Stop the glorification of busy

Sometimes I feel like I need to report to the people around me about everything I'm doing in my life.  And I know I'm not not alone.  In fact almost every conversation I have with a friend from school, church or my community involves some sort of rundown about all things were all racing around doing.  And it's good stuff: tutoring, sports, music lessons, scouts, church activities, service projects... Really good stuff.  But when and more importantly how do we draw the line?  And do we even want to?  I mean we all know drugs, teen sex, pornography and a life of crime or indolence are lurking around pretty much every corner.  Curtis and I have always believed that keeping kids busy does loads to keep them out of trouble, not to mention that extracurriculars play a huge role on college applications.  So we know there's a place for all this busyness... But seriously when is enough enough?
I am loving yoga these days.  It is definitely my favorite exercise right now.  It helps that my teacher is inspiring and funny and keeps us on our toes with her music choices (Vinyasa to Eminem anyone?)  She reminds me to breathe fully and live in the present moment.  It's disturbing how often I find myself racing around getting all my stuff done and I will stop and realize I haven't had a full inhale in hours!  It doesn't help that I feel pressure all around me to provide evidence that I was a productive human each day.  (I guess kids that are fed and clean aren't enough :O). But I'm realizing that it is so important to take time each day to pray and breathe and meditate.  And to slow down, eat a quiet meal and just be still. (Psalm 46:10)
It was so powerful to watch our little caterpillars turn into Monarchs recently.  I mean I've read about it a million times and watched videos, etc... But I cannot tell you how special it has been to watch it up close and personal.  And I'm invested.  I mean last night I was digging up a milkweed plant in my yard to bring inside for the almost fully grown caterpillars we have inside right now.  I was just too nervous to put them outside because it got really cold this weekend.  I love these little critters. 

 We also keep waking up to these massive spider webs in the backyard.  They are usually gone by midmorning. 

 We took a trip to the Alligator park with our Cub Scout Pack recently and went on a night hike.  Scary right?!  But the sunset was so beautiful.  And nobody got eaten.  :) 

Nature always helps me to slow down and remember what matters.  Oh but forget what I said about being less busy.  Before this post was even completed I had signed Daniel up for Destination Imagination Club and agreed to let all the boys play a winter sport.  Crazinesss here we come!

Summer Color

 This is Pride of Barbados and I love it ! The leaves look like a Mimosa tree but it's much heartier and drought tolerant.  We planted it two years ago and it dies back in the winter but comes back and blooms all summer.  LOVE!  Butterfly and hummingbird friendly Mexican Firebush is in the background.  We've had so many hummingbirds this summer- it has been so fun to watch them zoom in and out of our yard. 

 Coral Honeysuckle is another hummingbird bush and I'm hoping it will be stronger next year.  I have a trellis for it to grow on but planted it late in the spring and it only grew about 5 feet.  My kids go outside sometimes and drink dew out of the little trumpets- they say it tastes sweet.  :) 

Of course I adore Bouganvillia.  I've tried it a few times and think I finally have the trick.  Mine is a variety with thorns so I came up with a simple solution.  I've gone outside with a pair of scissors probably 3 times the whole summer and just trimmed off any thorns.  It took about 3 minutes and voila!  Here is where I found my growing tips.  Also their color started to fade at some point this summer so I added a couple of Tablespoons of Epsom salt diluted in a gallon on water.  The color returned within a week!

Isaac

This has been a big year for Isaac.  He graduated from Elementary with excellent grades and behavior.

 He got his Arrow of Light and moved into Boy Scouts
























 He played flag football, soccer and swam on summer league.

 And he is a pleasure to spend time with.  He is always quick to thank us for things or to offer a hand when he knows we need it.  He's funny and bright and kind and we'll keep him!  :) Can't believe he's going to be passing the sacrament before the year ends!  Time flies :)

Destin Road Trip

We took a mom and kids road trip to Destin this summer!  It was super last minute for me (like I decided the day before- ahhh!)  But I'm so glad we did- it was fantastic!  We left at 5am- of course the kiddos were wide awake and no sleeping in the car.  We listened to The Great Brain and John Bytheway for most of the drive and those basically saved our lives.  I never would have been able to drive for 10 hours straight otherwise.  The kids were good in the car and we had a late lunch at The Golden Corral (which for the record is pretty much as barfy as I remembered it and really not cheap for light eaters like mine.  I did enjoy the meatloaf though)

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Fort Pickins.  This was an old Civil War Fort and it actually help the famous Native American, Geronimo (which made me really sad actually).  It was neat to see this piece of history though. 

A gigantic front rolled in just as we were leaving the beach at Fort Pickens.  Sort of expected an alien ship to be behind it.

Playing board games and eating ice cream cones in the lobby.  The Hampton Inn at Navarre was awesome.  They were so accommodating and we were able to get some Bananagrams in! YES

Peace

I got to speak in church a couple of weeks ago and as always benefitted more than anyone else from the experience.  Posting it below:

Good afternoon!  It's great to speak today- I always get a little nervous but have really appreciated the opportunity to work on a talk.  It's fun that Curtis and I are both speaking today and we don't have any toddlers making it impossible for us to both be up here.  Appreciate our kids holding down the row.  :)  Just for fun I'll give a brief introduction of our family.  We have lived in this ward for the last 7 years.  It took us awhile to acclimate to Texas but we really love it here and especially love this congregation- you've become our family.  Curtis and I met through a mutual friend when I was at BYU and and he was at UBC.  I still have the journal entry from the weekend we met- something about meeting the coolest guy but we will probably never see each other again.  But here we are, 17 wonderful years and 4 kids later.  I thank Heavenly Father everyday for these 5 people in my life!  We think it might be official- we've been Texified.  Not sure if I could ever handle another icy Michigan or absurdly long Minnesota winter.  So we might be here to stay.  :)

Well Brother deGraaf didn't assign me a topic so choosing was sort of a struggle.  There were a few things I wanted to speak about but I kept coming back to the topic of "Personal Peace."  

1) Peace signs are popular as are one line slogans like "war is not the answer" and "coexist" It only takes a few clicks on your computer to see that we are no where near the lofty goal of world peace though.  This can be depressing but let's look at the scriptures.  Matthew 10:34 Chirst says "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth." D&c 1:35 says that peace shall be taken from the earth.  But Christ promises peace as the fruit of the spirit and he is called "the prince of  peace."

2) the peace that Christ offers is Personal peace and it is attainable in this world.  It's actually critical not just a perk. Personal peace is a deep abiding comfort and confidence in our Father's Plan and in knowing that Christ has overcome the world.  President Heber J. Grant described the Savior’s peace this way: “His peace will ease our suffering, bind up our broken hearts, blot out our hates, engender in our breasts a love of fellow men that will suffuse our souls with calm and happiness. I don't know about you but a soul suffused with calm and happiness sounds amazing. 

3) The world, as always, offers a counterfeit version: pleasure, money, power, luxury vacations, spa treatments and buying more stuff but ultimately these things do not bring lasting peace and they can even create new stresses in our lives.  

4) Peace through Christ is manifest through the Holy Ghost.  Helaman 5:30 describes it beautifully: Perfect voice of stillness, mild but piercing.  How long has it been since you've felt that voice?  There are things we can to do in order to hear and feel the peace I'm talking about:

~ slow down, we are so busy racing from one activity to another that we are making important phone calls while driving and eating and using sign language to prepare our kids for the daily schedule.  And aside from the obvious physical danger that you may experience on the freeways this hyper business can also be devastating to our souls.  We desperately need time to quietly meditate, pray and turn our hearts to our Father in Heaven.  Words like ponder, deliberate, reflect... have become almost extinct in a society that worships traits like smooth talking, decisive, witty and charismatic.  There has been a real shift in our culture as far as which qualities we admire in people.  

~ don't go a day without talking to Heavenly Father and reading his word.  You wouldn't think of having your family skip breakfast.  and lunch.  and dinner right? and spiritual nourishment is even more critical than physical nourishment.  There are so many dailies that we need to do but prayer and scripture study is SO much more important than homework or piano practice or even (gasp) brushing your teeth!! 

~ Keep the commandments,  In this there is safety, in this there is peace.  When we realize that the commandments are there to help us avoid suffering, contention, pain and guilt- it becomes much easier to want to keep them.  I've had several people remark about the word of wisdom and how it's odd that we are asked to abstain from alcohol when it is clear that alcohol was consumed in the scriptures.  My answer to that is probably that alcohol is not inherently evil but God knows more than we do and knows that in our day we will have more peace and security if we just avoid it. Think of the time and toll that sin takes on us.  If we for example stretch a truth a little or cheat or work out a financial arrangement in a way that we know is dishonest... Now we have that swirling around in our heads and we have to spend time rationalizing why we did it and maybe we spend some more time looking around at others are doing it even more so we can feel better... all of this is robbing our souls of the precious peace and confidence that comes from doing our best to keep the commandments and repenting quickly and fully when we mess up

~ Peace can come to us through good music, nature, time at the temple and time serving others.  Take time for these impt activities.  I wasn't sure what to speak on at first but came to church and we sang:  "Be Still my Soul." Then the next week it was "Where can i turn for peace?"  Music is one of the most powerful ways that God communicates to us!

5) The last thing I want to mention is that peace is possible, even admidst life's greatest storms.  I have watched my own mother suffer such pain through some of the choices and circumstances with her children.  I am blown away at the serenity that she is able to find and hold on to.  I'm not suggesting she isn't affected because she most definitely is, but her faith anchors her and affords her a kind of peace that the world simply is not able to provide.  No therapist or amount of time walking int the mountains or eating organic berries or even doing yoga (and I love yoga) can offer the peace I am talking about.  It is the still quiet comforting reminder that this is not our home.  That we are strangers here and our souls long to be with our Heavenly Family.  This peace reminds us that being on earth is a little like looking in a funhouse mirror.  It's distorted and things that seem really important aren't at all and trials that seem to go on and on will feel like a small moment when we have better perspective.  The peace I'm talking about reminds us that Jesus Christ overcame death and sin.  Christ made it very clear that he did not come to establish peace and in fact in the very time that his birth was being heralded by angels singing "Glory to God, Peace on Earth" Kind Herod was slaughtering innocent babies.  Christ assured his disciples that they would have tribulation in the world but He also promised His peace.  Testimony and part of one of my favorite poems by William Wordsworth:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home

EFY, Peacocks and Deer

Jonah and a group of good friends were able to attend Especially For Youth in San Antonio this summer.  They had a fantastic time, made new friends and were spiritually uplifted.  So thankful to live in a place were programs like this are accessible. 

After dropping Jonah off I got a short visit in with my brother Jim's Family.  Military perks include access to parks with tame peacocks and deer.  I brought Daniel along with me and he and I had a wonderful time catching up with my sil, Kathryn and two of her wonderful boys, Jake and Henry.  It's really nice to have family in the same state.  I feel like Curtis and I have been orphans our whole marriage.  Sometimes I long to be around people who've known me for longer than a few years.  :)  Love my family!

Independence Day!

4th of July Ward Flag Raising and Breakfast

This is such a fun tradition that our wards has.  We meet at 8:30 (trying to beat the heat), sing a patriotic song, have a flag raising, eat a delicious potluck breakfast and then the kids race around the parking lot with their decorated bikes and scooters.  A great way to start our country's birthday!

 Curtis hanging out with his buddy Mel.  More on that later.  And Mason, who shares a birthday with our country and is just about to leave on his mission to California- so excited for him!  So who would have guessed that Curtis would become Mr. Social.  But it's all true.  He has fishing buddies, guitar jam buddies, woodworking buddies, guys he does his calling with (he works with the young men and does a lot with scouting)... every week someone is coming by or he's going out.  And I love it.  I'm so thrilled that he hangs out with such a wonderful group of men.  Men who love their families, work hard, aren't hanging out at bars and are worthy to hold the priesthood.  I remember years ago hearing Dennis Prager say that most men don't have good friends and they need them just as much as women need theirs.  They need good men to influence them and to relate to.  Anyway, I'm so happy that Curtis has found that here :) 

I know I didn't get much of Isaac in this pic but isn't this tree amazing?!?  It's a bald cypress and they are okay with wet feet and very hardy in the heat.  But some of them just look scraggly.  Not the ones at our church though.  They smell fantastic and make a perfect climbing tree.  Did I tell you I adore trees?  And I just discovered a new profession that pretty much I have to study one day.  Ethnobotany: the scientific study of the relationship between people and plants.  I mean this is my path!!  I hang out in my back yard all the time and trees/plants are the first thing I'm talking about when I visit anywhere.  I love plants :)

 Later than night we had some friends over to swim/BBQ, then we watched the fireworks from the top of a parking structure.  The fireworks were pretty good but the lightning storm we got to watch was amazing!!  I got a little nervous since we were up so high but we stayed because I thing being electrocuted might have been worth it.  That lightning was incredible!

Belize

Welp- we finally did it!  After planning, I dunno, maybe 10 vacations and then talking ourselves out of it... one finally stuck.  Actually the main reason it worked out was because Curtis surprised me with the tickets bought and reservations made.  Which was such a gift because I am painfully indecisive about these things.  The only catch was that he included SCUBA certification in the whole deal and I was seriously, not okay with that.  

I've pretty much had a shark phobia since I was a kid.  And then there are my ears- they hurt when I dive into a 6 foot pool.  And then there's that part about breathing under water and what happens if you start coughing under water and then you panic and pretty much die?!  What about that?  But it was already set to go so I had to give it a try.  We got certified here in Katy and our instructor was the best.  We were also the only two in that particular session which is pretty rare but it was awesome!  I was so nervous for our open water dive.  We had to do it in this murky Texas lake that was 55 F!  We wore 11mm of wetsuits, which was so uncomfortable- I was sore in weird places for days after.  My ear hurt so bad on that dive and it was only 20 feet but in retrospect I think that was because we had been camping the day before and my allergies were going crazy.  

Anyway, long story short, we passed our certification and headed off to Belize two weeks later.  My mother-in-law and her sister flew down from Ontario to babysit and they were amazing but I'll post separately about that.  :)

We were there for 5 days and it was honestly the perfect vacation.  It was a brilliant combination of fun activities and relaxing down time.  We actually stayed on Ambergris Caye, an island right off the mainland.  It is pretty wild and doesn't have the pristine beaches like Mexico.  Our hotel was called Victoria House and it was so beautiful.  And very quiet- not a party resort at all.  Since it gets dark at about 6pm there we pretty much  went to bed by 10:30 every night.  We got up for the sunrise a few times, which was before 6am and it was so peaceful.  

We rented a golf cart to ride into town and eat, shop and just walk around.  The weather was humid, warm and salty and we felt very safe hanging out there.  Although I definitely felt like a tourist- no possible way to blend in.  Ambergris Caye is probably not for someone who is looking to get dressed up and be seen.

So the scuba was fantastic.  We did 3 dives and saw all kinds of cool creatures: rays, grouper, eels, a big sea turtle and lots of nurse sharks (which somehow I am no longer terrified of).  Our last two dives were about 60 feet and my ears didn't bother me at all.  In fact, Curtis actually had trouble with his (his allergies were acting up too so this definitely seems to be a factor).  He had a whole new appreciation for how I had been feeling back in Texas.  And funny story, on one of our dives he had to pee so bad once we were in the boat.  We drank a ton of water to stay hydrated and he was dying!  I mean I have never seen him so sad.  At first I was all panicky, wondering how I could help and then I thought, "hey this is for all the times when we were on road trips and he was annoyed with me for wanting a potty break.  And for all those times when I was pregnant and he didn't get the agony I was feeling."  So then I just enjoyed the moment.  :O 

Speaking of Curtis, I just seriously loved every moment with him.   I forgot how much I enjoy his company and conversation.  We tried to not talk about the kids or anything stressful and just laughed a lot.  My favorite moments were laying on the beach together with the warm breeze.  I read a super girly novel while there("Edenbrooke"), bought some really cool artwork, ate such delicious food, slept plenty and of course enjoyed hanging out with my number one.  

We also spent an afternoon fishing with a local fisherman.  He was hilarious- clearly didn't like tourists.  But I think he warmed up a bit to us.  Curtis caught tons of Snapper (which we brought home and ate for dinner- SO good!) and I pretty much caught everything but snapper: a barracuda, a ray, a blowfish, a big piece of coral, a houndfish... I think thats it.  Our boat trip was awesome too because we really had a chance to just enjoy that beautiful aqua water (that I have been been dreaming of my whole life!) and to look around.  Belize it so beautiful- I would love to go back!

So overall it was a perfect 10.  Now we are just wondering when we can go again! 

Pink and Yellow

We had a pink and yellow baby shower for a friend recently.  I forgot to take pics during the shower to show all the yummy food but here are a few beforehand shots.  The Peonies are my Favorite!!