Showing Love

A good reminder of the type of wife, mother, etc. I want to be--HOW do/will I show my love for others?

Love this song!

I love how good music makes your heart soar, lightens almost any bad mood (not that I can relate to that!), brings the Spirit and just makes ya feel happy! Plus I love Jon Schmidt and his amazing gift with composing and performing amazing piano music.

P.S. I'm listening to the song right now as I post this and Coop is bouncing up and down to the beat of the music! I hope my boys can grown to appreciate and enjoy all the great music out there.

Jesus the Christ

This video has quickly spread across the web but I really loved Elder Holland's message and testimony of Christ and the Atonement. The images are beautiful as they play with his words!

Last Days

So, I am sitting here in Room 320 of the Law School, waiting for my Very Last Class Ever (in a degree-seeking program) to begin. It is kind of strange, because I don't really know what to feel, or what I should be feeling. I am excited to have made it through three years of law school, but the fact that I will be forever done with law school classes here in about two hours is not really relieving because I know that I will just be right back here tomorrow studying for finals.

I know that I am going to miss being a part of the law school community-- I have had more friends here and felt more a part of things, and felt more normal than I ever have here at law school. (That probably says something about the collective proclivities of law students than anything else, but I have enjoyed feeling like I fit in regardless.)
I often feel this way during transitions from one stage of life to another. I struggle to know what to think about the closing of one era and the opening of another. I didn't really have a problem when I graduated High School, because I was really, really, really ready to get out of there. I didn't feel this way when I graduated with my undergraduate degree, either. That probably has something to do with the fact that I knew where I was going and what I was going to do next.

But I did feel this way when I left on my mission. And when I came home. And when I got married. Intellectually, I know that it is time to move forward-- really that there is nothing I can do to prevent things from moving forward. Emotionally, I am warming up to the idea. I don't really know what it is like to be anything other than a student-- just like I didn't know what it would be like to be a missionary or a returned missionary or a husband.

When I was a missionary, and the time finally came for me to transfer out of areas (I only had five), it was always strange to still be in the area for the last day before I moved. I would look up and down streets whose names I didn't know, but whose cobblestones and bento shops and newsstands were familiar to me. After a transfer call, those roads seemed like they didn't go anywhere anymore. They were closed off to me because I no longer belonged there. My sadness over leaving and in some ways losing places which were meaningful to me usually lasted until I got to my new area, where the streets stretched off into promising new directions.

I haven't reached that place yet. I am still kind of sitting here just trying to absorb the things that I am losing, the things that are coming to a close. It is extra weird because I will be back here in the library studying for the Bar Exam over the summer. I was here in the Law Library over the summer of my first year working for a professor, and this place is very strange without the students to bring it to life.

I think that what I am really trying to come to grips with is this; all my life, when things have changed, someone has been laying out the roads in front of me. Changing areas meant that I was heading somewhere new. Coming home from Japan meant that I would go back to school. Getting married meant that I would start a new life and a family with Jenny-- though learning to take the reins of all those decisions is a process I think we are just starting to understand. Graduating from UVSC meant that I would come to law school. Now, it is time to leave the law school and leave being a student (after 19 years of education). But the next roads... I don't really know what they are yet. It is slowly dawning on me that I will have to supply direction and initiative in ways that have not been required of me before. I get the feeling that this will be liberating and fulfilling in ways that I don't yet understand. Right now, it is a little bit unsettling and slightly intimidating.

Check back with me. I think I'm about to start seeing what my life is really going to be like.

{Create} Words to Live By!

I loved this talk when I heard it last General Relief Society Meeting; I remember feeling the Spirit very strongly and being very impressed as I listened to Pres. Uchtdorf. I recently re-read it in the Ensign and was touched again, then came across this beautiful video tonight.

I think I am only beginning to understand what it means for me to "create" and how much happiness comes from creating things--whether as a mother each day or discovering hidden interests in decorating and painting (rough "talents" though they may be!). I am thrilled by how much pure joy I have felt during the past few weeks and months as I have been striving to give to people and things that are not empty but return dividends in feeling fulfilled and purposeful. Women are amazing and have so much good within them and that they can do; I am grateful that I have started on the path to discovering what I have to offer--all the Lord intends for me to be.

"The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you" (Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Happiness, Your Heritage,” Ensign, Nov 2008).

Toyoda

Today I took the boys for a run in the jogging stroller. Ian pointed out a Mazda that drove by (no surprise knowing the gear head that his father is...). I said, "Ian, we have a Mazda...What is Daddy's new truck?" Ian said: "It's a Toyoda [very excited] like that Star Wars guy." I was a little confused at first and amidst traffic noise tried to ask him to clarify. He quickly replied: "Toy-yoda. Like Yoda!"

It's a new...

TRUCK! For anyone who knows Chris well, you know he loves anything with a motor--especially come springtime. I think Val once wrote me a "warning" letter when she was in the MTC, giving me a heads up that spring was getting nearer, which meant anything motorized--including a lawn mower--would grab Chris' attention.
But one thing Chris and I know quite well by now is that when the right thing comes along, most the time we know and it just seems like the "right" thing to do; maybe not always the most sane or realistic (hey, it is Chris and I we're talking about!) but workable, doable, and almost always a good thing.

Coincidentally (or maybe it was "meant" to be...) we were parked next to this truck at the Rex Lee Run last Saturday (hmmm, I just had the thought. Maybe this is Chris' silver lining for doing so well at getting into running...). Of course Chris was interested but I didn't take it very seriously at first. Then Chris' dad took it seriously. Then Chris asked me to really think and pray about it. Famous last words eh? At first I kind of "fought" him on that day and had a stubborn Sunday, but by Monday I felt pretty good about things and after having some open dialogue (it was even kind AND constructive!) we had both pretty much come to the conclusion that this was probably the right thing at the right time.

Needless to say Chris is ecstatic to have a truck. He already has a list of things that he will work on (over time of course, I do need to remind him occasionally). It is surprising that he got a truck this soon, especially since it was just Christmas that I made an "official" TRUCK FUND sign for his huge change jar. I will have to let Chris add all the nitty gritty details about the car. I can remember this much--it's a 1990 Toyota (pre-Tacoma), V-6, cab-and-a-half...I think that is about all I know. Oh, that and it fits my double jogging stroller in the back so we can conveniently throw it in the back and go for a jog on the Provo River Trail--which we did Wednesday night and it was fabulous! Chris definitely knows how to appeal to me since we now can haul my motherload of a stroller!
This is serious business.
No, actually it's pretty funny. (Except the part when they keep honking the horn...that gets old REALLY fast.)

The Many Faces of Cooper

Cute...
and SO silly! His favorites lately are putting his shoes on (if the front door is open he is out the door in a flash). He loves putting stuff around his neck (I know, scary strangulation hazard), from my key chain lanyard to Ian's belts to his new Home Depot apron. He is such a funny but endearing kid. He loves to cuddle and will just stop playing sometimes and come over to say hi. Warms our hearts! Can't get enough of this cute kid!

Yummy Breakfast

Chris and I have been doing better overall taking turns letting the other sleep in (really, we should just go to bed earlier!). The other morning this is what I woke up to. Chris had experimented with a homemade peach-raspberry-strawberry syrup which was delicious. I don't even prefer pancakes, but this definitely made them worth eating! I am so lucky to have a good husband who takes such good care of me (and my stomach)!

Rex Lee 5K

Rex Lee Run was today--I'll add captions later but here are the pics! We had a great time and it was so fun to have so many family members there.