Pooka Quotes of the Day

Pooka: (squishing Grandma's face between her hands and looking closely) Grandma, why do you only have one vampire tooth?

***

Pooka: Mama, you have another baby starting to grow in your tummy.

Me: Oh no I don't. Why do you think that?

Pooka: Well, look at you.

*ouch*

Ivy's Latest Attempt at Gardening

Somehow, I don't think its going to make it.

Summer

We are so happy summer is finally here!

With the summer heat, we no longer have to have these torture sessions at least twice a day.Instead we get to have fun in the pool,
dressing up like Wall-e,
Playing with baby sister in the tent, aka secret hide-out - no moms allowed,
And leaving grass messages on the Aunties' doorstepOh, and don't forget taking pictures of Lily with Mama's phone! That's Pooka's favorite!
Good ole summer fun!

"I Am A Child Of God"

I realized something tonight. Something a long time coming, that I really wish I had let myself understand long ago.

I am REALLY lazy. Not just a little, but DANG, that lady is lay-zee! capital L kind of lazy.

Don't get me wrong. I am busy every day. I try, often unsuccessfully, to keep my house in decent shape, my kids clean and well groomed. I work in the yard and try to keep a garden, do laundry and mop the kitchen floor, and it feels like there aren't enough hours in the day for what I need to get everything accomplished.

Although all this stuff matters, it doesn't come even close to the most important things we should be doing every day, the stuff, ironically, that I ususally put aside or put off to the very last minutes of my day. The answer is simple, as is everything in the Gospel: scripture and prayer, the two most simple, most amazing things you can do to change your life.

Yet how often do I stay up until the early hours of the morning with a good book, or just mindlessly watching tv, then scramble to read a few verses, realizing just as I put my scriptures down for the night that I read the exact same thing the night before? Or worse, as I close my eyes I can't even tell you what I read just a few moments before. Its really very pathetic. And completely pointless. Althought going through the motions is better than not trying at all, I know I can do so much better!

Tonight while I was putting Pooks down for bed, I was singing her favorite song, "I Am A Child Of God." As I sang, I kept thinking about the changes to the song that President Kimball made in the 50s. "Teach me all that I must know" changed to "Teach me all that I mus do." DO. It doesn't help anyone to just know something, but it matters what you do with that knowledge.

So why is it so hard to do something so simple and easy that you know will change your life for good? I don't have an answer. It just is. Its the same with every Gospel principle. Is it really that hard to take an hour out of you month to visit someone? Just one HOUR? What about four to go to the temple? Four hours out of one month. That is less than 1% of our month, doing the most important tasks we have been given in this life. I guess its all about perspective. And sacrifice.

I'm going to be better about STUDYING, not just reading my scriptures, and having family scripture time. Even though the girls are so little, I would rather them never have a time in their lives that they don't remember having family scripture study. And Family Home Evening too. Its just so easy to stand aside and let this life pass while you're mopping the kitchen floor. I don't want to look back and realize that all I taught my children to do is math and laundry. There are much more important things to be taught, and this is my watch.

The lazyness stops now. Oh, it will be hard. Very hard. But my family is worth it. And maybe for once I will be able to say that I am not just a Know-er of the Word, but a Do-er.

YUM!

Oh, what a new and glorious world!

REAL FOOD!

Rice cereal, avocado, sweet potatoes and carrots so far, but I think we may have a gourmet on our hands. Ah, good food!

Angie's Wedding

This weekend, my sister Angie and her new husband Chris got married. It was craziness made even crazier by the fact that I was kind of the one in charge of the decorating. I am seriously OBSESSED with planning things, be it home construction, interior design, birthdays, or weddings, among other things, so when I got a chance at this, I went all the way! I was super excited when they wanted to do a dropped ceiling but I had NO idea how to do it. I looked all over the web, but it looks like stingy wedding planners aren't willing to share the secrets of their success. Or I'm really really bad at using Google :) It didn't really matter what we planned anyway, because we just ended up doing it on the fly and it actually worked, thanks to Chris' best friend Aaron (In the pic in blue!). I was meticulous in making sure that the fabric was high enough, so people didn't think the ceiling was caving in on their heads. Oh, my legs burned so bad, getting up and down ladders for 8 hrs! All in all, I'm really happy with how things turned out.

And this was the Relief Society room, where the ceremony actually took place. Not bad, huh? If you look really really really close, you can just see the pictures of the Apostles running across the top beneath the fabric :P

I'm really happy how everything turned out, but I'm more happy it was special for Angie and Chris. Congrats, guys!

Here We Go Again

*SIGH*

Ah, the surprises of life.

We were so excited when Matthew got the job as a political canvasser. They told him it was a 40 hr/wk position, ok pay with a lot of room for advancement. They were even training him as a team leader, a position with better pay and more responsibility. A few solid days of work and training, then the calls started to come in. "We aren't sending out the team tomorrow, so you aren't needed." Over and over. It was wierding both of us out. What's going on? Is this even a real business? And then Matthew and I got the distinct impression that the job just wasn't right for us. We didn't know why, didn't want to deal with another job search, but it was what it was. That's when Matthew got the call saying he and a few others were being let go.

One quick question: why hire a bunch of folk if you haven't secured funding???

But we are thankful the Lord gave us the heads up. He let us know beforehand so we wouldn't be devastated and discouraged. And we are ok. Don't get me wrong, it stinks. But we are ok. Its been a bit of a bumpy road, but with the Lord's help, we'll make it through.

So, if you know of any open positions you think would be good for Matthew, please let us know. And more importantly, your prayers would really do us some good right now. Thanks!