Noah's Sealing

Noah was sealed to us on my birthday, April 20, 2011.
Honestly, this is a day I looked forward to from the moment we found out he was coming. It is such a fun, special day.
The sealing was set for 5:00 PM so Zack went to work for part of the day. He came home at lunchtime to help us get everything ready. We wanted the boys to be rested and fed before we left for the temple so the afternoon was a big juggling match between how long of a nap they could have and how much time we needed to feed them and dress them once they woke up. It was tight, but we managed to leave the house only 10 minutes late.
We picked up my mom on our way up to the temple. There's a new policy that lets you have a female family member accompany your children in the youth center, if you so choose. (I'm guessing it was created because of the numerous crying children they've had to deal with in the past.) Zack and I went out of town to visit Zack's dad the weekend before and left the kids with my mom. They'd been acting pretty clingy ever since we got back, so we thought it would be a good idea if my mom went to the youth center with them just in case they got upset.

One last family picture before the sealing.

Once my mom and the boys were in the youth center, Zack and I went to go take care of paperwork and such. When that was done they let us go get dressed. It's kind of fun because they have a special locker with your name on it, just like when you are getting married. I didn't get to be in the bride's room this time, but that was okay. When we were all ready, Zack and I got to spend some time together in the Celestial Room before they came and got us for the sealing.
We got to meet with the sealer beforehand and chat for a bit before going in. He was really nice. He and his wife had adopted two children themselves, so he knew how we felt.
When we walked into the sealing room we saw so many family and friends waiting for us. It was so neat to have them share this special day with us. I wanted to get a good look at all of them, but I knew I'd start crying if I did, so I made sure to just take little glances every now and then.
The sealer talked with us for a bit before the boys were brought in. He went over the covenants we make during the temple ceremony. He told us to remember that we are kings and queens in our homes and we should treat each other as such. He also told us to find kingly and queenly solutions to the problems and situations that arise with our children. I won't go into the whole marionberry story here, but he mentioned a situation where we might find Noah covered in jam and asked us to find a royal solution to that problem. Would a king yell and threaten his child or would he treat him with love and understanding?
After the sealer talked to us the boys were brought in. They looked so angelic all dressed in white. Noah, as predicted, looked very alert and aware of everything going on. He didn't crack a smile, but you could tell he was just taking everything in with his big blue eyes.
My dad held Noah during the sealing ceremony. It's such a short little ceremony, but it means so much. He is connected to us forever now. More importantly, he is bound by the sealing covenant and as such has many blessings and protections that will help him through this life and help him return to his Heavenly Father. He is now part of a chain of ancestors and future posterity that stretches on forever. And his place in that chain is as our son. How lucky we are to be blessed with him in our family.

After the sealing we got to be congratulated by everyone in the room. Caleb was soaking all the attention in and I think held his hands out to everyone to hold him. We went and changed and then got the boys from the youth center. The ladies who were watching them had nothing but praise and love for our little boys. They had been in good hands that evening.

We took pictures outside the temple with everyone who stayed. That would be my parents, Rachel and Mike. Thanks guys! Noah and Grandpa

Ours forever!

Me and my little man.

Yea for eternal families! (Noah was not very happy about having his picture taken. Caleb on the other hand...)Then we headed home for a big family shindig complete with sandwiches, salads and cake. It was a really special day. Our family finally felt whole. No more loose ends.

This boys is ours!

Parenting 101 or Why Alma is Da MAN

Can I just tell you how awesome Alma was? 'Cuz he was pretty awesome.

I mean, as a person, he was a pretty cool guy. At first he was kind of a jerk, devoting his time to turning people away from the church, then was visited by an angel (because of the prayers of his father) and turned his whole life around, became a prophet and leader of the church, and later became the chief judge of Zarahemla because everyone thought so highly of him and trusted him so much. Then he devoted his life to teaching the gospel to the people. If you want to read his story, go here. Suffice it to say, he was a great, great man. He's my hero even without being an awesome parent.

Now the scriptures tell us nothing of his life as a parent, but I'm pretty sure that he was a darn good one. (Please excuse my soft-swear.)

What makes me think he was a good parent? Because he wrote the book on how to be a good parent. Actually it's not even a book. It's just two sentences. That's right, it's only two sentences long. TWO!!

I stumbled across it as I was reading yesterday morning. Want to read it?

Here it is:

“And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.”

-Alma 7:23-24

That last part, I'm pretty sure could be read as "...and then ye will always abound in good parenting."

What could be better advice for parenting than that? First off, you need to be humble and submissive. How are you going to be able to ask for and get Heavenly Father's help if you aren't humble enough to receive it? Next you are told to be patient and long-suffering. I think all parents are very aware of how much patience it takes to raise children. But it's nice to hear it and be reminded over and over...and over. Then we are told to be temperate. What does that mean? It means being steady, consistent, and in control. Vital qualities in order to build trust with your kids and also vital in disciplining them. And then there's keeping the commandments of God. There is power in doing the things God has asked of us. And that power is vital in helping us raise our kids. When we do what God asks, He is more likely to be able to bless us with what we need when we ask for it. Don't forget to ask for His help in raising your kids! He knows them better than you do. He understands exactly what they need and when they need it. He understands why they sometimes act the way they do. And I'm pretty sure he loves our kids as much as we do so, of course, he will help us help them. All we have to do is ask. Finally, we need to remember to thank him for helping us. Always remember to give thanks.

There you go. Parenting 101. All you ever needed to know in raising kids.

Thanks, Alma. You are now my parenting hero.

My Favorite Things

It's almost midnight. Zack is on a campout. Yes, that's right. A campout. It's February. It's freezing AND windy outside. And he's on a campout. But it's the Klondike Derby, so it's worth it, right? ...right?

When Zack's gone I usually end up sitting on my bed with the TV on while I surf the internets watching shows or reading about things that make me cry late at night. Tonight it was the Scrubs episode where Dr. Cox's brother-in-law dies of Leukemia. I hate cancer. In the episode they play this song, which I think is kind of cool. Go ahead, listen to it, think of someone you love who has died, and then cry with me. Go on.

Okay, now that we have that over with....

My main reason for posting tonight is because, well, I'm awake and I don't feel like sleeping right now, and because I wanted to show you pictures of some of my most favorite people in the whole world. In no particular theme or order...

Here's Noah looking pensive.

Now here he is looking how he usually looks: worried and/or frightened.

And here is looking absolutely adorable. How can you not kiss that face? How?!

Lest you think Noah is the only cute one at our house, here's Caleb helping Dad with a project. Yes, it was early morning. And yes, his hair is awesome.

This is a face Caleb has been doing a lot lately.

Now back to Noah! This is a face that he does most of the time. Doesn't he look so cuddly?

Here are my boys sporting the two teams we like to cheer for in this house.

Does this one really need any caption besides "Ahhh! He's killing me with his cuteness!"

Caleb likes sledding!

A totem pole of fun! Yes, Caleb is just wearing socks, Yes, Noah is asleep and No, they didn't go down the hill as a totem pole.

Caleb and Dad making Stromboli.

Life is good.

Wyoming Again in 2010

I know we just visited Wyoming in March, but we decided to go again in June because Zack's cousin and his family were going to be there. They live in Ohio and we've only seen them once in the past 10 years or so. They have a boy who is about a month older than Caleb. Zack's Uncle Jim was also in town to see his son so it was almost a family reunion! We did a lot of the same things we did in March so I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about it. I'll let the pictures and their captions tell the stories.

Caleb and his second cousin.

Not quite sure about his face in this one.

Zack's grandpa has a big garden next to the house.

Here's more of the garden. And Grandpa!

More of the garden and a shot of the side of the house.

Zack's uncles, his mom and his grandparents. Just one uncle is missing.

What Grandpa Ray was doing a lot of the time. (There's a TV in the corner of the room you can't see.)

Can't go on vacation without a favorite book! I am now among the thousands of mothers who have this entire book memorized.

Zack's cousin, Joe, wanted to celebrate Grandpa Dike's birthday because he had missed it. Not quite sure why there's a 21 on the cake.

A nice shot of Wyoming sky.

Wyoming 2010

Zack is fortunate enough to have both sets of grandparents still living. (Which makes up for me who now has no grandparents still living.) After we got Caleb we wanted to introduce him to his great-grandparents. So, in March we headed up to Casper, Wyoming to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Dike.

Visits to Casper are always fun because of a number of reasons. Here are a few:

#1: Zack's Grandma always makes pies. And she expects you to eat them. Sometimes by force if you refuse.

#2: Zack's Grandma has a never-ending cookie jar.

#3: Zack's grandparents like to play cards.

#4: Did I mention the pies? And did I mention that one is always banana cream?

#5: Zack's grandparents are the kind of people you can just sit at the kitchen table with, eat your pie or cookie, and just enjoy sitting. Talking is optional, but always enjoyable.

#6: Zack's grandma is the perfect doting grandma. Taking care of you is her job, and you'd better not keep her from doing it.

We were excited to have Caleb meet these fabulous people. It appears the feeling was mutual.

Wondering if Grandma is going to let anyone else have a chance to hold the boy.

Grandpa finally has a chance to meet him. :)

It was about 10:30 at night when we got there, and Caleb had been sleeping in the car, so he wasn't so sure about things right away.

By the end of the trip he had warmed up a bit. In Zack's grandparent's kitchen, high up on the wall, there is a mirror set into a piece of wood. The mirror is kind of set far back in the wood so you can't tell it's a mirror unless you get up really close to it. From a distance it looks like an opening to a cave or something. For as long as Zack can remember his grandpa would ask him or his brother (or any of the grandkids) if they wanted to see the monkey who lived up there. Then he would lift them up until they could see their own face in the mirror. Caleb, of course, had to be part of that tradition. He looks a little surprised.

Here's a shot of everyone just sitting around talking. And here's one of the many times we played cards. Ah, vacation at it's best. I know it may sound funny, but I'm always nervous when other family members meet or interact with Caleb. Some part of me wonders if they're really going to accept him as family or if they're going to treat him differently because he's black or adopted or both. Well, I never should have doubted these people. They treat him like one of their own. They understand that family isn't all about blood and genetics. It's just about love.

Joy

This time of year, 6 years ago, life seemed to end for me. Zack and I lost our baby boy.

This time of year, 3 years ago, life ended again. I lost my brother.

For a long time I forgot what it felt like to truly feel joy. I was happy. I looked forward to the day when pain and hurt were gone and that brought some happiness. But there always seemed to be a dark cloud hovering around. Things were good, but they were also tinted with sadness all the time. It seemed we were doomed to just be cheerful through tribulation because the tribulation seemed to never end.

A few months ago Zack and I were talking about all the changes going on in our family. After waiting and praying for 7 years we had finally been blessed with a son and were "expecting" some time this year with another one. And if that weren't good enough, our kids would actually have 3 cousins their age because my three brothers were all expecting in the spring. To top it off, my cousin, plus two of our good friends were also expecting this summer. Life was good.

As we talked about all of this, I suddenly realized I was feeling good. Really good. A good that I hadn't felt in a long time. Excited, happy, put a huge grin on your face good. I hadn't realized how absent that feeling was until just then. I think for a while there I was afraid to feel that kind of joy because it might be taken away at any moment. It had happened too many times before.

Joy like that feels really good.

Things still don't feel complete. There's always the feeling that someone is missing and that won't change until we're all together again.

But until then, right now, it's so good to feel joy again.

I'll leave you with this picture because it makes me happy. And when I want to start crying today because I miss Jeff, I'll remember days like this one and I'll remind myself that while it's okay to be sad, it's okay to be happy, too, because I have an awesome family. Aaaand then I'll start crying because I'm so happy I have such an awesome family. Oh well. I guess I just can't avoid the tears today.

Sunday Has Come

I can't think of a better way to express how I feel this Easter season than with this talk by Elder Wirthlin.



Sunday has come. Our Savior died for us and was resurrected the third day. I cannot imagine the joy the apostles and disciples- all those who loved Jesus- felt when they realized that He was not dead, but He had risen. I can imagine a little how Mary Magdalene felt when He was crucified. And when she came that Sunday and discovered that His body was gone. How she wept tears of sorrow for Him. How much she missed Him. And I weep with her. But I know what's coming next. And I feel just a touch of the joy she must have felt when she realized the "gardener" she thought she had been speaking with was her Savior. When I read that account I cry tears of joy with her. He is alive! He is not dead!
Her Sunday had come.

Those of us who have lost loved ones, be they brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, cousins, grandmothers and grandfathers, or friends, our Sunday will come. Because of the love of our Savior, and His atonement that broke the bonds of death, our Sunday will come.
Just knowing that, just having that promise, I can already taste how sweet that Sunday will be.
And I rejoice in the infinite love that my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, has for me.

He is not dead, but He is risen.

Random Thoughts - Maryland Edition

So Zack and I have been in Maryland for the past 6 days or so. Zack had to go for business. I only travel for pleasure. This post is my random thoughts about our trip.

There are lots of trees in Maryland. You know how people are always talking about how we're destroying nature by cutting down trees and building our big cities and roads and suburbs and whatnot? And I always thought that's a bunch of crap because before my city existed there was just a bunch of dirt and weeds and now there's lots of trees so in reality we're helping by planting trees. Well, I totally get it now! In Maryland you have to cut down a forest in order to build a shopping mall. Whereas in Utah you are actually helping nature when you build a strip mall or a suburb! Yeah for us Utahans! Boo for Marylanders! (All nature activists, tree-huggers, people of Maryland and Rocky Anderson don't send me hate mail. I'm just kidding! Kind of...)

Speaking of the trees....you are surrounded by forest when you're on the freeway in Maryland. It's really pretty until you realize you can't see anything except trees and what you really want to see is some place that will feed you after 9:30 pm. Seriously, do they hide the restaurants on purpose?

Our rental car was a Pontiac. When the trip was over and we were driving home from the airport (and Zack was talking to his car, telling it how much he loved it) I asked Zack if he wanted a Pontiac like the rental car. His response: "I will never want a Ponti-ANYthing."

Our trip was divided into two parts: 'Before Zack had to work' and 'After Zack had to work'. Before Zack had to work we had a hotel in Virginia that was next to a metro station so we could go into D.C. and do some sight-seeing. After Zack had to work we were staying in Timonium, Maryland and we had Zack's co-worker, Lyle, with us. (Or, since I was the one who technically wasn't supposed to be there, I was hanging out with Zack and his co-worker.) Zack and I wanted to go to the D.C. temple during our stay, but the only time we could go was during the "After Zack had to work" phase which meant Lyle was with us in the evenings and would have to come with us if he didn't want to be stuck at the hotel all night. He's not a member of the church but was nice enough to drive the hour it took to get to the temple and wait outside while we went in a did sealings before we all had dinner. In the temple we met another family that was there to do sealings. They were from Idaho Falls. We told them we were from Bountiful (It's just easier that way. Usually we just say Salt Lake.). They said they had three kids waiting in the visitor center while they did sealings. We said we had Zack's non-member co-worker wandering the grounds while we did sealings. This lady's response was "Wow! A non-member from Bountiful? There's not a lot of non-members there, right?" (Seriously, lady?) My response to put her mind at ease, "Oh, he's not from Bountiful. He's from Park City." We keep all the heathens up there.

Speaking of the D.C. temple... The temple grounds are basically more of the woods that you see in Maryland. They have little paths going through the woods for people to walk on. It's really pretty. Can you say tall green forest, twilight, and fireflies?

While Zack was at work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I had to bide my time at the hotel. This consisted of sleeping in, watching T.V., reading books, going to the fitness center, eating peanut butter sandwiches and ramen noodles, and playing on the computer. Not bad at all.

Two hour layovers in Atlanta aren't bad if you have a Chili's where you can eat lots of good food and you have someone fun to eat it with.

I got to have dinner with Zack and some of the guys he's working with in Maryland on Wednesday night. One of the guys asked us if we had any kids. We told them about our adoption and he proceeded to tell us how great and not great it was to have kids. He has 2 kids- a 4 1/2 year old and a 2 1/2 year old. He asked us if we had family living close by. Um, yes. Try a mother 15 minutes away, a brother 7 minutes away, parents 5 minutes away, a brother soon-to-be 2 blocks away, and a sister up the street. You could say we had family close by. He said he and his wife have no family close by and they haven't had a night alone together for 4 1/2 years. Wow. He needs to join the church, if nothing but for the social network and potential baby-sitters. :) I kid, I kid!

Speaking of being lucky because family is close by..... Our family really helped us out while we were gone. My parents watched our puppies the entire time and pretended like it was so much fun. And Danny saved us a lot of time and money when we realized (in Atlanta) that we'd left the key to Zack's car and our house key on the rental car keyring...which was in Maryland. He drove to our house, "broke in", got our spare key and took it to us when our plane landed at midnight. Thanks, Danny!
Zack's comment after he called Danny and asked him to help us out, "What would we do if we didn't have family close by?" I don't know. We're pretty spoiled.

Our dogs missed us while we were gone, but I think secretly they like to be at my parent's house more than ours. They're moping right now.

(Next post: Pictures!)

Mikey!

This Spring my brother, Mike, graduated from college with his MBA. I don't know how he managed a full-time job and three kids while he did it. (I'm preeetty sure it has something to do with his amazing wife.) I know people graduate from college every year, but I have to say that for some it's a bigger deal than others. For Mike, it was a huge deal. I can't say enough how much I admire him for doing it.

It's been a long road.

Let's take a peek at the beginning of that road, shall we?

First Grade.

(I'm skipping preschool and kindergarten because, honestly, I don't know much about his experience with that. Though I do think he actually graduated from preschool which is more than I can say for myself. I admit I'm a preschool drop-out.)

I've mentioned Mike to a few of my first grader's parents over the years. Mostly it's to reassure them that their kid is normal when they scream, cry or try to run away from school on the first day. I tell them my brother was the same way. You see Mike didn't like school much. (Pretty sure he still doesn't.) When my mom dropped him off at school he ran after her car crying and yelling. Once he hid behind the dumpsters all day to avoid going to school. Yes, the principal knew him by name.

School was not his thing. It didn't get much better after First Grade.

Fast forward through Elementary, Junior High, High School and College and you wonder why he went through 20 more years of torture?

To put it simply, and somewhat Martin Luther Kingish, he's got a dream. His dream is not to be sitting at a desk working for someone less competent than him. He's got big ideas. And in order for those ideas to become reality he knew he had to get his MBA. So he did it.

And that's what I admire about him. He's not afraid of hard things. He's not afraid of work.

I almost cried when he got his degree. Almost. (No one else was crying and I didn't want to look like a sissy.)

If anyone deserves all the good things in life, it's him.

Congratulations, Mikey!

On a future note, I had to put this picture in. Kalli's on her way to becoming just like her dad. Future business partner maybe? Or, in Kalli's mind, current business partner?

Glasses, Babies and Rain

I am thankful for glasses. I'm even more thankful for contacts.
However, last week I was hoping I could rid myself of them for good.

When I was in 8th grade I had Mrs. Southwick for Health class. I only remember a few things from her class. One, she taught us the names of all the bones in the body using little memory tricks. Because of those tricks I still remember them today and use them in my class to get attention. (Nothing quiets a class faster than "If you can hear me, touch your patella.")
The other thing I remember was the day she told us that her son had gotten his near-sightedness fixed. He didn't need glasses or contacts anymore. I was stunned. You can FIX that?

Ever since then I've waited for the day I could get my eyes fixed. This year Zack and I decided that the time had come.
So, last week Zack and I went to Hoopes Vision and the Moran Eye Center for free consultations for LASIK. I was a little shocked when the doctor at Hoopes Vision told me that I didn't qualify for LASIK or PRK.
The Moran Eye Center told me the same thing. Apparently I have two things going against me and the combination of both makes LASIK out of my reach. My prescription is high and my corneas are unnaturally thin. I don't have enough cornea to shave off to fix my vision.
I was disappointed. I almost cried. I had wanted this for a long time.

Before I could let myself get too depressed or upset I reminded myself that I can still see. I may have terrible vision but because of contacts and glasses I can see. Having to wear glasses for a week before my eye exams made me acutely aware of how much I needed them to function. I tend to forget about that when my contacts are in. But glasses brought it all back. If I took them off I was blind. If they bugged me and I took them off I was reminded that taking them off wasn't an option. I HAD to wear them. It was a little unnerving to realize how dependent I was on them. If I didn't have glasses or contacts I couldn't work, drive, read, or anything really. (I could probably walk around...as long as it wasn't dark.)
So when I took that into perspective I decided it wasn't too bad that I couldn't have LASIK. At least I live in a time where there are glasses or contacts that help me see.

My brain likes to take what I learn in one area and try to see how many other areas I can apply that same information. The lesson of "being grateful for what I have and not being upset because I don't have more" suddenly applied everywhere. I know I've been taught that my whole life from my parents and Sunday school teachers, but it's always good to have a real-life reminder.

The application immediately when to Zack and my struggle to start our family. It's easy for me to be upset that I have to wait so long for something I want so badly. Why don't we have kids? Why was Joshua taken from us? What else are we supposed to be doing with our lives?
But instead of being upset I'm trying to look at it from a better perspective. We've had 7 years just to ourselves. We have a child that, because of the sealing power of the priesthood, will be ours forever. I've had the privilege to teach first graders for going on 9 years now. I have learned things during that time that I would not have learned anywhere else. The experiences I've had are invaluable to me. And now we have the privilege of being part of the adoption world, a world where the more I learn about it the more I recognize Heavenly Father's hand in the lives of all his children. It is truly a divine plan. I have learned so much. All because of the trial of not having kids. (Side note to anyone willing to listen: It's okay for me to say that I should be glad I don't have kids, but it's NOT okay for other people to tell me to be happy I don't have kids. Okay, I'm done.)

I heard a quote yesterday and I like the way it puts into words what I'm trying to do with my life. I don't know who said it, but I like it.
"Life is not about trying to endure the storms that come your way. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
If we never learn to dance in the rain, we might never be happy. When you think about it, isn't dancing in the rain one of the best kind of dancing there is?

Without rain, things couldn't grow. Without my trials, I wouldn't grow either.

My Mom Is Awesome.

I like to think of it as subtle humor. I wish I was that funny when I was 5 or 6.

(For those to whom the humor is a little too subtle, she's the one, second from the right, with her eyes crossed.)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

My grandma turns 89 today. (This is the only picture I had close by of her. )

To honor her this day, I decided to post a picture of one of her paintings and post one (or two) of her poems. And since she now has dementia and never checks the Internet she can't tell me not to (because if she knew what I was doing she would.).

This is a painting she did of roses. To me it is the epitome of Grandma's paintings- Roses painted with oil paints. She painted a lot of roses. If she knew I was posting this online she would NOT be happy about it. I'm pretty sure it's unfinished (because it was never framed) and I'm pretty sure she never thought it was that great considering when we were cleaning out her house we found it in a drawer. But, sorry Grandma, I like it. It reminds me of you.

I am having a hard time choosing which of her poems to put. And since it's her birthday and it's my blog and I can do whatever I want, I've decided to post two poems. One about her as a little girl playing on a swing and one that about her testimony of the Sabbath.

Box Elder Beginning

By Lucille Rampton Perry

Twin trees marked my seasons as I grew,

Frail leaves changed to measure of the light,

Between two trunks a slim pole joined the two

To hold my swing...my vehicle of flight.

My feet wore out the grass between the trees

With push and soar and point toes to the sky!

When bent across the board with dusty knees

I bruised the earth, I twisted ropes to fly

In circles until sun and leaves were one.

There I heard the gulls scream children's names,

and leaning in the swing, I answered back.

I was a seagull, playing seagull games.

Then soaring, made the old beam sigh and crack.

My brother built a perch out on a limb

That overlooked white lilac's topmost spray.

The purple morning glories vied with him,

And climbed the house to tell the time of day.

Like chirping sparrows, eagerly we played

Around, and in the green box elder shade.

Box elder trees grow old, green willows sprout,

Around the twisted root that thrust so deep;

They wave new wands through worm, and wind, and drought,

As magic as the memories I keep.

Song of the Sabbath

by Lucille Rampton Perry

My way today is a quiet way

That my Lord has bade me go;

It does not lead to the market place

Or the pleasures that I know.

Yesterday's manna is gathered up,

So today my hands are free

To partake of the supper He has prepared

And the rest He offers me

Whether I walk this way alone,

Or come with a happy throng,

The welcome of love is always there,

And the peace of the Sabbath song.

I kneel at His feet showing unclean hands,

And ask for His healing touch;

Draw from the power of perfect love,

Discarding my fear and my crutch.

As the woman, not stoned, but forgiven all,

And the blind man whose eyes now see,

I worship in church on the Sabbath day,

That wholeness, through Him, might be.

Great is the gift of this Holy day

And the promises, freely made,

As I remember His sacrifice

And the debt that He gladly paid.

Thanks for leaving such a great heritage with your poems, Grandma. In some ways they are better than a journal because your feelings and experiences shine through each one.

Happy Birthday!

*Kim and I are in the process (the very very beginning process) of making a book of all of Grandma's paintings and poems. If any of you family members have or know of any poems or paintings of hers, let us know so we can get pictures of them or copies and put them in the book!

The Story of the Legendary Sledding Hill and the Feats of Courageousness

When I was down with the flu a few weeks ago, Zack spent a lot of time taking care of me. He made sure I got the medicine I needed, sat by me when there was nothing he could do for the nausea, and even put towels around the toilet so I wouldn't hurt my knees or be cold when I had to puke. Awwwwww.

When I started to feel better but still couldn't do anything, he went and bought me some books (thanks Allie and Angie!) so I could sit and read.

Now you're probably asking "What does this have to do with the Great Sledding Hill?" Well, I'll tell you... (she's going to tell! she's going to tell....)

While I was relaxing and reading my new books, Zack was outside shoveling all the fresh snow off our driveway, or so I thought. He was actually shovelling ALL the snow in our entire yard. All the snow on our driveway and all the snow on our grass. He put it all in the middle of the yard, making one great mound. That's right. A giant sledding hill.

After a few weeks of great snow and frigid temperatures, and several more shoveling sessions, the hill was finally worthy of people to come try it out. So we called my fambwy and invited them over for some way cool sliding down our way cool hill.

Megan, my three year old niece, was a little apprehensive about sledding down ANYTHING, let alone the giant hill. It took several times sledding with Dad down the "hill" that is our front lawn before she had the courage to go on any sled by herself. But fear soon turned into fun and she was ready to conquer the big one.

We couldn't be shamed by Megan so we all had to follow suit. Yes, we made the puppies go down the hill, but in our defense Maxwell LOVES it.

McKay kind of loves it.

Mike, like a cat, landed on both feet.

Kalli was a champ and even started sledding from the top, though I didn't get footage of that.

And Grandma couldn't let herself be outdone by her grandkids!

The hill is still out front, though some warmer weather has shrunk it a little. Next year Mike promises to make two sledding hills in his backyard named "Thunder and Lighting." I'm holding you to it, Mikey.

Happy New Year

This post has nothing to do with the new year except for the fact that it is written on the second day of the new year. I just wanted to be cool like everybody else and say Happy New Year on my blog.

How did we spend the first day of our new year? We drove for 11 hours. Salt Lake to Burlington is a nice, grueling 11 hour drive. We decided to take our puppies with us this time. It was pretty uneventful driving with 2 dogs in the back. (Not nearly as eventful as driving with three girls in the back...Chris and Allie....) We only had to stop 4 times and let them out. Aside from McKay throwing up twice things went well.

We spent the second day of our new year with Zack's dad playing various versions of Pinochle and eating junk food. Good tiiiimes.

The experiment on this trip was to see how our puppies would do left alone all day (8 hours) in a hotel room. I'm happy to say they passed with flying colors. Nobody pooped on the floor! And hopefully our efforts to soundproof the room by keeping the fan and the TV on worked and kept our puppies from barking at any strange noises coming from outside.

We decided this time around to go with the cheaper hotel room and save ourselves over a hundred dollars. So far, we are happy with our choice. It's amazing how good saving money can feel. The more expensive hotel has an indoor pool and a Continental breakfast, two things we haven't missed so far.

This motel hasn't been that bad. Aside from the cigarette butts, beer bottle caps and one creepy chicken leg that litter the patch of lawn outside our door, the cigarette burn in the bedspread of our "non-smoking" room and the lighter and bottle of pills we found under the bed, our new, cheaper hotel has been just fine. At least it doesn't have bugs on the floor of the bathroom. I draw the line at bugs on the floor. That's just gross.

Bonuses to this room include: A patch of grass right outside the door for our dogs to do their business (so long as we keep them away from the aforementioned creepy things), a fridge, a motel that's so old they don't care if we leave our dogs in the room unattended, and ESPN on the night of the Sugar Bowl so Zack can watch Utah beat the pants off Blabablama.

Merry Christmas

The important thing about Christmas is that we remember Him. We sing and laugh. We make treats and we give them away. We buy presents and we give presents. We love each other and try to be good like Jesus taught. But the important thing about Christmas is that we remember Him.

Mail Happenings

It's always a good day when this shows up in your mailbox.




That's right. A full-size rubber chicken. Jealous?

There are three great things about this chicken.

First, it's a CHICKEN.
Second, it's from a friend who obviously knows my taste and cares enough to send the very best.
Third, I don't know who sent it.

Why is it a good thing I don't know who sent it? Think about it. If you get a rubber chicken in the mail and don't know exactly who sent it, that means you have more than one friend capable of pulling off such hilarity. Your life is rich, indeed.

I wasn't the only one getting goodies in the mail. Zack got his prize from Marie.




It arrived intact with no meltage whatsoever. (However, if, by chance, your chocolate that you ordered online arrives melted, you just put it in the fridge and it hardens up, plus you get the chocolate for freeeee and also get coupons to buy more chocolate. But I digress...) Suffice it to say, mailing chocolate in the fall is much better than mailing it in the summer.

Thanks Marie! You're our favorite first cousin once removed living in California!

And I do have my suspicions as to who lovingly placed the chicken in my mailbox. You know who you are.

One Step

"One step at a time, there's no need to rush.
It's like learning to fly or falling in love.
It's gonna happen and it's supposed to happen.
And we find the reasons why one step at a time."

Sometimes that one step feels more like a leap. But I guess that's the only way you learn to fly, and flying is what you want.
Who knew that leaping off the edge could feel so good?

Now Let Us Rejoice

This weekend I had the priviledge of seeing my newest little niece blessed by her daddy. Her daddy is my baby brother and it's fun to watch him enter this new phase of his life. It seems he was born to play the role of the doting father. He can't stop smiling at his baby girl. And I don't blame him. She is a DOLL.

The blessing took place in California, because that's where my brother and his wife live (much to our disappointment). My parents, my two brothers and Zack and I were able to make it out for the blessing.

While I was sitting in the chapel, surrounded by my brothers, my parents, and my sister-in-law's family, I starting thinking about all the family members who were there but participating on the other side of the veil. My brother, my son, my grandparents and countless others surely were there as well enjoying the wonderful occasion. My sister-in-law's grandparents had passed away a while ago and so I imagined them greeting and shaking hands with my grandparents and congratulating each other on such a fine, sweet little great-grandchild. I imagined a lot of patting each other on the back, hand-shaking, grins, and words of "She's adorable." "We've done well." and "She gets that from me...". (You know how grandparents -and great-grandparents- can be.) While I was sitting there thinking about all of this I was struck with how neat it was that two families, who didn't know each other before, could instantly become connected -all because of a little girl.

Then the closing hymn started. "Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation." A wave of understanding washed over me as I sang the next words, "No longer as strangers on earth need we roam."

We, two families who were once strangers, are strangers no more. We are one great family now. And that's pretty much what life is all about.

Your World

Zack and I found ourselves in a quandary last week. We had planned a trip to San Diego as an attachment to a business trip he was going on. He'd leave on Monday, I'd fly down on Thursday (Valentine's Day) to meet up with him, and we'd spend the weekend playing on the beach, visiting museums or zoos, and playing with my little bro and his wife. Buuuut mixing business with pleasure doesn't always work. The business trip was pushed back a week, and then it was pushed back another week. And then it was undecided. That works great if work is paying for the tickets and all the change fees. Not so great for us. When we realized that our weekend trip to San Diego was going to cost us twice as much, we started looking at other options. We could go anywhere we wanted to for a 4 day weekend (that was cheaper than San Diego.) We finally decided on a road trip to Colorado to visit Zack's dad. To make it more fun, we broke up the 11 hour drive by staying at a place in Glenwood Springs. It is home to the largest hot springs pool in North America. You know it's a fun place when there are signs on the pool deck that say "Pool deck may be icy." It was really fun to swim in hot hot water while my head was freezing freezing cold. We had a really good time. Semi-spontaneous trips can be fun... if they're planned right.

A few weeks ago I had my kids answer the following question: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you do there?

Their answers ranged from the daring....

To the not so daring...

To the imaginative...

To the interesting.

And some just wanted to make friends around the world.

A while ago Zack and I asked ourselves the same questions in the form of a challenge. The challenge was this:

We have 3 weeks to come up with 3 different places to travel to.

At the end of the 3 weeks we had to present our ideas.

We had to say where we'd stay, how we'd get there, give ideas on what to do, and have a rough estimated cost of the trip.

Our ideas ranged from caving and whale watching in Canada to Broadway shows in New York to an RV trip down the California coast. Not that we're going to do any of them anytime soon, but it never hurts to have a vacation idea rolling around in your head.

Now I'm asking you the same questions. If you could go anywhere (and I mean ANYWHERE. We're talking dream vacations here.) in the world, where would you go, why do you want to go there, and what would you do?