Delightful, Dazzling D

I got tagged by my friend, Holly and I'm supposed to write 10 things I love that start with the letter D. This was a toughy, but here goes...

1. Daisies (the white ones)
2. Disposable diapers (do I get double points for dat one?)
3. Disney movies (they make Darn good babysitters when you need some down-time!)
4. Days off (Jimmy's that is. Like I ever get them!)
5. Dates with my hubby (too few and far between)
6. Drives to Durango (especially in the Fall!)
7. Dessert (double chocolate brownies anyone? SO delicious!)
8. Drinking water (dorky, I know, but's it's da truth
9. Dialing a friend's number for a chat
10. Dreaming, 'cause that means I'm sleeping and I SO love my sleepy times!

Okey dokey, all done! Now I tag anyone whose name (first or last!) begins with an M, R, L, E, H or T (all beginning letters of my kids' names!) to write 10 things they love that begin with the letter G. And leave me a comment if you are participating so I can come check it out!

Turning One was Not So Fun

poor Teagy...has the tummy flu on her birthday!

Teagernannie (as Jimmy calls her)

is one year old today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the little girl who came into our world and made the sadness in our hearts after losing Elisabeth feel a whole lot lighter. They say when a child is born after losing one before that the new baby is like a rainbow after the dark storm. It's true. Teagan Shenene is our Rainbow Baby and she's made our life so much better because she is in it. Love you, Teags!

Unfortunately today she is sick sick sick so we will have to postpone our celebration...after all, nobody wants to throw up their first birthday cake, right?

Mama Kat's WWW

(That's writer's worskshop Wednesday, in case you were wondering)

So the prompts today are:
1.) I used to think...
2.) List ten things you can do in three minutes.
3.) Describe a time you allowed your child to do something that you normally would not let slide.
4.) I want to become friends with...
5.) What are you currently fascinated with?

(check out the little Mama's Losin' It button on the sidebar if you want to play along)


After some deliberation I chose....(drumroll please)......


#4, #1 AND #5 ALL IN ONE SHOT...

I want to become friends with a variety of people. Women who are younger than me. Older than me. Stay-at-home moms. Working moms. My children's teachers. Basketball coaches.

Okay, maybe not basketball coaches. (refer to Victory)


Women in my ward. Women who aren't in my ward. Sisters. In laws. People who are just like me. People who are nothing like me.



Okay, well that might not work out too well.


I am a people person. I love people. All kinds and varieties. I don't believe in holding grudges. I don't like hanging on to hurt feelings. I don't want to be forced to take sides between two different people that I respect and admire. I don't want to be accountable to anyone else for the other people I spend time with or talk to or sympathize with. I just want to be friends with everyone.

I used to think that I could have the best of both worlds. Have a small collection of 'best' friends and still be friendly with other people as well. That pretty much backfired on me recently. But it was an important lesson to learn. I am fascinated that it's taken me over 30 years to realize that although I want to have and be a friend.--a true friend.--to many different people, I don't want to declare fealty to any of them.


Okay. Except for maybe one...






So..what's so bad about that?

"This is my day..."

Melody Faye was baptized and confirmed March 15th by her dad. It was such a sweet, simple evening. My favorite memory of it was going to check on Melody and finding her sitting on the steps leading down to the font, looking so peaceful.

Giveaways, SITS, and more

Okay...so here's the deal. If you have been checking out my blog for any amount of time you will have noticed a huge increase in comments! Which is a good thing for me because I am a Comment Craver. I don't care if you like me or agree with what I'm saying but I love to feel a connection with what I write and the people who have so kindly taken the time to read it. Anywho...I recently joined this "SITSstahood" called The Secret's in the Sauce (hence the nickname SITS). Anyways it's this massive connection between a ton of bloggers and you get a bunch of comments and are able to meet lots of new amazing people. So follow the button on my sidebar and join in if you'd like. I think you'll be glad you did.

Now, having said that there is this cool little lady who has a bloggy giveaway going on right now. The website is http://www.ourdandelionwishes.com/2009/03/fabulous-giveaway.html and she's got some way adorable things she's trying to give away. For free. And they're really cute.

Notice also the new little goldfishy guy on the sidebar. That's a link to a website called "Fishful Thinking" which is an awesome effort of helping parents to instill confidence and positivism in their children. Beings as I have 4 daughters I love this site as I think girls are assailed with negative self-image. But we all know about that.

Anyways, just thought I'd share some of this stuff. Melody is getting baptized tonight so I'll be posting some pics of that later on. Happy Sunday!

Writer's Workshop

It's supposed to be Writer's Workshop Wednesday (yes, I KNOW it's already Thursday) but I'm going to play along anyways because I love these things!

The prompt: Tell about a time you hurt somebody that still bothers you today.

That was a toughie for me. Not because there hasn't been a time I have hurt somebody but because it's hard to choose just one. There have been times within the last year that I have foolishly hurt people and regret the role I played in it. But it's so much easier to talk about the past...like the way, way distant past...so that's where I'm heading.

I was 14(ish). All the young women in the ward were singing a special number in sacrament meeting that we had been practicing for weeks on. We all march up the steps to the stand and take our places and begin the song. I was standing next to my best friend, Rachel. Everything is fine for about 10 seconds and then one of the Beehives (a 12-year-old girl) begins to really belt it out. Loud. The problem: she was absolutely tone deaf. It sounded so bad. At first Rachel and I exchange glances and try to conceal our smiles. Then we start pinching eachother's hands in a crazy effort not to laugh. Because to a couple of immature 14-year-olds the whole thing was absolutely hilarious. Finally it becomes all to much and we erupt into a fit of giggles no matter how hard we were trying not to. Thankfully the song eventually ended but that was just the beginning of it for me. After the meeting was over a tall, blonde, outspoken woman stalked Rachel and me out to the hallway where she cornered us and I'll never forget the encounter that followed.

"You girls should be ashamed of yourselves! Everyone in the congregation knew what you were laughing at. I can't believe that you would behave that way. You should know better!"

And we should have. We hurt that poor girl's feelings. A girl who was a little "off" anyways and probably dealt with being made fun of on a regular basis. I went home and wrote about the experience in my journal and to this day regret that I couldn't understand the situation for what it was. She was just another girl like me who was on the stand that day singing a song to show her love and faith in the Lord. Except unlike me, at least her heart was in the right place.

Evolution of a Relationship

I have an ultimate favorite 'spiritual' book (besides the scriptures, of course) titled, "Spiritual Lightening" by M. Catherine Thomas. I've been feeling confused about a particular turn of events in my life lately then felt like I needed to re-read a chapter in this book. Thought I'd share it with you:

"We tend to see life's experiences as random, helter-skelter in their design but it would appear that all the people in our lives are there for important reasons. We stand in a sacred relationship to them. They and we cannot be made perfect without eachother. By divine design, they are not there to satisfy us. Rather, they are given to us to make possible a much greater love than we would have been capable of in a situation where everybody agreed with us, everybody loved us, everybody saw everything the way we do. They are there to change us and to tell us what we need to know and to help us evolve along godly lines. Those who are difficult and abrasive in our lives are friends in disguise. They are there to teach us to perfect love in ourselves, not to perfect them....

"What if life were entirely fabricated to teach us the lessons we neeed to know, even down to the people crossing our paths day in and day out and even the things these people have to say to us?...What if our only real assignment in life was to listen carefully, with reverence, being touched in an intimate way, changing and evolving from our associations with each other...

"I am learning that being task-oriented, being too attached to my day-planner, misses the point of life: tasks are just means by which God gets us together so that we can affirm and encourage and bless and learn from eachother. It is people-work that really matters. People are not interruptions in what we want to get done--they are the reasons we're here!" (pp. 141, 143)

*********************************

It's easy to love people who are easy to love. But I would venture to say that the relationships that have really made us better people are the ones we have had to work really hard and really long at. Marriages. Sisterhood. Parent-child. Close Friends. I can't think of any true, lasting relationship I've had with anyone that hasn't included some irritating moments, tongue-biting, soul-searching, and a lot of over-looking and forgiving. Thank you, to all of the people who have crossed my path and made me who I am today. The evolution is sometimes a painful one, but if we learn to ebb and flow with the tides and not give up, it's worth it in the end.

*(Note: Obviously the 'hard' times referred to are the typical day-to-day struggles...this does not apply to relationships that are abusive in any form.)

So tell me...what do you think about evolving relationships and which ones are you most grateful for?