tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227606112024-03-10T21:24:10.689-06:00Five Kids in Five YearsLife is certainly never boringSarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00649282789502496298noreply@blogger.comBlogger885125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-37356660278260050962024-03-06T15:48:00.002-07:002024-03-06T16:07:19.904-07:00The latest with me<p>I haven't really felt the desire or found the time to post here in ages. I used to feel so compelled to write here so I could share pictures and happenings with my extended family who were scattered all over the place plus I wanted to keep a family record. I just went back over some old entries and it was so fun to see photos and remember the special occasions and every-day life involved in my kids' growing-up years. I'm so glad I somehow scraped together the time to record all that. Then Instagram came along and it was easy to jump over there to record and share plus I was really busy working on Power of Moms and Power of Families posts and retreats. Plus it was easier and felt right to just share the happy fun stuff on Instagram rather than trying to figure out how to share on a deeper level here on the blog while respecting my kids' privacy as they got older.</p><p>This this blog got more completely shoved to the back burner once I started working at United Way of Northern Utah about 5 years ago. I had felt a real draw towards working with people face-to-face and focusing on helping more directly in my own community. I started off running an AmeriCorps tutoring/mentoring program to support struggling students across the state of Utah then moved on to support all the UWNU programs for children and families which included the tutoring/mentoring program, a "Welcome Baby" program providing home visits for families with children age 0-3, and a playgroup program that helps parents build connections with each other and helps kids prepare for kindergarten. I cared deeply about my work at United Way and thought I could do it all but ultimately realized that I was never going to find time to prioritize Power of Families with all the demands of my United Way work and that I really had to choose between United Way and Power of Families. My heart said Power of Families was the right way to go.</p><p>So here I am at my new work station - a little desk in Silas's old room - a lovely room with windows on three sides looking out at beautiful snowy mountains. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3sjUR7xTEPOgdCLDLaXh7vZN8FUmucslpjeHUMrXOjcG7JoNhoBklXIspweBfvt6DLDmU5yXWu405YxWuoPQbXcqrl_kevVOiil9HZvdcJX9SyM74kVC9RGjI4QLl6nYmyfRpx03FS_rgc2RqnBMIRzNG6tWsULDl6Y6uORXA2P_gBz1iON1/s4624/PXL_20240306_225001849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3472" data-original-width="4624" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3sjUR7xTEPOgdCLDLaXh7vZN8FUmucslpjeHUMrXOjcG7JoNhoBklXIspweBfvt6DLDmU5yXWu405YxWuoPQbXcqrl_kevVOiil9HZvdcJX9SyM74kVC9RGjI4QLl6nYmyfRpx03FS_rgc2RqnBMIRzNG6tWsULDl6Y6uORXA2P_gBz1iON1/w479-h360/PXL_20240306_225001849.jpg" width="479" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3LaIE_NuppDKHtL6E8BWmW6Okhg_NiqoIyLVTiYguqO-7BKTX1Fv3JLRU7ruSB7j3cOyB9Qx0WMc5DAz8eTWgvDIo9xOl9Hw_sJawGtVrHdywlVUDSz5yYGqNGa-9E6mfMaxoBWiRdI-zTYRZnlx4bFK318G-jcAZnQKXartoVvmpVLTMMDwJ/s4624/PXL_20240306_225028794.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3472" data-original-width="4624" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3LaIE_NuppDKHtL6E8BWmW6Okhg_NiqoIyLVTiYguqO-7BKTX1Fv3JLRU7ruSB7j3cOyB9Qx0WMc5DAz8eTWgvDIo9xOl9Hw_sJawGtVrHdywlVUDSz5yYGqNGa-9E6mfMaxoBWiRdI-zTYRZnlx4bFK318G-jcAZnQKXartoVvmpVLTMMDwJ/w479-h359/PXL_20240306_225028794.jpg" width="479" /></a></div><p>Over the past couple weeks, I've been working to revive Power of Families (update old posts, get my emailed newsletters going again, polishing up some programs that got a little dated, etc). Today I'm working on a slide deck for the Momivate Conference where I'll be presenting about Family Systems on Saturday in Provo. I feel like it was really providential that I was able to step right into helping out with this conference just as my United Way work wrapped up. </p><p>I'm absolutely loving having more control over my schedule and generally doing things at my own pace. I'm still helping out with some things at United Way (doing Welcome Baby visits as a volunteer, helping on various advisory boards, helping with a "Read Across America" event later this week...) but it is SO NICE not to be locked into all the meetings and the inevitable bureaucracy that is part of any job. It was really nice to have the extra income from my salary to allow for more fun "extras" in our lives but Jared has a great job that pays well and I'm so grateful that I get a little time to breathe and plan and think and enjoy without the immediate need to make money. I do hope I can get to where Power of Families can cover its own costs and even make some decent money down the road a ways. But I'm not in a huge hurry for once in my life.</p><p>I'm realizing that I've been way too worried about cramming every possible second of my life with work, learning, and activities that are "virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy," I've been able to accomplish a lot, learn a lot, help a lot of people, and gain a sense of accomplishment and meaning through all my do-gooding. I've consistently chosen hard paths and lofty ambitions with a cheerful can-do attitude and that has served me and others around me well in many ways. But by not routinely recognizing my boundaries or prioritizing relaxation and fun, I've brought a lot more stress and anxiety into my brain and heart and my family life than was positive and healthy. </p><p>So now I'm moving into a new chapter of my life where balance, joy, fun, creativity, and rest are going to be prioritized alongside helping others, learning, and making a difference. We'll see how it goes! And I'll share bits of my journey here. </p><p>I'm also going to be updating the recipes I have on here. Now that my kids are grown up and out on their own, they often ask for recipes for family favorite and it's great to be able to refer them to this blog so they can find a tried-and-true recipe anytime, anywhere. But some of our favorite recipes aren't on here so I'm going to start adding recipes again. The flavors of home can bind hearts across space and time plus I love that my kids all enjoy cooking and eating healthily. </p>Sarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00649282789502496298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-85523998966335950502024-01-24T18:34:00.002-07:002024-03-06T14:53:22.617-07:00Indian Butter Chicken<p>This has become an absolute family favorite! It's so easy and truly delicious. Everyone loves chicken tikka masala but that involves marinating and grilling the chicken which takes some serious forethought and effort. We've found that we like butter chicken just as much and it's way less work. It works great in an Instapot but could also work fine in a crockpot. </p><p>Many people in my family make variations of this recipe quite regularly and we often have it at family reunions at Bear Lake - it feeds a crowd very nicely!</p><p><b>Ingredients:</b></p><p>2 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes (or 2 14-ounce cans)</p><p>6-10 cloves of minced garlic (can use 1-2 tablespoons bottled minced garlic, depends on how much you like garlic!)</p><p>2 tsp turmeric powder</p><p>2 tsp garam masala (fresh ground if you have it)</p><p>2 tsp cumin</p><p>2 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated ginger)</p><p>1 tsp cayenne pepper or pepper flakes (a little more if you want it more spicy, a little less if you aren't crazy about spiciness)</p><p>2 tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika works)</p><p>2 tsp kosher salt</p><p>2-3 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (or use thighs if you like) - some people like it more saucy, others like more chicken in it</p><p>4 tsp (half a cube) of butter (cut into small pieces)</p><p>12-16 ounces (or 1 1/2 to 2 cups) of heavy cream (or full fat coconut milk to make it dairy-free) - use less to make it more tomato-y and spicy, more to make it more creamy</p><p>1 cup chopped cilantro (or more if you like cilantro - we use about 2 cups for this size recipe)</p><p>4 cups Basmati rice (or more if you like a lot of rice with your sauce)</p><p><b>Instructions:</b></p><p>Place all ingredients prior to the chicken in the order listed into the instant pot. Mix the sauce well then push the chicken into the sauce, making sure the chicken is well-coated and mostly submerged. Close the cooker and set for 10-20 minutes on high (20+ for thick frozen chicken breasts, 10-12 for defrosted chicken breasts) then let it release pressure naturally for 10 minutes. After that, release all remaining pressure. </p><p>Open up the pot, remove the chicken and place on cutting board. Chop up the chicken into small bite-sized chunks. Let the tomato mixture cool a bit while you chop the chicken. Then stir the butter, cream and 1/4 cup chopped cilantro into the sauce. Stir the chicken into the sauce. If the sauce is really thin, don't worry, it'll thicken as you let it cool a bit. </p><p>Cook the basmati rice according to the rice package or your rice cooker's directions. Cook the rice with about 1/2 tsp salt per cup of rice. Mix in some cumin seeds and a splash of oil or some ghee (clarified butter) after cooking if you want to make it fancy and extra flavorful.</p><p>Serve the curry and chicken sauce over the basmati rice (or used riced cauliflower or chopped spinach if you like).</p><p>Makes 6-8 servings</p><p><i>* Adapted from a recipe my sister Saydi got from my sister-in-law Julie and I'm not sure where it originally came from!</i></p>Sarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00649282789502496298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-23432074669811266072018-12-28T00:01:00.003-07:002018-12-28T00:01:58.200-07:00Resolutions and "One Word" for the New YearEvery year, I feel excited about a fresh start with a new year. Some years I've set a lot of goals and resolutions. Sometimes I've been pretty good about keeping my resolutions and really moving towards my goals. But for many years now, I've done a quite a bit of thinking about resolutions and things I'd like to change but haven't really set very concrete resolutions or followed through. I've tried the "one word" resolutions my sister Shawni does and while I really like the simplicity of that, I think I've chosen the wrong words and/or haven't pondered on and acted on that one word very much so it hasn't been very meaningful for me.<br />
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One year I chose "Peace" and it didn't turn out to be a very peaceful year - it was actually a year full of anxiety and stress and I didn't seem to be able to create peace in my heart and mind very well. By the end of that year, I realized that I couldn't get to peace without first learning to relax.<br />
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So "Relax" was my word for the next year. But as the year went on, I didn't relax. I realized I was really terrible at relaxing. I'm way too fixated on getting things done and being sure I meet my goals to be very good at relaxing. I couldn't relax because I was always worried about something or working on something or thinking about something I might need to worry about or work on. So I didn't relax very much.<br />
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By the end of that year, I realized that before I could relax, I need to let go of a lot of things. So last year my word was sort of two words - "Let Go." And I did let go of a whole lot of things last year - I let go of a lot of expectations of myself, my kids, and my husband. I often let go of my focus on maximizing and trying so hard to make things perfect. I cut myself and everyone around me a lot more slack than before. Sometimes I got to pat myself on the back as I really let go in situations where I would usually have been very worried, opinionated, and insistant.<br />
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But I still have a long ways to go when it comes to letting go. There are always so many things to care about! And I have a hard time not being tenatious with my caring. I have ideas about so many things - I can't seem to control that. And once I have an idea about something and it seems like a really good exciting idea, I have a hard time not getting attached to that idea. It's really hard for me to sort out what to let go of and then actually go through the process of letting go. Then it's hard to really relinquish that idea or hope and not pick it up again and get attached and excited and hopeful about it all over again.<br />
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I've realized that one of the biggest things that we need to learn in this life is when to hold on and when to let go, what to hope for and what to accept will never happen, what to insist on and what to back off about, what to cherish and what to cast out.<br />
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I've also toyed with having different mantras from time to time. I have several that have helped me quite a bit (when I remember them):<br />
- There's always enough.<br />
- Life is long,<br />
- It's supposed to be hard and that's OK<br />
- It always works out in the end.<br />
- I'm so blessed.<br />
- Everything is working out the way it should.<br />
- Let go and let God.<br />
- I don't need to be in charge of this.<br />
- Will this matter in 10 years? Tomorrow? In 10 minutes?<br />
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I'm not sure what my word will be for 2019 but I'll figure it out. I'd also like to have a mantra(s) and resolutions that fleshes out my word. I'll let you know when I figure out what it should be!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-78018575117598804382018-11-21T19:38:00.000-07:002018-11-14T19:45:51.532-07:00Why This Blog Has Been NeglectedThis blog has been sadly neglected for over a year now and I'm not sure if I have any followers out there anymore. But I feel like I want to gather some of my thoughts and experiences here again. Instagram generally works better for me as a way to keep our family journal these days but I share quite a bit in my weekly Power of Families newsletters and I figured I might as well put the personal parts of those newsletters here so I have all that in one place. I'll start by sharing those newsletters then see what happens from there.<br />
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I can't actually believe that I used to blog so regularly here - how in the world did I find the time? You'd think I'd have more time now that all the kids are in school, off at extracurricular activities or busy doing their own thing. Not only does it feel like I don't have time to write, I don't have as much that I feel comfortable sharing. I felt good about sharing stories of the naughty and cute things my little kids did on this blog. But I feel much more limited now about what is OK to share now that my kids are older. I celebrate their accomplishments and fun activities on Instagram but there are plenty of challenges and issues that need to stay private when it comes to older kids.<br />
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Plus I feel guarded about what I want to put out there regarding my personal life. I see critical comments on my sisters' blogs and remember a few not-so-nice comments I received here in the past and I shy away from sharing my thoughts and feelings.Whenver I'd publish a blog post with content that I thought maybe some people might view negatively, I'd get all anxious and worried about what people were thinking and what comments I might get. So I just backed away.<br />
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But I feel like I have some things to share that might be helpful to people outside my immediate circle, so we'll see how this goes and maybe I'll make this a private blog. I don't know. I'm just figuring it out as I go. But I feel like I should be making some effort here again.<br />
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Anyway, here's a little bit about me and I'll share some of what is going on with everyone else in my family in other posts.<br />
<br />
About a year ago, I handed Power of Moms over to my partner April and started Power of Families where moms and DADS can learn and share as they strive to be the best parents they can be. I've wanted to create a community of purposeful parents as a companion to the community of deliberate mothers that April and I built for quite some time now and the timing finally felt right.<br />
<br />
I've got a new podcast called Power of Families Radio, send out a weekly newsletter and offer lots of free resources plus some paid programs. We've got about 70,000 parents who are members of Power of Families and it's feeling manageable and meaningful for the most part.<br />
<br />
Looking back, I realize now that I let Power of Moms control way too much of my life for the 10 years that I was running it. I held myself to impossibly high standards and got a LOT done but at a pretty steep cost. I really really wanted to help every mom and family that I could possibly help and spent pretty much every moment when my kids didn't need me and when I wasn't sleeping on Power of Moms stuff - and while I was always telling moms that they needed down time and didn't need to feel guilty about relaxing and taking time for themselves, I used every bit of time I ever had to myself to write articles and make podcast episodes and create programs to help families. I didn't watch TV. I didn't read. I did exercise regularly and protect my sleep but I totally forgot how to relax and have fun. And that wasn't good for me or my family.<br />
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I've learned to cut myself a lot more slack and be less intense and perfectionistic with Power of Families than I was with Power of Moms. If I get busy with something else and don't write a newsletter one week or skip doing my usual weekly podcast episode, I'm not stressed about it (and no one else seems to mind one bit).<br />
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I have a long ways to go when it comes to re-learning how to have fun and relax, but I think I'm in a much better place than I was a year ago in a lot of ways. It's not just Power of Families. I'm working on letting go of a lot of things that have been causing me to feel like I'm pretty much always a clenched fist. While I had so many little children and so many responsibliities outside my home, routines and schedules were vital to my sanity and focused, effective work filling every possible moment felt vital, I've realized it just doesn't work to live life like that forever. I'm learning to let things slide sometimes, to let myself go with the flow more, to be less deliberate and purposeful and just enjoy the moment from time to time.<br />
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I do a long hard hike with a friend every week and love the conversations and fresh air and exercise (we go in the early mornings to avoid the heat of the summer, we strap cleats on our shoes to hike over the ice in the winter - we've been going every week for about 5 years now).<br />
<br />
I have some good times with Oliver and Silas every other day as they are doing 50% homeschool (I'll write more about that later). I just didn't feel like I was getting enough time with them and they are so fun to teach so I set up this arrangement with their school and they are taking some really great classes with the best teachers at their school on A days then they are home with me on B days and we do history, reading, writing, and lots of interesting projects together. They were wanting to do something different and 8th grade seemed like the right time to switch things up before they are in high school next year and grades count towards college admission and everything gets more complicated.<br />
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Our kitchen is being remodeled and it is taking WAY longer than expected and costing a lot more than expected. So there's a lot of stress there. But I'll save that for another post.<br />
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I'll write more later. Got to go eat the pizza Jared just brought home since our kitchen isn't functional right now and I've learned to let go of my the idea that I will make a homemade healthy dinner every night like I've generally done so religiously for so long.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-77737833601708650382018-11-16T12:31:00.000-07:002018-11-19T11:40:51.307-07:00Trip to NYC with Isaac<br /><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 600px;">
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Last week it was my son Isaac's turn for a special one-on-one trip (I took my daughter <span class="il">Eliza</span> to England a while back). When I saw some round trip tickets to NYC for just $250 each, we decided it was time to go visit my brother, Eli, and <span class="il">family</span> who live on the upper west side in Manhattan and have a fun adventure together in the Big Apple.</div>
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Some highlights were:</div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">driving through Times Square at midnight right after we arrived at the airport with Frank Sinatra's "New York New York" blaring (such a fun idea of my brother's!)</li>
<li class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">visiting the Statue of Liberty (first time I've actually gotten off on the island and gone up inside, fun to share that first with Isaac) and Ellis Island (where so many our our ancestors began their new life in America)</li>
<li class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">spending some time at the somber, beautifully-done 9-11 museum and memorial (Isaac was born 2 months before 9-11 and I was clutching him in my arms when I saw those planes hit the World Trade Center on TV so it was meaningful to visit the memorial together)</li>
<li class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and seeing the amazing architecture along the High Line in Chelesa</li>
<li class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">eating a lot of delicious food (bagels, pizza, gelato, Levain cookies, excellent food at Eli and Julie's house, and Eli and Juilie set up a "food crawl" for us where we had appetizers, dinner and dessert at different excellent spots one night)</li>
<li class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">hanging out with Eli and Julie and their awesome little kids as we explored the city together and hung out in their great little 5th floor walk-up apartment</li>
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And of course there were not-so-wonderful moments like when we got caught in a serious rainstorm in Central Park and it was super cold and pretty miserable or when found ourselves packed into a dense crowd of people whille trying to watch the NYC marathon and the kids were crying and everyone was hungry. But, as my mom always says, crisis + time = humor. And we were quickly laughing about those inevitable crazy moments.</div>
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Anyway, if you want to see more photos from our trip, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/isaacandsarennyc/">check them out here.</a></div>
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<b class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;">TIPS FOR ONE-ON-ONE TIME</b></h2>
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After my trip to England with <span class="il">Eliza</span>, I shared links to some good material on why one-on-one time with our kids is so important and how we can make it happen (in little every-day ways as well as rare big-trip ways). But it looks like the links didn't work for some people. So here are those resources again:</div>
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<b class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;">POST: <a class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50765/f59dec466fdaf18c/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92&source=gmail&ust=1542330589862000&usg=AFQjCNEz_m3YYukbnY9ccaEqw1NyX-ViJg" href="https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50765/f59dec466fdaf18c/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92" style="color: #3859c9; line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">One-on-One Time with our Kids: Why We Must and How We Can</a></b></div>
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<b class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;">PODCAST EPISODE</b>: <b class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;"><a class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50763/314b35ace244cb81/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92&source=gmail&ust=1542330589862000&usg=AFQjCNGM13K5-tcSfIbu_RqIhtR0Wfrx_A" href="https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50763/314b35ace244cb81/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92" style="color: #3859c9; line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">One-on-One Time Tips and Ideas</a></b></div>
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<b class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;">A CURE FOR COMPLAINING AND A SURE PATH TO MORE HAPPINESS</b></h2>
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We have a major kitchen remodel going on right now. As with pretty much every project in the world, it's taking way longer than hoped and proving to be more expensive and stressful than anticipated. We've been living without a real kitchen for three months now, two of our bathrooms were disabled for the past two months making it so all of us have had to share one bathroom, iit is super cold in our house with a whole exterior wall removed and no finished walls or insulation in yet, and the house is constantly being covered in dust (which makes a clean freak like me crazed after a while). So there's been a fair amount of complaining around here (especially from me, I admit).</div>
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Have you noticed that it's hard to be happy when you're complaining? Have you noticed that when you focus on gratitude, life is just a lot better?</div>
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When I focus on how lucky I am to have running water, to have electricity, to have a house that us usually warm and dry, and to have food to cook in my make-shift kitchen rather than thinking about the discomforts involved, life suddenly becomes a lot brighter.</div>
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So this week, in honor of my own need to focus more on gratitude and on the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to share these resources with you:</div>
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<b class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;"><a class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50761/7345eecc00dd0624/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92&source=gmail&ust=1542330589862000&usg=AFQjCNEZ4EL2EDvwEd-jMFlTZTjOfdmaAw" href="https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50761/7345eecc00dd0624/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92" style="color: #3859c9; line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">8 Ways to Fill November with Thanksgiving</a></b> - <span class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="color: #5e5e5e;">Check out these simple and meaningful ideas to help your <span class="il">family</span> really feel the joy of gratitude this month. (Includes a 7-minute video highlighting the best ideas and lots of great further ideas in the comments.)</span></div>
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<span class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope"><b class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;"><a class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50759/2ebc7422d22f31b7/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92&source=gmail&ust=1542330589862000&usg=AFQjCNH4MxgEAg6pX8zZ6n8erzJlkS6sWw" href="https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/50759/2ebc7422d22f31b7/39924883/a51d707a4dbccb92" style="color: #3859c9; line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Why Gratitude Really Matters</a> - </b></span><span class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope">in this week's <span class="il">Power</span> of <span class="il">Families</span> Radio episide<span class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope">, I </span></span><span class="m_-4535612754447629720bard-text-block m_-4535612754447629720style-scope" style="color: #5e5e5e;">read three popular posts on gratitude. Each post offers stories and concrete ideas to help you pump up the gratitude in your personal life and in your <span class="il">family</span> and enjoy all the happiness it will bring.</span></div>
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I hope you'll find some ideas that will be really helpful to your <span class="il">family</span> as you read and listen!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-55258980867629813652018-11-14T18:30:00.001-07:002018-11-14T18:30:13.022-07:00Europe Part 5 - Switzerland and Germany Summer 2017OK, I've had this draft just about ready to post for a REALLY long time now. And I've realized I'm just not going to get around to adding in photos any time soon so I'm just going to post it and maybe someday I'll get a chance to add in photos!<br />
<br />
Here are our highlights from Switzerland and Germany<br />
<br />
- Oohing and aahing at the beauty of Switzerland together - such jaw-dropping beauty around every bend!<br />
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- Enjoying time with Tal and Anita, fun in their pool, delicious barbeque with all the traditional Swiss sausages, gentle hike above a breathtakingly blue lake to a beautiful overlook<br />
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- Going to church - singing in German, attending Anita's great lesson in YW about women and the priesthood (she was kind enough to say everything in English as well as Swiss German), meeting some great people<br />
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- Spending some time with old friends from Boston - Nancy and Dave Michaels. So great to catch up with them and enjoy another tasty barbeque plus<br />
<br />
- Visiting Lucerne and meeting a social media friend who has reached out to me so kindly over the years - so fun to talk in person; strolling around the beautiful town and picturesque lake and checking out the medieval bridge there<br />
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- Getting so excited together when we saw the Lauterbrunner Valley for the first time - waterfalls everywhere, huge cliffs, snow-capped mountains in the distance - it was so spectacular and we were in awe that we were going to actually be able to stay right there (in a cute little mobile home at the Camping Juangfrau campground)<br />
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- Walking along the Lauterbrunner valley floor surrounded by intense beauty on a perfect cool evening and hiking up to feel the mist and power of a couple different waterfalls, watching paragliders like birds above us and watching them land in a field nearby<br />
<br />
- Eating dinner on the deck of our little mobile home with a spectacular waterfall right there, so nice to enjoy a homecooked meal (simple pasta and sauce with cheese and canned beans but so nice to have a sit-down dinner after all the bread and cheese and cucumbers and grab-and-go sandwiches that have been our staples)<br />
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- Hiking and riding the tram at Issenfluh - relatively inexpensive tram ride to fields of amazing wildflowers (we hit the peak of wildflower season!) then a one hour steep-but-gorgeous hike to get to a mountain lake and then an absolutely amazing view of the three main snowy peeks of the area - Eiger, Jungfrau, and Monche.<br />
<br />
- Paragliding - after weeding people's yards, washing people's dogs, and doing all sorts of jobs for anyone and everyone and saving up for months and praying (literally) every night that the weather would cooperate (they'd heard stories of how people were prevented from paragliding the whole time they were in Switzerland due to weather issues), the twins were beyond delighted when everything worked out perfectly for them to paraglide right off the edge of the cliff above Lauterbrunner and enjoy the feeling of flight plus the amazing scenery (strapped to an expert paraglider, of course). As it was almost Father's Day, we all chipped in to make sure Jared paraglided as well (he really wanted to go but was worried about how expensive everything was turning out to be and he's always so selfless, insisting everyone else go first or get what they want ahead of him). And even though Eliza hadn't quite saved up enough money and wasn't thinking she'd be able to paraglide with her broken arms and all, it turned out that there was no problem with her paragliding (when we asked, the guy said "it doesn't take any arms to paraglide!"). So we added to her savings a bit to make it work for her to paraglide - after her toughness through her injuries and her inability to do a lot of things she'd wanted to do on the trip, we were so happy to make sure she got a chance to do this very exciting thing she really wanted to do and COULD do with two broken arms!<br />
<br />
- Swimming and picnicking at Lake Thun - we made our regular lunch of cheese and salami on crusty bread with cucumbers and carrots and cookies while sitting on a bench in a very nice semi-deserted campground right on the edge of this beautiful lake. It was such a gorgeous and peaceful setting and the boys had a great time swimming in that very cold refreshing water!<br />
<br />
- Floating the river in Bern - took a while to find the right spot where you can jump of a pedestrian bridge and float to a safe place to get out, but we found it and the boys and Jared had SO much fun jumping and floating repeatedly while Eliza tried not to be too sad that she couldn't join them - it was not very fun for her! That river is just such a cool color and it was fun to do something that seemingly all the locals do all the time in the summer - we were surrounded by so many fun-loving Swiss people.<br />
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- Wandering through Bern Old Town on a lovely summer evening - so very charming! And we got to see the old clock strike the hour accompanied by automated little wooden people coming out to strike bells and do other little actions. Luckily we saw about 100 Asian tourists standing on the street looking up above an ancient archway so we knew to stop and look up ourselves!<br />
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- Visiting the lovely medieval French town of Colmar (HOT and sweaty but interesting to wander the city for a while and find some good lunch)<br />
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- Visiting Gengenbach - after lots of Google searching for the perfect little German town to visit in the few hours we had in Germany, we finally found something that was relatively on the way to Reims where we were headed for the night and that sounded like it might be a fun place to visit. We hit the jackpot! We drove to the outskirts of the town, parked the car, then walked for a few minutes to the middle of town where we were greeted by awesome live German folk music being played by a band in the amazingly charming storybookesque town square. Turns out the town was celebrating the Corpus Cristi (google if if you want) and there were all these interesting displays everywhere. We had a lovely couple of hours exploring the little town's back alleys, checking out the ancient town wall that still stands, seeing how the old mill there works, and eating some of the best gelato ever for just one euro a scoop. It was so good we had to go back for a second round!<br />
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Here's Ashton's Video of Switzerland (and our final day back in London before heading back home):<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UKT12v_yQBY" width="560"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-54086459538411447502018-05-14T09:05:00.000-06:002018-05-14T09:05:33.240-06:00Happy Mother's DayI was born to a really amazing woman.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">Me and mom</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">Mom with me and Shawni enjoying the cherry blossoms in Virginia where we lived</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrMnWM6QGV9-ro1FT4ISzhTO0Guio02JF1CIHcez3VqrSq_XqM0PWio9HanlQ0AIqQbN0e9_zkmat1ioXDYBo0u_OjX6VM5f7f1K19qNdyz14dI6JSQ9G-C3xJIR6D0tZA35g3/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrMnWM6QGV9-ro1FT4ISzhTO0Guio02JF1CIHcez3VqrSq_XqM0PWio9HanlQ0AIqQbN0e9_zkmat1ioXDYBo0u_OjX6VM5f7f1K19qNdyz14dI6JSQ9G-C3xJIR6D0tZA35g3/s640/s_9acqy2vl30289.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWf-kNldM8C5FR2qLw1drmg4UC9sjew4yBYq9VaQb9NOcbk90qwoMwCOQfXpucYij9CNWNLdb4F3s4mFdeNoECjmI9OEKqB2MQkWUFPFziv3Z71wky0z7esNYp-ZzSgX4BHar/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWf-kNldM8C5FR2qLw1drmg4UC9sjew4yBYq9VaQb9NOcbk90qwoMwCOQfXpucYij9CNWNLdb4F3s4mFdeNoECjmI9OEKqB2MQkWUFPFziv3Z71wky0z7esNYp-ZzSgX4BHar/s640/s_9acqy2vl30233.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">one of many road trips - me in the back seat, Josh, Mom and Shawni</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">When they were in their late twenties, my mom and dad were asked to lead the England London South mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and oversee the 200 missionaries there. I'm sure this seemed pretty daunting - my dad's fledgling company would surely fold without his presence, they had 4 young children, the oldest of whom was a 5-year-old - me, and they'd never left the United States before. But they packed up and headed out and it proved to be a marvelous experience for everyone. My mom had two more babies (one of them - Jonah - very premature - scary stuff) during their 3-year tenure in England. And somehow she helped all those missionaries and all those babies feel completely loved and cared for.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3Me3id1ZhvlBNAvkbG7n7M_XU-cV1MxPyVhX2nNUmcFR5KZPuwnLXH5jk7GK2PsiZ_Mp2uUDVftZtrD0RMXmWheWyvGcmGaSHs7h-c2BuS61ri6e0YwUWr0eQTMSYt5ap6KK/s1600/England+1977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3Me3id1ZhvlBNAvkbG7n7M_XU-cV1MxPyVhX2nNUmcFR5KZPuwnLXH5jk7GK2PsiZ_Mp2uUDVftZtrD0RMXmWheWyvGcmGaSHs7h-c2BuS61ri6e0YwUWr0eQTMSYt5ap6KK/s640/England+1977.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">Here we are in England - Mom is pregnant with #6</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIoWiCD3Mzsawu2qj1GnLP5HbxNu_d0eHj1O0vaSUWK9USXycUhPDWEdiAa4rOmny8l2fwPwZp4wzEW76i420koE6NrA7vYorxyUxH8zcrDSQByZTnJI8HrftiiwKgWaSrMMs/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIoWiCD3Mzsawu2qj1GnLP5HbxNu_d0eHj1O0vaSUWK9USXycUhPDWEdiAa4rOmny8l2fwPwZp4wzEW76i420koE6NrA7vYorxyUxH8zcrDSQByZTnJI8HrftiiwKgWaSrMMs/s640/s_9acqy2vl30726.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">At the hospital meeting baby #6, Talmadge<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNNN0fc7ScTWks4sL-19_NUQbpsyck6tlDiuoxFSCKLDFDJb2RZcZJCaN573AnDsR9DgjyYFoF5XjOjWhuEccRcREN0CUM-UH1kdn3jvTwxOqg7Li7Y-G_3OlFslkS_GY1V9e/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30580.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNNN0fc7ScTWks4sL-19_NUQbpsyck6tlDiuoxFSCKLDFDJb2RZcZJCaN573AnDsR9DgjyYFoF5XjOjWhuEccRcREN0CUM-UH1kdn3jvTwxOqg7Li7Y-G_3OlFslkS_GY1V9e/s640/s_9acqy2vl30580.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Mom made us these matching British flag pj's for Christmas.<br />
I love that Mom's in her purple quilted bathrobe here -<br />
I remember her wearing that every morning for years and years!</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">After our time in England, my mom and dad weren't really interested in settling down in one place. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">hey started writing parenting books - and as authors, they could live and work just about anywhere. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">They </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">loved meeting new people and exploring new places and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> wanted to raise their children as "citizens of the world. We moved back and forth from Washington DC to Salt Lake City a couple times and spent summers enjoying the simple pleasures of Bear Lake and trying out new things - everything from living in Mexico to building a log cabin in Oregon. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">My parents didn't have any formal education in child development or family sciences - my mom's trained as a musician and my dad had a career as a political consultant. But they had a lot of tried-and-true ideas and knew how to explain them in a way that really resonated. They started a program called Joy School that exploded into 1000's of parent-run co-op preschools around the United States and across the world. They would go on book tour to intoduce their books via TV shows and book signings all over the country. As their parenting books got more and more popular, they started giving speeches all over the place. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">And through all that, they kept having kids until there were nine of us and nine just felt right.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Jd_soM4aigD4ygdqV6OnSoc2u2sVCV-i1LJC8CXYBVeXitthXVDkrP9zYTjpx8jqBCfEHZQsbfDJdMIKXcfa0UsKBdxDVVGMvnsPEQbYzxBPAwYUoxs8LOCThrQJeKa8jYZf/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Jd_soM4aigD4ygdqV6OnSoc2u2sVCV-i1LJC8CXYBVeXitthXVDkrP9zYTjpx8jqBCfEHZQsbfDJdMIKXcfa0UsKBdxDVVGMvnsPEQbYzxBPAwYUoxs8LOCThrQJeKa8jYZf/s640/s_9acqy2vl30454.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">book tour photo in the 80's<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Here we are traipsing around Mexico - we lived there for a summer to learn Spanish and experience a different culture. My mom had her "learn Spanish" book with her all the time and worked so hard on it. The rest of us, not so much. I love how mom is always seeking to learn something new.</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CeL-leaoJvSXHPmBJRGRQWbC1oSIFSL9p35tMPuIUyK0WbsbNsJGBlM1-6flMIlSDVzVReMcvlTT4W1CkU0YsCkdFTlh3EZhvQyp9vnRqRI8DmcODo4rX9pD4_t7wVARudyJ/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CeL-leaoJvSXHPmBJRGRQWbC1oSIFSL9p35tMPuIUyK0WbsbNsJGBlM1-6flMIlSDVzVReMcvlTT4W1CkU0YsCkdFTlh3EZhvQyp9vnRqRI8DmcODo4rX9pD4_t7wVARudyJ/s640/s_9acqy2vl30729.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Here we are in Oregon - spent a summer there building this log cabin - my dad's dream. My mom made camping all summer with 8 kids work somehow - she came up with amazing campfire dinners and somehow kept us all happy and fed and safe while we lived in tents and built this basic cabin and came to appreciate our pioneer ancestors immensely. Mom definitely has the grit of a pioneer woman.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iHeWFlVMtLF4a1zOWAbMRGl_CMKvXaYWV35Onr1IKj9zCaEpjqOkLZQpi-XPtVpWkIZL6ksIbx-sgo3-j38HMXnQwOP_6rb6JGYA7Bf7oA1SdMyqUInhJhHJCsTlAb2m8dl7/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.918); color: #888888; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iHeWFlVMtLF4a1zOWAbMRGl_CMKvXaYWV35Onr1IKj9zCaEpjqOkLZQpi-XPtVpWkIZL6ksIbx-sgo3-j38HMXnQwOP_6rb6JGYA7Bf7oA1SdMyqUInhJhHJCsTlAb2m8dl7/s640/s_9acqy2vl30024.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we are building a log cabin in Oregon one summer (to get in touch with our pioneer roots, develop grit, and have some serious bonding time and enjoyment of nature</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIvB8mUvUHRGNPdZtWU1PPwN0eGGnqQD7pSeqKWSblGAUqVN9oM1XX6nggwTq_pPcdnlaR_T-6B6I9eGkumB8YImV0cjW2lltQLTIQmxMVPytBotE76HocukZ2OTPuUBw4PgV/s1600/s_9acqy2vl31062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIvB8mUvUHRGNPdZtWU1PPwN0eGGnqQD7pSeqKWSblGAUqVN9oM1XX6nggwTq_pPcdnlaR_T-6B6I9eGkumB8YImV0cjW2lltQLTIQmxMVPytBotE76HocukZ2OTPuUBw4PgV/s640/s_9acqy2vl31062.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we are with mom the day she and dad brought Charity - #9 - home from the hospital. We were all over the moon about our new little sister - especially after 4 little brothers in a row! Mom taught us to adore babies. She was always so in love with her newborns and made us all so excited to be parents some day.</td></tr>
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<h3>
Through all the busyness and book tours and travels, we all knew that being a mom was by far the most important thing to my mom. </h3>
<h3>
<br />She somehow found time to create beautiful memories with all of us. She shared her passion for nature and literature and art and music and travel with us. Through her example and her "buck up" attitude, she taught us to work hard and be tough. She taught us to embrace adventure. She taught us to notice those in need and reach out to them. She taught us to be interested in everything and everyone. She taught us to always be kind. She taught us to embody our family motto: "Broaden and Contribute."</h3>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AfZYCuxUc7jPPhjruJmDM5cl7XL9kXqhyphenhyphen7ocAkNm1TqggnVlpA2tvRoJjRjB1CUcl2tN2nyPlkV9HOEEviSbsH7zzV1P7jS_ZYxLW9KAGXKV8NM1yqk2L6m14b5zaZqN5M7u/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AfZYCuxUc7jPPhjruJmDM5cl7XL9kXqhyphenhyphen7ocAkNm1TqggnVlpA2tvRoJjRjB1CUcl2tN2nyPlkV9HOEEviSbsH7zzV1P7jS_ZYxLW9KAGXKV8NM1yqk2L6m14b5zaZqN5M7u/s640/s_9acqy2vl30872.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">Here's Mom with me and Saydi making dinner - good thing we had photographers pop<br />
in sometimes or I doubt we'd have any photos of this sort of every-day stuff.<br />
(and good thing I've got a photo of my awesome hair...)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAIvDYZNTBYkg75yEOpOw-1HKBpRQwtob1lWc6pG5tnsse7wk5OYKo83R8i9dx19RqI1AZOg9ZUeVdpJ2FkSNgJPwnHDrh8EWeoMMuz8frZYDr9guOQBtIKM7nLO346P729qr/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAIvDYZNTBYkg75yEOpOw-1HKBpRQwtob1lWc6pG5tnsse7wk5OYKo83R8i9dx19RqI1AZOg9ZUeVdpJ2FkSNgJPwnHDrh8EWeoMMuz8frZYDr9guOQBtIKM7nLO346P729qr/s640/s_9acqy2vl30366.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="442" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom and Noah (#7)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #666666; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative;"><tbody>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFHy_fsIBh-Z8ZgRYgjn5vafNlKo4X-bnUgaMsJWCw8IRXgPY_9SKR8lJg_5ZLQNs5IRRglf7vTa73f82JStfica5f80HDeLIjm1rW-cBmipDu3JfAQaKNz0PriZ2czvkRvKg/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30712_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.918); color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFHy_fsIBh-Z8ZgRYgjn5vafNlKo4X-bnUgaMsJWCw8IRXgPY_9SKR8lJg_5ZLQNs5IRRglf7vTa73f82JStfica5f80HDeLIjm1rW-cBmipDu3JfAQaKNz0PriZ2czvkRvKg/s640/s_9acqy2vl30712_z.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">mom and Josh</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2pQQAgVhRJbqmxfT6w_DgL_9hH-GObxmRU7xP7lI889dWWIb-RJQPZwuXjEvbTA0hTnCQJe-Tl9mun9yayOGvHOWXaPaFaZTHHnZogTZFIcFTlLHqUs4WOa4NyJSolgOXipGT/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.918); color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2pQQAgVhRJbqmxfT6w_DgL_9hH-GObxmRU7xP7lI889dWWIb-RJQPZwuXjEvbTA0hTnCQJe-Tl9mun9yayOGvHOWXaPaFaZTHHnZogTZFIcFTlLHqUs4WOa4NyJSolgOXipGT/s640/s_9acqy2vl30428.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">mom with newborn Noah? Eli? Oh, how Mom loves little babies!</td></tr>
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This is a staged story time for a magazine photo shoot - nope, we didn't read as a group like this.But reading was really important in our home. And we did read scriptures together early every morning in the living room - half-asleep, curled up in our blankets on the couch.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigtF-_AL197hNcHxdsqqVTf7y3hPXB2ThQTfZTMJ6_Es0vopVIEm_RIRcbkEkgwtlICGWXEmd4no7FFaJ9ware9pKI2aM7A0adx_qS_8Jr78X3mVBXcJLyrGVlSpLy8MxEp0aq/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigtF-_AL197hNcHxdsqqVTf7y3hPXB2ThQTfZTMJ6_Es0vopVIEm_RIRcbkEkgwtlICGWXEmd4no7FFaJ9ware9pKI2aM7A0adx_qS_8Jr78X3mVBXcJLyrGVlSpLy8MxEp0aq/s640/s_9acqy2vl30055.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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Here's another staged photo. My mom did have us all learn instruments - music was so important to her. And the older kids did get up each morning and play string quartet pieces together with my mom and dad. But we didn't all play together like this. And Jonah doesn't play the mandolyn (he played the drums but I guess they were too hard to bring up from the basement). Tal doesn't play the guitar and I don't think Eli or Noah played the violin - I guess too many people on the piano wouldn't work for the photo. But the rest of us are playing what we really did learn to play! You can see my parents' musical instrument collection on the wall - they gathered a new instrument as part of all their travels. Many of us didn't love playing instruments and Mom was wise in not pushing certain people too far. But we all gained a great appreciation for music. And we won "Western musical family of the year" or something like that one year. I'm not sure if it's an award anyone else had ever heard of but my mom was pretty happy to get that plaque and feel that at least a piece of her dream of a family orchestra had come true!<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMS9QlzVJVazuxjYGtfj7RY15e2KteJ2h50NWSJp1e61wKAOL5uSdJ-WBwvsVDMXc3g9SRN7ETobIamsgB9lxLH_Jpg9CHf6UyEZ5oakXGWgNOsOTSpHzehb4tCkbwGLL-C4Yr/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMS9QlzVJVazuxjYGtfj7RY15e2KteJ2h50NWSJp1e61wKAOL5uSdJ-WBwvsVDMXc3g9SRN7ETobIamsgB9lxLH_Jpg9CHf6UyEZ5oakXGWgNOsOTSpHzehb4tCkbwGLL-C4Yr/s640/s_9acqy2vl30056.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCk3S7NaThvrVled7lNg8wl1Fb290bndpwBakc3ITJ7Zgaeus9Lo0WlrcBMeIHO9qCiGeg6G4HvjTJ0ScF-EDULS7m0Wbh6OI9TDyZ22n7nbanuHkoaviRvAWIST6W-sjF_8Jt/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30279.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.918); color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCk3S7NaThvrVled7lNg8wl1Fb290bndpwBakc3ITJ7Zgaeus9Lo0WlrcBMeIHO9qCiGeg6G4HvjTJ0ScF-EDULS7m0Wbh6OI9TDyZ22n7nbanuHkoaviRvAWIST6W-sjF_8Jt/s640/s_9acqy2vl30279.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Mom teaching Saydi to play the piano (with Eli's help)</td></tr>
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Yep, another magazine photo but this is something we really did every day and I'm so glad it was captured - we had breakfast together every morning and had a serious family dinner together every evening.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3I1WguPneupXRlJCExGaaiRk4h4b9q4AYMckDlYcvmza6OhTt8ZCZ-xvDPy8o56dX2HDf4bGHrmEeb4kzHo6zhSOtLhgsTqY2D0lVNwy6DKej-pgn5FwrraEwWZjCmAdwXKf/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3I1WguPneupXRlJCExGaaiRk4h4b9q4AYMckDlYcvmza6OhTt8ZCZ-xvDPy8o56dX2HDf4bGHrmEeb4kzHo6zhSOtLhgsTqY2D0lVNwy6DKej-pgn5FwrraEwWZjCmAdwXKf/s640/s_9acqy2vl30740.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></div>
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But this is what my mom was doing during most dinners - I don't remember her sitting much:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpVl_azC8OiNMQMRZfhs-2a9Mn1Bgtvzm-qugrcKVgFn0Wp0IW5qwBczSDJVRXDYzhmqjY1zoFZ82jr5hkcck4zbpZfvSsd2YXE6pInNU6OeJ7u2OR_GjpXz032L3xc9zpTrKa/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpVl_azC8OiNMQMRZfhs-2a9Mn1Bgtvzm-qugrcKVgFn0Wp0IW5qwBczSDJVRXDYzhmqjY1zoFZ82jr5hkcck4zbpZfvSsd2YXE6pInNU6OeJ7u2OR_GjpXz032L3xc9zpTrKa/s640/s_9acqy2vl30404.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="420" /></a><br />
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When I was a missionary in Bulgaria, my parents' newest book, Teaching Children Values reached #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller list (being on Oprah with the whole family helped...) and their writing and speaking was elevated to a whole new level.<br />
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Since that NYTimes Bestseller boost, Mom and Dad have written a lot more books and travelled the world and speak in just about every industrialized nation plus have hands-on helped with or backed quite a bit of work in the 3rd world.<br />
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Here's my mom on a humanitarian service expedition to Bolivia that we went on as a family - Mom somehow made great friends despite the language barrier.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOFHU4WetzH27ufDCwxNoAkcuh4Dn4bUfTHY7Mh8dbMoj5wBOaKlG77I9Ct9ZdcnkqDoUZJx3EnnYmVglmS9l4s7QHMCipnvA2p-zSlbKrKloQCWGrQdv3WGvQ0ZC2DT8K-XQ/s1600/s_9acqy2vl31016_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOFHU4WetzH27ufDCwxNoAkcuh4Dn4bUfTHY7Mh8dbMoj5wBOaKlG77I9Ct9ZdcnkqDoUZJx3EnnYmVglmS9l4s7QHMCipnvA2p-zSlbKrKloQCWGrQdv3WGvQ0ZC2DT8K-XQ/s640/s_9acqy2vl31016_z.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a><br />
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But most importantly, my mom has been an amazing mother to her nine children and anyone else who crosses her path and seems to need a little mothering.<br />
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And she wants to help every other mom and grandma in the world to be the best mom or grandma they can be so she's written these awesome books:</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grandmothering-Secrets-Making-Difference-Having/dp/1945547901"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="408" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5FnwcPMBhSrXdUFjgz63V63vTjd-5XmzQaRRAIU7m2kVltnQmMzGQMzL3LhLGnllaqCpTECIxeHHQGYR31ZVO8dWvbzao8T0ts29M9IWDdy6zJ36m-2pRv_pOxGA-wS9v82L/s320/grandmothering.JPG" width="216" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrFNCw59JgTkgxnYV6QbWRMFCBhyphenhyphenFhp5yydwSt5hGDqw8s9mzJlkluXuCJ7pntZjPEb-ZYMJrdLgN4_WbFmR-y0Dieo83euNtOkYT_28_LikWriZxYXYrPNHUEbiVUrOufC-d/s1600/didn%2527t+plan+to+be+a+witch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="348" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrFNCw59JgTkgxnYV6QbWRMFCBhyphenhyphenFhp5yydwSt5hGDqw8s9mzJlkluXuCJ7pntZjPEb-ZYMJrdLgN4_WbFmR-y0Dieo83euNtOkYT_28_LikWriZxYXYrPNHUEbiVUrOufC-d/s320/didn%2527t+plan+to+be+a+witch.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1iWfZa-mvlB0G11na8CU3cMptwqQyETIHqxvKXJR973P1EBb_rQZ043FM5qpWmWzNg-QjiBJZ4hiwGbo6BEKtBnDaNe6r9jOO-CnwMHJ2METTVHGY0EdwshyIZR6TT9JF3VO/s1600/joyful+mother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1iWfZa-mvlB0G11na8CU3cMptwqQyETIHqxvKXJR973P1EBb_rQZ043FM5qpWmWzNg-QjiBJZ4hiwGbo6BEKtBnDaNe6r9jOO-CnwMHJ2METTVHGY0EdwshyIZR6TT9JF3VO/s320/joyful+mother.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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My mom is probably the most kind and hardworking woman alive. She plows right into any task and never seems to get tired. She can talk to anyone about anything with genuine interest and concern. She's smart as a whip and kind as a saint. And yep, there were times when she got really mad or didn't handle things quite right. But she's great at apologizing and learning and moving on. And I especially love her for that.<br />
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<h3>
<b>A FEW SPECIFIC MEMORIES WITH MOM</b></h3>
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I thought I'd finish by sharing some of my favorite memories with my mom here as well as some of my favorite photos. I'm SO amazingly blessed to have such a mother!</div>
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When I was about 4, I yearned for pig tails or braids but my hair was so darn short and just didn't grow. I was always begging mom to do my hair in various ways that I saw on other little girls and that I thought would work for my hair that seemed like it was getting plenty long. Mom kept explaining that my hair just wasn't long enough. But one day when I asked, she dropped everything and did my hair in two miniscule braids. I was over the moon about it. I'm sure it looked ridiculous but I was so so so so happy.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzbijUp21alHKWwDkYS1CPUAnYRnYbT0jYGDQyUxsYKN5vlUKP2lVBZ74MuBygO0Rhfg91aQ_a-F1vCGrTL-NtlA7N08eRyFH0af5RBEiWAeM4_Qv6N7B8gS-8VpV3l4Lg9aa/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30340_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzbijUp21alHKWwDkYS1CPUAnYRnYbT0jYGDQyUxsYKN5vlUKP2lVBZ74MuBygO0Rhfg91aQ_a-F1vCGrTL-NtlA7N08eRyFH0af5RBEiWAeM4_Qv6N7B8gS-8VpV3l4Lg9aa/s640/s_9acqy2vl30340_z.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">wish I had a photo of the braids - but you can see here how little hair Mom had to work with!</td></tr>
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When I turned 5, we had just moved into a new house in a new neighborhood and city. My sweet mom was determined that even though I hadn't had a chance to make any friends yet, I would get to have a really nice birthday party. So she invited all the kids in the neighborhood over - kids ranging in age from 3-10 or so - and made me the most amazing Winnie the Pooh cake. I wish I had a photo of it - but maybe it's good I don't. I don't think it could possibly look as beautiful in a photo as it does in my memories.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhGaRIN4FUNtfpSINVXOSNYKbjSb3IbHMwmlcXhP8WQl1XrLdJzIn-pbfs6iRRngtssejp1V847omn8tkyG9fV9i6H2Z8h9ZpDlRU25xSc4r-aGbzHhbK2GYlApMoUuEOyRm8/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30326_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhGaRIN4FUNtfpSINVXOSNYKbjSb3IbHMwmlcXhP8WQl1XrLdJzIn-pbfs6iRRngtssejp1V847omn8tkyG9fV9i6H2Z8h9ZpDlRU25xSc4r-aGbzHhbK2GYlApMoUuEOyRm8/s640/s_9acqy2vl30326_z.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.4px;">this is my 5th birthday party - no Pooh cake in site - but I love the way my mom is looking at me<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For every birthday, Mom made us a great cake in the shape of something and that meant so much to us. This photo shows the "little girl" cake I requested for my 6th birthday party right after we moved to London.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JsalL36mBdUnt8xRxjP6dPY86zPh7hs2ipMd33QIx2bAqFo84bc-q2yDmCFrAfcap4sgw109oB81TnS4Vi2O8Bly9fyGVEmMts85nQo8RLGDMVJo7-j_Dk9V3H0ThEyvjdiN/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30873.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JsalL36mBdUnt8xRxjP6dPY86zPh7hs2ipMd33QIx2bAqFo84bc-q2yDmCFrAfcap4sgw109oB81TnS4Vi2O8Bly9fyGVEmMts85nQo8RLGDMVJo7-j_Dk9V3H0ThEyvjdiN/s640/s_9acqy2vl30873.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's a close-up of the cake - work of art, huh?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzaonxo3TRnYiYdDdNtlbsdxkOwxw4GVmXah3Dx9cYTM705L7zCGwullGH6nSkIt23C-52TQWjYyGZuAz6M-TwKQ669emmSCaUIjE5QMFpaGuRCOpMlTm6TyOdFtpoL1kKncl1/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzaonxo3TRnYiYdDdNtlbsdxkOwxw4GVmXah3Dx9cYTM705L7zCGwullGH6nSkIt23C-52TQWjYyGZuAz6M-TwKQ669emmSCaUIjE5QMFpaGuRCOpMlTm6TyOdFtpoL1kKncl1/s640/s_9acqy2vl30208.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="420" /></a></div>
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When I was six, I was shopping with my mom for a new coat and found one that I absolutely fell in love with - gray/blue velvet with fake fur trim - the most beautiful coat I'd ever seen. But it was wasn't exactly cheap and my mom was all about shopping on the sales racks and making due with whatever was a good price. I was thrilled when she agreed to buy me that coat. It was my most cherished piece of clothing for years. And then one day it disappeared from the school cloakroom. That was a sad sad day for me. Here's the coat (and Saydi and Shawni):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIH2o8SXk-ZKM9Cv9TMFFmabEIFaB9P3RQJ-zK_TQt4a8cscXy64LLJHqwJGhrgPANu6koz3CKFI6g0m7ZmPgcN6rTLQ0UXpHQS57f9Ep2oYfEdw8uGe6axpOPIT-G6k1fr11V/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIH2o8SXk-ZKM9Cv9TMFFmabEIFaB9P3RQJ-zK_TQt4a8cscXy64LLJHqwJGhrgPANu6koz3CKFI6g0m7ZmPgcN6rTLQ0UXpHQS57f9Ep2oYfEdw8uGe6axpOPIT-G6k1fr11V/s640/s_9acqy2vl30533.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></div>
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On the same note, years later, when I was going to my first formal dance in high school, I showed my mom this dress I thought would be absolutely perfect. I was sheepish about even showing it to her because it was really expensive - and while I'd saved up quite a bit of money (we bought all our own clothes after earning money in our family economy system), I knew I couldn't buy it without some considerable help from my mom. Much to my surprise and delight, my mom said she'd be happy to buy it for me and I didn't even have to use any of my own money. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world and had so much confidence wearing that dress!</div>
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When I didn't have any friends my freshman year of high school, Mom would come pick me up at lunch when she could squeeze it in. I loved those days when I got to hang out with Mom rather than wandering the halls and trying not to look lonely and friendless at lunch. I realize now how hard it must have been for her to fit in those lunch visits when she still had preschoolers to take care of as well as SO many other things on her plate! To help me make friends, she arranged for me to be in a violin sextet that performed all over. She had to take me to rehearsals at 5:45am at my violin teacher's house and drive me to performances. But I made great friends. I also made great friends when she totally supported me in being in a play that involved rehearsals every day and she had to drive me to most of those.<br />
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My first year at Wellesley College, Mom sent me a lovely postcard with an art print on it EVERY SINGLE DAY. She'd fill up the backs of those postcards with great bits of news about everything going on at home. She'd often start by telling me where she was as she wrote the post card - often the line at the grocery store or the post office, often waiting to pick up a carpool. My roommates and friends were amazed (and jealous) at the postcards I received every day. And those cards were a beautiful lifeline to home during that first hard year away. Plus it was great to have those beautiful postcards - I decorated the back of my dorm room door with postcards of my favorite art prints. I love how mom's postcards helped me feel a bond to her and to everyone at home while strengthening the bond we share through our mutual love of art.<br />
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Mom has always been there to help with each of my babies, stocking our fridge, making wonderful gourmet meals, showering love and attention on the older children, taking care of a fussy newborn who had already eaten but couldn't quite settle in the middle of the night so Jared and I could get a little more rest. I wish I had more pictures of that precious post-baby time I had with my mom after each child was born.</div>
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Mom was always the #1 supporter of Power of Moms and now of Power of Families. She immediately jumped at the idea of doing Retreats back when the twins were babies and did so much to make those first Retreats possible. She's hosted and been a keynote speaker at several Retreats at her house in Park City and is doing another one next month. She's always willing to do absolutely anything I ask and has great ideas. Plus pretty much all the best stuff I can offer other moms through Power of Moms and Power of Families is directly thanks to her example and writing and ideas!<br />
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Here's Mom, me, Shawni, Saydi and Charity at the first Power of Moms Retreat we did at my parents' house:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s7phGQqsCuzP6m6hWljCVjI61KAISvJTELyNNcC0OODflIGZ3HhiWj0owvi7W3Dc4CdiNu5silwBKrgjZjxNHY7DZKvcKnzmV8lacgvXwYiTa3SThUvj8nc879MIm4u84hLq/s1600/2011-04-16POMretreat27408_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s7phGQqsCuzP6m6hWljCVjI61KAISvJTELyNNcC0OODflIGZ3HhiWj0owvi7W3Dc4CdiNu5silwBKrgjZjxNHY7DZKvcKnzmV8lacgvXwYiTa3SThUvj8nc879MIm4u84hLq/s640/2011-04-16POMretreat27408_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Thanks for everything, mom. This would be the longest blog post in the world if I were to try to include all the big and little things you've done for me and for countless others. I love you with all my heart. Happy Mother's Day!</span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-59602810339472116562017-11-09T19:27:00.000-07:002018-06-24T19:37:23.141-06:00Chicken MarsalaThis is a big favorite at our house. I adapted it from a recipe someone gave me ages ago and I've continued to tweak it over the years. It is fairly quick to prepare, low in fat, high in protein and flavor. The original recipe called for marsala wine but given that we don't usually have that on hand, I found that basalmic vinegar works beautifully and gives it a very nice flavor. I love it with mushrooms but the kids aren't big mushroom fans and I often don't have mushrooms on hand so I usually leave them out.<br />
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<b><i>Ingredients:</i></b><br />
1 onion, chopped<br />
2 tbsp minced bottled garlic (or about 5 crushed cloves of garlic)<br />
4-5 large chicken breasts chopped into chunks<br />
1 tbs olive oil<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1/2 tsp pepper<br />
1 tsp basil<br />
1 tsp oregano<br />
(or substitute the basil and oregano with 1tsp italian seasoning)<br />
1/3 cup basalmic vinegar (or marsala wine)<br />
2 cups chicken broth<br />
1 tbsp corn starch<br />
1/2 lb sliced mushrooms - white ones work fine, portobello is really tasty, pretty much any type of mushroom works (or two small cans of mushrooms)<br />
1 package penne, fettuccini or farfalle pasta, cooked al-dente in well-salted water<br />
about a cup of grated parmesean or mozzerella cheese (to be added as a topping as desired)<br />
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<b><i>Instructions:</i></b><br />
On medium-high heat, saute chicken, onions, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, basil and oregano together in a large skillet until chicken is no longer pink. Then stir in basalmic vinegar. Simmer for 3-4 minutes while you prepare the chicken broth. Add the chicken broth and allow that to simmer for a few minutes while you mix the corn starch with 1/4 cup cold water until it forms a paste. Mix the cornstarch paste into the chicken mixture in the pan and bring to a boil. After boiling one minute, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until thickened to a sauce.<br />
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Serve over pasta and top with cheese and some fresh ground pepper.<br />
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Serves 6-8.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-32688006173436261322017-08-13T15:59:00.000-06:002017-08-15T17:46:07.261-06:00Europe Part 4 - Paris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here are some of my highlights from our short but very sweet time in Paris:<br />
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- Actually getting on the plane to Paris and actually arriving in Paris - after wondering if it would ever actually be able to happen!<br />
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- Riding from the airport to our Airbnb apartment in a super nice Mercedes van that just happened to be available when we walked out of customs at midnight - the driver had just dropped off a client and wanted a group to take back into the city. He was so typically French with his longish neatly coifed hair, his jeans and blazer, his small wiry frame, his fancy slightly pointy shoes, his accent.<br />
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- Seeing the kids' excitement when we walked into the apartment I'd so carefully picked out on Airbnb - wonderfully French in an over-the-top way with crystal chandeliers, fancy Louis XIV style dressers and desks, skylight windows with a slight view of Sacre Coure, a funky staircase down to a lovely kitchen, so many interesting decorations, all tucked into the rafters of this great old Parisian building. It was one of my "treasure hunt" finds on this trip - I looked long and hard for something cool that would fit in our budget and was so pleased to find this!<br />
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- Choosing and eating pastries at a wonderful little bakery right near our Airbnb first thing the next morning, finding the perfect pain au chocolate a couple days later at a bakery the other way down the street<br />
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- Walking through Paris and noticing the fashions and the restaurants and the creperies and the bakeries and the buildings - everyone remarking on how totally French everything was, having such perfect weather for walking.<br />
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- Showing the kids Notre Dame and the wonder of engineering that it is plus talking about the devotion and faith required to build such a thing - feeling good that I got it right - just a few of the most interesting facts and a pretty quick walk-around (as opposed to some earlier times this trip when I'd tried to show the kids too much and to tell them too much and it just didn't work so well).<br />
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- Seeing that the stained glass in the Sainte Chappelle is every bit as beautiful as I remembered it to be (and trying to tune out complaints from my kids while trying to help them see how amazing it was)<br />
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- Finally seeing that Eiffel Tower that we'd so wanted to see when we were stuck at the Paris airport for 12 hours last time we were in Europe!<br />
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- Eating bread and cheese and laying on the grass beside the Eiffel Tower, random people from all walks of life picnicking around us, while Ashton went on a little treasure hunt to search for something a certain young lady had hidden for him when she was in Paris two days before (as part of a choir trip she was on).<br />
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- Sitting on the steps of Sacre Coeur with a huge harvest moon appearing and great music going on, then going inside the church and seeing a sign - "Someone is praying here 24/7 year round." It warmed my heart to think about prayers going up from that lovely place always.<br />
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Here's Ashton's video about our time in Paris - it shows pretty much all that I talked about above!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-86507078222930986872017-07-02T15:51:00.001-06:002017-08-13T15:57:55.246-06:00Europe Trip Part 3 - England<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">at Tower Bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">National Gallery/Trafalgar Square</td></tr>
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Here are some favorite moments from our time in England:<br />
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Seeing so many places that feel like dear old friends to me - walking around a corner and seeing these iconic places feels to me like walking around a corner and seeing a friend I've missed and I'm so excited to see again. Sharing these dear friends with my family was such a long-awaited pleasure!<br />
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Walking into London for the first time and seeing the Houses of Parliament then Big Ben - seeing the kids so excited to see that familiar icon with their very own eyes.<br />
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Meeting up with Charity and Moses at Trafalgar Square and seeing the kids so delighted to be with their adorable, happy, sweet little cousin and their wonderful aunt (their favorite aunt as they've been instructed to say by Charity)<br />
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Entering Trafalgar Square and seeing Nelson's column and seeing the twins climb on the lions that I used to climb on when I was little, seeing the twins SO excited about the column and the lions since they had built them out of paper with their "Paper London" set before our trip.<br />
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Walking down the Mall and seeing Buckingham Palace.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Coming around another corner and seeing St Paul's cathedral and setting on the steps to eat dinner while the bells were pealing like crazy for like half an hour.</span></div>
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Riding around on the tube and the double decker buses - navigating together and getting pretty good at the system. The kids said that by the end, they felt like they could find their way around London on their own via walking or the tube or buses pretty darn well if they needed to.<br />
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Introducing the kids to digestive biscuits and Pret a Manger and Marks and Spencers treats (the fruit jelly candies are so good and the kids love the tubs of yogurt and rocky road treats)<br />
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Seeing my dear friend Irene (went to Wellesley with her) after so many years and sharing Jared and the kids with her and catching up on our lives. She is such a fine person and so fun to talk with.<br />
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Watching storm clouds roll in as we stood on the ramparts at the Tower of London and looked out at Tower Bridge - such beautiful light and so few visitors at the Tower.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiofQHJgNPVq5OTQ2KuPFnecr7Pq-hZ2SJr1jijXX7Zns3NV7Dnd-FMF3_sHzM9vhvqIi9cBIVSgi5MriVCWQzvpICNxtm1MK-fIM7ywhjjrpd-q99z0coY7P9lEbTcZQaNa80J/s1600/20170531_172109_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiofQHJgNPVq5OTQ2KuPFnecr7Pq-hZ2SJr1jijXX7Zns3NV7Dnd-FMF3_sHzM9vhvqIi9cBIVSgi5MriVCWQzvpICNxtm1MK-fIM7ywhjjrpd-q99z0coY7P9lEbTcZQaNa80J/s640/20170531_172109_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The Tower of London</td></tr>
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Visiting some of my old favorite paintings at the National Gallery and the Tate Britain - paintings I studied, sharing a few tidbits of information with my kids to share my love of art without making them hate it with too much information...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8f60oGn6FldXcBgAiFYn-9cfDXunS_MIrT-CckaZfip6oy_OtZrv_UowoLYJHRRDgR5Em2GKulF3sf6XIr3LL16z5HPnYy0guglIwm17A5esBRhCRUziYr6C_HD8_MojyF21_/s1600/20170601_104742_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8f60oGn6FldXcBgAiFYn-9cfDXunS_MIrT-CckaZfip6oy_OtZrv_UowoLYJHRRDgR5Em2GKulF3sf6XIr3LL16z5HPnYy0guglIwm17A5esBRhCRUziYr6C_HD8_MojyF21_/s640/20170601_104742_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a replica of this painting hangs in my parents' great room so this was fun for the kids to see</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eliza has a print of this painting hanging in her bedroom</td></tr>
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Showing these guys the lovely old row-house where I went to school for 6 months when I was on study abroad in London - the housekeeper even let us inside and it was so cool be inside, the memories rushing back, and maybe plant some seeds for great learning experiences the kids may want to work towards in their futures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk6jr3dJNWjTI5WeU1gXrEDD3CXltVvQgAM5ZGjk8-ST6ZPDVYWnmp8Rw_fB3ZKv7Y5i1u5ieiAKScFeXvHrLUtOgRXNcWZ795OgFCRrtIigWI67MhTZbDRYLSqGdRtkYWKGQb/s1600/20170602_135052_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk6jr3dJNWjTI5WeU1gXrEDD3CXltVvQgAM5ZGjk8-ST6ZPDVYWnmp8Rw_fB3ZKv7Y5i1u5ieiAKScFeXvHrLUtOgRXNcWZ795OgFCRrtIigWI67MhTZbDRYLSqGdRtkYWKGQb/s640/20170602_135052_HDR.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
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Seeing our great cousin Aubrey who's studying at Oxford right now, hanging out on the grass on a perfect evening outside Wesminister Abbey then taking this photo together right around the corner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguMgvNSiXtIzzuHLzo2AxjWqO32TtRANwW9-yVtYGHtOq3FZQmev4UpQ-YnW0KmZWPqy4YJRvxLvSdr08NFdaBPuo-HENTXxlkFiZgp5rzAi7EYcYqKHMeAXQFUqpHgOpOzQ7S/s1600/IMG_20170601_183133+%25281%2529%255B4%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="576" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguMgvNSiXtIzzuHLzo2AxjWqO32TtRANwW9-yVtYGHtOq3FZQmev4UpQ-YnW0KmZWPqy4YJRvxLvSdr08NFdaBPuo-HENTXxlkFiZgp5rzAi7EYcYqKHMeAXQFUqpHgOpOzQ7S/s640/IMG_20170601_183133+%25281%2529%255B4%255D.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
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Going to Evensong at Westminster Abbey, the choir music seeming to come from the vaulted ceiling, the names of famous poets all around us where we sat, feeling such a sense of history imagining all the royal weddings and coronations there plus all the regular people who have offered up their prayers there for over 800 years.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpP1MGmPZhHsGPuXcaAqY-hygUTlvXhzOrBjJKml2I5wtgvQxIWmUOyjK3se5jOl3G-NGYDUsvuA3iHnF6Ce_8x1jQzogdYq6ptpGDgtd26UTsyeECNF_lW25n3CY5KWwC39aE/s1600/20170601_164416_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpP1MGmPZhHsGPuXcaAqY-hygUTlvXhzOrBjJKml2I5wtgvQxIWmUOyjK3se5jOl3G-NGYDUsvuA3iHnF6Ce_8x1jQzogdYq6ptpGDgtd26UTsyeECNF_lW25n3CY5KWwC39aE/s640/20170601_164416_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a>Loved Evensong at Kings College Chapel as well - nothing like sacred music echoing through a gorgeous building with it's architecture pointing to Heaven and speaking of sacrifice and ingenuity so many centuries old.<br />
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Wandering through Cambridge with the wonderful Schwartz family and a couple friends on the most perfect sunny but cool day, going on a boat down the River Cam with so many happy teenagers and such great views and SO many other boats.<br />
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Hanging out with and having great talks with the Schwartz family who are some of our very favorite people in the world, seeing our kids get to be such good friends. (sad that I don't have more pictures with the parents, mostly kid photos...)<br />
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Church with the Schwartz family, seeing British saints all dressed up, good families, great testimonies starting with Rob's (as the bishop he got to start out), so grateful for all the goodness in the world in sharp contrast with the news of terrorist attacks in London the day before.<br />
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Visiting Hampton Court, some complaints and surliness from one of our children ("I'm just not into old stuff" to which I just had to reply "what did you think England would be about?"...) that made my heart sink for a while but then it was OK and I relaxed a bit about trying to make sure everyone saw and learned about everything. Loved wandering the gardens and having the place almost to ourselves as Ashton got some great drone footage then finding we had it too much to ourselves and were locked in along with about 5 other people - finally we found a gate we could get out of.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hampton Court gardens and palace</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tudor section of Hampton Court</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Georgian section of Hampton Court</td></tr>
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Visiting Epsom - so many memories rushed back. As we sat in front of 12 the Ridings in the rain, I told the kids about the Christmas when it snowed and we made tiny snowmen to keep in the freezer, about Claire who lived next door and I thought her mom was getting orange drink right out of the tap the first time she made me a drink of orange squash, how Josh used to climb out on the roof and climb the tree at the house next door, about how Shawni and I would sneak food into our room so we could have a little post-bedtime party many nights (gross warm milk...crumbs everywhere....). Then we went to St Martins school and amazingly the caretaker happened to be there and let us in - so so so many memories flooded back as I walked through those halls and saw my old classrooms and remembered mean Ms Sharman and kind Ms Christy, doing gymnastics in our underwear for PE, saying the Lord's Prayer and learning cute Bible songs at assembly every morning where we all sat on the floor in the gym/cafeteria which seemed to have seriously shrunk, taking Shawni to the bathroom when she was in her first year of school because she thought there were monsters in the bathroom and wouldn't go without me, wetting my pants a time or two in my first year of school there and needing fresh underwear from the huge stash the head mistress kept in a closet in her room, making daisy chains and playing in the trees and on the huge stumps in the grass by the asphalt playground whenever it was dry enough to go on the grass which seemed like it wasn't nearly often enough, doing serious sports for field day on the big field and being so pleasantly surprised when I won third place at something (can't remember what). Finished our time with a cold rainy walk through downtown Epsom to see Little Ben and get fish and chips for dinner.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The house where we lived in Epsom</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfE3w3TWh9G7Z3hyphenhyphenh6fLp3F2WvX52zrGhYg9A3ztWyiq9uGgfQm_ylgJExORk_udPveuDmmg5Ckn96erGgNtur0wIJ8JV2uLTZBwvcAet5Wsk-p5vNkYHiA0T5Z8D3IYoY6vk/s1600/20170605_194828_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfE3w3TWh9G7Z3hyphenhyphenh6fLp3F2WvX52zrGhYg9A3ztWyiq9uGgfQm_ylgJExORk_udPveuDmmg5Ckn96erGgNtur0wIJ8JV2uLTZBwvcAet5Wsk-p5vNkYHiA0T5Z8D3IYoY6vk/s640/20170605_194828_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Martin's School</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuBWCnW7_ci3X0X3PVkkGRSvnp0Nl7M1b3U94BARIqqYCLtBXsMl05zagLuQgoVuzhl0zTuKuecKgk1dmqBJTSe9TcP2qJ7dj0B84Q167S_GBr-ZHBzSIkCbc-DTPGl3ZmTNI4/s1600/20170605_200853_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuBWCnW7_ci3X0X3PVkkGRSvnp0Nl7M1b3U94BARIqqYCLtBXsMl05zagLuQgoVuzhl0zTuKuecKgk1dmqBJTSe9TcP2qJ7dj0B84Q167S_GBr-ZHBzSIkCbc-DTPGl3ZmTNI4/s640/20170605_200853_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gym at St Martin's Infant School where we ate lunch (or dinner as they called it) and did gymnastics in our underwear for PE</td></tr>
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Dover castle - seeing the kids so enjoy exploring such a great castle where they've set things up like they were in the 13th century and the walls are so thick and the ramparts and staircases are so cool and you can go down into the medieval tunnels as well as the tunnels where they managed the front line in World War II - imagination can run wild there. It was so blustery and a bit rainy but felt sort of right for a medieval castle on the coast.<br />
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Sweeping beauty walking along the white cliffs in hold-you-up wind and looking out towards France across the steel gray sea. Freak 3-minute pelting rainstorm then sun.<br />
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Visiting Little Baddow where my great great great grandmother Elizabeth Gower was born and raised. She and her husband joined the Mormon church and emigrated to America. Her son Arthur had a son named Arthur who had a little girl named Hazel who was my beloved grandmother (my mom's mom). An older gentleman and lady showed up to water the flowers inside the church right when we were there and let us in - such a cool old 12th century church where surely my grandmother spent quite a bit of time.<br />
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Seeing the twins climb on everything - they NEVER get tired and ALWAYS find something to climb on - even this skinny little fence thing at Regent's Park:<br />
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Finally getting out of that hospital with Eliza all fixed up and finding dear Amy waiting for us in her car with hugs and a wonderful dinner at her house, seeing how much our kids have bonded with her kids and feeling so grateful for such good, kind friends.<br />
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Meeting up with Charity, Ian, Moses and my brother Josh at Regent's Park - so fun to be with two of my siblings in a place we all hold dear. Gorgeous roses, wonderful company, mellow and sweet evening after a crazy time with half our family missing the Eurostar back to London. Glad to all be safely back in London and to be with people we love, perfect weather, perfectly lovely restful place.<br />
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Seeing the Trooping the Colors procession in celebration of the Queen's birthday. We were so lucky to happen to be in London that day! We saw all the queens horses and all the queen's men, bands, bagpipes, brilliant pageantry followed by the whole royal family in carriages. It was just such a perfect send-off (our plane left London to bring us home that afternoon).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyPeyubN06Gh3sshhsRtXrmtLT-53ZYDnzdem_p09wJtxnkNiegzHCXh5UjWBwDJmg07gPCvEQ7aIJnRCxrMZXP5bHfZujZgSC2ryJvq93JTcg9aUE1TogcnmmvJuW5QJP8_U/s1600/20170617_105915_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyPeyubN06Gh3sshhsRtXrmtLT-53ZYDnzdem_p09wJtxnkNiegzHCXh5UjWBwDJmg07gPCvEQ7aIJnRCxrMZXP5bHfZujZgSC2ryJvq93JTcg9aUE1TogcnmmvJuW5QJP8_U/s640/20170617_105915_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the queen and Prince Phillip in their carriage</td></tr>
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Here's a great video Ashton made about our time in London - sums things off nicely and shows off his excellent videography and editing skills.
<div style="position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8kVgT4mAm5A?ecver=2" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
And here's Ashton's video about our non-London time in England (including Eliza's accident)
<div style="position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_b6TfHH9apI?ecver=2" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-84705827483923350932017-06-21T13:56:00.004-06:002017-06-21T13:57:01.173-06:00Europe Trip Part 2 - Overall ReflectionsJune 16th<br />
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We're on our way back to London for our last day there before getting on the plane home tomorrow and I want to capture some of what we've seen and done and felt before it fades.<br />
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This has been an amazing trip - amazingly beautiful, busy, interesting, exciting, and fun and also amazingly stressful, tiring, and difficult.<br />
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We have seen and done SO much and have been blessed with great weather and so many things working out just as planned or better than planned. There's always some hard stuff on trips - it's almost certain that you'll experience a flight delay or other travel plans not quite working out as planned, not being able to find food when people are hungry, bad weather, not being able to make it work to visit a place you really hoped to see, disagreements about what to do when, or other stuff like that. On this trip, it seems like rather than frustrating things strewn in along the way, we got the vast majority of our bad stuff all in one dose when Eliza broke both her arms falling out of a tree.<br />
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Things were so painful and stressful for Eliza and for me and Jared as we worked to figure out what treatment would be right for Eliza while trying to figure out what to do about our travel plans that would need to be adjusted (SO many issues to work out and a lot of unanticipated expenses involved in Eliza's time in the hospital and in changing our travel plans in a way that would work for everyone and allow for flexibility based on what Eliza was up for).<br />
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In the moment, it seemed impossibly stressful - seeing our sweet girl's arms bent in ways that definitely didn't look right and trying to keep calm so she could stay calm, trying to figure out where to take her to be looked at, working with doctors and nurses using unfamiliar terms and suggesting treatment we didn't really understand, staying overnight in a hospital room with 3 other parents and their little children who were waiting for surgery the next morning (apparently in England, you pretty much always need to stay in the hospital if you need surgery the next morning - interesting. There was a lot of crying in the night from these little kids who were in pain and could't really understand what was happening), sending Eliza off to surgery feeling pretty sure things would be totally fine but surgery is just scary, working with Jared to figure out lots of scenarios for how we could make the rest of the trip work given that we'd missed our train to Paris (so much work trying to figure out plane and train options with super slow internet connections...), helping Eliza do everything you usually need arms and hands to do and trying to keep her spirits up and look for the bright side of everything and make things as decent as possible for her.<br />
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I held it together. Mostly. But it was hard not to let a few tears slip out here and there - so hard to see Eliza in pain and try to make things as good as possible for her while worrying about the other kids and Jared and wondering how I could salvage the rest of this trip that I'd worked so very hard to plan so very perfectly and how much money all this was going to cost us.<br />
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But, as always, things worked out fine. We're so very glad that Eliza wasn't hurt more seriously and that the accident happened while we were staying with some wonderful friends who let the boys and Jared stay an extra night and took such good care of us during this stressful time. We're so grateful that Eliza was very well cared for by wonderful doctors and nurses and we have ever reason to believe she'll heal up perfectly. She's been able to see and do a ton and has had amazing stamina and toughness through all this (lots of things are pretty frustrating when you have two casts on your arms and she was sad to miss out on swimming but she still got to paraglide!). In the end, Eliza's accident caused us to miss out on a day at beautiful Audley End where Eliza broke her arm before we'd had a chance to see much, a train ride through the chunnel to Paris, and an evening and a full day that we'd planned to have in Paris - but the kids didn't really care about Audley End, we got to take the train through the chunnel on the way back from Paris to London, and we were able to do everything we really cared about doing in one day in Paris and really had a perfect day there.<br />
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Then the rest of the trip has gone amazingly well. Every day it was forecast to rain but the rain just hasn't come and we've been able to do everything we dearly hoped to do. Yes, there have still been hard things - times when things take longer than planned and we have to recalibrate our schedule or inconvenience people who are waiting for us, times when people are grumpy/tired/hungry/ complainy, times when it's been too hot or too cold, times when we decided to do something that just didn't work out to be as great as we'd envisioned. But those hard things are somehow easier to deal with in comparison with the big fat hard thing of Eliza's injury.<br />
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I was worried that two and a half weeks wouldn't be enough - there are just so many wonderful places to visit. But now I see that two and a half weeks is plenty of time to see a ton of stuff, get a real sense for a few different countries, have lots of fun times and a lot of bonding experiences and stressful experiences (sometimes bonding and stressful at the same time - sometimes just plain stressful). I think that a trip any longer would simply need to include more time to just soak in the places we visit, not visit more places. I feel like we maxed out the amount of activities and travel and learning and experiencing that we could take in in a 17 day period. And we'll be ready to go home tomorrow.<br />
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For the most part, this trip has been really wonderful - all that I dreamed of and more when I thought of how wonderful it would be to take my kids to see so many places I hold dear and experience the places their ancestors came from (England and Switzerland) and the places that are part of the fabric of our society - so many movies and sayings and pictures of London and Paris and the Alps and adorable little fairy tale villages are part of our every-day life and it's so cool to have actually been there in person. I loved seeing the kids' excitement about seeing so many iconic places. It was just so awesome to come around the corner together and boom - there's Big Ben or Tower Bridge or the Eiffel Tower or the Alps!<br />
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It's a wonderful thing to visit historic and beautiful places as a tourist but if you can also spend time with people who actually live in the countries you visit, you learn about the culture and you feel like you actually know a country a bit beyond simply seeing and appreciating its landmarks.<br />
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I also really hoped that the kids - and Jared - would get a chance to get a sense of what life is like in England as that's a big part of who I am and who Charity and Ian and Moses are right now. Plus I hoped we could all get a sense of what life is like when you live in Switzerland since that will help us understand and appreciate Tal and Anita and Annina more and because it's just cool to understand a bit of what it's like to live somewhere else.<br />
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I think everyone did get that - staying right in the homes of friends and family members or in Airbnb apartments in typical neighborhoods/buildings where regular people live, shopping for groceries in each country, and going to church (all three meetings) in England and in Switzerland really helped. Plus our time in the hospital gave us a unique view into an aspect of British life that most visitors don't get to see! We were very impressed with the care Eliza received and learned a lot about how the British National Healthcare system works (very nicely, for the most part). And Eliza and I got to make friends with our hospital roommates - a little boy with a terribly infected baby tooth that needed to be surgically removed (and his mom), a little boy who needed his tonsils out (and his dad), a little girl who got a crayon stuffed so far up her nose that she needed surgery to get it out (and the little girl's mom and grandma). So interesting to get little glimpses into different people's lives and see the loving care of good parents.<br />
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I think the kids all absorbed and appreciated a lot plus had a lot of fun. It's sometimes hard to tell - especially with non-communicative teenagers who are slow to express themselves when it comes to thanks and often quick to express themselves when it comes to complaining. There were moments when I felt like Jared and I were "dragging pianos" around (as Saydi describes traveling with her kids and trying to make things really wonderful and exciting and perfect when kids seem intent on finding fault with so many things). But there were so many amazing moments that I hope will become part of our family story and our family culture.<br />
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In my next couple posts, I'll share some of my favorite moments from each country we visited. And if you want to see photos of the trip, I documented things pretty well on Instagram. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/looslieuropeadventure2017/">Click here</a> to see photos of the trip.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-53770325515202463232017-06-20T11:37:00.003-06:002017-06-21T13:57:13.691-06:00Europe Trip Part 1 - Headed to London<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">May 30 - On our first flight - SLC to Dallas</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We're on our way to London. It has been a long process over the past couple weeks (in the midst of end-of-school hoopla and some big Power of Moms projects) to plan our our itinerary and find decent deals on rental cars and train tickets and Airbnb places to stay (I get pretty caught up in finding just the right places to visit and stay - it's sort of like a treasure hunt for me and I'm afraid I get sucked in and spend way to long trying to find the most perfect thing). Then this past week, it has been a lot of work getting Power of Moms stuff tied up, laundry done, good walking shoes, hoodies and raincoats found or bought for everyone, travel-size toiletries bought, and everyone packed with all the right things (we hope we got all the right things - you never know about weather!). Then checking in at the airport involved a few more hoops since it turns out that Eliza's name was somehow spelled "Eliva" on her plane ticket - but it all worked out OK. Getting through security is always sort of a circus - getting everyone's shoes and toiletries and computers and phones and wallets and various carry on bags on that conveyer belt and gathering everything up and putting shoes back on afterwards.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But now here we are, on a plane to Dallas followed by a plane to London, and everyone is pleased as punch about it. So far we've only realized we left one thing behind - the neck pillows we will be wishing for on our overnight flight. But we'll survive just fine! Fingers crossed we can all get some sleep on the plane so that that first day (we get in at 9am) won't be too terrible as we try to stay up all day long. Jet lag is just hard no matter what you do but if we can stay up that first day, we should be in pretty good shape.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am so incredibly excited to share some of my very favorite places in the world with some of my very favorite people - all the sites of London, the little town south of London where I lived when I was 6, 7 and 8 and again when I was 16, favorite castles, beautiful countryside, Paris, Switzerland, Germany. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My heart is so full of gratitude that we get to do this, that while so many things have been really hard over this past year and continue to be hard, this amazing deal on airfare popped up a couple months back ($500 round trip from SLC to London!) and gave us a chance to get away on this family trip that we need on so many levels. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes I get all "woe is me" when things I've worked so hard for and prayed so earnestly for just don't seem to come to fruition. But then I realize that where a door doesn't open, God helps open a window. I could make a long list of things that are really really tough in my life right now - but when I look at things with the right perspective, I can make an even longer list of the things that are wonderful. It's easier to notice the things we hoped for that didn't happen than it is to notice the great things that happen that we didn't even think to hope for or that we hoped for or imagined in a different way. But I've made a real point lately of looking for all those "serendipity" things that happen and celebrating them while learning to better accept that many of the things I want and work for may not be right or may not happen the way I'd hope or expect.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">May 31 - on our second flight - almost to London</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We all slept a fair amount on this packed plane - not an easy task! The young girl behind me kept knocking and seemingly kicking my seat to the point that I had to wonder if she had any idea that her actions could be affecting anyone else. I finally raised myself up in my seat and turned around and asked her to please try to keep from hitting into my seat. She seemed totally surprised that she was affecting anyone and apologized. Glad I mentioned something or that probably would have gone on all night! We are seated near the bathrooms and these two men decided to talk and laugh very loudly for quite some time right nearby - while a whole plane-ful of people tried to sleep. Sometimes people's lack of awareness is pretty confusing. But we all took melatonin and it brought on such pleasant sleepiness and while I kept waking up (like a night of camping), I could generally get back to sleep pretty quickly.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are over Ireland right now. I loved watching the cloud-dotted Atlantic below give way to the green patchwork quilt of Ireland. We'll touch down in about a half an hour. Oh, how I love England! It's been great hearing all the British accents of the announcements and flight attendants on this British Airways flight - little things like "cheers mate" and "would you like some tea?" make me smile and make me feel like I'm home. England has such a "home" feeling to me - maybe because most of my earliest memories are there.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I like looking down this row of sleepy almost full-grown people eating the rather odd cream cheese filled pretzels they just handed us and feeling so glad they are mine and that we get to go on this trip together. I always dreamed of taking my family to my mission in Bulgaria and Jared's in Italy and we were so blessed to be able to do that 2 years ago and now I get to fulfill this dream I've had for so long of sharing England with my family.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fingers crossed that the apartment I booked for tonight turns out to be just right (wow, is London ever expensive for accommodations! but i was so excited to finally find a flat that would fit us all and sort of fit our budget). Can't wait to meet up with Charity and Moses and hug that wonderful sister of mine and snuggle that adorable little Mo and have them take us on a walking tour of some of the most iconic spots in London. We'll be tired today and I'm sure things will feel pretty dream-like. But if we can stay awake all day, we should be able to get over jet lag pretty quickly.</span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-75642904764295738612017-05-16T11:51:00.000-06:002017-05-16T11:51:20.374-06:00Motherhood over this past yearSunday - Mother's Day - was quite a lovely day - the kids wrote me nice notes, Jared got me lovely flowers and made a delicious breakfast, during church, all the women were relieved of any duties they usually have during third hour by the men and the youth who took over all the primary classes and nursery for the day and enjoyed tasty treats and the chance to just chat and relax together. Then after church, we took our traditional Mother's Day photos (it was so much faster and less painful than in years gone by!). We went to Park City to have a great lunch with my mom and dad. Everyone went around the table sharing their favorite things about me and about my mom and it was great to learn what the kids notice and appreciate. We got on Facetime with a few of my siblings plus my mom showed us old photos and read us some funny and interesting stories and memories written by my great aunt Wanda who wrote all about the life she shared with her sister, my grandmother and my mom's mom. I love how my mom is always making doing all she can to help us stay connected to our forefathers and foremothers. I love thinking of the sacrifices and joys and work and learning of the mothers who went before me and wondering what kind of legacy I'm leaving for my own children. What will they remember most about me? Anyway, it was such a perfect thing to do on Mother's Day afternoon.<br />
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How I love each of these amazing people who call me mom!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashton, age 17</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isaac, age 15</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eliza, age 14</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oliver, age 12</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silas, age 12</td></tr>
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<br />And how I love this amazing woman who I get to call mom! I realize more and more every day how incredible she is as I try to follow in her footsteps.<br />
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When we got home, I wrote about my motherhood journey over this past year - what I have experienced and learned, that sort of thing. I try to do that every Mother's Day. I won't share all of what I wrote as some is too personal and specific to share. But here are some of my thoughts:<br />
<br />Wow motherhood is some amazingly hard and amazingly beautiful stuff. I think this year as a mother has been by far my hardest. Motherhood felt pretty crazy-hard when I had five preschoolers and everyone was always needing something at the same time and my days (and sometimes nights) were full of simultaneous mutually exclusive needs from so many little people. Plus I was always juggling community involvement and church callings and making healthy made-from-scratch meals and keeping the house pretty darn clean and trying to teach my kids about each of those things while doing them. There were lots of days that were ridiculously full and stressful compounded by the regular needs and constant interruptions (some adorable, some horrible, lots in-between) of five sweet little children who needed diaper changes and stories and intervention as they got into squabbles and help picking up toys and ideas of fun things and who also needed to ask me LOTS of things and tell me LOTS of things almost constantly. (I came across <a href="http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2010/05/being-pecked-to-death-by-duck.html">this old blog post </a>that captured one particularly crazy day.)<br /><br />But in the midst of the busyness there was so much sweetness - they said and did so many cute and funny things, they gave me lots of hugs and kisses, they frequently told me I was the best mom in the world, they thought I knew everything. There were plenty of frustrating and stressful moments and quite a few worries about certain behaviors (a bout of lying, a lot of bickering going on at times, a lack of obedience, etc.) or certain physical and mental things (Should we worry that Isaac isn’t walking or talking as quickly as Ashton did? Is Eliza ever going to get any hair? Do the twins need speech therapy? Should we get surgery to repair their too-short achilles tendons that make them walk on tip-toe which is affecting their foot development or should we go with serial casting? Do we get stitches or just super glue this small gash together? Should we take him in for an x-ray on that hurt arm?...). There sure seemed to be plenty to worry about.<br /><br />These days, I get some nice quiet time while the kids are at school - something I dreamed of for many years. I can plan out the errands I need to do and the work that I’d like to accomplish and can realistically get those things done in an orderly and productive way while the kids are at school. I sit at my computer most of the day working on Power of Moms stuff and connecting with moms around the world. I often feel lonely and things feel a little too quiet but I still feel happy every day that I can actually get things done in an un-interrupted way after all those years of constant interruptions! And going to the grocery store without kids still feels so nice - especially when I see those valiant moms managing 2 or 3 kids at the store.<br /><br />From 3pm to 10pm (and often later), my weekdays are crazy-busy with driving places and picking up and making dinner and checking homework and talking kids through various things. After school, there are still times when the simultaneous mutually exclusive needs go on like they did with the kids were small - someone needs help with homework while someone wants to tell me something cool while someone is asking if they can have a snack while someone is asking for a ride. In the midst of all this busyness, I still get some hugs and “you’re the best mom in the world” from the twins but more often, the kid-initiated interactions I have involve requests (sometimes sounding suspiciously like demands), complaints about what we’re having for dinner or about what they aren’t allowed to do with something with the occasional “let me show you something cool” (usually at the most busy moment) thrown in there. <br /><br />There's still a lot of sweetness as I get to see the kids work hard and achieve in school and in sports and as I see their great personalities emerge more and more. I love how I can now talk to them more as a friend and coach and less as a manager and director. Sometimes motherhood is just so fun these days - we can all play real games together and go on serious hikes together and explore beautiful places together and they show me cool videos and great new music and tell me about interesting and funny things that happen out in their world. And it's heavenly when someone tells me something good that they've observed in my kids - that they are always willing to help, that they are so good with little kids, that they are funny and kind and smart and hard-working. Stuff like that is such music to my ears!<br /><br />It's so nice that they are able to do so many things on their own now - but it's so frustrating when they don't do the things I know they can do and know they should do - like clean up after themselves or simply close doors and cupboards or not leave clothes and towels on the floor (I can't figure out why that split-second act of closing something or hanging up a towel is so very hard!).<br /><br />There are a lot less worries about safety and health and managing the needs of so many little people and a lot more worry about character and interests and achievements and decisions. While mothering little kids was physically exhausting, I’m finding that mothering teens is mentally and emotionally challenging in huge ways.<br /><br />In physical ways (getting dressed, eating, etc.) my kids need me so much less while in emotional and mental ways, they need me a whole lot more - but they don't want to admit they need me very often so it's pretty hard to help in the right ways at the right times. <br /><br />The teaching moments are fewer and the stakes are higher. The kids aren’t with me that much these days between school and sports and work and friends so it’s hard to find the time to enjoy time together and strengthen bonds and talk through how to handle issues that come up in their lives. And when they are around, sometimes they are so surly! I never know whether they'll walk through the door happy and excited to tell me something cool or whether they’ll walk in and I’ll ask the how things are and they’ll just give me some grumpy one-word answers and act totally bugged by me and totally down on everything about their life. <br /><br />When there are worries, knowing just how to address a sensitive topic with a somewhat surly teen is sometimes like walking through a minefield. <br /><br />I love that the kids are all becoming quite self-reliant - but as they become more and more self-reliant and get more chances to be autonomous, they often want more freedom than they’re ready for (or than we’re ready for) and that can cause quite a bit of conflict. It’s so hard to know when to hand a choice over to a person whose brain and reasoning is not fully developed but who needs to learn how to make their own choices!<br /><br />It’s so important but so hard to figure out which choices should belong to them and which choices we need to keep for a while longer. And it sucks having to be the bad guy and say no and feel that anger and hear those hurtful words. But then it’s beautiful when they choose good things and you realize a lot of what you’ve taught has sunken in and that they are becoming remarkable people in many ways. (I did a podcast episode recently about giving our kids choices - <a href="https://powerofmoms.com/empowering-kids-with-choices-episode-201/">check it out here</a> if you want.)<br /><br />This past year has been a year of serious mothering angst and worry and fear - that's probably one of the biggest reasons I haven't blogged much - I've been too busy working through some stuff that's not really blog-able. The hard stuff has spurred a lot of self-reflection and learning and growth and humility for me - but also a lot of heartache. I've been stretched in ways that I've never been stretched before - and sometimes that stretching is so painful! <div>
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I think this quote by C.S. Lewis reflects how I feel about my motherhood experience over this past year:<br /><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<i>“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”</i></h1>
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I don't think I'm becoming much of a palace. For much of this past year, I've felt like I'm not even a "decent little cottage." But I'm starting to see where my mothering has been strengthened and important foundations have been built so I can understand more and do better moving forward and really be the mom my children need. </div>
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I have hopes that one day, if I keep trying and praying and learning and loving with all my heart, my mothering can be something of true beauty to myself and my children. It'll surely be beautiful in different ways that I might have envisioned going in. But it will be beautiful just the same. As my sister Saydi says, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be perfect."</div>
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Here are a few of the main things I've learned this year about mothering (there are probably a lot more but these are the first ones that come to mind):</div>
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<li>No matter what I do, I cannot protect my children from all the things that can hurt them and keep them from making all choices that may cause problems for themselves and others. They have to learn some things the hard way. And taking away too many choices just feels wrong to them and to us as parents. I can advise and warn in simple and logical ways - repeatedly if that feels right. But in the end, control is not the answer. Loving acceptance and gentle persuasion and prayer are the answers.</li>
<li>My children need to recognize me as someone who will always fight for them, love them fiercely, and make sacrifices for them. But they also need to see me as someone who loves them too much to condone behaviors that have clearly led to problems for so many people and loves them too much to let them treat me or anyone else with disrespect. I will always love them unconditionally and open-heartedly. I will always accept them with open arms. But I will continually remind them that respect and love really need to go both ways and will stand up for my feelings and those of others around them.</li>
<li>Certain areas of the brain (cause and effect, empathy, etc) are not very developed for many people until they are into their twenties. Teenagers need a lot of patience and gentle nudges while those areas of their brain develop more fully.</li>
<li>Children are seedlings, not lumps of clay. I've always known that it's our job as mothers to work to figure out who our children really are and help nurture them to become the best apple tree or azalea bush they can be. They come who they are. We are here to water and fertilize and sometimes prune them. We are not here to mold them or try to make them into something they are not. This year, I've come to understand and accept this truth all the more.</li>
<li>The Lord cares about these children even more than I do. He's there to guide me and help them. I need to remember to turn to him and trust him more.</li>
<li>When the going gets tough, love harder. Expressing and truly feeling unconditional love is always a huge part of the answer.</li>
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As part of a Mother's Day note, one of my children told me that they felt like they could talk to me about anything, that I was really good at understanding, and that they knew I loved them no matter what. Hearing that was the best part of my Mother's Day. I guess I am living the principles I spelled out above enough that my children are feeling what I earnestly want them to feel.</div>
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Motherhood sure is a wild ride. And there have been times this year when I've wanted to get off the ride for a bit, give my heart a rest, re-center myself. But I've kept my heart and my mind and my soul in the game. I've thought hard. I've cried hard. I've loved hard. I've worked hard. I've been guided to the right words at the right time in amazing ways. I've been sent beautiful answers to prayers. And the hard stuff makes the beautiful stuff all the more glistening, There have been so very many good moments and memories this year. <br /></div>
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I'm so deeply grateful that I get to mother the amazing children God sent to me.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-78800298597654951072017-05-08T09:02:00.004-06:002017-05-08T09:26:06.606-06:00Important food for thought on screen time<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
I listened to these two episodes of TED radio hour while on a long hike last week and they were full of some powerful food for thought - all the ramifications of the screen time that we and our kids are experiencing these days. Really made me think and wonder...<br />
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We walk around with these mini-computers in our pockets that give us miraculous connections to people that we love and information that we need. But it's so easy to get caught up in what is happening elsewhere and connections with people who aren't near us at the cost of being fully present and enjoying what is actually happening to us in real time and interacting in a non-distracted way with the people who are physically with us.<br />
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Most of us have two realities - the one we are living and the one we are sharing. What does that do to us? And to those who see what we post? No matter how "real" we may earnestly try to be on social media, it is natural for us to want to capture and share the great things in our lives. Plus, because of the shear magnitude of what we all experience internally and externally every day, we could never present the full picture of our lives on social media.<br />
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There's some interesting stuff on how passive screen time (watching TV) affects us and our children differently than active screen time (using an ap or playing a game where our actions affect what the screen shows us). There's some thought-provoking stuff about how virtual reality can change our thoughts and feelings beyond what film can do. There's stuff about how we're essentially all "cyborgs" these days - people who have enhanced abilities due to technological gadgets we attach to ourselves (our phones) that affect our abilities and actions (we can remember things in a super-human way when we record things with our phones using text or photos, we can find out information and shop and do so much more without even moving from our chairs...). </div>
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No one knows how the screen time that is such an integral part of our lives will affect us long-term. We are all guinea pigs. Scientists are trying to figure it out but they have a long long way to go. They have done studies on mice who are exposed to tons of flashing screens and noisy TV shows and have found that those exposed to a certain number of hours of this every day loose their ability to retain information (i.e. groups of mice who were not exposed to all the TV were able to learn and remember how to get through a maze much more quickly than those who were exposed to all the screen time). I see my teenagers so glued to their phones, feeling they simply must see what is on Snapchat or reply to a text, during dinner or while I'm trying to talk to them about something. It's like I'm cutting off their arm or something when I tell them to hand over the phone so they can more fully be present - but it's important and I do make them put phones in their pockets or put them away. We have lots of talks about how we need to be with who we're with while we're with them - that the present person needs to be prioritized over the person or material in cyberspace. But it's hard. That little device is so tempting...<br />
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There's a lot more involved in these two episodes but I thought I'd put down a few of the things I remember off the top of my head.<br />
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<b>Screen Time I:</b> It's become pretty normal for us to always be glued to our screens. So how are they changing us, and how will they shape our future? This hour, TED speakers explore our ambivalent relationships with our screens.
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<b>Screen Time II:</b> When we go online, we present a digital version of ourselves. How do we transform when we interact inside our screens? In this episode, TED speakers explore the expanding role of our "second selves."
<iframe frameborder="0" height="290" scrolling="no" src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/511816479/511817384" title="NPR embedded audio player" width="100%"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-51885381320679383362017-04-22T11:17:00.000-06:002017-04-24T08:17:58.711-06:00Spring Break 2017<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've realized I'm never going to catch up on this blog and I'm likely not going to be blogging all that regularly - but I have been keeping a journal and I may as well share some of the less personal parts here as part of my family history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last year the kids' schools had spring break at different times so we couldn't really go anywhere together. This year the schools had the same spring break so we decided to grab the opportunity and go visit the Bay Area - the place where our family started, where all our kids were born, and where a part of our hearts will always be. We haven't been back there for like 4 years plus Jared now has 2 sisters living there and my sister Saydi is there now as well. So many good reasons to head to the Bay Area!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We had an easy drive across the flat wide open stark beauty then through the still-snowy pass and onto the green of CA. So nice to break things up with 4 drivers and have no crying in the car, everyone happy to be in their own little world with a book or an electronic device when we weren’t listening to conference together (it was General Conference weekend). Loved that we had that dedicated time to get through all of conference. So many powerful messages. Main messages to me were to focus on helping our children learn to get their own revelation and to learn to better access the Holy Ghost myself as I seek more peace and guidance. Nothing earth-shattering but so many important messages that spoke to my heart.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We enjoyed such pleasant and kind hospitality with Jared's sister Sara and family - nice to see their lovely rental home in Piedmont and explore their great neighborhood, enjoy Sara’s tasty beautiful breakfasts, and have good talks with them. Spent a very nice evening with Kathryn, MJ, Will, Lori and the Kimballs - Zackary’s pizza favorites and delicious salad and desserts. Flashbacks as we talked with Will and Lori about their baby due in a couple weeks and remembered when we were living right by where they are now living and were expecting Ashton - serious fond nostalgia. Loved getting to visit Kathryn and MJ's home also - perched up in the hills with great architecture and perfect views in every direction.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perfect sunny warm weather for our three days in SF - amazing!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first day we did the Golden Gate Bridge - sweeping views from way above then closer and closer and a picnic lunch at a favorite new look-out spot, Ashton flying his drone and so excited about all the great footage he got there and along the coast and at the farm - nice that he’s extra excited about things if his drone can be involved and he captures some beautiful stuff and gets great feedback from family and strangers alike (everyone asked him about it while he was flying it and he was excited to tell them all about it and even let a random little kid catch it for him which thrilled that kid immensely). Stopped at Palace of Fine Arts for a pleasant stroll and pictures and tree climbing and reminiscing. Drove up and down some crazy steep roller coaster hills and checked out Nob Hill “snob hill” before heading back to the East Bay.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At Berkeley, had a great time touring the campus with a self-guided phone tour and wandering up and down Telegraph Avenue (cookie ice cream sandwiches were a huge hit). At Berkeley, we saw the most complete t-rex skeleton in the world, saw some interesting student engineering projects, saw the beautiful main bell tower and the very impressive Mining building. Such a conglomeration of different architecture styles and periods. Interesting to see the birthplace of so much free speech stuff. Beautiful river and nature areas mixed in. Fun hodge-podge of architecture styles and so many diverse people all around us. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamzSab1HKtx1lsg2bgpMrCUyJ2O0pYfELrB6AdSwit9r7Gekm537U6GQIMbrIjKqQF2GS9DXay6VUiiGcFVtfCIVkoDCCi9eyA5VCYKWqTvLmov45Lu2KY9oF2xbEizfG5Q8C/s1600/IMG_20170403_155347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamzSab1HKtx1lsg2bgpMrCUyJ2O0pYfELrB6AdSwit9r7Gekm537U6GQIMbrIjKqQF2GS9DXay6VUiiGcFVtfCIVkoDCCi9eyA5VCYKWqTvLmov45Lu2KY9oF2xbEizfG5Q8C/s640/IMG_20170403_155347.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hearst Memorial Mining Building</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sather Tower</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLLD-9zAKDT7M8ydT2Hm67PlGIvsYIycRhmwzL5I2Scg9GF4O3lt-vKwDeAuh645oIeqyzWXfEjTLwU3pO0NGoTqDwXSplNjHvJRdDgCdmQGEUfCKhu2e0PUMWrGmIZQAbCxr/s1600/IMG_20170403_172247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLLD-9zAKDT7M8ydT2Hm67PlGIvsYIycRhmwzL5I2Scg9GF4O3lt-vKwDeAuh645oIeqyzWXfEjTLwU3pO0NGoTqDwXSplNjHvJRdDgCdmQGEUfCKhu2e0PUMWrGmIZQAbCxr/s640/IMG_20170403_172247.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">on telegraph avenue</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next day we walked up and down huge hills - Coit Tower with it’s history of California murals and beautiful views, Chinatown where we felt like we were literally in China with the sounds and smells and sights and crowds. Looked back and saw the kids towering above the crowds of Chinese people swarming around them. Tried some delicious pot stickers and “Chinese tamales” at a little hole-in-the-wall and saw so many crazy different fruits and veggies plus lots of crazy fish and ducks hanging from the ceiling and whole stores full of smelly and not-too-appetizing-looking dried fish. So fun to spend an hour in China without having to go to the other side of the world!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Walked through little Italy and up Lombard Street and found a tennis court right above it with the best 360 views of the city on all sites - Ashton did some drone flying and got some really cool footage of the city. Walked down to Pier 39 to see those ever-entertaining sea lions and make Oliver feel really special at the store there just for leftys. Walked all the way along the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building for some tasty Emanadas and fresh crusty bread with dip then headed on back to Kimballs for some tasty soup.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgo44N27RR_jkpLlAvxTCZxiMsg3wYS9ZR3l-elr3o7H_OarlH0kF1jM-xUW_ux1TiDNlFiUClUJiF1ax4_l5gWHy4DQmBZbSQxDv74mVQ_lqC0ECX8jjtzFq93hIIZW8uZBo/s1600/IMG_20170404_144044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgo44N27RR_jkpLlAvxTCZxiMsg3wYS9ZR3l-elr3o7H_OarlH0kF1jM-xUW_ux1TiDNlFiUClUJiF1ax4_l5gWHy4DQmBZbSQxDv74mVQ_lqC0ECX8jjtzFq93hIIZW8uZBo/s640/IMG_20170404_144044.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">at the base of Lombard Street</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spent day 3 in the South Bay where we had a wonderful lunch at Sprout in Palo Alto (forgot how much I LOVE Palo Alto - still think that would be my #1 place to raise a family but Ogden’s great!) then went to see Stanford. They’d said tours were full when I checked in advance but when we showed up at the visitor’s center to get a map they said there was a tour starting in 1 minute and we could join it if we wanted. Awesome, inspiring tour by an excellent student tour guide - we were all impressed and it was so good for all the kids to hear about all the exciting possiblities that Stanford and college in general can offer. Felt like a really really good thing for the kids and we talked about how even if it didn’t work out for them to go to a school like Stanford or Berkeley for undergrad, it could totally work for grad school (like Uncle Ian). Fell in love with that campus all over again - especially the chapel with its glorious mosaics and stained glass windows and when the organ started playing while we were in there it was simply heavenly.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJQ6iwbc9wr0it4CU1a6KNM4cQdTRtHBv9XzVAUXvizInpN6mKV5-AmGMqPc9ZMtjriPJTwkLWVC2-duHgVhN89H6luNv6AeuO8TWt5eWl58tQRxlHrb_xjrLV5MbUn7EwL6b/s1600/IMG_20170405_165630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJQ6iwbc9wr0it4CU1a6KNM4cQdTRtHBv9XzVAUXvizInpN6mKV5-AmGMqPc9ZMtjriPJTwkLWVC2-duHgVhN89H6luNv6AeuO8TWt5eWl58tQRxlHrb_xjrLV5MbUn7EwL6b/s640/IMG_20170405_165630.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After Stanford, went to visit our old neighborhood in San Jose and worked up the courage to knock on the door of our old house there. Nicest young Indian couple who bought it a year ago and were overjoyed to have us come in and see everything and wanted to hear all about renovations we did on the house, etc. Filled with joy remembering the good days in that precious little house. It looked so much the same but so much smaller! So happy to see it in such good hands and we came away with lots of lemons and oranges from our old trees and really happy hearts. Such a family bonding and precious half hour we spent there! Went past the cemetery where we always went on walks and where all the kids learned to ride their bikes and the hospital right down the street where all the kids were born.</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJQEabwdMOTIF7VS2x_0cnUVhcEzLXQzojLoRXtTHIHGboDwjd0rOY4h4WSHS_QR3TItehdQQcBld6T-J9j3xlj5tT7aij0aAaobYCEGeEDYnrjbARCaqdFZFPVxEFlzDjz6R/s1600/IMG_20170405_183905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJQEabwdMOTIF7VS2x_0cnUVhcEzLXQzojLoRXtTHIHGboDwjd0rOY4h4WSHS_QR3TItehdQQcBld6T-J9j3xlj5tT7aij0aAaobYCEGeEDYnrjbARCaqdFZFPVxEFlzDjz6R/s640/IMG_20170405_183905.jpg" width="640" /></a></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUQubvWZmscAm67f_U6FQB7jVaRGelsyhY6YS0R5Hmtx48UYl1x9om3B2FCnLMw7ylRUY6VzR59smT_RQyfFjD0GN07mYLcjdzL1k4ueHtr2SlSdHUSvvuSEzU_r-HscHZKJWs/s1600/IMG_20170405_185940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUQubvWZmscAm67f_U6FQB7jVaRGelsyhY6YS0R5Hmtx48UYl1x9om3B2FCnLMw7ylRUY6VzR59smT_RQyfFjD0GN07mYLcjdzL1k4ueHtr2SlSdHUSvvuSEzU_r-HscHZKJWs/s640/IMG_20170405_185940.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then we wandered Santana Row and used the huge chess set and checked out the fancy shops -especially Tesla for Ashton. So many great memories there with little kids running around in such a beautifully done open-air mall that we could walk to from our old house.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-FPwlPBtDIubq5o0uZZaAoNZWVFUzLM5a56BbUKiJIGhDCT2rxPl1fwQk5YAar8oeKUyWgCafqt2E0jJRtPQ6yO2rtttLV8_QwP1mPIprl0vQqax6Kw_9D3ER2JXSdkh9vUk/s1600/IMG_20170405_194336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-FPwlPBtDIubq5o0uZZaAoNZWVFUzLM5a56BbUKiJIGhDCT2rxPl1fwQk5YAar8oeKUyWgCafqt2E0jJRtPQ6yO2rtttLV8_QwP1mPIprl0vQqax6Kw_9D3ER2JXSdkh9vUk/s640/IMG_20170405_194336.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next morning we packed up at the Kimballs and spent a few minutes enjoying the Oakland Temple grounds.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgY-PVibxdi6DCGVEjJwYKH42I-cKBsw2BqMklXBYCzXRxWRuSA9q6jaTDLIB8PxTkNBV4hShyphenhyphenydYSsD8ccrvNs3-O9CBDmS0t74_B6hFtiwYXCVcBl9hDySW6S64ahGzG9UA/s1600/IMG_20170406_095941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgY-PVibxdi6DCGVEjJwYKH42I-cKBsw2BqMklXBYCzXRxWRuSA9q6jaTDLIB8PxTkNBV4hShyphenhyphenydYSsD8ccrvNs3-O9CBDmS0t74_B6hFtiwYXCVcBl9hDySW6S64ahGzG9UA/s640/IMG_20170406_095941.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZOCyFjufZVIlSJ6wqPB438Ikls5bVpMs7FzbQWiianizkE82kzVIbMHUkhE272b-R4W3WWBdMjYVFzLT_zi7xjX_QSmJeFrWZ51oW544n706C2M2kHmLBo1XMydVffo0k6Iw/s1600/IMG_20170406_095527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZOCyFjufZVIlSJ6wqPB438Ikls5bVpMs7FzbQWiianizkE82kzVIbMHUkhE272b-R4W3WWBdMjYVFzLT_zi7xjX_QSmJeFrWZ51oW544n706C2M2kHmLBo1XMydVffo0k6Iw/s640/IMG_20170406_095527.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then we headed for the Shumway Farm - raining, of course, always rain when I go to the Shumway Farm. Loved sharing the wonders of that place with Isaac and Ashton and Jared who didn’t go with us when I took the younger kids for President’s Day. So fun to have Oliver and Silas so excitedly point out every little thing as we got closer and rave about all the cool things they were going to show everyone who hadn’t been there before - clearly a place they have made their own in their hearts.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2XDKYTKgHeUtEivOSu9Lyz0LsjcGkwuJdRPZa7Tttn1cyxqeZBgtFWb7Yl2z8tlfPStpsEfMMszMEJl74lI48sDzLSMecAPhOEcSqrZUTWIk8MaE_V3TDzTZBRljGp-Nc22-z/s1600/IMG_20170407_100431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2XDKYTKgHeUtEivOSu9Lyz0LsjcGkwuJdRPZa7Tttn1cyxqeZBgtFWb7Yl2z8tlfPStpsEfMMszMEJl74lI48sDzLSMecAPhOEcSqrZUTWIk8MaE_V3TDzTZBRljGp-Nc22-z/s640/IMG_20170407_100431.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the road to the farm</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we got there, we ignored the drizzling rain and explored and wandered and talked and ate and worked really hard alongside Noah and Kristi who were there for their last day on the farm. Lots of digging and planting and lifting and moving plus time to just enjoy the beauty of the place and visit the magical bridge area. So wonderful seeing all the cousins together. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4NP_pFCl0jaN5nbLu7zciwbLVXpPwSiNX0iGaTcKFFfkFgdRlz9-M-Pe33TgdmD_JmFVA7JHCrj-QM8VKeMQXZKshLONCqepS6tW4Br3M8glwlfFFgRN14VJr_p1sIbgvNyMn/s1600/IMG_20170406_135925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4NP_pFCl0jaN5nbLu7zciwbLVXpPwSiNX0iGaTcKFFfkFgdRlz9-M-Pe33TgdmD_JmFVA7JHCrj-QM8VKeMQXZKshLONCqepS6tW4Br3M8glwlfFFgRN14VJr_p1sIbgvNyMn/s640/IMG_20170406_135925.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggqHiyGVbT1x6AcWoP5c26y1ElviqlD-ZA9BPOvMuAf-QbAqvFHvFpE56p1ll20y2l40fEECMHFzU_hZg4BwiDfb4HPpN3sDVGwVQu7pwZmo83L74Vr5gB-6bhAg-OcZiSFec3/s1600/IMG_20170406_143051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggqHiyGVbT1x6AcWoP5c26y1ElviqlD-ZA9BPOvMuAf-QbAqvFHvFpE56p1ll20y2l40fEECMHFzU_hZg4BwiDfb4HPpN3sDVGwVQu7pwZmo83L74Vr5gB-6bhAg-OcZiSFec3/s640/IMG_20170406_143051.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgUQdNjZxDx3u1Xy5iRSpsNDZ1pEhUvNQ0U4LeOlDiLykRZoT1c-LaFTBDAxUXBcOn2zAJ1ri4ymU1HTCu5HJMxeVgyMIotnIHDwNKoMLRloCEn9q4D29Y0FHtImovLnsk_lE/s1600/IMG_20170406_140033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgUQdNjZxDx3u1Xy5iRSpsNDZ1pEhUvNQ0U4LeOlDiLykRZoT1c-LaFTBDAxUXBcOn2zAJ1ri4ymU1HTCu5HJMxeVgyMIotnIHDwNKoMLRloCEn9q4D29Y0FHtImovLnsk_lE/s400/IMG_20170406_140033.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lyla decorated Jared's beard for him</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEVSIqmrEkZLjfOQxMmLY5EEE5_yau3INcfPK1Is-DhO6v7yD1qFIk3Y_iQWXtK72Yb1-pLS0XQWsi6UjLo4Qa9Gj_kXqmUONnftuFkZJJYVRWIOD_b1dv3k1ZHl5nN_n4yGfJ/s1600/IMG_20170406_145329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEVSIqmrEkZLjfOQxMmLY5EEE5_yau3INcfPK1Is-DhO6v7yD1qFIk3Y_iQWXtK72Yb1-pLS0XQWsi6UjLo4Qa9Gj_kXqmUONnftuFkZJJYVRWIOD_b1dv3k1ZHl5nN_n4yGfJ/s640/IMG_20170406_145329.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">somehow Mila felt perfectly comfortable riding this way with Liza</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKPXna1SS8AepowoS4_FeDD1x7BuwEI_gI2CcqQFCMqRJk778LVYi9ZzgN5xMx9LPSqqfJkEDYRWIw6OWR1U10LlUxm6LYdvv08oN01sX1u1ypoGrcq97RjnNcp2A1voGoPMq/s1600/IMG_20170406_123739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKPXna1SS8AepowoS4_FeDD1x7BuwEI_gI2CcqQFCMqRJk778LVYi9ZzgN5xMx9LPSqqfJkEDYRWIw6OWR1U10LlUxm6LYdvv08oN01sX1u1ypoGrcq97RjnNcp2A1voGoPMq/s640/IMG_20170406_123739.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We all had so much fun taking turns with baby Faith</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Great dinner all together after our hard work then we had a great birthday party for Jesus since it was April 6th (the day Joseph Smith said was Jesus's actual birthday plus the birthday of our church). Everyone shared something they really love about Jesus, a favorite teaching, etc. and we had cake and ice cream. Such a spirit-filled and beautiful evening! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZp7RRkX4ubghju1Frqi3DDZvWL7wqpNM0N-dO_bOT8f1CGS88IIJgDQ0nCabMdv2ptp789ojUJlRMl2juENAI40MC2vyk4J60mnrQOBMb8KFPPvLYAC6ih_PRHd9XOi5_7_0/s1600/IMG_20170407_095407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZp7RRkX4ubghju1Frqi3DDZvWL7wqpNM0N-dO_bOT8f1CGS88IIJgDQ0nCabMdv2ptp789ojUJlRMl2juENAI40MC2vyk4J60mnrQOBMb8KFPPvLYAC6ih_PRHd9XOi5_7_0/s640/IMG_20170407_095407.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the chickens lay these beautifully colored "Easter eggs"</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then we headed off to go see the amazing elephant seals at Ano Nuevo - gorgeous misty walk along the coast and guides there who almost reverently told us wonderous facts about these creatures while we watched piles of pups sunning themselves and occasionally getting up to move, their blubber rippling as they inched their way along. God must have had a lot of fun creating so many different creatures!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the way home from Ano Nuevo, we stopped at a beach so the kids could run around on the sand. Of course, a little running around on the sand turned into some totally submerged and sandy and freezing kids by the end (good thing we always keep a couple blankets in the van).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBqA7_hvcsvfynbvcopNIfRhy17OvwGAG35-HXxOk5HE3h1qt4jIcyHbBxcZ1xd8pxgLGcK51tvKvewD-2V75FG1J6tzTd9AhWTHSLj9h7orBZg5jnqRVahyB0WdR3eDh-iUy/s1600/IMG_20170407_170912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBqA7_hvcsvfynbvcopNIfRhy17OvwGAG35-HXxOk5HE3h1qt4jIcyHbBxcZ1xd8pxgLGcK51tvKvewD-2V75FG1J6tzTd9AhWTHSLj9h7orBZg5jnqRVahyB0WdR3eDh-iUy/s640/IMG_20170407_170912.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyJtfperoswv-btZZYGWzMG-vDt7XRtfcvB5x_3obUIFHYRxqUOFMdVyEqr-a2XribxnGzrBSm7XCoO4zOE_FzlELcL5wdlX2gO2BztZ4ybbLlEIu3xEWUxMc_MMN50eWdopM/s1600/IMG_20170407_172242.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyJtfperoswv-btZZYGWzMG-vDt7XRtfcvB5x_3obUIFHYRxqUOFMdVyEqr-a2XribxnGzrBSm7XCoO4zOE_FzlELcL5wdlX2gO2BztZ4ybbLlEIu3xEWUxMc_MMN50eWdopM/s640/IMG_20170407_172242.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lots more farm work the next day - sometimes in some pretty heavy rain. We transplanted lots of baby plants from the greenhouse into the big hoop house, putting them into the gopher baskets we made and buried and amending that heavy clay soil and hoping for the best - poor soil and so many deer and bugs and gophers - I hope those little plants make it! We did our very best to give them the best possible chance! Jared and the boys cut down and chipped up tons of wood and we used that to cover the garden. Oliver, Silas and Charlie worked on building a new chicken coop. Proud of how hard all the kids worked and Saydi and Jeff were most impressed and thankful. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGrLMagdqu-ZEWkOTeNnbGIwaw1uLllmaG4RVOHwYt5mFhHkdPzGc6tSWc0J8DNwVEJtvSnf-IRXl-uRcB9O9nm6XvjbBKX6_GN7dK33SXgNze1mXK3HkLOCL_avcYPvVRXC7/s1600/IMG_20170408_112637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGrLMagdqu-ZEWkOTeNnbGIwaw1uLllmaG4RVOHwYt5mFhHkdPzGc6tSWc0J8DNwVEJtvSnf-IRXl-uRcB9O9nm6XvjbBKX6_GN7dK33SXgNze1mXK3HkLOCL_avcYPvVRXC7/s640/IMG_20170408_112637.jpg" width="480" /></a></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_D5W-nePI9QFVdKSp5ApFNPbvL6Rd-qjusCExC2iMBbQ9WDrJJDT_Sfv2zVrPRB-jdHXQ9xF4g6kW_Mt7YTh81ma9uV7B9ES7XlI88dVtmrR9U0CfL_yvXvNjVEFQmLOVddky/s1600/IMG_20170406_153944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_D5W-nePI9QFVdKSp5ApFNPbvL6Rd-qjusCExC2iMBbQ9WDrJJDT_Sfv2zVrPRB-jdHXQ9xF4g6kW_Mt7YTh81ma9uV7B9ES7XlI88dVtmrR9U0CfL_yvXvNjVEFQmLOVddky/s640/IMG_20170406_153944.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cutting back weeds the old fashioned way</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhny-LtQAJWxQxOdmbyqjLkfIdGpfw5kZB0Pu7SLzgxBMUdaR_AKq3oTcy97qQql76QKNMJuvaKQjabovlT5q7NM_ky_xKmEJ1EubmS6THcinaZkV3ZjxpHxtxTum1qsmZxyZem/s1600/IMG_20170408_112832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhny-LtQAJWxQxOdmbyqjLkfIdGpfw5kZB0Pu7SLzgxBMUdaR_AKq3oTcy97qQql76QKNMJuvaKQjabovlT5q7NM_ky_xKmEJ1EubmS6THcinaZkV3ZjxpHxtxTum1qsmZxyZem/s640/IMG_20170408_112832.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then we went to the tide pools up by Moss Beach - such wonder and beauty - looking and looking and being rewarded by finding so many little fascinating things. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2xL1r1im7ZNV-Y4tH3yPAC8r9Ic41dQyxcx2R0TiOxK4XgpuRayUDuAmWLNLAU-yQWf1xmV6Fugqvb2ID9KjMLYKJJJES9vJ7E7DzHNnt93OT1BJ0zr0wiBiznNPBwpDfS5A/s1600/IMG_20170408_164322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2xL1r1im7ZNV-Y4tH3yPAC8r9Ic41dQyxcx2R0TiOxK4XgpuRayUDuAmWLNLAU-yQWf1xmV6Fugqvb2ID9KjMLYKJJJES9vJ7E7DzHNnt93OT1BJ0zr0wiBiznNPBwpDfS5A/s640/IMG_20170408_164322.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5gT5-NAgvqm4zUrHnMlm1AeO-XRASU9JYJbNAp2RtawxAplW7KDB_tJg_se0B4VD5AW-6oRpdWGXSSgDQa83cOCXvhr-St0_cUYQiY6bFMq_Vo99TZWROPfvkbf0o23rj2XD/s1600/IMG_20170408_164338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5gT5-NAgvqm4zUrHnMlm1AeO-XRASU9JYJbNAp2RtawxAplW7KDB_tJg_se0B4VD5AW-6oRpdWGXSSgDQa83cOCXvhr-St0_cUYQiY6bFMq_Vo99TZWROPfvkbf0o23rj2XD/s640/IMG_20170408_164338.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then walked through a lovely cypress grove above the tide pools before heading to what is now my very favorite look-out point - an old bunker on a hill near Devils Slide where you can get the very best views up and down the ragged-cliffed coast. Then we went on to Taco Bell with the best views ever at Pacifica Beach where the kids ate and Oliver and Silas and Isaac actually ran into the ocean and submerged themselves - crazy crazy people that they are! It was so cold I couldn’t even keep my camera still to take photos because of shivering. The sunset was spectacular and it was fun to see it dotted with the sillouettes of the kids freaking out in the cold cold water against that pastel sky.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ashton took the shivering heroes and all the kids home in our van and Saydi, Jeff, Jared and I went to dinner at Half Moon Bay - tasty Himalayan food and great deep conversation about kids and life and so many good things. Love talking with those guys.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sunday morning - Palm Sunday - said goodbye to Saydi and Jeff as they took off for church then hiked up to the platform on the ridge for our own little Palm Sunday service before the long drive back home. Such beauty - and a sweet warm spirit thinking of Christ and the joy plus somewhat fearful anticipation that Palm Sunday must have brought to His heart. More drone flying for Ashton to capture the last of the farm then cleaned up and left the farm to head home. Stopped to take the sacrament when we realized we were right by the Shumway’s ward building right when the sacrament would be happening (it was exactly on our route home). Stood in the lobby in our non-Sunday clothes and reverently took the sacrament which was so very nice as I’d really missed it the last week when it was General Conference. It really does make a difference for me to take the sacrament every week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SUCH a great trip - such needed family bonding time, beauty, family, fun, memories, inspiration. So grateful. And came home so tired!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-65437222220294872792017-02-22T14:48:00.000-07:002017-02-22T14:51:50.675-07:00A poem about how I want to beOliver, Silas, Eliza and I spent the holiday weekend (and longer thanks to the rain and snow that made our return journey a lot longer than planned!) visiting my sister Saydi at the farm she and her family are living on in Northern California. What a gorgeous and green and wet place full of adventure and work!<br />
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On the way home in the car, Eliza was working on homework and we discussed the "Poem of the Week" that she needed to analyze for school. The poem really resonated with me - made me think about how I handle things, how I'd like to handle things and about who I really want to be and things I need to work on. I thought others would also find it helpful so here it is:</div>
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<h2>
IF</h2>
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If you can keep your head when all about you </div>
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Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, </div>
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If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, </div>
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But make allowance for their doubting too; </div>
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If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, </div>
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Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, </div>
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Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, </div>
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And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: </div>
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If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; </div>
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If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; </div>
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If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster </div>
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And treat those two impostors just the same; </div>
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If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken </div>
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Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, </div>
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Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, </div>
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And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: </div>
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If you can make one heap of all your winnings </div>
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And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, </div>
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And lose, and start again at your beginnings </div>
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And never breathe a word about your loss; </div>
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If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew </div>
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To serve your turn long after they are gone, </div>
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And so hold on when there is nothing in you </div>
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Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ </div>
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If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, </div>
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Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, </div>
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If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, </div>
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If all men count with you, but none too much; </div>
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If you can fill the unforgiving minute </div>
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With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, </div>
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Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, </div>
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And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!</div>
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<br /></div>
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- Rudyard Kipling</div>
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I want to be able to do all the things Kipling talks about in this poem so I can find more peace in my life and so that my kids will have a good example to follow. It's such a challenge to "keep my head" when life gets really stressful and bad things happen. It's so hard to plow forward with saying and doing what I feel is right regardless of what anyone thinks. It's so important - and difficult - to throw my whole heart and effort into the things I feel I must do and work towards my dreams but somehow keep from being too attached to things turning out the way I envision they will. And when things go wrong or turn out really differently than planned, it's so hard to move forward with hope and without the baggage of regret. But how I admire and want to be like those who are able to do these things!<br />
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Now I just need to figure out the how...</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-20092344546581303082017-01-30T10:59:00.000-07:002017-01-30T19:41:05.787-07:00Overview of 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBlc9SOfqY6p06PnG2tYJ1KyZSDPJ-FeQgwPE755LZFoG40mhZ9Mmpp6y6dOeTk-JhXk0SWhV3Pj5xiAwqm5ys6crm939GR87fajufj2Zq1CfE0mahveynr0Q1sNAh-_M1Awbb/s1600/family+2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBlc9SOfqY6p06PnG2tYJ1KyZSDPJ-FeQgwPE755LZFoG40mhZ9Mmpp6y6dOeTk-JhXk0SWhV3Pj5xiAwqm5ys6crm939GR87fajufj2Zq1CfE0mahveynr0Q1sNAh-_M1Awbb/s640/family+2016.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Usually I get a digital Christmas card out every year. But this year, it just felt too overwhelming to sit down and try to capture an overview of 2016. There was so much - so much beauty, so much adventure, so much learning and growth, so much heartache and exhaustion and stress.<br />
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I've recorded the highlights and some of the less-heavy lowlights pretty thoroughly on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sarenloosli/">Instagram here</a> so for a while I thought I'd just leave it to my Instagram feed to share the story of 2016. But then I decided that I really want a written overview of the year combined with some of my favorite photos of the year.<br />
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So here it is.<br />
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<h2>
THE KIDS</h2>
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Above is our traditional on-the-stairs Christmas photo of the kids and below is an overview of what each of them have been doing this year.<br />
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As I held my new baby niece the other day, I marveled that my babies are now so darn big. Sometimes I really miss my babies and toddlers and those sweet, funny little people that my kids used to be. Then I count my lucky stars that I now have children who can dress themselves (even if they don't choose outfits I love all the time), go to the bathroom and bathe by themselves (even if their bathrooms are always so much messier than seems necessary), drive themselves places (even if their driving can be pretty darn scary sometimes!), make their own choices (which sometimes results in stressed-out parents and kids learning from mistakes...), and teach me so many new things (about technology, music, drones, football, skateboards, cross country running, track, basketball, Minecraft - and parenting - wow, do they teach me a lot about parenting which in turn teaches me a lot about myself!).<br />
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We live in a community where there are quite a few families who are in need of help with their children for various reasons. At least once a week all year, our kids have cheerfully and excitedly taken on the challenge of caring for several small children at our house for several hours at a time. They read stories, play games and have fun teaching the kids new things. They genuinely love these little kids and have never complained or asked for compensation when asked to watch these children. I've found such joy in seeing such beautiful relationships develop between my kids and their dear little friends.<br />
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We did a ton of camping and hiking this year and Jared and I were so impressed with the way the kids handled the inevitable tiredness and discomfort. They were great about pitching in to do whatever was needed and about keeping on going when they were tired and hungry. These are some tough kids!<br />
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They've certainly had their moments (which sometimes stretch into days and weeks) when they haven't gotten along and sometimes haven't liked each other much. But for the most part, I'm so grateful for the friendship and support the kids show each other and show to me and Jared.<br />
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While there have been times over this past year when parenting has been excruciatingly hard and we've all had to learn some things the hard way, we are so grateful for each of our children and for the wonderful people they are becoming.<br />
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<h2>
ASHTON:</h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OGKXAHbgLOdi9RZhWeTUte-ajf88_54jgPYtPsZLe3dVtFXqsvNGV2SASSAuGN5f9h-_EjAFaATQ8C4LW1pwI7bMmhcsGTgF2heyv68_KCnQj9Z7hX_2bTGo39eID0b_8qY7/s1600/ashton2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OGKXAHbgLOdi9RZhWeTUte-ajf88_54jgPYtPsZLe3dVtFXqsvNGV2SASSAuGN5f9h-_EjAFaATQ8C4LW1pwI7bMmhcsGTgF2heyv68_KCnQj9Z7hX_2bTGo39eID0b_8qY7/s640/ashton2.jpg" width="633" /></a><br />
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<ul>
<li>Turned 17 on Jan 3 - but everyone guesses he's more like 21; so strong - can bench press more than his weight</li>
<li>Doesn't like to smile for pictures</li>
<li>Junior at Ogden High School</li>
<li>Earned his Eagle Scout Rank this year (which allowed him to get his driver's license...)</li>
<li>Worked really hard at football and got quite a bit of time on the field, made lots of friends and was a completely devoted team player</li>
<li>Honed his videography skills - created some excellent videos on his You Tube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ashtonloosli">here</a>, was the videographer and video editor for a self-help website (you can check out the videos he did <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/justinsinspiration">here</a>), and is now working on a video for each national park we visited last summer as part of the guide I'm writing (will be available in March). Is taking things to a whole new level (literally) and capturing some amazing stuff with his new drone.</li>
<li>Was a star employee at McDonalds for much of the year and sure learned a lot there (decided it's high time to move on and is looking for a new job now) </li>
<li>Taking AP US History and AP Biology plus honors English and math as well as a business development and mobile app development class at school. Working hard and getting excellent grades.</li>
<li>Excellent snowboarder - likes to crank up his music and do his own thing on the slopes</li>
<li>Fixes my computer, helps me figure out my phone, helps Jared fix our car issues</li>
<li>Keeps me up to date on the news and has solid opinions and ideas about so many things plus he has a great sense of humor</li>
<li>Found a cliff to jump off into a river or lake in just about every national park we visited this last summer (and just about gave his mother a heart attack - again and again!)</li>
<li>Got his Eagle Scout award last spring</li>
<li>Can do absolutely anything he sets his mind to do</li>
</ul>
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<h2>
ISAAC:</h2>
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<ul>
<li>15 years old; grew about 6 inches this year</li>
<li>Sophmore; First year at Ogden High</li>
<li>Turned a corner with his academics and has become such a diligent and successful student; taking AP World History and honors math and English plus enjoying learning new skills - mobile app class with Ashton and a cool technical design class where he got to 3-D print a car design he came up with</li>
<li>Part of the swim team last season and enjoyed his first year on the high school cross country team this fall, worked hard and made lots of great friends</li>
<li>Close to getting his Eagle Scout rank</li>
<li>Just got his driver's learning permit (after months of trying!)</li>
<li>Excellent skiier - loves skiing with friends and family</li>
<li>Came in first for his age category for the Olympic distance at the RAGE Triathalon</li>
<li>Favorite fun friend to so many babies and little kids in our neighborhood and ward</li>
<li>Really funny - often without meaning to be - good at laughing at himself</li>
<li>Very social and has lots of great friends who he wants to be with a lot</li>
<li>Is hard-working and determined</li>
</ul>
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<br />
<h2>
ELIZA:</h2>
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<ul>
<li>14 years old (as of Feb 13th); as tall as her mom</li>
<li>8th grader; second to last year at Ogden Preparatory Academy</li>
<li>Taking all the honors classes she can, great Spanish speaker, worked extra hard and got straight A's the past two terms</li>
<li>On student council at school</li>
<li>Does lots of community service through her membership in the Junior Junior League</li>
<li>On the junior high basketball team - both JV and Varsity(super fiesty player) and cross country team (super fast runner - got medal after medal) plus runs for another Junior High's track team. </li>
<li>Placed in all her Ogden High mountain bike races this fall.</li>
<li>Great skier who loves skiing on her own or with friends and family.</li>
<li>Favorite babysitter to many families in our community and always willing and happy to babysit</li>
<li>Working hard on the Personal Progress program at church and is almost done</li>
<li>Determined and hard-working, loves to be involved in everything, such a good friend to so many </li>
</ul>
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<h2>
OLIVER AND SILAS: </h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silas had to get his appendix out on Christmas Eve</td></tr>
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(I tried to write up individual lists for each of them but the lists overlapped so much it just didn't make sense! They are such great friends and really love doing everything together but are OK to do things separately if it works out that way.)</div>
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<ul>
<li>12 years old (as of January 14th)</li>
<li>6th graders - last year of elementary school</li>
<li>Working hard in school and getting good grades (other than that C in music that they both are pretty confused about...)</li>
<li>So excited that they are now ordained deacons at church and that they can now participate in all the youth activities with their big brothers and sister</li>
<li>Always reading big fat books - mostly fantasy. They enter their own little worlds as they read and it's hard to get their attention!</li>
<li>Really into Minecraft and Geometry Dash (often found sneaking a little extra computer time...)</li>
<li>Always climbing something - trees, rocks, walls, you name it.</li>
<li>Always building something - snow forts, K'nex roller coasters, a clubhouse in the backyard</li>
<li>Mad trampoline skills</li>
<li>Have more energy that probably any other human being and are always up for any sort of adventure</li>
<li>First year running on the cross country team - got better and better throughout the season, Silas got to go to the regional meet</li>
<li>Super skiers - love the double black diamonds and powder, often making their own trails, they can not only keep up with Jared but lead the way with him these days!</li>
<li>Peacemakers - these boys are so loving and are always ready with a hug or a kind word when things get tense around here</li>
<li>Positive - they can always see the good in everything and are great at giving compliments and expressing thanks</li>
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<h2>
SAREN:</h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRerZYEY93glHBHgoym-vaABdK7qvm2rESqc4MEtGKJyQnXTE_t8C6FxDGfCnVW9NK5Id443nrXq-jFySzMqWBLReXbWkq8h3P30G0SaU48PK4vsGnAZiujO4teiv4IzREDqkA/s1600/saren+costa+rica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRerZYEY93glHBHgoym-vaABdK7qvm2rESqc4MEtGKJyQnXTE_t8C6FxDGfCnVW9NK5Id443nrXq-jFySzMqWBLReXbWkq8h3P30G0SaU48PK4vsGnAZiujO4teiv4IzREDqkA/s640/saren+costa+rica.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Costa Rica</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocky Mountain National Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEXWYpDXxaQggEVQ4Fk1ENvI-FQ60AnQg3e_tEf4ZbO64HSGTPvgxSTKgVlejltfvZsyjVKM3ON13G0RuZwNxmBJ7-07RykBM41lvIWcm_Ak2G-hgLwSFHyamNDd-_-Ak0D6pV/s1600/mom+eliza+dragon+hike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEXWYpDXxaQggEVQ4Fk1ENvI-FQ60AnQg3e_tEf4ZbO64HSGTPvgxSTKgVlejltfvZsyjVKM3ON13G0RuZwNxmBJ7-07RykBM41lvIWcm_Ak2G-hgLwSFHyamNDd-_-Ak0D6pV/s640/mom+eliza+dragon+hike.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Cliffs Reserve</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yosemite National Park (at the top of the tallest falls in North America!)</td></tr>
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I spent a lot of this past year running kids around to where they need to be, helping with homework, having important discussions with kids about all sorts of things, keeping up on housework and laundry, feeding people, all that good but often taxing "mom" stuff. I also did lots of Power of Moms work (weekly newsletter, weekly podcast episode, special webinars from time to time, overseeing our great team of volunteers) plus I co-hosted the online Mom Conference again in October and it was awesome to see over 80,000 moms attend this time. Another big project was preparing for, executing and writing the draft of a guide about our month-long camping trip to 12 National Parks (more on that below). </div>
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I love the chance I have to help moms and families but I've felt a real need to cut back on the hours and heavy brainwork that goes into projects that help the larger world so that I can focus more on the little world right around me that matters the most and needs me the most.</div>
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For many years now, I've understood, theoretically, and have taught others that it's important to learn to say no to some things so you can say yes to the things that matter most and that moms need to prioritize self-care as you can't draw water from an empty well. For many years now, I've said I need to cut back and I've learned to simplify some things and say no to some things. But over this past year, I've more fully realized that I've been burning the candle at both ends for way too long now and that I need to be serious about cutting back and accepting that I can't do it all and that's OK. </div>
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I'll share more about this later but that's good for now.</div>
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<h2>
JARED:</h2>
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Jared is still working for ARI, managing software development. His company is in Salt Lake but he works remotely here in Ogden now and is so glad he no longer spends 2+ hours in the car commuting every day (but he is a little behind on his podcasts now...). In addition, he's taken on some interesting side jobs this year and has helped many companies (including the Mom Conference I co-hosted) have the websites they need to best do their work. He is smart and quick and knows how to find a solution to any problem that arises.</div>
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Jared has now been the bishop of our ward (congregation) for 4 years. He's helped so many people and has done so much to cultivate an atmosphere of love and acceptance in our very diverse ward. He has so many crazy stories and touching stories! He's a great leader, a wise counselor, and has learned how and where to say no and how and where to say yes to people who need assistance with financial issues and personal problems. </div>
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As far as what he does outside work and bishop stuff, Jared has a great time skiing with the kids or on his own every chance he gets and he's gotten really into crossfit this past year. He won the RAGE Triathalon for his age group this year and had so much fun competing with Isaac there. He's a very loyal Jazz fan (lots of yelling coming from the TV room when a Jazz game is on!) and we've gone to a couple live games as a family this year. Jared spends a lot of time fixing things around the house and fixing our cars, usually with one of the kids at his side, learning and helping. He's the kids' most loyal fan and has spent a LOT of time this past year at their football games, basketball games, and cross country meets. </div>
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Jared is amazingly selfless and hard-working and never complains. I'm constantly impressed by Jared!</div>
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<h2>
BIG TRIPS:</h2>
<h2>
Costa Rica</h2>
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Long ago, Jared and I decided it would be great to take each of our kids on a special trip when they were about 12. Ashton got to go to Australia with me when he was 12 and it was a grand trip and great bonding. We realized last year that somehow we hadn't quite got around to taking Isaac or Eliza on their 12-year-old trips. As they're such great friends and as both Jared and I wanted to enjoy an adventure, we decided Jared and I would take both Eliza and Isaac together on a special trip. We all agreed on Costa Rica and it was a really wonderful trip - white-water rafting, zip lining, playing with monkeys, hiking through the jungle, swimming in waterfalls, enjoying the beach.<br />
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My parents were kind enough to take care of Oliver, Silas and Ashton and they sure showed them an excellent time.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/looslicostarica2016/">More pictures are here</a><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Park-to-Park Trip </h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAF8DsvkcFC8dm6bCH9aQEL64LW0xt13xpz875-GeOiYSr2A3i5C59BUmL6weI0-v4ZwTXBS5u2BLa7gp7YLRXGBkxKBILGW35JKnR0DGJP7GeyN287futo254N8JXxSpsWQQ/s1600/parktopark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAF8DsvkcFC8dm6bCH9aQEL64LW0xt13xpz875-GeOiYSr2A3i5C59BUmL6weI0-v4ZwTXBS5u2BLa7gp7YLRXGBkxKBILGW35JKnR0DGJP7GeyN287futo254N8JXxSpsWQQ/s640/parktopark.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We spent a solid month traveling to the 12 national parks that were part of the original Park to Park Highway built a hundred years ago. We camped - in tents - the whole time and while there was certainly some discomfort and a lot of dirt to put up with, we saw incredible beauty, had excellent adventures, and enjoyed some quality family time.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/parktopark2016/">More pictures are here</a><br />
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<a href="https://powerofmoms.com/families-need-nature-episode-181/">Podcast about why we went and what the trip did for us here</a> - "Why Families Need Nature"<br />
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London</h2>
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I got to go on a special trip to London with my sister Saydi to help our baby sister Charity (who lives in London) prepare for her first baby (and have fun together in a city we all love so much!)<br />
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sistersinlondon2016/"><br /></a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sistersinlondon2016/">More photos of the London trip here</a><br />
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In addition to those three big trips, we had some great little trips and loved our traditional time in Ashton, Idaho with Looslis and at Bear Lake with Eyres.<br />
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As usual, we spent the <b>4th of July in Ashton Idaho</b> (Loosli family fun run, kids riding in the parade, watermelon-eating contest, water sports out at the cabin, tractor rides, etc.). This year was extra wonderful as EVERY member of the family was able to come and celebrate Jared's mom's 80th birthday as part of the 4th of July gathering.<br />
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As usual, we spent most of the rest of July at <b>Bear Lake with all the Eyres</b> (well, almost all, my baby sister Charity was in London with her husband, giving birth to their first baby). Our family was in charge of the reunion this year. We worked hard and every kid was in charge of a different activity and they did a beautiful job! Eliza ran the family relay race and the sand castle building contest. Isaac ran the Eyrealm Olympics as well as the dam building contest, Ashton managed the photo contest and slide show plus the bonfire and made the playlist with everyone's favorite songs for the year on it. Oliver was in charge of the talent show. Silas took care of the secret service challenge. Jared and I just helped the kids and ordered the t-shirts (oh, and I coordinated all the food which is no small feat...). Everything turned out great! But I'm glad it won't be our turn to run the reunion again for 9 years!<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/eyrealm2016/">More pictures of Bear Lake here</a>.<br />
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Thanks for caring enough to get to the end of this! Here's to a great 2017!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-6726101270508048092016-11-11T09:01:00.001-07:002016-11-11T09:01:16.191-07:00Kindness and BeautyI'm so grateful for the kind and encouraging comments on my last post. We live in a world where there is plenty of ugliness and each of us see and experience things on a personal level that can be painful and challenging. But there are bright spots of beauty and kindness that make such a difference. Today I want to celebrate a few of the bright spots that have really helped me in the past couple months.<br />
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In response to a couple of my posts, I received a beautiful card full of such helpful and loving encouragement in the mail. It came all the way from England (at least I'm pretty sure the stamps were British stamps...) and included no return address or last name. Stephanie, if you're reading this, thank you so very much. Your wise words gave me added strength and perspective. Yes, things are not generally as bad as they seem when you're in the thick of something that seems impossibly hard. Yes, there are more things we can do about hard times and issues than we may initially realize (it is taking time and prayer and pondering and trial and error but I'm finding helpful things that I can do about some of the hard things I'm dealing with). And yes, once we get through something hard (or through a little section of something hard), the "new normal" can be really beautiful in its own right. Thank you thank you thank you for these important reminders. And thanks for the reminder that the kindness and concern of strangers is such a beautiful and inspiring thing.<br />
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Here's what I got in the mail:<br />
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In the midst of the the crazy long-days (and nights) of getting the Mom Conference together (wow, September and October were INTENSE - I spent pretty much every waking moment that the kids didn't really need attention working on all the little and big details of the conference), I was touched to have a beautiful basket of fall flowers delivered to my door courtesy of my always-thoughtful mom. Having those flowers right behind my laptop screen as I sat here hour after hour gave me a much-needed reminder of love and beauty in the midst of the tedious and consuming work that needed to be done. (By the way, things came together beautifully in the end and we had over 80,000 moms attend!)<br />
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At the close of the conference, we received so many emails thanking us for making this conference happen. This one brought tears to my eyes:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I just wanted to thank you so very much for all the hard work and time you put into making this conference wonderful. I am sure it was a huge thing. I wanted you to know I saw the link on facebook about 1/2 way through the first day and thought I would just try it. WoW! The first few videos I watched answered so many prayers and concerns I have been having. I started crying! I stayed up til the last minute ran out to watch them all. I cannot express how grateful I am to you all for being such a positive influence in the world for good. I don't know how often you are going to do this but it is so very valuable! I will make sure to blast it out to everyone I know. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. And I hope that when you are having a hard day as a mom and wondering if you ever make a difference you will think of me because you made a difference in my life; probably forever."</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -Kat Loiseau (Washington State)</span><br />
Along with kindness, I'm so grateful for beauty. On the hardest days, there is a spectacular sunset or a gorgeous display of leaves or an extra-blue sky or a perfect little flower growing in an unexpected place to remind me that God loves me and He's watching out for me. Beauty is so intertwined with love for me. Whether it's the crunch of leaves underfoot and the golden shimmer of leaves above on a quick walk around the neighborhood, the sweeping grandeur of the scene at the top of a mountain, or a lovely sunrise as I drive kids to school, the beauty of nature always feeds my soul and reminds me of God's love and presence and the fact that He is there for me. It also offers me perspective and gives me a moment of "awe" - and awe helps us be kinder and happier (read<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/opinion/sunday/why-do-we-experience-awe.html?_r=1"> this article</a> or check out <a href="https://powerofmoms.com/families-need-nature-episode-181/">this podcast episode</a> I did recently for more on why awe is so important).<br />
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I've been doing my regular weekly hiking with friends and the good conversations and beauty those hikes offer have got me through a lot. A couple weeks ago, I went down to Moab/Arches National Park with a couple good friends and enjoyed a day and a half of gorgeous hikes through whimsical landscapes where the red rocks contrasted perfectly with the blue, blue skies. We talked and talked about the deep and the simple and laughed and just had a perfect little get-away. I came back feeling refreshed on so many levels.<br />
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On Wednesday, I felt like I needed some serious soul soothing and time away from society after the craziness of the elections. So Oliver, Silas and I spent the day out on Antelope Island where practically the only living creatures we saw were bison and deer. We had such a nice time talking together as we climbed the highest peak (Frary Peak) on the island and the raw, stark beauty and 360 degree views helped me gain perspective and feel better about everything.<br />
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We left the island just as the sun was going down.<br />
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Life can sure be hard sometimes but when we look for the kindness and the beauty, it's there for us and can offer us great hope.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-68940477038540434512016-09-22T15:42:00.001-06:002016-09-22T15:47:12.602-06:00The latest with meI've got like 20 drafts of posts that I just never quite get around to polishing and posting. I've got some great photos and info on our National Parks trip, an almost-finished post with tons of great info on Costa Rica for anyone who may ever want to go there. And lots of rambling draft posts about the things I'm worried about and what I've been thinking about and learning.<br />
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I used to blog so regularly and I love looking back and remembering the cute things the kids said and did alongside the big and small moments of my life over the years. A few years back, it was all very well and good to post about the crazy messes the twins made when they were toddlers or post about the cute and funny things Eliza used to say or share challenges I was going through with various kids in a way that didn't really identify which child I was talking about. But now that my kids are older, I need to respect their privacy and there are often issues going on that are far too personal to share so I don't post about the challenging things that they do or my concerns about them. I just post on Instagram about the great things they do and the beauty and happy times in our lives with a very occasional picture/post about something hard but not very personal. And so much of what I'm going through in the past couple years is stuff that is very personal to me so I try to process it through my rambling unpublished blog posts and my personal journal rather than processing it online as I used to do back when my issues seemed huge but now seem quite tame in comparison to what's hit me in the past few years. I'm OK. Or at least I think I'm OK. But sometimes I'm not sure!<br />
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I guess to anyone looking at my life from the outside, it would seem that everything is just wonderful. Successful active kids. Beautiful hikes. Great family reunions. Wonderful things going on at Power of Moms. Lots of fun family trips. And while these things are all true and are all things I am so grateful for and want to remember and share, they are not the full story. Pretty much no one shares their full story on social media or even in really private conversations. The longer I live and the more people I talk to, the more I realize that the vast majority of people, like me, have a full story that contains some really crazy hard parts. And I think one of the reasons that so many popular "mommy blogs" are written by moms with younger children is that it's easier to share what's going on when your children are small and the hard stuff, while still very very hard, is often stuff that doesn't need to be kept private.<br />
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We might post about things that are tough sometimes, but when our hearts are broken due to challenging relationships or mental health issues or places where we feel like a failure, we don't generally blog about it or post about it on Instragram or Facebook. That's the time we often go inside ourselves and feel pretty lost and sometimes quite hopeless. We get to the point where we don't know what to say even if we did feel comfortable saying something. During this time, we post happy pictures and successful moments so that we can count our blessings and celebrate the good in our lives. When we seek the good, we can feel much better about our lives. There is so much good. And that goodness helps the bad stuff feel more bearable. But sometimes, as we're posting about good things, we're just putting on a brave and happy face while we're really struggling with various things.<br />
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Anyway, the past year has had some really really hard stuff for me as well as some pretty hard stuff and some great stuff. And maybe it will be helpful to someone out there to know that they're not alone if they're feeling sort of hopeless and lost at times. It happens to the best of us.<br />
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One of the things that really helps me in the hard patches is having something really meaningful to take my mind off my worries. The hard part is that the meaningful stuff I do often becomes overwhelming so that it adds to my worries! But I'm learning, bit by bit, how to draw boundaries around my meaningful work so that I can also have time for meaningful fun and meaningful rest.<br />
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Here's the meaningful work I've been doing lately:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPn4UM1gVbpXJgl_4OZkJ2bZ3ZZtGWHBDEzuYoqzA1-SVxZCR5INuD0wAnGeHwEmwUxslc1voXLfWsyICnypJKbkHOHrMmSaHepYJcXlXi5gHPMiLhFy4_U5DpT_IAguFAEu72/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPn4UM1gVbpXJgl_4OZkJ2bZ3ZZtGWHBDEzuYoqzA1-SVxZCR5INuD0wAnGeHwEmwUxslc1voXLfWsyICnypJKbkHOHrMmSaHepYJcXlXi5gHPMiLhFy4_U5DpT_IAguFAEu72/s640/7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm really excited about our speakers this year - 20 really amazing topics presented by 20 top-notch speakers. I'm so glad I get to be part of presenting these messages to all the moms in the world who, like me, are struggling with various things. I love that the conference is FREE and that moms can watch from home w/o having to get a babysitter. I loved hearing from so many moms last year who said that they found answers to some of their most pressing questions and worries when they watched last year's conference and I'm sure it'll be the same this year. I know I found answers to some of my pressing questions when I conducted my interviews for the conference.<br />
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If you haven't registered already, please do. You'll be richly rewarded. And please share this with all the moms you know - it might be an answer to prayer for some of them.<br />
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<a href="https://tt145.isrefer.com/go/mcreg/saren/">REGISTER HERE</a><br />
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Anyway,Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-30114014771272888712016-08-05T14:12:00.001-06:002016-08-05T14:12:07.925-06:00Our Crazy and Wonderful National Parks Adventure<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">As I type this, I (Saren) am in the car with my husband and five kids (ages 11-16) driving from Mount Rainier National Park to Crater Lake National Park. Before Mount Rainier, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park for a couple days, then Yellowstone for a couple days, then Glacier National Park for a couple days. We've seen amazing sites, we've set up and taken down camp 4 times (quite a process each time!), we've slept in tents 8 nights, we've been able to shower a grand total of 2 times. We've got our fingers crossed that there will be laundry facilities at the next park as our clean clothing options are getting pretty sparse.</span><br />
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When we get done at Crater Lake, we'll go on to Lassen Volcanic National Park, then Yosemite, Then Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Zion, Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde. By the time we sleep in our beds again, we will have visited all 12 national parks that existed in the west back when the National Park Service was founded 100 years ago.</div>
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Why are we doing this? Well, it all started when some good friends planned a month-long trip that would follow the old Park-to-Park Highway and invited us to come along and celebrate the centennial of the National Parks System with them. My first thought was, "That would be really cool but there's no way my husband could get that much time off work or that I could leave Power of Moms for that long and the kids would have to miss the first couple days of school and camping for a full month would be a lot more camping than I'd really enjoy." </div>
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But as Jared and I talked through this idea, it just started to feel right - and doable. We've had so many of these national parks on our bucket list and we only have one more summer after this summer with our oldest before he heads off to college. We've been craving some solid family time as all the kids have been busy with their own separate things - sports, jobs, friends, etc. Being out in nature and hiking with our kids is a major part of our family culture and some of our best memories come from time we've spent together outdoors. </div>
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So Jared talked to his work and figured out a plan for how he could take some vacation days and then work in the car on the days we'd be travelling from park to park. I realized I could use this trip to do something I've been wanting to do forever - write a National Parks Guide for Families for Power of Moms - and decided I could keep up on my other Power of Moms work during our car time (good thing Ashton is such a great driver so he can drive while we work!). And I decided that if it's right for our family, I can make anything work - even a solid month of sleeping in a tent and cooking on a camp stove and dealing with all the little discomforts involved in camping!</div>
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So here we are on the road to Crater Lake (amazing that this internet hotspot we picked up at Walmart is working in the middle of nowhere!).</div>
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This trip has been all that we hoped for so far - and more. We've experienced some amazingly gorgeous places together and created some wonderful memories (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/sarenloosli/" rel="nofollow">see lots of it on Instagram @sarenloosli if you like</a>). Sure, there have been plenty of squabbles and some complaining and some grumpiness from lack of sleep or hunger here and there. Of course, some things haven't gone as planned - like yesterday when I insisted we do this supposedly-amazing hike that was supposed to go to a fabulous viewpoint of Mount Rainier and the kids complained that it was sort of rainy and they didn't want to go on another long hike so I got all huffy and told them they were being so ungrateful and they simmered down and we got going on the hike only to find ourselves hiking through a crazy hail storm on Mount Rainier. Then once we got to the top of this hard hike, we couldn't see a thing from the vista point due to all the clouds! Then when we were almost back to the beginning of the trail, Mount Rainier popped out of the clouds in all it's glacial glory and we were all so excited!</div>
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As we leave each park, I've been posting some highlight photos <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sarenloosli/">ON INSTAGRAM HERE</a> and typing up detailed information about what we did and what advice I'd give to other families wanting to visit that park. I've taken tons of photos and my son Ashton has taken lots of video footage that he's making into short films showing what we did and offering suggestions for others (he's so good at video editing and makes great use of his Go-Pro).</div>
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Why am I telling you all this? Because I'm hoping you'll be excited about this new National Parks Guide for Families that will result from all this and hopefully help your family experience some of the great stuff we're experiencing some day. And because I'd love your help!</div>
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Please click on the link below to learn more about this trip and the guide I'm writing and add your comments about YOUR favorite things to do and see at the 12 parks included in our itinerary. You can add comments on this blog post or on the post linked below.</div>
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<a href="https://powerofmoms.com/new-national-parks-guide-for-families/">Input for National Parks Guide for Families</a></div>
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So much of what we've done so far has been thanks to recommendations from commenters on the post linked above and comments from those who follow me on Instagram. And I'm sure there are many things I should be including in the guide for each park that I won't have a chance to experience myself but that I can include in the guide thanks to the information you provide to me.</div>
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Wish me luck as we continue this crazy trip! I'll keep you updated on how things go on Instagram @sarenloosli or follow our group's official Instagram feed @parktopark.us</div>
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Have a wonderful week (and enjoy your shower and kitchen and bed for me, will you?)</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-16240167355595206772016-06-22T17:07:00.000-06:002016-09-01T19:17:12.643-06:00A Typical Summer Evening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Last week, we had a session with a fabulous documentary photographer, Cate Johnson.</div>
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The idea behind documentary photography is to capture the regular and basic parts of every-day life - the parts we don't often think about photographing. </div>
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Usually we photograph the special stuff - the birthday parties, the special outings, the family trips - wonderful things that we certainly want to remember through photographs. And most of us do occasional formal family photos where we capture how we look when we're all gussied up and smiling for the camera.</div>
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But the simple things we do day in and day out aren't usually photographed. And down the road, we probably won't really remember how our every-day life looked.</div>
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I want to remember the little details of our every-day family life.</div>
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So I was really glad when Cate offered to do this photo-shoot for us.</div>
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I was so impressed by what she captured - she's so talented. And in looking at the photos she got, I saw that the simple and mundane moments of our family life are even more beautiful and precious than the things I usually take photos of.</div>
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Cate showed up as we were finishing dinner prep and snapped away as we ate, cleaned up, played around in the backyard, and went for our regular evening walk. No one put on special outfits or did their hair extra nice and we left the house how it usually is so the kids thought this was the best photo shoot ever! The older kids said they felt a little weird about having someone there with a camera taking photos - but after a few minutes, everyone relaxed and Cate did a great job of just blending into the background. The whole family really loved looking at all the photos Cate sent us - everyone seemed to realize what a good life we have after seeing it captured so beautifully on film.</div>
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Here are a few of Cate's captures:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2MxLHqUjA4L4LuVlM2fghw-XvA5o_23OVoAaq07Hu2TNbcunAAEVGdDifzJ1IoYaVE-Zmfqg7CEkuGhuCE4ySH4EVHRir0ycoM8eHs_PYgIkiAuCgPUg1kaYsM8Wz9srG0x9n/s1600/bw_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2MxLHqUjA4L4LuVlM2fghw-XvA5o_23OVoAaq07Hu2TNbcunAAEVGdDifzJ1IoYaVE-Zmfqg7CEkuGhuCE4ySH4EVHRir0ycoM8eHs_PYgIkiAuCgPUg1kaYsM8Wz9srG0x9n/s640/bw_1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Kmv_yBzfSYorzTKQuYFjWOVKFMWLiFru064QFbNzKJQemrpWmGfEAKtqEnvhAJvd9RT3_sLbZzQ8NfJf3oGyWrMFCJ2UwxKQcO5fPCbvi4MuQk02iovK2vGXrSEVgWzfexPZ/s1600/bw_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Kmv_yBzfSYorzTKQuYFjWOVKFMWLiFru064QFbNzKJQemrpWmGfEAKtqEnvhAJvd9RT3_sLbZzQ8NfJf3oGyWrMFCJ2UwxKQcO5fPCbvi4MuQk02iovK2vGXrSEVgWzfexPZ/s640/bw_4.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
While some of us finish dinner, some of us jump on the trampoline:<br />
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Then when dinner is ready, I come out and ring the dinner bell:<br />
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Despite the fact that we have a "no phones at the table rule," this happens sometimes and gentle reminders are needed...in this case, he was looking up a concert we were thinking of going to the next night so it was a good use of technology...<br />
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It always seems to take forever to get everyone out the door to go on our evening walk - one person goes back in to get something, then people start jumping on the trampoline while we wait for that person, then when the person who went in comes out, another person has gone in there to go to the bathroom or find their shoes. But eventually, we get going!</div>
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Finally, everyone's outside at the same time and we're ready to head over the the park on the next block - we always walk around the park a couple times and often have some pretty good talks while we walk plus Isaac is usually showing us his latest skateboard trick, Ashton's often on his beloved hoverboard, and there's often a football or frisbee that is being thrown around.<br />
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Before we get to the park, we pass the library.</div>
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There is usually some tree-climbing going on in the trees in front of the library.<br />
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The twins always have to climb on the benches and planters in front of the library.</div>
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Then we get to the park: </div>
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Heading back home from the park:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEJdY0i7D18RILVEx539E7SeWtTYu06GNbZUylaOAyLpSGni-IbqcFQo1u56ds_nDwVKLarqYxsSR2QR40U_fqzTgK_YV1YnBCBaKGqqXmzNkjlyBy18i6eAxej_h9_LP2Xqyg/s1600/bw_189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEJdY0i7D18RILVEx539E7SeWtTYu06GNbZUylaOAyLpSGni-IbqcFQo1u56ds_nDwVKLarqYxsSR2QR40U_fqzTgK_YV1YnBCBaKGqqXmzNkjlyBy18i6eAxej_h9_LP2Xqyg/s640/bw_189.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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We ended the photo shoot with some posed shots - love how Cate kept them so natural by just shooting away and not asking people to sit a certain way and smile as is the norm:<br />
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I'm sure I'm biased - but I think these are some pretty handsome boys.</div>
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I'm so grateful for this one daughter of mine.<br />
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I'm so glad to have some good family photos! I was looking for a recent photo for something on Power of Moms a little while ago and was coming up pretty empty...</div>
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Our life is so good. I'm so grateful for these images that will always remind me of the everyday moments and the abundance of beauty in my life.</div>
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<b>*** If you want your own documentary photo session and you're somewhere in Northern Utah, check out <a href="http://www.athomewithcate.com/">Cate's website here</a> and invite her to come to your home. She really did a fabulous job with this photo shoot and I recommend her wholeheartedly. Cate also provides wonderful images for our Power of Moms Instagram account - just search "powerofmoms" to find and follow. Cate and her twin sister Candi put up such beautiful and inspirational stuff there pretty much every day!</b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-6320596130124294792016-06-19T17:57:00.002-06:002016-06-19T21:18:43.297-06:00To the most deliberate dad ever on Father's Day<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">For Father's Day this year, I reached back into the archives of this blog and found some great stuff that I wanted to re-share.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a class="hoverZoomLink" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieak44JffG6jBxiEFBNIQFN2GXfzq1GlNh917vX3usAQEPVnLlLEcDcp8XMtnQ7uRTEHn130DjrGRUr5wbOPJxi1WOlFBrqUpYujrx8mbMrJ_qZVXJfENoIHvX9HGheljXnw5q3A/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30879_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" class="hoverZoomLink" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieak44JffG6jBxiEFBNIQFN2GXfzq1GlNh917vX3usAQEPVnLlLEcDcp8XMtnQ7uRTEHn130DjrGRUr5wbOPJxi1WOlFBrqUpYujrx8mbMrJ_qZVXJfENoIHvX9HGheljXnw5q3A/s640/s_9acqy2vl30879_z.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad with me and Shawni</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">My dad is truly unique. In fact he is so unique that there needs to be some sort of new uber-unique word made up just for him. He thinks outside the box, he does what he feels is right, he dresses in his own special style, and he couldn't care less what anyone else thinks. He's also about the most deliberate person ever. He makes plans and goals and makes things happen like no other. He oozes purpose and drive. He has about 100 exciting new ideas every day. He offers amazing advice (and has gradually learned to offer it mostly just when asked!). He loves and cares more deeply and passionately about more people and more things than most people can even imagine.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">He's raised us to be the change we wish to see in the world, to dream big and then think and plan carefully to bring things to pass. He's raised us to be "citizens of the world" and has instilled us with an insatiable desire for experiencing new things and new places and new people. He's sent us on plenty of guilt trips and been somewhat of a control-freak at times, but all that helped point us in the right directions and for that we're so grateful. He's showed us that being a parent and a grandparent is the most beautiful and powerful and important role we can play. He's taught us to love more and to find great joy in serving others.</span><br />
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I used to entertain my friends and roommates for hours with stories about my dad. Here are a couple favorites:<br />
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<li>He wanted us to experience another culture so he and my mom loaded up their 9 kids in the big old van and we took off for Mexico only to have the air conditioning go out on the van the day after we all got sunburned at the Grand Canyon. As we drove through Phoenix the temperature on the marquis read 123 degrees and we were rubbing ice from the cooler all over ourselves to relieve the sunburn and make it feel a little less like we were driving around in an oven. We finally got to Tucson where we stayed for a few days with some friends there while the van was being fixed and while my parents looked into options. They found out that it would take us 5 more days of driving to get to Guadalajara where they'd rented a house for the summer and that the roads were bad and that there were lots of bandits - and the van was sure to have more problems. So we ditched the van, flew from Tucson to Guadalajara and had a great summer learning some Spanish, getting to know neighbors in vastly different circumstances from ours, and exploring all over the place with our new best friend Carlos and his taxi cab. Where there's a will, there's a way. And having 9 young children to bring along on adventures just added to the fun for my parents! </li>
<li>He had a dream of connecting with his ancestors by building a log cabin on a piece of land he bought ages ago in a remote part of the Umatilla National Forest in Oregon. My mom made him wait for a year that she didn't have a baby. Then we headed up there to live in tents and totally rough it for a summer while building a log cabin together as a family. I was 14 and didn't think it was the coolest idea ever as we went into the experience. But it turned out to be an amazing family bonding experience and we sure learned to appreciate showers and electricity and toilets. We worked really hard and during our leisure time, we read tons of books and explored the woods and had all kinds of good old fashioned fun. (<a href="http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2013/02/oregon-1986-and-1988.html">You can read more about that here </a>and there are some photos if you scroll down).</li>
<li>When he was thinking about running for governor of Utah, he decided to write a book about what he hoped for for Utah's future called "Utah in the Year 2000" and of course, that book would have to be in the shape of the state of Utah (took him quite some time to find a printer willing and able to cut out the corner of all the books! As part of writing the book, he determined that we should visit all 400 cities and towns in Utah. I was in college at the time so I missed out on a lot of those travels but I was able to join the family for a few legs of the trip. Dad would pull into each town and find a cafe or gas station where he'd just chat with whoever he could find who lived in the town and he'd ask them who he should talk to who really knew the history of the town. Then we'd drive to the home of whoever that person was (usually a really old man or woman) and listen to stories of the good old days in that town. He really got to know Utah. And we saw how you can find beauty and interest in every person you meet and every place you visit!</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0CPewXgMZ7xuMBvmz7sei7gNuvF0ZC6FaU_W1bGrjob7SI4OWNn1OxUaJUD9qMjGQZDt9IjSHtUnQTd7JGUWcAcJ2pbqQ_E2aQHCSSUAxUQeYGTX6OqVw3WLn0y2HiZMmcO7/s1600/utah+in+the+year+2000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0CPewXgMZ7xuMBvmz7sei7gNuvF0ZC6FaU_W1bGrjob7SI4OWNn1OxUaJUD9qMjGQZDt9IjSHtUnQTd7JGUWcAcJ2pbqQ_E2aQHCSSUAxUQeYGTX6OqVw3WLn0y2HiZMmcO7/s400/utah+in+the+year+2000.jpg" width="277" /></a></div>
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I love how Dad has always explained things to us and shown us how to do things:</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">I love this photo-booth shot. Dad always did photo-booth pictures with us when we were little. And he could get us laughing like no other.</span><br />
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Dad was always up for an adventure with a whole bunch of kids in tow - here we are moving from Virginia to Utah when I was 4.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Dad was great about getting us out in nature and he was always the one who made sure we took family pictures. Plus when we were little, he had a nice camera and captured so many great shots of us and of Mom.</span><br />
<a class="hoverZoomLink" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuIClS3N81zM62jcLfHFc_8Sxo__JoxJarrRbDVsSAvB1_2cK5cJvcwjkyuo7uCWVUeZDz7tc3aZnsXtAut9_UweZgLbuaLsOAN5p_p9CujJjGFF3fQnxuKU29NsRtY4rpujnoOg/s1600/s_9acqy2vl30836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" class="hoverZoomLink" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuIClS3N81zM62jcLfHFc_8Sxo__JoxJarrRbDVsSAvB1_2cK5cJvcwjkyuo7uCWVUeZDz7tc3aZnsXtAut9_UweZgLbuaLsOAN5p_p9CujJjGFF3fQnxuKU29NsRtY4rpujnoOg/s640/s_9acqy2vl30836.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Dad dressed up as a clown and did all sorts of fun magic tricks at all our birthday parties. This is Shawni's 7th birthday party - she's in the middle on the back row.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Josh made dad some cucumber glasses and he wore them with pride.</span><br />
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Here we are with Dad on a picnic up the canyon (Saydi, Josh, Jonah on the ground, Dad, Talmadge, me, our dog Canie, Shawni). Can you see the mutual adoration going on?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Dad fulfilling his dream of building a log cabin together</td></tr>
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My kids think their beloved Grandfather is about the coolest and most fun guy in the whole world and I'm so grateful we live near my parents now and relationships have been able to deepen. Here the kids are with Grandfather a while back. The great relationships are pretty apparent in the photos.</div>
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Here are a few of the quotes my dad had us memorize as kids that I still think of all the time and that I can type out off the top of my head:</div>
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<i>"See how the masses of men worry themselves into nameless graves while here and there, a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality."</i></div>
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<i>"True joy comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to think freely, to enjoy simple, to risk life, to be needed."</i></div>
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<i>"Good is the enemy of best."</i></div>
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<i>"You wouldn't worry so much about what other people thought of you if you realized how seldom they did."</i></div>
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<i>"Some people look at things that are and ask 'why?' I dream of things that never were and ask, 'why not?'"</i></div>
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<i>Cast aside the old phrase "If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well" and replace it with "If a thing is just barely worth doing, then just barely do it."</i></div>
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<i>"We don't own anything. We are mere stewards. An attitude of stewardship creates gratitude and generosity while an attitude of ownership can make us selfish or prideful."</i></div>
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<i>"Live with an attitude of serendipity. Serendipity means 'when, through sagacity and awareness, we see and act upon something better than that which we were originally seeking.'" (My name comes from the word "serendipity," my parents' favorite word at the time I was born.)</i></div>
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Thanks for being who you are, Dad, and for being it so completely. Thanks for doing so much to help us be all that we are. And thanks for all you do for my children. You have influenced SO many in such important ways. I'm eternally grateful that you are my dad.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-50080558295152437752016-05-26T20:36:00.001-06:002016-05-26T20:37:51.302-06:00Launching into SummerYesterday was the last day of school so today was officially the first day of summer vacation. I'm SO glad to be done with the school year and have my kids to myself a lot more. They're growing up so fast and I just don't feel like I get enough of them during the school year!<br />
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We got up late, had a special breakfast, lounged around in our PJ's a bit, then got going on setting up our Loosli Learning Adventures Summer Camp. We brainstormed all the fun activities and field trips everyone is excited about doing together. We went over all the things the kids need to do each day and printed out their charts for tracking their "must-do" completion (must-do's include reading for 30 minutes, doing a quick page of writing - journaling or using the list of writing prompts we've got, doing a couple quick household chores, getting exercise outside for at least 30 minutes, praticing/working towards one of their summer goals...the must-dos take like an hour and a half each day, leaving them tons of time for relaxing, playing with friends, and doing fun activities and field trips together). Tomorrow we'll start working on their summer goals (learn about summer goals in a podcast I did with the twins a couple years ago <a href="https://powerofmoms.com/summer-goals-from-the-perspective-of-two-9-year-olds-episode-66/">here</a>).<br />
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We've been doing this family summer camp thing every summer for 7 years now. We've figured out some systems that really work and it has been great for us to have some structure as well as a lot of fun.<br />
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If this sounds like something that might work for your family, check out the post I did several years ago: <span id="goog_217292480"></span><a href="https://hm156.isrefer.com/go/SummerPost/sarenloosli/">Do-it-Yourself Summer Camp</a><span id="goog_217292481"></span>. I originally wrote the post mostly to keep track of what was working well for our family (I didn't want to forget important details between summers!). But wow, that post became one of the most popular posts of all time on Power of Moms - it's been read by over a million moms now.<br />
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If you read the post and want help getting your family summer camp set up, check out our <a href="https://hm156.isrefer.com/go/Summer/sarenloosli/">Summer Camp Kit</a> that has all the instructions, tracking charts, brainstorming sheets, etc. that will help make it extra easy. And as one of my blog readers, I invite you to use the coupon code "SUMMERFUN" to get 20% off and get the kit for just $24.<br />
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Hope this info is helpful as you think through what will work well for your family this summer!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-68428061644119314872016-05-24T20:10:00.000-06:002016-05-25T10:35:51.178-06:00LONDON<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So last Thursday, I got back from a week in London with two of my favorite people in the whole world, my sisters Saydi and Charity (so sad Shawni couldn't make it - her daughter was graduating from high school the only week we could make this work! But she'll be going to London with her family in a couple weeks so it's all good). Saydi called me up a couple months ago and said "Want to go with me to London for Charity's baby shower in May?" My initial response was that it probably wouldn't work out - our travel budget was shot - we would have just come back from Costa Rica a couple weeks before the London travel would happen, I've already been Europe TWICE in the last year thanks to our family trip to Bulgaria and Italy last May and my trip with my mom and sisters to Switzerland, Austria and Germany in October (twice in one year after not going to Europe for 14 years has been such an unexpected privilege!). But Saydi found an amazing deal on airfare and Jared told me I really should go - it would be a great Mother's Day present for me and would help offset all the expensive hobbies he so enjoys. Plus I realized I could do a bunch of work on this "New Mom Kit" for Power of Moms with my sisters while I was there so I could combine business and fun. So I decided to do it!<br />
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It was such a wonderful whirlwind week of talking with wonderful people (my dear sisters, my wonderful sister-friend Amy who was practically part of my family growing up and now lives in London with her great husband and 4 lovely daughters, and lots of wonderful people I had the chance to get to know through a photo shoot that Saydi did and through Charity's baby shower) and visiting favorite places (I lived in London when I was 6, 7, and 8, when I was 16, and then spend 6 months there on study abroad when I was 19 so London feels like home to me in many ways). I sort of felt like I was in a dream much of the time - partially because I couldn't believe my good fortune to be able to be in such a great place with such wonderful people - and partially because I don't think I ever quite got over jet lag! We talked about pregnancy, childbirth and baby stuff non-stop (and made some podcasts and planned out other materials for the New Mom Kit that Charity is going to take the lead on and that we'll offer on Power of Moms next year). We walked a ton, rode bikes through the city, rode on the top of lots of double decker buses, helped Amy put on a really beautiful and fun baby shower for Charity at the home of some great people who became fast friends, ate wonderful food (love how there are these great places to grab fresh, delicious, and relatively cheap sandwiches and salads on pretty much every corner), enjoyed gorgeous weather, visited all our favorite London sites (Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, walking along the Thames by the Houses of Parliament and London Eye, St Pauls, Tate Modern, Millenium Bridge, Tower Bridge, Portabello Road, Knightsbridge, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Gallery, Camden Town, St James Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent Park - such great weather for picnicking and riding bikes through the parks), spent some time out in the countryside with Amy visiting the amazing Hylands Estate right up the road from her house as well as the gorgeous town of Cambridge. We packed in a lot! It's so easy to do a lot without any little kids in tow!<br />
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I think Charity did such a wonderful job describing our time together - so <a href="http://drippingwithpassion.blogspot.com/2016/05/sisters-in-london.html">go here to her blog</a> for details. But here are some of my favorite pictures from our time together and you can <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sistersinlondon2016/">see more here on Instagram</a>:<br />
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Now it's back to my real life with all it's challenges and charms - challenges like long boring end-of-the year awards ceremonies for the kids that leave me feeling somewhat inadequate as a mom, piles of papers and art projects they've brought home from school that need to be organized, laundry to catch up on, a dusty and dirty house to take care of, food to be re-stocked, Power of Moms work to catch up on that feels so overwhelming right now, fence-building to do (this stupid fence thing has taken such a chunk of time and money and has caused so much stress!), break-ins to deal with (a whole rash of petty theft in our neighborhood over the past month and last night our cars were both broken into and not much was taken but it felt so violating!) and charms like going on walks with the kids in the beautiful super-green that our abundant spring rain has brought on (feels like I'm still in England!), picking kids up at school and hearing them tell me about their exciting end-of-school activities, laughing together around the dinner table as we share memories and jokes, watching Isaac, Eliza and Jared do the Ogden half marathon last Saturday and finish so strong despite having to run the whole time in pouring rain and freezing cold, seeing Isaac and Eliza help little kids at church and watching Ashton walk this sweet older lady out to her car after church, saying prayers with them and tucking them in at night and having the twins so often tell me that I'm the best mom in the world (they always make me feel better about myself!).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989085026245237633noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22760611.post-71588535172591049332016-05-08T21:38:00.001-06:002016-05-08T21:38:26.292-06:00My Talk in Church TodayI spoke in church today. I speak a lot so it shouldn't have been a big deal but somehow it was. I knew I was in trouble when I kept finding myself in tears as I prepared my talk - motherhood is a topic that is so near and dear to my heart! Then as I sat up on the stand waiting for my turn to talk, I looked at my wonderful mom and my beautiful children sitting there on the second row and I had a pretty strong feeling that I would have a hard time getting through my talk.<br /><br />Sure enough. I was pretty darn emotional as I delivered my talk. But I think people could understand me despite my somewhat shaky and halting delivery. And I hope people took away whatever message they were supposed to get.<br /><br />Anyway, here's my talk:<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was asked to talk today about what modern day revelation teaches us about motherhood and instructed to weave in a lot of personal stories.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-df517b09-936a-0a86-346c-aafbe0e88843" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are SO many beautiful and important ideas that have been presented by our church leaders in General Conference and in lesson manuals. And of course, the Proclamation on the Family offers powerful and helpful principles to help guide mothers. Plus each mother can receive her own modern day revelation as she strives to take great care of the precious children God has entrusted her with.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But today I want to focus on the talk that Elder Holland gave in General Conference last month. His talk is called "Behold Your Mother."</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Throughout my life, I've heard that motherhood is supposed to bring us closer to Christ than just about anything else we can do. And when I think of those with Christ-like qualities that I want to emulate, my first thoughts are of my own mother and grandmothers as well as my mother-in-law and other great moms that I know. But in Elder Holland's talk during conference last month, he helped me to more clearly how beautifully connected motherhood is to the life and work of the Savior.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Elder Holland's talk, he said:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prophesying of the Savior’s Atonement, Isaiah wrote, “He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note1" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “[Jesus] came into the world … to bear the sins of the world.”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note2" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Both ancient and modern scripture testify that “Christ redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old.”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note3" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A favorite hymn pleads with us to “hear your great Deliv’rer’s voice!”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note4" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bear, borne, carry, deliver.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> These are powerful, heartening messianic words. They convey help and hope for safe movement from where we are to where we need to be—but cannot get without assistance. These words also connote burden, struggle, and fatigue—words most appropriate in describing the mission of Him who, at unspeakable cost, lifts us up when we have fallen, carries us forward when strength is gone, delivers us safely home when safety seems far beyond our reach. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But can you hear in this language another arena of human endeavor in which we use words like </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bear</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">borne,carry</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lift,labor</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">deliver</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? As Jesus said to John while in the very act of Atonement, so He says to us all, “Behold thy mother!”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note6" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today I declare from this pulpit what has been said here before: that no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child. When Isaiah, speaking messianically, wanted to convey Jehovah’s love, he invoked the image of a mother’s devotion. “Can a woman forget her sucking child?” he asks. How absurd, he implies, though not as absurd as thinking Christ will ever forget us.</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note7" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This kind of resolute love “suffereth long, and is kind, … seeketh not her own, … but … beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note8" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Most encouraging of all, such fidelity “never faileth.”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note9" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed,” Jehovah said, “but my kindness shall not depart from thee.”</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note10" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So too say our mothers.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Certainly no mother is perfect. I know that there are many here who did not have mothers who fully grasped the divine nature of motherhood or who didn't have the experience or ability to be a really effective or Christ-like mother. I run a website for mothers and in my work, I've met mothers from every walk of life. Some seem to quite naturally embrace the sacrifices and burdens of motherhood and find joy in motherhood quite readily (my mother is like this). Some have more of a need for "me-time" that can make the sacrifices motherhood requires of them feel somewhat more burdensome (I’m one of those). Some have other important pursuits that are hard to balance just right and feel pretty overwhelmed (I’m in this boat as well). Others find that they feel so stretched by motherhood that it's hard to find the joy (sometimes I feel this). But the vast majority of mothers in this world love their children dearly and, almost without thinking, make big and little sacrifices for them every day without hardly batting an eye. Simply bearing and delivering a child involves discomfort, pain and sacrifice that goes way beyond what most any person on earth would experience on behalf of another person. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When our twins were born, I was able to deliver Oliver relatively quickly and easily - he was so small compared to the other children I'd delivered. As I held tiny and perfect Oliver in my arms, I was filled with that unique and gorgeous joy of meeting your own precious child for the first time and felt this wonderful adreneline as I thought about delivering and meeting his brother in a few moments. But it turns out that Silas was stuck and they had to quickly take Oliver away from me, put him in Jared's arms, send the two of them out of the room, and prep me for an emergency c-section. I've never been so scared - not for my own life, but for the life of my precious baby who was in distress. They quickly put me under and next thing I knew, I was waking up in the recovery room. I woke up in an amazing amount of pain as I'd come around before they had the morphine fully set up. But all I could think of was my babies. Was the second one OK? Where was he? When could I see them? In the midst of the greatest pain I've ever felt, I had concern only for others. God gives us these opportunities as mothers to feel the intense mixture of sacrifice and love that helps our souls progress and brings us closer to our Savior. As we bear and deliver our babies and then go through those sleepless nights and that rough time trying to balance our needs with their needs, we become more Christlike in a deeply meaningful way.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, as our babies grow up, we continue to have so many opportunities to learn to understand and rely on the Lord and his Atonement. As Elder Holland said:</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"You see, it is not only that [mothers] bear us, but they continue bearing </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with us.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It is not only the prenatal carrying but the lifelong carrying that makes mothering such a staggering feat." </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm the oldest of nine children and my amazing mother bore with me and my siblings through SO much as we were growing up. She is seriously the most self-less and Christlike person I know. She's the first to admit that she was not perfect (she actually wrote a book called "I Didn't Plan to be a Witch" that offers great insight to those of us who often struggle with patience as we face overwhelming situations as moms!). But her constant and unconditional love was something that gave each of us so much comfort and her deep love for and emulation of Jesus helped us to all develop unshakable testimonies. She didn't preach to us. She showed us through word and deed how a true disciple of Christ should act. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I started high school, my mom bore with me as I went through a really rough time. I didn't feel like I had any friends. I would wander the hallways of the school at lunch time because I didn't want to sit alone the cafeteria. Somehow in the midst of the babies and toddlers she was taking care of and the books she was writing and the amazing amount of cooking and cleaning and carpools that ruled her life, my mom found time to come pick me up at lunch time at school for a time so that I wouldn't have to be alone at lunch. And she told me a story about herself when she was my age. She hadn't felt like she had any friends. Her mom, my wonderful grandmother, taught told her to look for someone who looked much more miserable than she was and to step outside herself and show love and friendship for that person. She was sure there could be no one more miserable than herself. But once she really looked around, sure enough, she found a girl who seemed truly lonely and miserable, reached out to this girl, and they become good friends. She showed me Christ-like compassion while teaching me to show the same to others. Again and again, as I've been through hard things, my mom has followed Christ's example by offering me comfort and respite from my hard times while empowering me to step up and do my part to solve my own problems.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My dear grandmothers have also followed the patterns of sacrificing and bearing and delivering and empowering that Christ set forth for us. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My dad's mother, Ruth, lost her dear husband Dean when their five children ranged in age from 5 to 15. She figured out how to support her family on the combination of her meager salary and the rent she brought in from renting out a couple small apartments in her home. She sacrificed a great deal to provide a good life for her children and empowered them to get a solid education and become the best that they could be. She served a mission and served as a Relief Society president and helped to mother thousands of children in the fabulous preschool that she ran for many years. She has born with her children through many choices they've made that proved to be challenging. Through her example, she taught all her posterity how to interact with little children in fun ways while teaching them important lessons (many of you have seen her influence in the way my children act with the little children in this ward). She bore over 50 years of widow-hood and many years of dementia before she was finally delivered from this life to go to Heaven and be with her beloved Dean. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My mom's mother, Hazel, had a life full of sacrifice and bearing and delivering. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to bear her own children. She taught school and helped mother many children through her school teaching but she didn't find her husband, Roy, until she was almost forty and he'd already raised a family with his first wife who has passed away. When Grandma Hazel married Grandpa Roy, they didn't think they'd be able to have children of their own so they adopted a 5-year-old little boy named Lloyd who'd been born into very rough circumstances and offered him a loving home. Then they were surprised and thrilled when they were able to have two little girls born to them in quick succession - my mom and her sister, Lena. A little while later, my grandpa Roy's daughter from his previous marriage passed away shortly after giving birth and Hazel took over raising that baby, Roger, alongside her children. After several years of raising baby Roger, his father remarried and took Roger back to live with him. My dear grandmother felt like she had lost a child. At nearly the same time, their adopted son, Lloyd ran away to return to his abusive birth father. My heart-broken grandmother Hazel bore all this with all the love and patience she could muster. Through all this, Grandma Hazel was helping to support her family through teaching school full-time and teaching piano lessons to scores of students while helping her children excel in music themselves. Sacrifice and hard work were expected parts of life for Grandma Hazel. She didn't expect to be delivered from the hard stuff in life. She simply expected to bear it well and to help others discover the importance and joy of working hard and accomplishing their potential. Through her example, Grandma Hazel taught us that we shouldn’t expect to be delivered from our problems but should bear them well and that Christ would always be there to lift us up.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As my mom's posterity has expanded to over 45 people, she is still sacrificing and bearing and delivering every day as she helps each of her children through hard times, makes every family gathering wonderful, makes everyone who walks in her door feel special and doted upon (whether they are family members or someone she just barely met), and holds yearly "Grammie Camps" for her grandchildren where she teaches them about their ancestors and about art and music in a fun way, and writes books and gives speeches to help moms all over the world bear and enjoy motherhood in a more beautiful and Christlike way.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As these examples illustrate, whether we are on the inside or the outside of motherhood, motherhood offers us abundant opportunities to see what it really means to be Christlike. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'll end with this beautiful letter from a young mother that Elder Holland shared.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“How is it that a human being can love a child so deeply that you willingly give up a major portion of your freedom for it? How can mortal love be so strong that you voluntarily subject yourself to responsibility, vulnerability, anxiety, and heartache and just keep coming back for more of the same? What kind of mortal love can make you feel, once you have a child, that your life is never, ever your own again? Maternal love </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to be divine. There is no other explanation for it. What mothers do is an essential element of Christ’s work. Knowing that should be enough to tell us the impact of such love will range between unbearable and transcendent, over and over again, until with the safety and salvation of the very last child on earth, we can [then] say with Jesus, ‘[Father!] I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.’</span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng#note11" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #147ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On this special day, I hope that we can all reflect upon the sacrifices and examples of our mothers and grandmothers and the other great women whose examples and actions have benefited us in various ways. I hope we can try a little harder to be a little more like them as we each strive to sacrifice and bear our burdens with a more willing heart and as we attempt to be saviors in the lives of those who need us. And for those of us who are mothers, I hope we can find greater joy and meaning in the sacrifices and bearing of burdens that motherhood asks of us as we realize how these experiences bring us closer to Christ and lead us towards becoming the joyful deliverers and saviors on Mount Zion that God means for us to be.</span></div>
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