Funny story, fun concert

If you're LDS, you've probably got some connection to the Osmonds. I mean, there are 100 original Osmonds, so how can you not, right? ;) My mom's cousin's daughter married Donnie, and my cousin's daughter has been Marie's long-time nanny. However, that's not how we got tickets to the Osmond concert in SLC where the oldest four brothers celebrated 50 years in the entertainment industry and held their retirement concert.

How did I get tickets? Well, that's the funny story ... A few weeks ago I received tickets in the mail to the Osmond Family concert at the LDS Conference Center. The tickets, which came from church HQ, said it was a pioneer commemoration concert. Cool. But why did they send them to ME? The church doesn't randomly send out things like that, so I was stumped.

Paul and I discussed several scenarios, but we could not figure out how the tickets came to us. Oh well, we'd go anyway. I invited my parents to join us on a double date. Turns out my dad and husband ditched us for the Owlz game, so I wanted to find someone else to use the tickets. From what I had heard on the news, they were desperately sought and difficult to get. Again, I was a little puzzled about how I got them, but I wanted to make sure we used them.

I planned to invite Hilary but never got around to asking her. A few days before the concert (four, to be exact), Hilary was at my house and was looking at my calendar. She said, "Osmond concert? Are you going? Did you get tickets?" I said yes, that I did get tickets. She said, "Didn't I call you about that?" After some serious brain searching, I remembered that she had indeed called and said she entered me into a drawing for tickets to "that Osmond thing." When I got the message back on July 3, I thought she was talking about Stadium of Fire. That is a huge independence day celebration with fireworks, and this year they had Miley Cyrus and the Blue Man Group. I had entered several drawings myself in hopes of getting tickets. No luck, so I figured that's what she meant since the Osmonds were the ones who started the Stadium of Fire years ago.

Turns out THIS was the concert she meant. I didn't even remember her message when I got the tickets, because I had put it out of my mind the day of Stadium of Fire. I guess her sister's grandma-in-law REALLY wanted to go to this concert (like a lot of people), so she entered a bunch of people's names. Hilary's sister tried to help her by entering a bunch more names, including mine.

Once we had this all figured out, Hilary hopped on the phone to make sure granny got tickets after all. She did, so we were able to go up and make a fun night of it as well. Becca joined us and we had a fun girls' night out -- even the 45 minutes stuck in the parking garage trying to get out. (I'm sure that part is debatable ... :)



Don't mind my mom's red eyes -- she doesn't blink correctly. (Ha, ha! Mom, remember the optometrist who told you that?) She actually was very touched by the final performance of Come, Come Ye Saints with the Osmonds and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was amazing.

The Osmonds did some fun numbers while they were there from their hits. My favorite was when Donny and Marie were going to do a little medley and started the music for "She's a little bit country ... He's a little bit rock and roll" when Donny stopped it and had the men of the MoTab sing, "She's a little bit country." Marie countered w/the MoTab women with, "He's a little bit rock and roll." It was funny. I'm sure spontaneous, too, right? ;)

Anyway, as we watched the Osmonds perform, I realized how horrible it would be to grow up famous! Funny thought to have during a great concert, I know. I think most of the times when we think of being famous we think of all the wonderful things associated with it. However, there are so many negatives that I'm grateful I was just a little "nobody" in Mapleton, Utah! I am also grateful, however, for people like the Osmonds who use(d) their fame to bring the spotlight to the church in such a positive manner. I actually met someone one time who had joined the church because of Donny & Marie. That amazed me, and it made me grateful for those faithful LDS who live in the spotlight.



So, I guess that's it -- I'll decide not to become famous (inside joke there for Paul's sake :). Instead I'll enjoy my life with my "nobody" friends and family like you. :)

Blessed, Honored Pioneer!

This past week we have celebrated and remembered the pioneers that trekked across the nation to escape persecution and enjoy religious freedom. I have grown up hearing pioneer stories and have heard repeatedly about their hardships and dedication.

During the Sesqucentennial I heard story after story after story about their lives. In fact, I was honestly very annoyed at all the pioneer stories. Isn't that horrible? These people make sacrifices and allow me to practice religious freedom and I'm sick of hearing about them?

I've realized a new appreciation for these pioneer ancestors. Their dedication and example are beyond anything I ever expect to be. I have thought more and more about them as I have entered motherhood. I think of having to pick up and move and go across the plains with my young children. I don't know how moms did it. I don't know how they dealt with so much death and discomfort. I don't know how they weren't worried out of their minds for their elderly. I don't know how any pregnant woman gave birth in those times, let alone as they were traveling across the country. I don't know how I can ever show enough gratitude for what they endured to benefit my life.

I have also thought about what a blessing it is to live in a time of such convenience. I think of those poor women who had to cook and clean almost non-stop. By the time the breakfast was done it was time to start lunch, and once lunch was finished it was time to start dinner. I remember a Little House on the Prairie when the son tried cooking while the mother was away, and he ruined dinner. Did they order out for pizza? No, they ate some figs and bread or whatever else they had on hand -- which was not much. I can't imagine not feeling well or having a headache or having a newborn and still having to take care of all the cooking and cleaning.

Actually, sometimes I wonder if that's why we have such disrespectful and sacreligious behavior in our society -- it's too easy to live! I am very grateful for it, but I do worry about how to give my kids a great work ethic, especially since I don't feel like I'm the best example in that category!

In any case, I thought I'd share a story written by Paul's grandmother. She wrote snippets from her life rather than a biography. This has been one of my favorites ever since I read it, and I know ANY mother out there will appreciate this and think of your own friends and family who would do the same for you. (All while being very grateful that we live in a time of convenience and pain medication. :)

"THE BREAKFAST: A tribute to Mrs. Minnie Jackson. Blackfoot, Idaho"
Written by Evah Pearl Grover Brown

For thirty years the memory of that breakfast has stayed with me and that's a long time to remember a certain meal. It had been a terribly long night, one of excitement, anxiety and the hardest kind of work. I had been the leading performer, but the others had worked with me in the supporting cast. There was the doctor, and my young husband, and his mother and my neighbor, Minnie.

With all our combined efforts, at 6 a.m. a new life was ushered into this world and I gazed lovingly, upon our beautiful dark haired baby girl. Yes, after a lifetime of preparation and months of waiting and hours of suffering I was at last a mother.

As only a mother can understand, I felt that heaven had opened its door wide enough to allow its most precious treasure to step out, and into our modest home.

Minnie, I'm sure, was as exhausted as the others. In the excitement of caring for the new baby no one noticed when she went home, but I shall always remember when she returned. It was after I had relaxed for a while between smooth white sheets, it was after the doctor had gone and just at the time that I began to feel famished. Then with a covered tray, Minnie walked into my bedroom.

Quietly she pulled a chair near my bed and sat down. "Honey" she said, gently laying her hand upon my tired arm, "I brought you some breakfast".

Uncovering the tray, I inhaled the wonderful aroma of hot food. There were two tender light biscuits with butter and raspberry jam. There was hot chocolate topped with a 'dab' of whipped cream, and an egg scrambled just right. And there was more—There was understanding, neighborliness, and compassion. It was the most delicious breakfast I have ever eaten…it was prepared for one mother by another mother, with love.

My husband, the man!

I love not having to do "man" things around the house. I always make Paul take out the garbage, but that's not what I'm talking about ...

Yesterday we bought a new ceiling fan for our bedroom. It is a very nice one and he wired in a remote for us. Now this is not any ordinary remote! The remote actually has a thermostat in it. That means we set the temperature we want, and the fan works accordingly. For example, he has it set to 77 degrees. When we went to bed it was on medium to get to that temperature. During the night and early morning when it got cooler it kicked down to low. Then later in the morning when it got warmer it kicked itself back up to medium. Awesome! The remote also has light dimmers, a timer for the light and fan, and an option to have the lights turn on in a delayed period of time (if you want the lights to wake you up in the morning).

Back to my man! Paul came right home and installed it -- wiring and all. I went in at one point during the installation and looked at what he was doing. I said, "It looks broken." He asked what part looked broken, and I said all of it. I have no idea about wiring, lighting or really screws, for that matter. And I'm so grateful that I can be the dumb blonde (in house-repair items, anyway) and let Paul use his manliness to get things done. :) Way to go, Paul!

Sidenote:
Interestingly enough, a woman at church today talked about man power. Good timing! Anyway, she was talking about doing yard work and how she couldn't dig any longer. She said her husband said he'd dig if she would plant. She was very relieved and grateful that she could hand it to him and let him use his "man power" and ease her burden. She related it to the Lord and how we need to put our burdens on Him a lot more often, thus relieving our burdens and using his perfect and all-encompassing power. Good analogy and reminder, especially because of the great timing with my own "man power" situation. :)

Fun Festivities

This week has been action-packed! On Tuesday we picked up Becca from the airport after she spent a week in Washington helping Christina move. Then on Wednesday Hilary and I went to SLC to celebrate her birthday at her favorite Indian restaurant. It was delicious! That night the boys and I happened on a car show that was part of Spanish Fork's Fiesta Days (a week-long celebration around Pioneer Day), and so we had to stop and look around.

Tyler's first excitement was a green pick-up. He loves green, and he loves trucks. Add the fire paint and he's in heaven:


Zachary liked this cool-looking car as well:


They were super excited about this car, because it reminded them of Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang:


And this one was such a nice color of blue that I had to take close-ups of the boys as well to get some good individual shots w/a nice background:


Dad, this one is for you ... seems it's been a while since you cut off a Tijuana Taxi:


Thursday was Pioneer Day. We started the morning off with the parade with my dad (thanks for getting there early to get us good spots!), my sister Rahcle's family, Hilary and her family, and Paul's mom and her new fiancee. I think this small-town parade impressed our visitors. :)

The kids, of course, always love a parade. Tyler got to see a pig:


Dad talked the Owlz mascot into throwing him something, which turned out to be a really cool hat:


The Jeeps did some cool stunts (Becky, this pic is for you!):


And we got to see two of my nephews in the parade. Cris and his team were division champs (he's the one with the big smile):


Here you can see what we did throughout the parade -- reverse candy-throwing. We threw the candy to the people we knew in the parade, or to people who didn't throw any to us:


Here is my other nephew Caleb (standing up to get a cold drink from grandpa), whose team became state champs! Awesome:


We then got to enjoy a day of games and a BBQ. This is a picture of Shayla with Paul's mom Carol. Shayla was being very shy (not surprising since this was only her third time to ever meet Carol), but Hilary at least got her to stop staring into space for the picture:


Carol said she came to visit because of Paul's birthday, but because his birthday is in March, she brought an un-birthday cake. Tyler was very concerned about this since HIS birthday is the next in our family, and he has to wait a LONG time for his birthday. So, Steve talked Carol into putting the boys' names on it as well:


Carol headed to the mall at one point to find a tie that was the perfect shade of purple for the ring bearer (no luck), which made Becca excited since she then got to go with her and get her new glasses. Although they are very similar to the old ones, I like the new look a little better:


We ended the day on a rotten note (cranky, disobedient kids and Morgan burning her hand on a sparkler), but hopefully the pictures will remind us that it was a fun day overall. I suppose if it wasn't a fun day it would have been a more realistic way of honoring the pioneers, huh? I can't see any fun in trekking across the plains in the scorching sun, the freezing cold, and the daily workload they endured. I am grateful for their efforts and sacrifices, and for the religious freedom I have because of so many who have sacrificed throughout history.

Into indexing

So, I've found a new hobby of sorts: indexing. Basically I look at scanned copies of documents and type in the data that is found there. Sounds really boring, right? Actually, it's quite addictive. Typing in this info makes it possible for people to search for these records in an online search instead of wading through the documents themselves. (Not only can that be time-consuming, but expensive! Each birth certificate, social security application, etc. costs around $30.) Anyway, this will make it easier for people to find and learn more about their ancestors -- where they were born, who their parents are, etc.

I've wanted to get into genealogy, but it has always seemed too complicated for my brain to do in 15-minute spurts. This is a chance for me to utilize those short periods of time I have and make myself useful.

Most of the documents are census records, but I've been focusing on Washington state death certificates. I love coming across people from nearby where I lived -- today I typed in some from Kent! Today I also typed up the death record for a Denise Brown. She was a baby who died.

I've only done about 600 records, but from those it seems it was a LOT more common for babies to die. It's heart-breaking to type in these parents names and know that they loved this baby who lived only a day or two. These records are from the 1950s-1960s, and I am amazed and grateful for the progress we've made in health. (I say we as if I had anything to do with it! :) For the most part, we don't have babies dying because they were born at 7 months gestation. We don't have kids 9 months old dying of pneumonia. It's given me a real feeling for these people, but it's also made me very grateful to live in the time we do. Yes, we have our own trials and struggles, but I'm glad that our babies have a much better chance to survive in our times.

Anyway, I'm enjoying doing something productive from the comfort of my own home. I look forward to the day you can find anyone's death record by doing a search online instead of paying $30 to order it yourself! Get indexing, everyone!!! (BTW, you can find out all the details and start doing it yourself at www.familysearchindexing.org.)

Firsts

We've had a lot of firsts this week, and we have pictures of them all! :)

The first thing we had was Tyler losing his first tooth. He was VERY excited about this. Because he didn't get his first tooth as a baby until 17 months, I told him he wouldn't lose one until second grade. So, when he lost it a month before second grade, he felt like he was ahead of schedule.

On Sunday he told me his tooth hurt. I asked him if it was loose. Once he realized it was, he was excited and no longer cared that it hurt. Then on Monday he remembered that a kid in first grade lost a tooth when he ate an apple. So Tyler ate an apple and out came his tooth. He told Paul, "It just came out ... on like my 11th try or something." He was very cute asking all about the tooth fairy and even taped his door open so she could find his room okay. Here he is proudly displaying his tooth and where it used to be:



Turns out the tooth fairy leaves two quarters. He was very excited about that. I guess the masking tape holding the door open worked!

Our next first was Shayla's -- she got her first haircut. I debated back and forth about whether or not to do it, because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her hair. The bottom of it grew in like it's in layers, and it naturally has a little curl that flips up at the bottom. However, I finally decided to do it since it's getting food in it and in her face too often. So, when we took Becca in for a cut yesterday I had my niece do it quickly before I lost my nerve. This picture is right before she started screaming:


She only screamed because Alyssa was trying to comb out tangles. After that she was fine, especially since I held her. She wouldn't look at Alyssa and refused to smile since Alyssa was looking at her. Anyway, Alyssa also did a great job in Becca's hair, which you'll see in a little bit. Here's Shayla's new do:


Becca's first is that she has straight teeth for the first time without braces. Hooray! She can eat chewy, gooey candy all she wants now ... or at least sometimes. :) Anyway, we decided to get her a new cut to go with the new teeth, and she looks really cute:


She's also got new glasses on the way, but one of the lenses was backordered. Do they not realize we wanted the full makeover in one day? :) Anyway, that'll give her something to look forward to for another week before we have to start hearing all about the exciting things that will happen at school.

Zachary's first was during swimming lessons. He FINALLY realized that he can do something other than hang onto the wall. His teacher helped him get started floating, and he didn't freak out when she let go:


My boys still do everything they can to keep their faces out of the water, and I don't know how we'll ever get over that fear. In the meantime, they swim with their faces up so that not a drop gets on their faces. Sigh ... no champion swimmers going to happen here!


I didn't mention my $1,000 purchase that I got the same day as all of these pictures -- two new crowns right inside my mouth. Not nearly as exciting, and I'm not about to post a picture ... but if I'm going to spend that much money in one day, I might as well "brag" about it, right? :)

So, I guess our summer hasn't really been as boring and lazy as I mentioned. We have only one more month of summer fun before school begins, so we'll be sure to cram in as much as we can!

Do your best

My cousin recently graduated from seminary (way to go Laura!) to become a Lutheran pastor. Anyway, recently she posted a sermon on her blog, and it made me realize that I don't write enough uplifting things on my blog. So, this is my first in an attempt to write more uplifting things interspersed with my complaining and random thoughts.

I had a profound realization recently that I thought I'd share. I can't count the number of times I've heard someone give a talk or teach a lesson at church and say, "You don't have to be perfect -- you just have to do your best." They always say this as a supposed way to make me feel better about not being perfect, and yet somehow that has never been a comfort to me since I'm not doing my best. I want to do my best, I think I'll do my best, I make plans to do my best and then I DON'T do my best. What is wrong with me?I know that even my best isn't perfect, and I don't even do my best. Aaarrrrgghhh!!!

Well, recently I had a little inspiration to lighten my mental load. Wouldn't doing my best be a bit of perfection? Not the Savior kind of perfect, but the Denise kind of perfect? And if I were doing my best and being perfect, what need would I have for the Atonement? Obviously Heavenly Father knew that I would have weakness and imperfection, and therefore he provided a Savior. If I do my best I have no need for repentance or forgiveness.

Now, I'm not saying this to justify NOT trying to do our best. However, I realized that a better phrase is, "Do a little better." If I do a little better every day, every week, every month, then I am on the way to doing my best. Instead of getting discouraged that I'm not my best self, I can take comfort in knowing that I am progressing as long as I am doing a little better.

I had this thought (which maybe is a "duh" topic for everyone else), and it brought great peace to my mind. Then I picked up an Ensign (Dec. 2007) and it had a talk from Elder Neal A. Maxwell from May 1976. It has a quote that perfectly describes what I've been feeling, "I thank Him for helping me, even forgiving me, when I fall short, when I testify of things known but which are beyond the border of my behavior, and for helping me to advance that border, bit by bit." I love that a talk from 1976 can inspire me even today. I'm so grateful to have a prophet today and to have 12 wonderful apostles to lead and guide us through a troubled world.

I'm also grateful for family and friends like all y'all who help me and encourage me as I try to advance my own border bit by bit. I'm also grateful that this little thought helped me understand and appreciate our Savior's Atonement even more so that I no longer have to feel bad when someone says, "Just do your best." I may cringe a little, but instead I'll just try to think of how I can advance my border next.