I {heart} Jimmer

We love Jimmer Fredette. Really. Britta made these because I told her to. I {heart} Britta, too.

MLK

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction ... The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)

Hiding in the bathroom

Grace has been playing in the bathroom a lot more lately. She likes closing the door and telling me to "go, go, go" away. Then she squeals with laughter when I open the door to surprise her.

Then she closes it again in my face. She likes to climb on the toilet (which I definitely don't like), so we decided to get a toilet of her own to climb on. She loves it. It's her personal pedicure tub.

Thoughts of potty training are still far away, but at least she's getting used to the idea of a toilet... right?

A Soulful Christmas

For posterity's sake, I wanted to mention Grace's first Christmas that mattered to her (*ahem* us *ahem*). Scott and I were totally excited for her! Although Grace's enthusiasm was hardly apparent, we're sure her mellow chewing bag after bag of Nemo fruit snacks while we opened her presents for her was really a cover for the bubbling excitement within her that defines Christmas morning.
But seriously, she was such a happy baby. All we need in the future are fruit snacks and her Christmas is set. We spent most of the morning hanging out listening to Scott play the guitar and Grace playing whatever she could get her hands on.
While laying, sitting or standing in the guitar case.
I remember wanting to curl up in a guitar case but being shoed away. The fact that I remember that probably means I was WAY too old to be in a guitar case.

In 2011, I...

Will take more photos.

Will learn to control the angry beast that tries to burst out of me sometimes.

Want to make more puppets.

Will search for opportunities to serve people around me.

Want to feel closer to the Savior by studying the New Testament and reading Jesus The Christ by Talmage.

Won't create any lame-o blogs at the last minute because of promises I couldn't keep.

What are you going to do?

On the 10th day

I love Christmas lights. I love Christmas decorations in general, but I LOVE the lights. They make me happy. I wish I had a nice, artistic photo, but I just have a boring plain-jane tree photo. But it's a pretty tree.


Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

On the 9th day my true love gave to me

Hot showers.

In the winter I love long hot showers. My body temperature runs a good 10 degrees lower than Scott's, so I'm always cold. It doesn't help that we have a basement apartment. Normally my showers have to be super quick so I can get out before Grace gets in to too many things, but when Scott's home I can take my time. I love feeling the water massage my back, I love breathing the warm, steamy air, I love feeling clean!

Ah, simple pleasures.

8 days filled with music... x 40...

How could I not include this one? Music does something to my soul that can't be replaced by anything else, all year long. I love it. Of course, there is definitely an irresistible charm to Christmas music. I have a choral history, so this is one of my favorite Christmas songs:



This is my favorite arrangement of this song. I sang it in high school. I sang other versions throughout my life in other choirs, but my heart ached to sing this version again. This fall I gave in and bought the sheet music because even if I didn't know anyone to sing it with, I needed the music just in case the opportunity arose.

Today the opportunity arose! Our dear friends, the Staceys came to town and they love to sing! With all of us we had all four parts. I was in heaven. We went caroling. I wish we could've done it for hours, but babies get cold and tired pretty quick. My heart is very happy. Thanks, Staceys!

On the 7th day of Christmas

I have a little dysfunctional relationships with novels. When I start a book I don't get anything else done until I get to the end of the book. I love to get lost in the world of a book, in the emotions of the characters, the energy of the adventure. Right now I'm on the library waiting list for the last Fablehaven book.

Scott has read them with me. It's been SO fun for me to have him read them right after me. Every time he laughs I want to know what he laughs about. We talk about the characters and theories and twists in the plot. We are both itching to read the last book.

In the meantime I've started re-reading the Harry Potter series and I've picked up the 13th book in the Wheel of Time series - both are series that have had me hooked at one point or another. The problem with my dysfunctional relationship is even if I really don't like a book once I've started it, I have to finish it. So I've become kind of picky about starting books for fear they will be bad and my personality will force me to finish it anyway. Any good suggestions?

On the 6th day...

There is a beautiful historic building in downtown Provo, Utah called the Provo Tabernacle. When Scott and I were first married, we lived near it, passed it frequently, went to every one of our stake conferences there and many special musical performances.

It's a stunning building, beautifully preserved. I wish I had photos of the inside. There is a large gorgeous organ with exposed pipes, lots of detailed woodwork and stained glass windows. It's beautiful. Or I should say, it was beautiful. On Friday it burnt down.

What a tragedy. It breaks my heart.

This fire did not make me happy. Since these posts are supposed to be things that make me happy, you have to know there is a miracle in here somewhere. Here it is. Amidst the rubble, the firefighters found a picture of Christ, a giclee print of "The Second Coming" by Harry Anderson. Most of the picture and the frame was charred black, but the image of Christ was miraculously preserved.

Pretty awesome.

Here's another image of the picture before it was removed from the rubble.

Pictures courtesy of ksl.com

On the 5th day of Christmas we got snow!

I love snow.

I think Grace might like it, too.

Day 4 - Creating

I apologize for not following through with my promise to post every day. I do enjoy blogging, I just have been surprisingly busy lately. It's Christmas, go figure. I hope you'll forgive me the backtracking.

I find tremendous satisfaction in creating things. I'm not picky about what I create, either. Really, most things that I create, even if they're kind of lousy, make me happy on some level.

One of my favorite forms of creation is culinary. Yum.

Now that I have a sewing machine, this is becoming another area of creation that I find much delight in. I only wish I had more time to pursue sewn creations.

We ordered a top hat for Scott's Halloween costume online only to discover it was about 8 sizes too small. I ended up cutting it entirely apart, getting extra materials and sewing pieces of it back together. It ended up being a very satisfying project.

I'm lucky to have a job in a field that is on my happy list. I create things every day for work! One of my most recent creations that makes me happy is the blackletter font I designed below.

(I also designed the little holly berries a few years ago).

I love this quote by Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty...

You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

3rd Day - Babycake's piggies

Seriously. How can those two little pig tails not make you happy?

2nd Day ... yeah.

(We're going to pretend I actually posted this on Wednesday, he he he.)

I love to hang out. You may not know this about me, but I have a certain level of social anxiety. However, when I am at home or in a familiar setting with Scott and friends or family, I bask in happiness.

For some strange reason, when I am the hostess, even if I don't know everyone well, my social anxiety is less. You'd think it would be the other way around, huh? Not for me. I'd much prefer to host a big gathering of strangers than go by myself to a gathering of acquaintances. Anyway, I divert.

What makes me happy is hanging out. It's stress-free. It's relaxed. It's fun to watch the kids run around and play together.

These pictures are from Scott's birthday weekend. It was a great weekend for hanging out. Especially hanging out by a fire. That makes me extra happy.

On the first day of Christmas...

Happy 1st Day of Christmas! My sister-in-law is counting down the days to Christmas on her blog with her favorite things and I think it's a great idea! I love having a blog to look forward to every day, so I am returning the delight to anyone who enjoys reading blogs. I will be counting down things that make me happy, whether seasonal or not.

First of all (tangent), can you believe there are less than 12 days to Christmas!!! Holy cow! What happened to the last two weeks?!

Now, down to the business of happiness. What makes me happy? Being me. I love my life. I love what I know and who I know and who I am.

Scott took dozens of photos of me in this dress, most of them with me trying to be serious, like the Queen of Hearts. The only photos that look decent are the ones where I dropped the facade and just did what I wanted to do.

Being me hasn't always made me happy, it's been just recently that I've been able to recognize how satisfied I am with my life. Maybe it has something to do with being 30. Maybe it has to do with being the mom of the cutest girl on record or being married to the perfect man. Perhaps it's recognizing how many blessings and talents I've been given by Heavenly Father. It might also have to do with having awesome friends and neighbors. Whatever it is, I'm happy with me, and that makes me happy.

Somebody to Love

Happy birthday to my dear sweet wifey, Britta!

Three - Oh!!!

I am so blessed to have you for my wife - someone who's beauty and grace is only rivaled by the goodness of her heart. I love you, always.

How long do you wanna be loved?

Is forever enough, cause I'm never never giving you up.
(I'm listening to that song right now by the Dixie Chicks, and it's just how I feel.)

Scott is 30 today!

He is the most amazing man I know. Grace is completely taken with him. I am, too. Sometimes when I examine my life I can't believe how lucky I am to have him by my side. He is ever thoughtful, helpful, strong, funny and handsome. He works hard and is brilliant. He has been floored by the raving reviews he's been getting from the Doctors he's been working with, but it doesn't surprise me. I'm just grateful that those doctors are able to see, as I do, how intuitive, bright and personable he is. But I'm also secretly pleased that he's surprised by their feedback. That he doesn't realize how awesome he is is part of the charm.

I love you, Scott, today and always. Happy Birthday!

All about Grace: 18 month installment

I love this girl!

18 m stats
Weight: 22 lbs (almost) - 16%
Height: 31" - 45%

She says about 200 words. Her favorite movie (for the past few days) is Jack Jack Attack. At just under 5 minutes long, we've watched it a LOT lately... over and over and over. She understands a lot and is surprisingly obedient when I ask her to do (or not do) things. However she does have a mind of her own, too.

When she's happy and walking fast she swings her arms and swags her hips dramatically. She still loves to dance and will dance and applaud during the hymns at church. When I mix broccoli into her mac-n-cheese she will pick out the broccoli and eat it and leave the mac-n-cheese behind. She loves ketchup. She loves shredded parmesan cheese. Her current favorite book is any "Llama Llama" book. She loves tents. She loves soft blankets. She gets mad at the camera when I try to take her picture. Either I get her back, or I get this:

She is amazing. It is amazing to see her learn new things and see her body develop coordination and more refined motor skills. She can climb to the top of the piano in 12 seconds (or less, that's just how long I was out of the room). I'm so happy to be a stay-at-home mom. It is so much more satisfying than I ever imagined.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Heeeeeeeere's Alice!

We did an Alice in Wonderland theme for Halloween this year. It's the first year I've had a sewing machine and I wanted to make the costumes. In my excitement, I picked an overly ambitious costume for myself, which meant I only had time to make one costume. But it sure was fun!

We started out Grace's first trick-or-treating experience at the mall, where we thought it would be safe and fun--plus it was pouring rain outside.

She was pretty nervous right in the beginning, but once she got her first piece of candy she was obsessed. In all the following photos you'll see she's constantly holding some piece of candy up to her mouth.

Scott and Grace were so cute together! It was crowded, but I could always find Scott with that uber tall hat.

After we left the mall it stopped raining so we thought we'd chance a trip around the neighborhood. Grace was adorable. She tried saying trick-or-treat occasionally, but what really took the cake was that she blew kisses at everyone after they gave her candy! She would smile big and laugh and giggle. She loved it! It made me love Halloween on a whole different level, seeing her so happy.

And btw, the Halloween lore is true: rich neighborhoods DO give out full size candy bars.

1 Day: Neighborly Spooks aka the corpses

For all intents and purposes, today is Halloween for us so we will be taking costume pictures and cute baby pictures (providing we have a cooperative baby) so stay tuned for tomorrow!

Today I wanted to pay homage to the amazing neighborhood Halloween decorations. We have several full scale front yard cemeteries, zombies galore, giant pumpkins, a giant blow up haunted house, and even an alien invasion! Alas, I only took photos of one neighbor. Get excited. If you've been a long-time blog reader, you will recognize these neighbors decorations as the corpses. I've shown you how they decorate for Thanksgiving and Easter. I had to assume they'd get Halloween right. I was not disappointed.

First, they had floating dancing skeletons! Pretty cool, eh?

This orange light pumpkin was out for the Thanksgiving post, but now with the addition of the cats and a bat hanging upside down.

If you look past the pumpkin to the front door, you'll see an old man dummy with gray hair. I learned that each year they leave that dummy out all October, then dress in the same clothes, including the mask, for Halloween night and sit out and scare the trick-or-treaters.

And finally, what you've been waiting for, the corpses. They are darned hard to get a photo of with the house post and trees and such in the way.

Witch and Warlock? Plus, look at all those rope lights hanging from the gutter! Maybe we'll have to visit again tonight to see all the lights in action.

There you have it! Happy Halloween!

p.s. comments are welcomed, cherished, encouraged, and I will check every hour and hang on your every word. Just thought you'd like to know :)

2 Days: Haunted Tales

I am disturbed by gore. It's disappointing to me that Halloween is riddled with hideous violence that is considered amusing.

I am intrigued by classic haunted literature. When Scott and I were first married, we purchased a book of the tales of Edgar Allan Poe from an estate sale. The book holds all the more fascination because of its age and mysterious history to us. One of my favorite Poe stories is The Masque of the Red Death. It's a story about the fear of a plague and the selfish opulence of a prince who tried to hide from it. What really intrigues me about this story is the visual depictions it paints with its words about a revelrous melee of color and gross indulgence. I thought of posting it today, but I think it is too long for a blog. I've made the title above a link to an online version of the story if you would like to read it. It's probably a 5-10 minute read.

Instead, I will share a shorter story from Danish lore told by Hans Christian Anderson.

In North Seeland they tell of a dark mystery that challenges one's imagination. The church of Roervig lies far out among the sand dunes by the stormy Kattegat. One evening a great ship came to anchor off the shore. It seemed to be a Russian man-of-war. That night there was a knock at the parsonage door, and several people, armed and masked, demanded that the minster put on his robes and come with them, out to the church. They promised to pay him well, and they threatened him if he should refuse to go. He went.

He found the church lighted. Unknown people were gathered there, and all was in deep silence. A bride and groom waited in front of the altar. The magnificent clothes they wore suggested the highest rank, but the bride was deathly pale. When the marriage ceremony ended, a shot rang out, and the bride fell dead at the altar. The people took her corpse and went away with it. Next morning, the ship was gone, and to this day no one has been able to give any explanation of these happenings.

The minister who took part in it wrote the whole story down in his Bible, which his family has kept to this day. The old church still stands between the sand dunes, near the tossing water of the Kattegat, and the story still lives in memory and in writing.

Do you have a favorite haunted tale?

3 Days: Bringing Halloween to the Grave...

...Literally

p.s. I did not decorate this grave, I found it like this and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share.

4 Days: The Great Halloween Blizzard

This morning we woke up to this:

It's our first measurable snowfall of the season and it's COLD and it's not even Halloween yet!

Halloween and snow in the same sentence always bring back vivid memories of 1991. If you know anyone from Minnesota at that time, they probably share my memories. You see, in 1991 was the historic Halloween Blizzard (cue spooky music). This was a big deal. It still holds records for the most snowfall in one storm. There are multiple wikipedia entries for this single storm. By the end of the storm, parts of Minnesota were under as much as 37" of snow.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Douglas's blog. He's my favorite weatherman ever.)

I remember this year. I was at the peak age of trick-or-treating glee--I was ten. That year was one of the first years I remember not having a hand-me-down costume. It was one of the first years I got to pick what I wanted to be and my mom made my costume. It was thrilling. I was a green M&M.

(Unfortunately I don't have a picture of me. This is not me. This is just for the visual representation. My costume was WAY cooler. I promise.)

For years I had heard trick-or-treating stories from my brother, 3 1/2 years older than me, of walking for miles to get to the rich neighborhoods where they had full-sized candy bars. He'd come home with pillowcases completely full of candy. It was like Halloween lore that I was determined to discover the truth behind.

The snow started around the time school got out on Halloween. No problem, just a little snow. By the time dinner had finished and it was getting dark, a few inches had accumulated. No problem, I'll put on boots. I was determined. I set off by myself that night in my puffy green M&M, cute white tights and purple boots. I think by house #5 I realized it was a hopeless venture. My legs were frozen solid and the snow just kept coming. My dreams of full-sized candy bars would have to wait for another year. School ended up being cancelled for the rest of the week.

I bet when I cued that "spooky music" you thought this was going to be a SCARY story. HA! Gotcha!

The end.

Countdown to Halloween: Day 5

Five days until Halloween! I thought I needed a kick in the pants to get me blogging again so each day until this Sunday I will be posting a Halloween-y post. Hurray! Get excited!

For our maiden voyage into Halloween blogging, I thought I'd share with you my Halloween decorations this year. I got paid to make these for work and get to use them to decorate my house for Halloween. Lucky me.

Next to our four foot hairy spider, I think I like this one best:

These banners are ridiculously easy, but nice and big to cover a lot of wall space. I liked it! However, if I hadn't done it for work I would've picked different fonts. I was trying to showcase how to use a lot of fonts in a single project. I guess it worked, but it's not quite my style.

The tree looks better in person, I think.




The end! Stay tuned tomorrow for another Halloween post. (Cue spooky sound effects.) Bwa ha ha ha!

Heavy Thoughts

If you haven't noticed, I haven't felt much like blogging lately. For the past few months I've been feeling a little apocalyptical. It may be because of the current economical situation, or the expressions of hate in the media, or the fact that our political system is in chaos with no possible way of simplifying... or a combination of all of that and more. I'm not looking forward to November's elections or the media war that bathes every American in its political bloodshed. I'm skeptical that our economy is in "recovery" when my neighbors are still losing their jobs and my company is on the brink of failure.

In my mind, without even consciously planning, I've been preparing myself for worst case scenarios. Suppose our foreign oil suppliers decide to stop their shipments. Suppose there is massive revolt against the federal government and each city or state fends for themselves. Suppose there's a revolution. Suppose there's massive electronic warfare that extinguishes power sources. Suppose the dollar fails completely and all economic commerce as we know it ceases. What would I do in these situations?

In all honesty, I feel like I'd be able to survive. I know how to plant a garden and store food. I'm learning how to grind my own wheat and make bread from scratch. I've even had experience taking care of chickens! I feel like I'm handy with resources I have access to.

One thing that's often left out of doomsday scenarios is the emotional turmoil. Based on current conditions and biblical/religious predictions we know that human trials, pain and suffering will increase. This I don't think I'm ready for.

Lately I feel like there's been a rash of divorce among people I know. The most recent was my next-door neighbors growing up. They are amazing people whom I love and respect and they'd been married for 30 years! Every time I hear about a divorce I feel like someone has died. It's so heartbreaking to me, I'm dysfunctional for at least a day after learning the news.

Another prevalent pain is all the hate expressed about the gay rights movement from both sides. I have friends on both sides and I feel the pain for both sides. In spite of whatever opinion you may hold, there is no need for all the hate.

The political hate is just as unbearable to me. I feel sad for those who harbor so much aggression towards so many. Their hate inevitably includes people who never wronged them or don't hold the opinion that is assumed on them.

There is a painful lack of understanding in the world at large. There is so much selfishness, so much apathy, so much darkness and hate. And it all breaks my heart.

One of the attributes I'm constantly trying to include in my life is charity. Not just the "generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless" as states the first definition in the dictionary. Rather, the kind of charity I'm working on was stated by President Monson: "Tonight, however, I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient.

"I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others.

"There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere."

I want to be like that. I read recently a statement that said, "We cannot really feel charity--Christ's love for others--without at least tasting His suffering for others, because the love and the suffering are but two sides of a single reality." Maybe in my attempts to have charity for others, I'm also feeling their acute pain and suffering. I hope when it comes down to it, and more of my friends and family have hard times and sad times, I will be able to be on their side, always. I will be able to be that "love in action."