Reconstruction

A few years ago, the LDS church embarked on a huge construction project in Downtown Salt Lake City to create an incredible urban center that would include shopping, apartments, entertainment and education.  In the 1980's, the church was able to buy up the two existing downtown malls for a song, and so the careful planning commenced.  The architects for this massive renovation visited many other successful downtown urban centers and took notes on what worked and what did not.  Soon, they had a plan ready to present for approval.  They felt that they had the prefect plan, except for a little hitch:  a small, locally owned business that had a hundred year lease in a prime location right smack in the middle.  And they were not about to give up their spot.  Rightly so.  They stuck to their guns on this one, forcing the architects to go back to the the drawing board.  At the time, I'm sure it felt like a disaster.  But in the end, the architects came up with in even BETTER plan.  They sing praises to this little company: "God Bless that little business because it allowed us to come up with a better plan."  Life, by it's very nature, does that same thing to us.  We are going along with our carefully laid plans, and a curve ball is thrown at us.  Or maybe we are the one who throws that curve ball.  Either way, it's amazing to me how, with a little time and space, we can look back and see how that change in plan actually moved us towards a different and better direction.  As I was sitting on the front porch today with Markelle, I marvelled at the fact that I was sitting on THAT front porch, looking at THAT view.  A year ago, it never even crossed my mind that I would be living anywhere else.  It was not in the plan, it was not in my thoughts and it wasn't even a desire.  The passage of time has also brought a lot of understanding and healing into my life. While my life a while back seemed like a construction zone, I no longer feel like I have to go around wearing a hard hat. I feel safe, secure, strong and happy.  I think I will survive and thrive under this reconstruction.

DAAAAANG!

Looking good....

Very good!

Ouch!

It's gross looking, I know...even covered up.  I have a matching one on my other foot.  But the question is:  was it worth getting?

Was it worth 34 plus hours in a car with 5 other fabulous women  (Team Leader Alicia, Fasty Hillary, Team Motivator Michelle, Birthday Girl Lauretta and Ragnar Virgin Angela) and no real R.E.M. sleep?

Was it worth resting on a Thermarest pad and sleeping bag on a grassy area in both Morgan and Heber?

Was it worth running 15.5 miles (7 of which were on a rugged "trail rail" in the middle of the night all by myself under the moon, stars, chirping birds and other unknown creatures sounds?)

Was it worth eating a $5 Subway footlong in increments throughout the 34-hour period?

Was it worth regular and frequent trips to the Honey Bucket?

Was it worth sitting in sweaty, stinking clothes (sorry, team, I tried to change often)?

Was it worth paying $4 for the privilege of using a clean, flush toilet and taking a HOT shower, and getting dressed in the gym locker room of a middle school in Heber?

Was it worth seeing all of the crazy costumes and reading the crazy things other people wrote on their vans?

Was it worth seeing our husbands, family members and friends at the finish line?

Was it worth the Fat Boys, free pizza and MEDAL when we were finally all done?

The answer is a big, fat resounding: YES!

Thank you RUN, WALK, CRAWL team for another fabulous Ragnar experience.  See you next year!

Riding the wake...

Many years ago I had a neighbor my age that told me of the time their family got caught in a storm while vacationing on their boat off of the coast of California.  All of a sudden, a huge yacht pulled up along side them and signalled to them to follow them in their wake to safety.  Afterwards, they learned that the yacht belonged to John Wayne.  I don't know whether Mr. Wayne was on the boat at the time, but the lesson of following in the safety of a bigger boats' wake has stuck with me.

This past weekend, while driving home from St. George, I spotted an approaching ambulance in my rear view mirror.  As I moved over to allow it to pass, I decided to jump right back in the lane behind it. I called it "riding in the wake." It turned out to be a genius idea, because all the cars got out of the way of the ambulance, and by following it, we were able to finally maintain a good, consistent speed (no more dodging the slow cars that refused to move out of the "fast" lane.)  I rode in the wake of the ambulance for a good half hour before it exited the freeway. It was awesome!

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

When all the World is green? (finally!)

Do you sit by a pool?

Make a quilt that is cool?

Or run with the sun in your eyes?

Is that what you do?

So do I!

Do you shop at a store?

Eat more & more & more?

Or drop your kids off at EFY?

Is that what you do?

So do I!

Do you read a good book?

plan good things to cook?

Or climb a mountain so high?

Is that what you do?

So do I!!

Jessie

A favorite movie from my teenage years was "A Man From Snowy River."  That scene where Jim rides his horse down the vertical side of of mountain...so steep that he is practically laying horizontally on the back of his horse???  Oh my, that is my all time favorite scene.  Another favorite is of the horses "dancing" in the snow.  Because of this movie, there were a lot of baby girls named Jessica. It definitely was a contender when Steve and I were expecting our first baby .  It was my choice, in fact.  Jessica, or Jess for short, Mordue.  Steve really wanted a Jordan, so that he could call her Jo.  Because we weren't willing to give in on our individual choices, we kept searching for the perfect name.  We heard the name Kelsey for the first time when we were in the hospital after having our first baby girl.  Yes, I was still in a somewhat drug induced stupor, but we both thought it fit her perfectly and we liked the idea that  it would be unique enough that she wouldn't be one of many Kelsey's in her Kindergarten class (which was a worry with the at-the-time trendy names of Jessica and Jordan.)  We were somewhat disappointed when her first day of Kindergarten came and she had to go by Kelsey M. because she was one of THREE Kelsey's in her class!

Fast forward from 1989 to 2011, and it looks like I finally got my Jess!  We have been missing Elfins, but really have not seriously considered getting another dog.  Until last week.  I'm not sure why we felt we were ready, but the whole family came together on this decision and we started looking and we found her.  She is sweet and adorable and it is a wonderful addition to our family.

A Very Sweet Accomplishment....

Back in February, Madi and I hatched a plan:  let's take the CNA class together!  We opted for the 6 week course taught at Lakeview Hospital.  We went  for 4 hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and four hours on Saturday mornings.  We had a fun group and I think Madi was one of the youngest in the class and I was the second oldest.  At the end of our six weeks, we had two 12 hour days of clinicals, which I thought was an amazing experience.  I still think about some of the residents that I had the privilege to work with and serve for those 24 hours.  The icing on the cake was taking, and passing, our written and skills test.  Congratulations, Madi, I'm so proud of you!  Now, go and get a job!

Just Because We are So Cute!

Kelsey sent me this picture she snapped of her parents on her daddy's big day. Aren't they a cute couple??

Markelle moved back home this past weekend (yeah!) and so Steve and I had to move some furniture around to give her a bedroom to sleep in. We also had to go buy a bed. We just wanted this whole process to be over and done with as quickly as possible, because we both hate projects and working around the house. We (or me) would rather read, or go see a movie, or grab a bite to eat somewhere, or really anything but working on home projects. I'm a lazy bum, I know it. Back to buying a bed: the local store we went to had great beds at great prices being sold by a nice older gentlemen. As he was asking about our bed needs (how much does the child weigh that will be using the bed? etc.), he seemed genuinely shocked to find out that we were buying this for our 19-year old daughter. He was further surprised to learn that we had an even older daughter. Bless his heart, he made us feel like we were twenty years old ourselves. I think that's what really sold Steve on the bed. After turning the big 4-7, he's been feeling the years and I think it made his day for someone to think we were babies having babies.