We had a great weekend, and the last couple of days have been pretty normal. I'm definitely learning a few things about myself that I hope to share with you this week. As for today... I just wanted to get caught up on a few happenings around here.
This last weekend we had a chance to get away to the park for a few days. We've been trying to find one that is not so busy and gives us a bit of nature too. We found a perfect one. It's got some great equipment, but it also runs right next to the Provo river. We played for a while and then enjoyed feeling a little bit closer to nature in the city by throwing rocks in the river and taking a walk along the river bank, where it leveled out. A perfect spot to return to regularly and have picnics.
Caitlyn has found the enjoyment of swings. She just laughs and giggles the whole time. What can be better than that?
Mirian is our latest chef. Isn't she just a cutie. She has got the best smile. She is making my favorite thing lately, sweet potatoes. I just dice them up, steam them in the microwave add a little butter and salt, and I can not stop! These things are way too good. I've never liked the Thanksgiving version... too much marshmallows, sugar and sweetness. (Although my husband believes this is the only way to cook them.) Give me my steamed ones, or sweet potato fries any day!
I have really been having fun crocheting lately. For some reason to me it seems easier to do than knitting. If you wanting to try a new hobby, give this one a try. I have found some darling and amazing patterns that are just giving me the creative bug like mad. In an effort to be frugal I wanted some more colors of yarn besides my red, yellow and blue I had. Although I love these colors... You can't make a whole lot of pretty things with the primary colors, especially since they don't mix like paint.
So we went to the local thrift store DI, and hoped they'd have some yarn on hand. We picked the right day. They had two huge sacks for $4.oo a bag, with a variety of colors, weights, etc. I didn't think it was too bad since the three largest spools you see would have cost me the same amount in the store. I've been creatively planning on how to use them all, and figure that if all else fails and the color just does not work or appeal to me, my kids now have another addition of cheap art supplies to get their hands into. What I'm really looking for is garage sale time and hoping for some estate sale or grandmother getting rid of her 50 year stash.
We did have this combination of yarn in the sacks that I liked. I wanted to make some granny squares for a small baby blanket, with a matching stuffed giraffe in the yellow color.
So at night, in the car, and any break I can get I've enjoyed making up a few.
So we are trying to save money, cut back, use what we have and just become more frugal. So occasionally when I run into those frugal ideas I thought I would share them with you.
The other night when Beau had his big back spasm, and was in severe pain, his brother told us to put some hot packs on him to see if we could loosen up some muscles. Of course we don't own a hot pack. It would take me way too long to go to the store to get one, and that would cost money which we were trying hard not to spend. So I resorted to a technique I learned years ago of sewing up a washcloth or hand towel in half, filling it with rice and then sewing it closed. You then put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes and you've got one great hot pack.
It worked great and helped him out a ton! Well he used it so much, and threw it in the microwave a little too long and burned the rice making the whole house stink, so I tossed it in the garbage thinking I'd sew up another one quick... well it never happened.
So last night he's tossing and turning all night because he can't sleep because of the pain, which means I wasn't sleeping either. In the middle of the night I asked what I could do help him out. He asked if we had another hot pad anywhere? I said no - sorry. Did he want me to get up and make him one quick?
He said no but I know in his mind he was thinking..."No I won't make you it's the middle of the night, but if you wanted to I won't stop you. I'm dying."
The thoughts going through my mind were "It's the middle of the night, I don't want to pull out the sewing stuff and throw one together, I'm exhausted."
So half asleep I'm thinking what can I use besides having to sew something up? I swear the Lord prompted me again, similar to Isaac's bean episode. I instantly had the thought - use a sock. A sock! Ingenious. I jumped out of bed, grabbed some socks from Beaus' drawer, went into the kitchen filled it up with rice, tied off the end, heated it up and was back in less time than it would have been to try to make one, or go to the store. It worked wonderful! It works better than the towels. So never again. If we need an instant heating pad, we're finding a sock.
I hope you all enjoyed your St. Patrick's Day.
We started our day off with some green pancakes and green orange julius. The girls thought all day we should color all the food we made green. No offense but green food is just not that appetizing unless it's veggies.
A while ago I decided we needed to celebrate a little more often. Just those fun spontaneous occassions, and what better way to spruce up your house than with a banner. I made a paper one for Isaac's birthday but it just didn't last long. I decided that I wanted something that would last longer and that I could just put up for every holiday or random celebration we wanted to have. I had a bunch of felt on hand so I cut out a bunch of triangles and then sewed some tabs on. I made about 4 of every color - I'm thinking now I should have had about 5 to space them closer together.
We can then string up a variety of colors for various holidays. Red's, pinks, and white for valentines day. Here we have a couple variation of greens and gold for St. Patrick's day. Red, Blue & White for the Fourth of July. Birthdays I can hang up the theme color. If you had kids in sports and they won they're game or had a game day you could hang up the school colors. It's fun, and I can quickly hang it up the night before and the kids wake up excited about the day.
Yesterday Savannah had her first night cooking with mom. I mentioned in another post, how we are going to take turns helping mom cook dinner in hopes of it helping them eat dinner better with no complaining. They also get to help choose what to cook, which helps them feel like they got to choose what to eat rather than mom always getting to choose. (We had a big discussion about that one night, when mom once again cooked something they swore they didn't like.)
So we had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner, which she did a really good job making. I finished one of the chefs hat from a free pattern. It made making dinner that much funner. Now I just need to finish the other two, before it's their night to cook.
Our latest art show is our snowmen. We were practicing cutting out circles. Basic cutting and pasting. But I love how the same concept and steps lead to three unique snowmen.
Beau got his MRI done. He called back to the doctor's office to find out the results. The nurse opened them up, looked at them and said he looks great and there is no problem! He should be fine. That didn't sound right to Beau since he's in lots of pain, the x-ray showed something, and the Dr. told him he was still going to have him see a back specialist. So he asked if was still possible to make an appointment with the back specialist. "If you really want to" the nurse told him. Which was only 3 weeks away for the earliest appointment. He's not sure he can wait that long. I'm positivie I can't wait that long.
Then later the doctor called back to talk to him and told him a different story. There is something pressing on the spine, he does need to see the back specialist. 3 weeks away is too long, he'd see about getting him bumped up sooner. So now the plan is to take it as easy as possible, to see if we start getting any improvement and start feeling better. Then when we go in to the back specialist we know if we're going to end up in surgery.
So until then, he's hanging out all day with us laying on the floor with pillows under his leg since that's the only position that feels right. The whole time I'm trying to convince kids that even though dad is on the floor, it does not mean he's down there because he wants to wrestle with you.
This last weekend was such a good time. We had part of Beau's family in town and packed our weekend with amazing planned and unexpected stuff. We had planned to go to the draper temple open house. This is when the temple is open to the public - both members and non members of the church to take a tour and view the inside of the temple before it is dedicated.
It's a beautiful temple and it was so fun to be able to take the kids and walk through with them explaining the different areas. They have been so excited as they watch and see mom and dad go to the temple regularly. We talk about the temple, they know we were married in the temple and so for them to actually get to walk inside the temple and look around was a big deal. They've been pumped about it for weeks and were so excited! There are about 18 other temples under construction and will be having an open house sometime in the future. If you live in the area go to one. They are a neat experience. You don't have to be a member of the church to go to one either.
In the process of being there we ran into some friends that had moved away that we havn't seen since before Caitlyn was born. I love it when that happens!
We enjoyed an afternoon being inspired by this talented and amazing artist Walter Wick.
If you have kids, you'll know the famous "I Spy" photographer and "Can You See What I See" books (which are my personal favorite). Talented, talented guy. It was fun to see pictures of his works, models they built from scratch for the photography and videos on how he created them. I'm realizing now what we really missed out on was not going to his lecture and being inspired by him, and seeing how he comes up with his ideas and creates his work.
Caitlyn was hanging out in her stroller just chilling. Savannah wanted to push her around so I let her be in charge. Well 15 - 20 minutes later, Dauni my mother in law and I were looking at some pictures and she runs into or notices this stroller with a baby just sitting there next to a group of people. Recognition that it's "our" baby dawns on her and she grabs Caitlyn who had been abandoned by her sister for who knows how long. The people just sort of look at us and I can just tell they've been sort of hanging around her wondering who abandoned their baby. Bad mommy moment. One where you feel so stupid for not even recognizing your own baby as you passed by her and went on to look at the exhibit.
Later we enjoyed some ice cream sundaes and swimming. Packed afternoon. I loves days like this that the girls fall into bed exhausted and there are not bedtime battles.
Sunday we had wonderful and unexpected Sacrament Meeting. We showed up and Dauni asked me if I knew who the speaker was for Sacrament Meeting. I suddenly started panicking wondering if it had my name and I had spaced something or wasn't informed. But when I looked down I was even more shocked. Elder L. Tom Perry, one of the members of the quorum of the twelve apostles.
For those of you not of our faith you may not understand what a huge deal this is. It is rare, if ever that you will actually get to have one of the members of the quorum of the twelve apostles come to a regular Sunday sacrament meeting. Especially in a church with over 12 million members. Most of the time we hear from them at our general conferences twice a year, sometimes stake conferences or regional conferences on a smaller level, special fires sides, trainings or other meetings but not your normal Sunday sacrament meeting. They are usually flying all over the world conducting church business.
It was such a privelege and special opportunity to have him there. Him and Elder Bullock of the seventy spoke to us. What a neat experience. There is something so special, christlike, and wonderful about these men. They are so good, clean, and filled with the spirit. Every time I've had the chance to sit in the same meeting with them I always marvel at how amazing the Lord's work and his church are. What a great way to end an amazing weekend already.
Today
Well it's St. Patrick's Day so we're going to start off with some green orange julius and green pancakes. Hopefully get in some green playdough, painting or rainbow pictures for the day.
Beau's back has been giving him problems for quite a while now. He had a really bad attack a couple of weeks ago, and has slowly been feeling better but has never gotten completely over it. This weekend he had his brother who is a massage therapist work it over and he was feeling so much better. So he decided to play raquetball (against his wife's better council :) ) yesterday morning and hurt it again, only in a different spot and has been in pain ever since. (Needless to say he will NOT be playing raquetball again for a few months.. and that is not just my council that is my mandate.)
So he spent the morning in two different doctors visits, and xrays. It looks like he's got a herniated disk, and is going in for an MRI this morning to see what is going on. Hopefully it's something that can heal itself with some good muscle relaxers, taking it easy, and NO RAQUETBALL, or else it's back surgery. Back surgery would definitely not be either of our choices. But sometimes we don't always have a say.
Wishing you all a happy St. Patrick's Day!
Today was one of those good days. I woke up at 4:00 and hit it hard. Accomplished this:
- Worked on my design projects
- Exercised for 30 mintutes
- Blog posting (twice for one day! wow.)
- Breakfast - of a new hot cereal recipe. I thought it was pretty good. I still have to convince the other 4 half hearted lovers of it that it wasn't too bad. It takes kids 10 times of trying something new to eat it regularly. So I guess they've only got 9 more times. If they still don't love it by then... well maybe we'll try something else.
- Ran Savannah to and from school.
- Taught the kids some hand knitting.
- Tried my hand at crocheting these cute flowers. (Her tutorial and picture... since I didn't have time to snap pictures of my own flowers. Plus they weren't this colorful.) Awesome blog. I'm a sucker for all those bright bold colors. I grew up crocheting and so it comes a bit more naturally than knitting does at this point. Boy I forgot how relaxing and enjoyable it is.
- Made pudding for a snack.
- Made some drawing books for our daily drawing time we're trying to have.
- Found a free chef pattern at You Can Make This. (This site is way too cool, way too addicting, and I'm so glad we are on a tight budget right now or I would be spending way too much money.) I'm going to take turns having one kid help me make dinner. They get to pick ahead of time what they want to eat (within the list of ideas I already have.) and then help me make it. We're hoping this cures some of these "I don't like this... even though I've eaten it for the last 5 years of my life... issues. So I was going to make a little chef hat for them to wear with their apron they have. They'll each get to have their own special night being chef and helping mom.
- Cleaned the last room of the house & the worst room of the house. The girls'. I now have all my rooms spotless.. well mostly. Yeah! I've been trying super hard to pick things up right away, put things away when I'm done and it's been staying clean. Man it feels good to have a clean house.
- Made Fish for dinner, with red potatoes. It was a success. Beau who doesn't love fish to taste like fish told me they were wonderful. Didn't have one bite that tasted fishy. I thought I did pretty darn good, for my 2nd attempt at making fish.
- Went to an enrichment activity with the woman of my church on family history and how to record and document our lives for our posterity. It was awesome and I have a bunch of ideas that I want to do, that will hopefully be simple, plain and nothing fancy, but will give my kids some history and record of their childhood.
Now don't go comparing your day to this day. Because this is NOT A NORMAL day. Yeah I wish it was like this every day. Yesterday was definitely not like this. I was in an agitated mood all day, grumble, grumble. But it feels good to have days like this occasionally to give you hope on those rough days... so chalk one up for a good day.
The other night something was brought to Beau and I's attention. It the process of talking about it and discussing it he made the comment. "No one keeps anything sacred and special any more."
It got me thinking and we talked more about it. Our world is so crass, so vulgar, so in your face. Everyone wants "reality tv" in every aspect of their lives. They want to live in the moment, they want personal gratification, they like to "cast pearls before swine" so to say. Why don't people have more deep respect for people, things, relationships and matters of faith. This world has become too casual. Do we approach these things casually with lack of reverance and an attitude of sacred respect?
- Virtue - intimacy
- Relationships with people
- Marriage
- Prayer
- Our Family
- Our Homes
- Faith and Spirituality
- God's name - God himself
- Sacred places and buildings
- Human Life
- Our language and the way we speak
- Nature
I've been thinking about it the last few days. What do I hold sacred? Do I hold anything special and close to my heart? Why does it hurt so bad when people show lack of respect towards things that I hold special and sacred? What do I need to be holding sacred? Is there a benefit of keeping things sacred and special?
This morning I ran across a few thoughts that were really good which were similar to thoughts and questions I've had.
"Our ability to seek, recognize, and reverence the holy above the profane, and the sacred above the secular, defines our spirituality. Indeed, without the holy and sacred, we are left with only the profane and secular."
"Holy places and sacred space are also distinguished by the sacrifice they require the word sacrifice means literally ‘to make sacred,’ or ‘to render sacred'. One may not have the sacred without first sacrificing something for it. There can be no sacredness without personal sacrifice. Sacrifice sanctifies the sacred."
"Our homes, likewise, are holy places filled with sacred space. Though not always tranquil, our homes can be filled with the Spirit of the Lord. Each of our families is confronted with a broad menu of activities and entertainment, not all of which is wholesome and good—and much of which is certainly not necessary. Do our families also need to repent and forsake some things to help us maintain the sacred nature of our homes? The establishment of our homes as holy places reflects the depth of sacrifice we are willing to make for them."
"We must be willing and capable of slipping away from the world for just a few moments in order to reflect on holier things. Without this spiritual renewal, our faith is easily overcome by the secular and profane."
"In holy places and in sacred space we find spiritual refuge, renewal, hope, and peace. Are these not worth every necessary personal sacrifice?" - Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander
What do you reverance?
What do you hold sacred?
What should we be holding more sacred?
Do our children see us treating things as sacred and special? Do they feel sacred and special because they are.
How much have I let the world and the world's ways sneak into things that should be held sacred and holy.
Have I become too casual?
I know there is something powerful about this simple principle of keeping things sacred. Reverancing things. Showing respect. God is holy. If we are trying to become like him, than we too must become holy. We can't do that if we hold nothing sacred.
Lately I've been trying to cut back TV to almost nothing. Am I always successful? Yeah right. Sometimes I just cave, but I'm really trying to make an effort to not let them watch anything until the time I'm trying to make dinner. If I can get them to play outside at that point instead of watching it then I feel like we have had one amazing day.
I have been reading more and more on the negative effect that watching TV has on your children, and I agree with them in every sense, plus I have my own viewpoints too of how it can affect our spiritual lives as well. (That's for another post.)
It was tough to cut back, especially if there were certain times they knew they could watch one. For example: when mom takes a shower. I used it as a damage control method. But now I'm encouraging them to just play together instead and it works. I always have a battle every morning with Mirian, but then she accepts the fact and then I get to see her little creative mind go to work.
When they do want to see it though I promise them that we'll have one family movie night a week. We'll make a big deal out of it. That gives them hope and they seem to be content with that answer and will run off and play.
Honestly when we don't watch it, they are happier, they aren't so wild, they are more creative, we have more fun, our home is more peaceful. You have to have a plan at first though. You need to know what your going to do instead of watching it. You have to have ideas of things to do because they won't know. Eventually they're brains start functioning again. They start having their own ideas, and then you start to see them come alive which is so rewarding in itself.
So what do you instead?
- Get out the crayons, paints and crafty stuff. Make some art.
- Go to the circus for a family night out.
- Take your bikes across the road to the big church parking lot, and ride them like crazy!
- Make your own indoor sandbox with beans, rice or whatever you have on hand.
- Make cakes with it.
- When you're all done throw it all over the kitchen floor and skate on it. (This is definitely one of those moments where you bite your tongue to keep from getting mad. Really does it hurt anything? No. They were having a ball, they were exploring and it all sweeps up.)
- Dress up.
- Invite your friends over to your house to play.
- Put on a dance performance for your friends.
- Sit on the back of the couch and watch the people and cars go by. See if you see any birds or nature.
- Get the camera down from the piano and take your own pictures of your siblings.
- Make some home made playdough and make stuff.
- This is the best one of all. If you don't have a TV to watch. Make your own. After breakfast when I told Mirian she couldn't watch a movie, she drew her own "Monsters Inc." movie, and taped it to the table.Then her and Isaac sat down with their drinks and snacks to watch it.
- When that movie was over they made a few more. Isaac made one that he wanted to watch (with Mirian's help) and Mirian made a princess movie. Later when Savannah got home she made a princess movie called Loveka. Loveka was the name of the princess who lived in garbage land. Everyone was grouchy there and the princess was mean. Think of the endless amazing adventures you could watch from your own imagination.
- Play with some sidewalk chalk.
- Draw some rainbows.
- Play with each other.
- Sew together.
- Make play food to cook up later in your kitchen.
- Sew your own purse.
- Make your own tree and decorate it with things you found around the yard that didn't get picked up before the winter snow hit.
Think of all the things your missing out on, or your kids when you just stick them in front of a TV. Oh it is so hard somedays, because it is such an easy babysitter. I know how hard it is. It's not always easy helping them find things to do instead. That takes effort, creativity and brain energy on our part. But once they get out of the habit of wanting to watch something... then sit back and see what happens. Life happens. Growing up happens. Experimenting happens. Playing happens. Loving happens. Creativity happens.
