Funny Twilight Link

I found this link on AnneMarie's blog last night and at 11:30pm it was absolutely hilarious! I just re-read it and it wasn't quite as funny as it was last night in my sleep deprivation. But, if you are a Twilight junkie, or even sort of like the books, see what you think: http://mormonhusbands.blogspot.com/2008/02/twilight-series-for-dummies-and-totally.html

She's Going, Going, Gone...

Couscous recently learned how to ride a bike without training wheels!! Yes, she's barely 4 years old. And it took her all of 15 minutes from removal of training wheels to riding solo. I'm not kidding. Last weekend we went on a family bike ride on this gorgeous path surrounded by woody areas and wildflower meadows. It was maybe a mile or two is all, but she did it all by herself the whole way. And she's on this dinky short bike so she had to pedal about 50 revolutions to every one of ours. She was so cute and such a sport! It was so much fun!

It's a Small, Small World

I started the day a little sluggish. I've been staying up til midnight reading every night lately and it's catching up with me. So with my slow start and my husband's work schedule today, I ended up with the choice between running to the grocery store without my 3 helpers or doing my hair and makeup. If you know me, you know what I chose. So I threw a baseball cap over my undone hair and went au naturale and pas kiddos to the store.

I came back in time to unpack the bags and then it was off to the park for a bi-ward picnic. It was a fun time. But near the end, as I'm trying to kindly remove Couscous from the sandbox without losing my temper in front of church friends, a father from the other ward comes up to me and says I look familiar. He's wearing shades so I can't really see his face and he doesn't seem familiar at all. He asks me if my name is H..... "Yes..." And then he tells me his name, "Remember we worked at the MTC together." And my brain is going, "Yes, that is you. And not only did we work at the MTC together, you took me skiing, and to the University of Utah Homecoming Dance and various other outings until I eventually had to give you the friend talk."

And you know, all of a sudden I wished that I had done my hair and put on makeup this morning. It's funny that even though I'm glad he's happily married and has 4 children and I really never did have any romantic interest in him and I've got to admit that time hasn't done him any favors either, I'm vain enough to wish that when he bumped into me again he wasn't completely and obviously relieved at how life worked out.

Pandora = Great Music!

My hubby just found this great website...Pandora.com where you can make your own music stations. You register as a user, enter in an artist you like and then they play music from that artist and similar music. You can delete a song if they play something you don't like. You can have as many stations as you want and you can combine artists on stations. So, for example, if I want to listen to my Harry Connick Jr station, I get songs by him, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Nat King Cole, etc. Or I can listen to my Dvorak station, or my Alison Krauss station, Crosby Stills Nash, etc. I don't think I'll listen to the radio again as long as I have my computer nearby!

Yes, I did like The Host

After waiting 30 years for my turn for the copy from the library, I burned through the 600+ pages of Stephenie Meyer's "The Host" in a weekend. Yes, I thought it started slow. Yes, I know some people could not get into it. Yes, I agree that the relationships aren't as captivating as those in her Twilight series, but I still think about the characters. No Carrie, I did not think it was predictable. Yes, I really liked it.

How does she do it? How is she able to put characters in completely unrealistic situations and make you believe it could happen?...and I'm not just talking about the sci-fi aspect of the story. It's the relationships. I like how she explores questions in all of her books such as "what is the nature of our soul?" "what does it mean to be a human?" "how much of our human existence is tied to the way we love others?" "how much of our human experience is based in our emotions?" "how do our emotions, our physical desires, and our spirits interrelate?" And frankly, her questions of how unmarried physical desire needs to be harnessed so as to not harm the soul, how we might restrain that physical desire if we realized our body was not our own, and her imagery of the fire of passion make me think of 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments by Jeffrey R. Holland.

Now, again, how does she do it? How does she burn out 5 Bestselling huge and interesting stories in 4 years, tour the world, help make the movie, oh yeah, and be a wife and raise 3 young children? Does this woman sleep? How clean are her bathrooms? Of course I suppose she probably can hire help for the bathrooms. Last year I went with our RS Book Group to one of her book signings for "Eclipse" (which, by the way, I didn't love because I was too uncomfortable with the "will they/won't they" walking the line bit). We were definitely the statistical outliers surrounded by over 100 teen girls. But it was so exciting to see her face to face and I've got to admit that when she took one of my questions it was one of the coolest experiences in my life to be able to say I spoke with Stephenie Meyer!

We Feel the Need for Speed!

This morning was a red-letter morning for sure! A huge big breath of "Ahhhhh!" Today we went with Heidi and her children to her parents cute lakefront home. It wasn't that far away, but it was a world away at the same time. Grandma Doreen made us feel right at home, and soon we had our noodles and floaties and were ready to dive on in! After some splashing around, Heidi (aka the Speed Demon) took us on a nice boat ride tour of the lake. The kids learned that they aren't fans of the "no wake zones" but they do love to say, "Hit It!" With the water and the wind it brought back so many great memories of boating with my family. Speeding around all day, waterskiing and and tubing, eating PBJs and drinking Fresca (doesn't stain the boat), listening to my Dad's Beach Boys tape, and then when the sun sets, to just toodle along lazily enjoying the peace and beauty of it all. Of course, the evenings were when I would wish so hard as a teenager that I was with a romantic beau and not my parents and 5 little siblings, but still. Well today Avandra did have a beau with her. When Michael introduced Avandra to Grandma Doreen, he introduced her as "the girl he was in love with." Heidi had given me the head's up, but Avandra looked at me with this little smile and a quizzical, "Did I just hear him right?" look. But unfortunately, when you are 6 romance doesn't look the same way as it does when you are older. In this case their boating experience was Michael following Avandra all over the boat, Avandra tattling on him, and me sitting in between. At least as a parent this kind of romance doesn't look too threatening. Anyway, thanks Heidi. It was a wonderful day!

The Best FHE

We recently had the coolest Family Home Evening! I had planned a lesson on how our body is like the temple, pretty much taken directly from the June 2008 Friend Magazine. My children were playing with their nonmember friend Catherine all afternoon, so naturally, they wanted to invite her to join us for Family Night. We said she could if her mom gave her permission. So she returned after dinner and we started the night. We had such a great discussion! Of course, we had to explain to Catherine what a temple even was. When we told her that people who are married in the temple could be with their families even after this life she said, "Oh, that's like my aunt." Confused, I asked, "Did your aunt get married in the temple?" "No, but they have a family burial plot so they'll be together even when they die." I had to hide a smile, and then I explained that families married in the temple will live together again after this life and forever. "Wow," she said, "I want to get married in the temple someday." Considering her parents are just going through a divorce, I'm sure that sounds extra good to her.

Then we were talking about how we treat a temple with respect, and since we learn in the Bible (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) that the body is also a temple, we talked about how to treat our bodies with respect. Since Catherine was sitting there in a spaghetti strap top, my 6-year old, Avandra, asked if we could review what modest dress was like. My 4-year old (Couscous) said, in a non-confrontational way, "We wear shirts that cover our shoulders, and swimsuits that cover our belly buttons." And Avandra added, "And skirts that cover our knees so that no one will see our underwear if we forget to keep our legs closed." It was funny, but also cool to see the young children teach their friend what they knew.

The last part that just brought tears of joy to my eyes was when Couscous decided to call on Catherine for closing prayer. Not sure of her experience with prayer I said that it was up to Catherine if she wanted to or not and either way was okay. Well Catherine said she wanted to. So my husband taught her a little about how to pray--how to address Heavenly Father, speak what was in her heart, and close in the name of Jesus Christ. Catherine got started but then didn't know what to do. So she crawled over to Avandra and whispered for help. She got the help and the girls didn't even giggle! And Catherine's prayer was so beautiful. I thought about how for nearly 8 years her Heavenly Father has wanted her to communicate with Him and finally she was. I also thought about what great missionaries these little primary children can be. The Spirit was so strong, as it always is when we teach and testify of truth. And I also noticed how much better behaved my girls were than usual! Can we invite friends over every time???

Happy Independence Day!

We had the best 4th of July! Of course the kids had to decorate their scooters and participate in the children's portion of the community parade. Then we went to our neighbor's house for a BBQ. They are so cute--I've really been enjoying getting to know her better lately. When she invited me, she gave me a caveat that her husband's family would be there and that they would probably drink beer or two each. I told her that was no big deal. We've hung out with people who drink before. But she was so worried about not making us uncomfortable. In fact, at the BBQ no one drank. Then before dinner, her husband asked if we would feel uncomfortable if they prayed. I laughed and said, "Of course not! We'd feel more uncomfortable if you didn't pray. We always pray before we eat." And he offered a wonderfully sincere prayer. Wasn't that thoughtful of them though? That's just the way they are. So thoughtful and funny and spiritual too. I love my talks with them. I love the great people I've met here! Then add on the Wii and the fireworks...it was a great holiday! I'm so grateful for our freedoms, and most of all, religious freedom!

Update Since Forever

Okay, what have I been doing in the last month?
1. Looking for housing for my sister.
2. Reading lots of Young Adult Literature...namely the sequals to Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and the sequals to Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. That's at least 1200 pages of interesting reading so that's not too shabby.
3. Chopping my hair off.

4. Chasing 3 busy but stinkin' cute kiddos around.

Interesting update: I am still trying to get an Enrichment small group together to advocate family friendly environments in our stores (ie. get the disgusting mag covers covered) through kindly speaking with or writing to store managers. The Ward RS President liked the idea. The Bishop liked the idea. The Enrichment counselor had some concerns, so they talked to the Stake RS Presidency. From my understanding of the meeting, some liked the idea more than others. Then the Stake RS Presidency was changed and the one who was less enthusiastic is now the Stake RS President. I wrote her a nice letter explaining my idea since I'd never talked with her personally. She said she'd speak to the Stake President. She shared my letter with him. He's now going to talk to the Area Seventy. It's 5 months after my original request. At this rate I should expect a phone call from President Monson by Christmas! But I just hope to be able to do something before next February's SI Swimsuit Issue. Another funny note, apparently the Stake President said I could go ahead and do something myself as long as I "didn't do anything illegal." Well, you know me...always out to risk incarceration! I wonder, did he even read my letter?

Twilight Talk

So, what do you think? Are you ready for the 4th book? What do you think will happen? Are you ready for the movie? Will it be any good? I've got to admit that when I've seen the previews I haven't been swept off my feet, but I'm pretty sure I'll still go see it. I kind of figured I'd go see it with some girlfriends but my hubby told me he wants to go with me. It was funny because I kind of felt like he was imposing when I imagined going with him. Hmmm. That's kind of wierd. Why do you suppose that would be?