Pineapples and Watermelons! Random Photos

I just think this picture is funny. This is the day we went and bought all the stuff for Miriam's 1st birthday party and loaded up three carts, one just with watermelon.

Here is a photo of the day Chuck was called to the Bishopric and my parents and sister came to visit.

Miriam and Grandpa

Family Night Out

It has happened. We took our small daughter to a movie and she went out once to not use the potty, and stayed in her seat the entire time! We saw Bolt. I think Miriam's favorite part was when they showed the Disney castle at the beginning and Tinkerbell flew by and there were fireworks. She cheered and clapped for that. Maybe she learned this in school, but she keeps raising up her palms and yelling Yay! Yay!

The movie really cracked us up and we had a good time snacking on the treats we brought. The tradition, of course, is to go next door to Kmart and get some candy to take to the movies. One time we bought some candy and the girl said, "Going to the movies?" Yes. How did you know? They're on to us! Then she said, "Do you want to just put this straight in your purse?" Has she seen us before? So we went last night and Miriam got to carry the bag outside and then Dad had her put everything in my purse, but she got impatient and tried to put the whole bag in.

During the movie Miriam got scared a few times and cried and clutched her papa's arm. Then at the end she was getting tired and she . . . yes, it's true . . . climbed on my lap and sat there and even leaned her head against me! That pretty much does not happen, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

The Rest of Our Family

The silent guardian of our home, "Conspiracy Cat," who watches everything that goes on, who finds the spots of sunshine on the carpet and greets harp students with her soft paws, who never strays far from the front door for fear of being locked outside, who lays under the harp and rubs her face on it when I play, is Kitty. And she is not fat.


Risa inhabits the backyard and the garage, ever patrolling the yard, wearing pathways in the grass, breaking down the gate and leaving muddy pawprints on the top of the gate where she flies over it to go visit her friends next door. Who now has 2 foot tall trellises on top of her fence. Who never stops moving except to sleep, who loves by licking and wiggling, who comes out to put Miriam on the bus and shivers in excitement, and then takes me on a nice long walk. Who joyfully chases rabbits in the field and passes all the other dogs in a blur when she runs.

Weather Changes

Being a Mom is never easy, but there are moments that are really great. I have all this frustration and then in a flash it all changes and I cannot believe how lucky I am to have this funny, loving daughter, and then less than a minute later I am reminded of why it is hard again.

It's like the day we had at Disneyland last week for Chuck's birthday. It was raining very hard. When we got there we had to walk to the trams and my feet got wet almost instantly, with the water soaking up to the top of my feet, as if the shoes were made to make water travel uphill. Then by the time we got inside, the rain had stopped and the sun came out, and we rented a locker and put our many jackets and changes of clothes in it and walked off to ride the rockets and meet Tinkerbell -- finally. It was warm and all the streets began to dry. Then we went into Pirates of the Caribbean and as we walked outside, we saw people running everywhere with plastic rain ponchos, and it was pouring! We stood under the roof of a restaurant in New Orleans Square and then I bought a poncho for 8 dollars so I could run back to the lockers. But we decided, why rush, and we stayed and watched the many colored ponchos go by. Soon the rain stopped and we went back and picked up our jackets and warmed up. Chuck had to go back to the car for something, and he surprised me with dry tennis shoes which I had forgotten all about, and dry feet felt so good.

This Sunday was not like last Sunday, when I only had to take Miriam outside once, to the bathroom. My friend was in the foyer and said, "How's it going?" and I said, "We're doing fine!" Some other ladies passed by after the meeting and said something to me about being a Mother, and I said, "Actually, we're having a great day." I felt so relieved that everything was so peaceful. We've had a few Sundays like that lately, but not this week.

This week I had an ache in my neck from waking up wrong, and I hoped I would not have to do any sacrament meeting wrestling, but Miriam could not contain her energy that day. She played well, at times, with her friends on our bench, at times not so well. Sharing is a problem. She has learned to say "My." I brought little craft pompoms in a little tupperware container, with blue tongs that we got from the occupational therapist. She likes to pick up the pompoms with the tongs and put them in the container. But something irritated her, she wouldn't share, and I started to put the container away. She grabbed as many pompoms as she could and tossed them in the air. They landed and bounced on the bench, under the bench, and behind the bench. A perfect opportunity to teach prepositions! But we all just picked up the pompoms and I put them away. If I take something away, she will sometimes hit me or kick me. Not okay. Then the mood will change and she is funny and loving again. We had to go outside for time out. Then, when it was time to come in again, she refused. So I dragged her inside the door, and set her down, and sat on our bench. She came over pretty soon and sat by me. At the end of the meeting, she was blowing raspberries out of her mouth and I couldn't stop her. When I tried to get her to hold still, she laid on the ground and kicked me with her white shoes with lovely heels. I took them off and put them in my bag and dragged her out during the closing hymn and made her walk to the car in her socks, and put her in her seat. I sat in the driver's seat, even though I was supposed to go play piano in primary, and was going to go home, but I wanted to see Chuck first. So I waited for him to come out to find us. But waiting for a member of the Bishopric to find you after Sacrament Meeting can take time. So I started to cool off, and then decided that I would be crazy to go home two hours early, when he wouldn't be home until 7:00 anyway, so I got out of the car, put her shoes back on, and got her out of her seat and marched her back inside. Chuck found us then and took her to class. I was late to primary and was sorry to have missed the first song.

After church, Chuck's brother and his family came to stay with us, and Miriam's joy was overflowing and she could not stop running around for a long time, and was the last to close down the party, after 10:00pm. I told her, "Everyone's going to bed. Daddy's asleep, I'm going to bed, everyone's going to sleep. You are not missing anything," and she finally stopped opening and shutting her door.

Tonight while we watched American Idol, and she danced happily, I thought again about her mercurial moods and my joy and frustration. She would get up and dance and then sit down and hug and kiss me repeatedly. She loves to press her cheek against my cheek, sometimes so hard that it hurts, and kiss me over and over. She pats my cheek like I pat her cheek, and pats my back like I pat her back, and tucks me under her white blanket. At that moment I cannot believe how great she is.

Family Photos

Here is our family at my niece's wedding. We're all smiling and holding still, which is quite amazing.

Here we are at the temple in December, with some family members, the day Miriam was sealed to us. What a great day. Miriam's four grandparents were there, as well as aunts and uncles and cousins, and friends of our family. It was a beautiful day, and we waited a very long time for it and were so happy to have so many of our family and friends with us.