Tag Archives: random

The dawn of summer. I think I’m ready now.

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So we went camping in the rain anyway (no plan B, remember?), and it turned out fine. The weather was dry when we left town, and it only ended up raining one afternoon. Luckily I’d packed a lot of “in case it rains” items, so we spent the time reading, playing games, having coloring contests, etc. (Only slightly-snarky side note: Matt spent the time napping.) Otherwise, we hiked, played, toured, and canoed on the river. I will not go into the canoe experience because I have an unnatural fear of rivers and lakes and all of the unseen dangers and probably creepy things lurking in the water that is not transparent. and nightmares of my children being swept away in the current while I pathetically paddle in the wrong direction trying to save them. My stint in the canoe was a tiny bit shorter than the rest of the family. I tried, but I probably should have been medicated first.

I’m headed out today to teach at EFY, which always makes me excited and a little bit on-the-edge-of-throwing-up nervous. (Last year, I actually did.)   I’ve taught two of my talks/classes before, and two are new material, and I’m just hoping no one throws tomatoes at me.

I am now getting a grip on my summer master plan and, when I get back from EFY, I’ll share more of the details with you. (Since I know you’re just sitting on the edge of your seats wondering “Whatever in the world could Stephanie be doing with her days this summer?” I know. The suspense is unbearable.)  It’s an attempt to find a happy balance between scheduled and flexible.

Anyway, in the meantime, I started reading a book by Camille Fronk Olson called Mary, Martha and Me. I’m not too far into it, so I can’t give a full recommendation yet, but I wanted to share a quote I really liked:

“Jesus Christ is the one needful thing.  What does that mean amid chaotic daily agendas and anxious uncertainty for the future?  The world urges us to strictly follow step-by-step formulas to achieve success.  In striking contrast the Savior taught, ‘Come unto me.’  In my life of never-ending responsibilities, I do not need another checklist (derived from scripture or anywhere else) to define the Lord’s role for me.  I need Him.  I do not need competition that scrutinizes my productivity versus another’s efforts to make me a valuable employee; I need His strength., His wisdom, His grace to perform work that will make a difference.

… The message of Mary and Martha is not a generic, black-and-white answer to align me with one or the other of them.  On the contrary, they give me confidence to ask God directly what He wants me –specifically me– to do.”

And, p.s., the summer gods are smiling on me today because it is 7:45 a.m. and my children are still asleep. Yep, you heard right, we passed the threshold of 6 am. Praise be. I just heard beds squeaking upstairs. Party’s over.

Just in case you thought YOUR children were crazy…

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Because I have no pride, I sometimes let my kids do videos with me while I’m still in my pajamas with bedhead.  Clark’s been obsessed with the music I burned to give to my Zumba teacher, so he asked if he could make a movie of us dancing to it.

We tried.  I think I need a Tylenol.

p.s.  I already know this room is trapped in 1970s purgatory. It’s my least favorite room in the house.  Someday we’ll fix it.

Music and dinner and contests. Oh my!

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This is one of those random I’ve-got-several-things-on-my-mind-but-not-enough-time-to-do-them-real-justice posts.  Please forgive the mess as I simply spit it all out on my computer screen.

1.  Did you know that you can download mp3 files of all the songs from General Conference?  Well you can. I love loading up my iPod with this stuff and playing it in the kitchen on Sundays.

2.  I stumbled across this video today on another blog.  I LOVE this hymn.  It is a prayer, a plea for God to bind us to Him and keep us safe and bring us to Him.  It is SO beautiful.  I’ve seen this arrangment a few times on BYUTV and it moves me everytime.  Seriously, give it a listen and let the spirit of it just pour in, because it will.

3.  Later this week, I’ll be going to Women’s Conference at BYU.  Some of us bloggy-type-friends are going to try to get together for dinner on Thursday night in Orem.  If you’d like to join us, email me (dd.stephanie [at] gmail [dot] com) and I’ll send you the details.  I sent an email to the people that have expressed some interest already.  If you didn’t get one and wanted to, it was an ACCIDENT.  Tell me and I’ll send you one right away.

4.  Um, Spring started and I forgot to do a Spring poetry contest.  I don’t have to, of course, but I like to do one every season because they’re fun.  And I find out how creative and talented you are.  So here it is (oooh, look at the fancy prize):

Spring Poetry Contest

Write a limerick about laundry.

See how easy that is?  Just leave yours in the comments here.  You can write as many as you’d like.  Click here if you don’t remember how limericks work. Next week, I’ll put my favorites up for a vote, and someone (squeal, it could be you!) will get a coveted spot of honor on my sidebar and that bee-yutiful sparkly crown blog button.  Here, I’ll write one just to give an example.

I’m warning you, don’t go in there.
The piles will sure give you a scare.
The dungeon of doom?
Nope, it’s my laundry room.
I’m a hostage of kids’ underwear.

Um, yeah, you can definitely top that.  Have a great week!

Turning the game up a notch

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Often my children play “rock, paper, scissors” to resolve disputes among themselves.  It’s an arbitrary mediator that I resort to whenever I have to “choose” someone for a certain task or privilege, etc. because they can’t moan about it not being fair (as much).

A little while back, I overheard Grant and Clark “problem solving” in the hallway:

“Ready?  . . . Rock . . . paper . . . God!”

Apparently they changed the stakes a little.  Hmm, I wonder who won.

Things my brain thinks while my body’s on vacation

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So I’m spring breaking at my parents house, where it’s (usually) a lot warmer than where I live.  Of course, in a cruel trick of nature, the temperature is now the same in both places.  Whatever. I’m enjoying the sunshine anyway.  Something about vacationing (and especially staying with your parents) makes you think differently than you do on a routine basis.  Here is some of the mind-boggling, random, and admittedly shallow stuff I’ve been thinking about.

  1. My parents have a lot of mirrors in their house. Every time I go in or out of a room, Yikes, there I am again.
  2. I’ve been getting up early in the morning to go to the gym with my dad.  It doesn’t sound very vacationy, but it’s kind of nice to have a little getaway and leave the kids behind with my mom.
  3. There may be a direct correlation between #1 and #2.
  4. Socks are my nemesis.  I think carpet grows them because I find them everywhere.  One of my favorite things about summertime is sandals for everyone.  And no socks.
  5. The terrible threes are formidable.  I totally escaped the terrible twos with Natalie, but she more than makes up for it now.  It’s like demons sprout out of her head, shrill and angry.  Ten minutes later, the demons smile and bat their eyelashes.  Heaven help us.
  6. Moms and dads grow up and get old.  It’s a little weird.  I also see more of my mom in myself than I did before, which is also a little weird.  The combination of both concepts and the whole “circle of life” stuff is weird too.  Translation:  I’m getting old and I’m turning into my mother.  (Long awkward pause where I’m trying not to use the word weird again. . . . )
  7. I was long overdue to get my children’s portraits taken, so I did.  Seriously now, I know they’re not your own kids and usually that means you would have to fake some kind of caring, but really, I mean really, aren’t they adorable?
  8. My NCAA bracket picks were HORRIBLE.  My only consolation is that probably everyone else’s picks were bad, too.   What a surprising number of wins by the “underdogs.”  Fun to watch, but I feel sorry for anybody who put money down on their picks.  (Luckily I only wagered my firstborn. Sorry, Grant.)
  9. American Idol is totally underwhelming this season.  I keep waiting for a “wow,” but nothing.  And I’m way easier to please than Simon, so it shouldn’t be that hard.
  10. Mother Teresa rocks.  I’ve been reading her biography and I’ll blog more about her later, but here is one of my favorite quotes from the last chapter I read:

“Let us love Jesus with our whole heart and soul.  Let us bring him many souls.  Keep Smiling.  Smile at Jesus in your suffering. . .  There is nothing special for you to do but to allow Jesus to live his life in you by accepting whatever he gives and giving whatever he takes with a big smile.”

Well, that’s all I could come up with from a brain on Spring Break.  Enjoy Conference this weekend, everyone.  Click here if you still need some conference activities for your children.  Happy Spring, Happy Easter, and here’s wishing you happy sunshine.