Don't You Love it When...

your kids are enjoying being together? In the few days that Aubrey has been home from college, I've seen all three kids being silly and having fun together. It warms my heart!

Don't You Hate It When...

you wake up in the middle of the night, after only a couple hours, and you can't get back to sleep? I know I do. Tonight I read for about an hour and a half--until I thought I was sufficiently sleepy enough. Nope, guess not. So then I thought I'd pull out the laptop--nobody's emailed me since I went to bed, and there's a "0" on my chat window in facebook. Not even the dog wants to be out of the warm bed to be with me. Guess I'll get back to my book...

I Have the Greatest Friends

I've known this for a long time, but sometimes (like the last 2 days) it hits me hard. Thanks for all your calls and comments--you guys are the BEST!

I certainly didn't write my last post so people would call me, but it has been a wonderful blessing to hear from you. I've been reminded so keenly that my friends really do care about me. Thank you for being a blessing to me--you are part of my abundance.

Not much has changed in the situations that are causing my "not-so-good" week, but I am hopeful that I will be able to face them with a good attitude--and with my supportive friends, I know I'll be OK.

Not a Good Week

I haven't posted a blog entry in a while because I've had a hard time being positive lately. So rather than whine and complain, I just chose to not say anything at all (well, at least here). It's all part of my trying to be more of a "glass half-full" kind of person. But even half-full people have crappy weeks. And this has been one of them. So I'm blogging anyway.

Sorrow would be the word I choose to summarize many of my feelings this week. I won't go into details, but my heart is aching for people around me. Even now, I find myself crying again just thinking about them.

Anxiety is another word that could be added to the summary of my week. I hate feeling this way, but until some situations are resolved, I'm afraid this feeling is here to stay. If any of you out there are "Monk" fans, and you watched the final episode this week, you'll remember this conversation between Adrian and Dr. Bell:

(paraphrased) I hate the great unknown, what's so great about it anyway?
Maybe it's the 'not-so-great' unknown

In a rare role reversal, Gary was saying how glad he is to see this year be gone, how it's just been one bad thing after another. And then I was the one to point out the good things of the year to him. If only I can keep this attitude for the next while, maybe I will feel better, despite my sorrow and anxiety.

Thankful Thursday--Thanksgiving Day Edition

Here I am on Thanksgiving Day and the only word I can use to describe what I am thankful for is

ABUNDANCE

I am blessed with abundance in my life. An abundance of family, friends, material blessings, food, clothing, hope, and love. For this I am truly thankful.

Thankful Thursday 11 (on Friday)

It's Friday morning and last night as I was dropping off to sleep about 11:30 I had a sudden thought that I hadn't posted my Thankful Thursday entry. I had thought about what I wanted to say, but because it was so late, and I was so comfy and warm, I decided I would just have to be late with my post. So today I am grateful for:

• a bed to sleep in, with it's heated mattress pad and down comforter, it's often my favorite place in the house
• a home to keep me dry from the rain and snow, warm in the winter, and cool in the summer
• book club which helps me expand my reading horizon (not that I've stopped with the mysteries, just added to my never-ending list of books to read.) I've gotten to better know some ladies in my neighborhood, which is a good thing too!
• sunshine--what more can this girl who was raised in Arizona say?
• the knowledge I have of my Heavenly Father and His plan of happiness
  
• the fact that I can be grateful everyday of my life, not just on Thursdays or at Thanksgiving time
  

Savannah

What a beautiful city! My friend, Tamela, and I had the opportunity to spend the weekend here a little while ago. We had a great time! The weather was gorgeous, our kids were at home with their dads, and we were able to reconnect after a long time of being apart.

This post is mostly pictures, so take the time to scroll through the whole thing to see them all. It was hard to narrow down all the pics I took to just these few, but I will be posting an album on Facebook with some more--so you can check it out there.

The Mercer House

The Spanish moss really does look just like the pictures I've seen! I was fascinated by this stuff (I probably took about 20 pictures just of the moss)

There are so many beautiful homes in the historic district

The Riverfront

Here I am on a riverboat

One of Savannah's 21 squares at dusk

Bonaventure Cemetery

This was our view at AJ's Dockside Restaurant on Tybee Island


The beach on Tybee Island

Forsythe Park

The Pirate's House (we had yummy lunch here, but didn't run into any ghosts)

One of the few pictures of the two of us together
This is the remnants of our lunch and delicious key lime pie

my attempt at being artistic

Here's to the Band

I know I don't have any of my kids in band anymore, but like I kept telling people this weekend, it's in my blood. If you've seen my facebook status updates this weekend, they've all been about the marching band and their sudden trip to Grand Nationals. The band made it to semi-finals, but did not place in the top 12 to put them in finals competition. They placed 15th, which is something to be very proud of. I also found out today that they won the spirit award. The American Fork High School Marching Band is a wonderful group of students, teachers, staff, and parents who make our community proud. Here's my tribute to them:

Here's to all those who contributed money to help them get to Grand Nationals at the last minute.

Here's to the writers of this year's show, "The Greatest Generation" (John Meehan & Mike Huestis) who developed such a powerful message through visuals and music.

Here's to Heather Christensen who died while saving the lives of band students.

Here's to all the parents who support these kids, whether they are their own children or not, financially, physically, & emotionally.

Here's to the teachers and staff who give up so much of their time to help these students realize such great potential within themselves.

And here's to the students who put out so much effort (at times even blood, sweat, and tears) and time to reach such great heights within themselves and the band as a whole.

You are #1 in my heart!

(here's a link to the show performed in St. George to win the BOA Western Regionals)

Thankful Thursday 10

This week I feel so blessed in so many ways. A few of these things are:

• I was so lucky to spend the weekend in Savannah. It's a beautiful city and we had gorgeous weather the entire time. Thanks again to my family for being without me for a few days.
• Long-time friends are great. When you share a past and a present, it's pretty darn good.
• I'm glad that my mom taught me to sew. I'm nowhere near the seamstress she was, but I can fix torn seams, hem pants, sew buttonholes, and do basic sewing projects. It's good to know these things (now I better get busy with teaching my own kids!)
• Our family is pretty healthy right now. We've had a couple of "possibly sick" days, but none of them turned into anything. Let's keep it up!
• My car hasn't been to the mechanic in a couple of weeks. I'm very thankful for that!
• My kids have great friends--who could ask for more?
  

Thankful Thursday 9

This week I am thankful for

• small miracles
• big miracles
• a husband who's letting me take the weekend off
• long-time friends
• books
• beautiful fall weather
• the opportunity to vote
  

Halloween Tradition

Aubrey's Boba Fett


Gary's Owl (in honor of the Greek goddess Athena)


Maren's awesome Giraffe


AnneMarie loves Sea Turtles

Carson's Ska Pumpkin (it's a style of music, jsyk)

The whole gang

Thankful Thursday 8

(Due to computer problems this is actually posting on Friday. I don't think it's fair to have computer problems AND car problems at the same time!! But this isn't a whining post, so I'll save that story for another day.)



Wow! Yesterday was such a big day at our house. It's a good thing for Aubrey to have a missionary call, so that's my Number 1 on today's thankful list. Number 2 is technology. That gave us the ability to let a bunch of people know about #1 within minutes. Number 3 is my camera. That gives us the ability to relive the memory through pictures for years and years to come. Number 4 is Carson who has been so good at doing what I ask him to--even if the attention isn't really on him right now. Number 5 is Gary who is a great dad to his kids. Number 6 is Maren who so sweetly cares for each of us in our family. And Number 7 is for two kids who did such an awesome job on their grades for term 1--they both got straight A's. Awesome!!

Drumroll Please...

Aubrey has been called to serve in the Germany Berlin Mission!!

I'm so happy for so many reasons--the main one being that he has a desire and is worthy to serve the Lord by doing missionary service for 2 years. I'm also happy because I know that he really, really wanted to go to Germany--and now he will. I am glad that he goes to the MTC on January 6, 2010--because he won't have any time to waste between the end of the semester and leaving 3 weeks later! OK, that's a real Mom reason to be happy, but I still am. He put his availability date as January 1, but was thinking he wouldn't actually leave until February or March, but I guess the Lord has other plans for him!

It's been pretty exciting to see his reaction and to hear him on the phone with relatives and friends sharing his news.

I'm a proud mom today.

It's In the Mail

What is in the mail you ask? Why, it's Aubrey's mission call. Thanks to our good (and patient) bishop who checked Saturday afternoon, we know that the call letter has been sent.

Gary and I were at the BYU-TCU football game standing in line at the Cougar Grill waiting for our cheeseburgers to come up. Gary realized he had a new message--"call letter has been sent." I was super excited and started yelling "woo-hoo" and other similar kinds of things. A few minutes went by and as we were sitting on a bench eating those cheeseburgers, I started to get teary-eyed. I was crying at the football game! (not because of the outcome--that was still to-be-determined) Gary said, "well, that's one thing for your Thankful Thursday list this week!"

I imagine the next several months to be more of the emotional pendulum as I see him open his call, go to the temple for the first time, leave for the MTC, and all the things that will happen after that.

Life is good this week.

Thankful Thursday 7

I only have time for a quick list of 5, but I am determined to not miss a Thursday, so here they are:

• Beautiful mountains, canyons, and surrounding areas
• Beautiful weather to enjoy those beauties of nature
• Tender mercies in the midst of trial
• My daughter
• Humor

Happy Birthday Maren!

(OK, this time I'm only about 24 hours late)

You are now "officially" a teenager--WOW! I hope all your dreams and wishes can come true.

I'm so happy to have you in our family--you bring music and sunshine and happiness and songs and hugs (and so much more) to our home. I remember how happy I was when the doctor told us you were a girl. It's been fun to have someone to do girl things with--let's keep doing them! Be patient with me as I learn how to parent a teenage girl--I've never done this one before. My only experience is being a teenage girl. Hopefully we'll both learn and grow (and stay friends!) through these next several years.

I love you my sweet girl!

Halloween Silliness

Silly video to help you get the in Halloween mood...
(Thanks to Laura R. for the great idea and link)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Thankful Thursday 6

It's been another intense week--hard to believe so much can change in the blink of an eye. Today I have many things I am thankful for, here are 5 of them:

• God's Plan of Happiness that allows us to be together again after this life with those we care about
• Living in a wonderfully caring and supportive city
• Only having to pay $300 to get my car fixed (again) instead of $2000 (but that is another story for another day)
• Missionaries
• My oldest son, who is about to embark on a life changing experience
  

John 15:13

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man [or a woman] lay down his life for his friends [or her students].

In the Blink of an Eye

What can I even say? My heart is hurting tonight for the tragedy that happened to the American Fork Marching Band on their way home from a competition in Pocatello, Idaho. One of the buses rolled over and a teacher died. The students appear to all be ok, physically. Although I don't have a child in the band anymore, we have lots of friends and neighbors who have kids in the band and I still feel like it's a part of my life.

Such mixed emotion--sadness at the loss, grateful it wasn't worse, concern for the kids' emotional well-being, heartache for the teacher's family, amazement at her attempt to save the students--all rolled up together in my head and heart.

One of my son's friends who was in band with him said on his Facebook site that lots of people will be singing The Friends Song tonight (the band's unofficial song "A Friend's a Friend Forever", by Michael W. Smith). Some of the lyrics:

But we'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong.

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

That a lifetime's not too long

To live as friends

Miracles Still Happen

Our extended family has truly experienced a miracle recently.

Several weeks ago we found out that our 16-year-old nephew was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He'd started having vision problems while on a trip to the Grand Canyon with his family (thank goodness he didn't fall anywhere), but then he was also SUPER tired or when awake, hyperactive. He went to the doctor who ran several tests, but didn't find anything. While waiting for the results of the blood tests (over a holiday weekend, of course), his vision got worse, he began to have problems walking, and his speech was slurred. A neighbor who is a medical professional suggested to his parents that he get an MRI. When the doctor heard of the new symptoms, he scheduled one for the very next morning. The results showed a brain tumor 2 cm x 12 cm near his brain stem. The doctors placed a shunt in his brain to drain the excess fluid that was causing so much pressure. Over the next few days, our nephew was in the neuro ICU with lots of tubes, tests, and medicine. He improved quite a bit just from the fluid being drained and was able to go home after a permanent shunt was put in. The doctors were 80% sure that he has germinoma, a fast growing cancer that responds well to treatment. They were hoping to get some DNA from the fluid to avoid a biopsy surgery and make a sure diagnosis, but that didn't happen. So a week ago he went back into the hospital for a biopsy. The night before he went into the hospital I was priviledged to be in their home for some priesthood blessings. My sister-in-law had her brother give her a blessing and Gary gave his brother a blessing. Then my brother-in-law gave my nephew a wonderful blessing--it gave me goosebumps and made me cry.

What happened next is the miracle. When the surgeon went in he found that there was hardly enough tumor tissue left to biopsy. He called it a miraculous response to the steroid treatment.

But we know that it was a miraculous response to the faith, prayers, temple rolls, and fasting of hundreds of people on behalf of this 16-year-old boy--some of whom have never even met him.

Our nephew will still have to have radiation and has to recover from all that has happened to his body, but because of the tender mercies of our Lord and a wonderful miracle we know that he will be able to do all the things that have been promised to him.

Thankful Thursday 5

5 of the things I am thankful for on this Thankful Thursday:

• Fall colors
• Friends (I know this one has been on nearly every list, but they keep giving me reasons to be thankful for them!)
• Job security
• Missionaries
• New clothes (and the means to buy them)
  

Thankful Thursday 4

It's been a week of ups and downs on a lot of fronts--some major, some minor. But in the midst of it all, there's still a lot to be thankful for--and that's why I am writing these lists each week. Just a little reminder to myself.

This week on Thankful Thursday a few things I am thankful for:

• scholarships
• facebook
• choir concerts
• naps
• miracles

Every Boy Wants a Truck

Gary has wanted a truck for years. When he was the scoutmaster (2nd time around) and had beat up our fairly new van several times on campouts, he decided that a truck was needed to do a better job in his calling (and to appease his whiney wife). He felt it was truly a righteous desire, but the answer came in a new calling--BYU bishopric. There was no way we were buying a truck for him to drive back and forth to Provo even more often. So he got a sedan instead. BORING.

Fast forward 7 years...Gary still wants a truck. The closest we have come is this past weekend-- the car dealer got us a loaner car (since they've had our van for over a week, but that's another post for another day) and it turns out to be a Chevy Silverado. Too bad he couldn't take it camping Friday night with the 11-yr-old scouts (rental car not on tour permit). But he did get to drive us up the canyon Sunday afternoon in it. So here's Gary in his (pretend) truck:
Someday honey, someday...

Thankful Thursday 3

While searching for images for this post, I came across a website selling pendants with various images stamped onto them. This particular one has one of the Chinese characters for gratitude. This is what the website says about this pendant and its character: "The bottom part of this character represents the feeling of being thankful from the bottom of your heart. This feeling is deep and profound but is not always spoken aloud. Let this character speak of your gratitude for all the blessings you have in life."

I like that--the feeling of being thankful from the bottom of your heart.

So on this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for:

• my heart
• my parents
• my husband
• my kids
• my Savior

Another Belated Birthday Post

This one should have been posted 8 days ago on September 15:

Happy Birthday Gary! I could say so many things in honor of your birthday, but I'm afraid I'd leave stuff out. So I'll just say two things for now:

You're the best! I love you!

Happy Belated Birthday Aubrey!

OK, I'm the lame mom who didn't blog about Aubrey on his birthday. Hopefully, he'll forgive me and keep me around anyway. So, here is the post I should have put up 10 days ago:

Happy Birthday Bud! I can't believe you are already 19 years old and that you are doing all the things that 19-year-olds do. You are such an awesome guy and I miss having you around all the time. It's kind of weird, because (to be honest) I was pretty ready for you to be out on your own (as you were too), but now the house feels a little bit empty without you. I'm glad we can keep in touch through Facebook, texts, and the occasional visit home. I miss your funny jokes and witty responses (I hope your roommates are the recipients of these now!)

You've made me so proud of you and your accomplishments as you've grown up. Keep up the good work! You're about to enter yet another big phase of your life soon as you prepare to serve a mission. You will learn and grow so much more than you ever have thought possible. I'm so excited for you at this stage of life.

Thanks for putting up with me and my learning curve as a mom. I know that sometimes it's tough to be the oldest. You have survived well. I love you!

Out of My Comfort Zone

Carson had an assignment near the beginning of school to do something out of his comfort zone (CZ) and then write a paragraph about it for health class. As we talked about what he could do, I kept asking if he could just count his whole summer. He ended up jumping on my suggestion of letting his Dad take him driving (just a few days before he took the learner's permit test--shame on me). I got to thinking about it for myself--about how the whole Italy/Greece trip was pretty out of my CZ, how having a child in college has been a bit out of my CZ, how out of my CZ it's going to be to have a missionary son in the next while, you know, stuff like that. The point of Carson's assignment was to show the students that maybe it's not so bad to be a little uncomfortable, and that good things can come from trying to stretch yourself. And I realized that all the things I just mentioned (and others) were turning out good, even though they were/are hard.

So, what does this mean for me this fall? Well, I've already accepted a new VT assignment, I started walking regularly for exercise 3x a week, and I began volunteering at the local public library once a week for a couple of hours (dream job, but definitely out of my CZ). I'll give these things a try and let you know how it turns out!

Thankful Thursday 2

It's been a long week--who would think so much could get put into 7 days? We've had some frustrating moments, some scary moments, and some happy moments this past week. So here's my list on this Thankful Thursday:

• I'm thankful for faith and prayers offered on behalf of others
• I'm thankful for friends who are willing to help me out, who listen to me, and who care about me and my family
• I'm thankful for a good night's sleep
• I'm thankful for Aubrey, Carson, & Maren
  
• I'm thankful for health insurance

And an extra thought--I'm glad that there's chocolate in my house...

Thankful Thursday

I was thinking yesterday about posting a few random things I am thankful for, but then I had an awesome idea--Each Thursday from now until Thanksgiving (and maybe beyond) I will write about at least 5 things I am thankful for (notice the alliteration: thankful, thursday, thanksgiving--aren't I clever?) It's probably been done before by someone else, but I've never done it, so it will be new to me. Sometimes it might just be a list, other times I might elaborate. Another goal for me to work on.

So today on my first Thankful Thursday I am thankful for:

• a shower that is bigger than 2.5 x 2 feet with water pressure and warm water
• a kind, honest mechanic
• an awesome, awesome, awesome Scouting & Young Men's program in our ward (and all of it's leaders through the years)
• good friends and neighbors
• my husband who works so hard for our family and makes it possible for me to be a stay-at-home mom

chirp. . .chirp. . .chirp. . .

Why do smoke alarms only chirp (not go off, just chirp) between 2 and 5 am?

A Coke a Day. . .

It's my vice--Coca-Cola. I love it. I can't go a day without it. Don't make me go a day without it! And it's got to be the real stuff, no store brand, no diet, just Classic Coca-Cola. Fountain Coke is the best, but bottles will also do. Squeeze a little fresh lime juice in and it's even better. Ahhh, tasty, tasty Coke. One a day is all I need...Hey, I haven't had one yet today--I'd better go open one up!

Friendship

Today in Relief Society (the women's meeting at church) we were lucky enough to have a lesson on friendship. And the coolest part is that the lesson was in our manual (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pp. 459-467). How awesome is it that our leaders feel that friendship is such an important part of our life that there should be a lesson about it?!

At one point during the lesson, the teacher asked the class, "What is a true friend?" Some of the suggestions given were: someone who's honest, someone who is a good listener, someone who helps you feel good about yourself, someone who helps you out in difficult times, and someone you can laugh and cry with. Although I didn't comment at the time, I've been thinking about this question ever since. The biggest one I came up with that wasn't already mentioned is someone who accepts you for who you are. I'm so lucky to have friends that accept me as I am. That doesn't mean that they haven't encouraged me to change for the better (because they have), or that they haven't been frustrated by me or my actions (because I'm really sure they have), but they still accept me and love me.

The next point of the lesson was to take all the things we had talked about and apply them to ourselves so as to be better friends. Ah, there's the challenge. So for the next few months, that is my personal goal--to be the kind of friend I would want to have myself.

Since this post is about friendship, I can't end it without giving a huge thanks to all my friends who love me, encourage me, put up with me, and let me be their friend. You guys are the greatest!

Crazy for Crosswords

OK, maybe not crazy, but I do look forward to doing the crossword in the newspaper each day. It was one of the things I really missed in Italy & Greece this summer. My family thinks I'm crazy because I like to do them in pen. Pencil just doesn't cut it for me with crosswords. If I get one wrong, I just write over it. Sometimes it gets a little messy, but it's what I do.

I especially like Mondays & Tuesdays when I can do two. Why two? Because I can solve the New York Times Crossword puzzles on Mondays & Tuesdays, and on a rare occasion, Wednesday. Because they get progressively harder each day, Monday is the easiest, Tuesday a bit harder, and so on. Saturday's are the most difficult with Sunday reverting to the difficulty level of about Thursday, but it's much bigger. The puzzle I solve everyday is the Sheffer Crossword. It too seems to get a bit harder each day, but I can usually figure it out (sometimes with help from Gary or the Internet). I figure it's my little brain exercise to keep the grey cells from deteriorating too much.

So why am I blogging about this today? Because yesterday was Monday, and I couldn't finish either crossword puzzle!! What? Am I losing my touch? No, apparently not. It must have been a fluke, because I did today's just fine. Whew!

"First" Day of School

I have to put "first" in quotation marks, because Maren's picture is the only one that is technically on the first day of school. Carson and I kept forgetting to take his picture (what's up with that?) so this is him on the 3rd day. The picture of Aubrey is outside his apartment at Wyview in Provo and classes don't even start until Monday. Oh well. Maybe I will take a picture of Gary as he leaves for work on Monday--it's his first day of class too, for this semester anyway.

We Can't Do It Without Each Other

I have such a great support system in my life. Family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances--I need them all.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with some friends today and it seemed like I was doing all the talking. They insisted it was because they kept asking me questions I needed to answer. Thanks to them for being my friends and listening to me all these years!

If you read my last post (the one I almost didn't publish, 'cuz it seemed like a downer) be sure to read the comments too. I certainly didn't write the entry to get myself validated or praised, but you guys sure helped me feel better. So a big thanks to you!! When I titled the entry, "half empty vs. half full" I was thinking pessimist/optimist, but Darcee gave me a new spin--more like my cup is my blessings. And that cup is truly overflowing.