Maybe now I'll be a stage mom...

Last night was our Fashion Show for Enrichment.

It went really well, and the girls did a good job...they had the young women and primary aged girls model several personal dresses made and/or owned by women in our ward. There was everything from Sunday dresses to prom dresses to wedding dresses. There were musical numbers as well, and my girls performed...

#1 sang her very first solo! She sang "I will Follow God's Plan for me" and did a great job. She also sang "Me and My Teddy Bear" with 3 other girls --they did a little dance and song thing with their teddy bears. It was precious.

#2 was asked by Sister "L" (who was in charge of the evening) to dance at the last minute. #2 thought it was Christmas! She did a "lyrical/modern" dance peice she made up herself out of the blue. It was just adorable and looked like she had practiced for days. :)

What really bites my butt is that the camera card was missing in the camera when I went to take pictures of them...AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!! So, no pictures of their first stage debut. ~sigh~

They (meaning the RS people) also had dresses displayed, and so I had them display my wedding dress along with #1's blessing dress. DH's aunt made them for us with the same material, and so they are very special to me. It was great to see them out of storage for a while.

Craziness right now...

Craziness exists in my life to make me humble. I think. Well, that and to teach me to chill out under pressure. Oh, wait. Maybe that's the same thing....hmmm....

Well, anyways, I have been trying to get ready for our annual trip to Canada this weekend, and, of course, everything has to be happening right now! This week! Everyday! No other time! So far my life has been crammed with the following:

• Family Dinners
• Visiting Teaching
• Book Club
• TONS of rehearsals for Enrichment night
• Enrichment
• Weight Watchers meeting
• Laundry (which I hate --didn't you know?)
• Running errands
• Shopping at Costco
• Birthday parties (okay, just one)
• Preparing for the 5K
• Primary Presidency stuff
• Taking care of my 3 adorable (and crazy!!!) children

And, of course, this has all occurred from Monday -Thursday. Well, okay, Enrichment is tonight, so that hasn't happened yet, but it will! And there are more rehearsals before then!

Perhaps this all could have been avoided had I not listened to my procrastination phrase (see below). Hmmm...procrastination does produce panic, but now I'm wondering, is that good? Oh, the wishy-washiness of it all!!

More Randomness...

Random Thoughts and Goin' Ons.....

• #1 almost drowned last night. Well, not almost --DH was right there and she was fine. But she sure was scared and it was a scary thing...okay, maybe not as scary as when Cousin B's daughter was drowning, none of us noticed and Cousin B had to jump into the pool, fully clothed, and Preggers to save her. Boy, did we feel bad! That just goes to show you what idle gossip can do --you eliminate all other noise in your head and focus on when your next opinion can be shared. Not safe around swimming pools!! (B's daughter is fine --just so you know...). :)
• I'm going to be in the Great White North (that would be Canada, people!) for a while. We leave Saturday, and so blogging will probably be slowing way, way, way down next week. I'm kind of looking forward to the break, because this blogging thing can be addicting.
• Laundry stinks.
• My friend "D" had her 3rd child last week --a little girl. She deserves this sweet (and very good, so I hear) girl, having had 2 boys herself. Congrats!
• My 5K race is Saturday! Everybody be cheering for me!
• Speaking of 5K's --J couldnt' run with me this morning, and so I was very tempted to just sleep in. However, I forced myself out of bed and ran...1 mile.."hey, that's not so bad"....2 miles..."maybe I'll stop --no you can't stop!"....3 miles!! I did the whole thing all on my own. Of course, I had some help from the Barenaked Ladies on my ipod. Good tunes.
• Laundry is not very fun, I have I ever said that before?
• I'm feelin' lazy right now, but I'm content and happy with life. There's a lot I have to get done before our great trip, so I should get started, but where's the fun in being prepared? Pressure, people, pressure! Procrastination prepares one for pressure and then panic. I get lots done in a mode of panic... :) Hmmm..I'm wondering if I should patent that phrase...."Procrastination prepares one for pressure and panic" --by cheryl. I like that!
• Oh, I hate laundry!

Old Friends and Poopy Diapers

Seeing old friends is the best. It really is! Not only do you get to catch up on all the great things they are doing in their lives, you get to connect with somebody that remembers who you are pre-married and pre-baby. Old friends just get who you are, and are genuinely happy for your new life. They are connected to you so deeply, and so you can't help but remember all those good times you had "back in the day".

I got to see the "twins" and "E" last night. I haven't seen the twins for about 5 years. E and I see each other at least once a year, but with the 4 of us together, it felt like High School again. No, not the life-sucks-I-wish-I-could-get-away-from-my-parents-and-my-siblings-and-my-life-and-my-teachers part of HS, the good part. You know? Anyways, to E and the twins...you rock!! I can't wait to see you guys again!!!!


In other news, DH is changing #3's poopy diaper even as I type this. What a man. I sure love him!

WE DID IT!!

That's right, folks, I have finally run 3.2 miles without stopping! J and I ran it this morning, and we feel AWESOME.

Yes, yes, we ran 12 1/2 minutes per mile, but we still RAN. RAN. RAN. Okay, slow jog. But still!

Next week will be a piece of cake... :)

This week just keeps getting better...

DH just kicked down #3's door. And he's a little peeved (okay, more than a little peeved) that he had to do it.

I went to get #3 out of his room around 1PM after his nap. He'd had a nice long nap and it was time for lunch and all was well and good in the world (not quite unlike how I felt going to put my burritos in the freezer yesterday--see below). However, the door was locked.

LOCKED!!

There was an interesting post about this, and I remembered thinking, "glad I haven't had to worry about it!!" ha, ha, ha, on me.

I tried for 2 hours to open that dumb door and the outside windows. It would not open for me, for my sweet friend that happened to come by during the whole ordeal, or for DH after he came home from work because I was a mess and not thinking straight.

So, DH kicked down the door, I rushed into save sweet #3, and all is well now. I guess.

Except our door is broken, I don't know how to fix it, and DH is still mad. ~sigh~ I don't blame him.

Let's just say that #1 won't play with the locks anymore --and I'm planning on getting rid of them. Somehow....maybe duct tape will work.....

The smell of death

After a fun-filled day with whining children, my sister, her son, me, and my children came home from our day at the park and shopping at Costco. I happily and busily started putting Costco things away, and headed down to the deep freezer to put away the chicken strips (grilled ones --awesome, awesome chicken), burritos and bread.

There, in front of the utility room door was cat throw-up.

~sigh~ Well, can't be too mad at the cat for his throw-up. At least he didn't poop there. No biggie, I thought --I'll clean it up in a minute. Then I open the door to the utility room and smell death. Literally. DEATH. It was a foul, stenchy odor and I thought "Oh, great! The cat pooped in here!" Wait. How did the cat get in here? Something's wrong....and then I opened the deep freezer door.

Oh, yes. Death.

The stench was rotting meat. The freezer was WARM. No, not cool, not even cold. WARM. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Somehow, it had come unplugged.

Thanks to my sweet sister for helping me clean the junk out. Thanks to DH for not being too upset about losing the steaks we forgot were in there. And thank goodness, oh, thank goodness! for Lysol disinfectant household cleaners.

5K Goals

My SIL is amazing. She's incredibly humble, so she won't admit this herself, but she is amazing. She ran her first 5K in a lot of years last week and placed 1st in her division (6th overall). Then, 15 minutes later, at the request of somebody, she turned around and ran the 10K (hadn't planned on it!) and placed 1st in her division again --2nd overall. She is amazing!! She's preparing for a marathon (St. George) and so she's probably in great running health. Plus, she was a runner in high school, and so I know running is not the hardest thing for her. But still! That's so amazing! (can't think of another word, sorry!).

As I'm preparing for my 5K, I often think about how far I have come. The last time I ran anything more than 1/2 mile was ---well, Junior High School on the 8th grade track team. Yep, I was 14 years old! Now, here I am, running 3.2 miles --and actually DOING IT.

J and I ran probably 2.8 of the 3.2 miles today. It's the longest we've run on our "track/trail", and so the idea of running it without stopping is no longer a fear. Our goals for the 5K are as follows:

• FINISH THE RACE!
• Stay together, regardless if one is slowing the other down
• Try to run/jog the entire race without walking

We decided that this is realistic and we don't want to be focused on all the people passing us. We're not doing this to win-- we're doing it so we will know that we can do it.

Not bad for two people that haven't run for a decade or two....

#1, #2 and #3

#1 before her dance recital --the kids got to pick their own outfits and she chose a great skirt and shirt her aunt bought her for her birthday.

#2 doing what she does best...laughing! This was on her birthday several months ago....

#3 --"Oooh! Gasp! Oooh!"

Those would be #3's favorite words in the whole world. :) This face is frequently displayed during the day as he reacts to everything as something exciting, or as new. It's not a bad idea, really....

I sure love those kids...I wish I could show it more....

The blessing of health TRULY is a blessing...

Well, it's happening again. Just when I thought that I was going to be healthy again, something new is popping up....

I went to my cardiologist and pulimonary specialist last week and they were so pleased with my health, that they told me I didn't have to see them for 6 months and 1 year respectively. Because of the exercise, my oxygen levels, heart rate, blood pressure and everything is doing so well!

Then I decided to see my dentist about the pain in my neck and jaw.

He's a brilliant guy who works with a neurologist and helps treat tension headaches, jaw problems, etc. I had some tests done to find out where the pain is originating and it turns out that I hold all my tension and stress in my neck, lower skull and shoulders.

No surprise, there!

So, treatments start next week. Luckily, our health insurance covers it.

I trust my dentist and I trust the procedures --maybe it will be wonderful to have no more headaches --but I'm tired of not being healthy. I'm tired of dealing with a constant string of health problems.....Good health truly is a blessing.

Only .6 to go!

No weight gain this week!

And no weight loss, either.

Yep, I stayed the same and I'm extremely fine with that! As long as there is no gain, I'm comfortable with losing 4.4 pounds every other week. :)

This morning, J and I ran 1.2 miles UP THE HILL!! Our total running mileage is now up to 2.4 miles and we still walk the other.6. We're so close and it feels so great --so empowering!

Our All-Day Date on Tuesday

We started out by going to the Temple. They have been doing construction on the front grounds of the Provo Temple, and now it is finished --and it's gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous. Fountains, walkways, flowers, and it's fabulous. There was a wedding party there taking pictures and my first thought was this --"Ah! They did this to up the chances of women choosing this Temple to get married in" --which really would not be a bad idea...

We were the Witness Couple (ummm...for those that are not LDS, ask me personally what this means...) and that was very special, since we haven't been for a really long time. It was a great session, and not too crowded.

We grabbed some Subway and then headed up Provo Canyon to Aspen Grove. After changing our clothes, we hiked towards Stewart Falls. However, since DH is an avid hiker and knows the area really well (side bar --I know the area really well, too! I've hiked Stewart Falls a total of 37 times now....) we found the side trail that takes you up to "upper" Stewart Falls. It was a crazy, slightly bush-whacking, uphill forever trail, but the end result was amazing. We ate our lunch right underneath (okay, a little to the side) of this amazing waterfall. It was better than the shade (DH's comment) to be in the spray of the water and it was so peaceful just being together. We didn't say too much on the hike (it was hard enough to hike!), except, of course, for my witty diatribes. :) But we didn't have to say anything to each other. It was just so nice being together.

After the long hike, we hiked into Aspen Grove Family Camp (where we both worked years ago for a couple of years) to get some ice cream. We ran into a couple of familiar faces and had some great BYU ice cream (no point counting that day!!!!).

Once we decided that showering was the best option, we headed home to shower and change. We then left our very reliable babysitter, again, and went to see "X-Men 3". It was pretty good! And it was an amazingly nice feeling to be in a movie theater. It has literally been YEARS since we've seen a movie in the theater. So nice. So nice!

Ottavio's Italian Restaurant was our last stop. Although I was conscious and very aware that the entire menu had ONE thing on it that I could probably eat, I chose instead to focus on portions. I asked for the box before I started eating my dinner, and it sure made a difference! As soon as that contented feeling came over me --WHOOSH! --into the box the rest of the meal went. It was a nice meal --and the hostess gave us a nice, private booth at the back.

And that was pretty much it. Not too exciting to some, I'm sure, but what a wonderful day! It was so calm and just peaceful --restful --content. To be with the love of my life for one whole day without any interruptions was something that we both greatly needed and deserved.

What was even better was that we didn't "discuss" anything. Not our marriage, not work, not callings, and only our children (just a little bit). This made the date so much better. We weren't trying to "fix" anything.

I highly recommend this type of thing to every married couple with small children. Take an ENTIRE day (during the week is best because then traffic, crowds, etc. will not be a problem) and just do things together that you would have done together when you were dating or before kids. It doesn't have to happen very often, but even just once a year is a start! I'm thinking this is going to start to be something of a tradition for us...

P.S. Women, this day was not my husband's idea. He LOVED the day, but it was my idea. So don't wait around for your husband's to think about it! You can plan something that he'll love just as much as you will ---GO FOR IT! :)

"These is My Words"....

I have found one of the greatest novels ever written. It has seriously been raised to my "A" list, and I shall forevermore wish to apply it to my life....

"These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901" by Nancy E. Turner.

This book has changed my entire outlook on life --in a great, bold, and beautiful way. Now, please, don't read this book thinking it will do the same for you! The last thing I need is for it to be a great disappointment to someone just because I hyped it up so much.

But do trust me on this. Every woman should read this book...

My moments...

I don't have all the answers. This much I am sure of...

But every once in a while, my mind clears and I can see --just for a moment-- that precise detail of what it is I am to do. It isn't a small answer, nor a large one, nor a loud one, nor a simple one. It is a culmunation of my entire life and the life I am to live. In one sweeping moment, I have confidence and clarity; everything I've ever dreamed of is a reality and I know --I know--what it is I'm supposed to do with my life.

The beautiful part is when these detailed moments of clarity come --and how. They have come:

• After seeing my children laugh with each other without knowing I am watching them
• When the neighbor girl calls to ask a question just when I was needing someone to talk to
• Watching two ducks (a male and female) protect each other from cars in the street when they had gotten lost
• When I have finished praying in a Ward Council meeting to ask a special blessing upon those who are suffering in our Ward
• Sitting in the Celestial Room of the Temple and knowing my Grandfather was there with me
• Feeling my husband's arms reach around me in the night and pull me close --while he's asleep
• Hearing my daughter singing a touching Primary Song she had just learned
• Struggling all day and reading that one scripture or that one article that changes everything in that small second
• Finishing doing something hard --like running one whole mile for the first time
• Having a good, close friend love me no matter how selfish and crazy I may be and give me that one piece of advice I needed to hear

I thank God with all of my soul for all of those moments and the other hundreds of moments that I've been given --those moments that remind me that I am a Child of God. That I have purpose and meaning. That being a mother and a wife will be the most important thing I can ever possibly think of doing. That I remembered these moments and ever so slightly, realligned my life. That one day, all these moments of clarity will come into complete focus and I will be grateful that I didn't give up.

Yay! A "Date"!

DH and I had a fabulous date Thursday night. We went to the play "Sarah, Plain and Tall" at BYU which was our last play of the year (we get season tickets to the Pardoe Series of plays at BYU every year --our attempt to remain cultured :) ). It was a short play, and so then we went to find ice cream on campus. Lo and behold, we ran into my cousin! Who was at BYU! From St. George! For Youth Conference! It was great to see her and very, very, very random. The BYU creamery on 9th was FULL of students, and so we opted to drive to Sonic instead. Then we headed home after some nice yummy (all-be-it not very good for me) food.

You would think that's not very exciting, right? Well, you would be soooooooo wrong.

DH was sweet and attentive, and I held no expectations. We laughed and talked and enjoyed each other. DH was also a perfect gentleman and opened every door, held my hand any chance he got, and we had a great time together.

Some people may say, "well, yeah! I would hope so! I mean, it's practically a commandment to have a weekly date with your spouse --come on!"

Those people must have perfect lives and marriages.

I have not seen DH in an alone setting like that for months. With the kids, yes, but alone like that? I can't even remember. However, my widowship is finally winding down, and so DH is around again. It's fabulous! I love having him home --the kids love having him home.

Tuesday I'm planning an all-day event with just the 2 of us. Babysitter from 8AM to midnight, baby! We're going to do it all! I'll let you all know how it goes....