Inspiration Knoll

"Reading"

2012-01-27T15:29:00.000-06:00

This is a cute clip of Bee playing pretend with me. She made me breakfast and then refused to let me eat until we had prayed and until she had read the 'Book of Mormon' to me. She read several books by describing the pictures that she saw. She is adorable. Click on the link above to watch the six minute clip.

Pew Survey on Mormons in America

2012-01-24T19:52:00.002-06:00

For those of you who haven't seen this, it's fascinating:

http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/mormons-in-america-executive-summary.aspx

Pew is a respected firm that runs first-class surveys, so I take the results of this "Mormons in America" survey as fairly accurate.

The full complete report is available in PDF format (2 MB) and goes into much greater detail on the questions summarized in the link above:

http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Christian/Mormon/Mormons%20in%20America.pdf

Most of the results are not overly surprising, although there are a few head-scratchers in there. What do you all think is the most interesting finding of this survey???

New Year's Festivities

2012-01-13T13:20:00.000-06:00

It was quite the new year for us. We celebrated the Parisian new year, meaning that we ate, played, made noise, and then were all home by 7:00 p.m. in time to put the kids to bed. Benjamin and I were exhausted from the week's festivities and decided to keep it low-key this year.

We arrived at the party to find out that the mom had found lice in her daughters' hair thirty minutes before the party started. We didn't see the daughter at all and we only saw the mom for a few seconds. My head has been a little itchy ever since. The power of suggestion is strong. We definitely don't want lice.

One of the moms that was there went in to labor that night, soon after the party, and had the first baby of the year in our local hospital. It was some party.

Benjamin and I went home and played games in front of the fire and then toasted in the new year with some sparkling grape juice. We have lots of goals for the new year and we are excited what it will bring. In 2011 we moved into our beautiful, Benjamin started his second year of work, I started teaching Spanish at the Montessori school, Bee turned three, I successfully taught Seminary for the most of the entire year, our car hung in there for the year (and hopefully for a few more), we made new friends, had great memories, took several trips, had lots of visitors, enjoyed good health, ate well (hence the need for repeat weight loss goals from last year), and have settled our family for now. Here's to a great 2012.

Countdown to 6:00 p.m. or midnight in Paris.

Noisemakers.

Here's a great shot of her new haircut in addition to her obssession with princess dresses.

Don't Leave

2012-01-11T17:28:00.000-06:00

Christmas week flew by and soon our guests were leaving us. Nana and Papa had to leave first on Thursday, then Karolyn and A.J. flew out on Friday.

We enjoyed meeting A.J. and were saddened when things didn't work out between these two. He ended up breaking up with her shortly after the trip. Sorry Karolyn. We tried to be good, but you've got to admit, we're all crazy. :)

Three of the four sisters. Karolyn was missed.

We hired babysitters and took them to the airport, getting them there with only an hour to departure. Whoops. Luckily everything worked out. Sorry Karolyn for any undue anxiety you may have experience. Then Rob, Kimberly, Benjamin, and I went to the Louisville temple.

We had a spiritually edifying time and were so glad to have the opportunity to visit the temple together. We were worried about leaving the five children with the babysitters for over eight hours, but they did well and the kids had fun. Both Kimberly and I meant to take pictures of the four of us outside the temple, but none of us remembered. Oh well. Thanks Kim and Rob for a fun night out at the temple.

Obviously we found this picture on the web and did not take it ourselves.

They then spent Saturday packing, cleaning, playing a few more games, and then finally had to leave in the early afternoon. I really appreciate them coming, especially since it resulted in the totalling of their vehicle on the drive out. Luckily only the van was hurt. We feel so blessed that they were all unharmed and that they eventually made it safe here and later made it safe back to Texas. The silver lining, if there is one, is that they get to buy a newer van now. Their rental van was pretty sweet too.

We had s'mores for lunch on Saturday. Not healthy, but enthusiastically received by the boys.

Here's my attempt at writing in pancakes on Saturday morning.

The boys left us a mural to remember them by.

The rental van just before they pulled away. Sniff. The house is so quiet now.

Thursday

2012-01-10T17:45:00.000-06:00

The girls found time on Thursday to head to a local thrift shop. We scored some fun things including gravy boats and new clothes for our men. I found a cool cash register toy that I am going to save for another holiday. A.J. and Karolyn got bored after a while and ended up sitting on the couch waiting for us. They were waiting for almost forty-five minutes. Poor things. I checked out at one point and then kept finding new things to buy. I told Kimberly that it was her fault that I kept buying things and in an effort to speed up her shopping I recommended she buy everything that I found from that point on. The sweet girl didn't agree, but then she did end up paying for the three things that I had found. Funny Kimberly.

Then Kimberly and Karolyn went to the dollhouse museum while the boys went to a local civil war battlefield. I love the detail of the displays. There is so much to see there. Bee and I have been to the museum several times recently so we played in the front of the store and out on the grounds. She pretended to be a horse and actually ate quite a few blades of grass. Silly girl. Is she ever going to grow out of her oral fixation phase?????

They look large, but they were tiny.

I love me a teeny tiny fabric shop.

We split up again in the evening with some of us, including the littlest persons, going to a basketball game at Ben's college and the other group heading to Lexington for some shopping and to see the lights displays at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Kimberly had to find a new car seat to replace the one that had been involved in their accident on their drive out. We looked at a Wal.mart here in the town and then headed to Le.xington where we checked out Sa.m's club, then Ta.rget, and finally ended up finding an acceptable one on the drive home at yet another W.almart.

We also saw the lights.

Cinderella's castle.

Horse race.

They had displays for each of the twelve days of Christmas. I love the one for the French hens. Maybe the Eiffel Tower is an overdone blatant stereotype, but it was still funny.

I also like this one.

"Mommy blogging" associated with maternal well-being and reduced stress

2012-01-10T12:52:00.003-06:00

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Brandon McDaniel, a BYU psychology major who is now working on his master’s and doctorate degrees in human development and family studies at Penn State, surveyed 157 new mothers. Of those, 111 read blogs at least sometimes, and 96 of them started their own blogs about their experiences as a parent. For the study, he asked them questions about depressive symptoms, the quality of their marriages and their level of parenting stress.

“The more they blogged, the better they felt,” he said. “I can’t say it’s causal in nature — there needs to be more research... but right now, the research suggests that the more they blog, the more it turns into feelings of greater social connection.”

Full article available here: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53264120-78/blogging-social-com-mothers.html.csp?page=1

New Playground

2012-01-09T17:04:00.000-06:00

One of my MOPS friends moved at the beginning of the year. Boo. The good news is that they will be starting a new job and that there will be better opportunities for their family. She will be missed. She did a great job of purging as she packed and got ready for the move. She sold things, gave things away, and threw away things. When she posted on facebook that she giving away a swing set, I responded immediately. Somehow I found another MOPS mom whose husband had a 16 foot trailer and was willing to help us move this swing set to our backyard only two days after Christmas. Late Christmas present. Woot woot! Did I mention that it was free and only cost thirty minutes of cold labor to get it too our backyard. It's a little rusty, but it is a great addition. The boys loved it. I even caught them jumping off of the top of it.

It's old and needs some repairs, I might even try spray painting it in the spring. The plastic glider seats are falling apart and need to be replaced as well.

It was fun to hear them sing the abc song as they glided back and forth.

I have such great sisters.

A.J., Karolyn, and I spent a lot of time putting together Bryce's 1,000 piece puzzle. I enjoyed the challenge. Other people helped, especially Rob, but most of the work was done by A.J. and Karolyn. We had the puzzle set up in the basement. The lighting wasn't great, but it kept it safe from little hands.

Ben got this shot of Kim's boys at the civil war battlefield.

I loved having so many people around to play with and entertain Bee. She was extremely cuddly and spent lots of time in others' arms.

Fun Was Had By All

2012-01-08T15:57:00.000-06:00

I really enjoyed having family for Christmas, despite the extra workload. We all spent lots of time in the kitchen doing dishes, eating, and preparing meals.

The day after Christmas we had a traditional ham dinner with mashed potatoes. It was delicious. Kimberly even spoiled us with lots of chilled sparkling cider.

These are my pretty green chargers that I had purchased that day on an after Christmas clearance sale. The tablecloth is new too.

It was tight, but we all fit in the dining room. The Seminary tables and chairs came in handy.

This might be Abby's first real experience with video games. I think she was able to get her character to jump up and down. The boys received a new xbox game for Christmas and they LOVED playing it. In a stroke of genius, we found our small TV and placed it in the basement. Then we hooked up the xbox to it and the boys spent as much time as they were allowed down in the basement playing. It kept them entertained and left the upstairs family room for the adults to enjoy.

During the week, Kimberly managed to cut her four boys' hair, her husband's hair, her dad's hair, and Bee's hair. Hers was a long process as she has two different kinds of hair and they tend to lay differently wet than dry. It ended up a lot shorter than I was planning on, but it looks really cute. She was pretty patient, only complaining that the booster seat wasn't very comfortable. As long as Diego was on, she was happy. She received several Go Diego Go! DVDs from Santa. He made sure that they had Spanish tracks and she happily watches them in Spanish. Thanks Kimberly for spending so much time making my daughter's hair perfect. I appreciate it.

Aunt Kimberly is so much fun.

Her hair never quite falls right unless I flat iron it. A friend, whose daughter currently has lice, pointed out that one of the positives of a flat iron is that it kills lice. Something to keep in mind, I guess. Luckily we didn't get lice even though we were at their house for New Years Eve.

Sisterly love. You can't see here how Kimberly magically cleaned the huge grease stain out of the pocket of my hoodie. She is handy to have around. I miss her...and Karolyn too.

Grandma sent us some fun games and we had a lot of fun playing Disney Scene it? I was frustrated when I got stumped by a question. I was not able to remember which movie the characters Figaro and Cleo were in. Darn.

Chilling on the couch. We are a stacking kind of family.

Little C. loved listening along as his dad played games. So cute.

These two had so much playing in the tent. Nana had them giggling hysterically as she punched the tent in or lifted it off of them. They loved it.

Chessie was a good little puppy during her visit here. She slept a lot and played too. She was passed from arms to arms and was thoroughly spoiled. I think Benjamin was even surprised by how good she was, although I am sure that he would never admit to that.

The boys impressed me with their coloring and shading talents. The house looks very well colored in now. They even wrote Bee's name on the front door. inside they drew a fireplace and a TV screen. It was fun to see their creativity and excitement to color the house in.

Christmas Evening

2012-01-04T20:11:00.000-06:00

Benjamin spent Christmas afternoon in the kitchen preparing us a nontraditional, but very tasty, Alfredo pasta for dinner. My mother asked that I make my bread sticks, which I did. Making food for large groups is time consuming. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen this week, either making food, eating food, cleaning counters, preparing food, washing dishes, baking food, filling the dishwasher, emptying the dishwasher, and grabbing treats off of the candy counter. Many delicious calories were consumed by all.

The traditional acting out of the nativity was held in the living room. Nana played Christmas hymns on the piano while Grandpa read the story out of the scriptures. The participants came in as their parts were read and then gathered around the baby Jesus. We concluded by singing Christmas hymns.

Caught in the kitchen while loving on the schnauzer puppy.

Sparkling cider and Parmesan cheese. Yum!

He was dressed as a cow for a few seconds. This picture is the only proof.

Our reenactments are intense.

Baaaa.

Wise men still seek Him.

Bee sat and gently rocked the cradle for at least five minutes while we sang Christmas songs. It was so sweet.

Nana on the piano.

Bryce.

Cuddling.

Then Benjamin entertained us with the reading of a funversion of the Night Before Christmas. The movie of it is funny as well as very representative of the chaos we experienced this week.

Kimberly also had a prepared Christmascarol game that had most of us stumped on at least one and provided lots of fun.

For dessert, we feasted on egg nog pound cake topped with vanillaice cream in addition to the muddy buddies, the M&M's, the Hershey kisses, the stocking candy, the chocolate oranges, and the other available goodies.

Presents, Presents, Presents.

2012-01-03T19:33:00.000-06:00

Today is a gift, that is why it is called the present. I absolutely loved having family visit and tried to cherish the short time that we were together. There were so many special moments that I will always remember.

After church on Christmas Sunday we had a pancake brunch. Then, and only then, did we gather everyone together to open their Christmas presents.

Kimberly and her family talked Grandpa into taking somefamily pictures of them while they were all dressed up in their Sunday best.Aren’t they a handsome family? Love them. I also love that they used my frontwalkway as a backdrop. It looks nice.

Cuddling with Nana. Bee sure has turned into a cuddler lately. I love how she'll climb into my arms and just cuddle and cuddle.

Karolyn and A.J. were always cuddling together. Young love.

So many presents.

We received lots of games this year and have already played with most of them.

This was taken the next day. New outfit. Her choice.

More presents opened at a different time. Thanks Kimberly for the zhu zhu pet. Too bad she dropped it into Nana's box and that it is now in Maryland. I guess we will have to go visit.

In addition to gifts from grandparents and aunts, my sister and I had found lots of gifts for Bee atconsignment stores and had wrapped them individually. Bee ended up with thelargest pile of presents by a long shot. At first we went around the room and let each person open one present so that everyone else could watch. This lasted for a while, but eventually it became chaos. Our only child is used to more quite and order. The chaos and never ending pile of presents was too much. She became so overwhelmed that she stopped unwrappingand just sat in her chair and watched. Eventually we took her up to her roomfor a much needed nap. After that we had her unwrap a few gifts a day forseveral days after Christmas. We felt that this helped her appreciate them alittle bit more. I still plan to organize them, hide some, etc. so that shereally plays with the toys that she does have. I hope to set up a toy rotationplan where she will see new toys every few months or so. Needless to say, we feel very blessed and are grateful we could provide a fun Christmas for our daughter, even if I bought most of the toys used.

My favorite gifts that she received were the princess tent, the miniature tea set, the doctor's kit, the light up ball, and all of the books, especially the Pirate's Night Before Christmas.

Christmas Morning Craziness

2012-01-02T19:41:00.000-06:00

My Christmas gift this year was that several of my family members made the trek to visit us for Christmas. They arrived on Christmas Eve and stayed through most of the following week. Benjamin and I got to go on a "date" to pick up Karolyn and A.J. from the airport. Their flight came in at 10:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. We are so glad that they came.

We had a wonderful week and enjoyed spending it with family. Everyone was helpful with food preparation, dishes, cleanup, etc. We played lots of games, did a 1,000 piece puzzle, ate very richly, visited a Civil War battlefield, visited the American Dollhouse Museum, went to see the lights at the Kentucky Horse Park, attended a Centre basketball game, and enjoyed each others' company. I still missed all of the family members that we did not see this year and hope to see them soon.

Several of us were up early for six a.m. stockings. We had to wait,though, until everybody was up and ready.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

More waiting....

New pajamas.

Nana's Christmas present.

Admiring the presents.

One of my beautiful sisters.

Toys strewn everywhere. Mom and dad excitedly watching their spoiled child.

Grandpa and Chessie with Bee.

So happy.

Five children, eight adults, and lots of stockings. We decided to open them early to make sure that we would all be ready in time for 9:30 a.m. church. Presents had to wait until after lunch. The children were mostly patient about this rule.

Things went perfectly and we made it early to the sacrament meeting. I loved the musical presentations put on by the various groups and felt very edified. I am so grateful for the gift of the Savior and for His infinite love and mercy. I loved sharing this Christmas with my parents, some of my siblings, and with my dear husband and daughter.

Tragedy Strikes

2012-01-02T14:00:00.000-06:00

One warm January afternoon Benjamin and I were outside trying to fix the swing set. I had taken on the project by myself for a lot of the day and Benjamin had just returned home and kindly offered to help. The plastic glider seats were weathered and brittle. They easily broke off. The screws however would not turn and I had to hacksaw them off. Then we were drilling the wood and preparing it for the glider.

Bee was patient for a long time and played in the back yard while I and then Ben worked. At one point she collected the round metal connecting rods that we had taken off of the glider. Then she lined them up along the bench and pretended they were a train. Then she tried to walk on them. I should have paid more attention to what she was doing. She promptly fell off and crashed head first into the cement patio. I think that she hit an acorn or tree branch. We rushed her inside to survey the damage.

It was a long, but not deep, forehead cut. I got woozy and had to sit down. I think she was braver than I was. We called a nurse friend who came over and cleaned out the wound. Then she recommended that we purchase butterfly band aids and repair it ourselves. Bee was disappointed that there were no actual butterflies on the band aids. We avoided the emergency room and hope the scar won't be horrible.

She's pretty proud of her forehead and tells everyone who will listen about how she "falled" outside and hit her forehead. She even pretends that others have fallen and hurt their foreheads too.

We've been working lately on improving/streamlining the bedtime routine. One of our biggest problems is that she knows we are downstairs and will leave her room to come find us. She'll stay up in her room for thirty or forty minutes so that we think she's asleep and then we'll hear her pitter patter as she tries to sneak into the family room. We decided to try a bedtime routine sticker chart. It was a great success. We promised her that if she could earn seven stickers for staying in her room all night long that we would take her to Go Go Gorillas (like Chucky Cheese's). She was motivated and it only took her eight days to earn the reward.

The next week she found the stickers, filled in the entire chart, and decorated herself. Silly girl. Note to self: put stickers in a higher location.

December Activities

2012-01-01T15:22:00.000-06:00

Bee likes to redecorate the tree.

Here we were at our work Christmas dinner. These girls ate well and were well behaved during dinner. Then they danced around in circles to the music. They weren't so well behaved during the reading of "The Night Before Christmas."

I participated in a Relief Society activity where the lives of the women of the nativity were vignetted. I played the part of Joseph's mother. It was a neat event.

For our MOPS play group this month we decorated cookies. While she decorated some, she spent most of the time licking the knife and sampling the different sprinkles.

We also made hand print Christmas trees. I forgot to take a picture of the finished project.

The children enjoyed running up and down this hallway. Bee decided that she preferred to roll down it.

At our ward Christmas party the primary children reenacted the Nativity story and Bee played the part of a sheep. She loved to run around on all fours and bleat.

She was shy around Santa and is somehow barefoot.

She received this fun house from her grandmother for Christmas. We had S. over to play this month and they dressed up in princess dresses and then watched Cinderella in the house. They don't look happy, but it is only because they are so focused on the movie.

I found a "joy to the world" display drawn by one of my favorite bloggers on her chalkboard and decided to copy it. I thought that it turned out well. It was a fun addition to my living room this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

When I was young, I remember my neighbor having an adventnativity. The Mary and Joseph pieces moved along a path until they reached astable on the twenty-fourth of December. I have always thought that the idea ofan advent nativity is magical. This year I decided to make one for our family.I found lots of ideas online and eventually settled on one I found on thisblog. The writer included templates for each piece and simple instructions onhow to make it. http://cutesycrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/nativity-advent.html

I was so excited to make this and I thought that it turnedout well. Bee loves to place a piece on it daily. Something I wanted to add wasa dialog of scriptures that could be read daily as pieces were added to the nativity.I had a difficult time finding one available in a digital format. I finallyfound one online and one from a friend that I typed up and combined until I hadwhat I wanted. I am including the text here in case someone else might besearching for advent scriptures for a nativity calendar. The pieces were all hand sewn and it took me most of the month of November to complete it, just in time for December 1st. I did sew the velcro pieces on with the sewing machine.

This calendar has helped us teach our daughter the reasonfor the season and has helped us focus daily on the Savior, His birth, and Hisamazing life.

December 1

There are twenty-four days until Christmas. Placethe roof of the stable on your Advent calendar.

“the angel Gabrielwas sent from God unto a city, named Nazareth, to a virgin …Mary. --Luke 1:26-27

December 2

There are twenty-three days until Christmas.Place the walls of the stable on your calendar.

“Theangel said unto her, ‘Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.’” --Luke1:30

December 3

There are twenty-two days until Christmas. Addstars in the sky.

“And,behold, thou shalt … bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. --Luke 1:31

December 4

There are twenty-one days until Christmas. AddMary to the stable.

“Heshall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.” --Luke 1:32

December 5

There are twenty days until Christmas. Add thecow to the stable.

“AndMary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thyword.” --Luke 1:38

December 6

There are nineteen days until Christmas. Placethe donkey near to the stable.

“Andit came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from CaesarAugustus, that all the world should be taxed.” --Luke 2:1

December 7

There are eighteen days until Christmas. Putanother cow near the stable.

“Andall went to be taxed, every one into his own city.” --Luke 2:3

December 8

Christmas is only seventeen days away! PlaceJoseph in the stable with Mary.

“AndJoseph also went … unto the City of David, which is called Bethlehem; … To betaxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.” --Luke 2:4-5

December 9

Sixteen days until Christmas. Put the manger inthe stable.

“Andso it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that sheshould be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped himin swaddling clothes.” --Luke 2:6-7

December 10

Christmas is fifteen days away. Add the palmtree to the scene.

“andlaid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” --Luke2:7

December 11

Only fourteen more days! Place a shepherd onthe scene.

“And there were in the same countryshepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” --Luke 2:8

December 12

Christmas is only thirteen days away!! Placethe largest sheep near the shepherd.

“And, lo, the angel of the Lord cameupon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were soreafraid.” --Luke 2:9

December 13

Just twelve more days! Add an angel to the sky.

“And the angel said unto them, Fearnot: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to allpeople.” --Luke 2:10

December 14

Christmas is eleven days away. Place the secondshepherd on the scene.

“Forunto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ theLord.” --Luke 2:11

December 15

Only ten more days! Place two more sheep nearthe shepherds.

“And this shall be a sign unto you;Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” --Luke2:12

December 16

Only nine more days! Add another angel to the sky.

“And suddenly there was with theangel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to Godin the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” --Luke 2:13-14

December 17

Justeight days until Christmas! Place a star in the sky.

“And [the shepherds] came withhaste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” --Luke 2:16

December 18

Christmas is seven days away. Add the largestar above the stable.

“Ocome, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he isour God; and we are the people of hispasture, and the sheep of his hand.” --Psalm 95:6-7

December 19

Only six more days! Place the first wise manin the field.

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the daysof Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.” --Matthew 2:1

December 20

Christmas is five days away. Put the camel inthe field.

“Saying, Where is he that is bornKing of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come toworship him.” --Matthew2:2

December 21

Four more days untilChristmas! Place the second wise man near the first.

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the youngchild with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.” --Matthew 2:11

December 22

Justthree more days! Place the second palm tree to the right of the stable.

“and when they had opened theirtreasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” --Matthew 2:11

December 23

Onlytwo days left! Place the third wise man near his fellow travelers.

“For God so loved the world, that hegave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,but have everlasting life.” --John 3:16

December 24

It’sChristmas Eve! Tomorrow is Christmas.The Christ child can now be gently placedin the manger.

“Thanks beunto God for his unspeakable gift.” --2 Corinthians 9:15

2012 Republican presidential endorsement

2011-12-23T08:00:00.004-06:00

[ Note: this post is cross-listed under my InformationKnoll blog today. ]

The InformationKnoll weblog officially endorses former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for the 2012 GOP presidential primary.

In doing so, I readily admit that Mitt Romney would not be my first choice. In my view, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is, by far, the superior candidate. It is telling that Huntsman was the only potential candidate that the Obama administration was seriously worried about (which is why they tried to take him out of the running early by appointing him ambassador to China). Huntsman's moderate policy stands appeal to a wide swath of voters. He's well-versed in foreign affairs and carries credibility on the international stage. And given current global trends, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have a president who speaks Mandarin Chinese.

But for a variety of reasons (some his fault, most not) Huntsman has a near-zero chance of getting the nomination at this point. Thus, Mitt Romney is the next least-undesirable choice (I'm saying this as someone who likely will not vote for the Republican candidate next fall, whoever he/she happens to be). And at this point, every vote for Huntsman, especially in New Hampshire, is likely one vote less for Romney. Given the moderately serious threat that Gingrich poses, the moderate coalition of the GOP (in my view, Romney and Huntsman supporters, and a few Ron Paul supporters) needs to get together behind a single candidate with the best chance of winning (and more importantly, making sure that Newt Gingrich is NOT a mere 270 electoral votes away from the White House) -- and that's Mitt Romney.

Even though I likely won't vote for him in the general election (although that could always change), I readily admit that Mitt Romney would make a fair to decent president. I agree with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register about Romney being the best candidate to demonstrate "sobriety, wisdom, and judgment". In his heart of hearts, I don't think that Romney is an extremist and I am skeptical (although I could be wrong!) that he would be an extremist as president. Further, I agree with David Brooks that "Romney can be dull". However, I also agree with David Brooks that "that's a good thing":

Finally, Romney can be dull. Political activists like exciting candidates. But most people, who have lower expectations from politics and politicians, just want them to provide basic order. They want government to be orderly so they can be daring in other spheres of their lives. Romney is the most predictable of the candidates and would make for the most soporific of presidents. That’s a good thing. Government would function better if partisan passions were on a lower flame.

It’s exciting to have charismatic leaders. But often the best leaders in business, in government and in life are not glittering saviors. They are professionals you hire to get a job done. The strongest case for Romney is that he’s nobody’s idea of a savior.

My strongest reservation about endorsing Romney is that he is a clear and strong neoconservative in terms of his foreign policy views (see here for a brief overview of neoconservatism). Neoconservatism in the George W. Bush administration got us the Iraq War and drastically increased anti-Americanism throughout Europe and Asia and, I would argue, diminished America's ability to be a positive influence in the world. I am not anxious to have another president who would approach foreign affairs from a neoconservative perspective.

That being said, the only alternatives with preferable foreign policy views (Huntsman and Paul) are not viable (Huntsman in the primary and Paul in the general). Those with similar foreign policy views are also much less preferable than Romney. I've already shared my views on Newt Gingrich. Perry, Bachmann, and Santorum all have serious competency, world-view/ideology, or viability concerns (respectively).

So that leaves us with Mitt Romney. I encourage all my friends in Iowa to caucus for him on January 3rd, and my non-Iowa friends to support him in the various state primaries next spring.

Birthday Party

2011-12-22T19:14:00.000-06:00

Earlier this year Bee attended a friend's party that was organized according to a pink theme. After that party I asked Bee what color she wanted for her birthday party. She thought about it, and while I fully expected her to say pink or purple, she said blue. Then she added that she wanted a Blue's Clues birthday. She doesn't really watch this TV show anymore, but could not be dissuaded. I kept checking over the months to make sure that this was what she still wanted, and it was. I asked her if I could make her a paw print for the cake and she said no. She specifically asked for a cake with Blue on it with candles near her head. Alright then. Blue's clues it was. I started officially planning a week before the party. I was planning on keeping it low-key, but then I got a fun idea and ran with it. It ended up being a lot of work, but it really was a lot of fun.

We started by having all of guests in the family room. I made a cardboard Steve's house for the kids to play in and I had Blue's Birthday playing on the TV. We blew up several blue balloons for the little ones to play with. There were ten kids total at the party.

Once everyone had arrived I announced that we had a special activity that we were going to do at the party and that we were going to play Blue's Clues to find out what the activity was. Then I asked them to look around the room to find the first paw print clue. Bee already knew where it was and pointed it out. It was on the house.

Then I reminded them that when we find a clue, we have to write it down in our "handy dandy notebooks." So we headed to the dining room where each child found and decorated a notebook.

Some of the kids saw the playroom and were much more interested in playing than in decorating and some hadn't ever seen blue's clues, so the whole clue drawing was lost on them.

The second clue was found in the playroom on a piece of "candy."

While in the playroom, we played pin the party hat on blue. Some of the older children let me blindfold them, but the little ones refused. Bee refused because she wanted to make sure that she placed the hat exactly where it was supposed to go. Silly perfectionist.

The third clue was found upon leaving the playroom. It was on some bags of royal icing.

Then we headed to the thinking chairs to figure out what our activity would be. I reminded them of the clues: a house, candy, and frosting. One of the three-year-olds guessed it: gingerbread houses.

We headed into the living room where I had everything set up and ready to go. I had made a house for each child ahead of time. I wanted to make sure that the icing had set and that the project wouldn't be too overwhelming for children so young. I had so much fun making these. My husband thinks I'm a little crazy for going through so much effort for a birthday party. I really enjoyed it. My favorite part were the trees. I found the idea online on a YouTube video and decided to make my own. I used a sugar cone as the base and then used royal icing and a leaf tip to make the trees. They looked so cute, even though they weren't perfect. I made the snowmen as a last minute addition that I was also excited to try out. I made everything a few days ahead of time. Luckily, I had the seminary tables already in my house and I had plenty of room for everyone.

I tried to find as many blue candies as I could to decorate the houses with.

The decorating was chaos, fun, but chaotic. The parents were extremely helpful. Next time I might reconsider using sprinkles or coconut. The houses turned out perfect and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Some guests spent more time eating than decorating. ;)

Perfectionist Bee, as usual, tried to make hers neat and orderly.

After decorating the houses we headed to the dining room again for a lunch of homemade macaroni and cheese (thanks Sierra), pretzels, mandarin oranges, blue punch, and cake, and ice cream.

By this time my camera battery had completely died. A lot of these photos were taken by a friend whose camera was also about to run out of battery. I let Benjamin supervise the present opening while I enjoyed it from a distance. Princess presents reigned supreme at the party and she was super happy with everything she received. Thanks to everyone who came. We are glad that Bee has such good friends and that we could spend the morning with all of you.

Then I crashed. Actually I could not handle the candy pieces, coconut flakes, and dried frosting crumbs all over the floor, so the first thing I did once the guests had left was vacuum.

I am not sure if she is going to get a party next year. Being an only child does have it's advantages, she is very spoiled.

The Beautiful Faces of Bee

2011-12-21T17:25:00.000-06:00

I love that she is old enough to play pretend and entertain herself.

Favorite hiding place of all the kids.

Bee caught this picture of me through the front door. Beautiful, isn't it?

Birthday Day

2011-12-20T17:50:00.000-06:00

Bee woke up ecstatic on the day of her birthday and she maintained the mood throughout the entire day. I thoroughly enjoyed spending it with her. We had a yummy breakfast, opened some books from Aunt Jenny which she read and reread while she watched her boyfriend Diego rescue the animals.

Then we headed out to a local gymnasium for open jump time. Her friend S. met us there and they really played hard.

Bee finally learned to jump off of things and I was so proud of her for being so brave.

After playing, we met daddy at the college for lunch at the cafeteria. She ate some fish sticks and french fries. She refuses to wear a coat most days and it's warm enough that I do not fight her on it. As we were walking back to the car she decided to rest on the roots of this tree. Silly girl.

Then she accompanied me on my errands as I tried to get ready for her birthday party. She was so happy about everything and was extremely patient. I was trying to find a plain white shirt that I could decorate for her party. We ran into the dollar store, didn't find a white shirt, but did manage to get change for the carousel. She happily moved from horse to horse to horse as she rode the carousel twice.

In her free time, she continued with her reorganization of the Christmas tree ornaments.

After her fun experience on Halloween with the balloon, I decided to her one for her birthday. It ended up taking forever because Walmart's helium tank was empty and they had to get a new one from the back. Well worth the wait. I think these were her favorite present. I tied them down so that she would not lose them this time, however, she was just as disappointed when the balloons started to droop a few days later.

We asked her what she wanted for dinner and she said pizza. We took her to Cici's where she was so enthralled with the cartoons on the TV's that she barely ate anything. The balloons on our table, yes we took them with us, got her a lot of attention. She was so tired at this point that she wanted to lie down on the bench and sleep. She might have too if we had not reminded her that we needed to go home and open up her presents. That woke her up.

She was spoiled with lots of presents. I made her a dress-up bucket with lots and lots of dresses, wings, costumes, shoes, etc. She went through it piece by piece and tried everything on.

She was so happy! She got lots of fun toys and plays with them daily. Thanks to everyone for their generosity.

My beautiful three-year-old. Three, thus far, has already been better than two. :) She wanted to play with everything and open everything that night, but was tired enough that she went to bed quickly. Then I got to work finishing the birthday cake and painting her shirt. I had managed my time well during the week preparing everything for the party and was in bed by about midnight.

Crafting

2011-12-19T17:08:00.000-06:00

I had these girls finger paint last time I got the chance to babysit. Bee was very OCD as she dotted each part of the tree. She made it around two thirds of the circumference of the tree before she got tired. Notice her concentration.

One Sunday recently, Daddy and Bee made a fabulous dinner and a delicious Egg nog pound cake. This was so yummy. It reminded me of poppyseed bread/cake that has the super sweet glaze on top. I usually don't like egg nog, but this cake was worth eating. It was so moist.

This day I gave her fall colors to let her work with. She was to fill the entire paper with color. She was so exact in her efforts to do so that sometimes the paper would get too soggy. She did not want any white to be left showing.

Then I traced her hand a gazillion times and cut out little handprints. Later, Bee and her father glued the handprints onto a foam plate with the center cut out and this wreath decorated our kitchen all of November and it's still there. I took it off for a minute today to get a picture and Bee promptly picked it up and hung it back on the hook. Can you say OCD???

Crazy Hair

2011-12-17T17:00:00.000-06:00

Bee has really fine hair that pulls out easily. Sometimes a friend will grab a hold of her hair and fifty hairs will come out effortlessly. It does not even hurt her. I read online that sometimes little blond girls have loose hairs like that and that it is something they will grow out of. That is one of the reasons I do not always fix Bee's hair. As I was looking through this month's pictures, I realized how lax in the hair arranging I have been. Note to self, brush her hair before taking pictures.

She usually won't hold still for long, though, and even when I do her hair, she usually ends up climbing under the couch slipcover and reducing it to a static mess. It really looks the best when I flat iron it. It seems silly to flat iron a two/three-year-olds' hair, but I do it every Suday.

Ramblings

2011-12-17T12:16:00.001-06:00

I just read a good post by one my favorite infertility bloggers. She really understands how I feel and even more so since she spent eleven years trying to conceive and finally brought a daughter in her home through the process of embryo adoption (FET transfer) while it only took us three. She is now undergoing secondary infertility (SI) which is what I struggle with, which is even more so on my mind lately now that Bee turned three.

While I understand that people are trying to be kind and considerate, most people don't know what to say to make me feel better. I think that infertility is something you have to experience to understand. That's why I enjoy reading Jess and her thoughts about her journey and her beautiful daughter.

Her post today "Adding to the Misconception" was about how adoption is not the perfect, fix all, solution to infertility and that super fertile women always seem to be the ones that recommend it to us. I liked what she said, but I also wanted to add that it is more difficult for couples to adopt newborns when they already have one biological child because birth mothers often choose childless couples to share their baby with. We are not currently pursuing adoption, but this post resonated with me and I wanted to share it here.

Deceptively Delicious?

2011-12-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

A friend recently gave me some "hand candy" soaps. They were a gift so that I could pamper myself. Their outer packaging looks just like candy. I inadvertently left them on kitchen counter for several days. Last night I overheard Bee talking about how she did not like the candy. She was with her father and is somewhat picky, so I assumed everything was fine. She usually will lick something or taste a small piece to decide if she likes it. It is Christmas time and we have lots of varieties of candy available in our kitchen, so I was not worried. Soon I overheard Benjamin gagging and complaining about how horrible the "candy" was. Apparently, he had taken a much bigger bite of the hand soaps. I realized that my three-year-old has learned to look before she leaps, even though her father hasn't. He complained for a least five minutes and continued to gag and rinse out his mouth. In his defense, it read "hand candy" on the label. In my defense, these words were accompanied by a picture of a bathtub and bubbles. Benjamin claims that Bee had removed the wrapper and that he never saw it.

This reminds me of the time that I made cinnamon ornaments at a Relief Society activity. I brought home my ornaments and left them out to dry. Benjamin saw them and took a huge bite out of one of my cinnamon Christmas ornaments. Yes, we used cookie cutters to make their shape, however, they did not smell like food. Pure cinnamon added to water does not a cookie make. Plus he failed to notice the glitter on them and the holes punched into them. He still winces when he remembers the flavor of that "cookie." I chuckle to myself every year as I hang the disfigured candy cane on my tree.

Is it my fault? Should I not bring decorations or things into the home that might possibly resemble food in the fear that my husband will consume them without smelling them first?

Congratulations!

2011-12-15T16:47:00.000-06:00

My father got a new job in November. Yay! We're so excited for them. They had only a short week to pack and get ready and then they took a week to drive from Utah to Washington, DC. They were able to stop and visit all six of their children on their way. We were lucky to have them for two whole nights and one day. We absolutely loved having them visit and we're so excited that they now live "close" to us. Who would have thought?

She loved beating Papa at Hungry Hippos!

We gave them a short tour of the town and then went and all four of us watched Bee play at the library.

Nana loved getting to sing Bee to sleep. So sweet. We loved having them visit.

They came and went so quickly. We are anxiously awaiting their next visit and are planning a trip to visit them in Maryland sometime soon.

Random

2011-12-13T16:37:00.000-06:00

My attempt at a creative lunch.

Dancing at the BBQ festival. She was entertained by the music and everyone else in the stands were entertained by her. She ended up being the pre-show. The kind gentlemen (grandpa) sitting next to her loved sharing his popcorn with her.

We paid $5 to let her play on all the bounce equipment. It's amazing how much money you can spend in a few hours at one of these. The barbecue food was not that great, but the curly fried potatoes were AMAZING!!

She's getting so big and so fearless.

Halloween

2011-12-11T15:23:00.001-06:00

I decorated the trunk with a princess theme for our ward trunk-or-treat. I had to hide everything from Bee ahead of time so that she would not get jealous. I used all of the leftover satin from her costume to decorate and then. I had a lot of fun drawing the Cinderella castle and was pretty proud of how it turned out.

Doughnut eating contest.

No hands!

The children made little styrofoam spiders and then had to race with them by blowing them across the room.

Bee made a good effort but never really got her spider to move very far.

Just as we were finishing trick-or-treating in the downtown on Halloween, someone closing up their booth handed Bee this bouquet of balloons. She was ecstatic. While other children stood in line trick-or-treating, she ran up and down the street with her balloons. She was beyond happy. Candy, who needs candy? Just give me some balloons.

She was pretty sad when she accidentally let go of them after about fifteen minutes. She kept asking us to go to the store to buy her more.

On another note, sledding has been all the rage for S. and Bee lately. There isn't any snow, but that has not stopped them. This little hill provides the perfect entertainment and this is Bee's favorite activity, well, that and playing with the princesses, every time we visit S.

So Funny

2011-12-09T14:24:00.001-06:00

Today Bee and I were walking downtown. I let her run free most of the time because she is pretty obedient. However, I always require her to hold my hand or be held when we are crossing a street. I warn her of the dangers of cars and tell her it is important to listen to her mommy. Today as we were crossing a street at a four way stop, I noticed a car coming about fifty yards away. Bee noticed it too and was concerned. I knew that it would stop at the stop sign and continued at my usual pace. Bee freaked and said "there's a car." Then she dropped my hand and ran the rest of the way across the street until she was safely on the sidewalk. She apparently thought I didn't understand the danger of the situation, and as she ran she yelled behind her "move, move, move." So funny. Sweet little girl. I love her. We've had such a fun birthday thus far. The girl is easily pleased.

The Princess is Three

2011-12-09T08:17:00.001-06:00

So I guess it's about time to post the Halloween pictures. Sorry. I am trying, really, I am.

Here she pretended to leave her slipper and would walk away and leave it in the middle of the driveway.

We love this little girl so much! Happy Birthday preciosa!

This is very cool.

2011-11-26T12:40:00.004-06:00

Attention all family history nerds! Check this out:

http://createfan.com/

Log in with your standard LDS account (assuming you're registered at new.familysearch.org), then click "Create" and open the PDF.

Enjoy!

A Month Late

2011-11-25T16:53:00.000-06:00

Halloween is not Halloween without pumpkin carving/painting. I was so proud that our pumpkins came out of our garden this year.

Her friend C. is such a boy. He loves to tackle her and wrestle her to the ground.

Her pumpkin had to be purple which is her favorite color right now. She painted the entire thing purple.

Even N. painted one. He got a great view of the men as they used their power tools to carve. Actually only Blaine used power tools. His dremel sounded like a dentist's drill and it flicked little pieces of pumpkin everywhere. Ewww.

Blaine's Ben's Katie's

This was mine. It only lasted a day before it dried up and shriveled up.

Happy Halloween!

Katie made the paper

2011-11-25T14:59:00.002-06:00

Well, the Lexington paper:

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/11/25/1972393/black-friday.html

She and Sierra are on "Photo 5 of 21". Enjoy!

A Note of Thanks

2011-11-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'd like to pause from my mad efforts to catch up on my blogging to offer my thoughts of gratitude for the multitude of blessings that I experience on a daily basis. Although my life is full of ups and downs and lots of joys and sorrows, I feel so blessed. I have such a perfect existence and feel so much contentment and peace. I know I do not deserve to be so lucky, but I am and I am so grateful for that.

Things that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving:

A kind, supportive, thoughtful, gentle, loving, and wonderful husband who always makes me feel appreciated and loved.
A beautiful miracle of a daughter who is healthy, intelligent, funny, talented, silly, and loving.
Great employment.
Kind friends.
Good neighbors and community.
Fall weather.
Generosity of those around us.
Loving family.
Great parents and in-laws.
Wonderful siblings and in-laws.
Doting grandparents.
A beautiful home.
Health
Talents
Music
The Gospel of Jesus Christ, scriptures, words of the prophets.
The Gift of the Holy Ghost: including promptings, feelings of peace, guidance, tender mercies, gifts of understanding, and faith building and testimony strengthening experiences.
My valiant Seminary students for their faith, examples, and testimonies. I love them and am so lucky to spend time with them.
A soft bed.
Strong water pressure in my shower and warm water. I love the warm water.
Running water and electricity. I would hate to live without either of these, even for a day.
Blue skies and soft white clouds.
Beautiful world: including bright red fall leaves, Blue Jays, Cardinals, and gorgeous flowers.
People to talk to when I am feeling low.
Generous friends who watch Bee for me on a weekly basis when I am teaching at the Montessori school or when I am needing to take care of other errands. I have been so grateful for this one. People have been so generous. Thank you, thank you.
Netflix. I would not get anything done if Go, Diego Go! did not exist.
Games on Facebook. I do love me some rummikub and some Words with Friends.
Indexing. This is one way (that's very addicting) that I feel like I can contribute to my family history work that is easy and not too time consuming.
Computers...the INTERNET. Best. Invention. Ever. I seriously love the options that the Internet opens up for me. I love wholesome websites and movies and games, etc. I am on here all of the time, including when I blog or read others blogs.
Public libraries. We have been blessed to have great public libraries everywhere that we have lived. The one here in town is great and we actually just go there to hang out sometimes.
MOPS. I have been blessed to be a part of this organization and love to be surrounded by good women who are always trying to improve their mothering. It doesn't hurt that there is always food and that the children are watched while we meet.
Extended family. I rarely see mine, but they are great!
Printers.
Prophets and church leaders. The older I get the more amazed I am by the willingness of church leaders to donate their time to benefit the Kingdom of God. I love their righteous examples and for their pure humility.
Prayer: I could not survive without it.
Priesthood blessings. The priesthood has been a blessing in my life, especially when I have made covenants such as baptism, temple covenants, and marriage. Here I am specifically grateful for priesthood blessings that I have been given recently by my husband. He is such a good priesthood holder and I am grateful his worthiness to bless me in the name of the Lord.
Felt: it makes lots of fun crafty things. More pictures to come.
Clean house. Mine is not quite clean, but I would be grateful if it were. ;)
Good food. I love to eat.
Cheese. Cheese is yummy.
Warm bread fresh from the bread. Lately my favorite recipe is the 5 minute artisan bread.
Online shopping. So convenient.
Amazon wish lists. I am horrible at picking out presents for others and love help.
Washers and Dryers. I only manage to keep on top of laundry because of these. I would seriously be at a loss without them.
Financial stability. We try to live within our income and are content with how the Lord has blessed us.
Public parks.
Kites.
Cameras.
Squirrels. Crazy little tree climbing rodents. I love to watch them as they run along our fence in the back yard. They are so agile.
Glue guns. These are so handy.
Visits from family members.
Cars. Expensive, but extremely useful.
The sun.
Hearing my little girl sound out letters and try to read.
Hearing the funny ways she uses languages and how she is constantly trying to develop vocabulary.
Fish sticks, chicken nuggets, fruit snacks, goldfish, and prepackaged apple sauce.
Play groups.
Creative people.
Princess tutus.
Imagination.
Sleep.
My father has found great employment and now he and my mom live 'close.' Nineish hours is so much better than Thirty. I feel like we are practically neighbors.
I am grateful that we got to see them on their way out East.
I love having a cousin in Illinois and a sister in Texas. I do not feel as isolated out here in the middle of the country.
Youtube.
Sunsets.
Good books.
Life!

This is my preliminary list. Obviously I am grateful for more people and things than I could possibly list here. Many thanks to everyone who has influence and blessed my life, my husband's life, my daughter's life, and my families' lives.

Leaves Follow Acorns

2011-11-23T16:09:00.000-06:00

Grandma sent back this stuffed horse as a gift from the airport to say goodbye. Bee said something to the effect of "I love it soooo much!" when she first saw it.

I recently posted about the abundance of acorns in our backyard. These are accompained by a multitude of leaves. They provide for hours of entertainment and imaginative play. Bee really jumped into them this year and was so creative as she imagined what they could be. Most of her ideas came from a tv show about a boy named Diego and involved rescuing animals in trouble.

At first it was a mud puddle and she was stuck in it. I had to rescue her multiple times.

Then it was a net that she was caught in. I had to rescue her again. I tried to explain to her that she needn't get caught in the net again now that I had saved her ten times, but that thought wouldn't enter her determined little mind. Then several other animals, including pumas, were caught in the net/mud puddle and we rescued them over and over.

Leaves really are fun to play in.

Here she's relaxing in the prickly leaves.

She even let me bury her in the leaves up to her neck because she had to pretend to be a rock so that the pumas would not see her. Apparently she is scared of pumas. :) Go Diego, Go!

I Love My Family

2011-11-22T15:57:00.000-06:00

The week of visitors passed so quickly. We played games, watched Bee show off, went to the amazing dollhouse museum, walked around town, and just spent quality time together. She was so happy to have people to show off for and had them laughing hysterically. She was such a ham and loved all of the attention.

Backyard action.

Here she is "toasting" a marshmallow. You can probably imagine how it turned out.

It took longer than she had expected, so she decided to sit down on the job.

Isn't she precious? I love how her eyes are smiling in this picture. She is such a joy in my life. I love her to pieces.

Grandma got in as many hugs as the 'baby' would allow. She also enjoyed tickling. She refused to be called baby.

We are so lucky to have such great family. I wish we could live closer to them. We hope to see them again soon. Bee keeps talking about how her grandma is going to come visit in "one minute." She was so happy they came and so sad to see them go.

We Love When Family Comes

2011-11-21T15:08:00.000-06:00

We love visitors and feel that we've been extremely lucky to have so many people visit us. I don't know how Kentucky is more of a draw than Iowa was, but somehow it is. Therefore, we were extremely excited when we found out that grandma and Denali were coming to visit for a week. They came bearing lots of love and lots of thoughtful gifts. We enjoyed every moment and were surprised by how fast time flew. Speaking of flying, their flights here were atrocious and they ended up spending the night in an airport. We appreciate the sacrifices that they made to come see us.

There's nothing like raking leaves in your Sunday best. Actually, it looks more like she's dancing.

The miniature princess dolls are MUCH appreciated.

While I was out of town for the weekend attending Time Out for Women, Benjamin took care of his family, celebrated his mom's birthday, and took everyone for a day outing to a local historical site. This historic shaker village has lots to see, especially furniture and animals.

Have I mentioned that Kentucky fall weather is nice. I love the blue skies and the light jacket weather. Here's to a mild winter. We still remember Iowa, and although we loved loved love it, we do not miss the winters.

Toys Not Required

2011-11-20T15:56:00.000-06:00

Children have the amazing ability of entertaining themselves with the simplest of objects. Boxes, noodles, cupboards, etc. often provide them with hours of entertainment.

Recently I removed the slipcover from this old couch and washed it. Bee found the cushions, removed them and played. She jumped, climbed, laughed, rolled, and had so much fun.

This age is so much fun some times. She finds so much joy and is so precious to watch as she explores and plays.

Skin is NOT for Writing On

2011-11-19T15:43:00.000-06:00

Skin is NOT for Writing On

We are still working on this one. We are also trying toteach that walls are not for writing on, this has become especially difficultsince the release of a popular movie about a young girl with extremely longblond hair that paints and decorates all of her walls.

I set her up at the table with markers and papers to make a birthday card for her grandmother. I obviously did not supervise properly.

However, I could not be mad at her because I was so proud of her writing. I asked her to make a birthday card and asked her to write an H for happy birthday. She promptly did so. She also complied when I asked for the A, the P, and the P. She got bored after that and then proceeded to color it all in and make it mostly unrecognizable. She always has preferred writing and reading from right to left, I am still trying to break her of that habit before it becomes too ingrained.

A few days later I found this. Again, really?

Here you can almost see her smile. She's pretty proud of her handiwork. These were actually dry erase markers and they didn't come clean for several days.

Wordless Thursday

2011-11-18T15:41:00.000-06:00

Mess for Less

2011-11-17T15:35:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite blogs lately is called Mess for Less. I love it because her girls are at a similar age to my daughter and she has so many creative, yet extremely cheap and simple, crafts to do with kids. I've already mentioned some of them on previous posts.

She posted once about using contact paper to keep her girls entertained. I decided to do this too and used my leftover scraps from another project. I taped them to the floor and enjoyed watching the kids approach the rectangles hesitantly and then interact with the mildly sticky surface. Some liked it more than others and they didn't play with them for very long. I think the setup was longer than the actual play.

I loved how they started being more creative at the end by jumping from square to square and then pretending to sleep on them.

P.S. Hardwood floors are awesome. These are actually my friends floors, but I have them too and I love how easily they clean up and how versatile they are.

Birthday Party

2011-11-16T15:27:00.000-06:00

My friend Jenny is amazing. She always makes the cutestthings and is great at organizing games and parties. Here are a few picturesfrom the PINK birthday party she put on for her daughter. Bee had so much funand still talks about this party. She has decided that she wants a BLUE partyfor her birthday, which is coming up sooooo soon. Ahhh!

Everything was perfect and there were so many cute details. Look at the pink tutus hung up on the left. The birthday girl had her own special tutu. The happy birthday sign on the wall was perfect. The tissue paper decorations hung from the ceiling and looked great. The table was covered with every possible pink candy that you could imagine. The activities incldued decorating crowns, painting fingernails, making bracelets, eating the beautiful barbie cake, and jumping in the bounce house.

She ate her cake by the handful which was entertaining to all the adults in the room.

Happy Birthday to S. She is such a good friend to Bee and we love spending time with them. Bee mentions her a lot and go through withdrawals when we don't see them often enough.

Acorn Infestation

2011-11-15T15:16:00.000-06:00

We have a beautiful,humongous oak tree in our back yard. It produces acorns in abundance (understatement). This attractsa lot of squirrels and birds which are so fun to watch. At first the acornswere fun, but when one is afraid of going outside and getting assaulted byfalling nuts, there must be a problem. Sometimes I think the squirrels aregetting their jollies by trying to see how many times they can hit us.Actually, I haven’t been hit yet, but our porch and yard is carpeted by halfeaten and sometimes whole acorns. I sweep off the back porch only to findit covered again within hours.

I decided to put some of these acorns to use. I had seen my friendSara make a beautiful acorn wreath last fall and decided to copy her idea. Isearched for ideas on the Internet and found lots of pictures and tutorials. The most important piece ofadvice that I found was to bake the acorns ahead of time in order to avoidunwanted worm infestations. Glad I read that.

First I wrapped the white Styrofoam wreath in strips of brown fabric. Everything was attached with a glue gun.

So I collected, washed, baked, organized, and glued, andthen had to collect more and repeat the process. After a third collection Ifinally had enough acorns to cover the Styrofoam wreath. This process was slowand tedious. I was overly obsessive about the arrangement of the acorns. Ithoroughly enjoyed making it and am so pleased with how it turned out.

I saw other tutorials about how people spray painted theirwreaths white to make it into a Christmas wreath. I just might try that.

I read online somewhere that if you take pictures outside that your lighting is better. This backfired on me because I finally got around to taking pictures midday when the sun was high. Oh well.

It looks good on the front door.

Park

2011-11-14T15:12:00.000-06:00

Have I mentioned that I LOVE fall. We have had so manyperfect weather days this fall. Perfect for going to the park, feeding the ducks, swinging on swings, and hanging from“spider webs.”

Bee brought this balloon for her frined for her birthday, but she wasn't too happy about parting with it and ended up grabbing it every chance she got.

Look at Jenny's amazing mom talents. Pushing while holding a little one.

How many little people can fit in the same square footage? P.S. Look at the beautiful sky. Ahhh.

Arboretum

2011-11-13T15:04:00.000-06:00

Fall is divine. A month ago (wow, I'm behind on my blogging) we visited a beautiful arboretumand let the children run wild. They loved the pumpkins and festive decorations.The highlight of the visit was this hay bale maze. The weather was perfect. Thecolors were beautiful. Brave little C. climbed up onto the stump by himself andthoroughly enjoyed being so tall. Bee wanted up there as well, but need helpgetting up.

This is a hollow trunk that was one of the entrances to the hay bale maze. It was huge. Only half of the height of it is shown here.

At one point Bee got into trouble for something and had to serve a time out. Her friends could not stand being without her and came to serve with her.

After that, we just let them play and play. Perfect weather + outdoor activities = happy moms and kids.

Prophets

2011-11-12T14:00:00.001-06:00

I love fall. I love everything about this time of year. One of my favorite parts of fall is General Conference. The prophets speaktruth and always say things that are exactly what I need to hear. I gained somuch strength this year by listening to the talks. I also heard lots of thingsthat would be useful for my seminary students and for my family members. I amso grateful for living prophets who understand the current world and whoselflessly and humbly serve God and His people.

We tried to teach Bee about who the prophets are and whythey are important. First, I found some amazing conference packets online: http://scriptures4kids.com/directory/download/2011-october-general-conference-packet-for-nursery.html.Bee enjoyed coloring President Monson’s tie and completing other conferencerelated activities.

Second, I set up the tent in the living room and we watchedconference from there. I got this idea from the Book of Mormon in the book ofMosiah. (Mosiah 2:5) King Benjamin asked his people to gather together as he spoke to themsoon before he was to pass away. The faithful people came and brought theirfamilies. They pitched their tents towards the temple, which was where KingBenjamin spoke from. I thought that it would be a fun thing to teach mydaughter about literally pitching our tents always towards the prophets. I hopeto make this one of our traditions.

Third, we had prophet flashcards and practiced facerecognition as each the prophet and each of the apostles spoke.

Fourth, as part of the packet that I mentioned above, Ifound the templates to make prophet finger puppets. These were the highlight ofthe day. She first colored them and then watched carefully as they wereassembled. Then she pretended speaking for them and interchanging which prophetwas at the pulpit.

This was a wonderful conference for all of us. I am enjoyingreading and rereading the talks and have been constantly reminded about howmuch God loves the individual. He has answered my private prayers and guided meon a daily basis. I love Him and His prophets.

Short Attention Spans

2011-10-20T15:14:00.000-05:00

We had S. over on a Friday and we had so much fun. However, all the toys were so new to him that he only played each for minutes at a time. We jumped from activity to activity. Their favorite activity was collecting acorns out back (our tree is literally raining acorns) and then pouring acorns from one cup to another. Then they built towers with blocks and acorns.

We also played with play dough. They loved cutting the dough into small pieces with plastic knives.

I enjoy having friends over for Bee, although I tend to make it a lot of work for myself by pulling out lots of projects and activities. I do enjoy when they play happily together and entertain each other.

Play Doh Zoo

2011-10-18T14:59:00.000-05:00

Here's a simple idea for playing with your kids and their toys. I found it here. Ingredients: popsicle sticks, play dough, little animal toys, and boundless creativity.

Graduation

2011-10-16T14:47:00.000-05:00

After a year of off and on success with potty training....we finally have a
POTTY TRAINING GRADUATE.

To celebrate, we dressed her up in the graduation gown the grandma had made her to wear for our graduations from the University of Iowa last May. We marched around the house to "pomp and circumstance" and then we handed her a personalized 'diploma' and a gift. She was so proud of herself and loved marching. I am thrilled to not have to even think much about reminding her to use the restroom. She is so headstrong that I recently worried that she would not potty train for years to come. Luckily, our time has come and she happily claims that she is no longer a baby. Now we have to start thinking about the unthinkable, ditching the pacifier.

Milk Painting

2011-10-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

A blog that I follow shared the following activity. She called it 'terrific toast.'

Bee helped me mix food dyes in milk to create paints.

Then she painted a 'masterpiece' on bread.

Then we toasted it up in the toaster and she had a tasty snack. Actually, the bread was still pretty soggy. I would not willingly eat this snack, but she enjoyed it.

Then we used the leftover paint to paint on paper.

Side note: This purple dress was a gift from Aunt Jenny (as was the apron) and it is her absolute favorite. She would wear it every day if she could. We will both probably both cry when it no longer fits.

So Serious

2011-10-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

Little ones always look so serious when they are having their faces painted. Thanks to Sierra for paying to get Bee's face painted. She picked a dolphin.

I chose to be bipartisan and had a republican balloon on one of her hands and a democratic party one on the other.

Close and personal at the petting zoo.

Our state's constitution was signed here in our town and we went to celebrate on constitution day for the festival. I love fall weather and calm afternoons.

Creative

2011-10-10T14:03:00.000-05:00

Mommy and Bee "camped" out in the living room while daddy was on a conference trip to Seattle. The air mattress fit inside perfectly. I soon found out, however, that two-year-olds are best left sleeping on their own. I ended up on the couch.

New "hat." How many little ones care what a colander is anyways?

Shaving Cream Is Greasy

2011-10-09T13:54:00.000-05:00

I first learned about this activity when I was student teaching in a kindergarten ESL classroom. The teach gave each student a large glob of shaving cream and then she let them just play in it. They had plastics frocks to protect their clothing. Then she guided them to write letters in the cream.

We tried this activity out while I was babysitting one day. This is a messy one. At first the little ones did not want to get all messy. By the end, shaving cream was flying.

If you look in the playroom in the background you'll see the blue bib that I looked for everywhere before this activity, hoping it would cover Bee up a little bit better. I found it a little too late.

Clapping while your hands are covered in shaving cream results in cream flying all around the room.

They also especially enjoyed cleaning up the trays in the sink afterwards.

Singing in the Rain

2011-10-08T12:53:00.000-05:00

New rain boots found at a local consignment store, werefinally put to the test. The light rain was a perfect setting for a fun, puddlesplashing outing. We sang and danced and played. It is so fun to see life againthrough the eyes of a child. Sometimes she comes up with the fun activities,but this time I just had to set her on the path. We finally headed home when I,the umbrellaless one, started getting a little too wet for my comfort.

Seminary

2011-10-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

I have been teaching early morning seminary by myself now for several months. (Last year I shared the calling with my husband and only had to teach every other day.) My body still has not gotten used to arising at 5:30 a.m. Despite the physical and mental challenges that this calling exacts, I have found it to be a blessing in my life. I love being forced to study and feast upon the scriptures. I love the Spirit that I feel when I prepare a lesson with a humble heart and an honest desire to teach in the Lord's way. I love how I have received answers to my unspoken prayers as I have spent time studying and pondering. I enjoy relearning the strengths of the Old Testament, although I still struggle to understand everything that I read. I have wonderful, respectful, kind, and thoughtful seminary students. They pray for me. They are memorizing the scripture mastery's. They bring food to share. They are always willing to read and pray in class. They prepare thoughtful devotionals. They even comment sometimes.They are righteous young people who are striving to understand their role in this world and I am grateful for scripture to provide them a sure footing and a clear direction.

I teach the classes at my home and have found that to be a great blessing.

Here is a drawing that I did when we talked about the fall and the choices in the Garden of Eden. I was pretty proud of it.

Notice Bee’s contributions near the bottom of the board.

The unicorn was Julie's addition.

Preschool Activites

2011-10-06T12:37:00.002-05:00

I have been making an extra effort lately to involve Bee in preschool type activities. I do not come up with any these activities myself and find most of them on a variety of different websites and blogs. The ironic thing that I have found is that the setup usually takes longer than the actually activity itself. I still enjoy doing them with her, though.

For this activity I bought some dollar foam shapes from T.arget and then provided her with paper and paint.

Art gallery here we come.

I love the tecture of this one.

This third painting was mine. Hers were cleaner and more simplistic.

Front

2011-09-23T20:37:00.000-05:00

I enjoy taking pictures in our front yard. Although this old gas lamp does not work and is no longer connected to a gas line, it makes for a great photo opportunity.

The other day I took Bee with me a MOPS meeting. While we were setting up the kids ran around and played. I had brought the DVD player with me and set it up for the kids to watch. Mine was the only one interested. She sat calmly on the chair with her hands in her lap and was oblivious to the craziness around her. All the other moms thought that it was so funny they recommended I grab the camera to document it.

2011-09-22T20:31:00.000-05:00

I found this craft/activity somewhere in blogland (I can't remebmer where now) and was excited to try it. I placed a ball of play clay in front of each child and then I stuck a piece of raw spaghetti into each one. I imagine that a thicker pasta would have been sturdier, but all I had was spaghetti. Then I gave each child a handful of fruit loops. N. is in the high chair, all he got were fruit loops, but he did not complain. Bee was so methodical and perfectionistic about how she stacked her loops. She would not even eat them. She took this very seriously. C., on the other hand, ate one or two and then put two on his spaghetti. Then he ate those two and a few more before repeating. Bee would get mad at him for eating and I had to keep reminding her that this was our snack.

Once her first spaghetti was full, she grabbed more. We used short ones and tall ones. By the end hers was a methusela looking blob with fruit loops coming out of all angles. I do not think that C.'s was ever stacked more than five loops high. Guess who was hungry later.

This is a great activity to work on counting and colors.

I tried the same activity a few days later and she was already bored of it. This time she quickly tired of the stacking and started poking holes in the play clay. Then she filled the holes with fruit loops and then covered them up. Needless to say, we threw the play clay away that time.

Three is Stabler Than Two

2011-09-20T20:15:00.000-05:00

Bee is finally tall enough to tricycle. Before now her legs were always too short and she couldn't push hard enough to turn the pedals. Now she's flying solo and loving it. She does not like the blue handle on the back and asks me to take it off all of the time. I usually leave it on because she's horrible at steering and sometimes goes too fast down hills.

She is in an independent stage and wants to do everything by herself until she can't and then she asks for help. In public restrooms, she will now go into the stall and lock me out and say "I don't need help." Then two seconds later she will cry "ayudame' (help me) and will unlock the stall so that I can come in and help her with her buttoned or snapped pants. Every time. She must forget that she still can't quite do everything by herself.

We had such a warm summer. The sunlight looks so bright and happy. Fast forward one week and it rained every single dark and dreary day.

These photos were all taken by Poppa. We miss him and his camera.

Hooray for Daddies

2011-09-18T20:09:00.000-05:00

My dad came to visit recently. He was only here for a day or two, so we tried to live it up. I love my daddy and was so glad to see him. He recently graduated with his PhD and is currently on the job market. He had a job interview in Ohio and took a few extra days to come visit us while he was near. If you know him, then you know that he is always taking pictures and can rarely be found in front of the camera. Hence you will see lots of pictures of us and few of him.

We met Benjamin up on campus and ate lunch there.

Dad snapped some family pictures of us with a very squirmy girl.

Bee and I went off to play while dad got the royal tour. Squirmy would not have lasted very long on the tour so I let her wander to her hearts content.

Here she is singing and dancing and walking in circles.

She was fascinated by Poppa's earbuds.

We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant and entertained Bee with a preschool coloring book. Genius. I bought the book five months ago and tore all the pages out. Then I place them in plastic scrapbooking sleeves. I let her use a dry erase marker to color in the book. This book has provided her hours of entertainment and she is also getting pretty good at writing her letters. She can make a very recognizable 'A.' With the help of this book and starfall.com, her literary skills are growing exponentially.

We tried to keep her out of the fountain, but eventually gave up.

Posing in front of the old wagon and the modern swimming pool.

Dad and I were excited for a fun game night. We sent Ben up to put Bee to bed and we played a quick game while we waited for him. He never came. We eventually went upstairs and found them both sound asleep.

My father is one of the most hardworking people that I have ever met. He is kind, generous, and always serving those around him. He has taught me so much about life and I love him and look up to him. I am bummed that they did not get the job in Ohio, I would have loved to have them so close. Good luck dad in your job hunt.

Water Balloons

2011-09-17T19:10:00.000-05:00

I filled two hundred water balloons for my Seminary opening social activity with the church youth. Bee saw the balloons ahead of time and wanted to play with them. I let her play with a few before I redirected her to another activity. Then I took them to my social and the youth had so much fun playing volleyball, tag, splash the teacher, etc. I ended up pretty wet by the end. They even helped pick up all the little balloon pieces which I then had them put back into the laundry baskets that the balloons had been in.

I arrived home late and left the laundry basket full of popped balloons in the garage. Bee was so sad when she saw them. She asked over and over again to play with balloons. I had another package and waited for the right time to fill up a few more. Water balloons take a lot longer to fill than they do to pop. These two seemed to be in a contest to see how fast they could pop all of the balloons. The funny thing was that the balloons popped when the hit the grass, but that they would sometimes bounce when they hit the uneven stone sidewalk. Bee's balloons almost always popped. C. had a special technique that resulted in bouncing balloons. Several of his balloons made it to the bottom of the stone staircase before they popped. I do not understand how that worked.

At the very end, N. took the last water balloon and popped it in his lap, soaking himself and his mommy.

Little Momma

2011-09-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

I was watching little N. the other day and was feeding him some baby food. Bee quickly indicated that she wanted to feed him. I was hesitant at first, but then decided to see what would happen. She was so careful to not make a mess and it was obvious that she had watched me carefully. She cleaned off the bottom of the spoon before directing it to N.'s mouth. She fed him most of the jar. If only we had a second child. I think she's in a great stage right now where she would be a wonderful mommy's helper. I'll just have to keep babysitting other people's babies for now.

It looks to me like her mouth is open in this one. I so do that when I am feeding a baby. Maybe I am hoping that if my mouth is open, then theirs will too.

Horsing Around

2011-09-15T19:02:00.000-05:00

We had the fun privilege of hanging out with these beautiful girls one Sunday after church while their mom was recovering from a nasty cold. The played so well together and taught my little girl how fun her L.ittle P.eople toys are. She now plays with them all of the time. The play room is not nearly this organized now. Toys are strewn about everywhere.

The real fun started when they found some blue yarn. They wrapped themselves up in it and pretended to be horses and/or reindeer. Our new house is a maze and has lots of places you can run in and around. They ran themselves in circles, screaming as they went, for at least half an hour. The oldest, A., is an intelligent girl and is so good with the younger ones. She is so creative when it comes to pacifying qualms and inventing games for everyone to play. At one point little S. got out of the 'harness' and then it turned into a game of chase.

I had a hard time catching good photographs or video because they were moving so fast. I loved watching them smile and play. It was a great afternoon.

Letter Recognition

2011-09-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

The other day Benjamin was busy readying himself for the day. He was also supposed to be keeping tabs on our creative little genius. She is usually not allowed to play in the master bathroom and is ESPECIALLY not allowed to play in the bathroom shelves. There are lots of off limits items in the bathroom that mommy does not want disturbed. Daddy, however, is not as strict as mommy when it comes to this rule.

Left to her own devices on this day, she found the Q-tips. Instead of causing mayhem and general disorder, which is often her custom, she took them and cleverly formed the letters 'T,' 'T,' and 'H.' I've never seen her father so proud. Her mother was proud too until she saw the picture of her playing with the Physician's Formula eye shadow. Her father would not have let her touch that if he had any understanding of how much it cost.

Cake Batter

2011-09-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

Notice all the yellow squash in the background. Yum. I shared a garden at a friend's house this year and our squash did really well. I made lots of zucchini bread, zucchini pancakes, fried squash, zucchini muffins and then blanched and froze the rest.

Bee is still too young to be of much use in the kitchen, but we try. She does enjoy licking the bowl. Benjamin has been making a yummy chocolate cake lately that is a favorite at church. It has already been requested for the next get potluck.

One morning I was making two chocolate cakes for one of Ben's responsibilities at school. I let the little sweet girl help me mix and stir and she did really well. We got the first cake in the pan and started working on the second. Bee was mixing the flour mixture with the water while I was grabbing eggs and oil. Somehow the bowl got away from her and it slid of the counter and dumped its contents onto the floor. She was devastated. She said something to the effect of 'I ruined the cake.' This was the first time that we noticed her understanding that her actions had consequences and that the cake was no longer edible. She was so sad and needed to be held and comforted for quite awhile (luckily Poppa was in town). She wasn't aware that I would make more and that we would still get to eat cake. A minute later as she stood there dejectedly and watched as I cleaned chocolate off of the floor, the counters, the cupboards, my feet, my skirt, and herself. At one point she sadly noted that "Making cakes is hard." That is my favorite phrase ever. So sweet and cute.

Have You Hugged Your Child Today?

2011-09-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

I recently was introduced to this beautiful poem about how meaningful and purposeful motherhood is. I could not read through it without crying. Enjoy!

Loving Jesus

I started my day early,
Before the room was light.
I lifted my son from his crib
And wished it was still night.

But as I held him close and said,
"Hi, Kenneth, precious one,"
I knew that as I greeted him,
I greeted too God's Son.

When my daughter woke up later,
Calling, "Mommy! Mommy! Down!"
I picked her up and hugged her
In her worn Elmo nightgown.

I know she felt the closeness
That a mother's touch affords.
I welcomed not just Ellie,
But so, too, the Lord of Lords.

That day, I mixed some formula
And opened jars of peas.
I fixed some "pizza butter" bread
When she grinned and said, "Pleeeeease."

I heated up some leftovers;
I had to nuke them twice.
And when I fed my children,
I was feeding Jesus Christ.

I made some funny faces,
And "played puzzles" on the floor.
I dressed kitties, ran around outside,
And played with them some more.

We laughed and jumped and tickled,
Making memories to be stored.
When I spent time with my children,
I spent time with my Lord.

I wiped up sticky cereal
And washed the dishes clean.
I straightened, picked up, put away,
And dusted in between.

I did six loads of laundry
And folded it like new.
When I cleaned for my children,
I cleaned for my Savior, too.

When my children were both crying,
I held them in my arms.
I cuddled them and whispered
That I'd keep them safe from harm.

I told them how their Father saved them
With His perfect Lamb.
When I comforted my children,
I comforted I AM.

Later on that evening,
I put them in the bath.
I washed their little bodies
As they kicked around and splashed.

I dried them in soft towels
And put their jammies on.
When I had washed my children's feet,
I'd washed the Holy One.

I cooked and cleaned and rearranged,
Made beds and taught and played.
I made sure that we had food to eat
And that we often prayed.

I died to self. I made a home
From ordinary things.
But when I served my children,
I served the King of Kings.

To some, I have done nothing,
But to two, I've done the world.
I made eternal difference
To my precious boy and girl,

And to the One who watches over
Every pathway that I've trod.
For when I've loved my precious children,
I've loved Almighty God.

- Megan Breedlove (www.MannaForMoms.com)

Travels

2011-09-09T14:51:00.001-05:00

On our way to Dallas we stayed with my cousin, Julia and herfamily. She was so kind to us and we loved seeing all her girls. We wereimpressed by all the work they’ve done on their house, on their ambitiousmaster bedroom addition, and on their large selection of outdoor playground equipment.Bee was in heaven. We slept in the playroom and we had a hard time getting thelittle one to sleep instead of play. Somehow I did not manage to snap a singlepicture.

On our drive back we visited Ben’s Step-Grandfather, GreatGrandpa Larry. Bee took to him immediately. He graciously took us out todinner, showed us around his beautiful home and workshop, called over his horseso that Bee could meet her, and woke up early to feed us bacon andwaffles. We enjoyed our short visit andwere promised fun times fishing if we came back for a longer one next time. Healso sent us home with a teddy bear larger than our child.

Since it was a Sunday, we found a meeting house for theLatter-day Saints and attended their Sacrament Meeting. There was a largecongregation and people were very nice to us, even when they found out that wewere just passing through. The messages were inspiring and we left edified. Mybiggest surprise was when they announced that Seminary would start that weekfor them and that they would be meeting at 5:30 a.m. WOW! My students cannotcomplain at all, we meet at 6:45 a.m.

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and arrived home with alittle time to relax and unwind before we were back to work on Monday. By workfor me, I mean non-vacation activities such as shopping, cleaning, seminary teaching, couponing, games on facebook, MOPS planning, Montessori Spanish lesson planning, childrearing, etc. and so forth. It never ends.

On The Way Home

2011-09-07T12:48:00.000-05:00

On our way home we took a break in Little Rock to visit the Clinton birth home and his presidential museum. This was a great way to give our legs a break from all of the driving. Bee loved to run up and down the sidewalks. At one point she stopped and sat on a monument, then she requested we take a photograph of her there. Silly girl.

Look at the size of this ant. Whoa!

The presidential museum was very large.

Bee only came for the fountains.

Somehow we managed to arrive on the weekend they were celebrating Clinton's birthday. Not only did we snag free admission (Best ever. I'm not much for paying big bucks for this kind of thing), but we also got cupcakes and a face painting for Bee.

Here Bee is being a little irreverent in the cabient chairs.

Two year olds and historical museums do not a perfect match make.

Oval office.

Let me out of here! This picture pretty much sums up her opinion of the museum.

Whether you are a Clinton supporter or not, the museum was a great opportunity to celebrate democracy and to learn about the years of his presidency. Careful care was taken to preserve the letters, gifts, and documents he received during his term as president of our great country. We enjoyed reading and seeing some of these things and imagining what life might be like as the president.

Dallas

2011-09-05T12:11:00.000-05:00

Whilst I was away having girl time at the MOPS conference, Benjamin dutifully cleaned the house and took care of the little one. He is seriously the best ever. Then he drove to Nashville to pick me up. While in town he visited the Andrew Jackson historic sites. I had the camera with me and he did not get to take any pictures of his adventures with Bee at these places.

He found me somehow in the confusing maze that is the mammoth sized Gaylord Opryland Hotel and then we headed to Dallas. My oldest sister and her family just relocated there for a new job and we went out to help them unpack and organize. I am SO excited to have a sister within fourteen hours. Some may think that an insurmountable distance, but it's all about perspective. While she used to be three hours behind me, now she is only one. Now I could pick up and drive to visit her and get there in a day, instead of three. She is still mourning having to leave her friends and life in California, but I am celebrating that she is just a little bit closer to me.

We loved visiting her and catching up with her family. She has four wonderful boys and we had lots of fun with them during our short week. We unpacked lots of boxes and hopefully helped her find a little bit more order to her home.

Kimberly thought that it would be fun to let everyone playin the moving truck before it was picked up. The young ones happily played,despite the record heat wave and the steamy truck. They picked up all of theropes that Benjamin and I had carefully collected and rolled up and proceededto unroll them. They then spent at least an hour tying the ropes back and forthand creating a variety of spiderweb like patterns.

Here the boys are putting together this play gym.

Trains were also a great distraction for everyone.

Aren't these two people the cutest ever. I love them so much.

Here little C wants to help his mom out. They start out so helpful.

The boys were so happy to have lots of Game Cube time because we were all so busy unpacking.

On the last day of our stay, we went to a local splash pad. The boys had so much fun running through the water. Bee spent most of her time on the ginormous playground. Seriously the website describes the park thus: "Children will enjoy a visit to largest handicap accessible playground and spray ground in the state of Texas. Spanning across an acre, the playground features a series of brightly colored play stations and activities." An acre, seriously, this was a never ending series of ramps, slides, etc.

I also got the chance to make Kimberly a can rotator out of cardboard. Bee really wanted to help.

We loved getting to visit and wished that we could have stayed longer. Kimberly even watched Bee for us so that we could go out on a date to yummy Mexican. One of the downsides of living where we do is the lack of authentic and tasty Mexican restaurants.

I am so impressed by my sister and all that she does for her family. Her refrigerator arrived broken and they spent almost two weeks (during the crazy Dallas heat wave) living out of coolers before they finally got theirs repaired. We had to purchase ice at least once a day to replenish the coolers. She kept up her spirits despite the challenges and we got so much done, including registering her children for school and organizing her food storage. Hopefully we will see each other again soon. The only problem is that her perspective isn't the same as mine. She used to drive 12 to 14 hours to visit family in Utah once a year and that was considered a lot to drive. For us, 12 to 14 hours is pocket change as we are used to driving 30 plus to visit Utah. I might just have to go the MOPS conference again next year, it's in Dallas!

Time Got Away

2011-09-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

Almost a month has passed since I last wrote a blog post. Luckily, I cleverly spaced out my blog posts so it only appears like I have been lax in blog writing for two weeks. That being said, I still have a lot of catching up to do. My goal is to write at least one post today before the sweet child wakes up.

It continues to amaze me how my time fills up with things to do.When I start out the week, it looks so wide open, but then it never is. I had hoped that life would be less stressful once Ben and I were out of school, however, this fall is looking to be just as busy and stressful. Benjamin has already started teaching and is excited for his classes. I also will be starting a part-time job teaching Spanish at a local Montessori school. I am so excited and have lots of ideas about how to interact with the students in Spanish. Bee will accompany me to the classes and I am a little nervous about how she will do. She is used to being my center of attention. Hopefully this will help her become less spoiled and a little more responsible. I am also hopeful that she will use her knowledge of Spanish to help the students enjoy learning it. I am also busy on the steering team of a local mothers group called MOPS (mothers of preschoolers). And, just to keep me on my toes, Benjamin was released as my co-teacher of early morning seminary. This year I was asked to take on the calling by myself. This is a daunting responsibility. The youth are wonderful and I love them so much, even more than last year (somehow). However, I don't feel worthy. There is so much that God wants them to know, and I feel like such an unworthy vessel. I try to teach with the spirit and have great expectations that this will be a life changing year. I am proud to say that all five of my students have already memorized at least two (and some four) of the scripture mastery scriptures.

On to journaling. I attended a MOPS conference in early August with two other women from the mothers group. This was a great motivating conference that taught us about how to grow and strengthen ourselves, our groups, and the women around us. It was so exciting to see everyone together and to hear of all the desires to strengthen women and help them see their worth and potential.

Lindsey and Heather. Two great friends. They both inspire me by their love for God and their faith in His power. I enjoyed getting to know them better. Please pray for Lindsey and her family as her brother was recently in a car accident. He is in critical care still.

We stayed at the Grand Ole Opry Hotel in Nashville. Very very very posh! Words cannot describe the beauty. The gorgeous atriums were filled with plants, flowers, rivers, and fish. The temperature was perfect. We never left the hotel. We even watched the fountain light show. It was so romantic there. I missed Benjamin and wished that he were with me.

I LOVE her songs. They are so down to earth and real. I need to download some and put it as my blog music. Love.

Max Lucado.

They had some great headliners, including the musical artists Sarah Groves and Mandissa. We also heard from Max Lucado, who wrote one my favorite stories: “You are Special” which was first introduced to my by a young women’s leader when I was a youth. Powerful stuff!

The breakout sessions were also inspiring and I felt motivated and uplifted to do good and to make goals to be a little better. It made me excited to attend Time Out for Women the next time that it is near me.

We got lots of ideas about how to strengthen our current group and found out that the next conference will be in Dallas, which is conveniently located near my oldest sister. Woohoo!

And More

2011-08-16T18:58:00.002-05:00

Water Play

2011-08-14T18:51:00.005-05:00

The sun was bright, hence the squinting.

This is J. She is a fabulous babysitter and we use her and sister (the one that took the picture) a lot. Bee really likes them. She named all of her dolls after the other sister, Ashley.