Latest project

So I found this fabric at Roberts while I was buying stuff for all the other projects I have planned, and Annabelle wanted it done NOW! so I made her a new pillowcase. Quick and Easy!

Temple Dedication

When I was eight, my family lived in Korea for a year, and I was able to go to the Seoul, Korea temple dedication. I vividly remember hearing the choir sing the Hosanna Shout, and singing the Spirit of God, and feeling my soul burn within me. I wrote in my first journal that it felt as if angels were present. This was the first building block in my testimony, and one of those moments that shaped my life. Those are the kind of moments I pray that my kids will have.

Yesterday we were able to get tickets to be in the temple for one of the Draper Temple dedication sessions. We knew it would involve a lot of time (over 5 hours!) but we hoped it would be worth it.
The kids waited so patiently, but by the end, James was struggling. The Hosanna shout didn't have quite the impact I was hoping for because of acoustics, but I think they felt the spirit, even if it wasn't a watershed moment. But they did get a cool experience. Our room was right off the hallway by the elevator, and they got to shake President Monson's hand as he walked by.
Maybe as the years pass, they'll remember less and less of how long it took, and how bored they were, and more and more of how they felt to be in the house of the Lord, in the presence of a prophet of God.

Old school recycling

So I've had this great idea for a project that I'm excited about. I totally got the inspiration from Naartje's clothes (I took Paige shopping Saturday night). Their style is totally bohemian, mix and match fabrics with raw edges and extra ruffles and such. So instead of throwing out all the leggings, pants, shirts and skirts that are too short for my girls (don't think it'll work so well for my boys) I'm going to add a little something to make them a little longer, (a ruffle or two, stretchy lace, patches?) and hopefully cuter. My first project that I have is a dress my sister made Annabelle that is darling, but the smocking top is too tight now to get her arms into. I have a knit T shirt that is a size too small (too short) and I'm going to sew them together and add some embellishments and Voila! (well, we'll see!!) I'm not a great seamstress, but my new machine has inspired me. Plus, how very ecofriendly and pocketbook concious I will be!!

Spring Break

So our trip to SoCal was great! On the way down, we took a detour to Chinatown in LA and went to our favorite restaurant, Yang Chow, so that was a treat.

We spent two nights and three days in Disneyland. Just a great time! Annabelle loved the castle and the princesses.

She was a little upset everytime the big kids left to do their rides, so we tried to do lots of little kid rides together as a family too.

The teacups were one of her favorites, but they made me feel sick, so we didn't do them too often.





The kids absolutely loved Legoland. It was a good change of pace from rushing around at Disneyland and it was not even close to crowded.


After seeing all the stuff they made out of Legos, James said, I've just gotta get more creative!

The kids all wondered if they would ever have enough legos to build a building this tall... (Not if I can help it!)

James' Baptism

James was baptized today! It was such a good day!! He is such a sweet boy. When they were getting dressed after the baptism, he told Matt, "Dad, I feel really good." His uncle Steve stopped James afterward in the hallway and asked him if he felt any different. He said he felt good because of the Holy Ghost. I am so proud of the person he's becoming.

No weed here!!

It was the World Fair today at Paige's school. Paige's country was Jamaica, so we brought a flag (which I sewed on my new sewing machine. Yay me!), tropical fruit, Jamaican jerk sauce, Pirate stuff, Bob Marley CD's and a fake bottle of rum. As we were setting it up, the parents of the other kids doing Jamaica asked me if I brought the pot. Now what flashes through my mind is that there is some sort of pottery technique in Jamaica that is so obviously famous, and I just don't know about it. After the blank look on my face persists, she goes on, "You know, weed?" And I realize my mistake. "No, no weed here.."

An ode to my valentine

Well, not an ode exactly, but, well, something...

Matt and I met my sophomore year at BYU. He noticed me in Physics class and asked me out. And then I asked him for the second date the very next night, and then the third for the night after that... Forward? Yes. But I knew what I wanted. And I guess it paid off...
I don't remember exactly when we decided we were going to get married. But we knew we would, and went ring shopping together... He proposed on a clear starry night in February at the reservoir up Provo canyon. He got down on one knee in the snow...
We were married on a beautiful day in June in the Salt Lake Temple. Nearly twelve years later, we are still in love. He is the most wonderful man I know. He makes me so happy.
We can still sit and talk for hours. He still makes me laugh. (Sometimes cry..) We're both very realistic. Marriage is work. And sacrifice. But there's so much reward! So happy Valentine's Day babe, I love ya.

Ahoy there me hearties!!

James just turned eight, and we had his birthday party this afternoon. We ordered the cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy in Provo. So cute!! And sooooo tasty too!
My favorite are the little treasure chests! There are ones that had little treasure maps too, but I didn't get a picture.

We all had a blast! Even me! (I was just so happy not to have it at our house!)





Even Thomas and Annabelle had a fun time. They tried to not get run over by the big kids.




James loved all the attention. He just lapped it up.





Paige even helped Annabelle go on the Monster Slide! But only twice, and then she was off!
All in all, a successful day!

The secret to my happiness

Okay, so faith is a big part of my life. And so is gratitude.

I used to suffer from migranes. Lots of them. Approaching daily in the winter. Pain was a part of my life. Chronic pain led to depression, and irritability (HA!). Needless to say, it affected not only my life, but my family's life. The medication I was taking to reduce the number of headaches (Topamax) affected my brain function and word recall. I remember a Primary Orientation Meeting when I was a counselor, that I tried to speak and couldn't finish any thoughts. The president had to take over. It was awful.

After Annabelle was born, I went to a new neurologist. We went over symptoms, frequency and severity and all that. She told me it was possible that my migranes were caused (or made more frequent) by a hole in my heart (called a PFO) that allowed unoxygenated blood to flow through to my brain, bypassing the lungs (which can act as a filter for certain chemicals). So I got in to see the cardiologist and he did a bubble test, where they push bubbles through the blood stream and watch in the heart to see if they are crossing over. I saw it there on the screen. Lots of little bubbles moving from one side of the heart to the next where there were no valves! They can't tell you the size of the hole just from their external visualization methods (can't remember exactly what it was) but they did have a scale of severity, and I was at the very top.

So we scheduled a PFO closure operation (which only involved a stent in one of my arteries and no big cutting, thank goodness!) and I was so excited. Now they tell you that this is not a sure thing. Closing the PFO might have no effect on my migranes at all. But I had faith that this was it.

My patriarchal blessing tells me that I have the faith to be healed, and it counsels me to ask for blessings when I need them. And in my prayers, I asked Heavenly Father to make it work, to let my migranes stop. And Matt gave me a blessing, telling me that the surgery would be successful. The night before my surgery, my prayer changed. I knew that if the doctors could fix this thing, than how much easier Heavenly Father could also. Medical technology was so cool, but how much cooler was Heavenly Father. And I told him that. Sometime before my surgery, Matt was called to be in the bishopric in our ward. I also knew that I couldn't be a good mom to my kids when Matt was gone for long hours, or I had to deal with them alone in church if I was in constant pain. Matt was going to do this thing for God, and I deserved a little compensation! He had promised me healing in my patriarchal blessing, and I wanted it to be Him that healed me, and not just Him through the doctors. And so I asked for a miracle.

I had another blessing the morning of my surgery, and that also changed. His words were that I would be healed by the power of God, and my migranes would diminish, and as a side note, that the surgery would go okay. After the surgery, the doctors came to me, all apologetic, and told me that they couldn't find any hole in my heart. It was as if it had never been there at all. They weren't quite sure what had happened, maybe the test was wrong (but I had seen it with my own eyes!) or maybe I had some strange (unheard of strange) birth defect and they wanted to do lots more tests. But I just smiled, and knew that God loved me and had answered my prayer.

That was in May of '07 and my migranes have gone away. Oh, not completely. I still have the occasional one, but in that intervening time, I could probably count them on my hands. And I had more than 17 in just one month before. Instead of cursing them when they do come, I am so filled with gratitude that they are so rare. Every day is wonderful to me, because I know how bad it could have been. I am a different person. My patience feels endless (compared to before) and I am happy. I'm a better wife, a better mother, and even a better person. I'm able to cherish my children, I hold them in my arms and try to remember it forever.

Unexpected reunion

At book club yesterday, we were talking about the book, The Rope Walk. The main character, Alice, is a little girl, and she's reading the journals of Lewis and Clark. She marvels at how these good friends can part company in the vast wilderness, and trust that they'll meet again on the trail. It was a really good parallel in the book, and it is equally true in real life. There are so many goodbyes in life. Moving, friends leaving, relationships drifting apart, not to mention death. Having faith that the people you care about will come back into your life at some point in this life, or the next, is important. I moved around a lot as a kid, and even for the first five years of our marriage, and there are a lot of people I've said goodbye to, and some that I had no hope of ever seeing or hearing from again. But the world is a small place, and God has a way of putting things in your path... A few hours after this whole discussion I was talking with my sister, Carlie, and she was telling me about a friend I had in Germany that I thought I would never see again. She bumped into her in Target when she was in Utah visiting, and now she has her email and gets her blog... (I swear I told you, she says. I thought for sure I told you.) So now I'm going to get to talk to my friend from 10th grade! (Hi Angie!!) The confluence of events is just so amazing to me. So, goodbyes aren't for forever.