Unexpected Blessings

I've had a few unexpected blessings as of late. I love that I am being watched over and helped as I walk awkwardly forward in my life.

My first experience of being blessed came as a twosome. Our dish DVR broke and I was really sick during conference weekend. Yes, it felt like we were back in the dark ages with not being able to record, pause or rewind live TV. And no, I don't really enjoy being sick. But these two disadvantages turned into a real advantage.

Usually during conference time I have the greatest of intentions of listening, feeling the spirit, and setting goals as I listen to the inspired speakers. And I always do get something out of conference - how can you not?! But I also can't stand to sit still so long and I usually try to get something done while I am listening. (Or spend my time trying to keep the kids to a minimal volume and level of activity.) If I do miss something I know that I can always watch it again (thanks to DVR) or read it as soon as it is printed in the next month's Ensign. So plainly speaking, this gives me an unconscious excuse to not really listen, or pay attention, or to even fall asleep during the duration of General Conference.

With being sick I had absolutely no desire to leave the couch. I had my warm blanket an incredible supply of tissues and a handy garbage bag.

So with no excuse to do anything else and paying more attention than usual I really, really, really enjoyed conference this year. It seemed like every talk was just for me and my mind was continually flooded with personal inspiration and ways that I needed to improve my life or validation of things that I was already doing. I know I would not have gotten so much out of conference if the DVR and not been broke and I had not been sick!!!!!

I am also incredibly grateful for the priesthood and for members all over the world who are willing to serve.

After getting out of the shower on Thursday morning I realized there was a message waiting on the answering machine. As I listened it was pure shock as my mom told me my dad was in the ER. He had been having bad chest pains all night and had finally taken himself to the hospital. They were doing tests but hadn't heard anything else.

My mom lives in Utah (our home base) while my dad works in Las Vegas and lives in a Condo down there during the week and flies home to Utah on the weekends.

It was kind of scary for us for a while. My dad was all alone in Las Vegas. He had briefly called my mom to let her know what was happening - but was in too much pain to really talk and the battery on his cell phone was low so he didn't have much time left to talk either.

For hours we waited to hear what was happening. I didn't know whether I needed to pull my kids out of school and drive down to Utah and then drive my mom down to Vegas or what we needed to do. My mom didn't know the name of the hospital he was at and he wasn't answering his cell phone.

Once my mom did get some more information it turned out that he had a blocked artery into his heart and they would need to operate to put a stint in. I never felt to helpless to be so far away and not able to do anything. But there were some things we could do. My mom called up my dad's Vegas bishop and called the Provo temple to put his name on the prayer role.

Luckily my brother drove my mom down to Vegas (I keep forgetting that he is now off his mission and going to BYU). So at least someone was on the way. Before they arrived two different sets of "hometeachers" stopped by to give my dad a blessing. Several other people from the ward stopped by too. What is so fantastic is that these people don't even know my dad. As he usually always returns to Utah for the weekends he has hardly ever attended his Las Vegas ward. But here were all these people ready to serve a fellow member of the gospel.

Even though I couldn't be there in person to put my arms around him and give him a big old hug I knew he was being looked after.

My mom and brother made it to Vegas by midnight and were allowed to see my dad. They then crashed at his condo for a couple of hours before they were back at the hospital at 5:00am for the start of my dad' surgery. Everything went well!!!!

My dad is now feeling great and is even going back into work tomorrow (can you believe that?). And my mom and brother are safely back in Utah.

I am also thankful for my little bookgroup that kept me buoyed up while I was troubled inside. And more than anything I am thankful for the reassuring hugs of my husband - he always melts all my troubles away.

I'm Ready to Join a Nudist Colony!

Seriously, I am ready to force myself and my family into a nudist colony.

I'm sure you are all saying, "Lara? Nudist colony? Has she totally lost it this time?!!!"

Is it because I want to show off my fabulous body from all my stringent exercise and dieting? (I did try dieting several times this year and I exercised at least three different times since January!). Ha, ha, ha, --- NO!!!!!! Unfortunately my body would be the only down side to my new idea for those that had to look at it.

Then why this new obsessive idea? Because our church leaders have totally encouraged it!!!! Doesn't it seem that lately a lot of talks and suggestions by respected leaders in the church have told us to keep our priorities straight, to make family our number one commitment, and to cut out the foo-foo. That there are lots of good things to do - but we shouldn't get so over whelmed.

Well, I am totally overwhelmed and so tired of devoting so many of my living hours to LAUNDRY!!!!!!!!

I spent at least an hour folding Monday, yesterday and today. I finally finished all the folding. But does that mean I'm done? Haa - not in the least. It means I still have to put it all away. And once I've accomplished that I'm sure I will be hearing a call from the laundry room of, "wash me, wash me!" from all the newly acquired dirty clothes sitting in the wash-me pile. And it all starts again!!!!!

Just think of it - if we didn't wear clothes any more - no more Laundry!!!!!! WAHOOOO. No more ironing (like that gets done anyways), no more folding, no more putting away. You would never hear the words, "Mom I don't know what to wear," or "Mom, I don't have anything to wear," or "Mom, where are all of my clothes," because there wouldn't be any!!!!!

Not only would you save time - but think of the huge savings in your monthly and yearly budget. No more back to school shopping!!! No more having to hit the right sales. No clothes that lasted less than a year because the kids out grew them or wore them out.

Of course I wouldn't be able to live in Spokane anymore. Way to cold to be without clothes. So I guess I will put up all our now unneeded clothes for sale. And from all the money we make we will move somewhere warm and sunny. (I think we could splurge on sunblock!)

Who wants to join?

My Own Little World of March Maddness

Just in case you are dying from suspense as to what happened to us and our cars - well we are all alive and moving. Kind brother Amato came to help Chris out late Wednesday night. They were able to jack up the car and reattach the tie-rod. The car is now drivable (cross your fingers) so Chris and get back and forth to work until spring break when we will finally be able to get it to a mechanic.

I also took the van in for an oil change and was told that my battery was not passing inspection - no big surprise there. So I had a new battery put in. So now the van should be great for a while.

March has just been marching along - and mostly without me - my mind is still back in February and the weather certainly isn't helping me adjust to spring time. So, here's to a big blog with lots of catching up.

A Rare Sunny Day

My kids love to be outside but unless it is a favorable temperature I do not. But this day (March 7) was beautiful. Halle and Sean rode their bikes and then decided that climbing the tree would be fun. So I quickly ran into the house to grab my camera and practice some photography. (Even though you can learn how to do photography, you still have to practice and have some innate talent - all of which I am lacking.) I was glad to be outside as I still can't get a decent indoor picture. And then I worked on framing what I shot by the rule of thirds and getting up close (I could still probably get closer but this was really good for me as I usually try to get ALL the background too.).

Halle is pretty pleased with herself that she is up in the tree. And she doesn't mind posing for pictures at all - my kids love cameras!

Sean loved being up in the tree - he is a natural little monkey.

Track and Field

Yes, it is that time of year again. Track season started the last week of February. My poor husband was out there for several days shoveling off the track so they could have at least two lanes to work out on after all that snow we received.

The first meet of the year was a Jamboree at Ferris High school. As you can see from the picture it was the perfect track day - cold and wet.

Plastic bags to sit on, umbrellas, warm coats, gloves, and popcorn. What more could you want at a track meet?

Chris over at the high jump. He is the one with the grey hoody over his head, red coat, black pants and black bag standing right in front of the high jump.

After a lot of thought, Chris gave up his position of being the head coach. For now I will just say "politics" but if you want more of the story, just mention track and I will give you an ear full.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was a full day for us. It started with snow in the morning and having a fun breakfast to painting Easter eggs. We've never really thought twice about St. Patrick's Day before (except to wear green so you don't get pinched) but after reading all the fun ideas on other peoples blogs last year I thought it would be fun to do a little something more.

Is spring really on its way?

The kids thought green pancakes for breakfast was ingenious. Partly because they are green and partly because I never cook in the morning. We usually always have pancakes at dinner time. They also had green milk to go with them.

Chad devised his very own leprechaun trap. He put signs on it that said: "If you give me your gold I will set you free." and "This way for gold." Apparently they had been studying leprechauns at school and had to write a paper and draw a picture of how they would capture a leprechaun. Chad went a step further and really built one. We didn't catch one this year, but there is always next year!!!!

All dressed in green for school. No one is going to pinch my kids!

After school we painted Easter eggs - yes, on St. Patrick's Day. It was the only day we could do it before my mum had to leave. Sean thought he was in heaven - eggs and paint!!!! Notice he has no shirt - because I had to quickly remove it and run it down to the laundry room before all the stains set in.

Chad and Halle are both professional egg decoraters now and had a lot of fun.

The kids with their nanny and their colorful Easter eggs.

A 1st/2nd Grade Bug Musical

Chad's music teacher put on a musical for the first and second graders at Adams. It was way fun to watch. She did a fantastic job - especially since she is 81/2 months pregnant.

Chad wanted to be a spider - so I attached some extra arms to a spider shirt he already had. He thought it was so cool.

Chad was also assigned a speaking part in the musical. I was so proud of him. Usually he is really shy in front of a lot of people and really self-conscious. I was also nervous in case he had the "bumpies" while he tried to say his lines. But he did great!

Chad morphs into a spider.

Everyone is ready for a bugs picnic.

Chad delivers his lines.

Car Trouble and Protection

I've started dreading Tuesdays. It's usually Mondays - just because they are Mondays and it is all about getting back into schedule after spontaneous weekends. But Tuesdays seem to bring me trouble. If a child is sick, if there is a conflict in my schedule, or something just goes wrong it is usually on Tuesday. So one of my friends has been getting a weekly phone call every Tuesday to help bale me out of whatever sticky situation I've gotten into.



"What happened this Tuesday?" you might ask. "A dead battery in my minivan," I would answer.



Going to turn on the van and having nothing happen is not something new. No, it happens every once in a while - after all we have kids! One of the selling features of our van was that any light that was left on was supposed to turn itself off before draining the battery. Well, that is not true - I have had plenty of proof proving otherwise.



So, Tuesday comes. I let all the kids out the door at 8:40am to run to the bus stop. I go to the garage to get in the van. (I drive the van to the bus stop, so that after Chad and Halle are picked up for school I can then quickly get Sean into the van and wisk him right off to school too.) As soon as I open the door I can hear the click-click-click sound of the battery trying to work. I still try to start the engine - but there is absolutely no juice left and it just sits there ignoring me - not even recognizing that I have thrust the key in the ignition and tried to turn the engine over several times with extra animated action.



After the sickening feeling of OH NO!!!!! I get out and walk calmly to the bus stop. (But inside I know I am going to kill who ever did this.) Tuesday is also my busy day. After dropping Sean off at preschool (which has been no easy matter lately) I go and help out at Halle's Kindergarten class. Then I pick up Sean and Nicole from preschool. I drive out of my way to deliver Nicole to her day care. On the way home I stop by Rite Aid for milk (if you use your Rite Aid card on Tuesday you get a 10% discount on your purchases so milk only ends up costing $2.51 a gallon - hey cheaper than gas).



Then Sean and I come home and wait for the bus to drop Halle off from school. After walking home we have lunch and relax for a short while. At 12:50 I usually drop Sean and Halle off at a friend's house so I can go back to the school and volunteer in Chad's classroom. I leave his classroom at 2:30 to pick up my kids. We go home. I try to put Sean down for a nap (sometimes works) and then wait for Chad to come home.



Then it is time to make sure the kids have their piano practicing done and homework done while I fix dinner. We usually eat around 4:15 so that gives us plenty of time to eat and get ready to go to gymnastics. We leave for Halle's gymnastics around 5:00pm. Class starts around 5:30 and goes to 6:30. And on the way home we stop by Costco for gas. When we are finally home it is around 7:00pm and time to tidy up the house and get kids ready for bed.



So as you can see, not having a car on Tuesday is a nightmare.



My solution? First, call a friend to make sure Sean gets to preschool. (Priority number one for sanity reasons.) Second, I ask my neighbor to give me a jump. Life should go smoothly after that. But, it is Tuesday remember, so life it not that simple. I can't get the van out of park to push it out of the garage so I can jump it. For some reason the gear shift is totally locked up and nothing I do seems to work. The van is STUCK!!!!



Plan B - steal (oh, I mean borrow) my husbands car. After all it is just sitting in the school parking lot collecting bird poop. Might as well take advantage of that.

When my friend comes to pick Sean up I jump in the car too and have her take us both to Ferris. After finally getting Sean to stay I walk over to the faculty parking lot and drive off in the Mazda (zoom, zoom, zooooom.) I had forgotten to take car seats with me - so I quickly drive back home to collect them and then return to Adams to do my classroom volunteering.

I proceed through the rest of my day as already outlined above. In between all my running around I keep trying to get the van out of park and into neutral so I can give it a jump. It is really starting to bug me now that I can't move the stupid gear shift.

After coming home after my second shift at Adams I finally take some time to read through the owners manual to our van. After some valiant searching I find the section that shows me how to jimmy off a little piece of hidden plastic in the steering wheel with a screw driver so that I can then insert my key into it to override the gear shift lock that is totally messing up my day. It takes a little bit of work and patience but finally - yee-haw I can finally knock that baby into neutral.

Thankfully my mom is still around and I have her steer and brake the van as I push it out of the garage. I maneuver the Mazda around and then connect the jumper cables. In no time at all (remember I've had a lot of practice at this) the van is finally running. Life feels so much better now. We pile the kids in the car and the van. I take off for Ferris in Chris' car and my mom follows in the van. We drop the car off for him, drive around for another 20 minutes to make sure the battery is well charged up, and then we all go home.

At home, it is time to get dinner going. There is actually a change in plans for tonight. Instead of gymnastics we will all be going to Adams to watch Chad's 1st/2nd grade musical. It starts at 6:30pm. I feel like a complete nerd as I usher everyone out of the house by 6:00pm so we can get a good parking spot and a good seat. But as we arrive - I realize I'm not quite the nerd I think I am as the place is already pretty packed.

We find some good seats (towards the back) and save an extra one for Chris, who will be joining us as soon as he makes it home from track practice, gobbles down some food, and changes for bishopric meeting so he can get there right after the musical.

Chris finally arrives just after they have started. I am on one end of the row, he is on the other with my mom and two kids between us - so there is not much conversation. We enjoy the musical. The kids were really cute - all dressed up as bugs for a picnic. Chad has a speaking part and does really well. Most of all he is pleased with the spider costume I was able to create for him.

After the show Chris lets me know that he will be needing a ride to the church. "WHY?" I ask cautiously, already knowing that something is wrong. Well it turns out the Mazda that I had been driving around all day was a death trap ready to happen. Just as Chris was trying to park it a big metal rod (the "tie-rod") that connects the wheels to the car (SLIGHTLY IMPORTANT!!!) broke off and the wheels became uncontrollable.

All I could think about is how blessed I had been that it not happened while I had been driving here and there all day. And then it hit me how very blessed and looked after we all were - that it happened then and not at any other time. Not in traffic, not while driving, not with kids in the car, but just as Chris was parking on the side of the road. I can't imagine what would have happened if the tie-rod had come off while one of us was driving on the free-way!!!!!!! It still freaks me out to think about it.

At the moment, Chris' car is still parked by Adams (hope no vandalism occurs to it). With my mom now gone and Chris working 12+ hour days I don't know when we will get it fixed. So we are now a one van family. And anyone draining the battery will be walking from now on (along with the rest of us).

Every Thing A Girl Wants

Last week we had a birthday dinner for my sister-in-law, Linda, over at her house. It is always fun for the kids to get together and be able to play with their cousins.

Happy Birthday Linda!

The men (Chris and his brother, Jeff) watched about three different basketball games.

The girls had fun decorating Halle up.

The girls go punk.

The boys had fun playing video games and with racing cars.


For birthday gifts this year, I decided to treat each of my sister-in-laws to the best book in the world - Porn for Women. Linda absolutely loved it!!!!!! We giggled about it all evening. But, for some reason Jeff was not very amused.

A must have book for all married women!!!

Not a Pole Dancer

Sean and I have a weekday tradition. Everyday at 11:35 we leave the house to walk down to the bus stop to greet Halle home from the bus. Every day Sean takes off running as fast as he can and I walk as quickly as I can to keep up with him. (I did have to slow him down while it was snowy and icy - but now the sidewalks are clear again he is out there full speed ahead.)

Well, the other day his legs got a little carried away from him. Just as he made it to the corner of our street he ran right into the street sign pole. I didn't quite see the whole thing. Just saw him running and the next thing I remember hearing a loud ping and then Sean falling down onto the sidewalk. Then it was silent for a minute before a huge cry of pain ushered out of his lungs.


At first I thought he had hit the pole with his head - so I looked for any bumps but there was nothing there. When his crying finally came under some control, Sean told me he had bumped his leg. I gave him a little cuddle and carried him the rest of the way to the bus stop.

After telling Halle his sad story, his little feet started running all the way home. He forgot that he had been hurt at all.


The next day the evidence showed up. Two big bruises starting to form. One over the knee and one on the shin. They looked pretty nasty for a while but are finally on the mend. And now when we pass the pole on the way to the bus stop he makes sure to run as far away from it as he can and calls it "the stupid pole that got me."





Sean Quotes


My alarm clock climbed into bed with me this morning. As it was a Saturday I was in no hurry to get up. I convinced Sean to give me some cuddles before I got up to make him his morning hot chocolate. As we were cuddling he said, "Mommy, I love you! I love big girls. I love mommy and nanny. I love bompa and grandma." And then he gave me a big kiss.


It is so nice to know you are loved and that a three and a half year old will still give you cuddles. I just wonder if bompa knows that he is a big girl yet?







Enjoying the Flying Nanny


My mother's visit started off a little rocky, and not because of the kids. She ended up being quite sick the first few days after her arrival. But now that she has fully recovered we have been having a great time.

I can finally see the toy room floor in probably over a month.


My laundry keeps getting magically folded and my vaccum has felt loved.


The kids play outside more because someone will go out and play with them (not me!!! It is still too cold).

We saw Halle at gymnastics.


We saw Chad practice and play a basketball game.

In defensive position.

Halle reads to Sean during the game.

Sean hasn't wanted to go to preschool extra much because he wants to stay home with nanny.

We've had KFC (my absolute favorite) and happy meals at McDonald's (my kids favorite).

My kids all have new clothes and shoes.

I am completely (well almost) ready for Easter.

Chris and I were able to go to the temple, see Ham on Regal, and tonight are off to see a movie.


We all love the flying nanny!!!!

Great News

I had success at shopping and am now the proud owner of two new pairs of jeans!!!!

The Flying Nanny is again visiting with us!!!! I love having my mom around.

Wardrobe Malfunction

So, how many pants are in your closet? Me, I'm down to two. I absolutely hate to go shopping but I'm afraid I'm going to have to.

Why do I hate shopping? 1) It is too time consuming and tiresome (plus there are usually always kids tagging along). 2) It requires money - and I hate spending it. 3) I hate looking at myself in mirrors (once a day is plenty) and 4) My body is not my dream size and it is always disappointing having clothes either fit too tight or having to go to the next size.

A few weeks ago, I actually had three pairs of pants. But my favorite pair died when the zipper teeth popped out. So, doing the math, I am down to two. But not just any two - two horrible pairs. One pair is a dark denim, at least they used to be. They now have a hole in the butt - which is getting bigger and some white-wash thing going on in the knees.

The last pair just came out of the wash with some permanent pink stain all down the right side. (It is not fair!!!! I washed them with only darks and other jeans. There was absolutely nothing pink or red in the wash to make them go that way. And what kills me is last week my husband washed my sweeter, with white collar and sleeves, in with all the reds and it came out perfectly fine!!!)

I guess having only two options helps free my mind of any complicated wardrobe dilemmas. So if you see me tomorrow (or the next day, or the next day) you can check out whether I am wearing the holy jeans or the pink jeans. At least you will hope I am wearing one of them - what would be the other option?!?