multi-tasking, or lack thereof..

I remember years ago I had a talent. Many people have been blessed with musical, artistic, intellectual and many other noteworthy talents. I was blessed with none of those. However, I did have one thing I was good at; my talent was multi-tasking. I remember when I had a young family. I could bounce a baby on my hip, while stirring something on the stove, have a phone to my ear, and help a kindergartner with homework. It was a miraculous skill, not that I'm bragging or anything. :)

However, fast forward fifteen years and what on earth has happened to my one talent? I must have done what the parable talks about in the bible, I must have buried it. Then, due to my advancing years and dying brain cells, forgot where I buried it.

Now if I am holding a baby on my hip, my back starts to ache, I burn dinner if the phone rings and my kids have to repeatedly ask the same questions as my mind often takes long vacations and I come back to the same phrase, "Earth to mom".

In the past couple weeks, these are some of the things I have done.

I was talking to Ryan about church while preparing dinner. I grabbed the Hersey's chocolate syrup out of the fridge, thinking it was BBQ sauce, and started pouring it on the chicken. (Ok, so this tells you how often my subconscious thinks of chocolate, is it any wonder that the bathroom scale and I are not on speaking terms?)

I was chatting on my cell phone as I parked in a walmart parking lot and didn't take the the usual time to draw a map so I could successfully return. An hour later I am wandering up and down the isles in the rain, searching for my van, only to finally realize I had Kelly's car that day and had walked past it three times.

I was writing a check for school lunch while talking to one of my kids. After voiding three checks due to mistakes, Mark said, "No one talk to her right now, or I'm going to be hungry and late for school!"

I was filling up my iron the other day, typically I use distilled water as the manufacturer recommends, but as I was also watching my favorite tv show at the time, I nearly poured in milk that was left on the dinner table. They are in the same type of container, whose bright idea was that?

Hopefully one day as I am weeding in my untamed flower beds, I will come across the elusive hiding place of my long buried talent. But if you see a chocolate covered chicken, a wet middle aged woman wandering around with a shopping cart or a milk starched shirt, just assume I am still looking.

The Living Christ...

At the beginning of the year the Stake Young Women Leaders, challenged the girls to memorize "The Living Christ" (moms were also invited). Cassidy and I took on this challenge and although in the beginning it seemed too daunting of a task, we completed it. What an incredible opportunity it was for me to work with Cassidy on this goal. Every Sunday we would sit down and learn the next part. There are a lot of passages that we would sit and talk about their meaning and often we would end up a little teary.

On Saturday,the day before Easter, we as a stake went up to Temple Square. We watched the movie "The Testaments" and then walked up to see the Christus. We all gathered around for pictures, then turned and while looking at this beautiful statue, recited "The Living Christ". To say it was amazing experience wouldn't do it justice. To have all these voices united in reciting these beautiful words gave me chills. I was so happy to be standing with Cassidy , it will be an experience we will always remember.

(The Stake)

Our Ward group

Afterward, we walked around Temple Square and had fun looking at the flowers and taking pictures. It was a great way to start my Easter and remember my Savior and the real purpose of this celebration.






(Thanks to RaeAnn who I borrowed, ok flat out stole, some of these pictures!!)

fun in the sun...

We had a great spring break last week in Anaheim. We love going to Disneyland and since it will be the last one we will get to share together since Ryan is going off to college, we thought we would go back to a vacation spot we love. The weather was beautiful, it was so uplifting to get out of the cold blustery days here and have some sunshine. Amazingly, it wasn't too busy and had minimal wait times so that made it all the more enjoyable. We were excited this year when Mark finally went on all the roller coasters, and even wanted to keep going back! We loved hanging out in Downtown Disney and visiting the Lego store. Josh and Ry had fun hanging out one afternoon with two sisters from their school who were also visiting. I discovered a love of Disney churros and had one almost daily. We had a large hotel room with adjoining rooms and four queen sized beds, which was great when you have two king sized boys. It was right across the street from the entrance to Disneyland, so it was great to come back and take a break for a bit in the afternoons. We ordered our huge 28" pizza that we discovered last time. With 44 pieces, ziplock bags and a fridge and microwave, it fed us for several meals throughout the week. Best value in Anaheim! We spent a fun afternoon on Huntington Beach. It was a bit windy, so we didn't venture much into the water, but had a great time building sandcastles, finding hermit crabs and flying kites. I had fun with the camera that day, so a majority of our pictures are beach pictures. Kelly, Ry and Mark took in an Angel's baseball game while we were there. Mark love baseball and it was fun for them to see a major league game. They had a great time even though the Angel's lost. All in all it was a great week. We did have car problems and the repairs cost us nearly as much as our Disney tickets, but we were grateful they happened once we got to town and not in the middle of the California desert.

blind as a bat....

I am blind as a bat, trouble is my other senses don't compensate, so technically, comparing my vision to bats isn't quite correct. I am blinder than a bat. How about that.

I got glasses in the forth grade and my vision has continued to deteriorate. You know you are in trouble when you go to the Opthamologist and they look twice at your prescription. "We don't stock this prescription in your contacts, we will have to order it" and then some fax goes off to somewhere where they keep blinder than a bat contacts. In case you all are wondering, I am not a candidate for Lasik. When I asked if there were any procedures that would restore my sight my doctor said, "science can produce miracles, but it's not that good yet!" Oh isn't he funny!

In college I had a bad eye infection and could only wear glasses for a year. My roomates got a chuckle out of my predicament and when I was sleeping, they would sneak in and take my glasses then set my alarm to go off and stand in the back of the room while I frantically felt all over the nightstand and the floor to find them.

Later that semester we went to do baptisms in the Idaho falls temple. I had to leave my glasses in the locker room and couldn't see the steps on the font. When it was my turn I didn't think I was quite there, took a step into midair and tumbled ungracefully in and made a big splash! I was near the front of the line so about twenty guys and girls from the ward witnessed my demise. The muffled trying to be reverent, giggles echoed through the big room. From that time on, no one bothered to learn my name they would just say, "I know you...you're the girl who fell into the font!"

So this past week as I was getting ready for a church meeting in Salt Lake, I once again was wearing my glasses. I took them off to put on my makeup and misplaced them. I had to have my kids come search for me while I was applying mascara. After poking myself in the eye with the wand, I had a bright red eye to go with my pink shirt and a large waterproof black mark on my face. Perfect. Just perfect.

Tonight as I was out in the rainstorm, I wished for windshield wipers on my glasses and was once again reminded how wonderful perfect eyesight might be. Since that isn't happening anytime soon, I will just have to wait until medical miracles catch up with my eyesight. In the meantime, the bats and I will have to settle for being sightedly challenged.

mission call....

And the winner is.....my mom!

Backing up a little bit, a few weeks ago my parents put in their papers to go on their first mission. We have been very impatiently waiting for the arrival of their call and this week it finally came. We all gathered together Wednesday night and my sister brought a big world map. All of us made our guesses as to the location they would head to this fall.

We were missing three of my siblings and their families so we got them on cell phones and all waited expectantly. Images of exotic locations all in our heads. There were guesses from Australia to Canada and everywhere in between. My niece said Tahiti, and a nephew said South Africa. My parents even made their guesses. We had a great time in anticipation of their undisclosed location.

Finally the moment arrived and my mom opened it and started to read. When we heard the location we were all in shock momentarily, than burst out in laughter. My mom got her guess (which was made in jest), they were called to the Salt Lake City Mission in the Family History Center! They start September 2 and will finish in March 2013.

We are so happy to have them stay close. We were wondering how we would not have parents there for the important things the next year and a half, and are happy we get to share them for a bit longer. I think Heavenly Father knew our family needed to take baby steps in accepting parents serving missions. Maybe the next call will be to Boise Idaho and then maybe eventually somewhere even further! :)

Congratulations mom and dad! You both are such examples to me, and I appreciate your willingness to serve the Lord far and abroad, or right next door. We love you!