Sunday Study

I have always believed that any religion is better than no religion (save Satan worshipping, which is just creepy and does NOT lead to any type of happiness--I know from secondhand experience). I was reading an article about a study that showed apx. 70-80% of Mormons who have left the church become aetheist. This was one of their reasons:

" They feel the evidence supporting the reliability of the Bible/Christianity is no stronger than the evidence for the Book of Mormon/Mormonism. This is encouraged by the LDS church’s deconstruction of all other Christian faiths. It’s a restoration church so it has to show why mainstream Christianity is false and why the Bible is unreliable by itself. To supports it’s own mission, the LDS church has latched onto the best the anti-Christian community has to offer and used it to bolster its own claims. When ex-Mormons leave the LDS church, they don’t need to learn why mainstream Christianity is false, they’ve been taught that their whole lives."

(No, I do not remember who wrote it--yes, I'm awful at this editor stuff. But, you can find the whole thing on MormonTimes.com)

I thought that was interesting. I don't see Mormonism that way personally, but I do see it around me. My favorite thing in the world is Medieval studies. Ooohhhh. . . don't get me started. Just looking at an illuminated text, well, there's really not much out there more beautiful. Thing is. . . pretty much everything Medieval has Catholic undertones. I wish I could take a class in Catholicism. That, dear friends, is a FASCINATING religion. The symbolism. . . I can't find the words. . . (Okay, so I'd pretty much die if I felt I had to be celibate to be religious--never have children!--but maybe I could be like Margery Kempe--although I'd much prefer to preach the doctrines of Julian of Norwich--I really dislike Margery, and I would feel silly all in white outside of the temple--but I digress).

Anyway, I don't completely agree with that statement (Apostles of the Lord definitely do not "deconstruct" other Christian faiths--other LDS members. . . yes. In fact, I have heard the Apostles give praise to other religions and ask us to follow others' good examples), but I do hope that I can always teach my children to respect the truth in other religions. Every religion (although I do believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church given God's authority to perform saving ordinances) is inspired in one way or another by God. What I don't think is inspired of God is sitting on the fence, partially believing, but not acting on your religion. If you believe in something, you should put all of your heart and soul into following it.

I have seen so many of my high school friends fall away from their beliefs. They end up in really bad places. I just hope that my kids can always believe in something, put their whole heart into believing it, and follow through with their actions. I don't always show them the greatest example. Obviously, I hope they stay in the LDS church. It is more true than any other church. There are still some false dogmatic things that have snuck in, but that's why we have a prophet. He'll set us straight. I'll stop rambling now.

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas Wishlist

Lights installed in the living room
Beadboard in the kitchen
Joanna potty trained

The best part. . .
everyone's working so hard to fulfill each wish for me!

Winter blahs

I went out today and shopped the sales at CVS. I got a ton of free stuff, but not everything was still in stock. I was just glad that I was able to use all of my ecb's before they expired. My bill was like 120$ and I only paid about 10$. CVS makes me happy. I was in the little pharmacy for 30 minutes. It takes me so long to shop--it's pathetic.

My family should be here tonight--I must admit, I was way excited, but now that my mom isn't coming, I'm not very excited anymore. Especially since this is probably the last chance I have to spend Christmas with everyone. I'll have tons of fun with my dad and sisters, but they're only going to be here like 4 or 5 days--not two weeks like my mom was. That's not enough time. :P

Joanna's been trying to cheer me up. She gives me hugs and kisses and asks me if I'm okay. "You okay, Mommy, you okay?" I love her.

Robert is cleaning everything. It's funny. I cleaned a lot for his family, and he's cleaning a lot for mine. I guess we just try to impress the in-laws :).

My Dreamy Husband--and a Nightmare

Robert is amazing. He does so much for me. I ask him to do a lot, too :D. He wakes up with kids, he takes out the garbage (I think I've only done it 3 or 4 times since living here), he does the dishes, he makes me dinner, he pays for things I buy, he does it all--and then some! His family is cool too. They just left this morning. I miss them so bad already. Grandma Johnson is unbelievable. She watched the kids while everyone else went shopping and out to eat and I went to the doctor's. She took such good care of us and the kids while she was here. I feel like I take advantage of her. I definitely appreciate her, though. I also forgot how fun it is to talk to Julia. She likes so many of the same things that I do. They had to leave too soon. Grandpa was fun too. I love how Enoch always wanted to be held by Grandma and Grandpa--I hope we can see them again soon. I'm way excited for my family to come. I hope we can have just as much fun as we did with Robert's side.

So. . . what about the nightmare? . . . well, I went to the doctor with Robert (like I said, Grandma watched the kids, so we got to go together. It was the closest thing to a date that we've had in a long time, and it was awesome). I love my midwife. She is terrific. There's only one thing wrong with her. . . she put my due date at July 20th! It was supposed to be June 19th, people! LOL. I guess I can look past this little flaw and respect her competency as my physician, but I'm going to struggle a little bit. :D

(History lesson for those of you who do not follow this blog as closely as I probably follow yours--I'm in the process of weaning Enoch, so I wasn't sure exactly when this new baby was conceived, but I was sure I would prefer a baby in June opposed to the sultry summer days of July [which are actually anything but, when you're the size of a half grown beluga in the beginning of winter and nearly as white--of course I'm only allowed to gain like 5 pounds--so maybe I'll be okay :P ].)

Wits End. . .

You know that time, right between Thanksgiving break and finals--more towards the finals part than the Thanksgiving break--that you realize crunch time has passed and you're moving right into judgement day. You seem to recall things like, 'Oh yeah, I was supposed to do that between the turkey and Muppet's Christmas Carol.' Well, people, I'm there.

That was a nice first trimester--technically I'm still in it for a few more days--or a month, depending on who's counting. . . lol.

I slept through the "rationally busy, yet prepared" stage, and I napped through most of the "frantically losing my mind in Christmas decorating and house cleaning". . . now I am smack dab in the middle of "The Savior slept in a manger that first Christmas, right?" also known as "what can I get by without doing--does my family really need clean sheets?"

I've been trying to clean my room since the week before Thanksgiving. Our washing machine broke 3 days ago. (Maybe a blessing in disguse, seeing that the poor old-timer must've lived through its lifetime warrantee 3 or 4 times--no joke). Robert and I can't decide on how to do the bathroom, or find the time to do it. His parents are coming in on Wed. My parents will be here 2-3 days after they leave. We planned a bunch of remodeling projects for over Thanksgiving break and accomplished none of them, but started a few of them.

Accomplishment for the day: excluding a present for my parents, and either Becky or Sandi (depending on whom I choose to give what to), I am FINISHED Christmas shopping. (*I know that you're all applauding, and I can hear it loud and clear). Thank you, Thank you. There's something to be said for online shopping :D.

Prepping the house for baby. . .

Ha! It just dawned on me that I hardly have to do anything to prepare for the new baby. Except for the fact that this kid will be born in a completely different season than my other two (so I'll have to get a few new maternity items, and a couple of different onesies and such), I'm pretty much set. Thanks to Eenie, there aren't many (if any) chokable things lying around. We're already accustomed to buying a trillion diapers, and sleeping arrangements shouldn't be that hard to figure out. There's something to say for having kids so close together. Basically, I just have to scrub down the house when the time draws nigh, and make sure I do the laundry. . .

At least that's what I'm going to tell myself these next few months :D.

I'm so glad that Robert has a break from school when the baby comes

Kids

I was chastised for not putting enough pictures of the kids on our "family" blog--maybe I should change the title ;}--so here's a few. There always are so many, and I get so far behind, so usually I don't even try to keep up. I'm still not going to even try--but maybe this will make the chastisers stop :D.

Our snow angel. (Enoch is inside napping, poor boy hasn't gotten a coat yet--he has one--it's just not here yet).

Joanna making a snowman.

Ingesting some reading material.

Playing "in" the toy box.

Not exactly a rare occurence :D.

One day JoJo took all of the food out of the pantry (at least the shelves she could reach :D), and then said a prayer. Do you think she's trying to tell me something?

Sleeping

I am sleeping all day long. I wake up, eat (sometimes), feed the kids, put Enoch down for a nap, stick in a movie for Joanna, and zonk out. Enoch cries when he wakes up--I give him a bottle and go to sleep again, hoping that he will take a second nap. Then all night long Enoch wakes up because I made him sleep so long in the day--and I'm even more tired the next morning. It's a vicious cycle. I'm going to go take a nap now. 'Night.

This blog needs more pictures, Don't you think?

My first time skiing. I look like I need a bathroom :D.

Preference. This is the first time Robert put his arm around me. I don't look at all uncomfortable, though, do I? And don't ask me why we thought plaid and stripes would be appropriate attire. I look huge!

Sandi and Becky make me laugh--they look so different (this is when Robert and I are dating--he took the picture).

MY dog, Patches. I miss him.

The first time I tried to make candied carrots right after we were married. We still ate them, they were just smoky flavored.

Confession--and an extra dose of negativity

I hate telemarketers.

Really. I'm not sure if I'm going to the Celestial Kingdom because of it.

No, I do not want to support the firefighters/policemen/dying children. Can't you tell by the sound of my voice that I'm a heartless, horrible person that could care less if my meager 20 dollar donation could save the world--I'm keeping it for myself!

So why, I ask myself, do I agree to a "free gift" that's going to cost me 60 dollars after the "free gift" period is over (which happens to be 10 days). For a book about herbal remedies of all things! Excuse me, if I need a "remedy" I'll ask my husband to write me a prescription. (He'll be a doctor by the time I found the time to read the book, you see, which will definitely be longer than 10 days).

The "free gift" thing always gets me. No, I never actually want the "free gift," they just get me to say "Yes" so many times that it's hard for me to say "No" when I need to. Ugh. I think they also purposefully hire people with impossibly thick accents--I'm not incredibly sure why--but the ones with thicker accents seem to get me more often. The call today went something like this:

"These people are willing to send you a free thingy because they want to help your family--isn't that nice of them?"
"Sure"
"Would you be so kind to answer some questions for me?"
"I guess"
"Is this your address?"
"Yeah. . ."
"Is this your name?"
"Yes"
"Are you female?"
"Definitely"
"Do you try to be healthy?"
"Yeah"
"I'm going to record your confirmation: Do you want this thingy?"
"Uh. . . yeah. . . " (D'oh, I can't believe I just did that. Robert's going to be upset. What is wrong with me!)
"Have a nice day!"
"You, too." (I wish you didn't exist!)

I hate telemarketers.

Sorry, I'm really upset, and when I'm upset I blog. Probably should kick that habit. . . . but like I said, I might not get in to Heaven, so who cares.

Feeling Blah. . .

I have so much to do. Seriously. I love the holidays. . . when Mom's (as in Mrs. Gardner's) in charge. I haven't even gotten gifts together yet. I can't even find room for that on my to-do list! Oh well--Robert only needs two dinky gifts, right (although I'm not sure one is coming). One will be from me and the other from the kids. I got each of the kids a 5 dollar toy, too. . . so they have something. Maybe I could make them share both and one could be from their parents, and the other from Santa. They're too little to really know that other kids probably get more than one gift, right? Totally. And we can introduce stockings (and stocking stuffers) another year. . . lol. No, I probably should do that one. I wonder if I have enough newspaper to wrap their gifts in :D. Oh yeah, and my parents are coming--I wonder if they'd like giftcards?

What Robert and I are grateful for this season.

This. . .

. . . and this

Just a Joke

BTW, The other day I remembered my rebellious teenage years and the music I would listen to. Simple Plan totally spoke to me. Is anybody laughing yet? Good. I thought it was funny too. Did I ever REALLY feel that bitter about the world!? Wow.

Yup, Shoppin'

I don't like spending money. No, really. You don't believe me? Please stop laughing. Okay, I'm not "buying" it either. (Or actually, maybe I am. . . I've been buying A LOT of things lately.)

I am way excited for Christmas. I actually have a wishlist this year. I don't think I've had a list since I was like 14--given that wasn't really that long ago :Djk. Most of the things on it are for the kiddos though (or at least I'm twisting it that way), so I don't feel as bad. Anyways. . . back to what I was going to say:

I think I have a problem. I keep imagining that we have money--and because of student loans, and assistance programs, we really do ummmm. . . "have" more than we ever did. Given, I don't pay full-price for much (if anything), but I pay so much when it's all added up!

Here is a list of only a few of the things we have bought since we moved here in July:
a house,
a car,
appx. 9 gallons of paint,
"Twilight"
a play kitchen,
a baby walker,
a tricycle,
crib sheets,
laminate flooring,
a dishwasher,
a couch,
a dresser,
a bed,
bedding,
a camera,
a trillion yards of cloth,
innumerable glass thingies,
3 lighting fixtures (and I want more),
a computer (for me, not Robert, sad. . . I know),
at least 6 clothing items I can remember,
2 presents for Robert,
2 new toys for the kids' presents (besides the tricycle we bought Nana for last Christmas--I don't think we've ever actually bought NEW toys for the kids--and why would we--they already have enough! BUT I WANT MORE!!!),
and oodles of makeup (which I'm actually pretty sure I'm allergic to--do you think I could get a refund?)
I should probably stop this list right now. . . I'm feeling pretty guilty.
I actually go shopping like once a week.

I KNOW! That doesn't even include online shopping!!!
I used to only shop like once a month--strictly for food. We had a 100$ a month food budget--not counting milk--and it was easier to keep to it if we only went shopping once a month. (Robert would pick up milk on his way home from school once every two weeks).

At least we bought everything used or on clearance (ex. the 9 gallons of paint probably came to 40$, and the furniture mostly came at only a little extra from the lady that sold us the house). . . Robert wouldn't let me get away with anything else, thank goodness. I guess one of Robert's presents, "Twilight", and the crib sheets weren't really on clearance or from a yardsale, but whatever, everything else was. . . and he wasn't there when I bought them ;P.

I guess what I'm saying is. . . how do I stop!? Help, please.

Thankful ABC's

So... Julie had this really cute thankful post, and I wanted to copy her.

I'm thankful for:

April 8, 2006
Babies
Cameras
Dogs
Eating
Feb 8, 2008
Girls
Hospitals
Independent Study
June 10, 2008
Krisp Rice treats (okay, okay, I know it's a stretch)
Little boys
Maternity clothes (that look like real clothes, so I can wear them from one pregancy to the next)
Napkins
Oreos
Prescription drugs (and the wonderful people that prescribe them:D)
Quilting websites that inspire me
ROBERT ALLEN JOHNSON
Savior
Tummies
Uni-gender clothing (because the kids go through them so fast!)
Valuables (no matter how unneccesary--so long as they make life comfortable without costing too much ;)
Wedding
XOXO's
Yakkety yakking
Zest for life (wish I ALWAYS felt it)

The rules are obvious: I'm going to be daring and actually tag a few people that I am grateful for--Machel, Becky, and Kira

I still remember Halloween... do you?

So, I figured I should put up some pictures of Eenie and Nana in their costumes before I forget what it was they dressed as. Aren't they cute. Eenie's pic is in a cornbox (kind of like a sandbox, but way cooler and less messy). I want one. They had it at Port Farms. (We were finally able to go with our friends the Bruenings after missing out on invitations from other friends--I was so glad we went.) Joanna was the cutest Tinkerbell (and that's saying a lot when you consider how many kids dress up as that ;D). We didn't get a great picture of her. . . she let me put up her hair in a bun and everything (she usually never lets me touch her hair, seriously, I can't even brush it out of her face--she puts it right back if I do!). Anyway, I told her it was Tinkerbell hair, and she was all for it. The next day (this is a picture of the next day) I was able to do it again when I told her it was Princess Nana hair. (She likes being a princess). I think she's cured! I have been able to do her hair a lot more often lately. . . sometimes without even bribing her. Yay!

I LOVE my mom

My mom is so good. I was totally going to blog about how awful my life is, how nerdy I am, how depressing it is to be me. . . (don't tell me you haven't felt that way). Anyway, just before I posted about a page and a half of "it's not worth it to get out of bed," "I'm not qualified to be a wife/mother/friend," and "woe is me," my mom called.

As you can see, I did NOT post the first post.

Mom makes me feel so much better. I feel awkward sometimes--like when people find out how old I am. Especially when they know that I have two kids. I was feeling totally inadequate about being a parent (or anything, really)--and SUPER uncomfortable about facing any new social settings where I would feel that way again.

Leave it to mom. Somehow she took me out of a deep funk of self-pity (seriously, there were tears--and I'm not the type that cries easily), and she reminded me that I am a cool person/friend/wife/mother. I make mistakes (and I really totally am a nerd), but when my heart is in the right place--the rest of me will be too.

I LOVE MY MOM

Curious... Am I the only one?

First of all--I plan on supporting the leaders of our country as much as possible, and I do not mean to disrespect any of them. . . don't read this as mean or petty. . . just interesting marketing :D.

So, until after President-elect Obama earned his official title from the majority of the country, I didn't really consider his race (as in the color of his skin, not his campaign) to be a big deal. He didn't even seem (*ahem) "black" to me. Totally cool that our nation has come so far. It would be even awesomer if we didn't have to keep track of what race, gender, religion did things first. Ex. Are we going to be excited when we elect the first redhead with green eyes and an amputated leg? (Hope that doesn't sound offensive. . . I just hope one day we won't need to be excited about the color of someone's skin--I know I am very excited about the skin color of our President-elect right now, and that also makes me kind of sad).

I seriously wasn't excited until he was elected. Like I said, before I hardly noticed he was black.
So. . . I started noticing something about his campaign today. . . maybe THAT'S why I didn't realize it. . . lol

I think the one that says "change" looks a little bit like Robert

(guess I'm attratcted to powerful looking men :D).

Enoch's Pics... for the grandparents' sake

I'll have to edit Nana's later. . . it always takes so much longer than I expect :P. I only was able to touch up a few of these. (Can you see which one has Robert's ear?) Oh well. Obviously I'm not a pro, but one day I will be. I love my little boy. And I love taking pictures of him!

Fall Pics of Nana (before I edit them)

It was so beautiful and warm outside. I just had to take Joanna out and get some pictures of her. Thank you, thank you, Turners for lending us your camera. Hopefully we will be able to get another one soon (ours broke :P), but I'm so glad we were able to capture these pics. You guys are the greatest!

Spreading the chocolate around

If you haven't voted today... DO IT!
I'm so nervous about the vote. I'm more worried about Prop 8 in CA.
But I'm really just all around worried.
(It's okay, though, because Joanna's wealthy stock of Halloween candy was recently redistributed to her poor, almost candy-less mother. So I'm able to drown my pessimistic thoughts in chocolate :).

I have a prayer that the people elected today will respect their duties and their God.
I hope that they will find support of the people in all of their righteous endeavors.
I also pray that they will surround themselves with people that do the same.
God Bless America.

Procrastinating Blogging Anything Useful

I guess I forgot that the holidays get busy. I keep planning on doing all of these fun things (as well as all of the not-so-fun things), but less than half of them seem to get done. One cool thing I've been able to do was "doctor up" (I'm not feeling bitter or anything that Robert is well on his way to getting a D.O. and I don't even have a B.A.) some old family photos. If they ever had copyrights, they expired around 10 to 50 years ago. I wanted to print them out, but Wal-Mart wouldn't let me. THEY AREN'T COPYRIGHTED ANYMORE! (Excuse me... I'm venting.) I wanted to print them out to put up for Halloween--since old picture kind of look creepy. Anyways, our camera broke :P, so these pics will have to work until I can get some more of the kids (at least after I catch up, but I don't wanna do that now). Well... here are the ones I have that Wal-Mart wouldn't print (*Shaking fist and searching for copyright law). And I promise to put up pics of the kids soon... errrmmm... relatively soon.


My Grandma Alice Edna Horrocks. Age 19... Pic taken 1926.

Grandpa Harvey Clark Gardner

Aunts Vontella, Verla, Ilene, Uncles Eldon, Larry (Dad wasn't born yet).

Same people--different picture.

My cute dad. (His picture was ruined, but I fixed his face and the backdrop. Yay for photoshop!)

Grandma and Grandpa Gardner (He died right after my parents married--never met him)

Some people I should know on my Mom's side.


Some more of Mom's fam that I SHOULD know.

One of the boys is Mom's Grandpa.

The cute girl in the middle is my Mom's Mom.

P.S. I'm working on my Mom's side--I WILL know who these people are soon. AND... I'll be taking some of them to the temple with me in November....(*insert utter excitement here!)

How Cute is That!

Combine General Conference, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, an ASL-interpreting auntie, then throw in uber amounts of cuteness--and this is what you get.

To Do list Update (two posts today)

Just in case you were wondering. . . I was able to accomplish all of my list (except printing pics, I felt too bad about heckeling my poor Mom and Dad--okay, I just got too busy to go to the store. And technically I didn't finish the invites) and we also did a few other things (including, but not limited to: putting up cupboards and most of hardware, spraypainting hardware, cleaning up JoJo's "accident," starting an awesome plaque to go over the stove, a few loads of laundry, Robert took Nana to the park, ummm. . . and there was other stuff, but I forget) by Friday night--that is, WITH Robert's help. Most of my days are NOT that productive. I usually sit in a pile of. . . piles. . . and eat lots of sugar because I'm so depressed :P. It was nice to have it all done for conference, though.

I'm a LITTLE Giddy

Today is a Ukelele type day, am I right? I feel so great after conference. I especially loved the talk Sunday morning by our prophet about change and loving before change gives us loss/enjoying the journey type stuff. I haven't watched general conference online since like 1999--and even then the feed wasn't very good. Luckily, back when we couldn't just go watch it at church because church was in our living room, we had a satellite radio (no, not XM radio--it just got the tv signal from satellites like they have for tv stations--besides conference, we also would listen to "Walker, Texas Ranger" shows when it was really dull and we had no tv--you'd hear a lot of fabric rustling when they were fighting--come to think of it, that may be why I thought this post was so funny--and yes, I know I blogged it before). I was worried we would have to zoom down to the church building or something if conference wouldn't come in. Nope. We had a high-quality veiwing experience. Well, I guess being in the mission field isn't as rough as it used to be--makes me feel kinda old. . . pardon me while I go calculate my age now.

No Time for a Post

So, I feel kind of guilty that I haven't posted anything for awhile. (Why, you ask? Let's just say I have a sister.) Anywho, I really just don't have anything to say/anytime to say it. So... I was about to make a to-do list (I'm a big fan. :D), and I thought that could be my post. Here goes:
Download pics from camera
Make bed
Clean kids' room
Make Shopping list
-Groceries
-Kids' clothes for next season
Clean Tub/Sink/Floor
(We're having company, so we must have a clean tub!)
Start Making Invites
Print Pics for Frames
(This one is sad)
Heckel parents about pics for frames... lol
PAINT THE CUPBOARDS!!!
Get new hardware, spraypaint, etc... for cupboards
Make new list this afternoon.

Warning: Reading this post and the links herin may take 2 hours

I have a new reason to live. So, last night we had a charming surprize visitor--Matt from TX. He interveiwed at LECOM, and we sure hope that he moves here, because I would love to be friends with their family. They seem absolutely awesome. I looked at their blog, and besides adorable pictures of their children and steller eyebrows on his wife, I saw a link to Cake Wrecks. I laughed so hard I got a headache. Seriously. I woke up this morning and couldn't stop laughing about this post in particular. BTW, read with discretion--I do NOT approve of all of the humor here, but it's all pretty harmless.

My Love Affair with Jazz

A-a-a-awhhhh. . . jazz. Forget whatever I said in my profile. . . there is no music but jazz. The honeyed tones accompanied by solos on romantic instruments, the excitement you can feel building in your toes all the way out to your arms. It gives me tingles in all the right places--more than tingles, actually, the fervor of it crawls all over my body. It's like all of those cliche occurences--maybe a first kiss--(although I never had a 1st kiss that wasn't staged--maybe like the 20th kiss?)--the way you feel when the man you love is down on his knee, and you know this time it's the real thing--no, I know, the way you feel reading Twilight. This is the music I can sing my heart out to. . . the stuff where I absolutely must get up and dance! Throw my arms up in the air! Puckishly run my fingers through my hair, and ignore the strange looks from the cat. Honestly, how can you not seductively sway your shoulders at least a little to "Girl from Ipanema?" "Everything" by Michael Buble is my favorite. There aren't many songs that make me quiver and shriek (much to the amusement of Joanna) everytime I hear them, but WOW! that song is exciting. ("Hey Ya" by Outkast does too, for some odd. Go figure.) That man is aptly named. "Buble" That's just what happens in my soul when I hear him sing. It "Buble-s." (not "bubbles," "Buble-s"--and don't forget the capital "B"). "Sway" makes me want to don a red sequined dress with a form-fitting skirt--slit to my knee on one side, long sleeves, thick red lipstick, fake eyelashes, and a large white flower in my hair. Mmmmm. . . and black stillettos. And of course I'm being twirled and dipped by my handsome husband--wearing an open white dress shirt and a black fedora too low over his eyes. . . and suspenders. Suspenders are hot. Can you see it? I want to go dancing!

Mine, Me, Myself, and I

So a few weeks ago in church, this amazing sister (Julia Reynolds) made a really good point--and I've been thinking about it ever since. I forget what the question was (Paul Dickenson asks some good ones), but she answered by saying that a lot of advertising is all about how having the product will give you power over other people. . . like by making your friends jealous, your kids happy, the opposite sex not be able to resist you. . . that sort of thing. Why do I have to be so power hungry? I would totally buy laundry detergent that makes people flock toward me so they could sniff my clothing--hey, I'd settle for one that made my husband do that.
I wish I were a more charitable person. I get so greedy--wanting the perfect house, the perfect image, the perfect kids, the perfect husband ("perfect" meaning having all these things utterly under my control). And why do I want these things? To influence people to like me? Probably. To get my way? Quite likely. To be happy? You bet. It just doesn't work that way.
Well, I was thinking about this when I went down with my friend, Danielle Bruening, to see Sister Julie B. Beck in Pittsburg. As the opening song started, I wrote down some questions I wanted answered (as is my habit). When Sister Beck opened up the meeting for questions I think my jaw just about hit my knees! I couldn't ask her any of my questions--they were all so shallow. I can sum them up for you here--"How can I make myself and everyone around me be perfect?" ("perfect" of course, meaning they would conform exactly to my standards). I've actually been super stressed about it. I want to be perfect and help my family be perfect, and not necessarily in some evilly concocted way. Even though I didn't ask her my question--she answered it directly. I took down this quote. "We don't get the dream here; we get the experience." This world wasn't meant to be like the Celestial Kingdom. I get it now--at least more than I did before. I love that quote. . . maybe I can put it on a super-cute plaque in my living room, and when I invite company over, they can say. . . awww, what a nice thought--Ali Mae is super cool. . . and then, they will be in my power! Mwah-ha ha ha! (Of course that means actually having enough control over my life that I'd have enough time to make such a thing; so I'm pretty sure that plaque will never happen).

Why I love Robert (In no particular order)

He looks super hot in his karate pants--even if he kind of looks silly using an exercize ball.

He takes Joanna to the beach. AND cleans her up afterward.

He says things like "rationalizing isn't THAT bad."

He does my bidding when it comes to fixing up the house. (Thanks for the new light and window shade, sweetums.)

He listens to my ramblings about how cool my friends are and he pays attention when I talk to him about the impressions I get when I go to church things. (Julie B. Beck in Pittsburg was great! I'm so glad I was able to go with my friend, Danielle, and then meet up with the other sisters.)

He practically cooks (good food!) the entire weekend.

He studies hard, but every so often, he makes me and the kids feel so comfortable before and after, that I hardly notice how much time he's taking to read his books.

He shows me up at a lot of things, actually, but that's okay, I'm glad I married up!

Glum, Glum (aka, don't read if you are susceptible to depression)

Okay, lately I've been in some sort of deep funk... I can't seem to do anything (at least not well), or turn my thoughts into more productive ones. Berate, Berate, Berate. (But Hey, at least I'm not interrupting people as much :D). So, I'm way behind on posting. I was going to sit down and throw up a few scrapbook pages, maybe talk about how awesome the plans I have to decorate my house are, ummm... I'm sure there was something else..., but really I don't feel like posting much right now. So here are a few pictures--you can make of them what you will. I might go take a nap.
Robert made good bread--4 loaves
Seth came to visit and interview at LECOM. Keep your fingers crossed.
My fairy prince. Apparently, when he sleeps, his wings come out. (*picture not staged--notice the princess blanket and dragon)
Our new floor.
Asbury park. They have cool puppets.