Talin

Well Talin, I really don't think that's what those are typically used for....

Happy B-Day Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Jones!

My grandfather turned 92 years old, and yet somehow manages to stay young. I like to brag about him still playing golf every week with his brothers, and I heard from Amy's post that he made a hole in one last month. Go Grandpa!!
I have many fond memories of Grandpa Jones from my childhood. He lovingly referred to me as "Maggie", and I was one of the few granddaughters that took a keen interest in the boy things, that made me his favorite girl granddaughter, or so I like to think. I'm sure I'll have some disputes over that. But one of my favorite memories of Grandpa Jones is him teaching me how to fly fish when I was eight years old. He must have been a very patient man to teach an eight year old how to fish, let alone fly fish! Thanks for the cherished memories, and hope you had a fabulous birthday Grandpa!

Saying Good-Bye to a Friend

We had a sad incident in our home last night. Tom and I were busy organizing the computer room, throwing out and planning to sell most of the books and papers from his time spent at NAU. While in the process of this the boys were playing around the house. They are well behaved and rarely do we have major discipline issues with them, but I suspected something when I smelled burning. Went into the kitchen to see if someone had accidentally or purposely turned on the stove, but no, nothing. I mentioned it to Tom and the smell was placed onto a neighbors head. We live in an apartment building so when your neighbor decides to smoke pot, we all smoke pot! So we shrugged our shoulders and got back to work, I didn’t notice the smell again. An hour later I hear Tom in the boy’s bedroom quite upset and then see him walk out of the room with a grossly burned Spiderman in his hand, and Talin in the hallway with eyes that look as though they’ll pop out of his head. I immediately know what’s happened; now it was time to get the confession. Talin fessed up immediately. “Talin, did your brother have any part in this?” I see the hesitation as he looks over at Collin, “No mom, I did it all, I wanted my room to be dark, so I put Spiderman on the light”. After the confession comes, the tears pour out. I knew there was no need to inflict punishment, it was enough that his favorite toy for the past two years, Spiderman who had slept with him, accompanied him on many trips, had passed. I mentioned that he had killed Spiderman, and the sobs poured out. I shouldn’t have said that he killed him, but I couldn’t snatch my words back, and I thought maybe he needed to hear that. The fear of ruining friends and possibly burning down our home was drilled into those boys. And after it all happened I felt such a sigh of relief and gratefulness towards the Lord. He allowed Spiderman to slowly burn over a light bulb for over an hour with never catching fire. Thank you. Some of the sad things Talin said last night were enough to break my heart and bring my own tears. I’m a girl who knows how much you can love a toy as a child; I had many myself that were best friends. So when Talin said things like, “do you think Spiderman will miss me?” or “I will miss Spiderman, will he find other toy friends at the dump?” in his shaky, sobbing voice, I almost broke myself. The farewell was hard, but a lesson was learned, and will never be forgotten.
And on another sad note, my beautiful crystal bowl that I received from Tiffany’s as a wedding present broke last night. Talin and I both learned a hard lesson that evening, you really have to take care of your stuff. It was a hard evening of farewells.

A Sunday with no church

Church was cancelled this morning. It is nice to stay indoors for a day and have my husband home. We've actually had breakfast with each other and have been watching some church videos. The perks of having Tom be a ward missionary is that he has some of these videos to bless our home with.

On another note, I have to say I really like my blog's new look. I think it shows very clearly my great anticipation for Spring.

Talin made me smile last night while I was tucking him in to bed. He had noticed that his Pres. Hinckley picture was turned around (it hangs on a string on the wall). So that made me ask him, "Who is Pres. Hinckley, Talin?" His response, "He's a true Prophet of God, mom". What a smart boy.

And one more thing, do you understand the draw my two little boys would have to microscopic swords? They chase each other around with these things and have sword fights. Interesting... They had to be confiscated earlier this morning because of inflicted battle wounds. Never a dull moment with two little boys in the house!

Our Winter Storm

We have a severe weather warning until Sunday at noon. An ice storm is in the process with snow expected, and they are calling it a life threatening winter storm. Does that mean only if you’re traveling in it? I guess it’s a huge deal because we’ve had an ice storm today and now we are expecting a significant amount of snow on top of that with winds up to 20 to 30 MPH, making drifting and blowing snow quite a problem. Power outages are expected, so Tom and I went to the grocery store to stock up on some essentials, such as bacon, ice cream…you know, things you feel you might need with a life threatening winter storm in progress.

Sick Baby

We had a bit of a rough time last night. Collin walked into my bedroom at 12:30 am and told me he was sick, I didn’t pay much attention until I realized that the front of his shirt was soaked. “Oh no! He’s puked!” I thought. I hate dealing with throw-up. Especially because little people can never seem to make it into the toilet or a convenient garbage can. Not much to do but clean the mess up and tuck Collin back into bed. But for the next couple of hours I was continually woken up every fifteen minutes by my little man to be informed that he didn’t feel well. So most of the evening was me standing next to him while he tried to puke into the toilet. Never puked again, but I should have made him a little bed next to my big bed like my mother did for me when I was young. Would have saved me a lot of frustration from getting in and out of bed with him, I think he really just needed his mom’s comfort. Things are better this morning. No sign of puking and only a slight fever. Thank goodness! I’m also a little bummed this morning because our lovely weather we had for the last few days is going away. We were in the forties and the sun was out and I was actually able to go outside for a walk for the first time in forever. I had forgotten how beneficial fresh air is. When it’s been below zero and wind-chill of -20, you typically only go outside to get to your car and out of your car to walk into your destination. Anyway, it made me realize how much I am really looking forward to the spring. I envy all of the Arizona living people right now! Enjoy your weather and the fresh air!

Miracle

Alright, I was once again on a blog hiatus, but it was because I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my head, neck and shoulders. I started getting these major knots in my shoulders and they refused to be worked out and the pain would travel up through my neck and into my head resulting in a monstrous head-ache, sometime a migraine. Well this has been going on for quite awhile, I stopped lifting weights on my upper body, I started incorporating hour long yoga sessions programmed for migraine relief, and stopped spending so much time at the computer clicking on my mouse. The thing that has made the difference has been my lack of computer time, so I’ve now put limits on myself. Check email only twice a day, and look at blogs only once a day for no more than an hour and that includes posting. So we’ll see if the headaches stay away with my new rules, and if not, I got some lovely new drugs from my doctor that help with migraines. Haven’t had the chance to use them yet, just got them on Monday, but I’m hoping they help out when the time arises.
On another note, I was watching the news the other day and I saw a story that touched my heart. A baby that was born at 21 weeks in October, was being ready to be released from the hospital to go home finally.

Amillia is the first baby known to survive a gestation period of fewer than 23 weeks, at 10 oz., and no longer than a ball point pen. Isn’t that amazing? I can’t imagine delivering a baby that soon, you really would just say goodbye to her, thinking there is no way she could survive. But this tiny preemie has proven everyone wrong; the fact that we can save premature babies this young, is an absolute miracle. This has had a huge effect on the debate over abortion and deciding at what point abortion should be illegal in the gestation period. Amillia has now become a national poster child for anti-abortion activists. Quoting Dan Harris: “Only one state, North Carolina, explicitly prohibits aborting a fetus as the point at which Amillia was born; 12 states permit abortion at that point; 23 states leave it to a doctor to decide whether the fetus is viable; and in 14 states, there are no laws on the books that would prevent such an abortion.”

Just something for you to think about today, I know I’ve thought a lot about what this means for the many premature babies out there. Especially being a mother that has a hard time keeping my own babies in the womb until they’re full term. We’re all very lucky to live at this time when technology is so advanced, I know I’m extremely grateful.

6 Things that make me Happy

Amy recently "tagged" me on her blog. So now I get the pleasure, or I should say you get the pleasure of reading six things that make me happy. So here they are.

1. Realizing the love that Christ has for me, and the many ways I’ve seen his hands working in my life since I’ve been willing to turn to Him for answers.
2. Receiving a massage. I love to have a massage, and I’m VERY lucky to have a husband that will give me one almost every night. I just need to be better at returning the favor.
3. Of course my lovely boys that encompass my life. Tom-the adoring, giving, caring husband. Talin-the soft-hearted, compassionate, talented oldest child. Collin-the wild, passionate, no-holds bar baby. They’re the best!
4. A hot bubble bath in a large bathtub. For right now I’m content with my apartment size, squeeze my big butt in there bathtub. But someday….!!
5. Being with my siblings. When all of our children are not around, my brother and sisters and I have a great time together. Playing games, laughing and more laughing. I LOVE those moments, and the memories I have from them.
6. The sense of accomplishment, whether it’s a hard work-out, an art project or just cleaning my house. I love to finish something, to do a good job at it, and to check it off my list!

Now I tag Susan and Andersyn!

Rate My Romance

Browsing through the never ending questions and answers I seem to find on the internet, I glanced over on the sidebar to find they had an available quiz called “Rate Your Romance”. Okay…. I didn’t click on it and was soon browsing through something else, but it stuck in my mind. How do you rate your romance, and how can someone declare that by answering a few questions they can rate it? Romance means so many different things to different people. Awhile back I thought romance was something very different than how I perceive it now. "I will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love. Love above all. No...not the artful postures of love, not playful and poetical games of love for the amusement of an evening. but love that...overthrows life. Unbiddable, ungovernable, like a riot in the heart, and nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture." (Shakespeare in Love) Yeah, that was me. Everything was passionate, enrapturing and intense when it came to love and romance. I quickly learned that this wasn’t romance at all, this was lust. Yes, I have to admit I found myself during that first year of marriage, married to a man I had lusted after and yet didn’t know. All I knew of my husband was that he brought calm and peace to my fighting, stubborn spirit, which was good enough for me. Now, six years into our marriage I find that our romance is more than the impassioned desire that used to rule, it’s now a solid foundation. I married someone better than myself, someone that has helped me to become a more teachable and patient person. Someone who is kind and full of charity. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) “I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.” (Henry Ward Beecher) That brings me to the conclusion on my romance tirade. I can’t put it any better than that. My romance has molded me into a more spiritual, submissive and hopeful being. I just can’t wait to see where it takes us in ten, twenty, fifty years. I love you Tom, you are my best friend, my soul mate, my Valentine!

Bedtime For Frances

My kids have become obsessed lately with reading books. When they were young I made the attempt to read to them regularly, but they really just weren’t interested. Now they can’t get enough. We read before nap time and before bedtime, and I typically find my voice going hoarse before we’re through. But it’s been fun to bond with them this way, and it’s one of the few times Collin will hold still for more than two seconds. Their favorite book has been “Bedtime for Frances”, and the story is about a little raccoon that is having trouble going to sleep at night. She comes up with one thing after another to go to her parents about. First it’s a tiger in the corner and then a crack in the ceiling, and so on. Well her parents are of course very patient, until about the tenth time she goes in there and then her father tells her she will get a spanking if she doesn’t go to sleep, so eventually she does sleep. Every time I read this story to the boys I think they are going to get ideas in their head about bedtime, and just assume that because Frances’ parents are so nice and let her have a glass of milk and a piece of cake after she’s been in bed, that their parents will do the same. I mean really, they have to be smarter than that right? Well last night my worst fear was realized. They came out of bed after being tucked in, and insisted there was a crack in their ceiling. After we dealt with the crack, it was something else, and it wasn’t until I actually spanked their little bums that I got them to go to sleep. Now I’m wondering if I should allow them to hear that book before bedtime anymore. It’s a bit of a bad influence on how bedtime should be.
On another note, Talin learned about astronauts at school today, so the first thing he did when he got home was try on the astronaut costume he got for Christmas. He was so cute, he then insisted I take a picture of him and put it up. So here it is. NASA here he comes!

Sunday Thoughts

Today we had Stake Conference in our church. Our stake president, Pres. Nye, gave a talk, and I found myself becoming extremely inspired the more he talked. His talk of course followed a talk that my Bishop gave, and my Bishop’s talk was pure inspiration and answered a week long plea of prayers on my part. It does not cease to amaze me on how the Lord can inspire and direct those who are spiritually in tune. Thanks to these talks I found myself refilled with the spirit and ready to take on another week. Back to Pres. Nye’s talk though, he talked a little on the parable of the ten virgins and how when the five without oil for their lamps pleaded with their bridegroom (the Lord) to open the door for them, the Lord’s response was “I know you not”. How well do we know the Lord? It’s a question Pres. Nye asked as he stood before us at the pulpit today. It’s a question I think all of us should ask ourselves. How well do you know the Lord, and how well does he know you? I truly think that the only way we can come unto Christ is to give unto him our entire heart, something Bishop Hibbard talked about today. Pres. Nye gave some suggestions in doing this; I really loved them and thought I would share in my blog. He says we should think of five qualities in ourselves that separate us from Christ. Write them down. Now think of five qualities or things you could do that will bring you closer to Christ. Now write those down. Does this not give you an insight to yourself and to your relationship with the Lord? This is something I plan on sitting down with Tom and doing for family home evening tomorrow night, and I might post my five and fives when I’m done. Pres. Nye was truly humble in sharing his five weaknesses that separate him from our Savior, and I was quite impressed at his courage to share those things. One of his weaknesses was that at times he loved sin. Bravo! I was thrilled to hear him say that, because how much do we love sin in our lives? But we can’t truly overcome that desire until we admit it, so I was truly pleased to hear him say it.
On another note I found another blessing today when Tom brought up the mail (no, the mailman doesn’t deliver on Sunday here in Iowa, we had forgotten to get it yesterday). More good mail! I was talking to Amy on the phone about a week ago, and we were talking about good mail. She must have noticed the desire in my voice to receive some of my own good mail, and went ahead and sent me some. Yeah!! Thank you Amy. I love the ‘Thank You’ cards, the chocolate of course was a big hit (and it was the really good stuff!), and the boys loved the Spongebob paraphernalia. And of course Collin was thrilled with his Sunbeam booklet, we're also excited to use the family home evening kit. As soon as we got the mail and were going through it, Talin says, “That Aunt JoDee is sure nice, mom”. Hee hee. Don’t worry, I quickly informed him it was his Aunt Amy who sent the goods this time. And he is still missing his cousin Aidan, once again the other day, out of the blue, he started musing on how much he misses Aidan. We’ll have to have them talk on the phone sometime.

Baby-sitting Woes

Tonight it’s our turn to baby-sit. I am so not a fan of babysitting. Even as a pre-teen I often avoided mothers with young children, in fear that I might be asked to watch their youngsters on a Friday night. But with our present situation it’s not much of an option to pay a babysitter each Friday so that we might go on a date. I don’t remember how much I was paid on the rare occasion that I did baby-sit, but the girls seem to expect quite a bit. I mean what is minimum wage these days? Do you have to pay them minimum wage or can you pay them less? And does their age qualify them for higher pay or lesser? For example, if I hire a twelve-year-old to baby-sit, can I pay her less because she has lesser experience? These are questions I’ve pondered. So hiring a babysitter hasn’t been something we’ve done often, it’s just too expensive to pay them and then be able to afford dinner or a movie or both. And let’s face it; I’m not the kind of girl that will be satisfied with gazing at the stars and having a picnic with my husband for a date. I like to go out, I like to eat out and I like to see movies. In order to do this we came up with a plan. We got three other couples together, besides ourselves, and decided to take turns switching off baby-sitting every Friday night. So once every four weeks Tom and I get all of the kids, which isn’t too bad, there are only six including our own, and then the other weekends we get to go out and have a free babysitter. It’s quite lovely. It doesn’t always end up being a big production either, sometimes we’ll just go walk around the mall and window shop, it’s just wonderful to walk around a store without the boys running around. But that once every three week turn we take is never the highlight of my week. It does become bearable though because Tom is always there to help, and if anyone knows Tom you know that he really does help, and is much better with kids than I am.

My One Word

Well, I really wasn’t going to write about my one word for the year, but since I opened up so much in my other post, apparently I’m ready to share my feelings more. Aren’t you all so lucky?
So here is the word that is going to dictate my thoughts, actions and works: Humility.
Yikes! It’s a powerful word, I know, it kind of knocks me to my knees, figuratively and literally. But the word humility didn’t always have this effect on me, no this word wasn’t always very intimidating or very special in my life. It’s only been lately that I’ve needed this word and it’s meaning more than I need air to breathe. I’ve come to find out that I can’t grow, I can’t progress, I can’t change anything in my life until I incorporate this word into it. And I’ve had to have a dose of this humility to even come to that realization.
“For he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word.” Alma 32:6It hasn’t been until I’ve been able to incorporate a small dosage of humility into my life that I’ve been ready to hear the word of the Lord. I mean really hear what he was trying to tell me personally. Things have touched me and inspired me a ton in my life, but it hasn’t been until recently that the word of the Lord has begun to cause a change in me. It is said that God is no respecter of persons, only of humility and desire. How true those words ring. I have a very, very long way to go with my word, but I hope by the end of the year I will have been able to let this word humility work in my life through the Lord.

My First Good Mail

Ever since I've been reading different blogs I've been struck by how many people receive "good mail" and write about it. I've also been a bit envious that I never had any good mail to write about myself, until today that is. I was quite thrilled to receive a package from my sister JoDee. She is always really good at doing these kinds of things, birthday cards, packages and presents are something she enjoys giving and mailing. Now me on the other hand, I have the mind frame that if you live out of my city, then your birthday really doesn't exist for me. But I've made a resolution to do better and have started sending out cards this year, JoDee has inspired me. Plus it feels so good to get a card or a present, something you can always count on JoDee for, that I've decided to make more effort in that department and cheer up someone else’s day. Anyway, it was a lovely, kinky Valentine's Day package. And yes, that is a candy bra you are looking at, Tom was quite thrilled, along with the glow-in-the-dark handcuffs. Should be interesting...And I was excited to see the dice in there as well, I've always been too embarrassed to buy them myself, but have secretly wanted a pair. And of course Talin and Collin were beyond happy to receive a valentine from their cousins and a ring pop. Thanks for thinking of them girls! And thanks to JoDee for sending the package, she has made Valentines Day at our home something to really look forward too!

My Plank-Off

I was talking to Amy on the phone and I happened to tell her about my plank-off that happened at the gym the other day. Well she found it quite amusing and insisted I blog about it, so here it is. What happened was that I attended an ab class Monday morning, and the class is 20 minutes long and you continually work your abdominals throughout those 20 minutes. Well one of the exercises we do is called the plank. If you don’t know what that is you can refer to my picture, I am doing it, and you typically hold it for as long as you can. In class we will normally hold ourselves up in plank position for fifteen seconds and then lay down and rest for five and then go back up for fifteen again. We do this until we’ve gotten through four sets and therefore done a minute. My instructor decided that day that we should try to do the plank for a minute straight. So we did, and to my utter surprise I was the only one in class that held it for the entire minute. Well one of the instructors who happened to be taking the class that day, is super competitive, her name is Staci. Well I guess Staci saw an opportunity for some friendly competition, because she then insisted that I come over to her and we would face off for a plank-off. Okay…. Well we did, and I ended up winning, once again to my utter surprise. It was really quite amusing; I think we ended up going a minute and twenty seconds. I’m actually really glad she gave in, because I was seriously ready to drop, I guess I’m more stubborn than I thought because I really don’t think I’m in that great of shape. Oh well, I love to win.