Tagged Variation

I was tagged by Jaime but I had already been asked some of the questions on a previous tag so I made some changes.

1. What were you doing 5 years ago? I was finishing up my freshmen year of college and getting excited to spend my summer back home in California. Although, as I wrote in my journal, I wasn't looking forward to the fact that there would probably be "0 date-able guys" there. Little did I know that I was to meet and get engaged to Joe that summer.

2. 5 things on my to-do list today?
-Go to book club (we read Candide by Voltaire)
-Take back a pair of jeans I bought for Joe that didn't fit; I think it's pointless to attempt this anymore
-Take the kids to the library storytime
-Vacuum
-Start a new book (I will attempt to read Paradise Lost)

3. 5 snacks that I enjoy
-Cereal. If I'm too lazy to make something or if nothing else sounds good, I always eat cereal.
-Pizza bagel; self-explanatory and I think it's delicious.
-Yogurt
-Goldfish crackers--as long as they're not stale. My kids don't mind if they are, though.
-Ice cream; the perfect night-time snack.

4. 3 bad habits:
-I used to bite my nails all the time and I still do sometimes but I'm a lot better now.
-Interrupting people when they're talking.
-Biting my lip.

5. 3 good habits
-Making the bed. For those of you who knew my in my youth (OK, pretty much up until a few months ago) this may come as a shock. I make the bed every day now and I must admit it's nice.
-Rinsing dishes right after I use them. I don't do this every single time but I'm pretty consistent. It saves a lot of energy later. There's nothing worse than trying to clean a cheese grater after it's been sitting in the sink forever and the cheese is dried on.
-Writing thank you cards. My mother instilled this in me and for the most part it's stuck.

6. Places I've lived:
-Stockton, CA
-Springville, UT
-Provo, UT
-Logan, UT
-Denver/Golden, CO (only for 5 weeks but we count it)

7. Jobs I've had:
-Office assistant (paper filer)
-Receptionist
-Marketing assistant for a mall
-Marketing assistant for an independent study program
-Math tutor
-Collections agent for a payday loan company (not very fun)
-Goldfish box packager (temp job; and no it didn't destroy my love of goldfish (see 3d))
-Assembly-line worker for a fitness equipment manufacturing company (also temp job; possibly one of the worst days of my life)


8. 5 things people don't know about me:
-I have a legitimate fear of clowns. I think it's the eerie painted-on smiles.
-In 6th grade, my friends and I started a little bell choir called the "Ding-Dongs".
-I hate mint-flavored chocolate and most things mint-flavored, especially mint-chip ice cream. Yuck.
-I grew up in one of the asparagus capitals of the world (we even had an asparagus festival every year) and yet I really don't like asparagus.
-I was carried by Ryan (see below), the winner of the first Bachelorette series that featured Trista (he worked as a fire-fighter in Vail when Elizabeth was born)I now tag Luci, Cindy, Steph, Lorna, Nicole, Lisa, and anyone else who hasn't done this one and would like to.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

I just finished this book last night and wanted to post some thoughts. I loved the book and would recommend it to everyone. I love finding good, uplifting, moral books that keep my attention while inspiring me and this is one of them. I think I can understand the viewpoint of those who find fault with the book, yet it is still an important piece of American literature. Some may find fault with Stowe's sentimentality and moralizing but in my opinion, these are some of the strengths of the book. She forces you to put yourself in the place of a slave and to feel, in some small part, the horrors of slave life. Not only this, she encourages these feelings to produce action--good works toward our fellow men.

One thought that occurred to me while reading the book was the degree to which slavery destroyed families. As a member of a church whose principal goal is to build and strengthen families, this struck me as so tragic and shameful that Americans, even some of my ancestors, allowed this to take place. Also, as a mother myself, it was very difficult for me to read about incidents of children being ripped from their mothers' arms to be sold at auction while their mothers stood powerless to do anything about it. It reminded me of a verse from the Bible:

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:6)

Slavery was and is a curse and part of the reason for that is that it decimated families and stripped human beings of the right to have families and protect them. America is still trying to heal from this immense crime. Joe and I were watching something on PBS the other night that pointed out that our country has still not spent as much time free from slavery as it did enforcing the practice of slavery.

Well, sorry for rambling. I love reading more than ever now because it's kind of like mental exercise for me. When a day is spent with little to no adult conversation, I'm in great need of this kind of exercise. Thanks for humoring me.

A Snowy Valentine's Day

We had a very Happy Valentine's Day around here. We made some pink, heart-shaped cupcakes. My friend Angel taught me how: you just put a marble in between the paper lining and the pan and make sure not to put too much batter in. This was the mistake I made, which is why there are no pictures of our cupcakes. Still, it was a fun idea which I hope to perfect sometime.

Joe surprised me by coming home early with roses, a poem and a pint of Ben & Jerry's, declaring that we were getting take-out for dinner. Does he know me or what? We ended up playing outside in the snow for awhile in the afternoon. Well, the girls and I played while Joe toiled on the beginnings of a snow fort. He was out there moving snow around for over an hour, on top of the shoveling he already did that morning on our driveway and sidewalks. I couldn't understand it. I guess that's why I have never built a snow fort--lack of dedication. Anyway, if he ends up finishing it I'll have him post pictures.

Here is Natalie enjoying her favorite pastime in the snow. She couldn't pick up the snow, so she kept bending over to eat it, occasionally falling on her face. We finally had to put a chunk in her lap, as shown below.

We got the girls dinner and then Joe and Elizabeth picked up Cafe Rio for the two of us. We ate while watching a movie and drinking Martinelli's after the kids went to bed. It was a very enjoyable evening.

A day full of love:
After dinner, I heard the girls laughing and discovered them doing this. I thought they were giving each other kisses but they were just touching heads and laughing. It was very cute to watch.

New Playlist

In honor of Valentine's Day on Thursday, I made a playlist of some of "our songs". I couldn't find all of them, unfortunately. I love you, Joe!

Various Means of Having Fun

Elizabeth's new favorite game is to gather all of the blankets in the house into a pile and pretend to go to sleep. Natalie will join in, too, occasionally. I must confess that I don't mind this game as it requires me to rest, too. ;)

Sometimes a book will also be involved such as in this picture. For the record, she is reading Crime and Punishment upside-down.

Natalie loves to be at the piano, sometimes to actually play but mostly to push the various rhythm buttons. It then becomes interesting trying to play the children's hymns that Elizabeth requests with a Big Band rhythm. Here she is enjoying some rare alone time at the piano.

Luckily for me, we have a large, empty cupboard in our kitchen (it helps to have an unfinished basement to store all of our junk) that is a popular play area for the girls. This especially comes in handy when I'm trying to cook dinner, although it usually results in more fights than not over whether the doors should be open or closed. They can actually both fit inside fairly comfortably and it's funny to hear what kinds of noises come out of there in those cases.

Here are just some cute pictures of our girls:

Pretty blue eyes

Pretty smile

Marjorie Pay Hinckley-isms

Soon after President Hinckley died, I went to the library and noticed that on their display shelf they had books about both he and his wife. I picked up the above book and loved reading it. She is such an inspiration to me and I'm grateful for her example of faith and Christ-like love. I wanted to post some quotes that I especially liked so that maybe it could help me actually put them into practice. These are related to motherhood since that is what I am in the thick of right now although there were many other topics covered.

"My mother taught me some basic philosophies of rearing children. One is that you have to trust children. I tried hard never to say "no" if I could possibly say "yes". I think that worked well because it gave my children the feeling that I trusted them and they were responsible to do the best they could." (pg 55)

One part that especially touched me (probably because this is a weakness of mine) was a portion written by a daughter-in-law of Sis. Hinckley. She talked about how her mother-in-law had told her to "just save the relationship" in reference to a difficulty with one of her children. Then she told a story of being in Boston on a hot day sight-seeing with the Hinckley family. One 2-year-old grandson stripped down to his diaper on the subway and despite several attempts to put the clothes back on, he would continue to take them off. Sis. Hinckley finally laughed and said "It's just too hot for clothes" and the little boy spent the day sight-seeing in diapers. The daughter-in-law continues:
"It was my first introduction to the Hinckley way of allowing each family member, whenever possible, to be himself. I was being taught that even two-year-olds have feelings that are important and respected." (pg. 56)

"It is the mothers of young children I would like to address first. These are golden years for you. These are years when you will probably do the most important work of your lives. Don't wish away your years of caring for small children. Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans. This is a time of great opportunity for you to build the kingdom. When you teach children to love their Heavenly father, you have done one of the greatest things you will ever do." (pg. 246-7)

I miss President and Sister Hinckley so much but I'm so thankful that I will always have their words to lift and inspire me.

Party Time!

Elizabeth was finally able to have her birthday celebration Saturday night. We put balloons all over the hallway during her nap and she was so excited to see them when she woke up. We had what ended up being a pretty low-key party since a lot of people couldn't make it. Aunt Jaime came with cousins Joelle and Randon and friends Jordan, Luci and Libbi came on late notice to add a few more people. I made her a Pablo (from The Backyardigans) cake that I found on Nick Jr.'s website that was actually pretty easy to make and she loved it. We had pizza, ate cake and ice cream, opened presents and let the kids run around while the adults played a card game (we have to have our fun, too, right?). We got some cute video but it won't upload right now so I'll just post the pictures.

The infamous cake. The beak was made of slightly melted yellow Starbursts! I wish I was creative enough to come up with an idea like that on my own.

Daddy lighting three candles.
After blowing out the candles and Daddy relighting them, we finally got the concept across that you have to wait until we're done singing. Here she is loving the attention.
Pretending to blow up a balloon.

The only thing she asked for: play dough!

Yesterday for our Family Home Evening treat we ate leftover cake and you can see the effect of the blue frosting.

I think overall the birthday was a success!