Christmas Card 2011

It was my first year sending out family picture Christmas Cards. Family pictures. What a nightmare. Bless you photographers that do this professionally. I hope there are children that cooperate better than mine.

This is how everyone really felt about them:

Local Television at its Finest

For your entertainment I have embedded a short clip of me on a local television show. I know I am surrounded by friends on this blog and I feel safe showing it. Please do me the courtesy of reading my explanation below if you do choose to watch.

Behind the Scenes:

Sometimes after certain experiences and attempts at certain things I wonder . . . Do I know myself? Do I remember past experiences with my children and have I learned anything? Is my hope so great that I believe in things not yet seen or am I just pretending that I live in a magical world where things happen as I envision them? Sometimes I think I forget that I'm me . . . and me is certainly not perfect and nothing goes according to the envisioned plan.

And now sitting here in retrospect I ask my last-week-self, Why in the world did you think that bringing your not-always-agreeable and unpredictable 3-year-old to a live television show would be a good idea? 

Let me give you the rundown: I'm up several times the night before with Charlie who we finally figured had an ear infection (side note- we gave him 50/50 vinegar and water drops in his ears which brought relief in under 1 minute, 1 minute!!! I hope this trick works as well in the future and we can avoid annoying Dr. visits and antibiotics forever).

I get out of bed after not sleeping, but really just coming slightly in and out of consciousness to get ready. I wake Emerson to get ready and bribe him with cookies to wear the clothes I want him to instead of whatever awful and strange outfit he was going to pick out in spite of me.

We arrive at the studio, set up, and find little toys to play with. We have about 5 minutes until we are to go on air. I'm wearing high, high heels, which I feel like I'm just learning to walk in and a lot more eye makeup than normal (because any eye-shadow at all is more than normal). I then hear, "Mom, my belly hurts. I need to go poop!" Super. Of course you do. Right now. The heels come off, I pick him up and sprint toward the bathroom. 

My hurrying him along doesn't speed up the process and probably makes him more uncomfortable. He insists that I "Take all this stuff off" until he is sitting there in only his shirt. I'm looking at the time. He feels sick. I'm sweating. Is this really happening right now? I leave him alone on the pot to sprint barefoot through the studio to check the status. News people are staring and wondering. "You have one minute," I hear. I should be setting my stuff up in front of the cameras and talking to the hosts about what I'm about to talk about. I take off back to the bathroom where I redress the 3-year-old, run like a cheetah back to the news room, throw the 3-year-old and his shoes down, slip the heels back on my feet, and stumble out of breath in front of the camera where the segment had to begin without me. 

I can't catch my breath, I can't talk. What's going on? This is absolutely ridiculous. I finally catch my breath and begin to speak normally, like I hadn't just run around the block 18 times to gear up for the event. Is my forehead shiny right now?

What now? Oh, the 3-year-old I brought with me doesn't want to come on camera to model the shirt I made. I balance him on my hip as I finish the segment. This is my life, simultaneously balancing a child on one hip while I stir a pot, send a package, teach a lesson . . . promote my humanitarian project on live television.

Oh well, it's over. I don't think many people watch the show anyway. They are probably watching Kelly. Is that all it is now? She kind of reminds me of  Barbie's baby sister, Kelly.

Back to the 3-year-old. . . my poor choice of bringing him today created stress, but it's out of my mind at bedtime as we cuddle up on his bed with a Christmas book, surrounded by bears and a stuffed dog. I can't kiss his smooth round face enough and we promise each other to have another fun day tomorrow.

The Humans are Dead

Affirmative 

Babybot 

I think I could get them to wear anything if it means taking a sack around to the neighbors to fill with candy. Our neighborhood gives great treats. The costumes were Emerson's idea to begin with, but I had to keep convincing him when the idea kept evolving into the more commercialized and well-known robots.


Watching them walk around made me think of this (if your sense of humor is up for it):

Utah

This is us. No one in the world we are trying to impress. We don't shop at the mall, drive a big shiny SUV, or frequent our favorite restaurants as we would like. We are by no means fancy folk. 


When we experience the outdoors with our growing little family none of that matters anyway. It doesn't matter what handbag you carry or brand of wax you line your eyes with when you spend a night in a tent. Nature holds no prejudice.


Little Cottonwood Canyon: 

 Up and over Butterfield Canyon:

 The little guys were ecstatic about spending the night in the mountains. Emerson loved his roasted "smashmellow", the freedom to mark his territory on nearby trees, and Charlie could hardly fall asleep. I was glad we had an Eagle Scout with us.

The Loveliest Nurseries

I noticed traffic on my little Etsy shop coming from this site, lay baby lay, and checked it out. It's a site with the cutest nursery combos and designs I've ever seen. You could take away the crib on most of them and they would make beautiful living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc . . . She threw one of my onesies into a room and now I want the room to go with it. It will make you want to put a style board together for your own space.

Camera Obscura

JR wanted to conduct a "camera obscura" experiment to demonstrate how a camera works by making the entire nursery room function like an actual camera. The first camera obscura experiments, conducted hundreds of years ago, are what led to modern photography. The window was covered and the room remained in complete darkness until a small hole, no bigger than one inch in diameter, allowed for light.

 


We all sat in the dark room while the light passed through the tiny hole and reproduced the images from outside the window, projecting them upside-down on the walls. These images appeared very faint with slight color to our human eyes, but the camera in the room with long exposure sat and collected enough light to reveal a brighter, clearer picture.

First shot taken without enough light collected. If you look closely, you can see the fence and sidewalk on the ceiling. This is all coming through one tiny little, nickel sized hole cut out from the window covering.

Do you see JR holding Charlie on the walkway? Remember, this is a completely dark room.

Even longer exposure. Do you see the truck or stop sign?

If we had film on the wall to process in a dark room we would have ourselves a picture. And that my friends, is how I had a Magic School Bus experience inside a camera.
Then I got thinking . . .


about how far photography has come (and I don't even know how far because I'm not very educated on it), and technology in general.

*Disclaimer on the following: My thoughts don't provide me with constant, steady stream of information and may not be coherent or agreeable with some readers. I DO reach somewhat of a point by the end.
I am amazed that no matter how far technology advances it has always and continues to follow the same laws and order set in place before the world even was. We are amazed by new inventions and capabilities, yet the possibilities have always been what the aforesaid laws and order set in place and unchanged have ALWAYS allowed. I, with many others believe the laws and order of the universe were set in place by a divine creator or creators.


The rules of the universe have been followed and worked in accordance with enough to give me the capabilities to translate languages, communicate with others around the world, view live images from anywhere around the world, predict the weather, and receive GPS direction, all in the palm of my hand.


These capabilities are now mainstream and ordinary. This lead me to wonder, if ANYONE can have these capabilities in today's world, then why would it be thought of as impossible or absurd for someone of the past to have these capabilities. If it is possible to follow the same laws that have always existed today, then why not 100 years ago or 1000 years ago? Sure, man's level of technology didn't exist, but the laws of the universe have not changed, nor it's allowance for these capabilities. Is it so absurd to think that a divine hand, one that created the order or scientific rules for us to follow to have modern technology, could not work with the same order for someone of the past to receive direction, view events taking place in another location, communicate, or translate the written word? . . . If you ask me, I don't think the Ipad is the first of it's kind. . . just certainly less exclusive now. . .  

"Yet, the conflict can only be apparent, not real, for science seeks truth, and true religion is truth. There can never be conflict between revealed religion and true science. Truth is truth, whether labeled science or religion. All truth is consistent. There is no conflict—only in the interpretation of fact" (President Ezra Taft Benson).

You there? A little long-winded for a blog post, sorry. 

"Where's the boat?"

That is what Emerson asked us when we pulled into Steamboat Springs, CO last month. It is the namesake of a bubbling natural hot spring's sound. We never found a boat, but we did find plenty of recreation and fresh mountain air. 

 We stopped in Vernal on the drive home to visit the dinosaur field museum which turned into a dream-come-true for the little boys.

 We shared the whole museum with a couple of burly oil drillers. Emerson made sure they didn't miss any details of the exhibits. They taught him a thing or two about geology as well.  

Is it sad . . .

that this is the best family picture we have?

 I think we should get some taken. Then again, coordinating outfits, making sure everyone is happy and at least not crying, and making time for them sure sounds like a hassle! For now Lupe's work at the Benihana will do. 
They have even given me the option of putting the image on a mousepad or mug.  

This is what I got for my birthday:

Lost. 

In the mountains.

I was "leading" a group of four 13-year-olds back down to our girls' church camp after a morning hike. After spending a couple of frustrating hours hiking back and forth down several different trails, all involved learned a very valuable lesson: that it only takes one wrong turn to veer away and become far from the right path. Luckily I had another great friend "leading" with me to share the embarrassment, humiliation, terror, panic, and (later) tear-inducing, ab-tightening, all-you-can-do laughter. 

We sped too far ahead of the rest of the group behind us and ventured far from camp. It was a humbling experience after that morning I dug into my fruit and granola parfait and listened to the survival lesson thinking it was for the most extreme cases and probably not very applicable. I'm usually pretty confidant and feel like I have a decent sense of direction, but things change when you have four young girls entrusted by their parents and one is starting to experience symptoms of heat exhaustion under your wing. The looming dark clouds weren't close, but still a threat to consider. 

While running to retrace our steps down one of the trails I heard the mysterious rattle sound that a couple of girls complained about at a certain spot. Here is where I realized the potential danger of situations such as this with particular unmentioned reptiles who make particular rattling sounds. I learned that I need to be better prepared next time I want to go off on a mountain and play Jim Bridger. 

Meanwhile back at the camp, four wheelers were sent out searching for our small group, an impressive set of speakers and sound system were set up to blast music calling us home with what I think I remember playing "The Eye of the Tiger" upon our return. One of the other leader's husband flies for search and rescue and was about ready to hop in the copter to come spot us for his worried wife when we made our way up the hill. 

Although an embarrassing situation and thankfully not too dire, it was still nice to see the forces at work who cared enough to bring us home. So many parallels can be drawn from this experience. All of the girls included their own interpretation in their testimony around the fire that evening. One was grateful for the atonement which makes it possible to return, another for how difficult it was so she remembered the lessons learned. One said, "This was the hardest, most difficult . . . and coolest thing I've ever done." 

The Next Big Thing

This week I was introduced to two new things making advancements in different areas of my life. One is the example of just how great technology can be when it is so readily available. Literally at my fingertips. The other is a practice new to me, but is as old as the great mountains surrounding me.


First, have you heard of Spotify? Wow. It's any music any time that you can actually make your own playlists with (for free) and sync to your ipod and listen offline (for a small fee). You can also add your Itunes music to it once you download. I'm really excited to make my perfect running playlist. Do you remember when YouTube or Facebook was new? Now Spotify is new. I just hope it doesn't go away.





The second advancement (which you will not find quite as exciting) I made this week was visiting a cannery. I purchased 25 pounds of red wheat for $11 and a large can of dried apples for $5. I will go back for beans, rice, and other staples. Different locations provide wet or dry products that you can sign up to can, or show up anytime to pick up certain items that are already canned. The concept is wonderful for making healthier changes for my family's diet while saving money.

All of the workers are volunteers and ever so kind and helpful. They fed my rambunctious boys apple slices while a couple of ladies took the time to educate me on different health food, cost savings, and home storage ideas. I learned how to substitute oil and butter with white bean puree, about powdered honey, and which stores to find the least expensive items. The facilities function to package food for humanitarian aid around the world as well as to help the locals be prepared with home food storage. I kept thinking, this is really how the world should work. 

Now excuse me while I go listen to the latest music and grind some wheat. 

Everyone Gets a Trophy

Except for Charlie. And in our case they were medals, not trophies. Charlie really deserves one though because he has been such a good sport supporting the rest of us in our activities this summer. 

Charlie wasn't very good at staying off the soccer field. He wanted to kick the ball where it belongs- on the field. His small Woody doll has been glued to his hand this last week. He insists that this little doll go everywhere he go: bath, bedtime, church, the zoo, 

etc. . . 

 The Freedom Half Marathon. This is at the start at the top of Emigration Canyon. Such a pretty run and great way to begin the Fourth of July celebrations. The finish line was at the capitol building. We met family at Ruth's Diner for breakfast/lunch after the run. Ruth sounds like she was a bit hard around the edges, but that place sure is great.

 The weather on the Fourth was perfect. I wish it would top out at 80 degrees and be overcast every year! I have also been LOVING the short and refreshing summer rain showers we have been getting lately.

    JR's brother provided a great BBQ, entertainment, and a spectacular firework show.

In other news: These Instagram pics stand as evidence that my iphone is alive! After sitting at the bottom of a kiddie pool for who knows how long, it sat in an air-tight container of rice for a week and now works perfectly (for the old model it is)! 

I hope you are all enjoying backyard BBQs, wearing out your sandals, and eating plenty of popsicles. 

Castle Week

It all began when Emerson thought that the only thing to make life bearably continue was to have a castle for his two toy knights. He begged to go to Grape Grandpa's house to play with his castle and then begged for me to buy one at the store. After explaining that neither of those desires would be immediately met he got really excited about the idea of making one out of a box. After remembering that the brilliant wife of my cousin does educational theme weeks with her kids, I decided to make last week "Castle Week."

The knights were housed in a castle painted by Emerson. When I gave him beds to put inside he informed me that, "Knights can't sleep, only princesses sleep!"

We loaded up on books to read about medieval castles, towns, and knights.

Next Emerson decided he needed his own knight outfit and began gathering supplies around the house. I enhanced the box he put on his head. This costume made for an afternoon of fighting dragons and saving the damsel in distress (mommy) and her "little fluffy dog" (Charlie). During play he whispered, "Take your sandals off, princesses don't wear sandals." The teaching has been mutual.

We watched The Sword in the Stone. It's always interesting to watch movies I haven't seen since I was a child. I didn't remember Merlin's robe flying up a few times to reveal his pink boxers underneath. 

Castle week concluded with a castle dinner. Emers noticed that the meat had bones in it on The Sword in the Stone, so that was a must.

Too bad he doesn't remember this:

Or this:

Or this:

He was actually so loud we were kicked out of this castle.








Maybe next will be dino week, or we can wait and see where the wind blows Emerson's imagination.