three years...

May 29th, three years ago, our sweet little Margie was born. I wanted her so much. I just knew we needed her in our family. I was right. She is sunshine...on a cloudy day. She is a happy, bright baby girl. She decided to skip her terrible two's for her poor, tired mommy. My kids are in love with her. You can tell by the way they treat her. They protect her. They look out for her. They are gentle and soft and patient with her. I have a hard time telling exactly who she looks like. I guess she looks like Margaret. :) I LOVE her.

She chose Yogurtland as her treat. I could hardly object. We haven't been going there nearly as often as we should lately.

We decided to head to the river trail for some balloon pictures. There is a giant swing hanging from a tree about 1/4 mile of the way in. It's a tiny little nook, just off the trail. A little wonderland. My kids love it so much lately. It seemed like the perfect place. It really was, aside from all the cotton blowing in our faces. I started things off with 3 balloons, but after about 5 pictures, she realized the green one had come untied. What is it with me and balloon photoshoots? It is definitely teaching me to just do the best I can and let things go. Margie wanted Rapunzel (Dolly) to swing with her. Rapunzel loved it...can't you tell? :)

I don't love the sunflare in this picture, but I love Margaret in it. I got a lot of great pictures that afternoon, but this one really captures HER. Oh my goodness, her hair, her pudgy hands, her cankles (I don't know if they will ever go away...and I just don't care), the light in her face. She seems very smiley to me. Maybe it's just because I am her mom, and I am in love with her, but she seems to smile an awful lot.

Margaret, you are a sweet pea. You are the perfect addition to our family. You make us happy. You remind us how very, very important family is. Happy birthday baby girl.

RRR...

I'm not sure what to say about the Red Rock Relay other than that it is so freaking awesome! I'm kidding, you know I have more to say than that. :) Our team was a bit different this year. The Smith's couldn't come, so we managed to talk Sharene and her cousin Aubree into joining us. Yay! I'll tell you what, for me, the drive down is ALMOST the best part. This year we had an extra seat filled...with baby Henry. More about him later. He is a LOVEY.

 

I started things off Saturday morning. My first leg was just under 7.5 miles. I pushed really hard. My leg felt good and I was able to pass 26 people. My pace ended up being an 8:12. I was so happy to be running. To be running strong, with no pain in my legs. Happy, happy, happy. I really think my cross-training allowed my leg to heal, yet keep my endurance.

Kitty was awesome. She has been working hard since having that sweet baby Henry. She had a 7 mile leg, then another 7 mile leg. Yeah, pretty much a half marathon plus one. No big deal.

I was SO proud of Sharene. She has worked and worked and worked at trimming herself down and getting into shape. I knew she was anxious about this whole experience. Being able to complete it. Running that many miles. But she did it...and I'm pretty sure she loved it!

Handsome Henry. Honestly, this baby was an angel. He slept, woke up and played with his bird for a bit, ate, then slept again. He was happy, smiley, and pretty much perfect. I love him.

Tara had the same legs as last year. 5 miles up (1000 ft.) and 7 miles down (2000 ft.). She was fast...and crazy fast! Tara is strong. Really, really strong. And a great support to people around her.

Greg is just awesome. He's funny and nice and an all around great guy. He drove (again) for the majority of the weekend. Everyone laughs a lot when Greg is around. He ran hard...and I don't even think he had to power walk once. :)

Aubree was so freaking cool. She was just happy to be there, willing to do whatever leg we needed her to. She is a toughie. I LOVE this picture with neither foot touching the ground. :)

This was my second leg. Kitty had it last year and I knew it was going to be a beast. It was a 1000 ft. climb in elevation over 2.75 miles. I had only been running again for about a week and 1/2. All of it on the treadmill, never more than 2 miles at a time. Had to heal that stress fracture. Anyhow, I had busted my tail at the gym. I pushed really hard. Every day. A few days before the relay, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill, all uphill. I was actually quite confident going into this. But...it was even harder than I expected. Partially because I was at 7-8000 feet. The treadmill didn't quite prepare me for that. I had a bit of a headache for the last mile and 1/2. Anyhow, my goal was to run/jog/shuffle up the whole thing. No walking. No stopping. I had to stop twice for water when my team drove by, then the last mile, I had to walk 5 times. Never for more than 15 seconds, but I had to walk. I felt a little defeated, then remembered what I had just done, what I had been through for the last few months with my leg, and I was proud. I decided to be proud and happy.

I love this picture because for the last, STEEP 2-300 yards, I had some crazy energy which allowed me to kick and pass both these guys. It felt AMAZING.

I love Tara.

And Kitty.

And our whole team. Relays are such an amazing experience. You feed off of eachother. You are bombarded with compliments and support. You laugh together. And work hard together. And accomplish something wonderful.

We improved our time by 15 minutes and will be even faster next year. I just KNOW it. Here we are running in with Greg after his final leg. I love our faces. I love the day that we got to share with eachother. Go team "So You Think You Can Run"!

oh, mom...

Who takes pictures of stuff like this? Looks like I do. I really debated about it. I was sitting on the side of the tub by her, rubbing her back, doing my best not to cry. Cry because it hurt to see her so upset, and cry because she is so darling, and she's mine. So...I went ahead and did it. Now I have pictures to go with the memory. She has never been more cuddly than she was that night. She is such a wonderful baby. I love her pudgy fingers, her little overbite, her lisp, her quirky facial expressions. And don't you worry...the toilet had just been 409'ed.

things are going well...

Margaret is delicious. She threw up last night. I think it may be the first time ever, aside from spitting up as a baby. It was pretty sad. She just hung there over the toilet. I actually took 3 pictures. It was the saddest/sweetest thing I had ever seen. She still lisps, and talks a lot. All the time. Her favorite movies are "Horse Lightening"- Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, Charlotte's Web, Spirit, and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. She call the last one Chancy Meatballs. She likes to recreate the kiss in the movie where Flint and his lady friend have puffed up cheeks. She will say to one of her siblings, "You be that girl, and I be Chancy Meatballs...", then she puffs up her cheeks for a little kiss.

The kids are out of school for the summer. Yay! I am so excited about no schedule, no getting up at 6:40 or earlier every day, Seven Peaks. My kids are fun to be around right now. They just are. So helpful.

I ran 20 miles today. I did 13 last Saturday. I had done 17 back in March, but nothing recently. I got diagnosed with a tibial stress fracture about 2 months ago, and have been cross training at the gym in the hopes of keeping my endurance up. I really think it has worked. Well...the gym and prayer. Lots and lots of prayer. I may be able to write a book about the Lord hearing and answering my prayers throughout the last 8 weeks. My mind has wanted to become SO discouraged, but the spirit hasn't let me. The Lord has carried me right through it.

He is also carrying me through camp preparations. I have felt less and less stress with each year that goes by as YW Camp director. This year has been different. I have relied so much more on the spirit and it's promptings. I feel confident. It is going to be a great week.

Dave is so great. I stepped in gum the other day so have had a flip-flop in the freezer for a week. I haven't wanted to mess with it. The other night, I could hear him in the kitchen doing something, then he tossed it to me, all cleaned up. I thanked him then told him how I just hadn't wanted to sit there and scrape it. He said, "I know. That's why I did it."

Ok...I think that's all for today. More "things to remember" soon. :)

write it down!

I had a bit of a panic attack last night. Does that suprise you? I was chatting with my friend Jessica, while getting my hair done, and she was telling me all about the birth of her most recent baby Joey (#5). She remembered all sorts of details. I realized that many of my memories of Margaret's entry into our family are fading. I didn't write anything down. I tell everyone else to write as much as they can within days of giving birth...and I didn't do it. I can't remember everything, yet I so desperately don't want memories to fade. I get overwhelmed by the immensity of writing every day. What is important? What do I leave out (so I am not writing for 3 hours)? I guess the very most important details are my feelings about the members of my family, and seeing the hand of the Lord in our lives. Henry B. Eyring gave a beautiful talk years ago about the importance of documenting things, writing things down. He said, "“Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done."

I have a cute friend who puts "things to remember" at the end of each of her blog posts. Just short sentences. Things she never wants to forget. I can do that. I am going to do that.

For starters, my Molly graduated from kindergarten yesterday. She was beautiful and radiant and proud. My goodness, I love her an awful lot. Marilyn Thibault has been her teacher. I love the woman. She also taught Lizzy and Emily years ago. She is retiring now, after 36 years of teaching. It was an emotional day.

Grandma Minerva has been helping Mrs. Thibault with her morning kindergarten class for years and years. She is a soft, gentle, sweet woman...and lucky for us she lives right around the corner.

 Molly, getting her "diploma" from Mr. Cox, the principal.

For a "graduation day" treat, we got tamales. This dear woman is out on 8oo n. nearly every weekday, selling homemade tamales from a cooler. They are $1.25, and we crave them every day. Molly ate 3 yesterday! They are amazingly wonderful. You should go visit her. :) She sets up around 8:30 in the morning. One of these days, Dave wants to buy her out in the morning and see how happy it makes her. We always have her keep the change when we pay. She lights up, and it feels really good.

There we go...DAY 1 in my new attempt to remember the little things. :)

motherhood...

I entered an essay contest a few weeks ago. I didn't win. I don't really care though. This is what I think about being a mom:

Motherhood is feeling. It is what I was born for. It is why I am here. It is sacrifice. It is pain. It is joy. It is a chance to learn. Ultimately though, I think it is about what we feel. How we feel. What we do with those feelings. I have never loved anything as intensely as I love my children. I loved them from the moment they arrived. I love them even more as time goes by. The Lord in all His wisdom made it possible for me to feel enough love for each of my 5 children. I never had to take love from one to give to another. There has always been enough for all of them.

To me, motherhood is allowing ourselves to feel what our children are feeling. We are sad when they are sad. We feel so much joy when they are happy. We remember what it was like to be young and unsure of ourselves. We remember what it was like to wonder where we fit. We remember what it was like to be nervous, embarrassed, anxious. We remember so that we can feel with them. When we feel what they are feeling…THAT is when we can teach. When they understand that we remember, that we are feeling their sorrows and heartaches, they listen to us. They trust us. I have never felt more pain than when one of my children is hurting. I ache for them. But when they are happy, when they are proud…I nearly burst. Our hearts become so in tune with theirs that it is difficult to separate the two. I have never understood how a mother could speak to her children or act in such a way that the child would pull away in fear. Does she not SEE that fear in the child’s face? Does she not feel that sadness or pain?

The most important feelings for me though, are the ones I get from my Father in heaven. Call them promptings, intuition, gut feelings. They come from the Lord to help me guide my children. They help me protect them. Instruct them. They help me to know when one of my sweet ones needs a little extra. I am so, so grateful for those feelings. When I take the time to pay attention to them, and respond as I know I should…that is when I experience true joy. That is when I know I am doing what I was designed to do, who I was designed to do it with. When my little boy turns to me, eyes wide with disbelief, and says, “Mom, how do you always know just how to make me feel better?”…I have arrived. 


I am thankful for a sweet mother who taught me to feel. She taught me to love others immensely and to be sensitive to those soft feelings that come from the spirit. I love her.

Good Story

a little snippet from alex...:)

I hope you all want to read this story when I finish it.  I think it sounds pretty good:

“Thank you,” I said trying to sound as polite as possible.  I didn’t like the looks of this guy, “I’m Abe Christopher.”  I thrust out my hand.

            “Abe?”  The man asked idiotically.

            “Yes Abe.  Short for Abel.  My name is Abel Christopher,” I said, staring at the man’s food coated mustache.

            “Yes of course,” the man said leaning forward to scribble something on his clipboard, “so you’re here to be interviewed for the job of what?”

            “Designer,” I said scooting back in my chair.

            “Designer for what?”  The man asked inquired.

            “You work for the company, you tell me.”

            “What’re you saying?  Do you expect me to know why you’re here?”

            “No, sir,” I said sounding annoyed, “I already told you why I’m here.  I think we both know that.  I only made a simple point.  That you should know the jobs available in the designing field.”

            The man shook with anger, his pink face melting to purple.  Then he took a deep breath, and spoke again.  “Graphic designer, billboard designer, application designer— what more do you want?”

            “A job,” I snapped.

            “Perfect, Graphic designer,” the man scribbled on his clipboard again.  “What skills do you have?”

            I thought for a moment.  What skills did I have?  Getting in danger.  I thought.  No, that wouldn’t help either of us.  “I can work hard,” I replied...

           Make a comment if you want to hear more!