Smiling

About a conversation I overheard last night while Chandler was downstairs teaching Tessa how to play football (btw, football is one of the few words she can say). It went something like this . . . "Tess, we have a football family. We became a football family when we got Dad in our family. And you have to cheer for BYU."

If you have teenagers. . . .

they (and you!) might enjoy this talk. I'm just putting this here for myself so I can find it again. A very good listen.

Be Amazed. . . .

At something little today . . .

I was sitting this morning watching Tess eat and just was overcome with amazement. How can such a little thing know exactly what she wants and doesn’t want? (She is definitely not one to eat everything you put in front of her). So how does she decide these things? Then I got her down and watched her go to the book shelf and pull out of all of the books until she found the exact one she wanted to read. How does a little 14 month old have a favorite book? (and hers change about weekly I’ve noticed) I would love to know her little thought process. I was reminded at how amazing this age is. The rate they learn language and other things is just remarkable. And I immediately became thankful that I get to witness it and enjoy this process with her. So then I got thinking about being amazed. . . .and I thought of a lot of other amazing things. Here are just a few things I came up with:

The Internet—how amazingly cool is it that we have access to so much information? I know there are downsides to this, but think about how cool the good really is.

That Tom can be so good to me----surely he could justify being otherwise, but he doesn’t.

That I can stay home---it is amazing to me (maybe because I worked for so long) that it is even possible.

That I could take a warm shower---really, think of all of the centuries that went without this amazing luxury, and how many people around the world today that don’t enjoy it. I am truly amazed that this cool thing is possible for me.

Bread machines----I remember Tracen Winward telling me in high school that they were getting one for his mom and explaining to me what it did. I was so amazed. Now I have one. How cool is it that I can drop six simple ingredients into a pan, push a few buttons and *walla* I’ve got bread a few hours later. Cool. Amazing. I love it.

Prayer---how amazing is it that we can pray and receive strength and guidance and help?

And while I was being amazed, I realized how many wonderful amazements I am not thankful for very often. And I realized that being amazed is fun. . . I should try it more often. So now that I’ve overused every form of the word amaze, I’m turning it over to you. . .what amazes you? I’d love to be reminded of other things to be amazed at.

The Royal Clippers

Tom has a set of gold finger clippers that his Grandpa gave him for his mission. They are in a nice box and consist of a pair of fingernail clippers, toenail clippers and some other fancy gadgets. (And at this juncture I can't be for sure what exactly those others are because I have not been allowed to see them.) He has deemed them "The Royal Clippers" and unless you have royalty in your lineage you cannot touch them, look at them or heaven forbid use them. To let you know the extent this has been carried on, Tom researched my lineage to see whether I would be allowed to use them. And he couldn't find a single king, queen, prince or royal jester for that matter in my genealogy (and of course he had to point out the numerous times they showed up in his). Thus we have been going for 3 1/2 years. The rest of the peons in this family have just had to go on in life with lesser clippers. Well, last week we got this joyous email from my mom: I'm trying to get Dad's family information into the computer and have been going online to the church website for information. I found a couple of lines that go way back. One went back to "Fornjotur King in Kvenland" born about 0160 of Finland. Another was "Iorwerth Apgwgon" born about 1100, Denbighshire, Wales. This is on the Porter line, more specifically Bisbee-Whitmarsh. I'm not sure which lines to follow to get there, (I lost track since I didn't print it out) but it's facinating to follow them back and know someone has done a lot of work to trace them back so far. So hand over the royal clippers, honey--we've got some royal clipping to do! Life is going to be good now :)!

This Little Girl. . .

Got her first pigtails the other day. I thought they were cute enough for a little photo shoot. Tess's idea was more like "Cool I'm up on the rocking chair so I better dance!" Consequentially, this is the best picture I got. But it definitely shows her little never-hold-still-ever personality. And by the way, those cute little pigtails lasted 20 minutes at the most.

In other news we are close to finishing Cache's bedroom downstairs. He chose "Desert Camel" for the walls (sort of a golden khaki color) and a deep turquoise for trim. I was a little nervous how it would look, but it looks pretty good. It will look even better when we repeat the color with curtains. We've got to fill in the nail holes and gaps on the base boards then touch up the baseboard paint and put up the closet shelf and rod. We are still deciding on whether to carpet yet or not. For tight wads like us it is so much money. I saw a $20 Sponge Bob rug at Costco the other day. . . think that would go over well with him? Isn't all he needs is something to kneel on for his prayers?

The Tale of the Turnip

I have been a blog-reading junkie for a long while now and I have to admit that all of these years of surfing blogs I have gone the gamut of “I should blog.” to “No way would I ever blog.” with the latter being the most prominent feeling. But in the past few months I have had blog entries come to me in words that were not my own (and if you know me at all, I’m not a person of many words so when things come to me in full sentences or paragraphs, I know to sit up and pay attention!) As a result, the idea has been deliberated repeatedly. A silly thing for most people, perhaps, but for me it was such a hard decision because I’m not a public person, I don’t share many things with many people and I don’t have oodles of time to sit and write (especially since writing is so laborious for me) and also I’m the kind of person that if I start something, I feel obligated to continue (the feeling of needing to keep it up still weighs very heavily on me). But in December when Elder Ballard urged church members to use blog media to share truths, I knew I needed to give life to those words that have been coming to me.

So what does all of this have to do with The Tale of the Turnip? Read on :).

A few years ago my parents gave one of my boys this book for their birthday. I love it. I love it so much that I used it every time I could as a teacher. I used it as a vocabulary builder, I used it to teach prediction skills, I used it to teach context clues and I used it as a writing springboard. And now I’ve got another purpose for it (but that will come later on). I haven’t read it for a while and I’m too lazy to go downstairs and dig it up so bear with me as I paraphrase it:

There was a farmer who didn’t have much, just the clothes on his back and his family and farm. He was neighbors with a “squire who lived in a great swanky house” who had cows and horses and pigs and chickens and “who knows what else”. Well, one year, this farmer planted a lot of turnips. Some of them grew and some of them didn’t, but right bang in the middle of one of his fields grew a ginormous turnip. So he heaved it out of the ground and took it to show the king. The king was impressed.. . . .very impressed. . . .so impressed, actually, that he gave the farmer a cartload of gold in exchange for this very large turnip. Well, this squire-neighbor-dude was a tad bit jealous and he thought he could top the farmer’s gift to the king. And thinking he could get a grander gift from the king than the farmer got with a turnip, he found his very best horse and gussied him up then put him in a wagon (“so as to not to wear him out”) and took it to the king. True to the squire’s expectations, the king was very impressed with his gift. In fact the king was so overwhelmed with awe that he didn’t know what he had in his possession that could equal this amazing horse. But never fear, this quick-thinking king sent the squire home with the grandest-coolest thing in his possession: The Champion Turnip.

So what you say? All too often I'm just like that darn squire. How many times do I, out of whatever reason, get my expectations worked up to where they shouldn’t be only to end up disappointed, discontented and frustrated? (*please* tell me I’m not the only one!) And even worse, sometimes, like the squire, I do things for an external reward. Part of my issue with starting a blog has been the nagging question: “Who am I blogging for?” I’m not interesting enough for anybody to stick around for very long, I’m not offering a product or a service others are interested in, my family hears enough from me, I keep enough journals that I don’t know that I need another form. . . yet something within is driving me to do this. And I’ve learned that when I have those experiences I just need to follow. Sadly, though, far too often I follow those promptings (revelations, inspirations, call them what you want) with an expectation that something good will follow. And while I’m positive that is always the case, I can’t usually immediately see the good that comes and I beat myself up for taking the risk. So in following the direction to do this blog, I don’t want to be like the squire and expect something way off course, or do it for the wrong reason. Nor do I want to expect too much from myself that it becomes a great pressure for me to produce great works of literature (HA!) each time I post. So here I am committing myself to the following set of “blogtations” (that’s short for blog expectations :):

1) I do not have to be a “perfect blogger” (by definition, in case you were wondering, that means blogging everyday with meaningful, humorous or earth-shattering posts).

2) I do not expect a single solitary soul to take time to read my blog.

3) I do not expect anyone to agree with me or understand me or like me because of my blog.

4) I do not expect anything but a feel-good feeling from within that I’m doing what I feel like I should do.

That being said, I have one final issue to raise. . . .Part of the problem with blogging is that you are not talking to anyone while talking to everyone. You just don't know who is listening :). And while I'm fine with that concept because it means that no one has to listen to me who doesn't want to, I will from time to time ask for your thoughts, experiences or opinions . . . and I truly want to hear them because they strengthen me and make me think more deeply. So please, if you feel so inclined, share your stories with me too.

So welcome to my blog. . . .maybe you’ll come back, maybe you won’t. Here you’ll come across tidbits about me and my family; a few of my musings, links to talks I’ve enjoyed and those words that I feel need a place somewhere in blogland. Thanks for stopping by.