Putting Myself in Time-Out

I consider myself to come off as a pretty happy person in general. But maybe I've only been fooling myself. Things lately have been SO stressful around here due in large part because of the happenings at the college. Not only in our own home but this whole town seems to have a dark cloud of doom hanging over it while people work and wait for the decision of the Board of Trustees regarding their future employment. I thought I was keeping things together pretty well and not letting my own stress drag us down even further, but Kalen commented to me that I "just haven't seemed very happy lately." I think I really am happy. I have a great husband and kids and a roof over our heads, a fantastic branch and two callings that I am genuinely coming to love, the Gospel of Jesus Christ that blesses me in so many ways, it's springtime and so beautiful I can't help but cheer up just looking out the window or walking around the neighborhood. But sometimes I think I am letting my burdens get to me more than I should. And so I was VERY ready for a trip to Time Out for Women in Indianapolis a couple of weekends ago. More than anything I just wanted to get out of town for a night. Who cared who the speakers were!

I traveled down in a van with 6 other ladies including my mom. Spending time with all of them was wonderful and the program was absolutely fantastic. If you ever get a chance to go, it is totally worth your time and money.

On Friday night with a crowd of about 1600 other women we got to hear messages from Michael McLean, Chieko Okazaki, and Mark Mabry. The theme of the program was "Infinite Hope" and the talks and music were really remarkable. (Just a side note: If you aren't familiar with Mark Mabry's photography, you should check it out. I am in love with his work! He has a DVD documentary out called "Another Testament" that is so amazing and will leave you with a deeper testimony of the 3rd Nephi chapters of the Book of Mormon).

On Saturday we had another full day of speakers including Emily Watts, Richard Holzapfel, Mariama Kallon, Merrilee Boyack, Kris Belcher, and the musical group Mercy River. I can't even describe how inspiring their messages were and how insignificant my problems were compared to Mariama who told about her African village being attacked by rebels who murdered her parents and raped and tortured her and her sister. Or Merrilee Boyack, who got breast cancer right in the middle of several other major trials, or Kris Belcher who lost her eyesight (and her eye) and still maintains such a positive attitude in spite of the fact that she can't see the faces of her sweet little boys or her husband. Yeah, the stuff I'm going through seems far more manageable after that. It was the perfect "girl" program with lots of tears one minute, and fall-off-your-seat humor the next and all with a great big dose of the Spirit mixed in.

We all spent money in the Time-Out bookstore there too buying books and music, etc. We stayed up late on Friday talking and laughing and took our time coming home on Saturday evening. It was so wonderful and so far the effects have been staying with me and giving me a sunnier outlook even though things with the college seem to be spiraling more out of control since my return. This too shall pass, I guess. Just hopefully soon.

It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience. Here is the great group of ladies I came down with.

And here is another great group that we ran into who are from our stake as well.

It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience. Did I say that already? You get the idea.

Look for a new MAJOR catch-up post in the next couple of days. I have been really terrible about blogging lately and I have a ton of pictures and stories to share. Hopefully I'll be able to remember even a fraction of them.

Spring Break

Even though we had to stick closer to home for the kid's spring break, we still managed to have fun. We had a surprise visit from some friends of ours who now live in Maryland. I used to babysit their two little girls who were some of Lynnsey and Spencer's best friends. I don't think Lydia and Spencer really remembered each other too much but of course Lynnsey and Ellie did and have sent letters to each other once in awhile so they were really happy to be reunited. They came by for a couple of hours on Monday.

Kaya of course, had no memory of them whatsoever since she was a newborn when they left, but being the friendly little soul that she is, she quickly warmed up to them and played as if she had known them forever.

Lynnsey had a friend over for a sleepover one night We played lots of board games and enjoyed the warmer weather at the beginning of the week before it got chilly again. Lynnsey was given unlimited power of choice on her clothing so we really saw some interesting fashion concoctions. I didn't get any pictures but let me paint you one instead. Picture an old day camp t-shirt with pine trees on it with a frilly all-girl skirt and soccer socks and and brown leather boots. Yeah. She might be the only person to pull that off. On Thursday I took the kids to a Pizza and a Movie event at our library where they watched the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie and had pizza and pop.

Friday I had the day off from babysitting and so I decided that we should actually get out and do something fun. The weather was too cold for the playground and picnic that I wanted to do so I left it up to the kids and their options were pretty wide open. They chose a visit to Barnes and Noble. Go figure. But it ended up being a really fun morning and everyone had a great time. (Except Taylor who said that the science and nature section of the store was too pathetic to bother with.)

We also experienced a small miracle that day. It lasted exactly 2 hours and since I knew it would be short-lived I snapped a picture:

Kaya actually let me put her hair in two little ponytails! This has never happened before and may never happen again. She hates having anything done to her hair and usually when I comb it she'll reach both hands up and mess it right up again, making sure to pull it all down in front of her face. I'm thinking we may have to cut bangs for her if this keeps up.

Friday night we put on a movie for the younger kids and the rest of us stayed up till about 1 a.m. playing Tripoley. It had been forever since we played. I love that Taylor and Kendall can play more grown-up games now! It was SO much fun.

We got our peas planted on Saturday! We are really hoping they'll work this year. Last year we only got a couple of meager plants out of the hundreds that we planted. We're keeping our fingers crossed. The kids all helped with the planting and putting up the fences. Kaya "helped" too by grabbing handfuls of peas and tossing them in whatever direction she felt like.

One of the jobs that the kids did was to rake and hoe up all the rocks in the soil. You'd think after eight years of gardening that we'd have gotten all the rocks out but every year more turn up.

Anyway, it was a fun if slow-paced week. I think we all needed slow-paced for once. And now it is back to the old routine. We are all looking forward to summer. Taylor informed me that there are only 47 days of school left. Until then I'm sure we'll keep busy with homework, school projects, field trips, more gardening, and spring soccer which starts up next week.

Oh, and I tried taking pictures of Lynnsey and Kaya in their Easter dresses. It was a disaster. Kaya likes posing for pictures about as much as she likes frilly dresses and having her hair done. I may post them anyway, but I'll try to get some better ones again soon.

Easter Fun

The kid's are having their spring break now which started last Friday. Of course their spring break and Kalen's spring break never match up so that means that not only can we not go anywhere, but I am also babysitting one of the kids I watch so we're pretty much confined to home. However, we did have a wonderful Easter weekend and for the first time that I can remember since our time began in Albion, we had amazing weather for our egg hunt. Friday was perfect weather up near 80 degrees. We had a campfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmellows and ate outside for the first time this year. We had a fun game of baseball before dinner where I completely overdid it and really injured my feet running first in flip flops and then with bare feet, but it was so much fun and felt so good to be outdoors and active and playing with the kids and for once not thinking of all the stressful events that are happening at the college. Even Kaya played. When it was her turn she would hit her little plastic ball off of the T and then someone would help her run the bases and every time she would be giggling and exclaimng "dis fun!"

On Saturday, the temperature had dropped a bit but it was still warm and sunny in the morning. We decided since we had to work around General Conference, we would do our egg hunt in the morning. Good thing. Only a little later the clouds moved in and it rained pretty much the rest of the day.

Kalen hides Taylor's eggs in harder and harder places every year. In fact, Conference had already started and we were still out looking for Taylor's last two eggs. And of course, Kalen couldn't remember where he had hidden them.

Kaya absolutely LOVED finding eggs! This expression pretty much sums it all up.

Kendall had to look in some pretty tricky places this year too.

I love how Lynnsey poses for pictures these days like she's a little supermodel or something.

Almost got it!

Kaya finally realized that there was good stuff inside of the eggs so she quit hunting and started eating. This did nothing for her candy addiction. At least nothing good.

The other four gave up on Taylor ever finding his last eggs so they sat and ate while the rest of us hunted.

Once the eggs had finally been found we went back inside to find that the Easter Bunny had snuck into our house while we were out back and left some more goodies for the kids.

We were then able to enjoy the two Saturday sessions of conferences from home (I love DishNet!) and then Kalen and Taylor headed out later to the Priesthood session in Battle Creek.

Our Easter Sunday was great too. The only drawback of watching Conference at home was that Lynnsey and Kaya didn't get to wear their new Easter dresses. Lynnsey is eagerly waiting for this Sunday. Kaya would much rather never wear a dress at all. Too bad for her. Her's is a doozy this year--long and frilly and very girly. Sorry Kaya.

I loved General Conference this year. Especially Sister Beck, Elder Holland, and President Monson's talks and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "He is Risen" was so powerful I still get chills thinking about it. I really love the years where Easter coincides with the messages from our prophet and other church leaders. It was a wonderful way to appreciate the Savior and all that he did for us as we heard such amazing messages centered on Him and His love for each of us.

That night we had a very nice Easter dinner with ham and Mom's famous rolls. And for our nightly Spiritual Time we all had a turn to share what we enjoyed most about the conference messages. A perfect ending to a really wonderful day.

The Last Supper

On his last night of freedom, Taylor (and the rest of us) enjoyed a supper of all the things he'll have to avoid for the next two years. Bright and early the next morning, the braces went on.

Princess Warrior Dude...Among Other Things

It has been awhile since I posted a few of the goings on around here. For the most part things are going well with a few doses of massive stress mixed in. We are trying to keep it all together and take each day as it comes. I think that's the only way to remain sane.

*We found out last week that after much hard work Taylor has been accepted into a special high school program in Battle Creek for advanced math and science students. He took a test back in January then had to have interviews at the beginning of March before finally learning whether or not he would be accepted. They had 5 slots available for Albion and 6 kids invited to the interviews, so they all knew that someone wouldn't get in. It was a bit nerve-wracking and when that envelope came there was that awful feeling before he opened it where we knew that what was inside held at least his immediate future. (I'm dreading when Taylor has to apply to colleges!) But the envelope was a bit thick so I was optimistic that it held good news. Now, hopefully he can really enjoy the program. He will be going there for half of his day and then back to Albion High School for the last part. It means catching a bus at 6:30 a.m. , so that should be quite interesting.

*The bad part of Taylor's participation in this program means that he won't be able to participate in early morning seminary. It was a bit iffy anyway because it starts at 6:30 and goes for an hour but the high school starts at 7:30 and seminary is 20 minutes away. So they would have had to start a half hour earlier just for Taylor. I think they were willing to though. Oh well. He'll just have to do a home study course or the new online program they have. I just wanted him to have that interaction with kids in the branch every day.

*Things at the college are a mess these days. The board of trustees is freaking out about the financial state of the college (and in my opinion overreacting in a pretty major way--all businesses are feeling the pinch these days but I doubt the college is headed for bankruptcy anytime soon) and they are demanding that 15 positions be eliminated immediately. The faculty has met and come up with a much more realistic plan but it was rejected. Anyway, it's too much to go into, but tensions are high and Kalen is not sure how this will affect the foreign language department--already they've been hit with some major blows and so one has to wonder if they'll even survive this latest. We're pretty sure Kalen will keep his job. But the question is, will he be the lone Spanish professor trying to hold together a once strong program? It's looking more and more like that will be the case.

*Kalen also got a new calling yesterday. He was released from the branch presidency as 1st couselor and put in as 1st counselor in a brand new young men's presidency. It was a pretty emotional meeting where the branch president got choked up when he was calling for the sustaining vote. Kalen has mixed feeling too. He has so enjoyed working with those men and looks up to them so much and he's enjoyed working with the various auxillaries and leaders within the branch. He'll miss it a lot. On the other hand, our poor young men's program has suffered lately. The president was going it alone because they couldn't seem to get counselors that would help and be consistent. This new presidency is made up of good, strong leaders who will all take an active role in the young men and scouting program.

*Did you know that of all the boys who are baptized at age 8, only 2 out of 10 make it to receive the Melchizedek priesthood? Kalen just learned that at a meeting over the weekend. They called it the Decade of Decisions and it appears many youth are making poor ones. It makes me worry even more for my own children.

*Kalen's new calling means he'll be here in the morning to help get everyone ready for church and even better, he'll be able to sit with us in church! And no more borrowing Mom or Timothy's cars for those early meetings!

*The Madness continues! We are once again doing our traditional March Madness brackets and having fun with it. It looks like Spencer is the winner of the Final Four competition. He ended up with 2 of the 4. That means he gets to choose a special dessert that we will make together. He's already saying he wants "Spencer Smoothies", a concoction we came up with made with fruit and rice milk and a few other ingredients. It is unbelievable yummy. It looks like I may have the edge so far once again on the overall scores. I am undefeated thus far since the tradition began years ago. But we get more points for the later games and the last couple of rounds I haven't fared so well, so I may be overtaken by someone else this year. The first couple of rounds I picked insanely well. It was almost scary how well I picked them. If only I were a gambling type...

*The rest of the kids are doing well. We haven't had any bouts of illness for a good few weeks now and I'm hoping that continues! They are all doing well in school. We had preschool conferences for Spencer and his teacher said academically he is quite advanced and she praised us for the extra work we are doing with him at home. We graciously thanked her and tried not to look guilty since the truth is, I barely have time to keep the kids cleaned and fed these days much less work on academics. I think he's just a smarty.

* But the kids sure manage to find entertainment on their own even if I am too busy to provide it. If they aren't fighting, they are usually found making up fun and original games together and acting out elaborate plots. Or sometimes just being plain silly:

Here's our "Princess Warrior Dude". It's moments like these that keep the stress levels under control!

A Light at the End of the Long Winter Tunnel

Last week we had this: And this:

And that gives me hope that Spring will arrive after all. I will keep that in mind today as the temps can't seem to rise past the 30's.

A Couple of Characters

A couple of weeks ago I saw some pictures on the blog of a friend of mine that her children's school had a "Dress as Your Favorite Book Character" day. I loved the idea and thought I would suggest it to someone in our schools as a possible fun activity. But they beat me to it.

We have weekly fifty-cent fundraisers at our school put on by the the parent teacher organization that help to raise money for field trips and playground equipment, etc. Usually they sell things like popcorn, erasers, stickers, and that sort of thing but this time they decided to let the kids dress up as a favorite book character for fifty cents. Kendall and Lynnsey were SO excited that they were willing to even use their own money this time. Usually they want to buy something but they think I should have to pay for it.

Kendall chose to go (of course!) as Harry Potter:And Lynnsey chose to be Fancy Nancy. (It was entirely too easy to come up with her costume. If it hadn't been for the tiara, people may not have known she was even dressed as anyone other than herself!)

They were a big hit with their classes. And it beats erasers or tatoos anytime!