{this tale to tell.....}

Before and After

2013-10-14T17:00:00.002-07:00

recently i came across a facebook post of a friend of a friend in which a before and after shot was featured of a woman. the post proclaimed amazement at the hard work of this beautiful woman to loose nearly 30 lbs. of baby wieght. she looked great. i think it is awesome when women are able to achieve an "unattainable" goal. and i certainly applaud the efforts of this woman to regain her former figure after the grueling nine months of growing a HUMAN BEING inside of her body, then within a few hours of excruciating and indescribable hard work, (this pain being the equivalent of ALL pain felt in the preceding 9 months) experiencing the inevitable life changing experience of keeping this new, beautiful, incredible, person alive. kudos to the "after!"
but it did get me thinking. i once heard a guy say on the radio that every woman's body was ruined after child birth. i was glad that my life experience enabled me to immediately deem him and idiot. but that statement is so indicative of our society and how women are viewed and valued. you can't go anywhere without hearing about how this famous person or that famous person can now where a bikini a mere 30 days after giving birth! holy pressure batman. it took me 30 days to be able to fix my hair again after baby. i think it may have been 60 days until i could actually attempt excersise, and it's been 13 years now since i had an uninterrupted thought.
i think of how i was before i had kids. not just that i was thinner, or that my stomach was free of purple stretch marks and pooches, but how i WAS.
i was carefree. i was ambitious, and flaky, and irresponsible, and a little selfish. life was about me and what i wanted and my dreams and my dislikes etc. etc. etc. somehow, thirteen years of little people have changed me. and it's been a refiners fire let me tell you. a person cannot be the mother of four children and all that comes with that, live 3000 miles from family, move 8 times, spend 6 months with a husband on deployment, and not be different. but maggie is a much better person after children then she was on her own before children if i do say so myself. and isn't that what life is all about. learning and growing and changing. we are so afraid of becoming older, of looking older. but you know what: life is hard, you cannot escape it with perfect skin, toned muscles, & full flowing hair with just the right amount of highlights. we will all become gray, wrinkled, saggy, beautiful creatures. people with wisdom and life experience and wonderful stories to tell.
the other day i heard avery and jace playing and singing a song. they didn't know i was there. i was the only patron at their impromptu concert. how totally awesome is that? and it is so worth it. the world will look at me and say i've lost my youth, i need to do a few situps and lay off the chocolate pie, but i think that i am grateful for my before and the choices i made to get me to the after that i never new i've always wanted.
so i don't want to say to the before and after girl on facebook anything about her awesome weight loss. i just want to say, hey thanks! thankyou for sacrificing a little part of your life to make way for a new one. thanks for the sleepless nights and the stressful days. thanks for cleaning up the puke and the pee and the poop. thanks for letting go of the before so gracefully. the after looks good on you.

the annual summer meltdown

2013-08-01T08:17:00.002-07:00

i ran away yesterday. it really had to happen. it all started out rather inocously. a morning filled with the usual mothering routines. "please clean your rooms, and get dressed!" i said this in a voice singing with hope and positivity! "your turn to practice the piano." said with equal vigor!

not surprisingly, my success rate was dismal. 25% to be exact. only one of the four kidlets complied. i love that one the best. i love the other 75% the best too, most of the time.

so naturally i repeat myself. again. and again. and then just to be sure...again. my eldest, bless him, says something reeking of attitude. i surprise my self by responding calmly, " you need to change your attitude."

and my eldest, bless him, responds with even more attitude, " you need to change yours! you are grumpy ALL THE TIME!"

also i noticed a smell this morning. it's stinky six year old boy smell. he is refusing to shower. i am refusing to give him his breakfast until he complies. he doesn't seem to mind. it still smells pretty bad in here.

my little lady is upstairs cleaning her room. or attempting too anyway. to her credit she's been working on this since 2010. to my credit, she is still allowed to keep trying. but i decide to take a new route this morning. "you've got 15 minutes to get this room cleaned up. after that i am coming in with a garbage bag and taking everything left out to the thrift store."

to which she responds with complete indignance. apparently 3 years is just NOT enough time to get a job done properly. she mumbles something about her grumpy mom, how she hates me, and how it's not fair and then throws something at her closet and exclaims! "i am running away."

i wanted to scream. i wanted to yell. i wanted to swear very loudly! miraculously, i do none of those things. instead consider my little ladies idea.

it was a light bulb moment for me really. and so i say, "that is an awesome idea." i think i will! maybe i need a break! maybe the piano lessons, and swim lessons, and baseball games, and snowcone runs, and late nights, and road trips, and river floating, and camping, and complete summer chaos HAVE made me a tad grumpy? maybe the complaining, and summer coughs, and rushing around, and constant sweeping, (seriously 3 times a day) and extra dishes and three homemade meals a day, and arguments diffused, and lost flipflops and swimsuits and and and and!

mommy needs a time out.

i take the 25% with me. he's done with his jobs by now, imagine that! so with the hormonal 13 yr old left in charge of the slow cleaner and the smelly six year old, i declare that i am running away and will be back soon. me and 25% head out the door to run away and do......errands! it was very exotic. it also saved lives.

i am encouraging you mothers to try this in some form. what do you do to escape? whether you can runaway to mail bills and eat a bar of delicious chocolate on the way home, or read a book in the bathroom or even, heaven fordid, turn on a movie and go sit in a warm shower for a bit, don't forget to take a little time for yourself. i think it helped us avoid the annual summer meltdown.

for the time being.

signs (a slightly tall tale )

2013-07-18T11:24:00.001-07:00

*i recently discovered that lots of people read my blog! so fun for me! but not as fun for you dear readers, seeing as how i don't write too often. i've decided that it is time in my life to pursue my writing a little more. so while i am working on some new stuff...i thought you might enjoy some old stuff! this here post was originally posted in 2009. enjoy....and see you soon!

10 years ago, when i had my first baby, there was not much emphasis on cocoa butter. it was just a generally excepted fact that part of the exchange for one deliciously chubby baby, was purple slash marks on the various stretches of land that make up a person's person.
I have spent some time over the last 10 years lamenting the fact that no one bothered to tell me that these scars were avoidable, simply by coating my self in smellygood, lotion. but alas, they are starting to prove useful.
I have two boys who currently reside in the stage of "you can't tell me what to do." hA HA HA!! that's so funny. (big sigh after hardy laugh) anyway. for example here is a recent conversation.
me: austin it's time to turn off the wii and go outside.
austin: WHAT? i didn't get as long a turn as quinton...... blah blah blah......
me: (interupting, you just must do this as a mother sometimes) I don't know who you think you are, but when i ask you to do something, you say "yes mom!" and then you do it!
austin: YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!
me: (having an epiphany and pulling up my shirt to reveal just my train wreck abdomen) see these stretch marks? i grew you in here and YES I CAN!!
no 7 year old wants to see his mom's train wreck belly, let alone discover the cause.
he very humbly clamps his mouth shut. and turns off the wii.

all this trauma for austin has me examining my stretch marks again to see if they really are that horrendous. i discover that they are worse from the side then the front. i'll remember that next time i need to bare them and turn slighty askew as i do so. it'll be even more effective.
while i'm examining i swear i begin to see an odd pattern in my war wounds. you know how you look at something long enough and it starts to morph and expand before your eyes?
"could it be?," i think, " is that really what i think it is?"
i rummage through the toy box until i find what i need. an ancient kid magnifying glass shaped like a sea turtle. i grip the green plastic handle and take a breath, peering at the suspicious area. and what i see makes me gasp out loud. my suspicions are confirmed. the long hideous scars are formed by tiny grotesquely, artistic, graffiti. the message they spell out takes my breath away. it reads:

austin was here

a smile forms on this mother's face. and i start the search on the sacred landscape of miraculous birthing history for signs of the other three.

in defense of the priesthood.

2013-04-11T20:44:00.003-07:00

npr is usually on my radio when i am alone. no one else can stand it i guess. so it happened that while on my way to pick up the boys from art in henefer tonight i was listening to the utah version of natl. public radio and caught a snippet of a few women discussing the idea of women receiving the priesthood. a few of them pushing for women to receive it...and one soft but firm voice of reason in honoring the way things are. the way the Saviour himself has set up His church.
i have heard of Kate Kelly. a mormon mother and human rights lawyer who lives in DC. she has started a quiet movement to petition the leadership of the church to, as she says it, "" ‘Let us have the priesthood’ ‘We are capable of doing more. What else can we do to help?’ " i respect everyone's right to respectfully voice their opinions...so let me respectfully state mine.
since when do we not help? since when do women NOT do just about everything? since when do we need more to do? if we are lining up to ask the culture, the country, the world for major changes,then i would submit a few things that i actually need.
i need help with the dishes at night. i need more sleep. i need an extra driver. i need a miracle cream that shrinks my double chin. i need women to love themselves. i need them to show less skin and more brains. i need to be respected, praised, and honored for cleaning up pee pee toilets and scraping puke out of the carpet and doing the dishes and making the beds, and ironing the white shirts, and not strangling my pre-teen, and wiping tears while little voices scream bloody murder in my ears. i need our culture and country and our world to look at a womans seemingly unimportant and astoundingly, as some people call it: "demeaning" role as something not to be ashamed of but as something to be cherished, something to strive for, something to aspire too, & something to be grateful for. a PHD in motherhood would be nice. what d'ya say byu? i think i will petition the Lord's university to offer that.
i don't need to be the bishop, i don't need to pass the sacrament, collect fast offerings, heal the sick or raise the dead. i need the men in my life to be that strength i rely on in the middle of the sleepless night when i can ask for a blessing and finally get some rest. and when that preisthood is not available.... well in the words of dear Pres. Packer, "there are few things more powerful than the prayers of a righteous mother."
our responsibilities are like our bodies. they are different. one is not better than the other. when our differences and strengths and weaknesses combine... beautiful things are created. there is no doctrine that says mike can't clean, nurture, or cook. there is no doctrine that says women having the priesthood is impossible...but motherhood is not mike's job and holding the priesthood is not mine. and i for one am so okay with that.

i've a bone to pick...

2013-03-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

on oscar night i dared to try and watch a little...with my kids. so when the"you showed your b o o bs song came on...well i learned my lesson. and quickly abandoned the oscars. awards season is about the pretty dresses for me. and i can see them easily enough the next day.
so today i happened upon an article where the children's book author and one time b o o b baring actress jaime lee curtis was whining about the offensive song...in which she was mentioned. and it sooooo bugged me. yes the song was offensive. but HELLO so is b o o b baring. and guess what jaime lee curtis...you showed your b o o bs! in the article she laments the "fact" that she was only doing what she was asked (by men she so critically points out) and that those films in which her decolletage was featured enhanced her career. so there seth mcfarlane...you are gross and jaime lee is an artist. NOT SO I SAY!!!
dearest hollywood actresses....how 'bout you stand up for yourselves and SAY NO!! NO! i will not show my b o o bs. NO! i will not have multiple intimate scenes where my body is subjected to the known world and all we see of a man is hairy armpits and toned biceps.(i am not suggesting we see more of a man's body thanks, i am merely pointing out that we honor men for much different assets.) NO! i will not let all the hard work we have done for the advancement of women's rights be reduced to the right to show my b o obs!! NO! i will not bare all at the suggestion of a man who clearly has found a fascinating loop hole in the never ending male quest to see some b o o bs. make him earn it...duh! it just kills me how these women we glorify are being awarded for blatant disregard of so many men and women's efforts to honor a woman for more than her body and looks. so dear actresses in pretty dresses, show us your BRAINS!! show us you HEARTS!! show us your pretty dresses for crying out loud...and for heavens sake show us your GUTS!! ladies of the academy... how 'bout you, JUST SAY NO!!!

10 things.

2013-02-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

1# this sweatshirt. i used to despise pink now...i embrace it. life is funny that way.

#2. this salad. i am also trying to embrace the fact that i can't eat like a horse any longer...but i can still eat well.

#3. this bag. everyone needs a good leather bag. i no longer haul around diapers, but i still have 10 lbs of kid/mom paraphernalia at any given time.

#4.this book series. it's about an 11 year old chemistry genius who solves murders and lives in an English estate with her titled family. sort of downton abbey for the mystery lover. plus flavia de luce (the genius) is hilarious.

#5. these shoes. too expensive...but why has no one put pattern on the wedge before? genius i tell you. genius.

#6. this side table. which mike insists is NOT a side table. but i find it fun to teach him all the wonderful things you can do to break the rules. side table it IS! only maybe in red.....

#7. i think you may have to take a trip south to buy this stuff, but once you go with mexican vanilla...you'll never turn back. all my baking is enhanced by it's subtle coconut notes. it'll change your life. or at least those few seconds the cookie is being eaten.

#8. this chapstick. i've used up 3 or 4 tubes since i discovered it. best ever.

#8. old team photos. this is a picture of mike's great grandpa...not sure which one he is...anyway i have found a few team photos that i am using in the boys sports room...i'll show you in a different post what i'm doin' with them!

#9. this non-fiction book. i never thought i'd laugh about death. mary roach writes a respectful, witty and so hilarious history of corpses. awesome book.

#10. these socks. i love too run. but my feet hate the blisters that make my feet look like a lepers. i found these socks that magically reduce friction and therefore blisters. yay! kinda spendy but worth the extra.

dogs are mammals jace.

2012-12-13T16:55:00.001-08:00

jace: avery see that dog...i wish we had that dog.
avery: jace that's a big dog, we don't want a big dog we want a puppy.
jace: well avery, she could just lay some puppies.

a nice day for a hike....provo river falls.

2012-10-06T17:55:00.001-07:00

today mike had a little golf tournament. and i am not crazy enough to be stuck in my house with only chores and bored kids on a sunny saturday. so the kids and i headed to the uintahs and the spectacular provo river falls. it was our first time there, but definetly (sp) (i seriously cannot spell definetely...definanately....whatever at least i know it's wrong.) won't be our last. the rocks are perfect for climbers, the water is not so swift moving that i'm worried about kids falling in, (which they did and it was freezing and they STILL didn't want to leave.) it was heaven. and we didn't do chores or fight or argue, and we defanitely (defanitly?) were'nt bored. i'm already planning summer outings in my head.

nieghh! bors.

2012-09-05T13:21:00.002-07:00

we have had the pleasure of leasing our field to other horse owners. it is nice to have them grazing in the field. it enhances the view. our leasers gave the kids (avery and jace) a ride the other day and they loved it! quinton and austin are city born and raised and they think horses stink. in fact when we told them that the horses were coming to live in our field one of them (who shall remain nameless) started to get teary because he was concerned our house would stink. it looks like we moved to the country just in time. but oh, dear jace and avery. don't get any ideas.

Jace is 5.

2012-08-22T12:41:00.002-07:00

time to start blogging again! it's almost my most favorite time of year. (15 hours to go) and i'm gonna start by posting jace pictures cause jace is 5. this is old news acutally. as jace reached the big 5 in june. but tommorrow my last little runt is off to school. whoa. and even though i cannot wait to get my kids on that bus, a little part of me is so sad that they are all growing so fast. 5 years is such a long time, unless you are raising kids. so when that bus takes my last little munchkin away, i will jump for joy that i made it through another summer and then i will go snuggle under the covers and cry for the chubby faced past.

quinton

2012-01-24T17:13:00.001-08:00

"there is nothing more terrifying than your old man telling you to get your report card and get in the car."

"berry" thrifty cool.

2011-12-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

let's make some lovely christmas decorations shall we? and let's make them for mere pennies.
i bought some sparkling berry picks for 64 cents each on sale at Michael's. then i totally destroyed the berry picks. sounds wierd, but it's effective. TIP: you can make one berry pick or one bunch of flowers or one garland go a long way, just by deconstructing it. you can then reuse the individual flower, berry or leaf by using floral tape and wire. like this:

the first pick of golden sparkly leaves cost me 64 cents. which is pretty cheep, but i needed like 12 of them for my tree. well that's still only gonna cost me less than 12$. what's the big deal right? by taking the pick apart and rewiring them, i decorated my whole tree for 64 cents. i saved about 10$. in this economy... kinda big deal.

back to the berries. i had a 1/2 stryofoam ball that i got with my coupon for about a dollar. deconstructed berries, plug them snuggly in the styrofoam, and .......

i have a delicious looking decoration for my apothecary pedestal thingy....for $1.64. now that's delicious!

oh the possibilities!

tooth fairy potato

2011-11-29T16:45:00.000-08:00

the tooth fairy who visits our house is a little......different. but she has a sweet generous spirit. my little lady lost her first tooth, it seems like she's been waiting her whole life for this milestone to come. she faced it with bravery and fortitude and pulled out the little white remnant of babyhood all by herself. no screaming/crying involved. according to custom, she put the tooth under the pillow and also according to custom....the tooth fairy left her lots of change stuck neatly in a potato. who knows why our tooth fairy does things this way? perhaps to prevent change from getting lost in fluffy pillows and blankets? or perhaps she just wants you to have hashbrowns for breakfast as an added bonus? we may never know, but we love our loony tooth fairy!

10 things

2011-11-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

1. sandra dallas is my new favorite author. i read persian pickle club years ago, but haven't read anything by her for years. just finished "whiter than snow" and "the diary of mattie spenser" and had my annual good cry.
2. my favorite shlumpadinkas (translation: relaxing yoga/sweat pants) are holey and i am in need of attractive new ones. i'm thinkin' these or maybe these? hmmm. suggestions? please?
3. survivor is as good as season 1. jim is a bully, dawn is THE woman, and cochran is growing on me for stickin' it too the pretty people. i used to think brandon was a creepy wierdo, but his "protector" role over the vurnerable cochran had me doing the silent cheer.
4. i miss michael scott.
5. i ran over a cat. and it made me sad.
6. in related news, i really like driving fast on the narrow curvy road i live on. it's fun. but it has it's consequences.
7. i miss alaska, the blue mountains, and all my friends from both places. but coalville is a great little place, with lots of great people. i am happy here.
8.veterans day is my favorite. north summit elementary put on a wonderful assembly. the kids sang and there were old men in uniform. love a man in uniform. patriotism makes me cry these days. i have known men who have died in this war. my friend trish is now a single mom her husband was killed in february, and a high school friend recently died in a helicopter full of navy seals in afghanistan. i cannot have dry eyes when little kids are singing the national anthem. i am turned back in time to when mike came off that plane. soldiers rock. especially mine.
when i lived on base in alaska it was impossible to enter a building with out a soldier sprinting to open it for you. even at the gas station. every night at 5:00 they would play revelry over the loud speakers as they lowered the flag, and if you were outside you'd stop what you were doing and put your hand on your heart and wait for the song to end. even the little kids running around the neighborhood new what to do. we live in the best place on earth, guarded by the best people in america.
9. for the first time in 10 years, i get to have thanksgiving with my parents and my sister.
10. pinterest. you must try pinterest. it is a place to categorize and save every cool idea you can think of. i have learned how to get rid of armpit stains, make a lamp out of old books, and fix my hair in a lovely, messy, up do. so go. go on. go now. get outta here, and pin something.

happy halloween!!

2011-10-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

a pink witch....just like this halloween. (although avery claims her costume is "a teenager.")
a zombie...who prefers to feast on little old ladies.
the cutest skeleton ever. who had to pee at the first trick or treat house we went to. bless you lady who let us use your very clean bathroom and who didn't know us from adam.
a little old lady. watch out for zombies!!!

spongebob squarepants.

2011-10-25T07:24:00.001-07:00

recently i stumbled upon a "study" that made me think. it seems that watching sponge bob for just 9 minutes makes you dumber. there are hundreds of "studies" going on all the time. among the findings of such important "studies" are as follows: too many carrots can make your skin turn orange (anyone whose fed a 5 month old his first bottle of carrots can tell you that) but carrots also single handedly improve eye sight. to much vinegar from pickles can cause cancer, ( as does using dark brown hair dye vs. blond hair dye) but eating pickles as a snack reduces caloric intake and everyone knows brunettes have more fun. these "studies" it seems are endless in their scope and schizophrenic in their results. oh and viagra can also raise the dead. (ha ha i made that one up)
i've watched sponge bob many times with my kids. my favorite is the one where sponge bob relishes in the sound of pickles being rubbed together. squeaky squeak. or the one where spongebob runs into a girl that looks just like him and mr. crabs says "who is that?" and sponge bob says, " i don't know but she is UGGlyyyy!" it's one of those shows you watch and when it's over you think about it and chuckle and then you tell your friend the funny parts and laugh again. it stays on the brain. the phenomenon of thinking about movies or tv long after the credits roll is not a new one to me. all i could focus on for days after seeing "pride and predjudice" (kiera knightly version) was how to get mike to walk towards me at sunrise in some riding boots. or after i watch the last episode of "lost" i wondered how something so mysterious and wonderful could turn into such a big blah cliche.
i am disturbed by natl geographics "border wars" (how do we help the immigrants who work hard and at the same time, keep those cartel bums out?) i am mesmerized by the creative powers on "project runway" and "top chef" (can you really make pork belly and chocolate into a delicious entree) and i still can't wait to see what jim does to dwight every thursday night on "the office"
so i totally get how the scientists could come to the conclusion that spongebob makes you dumber. what kid is going to focus on math when hilarious undersea hijinks are on the brain? i think a more accurate study would also deduce that the dumbing down is not incremental or permanent. which i think means you are not actually dumber, just other wise engaged. and probably much more optimistic. (one day mike will wear riding boots at dawn)
i wonder what the process is for these scientists to come up with new "studies". maybe they were watching reruns of "pysch" and got a little distracted when they thought up the all important spongebob "study."

while we were away.....

2011-10-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

2011-09-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

i love summer time with my kids, we hike, and travel and fight and fish....... but when that bus rolls around the corner on the first day, i do a little dance of joy. and say .....whew! here are the big kids on their first day of school last week. they are so serious and ready to buckle down to some major learning and studying.
little jace man had his first day of pre-school today. he has been so excited to go. and for the first time in 11 years, i have some time to my self a few days a week. woot woot!!
uh-oh...... the little dance of joy just got alot louder.

a summation of our summer. (that's really out of order)

2011-09-01T09:59:00.001-07:00

the boys have discovered fishing! they caught this here brown trout in the weber river right behind our house. ain't that just the most pastoral and picturesque thing ever?
we went to lagoon with the judi cousins in aug. it took half the day to convince quinton and austin to get off the kiddie rides and try a big boy rollercoaster, but once they did, we couldn't get them off.
we are on a well, which is all fine and good, cause i don't have to bottle water for the apocalypse anymore, but we did have to replace all the pipe and the pump. it took 25 feet of scaffolding, and lots of helpers, but we got 'er done. mike and his dad were so proud of their handy work. saved us a bundle.
avery has taken on the roll of small town girl very seriously. here she is at her cheerleading and drill team debut.
austin kept us busy with near nightly ball games in henefer. love henefer park, it is perfect for baseball. austin volunteered to be a pitcher and he was good at it!

on june 30th we celebrated jace turning 4!! we roasted hotdogs in the back yard, per his request. he got a "mote control truck" and lots of cars and treats. love that kid.

2011-07-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

my children are mingling in the garden eating a bag of licorice. my husband is swinging golf clubs. i am watching covertly from the window. sometimes, life is just grand.

doing work

2011-06-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

we watched the mavs win the nba championships two days ago. i always love a good sports battle. over the years, my love of sports has taken a back seat to taking care of kids, doing the dishes, normal mom stuff, but every once in awhile, i'll take the time to watch some of the big game.
sports center is a regular presence in our home. when asked, dirk nowitzki talked about how good it felt to have all that hard work pay off, how they worked. so. hard. for. so. long.
lebron and dwain wade talked about how hard it was to work. so. hard. and come so far, and fall so short. (dear lebron. i am one of those people who hoped you failed. so sorry to be a downer, but when you think your awesome so very publicly, i can't help but jump on the "you are full of yourself, so you need to be taken down a notch" bandwagon. ) it got me thinking about how trivial the life of a sports hero is. if they are hoping for sympathy or tears of respect for their hard work, they must have had only pampered rich people in mind. millionaire athletes will get no such respect from me. good for you lebron. you get paid 20 million dollars a year (or rather in a 9 month period) to play a game. sure you run ladders, and lift weights, and shoot baskets over and over and over. you are good what you do, I will concede that you "work hard."
even so, you don't have a clue what hard work is.
i am a mom. i once went on a 9 year spree of poopie diaper changing. 9. years. my body is scarred and battered from growing 4 people inside of it, and then trying to get them out. also, not sleeping through the night for nearly 11 years, and wiping boogers with my bare hands. i have scrubbed buckets of vomit out of the carpets, hosed off gallons of pee from the bathroom floor, and the poop. have i mentioned the poop?
i settle countless arguments without using a weapon. i have made thousands of meals, to the sound of a thousand complaints. made beds, folded clothes, vaccumed floors, canned fruit and vegetables, clipped coupons.....blah blah blah.
the other day my kids and i were pulling weeds, and austin asked me, " mom do you ever wish you weren't a mom? " i must have looked a little stunned, because he added, "you know like when you get sick of us cause we are onery and stuff?" i brushed aside my shock and managed to say, " austin, being a mom is the hardest job in the world, but it's the best job, and i wouldn't ever wish you away."
i have dried tears from soft cheeks, i have laughed at a toddlers jokes, taught my kids to swim, ride bikes and forgive. quinton gave me a thank-you card on sunday. once he gave me a rusty washer he'd found on the road. "it's treasure mom." he'd said. avery draws me as a beautiful princess. austin still wants to hold my hand. and jace....jace has learned to poop in the toilet.
i don't have 20 million dollars, the accolades of winning a hard fought championship tournament, or the adoration of the free world.
but i have four little people, and doing that work is reward immeasurable.

important things we've missed......

2011-05-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

in november we went hiking with grandpa, and found some lovely ruins and enjoyed the autumnal sun.

we ate giant peaches from grandpa j's tree. this one wasn't even the biggest.
we got all the judi cousin's together for a wonderful reunion in august.
we dressed up for halloween.
and austin dear sweet austin, got baptized in blanding utah.
it was a wonderful day.
we frolicked in the fall leaves and on the golf course.
it was a wonderful fall......

burning question of the week.....it's been so long....so very long.

2011-04-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

do you remember this? the question of little relevance that i like to ask once a week? i decided to dust it off and try it out again, cause it's just so darn fun to waller in some irrelvance once in awhile.
so here it is:
What is one or two things that have inspired you lately? and what are you going to do about it?

a: (1) the fields around my house are green as can be. (despite the AW.FUL. weather) and my first garden is coming to life in my kitchen. i've got tomatoes, (a boatload fave food ever ya know) 5 kinds of peppers, califlower, cucumbers, and herbs already started. can't wait to see if i can acutally harvest something.......

and (2) so i am sitting in relief society one day, trying really hard to pay attention and not let my mind wander, which is ironic, because the lesson was really good and i think i have religious ADHD....anyway. i was trying to focus my wandering gaze by dragging it back across the room to the teacher and along the way my eyes caught hold of this saying on the chalkboard.
"what would you do if you could not fail?"
holy crap i know exactly what i should be doing. but i am afraid of failing. i am afraid i will, quite frankly suck at it. i've been writing a book that has been in my head for about 5 or 6 years. i have finished 5 paragraphs. but those words hit me so hard that day. and so i've been writing more, and wasting time less. i'm playing around with the idea of posting the chapters here for my good friends to read as i go....SCARY!
ahhhhhahahahahah!!!
so any way....answer away! what is inspiring you?

thrifting

2011-04-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

for the first time ever in our marriage, we live in an actual single family house. it is our first home to buy and it is really lovely. i am in possession of hundreds of paint samples and dreams in my head of which room will be painted what color.
home ownership however, is not just that easy. with a mortgage to pay and lots of other monetary upkeep, not all decorating dreams can come true immediately. which actually i think is kind of a good thing cause if everything is fabulous........then what would i do?
so i've been accessorizing on the cheap. thrift stores are my fourth favorite place to be. and i've found some bargains!

I am in love with glass cheese domes. you can buy them online and on ebay for like 40$. but i found this one in castle dale for 2$. add a candle pedestal thingy, a cute plastic plate from target and some fake fruit. vwalllla!

i also love to cover syrofoam spheres with stuff. cheapy orange blossoms from michaels liven up these blue china bowls. bargain center in kentucky, i think they were like 1$ each.

i found this cute garland at the thrift store in park city (thrifting gold, people in park city are loaded ya know) any way it was all bent and stuff so i covered a ginormous stryofoam sphere with it. it took several episodes of downton abbey to finish, but it was worth all my hard labor.

this giant built in is in my kitchen. i accessorized it as i unpacked and i could not figure out why it just bugged me. one day i was looking at it and realized it just had too much going on. and so...

i detirded it and it looks soo much better!

easterness.

2011-04-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

we were so lucky to have family for easter! mike's sister, her hubby and there three boys came along with g & g judi. We had an easter egg hunt at our house, good food and lots of laughing. uncle norm brought his helmet cam. we put it on various children for the easter egg hunt and for riding our plasma car down the steep and scary drive way. it was awesome.

this rainbow happened on monday, but i thought it was a small glimpse of spring in an otherwise cold and annoying spring. look for the positive. right?