Pima Tacos

This morning I got a phone call from my sister-in-law inviting our family to her house for dinner. About a year ago one of our nieces committed suicide leaving behind 4 children between the ages of 11 and 2. She had kind of distanced herself from the family and her children a few months prior to her death and the children, along with the father of the 2 youngest, were living with this sister-in-law when this all transpired. The father of the 2nd child eventually decided he wanted his daughter (who is 10 now) to come and live with him. She wasn't excited to be separated from her siblings and this turned out to not be a very positive situation in a lot of ways. This sister-in-law went to court to get custody of this child and today she came back home. She loves Pima Tacos and so we welcomed her back with food.

My oldest sister-in-law showing off her popover patting skills.

The hubby can cook with one hand in his pocket.

The kids waiting patiently to partake.

Today I am thankful for

dinner cooked by someone else.
my vacuum.
relatives who work hard to make life better for the kids we care about.
the chance to watch things grow in the fields around my in-laws homes. Right now it's a crop of wheat.

Today I am thankful that

I can actually see my kitchen counter.
my husband was in charge of Family Home Evening.
my daughter shared her extra Costco tortillas with us.
my other daughter played delivery woman for me.

Oldest Kid in the Nursery

Most of the kids in our ward nursery are just barely two or younger. However, we have one little boy who is almost three. I feel kind of bad for him because he has to hang out with all these babies. He also has two younger siblings at home (along with a four year old sister) so he spends most of his time with babies. When last year's nursery group moved up to Sunbeams we got rid of the play dough, the puzzles, the stringing beads and some of our books that the new group weren't quite ready for, but that leaves this little boy sometimes bored with all the baby toys. He comes up with new and unique ways of playing with the available toys. Some which aren't necessarily safe or appropriate.
The other day when I was at the thrift store they were having a sale on their puzzles and they had a Noah's Ark floor puzzle that I thought this child might enjoy. I brought it to church today and he was excited to put it together. Unfortunately, our nursery princess (our only girl) was equally excited to pull it apart. One piece in, one piece out. We finally got it all put together and I went to grab the camera to take a picture of our accomplishment. When I came back he was guarding his masterpiece from certain destruction.


She looks innocent, doesn't she?


But as soon as she thinks no one is watching, out comes a piece.


We do have rules against sitting on the table, but this child was determined that he was going to get in front of the camera.

We put the puzzle away and our big boy decided he might enjoy reading books. This child isn't a big talker. He can talk a lot, he just chooses not to. It was fun to listen to him read this entire ABC book - A, apple, B, ball... complete with the entire ABC song as a finale. He is a great singer.

This is his little brother. In 4 months, we have yet to hear a word out of his mouth.

This little guy got all of his curls cut off this week and has grown from baby to toddler overnight. It's amazing the difference a haircut can make.

We only had 5 kids in nursery this week. It was so quiet at times it was almost scary.

This would actually be the oldest kid in our nursery, but his mean mom makes him go to his Sunday School class every week. He even promises to play nice with the babies and she still makes him leave.

Today I am grateful for

food. It always tastes better after fasting.
nursery children.
patient boys.

Water Fight

This afternoon I was attending a bridal shower for one of my friend's daughters when I got a phone call from my youngest child. He wanted to know what had happened to the big bag of water balloons we had. I told him where they were and thought "water balloons sound like fun on a warm March day."
By the time I arrived home though they had tossed all the balloons and moved on to buckets and hoses. The sons, the daughter and the roommates all seemed to be enjoying themselves. It's hard to believe that it's still cold in a lot of the USA right now. I love Tempe, Arizona in March!!

Today I am thankful for

children that enjoy doing things together.

happy occasions to celebrate with my friends.

opportunities to sleep in.

BYU Idaho

My youngest daughter has been accepted to attend college at BYU Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho this Fall. She is very excited and we are excited for her. BYU Idaho has specific tracks that determine the months when you attend. I think they are based on your major, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the daughter found out today which track she is on. I don't remember the name of it but she will attend school from September to December, then be off from January to April and then return the end of April through August. I think this is definitely the best of both worlds for an almost Arizona Native (we moved here when she was 8 months old). She gets to miss most of the cold Idaho winter and the hot Arizona summer. I wonder if I can apply to BYU Idaho too? I could really enjoy cooler summers.

The Friend Magazine

Two years ago when I renewed our church magazines I decided that we probably didn't need to receive the Friend magazine any longer. The Friend is the church magazine published for children. My youngest child was 14 at the time and I felt like we would be fine with just the youth and adult magazines. Every month for the entire year my youngest son would lament each time the church magazines arrived, "Why don't we get the Friend anymore. I really like to read the Friend." So the next time our subscription ran out I added the Friend back on. It has arrived with the others every month and I have placed it in the magazine rack by my chair where I read each morning. I don't think the son even knows it's there most of the time. As I was planning Family Home Evening yesterday I was thinking about the stories my daughter had used in her talk on Sunday from this magazine and how it is a great resource that I often overlook.


I pulled a few of them out and browsed through them. There were so many great stories and even suggestions on how to use them for a Family Home Evening lesson. I actually ended up passing out a Friend to each family member during FHE and we each chose a story from our magazine to share and expound on. If was interesting to see how we all chose a story that focused on love/service. I really like that the majority of the stories included in this publication now are based on experiences that someone really had. There are so many ways the children of the church are making good choices each day and I'm glad they have a platform to share some of these moments with the rest of us. It's once again time to renew my magazine subscriptions and I'll be including my $8.00 for the Friend. I've decided our family still needs it.

Today I am thankful for

Church Magazines.
Day two of the new and improved teenage mouth.
time to spend with my Relief Society sisters.

The Deal

We have a problem in our family with the kind of words we use and the tone of voice we speak with. It has gotten to the point where pretty much at least half of the stuff that comes out of my mouth or my son's mouths seems to be sarcastic, facetious, unkind, impolite, contentious or just plan mean. I have been thinking for a while that we need to do something to change this, but I wasn't really sure how to help us stop. Today while the youngest son and I were waiting for his last (hopefully) visit with the oral surgeon he made a smart remark and I said, "I think you should see if you can go for a whole week without being sarcastic." His response was "What will you give me?" I told him I would kiss him on the forehead. That definitely wasn't going to cut it. "Will you buy me a car?" "Uh, No." "Will you let me get my driver's license?" "Nope." "If I go for a month without being sarcastic will you let me get my license?" I had to think about this one for a minute. First of all, the way things are in our home at the moment I would say the chances of him going for a month without being sarcastic are less than zero. Probably like a negative 50 at least. And that is not being sarcastic. That is the genuine truth. However, I could really enjoy an entire month of honest, polite responses coming out of this son's mouth. I was thinking it might actually be worth it. I wasn't going to give in too easily though so I upped the ante. "If you can go for a month without saying anything sarcastic, rude, or mean to any member of our family I will let you get your license." "This is going to be easy!" He was immediately checking his calendar in his phone to figure out what day of the week April 23rd was and entering a note that he was getting his driver's license on that day.
On the way home we stopped at Circle K so I could buy the son an ICEE in honor of his one year anniversary of giving up soda. He hasn't intentionally drunk any type of carbonated beverage since March 23, 2008. (He was tricked into drinking soda when he partook of the wedding punch at his sister's wedding reception last April before he was informed that one of the main ingredients happened to be 7up.) He went into the store to make his purchase and I waited in the car. When he came out I remarked "You smell like coffee. Have you been drinking coffee?" He quickly retorted, "All day, every day." I looked at him and he whacked himself on the knee. He pulled out his phone and changed his note. "On Friday, April 24 on I going to get my driver's license." Since then he has done quite well and I am thoroughly enjoying this welcome break from his wicked words. Now I just need to work on myself and his brother. Stay tuned to see how this episode of "Let's Make a Deal" turns out.

Today I am thankful for

a visiting teaching companion that makes the appointments.
a son that took out the trash without complaining and even gathered up the palm tree litter left by last night's windstorm without even being asked.
a husband that goes to the grocery store.
the last trip to the oral surgeon (I hope).

Pray For Others

Today the oldest daughter and the son-in-law spoke in their ward and we went to listen to them. Their topic was "Pray Always" and they both did a good job sharing their thoughts and insights. The daughter shared a story about a little boy whose mom encourages him to look for opportunities to pray for others during the day. They go to the library and he sees a baby crying so he silently prays for her to be happy. He sees his neighbor, who has been sick, getting out of her wheelchair and into her car and he silently prays that she will get well. The piano tuner comes to his house and he silently prays that he will be able to do his job well and make their piano sound nice. I don't very often take the opportunity to pray for people outside my usual circle. My prayers seem to focus more on myself and my needs. Recently I was reading a book that talked about taking a prayer walk. Apparently in some churches as people walk around their neighborhoods they pray for the individuals who live in the homes that they pass. At the time I thought this was a rather random idea, but the more I have thought about it the more I think that it isn't all that strange. It would probably be good for me to pray for others, even those I don't know, sometimes. I started thinking what a different person I would be if when I got frustrated with someone's driving ability instead of getting upset and yelling I said a prayer for them to arrive safely at their destination. Or when I didn't agree with the way someone was parenting their child I offered a prayer for help for them in raising their kids. Or when the college kids next door are having a wild party AGAIN that I prayed for them to be kept safe. Or when the referree in the church basketball game makes a call I don't like I offered a prayer of gratitude for their willingness to give service in the church. How would that be if every time I was given an opportunity to be unkind or upset or frustrated I chose to offer a silent prayer instead? How long do you think it would take for that to become my natural response?

Today I am thankful for

cooler temperatures.
an opportunity to hear my daughter share her testimony concerning prayer.
The chance that preparing a talk gives us to evaluate our performance in a specific area of our lives at the moment.
people who share their Kleenex.

Español

Tonight I had the opportunity of going to the temple to see one of my youngest daughter's good friends receive her own endowments. This young woman will soon be known as Sister Zarate and will be serving in the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission for 18 months.

We are all excited for her. Some other members of the family would have gone to the temple with her as well, but it just so happened that tonight was also the beginning of the church young men's basketball tournament and the youngest son's team, which is coached by the oldest son, had a game at the same time. It was hard for many of us to decide where we wanted to be the most. I finally decided that since the tournament is double elimination and the team was only playing one game tonight that I would have another opportunity to watch them participate and so I chose the temple. I was glad that I did. (The son's team lost and listening to the recap, I think I was lucky that I wasn't there to experience it.)
Since English is this sister's second language she chose to go to a Spanish speaking endowment session. My family and I had discussed ahead of time whether or not I thought I could follow what was going on if I had to do it only in Spanish. Pondering this question reminded me of a trip I took to a Denver Albertsons grocery store a couple of years ago. I was getting ready to check out when I received a phone call from my oldest daughter informing me that she had just been offered a job teaching Kindergarten at Fuller Elementary School. This was her first teaching job, school started in a week and we were both very excited. After I hung up I went to the self check out to purchase my groceries. I was still a little distracted and accidentally pushed the Spanish button instead of the English one. I tried to go back and choose English but couldn't figure it out. I decided I could check out in Spanish. I know a little Spanish and I use the self check out all the time, I could probably do it with my eyes closed so I thought a foreign language would be no problem. Scan the item, drop it in the bag. Pretty much the same in any language. I was rolling right along until I got to the produce. Even though I didn't know what a cantaloupe was called in Spanish I scrolled through the pictures and managed to find one that matched my item. Success! Then came the green pepper. I found the picture, entered the code but then the number keyboard popped up again. I thought the code hadn't gone through so I entered it again. I figured out what it was actually asking for about the same time I pushed the enter button. I was suppose to enter the quantity. Instead of one green pepper, or whatever it is called in Spanish, I said I was buying 4035 or some other ridiculous number. My grocery tab was immediately over $2000. That was when I finally decided to call for help. The employee was very confused about why I was checking out in Spanish, when I obviously was speaking English. Luckily for me he stood right next to me for the rest of the transaction. I think I needed his assistance at least 3 more times before I was done and thoroughly embarrassed.
So, as I thought about the temple ceremony, my first thought was that perhaps I could manage most parts, I mean I've heard it all a number of times. However, I quickly reconsidered.
The temple was very accommodating and supplied headsets for all of us who couldn't understand Español. I enjoyed hearing English in one ear while I tried to figure out what they were saying in Spanish with the other. I could actually understand a few things. However, I did find it somewhat disconcerting having Satan whispering directly into my ear at times. He seemed a lot more menacing when he was piped right into my head. Kind of like the devil sitting on my shoulder feeling.
I love being in the celestial room with someone who is there for the first time. My sweet friend was so happy to be there and I was equally happy to be there with her. It was such a wonderful moment. Lots of Love to you Sister Zarate. You're moving in the right direction and I wish you the best in life.

Today I am grateful for

hugs.
modern technology.
the temple - in any language.

Tying it Together

The oldest daughter and I decided to continue to be ambitious during her Spring Break so we borrowed some quilting frames and tied the quilt that we finished Tuesday.

We didn't want to just work during her "vacation" however, so the other daughter and the roommate-girlfriend came over and we went to lunch together.


I chose to take them to Iguana Mack's.

A fun restaurant that my visiting teachee introduced me to that has a reasonably priced lunch menu and some really funky interior decor.


We had a lot of fun. The youngest daughter enjoyed taking lots of random photos and the oldest daughter got to drink rootbeer "shot right out of the gun".

It's nice to have a quiet day and take time to smell the "roses".


Today, while we still had the quilting frames we put together some other fabric I had lying around and tied another baby quilt.


This one was to appease the baby if he's a boy. Plus it has little airplanes on it in honor of the son-in-law.




Now we just have to get them bound and they are done!