Inspiring Individual

I think my happy marriage is great, because I can be inspired my husband.
Sunday it was snowing, my husband went next door to start shoveling the church lot with a small handful of other men.  He finished 5 minutes before church started, came home and showered after 45 minutes of service. He consequently showed up late to Elder's Quorum, we have church backwards.  A great day to show up late, since he is the Elder's Quorum secretary and they reorganized the Elder Quorum.  The Presidency all moved out of the ward this month except for the two secretaries. Once he showed up the Stake President said oh good the whole presidency is here now.  I asked Brent if he explained why he was late.  He said no, and with an aire of it doesn't matter, I'm square with my accountability I don't need excuses.  I wish I could be so humble.
I on the other hand, am having problems with pride.
I want to tell everyone I meet, I only live in apartment so we could save money and have my husband go to school without student loans.  Yes, that is not humble. I'm sick of the second year of student life, I mean the sixth year of student life.  Even-though I could hardly say this was like the undergrad, we live like kings in comparison.   I go through cycles, sometimes I totally accept our choices in life, other times I want to defend myself to people I don't even know, I don't know why I even care.

Thank you internet for functioning as my therapist, you are free!

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air

Carols everywhere

Olden times and ancient rhymes

Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air

Beauty everywhere

Yuletide by the fireside

And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here

We'll be drawing near

Oh, that we could always see

Such spirit through the year.

The kids have christmas sunday clothes, the tree is up, some nativities and other decorations are out, there is a foot of snow outside, and we have even watched three Christmas movies.  Of course Charlie Brown's Christmas, which is where those lyrics came from, but also Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, and the Little Drummer Boy (you know those old movies from the 60s with the puppets or clay or whatnot). Nan loves to hold the baby from the Nativities and suck her thumb, and when J took it away to set up for the picture, she cried, don't take her babies from her. Yes, that picture of the Nativity on the couch was all J's idea.  Oh and its true I rarely comb my son's hair.  I do comb my daughter's but it still looks like that.

Thanksgiving Pictures

If you want to see pictures of my family's thanksgiving, you have to go to my sister in law's blog.  Please go, you won't be disappointed, there are some stellar pictures of me and my crew.
I totally remember throwing my camera in my purse, but then once I got there it was gone.  Luckily I remember wrong, it was at home on my desk waiting for me to throw it in.

Thanksgiving Post

I tweeted that I wasn't going to do a obligatory thanksgiving post. Normally I do, because I want to record what I'm thankful for for posterity, in my blog book, but this year I chose a different venue.
I still want to say what I am most thankful for this year... that I'm not pregnant.
Let me explain.
All I could think about this thanksgiving was two years ago, when I was near the end of a very LONG pregnancy.  I was grateful to be pregnant, and that it was looking like it was going to be full term baby.  (You never really can fully appreciate a full term pregnancy unless you have a bad pregnancy, a preterm baby, a miscarriage, etc. I had the bad pregnancy that I was convinced was going to come early.)
So I was glad to be near the end of a long pregnancy, I was glad to be pregnant with my baby girl, but it was a very miserable holiday for me.  I had no room for any food in my stomach, and ate seconds, yes a bad decision. So I laid on the couch at my sister in law's, uncomfortable for the whole rest of the day wondering why I wasn't at home.  So I'm grateful, I am not pregnant.
I'm sure there are many who are grateful to be pregnant this holiday, but I was not one of them. I was glad to sit on a hard bench and snack and stuff my face, chatting pleasantly with my sister in laws.
I saw a extremely cute newborn today, she was one the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.  But boy was I grateful that it was just my stomach, I was feeding this holiday.
P.S. I wish I had some real cute thanksgiving day pictures to post, but instead I left my camera on my desk.  Maybe if I'm really lucky, Becky will email me some.

Oh what to do what to do

About once a week in the evening, Nan tells me she has to go potty, then climbs on and off the potty for at least 20 minutes if not more.  Refusing to put on diaper.  She has wanted to be potty trained since August, but with preschool I just haven't had time.  But we are on break, should I potty train her on Friday?
She wants it so badly, and even though I hate buying diapers, I don't think I'm ready.
I would much rather wait after vacation.  Does 2011 sound like a better time to potty train than 2010?
What to do, what to do?
The first time I potty trained, I woke up one morning and said tomorrow is the day, after I had all the supplies for months.  Now I have all the supplies, I'm just waiting for that morning, to think tomorrow is the day.  Do you think thanksgiving is the day I should wake up and say tomorrow is the day?
The other problem is even though she has been sitting on the potty since summer, she has never actually pottied in it, she has only once gone of the floor.  She has the badder of a mammoth.
I've never potty trained a small bladder, but I think small bladder kids pick it up easier because they have more practice.  But once the big bladder understands, then its great. As it my daughter only pees a few times in the morning, that means we have three accidents then nap time.

Juvenile Fiction

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book.  It made me miss Texas, and all the things Texan, like the peeling Crape Myrtles. I originally grabbed this book off the shelf at the library because the cover features a beautiful paper cut. Since it was the author's first novel the book does start off a little slow moving, but I quickly picks up the pace. The general premise of the book is about a girl named Callie Vee in 1899 who starts becoming fascinated with science, and the relationship she gains with her granddaddy, a retired cotton farmer, through scientific exploration. The author did a good job of making Callie relate-able and helping the reader get into her shoes. (At least I found her relate-able, I'm a middle child girl who grew up in Texas at the turn of a century, with a house of brothers.)

Here are the two quotes I like:
Granddaddy says to Callie, "The lesson for today is this: It is better to travel with hope on one's heart than to arrive in safety... (233).
The Callie pondering on the new century: "Part of me wanted our lives to go on as they always had, with all of us living together in our teeming old house.  The other part of me yearned for desperate and dramatic change, to leave Fentress far behind. ... Granddaddy had told me I could make whatever I wished of my life. Some day I believed him and other days I did not. (328).

But before I read about Callie I read this, it was shorter and I need something after the challenging child.  Did I post about that?

Me and the Pumpkin Queen by Marlane Kennedy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a cute Juvenile Fiction book, I grabbed off the shelve while my kids picked out their story books. It was of course a fast read, I finished it in two sittings. Its about a little girl who has a desire to grow a giant pumpkin for the Circleville Pumpkin Show in Ohio. I won't tell you the ending, but the beginning is she wants to grow one after her mom prematurely passes away because her mom loved the show and always said
"maybe we could grow one". Cute book, especially if you were 10.


And since I just realized I never posted about this:
Alisa refered me to this book.
The Challenging Child: Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five "Difficult" Types of Children by Stanley I. Greenspan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First off Alisa referred me to this book, because J's personality is not what they write parenting books about.  He isn't a challenging child, but he is definitely not the norm, and so I'm always worried he is overlooked, if that makes sense.  But I didn't need this book for J I need it for Nan. Nan is a challenging child.  Turned out to be helpful, for both though, because it turns out based on Greenspan's opinion J is not being bypassed, but in fact is excelling. Even with Nan being challenging, we are doing some right things according Greenspan, and we have implemented some more. We just need patience and edurance.  But I knew we were doing things right, because she is getting better, slowly. I also know we are doing things right because I have a mysterious blessing with Nan, with J I second guess everything we do, but with Nan I know when something is right for her, and when something is not.

But to the review of this book that I wrote on Goodreads:
This book was very long and boring, I thought it should have been half as long.  But it was extremely helpful and informative. It was one of the few helpful parenting books in my opinion, and I've read a lot of parenting books.  It has five different personalities, and explains how to help those personalities become more well-adjusted.  It was great to read because it turns out my daughter is Highly Sensitive child, and boy is she hard to care for because everything results in screaming. We can do no right in her life, everything we do makes her upset.  She often reacts with screaming, drooling, pulling her clothes, and complete jello state of melted toddler on the floor. It was such a relief to read the chapter about the Highly Sensitive child, and start implementing some action plans.  My son is the self absorbed child, and now after reading that chapter, I'm relieved to know he is actually very well adjusted for his age.  Although you shouldn't compare your children to others, after watching him in correspondence to other kids his age, is doing well with his imagination and his communication. Since we moved last year to a neighborhood with lots of kids, he has made great progress from a weird quiet self absorbed child, to one who interacts well with others, one who explores a vibrant imagination, and one who for his age is good at diffusing problems with friends. With all that said, I should do better about giving him 30 minutes of "floor time".  I give my daughter that time, but I'm not as good with unstructured time with my son. My husband and I are both inattentive children, and it was helpful to read that chapter to understand better some of our different quirks.  For example my husband was in the gifted program in elementary school, and since then has appeared "lazy" in college and high school.   Apparently that is a extremely normal. He isn't lazy the education system just makes a switch in between those years. While I still need to work at closing conversations, and completing thoughts. (We are both inattentive children but in different ways.)
After I read this book, I have to give my parents and in laws props.  As I read the book, some of the personalities were very much like some of my siblings (myself included), and my parents seemed to do a good job of teaching us to be well adjusted and less challenging.  While my in laws are extremely good at teaching kids to complete thoughts, questions why they complain, and have a full conversation that closes the complete thought.  I now realize after reading the book, that my husband (taught by his parents) has done a very good job of getting me to complete a conversation, especially when we were dating. Which has helped me be less inattentive.

Last Birthday Present

After my last two posts, I decided I wanted to buy my daughter one last birthday present, a book of babies showing feelings.  A quick amazon search showed they did not have exactly what I was looking for.  Then I realized I have more than enough picture of Nan showing all of the emotions.  I was just going to print them up in a quick flip book,  long story short, instead I went to ritzpix.com. Turns out they have some really great prices, for all you locals they are the national brand website for Inkley's.  So I just finished making Nan her own photo book with her own pictures of her being happy, sad, laughing, crying, etc, I got a 6x6, 20 page hardcover book for $8.50 including tax, that is ready in the store, a Monday only special. (You can do it any monday, shipping or pick up.)

I'm super excited, thats how much it would cost to buy a book with generic babies in it.  

To mention, you can make a photo book with all the scrapbook embellishments for that price, if you like that thing.

In my opinion its better printing then most photo sits. I got a metallic 8x10 print for under $10 including shipping a few weeks ago. (I know a photo of a photo in a frame doesn't turn out well. I let my son pick out the frame.)

No I'm not getting paid for this post, I'm just so excited for a inexpensive photo book, I hate spending $20+ on a photobook.  Plus its good quality printing.

Emotions

Around two years old, I try to teach my children their emotions, I find tantrums are less challenging if they can say or sign, angry, mad, hungry, sad, excited, want, etc. Plus I would rather my children tell they are mad then hit me in the face. We are working on emotions, but the only two Nan relates to are sad/cry and love/kiss.  When we sing the wheels on the bus, she just wants the babies going wah, wah wah.  She is so sad for those sad babies.  When she takes care of her babies, they are crying and need to be comforted, she has an eagle eye for pictures of sad babies.  I have no problem with us looking at sad babies, negitive emotions need to be addressed too, but like I said I do try to ask her about other emotions. She always goes back to the sad.  She can't move past the sad, maybe once we can learn some other emotions, she in her own life will stop being so fussy.  For whatever reason she has had a sad challenging infancy, and even though she can't talk all she wants to talk about is what it was/is like to be a sad baby.  Poor thing, I feel bad.  But its isn't all sad, she also understands hugs and kiss, dollys always need hugs and kisses.  If a toy isn't crying its being kissed.  Tonight all the rubber duckies were kissing each other.  All she wants to talk about is crying, but she also definitely understands being loved.

By the way, I don't think emotions are something just to be taught to a two year old.  I'm still working on it with J.  He had lots of tantrums since Brent went back to school.  Something is wrong and he screams, he was never a screamer until a year ago, maybe less, maybe it was something else other Brent in school.  I don't know what it was, maybe his sister taught him and it was none of the above.  Brent likes to joke and often says ridiculous things to J, which J gets upset about and cries to me.  I tell him daddy is joking and you need to talk to daddy if you don't like something he is doing.  Well recently when dad says something ridiculous like no food until thanksgiving.  J says, "you are being rude, stop". I'm so proud of him, rude isn't actually the right word, but he is getting closer, and he can now confront dad instead of crying to me.  Funny thing is he has been confronting his friends when they hurt his feelings all summer, there were a lot of children under 5 this summer, and so everyone was always hurting someone's feelings its just the way small kids are. Also it should be said, Brent is a great dad, his joking with J is only about 2% of their relationship, so this paragraph should not speak illy on my husband. J and Brent get a long great. Brent isn't even the point of the post, J took up half, but the post was suppose to be about poor Nan, and how all she wants to do is talk about being sad.
Although in her defense, she loves to sing if you are happy and you know it clap your hands.  The other day I added the second verse if your mad you know it stomp your feet, or sad, I don't remember what I said, she got so upset at me, and wouldn't calm down until I went back to if you are happy clap your hands.  She wants to talk about being sad, but I think she wants to be happy, she just has hard time.

Two

My baby is about to turn two, which I guess that means she's not a baby anymore.  Two is the magical age when they are want to make their own choices, when finally life comes together, and postpartum is finally over.  But she is still my baby because I don't have a different baby, and I won't for a long time, and she doesn't talk, and still cries a lot.
But we love almost two year old Nan. She is so fun and so toddler like.  Everyone has heard of the terrible twos, but I don't think 2 is terrible at all.  Nan is more pleasant than she has ever been in her life time. Like I said, we love two year old Nan.

She loves to sing (do the actions, and let out babbles, while I sing).
And she loves to play jokes.
Oh and we can't forget-- she loves take care of baby dolls.

Favorite Color

When I was in late elementary school, I remember sleeping over Shannon's house.  While there, we designed my room.  My favorite colors were green and purple, and we came up with all these WIERD designs for each wall. It was so great, but my mom wasn't so enthusiastic
She did let me design and paint my room, but not with bright/bold purple and green, strips and polka dots.  Instead we picked out a pale purple.  I totally don't expect Shannon to remember this, the story isn't even about the room.  The point is I remember being 10ish and loving the colors purple and green.  After all these years, they are still my favorite colors, although not paired together.  I love green and have a ton of green design in my house, but yet I hate that green is popular.  I feel like there are all these fair weather greens fans destroying my favorite color.  I love to wear purple, and dread the day true purple is replaced with lilac in fashion. I hate pastels.
My husband thinks my favorite color is pink, and no matter how many times I tell him other wise, he does not believe.  Like I said, I don't like pastels, so I put my daughter in a lot of hot pink, since pink is her favorite color.  I still try to get plenty of purple in her wardrobe, sometimes she is more in agreement then others.
What I wear the most is a white tee, with blue jeans, I have an embarrassing amount of white tees in my closet. But my favorite colors are green and purple and I assume they will aways stay in my heart, since they have always been there.

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

In addition to a turkey hat, he also has an Indian headband and a pilgrim hat.

Today my son had his preschool thanksgiving feast. He told me he thought maybe he was too tired to go to school, but I convinced him he didn't want to miss his feast. I moved to texas when I was nine, and the only holiday party I remember in school before texas was my thanksgiving feast when I was 6. Needless to say I was pumped for him, I even pulled the turkey shirt out from last year for him to wear. Unfortuanately I was not present for such an exciting day but it seemed fun. They set up all the tables together, covered them in white butcher paper, and even had a center piece with pilgrim figures. It looked so fancy for four year olds.

This is what he said they ate:
carrots
celery
brocoali
turkey
crackers
peppers, not spice ones
olives
pumpkin pie, but he didn't get to eat his, someone threw it away

I was also sorts of excited for him to experience this, and I did not hide my excitement from Brent at all. As J told us about the pilgrims and getting on a boat to leave the wicked people and arriving in america and meeting the indians. I told Brent thanksgiving was a big deal when I was a child. He said of course you lived in the Northeast. Its true, I remember vacationing in Plymouth Massushetes as a child to celebrate Thanksgiving with my extended family.  I remember watching the Sons and Daughters of the Mayflower walking in costumes, during the cold cold cold snowy day, reenacting.

Yeah it was awesome, and yeah I'm glad my son can tell me all about the pioneers and Indians.  Yeah, I keep correcting him, you mean pilgrims.   

Change of a mind?

During my 45 minute drive home, I was thinking, I need to get over myself, especially pride.  I grateful I didn't buy a house two years ago.  I know it was for the best, and have no complaints.  Although my husband and I both share some complaints about our apartment. I decided to get over myself, and accept my current place, instead of "sitting the in the waiting place, the most useless place".  Not to mention I'm pretty positive if we decided to buy a house when my husband graduates it will be way nicer than the ones we were looking at.
Then I went to pick my kid up from preschool.  Another mom asked me if I lived in that neighborhood.  I said no, told her were we live, and then found myself saying we live in apartment to save money while my husband does his MBA.  Afterward I thought, why the heck do I feel the need to explain myself. I contemplated this while I finally cleaned my bathrooms. I decided its not because I need to explain my financial decisions, but because I don't really want people think J's parents are deadbeats.

Isaiah

I just finished Isaiah in the Old Testament.  Yes, I will finish the Old Testament by the end of December, I just have to read 5 pages a night, which really isn't that much. What is really getting to me is the two pages of Book of Mormon my husband and I read after my 5 pages, I love the Book of Mormon but I'm tired at 11 o'clock after 5 pages.
If I finish by December, that means I read the whole Old Testament cover to cover in 10 months, (it took a little while to get on the Sunday School bandwagon, since I teach primary.)
But I'm jabbering.
I finished Isaiah; when my husband read Isaiah a month before me he said he now understands what Nephi was talking about when he said Isaiah was plain and easy to understand.  Probably every LDS person at some point in their life has not wanted to read the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi, and wondered what in the world Nephi was talking about because Isaiah does not seem easy to understand.  But then once I got to Isaiah I too understood.  In comparison to all that mumbo jumbo, linage lines for 50 pages, and Leviticus, and Numbers, which aren't even the worst of it all.  It is refreshing to get to Isaiah.  It is almost pain and easy to read in comparison to a lot of the Old Testament. In fact it was almost plain and easy to understand since I've read at least half of the Book of Isaiah every year since I was probably 12 in the Book of Mormon.  Yeah, I hardly understand Isaiah, but at least it was familiar. Like every time it said, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." I know that phrase.
One last thought, when I was a kid in Freshman Seminary, I wondered why there were four scripture masteries in Isaiah, I like things even and orderly and it messed with my order.  Now as adult that has almost read the entire Old Testament, I understand why, Isaiah is like a gem in the mess of mud of the Old Testament.  (Just for the record, I tried to read the entire Old Testament as a Freshman, I started the summer before, be eventually the class surpassed me, and it wasn't required to read the whole book, there were chapters you could skip and skipped them because I didn't have the time or reading skills not to.  That is the other reason this is so new, I was a terrible reader at 15, absolutely terrible.)

Playing House

For the first few years of marriage/motherhood I felt like I was often playing house.  I was having fun but I kept expecting the "adults/parents" to come home and send me and my best friend Brent home.  They never did, I was the one in charge, the one that was suppose to call the shots.  But seriously I was just playing house. Weren't all my fancy wedding presents that I loved using, just toys bought for Christmas? Or maybe they belonged to someone else that was maybe napping for something, that I would use to pretend with when they weren't looking. (I remember as a child trying on my mom's jewelry when she wasn't in the room, or when she was.)
One day I was visiting my cousin and her family in Vegas, and she asked me if I ever felt like I was playing house?  Yes!, I was so relieved to know some one else felt the same way.
A few months ago, something reminded me of that time.  But oddly enough the feeling went away years ago.  Probably sometime during my second pregnancy, after four years of marriage. Yeah, reality has definitely set in, if nothing else during the colic of my second.  This is my life, I love it, sometimes I feel like its semi-charmed, other times its harder than I expected, but its definitely mine, no one is going walk in and pay me and send me home. Thank goodness. No one is going to knock on my plastic door and tell me to clean up for dinner.  I'm the one in charge whether I like it or not.

Great Grandma

Last time we were at great grandma's, she wanted to make sure the jets in her tub still work, so my boy got the time of life. My daughter only stayed for a few minutes before the bubbles reached her face and she was ready to get out.  During worry I held onto her the whole time, I didn't want to lose her in those bubbles.

Funny thing is, I remember my grandma giving me baths when she lived in New Jersey, and my parents would drop me off while they attended the Washington DC Temple.  Although I never had that many bubbles, in that big of a tub.

I thought he looked like something out of a movie, that big huge white tub.

After they were all squeaky clean from those bubbles, they did what they always do at great grandma's: eat life cereal.

Random

Another Halloween Outfit, I just think halloween outfits are the cutest clothes all year.

These were taken last month.

My son's curly locks. I cut them off yesterday.

I didn't shave his head, its just quite shorter, I didn't expect to cut it so much shorter, but I was actually enjoying cutting, I was actually using the proper technique. His hair is still visably curly, he made me promise I wouldn't cut the curls off. Its just not a big mop anymore, but I'm sure it will be moppy again in just a few short weeks.

Gratitude Dinner

We had a gratitude dinner for a Relief Society Activity tonight. (Relief Society is the organization for all women in my church all over the world.) I was asked to set up a table. I was extremely overwhelmed by this task. For one I can't tie a bow how could I set up a center piece with a basket without a bow?! I researched online, make one that looked presentable, even ironed my ribbon, then forgot to tie it on the basket. Anyway, this is the end product apparently I didn't need to be overwhelmed.

I love that pilgrim girl.

I wasn't actually overwhelmed about the way the table looked. I was overwhelmed, because Brent had class tonight, its a new class, so I wasn't anticipating it to be a class night. I was worried how I was going to set up the table get someone to watch my kids, etc
Turned out find, at the last minute we figured out I could set up sunday evening, we tore through my dish boxes, pulling out extra plates and bowls, that we never unpacked this last time. He helped me, and that was a weight off my shoulders. But still what about my kids, my neighbor said he would, and ended up having to come home while he was out, to put my kids and their car seats in their van and drove them out to the west side of the valley, and brought them back when I was done. Whew, it all worked out fine, but all that juggling was an extra stress for me when I walked in the church.
Everyone that sat at my table was at least old enough to be my mother if not my grandma which is fine, I don't discriminate on age. They were all very nice, asked me where I was from, told me how beautiful my table was, how fun and lovely my plates were. It was a very nice evening for me after I finally relaxed. The lady who asked me to set up a table also sat at my table. She told all the other women how fabulous I was. I guess I was looking modest, because she ended with now she will tell you she doesn't do anything special, but she's wrong, she is amazing. I don't think I do anything other than what is expected of me, "gotta git 'er done" but none the less I appreciated her kind description. It was a nice evening. And even with not sitting with anyone of my generation, I've got enough play dates set up to last us a month.
So remember be grateful. Its a godly virtue, it increases our faith, be grateful during trials, it shows us the hand of the Lord in our life.
Oh speaking of, one of the elderly ladies at my table said, remind me your name. I said Lesli, she said oh that's right, and then she said my last name. I was surprised she knew me. I'm teach primary (child in church), how does she know me? Then later during dinner, I said something about my husband at class, she said oh yes, I remember that from your testimony a few months ago. I smiled and though, oh no, please never remember my testimonies. Please no one. I don't say them for any reason then my chest seems like it will explode with my heart beats. I don't really know what I say when I'm up there, other than I know I specifically try to testify of Christ. I'm sure I mention all types of trials that I don't really want the ward knowing. The only consolation is even though I write really long blog posts, I try say short testimonies, so they can't hear too much of my problems.

And to end things off on a different note, here is Nannie.

Contradictory

Pretty much everyone has told me my daughter looks like my side of the family. And I agree, she looks so much look my family it sometimes weirds me out.  But yet, this summer I scanned in a bunch of my husband's baby pictures and holy smokes who knew my daughter looked so much like my husband.  I knew when they cuddle together and have their serious calm faces they look oddly similar. Nan also looks like her cousin-- my  husband's sister's son.  Nan is the yellow, and her cousin is in green, they aren't by any means identical, but definitely have some similarities.  

Here are some more comparisons. My daughter's smile, and my husband's smile as a baby.

Nan totally has same smile.  Although she has my teeth.

She also has her dad's forehead, and ears.

Its the same as my son.  People tell me how much like his dad he looks, and how he looks nothing like me.  He has my husband's dominate genes, like his eyes and darker coloring.  Just the same as my daughter and me.  But yet J has my forehead, and my ears, and his toddler pictures look surprisingly like mine. Wow, its amazing, they must be half my genes and half my husband's.  Who would have thought?

Not Cheese

I've always considered myself some what of an anti-romantic.  Sure I've watched my fair share of romantic comedies, I even own a few, but beyond that I don't seem to like romance.  Most of the time a romantic song comes on the radio I want to gag, and switch it.  Not all the time, I like song by people like Taylor Swift, its true.  But I'm not a fan of public expression of verbal affection.  I find proposals at Disneyland or anything else grand, disgusting.  I don't want to be present at someone singing a love song to someone in specific.  (Although that might be because my husband and I are not fans of live music.) I would be horrified if my husband told me he loved in front of anyone other than maybe our children.
But then the other Saturday morning, I was walking out of the temple with two of my sister in laws.  A bride was walking it, I was super excited for her. I loved my wedding, it was pretty much the funnest day of my life, it was the best, I was so trilled to be getting married to Brent.  Now this is were my anti-romance sentiment gets me, wait, how can I be giddy for a girl I don't even know?  I take my kids to temple square all the time, we see a lot of brides, and I am always excited for the happy looking ones.
When I shared my contradiction with my sister in laws, Pam said, that isn't romance that is cheese.

Oh, she finally cleared something up for me!  I don't like cheesy things, but as my husband told me he already knew, it turns out I am a romantic, which is why I smile at all those happy brides.
I think cheesy pretend romance is disgusting, but if you like it more power to you, but you won't find me clicking the thumbs up button.

I guess I'm into the quiet devotion, and commitment more than flowery loud words, whether it be pretend in a movie, or in front of 65 worthy close adult family members smashed into 50 seats.

Every mother...

Every mother thinks their children are beautiful, and let me assure you I am no different.