I read this today and I LOVE IT!

http://powerofmoms.com/2013/01/you-dont-have-to-like-it/

You don't have to like it. I can totally get my head around that idea. Somehow it's affirming and liberating at the same time.

This is my favorite quote:

"I may wish for children who are perfectly obedient, respectful, kind, and generous, but if they were, then how would I grow? Motherhood is every bit as much about my personal growth and development as it is about my children’s."

Also, today I am happy that I can be a good friend to someone who was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I love her and her family so much, and I understand a little bit of what they are going through. Though I hated it at the time, now I'm kind of glad I've been there and done that.

Matching tongue and shirt. That's talent.

Ten years

Ten years ago today, Jack and I both got up early in the morning to get ready for a trip to Dallas. Ten years ago today, we would never have imagined making a similar trip for such a different reason. Ten years ago today we spent several hours in a location less than a mile from where we are today. Ten years ago today Jack and I had lunch together, just the two of us. It doesn't happen very often, but we ate lunch together today.

A couple of months ago, I called Elijah's doctor to schedule a surgical procedure that we knew he would need to have done this summer. Jack told me to schedule it for the first available date after the 4th of July. I scheduled it and wrote it on the calendar. 

When Jack got home from work, I gave him all the details, and his first response was, "Why did you choose that date?" "What? You said to choose the first available date after the 4th. Do we have something else going on July the 16th..... Oh. Right."

Yes, yes I did schedule Elijah's heart cath for our tenth anniversary and heart surgery for the next day.

Ten years ago today we spent the morning at the Dallas Temple. We are spending today at the hospital a mile down the road. Today I am really, really grateful for the promises and covenants Jack and I made with each other and with God ten years ago. No matter what happens in the coming hours and days, our family is sealed together for eternity.

Thank you to our families and friends for helping with our other children so Jack and I could take this amazing tenth anniversary trip together.

We're getting old. It took a while to figure out how to take a semi-okay picture of ourselves at the Dallas temple last Friday night.

Happy birthday to me!

This year for my birthday I wanted to go to my favorite restaurant, a local Thai food place. Since it was a weekday, the kids and I picked Jack up from work and took him to lunch there with us. Skeptics, all of them. Jack wasn't sure the kids could behave in a "nice" restaurant. The kids were convinced that any known restaurant would be better than the new unknown I was forcing them to go to, so they asked if we could go to every restaurant and fast food joint they saw on the way, over and over again.

Elijah whined and cried and repeated loudly, "I don't like this place!" for the first ten minutes after we got there. We ordered for the kids because there were no kids' meals or American food whatsoever on the menu. Pad Thai, Sweet Rama, and fried rice are always delicious options, they just didn't know it yet. I got my favorite green curry. 

Then the soup arrived. The yummy ginger-onion-chicken-carrot soup in a clear broth that makes everything better. Everyone tried the soup, everyone loved the soup, and everyone wanted more soup. Then the food came. By the time we were ready to leave, Ellen, Rose, and Elijah had all repeatedly declared that they wanted to eat at my favorite restaurant for their birthdays, too. Happy birthday to me! 

I really need to remember this when I feel life taking me to a new unknown. Rather than go kicking and screaming, maybe I should trust that by the time it's all over, it will turn out to be a place that I really do love after all.

First Friday Spanish Story time

When we were living in Lubbock and I was adjusting from working and teaching full-time to being a mom full-time, I made friends with the children's librarian at the public library and volunteered to lead a story time in Spanish once a month. It was a lot of fun, good for me, good for the kids, and so I finally decided to work out something similar where we live now.

The children's librarian and I worked out a schedule at the beginning of the year, and First Friday Spanish Story time was born. Our last story time had a cinco de mayo theme since it was at the beginning of May. We are taking a break through the summer and will start up again in September. 

The library has a lot of great resources in Spanish, including a bunch of big books someone donated. I sometimes supplement with my own books and music, and for the cinco de mayo party I brought along my neglected guitar and entertained the preschool set and their moms. Rose and Elijah don't understand much of the Spanish, so they can get a little distracted or more interested in drawing attention to themselves, but for the most part it has been fun.

61

When I was eleven, my mom was the Young Women's president of our ward. For one Wednesday night activity she taught the twelve to seventeen-year-old girls to make bread. She took dough ready to bake, dough ready to knead, and ingredients so they could actually make the dough. When she got home she commented that the girls really got into the kneading part, and they kneaded the bread so much that my mom thought it might have been too much. When the bread rose again and was baked, it turned out to be the "lightest, fluffiest, most delicious bread" in my mom's words.

                            

When I was in elementary school, I would get out my homemade lunch in the cafeteria and look around at the other kids' lunches and just ache for a white, store-bought, Wonder bread sandwich instead of my homemade wheat bread sandwich. When there were so many of us kids that my mom couldn't keep up with the baking, she switched to buying discounted Mrs. Baird's bread at their outlet (day old) store in town.

My mom kept baking bread, though. The first kind of bread she taught me to make was her "Easy French Bread" recipe. Few ingredients, minimal kneading. It was perfect for Saturday morning chore day because you had to set a timer and stir the dough every ten minutes for fifty minutes. We would race to see what we could accomplish in ten minutes. I took the French bread recipe with me to college and amazed roommates, ward members, and other friends.

Once I turned 18, I was my mom's go-to partner for many, many visits in connection with her leadership responsibilities in Relief Society, visiting teaching, and serving others. Most often she had a loaf of bread to take along with the spiritual message. Who wouldn't welcome a warm loaf of bread? Meals to new moms and the sick or elderly included a loaf of bread.

A few years ago I started making most of my family's bread and began a quest for homemade whole wheat bread to rival the soft white bread I had so pined for as a child. Assisted by a stand mixer, I regularly mixed up loaves of bread for us and to share. I was so used to making bread that when the mixer wouldn't knead the bread anymore and just died one day, I figured I might as well finally learn to make bread completely by hand. It turns out that it's not that hard, but it does take some effort, and it's very therapeutic.

As I knead, I think about my mom raving over those teen girls' kneading skills and wonder to myself if you can really over knead bread. Every. single. time. (I have since googled it and resolved the question in my mind.) I feel a sweet connection to my mom and an entire family heritage when I make bread. I get sentimental that way, and it's one of the reasons I continue to do it.

On my mom's birthday the year after she died, my husband recognized that I was having a hard time and asked if I would like to go to the cemetery and visit her grave. The thought hadn't even occurred to me before then, but in that moment I realized that I did want to, and that I wanted to plant some flowers there since the cemetery encourages it. The following year we did the same thing. This year I was thinking about it several weeks before the date, and I felt impressed to do something different to celebrate her 61st birthday.

We live in the same ward as my parents, in the same neighborhood as my parents, my kids go to the same school my siblings went to and where my mom sometimes worked as a substitute teacher. We know lots of people who knew and loved my mom, so I decided that over the course of the two weeks until my mom's birthday, I could bake 61 loaves of bread and give them away. I didn't tell many people what I was doing, but a few asked and were touched to find out. It was a lot of baking. Most of them were mini loaves. I tried to make a special effort to give bread to people who knew my mom, but I didn't limit it completely.

My daughter Ellen was my partner in crime and extremely excited about the whole idea. She asked me daily what the bread count was, and how many more loaves we needed to reach 61 by grandma's birthday. In the end it was a beautiful and emotional couple of weeks. I cannot begin to describe how it felt to deliver gifts to unsuspecting friends and family. I absolutely felt like the messenger, the deliverer. I had to consciously stop myself from saying "this is from my mom" as I handed over a loaf of bread, but that is what it felt like every time. It's the kind of gift I think my mom would have loved since she was a giver her entire life.

Happy birthday, Mom.

Church service in the 21st century, part 2

Pretty soon after speaking in my own ward, I was asked to speak in the Spanish branch that meets in our building. The the Spanish branch children and youth attend our Primary and Young Women/Men meetings in English, and then have their own sacrament meeting in Spanish immediately following the conclusion of our meetings. So that makes me their Primary President, too. The Branch President asked that one of my counselors speak, and that the Activity Days Leader also speak, and that I be the last speaker.

After thinking and praying, I decided to give essentially the same talk, so I rewrote it in Spanish. As I sat down it occurred to me that I could have lots of time to speak or no time, but that it was more probable that I'd have no time to talk, and that I should be prepared to just share my testimony. The Activity Days Leader, who has known me for most of my life, shared the story of how she came to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was very personal, but also very similar to an experience I had written in and out of my talk several times, and had finally decided not to share due to the personal nature of the experience and time constraints.

Fast forward to my turn to speak. I looked at the clock and saw that I had about three minutes before the meeting was supposed to end. President Moore told me to take about seven minutes, and as I looked around at everyone, I felt impressed to set my prepared talk down and only tell the story of how the Lord answered my prayers upon finding out about Elijah's heart defect. My original talk was about the gift of the Holy Ghost and personal revelation, and I had intended the story to be personal example of receiving revelation.

I found it interesting that the paragraph I had cut out of my talk in the first ward was my entire talk in the Spanish branch. I'm glad I had prepared.

Twenty years

I can't believe it has been this long!

I love the T-shirt. A little less than ten years out from my high school graduation I was teaching high school myself. Ah, the memories of high school Spanish, Spanish Club, theater department musicals, prom...

Now my kids go to the same school that my youngest brothers went to, and some of the same teachers are still there. This little dude hasn't even started yet. Lots of school still ahead of us.

Maximum happiness and the coldest winter ever

While reading random blogs, Facebook posts, and click-bait links, I discovered that someone somewhere did a study concluding that happiness is maximized at 57 degrees as far as weather is concerned. I walk my kids to school most mornings, and this past winter has seemed to be colder than usual. Some mornings we were bundled in layers of clothing, jackets, scarves, hats, and gloves. After the polar vortex passed through, those 40-degree mornings didn't seem too cold to walk, so we did.

We got some freezing rain/snowish precipitation in January

Sometimes I would check the temperature on our way out or my way home, and sometimes not, but every time I found myself walking home in 56- or 57- or 58-degree weather, I couldn't help but smile about maximizing my happiness. I think it actually made me feel happier in the moment to be outside walking in cold weather. (Cold for Texas, people.) Nerdy, I know.

On a different note, potty-training during the coldest winter ever turned out to be interesting as well. Maybe it helped that it was cold, even with the heater on, in just underwear and a t-shirt. Elijah's favorite song from the movie Frozen is "Frozen Heart," the song sung by the ice cutters right at the beginning. He knows all the words, if making up sounds that make sense to his three-year-old mind count as knowing all the words. The last line is "Beware the frozen heart." I couldn't help making a slight modification in my mind as we were potty training...

Pirate underwear apparently makes everything better.

Elijah is so much shorter than the other kids were at his age that he still needs help, but for the most part potty training has been a success. We'll chalk it up to the cold weather and maximizing happiness, because a party at Baskin Robbins and a gigantic scoop of Rocky Road ice cream sure do make this big boy happy.

Church service in the 21st century

On a Monday evening I got a text from a number not programmed in my phone asking if the Primary Presidency (me and two counselors) would be willing to speak the following Sunday. I hesitated a moment, and then texted back, "In the first ward?" (We attend the Waco 1st ward) The next message identified the bishop's counselor who was texting me, and after I agreed and asked what topic we should speak about, he asked me if there was anything in particular we wanted to share with parents of the primary-age children in the ward. We agreed on topics related to the primary theme for the year, "Families Are Forever."

Then I texted my two counselors with the fantastic news that I had accepted an assignment to speak on their behalf for the coming Sunday. They took it really well and got right to work. Sacrament meeting was really wonderful, and it was the first time I have ever been the concluding speaker. I could have had no time left to speak or way too much time left to speak, but it turns out I had just enough time to give my talk, minus a personal experience that I wasn't sure I wanted to share anyway. For posterity (and the purposes of an upcoming post) here is my talk:

The Gift of the Holy Ghost and Personal Revelation

I love the story Elder Funk of the Seventy told in GeneralConference last October about an Elder Pokhrel from Nepal. “After being a member of the Church for only two years, he was called to serve in the India Bangalore mission, and English-speaking mission. He would tell you he was not well prepared. That was understandable. He had never seen a missionary until he was one, because no young missionaries serve in Nepal. He did not read English well enough to understand the instructions included with his call. When he reported to the missionary training center, instead of bringing nice slacks, white shirts, and ties, he packed, in his words, ‘five pairs of denim jeans, a couple of T-shirts, and a lot of hair gel.’”

I received a copy of the Church Handbook when I was called to serve in the Primary Presidency, and one of my first thoughts was, “Great! I will read this manual and it will tell me everything I need to know to do my calling.” There are lots of good guidelines and instructions in the Handbook. As I was recently re-reading sections, I opened to the introduction, where the second paragraph states, “Church leaders seek personal revelation to help them learn and fulfill the duties of their callings.” Now, as Sister Nava has reminded us, the family is the most basic and most important unit of the Church. We can read the same paragraph as follows: “Church members seek personal revelation to help them learn and fulfill the duties of their callings.” or “Parents and other family members seek personal revelation to help them learn and fulfill the duties of their callings.”

We have many resources to help us in our eternal callings as members of families, but the beginning and end of those resources is personal revelation through the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I would like to share some thoughts on seeking personal revelation with you today. First, we should seek personal revelation through scripture study.

In John 5:39 we read Jesus’ response to Jewish leaders who persecuted him and sought to kill him for healing a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

Studying the scriptures helps us understand the gospel, the commandments, the consequences of making good or bad choices. Reading accounts of righteous and wicked men and women in the scriptures helps us “see” how to return to our Heavenly Father. Nephi tells us to “liken” the scriptures to ourselves. We read in the Book of Mormon of Nephi’s personal life experiences. He was asked to do many things that he had never seen others do before. He was led to get the plates of brass from Laban, to build a boat, to sail to a new land, to lead, teach, and organize his family. At the end of his life, in teaching his people about the importance of baptism, he tells them, “Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do” (2 Ne 31:17).

Nephi, who had become a great prophet and leader to his people, was their example. He wanted them to be more spiritually self-reliant. In 2 Nephi 32 we read, “And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way... Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do... For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.”

If we will study the words of Christ as found in the scriptures and in the words of our living prophet, we invite the Holy Ghost and personal revelation.

We should also seek personal revelation through prayer. Nephi continues to address his people in 2 Nephi 32, “And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.”

In the October 2008 General Conference, Elder Bednar taught “Prayer is communication to Heavenly Father from His sons and daughters on earth...Revelation is communication from Heavenly Father to His children on earth... The revelations are conveyed through the Holy Ghost... the witness of and messenger for the Father and the Son.” Elder Bednar goes on to give and example of how our morning prayers can be compared to the spiritual creation of our day as we kneel and ask our Father to help us with specific challenges and assignments. As we go throughout the day, we can discern heavenly help and strength and offer silent prayers of gratitude. In our evening prayers, we review, report, repent, and prepare for a new day and new opportunities. I quote Elder Bednar, “Morning and evening prayers—and all of the prayers in between—are not unrelated, discrete events; rather, they are linked together each day and across days, weeks, months, and even years. This is in part how we fulfill the scriptual admonition to ‘pray always.’ Such meaningful prayers are instrumental in obtaining the highest blessings God holds in store for his faithful children.”

After being checked by an angelic visitation in his riotous youth, Alma the Younger went on to become a righteous teacher, leader, and example. He held political and civic responsibilities as well as priesthood leadership responsibilities. The time came when he felt impressed to give up being chief judge of the Nephites and to devote all of his time and energy to teaching the gospel. As he teaches, he tells the people “For I am called to speak after this manner, according to the holy order of God, which is in Christ Jesus; yea, I am commanded to stand and testify unto this people the things which have been spoken by our fathers concerning the things which are to come. And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety? Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.”

In addition to seeking personal revelation through prayer and scripture study, we should seek personal revelation through obedience and service.

Let’s return to the account of Elder Pokhrel from Nepal. Elder Funk relates, “Even after he obtained appropriate clothing, he said he felt inadequate every day during the first few weeks.” English was difficult. He was hungry, tired, and homesick, he felt weak. He prayed for help and felt comforted. “Though missionary work was new and challenging for Elder Pokhrel, he served with great faith and faithfulness, seeking to understand and follow what he was learning from the scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and his mission leaders. He became a powerful teacher of the gospel – in English—and an excellent leader. After his mission and some time in Nepal, he returned to India to continue his education. Since January [2013] he has served as a branch president in New Delhi. Because of the real growth he experienced as a missionary, he continues to contribute to the real growth of the Church in India.”

President Ezra Taft Benson taught, “Without the Spirit, you will never succeed regardless of your talent and ability. Elder Richard G. Scott counseled, “When we obey the commandments of the Lord and serve His children unselfishly, the natural consequence is power from God—power to do more than we can do by ourselves. Our insights, our talents, our abilities are expanded because we receive strength and power from the Lord.”

Nephi and Alma and Elder Pokhrel give us an example of lives led by the Spirit. I can think of others I know personally whose lives have been led by the Spirit. Invariably, their lives have followed a pattern of scripture study, prayer, obedience and service.

As we make and keep sacred covenants, and as we make eternal families and exaltation in the celestial kingdom our goal, let us remember 1 Nephi 18:2. Nephi tells us about building the ship. We are probably not going to be called on to build a ship. So think of building a family, or a ward, or a testimony as I read this verse. “Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men. Verse 3: “And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.”

In an earlier account, Nephi mentions being carried to a mountaintop by the Spirit. Here he says he went into the mount oft, and I don’t think he got a ride every time. I did some hiking in the mountains in my college days, and it is definitely not as convenient as kneeling down by my bed or going into the closet to pray. And the higher up the mountain you go, the more difficult it gets. In seeking personal revelation, there is a price to pay. But with both mountain climbing and seeking to be led by the Spirit, the view is worth the effort and struggle.

I end with the song, “I Am a Child of God.” I have always understood the chorus to be the plea of a child to a parent or leader. Really, it is our Father, who through the gift of the Holy Ghost, leads us, guides us, walks beside us in our valleys of shadow and on our mountain tops. He helps us find the way. It is the Spirit who teaches us all that we must do to live with our Father again some day. Let us receive the Holy Ghost. Let us invite personal revelation. Let us be led home by the Spirit.

My own little happiness project

Last year my book group read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I started out 2014 reading her follow up book, Happier at Home. I really, really like reading this kind of book. The whole time I am reading, I feel like I have little aha moments and epiphanies and "I'm definitely going to do that!" And then I put the book down and realized that (1) I could not accomplish in a few hours or a few days what Ms. Rubin spent a year doing full-time, and (2) the things that made her happy did not necessarily make me happy.

I realized that rather than read the books as self-help books, I should have been reading them like I read novels: invested while I read, able to walk away when I'm done. But I love the premise of the books, that recognizing what makes us happy in the long term and making small changes in the short term really can make us feel happier now and later. So I decided that rather than embark on a year long self-improvement project, I would just recognize what makes me happy and do those things (but not too much, because going overboard does not make me happy).

So here are a few things that make me happy.

Walking my kids to and from school everyday. We have made new friends, honed our biking skills, had funny conversations, worked up a sweat, looked for the moon, and saved money. And it turns out that all those plants at the edge of the school grounds that I thought were weeds all year long actually bloom and attract migrating monarch butterflies. Who doesn't love a butterfly garden?


A rainbow in my closet. I while back I started doing a load of laundry every single morning, just to keep up with six people's dirty clothes. Since my washer and dryer are in the garage, once the laundry comes out of the dryer, I try to get it folded and put away as quickly as possible. I figure if I have to do laundry every day, I might as well see a rainbow every time I walk into my closet. It makes me smile every. time.


Oatmeal for breakfast. When I was growing up, I hated oatmeal mornings. I have been making oatmeal for breakfast regularly for the past five and a half years, and I am still surprised at how much my kids like it. Part of the attraction for them is the "make your own" process. I always use old-fashioned oats cooked in water and an assortment of add-ins: milk, frozen peaches, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries (all the frozen fruit cools off the hot cereal), cinnamon, maple syrup, shredded coconut, craisins, crystallized ginger, almonds or pecans. They pick what goes in, and sometimes they even ask for seconds.


Exercising at home in my pajamas. (I own an assortment of exercise DVDs, and YouTube is free.)
Reading scriptures in the morning. (Colored pencils, mini composition book, actual paper books of scripture)
Letting the kids watch a show so I can get chores done.
Kids helping with the after dinner chores (or the any time chores. There will be more of that this summer.)
Early to bed, early to rise.

And so many other things.

“So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment. We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude.” President Thomas S. Monson

Breakfast with Santa

A friend gave us tickets to the Waco Junior League's Breakfast with Santa event.

I made a huge effort for once and made Rose wear something "Christmasy" and accessorized with pink shoes and skirt.

I put on make up, fixed my hair and wore a skirt and jacket.

I'm so glad I didn't just show up in jeans and a t-shirt. Most of the other kids there were wearing matching Christmas pajamas and giant hair bows, and accompanied by entourages of parents and grandparents.

We had a fancy catered breakfast. Rose loved the little sausages.

There were fun life-sized decorations.

They gave each child a huge jingle bell, and then asked them all to hold the bells still while Santa read The Polar Express. Ha.

Rose visited the hot chocolate bar several times, mostly for the sprinkles and marshmallows.

They made a craft while waiting for their turn for a picture with Santa.

Rose was all over the photo ops.

Elijah kept his distance, but the whole experience was an 11 as far as Rose was concerned. Everything a kid could want in a breakfast party. Thank you, Amber!!!

Whooooo needs a cookie?

I got some grief from Jack for volunteering to help with a baby shower without knowing exactly what it would entail. I don't often make involved desserts, but when I do, I remember how much I love all things crafty and homemade, and how addicting and life-consuming this hobby could be. It's so fun to make something and have it turn out so cute!

Nine years

On Tuesday Jack and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. According to Google, the traditional gift is pottery or willow. I'm glad I went with giving Jack steak (dinner out) and Jack chose dark chocolate for me. He also has this incredible gift for picking out cards that say exactly what I would want to have him tell me.

We both agreed that we love each other more now than we did nine years ago. On the day I got married, I hardly thought that was even possible. If I were to write a memoir about our married life, it would be something like this:

Once and Forever (I should probably Google this to see if someone has already written it for me!!!)
"Nine years, four children, three college degrees, ten jobs, eight moves, and two heart surgeries later, we're even more in love than when we married."

I was just looking for a link to a previous blog post with a wedding picture, but apparently in the five years I've been blogging, I've never once blogged about my anniversary. So when I get motivated enough to turn on the other computer where the wedding pictures are, maybe I'll post one. For now you can just look at this.

I still love gerbera daisies and red :).

Thieves and bandits

We've been watching a peach tree in our front yard with great interest. I thought it had died last summer, but it turned out to be resilient, and we had a mild enough spring that lots of peaches started growing. They've been the perfect peach color for several weeks, but not quite ripe enough to come off the tree. I thought it started looking like there were fewer peaches, and so I started checking more regularly, finding some on the ground and none coming off in my hand.

A couple of days ago we drove in, and I went into the house to put my things away and then went right back out to pick a particular peach. When I got back outside, the peach was gone, and over in the neighbor's yard, this guy was sitting there enjoying it.



I picked every last peach off that tree and put them in the kitchen windowsill to ripen a little more. We've been snack on them ever since. Yum.

Did I mention that Jack Jack and his Pa built a "squirrel feeder" together the last time they were here visiting? I now understand why all the corn was on the ground under the tree. Who needs dried corn kernels when you can have a fresh peach?

Happy Birthday to Me!

The kids made me breakfast for my birthday way back a month ago.
Toast with butter and sprinkles: MOMMY, JA for Jack, RO for Rose, and EL for Ellen and Elijah.





My sister came down with her cute kids to join us for our secret service birthday plans, and this is the only picture I got:

The weekend before my birthday, Jack's mom and dad came to stay with the kids so Jack and I could go to the temple. It was wonderful.

The weekend after my birthday Jack and I went on a date.



We tried "the Elvis" at the Elite Cafe. Jack's idea. I took one bite. Peanut butter, banana, and bacon on white bread. Then what I really ordered came and it was fantastic: a spinach, tomato, and mushroom omelette with a bowl of fruit on the side.


So fun!