Can We Do It?

I thought we were ready. Ready to elect a president who was willing, able, and had the know-how to bring us out of 16 trillion dollars of the ugly mess of debt hanging over us, and stimulate our flat business-burdening economy.

Now I know differently. Our land is riddled with people who care more about themselves than country. What can my country do for me? It scares me to think what would have happened if this generation were faced with The WWII of our grandparents, we couldn't sacrifice like our grandparents WE would have lost.

Mourning and Nesting

Mourning
This is the only word I can think of to describe the sadness I feel right before school starts. I start to miss my children, and I start mentally saying goodbye to seeing them all day everyday. I prepare myself for not having the time to just observe and appreciate them. I feel sorry for myself because of the split. The split is where I no longer can devote my abilities solely to serving my family, and have to split myself between work and family.

Nesting
No, I'm not having another baby! This is a word that describes when I start preparing for my new little ones by writing students' names on their nametags and folders. I start to think about who they are, and what they might be like, and it all becomes real...in a good way.

Snips, and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

So I've been babysitting my nephews this weekend while my brother-in-law takes his wife to a U2 Concert. They have four boys ages 9, 7, 4, and 2. I have three girls. Here are some things I have learned about boys:

• They are stinkier than girls.


• It is perfectly acceptable to climb all over each other, and even sit on top of one another(this would induce screaming at my house).


• There is an unsettling and absolute absence of pink.


• Boy underwear is ugly. There are no ruffles, or flowers, or princesses.


• There is an unsettling absence of conversation, but the chattering void is filled with movement.


• You've got to steal your hugs, and they will pretend they are miserable.

Sound of Silence

It is strange to be woken up by silence, or rather, the amplification of sounds you don't normally hear over the humming and buzzing of all your electric appliances, and your heater.

I was first awoken by the phone ringing. A strange automated voice delivering good news: school is canceled! I was ready to thoroughly enjoy sleeping in when the silence woke me up. I heard a creak, then a strange popping sound, then the smacking sound of my pug licking his own face. What are all these noises!?

It has given me a little understanding why people who live in bustling cities have a hard time sleeping when they go to the peaceful countryside. The silence can be unsettling. Why is it so quiet?! Kind of like when your two-year-old is out of sight and quiet....something is wrong, and when you find that little one, nine times outta ten you are going to have a situation.

So back to this morning (6:30). Why was it so quiet? Why was I awoken by silence? Our power went out. So we did what any good parent would do, started packing and bundling our tots to rush over to Grandmas, seeing as though it was 6 degrees outside. And as soon as every child was triple-layered with accompanying hats and gloves, shoes tied--click, hummmm. The power came back on. And for this I am extremely grateful.

Simplicity

I miss the simplicity of childhood friendship. I think the following dialogue may have been how my friendship with my childood bestfriend began:

"Do you want to be my best friend?"

"Yes. Do you want to be my best friend?"

"Yes!"

Followed by a secret handshake and WAMMO! You've got your best friend. The person you call when you want to do something, or when your brother ticked you off and you need someone to talk to, or when your family is going camping and they said you can invite just one friend. I miss her.

Youth Temple Trip/BYU Football Game Extravagaanza

I'm not quite sure where to start. From the beginning would be best I suppose. I volunteered myself to go to the BYU football game in Albuquerque with the Priests and Laurels. My original intentions were all about the football, but I learned a lot along the way about thankfulness.

I'm thankful for the strength of the youth, who have to endure a much worse world than even I did (because I'm not THAT old).
I'm thankful to have seen the BYU football team sing "Army of Helaman" at the fireside that the team puts on.
I'm thankful for the beauty and peace of the temple. I was not able to do work in it --they had more adults than needed, and we were there too early to do a session (yeah, we woke up at 4 a.m. to go, not so much thankful for that, but it was worth it:).

Some beautiful pictures of the temple. I think the bottom pic is prettier.

I'm thankful BYU won, because they played really horrendously.


Now, on a different note. I've got a bone to pick with all my marathon running friends and family--you know who you are! You are really chapping my hide, because all your little blogs about marathon running is inspiring me. Because if you know me well, you know I am competative, and I just can't handle that you all are running half-marathons, and full marathons, and I'm not! So some day, NOT today, and definitely not tomorrow--but someday, I'm going to start training. And while I'm training, I'm going to be thinking about how miserable I am, just running for no reason, and I will be cursing your well-accomplished names. So thanks a lot! (And good job, you rock!)

Convict Me of Blog Neglect

Yes, I'm a terrible blogger. I always knew that I couldn't take care of a blog, so I really shouldn't have taken on this responsibility. In my attempt to make amends, here is a short and quicky catch-up post that is easy and fast to read with lots of pictures.

Brian and his brothers went to the BYU vs. Oklahoma game in the brand-spankin' new Cowboys stadium in Dallas. I was not jealous of him when I believed that the Cougars were going to get shallacked. But I'm happy for them anyway (the cougars).

Gwen and Ruby both had their birthdays. Gwen had her friends over, and they made butterflies, played with balloons, and ran around yelling. For Ruby's birthday, Ruby and Gwen dressed up like princesses (with sparkly hair, dresses, and tiaras) went to McDonald's, and then went to Balloons a Poppin (a fun place with lots of bouncy castles). Dempsey enjoyed having a reason to eat cupcakes.

Ruby had her first day of preschool. Here she is all ready to go with her "hokie." She had a rough start of it, but now she looks forward to it and even has a mohawked little friend.
Anyone else having visions of motorcycles revving in front of my house in 15 years?

Gwen and Ruby on their first day of preschool this year.