Weighty Matters (More or Less)

Peter's Wedding

2009-08-31T16:11:00.006-06:00

Peter is married! These are some of my favorite pictures from that day...

Congrats, Bro - I'm so happy for you both!

Road Trips

2009-08-03T09:33:00.003-06:00

I LOVE road trips. I mean, I really love them. Something happens, about 1/2 hour into almost every road trip we take. I lean back my head, sigh deeply, and get almost teary eyed. There's (almost) nothing better to me than getting in the car and traveling, my whole family all together, excited about the trip ahead. I love that we are together - no distractions of TV, computer, and friends - it's just the people I love most in the world, packed into one space.

This is one great baby - these pictures are from our trip to Canada in June. She was such a trooper - we spent 2 full days in the car getting there, and she was happy almost the entire time.
Here is my right hand girl, Bekah. Long ago, when we decided to move away from family, I decided that it would be important for us to go back and visit a lot, so our kids would have relationships with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. And, because Ben's schedule is so busy, he can't come with us as often as we would like, so I make the trip to Utah a lot by myself. I don't know if I could do it without Bekah, though - she's almost as good as an adult (except that she can't drive for 6 more years). She helps distribute snacks, and keeps Sarah happy.
Even though I happily take road trips alone with the kids (and we still love it) - it's always a 1000 times better when Ben can come. I guess I just really like being with him...

Sarah making funny faces.

I love that you can see the boogers in her nose here. No way I was editing those out - just adds to the charm...

A book that changed my life.

2009-08-01T11:42:00.002-06:00

My darling friends – it’s been awhile… I hope you will all forgive me.

I’m back.

Not that I’ve gone anywhere (okay, I did go to Utah in June, and Canada in July, and maybe you’ll hear about that later). But, I think my heart had gone out of blogging, and I HAVE missed it. And you.

A year ago, I read a book that changed my life. It’s not very often that I would make such a dramatic statement about a book (although, of course, the Book of Mormon changes me and hopefully my life often). But, outside of scripture, I rarely can say that a book has truly changed the way I live. This informative and thoroughly well written and enjoyable read is called Animal Vegetable Miracle, and it’s written by award winning author Barbara Kingsolver, along with her husband, Steven Hopp and her daughter, Camille Kingsolver. It details their family’s decision to try to live a year eating only what they could buy locally or grow themselves.

At first, the concept seemed fairly radical to me – it definitely was different from the way that I structured our family’s eating, shopping and menus. I had never given a serious thought before to how far my food had traveled to reach me. One of the statistics that Steven Hopp presents is that most of the items on the shelf at a supermarket traveled farther to get there than your family will travel on vacation this year. Once you add up all of those gasoline guzzling groceries, think about how much gasoline we are expending just to eat. The goal is to wring out as much oil from our food chain as possible.

I had already been trying for several years to eat in a healthy way – unprocessed food, organic when possible, and hormone free dairy and meat. After reading the Kingsolver’s book, we started taking a good look at our culinary lives, and how disconnected we were from our food chain, and the farmers who grow the food we eat. I started going to our farmer’s market every week, and buying and eating locally grown, in season produce. The amazing part is how cheap it is, and how much better than anything we can get at the grocery store! We buy our honey at our famer’s market, too, raw and unprocessed.

Some things are definitely more expensive - we started buying our milk from a local, organic dairy. We recently bought half a cow, pasture raised and fed it’s entire life. One of the most satisfying parts of living and eating this way is that I meet the men and women who grow and raise our food. They are good people, and I LOVE giving them my money, and knowing that none of it is going to make some CEO in an office even more ridiculously rich, while the humble and hardworking farmer eeks out a living, barely surviving if they are lucky. While the meat and dairy ARE more expensive than what I could buy at Walmart, we are getting infinitely better quality. I have been to the farms where our food is grown, and they are certainly not getting wealthy on what they charge us – but they are seeking to live in a sustainable, healthy way themselves, and hopefully make enough to live on and pay their own bills. I frequently thank the Lord for these hardworking men and women who are so committed to raising food in a healthy way. I make my food budget stretch farther by doing most of my cooking from scratch, eating out rarely (and fast food almost never), and not buying convenience items.

The best part of eating this way is that our family is healthier than we have ever been. We rarely get sick (seriously – the flu bug will go around our entire primary, and our kids don’t get it). Ben and I may feel the beginnings of a cold setting in, a tickle in the back of our throat or something, and it’s gone in a day. My interstitial cystitis (a painful bladder disease) has been in complete remission for the last year. Our immune systems are thriving!

We also have our own garden. We have had our successes and failures this year, but I am hopeful that I will continue to learn and get better at growing my own food. I even hope to have chickens someday. I think that I am truly a farm girl at heart – I find a lot of peace digging in the dirt.

I was talking to a friend about this process the other day, and I realized that, while all of this sounds difficult and strange, the hardest part is taking the first step. I think the easiest place to begin is by looking up your local farmer’s market. Google your town and “farmers market” and see what you can find. Go. Meet a farmer. Ask them questions about what they grow (I’ve found most farmers are really passionate about the food they raise, and they love to tell you about it). Talking to our farmers has given me a lot of good ideas for combating the hornworms that decimated the tomatoes in my garden last year.

And, yes, I DO occasionally shop at the grocery store still. We even buy bananas (the hummer of the produce section) because it’s one of the few fruits Sam will eat. But, I try to plan our menus about what is locally in season, what is growing in our garden and I can find at the Farmer’s Market. Wring a little bit of oil out of your food chain… since we have, we have become healthier, and I can honestly say that we eat the most savory, scrumptious fare possible. Eating local isn’t just healthy and good for the farmers – it’s delicious!

Guess who is 1 (okay, she's 13 months, since I'm so late!)

2009-04-07T09:11:00.002-06:00

It's really hard to believe that Sarah is already 13 months old. These are her 1 year shots, taken on her birthday. I love this age - something new and increasingly adorable every day.

Dreaming of Gardens...

2009-04-01T09:07:00.002-06:00

Lately, I dream of gardens. Vegetable gardens. Ones that overflow with tomatoes and cucumbers and melons, and yes, even squash. As spring approaches, my heart yearns to be outside, working in the soil, preparing for that abundance we'll see in July, August and September, when the labors of March and April come to fruition. In a world of instant gratification, I find growing my own food immensely satisfying - it's my own personal connection to my food chain, and a remembrance of the process of creation. There is little in life as satisfying as eating a tomato in late summer that came from a seed I planted in March.

How about you? Are you growing a garden this year?

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-02T13:34:00.002-07:00

I'd be astonished if ANYONE ever reads my blog anymore, since I am so bad about posting regularly. Just in case anyone is, though, I thought I'd post this tag I did on Facebook, since I don't think anyone read it there.

1. I LOVE yoga - I took it up this summer, and do a program from BYUTV called Total Body Fitness. The instructor is Deni Preston, and she's amazing. If you don't have BYUTV, you can still find it on the byubroadcasting.org website on the internet. It's on MWF at 5 am, and 10 am, but you can watch any program that's been on in the past 2 weeks anytime.

2. I gave birth without any painkillers to all four of my children. And even though I DID ask for the epidural with Sarah, I can still say I did it without painkillers, since they didn't have time to get the medicine in before she decided to pop out. Also, if I have to be put on pitocin and have another posterior baby, I will ask for the epidural earlier!!!

3. Each of my labors has been longer than the last - Bekah's was 3 hours, Sam was 4, Bethany was 11, and Sarah was 21.

4. I sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 2 1/2 years, and I miss it so much I cry about it (still).

5. I LOVE babies - holding them, smelling them, watching them, mmmm...

6. I love to learn - picking up a new hobby or interest is one of my favorite things to do.

7. I'm a self-taught graphic-design artist.

8. Growing up, my hair was bone straight, but with each pregnancy, it goes curly, and it gets curlier with each pregnancy. Aren't hormones weird?

9. One of my biggest weaknesses is my organizational ability. I think that I've had the New Year's Resolution of becoming more organized for about 10 years running. I'm still working on it...

10. My absolute favorite thing to eat are strawberries. I can eat a flat all by myself in about 24 hours.

11. I grew up in Southern California and never once went tanning.

12. I lived in Utah for 10 years, and now live in Colorado, and have never been skiing.

13. I love to read, but don't have a lot of time for it, so I have become a huge fan of audiobooks. I probably listen to 5-10 audiobooks a month (usually while I clean, fold laundry, make dinner, walk on the treadmill, etc.)

14. I've worked in the scrapbooking industry for over 5 years, and have designed 3 different paper/product lines.

15. I love to take road trips.

16. My husband is my absolutely best friend and he and I go on a date almost every Friday night.

17. I really hate calling people on the phone that I don't know.

18. I am the oldest of 7 children.

19. Besides listening to audiobooks, I also love to listen to BYU devotionals, General Conference and Women's Conference talks. Most of them I download off of www.byubroadcasting.org.

20. Mexican food is my favorite.

21. I cook a lot, and only use a recipe about 30% of the time.

22. We have couches with white slipcovers, and I will never buy white slipcovers again.

23. Our yard isn't landscaped yet (except the vegetable garden), and we have a whole acre of tumbleweeds.

24. We have seen jackrabbits, prairie dogs, snakes, hawks, and even a coyote on our property.

25. I don't like to make people feel obligated to do anything, so I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you feel like doing this- go for it!

Sing, Choir of Angels...

2008-12-29T10:32:00.006-07:00

It has been one of the busiest Christmas seasons on record for us. That is saying a lot, since I had two Christmas seasons in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So, a Merry Christmas to all of you. We're back home in Colorado from a whirlwind trip, involving my baby-sister's wedding, Christmas, and one really nasty stomach/intestinal virus, which we spread with Christmas cheer to ALL of our extended family. (Can I just apologize for the 827th time - I'm so, so sorry.) If you'd like to hear my little sister's hilarious and witty account, click here.

The best day of the trip, for me, was the Sunday before Christmas. (After the wedding stress, and before the stomach bug). My most amazing and talented mother-in-law made dozens of costumes a few years ago for a children's nativity. She brought them to church that Sunday and since I'm the wielder of the ridiculously large and expensive camera, I tagged along to take some pictures.

This is one of the most angelic faces I know... Rebekah turned 10 the next day.

Three angel cousins...

Sam the Shepherd. He looks a little like Linus from
"Charlie Brown Christmas" to me.

And, I don't know these children. But they really spread my message today. The little Mary was so sweet and maternal as she held the little baby Jesus. And Joseph was so solemn and careful.

And most of all, I'm feeling so thankful that all the stress and craziness and throwing up and fevers and snow of our trip, and the way that so little went as planned are all okay. Because the Savior Jesus Christ really WAS born, and because of his Atoning Sacrifice, we may overcome all, and all hurts and wrongs and illness will be done away. One of my favorite scriptures from Isaiah chapter 41 says:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

So, Merry Christmas to all of you, late though my wishes are.

The Spirit of Christmas is the Spirit of Christ!

A Post for Grammy...

2008-11-07T16:01:00.004-07:00

So, this next sequence of pictures aren't the best photos I've ever taken. But - they are pretty cute, so I'm posting them anyway.

When we went to Utah recently, Sarah got to meet her cousin Eli for the first time. Eli is half her age, and probably outweighs her - he's a real hunk, and cute as all get-out.

At this point, Sarah was just barely able to sit on her own for a few moments, so we propped up Eli, and sat Sarah down next to him. She thought his shoe was a great toy.

"Look, Mom - a shoe" - I don't think she'd noticed Eli yet - just his shoe.

"Can I eat this shoe, Mom?"

And then, Sarah's balancing prowess came to an end. Or maybe she decided to show a little love to cousin Eli.

Eli looks a little surprised, don't you think?

"I've fallen and I can't get up!"

"Eli's pulling my hair!"
"Serves you right for eating my shoe!"

I remember many family gatherings where 3 boy cousins my same age loved to torment the heck out of me. Looks like they start young...

Invitations

2008-11-03T13:28:00.005-07:00

Some invitations I've designed for a friend. If you know Julie - don't tell!!!

My Baby Sister...

2008-11-03T12:49:00.006-07:00

...is getting married! It's hard to believe - seems like just yesterday that she was a darling little baby running around the house! She was such a cute baby... sniff, sniff...

When we were in Utah for Fall break, I took these pictures of her and her cute fiance. They are so in love - brings back all sorts of fond memories...

Previews of the Pumpkin Patch...

2008-10-28T22:27:00.004-06:00

In attempt to actually get something up, I'm going to try write less and post more. So, here's something new to look at, and more pictures are coming!

Embarrassing...

2008-09-23T13:22:00.004-06:00

So sorry, everyone... wow, what an embarrassing amount of time has passed since I last posted! Yikes!

So, here are the long awaited answers to the comments from my last post:

1. What camera do you have? I have a Canon 20D, which is already 2 versions out of date - you can buy Canon 30D and 40D still from retailers. I bought my Canon off of ebay, in brand-new condition. I had wanted a Digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera for about 5 years, so I had a lot of time to think about/research what I wanted. The least expensive DSLR that Canon makes is the Rebel series, but I knew that I wanted a little more. I opted for a used older model because of price - it cost me around $600 used, with no lens. The 40D is around $1450. Some people feel that it's too risky to buy camera equipment on ebay, but I've had good luck.

This is the lens (Canon 50 mm 1.8/f) that I bought when I purchased my camera. All the pictures on this site were taken with this lens - it's inexpensive (about $90), and is a great lens for indoor and portrait use.

I have been saving all my pennies for months, and I just bought this lens, the Canon EF 24-70mm L f/2.8. I'm not going to tell you how much it cost - it was a lot. I'll post a couple of photos I took the other day with this lens in a minute.

Here, I want to reiterate that you don't have to spend oodles of money to get great photos. SLR cameras provide great shots, but you can still get really great pictures from a non-slr camera. I used an Olympus C-3000 for 6 years, and it gave me some really fabulous shots. The most important thing is to really read your camera manual and learn some basics about photography. One of my pet peeves is when people see my photography and say "Wow, those are great pictures, you must have a really expensive camera." You'd never say to an artist - "that's a great painting, you must have expensive paint." To take great pictures, you need to learn the fundamentals of photography. The website www.twopeasinabucket.com provides a really great online photography course that's easy to understand, and doesn't necessarily require an expensive camera. The first 6 weeks are here, week 7, week 8, week 9, week 10, week 11 & week 12. Start with the camera you have, and learn all the features it provides.

2. What photo-editing program do you use?

I use photoshop 7.0 - and I edit every picture I post here. I wish I could say that I take pictures like that out of the camera, but I always do a little tweaking. Photoshop Elements provides all of the functions that a typical photographer would need. 7.0 is woefully old, but I already had it, and sometimes I need some of the professional functions it provides for my scrapbook design work. I would LOVE to get CS3, but it will have to wait until I save up my pennies again.

3. How DID you get such darn cute kids?
I wish I knew! I only got a "C" in Biology 100, so maybe I'm not the best one to answer that - except to say that I think they inherited a lot of great genes from my better half!

4. Do you use actions at all. If so, what are your favorites?
I use actions all the time! (FYI - "actions" are a series of commands in photoshop that are all grouped together, so you just have to click on them to make it happen - it saves oodles of time in the editing process.) My favorite actions are the ones I downloaded from www.thepioneerwoman.com. They're great, and they were free! Pioneer Woman has a great photography section, too - I've learned tons from her. Lara, so sorry - I don't have any actions for Elements. But - you can download a trial version of CS3 for 1 month, and you can pick apart the actions, and then try to duplicate them in Elements. So sorry - that's all the advice I have to give. I did that for a month, and was able to sort of figure out how to use them in 7.0.

I'd like to buy some actions from Totally Rad Actions, but those darn pennies are still all used up from my lens splurge.

5. What do you say to get these kinds of poses?

A funny phenomenon happens when you take a lot of photos of your children. They turn into hammy little models - at least the girls do. I don't say a lot - they just do it on their own! I really love to get pictures of real life things, and do a lot of candid, uposed shots, too. When I photographing older children and adults, though, I usually try to get them to pull their chins down slightly, and angle their heads/bodies a bit. These tend to be a lot more flattering. My most favorite thing to photograph is families interacting with one another. I love to photograph relationships.

Photography Q&A (or anything else for that matter)

2008-09-01T19:49:00.003-06:00

Hi, all! I've had quite a few of you post questions about my photography equipment/techniques/etc. over the past couple of months, and I haven't answered any of those questions (so sorry - I'm a procrastinator). So, I thought that I'd see if anyone else had any questions for me, as long as I was in the mode. I'll try to do this post on Thursday, so get me any questions before then.

And, of course, if you have any deep, burning questions about gardening in the septic field, the intricacies of scrapbooking, or how I got such darn cute kids, feel free to ask those, too. Just put your comments here, and I'll answer them!

Squash, Anyone?

2008-08-28T10:53:00.006-06:00

We tried an experiment this year. After some reading on the internet, I figured we could make a try at growing part of our garden over our septic field. I know, I know, don't think about it too much. Most of the research I read said that if you have clay soil (which we do), then all the "yucky stuff" gets filtered out in the first couple of inches up from the drainage pipes, leaving all the "good stuff" (i.e. things that made us have the greenest, thickest patch of tumbleweeds this side of the Mississippi. Wait, do tumbleweeds grow East of the Mississippi? Never mind...) to feed the plants.

Point is, we've been eating off of the garden for weeks now, and no one has gotten sick. Sam growing a third ear doesn't count. No really, he's not, I'm just fooling with you.

Is this a jungle, you may ask? No, it's just the squash patch. You're looking at the butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and pumpkins. And it IS a jungle. I haven't been able to get in there for 6 weeks. I think I'll just wait for the first frost before I try to venture into that jumble of growth. The fuzzy patch at the bottom of the photo is our watermelon section. We have 6 lovely watermelon growing.

And these, my friends, are the cause of all my problems. These are the 5 bushes of summer squash. We have 1 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, and 2 patty pan squash. Pictures really don't do this justice. The patty pan squash, in front, is the largest I've ever seen. It's almost 6 feet in diameter (and was only supposed to be 3).

Here are my lovely butternut squash. I have no idea how many we have, since I can't get in there, but it's a lot!

And the yellow squash. They look tranquil and lovely, but don't be fooled!

Zucchini. Only one plant, so we're doing better, here.

This is the spaghetti squash. We've got a lot of these, too.

And bugs! Whoa! I think that there are thousands and thousands living in our patch. I'm not exaggerating. In the morning, there are so many bees buzzing around in the patch that I think we should get a cut from the beekeeper!

And here, my friends, is the problem. This is the squash that I have harvested in the last 24 hours. No joke. 45. Forty-five squash. We could be a math lesson for Bethany's kindergarten class. Wait, they don't count that high in kindergarten.

We have eaten in the past two weeks: summer squash gratin, 2 types of zucchini bread, sauteed summer veggies with herbs, ratatouille (so, so yummy!), stuffed squash, and just plain steamed with butter. I have grated and frozen 10 sandwich bags full of squash. I have 3 gallon sized bags full of cubed frozen squash. Please, send help.

Come to my house. And take some of our squash home with you. Please, please, please...
Or at least send your favorite summer squash recipe.

And, I think, that our garden adventure was a bit more success than I can handle.

First Day of School

2008-08-22T09:29:00.007-06:00

Here are my three little munchkins. I can't believe I have three children in school. I'm starting to get looks at back to school night.

Sam is starting second grade. He's recently lost some teeth, which gives him that cute jack-o-lantern look.

Our big kindergartener, Bethany.

Bekah, who is too, too cool for fourth grade. Okay, so she really does like school. She'll be 10 in a couple of months. YIKES! When did that happen?

Waiting for the bus. Bethany told me after school that riding the bus was her favorite part of school! Whatever happened to recess?

Here it comes!

And, off they go. Now what do I do with myself?

Oh, yeah - I have this little gal to play with!

May you all enjoy your first day of school, too! And I wish I could send you all a fresh bouquet of sharpened pencils (name that movie).

Remember that Project for Imaginisce?

2008-08-01T08:07:00.006-06:00

Just to mix things up a little, and give you something else to look at besides the endless pictures of the Family Photo Shoot, I thought that I'd show you all the projects I made for Imaginisce a couple of months ago. One of the best things about my work is getting to see the new product lines months before the come on the market. The downside is, I can't post any projects I've done with them until they're released. These lines have officially been released now, so I can finally put them here on my blog!

These projects were for "Fairest of Them All" - a darling Princess line. This is a gift bag, princess wand, and purse. I also made a cute "princess ball" invitation, but I finished literally seconds before I had to ship everything off, so I didn't get a chance to photograph it.

Here's one layout, also using the "Fairest" line. Click on any pictures to see a larger version with more detail.

The next few projects are from "Snowy Jo," the upcoming Christmas line. They asked me to work on neighbor gift ideas with this line as well as scrapbook pages. It was a little funny to be working on Christmas neighbor gifts in May!

This is a little neighbor gift idea. The jar has hot cocoa in it. (I have to admit, that I probably wouldn't ever put this much work into neighbor gifts. I'm lucky if we give out any neighbor gifts at all! I guess I should do better this year and get it all done in August - ha ha ha! Like that's going to happen!) The little snowman is made up of a series of stickers. I think he's pretty adorable.
Sorry, this picture is a bit overexposed, so Bekah is kind of washed out. The paper is really cute, though!

I wish that I'd had time to photograph all of the pages from this little recipe album. They turned out SO cute! The album has 8 Christmas recipes inside, and each recipe has a cute little rubon on it. The gingerbread man is a stamp.
I thought this Christmas Journal/Wishbook turned out well, too. The Christmas tree is a build-a-sticker page, so it was very easy and quick to make.

These last projects are cards using Snowy Jo, Fairest, and Hallowhimsy, another new Imaginisce line. The cards were supposed to be simple - I'm always good at being simple.

Uncle Peter

2008-07-29T21:17:00.003-06:00

While I was snapping away at the family photo shoot, the kiddos got a little restless.

I guess that I wasn't tossing out the fruitsnacks fast enough, because they attacked Uncle Peter.

Somehow, Uncle Pete ends up in the middle of everything. Don't let that terrified look in his face fool you - he's loving every minute of this.

It's just a good thing he can hold his own against five stir-crazy children... hope his future wife likes kids!

Aren't kids hilarious?

2008-07-28T11:24:00.003-06:00

I've been working more on the family photo shoot, and even though the following five shots were all the same pose, I had to edit them all, because they are so funny! I love the expressions on the kids faces!

Family Pictures

2008-07-24T12:55:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures of the whole family that I took when we were home in June. It was the first time that we'd all been together for a year, and we haven't had a good family picture of everyone taken since Becky got married, so I asserted my power as oldest daughter and wielder of the expensive camera, and organized the shoot.

This was my first time setting up a photo shoot like this, since I got my new camera. I learned quite a few things. I set up the shots, then we had my brother's friend take the pictures for us, and I think in the future, I'm going to want a tripod. Even though the shot looked right for me, the friend taking the pictures is taller, and so there are some things that I would have changed if I'd been behind the lens. I'm thankful that my family was willing to be the guinea pig - they're getting a family photo for free, so they can't complain!

Sadly, this is the best I could do with the kids. I even swapped out heads from other shots.

This one's a little better of the kids, but Opa's not smiling. Unfortunately, I couldn't even swap heads, because all the photos with him smiling were out of focus (also a frustrating problem about not being behind the lens - not that we weren't really thankful for Peter's friend - he hadn't ever used my camera before, so he didn't know.)

Here are some better ones with the kids. Aren't they cute?

So, all in all, even though they didn't turn out perfectly, I'm glad we did it. It's good to have a family picture of everyone - except, wait - it's already outdated! Joanna gave birth a week or so later to Eli. We'll have to try again, next summer!

So Many Things to Blog About...

2008-07-23T20:51:00.004-06:00

I wouldn't be surprised if I have totally lost my readers. Even though my readers are mostly my family, and they kinda just read my blog cause they love me. And they want to see cute pictures of my kids. So, sorry that I haven't blogged before this. I promise to do better.

So, some random thoughts.

I really miss singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, still. It's been more than a year now, but it still surprises me how pained I feel when I remember. Of course, there is so much joy in the memory, too. I really wonder if I'll ever get to have musical experiences like that again. Hopefully I'll get to sing in Heavenly Choirs in the next life, huh? I have been teaching a lot of singing and piano lessons lately, though, and it does feel so satisfying to feel that I'm passing on that knowledge and joy to others. There are few things that give me greater pleasure than watching a student figure out a technique that opens and changes their voice in a beautiful and dramatic way. I love watching their faces, and see the surprise and joy at finding a new voice, refining that very personal part of themselves. I don't think that I'll ever get tired of that.

Do you ever think about the person you were as a teenager or young adult, and sometimes feel like you've lost important parts of who you were? Most of the important things, I think I've retained. But sometimes, I wonder if I've lost some elusive part of me - my zest for life, my intensity and drive. Maybe I'm just tired, because I'm the mother of four young children, and I haven't slept through the night in over a year, and I'm feeling a little melancholy tonight. But, part of me keeps hoping that I'll find it again.

And, onto yet another subject - Ben was called into the bishopric on Sunday - first counselor. The appointment with the Stake President was at 10 a.m., and by 11:15, he'd been sustained and was sitting on the stand. And I was sitting alone with our four children. Needless to say, it was all just a bit overwhelming. Can I just say, that I feel too young to be married to a member of the bishopric? I don't feel nearly wise enough, or together enough in my life to be here. I also want to say, though, that I still can't believe that I'm married to such an incredibly wonderful man. He grows on me everyday, and I liked him a lot to begin with. He really is my better half. I'm so thankful to be married to someone who loves the Lord so much, and is willing to give up his very small amount of free time to serve and to build the Kingdom of God. Not to mention, he's really, really good looking, and a great kisser. Oh, sorry...

And to round off this totally random post, I'm going to add some totally random pictures.

In the Strength of the Lord

2008-06-27T09:14:00.003-06:00

Today is the day - Day 1 of a new 21-Day Challenge.

This morning, as I walked from 6-6:30am, I listened to Elder David A. Bednar's talk "In the Strength of the Lord." He gave this talk several times - the first time was at BYU-Provo, and that was the version I listened to. He gave a modified, much shorter version of this talk in his first General Conference address when he was sustained an apostle. If you have never heard the full talk, I highly encourage you to go to the link above and read it. Even better, you can go to BYU Broadcasting, do a search and listen to the talk. This one talk has changed my understanding and perspective on the Atonement and it's ability to help us to change for the better more than any one single thing. I believe I have listened to it at least 15-20 times.

In honor of our new challenge, I've created a little inspirational thought from this talk, and I hope to do several more, which I will continue to post over the next few days. Hope you enjoy it!

I truly have a testimony of the power and ability of the Atonement of Christ to enable us to "change from bad to good, from good to better, and to have our very natures changed." I felt it this morning as I walked, keeping my promise to myself to make a small change for good. I am so thankful for this enabling power, and for how I feel when I am working on becoming the woman that I know Heavenly Father wants me to become.

I hope you can feel that today, too - the power for good we have when we rely on the strength of the Lord.

Another 21-Day Challenge!

2008-06-25T08:27:00.002-06:00

Dear, dear readers, I give my humblest apologies. I have been missing-in-action, I know. We were in Utah, visiting family for two weeks, and then we came home. And I kept thinking that I needed to have some stellar photos to show you of our trip before I posted. And I haven't done ANY photo editing since I've been back, namely because I have about 800 photos to edit, and it's overwhelming, and I'm procrastinating. Sorry Mom. I'll get those family photos done soon.

While we're waiting, I wanted to announce the beginning of another 21-day Challenge. We'll start on Friday, since y'all have probably stopped checking my blog, since I haven't posted for 3 weeks. Here's my new goal - to get up early (5:30 or 6), and exercise everyday, except Sundays. Along with this goes going to be by 9:30 or 10, since I really need my beauty sleep, phew... I look like a tired 31-year old mom of 4 without my beauty sleep.

By the way, how did your last 21-day challenge go? I made it through my no-sugar pact, faithfully, then fell of the bandwagon on vacation. But I'm back on it, now. That's what we do when we goof up, right, we get right back on that horse. It's so easy to stay off - horses aren't very comfy. Or maybe they are - I don't know, since I've only been horse-back riding once, and it was with a guy I was dating, and I was rather focused on him, not the horse. Point is, it gets more comfy going back to our old, familiar habits. But I'm doing great again - I hope you are, too.
Who's with me for another 21-Day Challenge?

Ballet Recital

2008-05-30T23:48:00.007-06:00

Sometimes, I stand in awe of my children. Today, that happened. Our 9-year old and 5-year old danced in a ballet recital, and all I can say is, they must have inheritated the light-footed, flexiblity and grace of my better half, because they certainly didn't get it from me! They were BEAUTIFUL, and our oldest in particular is an amazing ballerina already. They began taking lessons at the beginning of the school year, and she's just a natural. All my life, I've secretly wanted to be a ballerina, and I guess I'm living vicariously through my daughters.

On an interesting side-note, this is the first time the girls have ever worn a sleeve-less anything. I'm a big stickler on modesty, and when these costumes were first presented, as lovely as they are, I felt a bit apprehensive. So we sat down and had a long chat about modesty, and dance. We decided that because ballet is "of good report and praiseworthy" and because the BYU ballet classes perform in similar costumes, that it was okay in this ONE instance. I was proud of the girls - they told me "after the recital, Mom, we'll wear them for dress-ups with a t-shirt."

Philmont Scout Ranch

2008-05-28T12:50:00.010-06:00

I'm still not finished with my Imaginisce assignment, but since I haven't blogged for a week, I suppose it's time!

I just went through my pictures from attending a Family Fun Weekend Event at Philmont Scout Ranch. It was the first weekend in May, and we had a blast! We went with some of our great friends - the "H" family and the "N" family - friends from way back when we lived in Chicago to do medical school.

Philmont was donated to the Boy Scouts back in 1938 by an oil tycoon named Waite Phillips and it's amazing! It's 144,000 acres, and has the most amazing villa on it, built by Mr. Phillips only 15 years before he donated it to the scouts. He and his wife built it based on villas in Italy and Spain, and it's beautiful - so many cool details. The estimated worth for the villa is over 5 million dollars today.

Below I've included some of my favorite pictures of the villa, and of our kids.

I'm Working On An Assignment...

2008-05-21T09:41:00.009-06:00

for Imaginisce, and will be unable to post anything big until I'm done, but here's some pictures of the work I completed for them on my last assignment, so you have something new to look at. They are samples I created with the All Kinds of Happy and Baby Powder lines. Sorry that the pictures aren't great - no time to edit right now. Have a great day!

Booties and procrastinating

2008-05-16T23:31:00.007-06:00

So, I have to tell you, I'm totally procrastinating right now. I really should be working on the Prophet Maze for the Primary Activity tomorrow. But I'm not. I'm going to write to you about my new hobby. Because that's what I'm all about - putting off until tomorrow what I should be doing today! (Okay, so procrastination should be my next 21-Day Challenge, huh?)

My new hobby isn't brand-spanking new - I started about 9 months ago. When I was pregnant with baby Sarah, my body didn't seem to like it much. I spent most of the first 6 months on the couch, wishing I was asleep, but unable to sleep because I was too nauseated, achy, heartburny (I know that's not a word, but I was!) to do anything but watch HGTV. I love watching HGTV and Food Network. Nice and wholesome: no swearing, and no funny business - just good clean fun. But I couldn't watch Food Network, because that made me sick, too. So, I watched HGTV for 6 months. And shouted curses that I didn't have the energy or money to decorate my lovely new home. That waited until I was 8 months pregnant. Then I suddenly got lots of nesting energy and decided to paint and varnish our kitchen table 1 1/2 weeks before giving birth. But that's the topic of another post.

Where was I? Oh, my new hobby. So, since I was sitting like a bump on a log all day on our living room couch, I started to feel really guilty about not being productive. So, I took up knitting. I'm really loving knitting. It's fun, and rather mindless, and I can talk and knit and watch a movie and knit, or just knit. I like that it's a rather small hobby - I can carry my knitting in my purse, (unlike scrapbooking, to which I have devoted half of our basement), and I love the feel of the yarn in my hands.

At first, I just knitted really, really simple baby sweaters. Here is a picture of the one I knitted for Sarah to come home from the hospital in. See that face she's pulling? It's because the hat the nurse made her wear doesn't fit the ensemble very well. 1 1/2 days old, and she's already a fashion diva.

Here's what I've been working on lately - baby booties. I found these delicious patterns on Etsy
I LOVE them. One of my new favorite things! It makes you want to have a baby, just so I'll knit you pair, doesn't it?

7 Days - 1/3 of the Way There

2008-05-16T14:48:00.003-06:00

We're a third of the way through the 21-Day Challenge. How are you doing? I'm 8 days, sugar-free. I'm starting to feel really good, at this point. If you can make it past 4 days off sugar, it usually gets a lot easier. This time, I'm trying to be pretty strict - no yogurt, very limited juice, no forms of sugar that don't occur naturally. I'm so glad it's strawberry season! (If I had to pick one food to live on for the rest of my life, nutritional components aside, I'd pick perfectly ripe strawberries.)

Here's a great quote for the day. Hope you have a great weekend!

One more picture...

2008-05-12T13:39:00.004-06:00

I had to share one more picture of Sarah, because she is too sweet for words. I've always loved babies, but something about having a larger gap in between kids makes me appreciate having a baby even more. We truly dote on her!

I love Mondays!

2008-05-12T11:37:00.004-06:00

I know that sounds strange, but I do. I love getting everyone off to school on Monday mornings, and having just a couple of hours to myself (although Sarah now shares my company). It's good to get the house back together after the weekend! Whoo, it's amazing how fast it all goes downhill. Thankfully, Ben and the kiddos were really good to me yesterday. They made me breakfast in bed, and Ben made dinner (!) about a once a year event. Since I love to cook, and he hates it, I usually do all the dinner-making around here. Sometimes, on weekends when he has time, he helps me, but I think it's sheerly out of love for me, and not out of any personal enjoyment. Last night, he grilled chicken with a Mediterranean glaze (some fresh herbs, olive oil, lemon zest), and made a scrumptious apple crisp. No, I didn't eat the apple crisp, but it sure smelled good! Ben knew I wouldn't be eating it when he made it, but we had guests over for dinner, too, so he made it for them. I think that he really did enjoy it when they all had seconds - there's something so satisfying about feeding people good food!

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted since Friday - it was a rather crazy weekend for a number of reasons, which I won't get into now, but may write about later. So, I've missed putting together the inspirational thoughts. Here's one for today. I really like this quote, but I need to preface it with the fact that we need to also be gentle with ourselves, and recognizing when we're really giving all we have to give. So, here it is:

Hope you're doing well with your 21-day Challenge. I've so enjoyed reading your comments and emails, and hearing about the changes your making in your lives. Doesn't it feel good? I LOVE feeling like I'm doing better, and trying to be better. I think the reason why it feels so good, is because all good change comes from the Lord. That is the "strengthening power of the Atonement" that Elder David Bednar spoke of his first General Conference. (Thanks to Lara for filling me in on how to link to another website!)

I wish I had more time to write about this, but I have to go get Bethany from Preschool, so I'll have to save the subject of change through the Atonement for another day.

On a delightful note, I wanted to share a picture of Sarah's first laugh, last week.

Have a marvelous day!

The First Step

2008-05-09T13:47:00.003-06:00

I'm calling this the first day of the 21 Day Challenge. I didn't eat any sugar yesterday, but I wanted to give everyone a chance to start. I made up this little pretty quote to start off, because today is the first step. (You can print it off and put it on your fridge/mirror/whatever if you want. That's what I'm going to do.) I'm sure you've all heard this saying, but it's so good to remember, isn't it, that big changes begin with little steps.

So, how'd you do today? Did you start (or stop) the thing you wanted to? I find that I'm the happiest when I'm working on being a better person. Lots of times, I throw in the towel, and just sort of get by. Especially when I'm really busy. Today, it feels really good to be working on being better. Even though the homemade - from - scratch - made - with- Ghiradelli- chocolate brownies are calling my name in the kitchen. But I'm not listening. What brownies? I don't hear any brownies.

I love feeling in control of me, and going off sugar does that for me. Don't feel bad if you forgot, just do it tomorrow. Or, even better, do it today! Jump in where you are! You're fantastic, and I love you all! (Can you tell, I'm writing this for me? I'm sure you're all doing fantastically well.)

To report: not only did I NOT eat sugar, I also made my 3 healthy meals and 2 healthy snacks goal. And, I did yoga for an hour today. It felt sooo good! Now if I could only tackle the laundry...

THE 21 DAY CHALLENGE

2008-05-08T10:07:00.002-06:00

Okay - I really want to be real on this blog. I love keeping in touch with friends, and all that, but honestly, I feel like I need this blog so that I can be better about documenting my life, and so that I can work on improving my gazillions of flaws. Mostly, I guess, if I lay everything out in bold print, I'm hoping that I might feel more motivated to do better. So, the first thing I want to do is start something called

THE 21 DAY CHALLENGE

I first read about The 21 Day Challenge from an amazing scrabook artist,Rhonna Farrer. Sorry I don't have that cool thing where you can click on her name and take you to her blog. Not there yet - just starting this whole blog thing. Maybe I'll figure it out next week. Or next year. Or I'll get Bekah to figure it out for me, cause, hey, why'd I have all these kids if they can't figure out complex computer dilemmas? You'll just have to google her on your own.

Anyhoo, (sorry, I get sidetracked really easily), I want to start a 21-day challenge. Behind the premise is the idea that it takes 21 days to start a new habit (or stop one, for that matter), and I'm in some serious need of stopping a bad habit, and starting a bunch of better ones. But, we're not going to do all of that at once. No, one habit at a time - babysteps, that's my motto.

My bad habit that I'm giving up is EATING SUGAR - I'm not going to do it anymore. I know from past experience (since I've given up sugar at least, maybe 15 times), that the next 4 or 5 days are going to be agonizing, but I can do it. And since, when giving up a bad habit, we should replace it with a good one, I'm going to replace it with eating 3 healthy, whole food meals each day, and 2 snacks. So there. I've said it. Now I'm going to do it.

As part of my 21 day challenge, I'm going to post an inspirational message each day. I would like to try and make it cute, cute, cute, but that may have to come later. So, here's one of my favorite sayings:

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed,

but that our power to do is increased”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

So, do any of you want to join me in the 21 day challenge? You don't have to do the no-sugar thing - you can choose anything you'd like to work on, from cleaning your room, to exercising, writing in a journal - whatever. I'd love some support!

2008-05-08T09:48:00.000-06:00

So, several friends have been harrassing me about starting a blog, and then I remembered that I have this blog, with the terribly embarressing first post (mainly because I haven't followed through with my plan.) Eeek!

Here it goes - we now have 4 kiddos - Bekah (9), Sam (7), Bethany (5) and little Sarah Faith, born in February.
I'm into - photography (still definitely in the baby/early/learning phase - I got my first digital SLR for Christmas), scrapbooking (mostly for work), music (of course - still teaching voice and piano), cooking (that's how I got fat!) and recently, knitting. Working on loosing the fat. So, there you go, me in a nutshell!

2006-10-24T12:41:00.000-06:00

New Beginnings

Here it goes - I'm starting this blog because I really need some help motivating myself to stick to my weight loss plan. I'm hoping that some accountability will help. I don't know if anyone will read this but me, and it doesn't matter. I'm just glad that I'm finally working on it.

Here's my plan:
I follow (when I'm being good ;) - the Schwarzbein Principle, written by Diana Schwarzbein, M.D. - she's a cutting edge endocrinologist in Santa Barbara, CA, and had written a series of fabulous books about reclaiming your health. This is definitely NOT a fast weight loss plan. Her's a health program, and this is my journal to better health.

I am following the Healing Plan, since I have been addicted to sugar for some time. I seem to do alright for a few days or a couple of weeks, but inevitably, I fall off the bandwagon. So, here are the guidelines I'm following:

Step 1: HEALTY NUTRITION: 3 meals plus 2 snacks a day

Carbohydrates: 25 grams carbs per meal and snack (total 125 per day). For the first month, I'm only eating gluten-free carbs, since that's what she advocates for her program. All carbohydrates need to be Real Carbs - that is, that they need to be whole grain, or from starchy vegetables. I'm avoiding all wheat products, and most barley, rye, etc. She does say to try oats, and see if your body can tolerate them.
Protein: 13 ounces high quality protein from lean sources (91 grams) - hormone-free, organic whenever possible (we already do this)
Fat: no restriction on healthy poly and mono unsaturated fats. Small amounts of real butter and coconut oil. Absolutely no hydrogenated or trans fats.
Non-starchy vegetables: 5- 1 c. serving daily. Try to eat organic as much as possible.
Fruit: On healing plan, try to limit to 1 serving a day, preferably of low-glycemic fruits (berries, grapefruit) I have decided though, that fruit will be my fall-back when I have sugar cravings. If I'm really having a hard time, I will use fruit to satisfy my cravings.
Water: 8-12 glasses water (filtered)/day

Step 2: Stress Management:

Sleep: minimum of 8 hours of sleep at night. I'm going to be getting up at 5:30 to exercise, so that means that I need to go to be by 9:30 to get 8 hours in. If I miss, I may make up 1 hour with a nap.

Meditation: prayer and scripture study 30 minutes daily

Step 3: Tapering off Toxic Chemicals, or Avoiding them Completely

I think that, after the first few days, this should be easier for me. The only toxic chemical that I have a hard time with is sugar/refined flours. I make a commitment right now - no refined sugars or flours will cross my lips until after I have reached my goal! I will use fruit to deal with my cravings.

Step 4: Smart Exercise

Exercising in the healing plan consists of adaptive exercise and calming exercises. For adaptive exercises, I will be doing Pilates and Weights. Calming exercises include slow walking and stretching. My goal is to exercise 5-6 days/week.

Goals:
I hesitate to have a definite weight goal, since I'm not sure what an "ideal" weight is for me, but I think somewhere between 132-145 lbs would be healthy and normal. I would like to be a healthy size 8 or 10.

Each day, I'm going to journal my food diary, to be accountable for everything I put into my mouth. I also am going to read a little each day from Body Clutter, a book by Marla Cilley, that will help me go through the pshycological reasons behind my sugar addictions.

Here's to a healthier life!