Growing Up!

Landon had high school orientation this week! Technically he's already in high school because he is in 9th grade, but it's like baby stepping into high school because 9th grade is still part of the junior high in Utah (I hate that, I think kids should get the full 4 year high school experience). 

Oh my goodness, driver's ed! We have another 3 months until Landon turns 15 so we've got a little while before he can learn to drive and start practicing. I am excited for him (because I remember how excited I was for me to reach this milestone) but nervous as his mother of course.

We wandered the halls for awhile to check the place out (we're clueless), and I really liked reading all the quotes they had on the walls. I love inspirational quotes and wish we had more of them on the walls at the junior high.

Symbolic photo no?

I love this guy so much and am so excited for him to have a great high school experience. I am one of the lucky ones who loved high school, so I have nothing but excitement for him. Of course, his high school is about 3 times larger than the one I went to, so his experience will be totally his own.

Bumpy Ride

We took Whitney to the 6th grade open house at the junior this week. Randy and I were excited for her but found out right away that she was not. As soon as we got out of the car and I asked her to pose for a picture in front of the sign things got weird. I didn't fight it, I just got her to agree that we could take a photo on the way out instead.

It was really well organized, and I've been seeing these signs around the school for a month so it was nice to finally have the event here.

They had student council members greeting the kids and giving them these papers as they walked in; Whitney immediately handed them to me (what the?!)

 I chalked up her hesitation to junior high jitters and moved forward with a perplexed look on my face.

She got to try opening a locker, which proved tricky for her left-handed ways (she naturally wanted to start by going left instead of right) but she got it on her 3rd try.

Despite the smile on her face in this picture she was NOT keen on having to get her TDAP booster shot. I was thrilled though because it means one less thing to do later.

After a little bit more wandering around and some visiting with some of my co-workers (aka her future teachers) there were some tears (on her part) and dismay (on mine and Randy's) we decided we were done.

She reluctantly posed for this photo on the way out, then suggested we pick up something for dinner, then made a miraculous recovery and was pleasant the rest of the night. Good Hell!

Sunday Thoughts

Several weeks ago we had a Relief Society Lesson about Love, and it was taught by a sister who is a therapist (I've mentioned her before) so her lessons are taught from that perspective and are very interesting.

She asked us to ask ourselves,  

"How do I show up in my family?" 

"What are my roles 

and how do I fulfill them?" 

We are daughters, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, cousins, friends, wives, aunts, step mothers, great grandmothers and so on, but how do we love in those roles? Are we a source of support, love, guidance and nurture or are we critical, withholding, enabling and rude?

• We need to be consciously doing our part, not just checking things off the list (i.e., prayer, scripture study, Family Home Evening, serving our families and so on).
• Get clear about how you define love in your family (interesting thought isn't it?).
• Why did God establish eternal families? To teach us how to love; having children helps us become more like God. (But it's an incredibly slow process for some of us!)
• There are lots of ways to express love.
• How do we teach this concept of family and love?
• How do we teach our children? Example is the best way to teach them.
• The adversary doesn't take a day off and he is constantly attacking the family.
• Families can be together forever. Can is an action word, we need to our part to have an eternal family.

**Thoughts??**

Sunday Thoughts

Remember a few months ago when Michelle, Kristi and I went to Women's Conference? Our favorite talk was Sister Beck's talk from the opening session at the Marriott Center. It was so powerful that it set the tone for the entire conference and had us oozing with the Spirit for the entire week afterward (I really miss feeling that way and I wish I could get that back).

I have already blogged about how she spoke of Essentials, Necessities and Nice-to-Do's, but this is another part of the talk that really spoke to me.


"I have said lately that women are like lionesses at the gate of the home. Whatever happens in that home and family happens because she cares about it and it matters to her. She guards that gate, and things matter to that family if they matter to her. For example, if the lioness at the gate believes in the law of tithing, tithing will be paid in that family. If that family has a humble little portion of ten pesos coming in, that lioness will safeguard the one peso if tithing is important to her. If that lioness at the gate knows about renewing her baptismal covenants with God, she will be in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and she will prepare her children to be there. They will be washed, cleaned, combed, and taught about that meeting and what happens there. It isn’t a casual event, but it is serious to her, and it will be serious to them. The lioness at the gate ensures that temple worship is taken care of in the family. She encourages that participation. She cares about seeking after her ancestors. If the lioness at the gate knows about and understands missions, missionaries, and the mission of the house of Israel, she will prepare future missionaries to go out from that home. It is very difficult to get a lion cub away from a lioness who doesn’t believe in missions, but if the lioness believes in a mission, she will devote her life to preparing the cub to go out and serve the Lord. That’s how important she is. Service happens if she cares about it.

Sisters, you are each like the lioness at the gate. This means that there has to be some prioritizing. I was taught years ago that when our priorities are out of order, we lose power. If we need power and influence to carry out our mission, then our priorities have to be straight." --Sister Beck (Here is a link to the entire talk)

Oh how I love the imagery of this! I think this is so true, and though it annoys me that so much depends on us as women, I also know that we are highly capable and have a way of making things happen.

It's really noticeable if you stop and think about it. Just think about someone you know who lets things that are important to you slide (i.e., cleaning, disciplining their children, FHE, scripture study, making meals etc.). If it's something we're good at doing then we think it's easy and obvious what they need to do to make these things happen. But as women and mothers we should be stretching ourselves to improve in our weak areas because it will benefit our families. I have many areas that need improvement, and when I think of myself as a lioness at the gate guarding my household from the traps of the world the need to improve feels urgent.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Isn't crazy how quickly Sunday comes around each week? But I'm always relieved to have this day to relax, regroup spiritually and recommit to doing better in the coming week.

Sunday Thoughts

I originally posted these thoughts from President Benson back in September 2007 when Randy and I were taking the Marriage and Family Class at church, but I want to revisit them for Mother's Day today.

1. Take time to always be at the crossroads in the lives of your children, whether they be six or sixteen.

I have made a more conscious effort to be at the crossroads for my kids, especially when they're leaving for and returning from school each day. I love it that if Amie and I are talking to each other on the phone when she goes to pick up her kids, I can say "you're at the crossroads, I'll talk to you later" and we're both good with that.

2. Take time to be a real friend to your children.

I can see how this gets easier to do as the kids get older and can carry on a real conversation. I have to reign in my anxiety about them turning into teenagers and remember to relax and enjoy them as people instead of always trying remind them of something or teach them a lesson.

3. Take time to read to your children.

Whitney still likes to do this, Landon not as much; though if he's trying to prolong his bedtime he does enjoy hanging out in the cozy with me.

4. Take time to pray with your children.

We pray as a family morning and night, and it has been wonderful to hear their prayers become more thoughtful as they grow older.

5. Take time to have a meaningful weekly home evening. Make this one of your great family traditions.

I am so happy that this has become one of our great traditions. We have Family Home Evening every Sunday night, and then usually do a family activity on Mondays for Family Fun Night. The kids have been so receptive to both ideas, and I'm always surprised by how much fun it is when we're all together.

6. Take time to be together at mealtimes as often as possible.

This is my Achilles Heel! I don't know why making dinner is such torture for me, but it is. I am actively working to be better about this because I know how important it is for us to have that time around the table together each day.

7. Take time daily to read the scriptures together as a family.

We read from the Book of Mormon every morning before Randy leaves for work.

8. Take time to do things together as a family.

We play football in the yard, play SingStar together in the evenings, read alone-together on our bed, watch movies, and hang out regularly together.

9. Take time to teach your children.

This seems to happen naturally for us, but I think there are more life-skills things we need to be teaching them. 

10. Take time to truly love your children. A mother’s unqualified love approaches Christlike love.

I tell them I love them multiple times a day, and I try to show them through my actions. I don't ever want them to question my love for them.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

**Thoughts??**

Sunday Thoughts--I'm Back

It feels like I haven't blogged in ages, but it has only been 3 days. I guess that's what happens when a habit has finally taken root and then can't be done for a bit...interesting (at least to me).

{I took this picture this morning.}

Michelle, Kristi and I had a great couple of days at Women's Conference (which will be blogged about later) and all came away feeling recommitted to being the best we can be. I need to review my notes, but the overall message I came away with was that I need to live and parent with intention (more on this later).

One of the testimonies shared at church today goes along with my feelings from Women's Conference. Here is the gist of what was said, It's one thing to say the words, but it's quite another thing to live your life in harmony with the beliefs behind those words.


I try to live my life according to my beliefs, so that I'm not saying one thing and doing another, but there are many areas of my life that need improvement. I would like there to be no question in my character about what I believe and what my values are. I am feeling an increased responsibility to be a better mother; to teach my children well and help them (and me) be the people the Lord knows we can be. Where to start...

**Thoughts??**

Creative Friday--Therapy Edition

Michelle and I always feel like we need Creative Friday to help us maintain (is that presumptuous?) sanity in life, but this week I really, really needed it. I've been having Motherhood Growing Pains this past week because I'm realizing that my parenting style may have been effective with my kids while they were little, but it's going to need some serious improvements now that they're getting older. Landon is turning a tad "teenager" on me and this panics me like you would not believe.

{This is the best photo this week, yikes.}

We sat down at the table as soon as I got there so I could unload this past week's parenting woes to her. We just sat at the table for like 30 minutes, not working on any projects, talking it out. It was just what I needed.


After that we were able to move on to a tasty tostada lunch.

Ad design for Michelle's mom's store.

Correspondence!

Mothering.

Thank you note writing.

More colorful envelope giving to me.

Along with darling, polka-dotted scissor giving as well.

It was a good, necessary, productive day.

Happy Birthday Crystalyn!!

**Where do you go for therapy?
Do you ever have Motherhood Growing Pains?
Any advice for me?
Have you ever seen such cute scissors?**

Sunday Thoughts

Randy came in the bedroom this morning (I was still in bed) to tell me Landon woke up feeling sick this morning. I found that surprising because he NEVER gets sick and wondered if he'd be okay to stay home from church alone. But when I went to the family room to check on him he had tears in his eyes, a fever and a general sense of helplessness. The poor boy really was sick! I immediately felt his forehead, wiped his tears, brought him the pillows from his bed, got him a cup of lemon lime soda with a blue bendy straw, hung blankets up to block the light from the windows and gave him some Motrin.


{Whitney ended up writing this message and giving Landon this balloon she had. She also ended up bringing him the Tootsie Roll she got at church today.}

I asked Landon if he'd like me to stay home from church with him and he said, "No, that's okay." But then I said, "Are you sure?" and with tears in his eyes shook his head no. That just hurt my heart. My inclination was to stay home with him of course, but our primary secretary is out of town and I didn't want to flake out on the other two presidency members if he was okay. His sweet response confirmed the need to stay home and take care of him, and made me feel like a useful mother to my very independent boy.

As the medicine kicked in he began to feel better and was able to enjoy the endless lemon lime soda refills I brought him. At one point I thought he looked uncomfortable as he watched tv so I brought his little squishy pillow and propped it under his neck and he said, "This must be what rich people feel like all the time!" How funny is that? I told him it's not like that for rich people, it's like that for people with mothers.

There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part-or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.--M. Russell Ballard

**Thoughts??**

I Can Be Fun

We woke up to the snow coming down hard this morning, which wasn't good because Whitney had an orthodontist appointment at 10:00 and a hair appointment at 10:30. We were getting ready, but I was anxiety-filled about the appointments so I called to reschedule them both (the ortho got moved to January 7th!). It took me awhile to relax and let the relief settle in, but as soon as it did I decided to join the kids out in the snow (what the??).


I covered my camera with a towel, then walked across the street to take this picture of our house. I never take pictures facing the house because I'm usually taking them from the porch, but I love the garlands and bows on the fence all covered in snowy goodness. The kids were so excited to have me out there playing with them (isn't that sad?) that every time I'd walk to the front door to put my camera in the house they'd say, "Where you going mom?" "What are you doing mom?"


Landon took Whitney and I into the backyard to see how beautiful the trees looked back there (I never go back there).

I love how these red berries look all covered in snow.


We took a snowy self-portrait.

And built a snowman.

He wears a pirate hat and has a tea set knife for a nose (Whitney is resourceful).

Though she had some hat woes.

We caught snowflakes on our tongues.

Made snow angels.


And a snow fort.

Then Landon came in to change into dry jeans (after being coerced by me) so he could go sledding with friends, while Whitney and I made some tasty hot chocolate. She was very excited about this, but ended up mostly sipping the whipped cream off the top of it and then offering the rest of her mug full to me.


Then Whitney and I snuggled on the couch together and watched The Wizard of Oz on tv (we'd recorded it Saturday). This was oh so cozy and fun, since I didn't feel pulled to do anything else (very rare for me) and because we had Michelle's enormous quilt to cover us. (Randy came home at lunch time and took this photo of us.)

It also sparked an epiphany about musicals. Usually I can't take the cheesiness of people breaking into song, but realized that I'm very fond of the musicals I know from my childhood (The Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, The Sound of Music and Les Miserables.) Strange no?

**Is being fun the norm for you?
Would you have rescheduled those appointments or gone?
When was the last time you made a snowman?
How do you feel about musicals?**

Preparations

Since I'm leaving town next Monday for 5 glorious days in Michigan to visit Betsy, this week has found me in a frenzy of preparations. You see, Whitney's 8th birthday is this Saturday which means her baptism is November 1st (the first Saturday of the next month), so we needed to find her a baptism dress and take pictures for her invitation this week in order to be ready. I'm not usually one to plan so far ahead (though 2 weeks really isn't that far), but this time it was necessary.


Whitney and I left on Monday afternoon after school (Landon went to a friend's house). She read her school book to me while I drove us to the mall (it was hard to help when I couldn't see the words).


Our first stop was to get her ears pierced. We were going to do it one day in August while we were back-to-school shopping, but the store inexplicably closed in the middle of the day. I surprised her by suggesting we do it this day and she was thrilled. She held really still and didn't even wince. Later she said, "I focused."


This is the finished look and a cute, happy girl (wearing a darling dress/shirt sent by Kristi). She suddenly looks so much older to me...what have I done?


Our next stop was a floofy dress shop to find a white dress for her baptism day. Whitney tried on a few and we ended up buying the only one they had in her size (luckily we liked it) AND it even happened to be on sale! I told her how we have 3 white dresses in our lives, our blessing dress, our baptism dress and our wedding dress, and got a little choked up talking about it. It was surreal to be in a dressing room surrounded by white dresses like that. She said, "I can't believe I'm already on my 2nd white dress!" Heaven help my heart.


She was so happy carrying her purchases (for a little while, then I got to carry them) and looked so grown up. Her turning 8 is a definite milestone and is kind of an eye opener for me, apparently my kids aren't little anymore.

We were getting twitchy, so we took a pizza break. After that we shopped for a full-length slip (which wasn't to be found) and some jeans for her.

Here's our self-portrait outside the mall after our successful outing. Our next stop was the craft store and the dollar store where we found some fun stuff for her birthday party. Can you believe I was in good form this entire time?! If I had had to stay at the dollar store much longer I probably would have lost it (there's a weird crowd there) but we did great.


Our last stop was Wal-Mart, and we even ended up stumbling upon a helpful employee! (Unprecedented!) We were scouting out bikes for a possible birthday present and this man ended up showing us several different bikes and taking Whitney around for test drives. He was so nice and so helpful, I could have cried.

We had such a great afternoon together, my heart felt squeezy full as we drove home. I am glad we had to plan ahead, because it made our outing much calmer than it would have been if we'd left it to the last minute. I hope she always remembers this day and the things we talked about and the importance of turning 8.

**When did you get your ears pierced?
Did you focus?
Don't you love outings like this?
Can you believe we had a helpful employee?**