What have I been doing for two months?

Starting up a blog again after two months would feel a little overwhelming if I had dozens of pictures to post or news to report. But no. I have barely left my house since before Christmas, and as I looked through my photos for 2009, I had only about twenty. Kind of sad. So for all my family and friends who are checking up on us and wondering why we still haven't sent out a Christmas card, we are still alive, and the Christmas card will probably arrive around Easter this year.

I haven't talked about this a ton, but over the last four years I have had some health problems that have made walking and standing nearly impossible at times (the health problems are a little embarrassing, so I won't go into detail). Anyway, around Christmastime it got so bad that I was spending about thirty hours a week simply writhing in pain and crying to Eric. Well, January 7th, my dream came true, and I got to have a little surgery done at the ER, and now I can walk again, and life is good. Good health is such a blessing, and I am never going to complain about anything ever again (but don't quote me on that).

Between my surgery, doctor appointments, colds, fevers, strep throat, Spencer getting four molars, Eric being busier than ever with his Bishop duties, laundry, getting our year's supply of food storage, and all the other projects we're working on, I have simply been focused on taking my daily nap and staying sane. Which I am, I am happy to report.

Here are a few photos of our life, for those who are interested...


This is one of my favorite photos because I now have enough children to take up the whole swingset. These children (and Eric, of course) are my life, and I love them like I can't even explain. Alia is such a good little helper and a funny gal, Spencer entertains us all and is so, so cute, Grace is the most giving little girl I've ever known, and Ethan is a sweet, happy boy. And now that I can stand up without pain, I get to push them all on the swings. It's so great!

We've discovered the neatest little library just down the street that is part of a middle school. It's tiny, but all the books are just the kind we like, and the librarian walks around with us, helping each child find the perfect selections, giving toys to Spencer, and becoming our friend. We like to shove the couch and loveseat together and just read, read, read. Library days are my favorite.

One of our library books was about the moon, and it said that people used to believe if you ate mashed peas in the moonlight, you would be happy. Alia thought that sounded fun, so she microwaved some peas, mashed them up, and took them out in the moonlight for all to share. See how happy they look? We sat out on our front porch just cracking up and enjoying our mashed peas. When we came back in, Alia said, "I felt happy for a minute while we were eating the peas, but now I just feel normal." We decided that if ever anyone is feeling sad, we'll all go outside and eat mashed peas together to cheer them up. Kind of a fun, random tradition.

Oh, and see how the girls have short hair now? Alia was begging for a haircut, so I got out the scissors and just snipped away. It looked so uneven, and the harder I tried to get it right, the shorter it got. Eric about fainted when he came home and saw all the hair gone, but I took them down to the salon to get it fixed (the ladies there tried not to laugh at me), and now everything is fine. Seriously, I am never going to try cutting hair ever again. I have messed up every time I have tried.

The evening of the bad haircuts, I came down with a cold and felt really sick. The house was a mess, Spencer was climbing all over the table and counter and screaming a bunch, and Eric was gone doing some things for church. I sat down in our recliner and started to cry. I try not to cry in front of the children, but I couldn't help it. Grace saw me crying and ran up to get Alia, and then the two of them cleaned up the kitchen, helped me with Spencer, and gave me neck massages. It was a sweet ending to a tough day.

Ethan had a fever last week, so he stayed home from school and we worked on this megablocks castle he got with his Christmas money. When I bought it, I had no idea it had 6,000 little tiny pieces and a 40-page instruction booklet (this is only 1/3 of the monster). I spent eight hours on it, and then it kept falling apart. Eric thought it was a hoot to see me building something like this, but after the twelth time rebuilding the tower, I gave up, and it is now back at Target for the next unsuspecting victim. We did have some great mother-son bonding time, so it was worth the hours, but holy cow...who designs these things?

One cute sidenote about Ethan: tonight was our mother-son date night. We do a date every other week with one child and one parent--$5 budget. They look forward to these evenings and talk about them non-stop. Tonight we played tennis at the park and then went to Dip'n Dots. He got the bubble gum flavor and asked me if I wanted a bite. I said, "No thanks. I don't really like that flavor. You can have it all." (I didn't buy one for myself.) He asked what flavor I liked, and I told him the candy bar crunch. He then told me that next time we go on a date, he's going to get candy bar crunch, and we're going to eat it together. I just love that boy.

And here is Spencer. He is 17 months now, and he is the most active little child I've had. Each morning he wakes up between 4:30 and 5:30 and yells until everyone in the house is awake. I jump out of bed when I hear him, sprint down the hall, and take him downstairs where I have a pack-and-play waiting. Except I have to move the pack-and-play into the tiny family room first, which means I have to lift it high in the air and over the couch before Spencer runs away and goes back upstairs to bang on everyone's doors. Why I don't move it the night before, I'm not sure. I'm going to start, though. Then I change his diaper, give him a bottle, and hope, hope, hope he goes back to sleep. He usually just keeps yelling (not crying), throws toys everywhere, and finally gets out when Alia goes down about six. She helps me with him until 7, and then the rest of the day (besides naptime) I chase Spencer.

He climbs on everything, so we have all our chairs up against the wall. The children have to do their homework while they're sitting ON the table, and everyone just eats with food in their laps or again, while sitting on the table. I am simply exhausted by the end of each day, but he's a cute little guy. He's mastered the words "Out," "Ba-ba" (bottle), and "Da-da," and his favorite foods are salad and cucumbers, which is a little odd. Anyway, life wouldn't be complete without him, and I'm thrilled he's mine. I could just use a break for a few days.

So that's the basic update on the family. We have been working on a bunch of other exciting projects, and I'll hopefully be posting about those soon. The Power of Moms is doing a relaunch in the next month or two, and I am just so thrilled for the help that Saren Loosli and our Power of Moms board members have given me. We've been working for several hours each week getting the copy re-written, figuring out our board, growing the site, and making plans for moving things forward. It is so exciting and has really become a meaningful project. I hope it will be a help to thousands and thousands of mothers.

Also, I had a neat opportunity to help start a new Sunday School class at church. It's for all the parents who roam the hallways with toddlers and babies. Now we meet in the back of the cultural hall, rotate teaching the lessons, and basically go through the study guide each week. It's kind of noisy, but we don't mind! If anyone wants me to email the proposal/outline I put together for it, let me know. It's been a success so far, and our Sunday School Presidency has really been supportive in moving it forward.

Also, HusbandHero has really started becoming a source of joy for us as we are hearing great success stories from couples using the service. It's been a ton of work up to this point, and we're still working on our marketing, etc., but as we hear about husbands being kinder to their wives and wives feeling more in love with their husbands, we can't help but feel that this is something we need to keep building. Of course not everyone needs it or uses it, and that's okay, but we are grateful that some marriages are being strengthened because of our efforts.

One other project that kind of popped up was related to the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. I read it and loved it so much that I redid my entire planner and desk organization, and then I put together a little seminar for other mothers so they could learn how to do it too. We had twelve ladies here last night, and the class went pretty well. I have always loved organization and time management, and now I have found a system that completely works. I have never felt so happy, peaceful, productive, and stress-free all at the same time. I'll be doing an article on it for Power of Moms this month, if you want to know more.

And finally, I am so excited about BYU Idaho's Education Week this summer. I got accepted to be a presenter, and I am putting together six motherhood-related presentations (and maybe three youth ones...but to tell you the truth, the youth scare me a bit =)). I didn't really expect them to let me attend when I applied, since I don't have much experience with this type of thing, but I will be presenting July 30, 31, and August 1st. If anyone wants to attend, I would appreciate having at least a few people in my classes! One series is called "Nobility in a World of Cheerios, Clorox, and Chaos," and the other is called "The Power of Mothers." I'll mainly be talking about how to invite the Lord into your life as a mother--everything from pregnancy to toddler-raising to home management. I'm also speaking about how there can be "Miracles Amidst Carpools and Clutter," how mothers have the ability to act (not just be acted upon), and how we can be happy when everybody needs "MOMMY!!!"

It has been a sweet experience preparing these presentations, and though I am a little nervous about the whole idea, it feels like the right thing for me to do at this point in my life. As you can tell, there's a lot going on in our house right now, but it is only being done through the help of the Lord. Without Him, I am an exhausted mommy, crying in an armchair while my children do the dishes. However, when I turn to Him and ask Him to magnify my small amount of spare time, He just does. I don't know how to explain it, but He helps me to get a few things done here, a few things done there, and then it all starts to come together.

I keep thinking about that scripture--He who loses His life shall find it. That is so true in my case. I decided about eight years ago that I would give up all my aspirations to "be" something (because motherhood was a huge transition for me from an active life in college, the working world, etc.). I promised I would focus on my family and simply listen to His voice. Well, at that time I thought I wouldn't get the chance to do any extra projects or pursue any type of career, but He has helped me to be able to do it a different way. Kind of like the best of both worlds. I just love Him.

I'm off to bed now--Spence will be up bright and early. Have a great day!