Monday, May 11, 2009
So Anyway...
I walked about 3 miles today with the bike stroller...went up and down the hill to tenth street and back, thentook Heidi to school, visited Addie at her school, then met Daddy at the office and went to lunch. Good day, but I am tired.
I am having a newsfast, I just realized. I go through these cycles where I am totally into all kinds of news and debates and stuff, and then I hibernate. I am in hibernation mode, mostly because I am kinda sick-n-tired of the marriage debate, celebrities being mouthy/ lame/ irresponsible/ condescending, etc., I don't get Comedy Central, Glenn Beck has been a bit clownish, etc...so I don't have much to talk about on that front.
All is well here. We just had a quick FHE (a game of Book of Mormon cards, where Korihor is the Old Maid) and french bread pizza (no clean up). I may let the creative juices flow and scrapbook some little albums for the kids to remember our Cali trip last week. Or I may fall asleep in 20 minutes. Who knows...I'm wild-n-crazy like that. I updated the blog archives for the benefit of long-lost facebook friends just now joining the story already in progress. Click on the right for my new Blog FAQ links. Fun.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
My Piece of Foreign Sky
They are really stunning and I can smell the lilies everywhere!
This is houw our yard looks now in the dusk...tons of yellow tulips, grape hyacinths, and red geraniums!
Heidi presented me with this darling flower box SHE MADE HERSELF when she went to a class at the hardware store with Daddy on Saturday. The little pots are from Addie's school, and the yellow vase is from Addie, too...what sweeties!
“Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:
You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
(“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)
You [mothers] are the real builders of the nation wherever you live, for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.”
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Thursday, May 07, 2009
What A Week
TO MAKE THE SLIDE SHOW BIGGER: CLICK on the screen, then click the "SLIDESHOW" button on the upper left of the Picasa screen. You can adjust the speed of the slides below the pictures.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Taken By Surprise
"I'm nobody's wife and I'm nobody's baby
I like it that way
but then again...maybe.
And I'm nobody's valentine and I'm nobody's pearl,
When you get it right down to it
I always seem to find
Just some girl, singing
There are monsters there are angels,
There's a peacefulness and a rage inside us all
There is sugar and there is salt
There is ice and there is fire
in every single heart
There are monsters, there are angels.
I'm nobody's promise and I'm nobody's chore
And I ain't got nobody that I feel I gotta live for
Nobody to live for
I'm nobody's work and I'm nobody's company
And every time I turn around
I always seem to find
Just me....singing..."
I am so glad I grew up.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Early Bird Gets the Worm...
I am up early thanks to my children and to all the voicemail on my phone. I was bummed when the kids were up at 6-on-the-dot, but even more annoyed when the messages on my voicemail got my adrenaline pumpin'. Luckily, just before I exploded a la The Incredible Hulk, my husband used his God-given calming powers to talk me into the shower and get on with my day since there is nothing I can do at this crazy hour. So here I am, waiting for my heart to soften.
And my friend Stephanie provides the heart-softener in the form of this post on Beauty. Go read it, it's great. Especially coming from a woman who survived a deadly plane crash that burned over 80% of her body. She is lovely in every way and she makes me feel grateful for a loving and longsuffering Heavenly Father.
Needless to say, I am more grateful than ever that my cutie hubs wanted to use his tax return to sweep us away to So Cal this weekend! He is awesome. Know what else he did? He refinanced our house at 4.6-something per cent, rolled in the car payment, and took out cash to pay off our outstanding medical bills/ repleninsh savings and our payment STILL went down! We closed on Tuesday and dont' have a mortgage payment til June. Yeah, I love him. We had such a fun date going to the temple last night, listening to back podcasts of Glenn Beck and This American Life, being SO excited to surprise our kids and be together for five whole days...YAY!
8:20 update: it's all good. crisis averted. :)
Also: Souter's retiring? Crud. Get ready for more bloody rounds of confirmation hearings. And pray Ginsberg hangs in there, cuz it's only gonna get more "progressive" from here! YIKES!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Rambling...
So it's all sleety outside and stuff. I am trying to be pleasant about it, and I genuinely WOULD be pleasant about it IF it were 55+degrees and a light spring rain. I like rain. April Showers bring May flowers, you know.
My little yellow tulips are so very brave. Their little heads are held high, trying to open even though winter won't go away. All the seeds we started last weekend (meaning 10 days ago) in start trays, planters, and recycled yogurt cups are sprouting. There is hope smiling brightly before us. It will be a bright-green spring!
I never told you what made Heidi's bday cake so delicious and frostable, did I? Well, I tried it again last night to make dessert for missionaries' dinner tonight AND May Day cupcakes for a couple of girlfriends. I just made a regular boxed cake mix following the regular directions, but I added a cup of sour cream and a package of pudding. So far I have only done chocolate-to-chocolate, but I want to try banana pudding to yellow cake next. If you try any interesting concoctions, let me know!
As for me and my house, we will take a nap [just fixed up all the new Primary class rooms with Aunt Jen's help, and I started the crock pot with a green-chili beef roast to make shredded beef tacos for said missionaries tonight--still had a headache, deserve a nap!]
Monday, April 27, 2009
Overheard
[Heidi and Addie were playing with stuffed animals on the stairs--it was Heidi's "Pet Shop" and Addie was shopping for a "polite pet"]
Addie: Oh, I like this poodle!
Heidi: Look, he can do tricks!
Addie: Oh, that trick is NOT polite!
Heidi: Well, how about this kitten! She's sweet, and she does LOTS of polite, AND she can walk backward on her tip toes!
***
I wish Heidi would do lots of polite!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
THAT'S What I'm Talkin' About
I am so excited for next weekend! We will be surprising our children BIG TIME (so SHHHH!!!) with a 5-day vacation (a super deal with airfare, car, discount Mundo del Mar* tickets--all 5 of us for $600! plus my hotel discount, we're lovin' it). And by surprising, I mean not telling them ANYTHING until we are AT the Airport for their first plane ride...and then making them figure out where they are going with some fun clues presented by the flight attendants. I know, super fun, right? We will fly from Bozeman to Las Vegas, then drive to San Diego on Sunday. Then on Monday we'll go to Sea World in the morning and to the temple/ La Jolla in the evening. On Tuesday we'll do another day at Sea World, then celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Old Town San Diego. Wednesday is beach day, and afterward we will drive back to Las Vegas. We fly home to Bozeman on Thursday. HOW FUN IS THAT!?
So next weekend, it's SO LONG, SUCKAS...this spring snow has got to go! The projected high temperature for the entire coming week is on Saturday, just before we leave, and it's a whopping 49 degrees. We'll probably come home to an 80-degree house, though, cuz that's how Mutha Nature rolls in Montana.
Gotta bail...have a happy Sabbath!
*Mundo del Mar is our code word for Sea World San Diego
Friday, April 24, 2009
Silver White Winters That Melt Into Springs...
Three hours later, it was sunny and clear and snow was steaming up from the asphalt. I took a picture of one of my fave houses in Bozo.
This is the street of said house. It doesn't capture the fabuous canopy-effect of the snowy mature trees, from which blobs of soggy spring snow pelted my car for a mile.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
It's snowing sideways again.
FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19
Dear Loved Ones, We have just ...