Life around my house

Before the new school year started my only hopes were that Daria and Dustin would get teachers who have a love of teaching, who would inspire the kids to have a love of learning. Both got great teachers but I'm especially thrilled with Dustin's teacher. She's older, and has been teaching for 19 years. But let me tell you, she is AWESOME! She absolutely loves teaching, loves stimulating the kids minds, she positive and extremely creative. Her husband is a CEO of a very large company so she doesn't have to teach. She teaches because she WANTS to, she loves it and it shows. Every day Dustin will come home and share some great story she has told or something she has taught.

With that said, let me back up a bit. Dustin has always enjoyed having me read him a story. I taught him to read before he started kindergarten, but he was never motivated to use his new skill unless I challenged him to. I having jokingly considered him a kid who doesn't realize he knows how to read. Everyday since school started, when Dustin arrives home he will explain in detail the books that his teacher is reading to the class. He loves these books. He begs for these books. Amazingly it's not any super heroes, and it's nothing modern. The set of books he loves is none other than a series titled "The Happy Hollisters" all written in the 1950's. I admit that his excitement has made me look forward to hearing "what happened in the story today". He informed me that you cannot buy these anymore you have to look on e-Bay (tell me why a 6 year old understands that you can buy things on e-Bay). Normally I try to just check out books at the library, but you can't find these at our library, and since he's been so excited, I felt inclined to purchase a lot of 15 on e-Bay. This he still does not know, it will be a surprise.

So a few weeks ago Daria comes home and while reading a book proclaims to me that when its hot on the bus she sweats and her armpits smell. Seriously I thought, how smelly can a sweet cute little 9 year old girl be? I said "really???" Daria then said while lifting up her arm (she's still reading her book as she's talking only now one arm is up in the air) "yeah, smell". So like any good mother who wants to make sure her daughter understands how to take care of her body, I walk over and still believing since she's my itsy bitsy teeny tiny little girl that it wouldn't smell and I take a huge sniff. WOOAHHH!!! Ok, so long story short, yes my little girl has smelly armpits. I thought to myself "How can this be? You are not even a decade old and you are going to have to wear deodorant?" I don't even think I wore deodorant until I was like 12! I really just can't stand that she is growing up much faster than I like. So, again, like any good mother we take a trip down to the store and smell about 20 different brands and scents of deodorant until she finds the one she likes (she picked the cheapest, that's my girl! learning to be frugal) and now she's taking more frequent showers. I still can't believe it every time I pass the bathroom and see her deodorant sitting on the counter. Well, I'm glad the only thing that is changing is her b.o., and that she still is my super sweet little girl who enjoys little girl things.

Still feeling blessed....

The kids and I went to church this morning. Not at our ward building, no power, no church services (earliest estimate for power for that neighborhood will be next Thursday). I didn’t want to go two weeks without church. I like going to church. It’s actually one of my absolute favorite times and days of the week. Our Stake President encouraged us to visit another chapel if we wanted, so we did. Ken stayed behind with a work crew from church helping a member whose house was severely damaged by the storm. The kids were slightly confused by this so I explained to them there is a difference between “having your ox in the mire” and “pushing your ox in the mire”. Jesus Christ served others, and when a situation like this happens you serve and help regardless of the day of the week.

I’m glad we went to church. We went to the old ward building that we attended when we first moved here. It felt familiar. Sat with a family who used to be in our ward. I reminisced as I looked over to where Greg, Celeste, and Hannah used to sit. Has it really been that long ago? I sure miss them. This building had power but no air conditioning. It was pretty hot, but the talks were just what I needed to hear. This section of town is in the same condition as the rest, pockets of power, storm damage, etc. Many do not have electricity and some without water.

Since we haven’t had church and most of our members still do not have power, we don’t know what the church is doing to help. This Stake Pres. gave an update of conditions. As always, I LOVE hearing about how the church is able to help. Some think we are extremists for being prepared but here is the fact of the matter. When you are prepared, you not only help your own family but you can then help those around you, which is exactly what has been happening. (even the FEMA handbook says that the responsibility to be prepared lies first on the citizen )

1.Before hurricane Ike hit, the church had already dispatched 81,000 hygiene kits, 5000 meals that can feed a family of 4, truck loads of water, blankets, tarps, chain saws, & satellite phones. Bishop’s store houses in this region were stocked. NAM’s pantries were stocked, and 2 shelters up on 2920 that house refugees were supplied.

2.After the storm, 64 Stake Presidents (it must include all of the stakes where the storm hit even up north) participated in a “Stake President Bridge call” to Salt Lakes. They relay to Salt Lake the status & needs of their stakes and wards. All of the stakes were able to take care of the needs of its members. By the 3rd phone call to Salt Lake, all of the members needs had been taken care of.

3.Two bus loads of Mennonites showed up to help (near Beaumont I think), the city was still struggling to assess damages and the City council told the Mennonites that if they wanted to help, go talk to the Mormon Bishop because they would know what to do. Which is what they did, they even camped out on his lawn. The church was able to direct this helpful group of people in what areas needed their assistance.
4. 500 members from San Antonio & Austin to start the clean up. Mayor Jackson thanked the LDS community.

5.All of the buildings were fine; one lost the steeple and pavilion but no other damage.
Here’s a great article from the church web-site

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/mormon-helping-hands-clean-up-after-hurricane-ike

Feeling Blessed

Yesterday I decided to venture beyond my community and run to the store for a few items. The girls used up my last sticks of soft butter to make cookies. Cookie making has been a constant pass time here lately. In fact I can't even count how many batches of cookies have been made in the past month between the 4 girls. They start them at one house, bake them at another, eat them at yet another house. Ok, wait, I wasn't planning on posting about cookies....


So, we have electricity in our neighborhood. I knew that several other neighborhoods still don't have power because our Bishop & his counselors don't have power and one lady I visit teach is still without power and the church is without power. Still there is this image that because you have power, that everything else must be up and working. Well, after a hurricane that's not the case.


Only 2 of the lights on the way to the grocery store were working. It is unnerving to drive across busy streets without lights. A lot of businesses are still closed because they have no power. I saw a Walgreen's without power but it was open for cash sales only. The grocery store was a madhouse. They are still selling ice for those who need it. There was no milk, butter, bread, or eggs. While I was there they got one pallet of some eggs and milk. Everyone else was waiting for those items too. They had to rope it off so they could stock it. I was even more thankful that for the most part I still have a lot of food at home. I just wanted some soft stick butter, but can do without it I did grab a few other items, but felt guilty that what I wanted I really didn't need.

The kids and I went out for a bike ride this morning and saw a house where 90% of the shingles were torn off. No shingles means no way to keep water out. Their house looked completely ruined, the dry wall had fallen down, carpet soaked, items ruined,house destroyed. I wanted to cry for them, and felt so guilty for not having had to endure such trial and thankful at the same time. We'll keep them in our prayers.

Hard to explain

We have survived the aftermath of hurricane Ike. Quite frankly, although things are a mess where we are, I'm feeling very fortunate not to be in the situation of the folks who live in the devastated area.

How many guys does it take to cut a piece of wood? ...... 3 Mormon's and a Muslim. :o)

The guys cut wood for the windows.

Thursday downtown closed early so Ken spent the afternoon boarding up the windows. I'm ashamed to admit but I was thinking that was overkill since the last hurricane didn't affect us. I erroneously thought since we were so far inland we would be fine. But Ken felt strongly that we needed to & I'm glad that I followed his counsel as it saved us from a lot of damage. Late Friday night the storm rolled in. Our electricity went on and off about 10 times before going out completely. We could see the sky light up from transformers blowing. By 3am the wind was pretty strong but the first band hadn't even hit us yet. This was slightly concerning but we just waited. When the storm did arrive it was wild. It's hard to imagine what to expect if you've not experienced it before. I grew up in towns that experienced high winds. But they come from one direction. This wind was whipping our house from all sorts of directions. Which of course is why our biggest threat would be tornado's. I could see the tall trees in my neighbors yard whipping from left to right, it was insane to watch. By then the rain hit with the wind. I could see we already lost one small oak tree and our larger oak was bent almost to the ground. The rain was creepy too. It wasn't falling straight down or even slanted, it was actually coming straight at us. I've never seen anything like it. The windows began to leak where they connect. But instead of dripping water it was squirting water, That's how powerful the rain was. I could also hear the 3 opposing walls in my room groan and creak at the same time. The image in my mind was as if the wind was pressing from all sides and squishing the walls in and up. Even my headboard made noises because the pressure on that outside wall was pushing the headboard. So we spent the darkness of the morning radioing into our neighbors, putting towels down where leaks were occurring. It was a LONG morning before the day broke. The storm continued until about 11am.

Our neighborhood looked good. Most of the damage seemed to be trees and roofs (loss of shingles & water leaks). I assumed that the rest of the town we lived in looked the same until Sunday the kids and I ventured out to check on some other families. Wow! I was shocked at some of the damage. The small neighborhood near us, with older homes and fences took a beating. Lots of damage. Over by the church with the tall trees, took a beating. Lots of water in places. It began to sink in that the clean up and aftermath would take some time.

We were without power until late Monday night. Even then, our friends a few streets over still did not have power and today as I write, there are several communities surrounding us that still do not have power. School is out until Monday. Luckily with electricity we are getting back into the routine of things. The kids are thrilled to be out of school, but I bet they won't be thrilled when they find out they will lose days during the holidays or even Spring Break to make up for it. We'll see!

Things I'm thankful for:

1. Our generator, food & water storage, gas, 72 hour kits and other supplies. Following the 150 year old counsel of the church to be prepared isn't always easy but worth it.

2. The safety that Ken, the kids and I experienced. I was worried about a tornado hitting us.

3. Minimal damage. We only lost one small tree and had a few leaks.

4. Our awesome neighbors. We all banded together. Makes 3 days without electricity more enjoyable.

5. Electricity. There are neighborhoods next to ours that still don't have electricity and are told it could be over a week longer.

6. Boarded up windows. All the windows that were boarded up did not leak. The front windows & door, which were not boarded up, leaked.

7. Electric company workers. Seriously, every time I think of it I'm so thankful that they spend hours upon hours working to get the electricity up.

8. Natural gas. Our stove is natural gas, so cooking was not a problem at all.

9. Cool weather. The cold front that came in was AWESOME! No electricity and muggy humid heat would have stunk! The windows are still open and I'm enjoying the fresh air.

10. Two-way radios. These sure helped in communicating with the neighbors during the storm.

11. My little Zen radio. It was the only way we knew what was going on with the storm.

Some perks of no electricity:

1. One would think there would be no perks but I found one. With no electric EVERYONE came out of there homes. We met people in the neighborhood we didn't even know existed. Kids all over were playing, people walking and talking. It reminded me of when I was growing up. There were no cell phones, computers, very few video games, so people actually did things with each other and kids actually played outside. We all remarked how sad it will be when the electricity comes on because everyone will lock themselves back up in their homes.

It amazes me that the trees were not broken, but that the wind just pushed them over.

Example of a workaholic: Ino plugged his laptop in to our generator to finish work that he needs to turn in during the next several weeks. Now that's loyalty!

Church History Vacation Part 1

I promised that I would post more about our church history vacation. Because it was such an amazing vacation and I took so many pictures I felt that the best way to share our experiences was to make a video. So far I’ve only made one for Missouri, but will post the others soon. The video is at the end of my post.

Anyway, before you watch the video, and I hope you take the time to watch it, here are a few thoughts of mine from our vacation.

1. I’ve never visited any of the church history sites outside of Utah. In fact, like most people, when you think of Mormon’s you think of Utah. But the truth of the matter is, that the North East has more Mormon history than Utah can claim. Even the US atlas notes where “Mormon Sites” are. Ken and I were really looking forward to this trip (not the driving portion), and I worried that the kids might not be as excited as we were to look at old buildings and gravestones. But to my pleasant surprise they LOVED it. I made each of the kids a travel scrapbook journal. Each time we visited a location they put a sticker on that location and wrote what they felt about it.

2. When you visit any historical site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints you will notice something different. Wherever the church is represented it is always beautiful, orderly, and clean. Whether it was an old building, home, or grave stone, the premises were kept as beautiful and peaceful as any of our temple grounds. Some places were in the middle of neighborhoods, some out in the country. No matter what there was always an atmosphere of peace where you could feel the spirit. The whole trip, almost 15 days of it, was truly a spiritual, moving, uplifting experience. One that I will never forget and cannot compare to any other family vacation in its own right.

3. All of the locations are run by Sister or Couple Missionaries. Now that was pretty cool. I enjoyed the opportunity for Daria to see women serving missions.

4. I came away with a greater testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I also came away with an even greater appreciation for those people who came before me, who suffered so much & never lost their faith. I was astounded at their faith. Everywhere they lived they were persecuted, mobbed, some tarred and feathered, some killed, some jailed, and homes and businesses burnt, all because of what they believed. Each time they were pushed out of their homes, often unable to sell them because mobs were forcing them out. Yet they would walk on foot thousands of miles to a new location and BUILD another city, not just live in tents but build a city with homes and businesses. There is a reason that Utah’s symbol is a beehive. Mormon’s are and have always been some of the hardest working industrious people around.

5. I also came away with the feeling that those who are still so against us truly do not know anything about us. It is truly a misunderstood people. We’ve been blamed for worshiping Joseph Smith instead of Christ. We've been blamed for not being Christians. I wish for any non-Mormon, to follow the trail of Mormon sites and find out for themselves that these people worshiped God and Jesus Christ alone, or just read the Book of Mormon and know that it testifies of Jesus Christ. It does not replace the Holy Bible. Everything they did was because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith who preached from the Bible, was just a mouth piece.

Lastly I came away with a greater determination to “endure well”. If these people can have such great faith in Christ and face the trials that they had to endure, then I can face my own trial with greater faith.

So the trip was wonderful. We were thrilled to be able to enjoy the whole thing with our good friends Greg, Celeste, their children and Celeste’s mom. We drove to Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and New York, which I will share more on later.

Enjoy the video. Don't forget to turn your speakers on.

Vacation Memories #1

So I mentioned that we went on a vacation for 18 days. Last year our Disney trip was wonderful, one of the best family vacations we've taken. This year was even more enjoyable, memorable and so far my favorite vacation we've ever had as a couple or as a family. Here's a brief breakdown.

1. 5,200 miles of driving. Well, of Ken driving that is. I always offer to help, but I'm never that much help and he's like seriously the "super-man" driver. Our bums were sore but we all travel well. Daria and Dustin are good long distance travelers, always have been. I count my blessings and keep my fingers crossed hoping that it doesn't change. We spent our time listening to audio books, counting license plates (we spotted all of the states but 2), and talking on the 2 way radio with our friends who were with us. Daria worked on her latch hook and Dustin spent time playing with Lego's or pretended to be an airline pilot. The only complaint we ever heard from the kids was "when are we going to eat next?".

2. Six states (Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, New York and Mississippi) and all of the other states in between that we had to cross to get to those states.

3. One wedding, 3 grandparents, lots of relatives, 2 far away friends, Niagara Falls, and myriad of incredible church history sites.

4. Another exciting trip with our friends Greg, Celeste and their kids Hannah and Gabe, and grandmother Lulu.

5. Two house visits and four hotels. We had asked for adjoining rooms at each hotel. Apparently like on Seinfeld just because you make a reservation doesn't mean you really have a reservation. On the last night we had adjoining rooms.

6. 4,000 photos (most likely times 2, I'll explain later), double the bathroom stops compared to gas stops, 18 days of "do we really have to eat out again?" Seriously, 18 days of eating out is not glamorous. By the first week nothing looks good. I'm glad we brought our own breakfast items and snacks.

7. One amazing memorable humbling testimony building trip.

So there you have it 18 days in a nutshell! Ok, now where was I.

Our trip started with a visit to Colorado for my brother's wedding. This is my brothers first marriage. I admit, he and his new wife did a great job at putting it together. They are both green and simple people. Seriously they both work for an environmental recycling company, are not into "things" and spend most of their time climbing mountains. Their wedding fit them perfectly was labeled a "zero waste" event by their company. Everything that was used was recyclable, including the invitations which were made from handmade paper from a renewable bush. The ceremony was held at one of the organic farms outside of Boulder. The ceremony was short & simple, held in an outdoor gazebo, followed by an afternoon dinner and dance inside a very cool reception hall there on the farm. There was live good quality Blue Grass music including a song sung by my uncle Paul. We really enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed seeing my family. We also had a great visit to my dad and step-mom's house, my sister's house and my mom's house. So here are a few pictures from the first few days of our trip.

My brother & his new bride

My family

Dustin, who snatched my dad's blazer and hat.

Dustin running with my sister's dog. Every boy needs a dog.

Ken, (who doesn't like horses), caught petting my sister's horse.

Daria, doing what she loves most (riding horses)

My dad going for a morning bike ride

Me doing what I love to do!

Soap Box

(note: to all my friends and family who read my blog. I will soon be changing it to a private blog and will send you an invite through blogger when I do so)

Believe it or not I’m back. We actually returned last week from an amazing, fun, totally awesome 18 day trip. I’ve not blogged yet because I have so much to blog about that it might turn into a thousand page book (18 days of vacation is a lot to blog about). But I really don’t want to write a thousand page book, so the result was no blog post.

To long blog or short blog is the question. LOL. I will try to keep it short.

In fact tonight I really just need to vent and who better to vent to than my friends.
Be warned, if you don’t like reading extremely opinionated on the soap box comments about movies, you may want to skip this paragraph.

I continue… Ken and I with another couple went on a date to see Batman. I am not a Batman type movie girl in the first place. I went because so many people said it was awesome, regardless of my inner logic telling me that any movie like this is always full of violence and the fact that Heath Ledger himself was disturbed by the character he played. Like I said I went. I’m angry that I did. I’m angry that by the time the movie started rolling I was feeling too nauseous to get up and leave (I have no idea why I got sick but I felt pretty miserable). I should have left. Seriously people, this was an extremely dark, violent film. I’m still trying to figure out what was awesome about it? The filming was awesome; the characters played their parts well, but is that really worth watching inhumane dark, abhorrent violence? I spent pretty much the majority of the film with my eyes closed or ears plugged. I do not want images like that in my head EVER. I was so saddened at how many young kids that were there with their parents. I mean young! Maybe between the ages of 5 to 8?. I wanted to scoop them up and take them out so they wouldn’t have to see those horrid images. What in the world would make anyone think that those images were appropriate for young minds, or even adult minds? It might have well been rated R. Of course if you rate it R then fewer people can pay to see it, PG-13 increases the profit margin. I thought maybe I’m protective because my children are still young, but the couple we were with have teenagers and felt that it wasn’t even appropriate for their kids. I have always wondered why for centuries crowds of people would attend hangings or beheadings. Here we are a supposedly more civilized and advanced people yet we PAY to see wicked violence and we bring our kids to watch it too!!! Think about it, countless soldiers have returned from war torn battlefields and have consequently had to take medicine and go through therapy to deal with the horrid images they saw. Yet we purposefully watch those things as entertainment?? Thoughts of the Strength of Youth pamphlet filled my head. President Hinckley’s words from the “6 B’s” filled my mind “We live in a world that is filled with filth and sleaze, a world that reeks of evil. It is all around us. It is on the television screen. It is at the movies. It is in the popular literature. It is on the Internet. You can’t afford to watch it, my dear friends. You cannot afford to let that filthy poison touch you. Stay away from it. Avoid it. You can’t rent videos and watch them as they portray degrading things. You young men who hold the priesthood of God cannot mix this filth with the holy priesthood. Remembrances of the YW presidency in 2002 reminding the youth to not watch movies that were inappropriate regardless of the rating. So there you have it, I don’t care if people call me lame, pin headed, judgmental or extreme. I will not fill my mind nor my kid’s minds with trash. I would rather pay $10.00 for a movie that I can walk away from feeling like I spent 2 hours of my life in a positive way, not walking away feeling like I’ve got putrid slime in my thoughts. I am mostly angry because I didn’t leave and because it’s marketed towards children and young people. It’s on the cereal boxes it’s on the pizza boxes, it’s in the kids meals at some fast food places. As an adult I can ignore that pressure but kids are lured into it. I also recognize that this movie was probably pretty mild compared to most out there. Finally, I recognize how hard it will be to teach my children to make smart choices about what they put into their brains…. And will pray until I’m blue in the face while they exercise their right to choose.
Thank you for letting me vent….