Thank you, Darling

I love you too.

What Its All About

On Sunday, young brother S was blessing the sacrament. I've heard those prayers recited nearly every Sunday since I was born. That would be approximately 1, 830 times, for you mathematical minds out there. Young brother S, himself, has probably offered the prayers at least as many times to use all his fingers and toes counting, if he were keeping track.

The sacrament prayers are interesting because they are one of the only times we, as Mormons, offer a prayer, word for word, as an ordinance. And it must be word for word. The young priests will look to the Bishop, who is carefully listening for accuracy, before they stand and begin to pass the emblems of the sacrament.

Young brother S had a little difficulty last Sunday reciting the prayers. He tried once and was signaled to offer the prayer again. Half way through try number 2 he restarted himself. Again, mistakes were made. The Bishop rose from his seat and knelt next to Bro. S, in love and compassion, to show him his error and how to correct it. Effort #4, the silent nod of approval was given and the sacrament was offered to the congregation.

Isn't that what the Sacrament is all about?

I make lots of mistakes. Some are big, some are small. Sometimes I catch myself, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I just keep making mistakes over and over again. Jesus Christ and His Atonement have provided a way to help me correct my mistakes. To overcome my weaknesses. To reconcile my errors and offenses of the spirit. His Atonement and the sacrifice of His flesh and blood, which emblems I partake of as the sacrament, save me! That is what the sacrament is about. Christ has called a Bishop who, in love and compassion, will help me in that process.

Thank you Bro. S, for bringing into focus the true meaning and purpose of the partaking of those sacred sacramental emblems and the reality and efficacy of the Atonement in my life.

Bad Hair Day

I walked into my bathroom this morning and smelled something bleachy. Then I remembered that I had heard Sydney fixing Camille's hair earlier and noticed that Camille's hair was wet. "So cute," thought I. "My girls doing each other's hair, laughing, sharing, bonding. This is what family life is all about!" When I put the two together, I realized what really went down.

Sydney had wetted down both her hair and Camille's with a mixture of bleach and water in a spraybottle I had left in my bathroom after trying to rinse out some blueberry stains. We quickly rinsed it out and everything was fine...

UNTIL...

I found my first gray hair. My girl's have cute little bleached highlights now and I have gray hair!!! I'm talking myself into believing that it is more white than gray, because it just seems more dignified that way.

I thought the Bishop was supposed to get gray hair, not the Bishop's wife! Or is it lose his hair? Either way, I guess I'm going down.

It happened again...

...I cried while reading the newspaper.

The title of the article:

Funeral foods should feature spuds, please.

Hold your laughter, please. It must be the 4 children playing havoc with my hormones over the last 8 years. I don't think I've ever completely balanced out and maybe never will. These days, I cry over the craziest things.

Like yesterday, when I had to leave Primary opening exercises and cry in the bathroom for a few minutes, baby in arms. Not sure why. Just needed to be done.

Anyway, this article made me tear up. . .

"I was thinking about all this on Saturday because I helped serve up another funeral dinner, this one for more than a hundred people. We put out the call for funeral potatoes and a dozen women showed up, warm casserole dishes in hand. You should have seen (and smelled!) all those cheesy, bubbling potatoes. Ah. Heaven.

Actually, I was struck by how each casserole was a little different from the casserole sitting next to it. Some were topped with cornflakes, others with crumbled Ritz crackers, and others still with grated Parmesan.

The potatoes were just as varied. Some were hash browns, while others were cubed. Some of the casseroles had onions, some didn't."

OK, go ahead. Let the tears flow. I know, I know. Grab a tissue.

Seriously, my heart-thoughts went to the ladies in my neighborhood/ward family. Each one a different flavor, color, aroma, method, essence of beautifulness. As different as their funeral potatoes...cheesy, bubbly, sweet onion, green onion, crunchy, salty, sweet, ritzy, creamy. All of them warm and ready.

Can't you just see, in your heart's eye, the service offered by those sisters who surround you, in all their variations, so willingly given at a moment's notice? Showing up with casseroles in hand. Babysitting children. Offering a home-cooked meal. A hug. A smile. A good laugh. A compliment. A phone call at precisely the needed moment. A delicate reminder of God's love for ALL His children.

Ahh, Heaven!

FLASHBACK

We cleaned out our basement. That's right, folks. It was hard. I mean, it was easy when it was the extra paper shredder and the 2 extra fire-proof safes. Oh yeah, and that glass serving tray from the wedding years ago that we will never use.

Then we hit the boxes from college. And its HARD! Hard to give up the old text books and the likes. Am I a nerd? geek? What other words are coming to your minds right now?

My old literature books and anthologies. My old course work and essays. I wanted to keep one paper just because of the teacher's note on the title page.

Title: "Male experience is relative"
Teacher's comment: "Great Title!"

That's A LOT coming from that teacher. And I've always been really proud when I come up with a great title. But I couldn't remember what the paper was actually about.

So I tossed it.

And all my notes and binders and valuable information. Valuable IF I ever decide to study English Lit, American Lit, Christian Fantasy, King Arthur Lit again. I tossed it. I tossed it ALL. And Sterling did his fair share as well. He tossed his "Grass and Soil Fieldguide", among others but just could not get rid of "Weeds of the West."

AND THEN we hit the high school box. Graduation and Honors sashes. A few dance pictures. These boxes had already been picked over quite a bit. But then I found my old audio cassettes and did I find a treasure or what??!!?? I started my freshman year in 1987, so I consider myself to be an 80's SURVIVOR! You could also convincingly argue that, because I tend to always be a little behind the times anyway, the 80's lasted a lot longer for me. :) What can I say? It was hard to let go of. As was one cassette tape, in particular.

BACK STORY: My BFF and I liked two boys who were BFF. (Can you use BFF for boys?) They went on a choir trip to California and because we were only Sophomores, we couldn't go. (The boys were older, don'tcha know. Dated older boys all my life and end up marrying someone younger than me. .. ????)

Anyway, we were going to miss them terribly and made them a tape mix so they wouldn't forget us during their 4 day trip and have a CTR (Choir Trip Romance) without us. I wasn't against CTRs, as long as I was involved. But this wasn't your typical tape mix as you will soon find out. In fact, this tape was made with the actual BOOM BOX you see in the video. Dual deck. Totally cool!

So for those of you who enjoy it, here is a flash of 80's music interspersed with a lot of goofy, girly, high school brouha. Late 80's music. I loved 80's music. Still do (sort of). Mostly just the memories that the music breathes air back into. I'm not really sure why I feel compelled to post this. It actually kind of degrades the quality of my blog. But I know that "Doodle" will get a good laugh. And maybe that's all that matters. Laugh away, my good friend, laugh away!!!!

Out with the Old, In with the New

I'M DONE! I mean FINISHED! I hereby commit to not post anymore Christmas entries.

BTW- have any of you ever printed out your blog, like book format? To save for future posterity in hardback, hard copy format? Just wondering.

exploding exitement vs reverent awe

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. This particular Christmas we just KNEW that Santa was going to make some serious dreams come true. It was interesting to note the different reactions from Parker and Sydney.

PARKER just couldn't hold his enthusiasm inside. He tried...and failed.

Gift: Razor Scooter

SYDNEY was more amazed and dumbfounded by what she opened. She looked at the gift tag to see whom she should hug and thank, but realized it was from Santa and he was already napping in the North Pole. Not available for the adulation he so much deserved for this most wonder of all wonderful gifts. My favorite parts of the reaction are the little screech she gives in the beginning and then the special look she gives Kit before she shows her to Sterling.

Gift: Kit Kittridge (American Girl Doll)

A few other pictures from Christmas morning.

This is how Christmas morning looked.Rachel really liked her new zebra. Ride'em cowgirl!

Sydney with Kit.I love the way Camille is looking at her new Little Petshop or "bobble pets" as they are known around here.

Rachel went around and gathered everybody's KitKat bars. She wouldn't let go of them and ate them right through the wrapper.

Christmas Eve

This year was a milestone year for us. It was the first year we spent alone, as our own family unit of 6, for Christmas Eve. I really enjoyed starting our own traditions. I felt really grown-up. :) The following is a not so brief run-down of Christmas Eve, for your reading enjoyment.

Our festivities started off a little rocky. I had been fostering a hankering for yummy broccoli cheese soup for a while and what with all the snow and way below freezing temperatures, I decided to make this much desired soup on Christmas Eve. But I really wanted bread bowls. Bread bowls complete the soup experience for me and I really wanted the soup to be yummy and memorable and warm and homey.

Sterling decided to take the kids Christmas shopping! We have a rotation for them to buy gifts for each other and that still needed to be accomplished. Gift shopping, at Walmart, on Christmas Eve. I questioned his sanity and then asked him to pick up the bread bowls on his way home. So off he went, a little after lunch, with 3 kids, to Walmart, gift shopping, on Christmas Eve.

I stayed home and wrapped presents like a mad-woman. Presents for stockings, presents for the tree, presents for siblings, presents for parents, presents for white elephant games, etc. LOTS of wrapping. I was mostly finished by the time they returned home but my room/wrapping station, was a mess. No matter.

It was now time to prepare my yummy soup. Mmmmm. And the bread bowls? Well, they couldn't be found, especially at Walmart, on Christmas Eve afternoon. But never fear, Sterling did not return empty handed. He timidly handed me one, single, very large, and I quote, "Rye Bread Boule." "Close enough?" he questioned sheepishly. Well, it would have to do.

By this time the house was a mess. As I began dinner, Sterling announced the threat of the White Tornado. For those unfamiliar, The White Tornado is none other than Sterling himself, with either a broom or a garbage bag in hand, striking room by room, tossing anything on the floor into the bag or dustpan. And I mean ANYTHING! I've even had to go garbage diving myself sometimes to rescue my own personal belongings. Immediately the warning rang through the house and the children began scurrying around, rescuing action figures, Littlest Petshops, barbie shoes, DVDs, books, clothing and all other items of mess until the house looked quite tidy, despite a few tears and some frazzled nerves. Then, he vacuumed every room. (Thanks honey.)

Dinner was ready. Yummy, cheesy broccoli soup (with one Rye bread bowl). Now..., we had all held it together pretty well. We made it through shopping, at Walmart, on Christmas Eve, and the White Tornado, even without naps. But a couple of members of our happy clan had reached the end of their happy, good-list rope. Apparently broccoli cheese soup isn't as appealing to a 5 and 3 year as it is to, oh I don't know, say, a mom. Lots of moaning, groaning and complaining ensued until a certain little boy was excused from the table. Twice! Poor soul. Next year - spagetti. Or Pizza!

Finally dinner was cleaned up, love, hugs, kisses and apologies (from me: for making the dinner I did; from the kids: for not liking it) were passed around and it was time to start the Christmas Eve festivities. We wanted to focus at least some of the evening on the true meaning of CHRISTmas. Hard for children under 6 or so to understand but still...

We watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas. It was lovely. Sterling cried, I handed him tissues and the kids enjoyed Mr. Kruger. Then I pulled out a gift that was wrapped extra nice. I told the kids that "this gift is special because it is the very first and very best gift of Christmas. The first one ever given. Who do you think its from? ... Its from Heavenly Father to the whole world."

We opened a framed picture of Jesus Christ being born. I continued, "Heavenly Father gave us His Son and His Son gave us His life so that we can return to live with them both. Those are some pretty amazing gifts! Why did they do that? Because they love us. That's why we give gifts, isn't it. Because we love others. And we love Jesus and Heavenly Father too. So, what can we give them for Christmas?"

At this point, we moved to the kitchen table, with paper and crayons and wrote or drew a picture of something we could do that would show our love for Jesus. We then put those in an envelop labeled, "My gift for Jesus", which we placed on the tree. The tradition from here forward will be to place that envelop on the tree when we first set it up every year. As we do service for others throughout the month, we will write it down and place it in the envelop, and share them on Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful moment and all the children really seemed to understand and appreciate the activity.

But of course, as any child is, they were excited to get to some present unwrapping! So we did just that. First off were their gifts for each other. That was really fun, to see their excitement for each other and they desire for each other to be happy and to thank each other for what was given. Then, Sterling opened his sibling gift. Thanks Clark, Mitzi and cousins, for the wonderful gifts. All were greatly appreciated and loved.

Then, it was bedtime. My favorite part! (Just kidding) There was no complaining. They were totally excited. We left some cookies and any other item we could scavenge off of treat plates. (does Santa mind re-gifting?) We left some popcorn and carrots for the reindeer and a nice letter. PJs, teeth, prayers, drinks, kisses and hugs all around and then off to bed. Parker and Camille fell asleep within minutes. They were exhausted. So were we! About 30 minutes after everyone was in bed and we thought everyone was alseep, Sydney came out and pleaded with us, "Pleeeease just go to bed, so Santa can come!"

As you wish, Sydney. Without further delay, she went to sleep, we went to bed and Santa did come.

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Traditions

Growing up, Christmas was drenched in tradition. Ward parties, neighborhood parties, acting out the nativity, caroling, choir performances, music recitals, service projects. I remember caroling with neighbors, friends, family. Leaving a Christmas dinner on someone's frontporch. Doing secret santa 12-days of Christmas, lots of times. Knocking on the door and running like mad to find a dark place to hide but where you could still see them open the door. Putting Christmas wreaths on all the Bishop office doors in our ward building. Neighborhood talent show/party. Sledding and many, many more. All good memories.

Now the responsibility falls on Ster and I to begin similar traditions to create warm memories for our children. We have tried to maintain a few and start a few. The following are some of what surfaced this year.

#1. Neighborhood Food Drive - This is kind of the brainchild of my good friend, Allison. In lieu of neighborly gifts, they sponsor a food drive for the Utah Food Bank in their driveway/garage. They have done this several years but this was the first time we went. It was so much fun. The garage was filled with music, hot chocolate, donuts and mint brownies from BYU! YUM!!! We parked our truck in the driveway and as people arrived they loaded their food into it. I'm talking BOXES of food. Later that evening we took the food to a foodbank drop-off. It was awesome to be surrounded with good friends, hot cocoa in hand, talking, shivering, laughing, watching the children in the snow, all engaged in goodworks. This tradition is a keeper.

#2. Elf Hunting - Gardner Village used to be the old Gardner Flour Mill, but is now a fun shopping area full of specialty stores housed in the historic cabins and other buildings. During Christmas they display elves around the village, involved in various activities. On their website you can print off a list of elves to find, like a scavenger hunt. For example, elves taking a bath, in a sleigh, baking cookies, under a mistletoe. If you find them all, you get a candy stick at one of the stores. So Fun!, right? Well, it was, but would have been even more fun if the temperature had been anywhere near freezing, at least. But with the windchill...well, I try to forget. Anyway, the kids loved it. We found all the elves except one and then called it quits. Before we left, we went to the bakery and filled up on yummy bread and donuts while we warmed up. We went on Christmas Eve, mid-morning, and it was a very fun way to spend part of the day. #3. After Elf Hunting we made a quick stop at The Road Home in Midvale and dropped off blankets, homemade knit hats and some diapers. Earlier in the week, at a family Christmas party, the children helped tie fleece blankets and the women made the hats. It was neat for the kids to see where the things would be used. The kids were shocked, as was I, that 50 families would be spending Christmas Eve in what looked, from the outside, like a warehouse. We are so blessed.

#4. Sledding - the family did this Christmas morning. It was snowing and it was cold and nobody wanted to go. But by the time they finished their first run down the hill, they were hooked. While I stayed in the truck with Rachel, they sledded for almost an hour.

As for Christmas Eve traditions...stay tuned!