Saturday, February 27, 2010

Preach My Gospel

Just an update on our missionary: he arrived safely in the mission field. The two-hour flight from Provo to Sacramento was grueling, but you know Spencer--not a complainer. If you are OCD like me, you are at this moment trying to resist the urge to straighten his tie. Trust me, there's nothing you can do about it.
Although he is serving in the United States, and only six hours from where his family lives, his letters seem to be coming from some faraway, foreign outpost.
Here is a rundown of some of his recent experiences:
1. Eating pig intestines.
2. Witnessing animal sacrifice in someone's living room.
3. This included a shaman dancing and twirling on the table.
4. Eating more pig intestine. And some liver for good measure.
5. Working around demon worship traditions to bring the light of the Gospel to a new generation.
6. Five baptisms this week-end.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Yesterday, in celebration of our anniversary, I cooked up a nice dinner. Seth volunteered to make his amazing french fries to go along with the filet mignon, crab cakes, salad and fruit. I set the table with our fine china and candles and as I left the room to change, I asked Shane to run the vacuum over the floor. I didn't get a cheerful, willing response. But I continued on my way. Then I heard Seth's voice:

"It's their freaking anniversary! It won't kill you to help out for once in your life!!"

Which interpreted means: "Come on little brother, let's all pitch in and make it nice for our loving parents who have managed to stay married for so long."

I'm sure that's what he meant.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Anniversary

27 years together is an accomplishment worth noting. We are two people who could not be more different. It was once documented when our very detailed personality profiles (after filling out a fifty-page questionnaire each) were used as an example in a business conference as two people who were complete opposites in a way the moderator had never seen in all of his years of professional experience. Ironically, of all the couples in that room at the time, we are one of the few who are still together. What is our secret? Sheer determination? Sometimes. Stubborn stick-to-it-iveness? That helps. A little bit of crazy? Can't hurt.
But the real secret is: I don't know. I can't narrow it down to one or two things. It's taking one day at a time.  It's dinner on the table. It's socks in the hamper. It's paying the insurance. It's compromising on  what kind of chips to buy. It's leaky roofs and leaky toilets. It's diapers and ear infections. It's getting through and getting by. It's laughing. Lots of laughing. It's being all in, come heck or high water (and trust me, we've had both). It's worry and contentment. It's insane and reasonable. It's highs and lows. It's the mundane and the sublime. It's you and me. It's us. It's forever. It's wonderful.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Fun Facts

We recently spent a delightful week with our favorite daughter-in-law: Nicole and that adorable grandbaby: Bailey. The rain poured from the sky and we passed around a miserable flu bug of some mysterious origin. But is spite of that, we enjoyed the visit and think it was a very thoughtful Christmas gift. So, today I will share with you a little of the sweetness that is Bailey:

1. Bailey is a hardy traveler--she showed up after a long plane ride, met a bunch of strangers (us) and was soon cheerfully entertaining us with her tricks and antics.
2. She calls anyone of child age "Baby".
3. In our house, the only one of child age left is Shane--so he was "Baby" to Bailey.
4. Bailey would greet him with an excited "Baby! Baby! Baby!" whenever she saw him. Her adoration and love for "Baby" helped him overcome his concern with the name "Baby".
5. She calls her Daddy "Dad-o"--how cute is that?
6. She can do all the actions and words to  "Wheels on the Bus" (the babies on the bus go "Waa, waa, waa" is priceless).
7. She can do "Pat-a-cake" like a pro--all the way to "throw it in the oven for Bailey and me".
8. She knows her shapes and shouts out "circle" whenever one shows up in a book.
9. Animals and their sounds are her specialty. Funny how this can entertain a room full of mature, grown people endlessly.
10. When it's time for snack, she is very enthusiastic and pushes on the highchair to let you know its snack time.
11. She has definite opinions about what she will eat. The moment of truth comes when she puts it in her mouth or drops it overboard.
12. Blueberries are her favorite. And the way she says it is too cute--and cannot be recreated here in mere letters. Shanna has video that I will share when I get my hands on it.
13. She calls Andy "Pop-pop" and followed him around all evening the first night she was here.
14. She calls me "Nana". Music to my ears.
15. She's not big on napping--it's not fair to ask her to slow down.
16. She sleeps like a dream at night though.
17. She is an early riser--up and at 'em by the crack of dawn.
18. Bath time was mine--it was so fun to watch her play and splash and put her foot in the rinsing cup and shout out "toes!"
19. She knows and enjoys pointing out the features on faces: Nose, eyes, mouth, ears. She especially enjoyed squeezing "Baby's" nose often and vigorously.
20. Saying good-bye was heart-wrenching. She hugged me and patted my back and said "Nana. Nana. Nana" 'til I thought my heart would burst. I walked to the car with my sunglasses covering my grandma tears.
I know that may not be a "fun" fact--but it means she was so much fun it was hard to let her go. And we can't wait to see her again.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

Do you think age 46 is a little late to learn to swim? How did I get this old without learning such a basic skill? I made sure all of my children were signed up for swimming lessons every summer. I loaded them into the family van on cold, rainy  mornings (ahh the Northwest in summertime!) and hustled them into the Camas pool for their  Red Cross Certified swim training. I spent the hour or so while the older ones were learning to swim, wrestling and chasing toddlers and babies on, under and around the benches outside the fence. It was a rare day that we went home without at least one scraped knee or bumped chin. But it was all for a worthy pusuit: the ability to swim. By the time we got to Shayla (#6!) we had our own swimming pool and she and Sam and Shane just learned by osmosis. They waded, then splashed and next thing we knew they were jumping off the diving board and paddling around like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I had my chance when I was a youngster--I was signed up for swimming lessons in Blanding, Utah. One summer I trudged the miles and miles  (or so it seemed to me) from my home to the town pool. I liked my teacher and really wanted to please her, but I couldn't seem to get the hang of it. Getting my face wet was a triumph but after that I spent most of my time in the pool swallowing water and choking and gagging. I finally decided it just wasn't for me. I was happy to splash around in the shallow end while my brother and cousins swam and dove off the diving board. Over the years, my non-swimming status didn't really get in the way of my fun. I canoed at Girls Camp with a life jacket and ran the rapids on our Youth Conference super activity with a life jacket. I quietly avoided any activities that would require actual swimming and got on with my life.
 One more chance presented itself when we moved to Ramah: The Middle of Nowhere, New Mexico. This place had no TV reception and was 50 miles from the nearest city. But there was a lake. A couple of the guys decided to see if I really meant it when I said I couldn't swim and they tossed me out into the lake. I thought it would be great revenge to just go ahead and drown and show them I wasn't kidding. But I realized that plan required my death and I  had some future goals and aspirations I wanted to live to accomplish, so I splashed and flailed and coughed and sputtered my way to shore. It didn't magically teach me to swim--instead it made me deathly afraid of the water.

The day came that we built a home with a lovely swimming pool. As I mentioned, the youngsters all swam like fish. We would have really fun Family Home Evenings with all of us in the pool, everyone swimming and diving and me hanging out in the shallow end. We lived there for 7 years and every year I would consider getting in there and really trying to learn to swim. The time just slipped away with out it happening. We moved to a cabin by a river and the nearest I came to swimming there was when I fell in.

So here we are. All this California sun seems to have affected my common sense and I am training for a half-marathon and the Iron Girl Triathalon. Why? Because I have very inspirational daughters and very inspirational Relief Society sisters. And I'm just a little crazy anyway.  It turns out that "Tri" means three--so there are three events in the Iron Girl Tri: running, biking and SWIMMING.

Which brings us back to the swimming. I figured that now is as good a time as any to finally learn to swim. I am clinging to the success story of someone a little older than I am, who just learned to swim last year AND did the Iron Girl. She has been very encouraging along with her daughter who wrought this miracle by teaching her to swim. Last week we all met at the local pool and they showed me how to kick and move forward. It was a great start and I was feeling pretty confident that with this group, I would feel comfortable enough to overcome my fears and get on with learning to swim.

This week I got to the pool and I was the only one there at first.  The lane markers were in and pretty soon the pool filled up with a whole lot of fast swimmers. I had inadvertantly crashed the "Master Swimmers" lap swim. 

Talk about a fish out of water!

 I was going to get my non-swimming self right out of there as quickly as possible, when a couple of gals from my ward showed up and as we chatted I told them I can't swim and I thought our group trainer was going to be there. Next thing I know, I'm getting guidance and training tips from some amazing swimmers. They helped me over my biggest  hurdle by teaching me how to breathe without swallowing half the pool. That's really going to make swimming much less awful for me.
Will I learn to swim?
I think I can.
I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Scott!

 It has been awhile since I updated this little family scrapbook on the internet. I like to pop over here from time to time and look at our ...