Lake Powell is one of the most beautiful and amazing lakes in our nation. It also holds some good memories from quite a few years ago as we went once or twice with my aunt Patty and her family (and mine) on their houseboat. I was an adult at the time and the memories were of water skiing, cliff jumping, getting very tan, sleeping on the roof of the houseboat, watching satellites and shooting stars, and the warm waters of Lake Powell.
Jacob (Wall) had the idea to relive some of the memories and so last year he decided to put together a plan to rent a houseboat and invited many of us to accompany him and his family. A couple of weeks ago the time finally came to pass for us to go. It took a lot of preparation and money on his part, and I thank him and Cari for all they did. The trip, in my mind, was a complete success.
We left Phoenix on Tuesday morning in our van with Hazel added to our usual passengers. The ride went well as we were in no hurry and we stopped briefly in Flagstaff for gas and treats. We then met up with Cari and Kathy (Cox) in Page at the McDonalds as we waited for Jacob and my father to have the houseboat ready for us to board in Wahweap Marina. After a Hot'n Spicy chicken sandwich we drove to the marina and within minutes we had our stuff packed on the boat and were headed out on the lake. This was a stark contrast to years before when sometimes this phase was long and hot. The marina made this easy and we were off.
Tevia, my dad, Tevia, and Malik went in the speed boat while the rest of us took to the houseboat. Jake and I had decided to go a certain route to Padre Bay, which looked great according to Google Maps and the one map we had. But apparently those maps were out of date and due to the lower water we had to go the long way. This was okay as the way through the Narrows was gorgeous; it just took much longer. I stayed on top of the houseboat for much of the trip adding navigation advice and using the binoculars to see the red rock and other boats. It took us some time to finally arrive in Padre Bay and we were able to find the other boat (which had gone ahead to scout a spot). They found a great spot right in front of Gunsight Butte. We beached the houseboat and began the next few days in the shadow of this beautiful landmark.
My memories of the first evening there are of Tevia and I cooking (we usted the BBQ to do chicken, which came out great). I also was able to go out and remembered how to get up on a wakeboard (it had been years). But my favorite memory of that first night was all of us sitting on the top of the houseboat that first night and looking at the stars. I had my laser pointer and my Google Sky app which helped us locate constellations and other objects like the Andromeda galaxy. It was amazingly beautiful and we saw many satellites and shooting stars as well. We even saw the international space station go across the sky, which was so bright in this wilderness it was impossible not to think it was some UFO. I didn't sleep much the first night (rarely do on any camping trip), but the night was cool and the moon bright (after most of us were asleep and after looking at the stars).
The rest of the trip, my highlights were:
- Wakeboarding several times and learning how to do a 180 and just enjoying the glass that we had several times per day
- Taking a trip into Antelope Point marina to get gas and some other things. We did this on Thursday (Jacob, Tevia, Enok, and Malik) and we got a nice lime popsicle and a big cup of orange soda.
- Jumping/Diving off the boat (we didn't ever find a great place to cliff jump so this was our thrill for the week)
- Going on hikes with my boys and rolling rocks into the lake as well as skipping rocks
- Going on a long hike with Tevia
- Driving the speed boat several times for people
- Tubing with Tommy while Jacob drove and realizing how much energy/strength it takes to do this (when going fast)
- Watching the stars every night
- Having Jimmy arrive for the brief day or so he was there
In the end the trip was great. The weather could not have been better (not too hot, not too cold). Nobody got hurt or really all that sunburned (only Jimmy and Holly of all of us even got burned at all). The food and snacks were great. The boats never broke down.
On Saturday we packed up and headed out before noon. The long trip back to the marina went great and my mom and Tevia joined me for much of the trip back on the top of the boat. Once we docked we were packed in our cars and headed out within an hour or so. We took Hazel with us again. We stopped at Sonic for lunch in Page on the way back this time and the drive was great.
Thank you Jacob for setting all of this up and spending so much of your time on money on some wonderful family memories. I had a great time. I'm sure we'll end up there again some time in the next few years.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
My mother
Bernice Margaret Balsom, born 1928.
When she moved into assisted living, she had to get rid of lots of her stuff. She gave me 2 journals. Since I had plenty of time today, I picked them up to read through them. I found them entrancing.
It is funny how little we appreciate our mothers when we are small.
I also noticed how much like her I am. She was a very grateful person, almost every day she would write one thing she was grateful for, even the smallest things, like that she could still walk, or being able to read.
She loved to learn, and often spoke of the classes she took at the community college when all her friends thought she was too old to go to classes. She prayed for a soul mate after she was a widow for sometime, and her journals says she was grateful God heard her prayers and that Milan was a miracle to her in her life.
She had bad days and good days, like us all. She missed her kids, and grandkids. She wrote about how she wished she lived by them. She treasured every time she saw me and any of our family.
She loved me. She wrote how wonderful all her children turned out. What a nice thing to read. I think we always want to know our mother loves us.
Quote- "I am so happy because I have people who love me". First page of her journal.
She also mentions God often, and talks about how she loves to sing in church and pray and how He has always guided her in her life.
It was a beautiful way to spend some time today. I am grateful for her.
" A mother is a person who seeing there are only 4 pieces of pie for 5 people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." I found this quote in her journal.
She really did sacrifice a lot for us kids.
November 9, 1999
"I don't want to die yet. I love to look at the trees and walk among them. I love to fluff my pillows on my bed. I love to make plans to do things. Life is so full of things to enjoy."
to my children- and their spouses- I love you all, and always will. You truly bring me joy.
When she moved into assisted living, she had to get rid of lots of her stuff. She gave me 2 journals. Since I had plenty of time today, I picked them up to read through them. I found them entrancing.
It is funny how little we appreciate our mothers when we are small.
I also noticed how much like her I am. She was a very grateful person, almost every day she would write one thing she was grateful for, even the smallest things, like that she could still walk, or being able to read.
She loved to learn, and often spoke of the classes she took at the community college when all her friends thought she was too old to go to classes. She prayed for a soul mate after she was a widow for sometime, and her journals says she was grateful God heard her prayers and that Milan was a miracle to her in her life.
She had bad days and good days, like us all. She missed her kids, and grandkids. She wrote about how she wished she lived by them. She treasured every time she saw me and any of our family.
She loved me. She wrote how wonderful all her children turned out. What a nice thing to read. I think we always want to know our mother loves us.
Quote- "I am so happy because I have people who love me". First page of her journal.
She also mentions God often, and talks about how she loves to sing in church and pray and how He has always guided her in her life.
It was a beautiful way to spend some time today. I am grateful for her.
" A mother is a person who seeing there are only 4 pieces of pie for 5 people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." I found this quote in her journal.
She really did sacrifice a lot for us kids.
November 9, 1999
"I don't want to die yet. I love to look at the trees and walk among them. I love to fluff my pillows on my bed. I love to make plans to do things. Life is so full of things to enjoy."
to my children- and their spouses- I love you all, and always will. You truly bring me joy.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Alone
I've had the chance to know what it would be like to live as a bachelor before. But it has been a while since I've been alone for more than a few days. With Tevia and the boys up in the mountains this last week, I found myself once again in that situation. Most people who know me know I don't like being alone. I never have. Whether that is because I was an only child for so long or just a part of my personality, I'm not sure. But I paid attention to what I did this last week as maybe it would be an indicator of what I would do if I were single (though probably not as this isn't a very scientific experiment or observation).
The first surprising thing is that I actually work more. This made sense after I thought about it because there was nobody else around to talk to or do something with (remember I work from home). So when 5 o'clock comes around I'm not as quick to get off the computer. I also tend not to do my walks/breaks during the morning and tend to look at my emails much more in the evening. This didn't necessarily make me any more productive, but certainly I can see that a single person could easily devote much more time to a job, especially if they are like me.
Most nights I had something to do: dinner at my brother's, watching the game at my sister's, my church calling, etc. But on those rare nights where I didn't have something to do, I never could quite figure out what to do. Nothing sounds that fun to do by myself. I don't even like eating out by myself. The default was getting a book and reading more. I've also done a few chores/jobs around the house, so I guess that is good.
Mostly I just look forward to getting up to play basketball (which I do anyway) or going hiking. I have done more physical exercises, which of course you would think would help you lose weight, but no, of course not. I look forward to my parents coming into town this week - and then having the wife and kids back on Saturday.
The first surprising thing is that I actually work more. This made sense after I thought about it because there was nobody else around to talk to or do something with (remember I work from home). So when 5 o'clock comes around I'm not as quick to get off the computer. I also tend not to do my walks/breaks during the morning and tend to look at my emails much more in the evening. This didn't necessarily make me any more productive, but certainly I can see that a single person could easily devote much more time to a job, especially if they are like me.
Most nights I had something to do: dinner at my brother's, watching the game at my sister's, my church calling, etc. But on those rare nights where I didn't have something to do, I never could quite figure out what to do. Nothing sounds that fun to do by myself. I don't even like eating out by myself. The default was getting a book and reading more. I've also done a few chores/jobs around the house, so I guess that is good.
Mostly I just look forward to getting up to play basketball (which I do anyway) or going hiking. I have done more physical exercises, which of course you would think would help you lose weight, but no, of course not. I look forward to my parents coming into town this week - and then having the wife and kids back on Saturday.
Monday, June 11, 2012
38 Years
A couple of weeks ago at a church activity I was talking with one of the women in our ward whose husband is currently going to Thunderbird. She knew I had gone to Thunderbird and we talked a little about the school and my internship, etc. She then asked me when I graduated. She guessed something like 2009. I laughed and said 2000. She thought about it and laughed and said that is impossible. "Aren't you my age?" she asked. I asked how old she was. She said "26".
Needless to say, she made my night. I insisted I was soon turning 38 and thought about what I had imagined I would be doing at 38. To be honest, I probably never imagined what I'd be like at 38, as that is a random age, but certainly I thought about 40. I can say that I thought I would have done an international assignment, that I'd be too old to play basketball well, and that I'd still have fooled my wife enough to keep her with me.
Good news is that I have done an assignment, am still married - but I actually can still play basketball. So things are even better than I imagined. I also remember when I got my LASIK eye surgery when it was still fairly new that I thought to myself "if it lasts 10 years, I'll be happy, because who needs good eyes after 35?" Thank goodness it has lasted over 10 years.
I don't feel all that old. Whether this be due to good genes (seems the Pylick genes are pretty good), great food (which comes from my wife who does a great job providing not only great tasting food, but good food, too), or all of the preservatives I ate as a kid (yeah Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!), I'm happy I feel good. I guess I'm also lucky to have most of my hair and very little gray hair (I have found a couple).
This week we were up on Lakeside and Tevia rented a cabin near Rainbow Lake for my birthday. It was awesome. It was an old log cabin probably built at least 60 years ago. Outside our front door you could see the lake. We took a boat out on the lake to do some fishing, which wasn't very successful. It was quite windy and was hard to row the boat. Afterwards we went out for an early dinner at La Casita followed by a quick trip to Dairy Queen. We then came back and fished some more and everybody caught at least one fish. Malik caught 7 and was quite proud of himself. They were all tiny fish - none were keepers.
The next morning the boys (Jarek and Malik) went shooting with their uncle and grandpa and I went down to fish again (Enok and Tevia joined me later). It was a beautiful morning; the first morning of my 39th year. I didn't want any fanfare this year: no cake, no singing. But I enjoyed the birthday a lot.
I have a wonderful family. A still-gorgeous wife. I have family living near (for the most part). I get to play basketball several times a week - and still love it. And I have a pretty good job that lets me spend time with my family. Thanks for a great 38 years world!
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
FAMILY
I just love when the entire family is together, even if it is online! Thank you all for being patient and willing to participate and make this possible for lonely grandma and grandpa over here.
Seeing the face of our grandchildren often is precious to me.
It was the highlight of my day.
Seeing the face of our grandchildren often is precious to me.
It was the highlight of my day.
Saturday, June 02, 2012
Zizah - Birth Story and Some New Pics
Since I can't play Diablo 3 while eating lunch, I decided to blog instead. :) So here's all the details about Zizah's birth and first few days (in case anyone cares). I won't be offended if you skip straight to the end for some pictures.
At my last OB appointment, I was 3cm dilated and I had already made my decision that if I was at least 3cm, I wanted to schedule an induction. So I'm impatient, so what. The doctor had no problem with me being induced, so we went ahead and scheduled it. At first, we were scheduled for a standby induction, which meant that I just had to wait for the hospital to call me and if they were too busy, it wouldn't be the day we picked anyway. Then they called back and said they'd made an actual appointment, so I was almost certainly guaranteed to go in on Tuesday, which I was grateful for. So we got all of our stuff ready on Monday night and went to bed (sorta) early since I had to call the hospital at 6am to make sure 7am was still the plan. I wanted to wake up a little early so I set an alarm, which I didn't end up needing because I woke up at 4:30 because I was so excited. :) One shower, one phone call, and one quick breakfast later, we had the kids in the car to go to their aunts house and we were off.
We got to the hospital right at 7 and only had to wait about 20 minutes before we were filling out paperwork and getting into the labor and delivery room. After an uneventful IV and a VERY bad blood draw (I look like someone hit me in the arm with a baseball bat), we were starting the pitocin around 8am. By about 8:45, my doctor came in and checked me over and then broke my water. We were better prepared this time, so no one got a shower. (When she broke my water with Speed, she had to change her clothes afterward.)
After an hour of increasingly hard contractions, the nurse (who already knew I wanted an epidural) came in to ask if I was ready for my epidural. I told her I was ok to go a little while longer, but not much. Then she told me that the anesthesiologist had to go do a C-section so it was now or in almost 90 minutes. Yeah, not a hard decision - I had the epidural by 10:30. The epidural was quick and only bad when I had a contraction when he was putting the tube in. But since they were only about 2 minutes apart, it's not like he could avoid doing that. It was by far the best epidural I've ever had. I could still mostly move my legs but I couldn't feel any pain. It was so lovely that I decided to take a nap. :)
Somewhere in there (yeah, I was starting to get loopy so I can't remember the exact order of some things), they had me use what they call the peanut ball, which is this weirdly inflated exercise ball you hold between your legs to spread your hips. It got me from 6cm to 8cm pretty quick, so I guess it worked? Then sometime after my nap, the nurse had me sit straight up (which I hadn't done in my previous labors, so I thought it was weird). About 5 minutes after that I had about 5 CRAZY strong contractions that I could feel like there was no epidural in place at all. Just before we called the nurse in, she came in to check and had me lay back down and then exclaimed "Oh, look - there's the head. Can you not push for a sec while I call the doctor?"
We only waited about 10 minutes for the doctor to show up, and then it was time to push. I pushed through 3 contractions and at 1:40pm, we had a baby!! It was a little weird to have everyone go "It's a girl!" not because I didn't think it would be but because as soon as they said it, it just felt kinda, "Duh - of course it's a girl" like I'd known all along. Which I didn't. I swear.
The afterbirth took a bit longer for some reason, but I didn't feel it so I really didn't care that much. I was just happy that Zizah was here and healthy and the induction had gone so quickly and well. The only other slightly awkward thing about the delivery was that it was apparently a teaching day at our hospital, so we had double the people we would normally have had in the delivery room and half of them were students. So Zizah had some extra witnesses to her birth - go her.
After that, everything was pretty relaxed and easy. We hung out for a while in that room while they cleaned her up and got me ready to move to my postpartum room. Once we moved to the other room, we fell into the normal routine of nurses in and out, feed baby, watch baby sleep and then try to sleep ourselves. She was really quick to sleep and was a really good eater. She's still a good sleeper and a pretty good eater, so I think the first is slightly interfering with the second. :) But we're working on it and nursing is already going really, really well. And hopefully I didn't just jinx myself by saying that.
The family that lives in town came the next day to visit and it was fun to see everyone. Both our older kids were really excited to see baby Zizah and were both really cute about it. I think the nurses really enjoyed all of Hazel's exclamations like "Hi, Baby Zizah. It's me - Hazel. That's your mommy. You came out of her tummy."
Coming home was good. I've had my emotional times (not surprising) but we're doing well and taking it day by day. Zizah is such a good girl. For the most part, she eats and then sleeps for a couple of hours and then wakes up for about 10 minutes and then is ready to repeat. I do have to wake her up to eat sometimes, but it's more for my comfort level than her's. She's a very sweet girl and she's already smiled at me 3 times. Ok, so it was probably gas, but don't rain on my parade. So here's some pictures, since like Jacob said, that's really all anyone cares about. :)
At my last OB appointment, I was 3cm dilated and I had already made my decision that if I was at least 3cm, I wanted to schedule an induction. So I'm impatient, so what. The doctor had no problem with me being induced, so we went ahead and scheduled it. At first, we were scheduled for a standby induction, which meant that I just had to wait for the hospital to call me and if they were too busy, it wouldn't be the day we picked anyway. Then they called back and said they'd made an actual appointment, so I was almost certainly guaranteed to go in on Tuesday, which I was grateful for. So we got all of our stuff ready on Monday night and went to bed (sorta) early since I had to call the hospital at 6am to make sure 7am was still the plan. I wanted to wake up a little early so I set an alarm, which I didn't end up needing because I woke up at 4:30 because I was so excited. :) One shower, one phone call, and one quick breakfast later, we had the kids in the car to go to their aunts house and we were off.
We got to the hospital right at 7 and only had to wait about 20 minutes before we were filling out paperwork and getting into the labor and delivery room. After an uneventful IV and a VERY bad blood draw (I look like someone hit me in the arm with a baseball bat), we were starting the pitocin around 8am. By about 8:45, my doctor came in and checked me over and then broke my water. We were better prepared this time, so no one got a shower. (When she broke my water with Speed, she had to change her clothes afterward.)
After an hour of increasingly hard contractions, the nurse (who already knew I wanted an epidural) came in to ask if I was ready for my epidural. I told her I was ok to go a little while longer, but not much. Then she told me that the anesthesiologist had to go do a C-section so it was now or in almost 90 minutes. Yeah, not a hard decision - I had the epidural by 10:30. The epidural was quick and only bad when I had a contraction when he was putting the tube in. But since they were only about 2 minutes apart, it's not like he could avoid doing that. It was by far the best epidural I've ever had. I could still mostly move my legs but I couldn't feel any pain. It was so lovely that I decided to take a nap. :)
Somewhere in there (yeah, I was starting to get loopy so I can't remember the exact order of some things), they had me use what they call the peanut ball, which is this weirdly inflated exercise ball you hold between your legs to spread your hips. It got me from 6cm to 8cm pretty quick, so I guess it worked? Then sometime after my nap, the nurse had me sit straight up (which I hadn't done in my previous labors, so I thought it was weird). About 5 minutes after that I had about 5 CRAZY strong contractions that I could feel like there was no epidural in place at all. Just before we called the nurse in, she came in to check and had me lay back down and then exclaimed "Oh, look - there's the head. Can you not push for a sec while I call the doctor?"
We only waited about 10 minutes for the doctor to show up, and then it was time to push. I pushed through 3 contractions and at 1:40pm, we had a baby!! It was a little weird to have everyone go "It's a girl!" not because I didn't think it would be but because as soon as they said it, it just felt kinda, "Duh - of course it's a girl" like I'd known all along. Which I didn't. I swear.
The afterbirth took a bit longer for some reason, but I didn't feel it so I really didn't care that much. I was just happy that Zizah was here and healthy and the induction had gone so quickly and well. The only other slightly awkward thing about the delivery was that it was apparently a teaching day at our hospital, so we had double the people we would normally have had in the delivery room and half of them were students. So Zizah had some extra witnesses to her birth - go her.
After that, everything was pretty relaxed and easy. We hung out for a while in that room while they cleaned her up and got me ready to move to my postpartum room. Once we moved to the other room, we fell into the normal routine of nurses in and out, feed baby, watch baby sleep and then try to sleep ourselves. She was really quick to sleep and was a really good eater. She's still a good sleeper and a pretty good eater, so I think the first is slightly interfering with the second. :) But we're working on it and nursing is already going really, really well. And hopefully I didn't just jinx myself by saying that.
The family that lives in town came the next day to visit and it was fun to see everyone. Both our older kids were really excited to see baby Zizah and were both really cute about it. I think the nurses really enjoyed all of Hazel's exclamations like "Hi, Baby Zizah. It's me - Hazel. That's your mommy. You came out of her tummy."
Coming home was good. I've had my emotional times (not surprising) but we're doing well and taking it day by day. Zizah is such a good girl. For the most part, she eats and then sleeps for a couple of hours and then wakes up for about 10 minutes and then is ready to repeat. I do have to wake her up to eat sometimes, but it's more for my comfort level than her's. She's a very sweet girl and she's already smiled at me 3 times. Ok, so it was probably gas, but don't rain on my parade. So here's some pictures, since like Jacob said, that's really all anyone cares about. :)
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Zizah Marie Wall
(I am posting this for Cari)
7 pounds 11 ounces
19.5 inches
Born May 29th 1:30PM
And the pictures(all anyone cares about)
7 pounds 11 ounces
19.5 inches
Born May 29th 1:30PM
And the pictures(all anyone cares about)
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Speed's Birthday - The Pictures
Here are the pictures from Speed's birthday party. Yes, he really picked chocolate cake. I was surprised how many people were surprised he picked chocolate - it's yummy. Pretty much all of the pictures were from my sister-in-law, which I am so grateful she took. Otherwise, we'd pretty much have a picture of the cake and that's it!
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Speed's Birthday - The Videos
I feel bad that it's taken me most of the week to get these up, but hey, life is crazy right now. I think Speed had a pretty good birthday despite the fact that he had to take a nap. He loves his presents and really enjoyed his cake and balloons. It's crazy to realize that he's 2 now. He's such a good, fun boy. Enjoy the videos and I'll get some pictures posted soon. :)
Presents Part 1:
0:00 - 2:05 Oma and Opa
2:05 - 4:50 Grandma and Grandpa
4:50 - 7:25 Kathy and Jimmy
7:25 - 8:15 Hazel
8:15 - 10:11 Bret and Tevia
Presents Part 2:
The Whole Thing - Mom and Dad
Singing and Cake:
Presents Part 1:
0:00 - 2:05 Oma and Opa
2:05 - 4:50 Grandma and Grandpa
4:50 - 7:25 Kathy and Jimmy
7:25 - 8:15 Hazel
8:15 - 10:11 Bret and Tevia
Presents Part 2:
The Whole Thing - Mom and Dad
Singing and Cake:
Monday, May 21, 2012
Mid-May
Even though I know that time goes quickly, it still amazes me how fast it goes. I am grateful that I have been able to keep much of my stress with my job in line as I have tried to apply some of the things I read in "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff". It has worked - though I still have a ways to go. But enough about work. May has been a great month.
This last weekend I took the boys to "Fathers and Sons" up near Prescott. We go every year and Jacob brought Speed again this year, too. We were worried about the fire near there - and whether it would be smokey. But I checked the weather and it seemed good. And it was. It was quite cool (in the 40s at night) and there weren't many people there. But I had a lot of fun. I think the boys did, too. I love this new tent Tevia bought last year which fits a lot of people and is so easy to set up and take down. In the evening they did a short presentation where they showed a video of the Joseph Smith story. On the way home we asked the boys their favorite part. I was shocked to hear Enok say that his was watching the Joseph Smith video. I didn't sleep all that well, but made up for it on Saturday night.
Saturday we had people over for a BBQ and it was great fun. I took a day off on Friday to work on the house and get ready for camping. We have had a lot of great dinners with family members and have enjoyed the summer heat. Our garden is doing fairly well, though I'm jealous Jacob's sunflowers survived the ravaging of the birds. Ours did not. I am looking forward to another three day weekend this week and then summer is here, with weddings, camping trips, and vacations all in store. I can't wait!
This last weekend I took the boys to "Fathers and Sons" up near Prescott. We go every year and Jacob brought Speed again this year, too. We were worried about the fire near there - and whether it would be smokey. But I checked the weather and it seemed good. And it was. It was quite cool (in the 40s at night) and there weren't many people there. But I had a lot of fun. I think the boys did, too. I love this new tent Tevia bought last year which fits a lot of people and is so easy to set up and take down. In the evening they did a short presentation where they showed a video of the Joseph Smith story. On the way home we asked the boys their favorite part. I was shocked to hear Enok say that his was watching the Joseph Smith video. I didn't sleep all that well, but made up for it on Saturday night.
Saturday we had people over for a BBQ and it was great fun. I took a day off on Friday to work on the house and get ready for camping. We have had a lot of great dinners with family members and have enjoyed the summer heat. Our garden is doing fairly well, though I'm jealous Jacob's sunflowers survived the ravaging of the birds. Ours did not. I am looking forward to another three day weekend this week and then summer is here, with weddings, camping trips, and vacations all in store. I can't wait!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
over 100?
I am totally not about numbers, but I was in a conversation with Bret the other night, and as I was talking, just threw out the lots of people have joined the church after I did in what daddy calls, a fresh new line.
I thought I would try to make a guessitmate, just for fun. (I am not bragging or trying to belittle any true church doctrine here, just curious)
So, 4 kids, 6 grandkids, Jimmy, Michael, Wilda, Jesse, Kathy, Sarah, Rachel, and their 4 kids, Marsha, Karen Custer, Aunt Alicia, = 25.
Probably missing some, but, the reason I blogged it is for help with you boys. I know you didn't get in to counting baptisms, but, with all 3 boys baptisms, do you think the total number goes over 100?
Oh, and then I got to thinking in the temple yesterday, those are only the ones on this side of the veil.
I guess that is why dad likes when missionaries find a brand new line to start. Just happy thinking about it.
I thought I would try to make a guessitmate, just for fun. (I am not bragging or trying to belittle any true church doctrine here, just curious)
So, 4 kids, 6 grandkids, Jimmy, Michael, Wilda, Jesse, Kathy, Sarah, Rachel, and their 4 kids, Marsha, Karen Custer, Aunt Alicia, = 25.
Probably missing some, but, the reason I blogged it is for help with you boys. I know you didn't get in to counting baptisms, but, with all 3 boys baptisms, do you think the total number goes over 100?
Oh, and then I got to thinking in the temple yesterday, those are only the ones on this side of the veil.
I guess that is why dad likes when missionaries find a brand new line to start. Just happy thinking about it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
For the Record
My predictions of 2012 are looking fantastic. Only one I am nervous about is going to Mexixo. Though, I am now more determined to go, even if its just crossing the border, to ensure I have 100% on my predictions. =)
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Mom and Milan = happy
Well, they are settled in to their new little apartment, and from what I hear, they both love it! Everyone says they see the biggest change in Milan. He is getting the right medication, and so is less sleepy and crabby, and seems to have come alive again. All the people in the place already love mom and Milan.
They have been waking up by 8 just to get the 'free' breakfast'. They used to sleep until 10 or 11 am.
Mom says the place is adorable. She loves not having to worry about the house anymore.
Their laundry is done daily, their meds are watched over, they are eating better, and they have things to do.
I love hearing her voice sound more positive and I am glad she can enjoy her life a bit better now.
Address:
Athenian Assisted Living
Apt 326
12799 Doula Lane
North Royalton, OH, 44133
new phone #, 440-230-9039
She lived in that house since 1972, 40 years. It will be weird for me not having 'home' to go to when I go visit.
I am happy that it all worked out so well.
They have been waking up by 8 just to get the 'free' breakfast'. They used to sleep until 10 or 11 am.
Mom says the place is adorable. She loves not having to worry about the house anymore.
Their laundry is done daily, their meds are watched over, they are eating better, and they have things to do.
I love hearing her voice sound more positive and I am glad she can enjoy her life a bit better now.
Address:
Athenian Assisted Living
Apt 326
12799 Doula Lane
North Royalton, OH, 44133
new phone #, 440-230-9039
She lived in that house since 1972, 40 years. It will be weird for me not having 'home' to go to when I go visit.
I am happy that it all worked out so well.
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Hazel's Birthday - the pictures
Our Hazel girl is 4. Crazy. Here are some fun pics of the occasion. The really good ones are courtesy of my sister-in-law. :)
(I do have to say that I'm pretty proud of the cake considering that I free handed it in about 45 minutes.)
(I do have to say that I'm pretty proud of the cake considering that I free handed it in about 45 minutes.)
Speed & Balloons
We might be bad parents but it was just too funny to stop him.
Speed Likes Balloons (Maybe a little TOO much)
Speed Gets His Revenge
Speed Likes Balloons (Maybe a little TOO much)
Speed Gets His Revenge
Hazel's Birthday - The Videos
Hazel Opening Presents - Super long, so here's the breakdown:
0:00 - 2:10 is setup, Jacob's commentary & Speed's tantrum
2:10 - 5:00 is Grandma & Grandpa Wall
5:00 - 6:50 is Oma & Opa
6:50 - 10:00 is Aunt Kathy & Uncle Jimmy
10:00 - 12:30 is Aunt Tevia & Uncle Bret
12:30 - 13:25 is Daddy
13:25 - 14:38 is Mommy
Singing & The Cake (Diego)
0:00 - 2:10 is setup, Jacob's commentary & Speed's tantrum
2:10 - 5:00 is Grandma & Grandpa Wall
5:00 - 6:50 is Oma & Opa
6:50 - 10:00 is Aunt Kathy & Uncle Jimmy
10:00 - 12:30 is Aunt Tevia & Uncle Bret
12:30 - 13:25 is Daddy
13:25 - 14:38 is Mommy
Singing & The Cake (Diego)
Trip to London 2012
I traveled to London this week for business. I have been to London several times now, and for this trip I wasn't really looking forward to going. The appeal of a new and foreign location no longer apply and in the end would rather have stayed home and worked. But it was important to go and in the end it was a very productive and useful trip. But I won't focus on the work aspect, but rather on the other things that happened.
I took the direct flight via British Airways. I don't usually like the direct flights to Europe/Asia as I like to have time to get out and walk. But this was the cheapest flight by far, and since I'm a sucker for trying to save my company money (a habit I need to lose) I took it. The good part of BA is that they usually have a ton of movies to watch. I always hope to have an empty seat next to me so I can possibly lie down or at least have some extra room. It looked like I was in luck when right before takeoff a young woman sat next to me. She said she was supposed to have an aisle seat but somehow things got messed up and so she was told to just find an open seat. Lucky me. If she hadn't sat there I would have had two seats between me and the lady at the other end of my aisle. The young woman was chatty and I am trying lately to be more "friendly" so I spoke with her. I found out she was currently going to Thunderbird and we talked quite a bit about that. She eventually mentioned she uses the bathroom regularly and wanted to know if she could have my seat (aisle). I politely declined. An hour later after she had gone to the bathroom two or three times, I eventually decided I would. In the end it was a great decision because now I did have an empty seat next to me and was able to take advantage of that extra room. I even slept for about 4 hours - something that rarely happens with me.
Upon landing in London it took 2 hours to get through immigration. I can tell the Olympics are going to be a lot of fun to go to if that keeps up. I took a cab to the hotel, changed and went into the office. I had Pret for dinner, one of my fav places to eat in the UK and Hong Kong. I slept fairly well most of the week. I worked a lot, so had little time to be a tourist - plus little motivation as I've done most of the touristy things in London. But the second night after a late night working and a great dinner I decided to go see the Avengers movie. It was out in London before opening in the USA, so I was able to get in to a 3D showing. They call the movie "Avengers Assemble" in UK for some reason. The movie was quite enjoyable and I got to brag to everyone back in the USA that I got to see it first.
The days went quickly. I worked a lot but managed to have some great dinners. My last dinner was at a Thai place that I ate at twice. This is a chain that Tevia had eaten at while in London and had loved it. I admit it is fantastic. The meal consisted of pumpkin curry, a side of amazing calamari, a side called panden chicken, and a drink called a grapefruit mojito. This was a little like a mojito (sans alcohol) made with grapefruit juice, mint leaves, vanilla and chili. It blew me away how good it was. I will have to figure out how to make one here.
My last day (Saturday) I woke up early and walked around St. James Park, one of my favorite parks to walk. The city was empty and it was overcast and cold. But I loved walking around the pond and watching the ducks and other birds. It felt peaceful and was a great way to end my trip. I got back to the airport via the tube as I had plenty of time and thought I'd save my company a ton of money that way. My flight back was uneventful and not too long. I got home to be whisked away to a dinner with my siblings which was fun and good.
The trip was good for a few reasons. I had some good food. The business aspect went well. It went quickly. But most of all I think it gave me a new perspective on my job and life. This was also inspired by a book I had brought to read on the plane called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work. Hopefully I can take this advice and new found inspiration to heart and start to be less stressed. Somewhere along the way life (particularly work) had become so stressful. But I realize that I have allowed it to. I need to take back control and enjoy my life. I know I am a hard worker and very talented. So in that sense the trip was renewing to me. The last part of the trip that made me laugh is that they have a show on TV called "Made in Chelsea" which is like that reality show called "The Hills" they had years ago. On it they had a guy named Hugo who reminded me a lot of Jacob Webb. So every time I would see him it would make me laugh. I don't get to see Jacob much these days, so to make up for it I will try to watch Made in Chelsea to get my Webb fix. Maybe that will get him to move to Phoenix.
It's great to be back in the heat and with the family.
I took the direct flight via British Airways. I don't usually like the direct flights to Europe/Asia as I like to have time to get out and walk. But this was the cheapest flight by far, and since I'm a sucker for trying to save my company money (a habit I need to lose) I took it. The good part of BA is that they usually have a ton of movies to watch. I always hope to have an empty seat next to me so I can possibly lie down or at least have some extra room. It looked like I was in luck when right before takeoff a young woman sat next to me. She said she was supposed to have an aisle seat but somehow things got messed up and so she was told to just find an open seat. Lucky me. If she hadn't sat there I would have had two seats between me and the lady at the other end of my aisle. The young woman was chatty and I am trying lately to be more "friendly" so I spoke with her. I found out she was currently going to Thunderbird and we talked quite a bit about that. She eventually mentioned she uses the bathroom regularly and wanted to know if she could have my seat (aisle). I politely declined. An hour later after she had gone to the bathroom two or three times, I eventually decided I would. In the end it was a great decision because now I did have an empty seat next to me and was able to take advantage of that extra room. I even slept for about 4 hours - something that rarely happens with me.
Upon landing in London it took 2 hours to get through immigration. I can tell the Olympics are going to be a lot of fun to go to if that keeps up. I took a cab to the hotel, changed and went into the office. I had Pret for dinner, one of my fav places to eat in the UK and Hong Kong. I slept fairly well most of the week. I worked a lot, so had little time to be a tourist - plus little motivation as I've done most of the touristy things in London. But the second night after a late night working and a great dinner I decided to go see the Avengers movie. It was out in London before opening in the USA, so I was able to get in to a 3D showing. They call the movie "Avengers Assemble" in UK for some reason. The movie was quite enjoyable and I got to brag to everyone back in the USA that I got to see it first.
The days went quickly. I worked a lot but managed to have some great dinners. My last dinner was at a Thai place that I ate at twice. This is a chain that Tevia had eaten at while in London and had loved it. I admit it is fantastic. The meal consisted of pumpkin curry, a side of amazing calamari, a side called panden chicken, and a drink called a grapefruit mojito. This was a little like a mojito (sans alcohol) made with grapefruit juice, mint leaves, vanilla and chili. It blew me away how good it was. I will have to figure out how to make one here.
My last day (Saturday) I woke up early and walked around St. James Park, one of my favorite parks to walk. The city was empty and it was overcast and cold. But I loved walking around the pond and watching the ducks and other birds. It felt peaceful and was a great way to end my trip. I got back to the airport via the tube as I had plenty of time and thought I'd save my company a ton of money that way. My flight back was uneventful and not too long. I got home to be whisked away to a dinner with my siblings which was fun and good.
The trip was good for a few reasons. I had some good food. The business aspect went well. It went quickly. But most of all I think it gave me a new perspective on my job and life. This was also inspired by a book I had brought to read on the plane called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work. Hopefully I can take this advice and new found inspiration to heart and start to be less stressed. Somewhere along the way life (particularly work) had become so stressful. But I realize that I have allowed it to. I need to take back control and enjoy my life. I know I am a hard worker and very talented. So in that sense the trip was renewing to me. The last part of the trip that made me laugh is that they have a show on TV called "Made in Chelsea" which is like that reality show called "The Hills" they had years ago. On it they had a guy named Hugo who reminded me a lot of Jacob Webb. So every time I would see him it would make me laugh. I don't get to see Jacob much these days, so to make up for it I will try to watch Made in Chelsea to get my Webb fix. Maybe that will get him to move to Phoenix.
It's great to be back in the heat and with the family.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Happy Birthday, Hazel!!
I'll post more pictures and videos in the next couple of days but in the meantime, if someone would like to tell me where the last 4 years went, that'd be great.
A few hours old
1 year old
2 years old
3 years old
4 years old
P.S. It may have taken us 4 years but at least we've finally tamed that hair!! :-)
Windows!
Well after about a year of waiting, we installed all new windows. Thanks mostly to Bret going first, the project was straight forward and relatively pain free. Hazel and Speed both took turns helping and then angering me by spilling nails everywhere... twice! But Hazel was thrilled to get to paint after I was done preparing the surfaces. Unfortunately, Cari came home and rated it a 7/10. I was hoping for an impression that was better than "not too shabby," but that seems to be about the level of quality home improvements always seem to finish.
I still have to seal the outside and finish the trim and paint the other windows. But, that goes fairly quickly.
Honestly, when I purchased these windows the people I talked to never mentioned what ended up being the best feature. These windows are WAY quiet! I would think that would be a selling point they would be very excited about, and less about a mystical 15% energy savings. Also, having nice screens is awesome!
The windows we bought ranged from $200 to $300 depending on size and all the additional stuff came to a little more than $100. So the total job was about $1100 for 4 very large windows. I would recommend new windows to anyone on the fence about switching from aluminum. Well worth the money if installed yourself.
Monday, April 30, 2012
idea suggestions
So I was thinking, dad and I need something to do- together. Everything we do right now is separate. We don't have a lot of time to get a huge new hobby, like kayaking or sailing, but we do need some suggestions. I mean, we know we can read a book together, or watch a series together. We are trying to come up with something a little more creative. Any good ideas you can think of, let us know. We are looking for suggestions.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
thought of the day- mom
I always think of myself as a fun-loving, happy person. Somehow along the way, I seem to have lost that, and I am sorry if I have started seeming to be a crabby, complaining, negative person. I never saw the change coming, and didn't even notice it. Others have been kind enough to point it out. No, I am not saying that sarcastically, nor to anyone in particular. I seem to have become too serious lately. I want you all to know that I am very happy inside, and have great joy, stemming from the Gospel plan, and my children and grandchildren.
I love my life! I will smile more. :)
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Name for #3
Alright, as you have probably heard, each person gets 1 vote. I like all three names so I will be happy regardless. You may make middle name suggestions but I can't promise anything because Cari is in charge of those. Oh yeah, and if it is a girl the name is Zizah Marie Wall
1) Ezra ______ Wall
2) Thor ______ Wall
3) Corban ____ Wall (heavy religious meaning here)
Good luck and happy voting!
1) Ezra ______ Wall
2) Thor ______ Wall
3) Corban ____ Wall (heavy religious meaning here)
Good luck and happy voting!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Gardening
My Parsley
From this:
To this:
To this:
I'm just reusing the bottle - it was about empty when I started crumbling my dried parsley - I had about 10 bunches the size of the two in the picture above. I use plenty of it fresh still but it was getting overgrown, so I decided to cut and dry a bunch of it.
Our few tiny strawberries we got - it looks like our plant isn't going to make it which is sad, but not unexpected.
I had 6 out of 10 bulbs sprout, but only got one flower. Still not sure what I did wrong on the daffodils.
Jacob's amazing garden about 3 weeks ago.
My two little raspberries bushes, which are doing GREAT. I'm so excited. :)
The grapes we planted last fall that we thought had died. Who knew grapes vines went dormant in the winter. Ok, we didn't know.
The new grape vines we planted several weeks ago.
And again this morning. The one on the left has now grown up to the top of the trellis and the one on the right has about 20 tiny bunches of grapes growing on it.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Saturday, April 07, 2012
March 2012
March came in like a lion and out like a lamb. Thank goodness. We had some great times as a family and saw our boys perform in concerts, continue to get great grades (straight As again for 3rd quarter!) and we saw glimpses of summer (and the first swim of the season in the pool). Enok played his first soccer game, which was fun to watch. We got a new patio door off the side of the house, put in a new patio, and just replaced our front two windows (thanks to the help of Tevia's dad).
Work has been going much better. Stress levels are down and living with me is probably much more fun. Our ward got into the stake tournament and we won the championship after a double-header last week. That was a lot of fun.
We have been blessed with pretty good health for the most part. The boys had Spring Break, though I had a business trip that week. That trip was fun, though, as I got to spend a day or two with my parents in NY. We talked a lot and had lunch at the Culinary Institute of America (I love that place). It was fun to spend time with them.
I am looking forward to the summer. We have some fun plans. Currently we are up on Lakeside for Easter.
Work has been going much better. Stress levels are down and living with me is probably much more fun. Our ward got into the stake tournament and we won the championship after a double-header last week. That was a lot of fun.
We have been blessed with pretty good health for the most part. The boys had Spring Break, though I had a business trip that week. That trip was fun, though, as I got to spend a day or two with my parents in NY. We talked a lot and had lunch at the Culinary Institute of America (I love that place). It was fun to spend time with them.
I am looking forward to the summer. We have some fun plans. Currently we are up on Lakeside for Easter.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Spring!
Tons of rain which isn't normal here and then lots of sun which is normal here and it really does feel like a classic spring!
Here is a picture of the garden! The lettuce was ready to eat in 2 months! And it looks like we will have plenty for the next few months:-)
Now we are just hoping the peas and the zucchini give us some good results before it gets too hot!
As usual, my peppers suck, the banana tree is overly emotional, and the new tomatoes seem to be growing really slow. We still get 5 or so cherry tomatoes a day from the fall plants which refuse to die.
The apricots are about the size of beans and the peaches are about the size of walnuts. We don't know if they will be bitter or not this first year.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Our Last Month Or So
So this post was originally written for the Knutti blog, so if it seems I'm talking about everyone in a third party-ish way, that's why. I have apparently sucked at taking pictures lately, so instead of doing several short posts with the lots of pictures I thought I took (which I apparently dreamed), I'll instead do one post describing some of the crazy things we've been up to with just a few pictures and then do another post with whatever recent random pictures I can dig up of equally random things later.
February - Grandma Wall Visit
We got a much appreciated visit from Grandma Wall the end of February. She started her trip at our house and the kids were very excited to see her, especially since we hadn't been able to successfully skype with her lately because her computer had become a large and pretty paperweight. We had lots of fun hanging out and playing the new Puerto Rico expansion (so fun!) and watching the kids compete for her attention. We had some fun dinners while she was here and had planned an outing to the zoo.
Unfortunately, when the day for the zoo arrived, the high was around 55 (yes, that's cold to us wimps) and VERY windy. We decided to go to an indoor aquarium instead, which my kiddos did NOT take well. We've since had several talks about learning to go with the flow and how we don't always get what we want. The aquarium was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast looking at all the different fish. We even got some good ideas for new additions to our own salt water tank. One of my favorite things was the sea turtle, which is normally against the rules for aquariums to have but this one was being nursed back to health, so it was really fun to see one of those in action - reminded me of our trip to Hawaii. Also, there was this one stingray that was (seriously now) playing peek-a-boo with us. I don't think anyone got a video of it but I wish we had. It was pretty hilarious.One of the hard things about Grandma Wall's trip out here was that her dad was in the hospital and very sick, which brings us to our next trip.
March - New York/Ohio/New York trip
The last morning Karen was in town, she got a call that her dad had passed away in the night. This was not unexpected, but still hard. So she changed her return ticket from New York and flew straight to Ohio to help her family make funeral arrangements. After some discussion over here, we thought it would be helpful for Jacob and me to make the trip out there to pay our respects and offer what support we could. After looking for plane tickets to Cleveland, it turned out the best deal for us would be to fly to New York City and hitch a ride with Don to Cleveland and back and then fly home from New York City since he was making the drive anyway. I don't know if I've ever had a trip with that much actual traveling time in it - it was a little nuts, especially being 6 months pregnant and all. But one six hour red-eye flight and one eight hour drive later, we were in Cleveland in time for the viewing with about 2 hours to spare.
It was nice to see the Cleveland side of the family again (I had only met them once before, about 4 years ago) and to be with them at this hard time. It was also nice to get the time with Don, who we hadn't seen since Thanksgiving and weren't scheduled to see until August of this year. After the funeral the next day, we had fun getting together with most of the aunts and uncles on that side and listening to the fun stories of growing up in Cleveland. In case you were wondering, A Christmas Story (apparently) has it about right. Except the go-go dancing in the windows - I don't remember seeing that on A Christmas Story. :) Then on Saturday, we were back in the car for the eight hour drive back to New York, where we got to spend some more time with Jacob's parents just talking, watching basketball, and playing board games. We also got to spend Sunday with them.
One of the interesting things to me on this trip was to discover what phone talkers my kids have become. I tried to call every night, about an hour before bedtime to say hi and see how they were doing. Hazel talked my ear off!! And Speed certainly tried as well, though I could pretty much only understand "Speed", "Mama", and "Dora". It was fun to talk to them but wow, did I miss them. We hadn't left them for more than one night since last July, so we're a little of out of practice with that.
The picture is me at Rockefeller Center and the huge crowd behind the flags is the broadcast of The Today Show for the performance of a group called One Direction. PLEASE don't zoom in on the picture - I look awful. But Jacob said he disagrees, so I posted it - just as a very small picture. :) We didn't try to go see this group and we only found out who it was later in the day watching all the signs the tween girls were carrying around, but hey, we were almost on the Today Show.
Then it was another uneventful though long flight back. The kids were VERY happy to see us, if a little crazy. This readjustment period has been the worst we've ever had coming back from any trip (in my opinion at least) but I think we're just about back to normal. Apparently they were angels for the aunts and uncles who watched them while they were gone, but I'll have to watch the replays in heaven to actually buy that based on how they acted once we were back. :)
I forgot when - Piano
So now it seems that we're finally back to the normal routine of work, church, and family activities. We've had some fun times since we've been back this week (ice cream at Coldstone, pizza and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles night, and a BBQ today) and some depressing things (oh Mizzou, why) but it looks like we've got a nice, relaxing rest of March and a (hopefully) equally relaxing April ahead of us before birthday and birth day month hits. So we'll just keeping having fun with our garden (post and pictures tomorrow maybe) and other fun things (Professor Layton for the win). I'll try to get some pictures together and posted in the next couple of days.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
February is over?
I just looked at the calendar and realized that it is almost mid-March? What happened to February? February is usually a great month as it is: short, the birthday month for Malik and Tevia, and usually means warm weather is returning to Phoenix. Since I didn't even notice it end, it obviously was short. We had fun birthdays for Malik and Tevia. I think they were both happy with their presents and it was great to have family and friends over to celebrate Malik turning 10. Tevia's birthday was more subdued this year (compared to 2011) and in the end we had a fun dinner at her favorite Greek place.
In terms of other facets of life, February was similar to January for work. I have done a better job of dealing with the stress, but I still have felt stressed. I guess when I wanted to go out and find a more challenging job I forgot what challenging meant! Though this has been tough for me (feeling stressed and being so busy), it has also been a learning experience. I have been stretched and have learned many things. One thing is that most people are just not very happy. Another is that people who yell and scream are no fun to work with. It amazes me that people think they have the right to yell and scream at others; and it makes me wonder if they really think that is effective. Maybe it is for many people. For me it actually makes me want to help them LESS. So take that meanies.
Through all of this I have loved being able to work from home and spend more time with Tevia and Enok. Enok will often sneak into my office just to be around me. If I'm not busy I will let him. He will bring in some cars and play under my desk, or play with my desk light, or ask me questions. I love him so much at this age. He is the perfect mix of cute but not a baby. My boys continue to amaze me as we were able to attend a couple of music concerts for both Jarek and Malik. They are so talented.
At the end of the month it was great to have my mother come visit. It is always nice to see her. I know she struggles trying to find time to spend with everyone, but hopefully she knows we love her coming out here.
Here's hoping March goes out like lamb.
In terms of other facets of life, February was similar to January for work. I have done a better job of dealing with the stress, but I still have felt stressed. I guess when I wanted to go out and find a more challenging job I forgot what challenging meant! Though this has been tough for me (feeling stressed and being so busy), it has also been a learning experience. I have been stretched and have learned many things. One thing is that most people are just not very happy. Another is that people who yell and scream are no fun to work with. It amazes me that people think they have the right to yell and scream at others; and it makes me wonder if they really think that is effective. Maybe it is for many people. For me it actually makes me want to help them LESS. So take that meanies.
Through all of this I have loved being able to work from home and spend more time with Tevia and Enok. Enok will often sneak into my office just to be around me. If I'm not busy I will let him. He will bring in some cars and play under my desk, or play with my desk light, or ask me questions. I love him so much at this age. He is the perfect mix of cute but not a baby. My boys continue to amaze me as we were able to attend a couple of music concerts for both Jarek and Malik. They are so talented.
At the end of the month it was great to have my mother come visit. It is always nice to see her. I know she struggles trying to find time to spend with everyone, but hopefully she knows we love her coming out here.
Here's hoping March goes out like lamb.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Bald Wives?
I just had a quick question. I was remembering the other day the promise that some of the girls in the family had made last year about shaving their heads. I was just curious as to what the plan was and when they were planning on following through. :) Should be interesting to see what really happens.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Velma-s line
A report:
So this newfamilysearch has helped bring families together and get names to the temple! I can report success.
My grandfather's second wife was Velma Brown. We never called her grandma, even though she was his wife since we were born.
She gave me a long history of the Brown family before she died, so I have her "Brown family" records for 7 generations. One of the reasons for this is because they lived in US.
That was the longest line I had until now.
Her mother's father's line is Hanning. Last year I saw someone else had done a sealing for the great grandfather. Now I see a whole line has been added! I called my sis yesterday to see if I should do some of the temple work for some of them, (it says READY) in new family search), or let them do them. She showed me how to see who turned the names in, and low and behold, one of the persons working on the line was a guy in Kathy's stake who actually taught her genealogy and is on the high council! So I emailed him. He is a far distant relative, but it is nice to see connections! The other girl has not answered yet.
So I now have another line going back to 1780's, and someone is doing the work.
One time Velma told me that all her ancestors were very religious, and that she thought she had Mormons somewhere in her history.
She did or does now!
If and when any of you want to actually do some searching, we should divide up the lines and each pick a family line to work on, so as not to duplicate. First come first serve!
So this newfamilysearch has helped bring families together and get names to the temple! I can report success.
My grandfather's second wife was Velma Brown. We never called her grandma, even though she was his wife since we were born.
She gave me a long history of the Brown family before she died, so I have her "Brown family" records for 7 generations. One of the reasons for this is because they lived in US.
That was the longest line I had until now.
Her mother's father's line is Hanning. Last year I saw someone else had done a sealing for the great grandfather. Now I see a whole line has been added! I called my sis yesterday to see if I should do some of the temple work for some of them, (it says READY) in new family search), or let them do them. She showed me how to see who turned the names in, and low and behold, one of the persons working on the line was a guy in Kathy's stake who actually taught her genealogy and is on the high council! So I emailed him. He is a far distant relative, but it is nice to see connections! The other girl has not answered yet.
So I now have another line going back to 1780's, and someone is doing the work.
One time Velma told me that all her ancestors were very religious, and that she thought she had Mormons somewhere in her history.
She did or does now!
If and when any of you want to actually do some searching, we should divide up the lines and each pick a family line to work on, so as not to duplicate. First come first serve!
Monday, February 06, 2012
THE GIANTS WIN!!!!
Well they did it and my very own and last prediction documented on this very blog came true...And the giants will win the super bowl!!!! Will probably post more in detail about this event on COX& CO =) but just wanted to say for the record right here.... GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!! the super bowl was awesome this year!!!!!!
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Reading List
I have decided recently that I would like to make an extensive list of important books that I would like to eventually read through out my life. I haven't thought too hard about it yet, and mean to make a good list eventually, but I was thinking I could maybe get some input from everyone. Currently here are some of the books I have thought about :
-Les Miserables
-The Narnia Series
-The Screwtape Letters
-Dune
-The Infinite Atonement
-The Miracle of Forgiveness
-Flatland
-The World is Flat
-Freakonomics
-The Star Wars Books
-The Holy Temple
-Dracula
-A Tale of Two Cities
-The History of the Church
-1776
-The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin
-The Complete Sherlock Holmes
-Don Quixote
-1984
-Robison Crusoe
-Uncle Tom's Cabin
This isn't an extensive list. I've just been meaning to write this blog for a while now and I wanted to get this blog written so you could maybe start thinking about this with me. Maybe we could try and read some together for Cari's family book club idea. Thanks for all your help.
Friday, February 03, 2012
Resolution And Date Day/Night
So I finally made my resolution for 2012: to spend more time with my husband and children.
First, you may be thinking "Dude, it's February." Yeah, yeah. You try making, let alone keeping, a resolution when you're working 12+ hour days trying to get a tax website launched. Go ahead - try it. Lemme know how that works out for you.
Second, if you know the particulars of our daily life in this Wall household, you may be thinking "Is it even physically possible to spend MORE time with your family than you do now?" I've got to admit, I've got a pretty sweet deal. Being able to work from home AND set my own hours is beyond a dream situation. And there are some weeks when we'll go DAYS in each other's company without a break. Unless you count sleeping. Which I don't considering the amount of talking people in this house do in their sleep. :)
But time spent occupying the same space isn't the same as time together, if you catch my meaning. So I've been thinking about it this week and solidified my resolution during my morning walk (yeah, I said it that way to make you think it's a common thing. Don't be fooled.) I want to spend more real time with each member of my family.
So far, for the whole day and a half (I was testing it out last night) I've been trying, it's been going awesome. I spent an hour last night playing with just Speed in his room (Hazel was on her computer or something). Honestly, my back hurt from sitting on the floor that long and my fat preggo belly hurt from him crawling on me, but it was a lot of fun to see him run around and bring me toys and make animal noises and jump on the bed. And I might be flattering myself, but I think he had fun too.
Then today when Jacob's planned trip to the office was postponed, I decided it was his turn. So we dropped the kids off with the in-laws (thanks again, Tevs) and headed out for a lunch date. We just got some gyros and frozen yogurt and talked for about an hour and a half but it was good to have time together, out of the house, just the two of us. We've been slacking a bit on our date nights lately with work being so busy and all, so I think I'll recommit to that as part of my resolution.
Hazel's still a bit harder. For starters, she just doesn't sit still long enough!! That girl is on hyper-speed lately. She'll sit for one book, maybe two and then she's off. Same with songs. Same with toys. Same with about anything except TV shows and computer games. Wonder where she gets that from. ::whistles innocently:: She has been asking me to sit and watch shows with her, so maybe I'll try doing that more often. I wouldn't think that would be a big memory-builder, but she does always remember the last time we sat down and watched the Phineas and Ferb movie together, so maybe it is for her. And everything IS better with Perry.
In the spirit of doing things that are more interactive, we decided to do a family date night tonight. We headed off to the big mall in Glendale (Arrowhead something-or-other) to walk around. It was a LOT of fun.
First thing when we walked through the door, Speed goes "WOW!!". Apparently he hasn't seen that many people in such a small space in a long time. We walked around for a bit and then took a stop in the board game store. The kids thought that was SUPER cool because they had rubber duckies that light up when you threw them on the floor. At least I'm hoping you were supposed to throw them on the floor. Oh well.
Then we headed downstairs to the Lego Store. With those prices, there was no way we were getting anything tonight, but that's ok - it's still fun to look. Hazel wanted to look in EVERY single model window to see what was inside. They had computers at kid level, so you can guess what Speed went for. They do have some fun stuff out. They even had a completed Super Star Destroyer on display. ::drool::
Next we hit up the Disney store. Now, despite having spent a week at DisneyWorld right after Speed was born, our kids are not super Disney fans. Probably because there isn't much Disney stuff on Netflix. Go figure. But from various sources (ok, cable TV when we're on vacation and merchandising), they do know Mickey and several of the other characters. And we do have a small, but growing selection of the good Disney movies. So I wasn't too surprised when they were excited to look at everything but not going crazy. Then they saw the plushes. Then they saw the Perry the Platypus plushes. I told you everything is better with Perry. Then Jake and I saw the "buy one get one free" sign on the plushes. Score!
To be fair to the Disney store, the plushes were quite reasonably priced even without the sale and Jacob had already said he would like to get them each something small at that store. But with the BOGO sale, they each got something medium. :) To further the BOGO love, after a quick stop at the play area (which was CRAZY packed), we treated ourselves to some BOGO Orange Julius before heading home.
Poor Speed didn't make it home conscious as he never settled down enough to take a nap today. But he's very happily snuggled in his bed with his new Nemo, so I don't think he minds. And Hazel is SO excited to "bring Perry to his NEW home" and has spent the night making him "talk" (he makes the Perry noise when you squeeze his paw). The last thing I heard her say tonight was "Good-night, Perry. Now be quiet." I'm thinking it was more than worth it.
Fun day and a fun night. We're off to go watch...something - Jacob hasn't picked yet - to finish out our date night. Gotta say, I love my family. I hope they always know and feel that.
First, you may be thinking "Dude, it's February." Yeah, yeah. You try making, let alone keeping, a resolution when you're working 12+ hour days trying to get a tax website launched. Go ahead - try it. Lemme know how that works out for you.
Second, if you know the particulars of our daily life in this Wall household, you may be thinking "Is it even physically possible to spend MORE time with your family than you do now?" I've got to admit, I've got a pretty sweet deal. Being able to work from home AND set my own hours is beyond a dream situation. And there are some weeks when we'll go DAYS in each other's company without a break. Unless you count sleeping. Which I don't considering the amount of talking people in this house do in their sleep. :)
But time spent occupying the same space isn't the same as time together, if you catch my meaning. So I've been thinking about it this week and solidified my resolution during my morning walk (yeah, I said it that way to make you think it's a common thing. Don't be fooled.) I want to spend more real time with each member of my family.
So far, for the whole day and a half (I was testing it out last night) I've been trying, it's been going awesome. I spent an hour last night playing with just Speed in his room (Hazel was on her computer or something). Honestly, my back hurt from sitting on the floor that long and my fat preggo belly hurt from him crawling on me, but it was a lot of fun to see him run around and bring me toys and make animal noises and jump on the bed. And I might be flattering myself, but I think he had fun too.
Then today when Jacob's planned trip to the office was postponed, I decided it was his turn. So we dropped the kids off with the in-laws (thanks again, Tevs) and headed out for a lunch date. We just got some gyros and frozen yogurt and talked for about an hour and a half but it was good to have time together, out of the house, just the two of us. We've been slacking a bit on our date nights lately with work being so busy and all, so I think I'll recommit to that as part of my resolution.
Hazel's still a bit harder. For starters, she just doesn't sit still long enough!! That girl is on hyper-speed lately. She'll sit for one book, maybe two and then she's off. Same with songs. Same with toys. Same with about anything except TV shows and computer games. Wonder where she gets that from. ::whistles innocently:: She has been asking me to sit and watch shows with her, so maybe I'll try doing that more often. I wouldn't think that would be a big memory-builder, but she does always remember the last time we sat down and watched the Phineas and Ferb movie together, so maybe it is for her. And everything IS better with Perry.
In the spirit of doing things that are more interactive, we decided to do a family date night tonight. We headed off to the big mall in Glendale (Arrowhead something-or-other) to walk around. It was a LOT of fun.
First thing when we walked through the door, Speed goes "WOW!!". Apparently he hasn't seen that many people in such a small space in a long time. We walked around for a bit and then took a stop in the board game store. The kids thought that was SUPER cool because they had rubber duckies that light up when you threw them on the floor. At least I'm hoping you were supposed to throw them on the floor. Oh well.
Then we headed downstairs to the Lego Store. With those prices, there was no way we were getting anything tonight, but that's ok - it's still fun to look. Hazel wanted to look in EVERY single model window to see what was inside. They had computers at kid level, so you can guess what Speed went for. They do have some fun stuff out. They even had a completed Super Star Destroyer on display. ::drool::
Next we hit up the Disney store. Now, despite having spent a week at DisneyWorld right after Speed was born, our kids are not super Disney fans. Probably because there isn't much Disney stuff on Netflix. Go figure. But from various sources (ok, cable TV when we're on vacation and merchandising), they do know Mickey and several of the other characters. And we do have a small, but growing selection of the good Disney movies. So I wasn't too surprised when they were excited to look at everything but not going crazy. Then they saw the plushes. Then they saw the Perry the Platypus plushes. I told you everything is better with Perry. Then Jake and I saw the "buy one get one free" sign on the plushes. Score!
To be fair to the Disney store, the plushes were quite reasonably priced even without the sale and Jacob had already said he would like to get them each something small at that store. But with the BOGO sale, they each got something medium. :) To further the BOGO love, after a quick stop at the play area (which was CRAZY packed), we treated ourselves to some BOGO Orange Julius before heading home.
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
January - The Monday of Months
I don't know about everybody else, but January was a tough month for me. I'd say mostly just because of work. Almost every day it seemed like there was a new emergency, or a new urgent thing that needed to be done, or just plain dealing with angry people. I'm used to days like this every once in a while, but almost every day for a month? That is difficult to endure. I am hoping February gets much easier - or at least 'normal'. It just seems like for a month straight I was exhausted and stressed.
The odd part is, besides work, January was a great month. I love to start out with new goals and work to achieve things. I've seen progress in my boys, our family, and my own personal life. I've lost nearly 10 pounds in January (can't believe I had that much to lose in the first place!). I started playing volleyball with Tevia, which has been fun. I've started running a mile a week and seen progress. Meals have been spectacular. Weekends have been fun. The weather ideal. So it is funny that I can base so much on a month ONLY by what happened at work. But even though we all know work isn't that important, it certainly can have a big impact on our lives. If ever there were a month that going to a bar after work and getting hammered sounded like a good idea, this was it! I used to think it was dumb to go drown your sorrows because as soon as you sober up, you have to deal with them again. But I think for the first time in my life I can see some logic in it. There is value in forgetting - or leaving behind - the stresses of the day and enjoy the evening. Yes, tomorrow you have to face them again, but at least you didn't spend all evening and night worrying about them. Don't think that I am planning to take action on this. I'm still not really tempted to drown my sorrows in alcohol (sorrows is the wrong word - stress would be better). But I can see how so many people do it on a daily basis. My guess is most people just really hate their jobs. That is too bad.
The good news is today was already a much better day. So hooray for February. As mentioned, January had some great moments. Here are a few:
- Seeing Jarek get inspired to work on family history and do some indexing. He continues to be a shining example to me. What a great spirit he is.
- Eating lunches with Enok. I love eating with Enok during lunch and seeing his bright disposition and eternal smile. It has been a much-needed break for my working days.
- Saying prayers with Malik. I love to hear Malik say his prayers (he likes to have either Tevia or I there to listen each night). He has a very grateful spirit and truly converses with his Father in Heaven.
- Spending nights watching Malcolm in the Middle with Tevia. I haven't enjoyed sitting watching a show with Tevia so much since watching BSG in Hong Kong each night. I look forward to it each night.
Life is great. I am so blessed. I love having my brother and sister in Phoenix. I look forward to having my parents move out here - someday. And Tommy and Holly. Families are forever.
The odd part is, besides work, January was a great month. I love to start out with new goals and work to achieve things. I've seen progress in my boys, our family, and my own personal life. I've lost nearly 10 pounds in January (can't believe I had that much to lose in the first place!). I started playing volleyball with Tevia, which has been fun. I've started running a mile a week and seen progress. Meals have been spectacular. Weekends have been fun. The weather ideal. So it is funny that I can base so much on a month ONLY by what happened at work. But even though we all know work isn't that important, it certainly can have a big impact on our lives. If ever there were a month that going to a bar after work and getting hammered sounded like a good idea, this was it! I used to think it was dumb to go drown your sorrows because as soon as you sober up, you have to deal with them again. But I think for the first time in my life I can see some logic in it. There is value in forgetting - or leaving behind - the stresses of the day and enjoy the evening. Yes, tomorrow you have to face them again, but at least you didn't spend all evening and night worrying about them. Don't think that I am planning to take action on this. I'm still not really tempted to drown my sorrows in alcohol (sorrows is the wrong word - stress would be better). But I can see how so many people do it on a daily basis. My guess is most people just really hate their jobs. That is too bad.
The good news is today was already a much better day. So hooray for February. As mentioned, January had some great moments. Here are a few:
- Seeing Jarek get inspired to work on family history and do some indexing. He continues to be a shining example to me. What a great spirit he is.
- Eating lunches with Enok. I love eating with Enok during lunch and seeing his bright disposition and eternal smile. It has been a much-needed break for my working days.
- Saying prayers with Malik. I love to hear Malik say his prayers (he likes to have either Tevia or I there to listen each night). He has a very grateful spirit and truly converses with his Father in Heaven.
- Spending nights watching Malcolm in the Middle with Tevia. I haven't enjoyed sitting watching a show with Tevia so much since watching BSG in Hong Kong each night. I look forward to it each night.
Life is great. I am so blessed. I love having my brother and sister in Phoenix. I look forward to having my parents move out here - someday. And Tommy and Holly. Families are forever.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
personal and/or family vision statement, mantras, etc
I have not really used this type of motivation before. Lately, I have seen several articles on making family and personal vision statements.
Last year, I did finally make one for me, " Let me be a channel of thy peace", from a song I heard.
In today's RS & Priesthood lesson, (Lesson 1 - George A Smith), they list his 11 creed statements he tried to live by. They were awesome! I hope you all got to read them. If not, check them out. How about, "I would not be an enemy to any soul." or :I would not knowingly wound the feelings of any, not eve one, who may have wronged me.." "I would live with the masses and help to solve their problems..."
I know the Ketchesons have a family motto. I think having a family mission statement could be a good idea.
As for a personal one, I think I will make one for each year, and write it at the beginning of my journal, and focus on that all year.
Last year, I did finally make one for me, " Let me be a channel of thy peace", from a song I heard.
In today's RS & Priesthood lesson, (Lesson 1 - George A Smith), they list his 11 creed statements he tried to live by. They were awesome! I hope you all got to read them. If not, check them out. How about, "I would not be an enemy to any soul." or :I would not knowingly wound the feelings of any, not eve one, who may have wronged me.." "I would live with the masses and help to solve their problems..."
I know the Ketchesons have a family motto. I think having a family mission statement could be a good idea.
As for a personal one, I think I will make one for each year, and write it at the beginning of my journal, and focus on that all year.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Goodbye 2011
Looking back at 2011, I think it was a great year. There were stressful parts and challenges, but overall it was a great year. Here are a few of my favorite moments and things of 2011.
Favorite vacation: Tevia and I celebrated our 15th year of marriage in 2011. We had planned several trips, including even booking a trip to Belize. But in the end we went to Mexico at the resort we love. It started off stressful as the airline would not accept my passport due to it being wrinkled. This required missing a day of our trip and going to Tucson to get a new passport. But even while missing one day, the trip was great. Though I think she sometimes doubts it, I am still in love with my wife of 15 years. I have never questioned my decision to marry her. 15 years seems like a long time and I look forward to our next 15 years.
Biggest decision: After 11 years with Prudential, I decided it was time for a change. The direction of the company and my boredom with my job led to making the huge decision to leave. I started my new job at the end of July which involves working from home (which has been great!). Four months later the division of Prudential I worked for was sold, so the decision to leave seems to have been good from multiple perspectives. So far, so good with my new job. But making a change like that is stressful and requires adjusting.
Favorite new toy: With my new job I was able to get a new smartphone of my choice. I chose the HTC Incredible 2 and have loved it from day one. I also bought a new car, the Kia Optima, which I still love. So let's call it a tie, though one was significantly more expensive. And now I can't go around quoting "I drive a Dodge Stratus!".
Best business trip: No international trips in 2011 for me, but my trip to Las Vegas where my brother Jacob accompanied me and we met up with Tommy and his then new girlfriend Holly was great. From a great opportunity to teach at the conference to a great burger with Jake, a fantastic dinner at a Bobby Flay restaurant, and ending in a fun show with the Blue Man Group, it was a quick trip full of great memories.
Favorite songs of 2011: I still love music and each year I typically provide my top 10 songs. Here are mine for 2011:
- New Low by Middle Class Rut
- Love You Like a Love Song by Selena Gomez
- Till the World Ends by Britney Spears
- Come Around Sundown by Kings of Leon
- My Body by Young the Giant
- Bulletproof Heart by My Chemical Romance
- Help Is On the Way by Rise Against
- Blow by Ke$ha
- Riptide by Sick Puppies
- Sail by AWOL Nation
- Honorable mention for Friday by Rebecca Black as I still sting that song almost every Friday.
It was also a great year in that our kids' hearts didn't get worse. I have been very blessed in 2011. I'm grateful for my family and friends and look forward to an even better 2012.
Favorite vacation: Tevia and I celebrated our 15th year of marriage in 2011. We had planned several trips, including even booking a trip to Belize. But in the end we went to Mexico at the resort we love. It started off stressful as the airline would not accept my passport due to it being wrinkled. This required missing a day of our trip and going to Tucson to get a new passport. But even while missing one day, the trip was great. Though I think she sometimes doubts it, I am still in love with my wife of 15 years. I have never questioned my decision to marry her. 15 years seems like a long time and I look forward to our next 15 years.
Biggest decision: After 11 years with Prudential, I decided it was time for a change. The direction of the company and my boredom with my job led to making the huge decision to leave. I started my new job at the end of July which involves working from home (which has been great!). Four months later the division of Prudential I worked for was sold, so the decision to leave seems to have been good from multiple perspectives. So far, so good with my new job. But making a change like that is stressful and requires adjusting.
Favorite new toy: With my new job I was able to get a new smartphone of my choice. I chose the HTC Incredible 2 and have loved it from day one. I also bought a new car, the Kia Optima, which I still love. So let's call it a tie, though one was significantly more expensive. And now I can't go around quoting "I drive a Dodge Stratus!".
Best business trip: No international trips in 2011 for me, but my trip to Las Vegas where my brother Jacob accompanied me and we met up with Tommy and his then new girlfriend Holly was great. From a great opportunity to teach at the conference to a great burger with Jake, a fantastic dinner at a Bobby Flay restaurant, and ending in a fun show with the Blue Man Group, it was a quick trip full of great memories.
Favorite songs of 2011: I still love music and each year I typically provide my top 10 songs. Here are mine for 2011:
- New Low by Middle Class Rut
- Love You Like a Love Song by Selena Gomez
- Till the World Ends by Britney Spears
- Come Around Sundown by Kings of Leon
- My Body by Young the Giant
- Bulletproof Heart by My Chemical Romance
- Help Is On the Way by Rise Against
- Blow by Ke$ha
- Riptide by Sick Puppies
- Sail by AWOL Nation
- Honorable mention for Friday by Rebecca Black as I still sting that song almost every Friday.
It was also a great year in that our kids' hearts didn't get worse. I have been very blessed in 2011. I'm grateful for my family and friends and look forward to an even better 2012.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
2012 Predictions
Mom:
Dad and I will move
Tom & Holly will have a baby
Cari will have a boy, name- Hunter
Jimmy will finally get rid of Dash
I will lose my dad and aunt Doris
Bret & Tevia will let Jarek come here for a week this summer
Enok will start to excel at sports
Speed will get even faster
Jarek will have a girlfriend
Jimmy will learn to water ski
Mom will get to visit another temple somewhere she has not been
Someone in the family will start to help me with genealogy
Dad and I will move
Tom & Holly will have a baby
Cari will have a boy, name- Hunter
Jimmy will finally get rid of Dash
I will lose my dad and aunt Doris
Bret & Tevia will let Jarek come here for a week this summer
Enok will start to excel at sports
Speed will get even faster
Jarek will have a girlfriend
Jimmy will learn to water ski
Mom will get to visit another temple somewhere she has not been
Someone in the family will start to help me with genealogy
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Random Thoughts
- Yesterday was an awesome day. We went out for breakfast and sat talking about life and the future and just things while the kids played in the "chicken playground" (we were at Chick-fil-A). Then after a few hours of work, we spent the whole night playing our various video games. Hearing Hazel cheering for me while I fight a dungeon boss in the new Zelda and then hearing her say things like "Oh no, Mommy, your guy died!" and "Mommy, you shouldn't be on fire." - I just love that she's involved in one of my hobbies like that. Then there's the fact that she's SO excited for "her turn" (which involves running around the village - the safe zone - hacking at bushes and throwing pottery). I just love that she loves things I love. And then there's Speed, who isn't quite dexterous to do any of the controls himself yet, so he runs between all 3 screens and watches the different games we're playing and then goes to bang on the keyboard of the kids' computer. I have a feeling he's on the same path and I couldn't be happier about it.
- I had a dream last night about my Grandma Knutti. She passed away almost 3 years ago. It was a silly, odd dream - something about going to get her a hot dog from a fast food place and she wanted weird stuff on it and I was worried that they wouldn't have her weird toppings and that she was expecting us back sooner than we'd be back because she was in Salt Lake City and the hot dog place was in Farmington. Like I said, weird. But I woke up from the dream (mostly because Jacob was yelling something in his sleep) and it made me a little sad that my time here with my grandma was gone. And it reaffirmed to me that I really want my kids to have relationships with their grandparents. I was too young when most of my grandparents passed away to really remember them well and a big part of that was the distance we lived from them. But that's life and it happens. But now, with video chat, it doesn't have to be that way just because we don't live close.
- I love my family and they are the most important thing to keep strong in this life. I just finished the last book in a series and at the end, several of the main characters make what most would consider the "responsible" or "noble" decision but it just made me sad. At the risk of spoilers, I won't point out which book or go into specifics (in case we're friends on Goodreads and you already know what book I'm talking about). But if that "noble" decision is hurting your family, it might be time to rethink it.
Speaking of families, my little ones are stirring, so I guess my musings need to come to an end. :-)
- I had a dream last night about my Grandma Knutti. She passed away almost 3 years ago. It was a silly, odd dream - something about going to get her a hot dog from a fast food place and she wanted weird stuff on it and I was worried that they wouldn't have her weird toppings and that she was expecting us back sooner than we'd be back because she was in Salt Lake City and the hot dog place was in Farmington. Like I said, weird. But I woke up from the dream (mostly because Jacob was yelling something in his sleep) and it made me a little sad that my time here with my grandma was gone. And it reaffirmed to me that I really want my kids to have relationships with their grandparents. I was too young when most of my grandparents passed away to really remember them well and a big part of that was the distance we lived from them. But that's life and it happens. But now, with video chat, it doesn't have to be that way just because we don't live close.
- I love my family and they are the most important thing to keep strong in this life. I just finished the last book in a series and at the end, several of the main characters make what most would consider the "responsible" or "noble" decision but it just made me sad. At the risk of spoilers, I won't point out which book or go into specifics (in case we're friends on Goodreads and you already know what book I'm talking about). But if that "noble" decision is hurting your family, it might be time to rethink it.
Speaking of families, my little ones are stirring, so I guess my musings need to come to an end. :-)
Favorite Christmas shows
Hey everyone,
Let's make a list of each person's fav Christmas shows!
Mine, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, hands down. Second, Rudolph
Let's make a list of each person's fav Christmas shows!
Mine, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, hands down. Second, Rudolph
Friday, December 16, 2011
Happy 30 years to us!
As I ponder over the last 30 years, I am grateful for this man who came into my life.
Yes, you all know we argued and disagreed over the years, but we knew our marriage was forever, so we worked on it, sometimes over and over again, and we are getting much better at communication, (which is often the base of arguments)
I dated in jr high, high school, and after- a lot. I met many guys, I had never dated what I would consider a righteous man in all those guys. I didn't even know there were men with old-fashioned principles, morals, and integrity out there.
Of course, joining the church led me to meeting missionaries who had these qualities, yet, I would never have believed that a young man coming off his mission would have the guts to marry and older, divorced lady with a kid.
I give dad credit for having the courage to do so, realizing even more how hard that must have been- as each of my sons came home from their mission and dated. Imagine Kathy telling me she was going to marry a divorced guy with a child. Wow!
For those who think I got gypped, I did not. Living together with anyone will be be a means to learning patience, people skills, listening skills, communication, etc.
Being with your father has brought me greater blessings than just that. We have a great trust in our marriage. He gives me the stability I craved after my childhood. He teaches me strength in the gospel, and encourages me to learn and study and do my best.
His careful budgeting in early years have allowed us to enjoy our later years.
I had just as many personality issues as he did. I believe all people have issues to address. That is part of our progress. Mine were not as evident, although crying too much was awfully obvious.
Although I have sometimes wished he was the more romantic, charming type; I clearly realize that I have known that type, and I would much rather have my husband, who is sweet on the inside, loyal through and through, and cares more deeply about me than anyone in the world.
He has given me 4 amazing children, a life I love, a house that has been perfect, and continues to support me as I go about saving the world one person at a time. :)
Thank you honey, for everything!
Yes, you all know we argued and disagreed over the years, but we knew our marriage was forever, so we worked on it, sometimes over and over again, and we are getting much better at communication, (which is often the base of arguments)
I dated in jr high, high school, and after- a lot. I met many guys, I had never dated what I would consider a righteous man in all those guys. I didn't even know there were men with old-fashioned principles, morals, and integrity out there.
Of course, joining the church led me to meeting missionaries who had these qualities, yet, I would never have believed that a young man coming off his mission would have the guts to marry and older, divorced lady with a kid.
I give dad credit for having the courage to do so, realizing even more how hard that must have been- as each of my sons came home from their mission and dated. Imagine Kathy telling me she was going to marry a divorced guy with a child. Wow!
For those who think I got gypped, I did not. Living together with anyone will be be a means to learning patience, people skills, listening skills, communication, etc.
Being with your father has brought me greater blessings than just that. We have a great trust in our marriage. He gives me the stability I craved after my childhood. He teaches me strength in the gospel, and encourages me to learn and study and do my best.
His careful budgeting in early years have allowed us to enjoy our later years.
I had just as many personality issues as he did. I believe all people have issues to address. That is part of our progress. Mine were not as evident, although crying too much was awfully obvious.
Although I have sometimes wished he was the more romantic, charming type; I clearly realize that I have known that type, and I would much rather have my husband, who is sweet on the inside, loyal through and through, and cares more deeply about me than anyone in the world.
He has given me 4 amazing children, a life I love, a house that has been perfect, and continues to support me as I go about saving the world one person at a time. :)
Thank you honey, for everything!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tree of Life
Months ago a movie came out that intrigued me. Tree of Life came out with Brad Pitt (an actor who I enjoy watching) and won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was loved by many, and panned by others. What intrigued me the most was that the film was about God. Many of the reviews I read talked about how religious it was. I even read a few reviews by members of the church who found it interesting from a Mormon perspective. But Tevia and I never got around to seeing it in the theaters and finally a couple of weeks ago we got around to getting it from Netflix. We sat down alone one night to watch the movie after putting the kids to bed. We hadn't invited anyone else to watch this film as I had a feeling that not many of our friends/family would like this movie. But I had high hopes that I would.
The movie is an "artsy" movie. There isn't much dialogue. But the movie immediately caught my attention as it focused on a family with Brad Pitt as the father that had three sons. The majority of the movie focuses on the life of this family with the boys around the age that my three boys are now. But throughout the movie there are tangents and though-provoking questions. For example, a good part of the beginning of the movie focuses on the creation of Earth and shows some of the creation phases.
As the movie credits rolled my eyes were filled with tears. It has been years since a movie has had such an impact on me. Tevia and I embraced and found it even difficult to discuss the movie as we were so filled with emotions.
Before I talk more about how it impacted me, I wanted to comment on the film. The director (Terrence Mallick) does a supreme job of getting emotion from his actors with limited dialogue. I was impressed with almost every actor in the movie, especially the three young boys. I could feel their pain, their joy, their confusion, and more by just the look on their faces and body language. His directing reminded me a little of another director I love: Alfonso Cuaron (A Little Princess; Harry Potter 3). I can see how this film would be difficult to watch for some people. It is slow. It is open-ended. It asks questions and doesn't always answer them. The cinematography is phenomenal. So the film itself was a joy to watch for me.
But beyond that, the emotions hit home for me. I could relate to this movie in many ways. I could see myself as the oldest son trying to figure out his relationship with God. I could see myself as the father of three boys having to deal with obstacles. I could remember asking the same questions at points in my life as snippets of prayers are interlaced into the movie. I could remember facing the temptations of a young boy, the love of an oldest brother, the love of wonderful mother. The list goes on. And through all of these emotions I was constantly feeling that I wanted to be better. I wanted to be a better father. A better brother. A better spouse. A better person. A better Child of God.
I haven't been impacted by a movie like this in years. I thought about scenes for days afterwards. Even now, weeks later, I can still vividly feel some of the scenes. And to be honest, I think I have changed some things after seeing the film. One thing I have done better at: enjoying each moment. I'm not terrible at this, but I think more than before I have enjoyed watching and feeling each moment with my family. Work has become even more secondary. And God has become an even bigger focus. For He has given me all that I have. And I could NEVER complain about what He has given me. Even in the face of tragedy and sadness, I know He loves me. I may not understand everything, but I have faith that He does.
In the end I don't think everyone will like this film. In reading the reviews on RottenTomatoes it is interesting to see how this film affected some people. It seems you either love it or you hate it. Usually when I watch a movie that I love, I want to share it. This one was different. I wanted to keep it personal. I didn't want others to see it and not feel what I did. To cheapen it. To have their opinion have an impact on mine. But I did love this film. I felt love. I felt God. I felt hope. I appreciate artists that can have that impact on me.
The movie is an "artsy" movie. There isn't much dialogue. But the movie immediately caught my attention as it focused on a family with Brad Pitt as the father that had three sons. The majority of the movie focuses on the life of this family with the boys around the age that my three boys are now. But throughout the movie there are tangents and though-provoking questions. For example, a good part of the beginning of the movie focuses on the creation of Earth and shows some of the creation phases.
As the movie credits rolled my eyes were filled with tears. It has been years since a movie has had such an impact on me. Tevia and I embraced and found it even difficult to discuss the movie as we were so filled with emotions.
Before I talk more about how it impacted me, I wanted to comment on the film. The director (Terrence Mallick) does a supreme job of getting emotion from his actors with limited dialogue. I was impressed with almost every actor in the movie, especially the three young boys. I could feel their pain, their joy, their confusion, and more by just the look on their faces and body language. His directing reminded me a little of another director I love: Alfonso Cuaron (A Little Princess; Harry Potter 3). I can see how this film would be difficult to watch for some people. It is slow. It is open-ended. It asks questions and doesn't always answer them. The cinematography is phenomenal. So the film itself was a joy to watch for me.
But beyond that, the emotions hit home for me. I could relate to this movie in many ways. I could see myself as the oldest son trying to figure out his relationship with God. I could see myself as the father of three boys having to deal with obstacles. I could remember asking the same questions at points in my life as snippets of prayers are interlaced into the movie. I could remember facing the temptations of a young boy, the love of an oldest brother, the love of wonderful mother. The list goes on. And through all of these emotions I was constantly feeling that I wanted to be better. I wanted to be a better father. A better brother. A better spouse. A better person. A better Child of God.
I haven't been impacted by a movie like this in years. I thought about scenes for days afterwards. Even now, weeks later, I can still vividly feel some of the scenes. And to be honest, I think I have changed some things after seeing the film. One thing I have done better at: enjoying each moment. I'm not terrible at this, but I think more than before I have enjoyed watching and feeling each moment with my family. Work has become even more secondary. And God has become an even bigger focus. For He has given me all that I have. And I could NEVER complain about what He has given me. Even in the face of tragedy and sadness, I know He loves me. I may not understand everything, but I have faith that He does.
In the end I don't think everyone will like this film. In reading the reviews on RottenTomatoes it is interesting to see how this film affected some people. It seems you either love it or you hate it. Usually when I watch a movie that I love, I want to share it. This one was different. I wanted to keep it personal. I didn't want others to see it and not feel what I did. To cheapen it. To have their opinion have an impact on mine. But I did love this film. I felt love. I felt God. I felt hope. I appreciate artists that can have that impact on me.
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