What time is it...

Summer time


It's our vacation!

Yeah for summer.

Who needs a good laugh

Have you been in a Harrison Ford mood?

The title of this post could be “A Typical Sunday”, or “Why I Currently Hate Sundays”

Here are my random venting thoughts on this “Holy” day of the week.

--The day starts out trying to gets kids clean, dressed, fed and maintain the cleanliness level of their Sunday clothes during meals as well as the keep the house clean, (without doing too much “ unrighteous cleaning”, um, yeah, right)

--After dragging kids to church, two hours are spent wandering the halls chasing my over-active one-year-old as he explores every inch of the church.

--An hour in relief Society with no kids should be bliss, but pure exhaustion hits me from the previous several hours, and it’s a struggle to maintain consciousness no matter how awesome the lesson is.

--Rush home from Church and get everyone snacks, changed, bottle-fed and put down for naps.

--Race around cleaning so that “Sunday Dinner” can be made.

--A good hour is devoted to making a healthy fantastic meal my kids can sit around the table and remember fondly for years to come.

--Dinner time approaches, and there is no fond memories to be made. Instead it’s a fiasco of trying to get everyone dished up, encouraging kids to eat the meal that I’ve spent over an hour making, and enduring their criticism of how much they “hate” what I just made. Trying to get the baby fed, and watching my plate of delicious food sit there as I work out temper tantrums, encourage vegetables to disappear, and keep my little boy from walking through my food as he climbs on the table.

--I don’t remember the last time I ate a hot meal on a Sunday

--A good hour of cleanup then follows as I scrub every pan that I dirtied in order to create my “hated” masterpiece.

--At least the kids do take their dishes to the counter.

--After cleanup it’s time to give the well-planned, adorable, home-made, Family Home Evening lesson that I’ve spent the week preparing… (uh huh, or grab a picture from the F.H.E. picture packet and quickly talk about it)

--Try to read scriptures as my hair is pulled, kids complain, and the baby tries to rip the page out of my scriptures.

--Try to talk about what we just read and realize I don’t know because of the commotion around me.

--Realizing no one cares.

--Off to the bath where I try to get everyone sweet-smelling and clean.

--Wrestling to get P.J.’s on.

--The begging, the pleading and the “gnashing of teeth” to get teeth brushed.

--Trying to tell stories, and put the kids to bed without falling asleep myself.

--Finally falling asleep only to be awoken by a crying baby just as I’m falling asleep. Of course.

And then Sunday is over. Needless to say being a mother is a lot of work, no matter what your situation. But Sundays are starting to wear me down. Thank heavens the Lord only set aside one “day of rest” a week. I couldn’t handle much more.

Bringing down the house!

Perhaps we should have a moment of silence for the death of an old home….


Now it’s time to celebrate!! Huge shout out to Casey Nelson and his new construction company for doing a job so many of us have longed to do for years—tear down the old decrepit reminder of what was left of the fruit ranch many of us now live in. Living directly across the street from this house it has often been a yearning of mine to see it gone and replaced with something much easier on the eyes. I’m hopeful that come September or October a new, beautiful house will be in its place.

With that said this experience has caused me to reflect on this old house. What is it with our obsession to discard old and broken things and replace them with new and shiny? Certainly this house was unfit to live in, there was mold in every corner, asbestos in the plumbing, the foundation was cracked, and many other smaller, crawlier inhabitants had taken over residence. The cost to renovate and make the house livable was nearly the same price as rebuilding, so there was no sense in trying to save it.

Which made me start thinking about my own home. In a hundred years what will become of my house that I love so dear, that I work every day to clean and maintain.

The house across the street from me was over a hundred years old. Originally built in the late 1800’s, it has had two additions throughout the years. Babies were born in the house, people died in the house. Someone sweated and stressed and worked to pay its mortgage. Someone else faithfully cleaned and cared and maintained the structure. That house has survived over a hundred Christmases. It survived the Depression, two World Wars, recessions, integration. No one alive remembers the day it was built. When it was first built there were no automobiles, only horse drawn carriages. Orem, Utah was nothing but long stretches of stunning fruit orchards leading down to Utah lake. Life was slow, simple, and this house has stood by, watching the world change. It watched the freeway emerge, saw tress were sliced down around it to make room for large expensive homes, and it remained standing, a lonely test to time, as the world changed.

And now it’s gone forever.

Interesting how your paradigm can so quickly change. This ugly house across the street from me truly does deserve a moment of silence.

It is also good for me to remember every world thing that we hold, that we work for and strive to build, will very likely mean little to nothing in a hundred years. In the end everything turns to dust. And yet the things that never dissolve, that only grow stronger with time, are our relationships with people, as well as our memories. Although the house is gone, those who lived there, who loved it, will hold that forever. Today I will be cleaning my house, again, but I know that the memories that my family and I are building will be impressing into the walls of our structure and they will last eternally, even if and when these walls come down to make room for the latest technological advancements. It’s good to remember I don’t have this home for the house, I have it for my family.

Proud of my sister

I just had to make a note of how proud I am of my sister. She's updated her blog after over a year of silence. (Just because she had twins and had a total of four boys, four and under was no excuse, really...)

Yeah Erin!

The most amazing artist in the world

There are two people in this world who I consider my best friend. Sonnett and Sabine. Sonnett and I met in 3rd grade, became friends in 5th, and have remained best friends ever since—even though we have lived several miles apart ever since 6th grade. She was the person who started me writing, has kept me writing, and encourages my writing. She is one of the single most talented people I have ever known in my life! Besides being a kick butt singer, (she would blow American Idol away if she ever went on it) a great writer, an avid reader, a consiourger of fine music, art, and food, a fabulous cook, and massage therapist, she is also one of the finest artists I have ever known. (I’m not boasting, although I should since I’m her best friend, but I’m simply stating facts.) The greatest advantage I receive from this fact is that she is constantly illustrating pictures for my novel. Since I was twelve she has often given me amazing drawings for birthday and Christmas gifts. Well, knowing I was having a sad week, she sent my one of my all time favorite pictures she has given me. Here it is

I’m not sure if she has titled it, but I call it “Prisoner in Pink”. At first you might think it’s a beautiful picture of a princess, but it would mean more if you understood that it is a picture from the very first novel I ever wrote, (well, co-wrote with Sonnett). We were in 5th grade and together wrote a 100 page, handwritten novel about a young princess (Tara) who always wore pink, until one day, for her sixteenth birthday overheard her boyfriend (Prince David) complaining to someone about it. In the end she dresses in a blue gown for the ball and discovers that she never really loved Prince David, but truly loved Prince Ian all along. Awesome story! I’ll let you know when I publish that one, but until then you can enjoy the stunning picture of Princess Tara wearing a classic pink, heart-shaped bodiced gown, complete with puffy shirt and off the shoulder puffy sleeves. I love it! This is what my books are all about.

And for your viewing pleasure here are a few more fantastic pictures by Sonnett. (Hopefully she won’t mind me posting these) Each one is a character from one of the stories I have written. If you’re curious to learn more about them, just ask ;)

Celestia's Sword 2007

The Fairy Queen 1999

Ariel and Xenzues 2001

Check out the new Twilight Movie Page

I'm not obsessed!!! It's a stupid book about a stupid story that's not even well written. I really don't care at all....

with that said...

I am soooooooo excited for the movie. I feel like a giddy teenager again! he he he

go check out the cool new movie web site. Sweeeeeet!!!!!

Sweet Twilight Trailer!

**No copyright infringement intended! I do NOT own this video

Today my house is

a) Immaculate
b) Clean enough, I’m not embarrassed
c) Dishes are done, but that’s it
d) Pretty messy
e) Disgusting. Please sign a waiver before entering, stating that any injury caused from stepping on “stuff”, falling, or trying to move through my house is done at your own risk.

Answer: ... (my answer is confidential, but I will give you a hint, no pictures will be posted on my blog today, and if you stop by, be prepared to sign your name.)

Dates that Matter

May Day. Today was my parents wedding anniversary. Of course they’ve been divorced for eight years, but I still think about it every May Day. I don’t know why, perhaps because I still hold onto the idea of their marriage magically working out, or perhaps it’s a reminder of a reality so many people suffer. Whatever the reason I started thinking about other dates in my life, isn’t it interesting that every day is important to someone for some reason, so here is a list of different days throughout the year that always make me stop and reflect.

January 1st New Years Day
February 15th My half birthday and my brother’s birthday. I always thought that was so cool.
March 2nd The day my Dad died
March 30th My Dad’s birthday and the day my parents divorce was official.
May 1st My parents wedding anniversary
May 29th The day I was engaged, five years before I got engaged this was also the day that I finished my first real novel, ending at 1500 pages (I was thirteen years old)
June 6th The day I gave birth to my first child, my life changed forever.
June 30th My best friend, Sonnett’s birthday. Growing up, every June I would spend a week or two in St George and celebrate her birthday with her. Now, I ache to be in St George in June.
August 15th My birthday. I love my birthday! Perhaps I’m really selfish, but I love having a day about me
August 17th This is the day that the house I grew up in, and lived in for 20 years, burned to the ground.
August 29th The day I got married
September 11th …
November 23rd The day my mother remarried, I still have very mixed feelings about this, though I can’t be happier for my mother.
December 22nd The darkest day of the year.

I could have listed all the holidays I love, the birthdays of people I love, but I didn’t want to go on for too long, and I was worried I would get a date wrong. These are just dates that really stick with me. It’s fun to think about these kinds of things. What dates do reflect on something? Make a list. It’s always a fun reminder to think that everyday of the year is important to someone in the world.