Water

We woke up this morning and quickly discovered that we have no water. Maybe the pipes froze. It's been like 10 degrees for a few days. But it was colder for longer last week so it seems odd that today would be the day they'd freeze. There are guys in orange jackets from the city out in the front yard, digging around. I'm sure the problem will get solved before too long. But wow, is this ever making me grateful for water!

I've turned on a faucet like a dozen times since waking up only to be disappointed. Jared had to forego his shower. After I go running, I'll have to forego mine until this is fixed (luckily it's so darn cold I doubt I'll sweat much). I had to forage for a forgotten half-empty water bottle to rinse Oliver's hands when he put soap on them after using the bathroom and then remembered the water problem. The toilets could sure use a flush. Brushing your teeth with no water isn't that great. I've been thinking longingly of the water storage we've got at our house in St George and that I just haven't gotten around to building up in this house yet.

How blessed are we that we can usually just turn on a faucet and have all the clean water we want and need? Our ancestors had to go haul water from wells and springs - even in sub-zero weather. People in many parts of the world still have to do the same - and often the water they have access to is dirty.

I love water. I love faucets. I love working toilets. I love showers.

Now go fill up a some empty containers with water to keep on hand in case this ever happens to you!

Stretched in Different Directions

I wrote this last week but had to get a bit of space from it before I could polish and post it:

Yesterday evening was way too stressful. 

Jared had to be at meetings from the moment he got home from work until 11pm last night and Tuesday afternoon and evening involves activities that have to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle (with pieces that don't quite fit the way they should). On top of the regular homework and reading and dinner, I often have a PTA meeting, Eliza has dance, then just as Eliza's getting home and everyone's hungry, I'm supposed to be at Scouts, then I rush home from Scouts to tuck kids in bed and work on the Power of Moms newsletter that goes out on Wednesday mornings bright and early and one night a month I've got my Learning Circle meeting at 8:30.

Last night, on top of the regular Tuesday activities, all the kids needed more help than usual with their homework.  I was trying to get a nice dinner ready and packed up for Jared so he could grab it quick and run to the church since that would be his only chance to eat all evening, the cute little neighbors who we haven't seen in like a month and who I feel like we too often have to turn away came over to ask if the kids could play, and right when everything else was happening, Isaac remembered that he was supposed to be at a birthday party 15 minutes ago (why was he given an invitation on the same day of the party? why did he forget to mention it right when he got home?). 

I tried to tell Isaac that the birthday party just couldn't happen since Jared would need our one and only car (Jared's car is not working right now) but then Jared called and said he had a borrowed car for the night so Isaac begged me to please take him to the birthday party since it was for a kid who doesn't have very many friends and Isaac was worried no one was going to show up for the party since the kid just gave out the invitations that day and Isaac had heard kids saying some not-so-nice things about this kid.  What do you say to a kid who really wants to help another kid who might be lonely on his birthday?. The invitation wasn't totally clear so I told Isaac to try calling the RSVP number to see what the actual plans were for the party so we could see if we could get him to the party even though we were late.

Isaac called and instead of just finding out information, he told the mom that he'd be right over - to this arcade place on the other side of town where the kid and his mom had gone after no one had shown up at the kid's house for the party. What to do? Leave Liza to walk home on her own from dance (it is very close but it's dark and cold) and leave dinner on the stove for Jared and hope he'll actually grab it without me being there to make sure he takes it with him (I'm really trying to be a more attentive wife) and let the twins go play with the pleading neighbors while I carve out 30 minutes to run Isaac across town to this party with no present in hand, then have to go back over there and pick him up and take another 30 minutes out of the evening right when I need to be putting kids to bed OR call the mom back and tell her that actually Isaac won't be coming. I hate it when my heart is pulled in so many directions at once!

I ended up being more frustrated with Isaac than I should have been but agreed to take him over to the arcade. I had Isaac put some money in an envelope for a present and make a card while I tried to reach Jared to tell him his dinner was ready for him to grab when he came home to get some paperwork (couldn't reach him, he ended up just going without dinner until 11pm and didn't complain a bit), sent the twins over to the neighbors', and told Ashton to watch for Liza and go get her if he didn't see her arrive home from dance right on time. 

When we got to the arcade, I was able to talk the mom of the birthday boy into bringing Isaac home when they were done playing which considerably lessened my stress (but then I was a little stressed about leaving him with people I don't really know - but they seemed nice!). And just as we arrived a couple other kids showed up as well so I think it turned out to be a nice party for Isaac's friend and everything turned out OK.

You know, it pretty much always turns out OK in the end. But I just hate those moments when I feel so so torn and stressed and I just can't be there for everyone I want to be there for! I wish I could figure out how to better handle crazy situations in the heat of the moment when everything seems so contradictory and crazy. I know I need to remind myself that it'll all work out fine in the end - it always does - but sometimes it's so HARD to remember that.

Oliver and Silas are EIGHT!

How did my babies get to be 8 years old all of a sudden?

It seems like we were just here:

And now we're here:

Jared and I were totally in shock after the midwife confirmed two heart beats. We wondered what in the world God was doing sending us TWO more babies when we felt like we were already taking a leap of faith to go for ONE more -  the three babies we already had were keeping us super busy and Jared and I were feeling spread super thin with work and community responsibilities as well. How silly of us to doubt even for a minute that God knew exactly what we needed. Our family and our lives would be so incomplete without these sweet, kind, beautiful, bright, energetic, fun little boys! Truly, sometimes our greatest fears and greatest hardships become our greatest blessings. (To read more about our experience finding out about the twins and their birth story, click here.)

We had a grand celebration yesterday.

We started with the twins' favorite breakfast - Pumpkin Pancakes.

Ashton and the other big kids gave Ollie and Si some great coupons. This one from Ashton is for a "brother date" to the 7 Eleven up the street where he'll buy them the king size candy bar of their choice. Such an exciting gift!

 

I picked up them up from school to go out to their favorite place (and Indian buffet) for lunch with some surprise guests - Grammie and Grandfather.

After school, their birthday party was super fun. They wanted a "building party" (they're really into building toys - always have been) so we spent a great afternoon with friends building with legos, K'nex, Magformers, Zoobs and Snap Circuits.

The presents were very generous and exciting and most of them involved more legos and K'nex which was just perfect.

For the first time, the twins each got their own cake which was VERY exciting for them.

Silas went for Chocolate Cinnamon (like Ashton - recipe here).

Oliver went for Banana cake with Nutella frosting (recipe coming this Saturday).

I was pretty proud of myself for making the cakes actually look quite decent for once. I'm famous for really tasty cakes that really don't look very good.



When the friends left, we headed to Classic Fun Center for the family party. The twins have been begging to go to this place forever so we made it happen and they were ecstatic about everything. We roller skated, played laser tag, played on all the inflatables, climbed around in the big play structure thing there and ate pizza. Such a fun night!

There are still three more very exciting things the twins get to do as part of turning eight. Tomorrow night, they get to go to their first Cub Scout den meeting and they've already memorized the scout pledge and keep practicing the scout handshake and scout sign. To say they're excited is a serious understatement. After watching their big brothers do scouts for years, they're so glad to be able to start!  Then, quite soon (still working on the date), Jared and I will be taking the twins out to have the big talk we have with all our kids when they turn eight and they're getting excited to learn all about how babies get made (more about how we do this here). Then at the beginning of February, the twins will be able to be baptized. They've been working on memorizing all the Articles of Faith and they're very serious about preparing well for their baptism. An extra exciting thing is that since their dad is the Bishop, he'll get to be the one to interview them for baptism.

My babies are eight. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Scripture Challenge Week 25: Full Circle Moment

Today we had Stake Conference and had the chance to gather with all the other congregations in our area and listen to our great Stake Leaders plus some of the general leaders of our church came to visit and speak (we have these Stake Conferences twice a year). Elder Porter from the Quorum of the Seventy and Elder Perry, one of our Apostles, spoke to us.

Here are some impressions I took away from the good talks given:
- It's vital that we learn things for ourselves. Joseph Smith restored our church after learning for himself the truth. Adam and Eve had to learn for themselves. We can be told and told and told something but ultimately, learning it for ourselves is the most poignant. I need to do a better job asking my children questions and helping them learn things for themselves so they can really own their behavior, their beliefs, and their choices.

- We need to work to understand our heritage and learn from our own ancestors while keeping record of our own lives and choices and lessons learned and blessing received. D&C Section 2: We must turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and vice versa "lest the whole earth be wasted." We must build on the past and build for the future. We've slacked off on ancestor stories lately and I'm going to make it a point every Sunday to do ancestor stories with the kids while Jared is at Bishop meetings on Sunday mornings. And I'm going to share what I put down in these scripture/spiritual learning posts and more about what I'm learning in my life with my kids (and I'm glad I've got this blog to help me keep my own history for posterity).

- We need to prepare ourselves and our children economically, educationally and spiritually. There are great organizations in the church and in the world to help. But ultimately, the buck stops with parents. This is our great stewardship.

- All of us have the right and responsibility to search out and receive personal revelation. The Lord will talk to us through nudges and scriptures and words others say. The Lord is in the details. He's right there and has the answers if we'll but ask and listen (and sometimes ask and ask and ask and be patient).

- We are so blessed to have temples near us. It will give our children a great sense of security and a sense of excitement for their own future if we make sure they see us go to the temple often and get to see the peace and joy we bring home with us each time we go.

At the close of the meeting, someone told me that Sister Porter was looking for me - something about how she'd babysat me when I was little. When I was led over to where she was, it turns out that she was one of my parents' star sister missionaries back when I was 6 and 7 and my parents were presiding over the England London South mission.

She had all these great memories of me and my siblings as little children and as she talked, so much came back to me. I remembered how the missionaries were always at our house and seemed like a bunch of fun young uncles and aunts, the elders giving us "horsey rides" on their backs, the sisters chatting with us and watching us do the dances we always had prepared for anyone willing to watch. My mom was always making big delicious meals for mission meetings and my siblings and I would sit at the top of the stairs listening to great gospel discussions happening in the living room below. I was lucky enough to go with my Dad when he needed to speak at meetings and my mom needed to be home with the other kids. He'd often have me get up and sing a song or answer questions about the gospel or share my testimony - I always had to be on my toes.

It was wonderful growing up in the mission home and I loved all the missionaries but Sister Cox was a special favorite. She was smart and quick and - important and noticeable to a 7-year-old like me - pretty and stylish. My parents were often talking about all the wonderful things she did as a missionary. I wanted to be like Sister Cox and in the end, her example helped propel me to go on my own mission when I finished college.

How fun it was to tell her about my life and hear about hers and re-connect. And I was grateful for the chance to tell her about the influence she was in my life while she shared what a huge influence my parents and family were on her life. My kids got to meet her and her great husband and hear some good stories.

I love those "full-circle" moments we get once in a while. And I realized how important it is to be a great example and to let people know what their example has done for you when you get the chance.

As far as scriptures this week, I skipped around a fair amount but did receive a nice little personal reminder or new insight each day in my reading. Nothing earth-shattering. But a lot of little thoughts that helped prepare my mind and heart to get a whole lot more out of Stake Conference than I would have otherwise.

NORTH AFRICAN COUSCOUS PAELLA

A neighbor made this for me one time and gave me the recipe. It's since been tweaked and made about a thousand times. I love how quick, easy and flavorful it is - plus it's very healthy. Sometimes I use couscous, sometimes quinoa. Both work great. It takes me about 30 minutes from start to finish to make this.



Ingredients:
2 tsp canola or olive oil
1 chopped red bell pepper (can also do an orange pepper)
1 chopped large sweet yellow onion
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (or 1tsp garlic powder)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (or curry powder if you don't have tumeric)
  ******          
2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
3/4 pound of firm or medium firm tofu, cut into little cubes (smaller than 1/2 inch)
1/2 pound shelled precooked tail-off frozen shrimp
1-2 cups frozen peas (I like lots of peas)
1 cup quick-cooking couscous (or 1 cup quinoa)
1 tsp salt (or more, to taste)
ground black pepper (to taste)

Optional: coursely chopped or slivered toasted almonds, chopped fresh parsley, lemon wedges

Put everything down through the turmeric into a large saute or frying pan and stir together over medium high heat until onions are limp. Add stock and bring to a boil. Add everything else and if you're using couscous, just turn off the heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes, then stir. If you're using quinoa, turn stove down to a simmer and let it cook for about 15 more minutes or until the little circles on the quinoa start to separate and the grains are soft.

Serve with chopped almonds, parsley and lemon on top if you like.

Great hot, warm, or at room temperature. Can be served as a main dish or side dish.

Ashton's Birthday

On 1-3-13 Ashton turned 13. We thought all the 1's and 3's were pretty cool. 

Wow. I'm now the mother of a teenager. Crazy stuff.

On Ashton's actual birthday, we celebrated by having a fun family party including his favorite breakfast (egg burritos), his favorite dinner (Lasagna), then his favorite Chocolate Cinnamon Cake and ice cream plus games with our neighbors.

Ashton got a pretty exciting present - snowboarding boots to go with the snowboard he bought at a yard sale plus the promise of going snowboarding/skiing on Saturday as a family.

Can you tell he - and everyone else - was pretty excited?

 Look at that handsome teenager.

 He also got some very nice coupons from his siblings. Eliza made this "coupon hotel" with coupons for eating his vegetables for him one night, giving him a neck massage, and a few other nice things. Silas gave him a coupon for making cookies for him (he insisted on making them all by himself and they were the best ever!)  plus some blank coupons that he could fill in himself. Oliver gave him coupons for making his bed for a week and getting five things for him when he needs something and doesn't feel like going to get it. Isaac gave him some money (since Isaac has proven to be the best earner and saver around here so far). Ashton was so excited and kind to the kids about each gift. Love seeing these kids love each other.

Then on Friday, the day after his birthday, Ashton had a great pizza and games party. It was fun to get to know some really nice kids that he hangs out a lot with at school and it was hilarious watching them play Reverse Charades. Ashton declared it a totally awesome party and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Ready to play the game:

 Ready for cake and ice cream:

Then to top everything off, we spent Saturday up at Snow Basin snow boarding (Ashton) and skiing (everyone else) in honor of Ashton's birthday and Jared's birthday. The kids picked right up where they left off and improved quite a bit and I enjoyed getting some work done in the very nice lodge and helping people find each other and getting people fed. I think I'll stick with my "lodge mom" role when it comes to skiing. That out-of-control feeling just isn't fun for me.

That's Ashton in the middle on his snowboard. He's falling less and less!

We met up with our neighbors for a while - so fun to see the kids enjoying skiing so much.

Top 13 things I love about my 13-year-old:

1. Ashton is amazing with little kids including his younger siblings. He gets them and make things so fun for them. He knows how to explain things to them and how to make them laugh and how to get them to do things.

2. Ashton has this beautiful slow smile that brings out great little crinkles around his eyes and lights up a room. Sometimes he even lets his teeth (which really aren't all that crooked) show when he smiles. Then his smile is extra nice.

3. Ashton has great ideas - everything from how to fix something to how to make something fun to how to help his younger siblings improve their behavior (loved the "Ashton bucks" program he did with the twins for a while where they could earn an "Ashton buck" whenever the did something good and could cash those in with a special "brother date" to the candy store down the road after earning a certain number).

4. Ashton knows how to make computers and machines do what they're supposed to do. He's built amazing things in his robotics class at school and I'm so grateful for his help with my computer, with the DVR, you name it.

5. Ashton is a great writer. He wrote a story that got an A+ in Language Arts last month and it was a really well-written and interesting story that you wouldn't believe could have been authored by a kid his age.

6. Ashton is creative. He came up with the idea of using elements of the game Minecraft to fulfill a science assignment about rivers and different kinds of rocks. His teacher was blown away.

7. Ashton loves reading and really gets the nuances and lessons in the books he reads as well as in the scriptures.

8. Ashton has a great personality. He's funny. He's got lots of interesting things to say. He knows how to laugh at himself.

9. Ashton has made some really good friends this year. I loved getting to know his friends at his birthday party and got excited about all the good people I'll get to know over the years thanks to the friends of his that I'll get to meet.

10. Ashton's getting a little better at keeping his room a little cleaner - which is really hard for him.

11. I can tell Ashton genuinely loves Isaac and I love seeing him be a really fun and cool brother to Isaac quite a bit of the time. I love seeing them come in the door after school together, laughing and talking at the close of their walk home from school together. I love when Ashton gives Isaac a compliment and Isaac is so very proud to have his big brother acknowledge him.

12. Ashton is handsome. He's got those beautiful blue-gray eyes and that nice thick wavy hair. He's got a nice style of dressing and likes to look good (and some day I'm pretty sure he'll learn how to brush his own hair...).

13. Ashton's a leader. He knows how to get people organized. He's great at public speaking. I love seeing him round up people to pass the sacrament each Sunday (he's the Deacon's quorum president and one of only two deacons so he needs to round up quite a few men to help pass each Sunday). I loved seeing him do a wonderful job as the emcee of the Children for Children concert for the past couple years. I love hearing him call up inactive kids from church and invite them to young men's activities.

And I just have to add one more - Ashton's a kid who can do whatever he sets his mind to do and who isn't afraid of hard things. When he wants to learn a certain song on the guitar, he'll totally get it. When he wants to earn money playing guitar at the Farmer's Market, he'll do it and make good money. When he wants to learn to snowboard, he'll keep getting up again and again even when it hurts and master that thing. When he wants to bring up his grades, he'll do it.

How grateful I am for this wonderful young man of ours!

California Trip: Wedding, Birthday and New Year's Eve

Right after our white and wonderful Christmas with my parents and several siblings and their families in Park City (post coming soon), we did a quick unpacking of snow-clothes, did laundry and re-packed so we could  head off to our old stomping grounds in the San Francisco Bay Area for our niece Claire's wedding.

Driving into San Francisco is always a thrill. It's fun that the kids know so many landmarks - "There's the Transamerical building!" "There's the Golden Gate Bridge!" "There's Coit Tower!"  All the kids were born while we lived in the Bay Area for almost 7 years and we've been back to visit favorite people and favorite places pretty much every year (if not more often).

After being in the car for so many hours, we felt like walking up and down the signature hills of San Francisco to stretch our legs and the hills and beautiful architecture of the Castro district made a great destination. We all had fun looking for, pointing out, and photographing favorite little details (Liza took about 300 photos). 

Here are some favorite little details and shots:

 

We happened upon this crazy-fun house completely covered in lavish decorations. The kids were enamored with it. So many careful details and so all-out!

Ashton and Isaac took this shot - a telephone pole that has obviously been used for a LOT of posters.

Eliza pointed out how beautiful the sky was and the twins pointed out what cool shapes the wires for the buses make.

Eliza and Isaac simultaneously started singing "Little boxes" when they looked up the hill and saw this:

At the end of our stroll around the Castro, we happened upon a pretty epic playground and had to stop and play a while. 

 (Ashton did NOT like having to look into the sun for this photo - will they ever learn that it just works better to smile for the photo and get it over with???)

We hung out on the beach by Crissy Field with Jared's cousin and her family - our kids had lots of fun together and you can't beat the beauty there.
 

I'll never get enough of the Golden Gate Bridge...

We saw a beautiful sunset on the windy, windy road over to Stinson Beach were the wedding would take place as we headed over to hang out with family and set up for the big day. 

Claire's Wedding, Jared's Birthday, and New Year's Eve (all on the same day)

Since the 31st was Jared's birthday, we splurged for a hotel with a swimming pool and big nice all-you-can-eat breakfast with every breakfast food imaginable so we could wake up and have some family fun on the morning of Jared's birthday before heading to the wedding later that day.

After the kids and Jared ate more than I thought was humanly possible for breakfast, I went for a run while they had a great time swimming off some of that breakfast. Then we explored the super-interesting Marin Civic Center nearby, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright who fascinates me and - more importantly to Jared and the kids - featured prominently in the movie Gattaca (lots of good family discussions stemmed from that movie).

   

Inside.

Back at Stinson Beach, we had a nice birthday lunch with most of Jared's siblings (why didn't I take a photo?) and then jumped back into helping with wedding stuff for a while before it was time to get dressed for pictures and for the wedding.

After taking all the official family wedding photos (need to get them from someone...), we grabbed the opportunity to get some photos of of our own:

Here's the handsome birthday boy:

 

It was fun to watch Claire and Evan and the wedding party - such a gorgeous setting and everyone looked so perfect!

Here's the Pritchett family - Jared's sister Katherine, her husband MJ, her oldest daughter Claire, the bride, Evan, the groom, daughter and maid of honor, Sydney, Sydney's husband Dan (so sad we had to miss that wedding). Their son, Will (a big hero of my boys) is on a mission right now. When we lived in the Bay Area, we spent so many holidays and fun times with the Pritchett family who lived nearby and got to watch Claire and Sydney and Will grow up - and learned a lot by watching their family. So fun to be there for this special event.

As the sun went down, we headed up the beach to the little chapel where the wedding would be held. Jared ran around lighting candles and I got to chat with Jared's great sisters and meet more of Evan's family and Evan and Claire's great friends. SO many wonderful people were there.

It was a gorgeous wedding. Claire and Evan make a wonderful match.

 Followed by a beautiful and tasty dinner.

 Then the party really began!

 We all danced and danced and danced. Here's Silas who made Aunt Jayne his main partner for the night.

Oliver had some serious moves including some breakdancing-style floor spins. He had a circle of clapping adults around him for most of the evening and got SO into dancing. He was one sweaty happy super-cute little guy.

 
Isaac was also a serious serious dancer. He was dripping wet and still going strong by the end of the evening. He and a second cousin really bonded on the dance floor and couldn't get enough of it.

 The confetti and party hats made it extra fun.

Eliza was also a pretty amazing little dancer. Ashton was the only too-cool guy when it came to dancing but he did join us for a bit at the end. He did a great job helping out with the younger kids in the nice kids' room they had set up.

Just before midnight, we all headed out to the beach, lit up sparklers and sang "Auld Lange Signe" (or however you spell it) as we watched a very impressive fireworks display. It was such a fun and perfect way to bring in the New Year.

SO glad we could be there with all the vast majority of Jared's great family to celebrate this wonderful new union between Claire and Evan along with Jared's birthday and New Years.