Read This!

This book was written by a friend of Scott. He wrote it years ago when he and Scott were undergraduates working in the same lab, and Scott had a big hand in influencing some of the early characters. Jacob decided last year he was going to self-publish the book through Amazon.

The novel's target audience is boys ages 12-14, but it is a fantastic read for adults, too. If you liked Ender's Game or Hunger Games books, you would like this book. The circumstances around the characters are unique and creative, and the writing style is quick-paced and clear. To learn more, check out his website PsionBeta.com. Jacob has already written the sequel and I want to know what happens, but he won't publish the second unless he sells enough of the first. So if you're even a little interested, give it a shot so I can find out what happens!

I also have another confession. If Jacob decides to publish a second book, I might get hired to do the artwork again. I did the cover art for this book, and it was a neat experience. I'd love to try my hand at it again.

Food Prices still rising?

So I read a short article today about how food prices are bound to continue to rise through this next year, especially if there's any natural disaster.

My first reaction to this article was: Whew! I'm so glad we have a prophet who warned us to prepare a food storage and learn how to live from it.

My second reaction, after reading some of these comments was: Everyone has a finger to point at a different problem, government, or corporation. Food price is an extremely complicated issue and "fixing" any one thing probably won't make a difference.

Here is a comment I found particularly amusing, pointing it's finger at government subsidization programs:

Want some fun proof of how good intentioned laws can be super stupid. We subsidise corn crops, for lots of reasons and we did even before ethanol technology. Because of this subsidization corn syrup is the cheapest form of sweetener, and soda is cheap to make as a result. Due to climbing obesity rates many states have passed a soda tax. Let me break this down, the government is artificially cheapening an ingredient it is now over taxing on the other end. Any one else see a problem with this or am I crazy?

It kind of made me laugh. Crazy crazy world. Just learn to live within your control, I guess.

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.