Thank you pumpkin fairy!

There was a pumpkin thief in our neighborhood. I don't think it was teenage kids. We had a garden full of pumpkins this year, and more than 20 got stolen off our doorstep. (They only left the ugly green ones!) Neighbors also had pumpkins stolen that same night, pumpkins that were so big that they had to be brought out in a wheelbarrow...not likely that teenagers did it. Anyway, Andrea was so sad she brought the rest of our green pumpkins in the house so they wouldn't get stolen. Last night...a pumpkin fairy brought three new pumpkins and some cookies so our kids could still carve pumpkins. Thank you pumpkin fairy!

TAGGED!

OK...I got tagged by my friend Jennifer and this was actually kind of hard for me...but here goes.

I am. . .wife, mother, teacher. I am the precious adornment worn around the neck of my ancestors. I am a daughter of God.

I think. . . I forget the above sometimes.

I know. . . I don’t want to forget the above.

I want. . . to have my car and/or kitchen floor stay clean for longer than 10 minutes.

I have. . . many blessings!

I miss. . . my dad.

I fear. . . I am going to fail at motherhood and my children will have to suffer the consequences.

I hear. . . my washer and the news in the background. No children…they are asleep…aaaahhhh!

I smell . . .nothing…maybe I’m getting a cold.

I crave . . . chocolate, cinnamon rolls, sweets of all kinds.

I cry . . . sometimes when I’m stressed.

I search. . . for lost keys, lost cell phone, lost shoes. The first two are usually taken by my 1 yr. old son and found in his pocket, the last ones are usually taken by one of my girls and left randomly around the house.

I wonder. . .what I should write here.

I regret. . . if I say something mean.

I wish. . . the world was at peace.

I love. . . my husband, my kids, my mom and sisters, my family, teaching piano, where I live.

I care. . . what people think sometimes more than I should.

I always. . . check my email.

I worry. . . when my son escapes out of the house and I can’t find him in less than two minutes.

I am not. . . a pet lover.

I remember. . . faces even if I don’t remember names.

I believe. . . Yes!

I sing. . . sometimes in choirs, with my kids, to my piano students.

I don't always. . . floss.

I argue. . . more than I wish I did.

I write. . . sometimes on my blog…even less in my journal and scrapbooking.

I win. . . games whenever I can…I’m competitive.

I lose. . . my patience more than I want to.

I listen. . . to my children's violin and piano practice CD's all day long! (That's dedication!)

I don't understand. . .why we can’t choose brand new candidates for the president of the United States.

I can usually be found. . . on the computer, helping my kids with homework or practicing, teaching.

I need. . . to figure out a costume for Halloween.

I forget. . . when it is not written on my calendar.

I am happy. . . when my kids are happy and getting along.

I tag: Sara Liechty and Cynthia and anyone else who wants to do this!

The Circus

Our kids had a blast at the circus last weekend. We used a gift certificate Steven had won from his work back in 2003. Yeah...we don't get out much or we would have used it a lot sooner! We went with some friends and everyone had a blast!

Conference Choir

I had the AWESOME experience of participating in a choir for The general Relief Society Meeting (a worldwide women's organization) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We sang four songs all along the theme of rejoicing in a broadcast that was and will continue to be shown all around the world. Even though the broadcast is translated into over 30 languages, none of the songs are. So when they chose the hymns, they chose ones that are in EVERY latter day saint hymn book. Some countries only have 10 or less hymns!

Can I please tell you just a couple of AMAZING things that I experienced while in the choir?

First off, the conference center holds almost 20,000 people. It was just about packed with mostly women. You can imagine them chatting...it sounded like a rushing river! Just before the meeting started, Thomas S. Monson, our beloved prophet walked in. Every person in the conference center stood up and the room became absolutely silent! It was an amazing feeling I felt as I watched him walk in and smile and my heart was so full with a conviction of his divine calling as a prophet of God, just as Adam, Moses, Noah and others were prophets of old.

I got to hear one of President Monson's counselors, an apostle of the Lord speak. Wasn't President Utdorf so funny? I loved how he talked about how to be happy!

We also heard from Sister Beck, Sister Allred, and Sister Thompson, the Relief Society Presidency. It was amazing to hear how they have traveled all over the world this past year, visiting with sisters all over the world! As we have rehearsed as a choir, each of these sisters have come to our rehearsals and spoken to us. I have such a deep love for them that I didn't before.

For those of you who watched, I'm sure you saw our animated director, Merilee Webb. She is the most motivating person you will ever meet! Every rehearsal, she sang us a beautiful song in Hawaiian that she learned when she taught there. We thought when we went to rehearsals, we would learn the songs. We spent less than half of rehearsal time actually rehearsing. Most of the time was being uplifted and inspired and encouraged to strengthen our testimony, so that as we sang, the words would mean something to us and to all the sisters around the world who would hear them! She reminded us that each of us are daughters of God. The Hawaiian song she sang us taught us that we are the precious adornment worn around the neck of our ancestors. She is also the funniest person you will ever meet!! We were usually in stiches and laughing ear to ear.

As I sang and got ready to sing, I was reminded that each of us is a beloved child of God. He loves us and he wants our happiness. If you didn't get a chance to hear the choir sing yet...here's the address where you can go and listen. You'll see me singing if you haven't already. I hope your heart was as uplifted as mine! I wish I had a bigger picture...but you can just go watch the broadcast yourself. Click on the link below. Then click on English session. After it downloads, you can watch the whole thing or if you click on opening hymn there's a nice shot of me at the end!

http://www.lds.org/broadcast/grsm/0,6220,285,00.html

My friends and I with Sister Webb the AMAZING director!

All stitched up!

Poor little Steen has had quite the day! Thank goodness they are so resilient at this age! At about 5am Steven woke me up to let me know that Steen was throwing up. Poor Steen...his little tummy was just freaking out. After a few hours, he must have completely recovered because he climbed into the fridge (probably being extremely hungry) and attempted to get the eggs out. Then, while I was cleaning that up (that was a fun mess to clean) he climbed on the counter and ate a cookie. He seemed fine so I figured it must be OK to give him so crackers and soda since he seemed to be back to his normal self. A few hours later he was in the shower and tripped as he was getting out and sliced open his chin. We raced off to the doctor and Steen got 5 stiches. He was sooo good about the whole thing. By the time we had gotten to the doctors, he wasn't even crying, but just kept saying, "It hurts." He did cry when he got the shots, but other than that, he was fine. When he did cry, I said, "Should we go home and get a treat?" He stopped crying right away and said, "treat!" He was so excited to have a treat of "crackers". What a cute kid!

Hope you're not afraid of heights!!!

I happen to have a fear of heights. However, some friends invited us to hike up to the peak of Mount Timpanogos, the second highest mountain range in Utah (Mount Nebo is the first.) Although it is more than 2 miles (11749 feet) above sea level (probably only a mile up from the Utah valley below), my friend assured me that it was more hiking trails and not really "climbing".

So I agreed to go. The first part was relatively easy and there were several pretty waterfalls.
Half way up this is looking down at where we had come from. At this point you can't even see where we started from, but it was even lower than what you see in the picture.
And this was still looking up to how much farther we had to go! The peak is probably right in the middle of this picture.

It stayed pretty easy with only a few really scary parts until right about when before we hit the saddle. (At the saddle you are at the top of the mountain range, and can look down both sides.) You could no longer walk and literally had to climb up the rocks with only a small valley below to catch you. I was SOOOOOO shaken, I only made it to the top of the saddle and sat down almost in tears. Although I was all smiles in the picture, I just sat on the saddle in that same position not moving for the next hour or so.

Here we are sitting on the saddle and in the background you can see Utah valley and Utah lake. (We actually climbed up the other side of the mountain from what you are seeing.)

I tried to do a 360 degree panaromic from the top! This is looking at Lehi and Lindon.
You can see how big Utah Lake is.
This is the saddle we were hanging out on. It was still another mile hike up to the very top.

The peak in this picture is the top of Timpanogos as we sit on the saddle. Then is looking down the other side....Heber is off in the distance.

I was soooo chicken, I just sat there on the saddle and decided I didn't want to hike the last mile to the peak. It was a spectacular view, but everytime I saw someone go close to the edge or heard the sliding of boots across the rock, I started to fear that I would be in therapy for the rest of my life if someone fell off.

Steven and two of the guys in our group continued on to the peak. This is a picture Steven took looking down from the peak at from where we had climbed up. He said you could even see the Great Salt Lake. From this picture you can only see a little lake and valley and then beyond that in the distance, way down there is where the trailhead began.

In this picture, you can actually see all the hikers traveling from the saddle up to the peak. (Look closely at all the little dots on the trail.) I think more than 450 hikers had already made it to the top by noon. (Obviously there are a lot of daring people out there who are not afraid of heights. There was even a 7 year old who was celebrating his birthday at the top! Of course, there was also someone who threw up at the top! ) It was a 14 mile hike in all, (12 for me) and took from 7am to 5pm! Luckily my mom and sister were kind enough to watch our kids all day. It was an amazing adventure and not so scary at least when you're just looking at the pictures...

Congratulations Jessica and Blake!

Steven's niece Jessica married Blake in the LDS Los Angeles Temple on 8.8.08 . The man who married them talked about how in some cultures, the number 8 is believed to be lucky. He then showed how an 8 turned on its side is actually the symbol for infinity to describe how we believe that when we are married in the temple it is for all eternity. It was really special to be in the temple with family to celebrate Jessica and Blake's special day.

All of Jessica's little cousins were in the wedding party including Andrea, Michaela and Steen. The girls loved their new dresses and had so much fun going to California and visiting Grandma and Grandpa and their cousins.

Here is cousin Brittney with the girls.

Luckily Steen actually posed in the pictures.

Grandma with the girls.

We're so happy for Jessica and Blake!
Jessica and Blake got married 9 years and 1 day after we did in the very same temple. Look at how our family has grown since!

It was a wonderful occasion to get together as a family and celebrate the start of their new family. This is Steven's family with all 6 of his siblings and parents.