Conference Weekend, coming at ya

I'm so ready for Conference this weekend. Having the opportunity to hear the Prophet, Apostles and other divinely-called Church leaders speak is such a great blessing. I can't wait to learn, be edified and strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ.

And I'm not going to lie. There are the rolls.

Several years ago - maybe all the way back to the Days of Provo? - I got a hold of my favorite roll recipe. The one my seminary teacher used to make for us when we were good. It happened to be right around Conference time when I started working with it, getting my technique right and what have you. And thus a tradition was born. No conference weekend can begin without what are now known as Conference Rolls. My kids have a Pavlovian association between hearing President Monson's voice and tasting a gooey caramel roll melting in their mouths.

Maybe this makes The Word sweeter to their taste?

So that's what I'll be doing tonight - getting out my Kitchen Aid and going to town with some dough.

What are your Conference Weekend traditions?

My kiddos all hopped up on Conference Rolls last October...

Doing what it takes

Sometimes, when Miles is stomping his feet and whining, head thrown back, saying, "THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVER!"

That's when I know I'm a good mom.

Revving up

I need to get into the corners of this house and CLEAN IT. I hate when life gets so busy that I ended up straightening all the time, and the big jobs get pushed off until a later time, a time that never appears. I have to force myself to take time out and get everything done.

Last week, while my parents were visiting, we all took turns getting the stomach flu. It was horrible on every level. The only blessing is that Haley somehow managed to escape it, which is the number one thing I prayed for. I was on the tail end, too, which meant I was healthy while everyone else was sick and I could take care of them (which was the number two thing I prayed for, if you're wondering). But it was late nights followed by full days. My parents - because of trenchy - were staying at a hotel, but even THEY managed to get sick. What a bummer of a trip. We had even planned to all go to my brother's house and see three (well, two, after Sam's collar-bone-crushing accident pulled him out) of my brothers compete in a Redman triathlon, and my sister-in-law compete in one the following day. Mom and Dad still went, but we stayed home for the sake of the athletes' health. We were so sad all weekend.

Anyway, even though it's Wednesday I feel like it's a Monday! Cam was the last sickie and he's back to school today. Mom and Dad went home yesterday, too. SO, it feels like a new week and I'm armed with a list and lots of ambition. I just wish we could skip dance class, car pool and cubs so that I could dedicate the entire day to getting it all done! You know what they say, when a mommy's in the zone, leave her alone. But alas, such is my life.

What's on your schedule for today?

Just for fun, this is some of Cam's homework from a couple weeks ago. I like how his brain works. I made him re-do it to actually SHOW his work, but had to take a picture, naturally.

And...just some random pictures of my kids. Except for Miles? I can't find him in a single recent pic! So weird. I'll have to take a whole slew of him when he gets home tonight.

 

Rest

 

Dearest children, God is near you

Watching o’er you day and night.

And delights to own and bless you,

If you strive to do what’s right.

He will bless you, He will bless you,

If you put your trust in Him.

Dearest children, holy angels

Watch your actions night and day,

And they keep a faithful record,

Of the good and bad you say.

Cherish virtue, cherish virtue,

God will bless the pure in heart.

Children, God delights to teach you

By his Holy Spirit’s voice.

Quickly heed it’s faithful promptings.

Day by day you’ll then rejoice.

Oh, prove faithful, oh, prove faithful

To your God and Zion’s cause.

-Charles L. Walker

Update: Life With Trenchy

I've had lots of people asking me about the status of Trenchy. The bad news is that Trenchy is still with us. The good news is that he's almost on his way out.

The hold-up, once we stopped the plumbing job and decided to have the foundation work completed, was finding a structural engineer to give us a third evaluation and analysis. Maybe one day I'll tell you more about that.

Thankfully, the third engineer is literally on-the-scene RIGHT NOW AS I TYPE! Have you ever noticed that engineers have super cool toys? They do. And this guy reminds me of my grandpa Jim, too, so that's a bonus.

Anyway, once we have the report from this engineer we'll forward it to our foundation company and set a date to have that work done. We'll have 36 pressed concrete piers placed at specific points around the entire foundation. Some will lift, others will be in place only for stabilization. The end result should be that all of our doors square up, our sagging ceiling goes back up, and, once everything settled, we can repair the cracks and breaks that have appeared over the last nine months. I can't tell you how distressing it has been to watch those appear all over the house. I'm just so glad we're nearing the end of this situation.

SO, I still don't know when we'll have a normal house again. The foundation will take a week, the plumbers need another day or two and then the carpet guy has to come and re-install the carpet. I just hope it's soon enough that I still have time to put up my Halloween decorations.

Food for Thought

When my parents come to visit they are always equipped with books. My mom usually buys books while she's here, too. And then they talk about their book club books. We are a family who loves to read.

Since I know I'm always on the look-out for good book club selections, I thought I'd share with you their book club's website. It's called "Food for Thought", and it has archives going back several years. If you're like me, you see a book club list and want to read them all immediately.

Happy reading!

A Quick Update

My mom and pop are here and we're having a blast! Love them! Here's a quick peek at the weekend's activities. I thought it would be a fantastic idea to get a picture of our group of 20 people...in the middle of a narrow hallway. I'm super smart like that.

We are so proud of Cameron's decision to be baptized. Why do we baptize at age eight (or older)? What do Latter-day Saints believe about baptism? Go HERE to find out.

Cameron was baptized by Tony Rawlins, Chase's dad. The Rawlins have a family tradition that kids are baptized by the person they are named after, if they choose. Cameron had a hard time deciding, but in the end decided to be baptized by Grandpa.

Daddy confirmed him a member and blessed him to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Speakers included Grandpa Kilgore (on baptism), and Uncle Brian (whose talk on the Holy Ghost included a 5 pound bag of sour patch kids - that was a new experience for me). Uncle Kevin and Cousin Brandon provided the music, along with a good family friend (who likes to remain anonymous on blogs, but it sufficeth me to say she's a rock star).

Grandma Kilgore provided the chorister-ing, and Nana Rawlins and Grape-Grandma Rawlins provided opening and closing prayers.

The room was filled to the brim with family and friends. It was a joyous and lovely, spirit-filled occasion.

 

Have a great week! I'll be back later.

You got 151 seconds to spare?

....or, if you're like me and you plan to watch this six times consecutively, you may need 906 seconds.

A couple comments, though:

:12 - What's with everyone's hair? And by that what I mean is, WHY DO THEY INSIST ON TAKING A PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL EMMETT AND MAKING HIM LOOK WIERD ALL THE TIME?

:34 - OhEmGee, I think I just saw Bella smile, y'all.

:45 - Yeah, lean in and get a wiff, Bella. He's been living as a wolf for the last two months. I bet he smells AWESOME.

:59 through 1:02 - I closed my eyes. I'm trying to maintain my innocence.

1:04 - Feathers. *Snort*

1:19 - Oh, snap. It's about to get creeptacular!

1:26 - (whisper) Why is Carlisle whispering? Is he afraid the fetus will hear?

1:40 - Nice authoritative tone, Sammykins. Way to alpha it up.

1:49 - Holy crap Bells, it's called a tanning booth. No, but seriously.

2:14 through 2:20 - Chills.

All jokes aside, I'm seriously excited about this movie. I think, apart from the tragic hair (AGAIN! THEY MESSED UP THE HAIR AGAIN! WHY IS HAIR SO HARD???) they did a great job on the trailer. I'm not afraid to admit I'm all sorts of excited for November 18.

Midnight showing, baby. Who's with me?

Sensitive Topic: Proceed With Caution

Today I'd like to talk about an issue that has been close to my heart for quite some time. It's been bothering me so much that I just don't know if I can take it anymore.

I'd like to talk about my hair.

Not ALL of my hair. I have some specific ones in mind. And I'm not even referring to my grays. No, today I'd like to talk about the wild and plentiful baby hairs that have taken over my scalp in the last six months. Is anyone else going through this right now??

For the uninitiated, it goes like this: Once you're pregnant you usually stop losing your hair. For me, my hair gets thicker, shinier and generally awesomer. I like to think of this as Nature's way of saying, "Sorry about those nasty cankles and horrific heartburn; here, have some sweet hair."

After the baby is surgically removed from your body (oh, wait, is that just me?) you are reminded that, like sleeping through the night, all good things must come to an end. It's time for Nature's Extensions to take their leave. For some, this starts right after child birth. For others - usually those who are nursing - this process is a little slower in coming.

At first, you just notice a couple of strands falling out while you shower and wash your hair. That's IF you ever manage to shower and wash your hair. But then, out of the clear blue sky, one day you're washing your hair and you notice that you could make a baby bald eagle his very own wig with the hair in your hands. It's actually sick - not gonna lie. And it just keeps coming for a month or two. And, if my anecdotal research is correct, this problem gets worse with every kid. Which means I'm one kid away from starring in a Rogaine testimonial ad.

If the losing part isn't bad enough for you, you get to move on to the regrowth phase. I'm six months into this phase and I'm pretty much ready to whip out my Flowbee and chop it all off.

Remember Flowbees? Brilliant.

All over my head right now I have these wiry, awkward baby hairs that refuse to comply with my wishes. I say go this way, they go that way. I say sit up, they lay flat. I'm completely at their mercy and it's driving me insane. I look in the mirror and this is what I see EVERY DAY.

I need some calgon up in here.

Life with Trenchy

Since it has become clear that the holes in our living room floor are going to be with us for awhile, we've decided to make the best of it. Here are just a few of the wild adventures we have planned for Trenchy.

• Fill the holes with water and host a mud wrestling tournament.
• Build a castle on one side of the living room, complete with a drawbridge. Perhaps invite a small alligator to live in the moat - just to keep out the pillagers.
• Film our own reality show. Call it "Stupid, No-Good Homes: Holes Edition."
• Play a killer game of hide 'n' seek.
• Open a spa featuring mud mask facials.
• Indoor pool party.
• Human Whack-a-Mole!

Any ideas? We're taking requests.

Part Deux

Hey, do you remember that one time when your living room carpet was pulled back and several burly men came in and jack hammered through your foundation and dug tunnels under your house to replace plumbing lines and then in the middle of it all you realized that you had to stop the plumbing work and call the foundation company and have them come and put piers in around the exterior of your house to make sure that one of your bedrooms didn't fall off and float down the street but then you had to make sure that the plumber guys came back and filled in the mammoth holes in the middle of your living room and you needed to do that all in the ten days before you had company coming?

OHMYGOSH that totally happened to me, too!

The Waiting Place

Do you know that book "Oh, The Places You'll Go"? It's the very first children's book I was ever given when I was pregnant with my first (thank you aunt Pittsburgh Sara!). I used to read that book to my belly - I was convinced Cameron could hear me, and that I was enriching his little soul. Maybe I was. Or maybe not.

My favorite part in that book is the description of "The Waiting Place." This is exactly what it sounds like. It's a place for everyone who is just kind of stuck - in a self-imposed rut, a stagnant relationship, or a life circumstance. And TWP is a pretty lame place to be. No progress, no forward movement. Not necessarily misery, but no real happiness.

That's how I've been feeling for about the last month. I really want to blame it on the heat. It's been a brutal summer here. This is my fifth - and easily the worst - summer. And last summer I was 9 months pregnant, so that's saying something.

Anyway, whatever the cause, I just want to get over it and move on! And I think that's why this week with all the construction has made me grumpy. I have very little control over my home, and since I'm a stay-at-home mom that translates into me having very little control over my LIFE. It's not a pleasant feeling.

I have plans. I have The List of Things To Do that is floating around in my head, waiting for a peaceful moment to come out and play. I want to get a new routine in place now that the boys are in school, so that I can maximize my time with each of them and make sure we're all being productive(ish) and having fun.

I need to get into the gym! Waaaaaaaay back in January I said my goal was just to get into a single digit size jeans (which, I know, sounds shallow). I've managed to lose the SAME five - seven pounds more than once this year. That leaves me pretty frustrated with myself.

I need to be a better visiting teacher. I need to pay more attention to my friends. I need to get Cameron on that piano bench more than once a quarter. I need to get Miles there as well, come to think of it. I need to pull out E.B. White's Elements of Style and re-learn some basic writing skills that have gotten rusty through too much casual typing in emails and blogs and what not and because I have a passion for the run on sentence but only because it makes my sister Chrysta go crazy and that kind of makes me smile and if something is making me smile in the midst of all of this I should probably just stick with it so maybe I'll forget about that last one for awhile.

I think with the house falling apart around me (or at least having it look/feel that way), I'm falling apart with it.

Is anyone else feeling this way lately? I'm sure it's just me. But if you're out there, throw me a line and tow me to shore. We can sit on the beach and share our (virgin) margaritas. Or we can just sleep.