Happy Birthday Ellen!

Our sweet Ellen is two years old today. What a sweet addition she has been. I can't believe how fast these two years have gone and how much she has grown! She surprises us every day with new things that she has learned. She is so full of laughter and fun, and thankfully she still loves to be wrapped in a soft blanket and rocked. I'm grateful for the quiet moments that we can sit and cuddle. I'm glad that she can be my little baby for a while each day even though she is fast becoming my big girl. We love you Ellen!

This post is almost a week late because of technical difficulties and I was so mad that I didn't get it up on her actual birthday. Oh well

Sunday Sweets

Today was ward conference and the Stake primary took over so I got to got to the combined priesthood/relief society lesson!! It was soooo nice to be part of an adult gospel discussion. It's been a long long time, like more than two years since I've been in a class like that. I'd forgotten what it was like! I mean, listening to speakers is good but it's lovely to have that give and take lesson. Anyway I thought I'd post some of the things that stuck with me from the lesson.
We talked about being self reliant today and we watched a short talk by Elder Hales on the subject. What I liked was how he spoke about the self confidence and esteem that comes from being out of debt. Debt is bondage. Having a big nice home and expensive cars will not make up for the hopelessness that the debt causes. Satan would have us believe that an opulent lifestyle will bring happiness, but the truth is our relationships with our family and friends and Heavenly Father is what brings us real joy. It's not the clothes you wear. It's not the way you do you hair. HAHA! Shout out to Mr. Rogers! Sorry, I sort of went off the subject............ What is so maddening is we know this. We know what brings happiness and yet we still stay in the rat race for more money and nicer stuff! I listened to a talk once on BYU TV and someone did a study that showed that almost across the board of income levels everyone said they would be satisfied with 10% more. If we just had a little more money everything would be great! Guess what? ITS NOT TRUE! The trick is living within our means and being content, knowing you are in control of your finances and not having possible foreclosure over your head. Mathan and I live in a manufactured home with thin walls, made out of cheap material. Its completely inefficient when it comes to heating and cooling, but we own it. In two years time, if all goes well we will be completely free and clear. As much as I want a nice "real" house right now, I love that this house is ours and the land and car are almost ours. We can afford the payments even when Mathan doesn't have as much work as we'd like. I'm excited for when we'll be out of debt and we can chuck all that payment money into savings for my "real house" that Mathan knows how to build so we don't have to pay a contractor. Talk about useful skills! Dang it, Life Is GOOD! And in the end nobody will care what kind of house you lived in or what you did for a living. This life is so short in the eternal perspective! Love the Lord and love your neighbor as yourself. Forgive and you'll be forgiven. The gospel makes everything so simple. I love it!

RAIN!

Wow! It has been raining for four of five days! Monsoons in May! It starts and stops but is really steady sometimes, not just wimpy sprinkles. The garden is so wet I don't dare go out there and work because I'd leave big squishy footprints everywhere. Mathan got our front fence up yesterday and now we just need some mending of the old fence and one more little run of new fence. Hurrah for keeping the kids in and the cows out!

May cracks us up. She was wearing a dress with a puffy skirt today and she told Mathan, "The ballet needs to go potty." She does this all the time but sometimes she's "the princess" or "the monster," whatever she feels like at the time. Lately she's been saying "okay I'm the Mama and you're May Tenney." I think she knows that Mama gets the last word and she wants the power. It must be so frustrating for her to be running into boundaries and rules all the time.

Ellen is so cute and hugable. She is starting to string a few words together at a time. She likes to say "butter honey" and "Tigger Pooh" and "zebra horsey." Both of them are just cute little smarties. They get it from their Dad.

Have you ever noticed?

Have you ever thought about how memories and dreams for the future are so ideal? Of course there are bad memories, but the good ones seem so perfect. I guess I edit out all the little annoyances of real life from my good memories. In my imagination everything is perfect too. I love that we live on an empty acre of land and I can dream up different ways to landscape and improve it. In my mind its a paradise. We're slowly (yeah yeah, slowly is an understatement) but surely changing it to match our dream for it, but you know, reality is rarely as good as imagination. C.S. Lewis had a good explanation for this. I think it's in "Mere Christianity." He used the analogy of a vacation. You plan it and dream it and anticipate it, but it never lives up to your expectation. He believed that that longing for heaven on earth is really a longing for our actual heavenly home. Our spirit remembers what heaven is like and we are searching for it here on earth and it never really turns up. I take that back, it does turn up but it surprises you and it is only for moments at a time. Like when you two year old covers you with a blanket and says " nigh nigh", or like yesterday when all the nursery kids where holding hands and singing "I am a child of God." That is heaven on earth. I have lots of other examples but I'll keep them to myself. They're a little too heavenly for a blog post.

Amish

Lately I've been reading the Little House on the Prairie books again. I read the whole series back in 4th grade and I forgot how much I liked them! I love how the family is so thrifty and productive and good. I love how simple their life was, and how happy they were. They had two changes of clothes, a table and chairs, a bed, a few dishes and tools, a stove, and that was it. I look at my mountain of laundry and wish it was socially acceptable to have a set of work clothes and a set of sunday clothes and be done! We have so much stuff. We have tons of clothes and dishes and toys and books, not to mention all the things we have to save time and energy. But do all these conveniences and comforts make us happy? I think a good dose of living off the land would do our country good. You know, where you actually have to make everything yourself and be self sufficient. The family in the book work hard for each other. They entertain each other and play together. They know and look after their neighbors. Most of all they are selfless. So many people today are only looking out for themselves, even before their spouse and children. I love how the children are taught to be polite and respectful of their parents and everyone around them. I love how they are active and healthy and know how to work and be persistent

Throw out the tv! Throw out the computer! Buy a cow and chickens! Home school your children! I'm ready to join the Amish and simplify my life!

Okay, now that my rant is done I'll go take advantage of my washer and dryer, hot running water, air conditioning, fridge, store bought everything, car, phone, plumbing, lights, immunity from disease, jeans.....................

Playa Bonita

Okay, so this post is mostly for journaling purposes, but if you'd like, read on and on and on....

It's getting warmer and school is coming to an end soon. This time of year my thoughts always turn to Rocky Point. Growing up we always took off for Mexico the week after school ended. Its a long, dry drive once you drop down off the rim. Its eight hours of desert, and on the other side of the border it seems even more desolate. Finally we'd drive under the arches at Playa Bonita and park in front of the registration office. We would almost die of excitement when we saw the brilliant blue of the ocean against the lighter sky. Suddenly you're not at all tired and you can't wait to get your feet wet. Poor Dad (aka Mr. Hobbs) always ended up setting everything up and we would run wildly down to the beach with Mom calling after us to not get our clothes wet. Most of time I managed to only get my pant legs wet to the knee. Ben, without fail, would "accidentally" fall in and then he might as well swim right? I loved waking up early in the morning when the tide was way out, and looking in the tidal pools and building a sand castle while it was still cool. Granddad would make a run to the panaria for bread and pastries. The doughnuts down there are not nearly as sugary and rich as American doughnuts, so eating them for breakfast isn't as bad as it sounds. Later I'd climb in the motor home to show Grandma the shells I had found. She would marvel over them as if they were diamonds and then put them in the cup holder on the dash to keep forever, or at least until the trip was over. As soon as the tide was in we would hit the waves and swim until we were exhausted. Mom would take us out in the deep water on the air mattress where the waves weren't breaking and we'd almost fall asleep to the rocking motion, and Mom making her voice go up and down with each swell. We would just drift along until the waves started cresting and then we'd have to swim hard to get back to our starting place on the beach. At bed time we would climb in to the tent trailer and stare at the red and white stripes of the tent, listening to the surf and fireworks whistling and popping with the occasional loud boom and slowly drift off the sleep. The next day was the trip to the dirt mall. A whole street of poor Mexicans selling beads and bright trinkets. The street was not paved and the people would wet the dirt down in front of their shop to keep the dust down and cool things off a bit. My favorite thing to buy were the shell sculptures; Cute little mice, or flowers made out of shells and sand dollars. Dad would haggle over the price for me and get a dollar or so off the price. Mom would always want a new wool blanket, Anna, a piece of jewelry, Ben and David, fireworks. That evening we'd drive up to the point and go to Casa Brava for dinner. They had the yummiest appetizer made of a mild tomato sauce with ricotta cheese and lime drizzled over tortilla chips. I loved it, but that's where my bravery ended. I would always order a hamburger or grilled cheese sandwich with fries. I did develop a taste for shrimp, thanks to Grandad. He would buy some fresh from the boat and fry them up for us to shell and eat with butter and lemon juice. Eating shrimp from the grocery store doesn't hold a candle to that. All too soon we would be packing up, sweeping the sand and salt out of the trailer, and heading home.

Wait! Before you get excited and head for the border don't forget:

wet sand, grating against sunburn,

jelly fish stings,

waves smashing you into sharp rocks, picking you up and repeating the process,

walking half a mile to a common bathroom and taking a wet swimming suit off to go,

and the slight chance that you'll be kidnapped and held hostage by crazy Mexican drug dealers.

Update

HUGS!
I'm way behind. So many things have happened. We went up to Utah for conference and to visit Ben and Amy. I really wanted to go because Kerstin was giving her Master's recital at UofU. It was AMAZING! She is doing so well! We didn't get into the conference center but watched a session on temple square. I also got to visit with some old friends I haven't seen forever. Good times. May and Ellen did great in the car surprisingly. We had so much fun staying with Ben.
The next event was Easter with the whole family. Ben and Amy came down for spring break and we partied every night. Lots of games and goodies. Mathan got some time to work on the storage/playroom and it's coming together. I'm excited for it to be finished!

Ellen cracking up. She wouldn't stop laughing long enough to take the picture!

New Easter dresses. I can't resist dressing up my little beauties. I have more fun than they do, picking out dresses and little gifts for their Easter baskets!

Lots of progress from last time don't you think?

All the cousins at Grandma Peterson's for the Easter egg hunt, except Hyrum and Isaac, who hadn't arrived yet.

Sooo excited!

At Ben and Amy's apartment, ever so attentively listening to conference......

Cove Fort on the way home.

With sweet cousin Isaac.