The Work of Creation

Twice a year, our church (http://www.mormon.org/) holds a conference for all members to attend. Along with that conference comes a special meeting for the women of the Relief Society organization to attend. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 2nd counselor to our prophet, President Monson, spoke an excellent talk at this past week's meeting. He entitled his talk "Happiness, Your Heritage." The whole talk was excellent (and can be read here) but I thought it particularly interesting how he spoke about creation. President Uchtdorf said,

"Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty...
You might say, “I’m not the creative type..."
If that is how you feel, think again, and remember that you are spirit daughters of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination.
But to what end were we created? We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fulness of joy.4 Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things."

One of the things he suggested was to identify a space and beautify it. Up until recently, I never gave a second thought to decorating my house. I filled it with only that which was functional and cheap (we've always been students afterall!). But in the last few years, I have been blessed to be exposed to women of great talent in creating beauty in their homes. Each of these women seemed to have their own style, though, and I didn't know where to begin with my own space. What WAS my style? So, I decided to keep my eyes open and look for one item that I knew I loved and start from there. And this is what I found:

This vase was $0.25 at a garage sale. A friend of mine in Kansas, Christal, gave me some of her "old" greens and, voila! I was started.
Another garage-sale find that I love and that I think beautifies my space is this rocking chair. I haggled the sturdy '70's style orange, brown and gold rocker down to $25. I took it home and, after 3 attempts of getting the right color, painted it black. I wasn't totally sure about black, since it seemed such a modern color for such a traditional rocker, but I figured I could always repaint it. And guess what? I LOVE my black rocker now!
I was browsing through a Pottery Barn magazine and saw a vase of pussy willows that I liked. I didn't find big pussy willows like I wanted, but I found this plant (twig?) instead at Michael's for half off. I can't explain it, but it's presence in my living room makes me happy!
I found this plaque on a clearance rack at JoAnn's. It reads, "May this home be a haven of laughter, love and giving, where all of us grow closer by the grace of family living." I love the look and the message of this one. (And I have yet to find the right spot to hang it - so it currently sits on the floor, patiently waiting.)
And this is my couch pillow. :-) I included this one because I LOVE deep, dark, rich brown. I am trying to incorporate it into my space.

I certainly do not consider myself "good" or "talented" at home decor. I worry about how I'm supposed to make things I love come together to form a beautiful space but I think there's value in building a space over time. I challenge everyone to read or re-read President Uchtdorf's uplifting talk and CREATE and BE something more to make yourself happier!

A trip to Grandma and Grandpa's

We got back from Idaho last night after a great week at Jaron's parents' house. Instead of working on my big list of unpacking, errands, cleaning, laundry, etc, I am...blogging and e-mailing! It's nice to have my prioritites straight! ;-)

First stop on our trip was a little detour to see my old college roommate, Kim Lynn, and her family in Casper, WY. We stayed overnight at their house and had such a good time! They were so nice to let us intrude on them for a night and we loved it. Kim and I gabbed like old times and Alden didn't want to leave in the morning. Usually when I want to go and he doesn't, I say I'm leaving and he wildly runs after me saying "me too!" When we left the Lynns', Alden just said, "Okay, bye!" so I had to drag him out. He loved playing with their two little girls and running rampant through their house. Thanks again for letting us crash there, Kim and Danen! We might make a habit of it!

We headed to Idaho mostly to visit but also to help the Brunsons with the apple harvest. Jaron's parents are an AMAZING example of provident living. They are not farmers by trade, but they have a 1200 tree apple orchard, peach, pear, and apricot trees, nut trees, grape vines, and two large gardens full of tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers and who knows what else! Jaron's Mom bottles many of their fruits and vegetables for storage. His parents make their own apple cider, applesauce, dried fruit, and fruit leather. They have also raised their own pigs and chickens for meat. Jaron's mom once told me that she drew the line at getting a cow. Wow - I'm afraid my line is much higher - all of this is HARD WORK!! But...it is work that has clearly blessed their family, both from the "fruits" of their labors as well as creating a family unity that comes from working side by side.

Jaron spent the week helping his Dad pick apples from the orchard. They also managed to squeeze in a couple of days worth of hunting. Me and the boys hung around with Grandma and the Aunts and found a few things to do in Idaho Falls.

We tried to hit the Idaho Falls Zoo one day, but it ended up being closed. Instead, we walked over to the new playground at Tautphaus Park and went for ice cream after. (It is truly amazing how quickly Alden, Eli and I can polish off a Peanut Buster Parfait from DQ.) We went with two of the sister-in-laws, Kayla and Melissa, and their two little girls, Katelyn (2) and Piper (7 weeks). Jaron's only sister, Alissa, and youngest brother, James, also accompanied us. No offense to the 4 other uncles in Jaron's family, but James (10) is the favorite uncle by far. Come mid-week, I thought I was running out of things to do with the boys. Just then, Jaron's mom asked, "Do you think Alden would enjoy Blast Off?" "What is Blast Off?" I asked. A heaven for Alden, that's what!! It is a huge indoor playground full of ball pits and tunnels and slides and quarter games that you get tickets from to exchange for little prizes. We had, well, a blast!! And, it was cheap - only $3!!
Alden is burying his head in happiness in this picture and Eli is, well, eating a ball. Could he finally be teething?!? (No sign of any teeth yet!!)

The picture above is Alden, Eli and Ben and Melissa's daughter, Katelyn. Katelyn is only 5 months younger than Alden and they hit it off! We miss you Katelyn! (Note Eli mouthing another toy - teeth???)

So...I am realizing that I didn't document this trip with pictures very well. No pictures of the orchard and no pictures with Grandma and Grandpa or the doggies. Not even a picture of all 4 cousins together. Hmmm... Guess we'll just have to go back soon!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

I thought both Eli and Alden had a funny expression in this picture so I thought it would go well with this post. I feel like none of our far away family knows our kids very well so here's a little about what they're like:

Eli is a nightmare at night lately (he's been having digestion problems and wakes up screaming A LOT at night - Waaahh for all of us!) but in the daytime, he is hilarious. He laughs at everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! He laughs at barking dogs, at puppets/stuffed animals, when you look at him funny, when someone sneezes, etc. The list goes on. It makes him such a joy to be around!

And Alden? Well, Alden says the FUNNIEST things! Here are a few from the past few days:
1. This morning, he was playing with two little cars and crashed them head on into each other. In a high-pitched voice (the voice of the car), Alden says, "Oww, oww, oww! I need a kiss!" "Okay," says the other car. And the cars kiss.
2. Another one this morning. We were driving alongside some railroad tracks and there was a train stopped. "The train stuck, Mommy." Yes Alden, the train is stuck. "We should help him - he stuck!"
3. Yesterday I took my car in for an oil change or, for Alden, "to get fixed." Well, I was putting the boys in the stroller to head to the library for the duration when the mechanic got into my car. Alden said frantically, "Dat man in Momma car! Dat man in Momma car!" Yes, Alden, that is the mechanic. He's going to fix the car. Well, then the mechanic fired up the engine and started backing away. Alden burst into tears! "DAT MOMMA CAR!! DAT MAN DRIVE MOMMA CAR!!" Oh my gosh, it was so funny! Poor kid is terribly posessive, I guess! :-)

Next I'll see the blogging world in a week or so, we're headed to Idaho to visit Jaron's family!

Why I love Sundays...

I love Sundays for many reasons. For one, we get to go to church (www.mormon.org) and be renewed spiritually and mentally. Church is also pretty much the only place I get to see familiar faces here in Castle Rock, besides those of my husband and kiddies, so it is refreshing in that respect as well. In our church, we believe that Sunday is the Sabbath day, to be treated different from others as a day of rest. It's a day that we focus on family and faith. Since we've moved here, it's also pretty much the only day we see much of Jaron. He has kept busy at the office, being gone long hours Monday through Saturday, so having him home makes Sunday extra special. On Sunday afternoon, we usually take a family walk across the street to the fairgrounds. They have a dog park there, where people can let their dogs run loose, and the little boys are just gaga over it. Eli laughs histerically any time a dog barks. After checking that scene out, we head to the playground. Jaron likes to bring various balls and it turns into the sweetest family time ever. Alden is in heaven because he gets to run with Dad (running, jumping, crawling, etc is taboo in our apartment thanks to our downstairs neighbors). Eli has a thing for round objects - plates, bowls, lids, wheels and especially balls, so he loves it too. Here are some pictures that I snapped last week:

Here's a fun and easy-peasy dinner idea!

When we lived in Kansas, Jaron's cousin's wife, Brigetta, and I would trade off Sunday dinners. Now that we've moved away and I'm on my own as far as the kitchen goes, I seem to be struggling to whip up a respectable dinner each Sunday. Today we had homemade pizza - not your traditional Sunday dinner but it was tons of fun and super easy!

Here's the dough recipe: Mix 1c. warm water, 1 tsp sugar and 1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) yeast. Let rise for 5 min. Add 1 tsp salt, 1/4 c. oil and 2 c. flour (I added quite a bit more - I always seem to have to with bread recipes for some reason!). Knead then spread on a pan or roll into breadsticks. Bake in the oven at 350 for 13-20 minutes (depending on thickness).

Jaron and Alden spread spaghetti sauce on theirs then added ham and mozzerella cheese. I brushed olive oil with garlic on mine, then topped it with peppers, red onion, mushrooms and cheese. YUMMY!! We had a blast making them - Alden loved getting to put his own toppings on. Bon Appetite!

I forgot the link to the preschool blog!

Sara's comment made me realize I forgot to give any useful information for that preschooler's blog (see a couple of posts down)! Here's the link: http://lets-explore.typepad.com/weblog/ It is also in my links to the right.

Storytime with the Fire Department

This morning our library held storytime with the local Fire Department. All I can say is, Alden was in heaven! Eli? Not so much. But we had a good time anyway.

That's Alden in the front row, watching very intently as the fireman gets his gear on.

"Driving" the firetruck - a natural!

One of the firemen was nice enough to pose with us. Yay for firefighters!