathan (who is in college) , her daughter, Cassandra (who lived far away) her son-in-law, Emerson, and her sweet little grand fairy, Lily.  Don't ask me how she forgot to do that because she'd been looking forward to doing it all month.  "Boo hoo!" cried the poor Valentine's fairy.  "Moonlighting as a personal-care-fairy for Sally, my mother-in-law, has addled my brain and made me forget to think ahead."

On Valentine's day the fairy did a bit better and managed to have the usual helium balloon, valentine, and treats waiting on each of her at-home-children's bed  when he or she got home from school.  She even managed to get Valentine's Day to Jonathan because she found out that her other son, Matt was making an unexpected drive to College Town that very day.  So she promptly appointed Matthew as "Deputy Valentine's fairy", loaded him down with goodies, and sent him on his way with a promise that similar treats would be waiting for him when he got home.  When all of this was accomplished, off flew the fairy to pick up Brian so that she and he could deliver balloons and flowers to Sally, and that was the end of the Valentine's fairy's adventures for the year. 

 

P.S. Cassandra told the poor frazzled fairy that she is forgiven and loved anyway, for which she is eternally grateful. 

 

P.P.S.  The Valentine's fairy's knight in shining armor made sure that she was generously remembered on Valentine's Day, by having 3 dozen lovely roses delivered to her door, and taking her out to eat after her crazy busy day.

P.P.S.  The fairy amply rewarded her gallant night in various ways including giving him balloons, chocolates, and two filet mignons which he plans to cook up tonight.

A Love Note for Valentine's Day

I love my Heavenly Father.  He guides me when I stray.  He strengthens me to not turn back and answers when I pray.  He gives me courage I don’t have and calms my many fears.  He chastens me when I forget and dries my bitter tears.

Learning, Visiting, and Going to Meetings

Lately I have been learning my duties as stake young women first counselor.  I have also been visiting Brian's mom daily.  One day this week, I had two meetings for stake young women.  The kids really helped me out with cleaning (one meeting was here at the house) and cooking.  While they made dinner, I read the four conference talks that I had been assigned to read before the evening meeting.  The dinner was delicious! 

Kissing Lily Goodbye

Saturday I kissed baby Lily goodbye and returned home to Brian and the kids.  It was so hard to leave her and her mommy and daddy.  They showed me a wonderful time and I loved every minute.  They say she misses me which is sad, too, because she's too little to understand.  Actually, I'm much bigger, and I don't understand.  Why do families have to live apart?  How do we stay connected?  How do I make sure that I keep in contact with her and her parents and her future siblings in a way that binds our hearts together always?  I guess I just need to try my best and make sure I never get discouraged or give up.  Today I Skyped with Lily and Cassandra.  It was not the same, but it will have to do for now.

Matt's Mission Call

Matt'call to serve a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came Wednesday while I was still visiting Cassandra, Emerson and Lily.  It was very exciting to get on Skype and watch Matt open the letter.  As he opened it, we all threw out guesses as to where he would be going.  I yelled "Japan" or something, and then changed my mind.  "Mexico" I called out a couple of times and each time I said it, I wanted more and more for that to be the place.  I realized then that Mexico would be the perfect match for my boy, and by the time he started reading the letter, my heart was set on it.  Sure enough, the call was to Mexico.  I squealed in excitement.  Unfortunately, I was holding poor little Lily and scared her to death.  I felt soooo bad.  Her mommy and daddy took her and comforted her and she recovered.  I would have been happy for Matthew if he had been called elsewhere, because I know that his call is of God, but it was really neat that he was called to Mexico.

Lily's House

Today I am still at Lily's house.  It has been a fun day with lots of playing for me and Lily.  I am giving Lily's mommy sewing lessons which Lily thinks is rather boring, but she is surviving them.  We also watched Wuthering Heights today which Lily totally ignored since eating was much more fun.  Her mommy and I survived watching the movie.  I say "survived," because this is the first time I've  finished Wuthering Heights in book or movie form since I usually stop soon after I begin, hating both the book and its characters.  I actually enjoyed watching it this time because it was fun to experience it with Cassandra and talk about it as we went.  Now Lily and her mommy are out for a walk in attempt to get Lily to fall asleep.  This has been, at least for me, the most wonderful visit in visit history so far.

Life with Lily

Lily is busy right now being fed for bed, so I am taking this opportunity to write in my journal.  Being with Lily all day is the best.  We went to church together and read stories together, went on a walk together and played and played.  Oh, by the way, Cassandra and Emerson came along, too.  It was great.  Yesterday after they picked me up, Cassandra, Emerson, and Lily took me to a sea food restaurant for my birthday.  We ordered the beach party plate which was full of crab, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob.  It was delicious!  Lily sat in a high chair and gummed unopened packs of crackers.  She had a great time.  Eating scrumptious food while watching Lily be cute and jabbery was definitely a wonderful birthday gift.  Everyone seems to be surviving at home which is good although Brian said his mom wasn't doing so well today.  I think he and the kids are going back there tonight to say hi to her before bed.  Well, it's almost time for bedtime.  It's been wonderful day, and the best part???  I have five more days with Lily to go!!!

Insert Squeal of Excitement Here

Tomorrow I am flying to see my little grand daughter Lily--insert squeal of excitement here--!!!!  I am sooo excited.  Things have been so crazy around here that I didn't make any of the things I had planned to bring her, but I don't care; all that doesn't matter.  I get to see her and hold her and play with her and make her laugh;  that's what matters.  Cassandra called me, worried because she was hoping that I could babysit while I was there and wanting to know if I would mind--Insert laugh of derision here.  Cassandra thinks I am coming to see her and Emerson.  Bwahahahah! 
Sorry.
Of course I am.
Of course I am. 
But, yes, I will babysit. 
NO PROBLEM!

AGATT--Do Not Try this at Home!

Okay, after a day of trying All Gratitude All the Time, I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible.  As you may know from my last entry, I decided for my birthday to only pray in gratitude to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ all day and not ask Him for anything.  My resolve lasted till 7:30 am while driving Miriam to school.  I realized that because of my gratitude goal, I hadn't made my usual petition for protection for me and my family, or for the Holy Ghost to be with us, or any of the blessings that we need every day.  I really didn't want to see what a day without those blessings would be like.  So I cheated and said a quick prayer asking Heavenly Father to bless us with the same blessings He always does and resloved to ask for nothing more all day.  That lasted till 8:00 when I was driving to the hospital to be with Brian's mom during her morning therapy.  I wanted to pray for her to be comforted and do a good job during her therapy session, but couldn't.  I realized that my goal would keep me from praying not only for myself, but for everyone I love.  That's when I began to wonder if all this was such a good idea.  I said a gratitude prayer instead.  Next came the bad news around 10:00 that the insurance was not likely to approve Sally's transfer to a nursing and rehab center to continue her therapy, and I broke my resolve again with a plea for Heavenly Father's intervention mixed with lots of gratitude for all the blessings He has already showered on us since her stroke.  Well, by the time I drove home from the hospital, I realized the error of my ways and, like Moroni, had to repent of the oath that I had made except mine was more a goal than an oath.  Anyway, I realized then that I do need My Savior every hour.  He sustains my every moment, my every breath.  He makes possible my every effort, my every sucess, He dries my tears after every failure, and most importantly, He does the same for all my children and for all of His children who place their trust in Him.  I love my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and my new resolve is to ask God knowing He will answer and to praise Him with all my heart.

My Ten Birthday Gifts

Happy Birthday to me!  My first birthday was birthday money in a bright cheery birthday card that I got in the mail yesterday from my parents.  It was a nice surprise.  I really must be getting old because I forgot that I would be getting anything from them and I really liked it.  

My second birthday present was from me to me when I allowed myself to sleep in till 6:30.  I did this by giving Katrina lunch money instead of making her a lunch and also letting the kids get breakfast on their own instead of making them anything. 

My third birthday present was to try and have a birthday of gratitude where I don’t ask Heavenly Father for anything in my prayers, but thank Him instead.  It was nice to say a prayer of gratitude this morning, because I have 44 years of blessings to thank Him for—an impossible task, but I’ve also tried to do that as I’ve gone along.  Throughout the morning, I have wanted to ask Him for help as usual, but instead have tried to turn my prayers to praise and gratitude instead.  Still, if I end up falling and can’t get up (I am getting old, you know), or find, now that I’m ancient, that I’ve forgotten who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing, I may end up asking Him for help today.   Otherwise, it will be all gratitude, all the time.  

My fourth birthday present was getting a birthday call from Elizabeth and her cute little two year old daughter.  They sang Happy Birthday to me and I loved it!  There is not much cuter than a toddler singing Happy “Birs-day.”

My fifith birthday present was a call from Cassandra when I was in the hospital gym helping Sally with her physical therapy.  Unfortunately my phone died just as I answered, but I knew what she was calling about, and it made me feel loved.  Later at home, I found a message on my machine, and I was right, she was wishing me happy birthday

My sixth birthday present was finding out that Brian had called to take me to lunch but he couldn’t get a hold of me because my phone was dead, and my seventh birthday present was Elizabeth calling to see if I wanted to do some fun birthday thing, but it was too late, I’d already left her home town for my hometown twenty minutes away.  In both these cases, it was definitely the thoughts that counted.

My eighth birthday present (tired yet?  I am.) was a trip to the grocery store to buy food so that the kids could have corn dogs and tater tots for dinner and I wouldn’t have to cook. I also bought yogurt to put in the ice cream maker with chopped almonds so that we can have frozen yogurt for my birthday celebration tonight or whenever we have it.

My ninth birthday present will be the nap that I will take as soon as I am done with this journal entry, and my tenth birthday present will be going out to eat with Brian tonight.

Wow, ten birthday presents!  What a great birthday!

MATTHEW —a tribute to Matt, by Matt

Oh Matthew,

He is so sweet,

From his head,

Down to his feet.

If there was only one word to say,

I’d say,  “Matthew,”

And I’d say it all day.

Wow Matt, you’re awesome,

Even better than a possum.

Do you know what I like most?

The answer is Matthew.  Well, that is, besides…

TOAST!!!

Thomas’s stand-alone birthday salute to Matt (No Mattlibs required)

The only obvious thing to compare Matthew to is a slightly grumpy super man who doesn’t wear pants underneath his underwear and who turns evil at night when you ask him too many questions.  His Lois Lane is Nick’s younger sister, but neither of them know it yet.  Yep, that’s Matthew, saving the world from crazy computer problems one virus at a time.

MATTlibs

Marci--Today, is Matthew’s hymnbook day.  I  sparkle Matthew very much.  From the time he was awkward, Matt was  bulky and humongeoous and he’s still that way.  In fact, right now he’s making a Tiddley Winks 2 thingy that you’ll have to ask him about to get more details on.  With his groundhog day money, he bought stuff to throw it which I think is very cool.  It’s really nice having Matt home this annoying amount of time before his mission.  He’s pesky and pasty and I enjoy sulking with him during the day when I would normally be crazy.  I need to help him get all sung in with plastic flowers and everything because right now his plastic fruit is all in one  corner of Thomas’s Disney ticket.  I snore to do this in honor of his sinkday.  I love you,  Matt.  Have a great birthday!

Brian—It is not commonly known, but Matthew is shifty.  He may never dive the cure for hives, but you can bet he will do really dross things.  These last few weeks the tan Matthew brain has been busy at work eradicating a G-27 inner-nostril-top—now what is floppier than that?  He is also flipping a chain to show the windowsill-by-windowsill process.  Now, I ask you, how many San Francisco 49ers are that sticky??

Miriam—Costello is 3 today.  He was flipped in January.  He attended toast college last year and is going on a vacation this year.  He likes to play on the grass and roll to music at the same time.  He’s good with ideology and he drives a baby pink Mexi-truck with 1,955 seats.

Katrina—Yesterday while Mr. Bean went to Larry’s house, Moe, Curly, and Abbot cleaned his closet for him.  Today we made chocolate cake and frosting and ate it with ice cream. For his birthday, Matt got beanie babies, Doc Martins, Pickles, and a pistol as gifts.

Matthew's Birthday

Here is what people on the street had to say about Matt’s birthday;

Marci--Today, is Matthew’s birthday.  I love Matthew very much.  From the time he was small, Matt was precocious and creative and he’s still that way.  In fact, right now he’s making a Nintendo 64 thingy that you’ll have to ask him about to get more details on.  With his birthday money, he bought stuff to make it which I think is very cool.  It’s really nice having Matt home this small amount of time before his mission.  He’s cheerful and nice and I enjoy talking with him during the day when I would normally be alone. I still need to help him get all moved in with a dresser and everything because right now his stuff is all in one  corner of Thomas’s room.  I pledge to do that this week in honor of your birthday!  I love you,  Matt.  Happy Birthday!

Brian—It is no commonly known but Matthew is a genius.  He may never discover the cure for cancer but you can bet he will do really cool things.  These last few weeks the great Matthew brain has been busy at work making a N-64 laptop—now what is neater than that?  He is also making a vlog to show the step-by-step process.  Now, I ask you, how many teenagers are that inventive?

Miriam—Matthew is nineteen today.  He attended college last year and is gong on a mission this year.  He likes to play on his computer and listen to music at the same time.  He’s good with technology.  He drives a brown Mexi-truck with two and a half seats.

Katrina—Yesterday while Matt went to his friend’s house, Mom, Miriam, and Katrina cleaned his room for him.  Today we made chocolate cake and frosting and ate it with ice cream.  For his birthday, Matt got Cheetos, chocolate doughnuts, energy beans, a balloon, and soda.

Sally, The Sabbath, My Sustaining

Sally is doing a bit better today, and we are so happy about that!  It looks like she may be able to leave the hospital.  We don't know for sure, of course, but we have great hope.
Brian was with her a lot yesterday, including stopping by on our date, and then again today for 6 hours.  I expect we will go see her as a family again later tonight.  Now, Brian is coming home to crash.

Because he was with his mom, I taught Brian's Sunday school class.  The lesson was on Adam and Eve and the fall.  It went pretty well.  It is a big class and they are really talkative, especially the girls.  It is hard to keep their attention. The boys, actually have been quite reverent.  I think they like having Brian for a teacher.  He has lots of stories about the army, his mission, etc.  They did pretty well for me too, though.  Thomas is in there, and it's fun to teach him.

 In Relief Society we talked about George Albert Smith and how loving and giving he was.  One lady raised her hand and talked about a time when they were discussing how to help kids be reverent in primary, especially the really energetic ones.  One of the leaders said to imagine Christ holding that child and imagine His love for them.  As she was talking, I began imagining different sisters in the room being embraced by Christ.  I imagined the love He had for each person.  Then I imagined the same thing about others in my life who are not so easy to love.  Tears came to my eyes as I felt the deep love He must have for each person I imagined.  It was a wonderful experience.

Last week I was called to serve as the first councilor in the stake Young Women's presidency.  Today I was sustained by the wards (congregations) in the stake (a stake is a group of wards or congregations).  It is a big responsibility, and I will miss working with the eight to eleven year old girls.  It is interesting, though, because many of the girls I taught at that age are now young women, and I will have the opportunity of serving them again.  The most exciting part, of course is being able to serve my own daughters!  I'm especially happy to be going to girl's camp with them this year.  Miriam has already given me tons of ideas and pointers for camp.  I keep telling her that the camp committee decides all the activities for camp, not me, and not to count on much help from me.  Still, she has really great ideas, even Katrina said they were awesome, so I guess I'll be ready if anyone asks my opinion.

Sad Times

We took the kids to see Sally in the hospital again today.  I'm glad Jon is home for the weekend so that he could see her last night.  It is very sad to watch her decline.  The nurses continue to prepare us in case we lose her, and the night vigils have begun.  Today she was able to say "I love you" to each of the kids, and I think she was listening to what they had to say,  but its hard to tell.  Brian will stay with her tonight, and we will bring the kids in again tomorrow.  I wish there was more we could do.

Sally's Stroke

Brian’s mom, Sally, had a stroke yesterday.  She was driving her car when it happened, but she was blessed to not hit or hurt anything or anyone including herself.  Drivers nearby watched her erratic manoevers and pulled over to help.  They recognized the sign of a stroke and called the paramedics who took her in an ambulance to the hospital.  After much convincing, she allowed the doctors to give her TPA, the drug that if taken within the first three hours can help reverse the symptoms.  Yesterday, considering the circumstances, she was quite a happy camper.  She loved being in the hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses talking about her medical history, family history, and anything else she wanted to say, plus having the undivided attention from three out of four of her children. 

Today, not so much.  For one thing, her left side is not responding.  She can’t move her hand or foot.  Yesterday she could hold up both her left arm and left leg for 10 seconds each.  She also hasn’t woken up much, then again she’s always been a hard one to wake up. The nurse called us at five this morning to let us know of her worsened symptoms and to let us know that they were doing an MRI right away.  Brian went over then to be with her.  Now he’s at work and I’m keeping her company while she sleeps.  The doctor is at this moment reviewing the MRI and will hopefully be in soon to tell me what’s up.  Brian’s sister, Renee should be here any time which will be nice.

Well, since I last wrote, I talked to the doctors who were very disappointed by Sally's unexpected relapse.  They told me that she will in all probability never regain the movement she has lost.  The nurse said the staus quo will be no more.  The hope we had yesterday is gone, and the news is heart breaking.

Brag Page

You know how in the last post I said that Brian is remodeling of our bedroom?
"Your husband is doing the remodeling??? "
"Eww, Gross," you say.
"No," I say.
Brian is amazing.
Who put in our air conditioning, our furnace, our water heater, and our water softener?
Brian.
Who remodeled our desolation of a family room a couple of years ago even doing the taping himself so that now it looks wonderful and the kids always say "I love our family room"?
Brian.
Who does all the plumbing jobs around here no matter how big or stinky or what got flushed?
Brian.
So there you have it.
Brian is one amazing guy.
I pretty much have the best husband ever.
Just braggin'.

The Appraisal that Keeps on Giving

If you read my post entitled, "The appraiser" you know how beneficial it was for our home to have an appraisal.  Well, all the hard work that everyone put in paid off when the appraisal came in $9,000 over what we needed it to.  We were very happy because, honestly, we weren't sure it would appraise high enough.  So that's good news, right?  But wait, there's more!  Fixing up the bathroom for the appraiser must have given Brian the remodeling bug because now he's begun working on our unfinished bedroom.  In the other post I said I wished we had an appraiser coming every week, but now I know that just one appraisal can do wonders in our lives.  That was a $300 well spent!

My Grandpa Richard

My Grandpa Richard, married to Grandma Patricia

A few years ago, my Grandpa Richard got pancreatic cancer, and we knew he would be leaving us soon, so we loaded our kids in the van and made the journey to his home twelve hours away.  It was wonderful being with my grandpa that one last time, and I remember how I felt sitting with him and realizing that soon he would be in the presence of the Savior.  I wanted to say, "When you get there, tell the Savior how much I love Him," but I thought it might sound flippant, and that's not the way I felt.  I felt a reverence and awe and joy knowing that I stood in the presence of one worthy to soon behold His glory.

My grandpa was gentle and kind, with an endearing hesitancy in his voice that I sometimes hear in my son Matthew's words.  His hands were big, and he loved to hold his grand kids on his knee and burp them for their mommies and play with them.  He had a sweet laugh and a big smile that my brother Rick inherited.  As a little girl, I always felt a bit sorry for Grandpa, swallowed up in a house full of loud crazy teenagers, but he loved them and all of us, I could feel it.

For Christmas this year, my mom sent me a copy of Grandpa's journals--a real treasure.  I loved reading about his life in his own words, especially his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I always knew that he knew the gospel was true, but it was good to read his own words declaring it.  My grandpa was a good husband, father, and grandfather, and it is partly because of him that I am who I am.

Now that I think about it, I'm really not sure if we get to be in the presence of the Savior in the spirit world, or if we won't have that privilege till the judgement day.  Be that as it may, I know that when he died, there were those on the other side who loved my grandpa and waited for him, saying, "We will meet him here, and we will receive him into our bosom, and we will fall upon his neck, and he shall fall upon our necks, and we shall kiss each other."* I look forward to such a meeting with my grandpa some day.

*See Moses 7:63

Lily's or Bust!

We got to to Skype with Emerson, Cassandra, and Lily yesterday which was so much fun!  I’m so excited to go visit!  I hope Lily’s mommy and daddy don’t plan on holding her much while I’m there.  Matt was laughing at me the other day because I already am filling my bag with things to bring with me—all little presents for Lily.  I’m not like lots of new grandmas who buy every cute thing they see.  I have to be really into something before I’ll buy it.  So what do I have for Lily?  Well, I am making her a little dress out of vintage cloth napkins like the ones I used to make for Cassandra when she was small.  I’m also planning to make a little photo-story book for Lily with pictures of all our family.  It will be indestructible so she can look at it and maul it all she wants as she, hopefully, becomes familiar with our faces, I also found the cutest little monkey that plays Brahms’ Lullaby when you pull it’s tail, not in the tinny electronic way, but in the tinkly music box way.  I’ve always believed that every baby should fall asleep listening to Brahms lullaby.  I actually found that at Walmart, if you can believe it.  The duffle bag is getting full.  I hope I have room for my own clothes.  I’ll just have to pack light!

Catching up on the Weekend

We were at home a lot this weekend because of Matt’s wisdom teeth extraction recovery.  The kids pretty much played video games all day, sadly.  Matt’s recovery is coming along really well, but he wasn't up to doing all the showering, shaving, etc to meet with the stake pres. on Sunday, so he's rescheduled for next week.  Yesterday was our first day without Jonathan home in a long time, and boy was it quiet!  I really miss him.  I’m so glad he’s coming home again next Friday for the long weekend.  Brian and I went walking at the mall yesterday, which was very fun because I haven’t gotten out of the house much lately.  Friday we had a stay-date because we didn’t want to leave Matt.  We sat in bed, ate Marie Calendars frozen dinners and watched a show on my little notepad computer.  We were too exhausted to do more than that anyway.  Sometimes, it’s just fun to crash.

I Resolve

I love both Christmas and summer time.  Everyone is home, we relax the schedules and have a bit more fun.  I also love September and January for exactly the opposite reasons--they are the season to retrench, refocus, and recommit.  Accordingly, we made New Year's resolutions in Family Home Evening.  These are mine.

Physical:  Exercise!!!  The problem with this one is figuring out when to exercise.  If it’s a day when I’m home, its no problem, but when I am testing or subbing, exercise goes out the window.  I already wake up to at five thirty to get everything else done, so I’d have to wake up at 4:45 to exercise in the morning, too. I don’t get to bed early enough to wake up that early!  So when do I exercise on those days?  I think the best thing to do is to get together with Brian and make a goal as a couple to walk nightly after family scriptures and prayer.  I’ll ask him about it right now.
He says he’ll make the goal to walk five nights a week with me after family scriptures and prayer, so there you go.  Between me walking in the morning either with my walking buddy, Emily or on the treadmill on stay-at-home days and walking with Brian at bed time, I should be good.  Will I lose all the weight I’ve gained lately?  Not so sure.

Eating right will help me lose weight.  Here  are my goals:  Eat definite meals—no grazing (a big problem when I’m home alone during the day)  Have a snack at 10:30 and one when the kids get home.  Put a reasonable serving on my plate and don’t have seconds.  No eating after dinner unless it’s a family home evening treat with the family and then only 2 cookies worth.  No eating sweets alone.  I don't really do that anyway.

 Spiritual:  I have already begun my spiritual goal of studying the scriptures instead of just reading them.  I have been highlighting my scriptures and taking more notes.  This has been helping me to see the themes in the scriptures that apply to my life.  My other goal is less concrete.  It is to have the right priorities.   I’m working on that.

Mental:  Sleep more.  I know that doesn't seem to make any sense, but I can’t think or remember anything when I am low on sleep, so my goal is to go to bed right after my walk with Brian every night.

Emotional:  Be more loving and connected with people.  I’m trying harder to put people before things.   Brian and I already walk once or twice a week, and it really helps us feel connected.  Imagine what five  walks a week will do for us.

Those are my goals, wish me luck!

The Appraiser

Thursday an appraiser came to check out the house because we are refinancing, and, for me, it was a wonderful thing.    First of all, we weren’t sure when he would be coming, so the bedrooms got clean on Monday and stayed clean for five days. All of them.  At the same time.  This is definitely a family record.  On top of that, I got tons of help around the house without my even asking.  But the best part of all was when the appraiser called on Wednesday to let me know he’d be there the next morning and, by the way, he’d be taking pictures of certain rooms in the house.  He named the rooms and they included the bathrooms.  That’s when Brian kicked into high gear.  All in one night, my embarrassment-of-a-bathroom downstairs got patched, calked, and painted.  It is still in need of much help, but is no longer the abomination of the ages.  Thursday morning the appraiser came, took pictures and asked questions about the age of our appliances, furnace, etc.  It was a big change from the drive-by appraisal we got when we financed in the boom before the economic downturn.  So now the house is all appraised and all clean, and looking at my bathroom doesn’t make me wince.  I think I’ll call the guy and ask if he can come appraise us every week.

A New Blog

I started a new blog last night called “Hearts of the Children.”  It presents fun ways to teach kids about their ancestors.  Some of the quotes I am posting on the Blog summarize my feelings exactly.   Here they are: 
"People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors." -- Edmund Burke
"When a society or a civilization perishes, one condition can always be found. They forgot where they came from." -- Carle Sandburg
"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness." -- Alex Haley, Roots
“I feel that teaching kids where they come from is key in our efforts to teach them who they are and keep them faithful.”—Marci J

Jon and Matt

It has been so wonderful having Matt and Jon here for Christmas break.  Matt won't be going back to college at this time,  instead he will do temporary work, and wait for his call to come to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Jon is left for the second semester of his second year in college today (Friday).  I’ll miss him so much!  We really have had the best visit ever.  After this semester, Jon will be transferring to a four year college.  My how time flies!  

A Very Happy Anniversary

Brian and I had a wonderful time celebrating our anniversary this week.  It was our 25^th, and the main celebration occurred last month when we took a wonderful cruise to commemorate the big event.  Along with that, we also celebrated on the actual day this week by having a little get away to the Big City.  We had a wonderful time eating, shopping, watching a movie, etc.  The next day we had a delicious breakfast and ended our get away by attending the near-by LDS temple.  It was a wonderful experience, the perfect way to begin our twenty-sixth year together.

My Favorite Gift Ever!

My very best gift of all and the most exciting part of Christmas was a wonderful gift from Brian.  He really outdid himself this year and gave me many gifts, but one in particular, was the best ever.  He really knew what to get me, and it was a present I hadn’t let myself even dream of.  He was pretty happy that he had both surprised me and made me cry.  And the present???  It was an envelope containing flight information for and upcoming trip to see my sweet little grand daughter, Lily and her parents!  I definitely have the best husband ever, and I can’t wait to go.

Christmas Morning

Who was up first on Christmas morning?  Not the kids, not Brian, but me, and even I slept in longer than usual.  I got up at 6:50 because the plan was to open presents at 7:00.  You see, Christmas this year was on a Sunday which meant church at 9:00 am.  It’s strange but true that while the rest of the Christian world goes to church at Christmas time, some never stepping foot inside the rest of the year, some Latter day saints complain about going to church when Christmas is on a Sunday.  Some may complain because they figure since we go to church every week the rest of the year, it would be nice to have a break on Christmas.  But I think for most, the main problem is the logistics of it all.  It’s hard enough to get a family of say six or eight fed, showered, dressed and out the door for church by nine o’clock in the morning, but when you add Christmas morning pandemonium to the schedule, it becomes almost impossible.  I think many families opted to open presents after church to avoid the difficulties.  You can imagine how the kids felt about that!  Anyway, with no little kids to get ready, we figured we could start opening gifts at 7:00, finish by 8:00, and be to church by 9:00, and we did just that.  It’s weird, though, having to wake kids up on Christmas morning which is just what Brian and I had to do.  He woke up shortly after me, and so did Katrina, but we had to roust the rest out of bed.  That’s teenagers for you!  We had a family prayer and then gathered downstairs around the Christmas tree to open gifts.  Everyone seemed happy with what Santa brought them.  After the festivities, we were seated in Church before nine.  It was wonderful to sing and hear of Christ and to be reminded of the reason for Christmas.  

I Love Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we stay home with just our little family.  We cook a nice meal—this year it was prime rib—and set a beautiful table.  We dress for dinner in our nicest clothes, open Christmas crackers, and then eat.  Afterwards, we open pajamas, get dressed in them and head downstairs to share Gifts from the Heart around the Christmas tree.  We’ve been doing Gifts from the Heart for almost a decade now.  Each family member gives a gift to another family member—anything in the world they want to give—the only catch is that it can’t cost any money; instead of coming from the store, it has to come from the heart.   We have had some amazing gifts from the heart over the years.  This year was also wonderful.  Brian gave Katrina a coupon for six hours of time with Dad which she will probably use to watch a movie or two with him.  Katrina wrote Matt a beautiful poem that she shared with the family.  She's quite the poet.  Matt wrote me a song.  It was funny and original, and I loved it!  I gave Thomas a triple layered blanket—quilted, bonded, and fleece—to keep him super warm.  I started the blanket long ago and never finished it, so I decided I’d finish it up for my gift from the heart.  Kind of lame, but he was pleased.  Thomas gave Miriam a bracelet that he conned her into helping him make by telling her it was for Katrina.   He figured that the best way to make sure she liked it was to have her help pick out the beads herself.  She wore it to church on Christmas.  Miriam gave Jon the biggest, biggest heating pad I've ever seen.  He really seems to like it.  Jon made Brian a video.  It was hilarious!  It was all very fun—one of my favorite parts of Christmas!  Then Brian read the Christmas story, we prayed, and went to bed.

Christmas Traditions

Our family has many Christmas traditions, but we don’t do them all every year.  Instead, we do whichever ones feel right for that particular year.  Some of our many traditions (besides the Christmas Eve ones which I will mention in another post) include a nativity advent, reading from the Christmas story basket, decorating a gingerbread house, giving gifts to Christ, going to the city’s light display, going to the light display at the LDS temple grounds, doing twelve days of Christmas for a needy family, singing Christmas carols around the tree on as many nights in December as possible, participating in the neighborhood Christmas play, etc.  We also like to try new traditions as we go along.  This year, along with doing a selection of the old traditions, we also read excerpts from the four gospels every night possible in December.  By Christmas Eve, we’d read the highlights of Jesus Christ’s life, atonement, and resurrection.  It was a wonderful way to remember Christ during the holiday season.

Merry Christmas Eve!

What's Everyone Else Up To?

Brian has been busy at work and at home doing whatever needs to be done.  The other day he dreamed that he found rare currency worth a ton of money—definitely a good dream for Brian; he woke up happy.  His work party was last Monday, and we all went as a family.  It was nice having a family party instead of a couple’s party.  His Christmas gift from the school district was 2 movie tickets, so he and I went to the movies Saturday afternoon between Christmas parties.  He’s been suffering from a cold lately which really stinks, but feeling sick doesn’t stop him from being a wonderful husband and dad.

Lily and her parents are doing well.  We sent them a Christmas package and they got it on Friday.  They seemed to like the Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus that I crocheted for them.  We also sent them each an individual gift.  They opened everything early because they won’t be home for the holidays—they are taking Lily to meet her other grandma for the first time.  They posted new cute pictures of the fam on their blog, which I love!  I hope they have a very Merry Christmas.

Jonathan has been the Santa Claus Junior of the family this Christmas.  I swear he knows more about what people are getting than I do, and I’m Mrs. Santa Senior!  He’s really been helpful telling us what people want and coordinating the buying of gifts.  This has been finals week for him and Matt.  I transferred money into their accounts so that they could buy some finals survival snacks.  I know it’s not much, but its something.  He and Matt come home today!!

Matt says studying for finals is going well for him.  I chatted with him on Facebook the other night which was fun even though he spent the whole time teasing me.  Actually, that was why it was so fun.  Jon is going back to college at the new year, but Matt will stay and prepare for his LDS mission.  He’s and Jon are planning to load all their stuff in the little pick-up, and head home this afternoon.  Suddenly I’m wondering where we’ll put everything all when they get here.  Matt’s got lots to do this next week—get photos and doctor’s appointments and send off his papers.  Pretty exciting.

Miriam has been singing her head off lately, I’m so proud of her!  She sang a solo—"What Child is This"—at our congregation’s Christmas party and again in our annual neighborhood Christmas play.  Her voice is so beautiful and she got tons of compliments.  I’m so proud of her!  She also performed with the school choir Wednesday at a beautiful Christmas concert.  We brought Brian’s mom with us and she loved it.  So did I, it really brought the Christmas spirit!  Tonight Miriam gets to go to a party which will really be fun for her.

Katrina has been busy with drama club counsel and is getting ready to begin tutoring for National Honor Society.  She has been accompanying Miriam when she sings “What Child is This.”  I had no idea that she played so well.  We went to Katrina’s choir concert last night.  They sang “Come O Come Emmanuel” and The Halleleuiah Chorus.  It was beautiful!  Katrina tried out and got a part in Beauty and the Beast.  She will be playing “the aristocratic woman.”  It has a few lines and a bit of singing.  I’m so excited for her!

Thomas also got a part in the school play.  He will be playing “Le Fool,” Gaston’s sidekick.  It’s pretty unusual for an eighth grader to get such a big part, so he’s pretty stoked.  Sadly, however, he had to quit wrestling because the practices conflict.  Bittersweet.  Thomas is sure looking forward to his brothers coming home tonight.  With Brian and I going out on a date and the two girls going to Christmas parties tonight, it will be just the boys at home.  They should really like that, especially if I get them a pizza and a couple of moviesJ

Testing, testing...

Last week and this week I am working full school days doing testing.  We go from school to school doing benchmark testing in resource as well as mainstream classrooms.  You think those last two sentences I wrote were boring, you should try listening to kids read the same passages over and over every week day for two weeks and then coming back 3 months later and doing it all again. 

It’s the fictional passages that are really dull because I don’t really care if Kim and Anna are entering a jump rope contest or that Mother Kangaroo keeps loosing her baby.  But the non-fiction passages aren’t too bad because at least I’m learning something.  For instance, I now know that Big Ben has four faces so that it can be seen from every direction and that those faces are 20 feet wide and, the numbers are 2 feet tall, and the minute hand is long as a car.  I also know that Carl Gauss grew up in a poor family in Germany and could work math problems in his head by the time he was three.  When he was seven, his school teacher asked the kids to add up all the numbers from one to 100, and he figured out the answer almost instantly.  Kind of interesting, right? 

 Non fiction stories have their frustrations, too, however, since no one ever gets farther than half way through the information.  The passage about Big Ben begins with people climbing up it’s face.  It took me 5 days of testing before I got a kid who read far enough to find out that the climbers were actually cleaners.  What happens next?  Do the climbers fall?  Do they ever finish cleaning London’s clock?  I may never know.  I also may never know what amazing things Carl Gauss did after the age of seven.  I keep telling myself that I’ll go back and finish the good ones, but when I’m off work, I come to my senses.  Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to lately.

Happy Birthday, Grandma

My Grandma is turning 90 this month, and her kids are asking for everyone to write something to her, so this is the letter that I am sending to my Grandma.

Dear Grandma,
I have so many memories of you over the years.  I remember you making me hominy to eat and I remember  drinking your delicious, slushy grapefruit drink.  I remember you giving us hot water bottles to keep us warm when we spent the night.  I remember you giving Great Grandma perms; it taught me alot about honoring my parents.  I also remember all the things you made.  You made me and my siblings stuffed frogs with colorful soft bodies and big bulgy eyes.  You made me and mys sister Julie each a doll with sleeping eyes on one side and awake eyes on the other.  I named mine Jane.  You made me a quilt stitched in the outline of the temple.  You made my son, Jonathan and Katherine's boy, Michael, quilts out of the same fabric when they were babies.  You made Katherine a rag doll, I think it's name was Bernice.  You raised chickens, grew raspberries, hung and ironed laundry, mopped miles of linoleum, and lived through ten teenagers.  Grandma, you are truly my hero, I hope I can be half the mother, grandmother, great, and great great grandmother that you are, and I wish you a very happy birthday.
Love,
Marci

A Nice Week

This week has been nice.  On Monday we worked outside raking and sweeping up leaves and cleaning out the garden shed for winter.  After dinner, Brian read his dad's life story to us.  It was wonderful to hear again the story of his conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was living away from home when his parents became members of the church.  They told him they would like him to join, too.  Brian's dad decided to be baptized into the church to keep peace in the family, but determined to leave the church as soon as he turned 18.  His resolve changed on the day of his baptism; he was so filled with the spirit of the lord, he knew that he had joined the true church of Jesus Christ.  He remained a faithful member throughout his life.

Brian's Dad, Wally

Thursday was activity days.  My church calling is to work with the eight and nine year old girls of my ward (congregation) in doing activities that promote their Faith in God.  Next week, we plan on visiting a local rest home to sing Christmas songs to the residents there.  The girls sing wonderfully as a group and we thought that this would be a great way to spread Christmas cheer.  This last week, we planned on having the girls make poinsettias to had out to the nursing home patients after we sang.  The poinsettias are a craft I came up with and I was excited to help the girls make and share them.

 Sometime during the week previous, however, I had a different idea, and I think it was a prompting from the Holy Ghost.  The thought of a sweet lady in the ward came to my mind.  She is unwell most of the time and rarely gets to leave home except to attend an hour of church services every week with her husband.  They are an older couple who try to stay busy and positive, but I know that it's hard some times.  This wonderful lady has a collection of dolls from all around the world displayed in her living room.  As I thought about her and how lonely she must sometimes get, I knew that a visit to her from my little activity day girls would brighten her day and enrich the lives of the girls.  When I asked her husband if he thought she would be up to the visit, he said she would absolutely love it.  He asked me to call her to make the arrangements.  When I did, I knew she was delighted by the little laughs in her voice as she talked.

On Thursday, we went to their house and had a wonderful time.  The husband showed each doll and explained where she was from.  Afterwards the girls asked a few questions about the dolls.  They also wanted to know who made the beautiful hand-crocheted ornaments hanging on her tree and were very impressed to hear that she had made them herself.  Before we left, we sang "Silent Night and Jingle Bells," then we went out the door with "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" ringing in their ears.  Such a simple thing; such a wonderful feeling!


Yesterday, (Saturday) we went to the temple to see the beautiful lights and the nativities.  We had a wonderful time!