I am ashamed!

Remember how the little crustacean on "Finding Nemo" says, "I am ashamed!" when he gets caught cleaning the tank?   I love that! Instead of a trite "sorry," he says, "I am ashamed," with conviction and a french accent to boot.  So . . . I am ashamed of my inconsistent posting and rather than trying to catch up, I'll just post a few recent pictures and some news.
                                                  
 This is our own Lilliputian. (Gulliver's Travels) We love her dearly. She's rolling and scooting all over the place and enjoys solid food very much. In fact if you hold her and a piece of toast at the same time she will swipe it with surprising coordination and speed. She also enjoys being taken out of church for happy, loud baby talk.

 Little May is losing teeth. Yes, my baby May is growing up so fast! She, not Ellen, is our Eleanor. (Sense and Sensibility) She is calm and logical and wants to do everything correctly and sensibly, with an occasional outbursts of emotion. She is a great student and we are so proud of her! She has taken to calling me M-O-M instead of mom.

Tom Bombadil (The Lord of the Rings) is a jolly fellow. Bright green his beanie is and his boots are yellow . . . well red. Thomas likes to wear a tie all day these days. Another of his favorite pastimes is snuggling up to Great Grandma Ida, sharing her blanket, and popping packing bubbles with her. Lately, he has been heard to heave a huge sigh of relief after the sacrament meeting closing prayer and say aaaaamen!

Ellen, not May, is our Marianne. (Sense and Sensibility) She says her heart is very colorful. She is loud and long in her moments of anger and despair, and profuse in her praise. She often says, "Mom, you're the best cooker, EVER!" She continues to insist on wearing dresses everyday and I continue to insist that she wear a shirt under the sleeveless ones.  When she forgets to put on a shirt or when she gets in trouble she asks, "Do you not love me?" I tell her that I love her no matter what. Maybe I'm too harsh for her delicate sensibilities.

 

 No rest for the wicked! I'm staying busy with my babies, the library and Young Women. It's shaping up to be a busy year in YW with some major activities that require a lot of preparation.  In October we will be hiking 22 miles to the temple in Snowflake and being baptised and confirmed for a person in each of our families. For most of the young women the research will be no easy task, because they have been members for many generations. This, plus girl's camp, the Easter Pageant, and possibly a trip to Salt Lake and the Manti Pageant are being planned.  It's going to be a crazy summer with reunions, the summer reading program and maybe (fingers crossed) a trip to see David and Valerie and Yellowstone. And this . . . . .

is the man who is going to babysit! Right honey?  Mathan? . . .

SEE?  Christmas really did happen even if I didn't blog about it!

Mathan really is the man who keeps us all happy and sane. He has been working hard on a big project out on the reservation, which means he's gone a lot. Thank Heaven for the work, and thank Heaven for three day weekends!  In his spare time Mathan is enjoying his ham radio. He upgraded his licence and bought a high power radio and now he can contact people around the world. He is working on a better antenna for the radio too.  You know, when he's not busy with his four callings and his position on the water board.

Well that about does it. All I'm missing is literary characters for Mathan and myself. Hmm . . .

Come Unto Him!

1. I wander through the still of night,


When solitude is ev’rywhere—

Alone, beneath the starry light,

And yet I know that God is there.

I kneel upon the grass and pray;

An answer comes without a voice.

It takes my burden all away

And makes my aching heart rejoice.



2. When I am filled with strong desire

And ask a boon of him, I see

No miracle of living fire,

But what I ask flows into me.

And when the tempest rages high

I feel no arm around me thrust,

But ev’ry storm goes rolling by

When I repose in him my trust.



3. It matters not what may befall,

What threat’ning hand hangs over me;

He is my rampart through it all,

My refuge from mine enemy.

Come unto him all ye depressed,

Ye erring souls whose eyes are dim,

Ye weary ones who long for rest.

Come unto him! Come unto him!

Great Expectations

This is exactly how I feel when I sit down on New Year's Day to make a list of goals, and my problem is the same as Pip's. I love the feeling I get when I take stock of my life. The rub is actually doing something about it!


At certain times — meaning at uncertain times, for they depended on our humour — I would say to Herbert, as if it were a remarkable discovery:
"My dear Herbert, we are getting on badly."
"My dear Handel," Herbert would say to me, in all sincerity, if you will believe me, those very words were on my lips, by a strange coincidence."
"Then, Herbert," I would respond, "let us look into out affairs."
We always derived profound satisfaction from making an appointment for this purpose. I always thought this was business, this was the way to confront the thing, this was the way to take the foe by the throat. And I know Herbert thought so too.
 We produced a bundle of pens, a copious supply of ink, and a goodly show of writing and blotting paper. For, there was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.
I would then take a sheet of paper, and write across the top of it, in a neat hand, the heading, "Memorandum of Pip's debts;" with Barnard's Inn and the date very carefully added. Herbert would also take a sheet of paper, and write across it with similar formalities, "Memorandum of Herbert's debts."
 The sound of our pens going, refreshed us exceedingly, insomuch that I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between this edifying business proceeding and actually paying the money. In point of meritorious character, the two things seemed about equal.
When we had written a little while, I would ask Herbert how he got on? Herbert probably would have been scratching his head in a most rueful manner at the sight of his accumulating figures.
"They are mounting up, Handel," Herbert would say; "upon my life, they are mounting up."
"Be firm, Herbert," I would retort, plying my own pen with great assiduity. "Look the thing in the face. Look into your affairs. Stare them out of countenance."
"So I would, Handel, only they are staring me out of countenance."
But there was a calm, a rest, a virtuous hush, consequent on these examinations of our affairs that gave me, for the time, an admirable opinion of myself. Soothed by my exertions, my method, and Herbert's compliments, I would sit with his symmetrical bundle and my own on the table before me among the stationary, and feel like a Bank of some sort, rather than a private individual

Woefully Behind

Umm, Where should I start? So much unblogged about water has gone under the bridge. I guess this will be one of those "month (or two or three) in review" posts.

May and Ellen had their primary program a few weeks ago and they both did an excellent job on their parts. It was Ellen's first time and she wasn't nervous at all.  

We celebrated Thanksgiving early with my family. It was fun to have everyone together, and to enjoy my parents new "rumpus room." They remodeled the garage to make room for the growing family. It's probably going to be quite a while before we're all together like this because my brother and his family are moving to Montana and I have a brother and sister in Provo. Hopefully they can coordinate their visits!

Here is my incredibly cute baby Lilly! She has recently discovered her toes. 

All my sweet babies. I tell them regularly to stop growing...to no avail.

Last week we woke up to this. The kids were so excited they bundled up and went out to play before breakfast. We've had so much fun playing in the snow for the past week. It still hasn't melted, which is fairly unusual.

Darling Lilly! We are all in love with her.

Lilly with Great Grandma Ida.

May had her Christmas concert and was asked to play Mary. She took her part very seriously and wanted me to read to her about Mary from the scriptures. She looked so sweet and dd her part just right.

We are all enjoying the Christmas season and staying busy with lots of fun activities. I'll try to keep posting as we go. Merry Christmas!

Of Borscht

I made borscht for dinner for the following reasons:
   1. My husband served his mission in Ukraine and it brings back memories for him,
   2. I had beets and carrots still in the ground, begging to be eaten.
   3. Lots of veggies and no fat if you leave out the meat.
I have learned the following lessons:
   1. There are a hundred different ways to make borscht and the way I made it is not the way my husband was taught.
   2. It is impossible to make a small batch of borscht. Midway through I had to transfer to a larger pot. No wonder the        starving soviets liked it. It's like it magically multiplies.
 When I was finished I was quite discouraged because:
   1. It looked like something even I didn't want to eat so I was sure my kids wouldn't eat it.
   2. I had enough of it to last a week.
   3. It wasn't how my husband remembered it.
However:
   1. It turned out really yummy.
   2. My husband liked it and had seconds
   3. My kids liked it and May had seconds, though she only wanted beets for the second portion.
The End

Word o' Wisdom Wednesday

I was running errands today and listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio and he said something that I liked a lot.  He gives financial advice. Anyway he said that most of the wealthy people he knows have something in common and that is that they don't care what other people think of them. Most of the people in financial trouble have gone in to debt because they care too much about what others think. I know, I know...earth shattering revelation. Still, I found it interesting that the founder of Wal Mart drove a beater pick up truck until his dying day because he could care less what people thought. Going into debt to keep up appearances is not one of my weaknesses, but caring too much what people think is. So If I get over that will I be rich? Dang, if only someone would pay me to not care!

It's been a while...

We've been busy around here and I just haven't felt like up-dating for a while. School is in full swing. Mathan has had a lot of work out of town. I've started up at the library again. Young Women's, General Conference, Stake Conference. May, Ellen, Thomas, Lilly. Yeah, we've been busy! Here are some pictures to make it a little more interesting...

 The drive to Utah is long but you can't deny that it's beautiful!

 We went up to Provo to visit Ben and Anna and their families. Amy took us to this great museum at BYU.

 Isn't it funny that the kids are all "ho-hum"? They're bears! Come on!

 This elephant was massive. Thanks for taking us Amy!

 We got to go to Mathan's mission reunion while we were there.

 It was fun  for  me to put some faces to the mission stories. The reunion included all of the mission presidents in the history of the Ukraine mission and we got to hear the first president and the latest president speak. It was really neat to hear them talk about the dedication of the land for missionary work and then hear about the temple dedication.

 We took a drive between conference sessions to look at the fall colors. It was so gorgeous, but not as pretty as baby Lilly! I sure love this baby girl.

 The people I love most. Isn't Ellen's retro dress awesome?

Mathan and Eva are pleased to announce that they have been married for seven years and are more in love than ever...and Eva's hair is more fluffy than ever.

 Love this picture! It was so wonderful to visit these people. We miss you!

 Our cabbage patch doll of a niece. Baby Hannah is so sweet.

 My girls about to fall in the fountain. Thankfully it was only a couple of inches deep.

 This one cracks me up. Isaac with his big cap. He is just an all around great kid.

 This park was so pretty and well kept. The leaves were turning but it was still perfect weather. Thanks so much for having us to stay, Ben and Amy! It was wonderful to see you and to hear Ben sing at conference!

East, West, Home's Best!