Sweetness

Happiness is finding this under your pillow after a long day...In an envelope that says: "to you from your dotter."

Broken Things

Well I can tell that we got our tax refund back. Not that it was huge or anything, but it is "extra" money, right? (Bwah-ha-ha!) I've decided that my appliances are in a union of some sort. They heard whispers of the increase in funding and decided to rally for more attention or support or something. It totally backfired for my dryer - he got replaced with a beautiful clearanced floor model from Lowes. (One that doesn't cause holes, hooray.)
My van got in on the action and the brakes went squishy on me. That's a technical term, you know. "Squishy." Rus was perplexed because he had just fixed those brakes and there weren't any signs of a leak in the brake lines so...to the Mechanic went the Venture. Now I get to drive the Man Van, much to Beau's confusion - "Mommy drive daddy's van?" "No mommy sit in daddy's seat!" Ahhh...the Man Van:Saturday night I went to bake a cake for one of the young women in my class at church who had just had a birthday. I hit "bake," set the temp for 350, and waited...and it never heated up. I thought maybe it just needed a good night's sleep to give it some perspective so it would reform itself, but no luck. So today I am either finding the problem myself or searching for a repairman who doesn't think too much ($$$) of his time. Here's the rioter in the flesh...er..metal. (making me a sandwich, at least.) But all is well because I have a back up oven, at least for cookies and individual cakes. It only takes eight minutes per cookie, so for a batch of 3 dozen cookies it will only take me 4.8 hours to bake them all. Beau reminded me of this valuable resource this morning and I wasn't allowed to do anything else until I baked him a cookie.
I can rest assured that our dishwasher will continue to work because it already had its freak-out-moment this year. And I cleaned the fridge (well at least the outside of it) a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully it's satisfied and willing to continue to function properly. The computer has always had a fickle temperament though, so I'll have to tread lightly here.
Now if Arizona would stop sending me traffic tickets, (cameras are not my friends)(shh don't tell Rus)(just kidding he knows already)(for the most part), all would be well and perhaps I could plug the hole in my checking account. :)

Grandma's Not Old

Bekah and Jacob a year ago - 2010

Jacob and I had this conversation the other day. I can't remember what started it; I'm pretty sure it came out of the blue like all conversations with five year olds.
Jacob: Mom, Grandma Cutesy isn't old. Just her hands are old, but the rest of her is not. She's not going to be old until she's like a hundred. We should tell her sorry for calling her Grandma. That's not nice.
Me: It's nice! She's a grandma because I had kids. So we can call her Grandma. It's just like calling me Mommy because I have kids.
Jacob: Oh, okay. But she's not old. She won't be old for a long time.

I told my mom (Cutesy) this and she died laughing. She told me how the other week when she was visiting us and sitting with us at Church, Bekah and Jacob kept pinching the skin on her hands. So of course he had noticed her "grandma" hands.

I also have to share a sort-of conversation between Bekah and Jacob that I was privileged to hear.
Bekah: Jacob! I have eight dollars!
Jacob: What did it taste like?
Bekah: (confused and escalating) No! Eight dollars! Eight dollars! Eight dollars! Money!
Jacob: (nonchalantly) Oh I was confused because you said "ate."

Oh how I love the goofy things my kids say!

Dryer Carnage

This morning I sent a text message to Rus...he's currently out of town on a work trip, but had time here and there to respond.
Me: I don't think our dryer is going to make the move, let alone the month of May
I said this because of the awful noise our dryer was making, like rocks grinding between two pieces of metal...like something that really, really needs to be oiled or cleaned or greased or put down.
Rus: Are you just telling me this to get a new dryer? You are not supposed to put rocks in it. Turns out they are hard on dryers.
Me: Now that you mention it there were some little rocks in the last load, I am sure they came from your socks.
Rus: Kitchen/dryer? Kitchen/dryer? Hmmmm? Can we just let the kid put on wet clothes and wear them until they are dry, then put on the next pair?
Me: You make it sound like there is an option, thanks for the laugh.
Then I folded some of the clothes that had just came from the dryer. Turns out the sound wasn't the only problem. I knew that our dryer liked to grab on to washcloths and socks sometimes and they would get stuck between the spinning part and the outside wall of the dryer, but I didn't know that it was catching more than just washcloths.
My next message: I am up to four kid shirts that have holes in them from getting stuck in the dryer.
Rus: You just need to sell that as a feature. Look kids, it is air conditioned.
Me: LOL it's a feature! Perfect.
[I have to insert here that all this back-and-forth did include some clean, fun flirtatious banter, but it was banned from the blog by the Mister. Consider yourselves lucky. Or not.)
Then came nap time and play time and dinner time and then it was clothes-folding time again. My clothes. And this is what I found. It might not look like much, but those little holes are all over my shirts. Rus's shirts have holes too, but I can't tell if they were there already or are new. I am really kicking myself for even using the dryer again after finding out it made the first few holes. Grr.
Watch out wallet...internet price shopping, here I come!

20 Week Bump

I'm going to say this in a small, quiet font so I don't jinx myself...I feel smaller right now than I did with my other pregnancies...ssshh...and feel free remind me of that later when I feel huge.
Here is my 20 week bump:Oh and I guess if you want the almost-full-picture, minus part of my head and my legs:I am loving this middle part of my pregnancy. I don't feel huge, I have more energy, and my kids are so excited to find out if this is a Robot Boy or Robot Girl (Jacob's names). We will find out next week, Happy Good Friday to me. I am thinking about taking Bekah and Jacob to the ultrasound...any thoughts on that?
Good things are happening right now. My house is blessedly, blissfully clean. As in pretty much immaculate. Model-home-style. It's a little bit disturbing actually how obsessive Rus and I have become over the last couple weeks. (Rus is worse than me, fyi) We are back on the market and we're confident in the Lord's ability to either get our house sold or find us a good renter - as long as we keep this cozy 3bd, 2 1/2 bath, 2100 sq ft. beauty clean. (Yep, that was a plug. Los Lunas, anyone?) And it will take the Lord's hand because we happen to live in a community where several homes (around 10) have foundation problems. Big huge crack-in-the-wall-I can stick-my-hand-in-my-porch-is-falling-off problems. And though our house is crack free and standing well, you can see how such problems might be a deterrent for a prospective buyer. That's why we're leaving this whole thing up to Heavenly Father. Much less stress on my shoulders.
And now I'm including a picture of Jacob being lavished with attention [and paint] by the ladies. He was in face-paint heaven. I was teaching the girls how to do some basic face painting so they can go with me to the elementary school tonight and help me at a face painting booth. Bekah, Beau, and Jacob were the lab rats and they had an excellent time, as did the girls practicing. Our favorite discovery was making these rainbows: Cool, huh! The trick is to paint the colors first on a sponge.
I was asked to do the face painting, and then asked to find someone else to help me. Since I don't know any other face painters, I drew from the well of talented young women that I have come to know by working in Young Womens at church. They are such fun girls and I love being around them.
Other fun stuff: The dentist.
Not for me (blah).
But my kids LOVE going to the dentist. So we have a date with him (and his cute assistants) today. It has always been a surprisingly fun experience. My kids look forward to their appointments for days and then count down the hours, and swear off candy (for the day) so their teeth look good. Bekah can't wait to show the dentist her two missing teeth.
See? Life is good. Life is exciting. If someone could just teach me how to teach my kids to be happy little peacemakers instead of dour little instigators, all would be well.
:)

General Conference Gems

I love General Conference. It is a recently acquired taste - I remember growing up doing everything in my power to entertain myself while "listening" to conference. But now I get excited about the weekend and the knowledge that the speakers are going to have special things to share to help me with my struggles. To be honest I get really possessive of those hours from 10 to 12 and 2 to 4. Heaven help the person who tries to divide my attention.
This past conference weekend was just what I needed. Although there were plenty of interruptions and distractions with my kids, I was able to watch every session and get something out of it all.
Here are some of my favorite talks/quotes.
1. L. Tom Perry's talk about the Sabbath day was a really good reminder to me about keeping the Sabbath day holy. He said something like, "Conduct yourselves in a manner that will call down the blessings of heaven."
2. Jean A. Steven's talk about learning from children. She said that God gave us families to help us become what we want to be.
3. Kent F. Richard's talk about the purpose of pain. "Let us come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy." Christ is the great physician, the great healer.
4. Quentin L. Cook's talk about women. I love any talk about women - they are always uplifting and inspiring.
5. Henry B. Eyring's talk about the Lord's way of helping the poor and the needy. "Wise parents see in the needs of someone else the opportunity to teach their children." There were quite a few talks about the Church Welfare system, I think because of it's 75th anniversary, but also because these are hard economic times and we need to be reminded of our duty to serve and uplift those in need, to give all that we have, and to love others unconditionally.
6. Russell M. Nelson's talk - my notes include, "let my kids feel my faith even when sore trials come upon me. Teach that faith with conviction." He also warned of the "cafeteria approach" to keeping the commandments - picking and choosing which commandments to keep.
7. Richard J. Maynes shared a wonderful talk that his grandson wrote about families. It was "Families are like ropes," and he included pictures with the story. We played it for FHE and talked about how our family could be strong if we all work together and help each other.
8. Dallin H. Oaks spoke about desire. He said that DESIRE + FAITH + LABOR = Promised Blessing. "What we insistently desire over time is what we will become and what we will receive."
9. Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk (that did not have a single airplane analogy, which he brought up, poking fun at himself) was about recognizing the voice of the Lord. "The answers to our prayers often don't come while we are on our knees, but when we are on our feet, serving others." Quite a few talks shared the quote, "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom." (Spencer W. Kimball)
10. Paul V. Johnson asked and answered the question "Why must we face difficult challenges?" He said, "many times a particular challenge helps prepare us for something vitally important."
11. Richard G. Scott's tender talk about his wife and their special relationship was so very touching and moving. I consider his experience with marriage the very ideal that I would like my own marriage to measure up to one day.
12. D. Todd Christofferson spoke about being willing to accept and even seek correction. I love the story about the currant bush and where he said something like, "correction will come through prayers - when the answer is NO and not yes, through the scriptures when we recognize deficiencies in ourselves, and through others." I thought it was interesting how his talk came after Elder Scott's talk had shown me a lot of need for correction and improvement in my marriage relationship. Also many of the other talks had - as Elder Christofferson pointed out - shown me a need for correction in other areas of my testimony.
13. Carl B. Pratt's talk about tithing and his reminder that money and bank accounts are NOT the Lord's richest blessings. Heavenly Father will not always bless full tithe payers with money. In fact, spiritual sensitivity, peace and harmony in the home, and having a generous, forgiving, and charitable heart are the richest blessings of our Heavenly Father. My house is not always peaceful. Unless my kids are asleep...so I will take the blessings of peace and harmony in my home anyway I can get them!
14. Lynn G. Robbin's talk about Be vs. Do was awesome. Rus woke up in the middle of it and said, "this is so confusing." But I loved it, especially when he said to discipline what attribute we see our child lacking as shown by the thing they do wrong. I need to read that whole talk again. I am always praying to know how to discipline and correct my children's behavior, because obviously yelling at my kids is not the right answer.

And that was it! If you made it to the end of all this, good job! I am so grateful for the talks that were shared and I want to make it my goal to incorporate the things that were taught into my life.

Sorry kids, THIS is for dinner...

Lo mein, fried rice...
Bekah with a friend from school who helped us...

April Fools!
By the way I'm having twins, we're moving to Australia, and Amy, we're coming on the trip with just you and Mike. I'm sure you'll love having us for company on your special week away from the kids in Mexico. We'll hang out every day and night. Colonel knocked up all of the neighbor dogs last month, so we'll be the proud owners of a billion grand-puppies. I won a new car from a radio promotion and Bekah is a genius and is moving up to the twelfth grade. Beau pooped twice in the toilet yesterday. (wait! that's actually true!)
Hope it was a great day for you, too!