Thanks!

Picture This

I don't have anything profound or witty to say, but I haven't updated in a while, so I thought I'd just give a photo update.

This is Baylie's hair "straightened." I won't use a relaxer on her hair until she's much older, so this is after we banded her hair over night and then flat ironed it. This is as straight as it will get until I'm ready to use chemicals. She loves it like this because it feels longer.

Baylie is set to go watch Disney on Ice with our good friends the Howes. They were so nice to think of her and she was so excited to go. Her Minnie Mouse ears were quite the hit.

Baylie giving Jalen a dressing down during a soccer game. (Note the hair do is the "banding" referred to above. It helps straighten her hair.)

Post game snack.

Baylie posing for her soccer picture.

Jalen imitating Baylie's pose.

Striking a more manly pose.

Doing chores. I came to help Baylie vacuum the stairs because I didn't think she'd be able to handle the vacuum and the hose. She was already almost finished. She's a hard worker.

Jalen works hard too! Both my kids have Saturday chores that they do to earn treasure. They are becoming more and more independent with their chores.

Jalen is very musical. He is always making music in one way or another. This time I came in to find that he had created his own drum set with bike helmets and a pie tin. He was totally jamming.

You can imagine his excitement later that night after David's jazz concert when he got to play some real drums. He could hardly sit through the show he wanted so badly to play.

We took Baylie's training wheels off and put them on Jalen's bike. She is working really hard to learn how to ride without them.

Got this idea from Pinterest to color pasta with food coloring. It was really easy and super pretty.

I used a white sauce since I thought a red sauce would hide the colors.

The kids loved it!

Baylie reading her book with backwards binoculars.

I went to a Biggest Loser casting call in Charleston. I waited five hours in line only to end up being a Biggest Loser loser. Oh well, it was still a fun experience and I met some really cool people. 

The guy next to me in line ordered pizza. They delivered it right to us in line. It was pretty funny.

My fellow line waiters. They were all great. I wish we could have been on our own show because I know they would have really encouraged me and they were a lot of fun.

David and the kids spent 5+ hours at the children's museum and would have stayed even longer. They loved it there. We'll have to go back to Charleston so I can go too.

I sure love the adventure of everyday living with this little family of mine.

The Birthday - His Side of the Story

Whatever! Where did you get all those phony pictures?

Actually everybody, her day went more like this.

She woke up and realized I had transported her to Hawaii while she slept. She mentioned the breakfast in bed, which was factual, but she neglected to write the menu, so I won't either. Suffice it to say it was Hawaiian rhapsody on a plate!  Of course, I prepared it all myself, having secretly taken a cuisine course over the past two months paid for by a scholarship I won in a poetry contest. Go figure. Anyway, after breakfast we hopped on a helicopter and flew slowly over the Hawaiian islands. I took the opportunity to recite to her my latest poem. The preview of the first stanza goes like this:

The very thought of you,
And thinking halts my time to naught,
Ending every useless waiting task's persistent prodding,
Vacantly wandering 'round the stops of my memory,
Circling mostly the ones you've touched
Or singularly composed
Just for me.

She cried... because I'm so dang romantic.

We landed the chopper back at the hotel and I took her on a light hike over to my favorite cliff view. I made sure beforehand that it would be just us so I could sing her "our song," which is Natalie Cole's rendition of "The Very Thought of You," hence the first line of my poem. She cried some more. We definitely did some kissing there.

As we walked back down to the village, I handed her a fancy formal invitation to the premiere of my latest piece for choir and percussion. As soon as we got down the hill I had her follow me around the corner where the concert was set up and ready to start. Naturally, the audience was packed, half for my amazing advertising efforts and half because the concert was out on the shore of the beach where there were hundreds of people present anyway. She loved the music like she always does. We made sure to thank the crowd briefly, but made it out of there quickly since the day wasn't supposed to be about me.

I took her straight to lunch... on a tiny island no bigger than a soccer field. There was this restaurant that catered out there for special occasions. It was amazing. We didn't speak a word the whole meal until she put her wooden fork down and said quietly, "I love you, David." It was my turn to cry, so I did a little. Felt good.

We held hands on the dingy all the way back to the main island.

When we got back to the hotel I told her she had two hours before we had to be anywhere, and I asked her what she would like to do until then. She said it would be a great time to read a good book, but she was bummed because she hadn't brought any. If there's anything I do know about Kristin, it's that she likes to read. So I patted myself on the back for thinking ahead for once and dumped onto the bed every book she was in the process of finishing. If you know her, you know there was a handful. She smiled big, hugged me bigger and made herself a cozy spot out on the balcony and proceeded to read for the next hour or so. I won't get into what we did with the remainder of time.

Next, I surprised her with an afternoon of snorkling (spelling?) out on the reef. It wasn't her first snorkling experience. She snorkeled with sea lions once and got published for the story she wrote about it.
Dinner was a blast! Seafood and karaoke! Lots of people were drunk and crazy. Watching them make fools of themselves was half the fun. We were so crazy though, we might as well have been drunk!

We didn't stay long. The flight back cut the evening short. We flew back basically in bliss. The day was pretty perfect.

What's funny is that we got back this morning at about 8:30. The Hawaii time difference let us have her birthday once on a beautiful island and once at home with her family! I did not actually plan that part.
Those pictures she posted here are probably of things she did on the second today. She totally milked her big day for all it was worth. Who could blame her though!? She works non stop to make my life as easy and as enjoyable as possible. She needed it.

Oh, and we left the kids with our friends the Mousers. They were asleep for a lot of it. It worked out perfectly. Anyway, I might have left out some things, but the best of it is in there. So there you have it. She just doesn't like to post about all the extravagant things we get to do sometimes. Remind me sometime to tell you about what really went down in Italy!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm not sure what I did on my birthday last year, but apparently it wasn't the greatest day. A friend of mine sent me a message on facebook and in the message chain, I saw that last year I told her it wasn't a great day. I didn't blog about it, so obviously it wasn't too memorable. Today was a fun day - nothing special, just good.

Two years ago I reminisced about my life. You can read about that HERE. I've had a great life. To my list of cool things I've done, this year I would have to add going to a papal mass and audience and hearing David's music played in a Roman cathedral. Definitely awesome.

For the past 12 or so years, I've given myself a day off for my birthday, a day to spend all by myself. I love this tradition and it always rejuvenates me. However, this year I did something different. My personal birthday celebration started last Saturday. The local art museum was having an Impressionist exhibit. I love art, but I am not educated about it. Consequently, I invited my dear friend Sarah - an amazing artist - to join me and teach me about what we were seeing. It was so much fun. I enjoyed Sarah's company and I really did learn a lot.

This morning, I was served breakfast in bed by my amazing husband. There are many women with my advanced years, weight problem, overbearing personality and other myriad faults who are alone and lonely. Thanks to David, I am not. His unconditional love for me is something I really don't understand, but for which I am truly grateful. Without him I wouldn't be a wife or a mother - and those are my favorite things to be.

I spent the morning watching the kids play soccer. I love being a soccer mom.

Then after a nap and massage (yes, it's a good life), I went to a movie by myself. I saw 42 (about Jackie Robinson). Even after being out for a week and for an afternoon showing, the theater was packed. I laughed, cried, clapped and cheered - along with everyone else in the theater. It is my new favorite movie. I loved everything about it. (Plus, I've been a Dodger fan since I was 8 years old.)

I finished the evening by making freezer jam and strawberry pie.

Picking strawberries is one of my favorite springtime activities here in Columbia. The kids love it too. We picked the strawberries yesterday.

I honestly can't believe I'm 45 years old. Time has flown by. Sometimes I'm worried that most of it is behind me, but then I realize that maybe I'm only halfway done. My life has been a good one. I'm so grateful for all that I have, but most of all I love my little family. My life is so much richer because of them.

P.S. Next year, I'm definitely taking a day off!

Firm Roots

I'm feeling a little dark, but on the other hand, I have great faith that everything happens for a reason. In just over the past 24 hours, the following has happened:

• Boston bombing (I was a nanny just outside of Boston and have always loved that city)
• a friend's husband who is in his 30's had a massive stroke and is not expected to survive; they have four small children
• a 14-year-old girl from my hometown of Provo, Utah, disappeared while walking to middle school - the same school my siblings attended (UPDATE: she was found!)
• a former classmate died last week of ovarian cancer; we weren't close, but it makes me feel mortal
• a friend told me he is separating from his wife; he confessed that his life is unhappy
• a friend, mother of four kids 5 and under, had an emergency appendectomy

This morning as I was teaching seminary, I felt impressed to challenge the youth to find the talk from our recent April conference that discusses the difference between world peace and inner peace. It seems so appropriate now. You can read or listen to the talk HERE. Here are some of my favorite thoughts from the talk.

Agency is essential to the plan of happiness. It allows for the love, sacrifice, personal growth, and experience necessary for our eternal progression. This agency also allows for all the pain and suffering we experience in mortality, even when caused by things we do not understand and the devastating evil choices of others. The very War in Heaven was waged over our moral agency and is essential to understanding the Savior’s earthly ministry.

We earnestly hope and pray for universal peace, but it is as individuals and families that we achieve the kind of peace that is the promised reward of righteousness. This peace is a promised gift of the Savior’s mission and atoning sacrifice...The peace to which I am referring is not just a temporary tranquility. It is an abiding deep happiness and spiritual contentment.

We all long for peace. Peace is not just safety or lack of war, violence, conflict, and contention. Peace comes from knowing that the Savior knows who we are and knows that we have faith in Him, love Him, and keep His commandments, even and especially amid life’s devastating trials and tragedies.

I'm reminded of a time in my childhood when a huge pine tree blew down right next to our house. It had looked enormous and invincible. When it fell, the roots tore up the entire lawn. They were probably about 12 feet in diameter, but they were not deep. The tree had never worked hard enough for water to develop deep roots. When the tree was tested by the wind, it wasn't firm enough to withstand the pressure. I think that often we go through difficult things so that we can develop strong roots.

I have no wise words to say about any of things. They have made me reflect much over the past day or so about what really matters, why things happen, what determines how we react to our trials the way we do and most especially, how grateful I am that my children are safe in their beds (or actually in my bed).

Super Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break and we made the most of every minute of it. We started the week on Monday by driving up to Burlington, North Carolina to meet my parents. We did some shopping and mostly just hung out having fun. Baylie and Jalen were so excited to see Grammy and Grandad. We see them more as missionaries than we did when they were at home.

Play area at the mega shopping center in Burlington.

The main purpose for this quick trip up north was because my brother and his family were coming out to visit my parents. We met up with them on Tuesday. It was so good to see them and the cousins had a great time together. I love that my kids love their cousins. We didn't want to intrude on their time with Grammy and Grandad, so we just spent a few hours with them before driving back home. I tend to forget that my siblings don't get to see my parents while they're out here. My mom gets so homesick for her kids and grandkids. She got teary eyed every time she thought about them almost being there.

This photo is just so I have photographic proof that Jalen can pout anywhere.

My brother is a history teacher (he will want me to mention that he also teaches psychology and coaches football) and really wanted to go to the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, located in the F.W. Woolworth Co. store where the first sit in for civil rights took place. It was a very moving exhibit and really well done. It is almost simple in the way it is laid out and presented. The simplicity makes the message more powerful. I also like that the museum has elected to focus on the works of those who stood up for civil rights rather than sensationalizing the violence that occurred. It would have been easy to take that approach. The short hall of shame that they do have is more than enough to convey that horror.

I sat down with Baylie before we toured the museum and talked to her about what we would be seeing. We've read several children's books on segregation, slavery and black history in the United States, so she has heard of these things before. While we were standing by the actual counter where the sit in took place, Baylie told me that her white cousins would have been able to sit at the counter and that I would have been able to, but that she and Jalen would not. It touched and also hurt me that she realized what we were talking about and that reality had sunk in a little bit. On a lighter note, she also thought my brother wouldn't be able to sit at the counter as he is unusually dark.

The Kress building just down the street was also the site of sit ins.
(I combined a horizontal and vertical photo here, so you'll note some doctoring of the image.)

When we left the cousins, my kids cried and cried, especially Baylie (see funny at right). She really wanted to stay with them. We drove the four hours back home and got in around 10 p.m. Then we woke up at 6:30 to head to the airport and catch a flight to Las Vegas to visit more cousins. Last month I gave Baylie the choice between a birthday party and going to visit her cousins, she chose her cousins.

We got to Chicago without a problem, but then proceeded to get bumped off three flights. It was a LONG day. I love the Chicago airport because of the children's museum located in Terminal F. The kids can play, make noise and since the gate is locked, I can read a book.

When the museum failed, we watched movies and took naps. (Look soon for a blog post on flying with children.) 

We finally made it to Las Vegas around 10 p.m. My sister brought her kids to the airport and everyone was very excited to see one another. I was just excited to finally be able to sleep in and try to recover.

The next day, Baylie used the birthday money Grammy gave her to buy ice skating passes for all the kids. My kids had never been ice skating before and they loved it. This rink has walkers that the kids can hold on to help them keep from falling.

Jalen didn't walk. He ran on the ice. He'd get up on the little toe pic and run.

Baylie would stick her leg out far behind her like a ballerina. There were some ups...

...and downs.

But the kids really did enjoy it,

especially having hot chocolate afterwards. (Hot chocolate with 80 degree weather outside!

The hot chocolate was then followed by Icees. Go figure.

The weather was beautiful, but the pool was still ice cold. That didn't slow the kids down at all. They could get warm in the hot tub when the pool was too cold.

And of course after swimming, you have to take a bath!

One thing Baylie really wanted to do was break a piñata, so my sister got her a princess one - perfect!

Note the bloodshot eyes from swimming.

Jalen was very focused on his candy eating.

After a too-quick, two-day visit, we got up at 4:00 a.m. to catch our flight back to Columbia. On the way home, our plane had mechanical issues and it took us 19 hours to get back! (Note: I am NOT a fan of Dulles Airport for several reasons. I wasn't happy with the airline either, but I'll keep that to myself since we fly for free and I won't bite the hand that flies us. I should also note that people were so helpful and kind this trip, which is a big change from some of our previous trips.) We were so grateful to finally see David. Jalen ran to his daddy and almost knocked him off his feet.

I'm so glad to have a loving family. I love being with them. I love that my siblings married people that I truly like and that together they've had amazing kids. My sister is my best friend and every time I'm with her I vow to be more like her. I'm so grateful for flight benefits - even when the flights are difficult - so I can visit my family on a regular basis.

I'm still trying to catch up on sleep...