Q & A

Isaac was sitting on my lap during Sacrament meeting today, and I was whispering to him trying to encourage his reverence.  I asked, "Do you know why we take the Sacrament?"

"Why?" he asked.
"Because it helps us think about when Jesus died for us." I answered.
"Why he did that?" Isaac looked up at me.
"Because he loves us," was my truthful response.
"But why he died?" he insisted.
"He died so we could live with Heavenly Father again," I whispered.  "He loves us so much that He let the bad guys kill Him so that our family could live together with Heavenly Father again," I testified.
"But where He is?"  Isaac probed.
"He is in Heaven watching over us," I explained.
"But I can't see Him," he stated.
"You're right," I answered, "we can't see Jesus, but we can feel Him in our hearts."
His three-year-old mind was satisfied - and reverent - for the moment, so we sat silently as the Sacrament concluded.  My mind, however, continued to ponder on the truth and the magnitude of what I had tried to express in nursery-lesson brevity and simplicity.  As grand and glorious and all-encompassing and incomprehensible as His Atonement and crucifixion is, it really is this simple: He died for us because He loves us.  I feel that pure and perfect love every day of my life.  I feel it as I wake up in the morning and witness the dawn.  I feel it as I breathe deeply and prepare my healthy body for the day.  I feel it as my new little one moves inside of me.  I feel it as I read His words in the scriptures.  I feel His love as I care for my children and try to follow His command to become like a little child.  I feel His love as I pray and acknowledge all of the ways I am still so far from being like Him.  I feel His love as I take His Sacrament and remember all He has done for me.  I can't see Him, but I feel Him in my heart, and I see evidence of His love in each moment of my life.

Run Baby

I love to run.  If I go too many days without a good run, I miss it in more ways than one.  Running is such complete therapy.  When I run, I am able to pray, then ponder, then listen, then pray some more.  At the beginning of my pregnancy, I had to stop running for a while because of a massive subchorionic hemorrhage.  When the hemorrhage healed, however, I resumed running.  About six weeks ago, I got home from my run and told Jeff that my running days were numbered.  It was just getting so much harder as my belly got so much bigger.  He, of course, did not see the tragedy in my announcement.  Then one of my friends suggested I get a "belly band" to wear while I ran.  I put a shout-out on Facebook and within hours had a belly band donated to my cause (thanks Janelle!)  My next run was no easier, it turns out, but it totally made a difference in how I felt for the rest of the day.  Hooray!  I could keep running with this great new tool.

This morning my run felt awesome.  I slept in a little bit since the kids didn't have school today, then Star (my dog) and I headed out.  The fall air was cool, but not cold, the sunrise was beautiful, and there was a slight morning frost on everything in sight.  It felt so good to be running.  When I got home, Levi (who is 6) took this photo of me:

I'm a knockout at 33 weeks pregnant right after my morning run, right?  Well it turns out that the rest of my body didn't feel like my run was such a pleasant experience.  The ligaments in my upper thighs are crying out with every step I take, and my lower back has been whining all day long.  I again told Jeff that I don't think I'll be able to run much longer.  He again did not understand why this was such a bad thing.  Baby and I (and Star) will give our morning run one more shot day after tomorrow, and if things are as sore as they were today, my next run will have to be a few weeks after Baby is born.  Thank heavens (and Marci) that I have Zumba to tide me over if I have to stop running!  Whew!

Time Out! Richfield

I went to my first Time Out for Women event in Las Vegas with one of my best friends five years ago.  I was an instant addict, and knew that this was something I would make time to do on an annual basis.  I needed what I got at Time Out.  Since then, Brandi and I have attended an event every fall.  Last year, we were in St. George, where she was on Staff.  I found out there that Time Out would be in Richfield this year for the first time, and I signed up then to be on Staff.  We've been working since April coordinating, advertising, and preparing for this past weekend.  And it was all totally worth it.

This is Sister Cox and I.  She teaches Institute at SUU, and is someone who literally changed my life.  I learned how to study the scriptures from her when I was 15 years old.  I use the methods and techniques she taught me every day of my life.  I was so happy to see her there.

Laurel Christensen (whom I adore) was scheduled to be there.  In fact, she is one of the main reasons I wanted to be involved in the event.  She got sick, however, (BOO!) and so Emily Freeman came as her replacement (YAY!)  I LOVE Emily Freeman and have been totally touched by both her books and her presentations.  We (Jamie and Brandi and I) grabbed a photo.  I was so happy to hear from her.  She ended up being one of the favorites.

Mariama Kallon has also been a big favorite in the past, and we were all looking forward to hearing from her.

Michael Wilcox was a presenter at that first Time Out in Las Vegas and from the minute I heard him speak, I knew I wanted to 1)hear more and 2)be more like him.  He is brilliant and inspiring and one of the most polished speakers I have ever heard.  Ever.  He was the capstone to the Richfield presenter line up.  I simply can't write fast enough as I take notes when he is speaking. 

Brandi and I were both at this event, but we were each there with our own groups.  It was the first Time Out we went to that we were not together, so we made sure to get a bunch of pictures together anyway.

I was there with an awesome group of my own.  This picture is of my sisters, my mom, and my grandma.

And this is our group...my cousin Diane, sisters Jamie and Chelsea, me, my grandma, my Aunts Janette and Lisa, cousin Brennen, and my mom.  We has some serious good times together including some laughs over a broken straw at dinner and a spontaneous late-night ice cream party in our motel room.

I won a little writing competition for the event, so I got to have lunch with the presenters.  I invited my mom to be my "guest" and we had a yummy catered lunch with all of the presenters.  I was so happy that she joined me.  Nobody could believe she was my mom because I look so old for my age and she looks so young.  I am so thankful for this remarkable woman that I get to call mom.

Time Out was exactly what I needed....again. Already looking forward to next year.

As Sisters in Zion

 I got to go to the Relief Society General Session!  At the Conference Center!  With my sisters, my mom, and my Grandma!  It was so very great.  My sister has spent the past year living and working in Korea and just returned a few months ago.  My grandma has been on several missions and will leave for another one in just a few weeks.  But on this night, we all got to be together.

 I hope I never forget how I felt the first time I walked into the Conference Center.  It is still breathtaking every time I step inside.  I love being there.  I love the majesty of it all.  I love the choir.  And I especially love when the Prophet enters the room.

 Spending time with these women who mean so much to me is so beneficial for my perspective.  It always helps me remember that I am part of something so much bigger than myself, and that we are all interconnected for good reason.

 We meandered through Temple Square on our way back to the parking garage.  This building too is breathtaking.  I have only been inside once, but to me this temple symbolizes sacrifice, courage, obedience, and faith in so many ways, both inside and out.

As do the women who were there with me that night.

Pet Parade!

 It turns out that the very first Pet Parade to be held at the kids' elementary school was scheduled for a day that dad would be doing clinicals in Salt Lake...which means that mom (7 months pregnant mom) was left to transport and manage the pets for the big Pet Parade.  It was after I had loaded the animals and made it to the school, and I was leading the horse, and the dog, and my three-year-old across the street and the playground and over the river and through the woods, and I was saying to myself, "The things you do for your kids," that Daisy spotted me coming toward her.  And her smile made it all worth it.

 Of all the animals we have (dog, sheep, pig, chickens, calves) Daisy, of course, wanted to take her horse to the Pet Parade.  And so take her horse we did.  She was so proud, and did a great job of keeping Honey calm with all the other animals and all 500 kids.

 Levi opted to take Star, but decided about halfway into the Pet Parade that it wasn't as much fun as he thought to stand in the hot sun for that long. He passed the leash on to little brother.

 Isaac helped me load the animals to take to the school, so he was sporting his rubber chore boots with his shorts, which was simply adorable.  He was happy to hang out with Star and feel like a big kid.

 These brothers are best buddies.  Levi was so cute to let Isaac tag along with his class and see all the animals.

Both Daisy and Honey were happy that Ashlyn brought her horses.  They are often in the same corral and they were totally calm when they were together.

There were only THREE moms that brought pets in the large animal division.  One I work with because she is the director of the Fair, one is in my ward and runs a dairy, and then me.  I was getting major "Impressive Mom" looks from the other parents there, which, I must confess, made me feel cool.  The Pet Parade was a great success.  Maybe next year we can take our stuffed monkey.

Soccer Stud

Last year when the recreation director called and asked me to coach Levi's soccer team, I informed him that I couldn't because I had never watched a soccer game before in my life.  I didn't know the first thing about the game.  This year when he called and asked again, I still didn't know the first thing about the game, but I had watched the city league 5-year-old version of the game last season, so I went from soccer mom to soccer coach!

 Turns out I got an awesome team.  With only a few exceptions, those little kids were there to play.  They worked hard, tried to do the things we practiced, and they worked together.  This was not the case for most of the teams that we played.  We pretty much creamed every opponent we took on.

 This shot is of Levi and I doing victory swivel hips after he scored a goal. 

 Most of our team is also in our ward, so they had pretty good camaraderie.

 Levi felt like he was playing the game with his best buddies.

 Levi started the season being really competitive, so we had a talk about good sportsmanship, and how winning isn't always the most important thing.  After that, he was really careful to be a good sport, and we were so proud of him.

 Sometimes his good sportsmanship efforts went a little too far.  There were times that he would be taking the ball down the field and an opposing player would fall down.  He would leave the ball to check on them and help them up.  As his mom and his coach, it was hard to know what to say! 

When the season ended I was still not qualified to be a soccer coach, but Levi did a great job and had a great season.  He worked hard and I was proud of his whole team.  Now that soccer is over, he is counting down the years until he can play football.

Grandpa's Mountain

Isaac has been begging all summer literally, to go camping at "Grandpa's Mountain" (a title he invented.)  He was so disappointed when "Kid's Camp" didn't mean camping at my parent's property on the mountain.  We finally made the trip a few weeks ago.

What is the greatest thing about going camping on "Grandpa's Mountain?"  Well, there are too many greatest things to choose just one.  The kids always look forward to riding (and driving) the 4-wheelers.  The beauty is really hard to beat since the property is really high and secluded.  Sitting by the fire and eating peanuts has become a mountain tradition.  Spending time with (and getting spoiled by) Grandpa and Grandma is always a treat.  Definitely topping the list of greatest things is catching frogs down at the pond.

 Isaac held onto his frog really tight to ensure that it wouldn't escape.

 Levi could hardly wait to get down to the pond.  Thankfully, we ran into Aunt Beck there and she hooked us up with an old coffee can to keep our catch in.  With her mentoring, Levi became a master frog catcher.

 Little brother felt safer with his frog in his pocket instead of squished between his palms.

 I was in charge of holding the frogs while the hunters continued searching for more.

 When we got back to camp, Levi has a whole can full of frogs to play with.

 And play with them he did.

 The coffee can full of frogs kept the brothers entertained for hours.

 Daisy was less into frog catching, but begged and begged for us to take her up to Horny Toad Hill.  We kept telling her "after lunch" we would go.  So as soon as she had finished eating, she was on the four wheeler ready to head out for the big hunt.  After waiting not-so-patiently for the rest of us, we finally made the trek up to Horny Toad Hill.  Daisy caught this baby horny toad all by herself.

 Isaac liked the horny toads better than the frogs because they didn't jump.  He could play with them longer.

 At first, it didn't seem like we were going to find many horny toads, but then Levi spotted one and snatched it up.  He and grandma found the most horny toads of all.

 Isaac kept a few in his pockets for the ride back to camp.

After the big horny toad hunt, it was back to work on Grandma's tree house.  Dad and Levi worked together to get the boards into place.  Mom and Grandma measured and cut (yes, grandma was using the chainsaw) and Grandpa handed them up and stood on the ladder until they were screwed into place. 

The leaves hadn't really started changing yet, so we're hoping to make it up the mountain one more time this fall.  We love all the things about camping at Grandpa's mountain!