Saturday

We had a fun little birthday party for my favorite 7-year-old, Alexa. She had 4 friends (one was Camille) at her party. We made Shrinky Dinks that they then strung on necklaces. Then we had a tea party with Tang and Grasshopper cookies (Drew calls them caterpillars.)
This is what Dennis had to do during the party. We have been without family-sized transportation for over a week! The fuel pump went out at piano lessons. We used the car to tow the van home. Dennis got a new fuel pump and still had to wait several days for enough time and the right weather (like not snowing kind of weather) to install it. The van still wouldn't run! After much thought and talking to John, his brother (and I will say prayer!), they concluded that they must have sold him the wrong pump! The right part did the trick! We were able to all have our own seat belts to go to church yesterday and not piled 2 deep all the way around (like the olden days).

Gifts

I’ve been contemplating about what I said about Jeffrey in my last entry. I have wondered if I was being mean and insensitive. I have wondered if people reading this would think, "What a rude mom!" I'm going to leave it because of my intentions, which I will explain, even though maybe (hopefully) I don’t even have to, as in maybe it came across the way I intended it.
I was trying to point out one of Jeffrey’s gifts. He is happy! He lets things roll off his back. And I think most of the time he doesn’t even notice things that would bother most people. I am so glad that Jeffrey goes out for track and cross country. It is so good for him and I hope he will always strive for his personal best in all aspects of his life.

So I've been contemplating strengths and weaknesses (I think I do this often.) Raising children has taught me much. I remember as a child hearing that sometimes our greatest strengths can be our greatest weaknesses. I didn’t understand that at all! Now I can see clearly how, for example, an easy going child can also tend settle for mediocrity. I’ve also watched, in some of my children, how a certain zealousness can be wonderful but if not kept in check extreme frustration can set in. Watching my children also sometimes causes some painful searching within myself.

Well, it is all good. And a loving Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. He gave us strengths or gifts and he also gave us weaknesses to overcome to make us better and more fit to serve in the kingdom. I was listening to the worldwide training meeting yesterday. There is so much wonderful counsel given there. Along with so many other things, this quote by Sister Tanner really hit me:

"On the subject of rearing children, we will probably have people in our audience who are going to start feeling bad about themselves. The discrepancy between the ideal and the reality of everyday life sometimes seems very large to us as mothers and fathers. But I know that being a mother or father is an eternal role, an eternal calling, and that with that calling, as with any calling, we are blessed with a mantle. We need that mantle, and we need the spirit of that mantle with us constantly as we rear our children. In fact, I think that we, like Elisha, need a double portion of that spirit as we rear our children (see 2 Kings 2:9). I know Heavenly Father will bless us with that. These are His children, and He will bless us with a double portion of the spirit as we seek to rear them in righteousness."

I have to admit that I don't know exactly what a "double portion" of the spirit is. But it sounds very much like something I'd like to have, like one of those "best gifts." (D&C 46:8) I pray to be so blessed!!!!

District Track

I'm late getting this posted because there have been many things going on. Last week Dennis took the day off so we could go watch Jeffrey at district track. We enjoyed the day even though it was windy and a bit on the cold side. Jeffrey is a happy kid, thank goodness. He doesn't run the fastest or jump the farthest, but he is happy to participate and happy to be involved. In the words of his friend, "Jeffrey, you are lucky. You got 3rd place because there were only 4 kids in the race and one of them was me." The kid who spoke those words got 4th place and is just as happy-go-lucky as Jeffrey is. I just had to laugh, and luckily, so did Jeffrey!

I'm proud of my boy!

Happy Mother's Day

Since it is Mother’s Day tomorrow I wanted to write a little about my mom. (I think this was Mom's graduation from BYU--'cause that isn't a West Side color!)

My mom loves homemaking. I learned so much from her. She had seven children. She taught us, she fed us, she sewed for us, she took us to church, she faithfully held family home evening. She likes a clean house and she taught us how to clean. (I still remember the lesson on how to clean the bathroom.) My parents paid for me to take piano lessons. My mom taught me to cook and sew. Every now and then I can still hear her instructions as I cook or do sewing projects.

These are all homemade dresses (either Holly Hobby was all that was available or else we just really liked her because 3 of them are Holly Hobby fabric!) Two of the dresses (Darcee's and Andi's) had duplicates. Mom liked matching dresses (so did I but others didn't.) I think my mom also made the dress she is wearing.

We were excited about our new purple night gowns (I think Danna is holding hers upside down. It looks rather large for her!)
Mom and I made these matching p.j.s for a family camping trip. (Where's Andi, you ask? I was wondering the same thing!)

She was the Young Women president when I was a Mia Maid. It was always fun to have her at girls camp and at mutual. She supported my in Jr. Miss and comforted me when I dismally failed.

My mom is a hard worker. She has always had a beautiful garden. She cans fruits and vegetables.

Every time I have had a new baby, my mom has either come to help with the baby or has taken my older children to her house. After Brandon was born I got really sick so she took me and my kids to her house until I was feeling better.

My mom has helped me so much in the past year. The day after I was diagnosed with cancer we went down to my parent’s for General Conference. It was so comforting to be there. I watched in amazement as my parents shed tears over me. I knew that they loved me. I talked on the phone quite often to my mom during that time. It helped me so much to know that Mom cared about me! The day before my first chemo treatment she came and helped me clean my house. She took Mary and Drew for a few days when I had surgery. Drew was very homesick. She gave him my baby blanket to help comfort him. She took very good care of them. It meant so much to me at that difficult time. Then she came every Thursday while I was doing radiation and drove me to my appointment. Then she took me out to lunch. She also brought my family dinner on those days. It was a very long day of driving for her but for those seven weeks, I looked forward to Thursdays so much!

My kids love to write letters to their grandma. She always writes back to them. She is a very good grandma. We always can expect to recieve Halloween and Valentines treats in the mail. Thanks Mom for all you do for us!

Thanks so much for your example and for teaching me the gospel. I’m very grateful for all you have done for me! I love you!

P.S. I no longer have a scanner so all of these photos are photos of photos. Not the best quality at all, but you get an idea of what we all look like.

TAG

Dustin and Whitney tagged me and I also wanted to do Darcee’s "fake tag" so here goes:
A- ATTACHED OR SINGLE: Attached
B- BEST FRIEND: Dennis is my boyfriend :-), Carolee and Joddi are my girlfriends.
C- CAKE OR PIE: Pie, I guess, with ice cream.
D- DAY OF CHOICE: Tuesday (usually the majority of the housework was done on Monday)
E- ESSENTIAL ITEM: Paper trimmer
F- FAVORITE COLOR: Pink and green probably, but I like lots of colors.
G- GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Marrying Dennis
H- HOMETOWN: Preston
I- INDULGENCES: A good novel
J- JANUARY OR JULY: July
K- KIDS: 3 boys, 3 girls
L- LIFE IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT: My family and the gospel
M- MARRIAGE DATE: September 10, 1993
N- NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: 3 sisters, 3 brother
O- ORANGES OR APPLES: Oranges
P- PHOBIAS OR FEARS: Snakes--I HATE them!!!
Q- QUOTES: The first, middle and last thing to do is to pray. ~Henry B. Eyring
R- REASON TO SMILE: Mary got up behind me on my craft chair with me today and pushed me off!
S- SEASONING: cumin
T- TAG A FRIEND:Kimberly and Dennis
U- UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I have good peripheral vision.
V- VERY FAVORITE STORE: Roberts and JoAnn
W- WORST HABIT: Computering or crafting or reading when I should be cleaning etc.
X- X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND: Does radiation count?
Y- YOUR FAVORITE FOOD: Garcias.
Z-YOUR ZODIAC SIGN: Leo
Darcee’s Tag
A- Analytic or Impulsive? Too impulsive
B- Book or TV? Book but I do enjoy relaxing in front of the TV once in a blue moon.
C- Credit or Debit? Debit
D- Dance or Sit out? Dance sometimes, sit out sometimes.
E- Exact or Approximate? Approximate, without question.
F- Fries or Onion Rings? Homemade onion rings, oven fries.
G- Gold or Silver? Both.
H- Hamburgers or Hot dogs? Hamburgers
I- Instrumental or Vocal? Both
J- Jack-of-all-trades or One-forte? Probably mediocre Jack.
K- Kisses or Hugs? Kisses
L- Laundry or Dishes? Dishes
M- Manna or Moola? Manna
N- Night or Morning? Morning.
O- Online or In person (shopping)? Both.
P- Paper or Plastic? Paper.
Q- Quotes or Sermons? Both
R- Rice or Potatoes? I sort of have to force myself to eat either, and do so because potatoes are plentiful and cheap and brown rice is healthy.
S- Stripes or Polka Dots? Polka Dots
T- Teenagers or Toddlers? Both.
U- Umbrella or Rain slicker? Neither, I live in the desert.
V- Vanilla or Chocolate? Chocolate
W- Weed or Mow? Mow weeds.
X- X-ray or Ultrasound? How about CT scan?
Y- Yard work or Housework? Housework
Z- Zippers or Buttons? Buttons, I think. And speaking of buttons and since it was Dustin who tagged me, it reminded me of one of my favorite memories of him. He taught me how to sew on buttons with the sewing machine. He was amazed that I didn’t know how and that I thought the only way was by hand! And I was amazed that a boy could teach me something about sewing!Remember that Dustin?

A Project

Last year Darcee made me "A Book of Little Joys".

When I found out a girl in our ward had cancer I wanted to make her and her mom a book of little joys. They were fun and easy! Easy mostly because I "lifted" Darcee's ideas. (hope you don't mind, Darcee! I wish I could free hand the lettering like you do, but thank goodness for a computer and *skills*) Alyssa's favorite color is yellow. I hope she likes her book! I made her mom's book pink, purple and green. (she is like me, she doesn't necessarily have a favorite color.) I thought they turned out cute.

Odds and Ends

I liked this picture that Camille took the other night of the field behind our house. It has just been planted in sugar beets.

Lest we need more evidence of Mary being everywhere... She has now figured out how to climb up on my craft table. This was just before she pulled a drawer all the way out and was lucky not to fall on the floor with it. Normally I would crop out the whole mess but I'm a little bit proud of the relative tidiness of it at this point. (It's rare, I tell you.) Not perfect but I have a clear spot on the table!

Brandon had a game Friday night. He is doing very well. He plays 2nd base, 3rd base, short stop and left field (not all at the same time). He is a good batter but gets anxious and swings at stuff he shouldn't. When he does get a hit it flies far!

After Brandon's game we went to a wedding reception. This is my first mission companion Lark. She and her husband Brad have raised her sister's children since her sister died. Her niece just married a local guy. I was so happy to get to go and see Lark again and meet her niece. Lark was a wonderful companion and is such a nice person. I wish we could see each other more often!

Last night at about 8, I was finally getting the dinner dishes done and I saw our neighbor passing by with a trailer and this tractor-looking thing on it. He stopped in front of our house and then backed up and pulled into our driveway. He came to the door and asked if we would like him to plow our garden. I told him we hadn't tilled it yet because we will be expanding our drain fields and may be digging into the garden area. He said that he could have it done in 15 minutes and it wouldn't harm anything if we did have to dig. So he got it off the trailer and got to work. Sure enough it didn't take him more than 15 minutes to do it! We have such nice neighbors!

I wanted to let Dennis see the tractor(he was at a track meet). But being a basicly shy person I didn't want to take the picture myself so I sent Camille out with my camera. Thanks Camille!

Here Comes a Tornado

Here are a few of Mary's antics:

-throwing everything from a shelf of the pantry on the floor

-breaking a mason jar in the process (an empty one, gratefully)

-carrying a full jar of honey into the living room (gratefully again, she was unable to get the lid off)

-emptying all her drawers every time the bathroom door is left open

-dipping her clothes that she gets from her drawers (which are in the bathroom) in the toilet

-emptying out the drawers of the kitchen too many times to count

-climbing onto the table

-pushing a chair to the cupboard to reach something she wants

-falling into the tub while I'm showering (twice!)

-turning on the phone on unbeknownst to me so no one can call for an entire night (this when Dennis was camping with the boys and needed to call!)

I told my kids that Mary needs a t-shirt that says, "Here comes Trouble!" Camille thought it was a great idea! (Could it be that she needed a similar shirt when she was a similar age to Mary? Camille's exploits include dumping a bottle of shampoo on the carpet, dumping out spices and throwing her plate full of food at the wall--and that was all in one day--and I'm not kidding!) (Dennis thinks the shirt should say "Here comes terror".)

But it is so endearing when Mary says, "Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom." Those are her only words so far (except for her darling and constant chatter). And she cuddles like no other. How I love this sweet little one!