25 Random Things About Me

Normally I don't take the time to do these kinds of things when people "tag" me, but I decided to go for it this once. I spent a ridiculous amount of time writing this and was mercilessly honest, so enjoy.

1. I love to travel. If I had all the money in the world, I would travel to every continent. I want my children to travel because I think you get a singular education by experiencing different cultures. Traveling makes you grateful for everything you enjoy at home too.

2. I feel like I forged most of my closest friendships prior to graduating high school. I didn't realize how much I cared for these people until the last couple years and now I'm out of touch with most of them. Once you're married, it gets a lot harder to become good friends with people because it's a package deal—Bryson has to like the guy and I have to get along with the wife. Most of the time I barely notice because I spend nearly every spare minute with Bry anyway, but sometimes I miss my old friends.

3. I hate the apathy I see in people with regards to the events occuring in our country. Sure, everybody is aware that the economy is bad, but how many people understand why or the precursory events that got us to where we are now. Politicians are going to use this crisis to promote an agenda that no sane person wants to see implemented in America. Do you know who your representatives are? Google it! Then pick up the phone and make your voice heard.

4. Yes, I listen to Rush and Glenn. And I'm currently reading Ann Coulter's book Guilty. I hope that clears up where I stand politically.

5. I have this thing called a Beaba Babycook that I make fresh baby food with. It is amazing and I feel like Supermom when I use it.

6. I only had four college professors that really challenged me: Brent Latimer, Lauri Haddock, John Beeson, and Eric Huntsman. I’m grateful for each one of them.

7. Folding laundry is my most dreaded household chore.

8. Most of the time I don’t even think about Hunter’s disability. That is just the way things are. However, I’ll never forget being at a gas station one afternoon and watching a little boy walking in to the store with his dad. The dad appeared to be in a hurry, but the oblivious toddler was holding his dad’s hand and jumping along instead of walking normally, slowing the whole thing up. I don’t know what it was about what I saw in that moment—maybe the fact that I will never witness that in this life—but I sat there and cried for a long time.

9. I love to cook. I’ve entertained the idea of culinary school for a while now.

10. Two different times, anonymous individuals have picked up our tab at restaurants while we’ve been eating out with our children. Not hard to guess why—we do have the cutest kids ever.

11. This summer I am going to plant and harvest a garden, square-foot style.

12. Bryson is my best friend. Really. I walked around for twenty years minus my other half and it is wonderful to finally be complete.

13. Giving birth naturally to Eleyna is one of the proudest achievements of my life. I am amazed by the bodies God created for us.

14. I was kind of abrasive socially during my teen years. I feel especially bad for the boys that I dated. (I really could have used an older sister to help me out.) I wasn’t intentionally mean, but I think I ended up walking all over a few of them (i.e. Crim). I am grateful to all of my old boyfriends for helping round off the "rough edges" so I was actually a semi-nice/normal person by the time I met Bry.

15. I get really bugged at people who dislike Utah for whatever reason and complain noisily about aspects of living here. Move already if you are that unhappy. Utah has tons to offer, like Lake Powell and lots of Mormons!

16. I miss my sister Laura that is on a mission. However, I’m really glad that I’ve gotten to know my sister Heather better while Lar’s been gone.

17. I love good food. Pizzeria 712 is my favorite restaurant right now. VERY good food.

18. People who won’t give cultural phenomenons like Harry Potter or Twilight a chance are missing out. Is it really better to abstain to make the point that you have more sophisticated tastes than the masses?

19. I’m trying to find joy in the journey as a wife and mother. I know I’m giving up other things to be a stay-at-home mom but I also know I won’t ever regret not being there for my kids or for Bry.

20. I think taking an adult ballroom class with Bry would be a blast.

21. I love my Honda Odyssey—respect the van!

22. I love that I have good hair that withstands lots of color changes and grows back quickly.

23. I hate winter. We go to the Parade of Homes in St. George every February and I look forward to a respite from the cold so much.

24. I want to learn to snowboard so I can go with Bryson. Maybe if I get good it will help me like winter more. (I doubt it though.)

25. A teacher told me once never to lose the “hum of perpetual noticing”. I think about that a lot and try to notice new things in the midst of my routines.

More Christmas pictures

I edited all of these pictures at Picnik.com. Check it out! It's easy to use and free.

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

Christmas was loads of fun this year! The kids got a mountain of presents. Bryson surprised me with a beautiful diamond necklace. It was wonderful to spend the day with extended family and, of course, our children. I'm so grateful that we get to spend each December focused on the Savior's birth, life and Atonement.

President Hinckley expressed it perfectly: "Now, the next thing of which I am certain, and of which I bear witness, is the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without it life is meaningless. It is the keystone in the arch of our existence. It affirms that we lived before we were born in mortality. Mortality is but a stepping-stone to a more glorious existence in the future. The sorrow of death is softened with the promise of the Resurrection. There would be no Christmas if there were no Easter."

Amen.

Girls basketball reunion

Last night I drove up to Park City for a little get together with some girls I played basketball with at Timpanogos high school. It was really fun to see everyone and catch up on each other's lives.

Sitting there with everyone, I started thinking that this group of ladies basically watched me grow up. I felt grateful for all of the people who knew me "back in the day" that have made allowances for the fact that a person changes a LOT over the course of 12 years (the first trip I went on with these girls was to North Carolina when I was 12!) and the inevitable trials that come with life's passage.

(I digress...)

Anyway, it was a very fun night. We took a "team picture" before I left. Playing basketball and being part of a team was so much fun! I have a lot of really good memories from that time. Even though I ended my career at Provo high, I'll always consider myself a T-wolf.

Thoughts and events from the Christmas season

Here's a little sample of what we've been up to the past few weeks.

This is our new house!!! Bryson has been working hard remodeling some of the interior.
View from kitchen of garage entry and family rm
View from family rm of kitchen and hallway to bedroomsHeather helping load the kiddos on our way to my family's ward Christmas party.

Me loading my handsome Hunter.

The three of us at the party. Bryson was working on our house so we were missing him.
Eleyna opening her first present on Dec. 23rd to celebrate the Prophet Joseph Smith's birthday.

Bryson helping Hunter open his gift. He got the Children's songbook on cd.
Eleyna playing with the wrapping paper afterwards. What a beautiful smile!

We are so excited about our new place and can't wait to move in--hopefully we'll be in shortly after New Year's. One thing I wanted to mention quickly is how grateful I have felt recently for all of the wonderful people who help me to take care of Hunter, but especially for his therapists from Kids on the Move. My physical and occupational therapists are amazing guys. They truly care about Hunter and all of the children they work with everyday. I know that the Savior has a special love for those precious spirits who struggle with imperfect bodies. I think He, along with me, cries tears of joy when He sees His other children working so hard to help improve the lives of little kids who cannot help themselves. I am so grateful to be able to associate with individuals on a regular basis who understand what it means to be a parent of a child with a disability--it helps me to not feel quite so alone.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Surprisingly delightful!

Given my low expectations going in (due to the fact that I knew there was NO way the movie could do the book justice) I was unexpectedly delighted with Twilight! I really felt like the core of the story was preserved in spite of the few things I disliked (i.e. the scene in Biology when Edward smells Bella for the first time, Alice's character, the running scenes--to name a few). I was happy to read on Stephenie Meyer's website that Summit Entertainment is planning on making New Moon into a film as well.

A big thanks to my bff--Bryson--for going to see it with me, and not making fun of it. I think we were the oldest people in the audience!

Some thoughts that have been "weighing" me down

Bryson got me An Inconvenient Book by Glenn Beck for my birthday. The other day I was reading the chapter on body image and I haven't been able to stop thinking about what I read.

FACTS from the book:

• The average American model is 5'11" and 120 lbs.
• The average American woman is 5'4" and 163 lbs--seven inches shorter and 43 pounds heavier than the cover girls!!!
• A tabloid publisher named Louisa Hatfield told Australia's newspaper The Age in 2006: "Women are obsessed with body image. They think about their body image more than they think about their children. They think about it even more than men think about sex--which is about a million times a day, isn't it?"
• Cosmetic surgery is a $15 billion industry in America.

That last fact is true because the way God designed our bodies isn't "in" anymore. I think the reason this hit me so hard is because I have a DAUGHTER now. All of the sudden I'm worried about how to raise my precious little girl to believe she is a valued, beautiful child of Heavenly Father. How can I make her believe that if she hears me, her mother, constantly making negative comments about my own body? Will she believe me if she sees me spending too much time and money chasing an impossible perfection? I feel like if I'm not very careful I'll turn around one day and find the result of the "celebrity-obsessed, self-indulgent culture" we live in smiling up at me--my very own "prostitot".

The reason this got to me so much is because I am guilty of being a little too obsessed with my appearance. I need to make some changes.

Glenn really sums up what I'm trying to say:

"As parents, we need to start leading by example. Yes, the magazines, the ads, the plastic surgery--it's all part of the problem, but each time you try to squeeze your fat fanny into a pair of size four True Religion jeans, your daughters learn to pray at the same alter."

DISCLAIMER:

I love to play sports and exercise! I feel like I eat pretty healthy, but I do enjoy a few sweets and other "fats" in moderation. I absolutely believe that I owe it to my husband to do what I can to stay healthy and attractive for the benefit of our relationship. I intend on trying to instill all of the above in my children. Everything that I said in the first half of this post is not because I feel like "letting yourself go" is an acceptable option either. I just don't think that if you aren't a certain body type or if you experience physical changes due to pregnancy, or merely the process of aging, that the result should be loss of self-esteem.

A good friend of mine just announced that she is pregnant with her seventh child. (She takes great care of her body--she ran a marathon this past summer--and I think she looks awesome.) I want to share something that she wrote in conjunction with that exciting announcement on her blog.

"In this month for GRATITUDE, I am extremely grateful for another healthy girl. I am also grateful for my big, strong body. There have been many years when my perception of my body has been a trial to me. But this big, strong body has allowed me to carry 7 children, and for that I am eternally grateful."

I guess, in conclusion, I hope Eleyna will be able to feel similarly in the years to come. That I can keep an eternal perspective on this issue, and everything else I face in life, is my hope for myself and my children.