The Mathematics of Being Right

I love having discussions. I've always felt like I have wisdom to impart on anyone who would have the ears to hear me, and I love hearing how other opinions align with my own. When I come to conclusions about things, it's usually because I've thought things through carefully, leading me to the right answer.

I started thinking this morning, that life, and even individual cirumstances, can be compared to a math equation. (I know. Math has never been my strong suit. One could therefore argue that life isn't my strong suit either, but let's save that discussion for another day.) We (and by "we" I mean "I") tend to go through life comparing our answers to others' answers, after all, that's how a teacher knows whether or not a student understands a concept--by looking at the answer. If the answers aren't the same, then a mistake has been made somewhere along the way. The teacher then pinpoints the mistake and the correct conclusion can finally be formed. I've always had an inclination to play the role of teacher, and have thought of it as my place to inform or correct someone where possible, so they can have all the information they need to make the "correct" decision. (Though I think I've always maintained that people have a right to their opinion--even if their opinion is wrong. I would just view this as someone being mis-or under-informed. Hence, in need of my correction.)

While there is some validity to this analogy, I now realize that I was fundamentally off base. You see, not everyone is given the same equation in life. Suzy may have a square root thrown into her equation which will completely alter not only the way she works her equation, but also her results. She may get an answer that is completely opposite to mine. Dan may not only have a square root, but also some exponential inserted into his equation, making his answer different from either Suzy's or mine. Does that make anyone's answers wrong? Nope. It makes them all exactly right, according to their equations (and provided they worked the equation right, which is another discussion altogether).

It's so easy to make judgments on others' conclusions according to our own equation. In fact, this is almost always the case. You can see how this could be and IS a problem, especially for one like me who has a bad case of correctionitis.

Judgement comes as a natural result of needing to make decisions. Without being able to judge, we would have no ability to chose and therefore have no agency. Judgement is a good and necessary tool in this life, but as with everything else, Satan tries to use even good and necessary tools to his benefit. We are commanded to "Judge not, lest ye be judged." We are warned to refrain from making judgments about others, especially when we aren't privvy to all the details involved in someone else's life. At the same time we're commanded to "Judge ye therefore righteously." Some judgments must be made. The only way to judge righteously is to ask the Lord, and to rely on the Spirit to guide us in our attempts to come to correct conclusions. We are faced continually with decisions that require our good judgment. Only Christ knows what even the smallest of factors may be in each of our lives, guiding each of our decisions, so is it any wonder that "He inviteth all to come unto him"? How else can we possibly judge righteously?

SO, this judger has some work to do. Again. I'm still totally opinionated--don't see that changing much. But I hope that I can slow my judgment reactions by remembering that everyone's equation is different.

So, please, don't judge this judger.

Doe, a Deer...

Last night after the kids were in bed, Mike went out to see how the garden fared with our daily rainstorms this last week. On his way out the door, he was surprised to see a doe standing in the middle of the garden! For those of you who don't know where my house is, I live on a 4-lane highway, with a spectacular view of the freeway just behind the businesses across the street, which then rolls down onto Hill Air Force Base. How in the world a deer managed to get through the AFB, over the freeway, across the highway and into my garden is definitely beyond me! At most, our wildlife consists of ferral cats we see darting throught the field behind the vacant house next door, and we even had a duck take up residence at the mortuary earlier in the spring (until said cats found her, that is...), and of course we have lots of robins and paper wasps, but deer? Not in the 10 years we've been married have we seen one in Roy, let alone our yard.

Anyway, Mike yell-whispered to me that there was a deer in the garden, so I jumped up (I'll let you imagine that for a minute) to find my camera while he ran downstairs to get the kids. By the time we all converged on the deck, the deer had made it's way into the field to the north, and we could only catch glimpses of it from there. It finally jumped back through the neighboring yard and somehow avoided being hit by a car or two on the highway as it crossed the street and disappeared behind the loan store. Katie slept through the whole thing, but after finding out about it this morning said she needed "proof." Sign-seeker. Mike took her out to the garden to show her the hoofprints, which was enough to satisfy her, and Bridget just kept asking if it was a deer or a donkey we saw. A donkey certainly would've been more believeable, but these pictures do prove otherwise.

On Living my Dreams

Henry David Thoreau once said,
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined."

If someone would've asked me in high school, or even college, what I thought I'd be doing in 15-20 years, I confidently (though naiively) would've said I'd be raising my family. Well, here I am, living the life I thought I'd imagined--I only wish that imagination would've been a little more detailed, because I don't think I ever saw myself doing most of what I do now. That imagination has become a bit more detailed over the years, and has surprisingly revealed my love for gardening, and this dream I have to own acres and acres where my kids can run free and we can all pick raspberries and tomatoes together after riding horses through the open fields. I imagine the kids helping Mike build a treehouse in the monstrous oak in the far corner of our backyard, where we spend hours having tea parties, playing pirates, and reading stories until dark that spark even more imagination.

I think the first step toward realizing this dream has been in all the planning and work in the garden this year. I finally waddled out there this morning to document our progress over the last few weeks. This season has certainly been a learning experience for us, as this is really our first go at serious gardening and on such a large scale. There have been a few disappointments already, but I think all that can be put behind us with one bite of a juicy red ripe Paul Robeson (heirloom tomato) sometime in July!

Head Lettuce is looking beautiful right now, though I have yet to see any heads! We'll keep an eye on these over the next few weeks to make sure it doesn't get too hot to send them bolting befor we have a chance to harvest any. It's our first attempt at a head-type lettuce, so we'll see how we do.

The Red Norland potatoes are looking fantastic! One entire bed, with only a handful that didn't come up is pretty great to me. I wasn't sure if they'd actually grow, since they sat around in the open for nearly a month before the bed was ready to plant them in. In fact, some of the shriveled sprouts were a good 6-8 inches long and I thought they'd immediately die when placed in the ground. I'm glad I was wrong--that's not something I say very often...

These are the Russet Potatoes that we planted a couple of weeks after the reds. With the reds taking off the way they did, I was concerned that these wouldn't because of the opposite problem. They had only had a few days to sprout by the time we needed to plant them, so the tiny sprouts were only about 1/4 inch long. Again, I'm glad I was wrong. (For those of you keeping track, that's twice.)

And here are the Leaf Lettuce that we grew last year as well. These beautiful plants are "cut and come again" which means we'll be having lots of salads and sandwich greens until it gets too hot for them and they bolt, then we'll wait for it to cool down and plant some more! Two of these will actually become our lunch today...mmmmm. I've heard that lettuce is sweeter when you harvest it before the sun comes up, but I've yet to be up that early to test the theory.

These are unknown squash plants that are thriving in part of our compost pile. Don't ever let anyone tell you that compost doesn't make a difference because clearly, it does! These are the best looking plants we have in the garden right now & they aren't even in the garden!

This celery was planted earlier this week, but spent several weeks before that in a flat. I've never grown celery before, so we'll keep close track of it. So far, it seems to be surviving pretty well.

The carrots are planted between the peas and the beets. We've only lost a couple of plants, and the rest seems to be making it okay. I definitely want to plant more of these next year, though.

Our cabbage did not fare too well with the transplant, though thankfully we do a have a couple of them that survived.

Same with the broccoli and cauliflower. These definitely needed to be planted deeper, and possibly planted directly into the ground instead of transplanted. I've also noticed that something likes to eat the leaves, though I haven't seen the culprit yet. Hopefully we can still harvest a few stalks of each this year.

Ahhh, my beautiful Cylindra Beets! As opposed to the round, bulbous beets usually grown, these grow more like a carrot--long and thin-ish, so they take up less space in the garden. These should be ready to harvest fairly soon, and I'm very excited since I'm the only one around here who likes them! I want to try to use the greens this year, but I've never had them. Anyone got a good recipe for beet greens?

When my in-laws discovered we were planning such a large garden, they asked us to grow some tomatoes for them. (Apparently Wyoming is not a great gardening state!) These are the plants they brought us from the nursery-- Better Boy, Roma, Super Fantastic (sounds promising, right?), and four cherry tomatoes. So far, they're doing really well. We planted them in a different bed than our heirlooms, just so we could avoid any cross-pollination. May the best tomato win!

This is a shot across the four southern beds. Far bed is peas, carrots, beets, radishes and swiss chard; next is heirloom tomatoes and one lonely basil plant that actually survived (dill, parsely & cilantro were dead the day after we transplanted...sob); red norland potatoes; then onions, lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower & cabbage.

Every one of the asparagus plants came up this year! Yay! While they do look a bit like tumbleweeds, I can assure you they are not! I'm so looking forward to harvesting these next year...
First year with the onions too, but they are growing quite well, despite a few bald spots in the bed, where some didn't take. Next year we'll have garlic to grow along with them.

This may look like a patch of overgrown weeds, but it's actually our peas! The brown spots are where the cat decided to roll around, so I guess it's a good thing we planted so many. They are just now starting to flower and give us little pods, so by the time this baby gets here, we should be starting to harvest them.

Some of the things I've learned so far:

1. Growing in flats is great for some plants, but not necessarily for others. We'll sow lettuce, broccoli, caulifower, cabbage and herbs directly into the ground next year because I think they might do better without all the handling. We'll also directly sow peas and corn because holy cow it took a long time to transplant those peas, as opposed to poking a seed in the ground!!!

2. Be more careful to harden off plants before transplanting. Plants need to get acclimated to the outside weather before throwing them into the ground.

3. Plant immediately after digging the beds to avoid having to pull weeds again. This probably would've been done if Mike had me to help, as opposed to eight little "helping" hands.

4. Plant at the right depth, which is usually much deeper than you think.

All in all, I'm very optomistic about our harvest this year. Even though things haven't always gone as planned, every failure gives me an opportunity to learn more about how to be successful, and I'm pretty determined to be so. Right now I'm left with a feeling that I may not exactly be living the life I've imagined, but growing a garden is the first step in going confidently in that direction.

In the Good Ol' Summertime!

As I was searching for some good ideas to keep the kiddos (and therefore myself) sane this summer, I came across this blog w/ some pretty good ideas that I thought I'd share.

http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2008/06/oh-what-do-you-do-in-summertime.html

While keeping to a schedule during the summer is unthinkable for some, it's a necessity for our family! I haven't had the chance to sit down and work out my schedule yet, since a lot of that is pending the temperment of the new baby, but there are a few things that are mandatory on a daily basis.

1. Family prayer (am & pm)
2. Family scripture study
3. Exercise
4. Chores
5. Quiet time

On a weekly basis, we'll continue to have Library Day, which in my opinion is totally mandatory! Most local libraries have a kids' program, where they read stories, sing songs, and do a craft. Ours has a summer reading program with weekly prizes. They also have some great computer programs that my kids love to play, and we load up on books for "Quiet Time" for the week. It was by far the biggest success of last summer, and I'm really looking forward to it again.

Like I said, the rest of the schedule is pending, but I look forward to figuring it all out! If anyone else has some other resources, please do share!

More on Mommydom

WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...

WARNING...WARNING

This is a LONG and somewhat boring post, but one I had to write for posterity. Should you choose not to actually read it, I just ask you to skip to the bottom and follow the link to a great post I found that

EVERY mom should read.

_________________________________________________________________________________

So, anyone who's ever been pregnant knows that during this "miraculous" time, some things just get pushed aside and even downright neglected--including other children and the discipline of them. No more has this been evident to me than at this time and during this pregnancy. Tonight Mike was away working a viewing, so I was left to my own devices with the kiddos.



Even under normal circumstances (the unpregnant-, fully medicated-type), this is not a fun task for me. By dinnertime, I've lost all patience and it becomes a minute-by-minute endurance test until that magical 8:00 hour.

However, my three-year-old decided that tonight was the night to see just how much she could get away with, resulting in a magical 7:00 hour bedtime for her. What did she do, you ask? After flinging mud at everyone in the backyard, I told her that she was no longer allowed to play outside. She threw a fit, which I expected, then defiantly went right back out the door. I laboriously pulled myself up off the couch and onto wobbly legs, due to some lovely reccurring sciatica, and entered the backyard to physically bring the child into the house. Fortunately for her, she's quick in both body and mind, so she climbed up the slide where she knew I couldn't reach her, mocking me with the glint in her eye and smirk on her face. Knowing she had the upper-hand, I threatened to put her straight to bed if I had to climb the slide to get her, and she reluctantly (and surprisingly) came down. I then carried her into the house, lucky my legs didn't give out on me as she kicked and screamed the whole way in. Did I mention Mike was working a VIEWING next door???

Anyway, I brought her into the house and once again told her that she was done playing outside and had to stay in for the rest of the night. She gets it now, right? She now knows that Mom will actually wobble outside to pick her up and take her back in if she does it again, right? That is, of course, if Mom SEES her...next thing I know the older girls are telling me that Bridget is out throwing mud again. How? I was sitting right here by the door! How did she manage to slip by without me noticing? The little turkey pretended to be going downstairs, when in fact, she went out the back door and into the backyard through the gate that Mike continues to leave unlocked for his own convenience! (But that's another story.) Once again, I waddled outside, somehow managed to wrangle her out of the LittleTykes play cube thingy, and brought her back into the house. This time, I FOLLOWED her downstairs, all the while threatening an early bedtime if it happened again.

After taking up my reserved place back on the couch for all of a minute & a half, I was once again met with the sound of Bridget playing in the backyard. Ahhh....the straw that broke the camel's back. With all the grace of a newborn giraffe, I put it into 2nd gear and "ran" outside to gather her once again. This time I marched her to the bathroom, threw her pajamas at her, and then marched her down to her bedroom. On the way she asked, "Where you taking me, Mommy?" to which I replied, "To bed!" "No, Mommy, please no!" she cried, as I slammed her door shut, then held the doorknob so she couldn't open the door.

I was beginning to feel so victorious! I can outlast her. She'll fall asleep eventually. That'll teach her to disobey...yet again. As the pounding on the door finally stopped, I heard a quiet little voice retreating to her bed say through her sobs, "It's okay, Bridget, don't cry. Be happy!"

Oh, crap. Have I really turned into that mom who sings "Happy Family" every night with her children and husband, but secretly despises most of what she does as a parent? I thankfully happened upon this article as I wallowed in my terrible mothering moment. Not that I thought she didn't need to go to bed, but I realized that her disobedience can be correlated to my inconsistancy in discipline lately, so I'm just as responsible as she is.

Does that mean I get to go to bed early too?

Single Parenting...Not for the tired and pregnant!

One down, eternity to go. At least that's how it feels. Today was our first attempt at a fatherless Sacrament Meeting (although Mike was on the stand), and I must say, it was all I had imagined it to be. Despite my best efforts to contain our children in our usual corner spot on the back row, Bridget kept climbing under our bench, exchanging crayons with an unknown accomplice under the divider curtain. Twice she nearly got free from the confines of our seating (which thankfully we avoided due to my stealthy maneuvering--yeah, I'm sure you can picture it), and for most of the meeting, she insisted on being my stylist "quietly" psh, psh, pshing her pretend hairspray and running her fingers through my already done coif. Unfortunately for my hair, it was the only thing that kept her from drawing the attention of the entire congregation to our little corner of the chapel.

Then, as if one child pushing my buttons wasn't enough, I had to continually "shush" Brooke and Katie, giving them a Mom crusty, as they loudly discussed which colors to use on the My Little Pony coloring book, which tended to result in an argument when one of them used the "wrong color pink" on Pinkie Pie.

And don't think Maggie wasn't in on the conspiracy to watch Mom lose it midway through the hour. She threw her own little tantrum when I made her put her pencils, crayons & papers away after witnessing a near-double stabbing of Katie and Brooke with her pencil. She even resorted to crawling under the bench like a two-year-old, and in the process completely messed up her hair that I spent precious time working on this morning. Fine. Go to Primary with crazy hair and a wrinkled dress. Let them think I don't care, because quite frankly at this point, I don't.

I kept thinking that if I can just endure a couple of more weeks, I won't be trying to do acrobatics while sporting a contraction that I SWEAR lasted the entire meeting. Of course, then I'll just be doing those same acrobatics with a child attached to my boob. Either way, I can't express the relief I felt after the final Amen was said, and Mike showed up like a knight in shining armor to take the children away. Didn't matter where, just away.

Next week my strategy will be to not try to listen to the speakers. Then I won't be disappointed when I can't even remember who got up to speak...

To Move or Not to Move

Mike and I have been debating for a while whether or not it was time to leave the mortuary. We've been living here for 8 years now, and it has truly been a great blessing. Being here has allowed us both to finish school, and to start our business without the additional financial stress of rent or a mortgage. Our home has been big enough to fit us all (so far...), and we have an abundant amount of space for our garden. I'll admit that the phone ringing in the middle of the night to take Mike away on calls has not been fun, especially when he gets more than one in a night, but the benefits have generally outweighed the disadvantages.

We started getting some subtle hints a few months ago that made us begin to think that maybe we ought to look at other options. Comments made, such as, "The mortuary is no longer going to hire couples with children." "How long have you been living there?" "Are you sure there's enough room in that little house for all of you?" "We need you to get rid of your cat (the one we got last summer to deal with the mice situation around here) because it may sneak into the mortuary and eat the nose and ears off of the deceased." (I'm SO NOT KIDDING about the cat comment, but I'm not going to get into it for now.)

Anyway, because our business was only started up last year, and because work has been fairly slow since Thanksgiving, we knew that a mortgage was not an option yet, but I went out looking for rentals in the area of the girls' charter school. I found a couple of decent options for us for the short-term, but began to get really frustrated that I wasn't feeling one way or the other whether or not we should in fact, move. Mike was having the same frustrations, even after praying and fasting. It seemed odd to both of us that the Lord wouldn't offer direction in what seemed like a MAJOR life decision.

The following Sunday, Mike was in the hallway between classes and the Stake President approached him, asking if he could talk with him for a minute. They went in a room and Pres. Saviano began to give him a pre-interview interview. He told him that he was not there to give him a calling, but that there were some stake callings that needed to be filled and he was just talking with people in the different wards to get a feel for who might fit well into those positions. The next Sunday, Pres. Saviano was again visiting our ward and asked Mike if he could visit with the both of us that week. We were pretty sure that the call was coming for Mike to be the Stake Athletic Director, or possibly in the Stake YM Presidency. When we got to the interview and he asked to speak with each of us individually, we knew it was definitely something different... When Pres. Saviano asked Mike to accept the call from the Lord to serve on the Stake High Council, we were both a little stunned and completely humbled. The Lord certainly answers prayers in strange ways.

Who knew that the answer to our question of whether or not to move would come in the form of a calling? We sure didn't see it coming. I think we can stick it out here at the mortuary for a couple of more years while Mike serves in this new capacity. Maybe by then we'll be ready for that mortgage.

Things I will and will NOT miss...

I was thinking about a song by Trace Adkins yesterday entitled, You're Gonna Miss This. It's about not taking for granted the experiences you're having now in the hopes of things being better in the future, especially when it comes to your children.

I've been told so often I can't begin to count the number of times, (usually amidst my complaining) that I should love every minute of being a mother because "they just grow up too fast." Well, as much as I would like to think that's absolutely true, I've discovered that there are some things that I absolutely WILL NOT miss (this list is obviously not all inclusive):



1. Climbing into a crumb-filled bed where someone has decided it's the only "safe" place to consume their pirated loot without anyone finding out.

2. Discovering that the slimy mess I feel squishing through my toes is actually banana that someone has dropped and LEFT on the floor for me to smush into the rug, and consequently add to my list of things I have to clean up. (I know, I should be grateful it's just a banana.)

3. Struggling to bend over my protruding belly for the fifteenth time to pick up a pair of dirty socks left on the floor, only to hear (in the whiniest voice possible), "Mom! I can't find my socks!" approximately 30 seconds later.

4. Having my newly potty-trained 3-year-old decide that stopping to come inside to use the toilet is just too inconvenient, and that continuing to play in soiled pants is perfecty acceptable, and is actually not too uncomfortable.

5. Trying to convince said 3-year-old that the sacrament is not a MEAL and that she can only take ONE piece of bread--preferrably the first one she touches...

6. Everything about being pregnant.

7. Repeating myself.

8. Changing up the back, out the legs, in the hair, on the floor, on my pants, blowout diapers.

9. Being told one night that I'm the greatest cook in the world and the next night being asked why I can't cook like The Burger King.

10. WHINING--need I say more?


Just to make sure this is a fair and balanced post, I'm perfectly aware that there are things I will deeply miss, and some that I already do. Again, a list that is NOT all inclusive:


1. Words. Tortiyaya=tortilla; ashleyes=eyelashes; pizzzpa=pizza; lasterday=yesterday; menember=remember.

2. Little arms wrapping around my neck to give me a hug for no apparent reason.

3. After putting make up on and getting my hair done for church (usually the only day it happens...), having the girls look at me with wide eyes, saying, "Mom! What happened to you? You look beautiful!"

4. Listening to them sing "I Want to Be Kind" to each other after they get in trouble for fighting, then watching them hug and run off playing together as if nothing had happened.

5. Hearing them include in their prayers a plea that the cat won't get eaten by anything while she stays outside for the night.

6. Their first time reading a book by themselves.

7. Their knock-knock jokes that make no sense, but that they laugh hysterically at themselves for coming up with.

8. Holding a sad or discouraged child in my arms, knowing that soon I won't be their first choice for consolation.

9. Having the girls fight over who gets to kneel by me for family prayer, or sit next to me during sacrament meeting, or be on my team for playing games...ok, they'll always fight to be on my team--everyone does.

10. Hearing, "Good Night, I love you!" every night.


All-in-all, I love being a mom. I'm completely aware that I don't even understand most of what I will miss about having my little ones around me. I try to think about that when I'm trying to avoid stepping on them as they "help" in the kitchen, or when they defiantly tell me "no" for the 112th time that day.

I have three things to say to my mom in light of my experiences in mommydom so far:

1. I'm sorry!
2. I appreciate you!
3. I love you!

I think that about covers it....

Basketball Analogy

I've felt impressed to write about something we discussed in Relief Society yesterday. The question was posed, "Why do we need adversity in our lives?" I started thinking about basketball. (I know, sports analogies are usually left to the Elder's Quorum, but stay with me.) I think life is a little like basketball. We practice dribbling, shooting, passing, running plays, and defensive strategies so that we can become better at each skill, and a develop into a better player in general. If all we ever did was practice, what good would that do? We need to actually come against an opponent to test our skills and know what we need to work on in order to advance, and therefore be in a better position to win the next game.
In life, we spend each day "practicing" such skills as obedience, communication, compassion, faith, etc. But in order for us to progress, we need to come against an opponent to test our skills so that we know where we are and what we need to work on. The trials that come into our lives are just such an opponent, and by evaluating our performance within and at the outcome of each trial, we can know on what skills or characteristics our time should be spent "practicing."
For anyone who has played basketball before, you know that emotions can run high, effecting performances and ultimately the outcome of a game. Same thing in life! If we allow them, our emotions can hinder our ability to see clearly the big picture and stop working in areas that need the most attention, or cause us to give up altogether.
I guess my point is that we can be in control of our "game" as long as we take the time to put the right kind of practice in beforehand.

You spin me right-round, baby!

Labyrinthitis.

Oh, joy. Like I don't have a hard enough time bending over already, now I get to deal with vertigo, too! It started Saturday morning & when it hadn't subsided by this morning, I called my OB to make sure I wasn't having a brain aneurysm...that would've been a bummer. Instead I was told it was probably just a deep inner ear infection. Upon further investigation (thank you, WebMD), I was able to find a prognosis--labrynthitis--a viral infection occurring a few weeks after an upper-respiratory infection or the flu. Haven't had the flu for years, but I did have a nasty upper-respiratory bout a couple of weeks ago. Yay me. The kicker is, "the vertigo may last for several weeks" and "antibiotics rarely work, since it's usually caused by a virus." I can just imagine how fun it will be when the room is still spinning as I'm giving birth in June. So much for helping Mike in the garden for the next couple of weeks, unless of course, puke makes good compost...

Maggie the Librarian

Maggie has been learning all about the life of a librarian for the last couple of months, doing research on the internet, typing up reports, creating an artistic representation of her career, and presenting her findings to her class and all the parents, along with a little Q & A. All this in 2nd grade!

First of all, I've been so impressed with her school, North Davis Preparatory Academy, and her teacher, Mrs. Coleman, because of the way they approach every subject in an all-encompassing way. This whole project is actually for a GEOGRAPHY unit, and yet it included language arts, art, math (graphing), public speaking, & research methods. It seems as though the kids learn so much better with this sort of three-dimensional way of teaching.




Second of all, I've been MORE than impressed with my girl, Maggie. She worked so hard on this project and did so well with her presentation! It wasn't until I became an adult that I got really comfortable with public speaking, but Maggie just loves being the center of attention, and has even spoken in Sacrament Meeting already at the tender age of 7. (After which she asked, "Can I do that again next week?")




She's growing up so fast, and is not only meeting, but surpassing all our expectations and hopes for her. While I'm thrilled that school is going so well for her--she's already passed all her 2nd grade benchmarks--I'm even more thrilled that she's becoming a kind and compassionate friend, who is always looking to befriend an outsider. She's a big help to me at home, with my lack of energy due to this pregnancy, and has taken over the vacuuming and has taught herself to do laundry. Of course, I still get to fold it and put it away, but the good news is that I'm slowly learning to relinquish control over SOME things.

Maggie, you are such an amazing girl & I'm so glad you and your happy smile were sent to our family! I love you, Maggers!

One Down, Eight to Go!

"Population will increase rapidly, more rapidly than in former times,

and 'ere long the most valuable of all arts

will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil."

--Abraham Lincoln

So this is the beast we've been trying to tame for the last few months. I wish I'd taken pictures before it got cleared out so that I (and you) could see the progress we've made, but this gives an idea of the workload we have ahead of us! There are a total of 9--100 sq. ft. beds that we're getting ready to plant for the spring & summer. Our plan is to harvest enough food to feed our family for an entire year, but truthfully, if we get 6 months' worth, I'll be terribly happy! Mike and I have grown a garden for several years now, but this is our first attempt at something on this grand of a scale. Frankly, I don't doubt that we'll get a great harvest, but what I do worry about is the work it will take to preserve it all...and where in the world we'll store it! We've actually talked about digging a hole under the deck, and putting in an old chest freezer to use as a root cellar for the winter. Since our house is so small and practically every square inch is already occupied, we figured this may be a good solution.

Brooke (6) standing in the middle of what I hope will be lush green very soon, with Mike and the rest of the girls in the background working on the first of 9 beds. This is where we'll be planting our asparagus and strawberries as soon as the snow is gone next week--yes, I said snow.
Maggie (almost 8) helped by raking in compost as Mike loosened the soil. I'm truly surprised that she worked the entire bed, but we're so glad the girls have developed such an interest in gardening already. Whenever we're we're out there, they come along with their little trowels asking if they can dig out the rocks and play with the worms! (Mike is completely thrilled by the prospect of having girls that like worms...can you say "fishing buddy"?)

And here's the man himself, after unloading a truckful of compost. We figured one load would be enough...dun dun dun...yeah, enough for only 3 of the beds. Poor guy. Good thing he's not too out of shape...

One down, 8 to go! This one little bed took us about 6 hours to prepare completely on Saturday. That's double digging (A method used to aerate the soil a full 2 feet down for better root penetration & therefore happier, more productive plants!), composting, fertilizing as well as weeding and removing rocks. What a lot of work! Now that we've figured out what exactly needs to be done and how to do it most efficiently, we think we can cut at least an hour's time off each of the rest of them...that means only 40 hours of work left to get the garden prepared! I hope our backs can take it. Isn't it pretty, though?

Is It, or Isn't It Spring?

I'm still here, and my life still revolves around carpooling, cleaning and gardening. If it wasn't for the darn snow we got yesterday, I may have been able to do some soil testing, but at least I got one of my seed shelves up in the "multi-purpose room." I still have to buy the lights & rig it all up, but it looks as if I may have overestimated the number of flats I would need--YAY! Because of the different planting & transplanting times, I may be able to get away with just one shelf--two at the most! I'm very excited to start planting my seeds in 2 weeks because then I'll feel like I've actually started, even though I've been working for weeks already.

Okay, no more garden talk....umm...Brooke has her school play on Thursday this week. She gets to be a cowboy and do both a square dance and a line dance. She's so excited that she wears her boots everywhere and is always dancing and singing her Spanish songs. It will be fun to watch these Kindergarteners speak Spanglish!

Maggie has her Job Fair this week. Her career is Librarian, and she's having a blast with it. Mike went to her oral presentation in class today, and said she did a great job, though you could tell she was nervous. They use this one as a practice, and next week the parents are all invited to watch the presentations. Mike helped her build a bookshelf for her art project, then I held the stencils while she painted. She did do a little free-hand, which I had to just let go of and be okay with--not my strongest character trait...

As for me, I've hit that "not sleeping at all" point in my pregnancy, so I'm exhausted daily. It's such a pain when there's so much to do and I have to keep taking a break to rest. I started cleaning the living room at about 3 hours ago and though I've made a small dent, there's stll much to be done. Normally, I'd bust through it in about 45 minutes. Can't wait for my mother-in-law to come when I have this baby so she can hold him while I clean! I know, seems like it should be me holding the little guy, but I LOVE the energy I reclaim after giving birth, and I can finally feel accomplished again! Three more months--I might be able to wait...

Change of Pace

So, it's official. The days of buying 4 pink dresses, 4 Barbies, 4 My Little Ponies and 4 of anything princess, HSM or Hannah Montana will forever be altered by what the ultrasound revealed to us last week.

B-O-Y

I'm not sure I even spelled it right, it's been a not-oft-mentioned word in this house for the last 8 years. As you can imagine, Mike's reaction was one of complete TRIUMPH, as he raised his fists victoriously in the air (as if he was Rocky finally making it to the top of those ominous stairs) and exclaimed, "I CAN do it!" Then, afraid it could all just be the unreachable dream, he continued to ask me if I was "sure."



Mike, "Are you SURE it's a boy?"

Amanda, "Yes, Honey, I'm sure."

Mike, "Are you SURE the doctor said BOY?"

Amanda, "Yes, Dear, she said it's 100% boy."

Mike, "So there's NO doubt that it's a boy?"

Amanda, "I think that's what 100% means."

Mike, "So there's not even a CHANCE it's a girl?"

Amanda, "If there was a chance, she would've said 99% or less."

Mike, "So we're REALLY having a boy?"

Amanda, "No, Honey, it's twin girls--good luck with that."

Three hours later....

Mike, "It really IS a boy?"



I don't think he'll really be convinced until this little guy is actually born on June 19th. He's already told me that the first thing he's getting for him will be a Laker's onesie--except that I cheer AGAINST the Lakers, no matter who they're playing, and I'm the one who'll be dressing our little man, so you figure that one out!

I'm still a little shocked and unsure of how this little boy will fit into our family. It's been so easy so far--same toys, same clothes, same movies. No wrestling, video games, light sabers, or fighting over Saturday morning cartoons (sorry you never got to watch He-Man or Transformers in your houseful of sisters, John David), which I have to admit has been REALLY nice! I guess the Lord thinks we're ready for little Dixon or Eli or Ace or Jack, or whatever his name ends up being. But no matter what reservations we may have, we're grateful for this new adventure in our lives. We're grateful that Mike will have a son to pass his name on to, and we're grateful our girls will know the joy of having a brother--though it may be a few years down the road before they feel the same!

All I can say is--Change, it is a-comin'!

Goodbye, Hello!

It's certainly been an interesting month. Having John David and the girls here and visiting with Mom & Dad & Julianne & her family was so great, though I'm now utterly exhausted. I wish we lived closer together as to avoid these kinds of marathon visits, which tend to wear on everyone. We spent our days shopping, which included about 3 trips to the grocery store per day on average, since no one could seem to get it together enough to compile just ONE list! Maybe that had something to do with the 16 kids cooped up in the house for the week with nothing to do but harrass each other and remind us of how bored they were. There were a few setbacks, including a nasty storm 2 days before Christmas, which thwarted our attempts to travel to Salt Lake. We missed out on the lights at Temple Square, going to the Planetarium, my roommate reunion, and a photo shoot for Julianne's family. (I'm SO sorry, Heather! They'll be back at the end of summer--maybe we can try again then!) We also had some sick monkeys, which thankfully got over it quickly, because Christmas morning was sure fun for all of us! You can just imagine these 16 kids all tearing into their presents at once, (not to mention the 9 adults) squealing with delight at whatever they had received. It made all the madness somehow worth it.
Now life is getting back to "normal." At least it will be, starting Monday when the girls go back to school. I can tell they're getting bored being at home because the arguing has escalated in the last couple of days. It will be good for them, and me, to get back on schedule.
I'm grateful to have another year laid out in front of me like a blank slate waiting for me to write the next chapters of my life. I think I've inherited some of my Dad's cynicism because by the end of every year, I just can't wait to close the chapter on all my failures and start all over again. I hope to be more optomistic this year. Not that I think life will get any easier for any of us, but because I'm putting my trust in the Lord more than ever before. I think that's the best any of us can do as we face a time foretold by prophets, ancient and modern. Because of that, I'm truly excited for the opportunity to teach the Doctrine & Covenants this year. Teaching has given me a new thirst for learning, and the more I learn about the gospel, the more I realize I don't know nothin'! (Which, of course, only makes me eager to learn it all!)
Yes, 2009 is going to be full of challenges, trials, & adversity (I told you I was cynical...), but I will continue to cling to the hope that I will rise to my challenges, grow from my trials and overcome all adversity that will most assuredly crowd my path. I hope I've learned from this last year, that as much as I hate to admit it, I can't make it on my own, and that it is painful to even try!

The Madness Has Begun!

I had intended on writing at least a couple of times a week, but I'll just blame my inconsistency on the holidays for now, since we've already had family with us for Christmas for the last week! John David flew from Germany, picked up Cami and Isabelle in Texas, then flew with them to Utah last Sunday. It's been so nice spending time with my brother, as it's been quite some time since we've been able to really catch up. My girls are LOVING having their cousins here, too! They all get along really well--at least for this first week--we'll see how worn down they get in the next two!!! I'm excited to get the rest of the family here on Saturday. THANKFULLY , they'll be staying with Meredith since having 9 people in here is already making our tiny house bulge at the seams!
I really should be taking advantage of everyone being at school and out shopping, and clean my house before they all get back. There's now toothpaste in places I never knew existed, and seriously, who knew milk could superglue cheerios to the kitchen floor? I've already told the rest of my family that I can't guarantee what I clean today will stay that way by the time they all get here, and until my children learn how to fold laundry, clean the dishes and mop the floor WITHOUT me having to redo it, they'll just have to be satisfied with what I get around to doing!!!

Halloween Rant

As much as my kids love our ward's Annual Trunk-or-Treat, I'm not sure that I want to return again next year. For at least the last 10 years, we do a soup/stew/chili potluck, then let the kids have at it in the parking lot to fill their buckets with goodies. The problem is, any semblance of order has devolved into complete chaos in the last couple of years! I understand that kids need to be kids, but is it naive of me to assume that parents have taught their children that dodging in and out of pews in the chapel dressed as a SATAN is not exactly appropriate? Am I wrong to think that parents who are members of the church will not allow their children to wear a mask in the building? Am I wrong to think that parents have taught their children (and themselves!)to have manners, and wait for everyone to get their food before going to get seconds...or thirds...or fourths? Is it naive to assume that parents will have taught their children not to knock over small children in an attempt to run through the trunk-or-treat line for the eighteenth time??? Maybe it's just me and my "High Ideals", but I think parents have really dropped the ball, and in my humble opinion, are simply not doing their job! It's just plain disrespectful, and my children are learning that this behavior is acceptable! Is it just me or do some of you feel the same way? In any case, it's a good thing I have a whole year to decide whether or not to go again--maybe I will have forgotten this big mess by then, then again, maybe I won't....