A Day in the Life

A Love Story: Part I (Reynolds Choro)

2012-02-14T22:49:00.000-08:00

It turns out that Snoopy Poop Dog isn't dead after all. But Whitney Houston is. And she was right up there with Prince and Michael Jackson in my book. (Prince is still alive, right?) I really fell for her with that "Greatest Love"song. Tracy Schneider and I used to sing our guts out to that one in her bedroom back when I was still a fan of pop culture. This from a text exchange with my sister-in-law who is 13 years younger than me and clearly way more in the know than I ever hope to be again. Laura: Maybe Brandon was thinking of biggie smalls or tupac or nate dog, or the guy from the dougie group. Me: Are those real people???? Laura: Yes. Real people. All dead rappers. Me: Sweet. That's going in my next blog post.

I wrote up another type of love story for Deseret News today (sitting in the #1 spot for most popular in blogs, thank you very much!), but as I sit here next to Brandon on Valentine's Day (reading an article on "The Journey of the Apostles" in National Geographic . . .) and reflect on his pure awesomeness (he was on the news tonight for his part in saving the life of a teenage girl after a major car accident--I'm not making this up) I thought it high time to record the love story that got me into this mess. (Heaven help me if Rachael didn't talk so much today--demanding a constant stream of responses--that it actually killed off some of my brain cells. And another FIFTEEN YEARS of teenagers in the house just may be the death of me.)

Yes, in the spirit of the Pioneer Woman, I think I'd like to record our love story. (It's a totally different flavor of course, but every love story is worth telling, right?) And I think Valentine's Day is the perfect day to start. (Could I have a few more parenthetical statements?)

My first impression of Brandon was not a good one.

I had just been transferred to the city of Sendai, Japan (yes, where the tsunami was) for the last three months of my mission. Brandon was the "Zone Leader"--the missionary in charge of the "zone" we lived in that included about 26 missionaries--and I remember walking around the corner of the foyer of the church and running into him. My initial thoughts weren't very nice: Arrogant rich kid from California.

Not exactly love at first sight.

I don't know why I even thought those things. I didn't know a thing in the world about him--not even his name at that point. I like to attribute it to my deeply intuitive powers of discernment. He was from California, his family did have more money than I was used to, and he was, well, confident. (Confidence and arrogance can be easily confused.)

We served together as missionaries in that area for just three short months, but anyone who has done anything like missionary work in a foreign country knows that three months is an eternity.

Before I go any further, there is something you should know about Mormon missions. (This probably isn't news to anyone.) The rules are strict. Very strict. And the Sendai, Japan Mission was SUPER DEE DUPER strict. So much so that we had a rule to never talk about life back home with other missionaries because it was considered KANKENAI or unrelated to missionary work. So having a romantic relationship with another missionary wasn't even on the radar. It was next to impossible, really, unless you were a serious rule breaker. And I was not a rule breaker. Not only did I avoid even THINKING about the possibility of having a romantic relationship with another missionary, but I ABHORRED the stereotype and joke about certain sister missionaries only going on a mission because they had nothing else to do and just wanted to find a husband. That was SO not me. I had wanted to serve a mission from the time I was about 14 (another story entirely) and solidified that decision my senior year in high school when I spent my spring break with sister missionaries in Des Moines, Iowa and had several faith building experiences. I was the girl who sent a "Dear John" letter to a guy back home who was kinda sorta waiting for me because I didn't like the distraction of thinking about someone in a romantic way whilst in the business of proselyting. (I'm not kidding when I say I was serious business.)

This is the stage I feel compelled to set before I explain how I met my husband in the mission field.

The exception to the "NO KANKENAI" rule was the monthly meeting on transfer day when the missionaries would get together to welcome the newcomers and get to know each other a little better. That's what we were doing that day at the church. Everyone got out their "jikoshokais" (little books full of personal pictures we used to introduce ourselves to Japanese people so they could see we really were totally normal 20-somethings in our lives back home even though we rode around Japan on bikes wearing name tags, dress clothes, and HELMETS ((no one wore bike helmets in Japan but the Mormon missionaries))) and we passed them around, asking each other questions and making connections.

I still clearly remember the picture of Reynolds Choro's girlfriend. Big hair, big earrings, big lips. Just the kind of girl he would go for. Yep, I've got this guy pegged. (I have no idea where any of this was coming from, and you should have seen my hair in the 80's. Talk about big.)

It went downhill from there.

Brandon likes to say that I thought of myself as the AP. (Assistant to the President--the only other position above a zone leader.) I guess you could say that I didn't feel it necessary to be led by a 20-year-old guy (what with me being the ripe old age of 22), let alone a snot nose kid from California who thought he was the stuff.

When we have told people the stories about how we didn't get along in Japan, they frequently suggest there may have been some romantic tension going on from the start. Maybe. But if it was, it was on a very--and I mean VERY-- subconscious level. (See paragraph 4.)

Doggone it, it's just too late. To be continued . . . .

Pop Culture and Role Models

2012-02-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of kids (who am I kidding? kids and adults) idolize athletes, pop singers, and movie stars, but we are kind of clueless at our house about the sports world (I know the Super Bowl was last week, but I couldn't even tell you who played . . . Giants and ??? what cities were the teams even from? I have no clue . . .) and I am REALLY selective about which parts of pop culture I let into our home. I may even go so far as to call myself a pop culture SNOB. I don't know where this came from since I was the girl who had posters of Sylvester Stallone and Tom Howell all over my bedroom (does that date me or what? who speaks my language? Outsiders anyone?), and one of my favorite birthday presents in 8th grade was Prince's "Purple Rain" LP given to me by Christina Nielsen, but I find I have this general disregard for most things in pop culture that I arbitrarily designate as shallow, lame, or generally unintelligent. I felt very full of myself the other day when I made a joke about the Kardashian sisters and Kate didn't even know who I was talking about. BAM! Score one for Mom.

Okay, I just googled "pop culture" and found this on Wikipedia. I'm officially a snob:

Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and dumbed-down in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various non-mainstreamsources (most notably religious groups and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, and corrupted.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]

The term "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century or earlier^[11] to refer to the education and general "culturedness" of the lower classes, as was delivered in an address at the Birmingham Town Hall, England.^[12] The term began to assume the meaning of a culture of the lower classes separate from (and sometimes opposed to) "true education" towards the end of the century,^[13] a usage that became established by the interbellum period.^[14]

Lovely. (I still stand by my snobbishness . . .)

No, I don't make my kids sit around and read "The Secret Garden" in between etiquette class and chess club. Luckily, you don't have to indulge in what I would deem "stupid" pop culture to have fun and be entertained. There is SO MUCH out there that is both smart as well as entertaining. (Would someone please put a stop to the production of the Monster High dolls? Please?)

Our current favorite is thepianoguys.com

Will came running out of orchestra a couple of weeks ago utterly beside himself because his current idol, Steven Sharp Nelson, was in the house taping his latest youtube video with The Lyceum Philharmonic. He wanted his autograph, so I took him back in and encouraged him to go up and talk to him, have him sign some of his music, and then (after quoting the end lines from THIS youtube video back and forth to each other ) I took these horrible yet awesome iphone pictures:

I love having cool, smart role models for my kids. (One last pianoguys youtube video you really need to watch right now. In fact, why don't you just go subscribe and help make these guys famous instead of snoopy poop dog or whoever the heck is out there making the big bucks these days . . .) (Brandon just told me that guy died, so I'm sorry if that was disrespectful. How he knows that I have no idea, because he is currently reading about the rice planting and harvest festivals in Japan. So pop culture.)

L.A. Power of Moms Retreat (OR The Best Weekend of My Life)

2012-02-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was pretty awesome. To leave the "dun colored heath" behind and go to this in January? Come on:

But the beauty and weather of southern California were just the icing on the cake. The best part was being with so many wonderful women in the same place at the same time. Saren and I flew down together and we seriously didn't stop talking for a second. Both of us had sore necks from having our heads turned the entire time. Then my brother-in-law, Todd, picked us up at the airport and it was so fun to see him and catch up a little. After settling in at my in-laws, I took Saren to super cute and quaint downtown Montrose for lunch at the Black Cow. I was sad that all our other meals were planned because I had about 5 more places I wanted to take her and April! Here we are after lunch:

We headed over to the Palmer's house up Angeles Crest early afternoon to help get things set up. I was happy to do a grocery run for the retreat organizers for some last minute things and thoroughly enjoyed driving around the streets I used to call home with the windows down and the sun on my face. That afternoon's session was April's "Mind Organization for Moms" program that she's adapted from David Allen's best-selling "GTD" book. (She's now a regular blogger for his website.) I can't say enough about it! I have yet to implement the whole program myself, but even the few steps that I do use have changed my organizational life, big time. (And that's saying something, because I'm not one of those people that just loves to organize every aspect of my life, even if I do like the benefits.)

That evening, the three Chapman sisters-in-law (all married to brothers from the same family) put on a DELICIOUS chicken cacciatore dinner with the best dressed up french bread I have ever tasted (equal parts parmesan, mayo, and diced onion on top, baked in the oven) as well as the most ADORABLE dessert plates with four different bite sized treats and a shot glass of milk. Brilliant!

Those would be hand made "Power of Moms" daisies on the top of those delectable cupcakes . . .

That night we had a little slumber party at my in-laws. I could seriously talk to these girls ad nauseum. We pretty much do when we're together, to the point of exhilarating exhaustion. Why is it SO FUN to talk and talk and talk with like minded women?

Saturday morning, ready for the full day retreat at the Palmer's GA-ORGEOUS home:

April's cute mom, Zoe, was there, along with four of her sisters and a sister-in-law:

The morning session focused on "Taking Care of the Person Inside the Mom". I did a presentation on being your own kind of "perfect"mom, Saren talked a little about the idea of "margin" (I'm reading the book right now), April and Saren talked about negative self-talk and "Thought Replacement Therapy", and the author of "Real Moms Love to Eat," Beth Aldrich, talked about moms nourishing themselves with food.

This may look intimidating to have a room full of 65 "supermoms," but I'm telling you, the women that come to these things are a self-selected group that are always surprisingly down to earth, grounded, and focused on things that really matter (family!) so it's hard not to feel an almost immediate connection:

I stole this next picture from April's blog. I wish I had videotaped the whole thing because I honestly can't remember half of what I said. I was refining my notes forever and ever, and had just barely printed them off right before the morning session began, and then I didn't even look at them more than once or twice for a quote. I get so energized by these audiences, and have so much fun when I'm up there that it makes me wonder why in the world I spend several weeks beforehand practically sick to my stomach from anxiety and self-doubt. It was so nice to get positive feedback from the moms there since my preparations for these presentations as well as writing articles for Deseret News/the site is normally done alone in my head in my pajamas late at night. It feels really, really nice to get specific validation from real live people every once in awhile!

More great food provided by Panera for lunch:

Discussion groups during lunch about finding more joy in motherhood and parenting partnerships. GREAT discussions:

Afternoon session on the three family systems: family economy (work and money matters), family legal system (discipline), and family culture (traditions). This is the Eyre's specialty, but both April and Saren presented. Susan Chapman, one of the retreat organizers, also did a presentation on learning your children's love languages. Here's Saren:

Midway through, my sister-in-law's adorable little baby Claire was fed and happy, so I offered to drive her back home to the babysitter who was taking care of her other kids. On the way back to the retreat I couldn't help but take a little drive up the crest where you can see a view of both downtown and the ocean (on the right). I shed a little tear driving up there. I miss L.A.!

After the retreat we got a picture with all the current and former residents of La Canada for a write up in the local paper. Lara (Brandon's good friend in high school), Shauna, me, Erin, and Amy. I had no idea before, but Amy and Lara are cousins, both hysterical, and the two of them together had me laughing 'til I cried! Especially playing "Reverse Charades" the night before. Hy. Ster. I. Cal.

Okay. Crazy, crazy! This is Andrea who now lives in the L.A. area, who I last saw when my family lived in Florida my sophomore year of high school TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO! So fun to see her and catch up. Neither of us knew the other would be there:

And this is a new Reynolds sister I never knew I had--Taunie. She's actually Saren's cousin, and just one more amazing woman I got to know through The Power of Moms. These retreats never last long enough, but the friendships frequently last far beyond the short weekend:

Pain and agony:

Tears and sorrow:

The retreat organizers/presenters Susan and Sarah, myself, April, Lisa Palmer (hostess), organizer/super chef Amy, and Saren. Please note that I'm wearing skinny jeans for the first time since I last saw Andrea in Florida, like TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO:

The retreat pictures stop there, but after a Saturday night training session for a handful of moms who want get more involved, April insisted Saren and I perk up and do a podcast with her at like 11:30 back at my in-laws' house! That girl never stops! We were so tired it was just funny. Sunday morning April drove back home to Corona at about 5am while Saren and I slept in and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with my mother and father-in-law. (I'm so glad we had that time to visit with them.) Then Saren went to my old church with me where I tried hard not to cry multiple times seeing all those wonderful people and the teenage girls I used to teach. (All seniors now.) The classes and lessons were all fantastic, followed by another nice lunch and visit with my mother-in-law after church (wish I had thought to take a picture!) followed by a beautiful walk with Shauna up in my old neighborhood. (Shauna and Todd still live there, just a block over from where we used to live--sniff, sniff!) I couldn't help but take a few pics in front of our old house:

More wonderful visiting time with my father-in-law who drove us to the airport, more neck breaking conversation with Saren on the plane . . . . sometimes I forget just how much I love socializing with adults!! But not just any socializing. I've never been good at endless small talk. Drives me crazy. And that's why I think I love these retreats so much, because we talk about such substantial stuff which leads to other meaningful topics and the result is getting to know people on a deeper level that is just so satisfying. (I already linked to April's post about the weekend. Here is Saren's.)

I think what I love about these experiences, conversations, and associations the most is that they help me to both remember as well as learn more about who I really am and what I can do. That's all there is to it. I wish every mom could make it to one of these retreats!

Re-entering the Blogosphere

2012-02-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

Exchanging Will's cello bow for a smaller one, delivering good-bye gifts to friends who are moving to London for two years, hosting the babysitting co-op, wrapping up the Engineer Badge with the Webelos, meeting with our realtor to put together an offer for a house, doing the February bills, taking my old college roomate and dear friend to lunch for her 40th birthday, attending pre-school parent/teacher conferences (apparently, Rachael is VERY social and popular--especially with Chase, her boyfriend), finishing Will's science fair project (Does cranberry extract affect urine pH?) and going to the fair itself, dropping off a present to a friend who is having a baby, taking Kate in to Brandon's office so he could lance, drain, and pack a funky looking abscess that had developed on her knee (she was NOT happy, but it had to be done), contacting her teachers for her assignments after missing school, doing both the junior high and pre-school carpool, going to the car wash, bank, drycleaners, and Target (twice), transporting children back and forth to cello, futsal, and theater class, picking up the repaired vacuum, dropping off next year's pre-school registration papers at the district office with a note saying the birth certificate and immunizations are "in the mail" after spending the morning on the phone/computer requesting both from our old pediatrician in LA and the California vital records department (that's right- I never ordered Rachael's official birth certificate, because I'm organized like that).

That was my Monday-Wednesday, and I left out cooking, cleaning, laundry and other usuals. (Though dinner has been things like breakfast burritos and canned soup . . .) I also started to work out with weights again since Will went into Netflix and messed up my "Larkrise to Candleford" queue and I haven't had anything worthwhile to watch on the treadmill. (But I'm expecting the right DVD in the mail tomorrow--yippee!) I didn't realize how soft I had become in such a short amount of time If a 20 minute workout by Denise Austin can make you sore, you know you need to beef up a bit more . . .

If I wanted to go all the way back to Sunday night, I would also tell you about borrowing my neighbor's vacuum (since mine was in the shop--two actually, but it turned out that one completely died) to spiff up the house before Saren's family came by for dinner on their way home from St. George, and how I decided to clean between the leather couch cushions for the first time in years, and in the process heard/saw a round shiny thing go up the coil/tube thingy and was just SURE it was my wedding ring that I lost over 3 years ago in California, and so I spent quite a bit of time with gloves on pulling apart the contents of a very full vacuum bag like you would pull apart cotton candy (though it was hair, not sugar strands keeping everything together) only to find a shiny metal BALL, like you might use in the game "Mousetrap." Utterly gross and disappointing. Especially since the contents of the bag weren't my own. (Sorry, Jen. You know I love you, but sorting through other people's vacuum bags is just too much. Don't take it personally.)

This is my re-entry into the blogging world. I really do need write on a regular basis. (Not just Deseret News stuff, but personal stuff.) It's my way to stay connected with the real world and not just the world in my head!

P.S. Brandon's here beside me reading about "The Diety of Luxurious Foods" and "The Monkey Rice Field Prince" in one of his Japanese culture books. And he made me tea.

Excuses (Reasons?)

2012-02-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

I promise I'm not giving up on blogging. I'm just knee deep in a potential home purchase, coming off the L.A. Power of Moms retreat last weekend (blog post under construction), a science project involving regular urine testing of four members of our family (this is what you do when your Dad is a urologist), writing posts for Deseret News this week, and (there's no easy way to write about this in this context and not sound flippant, but the reality is that these things happen right in the middle of every day life) lots of communicating with family about my sister who has recently taken a nose dive. Any prayers or positive thoughts are appreciated.

Best Pictures of 2011: January

2012-01-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

Don't know if I can keep this up or not (kind of like the "The Great Catch Up"), but I'm on a quest to start printing out my pictures one month at a time (two months worth of pictures at a time--does that make sense?) and putting them into old school photo albums. With the exception of special occasion digital photobooks as gifts, I have made peace with the reality that there is no way in the world I will ever scrapbook all my pictures. (Sounds awful, actually. Detail oriented projects kill me!) Printing and stuffing them into photo albums combined with whatever I record on my blog journalistically is ENOUGH!

But I have way too many pictures (WAY), so I want to start weeding out just the highlights. Here's my first attempt starting with January of last year. Not all the pictures I chose are the greatest photographically speaking, but some of them just capture the every day in a way I want to remember. (Like the playing school pic.)

Rachael:

Playing school:

Elizabeth:

Kate:

Will:

Da view:

Winter beauty:

Dinner date:

Forcing spring:

Ta-Dah!

2012-01-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

I wrote up an article for Deseret News about that depression stuff. You can read it here. I'm seriously fine if I do 80% of those things every day.

Phase 1 of the blog make-over complete. Do you like it?

We're enjoying an evening at home watching 'Totoro' after a day of taking care of business. (Our entire family is positively NUTS for Hayao Miyazaki's Japanese anime!) Brandon and I looked at a dreamy (and I mean DREAMY) house this morning. Kate had a group harp lesson after that, and Will worked on both his monthly book report (I recommended the story of a Korean boy in A Single Shard and he loved it) and his project for the upcoming science fair (he's doing something urine related, of course). Both Will and Elizabeth had friends over a good portion of the day, and Rachael never got out of her pajamas. Brandon took care of some office stuff and replaced the battery for his keyless car entry key after not being able to get in his car (the downside of progress). I did who knows what. (Chinese for dinner. Asian theme all around today.)

Life this past week:

Kate pounding out Green Day and Coldplay on the piano, Will shuffling around the house trying to generate enough electricity to shock the nearest person, Elizabeth doing Just Dance 3 with me in the playroom, and Rachael nursing the little African American doll Kate got for her 3rd birthday over 11 years ago. (It probably cost less than $10 and is always the doll of choice despite the wide array of fancy dancy caucasian baby dolls floating around the house. Of course I have no problem with her nursing a little African American baby, but I find it interesting since I assume most children normally choose dolls of their same ethnicity, right?)

More Asian thoughts: I don't know why I always remember this date, but yesterday (the 20th) was the 19th anniversary of the day I went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) for my mission to Sendai, Japan. Maybe I remember simply because my mission was so life changing. (And not just because that's where I met Mr. Wonderful.)

Speaking of my mission (the Mormon thing, not the Japanese thing), this republican presidential campaign is getting more interesting by the minute! What do you make of this article after Romney got squashed in ~~evangelical~~ conservative South Carolina tonight? I wonder!

Rachael just pushed her baby into the living room in a stroller and told me she has an invisible husband named Buttonsrolled. Sweet!

I'm Depressed

2012-01-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's the post-holiday blahs.

Maybe it's the annual, demoralizing realization that I really do not have the superhuman capabilities needed to do all the things I set out to do on January 1st. (Honestly, the ridiculous schedule I routinely map out for myself could only be accomplished by someone without a job or children at home. Someday I will find a proper balance between my high falutin' goals and my reality. But compromise can feel like defeat which is equally depressing . . . do you feel my pain?)

Maybe it's Seasonal Affective Disorder. (Very, very likely. 1--The further away from the equator, the higher the number of sufferers. 2--Women are 4x as likely as men to get it, and 3--people with a family history of depression are even more likely. Three strikes and I am OUT!!)

Maybe it's the suffocating pressure of needing to make a decision about a permanent home purchase. (This will be the place we finish raising our children, so it's kind of a big deal. We don't just think about things like square footage ((the house)), we worry a lot about community and location ((the home)). I hate moving. Even if it is just across town it will be an adjustment, and the bigger and more permanent the change and decision, the crazier I become.)

Maybe it's worrying about my sister who has stopped receiving treatment for her cancer, and my mom who is endlessly taking care of her while I sit over 1000 miles away thinking about stupid things like whether or not I can get a house with a mud room. (The most normal things in life have a way of taking on a heavy shade of guilt when people close to you are suffering.)

Maybe it's simply because, according to psuedoscience, we are fast approaching THE MOST DEPRESSING DAY OF THE YEAR!

Whatever the reason, here's a little refresher of my plan to beat the winter blues. (Working the plan is a whole nother story. . . )

1) Use light therapy. (I'm planning to sit in front of my happy lamp while reading each morning for 30 minutes.)
2) Get a full night of sleep. 10-6 is my goal. (he he he . . .)
3) Do some form of cardio exercise for 30 minutes every day. (Going outside for a mid-day walk/jog is best, though I find it extremely difficult to get motivated to go outside when it's below 30 degrees . . .)
4) Take Vitamin D and SAM-e supplements.
5) Cut out sugar and carbs--the very thing you crave when feeling depressed. (Rolling eyes filled with cynicism and annoyance.)
5) Break out the aromatherapy, happy music, and good comedy. (~~Depress~~ Depeche Mode is totally out of the question.)
6) Get out of the house and be social whenever possible.
8) Do all these things even though you feel like staring at the wall and crying for inexplicable reasons. (Sardonic laughing. The painful irony of treating depression is that you don't feel like doing any of the things that will make you feel better.)

And then there's the very short list of things NOT to do:

1) Don't punish your cluelessly upbeat husband by silence or anger because of his inability to read your mind, sense your every feeling, and interact with you like a professional therapist after being at work for 13 hours and putting the children to bed.

Wish me luck.

P.S. We did a 1500 piece puzzle during the Christmas season this year, finishing it last week only to discover that we had lost ONE PIECE!!

Dear Blog

2012-01-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

I've missed you! But there are good reasons I haven't been keeping in touch. Like . . .

. . . simultaneously unpacking/laundering everything from our road trip to California while taking down/packing up Christmas. (It's all done now except for the measly porch lights: Brandon's job.)

. . . hanging out with Brandon's brother Marc and his family off and on while they were in town for the last week and a half visiting his wife's family. (No one ever visits us directly, but by virtue of living in the Mormon mecca we get to occasionally see fellow LDS friends and family who come here to see other real people. ((Maybe now would be a good time to invite my friends of other faiths to come visit the mountains, go skiing, explore the National Parks, and see little 'ole US!)) I should say, my parents came here last year just for us, and Todd and Shauna came here last spring break just ~~to ski~~ for us.) It was great fun going to the Dinosaur museum together, having them over to dinner a few times with the youngest brother Brent (and his girl Camille), and introducing them to Orange Leaf on their last night, but I am sad we never got to do that homemade Cafe Rio dinner together, because I have four pounds of boneless pork ribs marinating in Coke in my garage right now.

. . . starting our home search in earnest, though we are completely schizophrenic about how much we want to spend and exactly where we want to live which makes the process kind of difficult. It doesn't help that our realtor has figured out what we like, and he's getting really good at tempting us with homes we shouldn't buy even though they are FABULOUS! I've taken to calling him The Adversary.

. . . creating a flurry of comments on Deseret News with my post on breastfeeding in public. Holy cow! I think I might start doing more opinion pieces. It reminded me that I do like a good debate. I love to hear other people's opinions and hash out all the pro's and con's of an argument while maintaining mutual respect. Which leads to . . .

. . . watching the 257 presidential debates, caucasus and primaries. I would be for Mitt Romney even if he weren't Mormon because he just makes sense to me, but man, it makes it about twenty times more interesting to follow this race when there's so much crazy commentary regarding our faith. The stuff people are saying/writing gets more press time here in Utah as you can imagine, but it really is amazing how much is being said from every possible angle. I think what surprises me most is that people really don't believe our church is politically neutral. Meaning, we never--and I mean NEVER--talk politics at church! I'm guessing there are hundreds of evangelical churches all over this country with pastors supporting certain candidates based on their faith (like Reverend Jeffress down in Dallas backing Rick Perry and bashing Mitt Romney for not being Christian--because it's SO Christian to bash other people's belief systems) but I can honestly say I've never once heard the name Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman mentioned at church. We just don't do it. And this idea that our church's leadership would be phoning in to the White House influencing Mitt if he were president? So preposterous! Equally preposterous is the idea that a President Romney could influence the church's leadership because of his political position.

. . . getting Kate squared away for end of term, Will set up for futsal (indoor soccer), Elizabeth prepped for an expander, and Rachael, well, we just hang out together. I had the babysitting co-op at my house earlier this week with several cute little girls for her to play with, and it was so much fun listening to the sounds of little girls planning a tea party. (Until Rachael asked me for some real sugar to put in their "tea" and I wouldn't let her because I knew someone would overdo it and create a sticky mess on the carpet and she got so mad she actually WHACKED ME IN THE FACE! That was a first.)

. . . attending a "Favorite Things" party tonight. How fun was that! Everyone brought their favorite thing (no more than $20) and an appetizer or dessert to share, and the "favorite things" were distributed white elephant style. I came home with the most adorable green homemade flirty/frilly apron. (Super cute. Kind of like this. I can't make stuff like this so I was pretty excited.) Someone else took home some Olay Regenerist night cream. I told them I started using it when I turned 50.

. . . getting pulled over by a very nice police officer whilst in my pajamas and slippers in between carpools because apparently my registration expired IN AUGUST and my car needed to be impounded. Except that it wasn't, because that nice Indian officer (don't know why I mentioned his ethnicity other than to convince people that not everyone in Utah is a WASM ((White Anglo Saxon Mormon))) took pity on me, clearly sensing it would NOT be a good idea to remove an unshowered, pajama clad woman from her car for the harmless crime of being a harried mother of too many children who can't keep track of her important paperwork. (I took care of the registration yesterday.)

. . . Brandon being the first person on the scene of an accident involving a high school girl and a big truck. He said she was moaning and unresponsive, her head was bleeding like crazy, and she was having a hard time breathing. (Somehow he ended up with her car keys . . . ) I'm just glad he was the one to "happen" upon the accident before other first responders could get there. Someone told me tonight she's still in a coma in critical condition.

This is our life. It is full and busy and good. But it doesn't leave a lot of room for blogging.

Current Weaknesses, A Retreat, and Best Pictures (Oct.)

2012-01-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

We are currently suffering through the dreaded after Christmas break "transition week" in which no one can wake up on time, the laundry is never caught up, the decorations are half up and half down, and the numbers on the scale are frightening. It's also my week at Deseret news (just wrote what amounted to an opinion piece about how of course breastfeeding in public should be legal, supported, and accepted, but for heavens sake--please cover up!) and one of Brandon's brothers and his family are in town for a few more days. What this means is we are definitely NOT back on track yet . . .
Weaknesses: Vintage gourmet root beer (what I got for him), Teavana herbal teas in flavors such as zarbinger ginger coconut (what he got for me), and traditional onko (sweet bean paste) filled Japanese mochi (pounded rice). (It's a New Year's thing. We haven't had it in so long. I brought some back from California.)

A Retreat: April and Saren put together a retreat in southern California not realizing it was OUR CITY! The city from which we just arrived! The city in which we lived for four years and gave birth to our last child! The city where my husband is from and where his family still lives! So of course I have to go, and so do you. Early bird pricing ends tomorrow. Check it out. (I will speak on something. I hope Saren tells me before I get there.) If you can't go all the way to southern California and you live in Utah, you could try this on for size. (Tiffany is awesome. You would love her.)

Best Pictures: I got the idea from another blog to do a "Best Pictures of 2011" post. Doesn't that sound fun? If I ever get around to it, I'd include some of these I took in my backyard in October:

The End

P.S. Someone's kidney stones are sitting on my bathroom counter. It pays the bills.

New Year's

2012-01-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

My most memorable New Year's Eve was probably the one I spent in Germany when I was 18 ringing in the new year and decade (1990) with friends by playing cards and doing what we always did as teenagers growing up in Illinois: banging pots and pans while screaming at the top of our lungs in the middle of the street at the stroke of midnight. (That trip to Europe deserves a whole post of its own. Have I ever written about it?) I have a really hard time believing that was over 20 years ago, but the calendar doesn't lie.

Since having children, our New Year's Eves have been fairly uneventful--even pathetic. But I don't mind anymore. I have a hard time getting too excited by a simple change in the calendar, though I absolutely LOVE making goals for a new year. Always have. I don't care what people say about making resolutions. It inspires me.

Tonight we gathered here in sunny SoCal (and it has been gorgeous!) at Brandon's parent's home with them, his brother Todd and his family, and ate leftover Japanese curry and vegetable lasagna, played Balderdash, and counted down (Martinelli's in hand) while watching the ball drop live in NY on CNN. (9pm here--perfect for the kids' bedtime and for Brandon and Todd to make the 10:00 showing of the second Sherlock Holmes movie.) We had CNN running as we were waiting for the ball to drop until Kathy Griffith decided to take her clothes off and prance around in her bra and underwear next to Andersen Cooper talking about heaven knows what. (What is wrong with that woman? What is wrong with the CNN producers? What is wrong with our culture?) We had to turn it off until the last minute.

I love that the New Year follows the decadent and undisciplined month of December. After overindulging in every way possible I am ready to get back on track, start afresh, and re-commit myself to the disciplined life. I love it actually. Monday is my favorite day of the week, and January is my favorite month. There's just something about a fresh start. I think it's the Japanese in me. I wrote a rather poor post about it for Deseret News here (didn't have much time to devote to that one) but the Japanese traditions of New Year's really do appeal to me.

I'm now typing with my eyes closed (sometime while typing we entered 2012) as I wait for Brandon to get back from the movie and wonder if Kate and Will are asleep yet. I think I'll write more later about the goals/resolutions I decide on for the coming year. They will fall under these categories:

Mind:
Body:
Spirit
Heart:
Home:
Family:
Marriage:
Money:

Any others you'd recommend? Happy New Year!

P.S. Brandon got me a wide angle lens for Christmas! Look what it can do:

The beach

The Getty

Descanso Gardens

Twas the Night After Christmas (or The Most Wonderful Time of the Year or Merry Christmas, Mom!)

2011-12-25T22:44:00.000-08:00

I received so many wonderful comments via blog, email, Facebook, and The Power of Moms website for the "favorite traditions/memories" posts on Deseret News. I now have two lengthy articles up compiling all of them. (You can read them here and here. ) Martin wins for the funniest comment that didn't make the article. (Only because it was too late. Seriously. . .) And Lindsay wins for the most influential on our own traditions. Honestly, I really think we're going to go on a trip next year for Christmas instead of buying a bunch of toys and stuff! I LOVE that! (And I'm sorry that comment came in too late too . . .) Seriously good stuff. If you want some great ideas for next year's holiday season, click on over and read those posts.

What can I say? Is anyone out there really blogging through the holidays? It's been a wee bit busy around here. But now that the "deadline" has come and gone I have nothing to do for the rest of this evening but sit here in my jammies and new slippers surrounded by remnants of unabashed Christmas joy (children drinking Skittles straight from the plastic candy cane) and blog about the going ons of the last two weeks. I did rouse myself for about an hour earlier in the evening to make some Italian meatball soup which I truly felt healed me from the building effects of sugar overdose. (This homemade Cinnabon recipe is something to try! I've been making them every Christmas morning for some years now.)

I'm only posting today because my poor mother is going through withdrawal (hence, the third title option) and I'm happy to do it because there is so much to remember!

Two weeks ago today the little 'uns sang in church. It's not really appropriate to snap photos in our church services, so I took this horrid picture covertly with my iphone:

The following week (the last one before school let out) was a flurry of concerts, recitals, parties, and preparations. These next two pictures are from the elementary school Christmas program and are even worse than the last (kind of like "Where's Waldo?") since I forgot my telephoto lens and couldn't get a very good shot:

I have no pics whatsoever of Kate's choir concert, my presentation for Elizabeth's class on New Year's in Japan, helping out at her class party, Brandon's office party at Thanksgiving Point's Harvest Restaurant (or the hospital party the week before . . .), the church party with an adorable hot cocoa bar/horse and carriage rides/cinnamon rolls/performance by Octapella (8 man a capella group), or Rachael in her PJ's for Polar Express day at pre-school--but that's what was going on that last week of school. Once school let out I felt I could breathe a little bit more and really focus on wrapping up last minute Christmas preparations as well as enjoy the season at a slower pace.

On Saturday night, Brandon and I were lucky enough to attend a Christmas concert performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The performance we attended was actually the taping of the annual MoTab PBS special. The guest stars this year were Jane Seymor and Nathan Gunn. (Great photo essay here.) What a concert! I didn't know this, but the MoTab's Christmas concert is the most watched Christmas concert on PBS every year and I can see why. It was absolutely stunning in every way! (An unexpected treat this year was "snow" falling from the ceiling during Jane Seymor's telling of the story of Good King Wenceslas set to music and dance.) The church holds a lottery each year for free tickets--every last seat--and I don't know how many people submit their names, but it's more than 4 shows worth of over 25,000 seats. We actually didn't get the tickets ourselves--Brandon's receptionist's extended family got lucky and "won" more than they needed since each person can request up to 4 tickets. No pictures were allowed, so the only pic I came home with is this one of the lobby from my iphone:

In every non-existent spare moment of the last several weeks I've been working on a DVD set to music of the pictures from the girls trip we took to Florida for my sister with cancer in hope of getting it to her by Christmas. No such luck. Never having used iMovie or iDVD before, there was a bit of a learning curve, and then I found out my burner was broken and had to take my computer in for a few days to get it fixed. Coincidentally, on the same day I already had an appointment to take my computer in, I dropped my iphone in a sink of soapy dish water while baking cookies (I read recipes off my phone all the time) and ended up needing an appointment for that little fiasco as well. It wasn't pretty. Needless to say, I didn't get the DVD done on time, though it made it onto a UPS truck on Christmas Eve!

While I was working on that DVD, baking my brains out, and otherwise wrapping up last minute Christmas stuff, the kids kept busy with all kinds of shenanigans. There were over 10 signs like this all over the house:

Usually I like to plan a bunch of outings for the kids and "live like a tourist" during a break like this, but with all my last minute STUFF and Brandon working until Thursday, we ended up staying home most of the time. I was surprised at how much fun the kids had! The following is what happens when a mother says no to screens and yes to mess. Will and Elizabeth turned our unfinished basement into two elaborate forts using the moving boxes and paper we've been hanging onto for our eventual move this late winter/spring/summer. (Who knows . . .) All of our holiday decorations are stored down there, so the following is Elizabeth's masterpiece. Welcome to "Fort Holiday":

Next is Will's "Fort Platypus". I don't even know what to say about this:

This is "the porch" according to Will. He had all kinds of areas designated for different things. I feel like I should be ashamed to show you this mess in my basement, but there is a part of me that just loves kids being kids and having a blast in ways like this. It couldn't be any farther from the staged and sterile play rooms in the Pottery Barn catalogs and I love that. I'm kind of proud of myself for not being a control/clean freak. I've worked on it:

This was the real kicker. Before I knew what was going on, Will and his buddy Cayden (partner in crime) had created this flyer and distributed it all over the neighborhood:

On Tuesday night we went to Thanksgiving Point to see Santa's reindeer and the man in red himself:

It was a looooooooooong line:

Rachael has been telling us for WEEKS that she was going to ask Santa for "a tree where the leaves fall off when you push a button and then you put the leaves back on and then you do it all over again" . . . . WHAT!!!??? We searched high and low, folks! Anyone have any idea what she's talking about? Here she is rehearsing that little description to Santa:

Hard to believe I only have two children left who are interested in visiting with Santa:

Elizabeth's letter:

(It's important to get him that contact information!)

After seeing Santa, we went to get some treats at the cafe and ran into who else but a few of the guys from Vocal Point! After watching them for weeks on NBC's "The Sing-Off" it was pretty cool for the kids to meet them in person. Elizabeth and I were the most transparent in our groupie like behavior--me being the most offensive BY FAR in the eyes of Kate. I have no shame or inhibitions in situations like these whatsoever. (I once chased down Nicholas Cage in an airport.) I was just gushing and asking them all sorts of questions, going so far as to arrange a group picture. Kate and Will were mortified. (But secretly happy.) Why does this just make me laugh?

Here they are doing a bit for the local news:

Ice sculptures:

Hot chocolate floats?? Are you kidding me?? Sensational:

My favorite new decoration. It even plays the Peanuts theme song:

Making the kids clean the DISGUSTING fish tank I try to pretend doesn't exist. (It's a long story . . .) Poor Cayden got in on the action:

Typical state of my kitchen in recent days:

Cutting out and baking Christmas cookies. (A great recipe shared by my mother-in-law, but she makes cream cheese frosting instead of buttercream--it's the BEST!) Cayden kind of lived at our house this past week. It was so fun:

Making the Cinnabon cinnamon roll dough in advance:

Sleeping under the tree on the 23rd:

Will's other best friend, the laser pointer:

After a really really really really busy month at work, Brandon has been enjoying quiet moments to work on the annual puzzle. This one is a James Christensen painting. I got him this table last year as a Christmas present:

I spent way too much time and ingested WAY too many calories making up these plates of goodies for some friends and neighbors. I don't know what came over me! A few years ago I swore off making plates of cookies for neighbor gifts, but I think I was missing my mom so the spirit of Jacque just plum took over:

(I don't think I've ever used "plum" like that in my life.)

Last night (Christmas Eve) we gathered with some neighborhood families across the street at Jen's house. (Cayden's mom.) Earlier in the week I was feeling sorry for myself since it seems like we are the only people who don't have local family to gather with during the holidays, but when I started asking around it turned out there were quite a few people wanting to get together for Christmas Eve:

Don't know what's going on with the tongue:

Each of the four families brought their traditional Christmas Eve foods. As a result, we had ham and "funeral potatoes", shrimp cocktail, enchiladas, and of course the traditional Reynolds' oyster stew. There were also many scrumptious side dishes--it was a feast!

After dinner I brought out the sugar cookies with colored cream cheese frosting and we let the kids go to town:

She got "hot" and took off her sweater. She's still darling:

Santa sure is one lucky guy! Hope he took some Emergen-C before his rounds:

Kate was busy drawing this adorable nativity:

Liz brought her chimes and we did some carols:

The Goeringers:

The Wingers:

The Swalbergs:

(oops, I didn't get a picture of their family, darn it!)

Last but not least, the kids did a simple nativity before we all headed home:

I found this simple script online and just used my iphone to narrate:

Once home we gathered the kids for our usual Christmas Eve tradition of opening one present (this year they got new slippers: Kate--hedgehogs, Will--Domo, Elizabeth--Hello Kitty, and Rachael--little puppies) and talking about the gifts we were able to give this Christmas season (our kids especially like choosing things like farm animals or school supplies through the World Vision organization, but we also did some more simple things close to home) and what our gifts to Jesus will be this coming year. Each family member (including parents) comes up with their own thing like being more of a peacemaker in the home, etc. and then each night in the coming year during our family prayer we include these "gifts" in our prayer to help us remember these offerings of our hearts. It's probably my favorite thing we do all season long!

And of course we left some treats for Santa and his reindeer:

Then comes the part of the season I like the least: feeling guilty because I can't stay awake long enough to help Brandon finish up the Christmas Eve preparations! I try, I really do, but I am a slave to sleep and find it next to impossible to will myself to stay up until 3AM assembling a doll house for the girls which is what happened last night. He took these pictures once everything was ready:

Christmas morning! Such a magical time when you still have little ones in the home:

My kids are crazy for pomegranats, so I put one in the bottom of each of their stockings this year:

I don't know why, but I love finding unusual novelties for their stockings. This little bird can balance on anything. Like a forehead:

The doll house was a hit with everyone. Rachael totally forgot about that tree with the button that makes the leaves fall off:

We stick to a strict regimen on Christmas morning: stockings, the tradtional breakfast of homemade Cinnabon rolls/breakfast casserole/grapefruit, get ready for the day, THEN do wrapped presents. One at a time. We figure after all the time and trouble spent thoughtfully choosing, buying, and wrapping gifts that we should really appreciate each and every one. It takes forever and we love it! But today was a little different since we not only had church, but Brandon, Kate and I were all performing in the all music program. So after stockings and breakfast it was time to get ready and haul the behemouth of a harp to the church by 11am for one last rehearsal before the 12:00 meeting. I was on the piano for most of the program, Kate accompanied the choir on one song and also did "Greensleeves" by herself, and Brandon sang in the choir as well giving the final remarks. They both did a fantastic job and I couldn't have been more proud. One mom came up to me afterward and said her favorite part of the program was the look on my face when Kate finished her solo. I snapped this picture of her after the meeting was over:

We all immediately changed back into our pajamas when we got home and haven't changed since:

One of Will's favorite gifts of the day-- a hexbug. He was making it crawl through Rachael's legs:

Kate gave Rachael two mini "furreal" type of animals:

Isn't this the cutest?

I love the homemade school gifts:

Macaroni ornament. Classic:

Will is all about Domo lately (and TinTin, and Fort Platypus), but the coolest gift he received today was a checkers/chinese checkers board from my Dad that he made WHEN HE WAS TWELVE!

Kate mostly wanted books, music, and movies. Here she is already absorbing the Bronte sisters:

A fun gift for me from Brandon:

We have been so obscenely indulgent this afternoon/evening/night lying around in our jammies not lifting a finger except to drink more egg nog or eat a leftover cinnamon roll. But for Brandon and I, this is the sign of a great Christmas day and we won't touch anything until tomorrow:

Hope you enjoyed this Mom! I'm sure you're the last man standing. Merry Christmas!

Bonus Feature: Top 5 Christmas Songs That Are Constantly On the Radio That I Never Want To Hear Again In My Entire Lifetime:

1) All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey)

2) So This Is Christmas, What Have You Done . . . (Happy Xmas, John Lennon)

3) We Waited All Through the Night . . . (Title anyone? The one by Bryan Adams.)

4) Wonderful Christmas Time (Paul McCartney)

5) Do They Know It's Christmas Time? (Band Aid)

Brandon would add:

1) Where Are You Christmas?

What's your vote?

A Favor, A Lesion, Pre-school Programs, and Chicken Feet

2011-12-11T21:27:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, our blog on Deseret News is almost always listed on the high end of "most popular blogs" among 40 other blogs, but we rarely get comments. I'm guessing if we focused on more sensational or controversial topics that would change, but our message is what it is, and while people seem to like it, they don't feel inclined to comment. But in one of my posts last week on enjoying the moments with our families I included this plea:

So in the spirit of enjoying more moments with my family, I'd like to cut down on my computer time a bit this month. But in order to do this, I have a favor to ask. Would you email me some of your favorite Christmas moments with your family and how you got there? I would absolutely love to do a post compiling some of our readers' simple philosophies/traditions/systems that help them to enjoy the magical moments of the season with their families. Send your moments and your how-to's to allyson@powerofmoms.com and leave your first name (or username if you prefer) and city.

After a couple of days sitting in the #2 spot every time I've checked, what's in my inbox? Nada. Nunca. Zero. Nanimo nai. So here I am petitioning the silent readers of this blog. Send me something, will you? You've got my personal email now, so if the comments feature isn't working for you (I've heard that from a few people) drop me a little line in my personal inbox. Please? Pretty please? Here's the more direct question at the end of the post to help get you thinking:
QUESTION: (This is what you're going to email me!) How do you create or enjoy magical moments with your family during the holiday season amidst all the craziness? What are your favorite moments?

On a more personal note, Kate and I went to the dermatologist on Friday. She has a weird rash thing on her legs we're taking care of, and I just wanted to round out my obligatory "I've turned 40 so check me out and tell me I'm okay" doctor visits. (And I'm doing it before another deductible kicks in! I bet you never thought about how busy December is for doctors. This week is going to be positively NUTS for Brandon. Among a zillion other surgeries this week, he'll be operating on both a husband and his wife this Tuesday. I told him he'd better make sure both cases go well or kill them both. That's what I would want.)

ANYWAY, in the the process of the dermatologist looking at every mole and freckle on my body, she asked me if I wanted to take care of what I thought was just an age spot on my left cheek. (Developed during my pregnancy with Will. Not terribly noticeable, but it bugs me.) She said it would cost $25 and she could do it right then and there. Well, what would you do? So she blasted it with some nitrogen just like they do at our favorite ice cream place (Sub Zero) and that was that. This entire exchange and the freezing itself happened in like one minute. So fast I had no time to think. Once she was done, she told me it would be "red and puffy" for a few days, then turn BLACK and come off in a sheet shortly after. Why did I do this two weeks before Christmas??? I had an Ugly Sweater Christmas party on Friday night, choir practice and church today, Brandon's work party this Tuesday night, a kajillion other school parties and concerts coming up this week, AND I HAVE A DARK REDDISH BROWN OOZING LESION ON MY FACE! Sa-WEET! (I bought small, clear band-aids for it last night.)

Other highlights of the derm appointment: Rachael had her pre-school Christmas program at 10:00 in the morning, so the usual afternoon pre-school was cancelled and she had to go to the appointment with us. (This is entirely unrelated, but the most noticeable difference between overly ambitious and energetic first time parents and those of us who gave up the fight three children ago can be observed at pre-school performances. First time parents come dressed to a tee along with their children, the grandparents are in attendance, and everyone has a camera and video camera in hand. Then there's the restivus. I didn't even remember there was a program until about 9:15 when I was still un-showered and in my work out clothes. I quickly showered and threw on some make-up, dressed Rachael in whatever was clean and gave her a Power Bar for breakfast in the car. Somehow we made it on time and I felt very full of myself. I took these two really poor pictures on my iphone:

BACK TO THE STORY! On the way to the appointment, I got a call from the elementary school telling me that Elizabeth *said* she had thrown up in the bathroom and wanted to come home. When I talked to Elizabeth on the phone, she said her class had a "Christmas Around the World" presentation on Hong Kong (I'll be doing Japan this coming week . . . with a lesion on my face) and whoever was doing it brought in chicken feet and fish eyeballs to share, making her sick to her stomach. (Is that really what they eat in Hong Kong at Christmas time?) I'm seriously questioning the throwing up at this point and am sure she doesn't need to be picked up now that the presentation is over, but when I explained this to her over the phone she actually started to make GAGGING sounds to convince me that she did indeed need to come home. After going back and forth with her and sending her back to class, the office actually called again saying the teacher really did think she was sick and could I come to pick her up. Sigh. While I'm sure the sight of chicken feet and fish eyeballs did make her sick to her stomach, Elizabeth has "faking streaks" and I can spot them from a mile away. (No, there isn't a bully at school or anything like that, sometimes she just wants to come home and play.)

Long story short, I actually picked this child up with only 15 minutes to spare before the derm appointment (she was most definitely NOT sick) which meant I now had 2 extra children in tow. Not really a big deal since Kate could stay with them in the waiting room during my appointment, but after getting in my gown and settling in with a Newsweek I heard Rachael SCREECHING from down the hall. Apparently she really needed to go to the bathroom and for whatever crazy reason didn't want Kate to take her. Of course, she wanted ME, but I was not about to go wandering around in my less than generous robe, so I called Kate (thank heavens for cell phones, really) and told her to bring her down to me. This day was getting longer by the minute.

And THAT, is how I ended up with this attractive picture on my cell phone:

THE END. (Please send me your magical Christmas moments. Please? You know who you are. And you too.)

Christmas Lights

2011-12-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

After finding out most of the tree lights from last year didn't work and then making TWO different trips to the store for more, Brandon finally got the tree ready for decorating. Nothing like chocolate chip pancakes, Christmas music and tree decorating in your jammies on a Saturday morning:

He's lamenting that his hair looks "dumb" and he doesn't want to put it on the tree:

And he thinks these fingerless gloves are so cool. He wears them to bed:

Check out the framed picture of me and my sisters in the late 70's in the lower right of this picture. I put it out every year:

Today I finally found the ribbon that was supposed to go around the tree. Oh well:

That evening we went to see the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The pictures don't do it justice:

A lot has changed since the pioneers first arrived!

We stepped in the old tabernacle for a bit to get warm. (Click here for some interesting facts on the organ.) The Mormon Tabernacle Choir still does performance here even though there is a new and much larger facility just north about a block.

Ever a lover of history, here's Brandon telling the kids about how the ceiling/roof was made by a ship builder. That's why it looks like the bottom of a ship!

All my pictures are slightly tilted to the left because of the way I was wearing my camera over my big coat. I'm too lazy to fix it:

Beautiful music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir accompanies the telling of the Christmas story in Luke 2 at thus outdoor display:

(I know, tell me agin how we're not Christian. Someone explain it to me, please!)

A bunch of these little guys were still living. Elizabeth picked this one for me:

The conference center that replaced the old tabernacle for larger meetings:

My favorite:

Look. I promise we'll get a house with a guest room so you can come next December to see the lights and stay with us. I'll even make you some chocolate chip pancakes!

Sheer Randomness

2011-12-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

Tiffany: 'Splain yourself! Of course we can still be friends, but you can't just leave an "I disagree" comment like that without giving me something to argue about! I never imagined you as a shopper . . . .

Heather: Love the website sharing! I meant to ask people to share, so thanks for reading my mind.

I have so many little mental and written notes of recent happenings and stuff going on with the kids that I just HAVE to get them down before I turn around and find everyone has suddenly moved onto another stage and everything is different. (This seems to happen way too fast!)

Kate has started coming to choir practice with Brandon and I, and is preparing to play a harp solo at church on Christmas day ("Greensleeves" per Brandon's request) as well as accompanying the choir on Mack Wilberg's gorgeous "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need". Here's what I've decided: It's fun to watch kids grow up! Case in point, yesterday I babysat a little 1-year-old who demolished the bottom of my Christmas tree and the nativity set in about 10 unfortunate and unsupervised minutes. I can't believe how quickly I'd forgotten what life was like with a true toddler in the house, and I think I like the stage our family is in! If you take it in the shorts and do the hard but important work of a mother as best as you can when they are little, there are definite paybacks as they get older. It's really satisfying to watch my kids succeed and find happiness in their own unique ways as the years roll on. Here are a few "Nightmare Before Christmas" harp recital pics from November:

She's actually much better on the piano than she is on the harp, but it seems everyone plays the piano, so the harp becomes the interesting instrument to get invited to the party. (I'm thinking of the Christmas day program.)

Sometimes I am nearly overwhelmed by the thought of how many years' worth of school projects still lie in my future. Luckily, Kate disappeared into the basement for about an hour re-emerging with this catapult project that I didn't know anything about:

Kate still can't get in bed before 10:30 every night, is endlessly reading all kinds of books (from Jane Austen to dark and mysterious), quoting Napolean Dynamite, and teasing William mercilessly. He loves it and gives it right back to her. They always want to hang out together in one or the other's room right around bedtime.

I've also been feeling grateful for Kate's health teacher who sends home lists of "sensitive" questions to discuss with a parent after every unit, requiring a parent's signature. We've had some great discussions because of this! Kate doesn't always like it (so she says) but I milk it to the bitter end. After talking about relationships and hormones last night, I glanced over the list of vocabulary words (every embarrassing body part and function imaginable) and noticed "gynecologist" was also listed. I thought it interesting that "urologist" wasn't listed considering they deal with more of the stuff on the list than the gynos do. Kate was mortified when I forcefully suggested she tell her teacher that her dad is a urologist and would be happy to come in as an "expert" to talk about whatever the teacher would like. Doesn't that just make you laugh thinking about her reaction to that suggestion?

Will is way into sneaking up on and scaring everyone in the family. It can really make me mad sometimes if I'm not in the right mood, but he's always laughing so hard it's hard to stay upset! He's also into drawing really creative and funky creatures (Kate too), as well as creating a mutant gummi bear army by biting them apart and then sticking them back together with spit. Her took these pics:

Other creations:

Orchestra concert:

5th grade monthly book report projects will be the death of me. Don't think I just had this "wax museum costume" lying around. Oh no, we had to track it down on a school night during the dinner hour. Ridiculous!

Kate challenged Will to try and walk up and down the stairs in her high heeled boots just so he could know what girls have to go through. (Like she's being forced to wear them.)

I get a real kick out of working with these 10-year-old cub scouts. On this day we took them for a tour of the high school, a bunch of them were rocking out to Sponge Bob's "I'm a Goofy Goober" in the back of my car all the way. Unfortunately, I only have pictures of our stop in the gym:

Elizabeth and I went to breakfast together at IHOP on a Saturday morning a few weeks back. (Brandon and I try to squeeze in one-on-one "dates" with the kids every once in awhile when we can.) The day we went there just happened to be this "balloon guy" making and giving away pretty much whatever you wanted (he took tips, of course, and handed out his card for birthday parties) so Elizabeth asked for Winnie-the-Pooh. She had her own Pooh with her (the one she bought at Disneyland last summer with her own money) so we had to get a picture of the two of them. I've been surprised by how much she is suddenly into Winnie-the-Pooh:

She's also into taking pictures of her favorite plush animal toys with my little purse camera:

I found this the other day while cleaning up. Elizabeth's picked up my to-do list habit, but not in the way I had quite imagined:

Elizabeth is at the magical age of losing lots and lots of teeth. We were hoping she would lose her two front teeth before Christmas so she could sing the classic song, and what do you know:

One of the funnier things I've heard in awhile came from a "Bug Club" meeting many months ago. Elizabeth and her friend Ellie across the street were taking turns bringing "refreshments" to the regularly scheduled meetings. I can hardly remember now what they would do at these "meetings" under the deck behind Ellie's house, but one day she came home saying it was "Dead Bug Appreciation Day" and explained, "Where we especially appreciate the bug that was murdered by a spider." You can't make this stuff up!

More camera work by Elizabeth showing what our family was doing every Monday night for a couple of months--watching The Sing-Off:

Elizabeth continues with her photography session, commanding me to sit and pose with Will's laundry basket:

Sometimes the best pictures come from the kids. It's always fun to see what shows up when I upload the pictures to my computer. Rachael told me I was her "favoritest mom" the other day:

After meeting new baby cousin Liv this past summer and seeing Aunt Shauna 9 months pregnant during the same trip, Rachael has given birth to this little African American baby about 50 times over now:

Another picture taken by Elizabeth of something that happens at least once a week: Kneader's drive-thru!

I have masses of fall nature pictures taken up in these mountains behind our home, but I fear the craziness of December may doom them to a life in the abyss of iphoto. Only time will tell, but for now, I leave you with a couple recent evening pics. Late fall/early winter does have a unique beauty:

Oh yeah.

Brandon's current nighttime reading is a book that contains everything interesting to him all in one place: Gods of Myth & Stone: Phallicism in Japanese Folk Religion. Yep. That's my husband.

I've been spending a half hour each morning on the treadmill generating "happy juice" while laughing/crying my way through the Larkrise to Candleford series. SO excellent!

Online Shopping Or Bust: Great Toy Websites

2011-12-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

I made a very weak goal late in October to have my Christmas shopping done by December. I haven't purchased a single present yet.

I did start to fill various website carts last weekend, however, and hope to get things pretty narrowed down this weekend. I'll make sure I get free shipping (AMAZON is only $25 minimum), push the little "ORDER" button, and wait for Christmas to come to my door. Beautiful.

I realize many people out there like the "fun" of driving to The Mall/Target/Walmart/Toys-R-Us in the freezing cold, wandering up and down the aisles of merchandise while maneuvering their massive carts around other people and their massive carts, rummaging through every blessed thing in a painstakingly slow way, standing in super long lines having to listen to other people's conversations, and then lugging everything to their cars and then again into their homes. Fun, right?

As for me, I will do anything to avoid an unnecessary trip to any retail establishment at any time of the year, but ESPECIALLY during the holiday season. I am NOT a shopper. So many reasons:

1) It's a huge time waster. The driving, the lines, the wandering from store to store.

2) It's annoying. The driving, the lines, the wandering from store to store with scads of other people (not always people you'd choose to spend your afternoon with), potentially obnoxious music, and even more obnoxious advertisements. And what happens if you run out of time and have to hurry to the school to pick up kids or whatever? What do you do? Hurry and buy everything without taking time to really sort out what you want, or leave it all for another day? (The only thing I hate more than shopping is shopping with time constraints.)

3) It's boring. The driving, the lines, the wandering from store to store looking at stuff and fluff. Absolutely mind numbing.

4) It's overwhelming. If you don't have a pre-determined list in hand, how can you possibly make a decision wandering through The Mall/Target/Walmart/Toys-R-Us with it's thousands upon thousands of options? Forget it! And if you do have a list in hand, have fun hunting down everything on your list and going back and forth to make sure you got it all.

5) It's inconvenient. If you've spent almost a decade and a half of your life like me with pre-school age children at home, how DO you enjoy shopping? More specifically, when are you supposed to go Christmas toy shopping by yourself? (Because heaven knows the only thing worse than cleaning the mysterious goo under the bottom drawer of the refrigerator is trying to get through the toy section of a store with small children in tow.) Well, you have to get a babysitter/swap with someone/work around their nursing and napping schedules OR go late at night when you're exhausted. Spare me, please.

But I must shop for Christmas presents, and in the end I do love to see the kids open their gifts on Christmas morning, even if it does end up being overkill. But I never ever EVER leave the confines of my bed to do my shopping. It's been me, my laptop, and my jammies for over 7 years now. Online shopping is THE BEST.

Along with the annoyances of shopping at The Mall/Target/Walmart/Toys-R-Us, I'm also not that fond of the toy options they have available. Bratz dolls, singing Elmo, Nerf guns, cheap plastic stuff. Blech. If I'm going to spend the time and money, I want to get something different and educational, and something that will last through the years. I'm not saying I've never purchased a "dumb" toy just because someone really, really wanted it, but by and large I go for quality as I define it. Which is another reason online shopping is so great. The toy options are SO MUCH BETTER. The options can be even more overwhelming than those at The Mall/Target/Walmart/Toys-R-Us, but most toy websites have great search options such as by price, age, gender, pretend play, outdoor, board games, etc. It makes shopping a million times easier.

So without further ado, here are some great websites for Christmas toy shopping. I've used about half of these myself, and threw in the other ones just for fun after googling "educational toys". So get your jammies on, make some hot cocoa, and do some serious shopping:

Kazoo Toys

Discovery Channel Toys

National Geographic Toys

Fat Brain Toys

Educational Toys Planet

P.S. I often get ideas from these sites and then see if the same toys are on Amazon for less. I also like to google "Best Toys 2011" or "Best Educational Toys" or "Award Winning Toys" for gift list ideas.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-30T22:24:00.000-08:00

I started this a week ago . . . between the long Thanksgiving weekend and PMS, blogging just didn't make my list.

We are purists around here. No Christmas music, lights, or decorations until after Thanksgiving. We consider--and celebrate--Thanksgiving as a real, bonafide holiday of it's own rather than as a fattening meal between Halloween and Christmas. Who wants to miss out on this wonderfully easy, peaceful holiday that focuses on gratitude? Not me. In my mind, Thanksgiving is the perfect segue into the Christmas season. (I have a post from last week on Deseret News about this very thing: THANKS and GIVING. I hope you'll read it. I LOVE the story.) Before my kids get too wrapped up in thinking about all the stuff they want for Christmas, I like to use Thanksgiving to set the stage by helping them see how much they already have and also think of ways to give in the coming weeks. Perfect, right?

Our traditions are so simple, but go a long way. Some night early in November we draw our Thanksgiving tree on a big piece of poster board I pick up from the grocery store and cut out a bunch of fall colored leaves from construction paper or card stock. Throughout the month we take some time in the evenings whenever we can to go around and say what we're thankful for, writing them down on the leaves and taping them to our tree. We keep this in front of the fireplace with the school made Thanksgiving decorations taped all around and a little pile of Thanksgiving books nearby. (Molly's Pilgrim is my all time favorite.) That's it!

The key is not to censor what makes it onto the tree, though I do reserve the right to ask why someone is grateful for something like intestines. (Among other things.) Here's what made the grateful list this year. (A few of these belong to my bro-in-law, Brent, and his girlfriend, Camille, who came to dinner one Sunday night.)

Shelter
Love
Imagination
Intestines
Good smells
Photography
Family
Clothes
Round leaves
November
Music
Cultures of the world
Trees
Pie
Good movies
Creative writing
Allyson
Gratitude
PJ's
Motherhood
Mountains
Dinner parties
Work
Pumpkins, pinecones, & candles
Holidays
Cows
Video games
Donkeys
Fatherhood
Peanut butter
Avatar
The sun
Being born at the end of the 20th century
Scientific theories
Puppies
Napolean, Nacho & Kip
Honeycrisp apples
Not having kidney stones
Pre-school
Rachael
Books, letters & language
Friends
Life & God
Chickens
Daddy's happy heart
Communication
Little fishes
Japan & Japanese food
Socks
Rocks
Beds
The letter B
Mom & Dad
Buttons (electronic)
Inspiration
Light
Brandon
Church
Nature
Names
Entertainment
Old guys
Variety
and . . . .
Technology (that was mine, and you do have to sing it like Kip)

Do a Thanksgiving Tree next year. It's so fun!

And while I have fond memories of my sisters and I serving food to the homeless at the mall on Thanksgiving evening when I was a teenager, our family isn't really there yet and I haven't found another good way to "give" on Thanksgiving day, which is once again why I say it's a perfect segue into Christmas. Christmas is when we have our giving traditions already in place.

This is what our Thanksgiving holiday looked like:

Wednesday--Dad's day with the kids (BYU Bookstore and Jump On It--indoor trampoline place) while I caught up on computer work and Christmas photo gifts. I do love making photo books as gifts through Shutterfly, but I've found the only advantage to them over the "real" scrapbooks is that there's no mess. They take just as much time in my experience. (But that may be because I'm a perfectionist in the virtual world, and only in the virtual world. You should see my linen closet.)

Thanksgiving morning I made Elaine Tuba's simple and scrumptious "Corn Casserole" before heading over the river and through the woods to Aunt Marsha and Uncle Don's house. (Elizabeth can't get enough of the "corn casserole" as she calls it, eating the leftovers for breakfast the next day.) Uncle Don is Brandon's Dad's younger brother, and 8 of their 10 kids were in attendance with their families. Throw in our family, Aunt Marsha's sister and father, and that makes 42 people!

This is exactly where I last saw Uncle Don a year ago:

The 4-year-old table:

The tween to teen table. (That's Will covering his head.)

Three more long tables for the restivus:

Even after running two miles in the morning and taking two good walks after dinner, I was still up on the scale the next morning:

I made my best effort to eat all of this pie, but it was no use:

Friday we did what we always do: ~~Black Friday shopping.~~ We went Christmas tree hunting:

It has to be at least as tall as the stick to cut down:

A Charlie Brown tree:

Tree sap:

This is the one!

Removing the loose needles:

I never tire of looking at these mountains:

Another Charlie Brown tree:

We started going to Claim Jumper after tree hunting in California, but the next best thing close to us here in Utah is Texas Roadhouse where I'm quite certain I did more damage to my waistline than even Thanksgiving dinner.

Saturday was more Christmas decorating. Kate had the idea of gathering all our Santas together and lining them up in size order. I don't know who took these pictures:

The house was a mess for two days while we put everything in place:

The Christmas picture books are always a favorite:

Last but not least, we went to see the holiday lights at Thanksgiving Point.

Not a bad kick off to the holiday season! (More on Eat Like A Pilgrim later.) Life sure does seem picture perfect in the blogging world. You should try it. It does wonders. (Especially if you have PMS.)

Jackson Hole and The Grand Tetons

2011-11-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

I know I already wrote about my 40th birthday trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming back here, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Following are some of my favorite nature pics I've ever taken, and I'm sure it has to do with the subject material. (You can't go wrong in a National Park.) One of my goals in life is to convince people to get off their couches and go outside, put down the remote and pick up a walking stick, trade in that nasty mall taco for some trail mix (or miso soup . . . you'll see). Natural beauty can be found everywhere, and there is something so calming, elevating, even transforming about being immersed in it every once in awhile. (Or as often as possible!) Not to mention--it's free, people! Other than room and board, a trip like this will cost you NOTHING depending on how much you have/want to spend when you aren't galavanting through the mountain/beach/forest/desert. So let's hit the road:

This guy was selling some prime jerky on the side of the road. We are suckers for road side stands, so of course we stopped. (He also threw in THE BEST garlic pistachios for free because it was my berfday-yum!) When we mentioned Alien Jerky down in Baker, California (I blogged about it here) he said he knew the place very well and that it's called Alien Jerky because the guy running the business is an illegal alien! The things you find out when you stop to talk to strangers on the side of the road . . .

I have only been to Jackson Hole one other time in my life when I was about 7 months pregnant with Kate. Brandon was still finishing up his undergraduate degree at BYU, and I was working with the youth at church when I wasn't working at Dr. Clark's office. We did a big fundraiser with the youth for a "high adventure" trip to Jackson Hole. I'll never forget river rafting in a hail and lightening storm while pregnant! What I did forget was how pretty the drive is. (We were too busy listening to the Bulls and the Jazz playing in the NBA Finals on the radio. Those were the days!)

We didn't know the weekend we were going up was also the weekend of LOTOJA, the 206 mile bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson, WY. It was fun to see at first, but soon became rather slow and annoying. I think Brandon's blood pressure was going through the sunroof, so I kept reminding him to look at the gorgeous scenery and BREATH. ("We're not in a hurry, honey. We're on VACATION!") His partner was among the hundreds of bikers, but we never saw him:

Shortly after I took this next picture we picked up a hitch hiker who needed a ride into Jackson. (We have some interesting hitch hiker stories. You should try it some time. The most interesting was the American Indian named Elmo. We took him home and washed his suit for him. Yes, I'm serious.) This guy was a river rafting tour guide in the off season, and a ski instructor in the winter. What a life! But I wouldn't trade him places for the world.

It was this sight as we drove into town that led me to do it:

After our unexpectedly looooong drive up (thank you, LOTOJA) we immediately found a good place to eat. Yummy food is always part of a good vacation for us:

The next day we headed for the Tetons. I took about 5000 pictures at every angle imaginable. I should probably start a separate photography blog for all the nature pictures I like to take, but until I do you'll just have to indulge me:

The first signs of fall:

Bear Poop:

Lichen:

These were mostly picked over by the bears, but we ate a few here and there:

Loved the wildflowers and plant life everywhere:

One of Brandon's favorite back packing accessories. We brought it on our little day hike so we could have some tasty miso soup once we got to the top:

My favorite close up:

The next day we went to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. I included just a couple favorites:

It's right next to the National Elk Refuge:

More tasty food. Brandon said this was the best Rueben he's ever had. (And he's had a lot.)

While sweatshirt shopping we saw some pretty funny tees:

That night we went on a free wildlife tour through the National Park Service, but we didn't see anything as exciting as this female moose we saw right off the side of the road the day before:

It was still very pretty and we did get to hear an elk bugle. (I guess that's a big deal.) Some of my favorite pictures of the entire trip came from this tour:

Mule deer:

Look at this moon rise!

Waddell is my maiden name . . .

Our last night we went to dinner at the place everyone kept recommending, Snake River Grill, but first we checked out the By Nature Gallery and it's amazing finds. Our kids would have gone NUTS in there, but this isn't a store for children. Most of these natural treasures cost more than $50,000!

(Brandon checking his wallet to see if he's got an extra 50k in there . . .)

I had the tastiest sweet corn creme brulee at this place. I would go there again in a heartbeat:

The concierge at the hotel insisted we take this picture, plucking the little cougar off the fireplace mantle:

The next morning I did my big jump off the mountain, and then we did some last minute trinket shopping for the kids:

This is the picture everyone has to take when they go to Jackson Hole. Here's the story.

This is the place we went to no less than THREE times during our short stay:

I thought this was funny enough to snap a picture:

Even the drive home was gorgeous:

I always hate for these getaways to come to an end, but at least I like what I have to come home to!

My Favorite Things From The Week

2011-11-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

This recipe. So so good.

This Julian Smith video.

Rachael saying to me: "Mom! Do you know what about you? You're so beautiful."

Doctors. In the last week I've had a pap smear, a mammogram (My first! SO not a big deal. It took about five minutes and I would describe it as only mildly uncomfortable.), an exam from an orthopod for my shoulder, and today I made an appointment with a dermatologist for next week. (I'm making up for lost time. Big time.)

"Finding" my debit card at the bank after searching the house inside and out for days. (Why didn't they call me? Hello??)

Hymn arrangements by this guy. We did an all music meeting in church last week led by our uber talented choir director (also the music/choreography director for Sundance's summer theater production of "Sound of Music" last summer) and she used two of his arrangements. As the accompanist, I loved it!

NBC's "The Sing-Off." We are not a big TV watching family, but when I heard BYU's Vocal Point was competing on this show (the same guys who performed at our hospital Christmas party last year and blew everyone away) we started watching it. It started out with 16 groups, and Vocal Point made it to the Top 5 before getting the boot last Monday. Too bad! I'm betting Pentatonix wins the whole thing.

Eye brow waxing and tinting:

(If that's not convincing, I don't know what is.)

Harry Potter vs. Twilight

2011-11-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Jen, you're not weird. I pinch Wachael's bum every chance I get!

I didn't pit Harry Potter against Twilight, Stephen King did. But I'm glad he did, because I couldn't agree more. Knowing the Reynolds' have been big fans of the Harry Potter books for many years now (especially Kate, since she was old enough to read them) and NOT fans of the Twilight series, my friend Betsy sent me this concise comparison/assessment of the two from Stephen King:

“Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.”
― Stephen King

With a mere hour left before "Twihard" fans finally get to see Bella and Edward tie the knot (who are we kidding, it's all about the sex, right?) I'd like to throw in my 2 cents as well.

I started the Twilight series a few years ago because, well, everybody was doing it and I was curious. Many adult women I knew were reading the books, but most importantly, the 14 and 15-year-old girls I was teaching at church were reading them. I wanted to know what had the attention of so many people (females) around me. It started getting a little tedious for me in book 2, and then I couldn't even get through the honeymoon in book 3. Why?

1) As my hairstylist said today, the Twilight relationships are too "possessive and obsessive." Does anyone really want their teenage daughter thinking this kind of relationship is normal? I would hope the adult women reading the books would recognize it's not, but by the reaction of some of the younger female fans, I'm not so sure. Many of us have been in these sort of sickly relationships, but if we've moved into something more normal and healthy, I would think we'd all be in agreement that this dynamic isn't something we want to put out there as a model for our teenage girls. No?

2) The obsession with not having sex before marriage makes the "forbidden fruit" that much more of a an obsession. Again, does anyone really want their teenage daughter thinking about sex that much? And it really bugs me that Edward is the one with restraint. Yes, it's charming, but it's not teenage boys reading this book, it's teenage girls, and I can't stand Bella as a role model for these girls considering how much time she spends playing seductress. The last thing my future teenage son needs is some sexually aggressive Twihard ninny hoping he'll be a gentleman. As with so many other unimaginative tv/book/movie themes, sex becomes larger than life and overshadows everything else. I'm tired of sex being portrayed as the be all end all of existence. Yeah, it's great, but so is a boring, stable, committed relationship based on mutual goals of work, sacrifice, family, and fidelity. Kate's harp recital last Saturday had a "Nightmare before Christmas" theme, and four very ordinary looking Dads sang a song at half time called, "We May Not Be Vampires, but We're Still Men." (It was HYSTERICAL!) Go Team Ordinary Guy.

3) It really bugs me that the author is LDS for the two reasons listed above. Even though she stuck to our standard of no sex before marriage, making Bella the one constantly pushing for them to cross the line and then having them get married the second she graduated from high school just so they could get on with it didn't do anyone hoping to encourage their children to plan for a happy, healthy marriage any favors.

I know. It's just a book. A fictional story. A way to get lost in fantasy. But no one can argue that our children aren't shaped by what they read/watch/listen to, and I read the series from the eyes of those 14-year-old girls, thinking of my own now 14-year-old daughter--who, thankfully, is a Harry Potter fan. (Give me Hermione as a role model over Barfy Bella any day!)

The Great Catch Up: CA Beach Days

2011-11-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

We made it to the beach 2 times while back in California this summer. These are the pics.

Holdin':

Droppin':

Surfin':

Chillin':

William brought his adopted brother, Rithik:

They really are two peas in a pod:

Santa Monica Pier:

Baby powder for sand in all the wrong places:

My love for pictures of downtown L.A. from the car window endures:

What we don't miss:

Day 2:

We met up with the fam that night in Newport Beach for dinner. Here's Ty, Will, and Jack. Can you tell they are cousins?

Nicole and Kate:

I love this picture of these guys:

This may be my favorite picture ever of my in-laws:

All the kids took a turn doing this:

I wish it weren't so dark and you could see her facial expression:

Some of us walked down Balboa Pier to get some ice cream afterward:

I'm suddenly missing our California family! Waaaah!

Fall Birthdays

2011-11-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

Should I be including some of these things from Sep/Oct in The Great Catch Up? It's getting kind of ridiculous (the back up) but I'm torn between making this blog a complete photographic family history blog, or a random ramblings blog like my last two posts (noticeably picture-less). I'd like to do both, but I just don't think I have that kind of time. Waaaah!

My 40th birthday was one of the best I've ever had. It wasn't so much what happened, but how I felt.

I started out my day with a bike ride. (And let me tell you how much fun I have going on my bike rides in my regular exercise clothes or even just every day clothes on a bike I bought with the intent of toodling along the beach in California. Every time I'm out there I come across at least five or six serious cyclists on their road bikes in their spandex and sponsor shirt, and they give me this look like what the heck are you doing out here in/on that and I just smile and give them a look that like just having fun and feeling the wind in my hair.) I rode to a small, lovely cemetery not too far from our house. (I like cemeteries. I think they are beautiful and peaceful. Is that weird?) I didn't really intend to go there for any other reason than it was the right distance for the right amount of time I had, but once I was there I started thinking. Thinking about how everyone gets just one shot at this life, how we never know when it's going to come to an end, and how I want to live mine to the fullest.

Brandon's Thursdays can be flexible at times, so he got the morning off and we went to lunch together. Afterward, we tried to get a pedi/mani together at a cheap walk-in place (I had to talk him into that one), but they were actually full. I didn't want to be late for my scheduled hair appointment, so I left him to enjoy an afternoon at Amara Day Spa all by my little self. (These are the people that are going to fix my eyebrows this Thursday! Big day.) Just when I thought life couldn't get any better, there was a RAINBOW over my neighborhood as I was driving home. Not kidding. Here's the proof:

We went to one of my favorite nearby places for dinner as a family:

Then we had a "party" back at home. The kids are always more excited than I am:

My dear friend, Betsy, sent me a bunch of stuff to make Japanese style bento boxes for my kids' school lunches. I'm not there yet, but when I finally get it together I'll have the supplies! Thank you, Betsy!

I'm going to pass on the BEST birthday present idea ever that came from my awesome sister-in-law, Angie. She had everyone in the Reynolds family send her all the reasons why they think I'm just swell, and then she put them all together in a little book for me. It was like an early eulogy or something. Fantastic! (I should put reading that little book on my list of things to do for S.A.D this winter . . .)

Brandon and the kids used my birthday as an excuse to buy some seasonal candles. We're kind of crazy for fall around here, and Brandon in particular loves the scents of the season. This pumpkin one is already almost all gone:

What Will did during my party:

Brandon made some homemade cupcakes for dessert. Every once in a blue moon he likes to get adventurous in the kitchen. He used a german chocolate cake mix, poked holes in the top, poured sweetened condensed milk over the top, then topped with whipped cream and crushed heath. Impressive. Look! I'm turning 2:

Next up, Kate. I took her out of school for some In-n-Out:

Had a little party for her that night:

Isn't she cute? I CANNOT believe she's 14!

She's already plowed through several of these:

What Will did during Kate's party:

Pyromaniacs:

This picture reminds me of the 80's when all we had were land line phones. I spent many hours in uncomfortable positions with the cord stretched as far as it possibly could to get some privacy. (Just a little tip: if you have a power outage, your cordless and cell phones will be useless after awhile. That's why I have one land line phone like this.) Kate talking to well wishing family members on our 80's phone:

The other kids made this for her:

Last but not least, Wachael:

Can you guess how old she turned? Can you tell her mom had to smash her birthday party into a really busy weekend with lots of other stuff going on and didn't have time to make a homemade cake? Does it look like she cares?

Get ready for some awesome facial expressions:

Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds just happened to be in town. Great timing!

She REALLY liked this musical Cinderella card:

Look at the toes:

What Will did during Rachael's party:

Her actual birthday was the day after her little party, so she followed our family tradition by choosing a sugary cereal for breakfast. I'm so glad I can still see some baby in those cheeks:

And she got to be spotlighted at her pre-school and hand out a little treat:

Happy Birthday to us! (And my mom, and Betsy, and my sister-in-law Shauna, and my nephew A.J., and my Aunts Ginny and Jan, and my dad, and my sister Joanna and her husband Tino . . . all in September/October!)

Veteran's Day, Female Cancers, and A Brief Revision

2011-11-11T22:31:00.000-08:00

First, I have to respond to super nice Sarah's comment. She said:

Hi! Found your blog through the power of moms and been reading for awhile. Love that you show the "real" side of life. I leave your blog feeling uplifted instead of envious or less than good about myself, as when I read so many others.
Anyway how did you determine you had SAD? When the time change rolls around, it's like someone flips a switch in me. I'm usually okay throughout the holidays but once January rolls around, forget it. Just curious."

I really, really, REALLY appreciate your comment because I have my own issues with other women's blogs. Other than a few close friends, I stopped reading them altogether for the reason you mentioned. (And for the sake of time.) While I do think it's the reader who injects and interprets meaning into whatever they are reading (due to their own insecurities or whatever, which I admittedly have), there is a certain flavor to some women's blogs that does feel a bit "braggy"--even if it's unintentional. While it's hard to turn away from the blogs of the overachieving, it doesn't always feel good after. I never want to be that blog. While I would describe my childhood as idyllic, and my current life leaves nothing to complain about, my family hit some rough patches during my teen years and into adulthood that have had a big impact on me, teaching me empathy for others who struggle with similar stuff. But until I grew up and figured things out, I spent a lot of years wishing things were different, or better--basically envying other's peoples lives. That went with me into my early years of motherhood as I compared myself unfairly to others and often wished away my challenges, weaknesses, and the "toughness" of the early years of motherhood. It's no way to spend your energy. The first two articles I ever wrote for The Power of Moms (The Perfect Mom and The Other Mothers) and one of my class series for moms at BYU-I education week all focus primarily on the damage we do to ourselves by coveting other mother's stuff/lives/talents and give suggestions for how to KNOCK IT OFF! (Incidentally, when I did a presentation on "The Compare Snare" at a Power of Moms retreat, almost every mom in the room agreed that the place they find themselves comparing themselves the most is while blog hopping!) For whatever reason, one of my passions in my writing and teaching is to help other mothers learn to love themselves and love their lives--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because of this, I do make a conscious effort to share my life in a way that doesn't leave people feeling like their own life is somehow "less than". I have a very sensitive spot in my heart for the underdog, for those with more than their fair share of hard knocks. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make everyone see the good in themselves and their marvelously ordinary lives. Everyone has something to offer, and we can all learn from each other. I have a favorite saying I always think about wether I'm preparing a class, an article, or even something as simple as a class party in one of my kids' classes. It's this: SEEK TO BLESS, NOT TO IMPRESS. It's the difference between making your efforts all about the people you're doing them for vs. all about you. My absolute least favorite characteristic in a person is arrogance, and people who try to set themselves up as better than, or worthy to be envied, or too-sexy-for-their-shirt because they have money, social status or some other meaningless criteria . . . that drives me nuts. This is seen everywhere to lesser and greater degrees, but I do have a hard time with blogs that seem to me like they are trying to IMPRESS rather than BLESS. I never, ever, EVER want to live/write/act in a way that would leave someone else feeling depressed about their own perfect life, because I truly believe that whatever the circumstances, our lives are tailor made for us to grow in the ways we specifically need if we are only willing to embrace the here and now and be taught by our unique challenges. In this way, everyone's life is "perfect" for them. The end. (This is all MUCH easier said than done.)

Oh! I've never been diagnosed with S.A.D. I'm a self-diagnoser (kind of like my fake heart attack turned panic attack last February), though I did mention my potential for S.A.D. to the P.A. today and she was ready to hand over the Prozac if I wanted it. Holy smokes! I told her about SAM-e, googled it on my phone for her, and she said she'd check it out later. I just get really down in the winter. Maybe that's not technically S.A.D. but that's what I'm calling it. Thanks again for the comment, Sarah.

I'm in between a day of doctor's appointments, cello and piano lessons, and a Veteran's Day concert with the kids tonight performed by the amazing Lyceum Philharmonic with guest artist Peter Breinholt (followed by some Sub-Zero). I've got Will in the Junior Strings group in the same orchestra program, and if he eventually made it into the high school group I would be ecstatic. The kids in this orchestra are all between 14 & 18 years old and they are AMAZING! I have no idea if Will has the talent or drive (only time will tell), but he's enjoying where he's at for now.

To be continued . . . off to the concert.

Wow! What a concert. The music, the narration, the slide shows, the family members of slain soldiers in attendance . . . all very, very touching. So much so that poor Elizabeth was weeping uncontrollably on my lap--I had no idea she was so sensitive! (And I never remember how patriotic I am until I attend something like this and find myself choking back my own tears.) Meanwhile, Rachael was cleaning the floor with a "wup wipe" (wet wipe) and making announcements about passing gas. To add to the drama, we were in the second row in the middle and Brandon was sick at home. I give myself marks for trying to expose and train my children to love and appreciate the arts from the time they are young, but I think more than a few of my grey hairs have come from taking my kids to concerts and museums. I do love people who love music, though. I feel the same about the people we run into in the mountains/out in nature. I like those people. (But I don't really like mall people. Just sayin'.)

Now, if the men in the room could please step outside for just a few minutes. I need to talk to the ladies about some female health stuff.

Nothing like a pap smear and having a foreign body removed from your cornea to get the weekend started! (I had a teeny tiny something stuck in my iris/cornea as of last night, so I mentioned it to the P.A. today and she got me into an ophthalmologist between cello lessons and piano lessons. Not very fun, but I feel 150% better. And he checked my vision. Still 20/20!)

Since I have quite a bit of cancer in my family history, I was really drilling the P.A. today so I could get it all straight in my head. (And you should know that I made an appointment at this particular office specifically because they had a female P.A. doing the pap smears. I'm weird that way.)

In case you're too busy, poor, or chicken to go in and see your doc about all this stuff, I thought I would give you the Reader's Digest version of what I learned today. I was surprised to find out recently that a pap smear only checks for cervical cancer. So how do you even check for the other major female cancers? Here's what I learned:

Uterine/endometrial cancer. This is what my mom and her oldest and only living sister both had. It's slow growing and usually stays confined to the uterus until you remove the whole kit and kaboodle. (That's why they're both still alive.) Signs are periods getting heavier and closer together. Or having periods at all when you should be well into menopause.

Cervical cancer. This is what the pap smear checks for, but symptoms are also random spotting.

Ovarian cancer. This is the ugly one without many symptoms, and can be fast moving. She told me symptoms are bloating, digestive issues like constipation, and generalized pain. Not very helpful, right? And the only way to check for it is ultrasound, and even then it's not always accurate. Lovely.
Breast cancer. Obviously you need to do your monthly exams. Look for pinching/pulling skin or skin that is dimpled like an orange. Tumors are usually painless and hard.

Bladder cancer. Not a female cancer, but I asked her about it too (guess I could have asked my husband who specializes in bladders for crying out loud) because I had an aunt with bladder cancer who ended up having it removed, but not before the cancer spread to her ovaries and eventually took her life. Tell-tale sign is blood in the urine.

That's all I've got! Okay men, you can come back in now.

Last but not least, a brief revision of my TOP TEN ways to deal with S.A.D.:

4) Phototherapy. In addition to the happy lamp, I put daylight bulbs in my kitchen where I spend the most time and have the most recessed lighting. It makes a HUGE difference. Replace all your dingy, weak yellow bulbs with bright, white daylight bulbs. Also, I plan to slather on the sun screen and go to a tanning bed for a few minutes each week. I might even just keep my clothes on. Yes, I'm totally serious.

8) Just put all 3 supplements under #8 and change #9 to . . .

9) Prayer/Meditation/Yoga/The Bhagavad Gita/Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Whatever it is you want to do for your spirit, but turning your mind to that place for a few minutes every day is essential in my opinion.

My cornea is hurting, so I'm outta here. And I ate too much frozen cinnamon custard with dark chocolate flakes at Sub-Zero. Right after preaching about the effects of sugar on my mood!

Eyebrow Waxing and S.A.D.

2011-11-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

I'm growing out my eyebrows and it's just about killing me. (I'm a fairly vain person. The type that rarely leaves the house without makeup on.) I'm growing them out so I can have them "professionally" shaped, waxed, and tinted next week. It's just been me and my tweezers for years now (wish I had tweezed or waxed before my wedding pictures--hello, Sasquatch!), but I'm starting to think I haven't done right by my brows, so they're getting a little TLC next week. (I know. Someone reading this is thinking, "Give me a break! Professional eyebrow waxing?" and another is thinking, "She's never had her eyebrows waxed before?" Everything--EVERYTHING--in life is relative.)

Yes, little by little as my kids get older and life seems to get easier (in some ways), I find myself actually thinking about how to take care of myself. So I'm doing things like having my eyebrows waxed. Tomorrow I even have an appointment with a real, bonafide doctor of medicine. The only doctors I've seen on a routine basis in the last two decades (besides Brandon) were of the obstetric variety. Now that I'm 40, I figure it's probably time to do the much anticipated breast squashing test otherwise known as (say it with gusto) THE MAMMOGRAM! And I'm curious to know my cholesterol levels, stuff like that. I even scheduled an appointment the following week with an orthopedic doc to look at my weird shoulder "issue" that won't resolve. (Sadly, I think I tweeked it carrying too many groceries at once. Isn't that a lame way to mess up your shoulder? Why couldn't it be from playing in a tennis tournament or something cool like that?)

Is this the beginning of the end? A lifetime of doctor appointments and my body slowly, but surely deteriorating and falling apart? I've also been noticing that things look a little blurry lately. Like I might actually need to get GLASSES. (Or LASIK! That vanity thing again . . .)

The "power of the month" over at the website is Optimism, so I've also been thinking a lot about my mental health while writing up posts for Deseret News and acknowledging the onset of colder, shorter days. I am determined not to let SAD (seasonal affective disorder) get the best of me this winter. It really snuck up on me last year as a southern California transplant, but this year--THIS YEAR--I will be ready. Bring it on!

Here's my TOP TEN list of ways to beat the blues this winter:

1) Daily exercise. At least a half hour a day, maybe more if I can spare the time. Cardio is best for my mood.

2) Solid sleep. I can choose to do this at this stage in motherhood, which is pretty amazing after so many years of babies and toddlers routinely waking me up. If I get less than 7 hours for more than a few nights in a row I turn all shades of gloomy and it ain't pretty. I can't afford to do that to myself or my family anymore for stupid reasons like searching real estate online or catching up on friends' blogs. It's never, NEVER worth it. Last night I stayed up until 11:30 doing the above and I've been dragging my feet all day as a result. No more! (Self-discipline is a fickle thing.) Since we are committed to get up and have our family scripture reading time in the morning with our kids at 6:30, I really do need to get in bed by 10:30 every night. (That's a whole nother story, but it's been so great in so many ways.)

3) Avoiding sugar. Brandon and I recently started another "Phat Club" challenge thingy with my sister and her husband because I recognized how emotionally even I felt while doing it the first time. I know it was the result of avoiding sugar, because as soon as the challenge ended and I started indulging in daily treats again the mood swings came back. I had no idea how much sugar affected my mood! This won't be easy through the holidays, but at least Brandon and I are on the same team this year which makes a huge difference. We've been pretty good about saving treats for weekends and special occasions.

4) Phototherapy. I've got my "happy lamp" ready to go under my bathroom sink. I'll probably break it out in December. In addition to the happy lamp, I put daylight bulbs in my kitchen where I spend the most time and have the most recessed lighting. It makes a HUGE difference. Replace all your dingy, weak yellow bulbs with bright, white daylight bulbs. Also, I plan to slather on the sun screen and go to a tanning bed for a few minutes each week. I might even just keep my clothes on. Yes, I'm totally serious. Read about light therapy here.)
5) Aromatherapy. I light up my "energy" candle in the bathroom in the morning while I'm getting ready for the day, and have lots of little home fragrance sprays I use here and there. I may even buy some essential oils from one of my doTERRA selling friends.

6) Music therapy. A few days ago I created a "happy" playlist for my winter treadmill runs. I also listen to music in the kitchen while I'm cooking. Music goes a long way for me--it's like an old friend in the room--so I need to remember to keep it going on particularly down days.

7) Social therapy. Speaking of friends, this winter I'm going to try and be better about attending the "Girls Night Out" every month. I remember feeling like I never wanted to leave the house last year, but being a very social person by nature I really do need to get out and socialize as often as I can. Tonight I'm going to a Learning Circle organized by some of the moms in my babysitting co-op. I happened to mention The Power of Moms to one of them and she said she already knew all about it and was actually part of a Learning Circle! (I really want to start one of my own, but my brain can only wrap around so many things at once. I think after we buy a house in the spring/summer I'll be able to commit in the fall.)

8) Supplements. Vitamin D is kind of the standard treatment after phototherapy. I've already started taking it every day. Other supplements I take every day are Sam-e and fish oil. The Sam-e can be expensive, so I always buy double when it's on sale.

9) Get outside every day. I really like the simple suggestion from my Power of Moms friend, Saren--who also moved from sunny California and St. George to northern Utah last year--to get outside for a few minutes every day in the winter no matter what the weather. Now that Rachael is old enough, we're also going to try to go skiing at least once a month starting in January. Then there's ice skating, indoor swimming, the many indoor trampoline play places they have around here. I really want to keep active, and do it outside as much as possible.
10) Prayer/Meditation/Yoga/The Bhagavad Gita/Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Whatever it is you want to do for your spirit, but turning your mind to that place for a few minutes every day is essential in my opinion.

Today was really beautiful and "warm" for November (upper 40's and sunny) so Rachael and I walked to the school to get Will and Elizabeth, staying after and playing on the playground for about an hour. One of the highlights of my day was swinging with my eyes closed, the sun warming my face. I do like the big sky here, and the kids' school ground has the most phenomenal view of the mountains, lake, and valley. (Wish I could build a house on the playground!)

So there you have it. Way, way, way more than you ever wanted to know about my eyebrows and mental health. But I know there are plenty of other people out there that struggle against the same things so I share. There.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

The house is almost, ALMOST quiet. (Why are 3 of my 4 children night owls? It's a cruel reality.) Brandon is working on a presentation about prostate cancer for a prostate cancer support group tomorrow (doesn't that sound fun?), and I'm here typing with one eye closed. I'm feeling a little down today, and I'm sure it's because I'm tired. Here is the Halloween report nonetheless, because these kids just keep on growing, and because my memory seems to get worse every day. (I like to say my hard drive is full. This blog is like my external hard drive.)

Friday night we went to Cornbelly's for the last time this season. We went to pick our pumpkins, but maxed out on the other activities first. Kate forced me to go in the creepy clown fun house thing. I held onto her like a high school boyfriend with my eyes closed the entire time. (I'm getting too old for this stuff.) Eating kettle corn while sipping hot cocoa around the fire was a highlight. It was cold!

Saturday was carving day. Brandon was on call and home only long enough to do the pumpkins (about 3 hours), but he got the job done:

I made pumpkin doughnuts with a little help from my assistants:

FYI--last year's recipe was way better than this year's just-as-good-even-though-they're-baked-instead-of-fried recipe. The baked variety were a disappointment. Brandon kind of said I told you so in a nice way. But much like pizza, even bad pumpkin doughnuts are pretty good:

Rachael's:

Elizabeth's (with considerable help from Dad):

Will's:

Kate's:

Believe it or not, I didn't spend a single penny on costumes this year. The weekend we were going to go looking, we first pulled out what we already had and everyone came away happy. Hand-me-downs and leftovers are a beautiful thing.

The joker:

The self-appointed "disco hippie":

This is NOT a witch! This is "a little girl with long black hair" as she was quick to tell everyone:

Elementary school parade:

My favorite adult costume of the day from Rebecca:

Will's class party. We did a "Fear Factor" theme, and I brought baby food for the kids to take down. Some were braver than others. Will wasn't among them even though he ate a BBQ'd larvae at another station:

My baby food idea was nothing compared to what another mom brought. Look at this stuff:

The Goth condescends to join the group for a picture. She and Will were taking themselves pretty seriously. What a crack up:

I think I pulled off The Flying Nun pretty well, except I probably should have done it "years" ago. When I told the kids how many people have said I look like Sally Field and then showed them the picture from the show, Elizabeth said something nice about me looking "way older" than her. (I guess she was a teenager in the show so I can't feel too bad.) My favorite moment of the evening was while driving home after dropping Kate off at her friend's house. I happened to see another woman dressed as a nun just standing in her doorway. Our eyes met, and with a totally straight face she raised her arm in the air as if to say "Bless you, my child." I was laughing the whole way home:
We really lucked out on the weather. Last year was freezing and rainy. Last night was clear and cool:
Liked this one:

Will went off with his friends as well, so it was just me and the girls while Brandon manned the candy bowl back home. I could just spit when I think about how easy it would have been for me to bring the Flip video camera along. Rachael was so stinkin' cute and kept saying the funniest things. Stuff you can't make up let alone remember. 4-year-old stuff. I'm so tired right now that it seriously almost makes me cry that I didn't get any of that on video! She kept saying "Happy Halloween, Mom!" and "This is the best happy Halloween day ever!" It's the tone of voice and her little lisp that makes it so darn cute. Why didn't I bring the video?? Why don't I go to bed! (Head is on the pillow now, typing with both eyes closed, only opening to spell check occasionally . . .)

A family two doors up makes fried doughnuts out of their garage every year, complete with a variety of toppings:

They also show "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on the side of their house. Here are the kids with their glow sticks, watching from the comfort of the tramp:

Back at home to sort, count, barter and trade:
Mother Superior sounds like a good title to start using around here:

Another Halloween in the can!