Spring Break---or Christmas Break?

We are going to try and find some sunshine!!!!

Please do not repeat!

I have been taking a photo class online. It has been great getting me to organize and become personal with my pictures again. The pictures that I have been sorting and such have been between 5-16 years old on average.



One of the things that I have noticed is that THERE WAS NO STYLE IN THE 90's! Women's clothing was horribly ugly! It had no shape, no style, no design. I have never been a rail thin person but I have also never been an obese person either. Every single picture of me in the 90's I look like I am at least 50 pounds overweight--just because the clothes had no style and were HUGE. The t-shirts were square boxes, with the shoulders coming to our elbows and the bottom coming to our knees! Why did anyone think that overalls were cute?(I did not wear these--way too hippy for those!) Jumper dresses for adult women. There were no cute waistlines, collars or even cute details. It was the frumpiest era of clothing EVER!

Tonight has been one of those nights that I could not have imagined in 1997. At that time I had two children. A was four and M was almost one. What I worried about was choking hazards, eating and sleeping patterns and just enjoying little tiny pudgy fingers.

Move that forward thirteen years. We have returned from the girls session of a very serious discussion about the consequences of sex. D and M are now at the boys session of the same discussion with our Bishop. It was eye opening and disturbing. It was information that needs to be shared. It was blunt but not vulgar. It was pointed and direct. It was a DVD of a discussion of a counselor/speaker talking about the realities and the consequences of choices that are being made. Choices that have consequences for a lifetime. Life and death consequences.

I came home and started sorting some more pictures. I came across these two. M was not quite one. After the frank and quite disturbing information we had learned tonight these pictures made me cry. Truth be told if I actually really knew and understood that these little people would have to grow up and deal with all the stuff they have to---I probably wouldn't have had children. It is just so difficult.

(picture from summer 2009)

I am home from church with MissE who was not feeling well this morning. I have done a whole lot of nothing!

My crocus are up!!! I was right--they were hiding under the dead stuff--now to actually clean away so we can have a lovely looking spring garden!!!

It is almost 9:00 am on Monday morning. I am sitting here at the computer in my bathrobe while my little J man is still sawing logs. I am leaving him asleep even though I had planned to go back to the gym. I figure if he is sleeping past 9:00 am he probably really needs the extra sleep!

Monday morning as always are a mixed boat for me. This day has begun well. I was up and going at 4:35 am after pushing the snooze button. The girls picked me up and we attended Zumba. I am still like an elephant with left feet only but I am sweating when we are through--I guess that is worth something!

I have fixed six meals including a lunch for D. I have picked up all laundry and switched and traded three loads--there are only a bazillion left but at least the machines are running!

So--here I sit. So many possibilities, so little time!

*laundry--always, always laundry
*dusting--kids can do later
*bathrooms--kids can do later
*vacuuming--kids
*my photo workshop needs some attention--lots and lots--more than I seem to ever be able to give it.
*pantry--it is getting deep again.
*I really should take the valentine"s day decorations down-and put up some Easter stuff!
*Visiting Teaching

Well, it appears that this will be a busy week as usual. We have lots of spring stuff that needs done. The snow is almost completely gone from my yard and my flower beds. Which makes me want to jump up and down. Then I look at the nastiness left and I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of cleanup my yard needs. However, I am starting to see little bits of life, I see little green tops of iris that are popping through. I haven't seen my little crocus yet but I expect them any day--they are probably there just hiding underneath last years growth that didn't get cut down!!!

Always so much to do. I think about all the things and get overwhelmed. So, I am going to just keep trying to do something and hope that it is a step in the right direction!

Memories For a Lifetime

These two girls have been best friends since they were tiny. They have had other friends along the way but they have always returned to each other, never having really abandoned the other. I am glad that they got to share this special night with each other.

MissA's dress was full of exquisite detail. We literally had to tie her into the dress!

There has been a tradition for years that the Young Women wear their dresses to church the next day. As we were taking the pictures the Stake President came out so they all have a picture with him.

Shoes are a big thing---these girls totally thought about their shoe choice! I know that they were all more comfortable than if they had worn traditional heels!

Junior Prom 2010

Junior Prom 2010

Beautiful MissA had her junior prom this past Saturday. In our town this is a BIG DEAL! They make sure that every girl has a date and they make it a very special night.

A went with her friend S and they doubled with A's bff.

I didn't realize just how big of a deal it was until we went to the school for the Promenade. They had the stage decorated like a castle and they presented each junior and their escort, said their names and their parents names.

After the Promenade everyone was in the commons area hugging and taking pictures, much like a graduation. It was really a surreal experience. Here are all these beautiful girls and handsome young men--they were our children! It doesn't seem like it has been long enough since they were tiny little babies.

After the picture taking fest the parents were invited to the dance for the "first dance". We didn't know what it really was but were told we really needed to go. So we did. The first dance of the Prom was dedicated to the parents. The Dad's danced with their beautiful daughters and the Mom's with their sons. The song that played was the country song Stealing Cinderella.

As I watched my sweet husband dance with my beautiful growing up daughter I was very teary eyed. I am so glad that we got to have that special moment.

Where I grew up the Prom was just another dance. It wasn't a big deal. I have always thought that too much of a deal was made of it here. I now think differently. I do think that the expense is nuts, however, as I watched all these beautiful girls in their princess dresses cross the stage and then dance with their Daddies--I knew that this was a really special night. One that these girls will treasure in their hearts forever. In this life we only get to be the Princess once or twice if we are lucky. I am glad that our little Princess got to enjoy it.

Happy Birthday Dad! March 12, 1941 was a bright day in the world. Today(march 12 2010) you would be sixty nine years old.

We have missed your bright light and blue eyes for much too long.

I have been going to yoga off and on---about once a week (give or take a few weeks here and there) since September.

I really want to "get" yoga. I don't yet. I stand there and still feel like a frumpy dork that can't balance on one leg!

Why then do I keep going? Why do I return to something that I am not good at?

I just don't know. I know that it is easy for me to quit. I don't want to be a quitter. The bigger reason I keep going is to see if I can finally get to the point that I LOVE IT! I hear the wonderful positive things about yoga and I want to experience them! I want to feel what other people feel about yoga. The mind/body connection. The clearing of the mind connection.

I also want to be able to bend like a pretzel.

Here is my little man. It has been quite a week. His surgery was last Wednesday, he did great except for not wanting to wake up! His eye has looked really awful--even worse than the picture here. He has played and played and then he just crashes. This morning he slept until 9:00am!

I am glad that he is doing so well. It has been an experience to look at this wounded little boy all week. I sure pray that he will never have to worry about this eye again.

I am longing for summer. On this lovely Tuesday, if you were to ask me about this winter I would tell you it has been long. Another day of the month and I would tell you that it has been a good winter, not so long, dark and dreary. So---for today, I will imagine Summer!

It is Monday once again and I feel like I missed last week! My house is in shambles and I figure that I best get to work!

I have so much I want to do that does not involve laundry that I have to focus focus focus!!!

The funny story of the weekend--D got me a new cell phone. Mine broke in half. He did some research and it was cheaper for me to get a blackberry with a smart phone package than to have me paying for individual texts and directory assistance. WEll, I haven't ever used this type of phone. D has had one for years, it has been a great thing for his business. Well there is a feature that is like instant messenger for blackberry users. We set it up so that I could text him and it wouldn't count against my text limit for the month.

S0---we are both sitting in the living room--I am asking him questions after questions. I decide to try out the new messenger thingy. His phone beeps and he looks up at me! I laugh and tell him that we are now like the teenage girls that will be sitting next to each other not talking but sending texts to each other! It was a very silly moment. All this new technology is great but also makes me crazy!!!

(J's b-day trip on the train-Oct. 2008)

My sweet little boy is almost back to normal after his surgery for his strabismus(lazy eye). The surgery went well. We were there from 7:00 am until 12:30pm--it was a long morning. He then came home and slept until 5:00pm, woke for about an hour, tried to eat about two spoonfuls of applesauce(after the egg came back up) and then had medicine and was back asleep until the next day!

The next day(yesterday) we went to the Dr. to have his patch removed. The Doc says it looks perfect, so that is good news. We went to the dreaded McDonald's for breakfast and he ate the entire big breakfast! He was starving. He came home and played like nothing had happened to him.

Today he woke up screaming! We had to settle him down and get his drops in his eye and some motrin and then he was fine. He has been playing all morning. His eyelid is much more swollen today, the eye itself still looks totally gross--all red and meaty.

I am so glad that we were able to get this treated quickly and that apparently it has worked well. He will be checked in a month and then every six months until he is nine or ten. The strangest thing about his situation is that it manifested so suddenly. It is diagnosed in most babies in their first year. J's eye's were fine. One day right before Christmas I noticed it. I just kept staring and having him look at me from different angles. The next morning, D asked if I had noticed J's eye. I call the Dr. immediately. The Dr. said that he probably was born with the actual muscle length problem--but his muscle and brain were able to compensate. Finally, in December 2009 his eye muscle just got tired and couldn't make up the difference anymore. That is when we suddenly saw the wandering out eye.

Hopefully, he will recover quickly and he will never have to worry about this situation ever again.

(hopefully, tomorrow I will have some other pictures to post- they are on D's cell phone. I am going to take one of him now with the eye looking so icky)

This sweet little boy has to have eye surgery tomorrow. His Momma is a mess!

Spring has Sprung!!!

I survived!!! It is officially MARCH!!!!! I am so happy about this! This means that I did indeed make it through another long, dark winter! Amazingly, I actually did great this winter, only feeling the horrible winter doldrums on a rare occasion. I know that the early morning exercising has been what has made the difference. I am grateful that I have my "morning girls" to help me get my carcass out of the bed!!!!

We went to our friends who live on the other side of the mountain from us--they are always about a month ahead of us in the warm-up---she had crocus blooming in her garden!!!!

BRING ON SPRING!!