Oscar Birth Announcement

Once upon a time, I had a baby and he was the most gorgeous creature on the planet.
And we live happily ever after.

Michele's Favorite Things

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but my sister-in-law Michele's weekly letters inspire me and simply make me happy. This week she focused on some favorite things the kids love. I loved reading it, so I'm going to share, especially the parts that make me laugh.


"Joanne’s journals cracked me up because she wrote a lot about our journeys this year in our family motor home. No we don’t have a motor home but apparently she really wants us to have one."


"Rebecca: Loves [...] playing with my Tupperware. She loves to put her arms up in the air and throw herself on the floor while she kicks and cries. She loves to be out of the house and run after Dad and the kids on the way to the car in the morning. She practices laughing in the car. She loves to just sit by mom or dad and have us all to herself.

"Michael: loves cereal and LOTS of it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He also loves red bell pepper and cries for his red pepper sandwiches. [...] He loves his sword and will only try to get dressed in the morning if I promise to get his sword out of time-out. [...] His favorite whiney phrases: “It takes too long!”, “I can’t!”, and “Ugh!”. 

"Katherine: Loves to change her mind, (so all this changes minute-by-minute). She loves oatmeal—sometimes, and rice—sometimes, and chicken nuggets—sometimes, and crepes--all the time. She loves to help mom cook, and loves to clean the baseboards. 

[...]

"Joanne: loves pink and fashion. [...] She loves to put on shows and sing silly songs.  She loves [...] the smell of garlic, dill pickle sandwiches, peanut butter on pancakes, and “diamond cheese” sandwiches. Her favorite phrase at dinner time is “I’ll make something else”. [...] She loves going to the temple. 

"Ben: Loves computer games.  [...] He loves to read before bed. [...] He loves to make mom happy. [...] He loves getting a drink before bed, and he always wants to stay up and watch movies with mom and dad."

I hope you don't mind, Michele! It's just because I love you.

Jenny's Baby Girl eCard

My niece Jenny sent me this a couple days after we announced that I'm pregnant. I just remembered it. 

My nieces make me happy.

My Setu Heart

This is my good friend Setu.
Though I haven't seen him in who knows how long, tonight I owe him.

As I was thinking, trying to figure out why I can't make friends like I used to, my mind started wandering. Somehow I ended up thinking about a girl I know and how she gushed about hugging Avi from Pentatonix and he laughed or said something and it vibrated through her. It reminded me of Setu.

Setu has one of the most wonderful voices on earth. He's a rumbly, heart-breaking bass whose falsettos rival mine. No, his falsettos totally bite mine in the butt.
His personality is much the same. He's this huge intimidating Polynesian who is really just a sweet tender teddy bear.

I love Setu with all my heart.

I thought about that. Truth be told, I know hardly anything about Setu. And yet I do absolutely adore him and wouldn't hesitate to tell that to anyone.
This is true about many of those I consider my good friends. Or it used to be true.
Really, though I would say that it's true, I haven't thought about many people that way in a while, with love gushing out and me just being thrilled to know and be around them.
I realized: I've forgotten how to love people.

Somehow in the past couple years I've gotten tentative and critical -- of others, but even more so myself. And so, I've forgotten how to love. I've forgotten that it doesn't matter if I know them well and we have deep conversations or if they have faults or if they see my faults or if we don't perfectly match as kindred spirits. It doesn't matter. I can still find the tiniest things to absolutely adore about a person and add them all up until I grow a new heart just for them and I love them with all of it.

Once upon a time I had someone tell me that because I loved so many people, I couldn't love any of them very much because everyone has a limited amount of love to spread around. This frustrated me to no end. That's exactly the opposite of how love works! Christ, the ultimate example of love, loves more people than any of us will ever know, and He loves every one of us more than we can fathom. I believe we can love like Him, to a degree.

That's why I need to start growing hearts again. Lately I've been trying to cut up my heart so that I can give pieces to everyone I want to love. I can't love anyone enough that way. I need to take everything about them and grow a new heart of mine just for each person I want to love.

Then, it doesn't matter whether they or I have faults or whether we're perfectly lined up to be friends. I'll just love them with all my heart, and everything else will work out.

Material Girl

Last weekend my dear, darling mother-in-law took me shopping. This is dangerous. My mother-in-law loves to buy, buy, buy, and I don't know how to say no, no, no.

Luckily I realize this, which means she hadn't taken me shopping in about a year and a half. But it was time.

I came to the conclusion that John's mom has bought me more clothing in the past 3 years than my own mother has in my entire life. This shouldn't be surprising since my mom knew how to say no for me, and most of my clothes growing up were second-hand (I am the youngest of ten belonging to an elementary school teacher, after all). 

I don't want to get you the wrong idea. I love Carol and I love shopping with her. I had a blast spending time with a woman I adore. And let's face it, I'm not perfect; I thoroughly enjoy being spoiled rotten to the core.

Okay, hopefully I'm not rotten to the core.

But I am definitely spoiled.

Two hours in the dressing room and I am exactly

6 cardigans, 7 dresses, 10 shirts, 4 pairs of jeans (one coral colored), and 3 pairs of shoes more spoiled.
That's just attire.
And that's with me saying "I don't think so" a lot.

Oh, and see the heels on the right?
These:

That's right. I own sparkly heels.
This makes me muy happy.
I would never have bought them for myself. I just don't need them, so I simply wouldn't buy them. Carol, however, has no such inhibitions. I tried them on just to try them on, and she insisted I get them.
Isn't she cute?


I gave John a fashion show the next day:

This would make my Sarah Lynn proud (even if there is a lack of scarves)


I bought while with Carol something that John and I have been searching for: a comforter.
We painted our bedroom purple and cream and have been trying to find the right bed spread to go with it. We've found plenty of purple comforters, even in King size, and for a good price. But there's always been something wrong with them. Too "90's," too silver, too tan...so we had finally decided we might need to settle. But then the magically perfect one showed up.

Isn't it purdy?
We've been loving it.

I love our bed. I convinced John that we needed a King size. He thinks it makes us too far apart and he'd be perfectly happy with a double. Ugh. I'm glad I convinced him. Though our bed is somewhat...enormous. We got my brother's old bed frame when they switched, so it's free even if it's not what we would have picked out. But now we have our comforter and our purple sheets (several sets) and as soon as we get the all right pillows it will be perfect.

Almost there.



There is a vague point to all my ramblings here -- surprisingly enough.
As I skipped giddily around my house this week I realized how happy having nice things makes me. This is weird because I don't consider myself very material...and yet clearly I am. So I thought about it more.

Yes, I am a material person. I value material things.
Material things give me happiness, even lasting (time-wise) happiness.
My huge house continues to make me happy. My painted walls continue to make me happy. My gadget-stocked kitchen continues to make me happy. My collection of books continues to make me happy. Some of my random purchases from the dollar store continue to make me happy.

However, my happiness does not hinge on material things. I am quite happy without all these things, and was before I had them. All of these things are just added bonuses on an already wonderful life. That's how I see them. And that's why I think my life is amazing.

I have everything I could need: a wonderful husband, loving and lovable family and friends, my basic needs taken care of
I also have everything I could want: A loving and successful marriage, a home of our own, time to spend with those I care for, financial security, health, the ability to learn and grow,
Then I get all these extras: A house we could never outgrow, an overflowing wardrobe (with a closet that makes it seem small), a gorgeous kitchen, the money to buy most whimsical desires, a cute puppy to keep me company

People who know me know I am a very happy person. I always have been. But I'm pretty sure everyone else would be too if they had my life. My life simply rocks.
Yet, that's not really what makes me happy.
Choosing to be happy makes me happy.
And I choose to love the small things.

Merry Holidays 2011

Pictures

I love taking pictures. I always have. I once thought about being a photographer, but then I couldn't fit the class into my schedule so I forgot about it, then I looked at real photographers' pictures and I realized I had absolutely no talent.

Then I married John.


This is Angelo:

He's John's step-dad. He is brilliant.

He may not be the best photographer, and he certainly doesn't get paid for it (though that's more personal choice than anything else), but he knows cameras and he knows sights. He's funny because he takes pictures most people won't think of, and some people don't like. He's a candid, behind-the scenes kind of guy:

This is actually one of my favorites from the wedding

He's given a camera to pretty much everyone in the family.
Let me rephrase that.
He has willingly permanently loaned all of his personal favorite cameras to everyone who has asked him for a camera to borrow for just a short while.
(we'll ignore the fact that he likely does this just so he can buy the newest best thing)


I, as it turns out, am no exception.
First, I sent out weekly family letters. Eventually pictures got mixed in. Eventually Angelo told me about some that he adored:

The food he liked because he loves taking pictures of food and Carol doesn't get it. I take waaay too many pictures of our meals. I tried stopping unless I had a real reason to want a picture. I've gotten better. Usually.

But Alma with his Jenga house? Sure it's a nice enough picture but there's nothing special about it. But both Angelo and my own hubby told me it was a great picture and that they love it. Hm.

Angelo told me I have a great eye. Well, ever since John got me a camera to document our life with I've worked on getting shots I like better, but I didn't know what a good eye meant. I still don't.

I was working for Angelo, selling camera stuff on eBay, and my family had our Reunion, so I borrowed the "work camera" for the week. He told me I could/should whenever I wanted to, but it's his expensive piece of equipment so I didn't want to cart it around all the time...but the family reunion was worth it.

And I came up with this:

These are pictures I can't get enough of. Especially the one with Ella and Michael on the frogs at the pool. That may be my favorite picture that I've ever taken. This last one with Ella on the lawn, too.

After the reunion I prepared to give Angelo back his prized possession. Except by then he'd bought a new and better prized possession and decided that I should keep this camera as long as I took lots of family photos.
I have taken lots of family photos.

However, I want to share more of my favorite pictures as my favorite pictures. I snap shots primarily to document my life, so I share shots to show that documentation. On occasion I'll share an obviously blurry picture because I love the moment it captured, even if my capturing of it wasn't excellent. So on occasion I'd like to share pictures because of the capturing as well as the moment.

Now, I have to warn you that I adore my nieces and nephews. So on occasion my obsession with them might cloud my view of what I really like about the photograph. Also, I may like something others may not see. But that's why this is my blog and I get to do what I want. :)

How to Bake a Pumpkin

 Start with a pumpkin. (If you want to)

Then give a crazy man a big knife.

Then tell him to be good or else.

Slice the cute little pumpkin in two.

Scrape out all the guts and seeds and give them to Brin so she can make amazing bread.

 Water them pumpkin so it can grow.

Bake the little bums.

Smooch the crazy guy (VITAL step!)

Dance with a puppy. (also vital)

Get pumpkin goo all over your fingers.

More, private! MORE! I said ALL over your fingers!

And then promptly forget all about taking pictures because your hands got gooey.


=D

Um, if you really want to know, google it. That's what I did.

Michele's Letters

My sister-in-law Michele writes the family every week. I love love love her letters/emails. John's and my letters started in Mexico because his Dad requested them (he wanted us to write every day, actually. Hahahahahahaha), but when we got back I started them up again largely because of Michele's letters. Her style and my style are different, which in part saddens me because I want to write letters like her but it wouldn't be natural, but it works out in the end because they really should sound like me since they're about my (and John's) life. 

Michele's letters are loving, nostalgic, and funny and they show that she is everything a good mother should be. I mean a real good mother, not a modern mother who crafts every thing in sight and takes her kids to every possible extra-curricular. Not that doing that makes you a bad mother, just that doing that doesn't make you a good mother. 

Anyway, Michele's weekly letters boost my spirits and just make me happy.
Her pictures also make me happy. This one I couldn't get enough of, especially if you know Katherine.

Grateful A Day: Reading

A grateful a day keeps the grumpies away.
Or something like that.
In any case, I am posting one thing I'm grateful for on each day until Thanksgiving. I should probably do this all the time...I'll think about that later.

Today I am grateful for my ability to read

and my talent to read well.

This is spurred because I am struggling in Spanish. I realized today that it is very hard for me to stop and think about what I'm reading because I'm so used to simply already understanding it. This doesn't mean concepts, but actual words and structure. I have no memories of reading something and having to go slowly so that I could figure out what the words are and how they relate to each other. Now that I'm taking a Spanish class and have things to read, sure I can skip on through the words...but I have no idea what I just read, and not because my mind was somewhere else. I have to stop and evalutate each word individually and also in relation to those around it, or even the basic direction of the sentence gets lost. It's bizzare to me.

I have always attributed the majority of my intelligence to the fact that I can read well. (I attribute others' perception of my intelligence on the fact that I've never known how to keep my hand down in classes.) Some may dispute this, but I stand by it. I love reading, and I've learned a ton with my experiences in reading many different things.

Anti-bacterial

I am sitting in class.
I am blogging from an iPod.
I am blogging about a "pocket-bac" hand sanitizer.

courtesy

I was early for class, so I sat outside. I was bored. How did I entertain myself?

Did you know that if you turn a small plastic bottle around and around that a small bubble forms and attaches and detaches from the main bubble?
It made me happy.

The bubble is now squished out.

The end.

Breather for Thoughts

So...school has completely overwhelmed me. I don't even know where to start to explain that. So I won't.

However, school has also given me tons of things to think about. At least an average of once a day I come up with some completely brilliant idea that I really want to share with the world through this, my creative outlet/aka blog. But whenever I'm near the computer and remember these things, I have to think about all the homework I'm behind on, or soon to be behind on. So I can't blog. Instead, I procrastinate.

How does that make sense? It shouldn't, but it does to me. Because blogging takes at least a half hour, usually more like 3 or 4 hours, though occasionally 2 or 3 minutes. Surfing the net, video games, and other simple, non-committal time wasters take "10 or 15 minutes" and are therefore justifiable temporary stress releases. Hahaha...so we won't talk about how those "10 or 15 minutes" are the real reason I'm overwhelmed with school.

Anyhow, I just wanted to get on here and mention a few thoughts that have come lately. Hopefully someday I can find the time, energy, and lack of complete laziness to elaborate. But for now I want to at least get my thoughts out.

1) I love love love my husband. I never tell anyone that enough. I think he's the most wonderful man on the planet and I feel overwhelmingly blessed to have married him. He's given me everything a girl could want and we have a relationship that is better than even I imagined marriage would be.

2) Despite my many shortcomings, I love being me. I am of great worth and I do have a lot to offer this world and especially those around me. I may not be talented or committed or driven the same way others are, but I am very valuable. The way I wish to live my life is not something to be looked down on.

3) I am a dang good friend. I may not have always thought that, and I definitely didn't think that others agreed with that, but I'm realizing that it is true. I know I can be awkward to meet sometimes and I'm not smooth at starting friendships, but once you mean something to me you're part of my life forever, and I'm not going to let that slide. I make the effort to spend time with people, or at the very least keep up with their lives. Not everyone can keep track of everyone, but I manage it, and that's something to be happy about.

4) I have a fairy tale life. Get married, go off and do awesome things, still have a social life, hubs gets a great and very secure job, buy an enormous house, become a cute housewife, be prepared (enough) for children when the time comes...I am ridiculously blessed.

5) I'm still a talented writer and a critical thinker. Don't judge my blog too harshly; this is me being very casual. I'm intelligent and I'm good at expressing my many opinions in the right context. I love feeling accomplished when I've written a good paper or when I'm learning a lot in a class.

6) I love my religion. It simply cannot not be true. I love how complex and yet incredibly simple it is, all at once. I love how much I can learn and understand and grow in the gospel; yet the most growth comes from the simple things I've been taught to do since I was old enough to talk.

7) This won't make any sense, but:
I love how I handle stress. I simply don't. Stress doesn't allow me to work; it forces me to crumble and be incapable of handling anything related to the cause of stress. So I don't stress. I find ways around stressing. I start to stress and I have to force myself to take a breather. There's no way stress is the answer, so I don't allow myself to deal with it. The things that I love never cause me real stress. Not only that, but when I do stress and then take a breather so I can function, life is so much more beautiful. I can thoroughly revel in the things that bring me joy.

Um...that's it for now. :)

OK Stick Man

:)