S'mores!

I'm not an outdoor kind of a girl...not even a little bit.  Which is kind of ironic considering that I'm married to the Scout Master/Angler/Outdoor Magazine Guy.  He loves hiking, fishing, biking, and exploring the wilderness.  And I love shopping, being in the car, hanging out at home, and going to movies.  He collects camping gear and I collect shoes.  He has clothing and accessories that allow him to be prepared for every possible weather condition, and I just adjust the thermostat so that I remain between 68-72 degrees at all times.  

I can honestly say that I have never had a desire to go camping in my life.  I like sleeping in a bed.  I like to be warm.  And I like the modern day conveniences of running water and flushing toilets.  But every now and then I DO have a SERIOUS CRAVING for roasted marshmallows.  

The other day I found the most exciting new thing...

 STACKABLE MARSHMALLOWS!!

Here's what I did with them...

 graham crackers (I used cinnamon ones) + marshmallows + chocolate chips

(I'm not a huge chocolate fan, so instead of the chocolate chips, I drizzled a little caramel ice cream topping on a few of them before putting them in the oven...SUPER YUM!!)

 in the oven for 8 minutes at 350 degrees

...and poof! The kids have an after school snack and my s'mores craving is satisfied until the next time...and no camping or open flames were involved!   I LOVE flat marshmallows!

Worldwide Leadership Training

I'm not sure how it is that I've never attended one of these before, but I think this was my first one.  And let me just start by saying that last night at 10pm when I was still driving people around and trying to keep up with my list of things to do, the LAST thing I wanted to do was get up for a 7am meeting on a Saturday!  But I'm always happily surprised and even shocked sometimes at the things I learn when I make myself do the things I'm supposed to do.  Today was another one of those days.

I LOVE listening to General Conference.  I LOVE the calming influence that the words of the Prophet and the Apostles have on me.  In part of Elder Nelson's talk on families, he said that when we go to the Temple, we leave all the concerns and problems of our lives outside.  We leave the world outside the doors of the Temple and enjoy the solitude and peace within its walls for a few hours.  All that stuff is waiting outside the doors when we come out, but the difference is our perspective.  I loved that.  And I totally felt it yesterday when I went to the Temple.  I had a million things to do, but I left the whole list outside the doors of the Temple from 9:30 until 12:00.  When I came out, they were all still there.  In fact, I don't think I breathed or sat down from 12:00 until 10:30 last night.  But my perspective was different.  It was more enjoyable.  I loved the people around me more.  And I didn't complain as much. 

A million other things about today's meeting stood out for me and clarified the mysteries swimming around in my head.  But the thing I loved the most was Elder Uchtdorf's talk at the end of the meeting.  He said that we as humans tend to complicate things in our lives.  (Hmmm...I thought I was the only one.)   He talked about families and service and the WHY of the gospel.  And that totally reminded me of my sweet friend, Amy, who bore her testimony last weekend at church.  She said that she had been talking to her daughter about some challenges she was having at school, and they couldn't really come to a conclusion about what to do.  She was upset and it was one of those complicated things in her head.  And so Amy said, "Finally when we couldn't figure out an answer, I told her that the most important things are the Savior, the gospel, and family.  Those are the things that matter.  Everything else is a distraction."  That's exactly what I heard in Elder Uchtdorf's talk today.  

It turns out that there is truth everywhere.  We just need to listen for it.  Not just from the leaders of the Church, but from people who live their lives in a way that they are able to feel and act on the Spirit and then share it with others.  I'm so glad to be surrounded by people like that on a daily basis.  And I'm so glad I was where I was supposed to be today. 

Resilience

Yesterday, I was on my way home from picking up the older girls from school, when I got a phone call from the Scout Master:

SM:  Hi.  Are you getting close to home?
Me:  Yep.  Why?

SM:  Everything's ok...but you might not want to stop anywhere.

(ugh...that's never something you want to hear when you only have 50% of your children with you)

SM:  June had a little accident on the ripstick.  She hit her head but she's coherent.

(not at all comforting...) 

The Scout Master is pretty calm most of the time.  Not a lot rattles him.  Sometimes he overcompensates for my easily excitable personality.  It was hard to tell from his tone whether he was downplaying this or if it really was just a minor fall.  I drove home pretty quickly to see what the words "accident" and "coherent" actually meant.  

When I walked into the bathroom, June was crying and covered in blood, but definitely coherent.  She had a gash on the right side of her head that was bleeding heavily, a huge cut on her left knee, and another one on her right elbow.  Because of the head injury, we decided to take her to the ER just to make sure she was ok.  On the way out the door, I noticed that nearly all the skin on her right shoulder was gone!  (ugh...my poor little thing)

Here's what happened...she was with a friend, riding their ripsticks on the sidewalk near the school, and came down the hill too fast.  She overcompensated, lost control, jumped off, rolled, and hit her head on the curb.  And from what she looked like, apparently several other parts of her body hit the sidewalk and the road along the way.


About 20 minutes after getting to the ER, I started receiving texts.  First from neighbors (Do you need anything? How is she?) and then from Hawaii (Who's in the ER?)  That's when I knew that someone had posted something on FB.  (We found out later it was TCD "My dad just took my sister to the ER covered in blood.  Skateboards are bad!"  Nice...)  But you know what?  After getting over the initial shock that she had jumped on FB to announce that, I actually was really grateful for technology.  It was really comforting to have so many people send sweet messages to June.  She loved it, too.     

After 3 hours in the ER, they determined that she didn't have a concussion and she didn't need any stitches.  (Phew!  Huge relief.)  She came home heavily bandaged and loaded up with Tylenol, but unscathed only moderately scathed.   

Here's the thing about June...she is amazingly strong and resilient.  After so many hours in the ER with all those other people who were "really hurt" and some who were complaining loudly, she decided she was ready to get the heck out of that place.  She had long since stopped crying and was anxious to get home.  She didn't complain the rest of the night.  And she insisted she was going to school the next day.  (Something about a Valentine's Dance...)  I secretly had no intention of letting her go to school, so I didn't bother to wake her up at her usual 6:30am with the other kids.  But at 7:00am didn't she walk out of her bedroom, dressed in a beautiful dress with her hair fixed (complete with four lovely giant bandages as accessories!)  I stopped by the school to check on her right after lunch just to make sure she was hanging in there...and of course, she was!  She had a class party, went to the dance, and then came home after school and jumped back on...yep...the ripstick!  (Serious???)

2/13/12 UPDATE:  More proof of this totally amazing girl's resilience...on Saturday, June woke up with a completely swollen right eye and by bedtime, BOTH eyes and the bridge of her nose were so swollen that she was barely recognizable.  

(think Avatar...only not blue and sparkly...)

But did she miss the Eagle Court of Honor that night?  No way!  And did she want to stay home from church on Sunday morning?  The thought didn't even cross her mind.  She got up for school this morning, still swollen, but with complete confidence that it was going to be a great day.  Oh, how I love this girl!  I am so proud of her awesome positive attitude and the determination that goes with it!

Lip Gloss

Last night, my cute little group of Beehives came over to help get ready for New Beginnings.  The 2012 theme for the youth is D&C 115:5 "Arise and SHINE forth that thy light may be a standard for the nations."  We decided to help the girls not just figuratively, but literally SHINE FORTH, so we made lip gloss to hand out after we welcome all the upcoming Beehives.  Cute, huh?  (Wish I could take credit for thinking that one up, but it's yet another one of those ideas that I borrowed...this time from Pinterest.)  

It's pretty simple, though...melt some vaseline in the microwave and add a packet of Kool Aid.  

We used just that one container of vaseline to fill all 30 little lip gloss containers.

 

I got these little containers on eBay for about .50/ea

My awesome adviser, Tawny, is the one who made them look all beautiful and professional in the little jars...instead of trying to smooth the lip gloss in with a spatula, or pouring it in (which would not have been possible because by the time you get it just the right consistency, it's starting to solidify again and not exactly pourable), she thought to put it in a plastic bag and pipe it in...like FROSTING!  (I'm telling you!  I LOVE the women I work with!  That's the reason there are so many of us.  We each take a turn having an amazing idea or two and it makes the whole production look flawless and amazing all the time!)  

Along with the lip gloss, we also decorated some Valentine sugar cookies and wrote little love notes to the girls' Sunday School teacher who was out sick last week.  

 Seriously...have you ever seen so many sprinkles!?

At the end of the night, we had happy girls who worked hard and had fun and are prepared in yet another way to ARISE and SHINE forth and BE AMAZING!!  I LOVE these girls SO much!

Valentines

I LOVE Valentine's Day.  I actually LOVE the whole month of February because there's lots of great stuff that happens this month.  But I especially LOVE being able to gush about how much I love the people around me.  There's a lot to love about all of them.  Yesterday afternoon, I felt that "gushy" feeling, so I decided to do something about it...

I found some colored cardstock...

And some heart shaped cookie cutters...

And made a bunch of these...

And then I wrote a bunch of gushy, lovey dovey things about my family on them and plastered them all over the kitchen cabinets so that my kids would see them when they came home from school.

I totally stole this idea from a blog I LOVE.  But instead of having the whole family do it together, I decided to just do it by myself.  But here's the great thing about this...I thought hoped they would want to write their own little messages, so that the whole kitchen would be covered with Valentines, but I didn't want to ASK them to do that.  So I just saved a few little blank cardstock hearts and put them on the counter so that if the inspiration struck anyone, they would be able to write their own little messages.  And guess what...they did it!  

OK some of them are unconventional, and maybe not as gushy as mine, but at least they're thinking about nice things to say about each other and then writing them down. 

It's totally fun to walk into the kitchen and see all those little LOVE messages all over the place.  I LOVE Valentine's Day.  And I LOVE my remarkable, hilarious, amazing kids!

TWINS!

The TWINS are here!  For those of you who aren't close relatives of my husband's family, you're probably totally confused.  We have been quietly and anxiously waiting since July for our two little nieces to arrive, and last night we finally got the text..."On our way to the hospital.  We'll let you know if they come tonight."  A few hours later we received pictures of two beautiful and perfect baby girls.  


This morning, as I was driving my teenagers to school, I thought about all those years ago when we brought our new babies home from the hospital (ours only came one at a time, though, never in multiples.)  I don't miss the days of diapers and bottles and sleepless nights, but I love that I have those memories.  And I love that I can say I made it through that stage of my life.  Each one of my babies was a joy and a challenge and I am grateful for the things I've learned from them.  

After we had TCD, my hospital stay was short.  (15 years ago, 24 hours was the usual recovery time.)  But I was anxious to get her home and start trying out this new motherhood thing.  I took about 30 minutes carefully changing her into her "leaving the hospital" outfit and bundling her in the perfect, fluffy, recently sanitized blanket.  (I remember thinking that all those early years of changing baby dolls' outfits was finally paying off!)  We did the "hospital wrap" with the nurse watching, and made sure TCD was comfortable for the ride home.  And then we carefully laid her in her brand new carseat only to realize that she was so tightly swaddled that we couldn't fasten the straps around her.  (I think that nurse probably had quite a giggle while she let us struggle with all that wrapping and unwrapping.)  Finally, we got her securely buckled in and just laid the blanket on top of her.  The Scout Master brought the car to the front of the hospital while the nurse wheeled me down through the lobby.  Another 15 minutes and she was safely buckled into the backseat.  I rode in the back with her and we carefully started the drive home.  The Scout Master was, at the time, pretty heavy footed with an accelerator, but on that trip, he drove very slowly all the way back to our house.  I remember feeling like it took twice as long to get home, but I was so grateful that he was careful with our fragile little cargo.   I only remember that first trip home from the hospital...probably because we were more confident when the others came home, and because we had had a little practice with blankets and carseats by that time. 

What a huge change it will be in my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's lives to bring these new little babies home.  In just one night they've almost doubled the number of kids they have!  I cannot imagine what a challenge it will be for them to have TWO babies at once.  (How on earth do you feed two at a time??)  But along with double the challenges also comes double the joy and double the blessings.  I am in awe of the amazing woman that my sister-in-law is not only to have given birth to 11+ POUNDS of BABY, but also to have been entrusted with such a great responsibility.  I know there will be lots of work ahead for them, but I also know that they are a great family and that those two little babies are so lucky to have been born when and where they were.  

We can't wait to meet them!  Welcome to the family, Babies!
 

Grace

My head thinks only in extremes...I don't do things gradually.  If it's a little chilly in the car, I don't just turn the heat up a little, I turn it all the way to 90 degrees, turn the fan up to HIGH, and turn on the seat warmers.  It's either ON or OFF...there is no in between.  That applies in everything I do.  All or nothing.  Life or death.  Perfection or failure.

So, the lesson in Gospel Doctrine today was mostly for me.  (Hopefully all those other people in there liked it, too.)   I am LOVING this year's course of study which is The Book of Mormon.  Have I mentioned that LOVE the Book of Mormon!?  And I also love that my personal goal to read the scriptures is being supported by this "weekly discussion" at church.  It is totally inspiring me and driving me to keep reading.  

In our ward, we have two gospel doctrine teachers who alternate weeks.  That's always a nice thing so that one person isn't responsible for the entire calling and to give a little diversity in teaching styles.  However, I clearly have a favorite teacher, and sometimes my attitude about the other one isn't always enthusiastic.  This morning, though, I walked into the class with excitement about the lesson, and excitement about what little inspiring thing I might get out of the class.  (After last week, I've kind of been looking for that stuff everywhere, and I'm kind of finding it!)  I LOVED the lesson today.  This particular teacher's style is still a little less than appealing for me, but today it didn't matter.  The material that he brought was so uplifting and so personally appropriate, that I didn't even think about all those other distractions.  



He based his entire lesson on this talk...Brad Wilcox BYU Devotional His Grace Is Sufficient

Here's part of it...

 ...there should never be just two options: perfection or giving up. When learning the piano, are the only options performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? No. Growth and development take time. Learning takes time. When we understand grace, we understand that God is long-suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives. When we understand grace, we understand that the blessings of Christ’s Atonement are continuous and His strength is perfect in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). When we understand grace, we can, as it says in the Doctrine and Covenants, “continue in patience until [we] are perfected” (D&C 67:13).

See...personally appropriate.  And Brad Wilcox doesn't even KNOW me!?  But guess what!  Heavenly Father does.  He knows what I need to hear.  He knows what will move me to do something different than I've done before.  He knows my weaknesses.  And even better than that...he knows my strengths.  Even when all I see is failure, He sees potential and the ability to change.  I loved today's lesson.  And I loved that talk even more the second and third and fourth time I read it.  It's exactly what I needed today, and what I will need to be reminded of a million more times in the future.     

The grace of Christ is sufficient—sufficient to cover our debt, sufficient to transform us, and sufficient to help us as long as that transformation process takes. The Book of Mormon teaches us to rely solely on “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8). As we do, we do not discover—as some Christians believe—that Christ requires nothing of us. Rather, we discover the reason He requires so much and the strength to do all He asks (see Philippians 4:13). Grace is not the absence of God’s high expectations. Grace is the presence of God’s power (see Luke 1:37).

Dragons

Last night, I made an announcement that I would be sleeping in until 10:00am this morning!   We had nothing planned until later in the afternoon (I thought), and it's Saturday.  Unfortunately, my internal clock didn't cooperate.  By 7:00am, I was wide awake, and the lists started running through my head.  There was no way I was getting back to sleep.  Finally, at 8:00, I gave in, put on my running shoes and went to my new favorite place to run...

...which also happens to be the site of the half marathon next January that I'm working toward.

It was a gorgeous day.  Aside from the fact that I was totally under dressed for 42 degree weather, I loved it!  And after about 15 minutes, I could no longer feel my hands, so it didn't matter if they were cold or not.  


So here's the thing about me...I'm notoriously quick to give up.  If something hurts, if it's too hard, if I don't think I can do it, I quit...and almost always it's too soon.  This morning I wanted to quit as soon as I stepped out of the car.  In fact, when I opened the garage door, I thought I might just try that sleeping thing one more time instead of staying outside.  But, instead of going back to bed, or getting back in my car, or cutting my 3.1 miles short somewhere, I stuck with it today.  Everything hurt at first...I don't love that.  My calves were screaming during just the first 2 minutes.  

But here's what I learned...if you stick with a hard thing long enough, it stops being hard.  (OK that may not apply to everything...but it applies to a lot of things.)  I kept going even though my hands were cold.  I kept going even though my legs felt like they were on fire.  I kept going even though the wind was blowing so hard in my face that I didn't actually think I was moving for awhile.  I kept going after 30 minutes when my feet started getting that tingly, falling asleep feeling that they always get.  And guess what!  I didn't die.  I finished 3.16 miles in under an hour.  And every mile was faster than the one before it.  (Yep, I know there were only three, but faster is better than slower.)  

So, it was a good start to the day.  I felt great.  I was ready for the day early, which was a great thing because that free morning turned out to not be quite as free as we all thought.  And then it sort of went downhill from there...a handful of disappointments and frustrations, way too much to do, and not enough stuff checked off all those lists in my head.  But I lived through those 3.1 miles and that was like one more tiny little dragon slayed.  And a tiny dragon is still a dragon.  On Monday morning, I'll get up and try to get another one.  I think those guys are starting to get a little nervous. 

 

 

University of Houston

It looks like we have a new college football team to follow.  This morning, our favorite wide receiver, Andrew Rodriguez, officially signed with the University of Houston, making us the newest Cougar fans.

http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/01/allen-wide-receiver-andrew-rodriguez-com.html

Because we love this family, and apparently it's mutual, we were invited to the Signing Ceremony at the Athletic Facility this morning.  

There were 38 athletes signing with multiple universities across the country.  Cameramen, reporters, coaches and family members swarmed all of them.

We were so honored to be included in the ceremony this morning and we are so proud of Andrew.  Looks like we'll be making a few road trips to HOU in the fall!  Go COUGS!

House Cleaning

BEWARE:  This post is evidence that I am a complete freak...in case you didn't already know that.

A few months ago, I saw a Groupon for 3 hours of housecleaning services for $30.  I purchased it with the intent of saving it for sometime in the future when I might need an extra set of hands to get ready for some major event.  I forgot to call in September before Mack's baptism.  And the parties we had over the holidays were way too spontaneous.  I knew any housecleaning service was probably going to be booked solid in December, so I didn't bother to call them then.  Earlier this month, when we knew the Grs were coming for a visit, I thought I would play my housekeeper card.  Unfortunately, you have to call at least a month in advance with these people because they maintain a pretty tightly packed schedule.  They weren't available anytime BEFORE the Grs came, but they did have some time on January 31st.  I don't foresee any major events happening in our home before April 1 when my Groupon expires, so I decided to go ahead and just schedule it for today.


I have NEVER had anyone come to my home to clean it.  I've always sort of felt like that was a luxury I just couldn't really justify, especially when I don't work.  And I don't really mind cleaning.  My house is usually pretty tidy except for the high traffic areas where those four little tornadoes spend most of their time.  
 
My strengths are surfaces, and organizing, though.  The counters and mirrors are almost always clean.  There's not a lot of clutter around.   If you opened any of my drawers or cabinets on any given day, you would find neat rows and stacks of things.  I always know where stuff is in my house and I rarely just throw things into a drawer.  Even the refrigerator is purged and cleaned on a fairly regular basis.   BUT...my weakness is DEEP CLEANING.  I can't stand to clean bathrooms, especially toilets.  And I'm not very good at cleaning the corners or behind the furniture.  My floors are regularly swept and vacuumed, but I can't remember the last time I cleaned the baseboards or the blinds.  The furniture is always dusted, but the ceiling fans and light fixtures have a layer of something that I never seem to get around to.  

So, my whole purpose for this cleaning experience is to have someone professionally DEEP clean the floors, the bathrooms, and the corners.  But, here's the part where I'm a freak...

I have spent the entire morning "prepping" my house for them to come and clean it.  I've straightened my room and the kids' rooms.  I've put away all the remains of breakfast, run the dishwasher, and unloaded it.  I changed the sheets on Mack's bed and put away all of his legos.  I've folded blankets and fluffed pillows.  And now that it's 11:00, and I still have 2 hours before they get here to CLEAN my house, I'm wondering what the heck I'm doing??  Why do I feel like I need to impress them?  I don't even know them!  It's not like I'm going to win any special prize if they come into my house and don't have anything to do!  I'm sure they've seen messy houses before.  And I'm pretty sure my house even on a messy day wouldn't be the messiest thing they've ever seen.  And if I have them for three whole hours, what are they going to do if I've already cleaned the whole house for them??  See...total freak!

But, the good thing is, that by 5pm today, after they leave, between my efforts and theirs, my house will be totally clean...even in the corners.  I'm not going to walk down the stairs tonight and see dust bunnies.  My kitchen floor won't have mysterious sticky places.  And the toilets and showers will look like they did when we moved in.  That's worth $30 and a little bit of neurotic behavior, right?  (I may just have to hit the DELETE button the next time that housecleaning offer comes up on Groupon.)

5pm Update:  Holy cow!  My house is GORGEOUS!!  Seriously!  You could EAT off the bathroom floors.  In fact, we might just DO THAT tonight!  Remember how I said I didn't think I would do this again?  Um...I might have changed my mind.  I could have these girls come EVERY month...just to do the hard stuff.  Just so that every now and then the house looks sparkly.  Hmmm...how can I work that into my grocery budget??