Human Nature

I have noticed in myself, and sadly, in my daughters, that we are rather hard on ourselves. An ugly side of human nature! I tend to reflect on the "I should have's" (e.g. I should have done this when the girls were younger...You may have noticed this on earlier posts.) My daughter's reflect on "I wish I's. (e.g. I wish I got a better grade or I wish I had bigger feet.)

The trick is making these moments positive learning experiences.

My daughters learn that if they try hard and always put forth their best efforts, they can accomlish anything and if they look hard enough, they can find something to wear. (Shoes are the hardest, and you can forget gloves!)

I learn that I have not failed as a mother. My girls reassure me often that I am a good mother and that they love me dearly. I know this because they tell me so, but I know this mostly by the choices they make and they way they behave. A bad mother would not have such awesome daughters!!!

No Remorse

(password "hero")

Moms and Daughters

How lucky am I... another outing with one of my daughters. Tonight, Kylee and I headed up to the LDS Institute of the U for a mother/daughter activity at the sorority. The Gamma girls and their moms shared treats and played a game. We had to answer questions about each other and tried to match answers. We knew that we were a lot alike, but we were also made aware of some things we did not know about each other.

Moral of the story: Pay attention to the little things!

Flashback February 1994

15 years ago... WOW. A small clip of the girls.
(password is "hero")

Word of the day.

Blogstipation.

I will use it in a sentence.

I have a mild case of BLOGSTIPATION.

Definition:
n. Inability to think of anything to blog about.

Always have a backup.

I have this fear of house fires. I don't worry about loosing the house, I worry about my family, my computer and my photos.

Twice now, I have lost a small chunk of my life... the first time: a prized family video became damaged. A hungry VCR ate the tape. Precious moments of my daughters lives can never be viewed again. More recently - a hard disk failure on the family computer. Some of my photos and a much larger amount of Kylee's photos are still unrecoverable. I had a backup disk but, unfortunately, the last backup was performed about a year ago. I was only able to recover up to the summer of 2007. Kylee's senior year, Taylor's 9th grade year and the following summer months are still missing.

I have tried installing the hard disk on a different computer but all appears wiped out. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve, a number for a PC Doctor and the hopes for a small miracle. All I care about is recovering the photographs. I hope that you will learn from my misfortune and will backup your precious documents and photos and do this often!! I know I will.

Something about Sundays...

It is one of my favorite days. I look forward to seeing my friends at church and best of all, I get to see my family at the dinner table. We have carried on the tradition of eating with my extended family for many years now - and I never grow tired of it. The adults get to catch up on the events of life and we get to play with my nieces and nephews. Today we banged on the card table as if it were a giant drum. The sweet sounds of homemade music rocked the house. Then in an instant... total silence. Families went home, Evan went back to the church, and I got a minute to take it easy on this day of rest. I am always the most tired on Sunday but I think it is so, because I am the most fulfilled.

Motherhood is confusing.

And teenagers are hard to read.

In case you did not already know: I am a planner. Hence, I have already started planning Taylor's sweet 16 party (only 6 weeks away). Since her birthday falls on Spring Break/Easter Weekend - we will have an almost sweet 16 the week before.

Flashback March 2006. Kylee is ADAMANT about NOT having a birthday party. I wanted to throw her a surprise party, but her feet seemed so firmly planted on NO that I did not dare cross that line. Every so often I would mention a small party and she still insisted NO! So, I finally gave up and set aside all hopes of a Sweet 16 for my first born. They day came and went, with no party. Kylee seemed OK with it.

Present day. I am planning away for Taylor - who LOVES parties. Kylee reveals to me that she wishes she had a Sweet 16 party. When I confess to her that I wanted to throw her a surprise party but was afraid to because of her ABSOLUTELY NOT attitude about any event. She told me that I should have done so anyway. Ever since then, I have had a major dose of self inflicted GUILT!!! She tells me it is OK, but I will carry this disappointing childhood milestone for a long time.

Moral of the story - 1. Not all 16 year old's know what they really want and 2. I should have followed my instincts. There is something to be said about those feelings a mother gets in her gut. My advise - follow those feelings and NEVER EVER set aside a childs milestone event.

The Doctor got us right in today and ordered:

Pilates and Yoga... a great mother and daughter bonding activity. Then he told us he will see us in a couple of months. He seems to think that our fine High School PE classes have worked their wonders and created a nice but VERY painful back ache for Taylor. He hates floor crunches as much as we do... he wants us to call for a doctors note to get her out of PE if they resume with those nasty floor exercises again.

My daughter is the most courageous person I know...

After a lengthy discussion with Taylor and out of concern for how the last two days are effecting the (still undiagnosed) pain in her back - Evan and I helped Taylor make a wise decision... put off Lacrosse until next year. She has been dealing with quite a bit of pain in her lower back for over a month now. The last two days have aggravated the condition even more and the pain is getting unbearable. I will be calling the orthopedic surgeon and scheduling an appointment ASAP so that we can get to the bottom of her pain and get her back on track toward physical fitness. Who knows, maybe the two of us will run a 5K after all...

Epsom to the rescue

Another grueling day for Taylor...her already sore muscles are sore. Her poor body is in shock. The pains in her back are increasing and the ankle she rolled yesterday is aching. Yet, here she is, soaking in a tub full of hot water and epsom salts, gearing up for another day of practice. She is my little HERO!

Taylor's got game.

Taylor made a big decision last week... and after many days of supporting her and preparing her for the physical and mental challenges she will face, we purchased cleats, goggles, mouth pieces and a stick. Taylor is on her way to becomming a lady digger...


She had her first lacrosse practice today. She pushed herself beyond our (and even her own) expectations. She ran in the snow, and participated in other drills for 2 hours after school. She came home cold, tired, hungry, and stiff & sore. But she is ready to go at it again tomorrow. I am so proud of her and her incredible strength and courage. She really can do anything she puts her mind to.

It's Presidents Day

and since I am Primary President, I took the day off and went to a movie with my family!

Valenterriffic Day

We started the day off right... we went to the temple...the pinnacle of Jean's visit with us. She was in awe of it's beauty and Evan made sure that she understood the symbolism and purpose of every aspect of this beautiful building.

I knew it was a smaller temple - but it is much smaller than I imagined, yet,, as all temples are, it is LARGE in its beauty and magnitude.

Afterward, we dropped Taylor off at a birthday party and went out for lunch. Once we came home, I started preparing for dinner (my 2nd most favorite part of this day). I made my lasagna and complimented it with salad and garlic bread. I topped it off with cookie balls.

We spent the rest of the evening visiting with Jean and enjoying Neale & Emily and their awesome children. After they left for their long journey home, Evan and Jean enjoyed another movie together (their 5th, I think).

As usual, a day like this is not successful without photos:

Rowley's love to eat...

so it makes sense that we should have dinner tonight at the Cheesecake Factory - where the portions are over the top and you still order dessert.

If you have never been there - I MUST tell you that ONE slice of cheesecake could feed a family of four.

Kylee's favorite: Lemon Raspberry

Connie & Jean shared Vanilla Bean

Evan got Key Lime

Taylor = Snickers

Brownie Sundae for me

Is your mouth watering?

The arrival

Aunt Jean made it here safe and sound. Evan picked her up at the airport and nearly forgot Taylor at school on the way back. After a quick U-turn, all three made it home and Jean settled right in. Connie came over for a reunion and dinner. We are looking forward to the next few days! As you can tell from the photo... she looks great!

HEAther + eVAN = Heaven. (When you tweak the spelling)

Today Evan and I had the rare opportunity to be Hosts in a sealing room for the Draper Temple Open House. I took a half day off of work and we spent a few hours together as Evan shared a few words about the purpose of the sealing room with several hundred visitors. Evan was the mouth piece and I was the supportive, yet quiet, wife. It was the perfect set up!

I loved being able to reflect on my own temple sealing and the wonderful blessings it brings to my family. I loved being in the temple for that brief moment today... it truly is a Heaven on earth.

On the lighter side:
My mother "popped" in to sit with us for a while. Evan would always point me out as his wife during his introduction... after she arrived, my witty mother told Evan that he can now introduce his TWO wives. (Don't worry... no tourists were present.) We had a quite giggle and then went back to work.

This photo is of the large sealing room (capacity for 70) where we spent most of our time. I love that this photo depicts the eternal aspect of the sealing powers through the mirrors. The children that visited this room also loved the eternal mirrors.

(Photo from KSL.com)

We will tour the temple on Saturday with the family, Aunt Jean and Evan's mom.

Who needs Cable TV?

When you have satellite...


...poor Chester has an infection that he keeps irritating. So he gets to wear this for a day or two.

Fear Factor

Taylor started her education today... drivers ed, that is. She spent two hours this morning on the driving range at 5 MPH. She then got behind the wheel of the rig and drive the last half of the trip back home from the school. Evan then put her behind the wheel of his car and had her drive to Fashion Place mall. She is quite calm behind the wheel (especially with TWO parents/back seat drivers in the car) and has a few rules she needs to remember (such as checking the blind spot) but she is well on her way to being a great driver.


(It was easy to pick out which car Tay was in... just looked for half a head peeking over the steering wheel.)

My other half

As I was posting boating pictures on F/B at the request of a friend, I received an anticipated call from my missing other half. I had been reviewing the memories of some very fun family trips and was able to recall what he looked like. I put this together to share...



It will be nice to have him home tomorrow.

It ain't easy being a half.

My other half is out of town.

I have to be the chauffeur.
I have to make all the decisions.
I have to bring in the trash cans from the curb.
I have to clean up after the Pear-eating dog. (so far, no mess.)
I have to help with English homework (I'm the math specialist.)
I can't say "Go ask your dad."
I don't get a good night kiss.

It will be nice to have him home.

Photo Tag

Emily tagged me on her blog.
This is the 4th photo in my 4th folder.
My favorite part: The Christmas lights are still on the house on the 4th of July.

Last evening

with Taylor... I was too tired last night to upload the photos... so here they are now.

An eventful, "benefit"-ful day.

This afternoon at work I received a text message from Taylor... "I passed". So after school we went the the DMV and got her drivers permit. (You have been warned.)

We then took a drive to Provo and I let her drive through the tree streets while I pointed out the house that Evan grew up in and everything on the side of the road that she should not run over. We then celebrated with dinner at the Brick Oven.

We topped the night off at the NieNie benefit concert. We watched the Thrillionaires & Mindy Glenhill with special appearances by Ryan Shupe and David Osmond. The highlight was a hug from Steve and Cindy Clark.

We didn't come home empty handed either... we won lot #134 in the silent auction.

I was a great time with my amazing daughter and it does not seem fair that we should have so much fun while playing a very small role in helping the Nielsen's as they continue to recover and heal.

Competing with the Super Bowl.

So, as you know, I am a planner.

Not a good one.

I scheduled Priesthood Preview months ago, not realizing that it was going to be held during the Super Bowl.

I know now, that everyone I know in my ward that plays the piano, is either a Cardinal or Steelers fan... or maybe a fan of commercials. Thank goodness for LDS.org and IPODS. We will be accompanied via technical gadgets.

I know that the Bishopric and Young Men's Presidency has a higher regard for the Priesthood than they do football. They will be there to participate.

All that remains unknown, is if 8 boys and their parents feel the same way.