Healing

I have wanted to post something profound, but lets be honest I may not be that profound a person. I will opt for something simple and heartfelt. I really feel impressed to put this out there, so this is more for me, than for you.
My dearest Grandmother is dying. She is on the losing end in her battle with cancer. She fought valiantly. She has truly endured well. I have struggled with the thought that she will no longer be here for me and my family but I have recently read a few things that have helped.

1. "Mortality's supreme test is to face the 'why' and then let it go, trusting humbly in the Lord's promise that 'all things must come to pass in their time.'"
2. "Grief is the natural by-product of love. Once cannot selflessly love another person and not grieve at his suffering or eventual death."
3. "Mortality was designed, in a manner of speaking, as the season of unanswered questions. Faith is quite simply, a confidence in the Lord. We know He lives; therefore, we trust Him to bless us according to His divine will and wisdom."
4. "Death is never easy, but the gospel can bring comfort. Life beyond the grave contains important work to eb done, and time will soften the pain of those left behind."
5. The sting of death is felt to remind us of Christ and His atonement and resurrection.

I love that my Grandma will very soon, no longer have to suffer. What a blessing. I love that she won't be alone in the next life. I love that she will always be there watching out for me, and helping me along the way. After all, isn't that why we have families? I have thought about a letter I wrote to her once. In it I told her she was my hero. My definition of a hero, is someone who, through their words and actions, alters the course of your life, for the better. So to put it simply, my parents are my life, my children are my breath, my husband is my heart, and my Grandma is my hero.

I know that the gospel is true. I am grateful to have this opportunity to build and strengthen my testimony. I love the Savior, and I love God.

The Kiddos

My Kiddos are the funniest things on the planet. They come up with some hum dingers. I have books that I keep where I write down all the great stuff they say, in hopes that they will appreciate knowing these things when they are old. So here are some recent ones:

"I want to go on a heli-hopter to Penzilvany." (...a helicopter to Pennsylvania, said last week) - R

"If my bum smelled like dinner, that would be fantastic!!" - B (This was in April, she hasn't said any really funny ones in a while).

This blog is so new that most of the good stuff they have said is from years past. Here is a sample of their dictus.

B has said:

"Hey mom, throw-up is slippery."

In reference to Santa working in his shop she said, "will he get sweat all over the place?"

While sitting in a shopping cart she said, "I love to be in the mist of food!"

When I was pregnant she asked "If you jump, will it shake the world?"

R has said:

"Bosquitos bite" (Mosquitos bite)

"So much I love you"

He poked holes in his food, we said, eat it and he said, "no I break it!"

"I cool dude han-some" (handsome)

My family's favorite: "fiya fightas" (fire fighters)

My hope is that as they get smarter, the stuff will get better. I can't wait until Beck is big enough to talk. Either way, I may make this a regular addition to this blog. I encourage everyone to write down the great stuff their kids say. Someday you will forget, no matter how funny it is now, and it is REALLY funny now.

The Birthday Bash

So I know that I am super late in doing this, but at least I am doing this. B just had her 5th birthday and she chose a Candyland theme. I did my best. Her cake was a poorly constructed replica of the board game.




I used the church to utilize the ample space. The kids went on a "trip" through Candyland and had adventures at every stop. Each room had a theme and each room had a character on the door. Artwork courtesy of Grammie.

Welcome sign that greeted the children.

All in all it turned out pretty well because it was huge and crazy and that is what little kids like. Huge and crazy things. Mr. Mint was the first stop and the kids decorated candy bags. Then we went to the Gingerbread Forrest to play Pin the tail on the donkey, only we used Candy, and a member of the Gingerbread tree family. Jolly is the name of the gumdrop character and in his room we made spiders out of Hostess ding dongs and licorice. Princess Frostine (above) provided the presents and Lolli planted a lollipop garden on the back lawn of the church that all the kids had to help harvest. At the end of their adventures in Candyland they each received a gumball staff in honor of his royal highness Kind Candy. The cake was served to family on her actual day of birth rather than the part goers. I know it is not one of my "elaborate" cakes but I was a bit fried by the time I got around to the real day. I fully blaime my mother for making me feel like Birthdays are and should be really important days. I want my kids to feel the same way and so I make a lot of work for myself but it was worth it, they really did have a blast.

And...I DID NOT CRY this year!! Hooray! For the first time since I became a parent, I didn't cry on her birthday.

30 Reasons I Am Me, Because of You.

This is a special post to my big brother on his 30th birthday. The following are 30 reasons I am me and they are ALL because of you Kam:
1-Smoking twigs - well watching you smoke twigs anyway!!
2-Playing Chemistry with Cathy's Chemistry set.
3-Registering you for your first semester at USU.
4-Trick or treating with you as kids.
5-Skating on the grandpa made ice rink.
6-Wanting to be just like you.
7-Playing all sorts of fun games like paint the trailer when we lived in the trailer.
8-Using you as a car and gear shifting your ears.
9-Being your human bench press bar.
10-Making forts under the stairs.
11-Sliding down the stairs on bean bags and sleeping bags
12-Jumping off mom and dad's headboard onto the waterbed.
13-Snow caves, I was always afraid to join you in.
14-Using kitchen utensils as tools in the backyard and then losing them till the next spring.
15-Building lego computers and playing office in our closets.
16-Having marathon Monopoly games that lasted for days.
17-The day you told me you were gonna be a dad.
18-Health Occ with Syd
19-"Protecting" the house with knives, bats, and a bayonet when mom and dad were gone. (BTW what were they thinking leaving you in charge?! ;-) )
20-Karma Pozernic - what the heck!??
21-Watching your football games in the rain in random cities like Tooele.
22-Cinderblock potties - Showing my friends how cool you were that you made them.
23-ENORMOUS jaw breakers from FOOD 4 Less.
24-Driving top off in the Blazer (I felt so cool!)
25-The day you left on your mission.
26-The night you came home from your mission.
27-Calling you when I had highschool drama and you made me feel better.
28-Knowing you "get me"
29-Playing Hide and Seek and hiding in the top of the old cereal pantry.
30-Spook Alley's in the basement.

I love you so much and I wish we were together to celebrate this really special day. I hope you find the time and brain power to just have fun on this day. My list of memories that are just yours and mine is much longer but 30 is the number of the day! I miss you and I am super duper proud that you are where you are, doing what you are doing. I spoke my first scentance ("Stop it!") because of you and you make me who I am, thank you so very much, I hope you are proud. Happy Happy Birthday to my best and biggest brother.
Love you forever and more, James.

Baby Food

I know that it is entirely possible that people won't understand what I am about to say, but please stay tuned.

Some time since my birth the baby food companies have come out with a new invention meant to make the mom's life easier by creating plastic baby food containers. The point is that if the baby doesn't eat all the food it is like tupperware, you just pop the lid back on and put it away till later. The lids for the little glass jars don't really screw back on properly so the jars can spill and food can and will spoil. Also you pay for the glass. So Hooray right? Wrong. Never in the 5 years since I became a mother has a glass jar of baby food "spit" on me. Each and every time I open those supposedly fabulous plastic containers I am covered in goo. I do think the effectivness of the tupperware like container is great, but the spitting? In an effort to save some of my favorite shirts I have even gone to great lengths to avoid the spit. I have tried the following:

• turning the container away from me - this really should have worked but it is like the food has some kind of homing device, it just seeks its target, and is amazingly accurate.



• covering the container with a towel or rag - this really worked well until I took the rag off then somehow I got food on my sleeve...no kidding.



• opening the seal with a tiny hole first - I poked it with a needle and then pulled the foil off and still, goo on me.



• Wearing an apron - who actually puts on the apron just to open the container besides me? I mean what a hassle!

I guess I should just stop buying the containers, but they really are cheaper. The funny thing is, is that it is like a preview of what is to come. It seems like the level of spitting when I open the container is similar to the level of spitting that occurs from the kid's mouth when I am putting the food in. O well. Just so you all know, I really hate the sweet potato spit, it stains and badly.

Happy Halloween...Really?!

Happy Halloween is what we say, but is it REALLY happy? What a strange tradition. We go out, purchase a ton of candy to give away, just so we can haul tired, honery children around in the freezing cold blackness to get more candy. Would it not just be easier to buy the candy you like and give it to your kids and skip all the work? I think so.

This halloween was especially "wonderful" for me because B decided she didn't want to take a nap. Fine, fine, no nap she is 5 after all right? Well some days she is ok without one and some days she isn't. Halloween day, she wasn't. She had the mother of all tantrums which involved me locking her in the back yard (because the little boys were sleeping). She was standing back there pounding on the door screaming, "I want my candy, my poor candy, I want my candy!" That stemmed from the fact that I told her if she didn't take a nap she would not trick-or-treat. I know that for any of you who know us, she could never have a tantrum right? Wrong. She can throw fits with the best of them. Hence her being locked places like the back yard. The poor kid was so tired that after about an hour of fits she agreed to a nap, fell asleep on my bed and was pretty much groggy for the rest of the night.
That wasn't all. We were not all together that night so dinner wasn't finished until after we were done trick-or-treating. That means, no dinner for mom. The kids ended up eating sandwiches. I just felt like the entire night wasn't too much fun. One redeeming moment was when I was with B and R alone and I was carying R on my back, B offered to carry both candy buckets. For a little kid, I think that was great.
p.s. we were characters from the movie Sleeping Beauty. Aurora, Prince Phillip, Baby was the spinning wheel and I was Maleficent.

Ode to the internet

Internet, O how I have missed thee.
Let me count the ways: 1- blogging, 2-recipes, 3-Ace of Cakes, 4-EMAIL, 5- can anyone say Hulu?!
All wonderful, some new. How did I live so long in the dark ages?

Anyway, I have done it, I have finally joined the world of the blogger. I doubt if I will ever become famous or well-read (I wish). I know it will take me some time to learn all the tricks of the trade. I will figure out about posting pictures and movies as soon as I can load such items onto this blessed computer, but for now, I am here. Hello World!