first week of summer and “large, or to exceed all”

Adapted from a letter to Elder Baker, dated 6/6/17. . . .

Last week was a nice one, being the first full week of summer vacation. We have worked out a good routine, I think, with Daddy being in charge of the cute ones in the morning while I work on the house, and then in the afternoon I am in charge of the cute ones while he works on various things. Super Kid makes breakfast every weekday morning, and the other two make dinner. There is lots of frolicking with kittens, chasing lizards, visiting the fish, working for Nana and Grandpa, etc. Rosebud has begun a 4-week tumbling class that meets 3 times a week. She is learning a lot! She can do a tripod, bridge, and tuck roll, and is really improving her cartwheel.

It was another big week for the house! Framing done in the basement and floor joists for the main level in. Excavation for the garage and master bedroom done, footings dug and poured, walls laid. I started bidding electrical and stucco.

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Monday was Memorial Day. We had a nice picnic at Pioneer Park (Nana and Grandpa were gone still to OK, so it was just us 5). The cute ones brought their rollerblades, and Rosebud brought Moana, who did not have a good time. Afterward we went to the Taylor Cemetery and found 8 of our ancestors who are buried there!

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Tuesday evening we enjoyed playing Sorry and Trash together, and we watched the Great British Bakeoff. We watched GBB nearly every night this week. :)

Wednesday evening Fluffy and Ham had a combined activity at Caldwell's pond, and walked all the way home afterward, across the highway and through the desert, with their trunks and flip-flops on! Rosebud went swimming with Daddy, and I sat and read nearby. Well, not much reading because Puffball came, too, and thought he needed to be right in my lap and be petted the whole time. 

Thursday Puffball and Mariah finally started to get along. Before this she would hiss at him and chase him like a whirling dervish into the woodpile. Now they have some sort of truce and Puffball is allowed to be within a foot or two of her. Fluffy took a practice ACT and did very well. We watched the championship round of the National Spelling Bee and of course some more GBB.

Friday I went to the 5:30am session at the temple. It was a beautiful, strengthening experience to be there. I was so grateful to have been able to go and be attentive in spite of the early hour! Nana and Grandpa had gotten home late the night before, but we only got to spend a few hours with them before leaving for the Valley for Fluffy's BD wish.

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It was a fun evening with the Ws. Fluffy and Ham babysat while Uncle Daniel and Aunt Becky went on a double date with us. We ate at a Thai restaurant and then did some scavenger-hunt type challenges for each other at Kohl's.

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The truly alarming thing is that there were also ties and pants to match.

Saturday we all went to the Mesa Temple Visitors Center and got to see the two new movies the Church has produced, Days of Harmony and A Day for the Eternities. They tell the story of the translation of the Book of Mormon from Oliver Cowdery's perspective and then David Whitmer's perspective. They are both excellent! As I watched the portrayal of April 6, 1830 I felt deeply grateful to be a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ! To have been able to make covenants and receive Priesthood ordinances and partake of the Sacrament every week my whole life -- it is wonderful!

Later we went swimming at a city pool with a slide and then watched Blackbeard's Ghost back at the Ws.

Sunday I fasted for you and also for E. It was lovely to attend meetings with the Ws and the Van Baileys. Aunt Becky taught Sunday School -- I loved her lesson about the Kingdoms of Glory. Baby S fell asleep on my lap. <3 :)

The evening was idyllic in the Ws' backyard. Did Ham tell you about the bunnies the Ws got for free for him?A family in their neighborhood had gotten bunnies in two consecutive Snowflake rodeos and those ones had babies and two girl ones were now grown up and needing a home. So the Ws have been keeping them in their yard until we could come get them! One is white and one is a lovely light brown. They are ripliancum* bunnies with double chins.

*Ham’s term for very large bunnies

Uncle Daniel helping Ham pass off some rank advancement requirements. #bombdotcom

When I was reading in D&C 138 this week I was especially struck by the verses toward the end, including verse 56.

Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.

I love you, Clyn!

~Mommy

Quotable

At the dinner table, we were remembering when we watched you open your call.

Rosebud: He was still at BYU?

Me: Yeah, remember we webcammed with him.

Hummer, correcting my verb: Webcome.

Dear Mom, It’s going to be okay.

Week of March 31 – April 6

And it’s all because of President Uchtdorf.

Well, actually it’s all because of our Savior Jesus Christ, but President Uchtdorf is one of those wonderful servants of His who helped me remember that. I feel like general conference helped me regain my spiritual footing even more. I have lots more to say about this. . . .

It was a fun “N Week” for Rosebud and me. She loved getting to webcam with you (since N is for Nana) and her sweet cousin N in Texas.

Google Hangout is such a hoot with all the props and backgrounds and Noises!

Not sure how much of a conversation we actually had, but it sure was fun. :)

Also we made Nests and ate Noodles.

I am really enjoying this fabulous organizing blog and that combined with another blog’s traditional annual 40 bags challenge has kicked me in the fanny and got me decluttering again.

I am trying to make it my new addiction instead of sugar. (Let’s hope it takes soon.) Here is proof that I am not making all this up.

Before:                                                              After:

Yes, that is a sword protruding from the bag on the left. Whoever pulls it out is king of all Bakerland.

Fun stuff. But the real highlight of the week by far was general conference.

See those animals waiting with rapt attention? Rosebud got them all ready and reverent before conference began.

My thirsty, exhausted spirit drank up all that wonderful, refreshing light and has felt nearly full ever since.

It will take me a long time to implement completely the paradigm shift I had because of Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk. But I couldn’t believe how it was obvious he had been reading my thoughts for months and then told me exactly what the Lord wanted me to hear, which is that our living in gratitude should be independent of our circumstances.

Blue Dada enjoyed conference from his mommy’s lap

It also seemed like a common theme was material goods vs. treasure in heaven. So many talks mentioned how quickly the first can be lost and how much better our time is spent on gathering the latter.

The colored rectangles on the wall are our individual questions for conference. (Thank you, Jocelyn, for the lovely idea!) It was remarkable to see how the answers came and were sometimes not what we expected, but all of us felt that we had received an answer.

Exacto’s question was soundly explained by Elder Bednar and the whole family was gasping over how direct it was. It was pretty awesome.

And yes, Robin Eggs were involved. Put a question about conference for someone in the basket below – get a Robin Egg. Later, over dinner, we asked all the questions and gave our answers. This is a great tradition we have done for years now, although we all got a bit sugared out this year and I think we’ll do blackberries or something next time. :)

I wasn’t as sad when it was over as I usually am. I think it was because there was so much truth I suddenly saw which showed me some pretty deep weaknesses in myself that I hadn’t seen before. I really have my work cut out for me (learning how to access the grace of the Atonement to overcome these) and yet I feel a new, stronger peace than before because I can see that all will be well.

Even if I always fight depression. Even if our children stop making good choices. Even if DC never does get a good job and we are in debt for the rest of our lives. All will be well. It’s a miracle.

And that’s one of the things I need to change, by the way. Stop talking about money, already! I will always remember the story of that sweet Filipino lady—who was what, 78?—and had lost the home she and her late husband had built as well as her daughter and a grandchild in the terrible typhoon that hit there last year. Now she is living in a tent and working to try to support herself. I was cut to the soul when I heard her response to this challenge so much greater than mine:

“. . . .I accept everything that the Lord has asked me to pass through. I have no hard feelings.”

Wow. That speaker also quoted my scripture of the year! I tried to make it pretty like so:

and hung it up in my bathroom. It makes me think every single time I read it. Am I spending my labor for that which cannot satisfy? Oh, yes, I need to remember to pray continually. Awesome, come buy and eat without money. etc. And I feel like this past weekend my soul definitely “delighted in fatness.”

Finally, no Sunday around here is complete without a trip to the temple site! Go go go! (It’s a good thing we visit on the Sabbath or we might be tempted to yell and cheer on the workers to hurry it up! :).

I am so grateful for the Lord’s living prophets. Now I just need to do what they have taught me.

Love,

Michelle

Day 52 - { dreams unfulfilled }

1/12/11 - The Things That Matter Most

This morning got off to a rough start. I don't know if Wasabi was sensing my stress last night, but she had woken up over and over and over crying next to me. And when she was going back to sleep I couldn't seem to turn off my brain from trying to solve the world's problems instead of just enjoying being in a warm bed with time allotted for unconsciousness. I got up convinced that I could not cope with my life, and rather sulkily headed down to breakfast, where I hit my head on the corner of the cabinet door that had been left open. A sympathetic DC suggested I get some more rest (very sweet), and I went back upstairs feeling overwhelmed with all the knots my brain had not been able to unravel during the night. A large part of my discontent was the stress over our entanglement with the city, as well as other irritants of mortal life that were as yet unresolved, like my darn cell phone not working. All I want is PEACE, ya know?! I was thinking about Pres. Uchtdorf's talk, and wondering how on earth I could simplify things so as not to hit these temporal speed bumps so hard. I remembered he said that first we should focus on our relationship with God. So I decided to pray before getting back in bed.  I offered up a more real prayer than I had in a while--for some reason, I've tended to get distracted during my prayers lately--and I felt immediately that I didn't need to worry so much about all those problems, that He was aware of them, and would help us work them out in His time.  And I felt. . . .Peace. Strong enough to go back down to my family for those precious few minutes before everyone scatters for the day. And then - ding ding ding - oh, yeah, that's the second focus he talked about! Our relationship with our family.

It's not surprising, then, that I went on to have a wonderful day. (Thank You, Heavenly Father!) Even in spite of making my weekly shopping trip to Wally World. :) Went for a walk in the frigid snowy neighborhood while counseling with my co-Sunbeam teacher on the phone about our strategy. Nice warm shower with this week's lesson posted on the shower wall so I can memorize it and not have to look at the manual.  In the evening, we went to Exacto's Court of Honor, where he received the Fire Safety merit badge and advanced to First Class. Yay, Exacto!

 

Fluffy was pumped for the elementary school spelling bee, in which he would be participating the next day. He said he'd had a dream that he came in 2nd place! (Exacto came in 2nd place in the middle school bee last Friday, so it made sense :).

 

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1/13/11 - Adventures in Spelling and Customer Service

Today - abs routine (thank you, Kathy Smith!) and shower and a lovely visit to the Verizon store about the above-mentioned darn cell phone. After a half-hour of enduring shockingly bad customer service (can I just say they have the WORST customer service ever? there was an employee actually standing behind the counter and talking on the phone to her child about how to turn on the heater and "stop being so dramatic" with THREE customers waiting for help) I finally got "permission" to return my phone that hasn't worked since the day I activated it, a day I will always regret. ha! 

Rushed over to the elementary school to see Fluffy compete in the spelling bee.

Misheard the first word "gnash" and spelled it "m-a-s-h". Luckily that was the practice round. . ..

P-R-E-F-E-R-A-B-L-E

 

F-E-V-E-R-I-S-H-L-Y

His awesome teacher hung up a "good luck charm" at the back of the bleachers for her students to look at when they got too nervous seeing all the faces staring at them.  He said it saved him on the next word:

E-X-O-S-K-E-L-E-T-O-N

And finally . . .

S-O-L-I-C-I-T

His dream had not come true. He did not win 2nd place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HE WON FIRST PLACE!!! WOOHOO!!!

I was so happy for him. Just what he needed right now!! More gratitude from this mama-heart up to Heavenly Father!

He's been beaming ever since. The funny thing is that he and Exacto will compete against each other at the county bee in a couple of weeks. . . .

The rest of the day was filled with pretty mundane stuff--post office, sewing on Exacto's merit badge, frolicking with Wossie (Hummer's phraseology), a fun visit with my seester on the phone (love you, Becky!), picking up boys from school and quiz bowl practice, a visit from one of the city councilmen who is supportive to our cause, creamy tomato soup for dinner, a congratulatory visit to Fluffy from a neighbor friend who goes to the same school.

Poor Wose slipped and bit her lower lip terribly! It was bleeding profusely and looks awful, like a discolored crater. We gave her our boo-boo sheep cold-pack (from sweet Aunt Mandy) and some ibuprofen, but what really seemed to help the most was some chocolate ice cream.

And now Exacto's working on homework on the couch and has the fire going in the fireplace. The Fiddler's upstairs practicing with Wasabi frolicking nearby.

And I am grateful for this blessed life, where problems are temporary because our God is not.