Thanksgiving Eve!

Last Sunday I got a fun surprise. I got a call from our Primary President an hour or two before church was to start and she said that her daughter was headed to the hospital to have their first grandbaby and she wouldn't be able to make it to church because she wanted to be there for the birth. She told me our second counselor was out of town and hadn't called her with some assignments she was supposed to have made, so we didn't know if there would be subs for all the classes. She listed off a bunch of people I had to find/give things to and told me she was sending her folder and keys to church with her younger son and that the agenda for conducting was in there, but I would be the only member of the presidency in Primary that day! It was surprising... definitely. Suddenly I go from thinking I have nothing to worry about, and then it's all just me! But everything actually went really well- the 1st and 2nd counselors from the past presidency were there and helped out and we had subs for all the classes figured out and Sharing Time got figured out and everything was just fine. Whew! But I am SO excited to be in Primary- I'm going to LOVE it!

Update on the calling situation- our new primary president has asked us counselors (the 2nd counselor is the Bear Leader in cub scouts) to stay in our callings in scouting for the time being. I'm not sure how long we will be there but I'm totally ok with it, surprisingly enough. I thought I wouldn't be. But I am- I'm totally fine with it. I feel like I have a better support system now that I'm in two different organizations. I've felt a little overwhelmed today because I started listing up all the things that have to happen in the next few weeks before we leave for vacation... but I'm just relaxing and I feel better.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving! We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Wahlquists who were so kind to let us come again. We got to spend it with them last year and it was so fun. We definitely miss family, but we have so many wonderful friends up here that we don't feel too lonely! We are so excited to see everyone at Christmas.

New Calling and Fishies

Wow- two posts in a week... let's not jinx it. Well, I got a new calling. I mentioned it last time- I just got called as First Counselor in our Primary Presidency. Hooray! I'm super excited about this calling- I am intimidated by it and a little overwhelmed but totally ready to go to work and have a blast! Our ward seriously has the best Primary I've ever visited, and I know the amazing presidency that came before us will be hard to live up to- but I LOVE primary. Oh so excited.

However, I'm still technically also the Webelos Leader. So off to scouts we go today! I'm assuming they will release me next Sunday once they have a chance to call someone to fill my spot. I'm a little sad about leaving the Webelos- we only have two boys but they are great. I was looking forward to growing into that calling. However, I'm also relieved. Cub scouts is a TON of work that I'm not even close to accustomed to- I would have had to do a lot of outside work and learn a lot of things myself so I could teach them to the boys. I know I could have done it, and I'm sad not to be working with them anymore... but I'm also kinda relieved. It was a very overwhelming calling for me. But now I have almost 100% more knowledge than I did before about how the cub scouting program works, and I have a lot better appreciation for it than I did before. I can definitely see how it's prepared me better to accept this new calling- and I feel like a lot more part of the ward now than I did before I was called into Webelos.

Our ward situation is interesting because of the boundaries. We have about half our ward living in the trailer park (consisting of mostly older couples/families, students or recently graduated students with 0-1 child) and the other half living in the more well-off subdivision up on the hill (established families with more children, professors at the college). Because of this, all of the people that are non-student are all really good friends and know each other quite well. Because students get married, need a place to live, decide to rent a trailer, move in and out usually within a year or two, they all kind of look the same to everyone else in the ward who can't usually remember who is living where. It's just an endless parade of students that are always changing... and as a result they don't always reach out and befriend them instantly. Not that they aren't friendly, it's just hard for them to remember who you are and keep you straight from the other 5 couples that just moved in that have a baby. I think they are just hesitant to form real friendships with people that will be gone in less than a year. I have always felt so welcome in the ward, and people are always so friendly, but it's taken a year and some of being here, and several different callings for me to actually break into the "established family" circle of people and to be able to say that I have friends in them beyond just knowing their name and saying hi on Sundays. But now I really feel so much more welcome- it makes a difference when I have some friends that aren't students. I'm not a student, so I look to those women for friends and it's just hard to find them because they all assume I'm a student and will leave in the spring or whatever. I don't know if I would behave differently if I was in their situation- I completely understand it. It's just an interesting ward dynamic.

We had such a fun weekend! Saturday we decided to be spontaneous and to shirk housework and homework to go do something fun as a family. We went up past Ashton to a little place on the Warm River where they don't allow fishing and you can buy little fishy pellets and feed the fish! It was really cold and snowing so we all bundled up good and went out to do it. It was so cute! Audrey loved seeing the fish thrash around after the pellets- she would laugh and smile every time. She was very fascinated by the snow and ice- wanted to touch it and figure out what it was. She thought walking in the snow was different but ok, however she did NOT like falling face first in the snow. At all. It was a very fun trip though- overall very successful, a dollar very well spent on feeding the fishies. And it didn't take all day or a lot of planning- which was nice!

Audrey modeling her fashionable snow pants before leaving the house.

A picture of snowy fields on our drive out there.

Audrey took a nap...

Daddy drove...

And Mommy just chilled!

...and took pictures. :)

Audrey checking out the water!

I feel glad to know we supported something with our dollar.

On our way home Audrey got a little warm, so she pulled off her hat, but realized it did actually belong on her head, and tried to put it back, and left it there.

Again, she really hated falling face first into the snow.

Ping-pong balls and Wintertime

Sometimes you just feel like a ping-pong ball. I feel like a ping-pong ball a lot these days. Audrey is getting molars and she is grumpy and starting to get bossy! Every so often she'll have a good day and return to my happy, sweet child. But a lot of most of the times she's quite insistent on doing everything her way, or else! She is learning to communicate what she wants better which is really cool... sometimes... but she is definitely an opinionated child. I look forward to her teenaged years with much trepidation...

She loves the coat closet.

Thomas is insane with busy-ness and business. School has been nuts for him, getting projects and papers and various things done, running here and there at all hours of the day and night (usually night). Work at Allstate has been pretty busy as of late, which is great because it means more $$$ for us in the end. MissionShoe is busy getting things ready for another shipment of shoes to come into Salt Lake the next week or so. I'm trying to keep up with all of this and get him out the door on time to everywhere he needs to be. So excited for Christmas... but first Thanksgiving! Definitely looking forward to that break. If it's really a break. At our house weekends somehow manage to be more stressful than weekdays... last weekend was GREAT because it wasn't. Fingers crossed for this weekend... and for Thanksgiving break. I'm really hoping it doesn't turn into Busy Central and we can have some much needed family downtime! But it really is a blessing to be so busy. I really can't complain!

In other news, Audrey is still cute. Guess that's not really news- she just keeps getting cuter though. Blows my mind. She is learning how to fold her arms when we pray. She also is learning how to come DOWN stairs. Up is really easy, but down is of course trickier. She is seriously obsessed with stairs- anyplace we go on that has stairs she has to go up and down them as many times as possible. She is learning to make the kissing sound- which is a lot less slobbery than the open-mouthed variety she practiced before. She is also learning how to play nicer with other kids- to share and to "be soft". Every time I tell her "be soft" she's taken to petting her own head. I guess I must have done that to her to show her what it means to be soft, and she does it to herself now. So CUTE. She loves loves LOVES to dance to anything that resembles a beat- from Daddy's typing on the keyboard to Mommy stirring something to "Called To Serve" during Sunday School, she will dance exuberantly.

I am doing pretty good- I really have been loving to recipe blog-hop and try new things out for dinner lately. I love cooking/baking... when my kitchen is clean... which is challenging because Audrey really doesn't care for me being in the kitchen when she isn't eating something in her high chair. She whines and cries and tries to push me away from the counters. Really her favorite place for me to be is sitting on the floor, doing nothing very important or attention-consuming. She likes me to be available just in case she wants to play with me or needs me. I'm like the toy that she doesn't want anyone else to play with- just for her to play with. And when she's not playing with me, I should just sit there and wait for her to be ready to play again! Sometimes she is nice to me- and in the mornings when she wakes up too early and I'm so tired because she wakes me up many times during the night due to aforementioned molars... she lets me doze while she tears up the house. So nice of her, really- I'd take the trade any day for a much-needed nap. Anyway, other than being Audrey's favorite toy, we've been enjoying the nice weather the past week or so and played outside a bunch! I even raked some leaves (before the super windy day blew them around again) and stacked some wood... Audrey LOVES being outside. It will be a hard winter for her inside.

I'd like to say this happened while I was napping... but I'm pretty sure I had just walked in the other room to grab something really quick.

Helping Daddy stack our wood!

She loves carrying sticks around. Whenever we go outside she has to find one and will carry it with her until we have to go inside and I take it from her.

My callings are changing again... again with the ping-pong business... more on this later. I've taken to organizing things lately (closets, toys, etc) which is fun, but really I'm just avoiding the pile of papers sitting and waiting for me to sort and find a place for and put away. I'm not sure why I am dreading doing it- I usually don't mind sorting papers like that. Oh well. Someday. Most days I do good to follow the Tornado around and pick up things left in her wake.

Halloween was fun- the only real thing we did was go to our ward Halloween Chili party and Carnival the Wednesday before Halloween. Audrey went as a pirate lass and Thomas dressed as a fat person. It was fun- Audrey loved running around and eating cornbread (she didn't like the chili) and dancing to the music at the musical chairs game. Halloween night we stayed in and ate pizza, candy, and watched Nacho Libre before Audrey went to sleep, and after Thomas and I watched The Raven- quirky old movie with Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. It was a fun movie- nothing really like Poe's poem though. We had a good night, even if Audrey didn't observe the end of Daylight Savings Time by letting us sleep in an extra hour the next morning.

Thomas and Sam Goff. Those fatties. ;)

Our sweet little pirate lass! She wouldn't keep her hair scarf on for anything. But it was pretty darn cute for about a second and a half before we left the house.

We are gearing up for the winter- it snowed tonight and I'm pretty sure our nice, play-outside weather is at an end. I felt like we got really lucky to have play-outside weather in October/November. Shout out to our poor AZ family who has had to endure insanely hot "fall" temperatures... but now you guys get the good weather while we huddle under blankets by the fire to keep our feet from freezing. And you don't have to worry about driving on the ice. :( I really don't mind that it's winter, or the snow, except that I'm really not looking forward to having a teething toddler cooped up inside for 8 months. Thank goodness for a brown Christmas in AZ!!!! Which we are super excited for!!! *cheers*

Snow from early-mid October sometime

Tonight's snowfall- a hurried picture because the child was screaming at me for leaving her for 5 seconds

Our toasty warm fire by which to warm our feet (and our house)

Thomas took this one morning- it's a picture of the ice on the top of my car.

Well I'm going to go eat some Corn Nuts and just veg for a bit before heading off to bed. Love to all!

Fall is here!

Thomas actually was bugging me last night about blogging... shocker! So here I am! :) Well life continues to move at an ever-increasing speed for us up here in Idaho! Summer is definitely gone, and we are gearing up for winter. We are holed up in the bedroom today because our big room is too cold without the heater on. I brought Miss Audrey's new piano from wonderful grandparents into our room and I am keeping warm under the covers. It's a pretty good deal! She loves that piano so much. She plays songs and turns the pages and I don't care if she bangs on this one too hard! And my toes get to stay warm. Even better!

Thomas is ever-busy with school, and I think we've adjusted to the busy-ness a new schedule has brought. I have been called into the cub scouts as a Webelos leader, which has kept me busy learning new things about. I also was called on to the Enrichment board, which brings my total number of callings to 3. Pretty normal for this ward, I'm told. I only have one voice lesson I'm playing for so far, and she doesn't have to do a jury which is super nice.

Audrey turned a year old this month, and she is just so cute. She is a super walker/runner/faller, is learning to imitate lots of words we say (see ya, hi, dadeee, yeah, cracker, etc) and is learning how to be sassy. She knows she isn't supposed to use hard things to bang on the piano bench, so she will take a toy and walk over to the bench and look around at me, as if to say "hey Mom, look at me... I'm about to do something naughty!" Then she slowly lowers the toy to touch the bench, watching my reaction all the time. If I say "no" then she grins and does it again. Sometimes she will walk over to me and give me the toy nicely, but sometimes she just is ornery. It's cute, but annoying. Mostly annoying. But she is sure cute.

We are so excited to go to AZ for Christmas! It seems so much closer now that it's freezing outside. We will be down the 18th through the 30th, so give us a call if you wanna do something fun/see us!

Sorry- just short for now because Audrey has a short attention span... and she smells like something might be leaking from her diaper regions.

Blogs of Note

I wanted to post links to a few blogs that I have come across lately that I really have enjoyed reading. I feel like I learn something new every time I read them- and it gives me a lot to think about. I encourage you to visit them.



#1: www.faithgreaterthanpain.wordpress.com

This is a blog by an older gentleman who is a widower, and has decided to re-enact his ancestor's journey across the plains. He pulls a handcart, wears period clothes, and eats the same kinds of things they ate while journeying. It's really interesting to read about his travels and the people he meets in these little towns that offer him kindnesses along his way. Definitely worth reading- but make sure you start from the beginning of his journey- I skipped to the earliest entry and started reading from there. I believe he is set to enter the Salt Lake Valley sometime next month.



#2: http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com

This is the story of a woman who survived a horrible plane crash- about a year ago. She actually had been a very active and well-known blogger before the crash, but I've only read it since she had the accident. She is very open and tells about her feelings as she has gone through this terrible ordeal. It always makes me feel like my life has nothing in the world worth complaining about after reading this blog.



#3: www.soymademegay.com

I still don't really understand the title of this blog- but it was really awesome to read. The author is a returned missionary, temple worthy member of the Church, but is also gay. He talks about the struggles of accepting himself and what he feels and reconciling that with his firm testimony and desires to live the Gospel. He also talks about a lot of stereotypes and prejudices people (even/especially members of the Church) have about gay people, and how different the truth can be. I felt like a lot of things I think and feel about gay people were challenged, and prejudices I didn't know I had revealed to me. It really gave me a lot to think about and opened my eyes to really treating people more fairly and kindly.

The End of Summer

Well we've had a wonderful last few weeks- and very busy also! I'll attempt to get everything updated before naptime/Mommy's quiet time is over... always tricky with 80 million things calling my name...

We've been so busy that I've shamefully neglected my blogging-dom- which also means if you wrote something important on your blog in the past month or so, I probably haven't read it, with a few exceptions. Apologies. Here is a picture of the sunset here in Rexburg to make up for it.


We blew over to Wyoming for a day or two to visit my sister and play with Jonesy(my Uncle Maury)'s stuff! I got to ride an ATV for the first time! And my sister took me on a horse ride through the mountains and taught me the difference between galloping, trotting, and loping. it was SO fun! I also went white-water rafting for the first time. HOLY COW. I'd do it again in a heart beat! My wonderful cousin Gina watched Audrey for us while we all went down the river- and it was so much fun. I wanted to do it again immediately. HA! Love it! Here are a few pictures of Audrey while in Wyoming.




We took a trip down to SLC/Provo to pick up a shipment of Thomas' shoes that were coming in, and we got to see our good friends McKenzi, Jonny and Morgan Harrop! They are expecting little James to join them any day now- we are so excited for them! Audrey and Morgan had fun getting to know each other and pick on each other- probably more picking happened than anything else- just like sisters! I will see if blogger and my insanely slow internet will let me put a few cute pictures of them up here.

Morgan yelling at Audrey to stop touching her. :)

Little Duckies playing in the rain!

We also got to see our good friends Brian, Tay and Sean! They were nice enough to let us stay with them on our way back down and we had so much fun. Audrey and Sean got along really well- she seems to get along with boys better than girls for the most part. I'm hoping it's just a phase... But they were really cute together also and I will post a few pictures of them also. Dang, Sean is just a super cute kid!

Audrey loved Sean's toys.

Sean loved playing on our box of food!

They had fun playing with each other!

Thomas is still working at AllState, and things are going very well for him there indeed. MissionShoe continues to grow, and Thomas is very happy to have his inventory re-stocked but is already contemplating the need to order another 150 pairs so he doesn't run out of sizes like last month... what an exciting problem! He is expanding his inventory also to include a boot-cut that many people have expressed interest in, and he also has brought in a few trial pairs of sister shoes, so if you'd like to be part of test-driving a pair please let us know. They aren't necessarily the prettiest/cutest shoes, but I wear a pair and I LOVE how comfortable they are. SO AMAZING.

We also frequent the rock gym, usually once or twice a week since Thomas volunteers there and Audrey loves running around the gymnastics equipment and chewing on bits of tape that she peels off the walls. I did my first bouldering route last Saturday- it was easier/less scary than I thought it would be. (Bouldering means you don't go as high on the wall and you don't use a rope.) I also have yet to conquer the "shelf" route. I wasn't feeling totally up to par on Saturday so I didn't risk another attempt... but I will get it. Just you wait.

Audrey is 11 months old... and her birthday is fast approaching. This fills me with glee and excitement and shock. How can she already be a year old! she is just getting too big too fast. She is starting to eat more and more table foods and she's loving all of them- except whole peas and grapes. She hates the skins of things, like peas and beans and grapes- and she loves beans (even lima beans) but she won't eat peas unless they are pureed so the skins aren't present. She won't eat grapes but we've recently gotten her to eat raisins. She loves carrots, and LOVES LOVES LOVES whole green beans. She really didn't like them when I mashed them for her, but she LOVES eating them whole. She hates formula in a sippy cup. I've really been trying to transition here in that department but she stopped taking a sippy cup for a week because I offered her formula in it one too many times. She finally started drinking juice or water from the sippy again, but she loves a bottle. She also will not take a bottle in her high chair. I have to be holding her or she cries and screams and won't take it. *sigh* But she is a very good baby. Her two little teeth are getting bigger and bigger, but no other teeth yet. She hasn't been feeling well lately, but we aren't sure if she is teething or if she really did sick. All her symptoms point to either one... guess it's pretty much the same thing anyway. She is getting more and more comfortable standing on her own and walking on her own- she can take several steps on her own between people or couches. She is very proud of herself for walking. She loves her Daddy so much- she points to our family picture on the wall and she says "Dah...DAH!" She is always happy to see him, but she needs something or if something is wrong, all we hear is "MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA". She loves to sing and to laugh and to bang on pots and pans with her drumsticks. She loves the bathroom (though it's forbidden) and kitchen things of any kind. When she sees something she wants, she gets excited and pants/laughs as she crawls as fast as she can towards it. She loves being outside and eating grass, dirt, sticks, etc. She is starting to learn how to share but mostly just likes other people sharing with her. What a cute baby.

Well, my time is up- Audrey is calling me for her lunch in the other room. Hopefully it won't take me another month to update! ;)

Saturday in the life of the Scotts

Today was a wonderful Saturday here in Rexburg- it was a little hot this afternoon (probably around 90ish) but this evening we got some clouds roll by and it cooled things off nicely for our barbecue! We were invited to a neighborhood barbecue and we had a great time. Audrey got her first taste of Otter Pop, thanks to Daddy (it was a blue one), and we learned she thinks small dogs are hilarious. She's not too keen on bigger ones, but ones that are smaller than her she seems ok with. There was a gal in our ward there and she has a Miniature Pinscher, and every time she would bark or whine or run around Audrey would stare at her and giggle hysterically. We helped her pet the doggie and she thought that was totally hilarious also. It was so cute!

Our garden is ever-growing! We have lettuce that is ready to be cut and a few peas that are very edible and plenty of raspberries already. They grew a lot better/bigger than last year- I think we are taking better care of them this year than they got last year. It's exciting to get to eat things you grew in your own yard!

Well, life continues to move at a maddening pace. Audrey is totally crawling now, everywhere and into everything. She can also pull herself up and walk along anything that has anything to hang onto, even if it's just the bare wall. Her favorite things right now are DVD's and anything kitchen-like. She still has a fascination for the bathrooms but those are mostly off-limits nowadays. Baby-proofing is going ok; we still have a few changes to make here and there. She is ten months old today and is definitely getting so big. It's so fun/scary/sad/happy.

We've had the lovely opportunity to have so much family come into town- pictures of all escapades are on facebook. (Forgive me for not posting them all here- but my patience with uploading pictures with the blogger uploader is pretty much zero.) We LOVED having our families up here with us in the gorgeous weather and getting to explore some beautiful places with them. And we loved that Audrey got to finally meet Aunt Rachel- that was definitely a highlight. :)

We are doing well- Thomas finished up his internship with the City and is enjoying a little more breathing room so he has time to mow the lawn and go climbing. We've both gotten into climbing recently- Thomas just started working at the rock gym a few times a month so we can get some sweet equipment for free and we can climb for free. Yeah! Audrey and I go to the library often these days- I'm working through my 100+ book list of reading. I'm really enjoying taking some time to read here and there- I forget how much it makes me relax in between vaccuuming and sweeping and mopping in a vain attempt to keep lint, fuzz, crumbs, etc away. We are all excited for the 7-week break from school, even though neither of us really had school during the summer anyway- but I won't have any accompanying to do and Thomas has some grand vacation plans, "places to go things to see" style.

Our garden is growing nicely! It is so fun to watch all our work pay off. We sampled the first raspberries of summer as well as the first peas this week. Not much, just a taste to get us excited for later when we can eat all this great stuff! Everything came up well except for the broccoli- nothing grew except weeds in that row, and the peppers are being surprisingly slow. but everything else is great- especially the peas and lettuce. Those are doing really well. We figured out that the little north corner of our yard isn't really all full of weeds- they are mostly wildflowers that finally bloomed this week. We have some beautiful roses growing also- and a lot more flowers that popped up over the past week. I will get out and take some pictures of those today- you can watch for those soon.

Blueberry Cream Muffins

I made these yesterday morning when we wanted something yummy and I was in a bake-something-new mood. I had to share the recipe because they were/are SOOOO good. The sour cream makes them rich and moist. I can only eat two at a time because they just stick to your ribs. This is out of the Taste of Home cookbook.

Blueberry Cream Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen berries (you could also use raspberries)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (8oz) sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt; add berries and toss gently.Combine the eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

2) Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

Makes about a dozen.

(I added the streusel topping option from the book- it was SOOOOOO good. Do it.)

Streusel topping:

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold butter

Combine all ingredients but the butter. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Tyrannosaurus Audrey!

It's happened... The long-awaited tooth has finally arrived!!! Yippeeee!!! After much grumpiness and refusal to eat well, Audrey has finally cut her first tooth. Thomas was playing with her while I was making dinner last night, and he said "She just bit me... she has a tooth!!! She just bit me, like for real!!!" and much excitement ensued. No successful pictures yet... hopefully some to come soon. It just popped right out there, sir! Hooray!!!

Fabulous flowers!!!

Look at what is growing in our yard!!!

Grape Hyacinths

We think these are forget-me-nots.

Little Purple Pansies touched with yellow gold!

This little guy got stepped on... a couple times. But look at him, he made it through and bloomed beautifully!!!

Various kinds of tulips...

It is so fun and exciting to have so many flowers growing! Our raspberry bushes are starting to come back as well- and we look forward to lots of yummy raspberries this summer! Hopefully we will get more because they are actually getting taken care of this year!

Mothers and Striped Pajamas

Last night Thomas and I decided to take advantage of our favorite free Redbox rental Mondays! We finally got "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", which Thomas had looked at on the Redbox website and really been wanting to see. I thought it looked interesting, something about a boy who finds and makes friends with another boy on the other side of the fence in a concentration camp in WWII Germany. We were ok for a movie that we knew wouldn't necessarily be a "light" movie. I definitely wouldn't call it a feel-good movie. I really don't know how to describe it, honestly. It is the story of a German boy whose father is in the military, kind of a WWII from the German youth perspective. It describes the way German people reacted to Hitler's regime, both for and against and the struggles this family went through in trying to support their country and their father as he was called to serve as a soldier in different capacities, and how each family member changed as a result. I highly recommend it to anyone that is up to watching a movie that will touch you deeply and emotionally, and leave you a little jarred and unsettled. It left us both very thought-filled and we talked about it for probably close to an hour as we were going to sleep last night after watching it. After seeing it, even this morning as I've been going about housework and things, it's still kind of lingering in the back of my mind. I'm really not sure what it is about it that struck me so hard- it's such a poignant expression of humanity and what a life is worth. I really don't want to say a whole lot more about it, since none of you have probably ever seen it. If you ever do see it, let me know what you thought about it.

My first Mother's Day! Well, my first official Mother's Day! It was simply wonderful- Thomas cleaned the house last weekend for me and he made us scrumptious waffles for breakfast. Church was really nice- we got chocolate from the ward (always makes life better!) and I got to teach the Sunday School lesson on dealing with challenges in marriage which I really enjoyed doing. Our evening was quiet, we called our mothers and just relaxed. Thomas let me beat him at Boggle :), but he is actually getting a lot better- he actually beat me a couple times. I blame Scrabble on Facebook.

I have been thinking a lot about my moms (I have 3 fabulous mothers) these past couple weeks as I've looked forward to Mother's Day. As Audrey grows and I think more about the fact that I was once as small and as young as she is, I realize all my mothers have done for me in my life as I have learned and grown. It also makes me realize how little-prepared I feel to offer words of wisdom and knowledge as the mothers in my life have- will I be as wise when the important teaching moments come? I hope so. But I am so grateful to have had such wonderful examples of what a mother is and should be and needs to be. I love my job. Seriously the best on the planet.

A book to put on your "to read" list: Esias: Remnants of the Past. A good friend of ours has gotten this book published, and I just recently finished reading it- and I am SO anxious for the next one to come out. It is an epic-style fantasy novel about the life and destiny of Emane Esias. Read more about it, including excerpts on facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=72958700204&ref=ts
or check out his personal website: www.jonathanvernon.com.

Realizations and Goals

Every time I read the NieNie Dialogues, I always realize how selfish I am. Whenever I feel like I have too much to do, or I don't want to do all that I do, reading her words always makes me realize what a blessing it is that I have so many wonderful things to do, and that I am able to do all those things. Hearing her wish she could sit on the floor and play with her children again, or pick her crying child up and comfort him- it makes me realize how blessed I am, and how much I really love serving my family.

Last week at our Mary Kay unit meeting, our director said some things that I really loved, that I wish I had the courage to dare to do. She was talking about using our time in our days more efficiently and helping us realize that we really have time to do whatever it is we decide to do. If I want to do something bad enough, if I make it important enough to me, then I can make time for it to get done. This is something she has talked about before many times- and I know she is SO good at doing this. I also know it has taken her years to learn this skill of using all our time, not just living appointment-to-appointment. She said that she doesn't watch TV anymore, because she just can't sit and do nothing anymore. She said she just can't do it- she has too many other things she WANTS to be doing. It's not that she wants to watch TV and just doesn't let herself because she knows it's unproductive, but she's gotten to a point where she doesn't WANT it anymore. I loved that- and I really admire that. She also challenged us to quit "dorking around with mediocrity" and get up and find and fulfill our potential. :) It made me think of all the things I do in a day, and wondering how much I really COULD do if I cut certain things out. I'm sick (again- usually I only get sick twice a year-ish, and now twice in two months... maybe then I'm done until next year?) so I don't think today is a good day to start. But I'm definitely making some goals for myself once I recover concerning idle uses of my time.

In other news, Audrey has learned to click her tongue, and it is definitely one of her new favorite sounds. She can take a few steps if I help her- getting the hang of the whole "one foot in front of the other" deal. She is also learning to stand and hold onto things by herself, like the couch, a chair, the wall, her crib, whatever it is. She also ALMOST pulled herself up to standing position yesterday. She is getting so strong! I really think she might just walk before she learns to crawl. Her horrible diaper rash is better, which she is happier about- I'm wondering if it was just a random thing, or if she was sensitive to the new kind of wipes we tried. I wondered for a while if it was food-related; I'd heard that babies can get diaper rashes if they are sensitive to a food they are eating, but I pulled her off all solids for a while and it didn't make a difference. Who knows. My good friend Qait told me that Extra-Emollient Night Cream worked wonders on really bad diaper rashes (don't laugh, it's true). Too bad- it's kind of an expensive (yet amazing) diaper rash cream though. But Desitin finally pulled through if I slathered enough on. She is still teething- still an off/on kind of thing. I kind of feel like the teeth that were so close to surfacing have retreated back into her gums. :P

Thomas is in Salt Lake for the day- he and Michael went to go pick up his shipment of shoes and to spend his free coupon he got for Tucano's, a Brazilian-style place- I can't remember the real word for it, but basically it's like a meat buffet. He should be back by tonight; I'm glad he is only gone for the day. We were going to leave yesterday, and go all as a family, but I got sick and felt I should stay here. I also didn't remember I signed up to do initiatories at the temple today- which I'm still determined to do, provided I can find someone to watch Audrey for me. We really need to get better at getting to the temple regularly- we have such a gorgeous temple just down the street from us.

April Showers...

Hopefully this will be the start of better blogging habits. Hurray for naptimes! I'm hoping it lasts long enough for me to get some pictures on here too. Also provided my computer makes it through the upload- it's been running ever slower these days. I realized the other day that it's around 5 years old. My poor little laptop. It has served me well. Anyway, I've been trying to be more productive with my days since we've discovered a few things that we waste too much time on... (aka mindjolt games on Facebook and www.rinkworks.com, which I spend all too often whiling away my free moments on. Don't look them up unless you are willing to deal with the time you will waste. Or unless you have better discipline than we do.) However, productivity has taken a downturn with the weather- today it is rainy and cold and gray and I felt like laying around all day. But I didn't, I finally got up and at 'em after a lovely morning nap. Which was nice since we stayed up until 1 playing each other at online pool. :)

Things are going well for us- Shoe business is ever booming! Thomas hired my best friend McKenzi's husband, Jonny, down in Provo to be a sales rep for him and Jonny has been doing SUPER! Thomas is really happy to have him on the team with him. Michael is back from his tour with Sound Alliance, and I know Thomas is excited that he is back. It was fun getting to help Qait while he was gone- I was able to go help her with unpacking or watching Ender while she got some work done. Last Saturday we got to play with Ender while she did some work for the managing job they are doing, and we were out in the yard cleaning up the mess of eons past... and tenants past. Our yard had been so overgrown for so long, as we raked out the black and decomposing leaves I wondered which fall they were from, and how long the snickers wrapper or bottle cap had been buried in the dirt there. We also just recently found a broken old aquarium buried in the grass and bushes, and last fall we had found the fish body on the other side of the yard. We've also got quite the quackgrass problem, and we are trying to get it all dug out. We are doing fine in the areas where there isn't anything else trying to grow, but in the north corner of our yard (next to our dear Flower*, may he/she rest in peace, whomever and whatever he/she is) we have some beautiful tulips that are growing (which are starting to bud today- no color yet but pictures will follow as soon as it stops raining) and it has been a challenge to try and get all the grass to stop showing them up. It is SOOOOO much easier pulling it up here in the wonderful Idaho soil, rather than in the AZ dirt. It's actually fun!

Anyway so we were out in the yard reclaiming the earth and I was working over in one of the planters by the raspberry bushes, digging out all the grass Thomas had "clawed" out, and I was using a little hand rake to move the dirt, and then I would grab the grass and put it out in the pile. Ender was watching and once in a while he'd poke me or show me the dandelion he found, but pretty much did his own thing. After awhile Audrey needed me so I put down my gloves and tool and I went to sit with her on her blanket. Ender came over and picked up the hand rake and started poking the dirt like I had been, and then every now and then he would put it down and pick up a piece of grass with his thumb and first finger and drop it over in the pile of weeds. It was so cute! He must have played like that in the dirt for almost half an hour. He had such a good time out there with us- slobbering on rocks, eating dirt, and helping to get the grass out! Here are some pictures I took.

Digging...

Picking the grass out!

It's hard work!

What a cutie!

Audrey hangin out on her blanket!

Daddy working hard!

Cheese!

Our first taste of grass... I'm afraid it was a hit.

*more on precious Flower later. (maniacal laughter)