Cat Walk

I took a walk with a cat today-
with no collar, no leash, no plans.
It just happened that way.

I had hardly left my house before I heard a meow, loud and strong.
"Where are you going? Can I come too?" She seemed to say.
"Well, come along," I told her, and so she followed me.

We came to a driveway. "Is this where you're going?"
She sauntered up the walk, then looked at me. I didn't stop.
"Come along," I said.

We passed a porch where a puppy lurked.
"Be careful!" she meowed.
"He won't hurt you. Come along." I said.

Sometimes behind, sometimes ahead, she came with me.
Like a child she stopped to look, to smell, to explore.
"Come along." I would tell her.

When we came to the stop sign, I crossed the street.
"That's dangerous!" she meowed.
"It's safe now. Come along." I replied, and she followed me.

A few minutes later, she crossed back over.
"It's safer over here." she meowed.
"Come along" she said, so I returned.

We retraced our steps back down the hill.
This time she trotted ahead, and I paused to admire the scene.
"Come along" she meowed, and I followed after her.

A car drove by, and the scared cat froze.
"It's okay" I told her. As the engine's roar faded, she relaxed and hurried on again.
"Come along" she meowed back at me.

We arrived back home and went inside.
"Thanks for the walk" I told her.
"Purrrrr" was her reply.

Vacation and Family Pictures

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday! The day after Christmas we traveled to Utah where we spent the week with my parents. I was able to see almost all of my siblings (Kristy wasn't there, but we saw her just before Thanksgiving, and Jarom wasn't there but we got to visit with him via Skype. We visited Heather on Christmas Eve... but Lindy, Lia, Amber, April, Heidi and Daniel all either were staying with my parents or came to visit while we were there.)

While we were there, my sister Amber agreed to take our family pictures for us. She is such a great photographer, I with my kids had cooperated a little more. Anyway, here are our favorites.

It was a wonderful vacation. We relaxed, we played games, we played with cousins and siblings, we watched movies, we had fun. On Saturday (New Years Eve) we returned home, refreshed and ready to return to regular life again.

Christmas Break

The kids are home from school this week for Christmas. Steven finished his last term on the 16th and has three weeks off. We've enjoyed this week at home. We've had a lot of activities to keep us busy, besides the preparations for the upcoming holiday.

On Monday, the kids pulled out the Legos and made a movie: Lego Man's Adventure.

I crocheted an angel for our Christmas Tree.

On Tuesday, the kids made another movie with the Legos: Lego Man's Day.

We also put together our Gingerbread house.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we pulled out the beads. These beads are placed on pegboards, and then ironed together.

Today is Friday. We are going to tour a Candy Factory right now.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Crazy

Life is crazy, but with the holidays approaching, they are even crazier. I've been wanting to write a blog for a while, but I've scarcely had the time to sit down, let alone write a well thought out, interesting, coherent statement that I'd like to. So, finding I have half an hour before I need to move on to other things, (actually I'm eating lunch as I type this) I'll let you all know what's been going on here.

 1. Breakfast with Santa. The month of December opened with a bang with our ward's annual breakfast with Santa. With the dissolving of the activities committee, it fell to Primary to organize this year's breakfast. So, for the last month I've been busy working with my counselors and others who volunteered to help to plan and organize a breakfast complete with food, decorations, activities, music, photographer and of course, a visit from Santa, with treat bags for him to hand out. In the process I gained a great appreciation for those who have organized these kind of events in the past, as well as a relief that I won't have to do it again for another year. Even though a lot of people showed up that snowy morning, we still had plenty of food, and that is what really counts, isn't it?

2. Concert #1. Hannah was able to eat a quick breakfast, but was gone before Santa arrived because she needed to go to a rehearsal for an Orchestra Festival which was held that same evening. Twelve middle school and high school orchestras participated in the festival, each playing a few songs individually, and then all playing the Cancan together at the end. It was awesome to watch. I attended the Festival with the boys, while Steven went to our ward adult Christmas Dinner that evening, since he had agreed to host a table before he realized the festival was that evening.

3. Concerts #2 & #3. On Tuesday evening John had a performance of his bell choir. He played three songs, and then he was the one to put all the bell equipment away while his school choir sang several songs. Again I watched this performance with just my boys, because Steven was at the middle school watching Hannah's holiday orchestra concert, this one with just her school. I was glad that Steven was able to hear her play her viola.

4. Cub Scouts. This same evening (Tuesday) was the boys' cub scout pack meeting, but we weren't able to go. I did make frosting and delivered it to one of the other cub moms so they would have it for their cookie decorating activity. For the last several years our cub scouts have been meeting with the wards to the south of us, at the southern church building, but because our YM and YW meet at the north building and it is hard getting kids to both buildings on the same night at the same time, we are separating from the south wards and joining with the ward to the north of us which meets at the north building. This has involved lots of fun for me and the bishopric in trying to figure out who is going lead which den, when pack meetings should be, getting people trained before recharter comes up in January, etc. I've been to several meetings lately in preparation for this change, and Tuesday's pack meeting was the first night that all the boys from the two wards were supposed to meet together.

4. More Music? I got sing with our stake choir at our stake conference a few weeks ago, which was a lot of fun. While the performances have yet to take place, I'm also attending choir practices in preparation for our stake music concert and our ward Christmas Sacrament Meeting. Hannah is also able to participate in our stake orchestra which will be performing at the stake music concert as well.

5. What else? My half hour is up, so here is a quick rehash of other things in the last two weeks that have made my life so crazy: weekly presidency meetings, burning 50 CDs for Primary with the songs for next year, and making and printing labels for those CDs, having guests over for Family Home Evening, Ward Counsel, interviewing and shopping for the Relief Society spotlight basket, planning which teachers will be teaching which class next year, Christmas gift shopping/making - I haven't gotten around to wrapping yet, volunteering at the boys school as many as six hours a week, visiting teaching, grocery shopping, laundry, house cleaning, honor roll awards ceremonies (for both Hannah and John), shoveling snow, helping my children with homework and encouraging them to get their chores done, helping Steven with graphics for his Marketing class, cooking dinners, individual and family scripture reading, shuttling John to and from piano lessons and all the boys to and from school...

Steven and the kids get out of school for Winter Break on the 16th. Will all this craziness ease off then? Maybe. If I go crazy before then, at least you'll know why.

Steven

June 13, 1998, San Diego Temple

About twenty-two years ago, I met a guy. He was in my early morning seminary class where, while studying the Book of Mormon, we acted out Lehi's dream, and he had a starring role as Nephi. I think that was what originally brought him to my attention. After a few days I realized that he was also in my math class at school, and one day I summoned up the courage to talk to him and I told him he did a good job in seminary, or something akin to that. I quickly discovered his well developed sense of humor, and through some friendly competition in that math class, I learned that he was very smart. After that we started talking more frequently after school, and in following years we talked on the phone on Friday nights, went on a few dates, didn't talk at all for a couple years, reconnected, got engaged and then married. We've been married for over thirteen years now, and this wonderful guy is my best friend in the world.

Why bring this up now? Well, a few things have happened recently that have helped me to appreciate him even more. Steven served as our ward's Scout Master for about six years. He loved working with the young men, the camping, hiking, and everything. They built a go cart out of a bathtub, they hauled around a brick on almost all their camp-outs (they called it the "holy brick", and they didn't take it on their backpacking trip), they ate twinky-cheesewiz hotdogs, and tons of other stuff. It was with mixed feelings that he faced being released from the calling a few months ago when he went back to school. About a year ago, Steven went to Wood Badge Training, which is the highest level of training available to Boy Scout Leaders. It included six days of camping, working with a patrol of adults, and setting long-term goals to bring him closer to the kind of person that he would like to be. Well, he finally completed those goals, and a couple weeks ago he was presented his certificate of completion, neckerchief, leather slide, and beads at a Court of Honor. During the meeting, I heard many of the boys and leaders give tribute to Steven for his years of dedicated service, for his love for the boys, for his understanding of the scouting program and spirit. One of the boys even presented Steven with the "holy brick" as a memento!

Steven receives his Wood Badge award.

Steven receives the holy brick.

Triple berry cheese cake. It was yummy!

Another reason why I bring this up now is because he just had a birthday last week. Birthdays serve as a reminder of the special people in my life. Steven has always had the gift of being able to make me laugh. From his juggling and unicycling skills to the sound effects that always abound when he is around, he brings joy to my life. He is a wonderful, caring dad to our children, ready to help them with spelling words or math facts, listen to them practice reading, or help them learn to ride a bike. He is a smart guy, doing well in his MBA program, and still finding time to solve ridiculously complicated crosswords and other puzzles. He is faithful, dedicated to reading the scriptures, having family home evenings, attending the temple and serving in his callings. He is a wonderful, loving, and supportive husband. He is always willing to listen when I need to rant, he encourages me in my hobbies and interests, and he doesn't complain too much when the housework slips a bit when I'm involved in a good book. I will always be grateful that Steven is a part of my life, and I am very, very glad that he is my eternal companion.

My Kids' Christmas Wish Lists

A few days ago, I asked each of my children to make a list of ten things he/she would like for Christmas this year. I thought they were very expressive of my children's interests and personalities. I thought I'd share what they came up with. My comments are in green.

Hannah (age 12):

• Books (fantasy)
• tape (any sort) [I assume this is to support her craft making habit.]
• clothes 
• drawer things [The two storage drawer towers she already has aren't enough?]
• socks (colorful) [She regularly wears mismatched socks, and she loves bright patterned ones.]
• duct tape (blue, purple, etc.) [See tape, above]
• a good surprise [Apparently she doesn't just want us to get the things on the list...]
• a clock and/or watch (quiet) [The clock in her room does tick rather loudly.]
• movies (Tangled, Tarzan, Aladdin, etc.)
• an umbrella

John (age 10):

• Books (The Son of Neptune)
• Origami Paper [He rations the paper he has to make sure it will last until he can get more.]
• Belt
• Flashlight
• Clock

[Apparently he couldn't think of ten things he wanted.]

Joshua (age 8): [He actually wrote his list before I asked about it. Keep in mind that he wants to be an inventor when he grows up.]

• A wallet
• a car (real) [He says he wants the car so he can turn it into a time machine.]
• keys
• blue print paper (200 pads) [we figured out he meant blue graph paper.]
• my own desk
• my own robot
• my own tools
• my own wood
• my own nails
• my own lamp
• my own radio
• my own clock
• my own wires (900 packs)

Peter (age 6):

• a tree house
• a cookie monster stuffed animal [So his Elmo doll can have a friend maybe?]
• a clip board
• a Lego Scotland box (leprechauns) [we watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People recently. I think that inspired the leprechauns?]
• a pillow [He already has a regular one and a pillow pet...]
• a picture of a leprechaun
• a pet [I guess he thinks four cats isn't enough.]
• a robot
• more socks please [what???]
• another pair of shoes

I am grateful that my children don't have very expensive tastes, and most of the things on their lists are do-able. Except for the real car... and the the tree house at the moment. I'm glad that my children aren't super anxious for video games, ipods, cell phones and other electronics yet. They probably won't get everything on these lists, and they may get things that aren't on the lists, but at least this gives me an idea of where their thoughts are.

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween everyone! A few weeks ago the kids had a day off school, so we began our preparations for the holiday by decorating pumpkins to add to our decor. Before long we had an entire family of tiny pumpkins.

Josh decorated his pumpkin to be something like a space alien.

 

We also made some ghosts out of cheese cloth and spray starch.

They turned out pretty neat.

 

Hannah also made Halloween cookies.

On Halloween day, the boys had a parade at the school, followed by parties in their classrooms. Peter was a "Mummy Yellow" crayon.

John was a "Franken-Green" crayon.

Here is Joshua in his "Jumba" Costume (from Lilo and Stitch).

On Halloween night all the kids wore their costumes. Hannah was also a crayon, "Blood Red".

We carved pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds.

The kids went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood and came back with tons of loot. What a great Halloween!