Little Guava Jellies

This post is WAY overdue as most of mine are these days, but Scout had her first hula recital at the end of May, and I have been meaning to post pictures. She loves her hula class. Dancing "just like Daddy" is one of her favorite things to do. And I love that she loves to do it.

Grand Marshall Morgan

Free potted plants, popsicles, candy, drinks, flyers, and even two bags of dried cherries.

Who'd have thought Santaquin, Utah could put on such an extravaganza?

But the best part about the Orchard Days parade was surely the Celebrity Grand Marshall and his beautiful sweetheart sitting by his side!

We love you Grandpa and Granny Nell!

Do It Anyway

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness people may be jealous.
Be Happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world your best and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.
It never was between you and them anyway."

-Mother Teresa

Just wanted to share.
It is a good reminder for me.

Toni

"She's about this high- She's taller than I-
Sometimes she helps me tie me shoe. She's
my sister. And she plays with me ...la la la
la la" (I don't remember the exact words here.)

This is the song that my sister Toni and I would
sing with arms around shoulders when we were little.

I clearly remember singing it for my Grandparents on
both sides of the family and I think we were persuaded to
sing it for others as well. Just thinking about it makes me
laugh because the tune is hilarious. I wish I had a recording.

I have always looked up to Toni. She sang a solo in the
elementary school Christmas program. She always got the
lace tablecloth to play Miss America, and I got the blue
checkered one. She actually looked cute in stretch pants with
stirrups on the bottom. She wore Dad's old football jersey to bed.
She was always tan. She introduced me to Birkenstocks. She
had cute handwriting. And she got a Trapper Keeper for her
ninth birthday. If only I could portray my jealousy about the
Trapper Keeper. I actually think Zack Morris had a similar one on
Saved by the Bell.

There's more.

I look up to Toni because she is kind. She is a noble mother. She
will sacrifice anything for what is right. She serves me in ways only a sister can. She has always looked life square in the eye and met the challenges with faith. She believes and knows good will win. When Ethan, her second son, was born, I remember a part of his blessing. He was told that he should "look to his Mother and stay close to her because there was much to learn from her, and she would help him know what to do." I still remember that phrase because it was another time in my life when I was so glad she was my sister. Now she will be the mother of a fourth little boy, and I know he will be as blessed to call her Mom.

Toni's Birthday is today.

(Another reason why I was jealous of her. She could have summer Birthday parties OUTSIDE. I learned when I was about seven that no matter what I did, my Birthday would always be in November.)

I want to tell her that I love her, and I will always look up to her. Even though that song we sang when we were little was CHEESEY, and we laugh about it now, there is a line that I still love to sing, and that is, "She's my sister."

Happy Birthday Toni-
Love, Your Sister

Candles on the Cake

O Mother, I give you my love with each flower
To give forth sweet fragrance a whole life-time through;

For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,
I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you.

-I Often Go Walking, Children's Songbook, 202

I did quite a few naughty things when I was small. Things like (and these are a simple few) putting the dog in the microwave, feeding my little sister a whole bowl of dog food, stealing my grandma's heel lift, using all of the clean blankets to make a fort outside, hide a cow eyeball in the freezer, let all the crickets loose in the house that were meant for my lizard to eat, and spilled nail polish all over our new carpet.

Now that I am a mother I know what naughty acts can do to your patience when those naughty acts come one after another and dare I say even in the same day.

But there is nothing like a mother's love. I have heard it said that it is simple and strong. Strong it is.

Simple it is not. It is deep. It is real. It is poured over every aspect of a child's life, and it fills all the cracks and crevices in the heart.

And I might say it is what kept me alive on my more naughty days.

I have always wanted to be like my mom.
She can make magic out of misery and mischief.

She can cut a straight line, sew a straight seam, and do wonders on a straight face.
I love thinking of my mother doing all that she does. My mother painting something, fixing something, planting something, changing something, cleaning something, moving something, singing something-

My Mother making everything better- My Mother sanctifying her corner of the world and all connected to it.

My Mother.

She taught me that life won't wait and living isn't about simply breathing. It is about doing.
She taught me that being there cannot be imitated, and sacrifice is a part of true love.
She loves me.
And that is what I need.

Happy Birthday Mom.
You make all the superheros jealous.

Tucson and a Little Tiny Bit of Mexico

Calvin graduated high school over Memorial Day weekend and gave us an excuse to get away for a few days.

We are proud of you Calvin.

We spent time in Tucson and even braved the border and went to Nogales for a little bartering. Ben did the Spanish speaking, and I just stood there looking like the tourist I was, hoping they would let me back into the country with only my licence in hand. But I did learn a few new phrases that I have found to be useful assets when it comes to decision making. These phrases are, and I quote:

"Come into my store. You never know."

"Come in for future reference."

The sunglass vendor won me over with this phrase, "You should buy these. These are real fake!" I couldn't help myself. He said, "Real fake" as if FAKE was a name brand. I feel special having real fake glasses instead of fake fake glasses. And he took his price from $25 dollars to just $5. Not passing that up.

It was fun to hear Ben speaking Spanish, and I got to see in real life some of the differences in culture he has been telling me about from his mission. Scout and Boston only wanted the small "cah-tars" (guitars),and surprisingly enough, they aren't broken yet.

Lish and Phil also suggested the Dessert Museum in Tucson, and we spent an afternoon looking at an otter, turtles, snakes, spiders, beavers, fish, mountain lions, birds, and caves.

We missed Danielle, but it was nice to be together with everyone. We stopped and saw Hoover Dam on the way home, and spent Memorial Day swimming in St. George.
I am glad that Ben didn't just fly down for the graduation like we had originally planned. It was fun to jump in the car and go as a family.

If you are ever wondering if you should take a sporatic getaway, just try it. After all...."You Neva Know."

p.s. The pictures of Scout and Boston with blankets on their heads was just me documenting how they were keeping themselves entertained when they just couldn't think of anything else to do on the long drive home. p.s.s. If you are wondering about Boston's poor little nose, it is the nasty impetigo again. She is almost healed now. Rotten stuff. If you have put up with it you know.

We Laugh at This

I know many of you consider this old news, and you have seen it once....maybe twice... Just try it once more.