Let the Sewing begin.... or begin again that is...

It's that time of year again. Halloween costume sewing. Just for the record, I'm really not into the "Halloween Holiday" per say, I could take it or leave it. BUT I really like the chance to dress up. Each year we've tried to get our patterns earlier hoping that we would be done early. It's not possible. Bought pattern during summer break. Cut out pieces in August. Sewing two weeks before Halloween. Oh well I'm not complaining. This is an easy pattern. The original pattern I chose called for 17 yards of fabric. This one is WAY less. Unfortunately even though my measurements matched what was on the pattern envelope, once I sewed my dress, and tried it on I found that two of me could have fit in it. Spent the day picking the seems out. Re-cut at the smaller size. Spent the evening sewing it back up. No problem just irritating. As I've been sewing I was thinking of why I even sew costumes because I do find it enjoyable. I have come to find out that for me, I am drawn to period costuming. NOT that I've ever made an authentic period costume but it interests me and I think that one day I just might make an accurate historical piece of clothing using real patterns and materials. One day...

On another note. There is this family owned grocery store in town. It's been around I think as long as the town has been and so far hasn't been gobbled up by Wal-mart. I find myself there periodically, like yesterday. It's like a step back in time, but a good step. The store is clean and bright. Elevator music is playing and somehow when you come in the music is so soothing you feel like slowly going up and down each isle. It reminds me of when I was a kid. The atmosphere is welcoming and personal. I was lucky enough to find some "Classic Dentyne". Why is this so interesting? Well, I am always on the hunt for gum that does not have artificial sweetener in it. Hate it. Hate its taste. Hate its aftertaste. Furthermore why do they even need to put artificial sweetener in gum anyway? Seriously, how many pieces would you have to eat to make an impact on your health? I did buy some from the health food store but this didn't stop my search. So I saw this new "Classic Dentyne" and bought it. Put a piece in my mouth. Again, it took me back about 20 years in its cinnamon packed flavor! Ahhhh and NO aftertaste.

Our community had a garage sale this past Saturday. All of us earned a good chunk of change. Dustin is saving money for a Lego Star Wars set. Daria is just saving money. Ken broke his big toe during the whole process. Ouch! It will take 4 weeks to heal but he will be fine.

Now I'm off to enjoy a delicious piece of classic gum!

Memorable Moments

This past Sunday was our ward Primary program. Initially it was supposed to be in September, but the lack of electricity due to the hurricane pushed it to October. I was really looking forward to this program. While subbing one Sunday I was able to hear the children practice and even then the selection of songs and balance between song, scripture and talks was inspiring. BUT, the main reason I was looking forward to this program is because Daria and Dustin were singing a song together, just the two of them. This is the first time they've done something like this. I'm still amazed that they were willing to accept the assignment. When Janalen called me to extend the assignment I thought it was a great idea but told her that she would need to ask them. If I asked them they would say no (parent child dynamics unfortunately). She asked them and to my surprise they said yes. So we practiced for a few months at home and darn if they didn't sound so cute together. The song they were to sing was "Home is Where the Heart is". Daria sang the first verse, Dustin the second and then they both sang the thrid verse.

At any rate while they sang it well during practice I wondered if nerves would get the best of them while singing in front of 300 people. My worries were put to rest as they both sang clear and loud enough for the audience to hear. Oh how I wish I could have recorded it. It was so sweet!! WAy to go Daria and Dustin. They also spoke their individual parts very well.

This program brought to light some things about my kids that I've not ever noticed or thought of.

Dustin. When I look back on Dustin's short 6 years of life, one thing that can be said of him is he is fearless and couragious about sharing the gospel. He has always been forward about inviting others to church, singing the hymns around friends, playing "Army of Helamen" with his friends (pretending to be NEphites), handing out Books of Mormon without being prompted. So I suppose it was no surprise at the beginning of the year when the kids started learning songs for the program that Dustin announced he would like to invite his Kindergarten teacher. Fast forward to September Dustin, who is now in 1st grade with a different teacher, asked me if I had invited Mrs. H. Then the hurricane happened. Now into October he continued to press hoping that Mrs. H. would come to the Primary program. I left a message on her cell phone but didn't hear back. Sunday morning, I felt sad for Dustin because he continued to hope she would be there. I felt prompted to call. No answer. Then a minute later the phone rings. Mrs. H said she WAS coming to the program. Oh my!!!! can you believe that? She did show up along with her teenage daughter and sat with us. She was delighted that he invited her and she was delighted to see another boy who is in her class this year and said she enjoyed the program. I thought to myself that I really just think Dustin has a great measure of faith in that area. It was neat to see one of his small gifts.

Daria. When DAria takes on a challenge she takes it seriously and wants to do well. She says she doesn't like being in front of other people performing and gets nervous but I think that nervousness must be transfered into poise. When she plays the piano in her recitals it's as if no one else is in the room, she seems at ease. Sunday morning she came down stairs and exlaimed that she didn't want to sing in front of everyone, not that she wouldn't but she was nervous. But when it was her turn to stand up and speak her part she had it memorized, leaned into the microphone and looked out directly at the audience and spoke smoothly and clearly. When it was time to sing her song wiht Dustin she stood straight and tall, poised and composed and sang very well. I had not really noticed that about her before, although when I look back on her choir concerts I remember that she did the same thing.

Another thing about Daria that I've noticed is her excitement to serve others. I've mentioned it before that when our friend was diagnosed with cancer her first words were "who'se going to cook for her?". Daria made two full square meals all by herself this summer for our friend and her family. For my birthday she asked me to pick out some scrap material from my material box. I did. Then she shut herself in her room for the day. I could hear the sewing maching humming away. The outcome was a super cute pillow with "mom" stiched on it as well. What could be better than a gift that someone thought up and spent time making.

Thanks for letting me admire my kdis for a moment. The biggest lesson I learned this past month is that all to often I'm focusing on the things about my kids that need to change or be worked on that sometimes I forget the super neat things about them.

Church History Vacation # 2

Nauvoo and Carthage Illinois

As promised I've finished my next video from our Church History Vacation this summer. Making this video was not an easy task. Nauvoo alone set me back about 900 photos. How do you choose the photos that will easily convey the "total awesomeness" without using them all? A note to anyone who has not been to Nauvoo in the last 5 years or more. It's been COMPLETELY rebuilt. We could have spent a whole week there and maybe visited everything we wanted to visit, or watched all the shows. Plan carefully!

1. Getting to Nauvoo was an adventure in itself. Due to the recent flooding that the Midwest experienced right before our trip, we encountered several detours, several very frustrating detours.

2. At midnight we came across an accident where one semi-truck ran through the side of another semi-truck carrying pigs. Not a pretty sight.

3. Thanks to the nice police lady who let us through the wreckage and our 2 way radio's to talk to Greg & Celeste with, we were able to get on our way.

4. Trying to find the bridge that crosses the Mississippi at 1:30a in the morning was like looking for a needle in a haystack. One stop for directions, kids who were wide awake, and some very frustrated drivers, we made it to the toll bridge. The lady looked at Ken and said "you look so sad", to which Ken replied "you have no idea".

5. At 2:00a we arrived at our awesome hotel which was directly across the street from the temple (thanks to Greg our super trip scheduler). Basically we paid a gob of money for a night that we didn't even use. But it was worth it the next morning to wake up and open the window and see the temple.

It is amazing to think of the events and people who settled this area. I felt that everywhere I walked was packed with history. You may wonder why I took so many photos. Well in Nauvoo there are over 60 places alone that you can visit and tour. This doesn't include any other spots that are marked but not tourable. Then there are the shows that we missed.

For those who've never been, the LDS church has gone in and restored, reconstructed and built many of the 350 buildings that existed when the saints lived there. Everything is run by missionaries dressed in period clothing. You tour, you learn, you get to do hands on things. The kids loved it. Daria, Dustin, and Hannah learned how to make candles out of animal fat, brush wool, spin yarn, make wicks, tin, boots, bricks, bread, and guns. They even made their own jump rope, tasted some root beer from Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store, and took a test in the school house.

Probably one of the coolest tours was the Jonathon Browning Gunsmith building. This is Celeste's direct ancestor. When we walked in there was a picture of her great grandmother (I think it's 5 greats) and she looked just like Celeste's grandmother. Lulu was amazed!

I never made it by the land records office. My great grandfather (5 greats) David Evans lived in Nauvoo (he ended up Mayor of Lehi, Utah). That was on my dad's side. On my mom's side I had another ancestor who lived in Nauvoo, Thomas C. Smith.

The visitors center also boasts a beautiful Women's Monument garden that celebrates the divine nature & heritage of women. I was moved by this garden & it's monuments. Where in the world can you go as a woman to be celebrated for who you are, not some huge worldly thing but because you were created a wonderful woman by God. Totally amazing.

900 photos could have been 1300, but unfortunately the Community of Christ church owns the Joseph Smith sites. They charge a minimal fee to tour the locations and do not allow any photographs inside. This was VERY frustrating (it was the same in Missouri and Ohio). But the tours were awesome.

The Nauvoo temple by far is the most amazing temple I've ever been in. Salt Lake is cool, but this one was incredible. The outside is constructed exactly as it was in 1841. Because they didn't know what the inside looked like, it was constructed using materials and designs from that era and resembled some portions of the Kirtland temple. It had tons of deep rich woodwork, & spiraling staircases. There were also some neat artifacts there as well, like Mary Fielding Smith's slippers, & other temple artifacts. We were so thrilled to be able to attend the temple there.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but you will just have to visit and experience it for yourself. We know that we will be back!

Here is the video. It's long, about 12 minutes. Sorry, it's lengthy, but my real purpose for making it was for our family and Greg & Celeste's family to reminisce about our trip. Hopefully you have the time to sit down and enjoy it, heck, sit down with a candy bar and enjoy. Don't forget to turn up your speakers. The songs I've selected were chosen for a reason. (if you've not watched the video from Missouri, it's on the September 1st post).

Lame

Ok, so I worked my tail off putting together a video for the second leg of our church history vacation. Only problem is I can't upload it to the internet. Why you may ask? Well even though we live in the age of amazing technology, heart transplants, cell phones, and Wii's, you can't upload videos that are more than 100mb (mine was only 93mb) nor longer than 5 minutes, UNLESS you want to pay for services to allow you to upload a 10 minute video. I've looked at youtube, photobucket, smugmug, and can't do it. Blogger allows 100mb, but for some reason it won't let me upload and I have a feeling it's because it's 11 minutes long.

So I sit here frustrated. I KNOW I've seen videos on the web that are bigger and longer. Seriously people!!!! I want to upload my video!

vent, vent, vent.

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.