Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

~ Mark Twain

Welcome Mandi

Welcome Mandi to the world of blogging. I'm so excited to have Mandi join us and to read about her girls and her little world each day. Reading the blogs of my sisters just makes me feel that much closer to them.

SPT

"this week's challenge is to show & tell one of your most treasured items. the catch is (YES, there is a catch)... it must be smaller than a deck of cards!"This was easy for me. Without a doubt, my most prized possession for the past few years of my life has been my thyroid medication. I love this stuff. Without it my life would be a wreck, I'd be gaining weight like a beast, exhausted, depressed and cold all the time.
One of my biggest fears in life is having a natural disaster happen and not being able to take my medication. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but I have formed quite an attachment to my lifetime daily dose of Armour.
I love you!
So here is me, paying tribute to the fabulous meds. And I had to add in this other picture of me because it's just so dang funny. I look like a caricature, my nose is monstrous, my eyes are exhausted (I forgot to take the meds until noon today), and I'm just downright overwhelmed today with my life. So apparently this is what I look like. Yikes! At least it's a good laugh for us all today.

Home from Iowa City

Collin and his new teddy bear from the hospital today. The surgery went great today, Collin is a trooper, and still under the impression that the world revolves around him. I don't mind for today, as long as he's healthy and recovering well from the anesthesia, I'm happy. And the added loopiness is a cause for great amusement.

Work

I do enjoy work, and I feel like I was really blessed to have the work ethic instilled in me as a child by my father. We always worked. You didn’t get something for nothing; you had to work for it. As a child, if I misbehaved, I worked. So many incidents, but one in particular rings out in my head.

I was twelve years old, and wild. My cousins lived down the street, five boys, one little girl, and I loved being over there and being one of the boys.
One day while I was over playing, my oldest cousin Chris had a BB gun.
Wow, a real BB gun.
We went up to the loft in one of the bedrooms and looked out the window.
What could we shoot?
We shot at a few cans off the brick wall, not really much fun though. There had to be something more exciting to shoot at.
Looking around we noticed a home under construction, one house behind us and one house over to the left.
Perfect!
We didn’t much consider the fact that there were several men working on it at the time. All we saw was the perfect target.
Should we try for the window?
Would the BB gun really shoot that far?
I don’t know?
We tried.
Nothing.
Not even a response from the workers.
Did it go through the window?
I don’t think so.
Let me try!
Always out to prove something I took my fair turn shooting at the window.
Oh dear, the workers noticed!
And the worst part about them noticing is that they saw us, and the worst part about them seeing us is that it was a home my father was in charge of building.
That bad twisting of foreboding lurched in my gut. I knew I was in for it. And I was.

My father sat Chris and I down in my bedroom to have a “talk”. I sat stone faced, Chris bawled (forgive me if you ever read this Chris, but you really did bawl, not even just cried).
We were to pay for the window, and in order to pay for it we were going to work construction that summer. That involved getting up at five and working until noon, because if you work much past that in an Arizona summer, you do run the risk of heat stroke.

So we worked, we worked with Tyler, preparing a plot of land for building. I guess? I don’t know for sure, I was twelve, and it was hard, but it was rewarding as well.
Hard work. I’ve learned to love it.

There are many other incidents where I’ve learned the value of hard work, but this one is my favorite, it was my real introduction to outdoor labor.

Now I’ve been busy. We’ve signed a two-year lease on our duplex and it needs a lot of hard work. It could easily be lived in as is, but it’s not really Megan acceptable, it needs my TLC. So that is what I’ve been doing, loving and fixing my new home. The countdown is on and we need to be moved in by the end of May, so my blog will be suffering as a result of my hard work. But my attitude will be improved and I’ll be much happier and more energized with doing the work. I’ll try to keep you updated.

Happy Birthday Talin

I can’t believe my baby is five! He is the most thoughtful, talented and determined little boy I know. He’s getting so old and I’m so happy that I’m his mom, he has a lot to teach me and I hope I can bring him up to be the wonderful man he’s meant to be in this world! Five years old!! I love you Talin!

He had to have a Robin cake from Teen Titans. I never realized how unpopularRobin is until I tried to find some kind of Robin action figure or toy for his birthday. Yeah, nothing. He was happy with his Robin cake though, thank goodness for a mommy that can draw and frost!

Here is Talin posing with Chuck E Cheese himself. Quite the honor let me tell you.

Talin was allowed to invite one friend, so of course he invited Caitlin. She enjoyed being there, but I'm not sure she enjoys my little boy's company as much as he enjoys hers. She spent most of the time avoiding him, maybe next time I'll convince him to bring a different friend!

Here is our little family after eating and hanging out at Chuck E Cheeses. Talin had such a good time, I'm glad we were able to take him.

This is after church today. Of course he's finishing off some more birthday cake after lunch. We even let him blow out more candles today, I mean it is his actual birthday. He's so cute and happy! And shirtless, we couldn't get the Sunday clothes dirty with cake!

Collin and Talin, my little muscle men, eating cake.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TALIN! I LOVE YOU!

The Doctor's, The ER, Poison Control, Need I Say More?

I probably should have titled this post "Collin", and people would have known it was about some type of accident.
These past few days have been rough. Exceptionally rough for poor Collin’s big head.

On Thursday he managed to pull my drafting/art table on top of himself. I’m not sure how it happened, and yet I was standing there watching when it did. He seemed to jump up on the corner of it and it just fell towards him, right on top of his little body, pinning him to the floor.
Since I was there I immediately got it off of him and picked him up. Most of the impact seemed to have been on his nose. Afterwards he kept going into this deep sleep, and I had to work hard at waking him up each time, so I called the doctor to see what I should look for in regards to being worried. After talking to the nurse she wanted us to come in and have him checked out, mainly because the table fell on his whole body, and they were worried about internal injuries.
Two hours at the doctor, he was fine, just bruised up. Walking in the parking lot to load the boys in the car, Collin then managed to hit his head on a cars rear view mirror. Geez! It was a bad hit. He has a scab on the side of his head to compliment the bruises on his face!
And then Friday morning the poor boy decides to brush his teeth with Desitin. Yes, Desitin. Are you suicidal?? A call to poison control confirms to me that he will be okay.

Fast forward to Monday. We are wandering around Menards (I know, it’s a horrible name!), a hardware store similar to Home Depot. The boys keep running around, getting lost and not listening. So I relegate them to the cart, where they are to sit on their bottoms. I turn around for one second and Talin stands up in the cart, and grabs the painters caulk that was in the cart to use as a weapon. Collin of course stands up as well, and as I grab for Talin to make him sit back down, he takes the caulk and tries to hit Collin on the head with it resulting in Collin falling backwards out of the cart, directly on his head. It happened in slow motion, and I could not move fast enough. Just thinking about it makes me tremble. His head hit so hard, I thought the whole store could hear. I really thought for a minute, that this was it; this was the big accident that ruins a life. It was terrifying. Thank goodness I had Tom there. He always seems so handy to have around for these situations, now that he’s in med school.
So Collin seemed, okay, disoriented and very upset, but okay. Left the store, opted for a hamburger drive thru, and tried to cheer Collin up with a chocolate shake. He didn’t want it. Something must be wrong; he doesn’t want a chocolate shake! Then he fell asleep in the car. I turned around to wake him up and he doesn’t budge, he was like a rag doll. I grab his shoulders and lift him up and his head flops backwards. I kind of freaked out inside, and shouted to Tom that he wouldn’t wake up. Tom asks if we need to go to the hospital, but then Collin groans, and we’re able to rouse him.
My heart can only take so many panic attacks. Once we’re home Collin still isn’t himself, not responsive to anything and he just lays there limp. Then he pukes. And that’s when I realize we have to do something, especially since at the doctors on Thursday he told me that if he starts puking, to call him immediately.
So after trying to get a hold of his doctor, no success, then talking to a third year D.O. in our ward, he advises us to take him into the ER. We do, and he ends up being okay in the end. But it’s been quite exhausting as his mother to endure all of these potential tragedies. I don’t know if his head can seriously take any more damage!

I’m keeping him home today to hopefully keep him calm and chilled for awhile, and avoid anymore possible accidents. And I’m trying to shove down the terrible guilt I feel for not being able to protect him from everything. But I’ve always known he was my accident prone child, the one to walk into walls, trip on flat surfaces and fall down stairs. Let’s all pray he makes it to eighteen without becoming a quadriplegic.

And I just talked to his urologist in Iowa City, you know, shaky handed Dr. Austin, well he is going to see Collin again on the 30th of this month to try again on the surgery. This time we've opted to put him out entirely, maybe that will help with our doctor's nerves.

Things on my mind

I was a bit disappointed this morning to wake up to snow. It's April, isn't it suppose to be spring by now?
I know, I know, I've written about weather a lot lately, but it has affected my mental/emotional state greatly as of yet. I have never experienced a winter that drags on so. When does it officially end, when can I think, okay, there can be no more snow storms, no more gloves, no more mittens forced onto ten chubby little fingers, and no more hassling with jackets.

So I was very pleased to have a bit of spring sent my way by Mandy with good mail. Thank you. It really went a long way to cheering me up, especially the little chocolates, and fun sprinkles, I love to bake and can't wait to use those. And the boys of course loved the play dough.

I had trouble taking an un-blurry picture.

On another note I had no sleep last night. I couldn't turn my brain off; I was awake from one to five-thirty. Tom must have truly been inspired to not wake me and take Talin to school for me. What a sweet husband I must say. I still have to talk to him and see how he did it, because I know he had an 8:00 class, and Talin's school starts at eight, so I'm wondering how that worked. He is ready for his summer break, I can tell.

So, the no sleep thing is because of our big decision on renting a home. We found a duplex with three bedrooms and in our price range, and were offered to become the new renters of it. Here is the picture. It looks large, but that is always deceiving, it's small, but livable, especially with ample storage space and three levels. Decisions, decisions. We are to sign the lease on Saturday. I'll let you know what we do.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

Talin & Collin ready for church. I really should put Talin in modeling and make a little money off that GQ boy!

Dying easter eggs at our friend Betsy's house. And Collin being goofy for the camera, he loves to make faces at people and cameras.

Easter morning. The boys woke up to their easter eggs being hid around the house. They were very excited. And of course I purchased way more candy than was necessary for two little boys. Now guess who will be eating it all week? Yeah, I already ate half of that chocolate bunny last night!

Talin, the cutie! He is not a morning person, and would have preferred lounging on the couch all morning to going to church.

Collin, once again over at Betsy's home to have dinner and another easter egg hunt. This time they hunted for the eggs they had dyed.

I had to add in this picture of Talin and Caitlin. He made us all aware yesterday that she is now his girlfriend. He's starting early! My lovely egg cake, it was so cute and super easy to make.

And my butterfly cake. I had a lot of fun making these. We certainly didn't need this much cake, but I enjoyed putting them together.

We had a really fun Easter. It's always hard to not be around family on the holidays, but we have good friends out here in Iowa that we enjoy spending time with.

Sunday

Early Sunday morning “it was yet dark” (John 20:1), Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb to lovingly care for his body and anoint it with sweet spices.

Instead she found the tomb empty of Jesus’ body, yet occupied by two angels. Overcome with grief and not knowing where the body of her beloved Savior was taken to, she knelt down and wept.

“And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.”

As she knelt there weeping, the Savior came up to her, and Mary, overwhelmed with emotion did not recognize him immediately.
“…she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekeest thou?
She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.”

No beautiful discourse have I heard, but that between Jesus and Mary that glorious Sunday morning. Recognizing the way he says her name, she immediately realizes that he is her Lord, appearing to her in his resurrected body.

Many people were able to testify of the resurrection that day, those that saw Christ and others that witnessed the resurrection of people who had been dead, as well as the Nephites in the American continent.

“many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” (Matthew 27:52-53)

“And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?” (3 Nephi 23:11)

Over the next few weeks the resurrected Christ appeared several times to many different people.

There is no sweeter message than that of Christ’s resurrection. I have no doubt in my mind of the truthfulness of the scriptures in recording his last few days. I hope that this Easter Sunday everyone can take the time to remember the true celebration of Christ’s resurrection, the hope and joy that it brings to all.

Saturday

What happened on Saturday? I had previously never given this day much thought. Further study enlightened me.

It was the Sabbath, and everyone “rested the Sabbath day according to commandment.” (Luke 23:56)

The Lord was not resting though, as told in Peter.

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;…
For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18-19; 1 Peter 4:6)

I never before realized, but the Savior prophesied of the things he would do immediately after his death. He also said:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.” (John 5:25-28)

Far away on the American continent the Nephite’s trembled in terror because of the recent tempests, earthquakes, fires and whirlwinds, when out of the darkness the voice of the Lord came to them.

“Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.
I came unto my own, and my own received me not. And the scriptures concerning my coming are fulfilled.
And as many as have received me, to them have I given to become the sons of God; and even so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me redemption cometh…” (3 Nephi 9:15-17)

That Saturday was one of the darkest days in history for many who endured it, but it also proceeded one of the most glorious dawns known to man.

Friday

A long night, an absurd and illegal trial commenced, and Jesus was first charged with sedition, and then with blasphemy. Christ was sentenced to death for falsely assuming the power of God.

He was then in the hands of Pilate and the charge was changed to that of high treason, a grievous offense in the Roman law. Pilate finds no fault with Christ and decides to release him. Nevertheless, the people cried out,

“Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:” (Luke 23:18)
“…they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.” (Luke 23:21)

Pilate, not wanting the blood of an innocent man on his hands, washes his hands of Christ’s blood. The awful cry of the people rings out, condemning and insistent.

“His blood be on us, and on our children.” (Matt.27:25)

Scourged, spit upon, beaten, taunted and humiliated Christ starts his long trek up to the place called Golgotha.

“And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” (Matt. 27:35)

This took place at 9:00 a.m. After his horrendous ordeal, the Lord still exerted the energy to plead for the forgiveness of the Roman soldiers.

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

The great earthquake and renting of the veil in the temple occurred at noon that day. The sun was also covered, “there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.” (Luke 23:44)

At about three in the afternoon, on that momentous Friday, the Savior having endured all cried out unto the Father.

“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

Beautiful release of death came to him.

His body was quickly taken down and hastily prepared for burial before sundown, for at sundown the Sabbath was to start, and it was not seemingly to prepare a body or bury it that day. His body was laid in a tomb that was offered by one of his disciples, Joseph of Arimathaea.

This was how that Friday ended, sorrow and grief filled the earth, for the world had just crucified it’s Savior.

Thursday

“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.”

Today is the day that Judas Iscariot plotted with the chief priest and Pharisees to betray Jesus.

The same day that Christ had the last supper and instituted the sacrament. Washing the feet of his disciples he asked them to continue to perform the sacrament after he would leave them.

The same evening that the Savior sang a hymn with his disciples before heading out to the Mount of Olives and into the Garden of Gethsemane, where he asked his disciples to watch with him. There he suffered and atoned for each of our sins, through unfeigned love for each of us he knelt there and took on the sins of the world that we might return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father upon the condition of our repentance of our sins.

“And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, and very heavy.
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

That night he demonstrated infinite patience when he came upon his disciples sleeping instead of keeping watch with him like he had asked.

With humility and long-suffering, our Lord and Savior, endured the shameful betrayal from Judas.

“Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed him.”

That Thursday night passed into an early Friday morning of no rest. For the Lord was brought to trial.

Easter's Coming Soon

Talin has been praying every day to bless Easter to come soon. Do you know why we celebrate Easter? He thinks it’s because the Easter bunny comes and brings eggs and candy for him. Didn’t I teach him this before? Maybe not, I’ve always looked forward to the candy myself, mainly the chocolate Cadbury eggs. Maybe in my lust for chocolate I never mentioned the real reason behind Easter. I get out my Sunday school pictures for primary and tell him and Collin about Jesus dying and then coming alive again on Easter Sunday. It’s called the resurrection, after Jesus died, he came alive again. He did this so that we could be resurrected someday and live with Heavenly Father again, without Jesus we wouldn’t be able to live with our Heavenly Father. Collin obsesses over the picture of Jesus hanging on the cross. He wants to hold the picture and look at it, asks for the picture that Jesus dies in. I try to distract him with the picture of Jesus resurrected and showing himself to Mary. Not interested. Talin seems to ponder things more. Do they really understand what I’ve explained? Or do they get it more than I do? On Tuesday we were getting ready to walk out the door to take Talin to school when he came up to me and said that Jesus had talked to him.
“Oh, what did he say to you?”
“Umm….” The um lasted awhile. “He told me that Easter was coming soon, and that I should be nice to my brother, and that he liked my singing.”
I like his singing too. More than anything I like the sweet spirit my babies bring into our home. Maybe Easter can be about more than just the Cadbury eggs for us this year.

Tornadoes & SPT

I’ve been a little down; I think it’s the weather. Someone told me that the coming of a storm often brings out the sadness in people, and children become difficult and teachers typically have awful days dealing with it. Maybe that’s what is happening, I’m becoming difficult because of the weather. We were teased with sunny days, green grass and the wearing of shorts. Now it is cold again. I guess it can’t last long; spring is definitely due to come. But that brings anxiety as well with it. Spring is tornado season. When we decided to move out here for school, everyone talked about the possibilities of tornadoes. Last year there was a really big one in Iowa, and it destroyed several homes and lives in Iowa City, tearing through the town in a fury. I guess that’s what tornadoes do; they only have fury and destruction in them. It doesn’t help that every time I turn on the TV there is an advertisement from the local news stations, saying things like, “How to protect your family for tornado season this year” or “Iowa City, devastated by a tornado, make sure you stay on top of the weather by tuning in” or “A tornado tears through a school killing five and leaving terrified children in it’s wake. Are your children safe?”. Not something I want to think about, especially living on the third floor of an apartment building. I’m not sure what I would do if a tornado ripped through Des Moines, I think I’d just pray and hope for the best. Tom assures me that I shouldn’t worry. The other day he told me that Talin’s school would be fine since its a hundred years old and has never been torn down by a tornado yet. That’s comforting, thanks.
On another note, it’s self portrait Tuesday. “Plays Well With Others”. Do I play well with others? It depends on who you ask. I’m competitive and often times quite beastly. But I enjoy playing. My favorite thing to do is to play games. I love card games and board games; I could spend hours playing these. Whenever there is a group of adults together, that’s what I want to do, play a game. I love any holiday because it’s a time to break out the cards and play some shanghai, or spend a few hours playing monopoly. It can bring out a nasty side in me though, I’ve been known to make people cry (sorry Cassi), and it also brings out a really silly side of me, I will giggle and say things that I regret in the morning. Almost as if I was a drunk, but instead of alcohol, I gorge myself on games. I have played a few times with friends in Iowa this last year, but not nearly as often as I would like. The crazy me came out at Thanksgiving and I think I scared a few friends while playing Skip Bo. Maybe if I promise to be calm, nice and a little less giggly, I can convince them to have another game night.
(This is really pathetic, but I got really excited just getting my cards out to take this picture. And thank goodness for the timer, I'm not very good at holding the camera and taking the shot.)