Et ceteras

The book I made using Blurb of Delovely 2007 came. I love it. I love it. I love it. It is exactly what I was expecting. Now the first year of our little blog is resting happily in our bookshelf.

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My siblings Sara and Jared have made it half way across the country on their killer road trip to Michigan. We are so excited to have them stay with us. They are making a stop to Mt. Rushmore on the way. Then we'll have them for a week or so. Hurray!

_______________________

I'm getting my hair changed today. I am so sick of it. Usually, when I get the overwhelming feeling I'm currently dealing with, I chop my hair off, love it for a few days, and then wish that it was long again. So today, I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'm entering the long-term relationship that is highlighting. Even as I type the words I'm not sure that I am ready to be fully committed. I've made it 27 1/2 years without ever coloring my hair. But I really need something new. I'll let you know how it goes.

Like Joseph of Egypt

The first 3 months of executing 'the plan' has made an impressive addition to our food storage collection. I have to admit that I've spent more money on it than I planned (between $50-$70 a month- which works out to only $10-$20 a week. I was planning for no more than $10 a week, but there are sales. And Sam's Club). I could have pared back and spent less. Although I have the occasional thought of how many Gracie shoes/new clothes/house stuffs/kitchen gadgets/other things I could have bought with the money, I'm really happy about the investment. I feel an unexpected rush of accomplishment when I look at it all. I sleep better on stormy nights.

Here's the next installment:

April

Week 1

Pasta. 5 or 10 pounds. Don't forget the mac and cheese

Week 2

Dry milk. 40 oz. will make 5 gallons. (And, any self-respecting recipe for white bread will use at least a tablespoon.)

Week 3

Assemble an emergency sewing kit: thread, pins, needles, buttons, snaps, zippers, tape measure, etc.

Week 4

Ready Dinners: ravioli, pasta, oriental, boxed or frozen. Get what your family will eat.

May

Week 1

10 lbs. of flour.

Week 2

Dry soups and soup mixes. Boxes of crackers: saltines, graham, etc.

Week 3

Jello gelatin

pudding mixes

Week 4

Garden seeds: Radishes are great in an emergency. They grow fast, are full of vitamins and minerals, and are full of water. (I totally just included that only because it was in the booklet. Even in a disastrous emergency, I cannot see myself being willing to live on radishes. I hope I never have to prove that)

June

Week 1

Safety Items: rope or twine, flashlight, dated batteries

Week 2

Grate and bag 5 pounds of cheese. Use in casseroles and soups (or everything if you are in our family). Also, buy Parmesan.

Week 3

Condiments: mustard, ketchup, relish, mayo, Worcestershire, pickles, olives, soy sauce, salad dressings.

Week 4

White sales! Buy a new thermo blanket, some new pillows...

Wordless Wednesday: Still waiting

Easter

It was a lovely Easter Sunday. Pretty low key as Easter Sunday's go actually. After church and lunch the kids went down for their naps. Once they got up we had the ceremony of baskets and an indoor egg hunt. (Sadly, it was snowing outside) Our Easter dinner was a tasty buffet of yummy leftovers from the week. Cori and I spent some time that evening working in our respective callings. The only things that could have made the day better would have been some family and sunshine!

This is the beautiful dress Grammie Marla made Gracie. When I put it on her, she said, "Ooooh. This is so beautiful. I look like Cinderelly." With a dress and a Daddy like that, who wouldn't feel like a princess? The Primary President told me that during music time Gracie kept going to the front of the room to twirl her dress. And she made sure everyone knew what they were supposed to be looking at.

The Visit Part II

Our afternoon ski trip was really fun. And we took so many pictures. It got its own post.

We went back to Knub's Nob. Skiing here is great for a few reasons. It takes 12 minutes to get here. The lift on the bunny hill is free. Half-day equipment rentals for Grace are cheap. The whole outing is less than $15.







On the side of the bunny hill there is a series of steeper little bumps that the kids use as jumps. Gracie kept pointing at them from the lift, so we took her down. She was so cute. She laughed and screamed the whole way down. You can see her laughing in the pictures. When we got to the bottom, she said "I wanna do that again. With Mommy. Then with Papa Jeff. Then with Daddy. Then with Papa Jeff again." While I was taking pictures at the bottom of the hill I could here people on the lift laughing with her. These experiences are making the persistent snow a bit more bearable.

The Visit Part I

I just love, love, love being with family. Adult conversation all day long. Multiple hands to help with kiddos. An extended break from the regular in and out of our routine. And where else can a girl simultaneously experience the perks of being some one's baby and a full grown adult but with her parents?

I wish I could say that our children made liars of me and were perfect, happy, well behaved angels, but Mom, Dad, and Thea really got to experience a week in the life. The tranquility of the week was also threatened by an alarming amount of sand that started coming through our pipes the evening of their arrival. The problem subsided enough that we didn't have to stay in a hotel. We're still not sure of what is going on with our well. We have become well acquainted with the company that drilled the well. Hopefully everything will be resolved tomorrow.

Even sandy water could not have deterred the happiness of the week.

Things we enjoyed doing together:

• well, everything really
• a trip to Boyne City to see where Cori works and dinner at the Red Mesa
• story time with Mr. Ron and his banjo at the library
• a little taste of the shops downtown and lunch at the Traverse Bay Pie Co.
• hanging out in our space downstairs
• chatting. all day.
• dinner with the Missionaries. We made tacos that earned the status of "killer" from my dad. This is a big deal. Believe me.
• a beautiful evening show courtesy of Mother Nature herself at Sunset Park
• playing on the new piano
• great family prayers at night
• a scenic drive up to Mackinac bridge and a glimpse of the UP (upper peninsula) and Mackinac Island. I cannot wait to get out there.
• shoe shopping with my mom and Gracie
• an afternoon ski trip with dad
• the seafood buffet at Bay View Inn. I actually ate mussels. Two of them. They were good.

Other things I loved about the week:

Watching Gracie follow Thea around. Aunt Thea is super cool and has achieved serious admiration around here. Every morning, Grace spent our whole breakfast begging to go down and "wake up her."

Having my parents see our life. It felt like showing them a good report card. Still their baby, I guess.

Blessings

An empty tomb. The realization of the resurrection is among the greatest gifts to mankind. It has been special this year helping Gracie understand more about it.

My parents and sister, Thea who sacrificed a sunny spring break to visit us in our still-frozen northern tundra. It was beyond sad saying good-bye on Saturday. We had such a wonderful visit. Our week together had a great balance of getting out and doing things and relaxing at home. Of course, I'll be posting lots of pictures and reports soon.

The promise of Spring. By the end of the week, the temperature is supposed to be inching into the 40's. Naturally, it is currently snowing. Everything still looks very much like winter here. But I see pictures of Spring where y'all call home, and I know that we only have to wait a little longer.

Blessings

My Mom, Dad and Sister, Thea who will be arriving tomorrow night. I am soooo excited! I'll be taking a little blog break for the next week. But we'll be back next weekend.

A time out today. Cori saw that I was a little frazzled. He pulled the pillows off our bed and put them on the floor in the sunshine. I relaxed there for a little while this afternoon. I needed it.

Blurb. I just ordered the book I made of the first year of Delovely. I am so very happy with how it turned out. I hope it looks as nice when it arrives on my doorstep in a week. I'll let you know.

My sister-in-law Tiffany who celebrated a birthday this week.

A new piano. We played on it yesterday. It arrives Wednesday. After 2 years without one, it will be heaven to have a piano in our home again.

The Good News First

Grant has started sleeping through the night. He has done it for the last three nights in a row. I know better than to believe that it will now last forever. But I'm so happy.

Its a good thing that I've been getting more sleep because he is now 5 times more fussy during the day. I don't know what to do. He wakes up very happy, eats well, and then later goes down for a good morning nap. When he wakes from that first nap it begins. I feed him. Happy. I hold him for a little while. Happy. I put him down in any one of 5 or 6 different places/positions so I can do something else. Fussy. Yelling. Crying. Discontent. Relentless unhappy noises. I pick him up or give him undivided attention. Smiles. I put him back down/go back to what I was trying to do. Tears. Is he teething? Quite possibly. He doesn't have a tooth breaking through yet, or the tell-tale bump in his gums. I've tried using baby orajel and Tylenol just to see if it would help but there wasn't any change. I bundle him up or keep him in his room where there is a space heater to make sure he is warm enough. I've used gas drops in case of a tummy ache. The only thing that makes a difference is somebody (it doesn't even have to be me or Cori) picking him up and holding him or being in his face giving him undivided attention. He has always had a somewhat temperamental disposition, but has been decidedly worse this week. What is going on? Any suggestions?

Despite needing to scream into a pillow a dozen times a day, I can't help myself when it comes to loving on this little guy. He's just too darn cute. By the way, he was yelling his head off about 30 seconds before I got the camera out for these. You can still see a little tear on his left cheek in the first picture.

Dear Journal

A few life lessons have been reincarnated in my life lately. Several times. The most obvious of the group made its first reappearance last Thurs. The simple situation was that at about 3:30 in the afternoon, I got a call from Cori saying that he wouldn't be able to make it home in time to have dinner with the missionaries at 6. This wouldn't have been a big deal at all except for three things: 1) I had to pack dinner up for the missionaries the week before and turn them away because Cori had been (necessarily) detained at work. 2) I've been a missionary. 3) I had been struggling with this helpless feeling that 90% of my life was at the mercy of other people and I felt the superhuman need to exert myself to make this dinner happen.

So I told Cori not to worry about it. And I meant it. I'd find someone else to join us. I started calling around to see which of my friends would come over with her husband to have dinner with us. At 4:15 came the call from one of the missionaries saying that they would have their zone leaders with them. Suddenly, my dinner party of 4+Grace was turning into a party of at least 7+Grace and Cori when he would come home. I had put dinner in the crock pot that morning. The crock pot was looking really small. And no one was calling me back about joining us.

Enter Doubt, stage right. I started thinking that maybe I should call the Elders and tell them I'd take dinner to them at the Church. Maybe I should just buy them pizza. I knew that this just wasn't a big deal, and I shouldn't be getting so worked up about it. But still nagging at me was the need to be an agent free to act and not constantly acted upon (2 Nephi 2:26) by the needs and schedules of the people around me. And the difference was mine to make. Into my mind came the voices of past experiences counseling to plan with faith, work like crazy, and trust that my deficiencies would be made up with Heaven's help.

I did. And it was a sweet little experience for me. (I say 'little' because, again, I know this wasn't a big deal) While waiting for anyone to call me back, I found some ways to stretch out the simple meal I had planned. Then in the blessed nick of time, Amy C* called me back and we worked out a plan for them to join us. We had a delightfully full dinner table, and like the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, everyone had seconds and there was still some leftover for Cori to eat when he got home.

I have had this 'go for it'/ 'just do it'/'have faith' mentality on the brain ever since, and more incarnations of the lesson keep surfacing.

Friday night, Cori and I went skiing. We found a little black diamond run through some trees (yes, skiing through trees at night sounds like a ridiculous thing to do, but it was lit. sorta) that looked fun, but was full of small icy moguls. I've never really learned how to ski moguls. I get down them pretty well when the run is open. But when my path is punctuated with immobile obstacles, I get hesitant. Our first time down the run, I took it pretty slowly and felt like a complete beginner by the time I got to the bottom. On the lift ride back up, I asked for pointers so I could ski it better.

The 2nd time down was even worse. I was over-thinking everything. I took a pretty good fall. Cori suggested that we go ski somewhere else, but I wanted one more go.

For try #3, I decided that I would just point my shoulders down the hill and go for it. It was so much better. My body actually knew what to do. I just needed my brain to let go of it. I felt both exhilarated and exonerated.

Later that night while we were reading scriptures, Cori asked me what I thought about 3 Nephi 13:34 (also found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matt. 6) where the Savior says, "Take no thought for the morrow...Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof." As we talked about this scripture, all my experiences over the past week came together: the importance of living in the present, the danger of over thinking and worrying and doubting, the need to plan and then work, the importance of faith, the power of letting go and just doing, the identity of being an agent free to act. It snapped into place and I saw all that the Lord had put into my daily life to teach me.

Wordless Wednesday: Play Time

A Great First

Last Saturday, we took Gracie skiing for the very first time. She is pretty adventurous and totally loved it! Cori volunteered to keep Grant and take pictures so I could do the honors. And thank goodness for our telephoto lens.

She wasn't afraid at all on the chair lift. She just relaxed and occasionally said things like "Mommy, it is sooooo beautiful outside!" or "This is weelly fun!" I just held her between my skis on the way down. She laughed for about 3 minutes strait the first time down. At one point she said "Faster mommy, faster!" When we got to the bottom, we found Cori and Grant and she wiggled out of my grasp to try skiing by herself to her dad. He was only 5 feet away, and the slope was completely flat, so she made it. She got to spend a good hour in the skis, and maybe only half of that skiing. That was just about right for me. Plowing while bent over holding a toddler is a pretty good workout. Sadly, her last attempt at solo skiing ended with a bonk on her head. But she is ready for more. Her Papa Jeff comes out next week and we're planning another ski day. Next time, we're going to get one of those rubber wedgies to hook the front tips of her skis together. That should make it even more fun for everyone.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

This Fall, BYU Law School will be adding a very special person to its ranks. My brilliant, witty, cello and piano playing, arts loving, computer programing, ski chaperoning, mathematically minded, devout, and deserving sister, Sara! Hurray! I'm so proud of her. Moreover, I'm so excited for her (and a wee bit jealous). She's lived in places from Hawaii to Boston, but never in a place quite like Provo. I've had P-town on the brain ever since Sara called me with the good news. Sis, here's a little list of things you must do there, besides study and work like there's no tomorrow:

• Attend the devotionals in the Marriott Center. They are broad casted all over so it will be tempting to to stay in the Clark, but go!
  
• Go to soooo many performances at the HFAC. I was generally impressed, or at least entertained, by the stuff I saw.
  
• Take advantage of the International Cinema. Free. Fun.
  
• Hang out with my friend Jessika. She's a fellow former Alias fanatic, winter sports fan and a wiz in the kitchen (be sure to peek at her Lion House rec. book). Y'all would have a bunch to talk about. And she's just a lot of fun to hang out with.
  
• Smile at your red graduate parking tag EVERY DAY.
  
• Eat at Cafe Rio, the Pita Pit ( on Bulldog I think, by Panda Express), the hamburger place on the corner of Freedom and U. Prkwy, the cafe at the MOA, and Magleby's (if only just to eat their cheesy biscuits while you wait to be seated) every chance you get.
  
• Go to a football game or two.
  
• Shop for your groceries at Macys.
  
• Play on the baby grand Steinway that is tucked away in one of the practice rooms in the basement of the HFAC. Its usually free after 11PM.
  
• Next spring, admire the magnolia trees along side the sculpture garden and the west side of the HFAC when they are in bloom.

There's so much more that I will be remembering, but that's a good start. Of course, you'll be in daily proximity to several memorable landmarks: my infamous thinking tree by the bell tower, the tables I spent so many hours studying at in the Law Library (not to mention the ginormous flight of stairs that Brett A. stunt-rolled down while the library was packed. You'll laugh when you see it.), the piano in the main floor stadium seating classroom of the Law Library where I practiced for my lessons so often because the practice rooms in the HFAC were booked solid by all those pesty performance majors :), and all those gorgeous magnolia trees. But I mentioned them already.

Congratulations Sara!

Blessings

Cori's work. It was a completely crazy week for Cori at work--and consequently, a bit of a crazy week at home. The plant's labor union contract expires soon and they had negotiations to settle the new contract. This was pretty much the big highlighting opportunity for Cori in this position. Things went amazingly well. They were ramped to spend as much as 3 weeks on the project and got it wrapped up in three (very long) days. I'm so proud of him, and so grateful for his job and all his hard work.

Our Branch President and his wife who saved my can. Thursday night we had the missionaries scheduled for dinner as usual. Cori was entrenched at work and didn't think he'd be able to get away. I needed another priesthood holder in the house to be able to have the Elders and their Zone leaders over. I called the Branch President's wife to invite them to join us. She had to be at the Family History Library that night, but thought they could work something out. The happy ending to the story was me packing dinner up for Sis. C* to take to the church with her and President C* joining me, the kids and all the missionaries.

A piece of potty training progress. Gracie FINALLY used her potty chair this week. She got to wear her princess panties for a few hours. And then asked me to change her diaper every 20 minutes throughout the rest of the day.

My parents and sister who are making preparations to visit in a week. I simply cannot wait to have them here!

Sledding

Last Saturday we made the most of a sunny hour and our mountainous snow drift. It was just the right size for Gracie.

Snow more...I mean no more!

It has finally happened. I'm starting to feel sick of the snow. We woke up this morning to another couple of inches. Hello out there? It's March! The temperature high predicted for the day: 24 degrees. I don't need the whole state of Michigan to say 'I told you so,' because I was not in denial as to the reality of the winter situation here. It was just a little disheartening to look out the window and to know that I'd have to get the snow blower out before I'd be able to go do anything today.

That being said, I want to throw some positive things out into the world about the snow. (Partly because it will make me feel better, and also because Oprah tells me that everything I send out into the universe will come back to me for good or for bad) You know how the Eskimos have something like 100 different words for snow? Living in a place like this, I understand how that could be useful and relevant. It really is beautiful and can be so different with every storm.

For example, the other morning as the sun was rising, there was just the lightest flurry of individual snowflakes falling. The temp. was super cold outside. It was amazing. When the snowflakes caught the sunlight, they were like little pieces of metallic confetti. You can almost see them here.

Then they sat on the snow like mountains of sugar crystals. Remember in White Christmas when they are on the train on the way to Vermont and they sing the song about snow? Its the part where Danny Kaye (whom I adore, by the way) makes the embarrassing diorama of a snowy mountain scape in the dining car. Rosemary Clooney has a line in the song where she sings about wanting to wash her hair in snow. If it wasn't so freezing outside, I wouldn't mind swimming around in the stuff either.

The skies have been clearing more and more and we're getting some of our famous sunsets again. This is my Ansel Adams tree that lives across the street. I love her so much. One afternoon while I was nursing Grant, I sat by the window and watched her toss aside her autumn leaves for nearly an hour. She's just as magnificent without them. This isn't about snow, but was in all the snow pictures so I put it in.

It is really hard to take good pictures of the snow when the sun is out. There just isn't enough contrast to give any definition to the landscape. But late in the day the sun casts long shadows across the field behind our house. It reminds me of the ocean.

I'm not so sick of the snow anymore. Oprah was right.

Wordless Wednesday: Under the Boardwalk, Spring 2007

Dear Journal

I had an instructive episode with Grace that got me thinking. I was vacuuming and though the vacuum doesn't usually bother her, Grace decided that it was just too loud. She insisted on standing right at my leg, probably where the vacuum was the loudest. She put her fingers in her ears and started yelling that it was too loud. This continued for about a minute until she started crying about it. I turned off the vacuum and told her that she should go play in her room until I was finished. The vacuum wouldn't be as loud in there. Still sniffling and upset, she stomped off to her room. When I finished I could hear her laughing and playing happily on the other side of the house. "Silly girl. What a funny thing to do. Standing behind a vacuum and complaining about it being to loud." Into my mind came all the ways that I show similar folly. How often do I stubbornly plant my feet in my problems, stick my fingers in my ears and cry for someone else to make it better? I know that most of the time, I have the power to make any situation better for myself. Even if my only choice is my attitude, I can still choose happiness over broodiness. It was a timely reminder as things have been a little crazy around here. Thinking about this over the last few days has helped me to smile more, to think of others more, to be a little more patient, and best of all, to be happy.

In our curio

I wasn't sure where to begin, so I just started pulling things out of the hutch and taking pictures of them. The first stops on our traveling tour: Haiti and Puerto Rico. The summer before I went to London my family went on a Caribbean cruise. Cruise vacations are so very relaxing. (Although we recently watched a disturbing documentary about modern piracy that is giving us second thoughts about ever cruising near the Mediterranean or the Philippines) Our ports of call were Nassau, Bahamas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Labadee, Haiti--on the north coast of Hispaniola. Sadly, my late-teenaged self was not yet in the business of collecting little treasures everywhere I went. So I only have souvenirs for half of our stops.

Haiti The soapstone statuettes were bought in Labadee. Royal Caribbean actually owns a private chunk of land there. There is a gorgeous beach with a few sheltered pavilions where they serve food and have local artisans sell their wares. At the time, I wasn't at all familiar with the social or political situations in Haiti. But 5 seconds in the vendor's pavilion made one thing clear. Poverty. Tens of men, women and children calling out to tourists with expressionless faces, haggling prices with empty eyes, getting up close and personal with anyone who stopped walking. It was the first time I had really been around anything like that. I was uncomfortable. I had a $20, a $10 and a $5. In my first attempts to haggle prices (something else that made me quite uncomfortable, though I've learned since that it is a perfectly businesslike way to get things done, even in America. On my mission I had a Russian companion. We were outside the Smithsonian Museum of American History and she stopped at a vendor's wagon on the sidewalk. She pointed at 4 items she wanted and held up $15. The vendor frowned, agreed, and bagged everything up. Neither of them said a word. I was so amazed. But I digress...) I realized that my soft heart would lead to an empty wallet fast if I didn't get smart. So I put the $20 in one purse pocket, the $10 in another purse pocket and the $5 in my hand. When I found what I wanted, I offered $5. When the vendor laughed and said $30, I told him I only had $15 pulling the $10 out of my purse (not out of a wallet). When he said no, I walked away. That's when he offered the white statue and the green one together for $20. So I magically made my $20 bill appear and high-tailed it outta there.

Puerto Rico The butterflies are from Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is such a neat city. It is the picture of old-Europe-meets-Caribbean beauty. Close-quartered shops line cobble stone streets. One of these great shops sells mosaic-style artwork made from butterflies. It was the most amazing thing. This frame wasn't purchased on that cruise. My parents made a trip back there a couple of years ago. My mom asked me if I wanted anything, and I asked if they could get us something from the butterfly shop. So beautiful.

Bahamas I remember being really surprised at the look of Nassau. It is very flat and sandy. I think I was imagining that it would be similar to Hawaii's lush volcanic mountains. It was very different but still beautiful. We swam with sting rays and got to feed them squid. We also went to a lovely park that was on the ocean. I loved this little stop. Nothing but sand, ocean, palm trees, hammocks and a steel drum band.

U.S. Virgin Islands I think St. Thomas was my favorite port of call. I really want to go back there with Cori. We took a tour of the island which included a stop at the governor's mansion. Very Pirates of the Caribbean. The mansion was at the top of a hill overlooking a large bay. Its decor was in the Dutch style: simply furnished open tasteful spaces. Beethoven's clarinet concerto was playing in the back somewhere. There was a visual flood of tropical scenery out of every open window. It really seemed like paradise to me. This is also where Sara, Jared and I ventured on a SCUBA trip with the company unwittingly named 'Divin' me Crazy.' We collaboratively purchased the underwater video that was made of us on the experience and laugh our heads off every time we watch it. This is due mostly to the gentleman who made the fourth member of our party. The method of swimming with fins was apparently too complicated a task for him. There are several shots of him attempting to walk on the ocean floor, not an easy thing to do strapped with SCUBA apparati. (Sara, stop laughing. He was trying really hard.)

Blessings

• A very busy week. Between his business trip in the beginning of the week, and his scouting camp out Friday night, Cori was away more than he was home this week. It was nice to be busy. It kept me on track.
  
  
• My sleeping babies who did so well while their dad was away. I always have a hard time sleeping when Cori's not home. It was nice not having to get up tons once I was finally asleep.
  
  
• My sweet man. We had a really good talk last night. He knows me, loves me, and accepts me inside and out. Somehow this is more amazing to me the longer we're married. It gets better all the time. I'm reminded of a quote Elder Oaks cited in the adult leadership training a little while ago, "Love is what you go through together." The more we face, the better it gets.
  
  
• Sunny weather. More sunshine this week! The 2 inch thick sheet of ice is almost gone from our driveway. Of course, its just making a river that runs down the driveway and pools by the sidewalk thus creating a skating rink in the morning when its frozen. But its progress.