What September 11th means to me.

I didn't watch the news that day. We didn't have TV at home, and when I got to my Children's Lit class on the campus of DSC it was probably about 10 am, MDT. So some people knew what was going on and it was mentioned. I was feeling a bit clueless. As the day went on I heard more about it. I spent most of my day in the small building that housed the college preschool. My classes were there, and I worked there that afternoon. I could barely visualize the towers, they held no connection for me, and there was no video feed replaying around me. But my cousin, he was in Washington, and that was being locked down. When my mother came to pick me up (I had no car) I was definitely concerned about what was going on. Mostly, as I learned more about it, I grieved. There were tales of people standing up and taking down their OWN airplanes before they could cause further damage, heroes who had sacrificed their lives knowingly. Neighbors waited anxiously to contact loved ones so far away- the phone lines were completely jammed. People had died. Without warning, the world had changed.

Time has gone by. I live in Southern UT, and now that is specifically Cedar City. I grew up hearing tales of the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre. From the performance of UTAH! at Tuacahn, to camping at a friends ranch next to the site, to a seminary teacher who was part of creating a monument. I knew it was part of MY history. It isn't discussed much here, in Cedar City. The truth is that the mob came from Cedar City. Out of fear and anger and misunderstanding a mob committed a horrible crime against humanity on September 11, 1857. When I read that date, it stuck out to me. Although it was on a much smaller scale, September 11th is not just a day that we were attacked. Al-Qaeda is not the only group of people that has lashed out against those of different belief in a misguided search for religious peace. It has happened in my own backyard. It has happened in my own religion.

September 11th will always stand as a reminder in my own mind to tolerate, to love, to forgive. It does not matter what our race, religion, creed, or nationality may be. We are ALL children of God. And he loves each of us. How we treat our fellow kind is the only way we can show what lessons we have learned from our history. We must never, never forget what hate and fear has done to us. For it will certainly happen again, time and time again, if we let it. Remember. Never Forget.

Oh me, oh my I haven't blogged in a while...

It's been two and a half months since I blogged! I realized this when I went to upload a picture from the camera to show you- of Abby's new gappy grin. And saw that I took a bunch of pictures at the end of May/beginning of June, and hadn't done a thing with them.

First- our trip to Taylor, AZ. We went to attend a cousins wedding. Which was doubly good as an excuse to show the kids where Daddy grew up, since it was in the same area. We took a few scenic pictures on the way down, then left the camera in the car. If any of my beloved extended family has pictures of my kids, will you email them to me? Thanks. It was a delightful trip, because spending time with my extended family, and meeting a cousin IRL that I'd become friends with online is one definition of Heaven.

Then came the end of school, and with it the Dance Festival. I give you- The Tooty Ta-Ta.

Tonsillectomies. For both Abby and Harvey. That was quite a week, and I was really glad to see it end, thank you very much. At least now it's done. Neither child was sick but they both had HUGE tonsils. It's much harder to see the back of their throats now.

Once the kids had recovered from surgery we were busy with PTA movies, swimming lessons, picnics, library and book mobile visits, and other stuff. So busy we decided to do nothing for the 4th of July- we stayed home and did stuff we needed to do. I did my best not to get discouraged about missing a family reunion that weekend. I succeeded reasonably well. We were going to go camping but were just too behind on everything. Being busy was a good thing- we were tired, but the summer was flying by. Once swimming lessons were done we started in on the boredom, and I slipped into a funk. So I'd been too busy to blog the fun stuff then it got dull, oh well.

On July 1st (I think) Abby lost her first tooth while eating a bread stick at the park. I only know the date by looking at the menu for the lunches they were serving. A week or so later out came the other bottom tooth. Then yesterday, July 31st, a top tooth dropped out. Since then she has been walking around with this grin frozen on her face so she can show EVERYBODY. It is pretty cute. Cute enough that we finally got out the camera to take a picture- I missed the first lost tooth picture, shame on me. She's 3 dollars richer but spent one at the dollar store on a chalkboard. I think the tooth value goes down after number 4.

So I leave you with the Gappy Grin

Facing the Daily Grind

I know my blog is supposed to be about finding simple pleasures. But, lest someone deludes themselves into thinking that anyone can have an ideal life, I'm going to go ahead and vent. I am so sick of the daily routine. Just the morning routine has me ready to pull out my hair. Every morning I make my bed, read my scriptures, get dressed, say my prayers, go downstairs to feed the kids, have them help me clan up breakfast, go back upstairs and help the kids with beds, clothes, hair, shoes, teeth. If I'm lucky, we'll finish by 9:30. 2 hours, this routine usually takes 2 whole flippin' hours. And yesterday, it was a quarter til 10 before we were done with breakfast. After the wind kept me up all night I slept in, then showered, so wow were we late.

It's made all the worst because it wasn't all that long ago that the routine felt like it was going so well, and I was getting on top of things. When I found out I was pregnant, I rejoiced. I am so happy to have another baby. And while I know four kids is going to be challenging, I looked at the 9 months in front of me as an opportunity to improve in my role as wife and mother so that I would be better prepared for having another little one around. And I was doing it too. I had developed a routine that got most of the daily tasks done, I was vacuuming at least once a week, working up to twice for downstairs, I was even planing on stripping the sheets in one bedroom every week and keeping up on clean beds that way! For some people, this may seem laughable, but I have always been the first one to say that I am a BAD housekeeper. It doesn't come naturally to me, some people rejoice in cleaning their houses, and I am not one of them. But I was trying to be. Then I stumbled.

I don't know if I got sick, stressed, tired, busy, or just in a funk. Probably a nice little combination of all of them, but I dropped the ball on my newly forming habits, and now I am having a hard time picking up the pieces. I'm sick of the mess, but catching up is intimidating. Especially when I'm just sick of trying to keep up with stuff like getting ready in the morning. School is out for summer vacation in less than 3 weeks. It would be nice if not having to worry about school would let me set my own schedule. But not having school looming over us is likely to have the opposite effect. I could do much if I would just get up a little earlier, and that was looking easy until Jeff stopped turning on an alarm clock. Yeah, we just have the one, I'll be moving it back to my side of the bed soon. Argh, we, ok I, do better when a routine is in place and getting stuff done just happens. I need to get back to that place. Where's my motivation? What helps motivate you? Really, I'd appreciate it.

Beautiful Girl II

So the Mommy Models I posted about? Another blog is doing a give-away, this time for a gift certificate good for the whole cost of the session! I really want to win this one, sohttp://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/05/mothers-day-extravaganza-photography.html is the website, and if you win I'll be cheering for you too.

Beautiful Girl

So we all want to be beautiful right? Of course! Reality is that physical beauty is not very top priority with little kids in the house. But there is a fun chance to get your beauty on, and have a wonderful photographer take pictures of you- model style! It's called Mommy Models, and it's a fun contest that runs this summer. For 65$ you get a one-hour shoot and a CD with 10 of the best images on it. Then you are entered into the contest, and get everyone to vote for your shoes, and can win a free family shoot!! Not bad, not bad at all. Except, I don't have 65 extra dollars laying around, bummer. Never fear! A giveaway is here. Sassyscoops is giving away a 25 dollar gift certificate good to that Mommy Models shoot. If I win that certificate, I'll scrape up the remaining 40. Because this looks great. So go ahead, go enter and/or sign up for your shoot!

Community Theater

Last night we got to take the kids to a small-town community theater production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It was my first experience with community theater. I've been to high school productions, plenty at Tuacahn, and a production of Princess and the Pea done by kids. I've enjoyed all of them. And I now have a new love for community theater. The acting was alright, the stars of the show did a good job, but some of the ensemble didn't look to comfortable on stage. The stage was small. Very small. The sets had to be simple. There were very few special effects, certainly none that were dazzling. By no means was it a Broadway production, and it even ran much simpler than the high school plays I've been to.

But that didn't make it a less enjoyable experience. First off, it was affordable. For less than the price of ONE normal ticket to a Shakespearean Festival or Tuacahn production, the whole family got to go. Goodness, it was cheaper than a movie! But more importantly it showed off what people with a desire can do when they put their minds to it. The set was fairly simple yes, a few trees moved on and off stage, one 2-sided building, and a couple different pieces of furniture made up most of it. But the costumes were so fun! Using simple things that are readily available- fabric, plywood, some craft supplies, they created the medley of living objects at the palace. And the character of the humans was magnified by their costumes too, I think Le Fou's was my favorite. The show has been shown to a full house every night, and only ran for a week. Obviously, it was popular. But what I really found impressive, is that the people doing this aren't paid. They do it for the fun of it, the passion. It gives anyone in the community who might be interested a chance to be part of a play. If you aren't super talented yet, no big deal, come participate in this, become more experienced, gain confidence, have fun, improve!

It's a little bit of a drive for us, but this experience was such fun that I'm sure we'll be back. I don't think the larger town I'm living in has a community theater, as they have many theater options on the higher end, and I don't know if we could rouse the volunteers to do it time after time. Such a shame, I could be mistaken of course. We do have a place that it could be done, and if I ever hear of an honest-to-goodness community theater around here, I'll see what I can do to participate. Do you have one near you? Have you ever been directly involved in the production of a play, musical or otherwise? I haven't, but someday I think I will...

A Special Day

This last Wednesday started Spring Break for us. Our first official-have-a-kid-get-out-of-school Spring Break. We started it off on a very special note. I, as Mom, really needed it. I hope the kids benefited too. Abby had two days of school this last week, and they were hectic. Monday was a field trip, she was overwhelmed, and Harvey had to go see the orthopedist about his arm. Tuesday was her class party, and we filled eggs for her to take, then she came home with lots of treats. My mom wanted to know what I was planning for Easter Sunday, and I really hadn't figured it out yet. I did realize that if I wanted to go use my coupons for diapers at Costco I needed to do it Wednesday so we could decorate eggs and get ready for a busy Saturday ahead of time. So Wednesday morning, off we went.

Our errands in St. George did not take the time I had thought they would, and I wasn't ready to go home yet. After visiting Auntie Annie in the care center (in which the kids actually had a good time) I decided a trip to the Temple grounds was our best choice. It really was. The kids fell in love with the beautiful flowers, bending down to smell them, stroking the soft petals of the pansies. Seeing a toddler bend and 'sniff' at a flower could just melt any body's heart. It certainly brought a smile to my face. We walked around outside for a while, then went into the visitor's center. They had a lovely display of art by Del Parson illustrating Christ's life for Easter. And they has video clips that the kids could choose to watch. But their favorite part was the map/replica of Jerusalem during the time of Christ. Abby pushed the buttons and absolutely loved seeing and hearing about where special things happened. I did too. Then we tried to listen to the Christus, but Willie fell off a bench and bumped his head. The sister missionary gave both of the kids a pass-along card with picture of Jesus leaving the tomb. Abby got extra for her cousins, but we forgot to take them to the party.

After leaving the Temple I took the kids to the Washington Cemetery. Maybe that sounds creepy. But all of our dearly departed happen to be there, and the kids never have been. Besides, Abby asked what those rocks were when we drove by the St. George cemetery. We used it as a family history trip. Abby got to identify the names of people she knew, and realized that Willard is indeed named for his Grandpas- it's the very same! We found my Grandpa and Grandma Langford's headstone, and identified my mom's name (mine and Abby's middle name) on the back. Then we found Jeff's dad's stone, and found that Willie was named for him, and Jeff's name on the back. Lastly we found Great-Grandpa Pectol's, and found the name Willard Pectol again! Then it was time to go. We got home in time for dinner and to get ready for bed. It was a busy day, but a very enriching one.