Wellness Challenge, #2

Here's another challenge from the BYU Wellness department for all of you who want to join me. If any of you finish it, I can make something homemade for you as a prize again! Here's the details: Beginning today until July 2, you either exercise for 800 minutes (which is an average of 20 minutes a day/5 days a week) or walk 320,000 steps (which is an average of 8000 steps a day/5 days a week) and finish 4 of the 8 mini challenges:

--Set a budgeting goal for this week or month to become more aware of your spending.

--At the end of the day, write down ten things you are grateful for.

--Stretch for 10 minutes before or after exercising three times this week.

--Do a secret act of service.

--Call someone you haven't talked to in a while, or someone you feel may need a call.

--Study a gospel topic you would like to better understand.

--Eat at least 5 fruits or vegetables today.

--Read an article or start a book about a topic you want to know more about.

Not too hard, right? You can actually increase this if you want to push yourself (by ten minute increments a day for the exercise or 2000 steps a day for the steps). Anybody want to join me? I'm doing the exercising because pedometers bug me, but if you have a nice pedometer, I think the steps would be fairly easy. How many times do you pack laundry up and down the stairs every day, or chase kids down the street or go from fridge to counter to sink to oven, or even up and down the aisles in a store. Those add up pretty quickly! Let me know if you want to do the challenge, and what prize you would like ( I make bags or purses pretty fast--sort of!--or I can try something you find on-line. Please no full size quilts, or you won't get it for about ten years:)).

And Tasha and Cindi, I haven't forgotten about you! Did you finish the last challenge? What do you want Tasha? When can we get together Cindi?

Happy Mother's Day!

This has been a busy week/weekend, but first I have to pay tribute to my mom and my kids who make me a mom, and my good hubby!
I'm very grateful for my mom, she taught me and loved me and worked harder than I knew (until I had my own experiences with those kind of days!) and I took her for granted way, way too much. She not only loved all of us crazy kids, but she liked us, and still does. She even likes our kids! My mom is creative and taught me to sew for 4-H. She made me unpick things until I got it right...which I hated...but now when my projects are crooked I feel guilty until I unpick them and start again (usually!). If I need help with colors or patterns or arrangements, mom always gives good advice, and if I don't follow it, I regret it (I still want to repaint the trim in the boy's room, the color I picked isn't quite what I wanted, should'a listened to Mom). I love my mom and can't imagine not having her around to vent to, ask for help, or just chat with every week. Happy Mom's Day to you!
I'm grateful that I am a mom. Yes, there are days when I scream (too many), there are days when I just want to drive somewhere quiet for two hours, there are days when I think I must be insane to have so many little quacking ducklings around me. But then Felicity gives me a hug and tells me I'm the best mom ever, and Caleb wants to snuggle and read a story, and Joseph does his funny dance before showering me with kisses, and Seth hugs my leg and says "My mommy!" Even the little girl I haven't met yet does a little dance when I first get up in the morning, making me smile. Heartful moments. I don't know why Heavenly Father gave me these guys, why I've had an (comparatively) easy path in motherhood. But I'm grateful. Every day. Even on those days. You know what I'm talking about.
I'm grateful for my husband. Being a mom without him would be the hardest thing, I can't even contemplate it. Today he let me sleep in (on a Sunday, with church at 9:00, with four wiggly kids to feed and make presentable), gave me breakfast in bed, co-taught Joseph's class--about TEN four and five year olds...yeah, that's what I thought--so the regular teachers could go to Relief Society, let me take a nap while making lasagna, homemade crescent rolls, chocolate cake with homemade chocolate icing, and a yummy green salad, and even let me type for awhile on this thing. And he even let me talk him into painting the house. He loves me even when I'm in tears, and helps me focus on what's important. He balances my more insane moments. He lets me stay at home and be a mom while he works hard all day and still washes the dishes every night. I love you Farris!
Here's a link for a great mom moment: http://www.godvine.com/Pregnant-Women-Celebrate-Life-as-a-Flash-Mob-409.html
I wanted to put the video on here, but it wouldn't let me. Two thoughts I had while watching it: I cannot do that right now and Did any of them go into labor right after this? Joseph was dancing to it and Felicity thought I would be great at it.

This week was a little crazy. Luckily, Seth has decided he's a super hero and has been wearing his cape all day, everywhere (I did convince him to take it off for church, but he cries when we take it off for bed. Great present, Cindi!) so if I needed a hand with any thing, I had my Super Seth right beside me. Tuesday was Preschool at my house. My last week, sad, but also a big Wheeeeeww. Melissa came to visit and we went to Felicity's track meet at the high school and ate a picnic lunch. The day was beautiful--hurrah--and we got a little sun burnt. Felicity picked the 50 Meter Dash because "it's the shortest." She did call it the 50 Mile dash, which I don't think would be much of a dash. She also did the long jump and the softball throw. I think she liked the long jump the best, she practiced in our kitchen quite a bit. Thursday was preschool again, and again the weather was so nice we spent a lot of time outside. They all recognize the letter X anyway, right? That night we prepped the house for painting! Which is good, one of Felicity's friends, when she saw the SEVEN paint samples we tried out on the walls said "Oh! Are you going to paint your house in stripes?" No, I just can't make up my mind. We finally went with Cottage Walk, which doesn't describe it much, but it's a tan with a tint of green to it. So Friday Farris came home about 3:00 and we got to work. Then on Saturday (after a little yard sale-ing, of course) we worked and worked some more. All we have left now is one more coat on the front and then the trim, doors, and shutters. And maybe the foundation. It had been painted the yucky blue, so we'll probably have to paint it, too. And our shed. So we still have a lot left to do, but we're getting there! And it's so nice. But I do think I'll be all painted out when this project is finished. Then it's off to the garden! If it doesn't snow anymore anyway...

P.S. Seth just had me kiss his little basketball because "it has an owie." My kisses are powerful medicine. Mother's Day moment, right there.

What should we feel about this?

Since this is my "journal," I need to record a few things I'm feeling today. Don't get scared away, these are just a few thoughts and I'm the one putting them out into Blogland, and I would even like to get your thoughts on today's news.
This morning we turned on the radio to get the weather and the first thing we heard was "President Obama announced late last night that Osama Bin Laden is dead." The kids, of course, kept eating their breakfast, but Farris and I turned to each other, chins on the floor. We hadn't been married quite a year when 9/11 happened. Farris was schooling (yes, a word) and working for the Herald Journal and I was schooling and working for Anderson's. Farris had gone into work while I was getting ready for school and he called me with the news that Something Big was Happening in New York. What a day! I went to some classes and spent time at friends apartments watching the news. Horrible, horrifying, insane, scary. The pictures are still heartbreaking, so many stories of families being hurt, sobs and cries of gladness, heroics and miracles upon miracles. I still remember the title on a news story from the Herald Journal that said "A Day of Infamy."
And now that evil person behind it is dead. What do I feel? Sad would have to be the first feeling. I know he was an evil person and the only way to stop him was to STOP him permanently. But I still feel sad; not that he is gone, I believe that is justice. Maybe it's that such a person existed, and hurt so many and deluded so many into hurting people. I'm angry that they found him living in a huge luxury home. While so many people who followed him and so many people who were affected by him live in absolute squalor. He even encouraged the opium trade in Afghanistan to fund his horrible mission, how many people are hooked on opium so that he could live the high life while directing evil acts? I feel sad that even though he is gone, what he led is still alive and prospering. I'm worried for the world that my kids are growing up in. Yes, I do know how it will end (thankfully!) but it's the between time that I'm a little nervous about.
I am grateful for our military and their tenaciousness, their intelligence, and how much they have given up to make our world safer. One of my brother's friends was in Special Op.s, and when he came back from Iraq a few years ago, his sister worried for him. She said he had changed inside--hurting, not angry, and that he still can't tell his family where he was or what he did, probably glad he had been ordered not to. He's doing well now, he's a professor at some college, but the things he saw or did have changed him. I wonder what he thinks of this news. What all those wonderful people in the military are thinking, feeling. Relief? Joy tempered with memories of their time in Iraq and Afghanistan?
How did people feel when Hitler died? It almost feels too big, too important and ominous for me to understand now, ask me in twenty years.

In the last post I said that we were painting the outside of our house (is that a nesting project or what?). That decided, now it's on to the colors. Right now our house is a faded, ugly blue with light yellowish-tanish brick. My sister and I went over samples for far too long and picked out a couple favorites that were mellow, neutral tans. Then we compared it to our neighbors house, and unless we want one of those matchy-matchy neighborhoods, we decided to go another direction. We settled on two colors, Dusty Miller (Glidden) and Shady Willow (Behr). Here's what the colors look like on the Home Depot website:

But that's not at all what they look like in real life. Unless your computer monitor is better than ours and since ours is about ten years old, it probably is. The Dusty Miller is a light greenish-gray and the Shady Willow is a medium tint sage green. Farris picked up some samples ($2 for an 8 oz can is a bargain to see how the paint is actually going to look on your house) and I painted about five spots with the two colors. Whoa. The Dusty Miller almost completes blends into our blue house. Ummmm, I thought is was supposed to be a green color? and the Shady Willow is pretty...but I don't want to be the house that people drive by and say "Wow, that color is just a bit off." Or worse. The third option would be something like this:

This is Something-Something Suede (just make up a name that sounds suede-y) and I like it with our yellow brick, but it is a lot like our neighbor's house color.

As you can see, we need help. Feel free to walk around our house and vote on your favorite color. Depending on what we decide for the main color, we'll paint our trim, doors, and shutters, a contrasting color, right now we're thinking black or a deep, deep brown. And if it ever stops raining and we finally decide on a color, we'll be able to paint our house. Hurrah! Then on to the rest of the nesting projects. Hmmm, take down the shower doors, a mantel for the fireplace, built in book shelves around the fireplace, beadboard ceilings in the bedrooms, new paint color in our bedroom and family room... this could take awhile. Maybe I'll just settle for the paint.

Good news all around!

The first good news is that it is Easter! What could be better news that our Savior lives and lives still and we will be forgiven and live again because of Him! I need a good Southern Baptist Choir behind me. Or Mo-Tab, we enjoy them around here. I am grateful for the gospel and the Truths we have in our lives.

Good news #2: My nephew Tanner got his mission call! The first grandkid on my side to go, and the oldest in his family, so we were all hanging on the last couple weeks trying to guess where he was going. It's a little more high tech now, the Stake President e-mails everything to Salt Lake, then they e-mail back to him when it is getting mailed out so you can get a pretty good guess on what day it will show up. It came to his house on tuesday or wednesday this week and Tarilynn managed to keep herself from steaming it open until Friday when Tanner got home to open it himself. I guessed Scotland, but his mom and dad were praying for a stateside location, they apparently hold more sway because he's going to Cleveland Ohio. Tarilynn was singing "Cleveland Rocks" from the Drew Carey Show, and Tanner didn't know who Drew Carey was (you know, that guy on the Price is Right, the one without the fake tan). Hmmm, feeling old. His mission covers Kirtland, which will be really cool. Rob went to Independence Missouri and served around Adam-Ondi-Omen (How do you spell that?) and Liberty Jail and lots of other Church history sites, so it'll be cool for Tanner to be around the Kirtland Temple. We also spent time trying to remember the tune for that Erie Canal song, I guess we'll have to google it. We had stake conference this weekend and they had all the people who just came home or were leaving soon on missions come up to the front and tell where they were going. All those wonderful enthusiastic young kids! I am so proud of Tanner, how he is excited to spend two years of his life for others and for his Heavenly Father, and how glad I am that he kept himself clean to go and that he's such a good person. I'll stop blubbering now and I won't even tell about how I used to change his diapers. Well, I don't think I ever did anyway.

Other fun news is that Cindi had her baby! Little Shailey was born on August 21st. Her due date was April 7th, but that's ok, Cindi got through Sam's wedding! When one of my other nieces was born late it was said that it was because she wanted to get her hair done before she was introduced to everyone. Is that your excuse, Shailey? She has cute curly dark hair, so there you go. Congrats Cindi, Scott, Tennessee, Addi, and Parker! Can't wait to meet the sweet bundle!

Other good news? Hmmmm, we're painting the outside of our home, very excited because I've lived in the Ugly Blue House for the last four years. We're going to try a couple samples to see what looks good and then paint away! Well, I'll paint as much as my waddling allows. 21 weeks, and I'm already huge. Also, I finished the kids' crayon rolls for Easter so they could take them to our Stake Conference today. Yes, I try to bribe my way through Stake conference because two hours sitting on a church bench for the kids is pure torture. We didn't do too bad today, I had to lead Joseph out during the closing song, which is really pretty good. Seth went out earlier, but he made it past his regular time of "want to go to class now." And he didn't throw his socks or shoes, just his bow tie and it didn't go far. Ohhhh, I love Stake Conference, but my favorite meeting hands down is the adult meeting, I can hear a lot more of it. Our stake president told about how he was visiting his sister's family one weekend long ago, and when they left he counted out seven noses that should belong to his kids, they all got in the car and were cruising home when he found out he was one daughter less than he should have and one niece more than he should have. All the kids were promptly grounded until they were 40 and never allowed to get drivers licenses. His point? Don't go through life just counting noses. Remember what is really important and who in your life is really important. I know some days I get in bed and I think, "well, at least I fed my children today." It's hard to get beyond the keeping everything pristine ('cause that happens everyday--sarcasm implied), feeding everyone enough fruits and vegetables to satisfy the food pyramid, and doing all I can for my callings, plus all the other stuff that for some reason seems so important. When I can forget all that, and sit down and snuggle with the kids or play games with them or read stories to them, I feel cleaner at the end of the day, if you get my drift. And it doesn't happen as much as it should. Anyway, all around a good stake conference with good reminders of things I need to concentrate on.

Happy Easter everyone! Count those "good news" things in your life!

Updates and Announcing...

Whew! A lot has happened since I last posted, which is the reason I haven't posted for awhile. So just quick updates:

#1. This is the pattern that Felicity picked out for her dress (see & sew #B5443, it's a Butterick pattern, and we bought it at Joann's). It's the three tiered one, but we added sleeves, made it a little longer and then added some shimmery tulle for a ruffle on the bottom. Instead of a ribbon around the waist, we used the tulle and made a gathered sash. She picked out a pretty purple satin for the fabric. I liked it...but it's a lot of ironing! She'll only wear that dress for special occasions, I'm thinking.

#2. Sam and Kolleen's wedding and receptions were beautiful. Everything was simple, and the colors, deep purple and teal, looked great together. The sealing in the Idaho Falls temple was wonderful, what's better than the spirit you feel at a temple sealing? Nothing like it.

#3 After the receptions were all done, we spent a day and a half at my parents house, how much fun can my kids have at Grandma and Grandpa's house with cousins everywhere? If we're judging by noise level, an awful lot.

And on to the Announcement! (Yes, I'm changing the color of this post for a reason)

Yesterday we went to get an ultrasound of Little Baby Caboose. Again, I'm amazed at all the things they can check to make sure the baby is growing properly. Heavens, I can barely see a foot or a hand most of the time. We were looking at the stomach (the tech said) when Joseph declared that he could see the baby's eye. Everything is growing well and looking good (again, the tech said, I couldn't tell anything) and she's healthy, so glad. The night before I had a dream it was a boy, but I've posted about how I've been wrong with each baby, so I shouldn't have been surprised that the kicker is a girl! I would have been happy either way, I'm excited for my two Bookend Girls. And now I'm planning: baby quilt, clothes (I want to try some of those baby legs, they're adorable), shoes, hair things, and all that ruffly stuff I've been denied for eight years! Have to admit, I'm not usually all for pink--with Felicity I stuck with green and yellow as much as our slim college budget would allow, but there are some cute pink things I've seen lately--and ruffles--but there are some tasteful ruffly things out there. Not to worry, floral prints are still way, way low on my list. But I'm excited to experiment with all the girly baby things. Not toooooo girly, but girly enough.

Farris wasn't able to come to the ultrasound because of work. This is the only one he has missed, and I have to say I was a little bummed out about it, but I understood, he'd just taken four days off work right before graduation. So we stopped at a grocery store on the way to his office and picked out two pink balloons and two blue balloons (then Joseph stuck an orange balloon in his mouth and we ended up getting that one, too. Stinker) so we could make Farris choose which one he thought it was. Of course, he pulled Joseph to the side as soon as we asked him to guess:

Farris: "Hey Joseph, will you tell me if it's a boy or a girl?"

Joseph "NO!!"

Farris: "OK, can you tell me if it's a boy?"

Joseph: "No, it's not a boy."

Amazingly enough, Farris guessed correctly on the first try. I should have had the ultrasound tech. tell the kids it was twins, just to surprise them all.

So now we're finishing up Spring Break by the "Semi-Annual Changing of the Clothes to Match the New Season" going through clothes fun. And finishing laundry. And a girls night with just Felicity (ice cream, strawberries, Tangled, and a little sewing). And catching up on the cleaning that was neglected while working on Felicty's dress and the boy's bow ties (they turned out way cute, by the way. That tutorial I linked to a couple posts ago was very easy, I might have to do it again). Maybe a park trip and a library trip? And of course staying in pjs until late in the day. I love Spring Break!

I love Monday again

I've completely forgotten about doing I love Mondays lately. I don't think I'll do one every week anymore, but I thought this last week would be a good one to I love. I love...surgical glue. And good neighbors who happen to be nurses. On Saturday night, my bro and his family came to spend the night, so of course the kids where SO VERY excited and bouncing off the walls. And the fireplace. Seth was in high gear (but then, he doesn't really have a low gear, it's more like High Gear and Very High Gear and Suddenly Stop To Sleep Gear) and crashed into our fireplace. Yes, the same place that Felicity crashed and ended up with stitches. His cut wasn't nearly as big, only about the same diameter as a B.B., but it looked deep. We weren't sure if we should take him to the ER so we decided to call Kathy in our ward to see what she would advise. She asked a couple questions and said she would be right over. She checked him out, opened a small container of surgical glue and fixed him right up. Once the Tylenol kicked in he was running around again and no concussion. He still touches the spot on his head and talks about how he "broke his head," but he's doing great. Very glad we didn't have to spend hours (and lots of money) at the ER. Thanks again Kathy! I love...family. It's been fun having my brother stay with us since he started his new job about half an hour from here and this week was spring break for his kids so they came down to figure out exactly where they want to live and look at houses. This family is so much fun! We'll love having them closer to us! Their youngest is six months younger than Felicity, her and Felicity disappeared into Felicity's room and came out mostly just for meals. Three of their boys (their oldest is an Aggie, and was busy getting close to the end of the term) were pounced on my boys as soon as the door opened. Let the wild rumpus start! Our house is always noisy, but it hit some new levels this weekend. Then when most of the kids were settled for the night (the older ones were watching Napoleon Dynamite downstairs. Hee-hee. "I like your sleeves."), Farris' bro Sam came to spend the night. Our house was full, each bed, couch, and some floor space were taken! Sam left much earlier than I was awake the next morning, but it was fun to see him for a little while. His wedding is very soon and we're looking forward to getting the whole family together to welcome Kolleen in. We haven't scared her yet, so she must love Sam a lot! I love...being able to serve in our church. This Wednesday we took the YW to see the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU art museum. It was wonderful to watch them as they saw the work of an art master capturing scenes from the Master. Beautiful! Then on Thursday we had our RS birthday dinner. Now that we don't have ward or RS activity committees, they just ask a few people to help out for activities, and they asked me to help for this one. The ladies I worked with are great, and we put together a simple dinner (Cafe Rio salads!), some humanitarian projects and a chance for all of us to chat. I love my family, but it is so relaxing to have a night off and a chance to catch up with friends that I don't see enough. I love...spring snows! I know, I know, shoot me now. But I loved the storm we got this last week. Seth looked out at the flakes falling and wanted outside immediately to "throw balls!" That's my boy! Joseph only lasted about ten minutes outside before he wanted some hot chocolate, but Seth was out for about half an hour. His favorite? Throwing snowballs at the window the cats were peeking out of. Gales of laughter each time the cats would flinch. Yes, they love him. I am happy that it's supposed to get into the 70's this week, though. Summer time!