We just can't help it

I am convinced that everyone thinks they were cute when they were little.

 I think it is our inner voice reminding us that we are each pretty special.

My rock-awesome Care Bear cake, decorated by my dad. I have to admit--Care Bears weird me out now. But man, I loved them when I was three.

So if you're feeling down, just go look at some pics of yourself when you were a little kid. It'll cheer you up.

Of course, if you want to laugh, go look at photos from when you were a teenager. I will have to find those another time.

Sweet memories

My parents came last weekend. It was a wonderful visit--Clara was excited about it for days (weeks?) in advance (her teachers knew it, too).

As usual, my thoughtful mom came bearing gifts.

Clara about peed in her pants she was so excited about this American Girl nightgown.

It reminded me of the matching nightgowns that my mom made for me and my American Girl doll, Samantha, twenty years ago.

Clara got a Kirsten doll from an older lady in Augusta, but she isn't really into AG which is fine by me. She does like looking at the catalogs, though. I remember that was one of my favorite parts, too. Most of the accessories were way too expensive, so my mom would sew dresses and painted her furniture. I loved it. Even though the company has expanded dramatically (not exactly in ways I like, but as I'm not a principal stockholder apparently I have no say in the matter), I still secretly wish I could be have an American Girl doll.

I might need to unpack Samantha when I go back to Atlanta for Christmas and reminisce about our good times together.

Mennonite Fall Festival

We took our visitors to a Mennonite festival last Saturday. I loved it--low-key, cheap (so many of these places are so pricey!), and very interesting. We enjoyed a little bit of everything:

 Corn-hole throwing,

 Intense competition,

Apple cider-pressing,

 Pumpkin painting,

 Cousin posing,

 Washboard scrubbing (Clara didn't want to stop (!)),

 Homemade ice cream eating,

 Family picture-taking,

 Forced smiling at the camera,

Uncle Hyrum loving,

Maybe a little too much Uncle Hyrum loving.

More visitors!

Last week we enjoyed a visit from Michael's sister, L'Anita, her husband, Erik, and their two beautiful girls, Abigail and Anne.

 This almost two-year-old was on the go (hence the blurriness) and a joy to be around. I loved how she would climb up into her booster seat frequently throughout the day showing she was ready to eat--my kind of girl.

 Abigail cracked me up with her thoughtfulness and imagination. I was treated to several gourmet dinners at this table.

 Wagon rides were a huge hit (except for some sharing scuffles). Fortunately, she did share for the most part and we enjoyed walking around the neighborhood in the cool weather.

 L'Anita celebrated her birthday while she was here.

Fun fun fun!

Productivity?

I have been thinking about being productive lately. I know I've ranted on about the illusion of to-do lists and how they make me feel better about myself. When Michael asks how my day was, I feel happy and worthwhile when I've been "productive," ie. done work on my callings, cleaned the house, done visiting teaching, etc. etc.

But productivity also begs the question, "What exactly am I producing?"

Am I producing order and a clean home? That's nice.

But is that what we're here for? To produce a clean home? To produce a perfect, glossy life with no kids in mismatched clothing and no dirty laundry lurking in corners?

How about producing peace? And contentment? How about a place where we can just be?

During the summer, Michael and I took a really wonderful parenting class for parents of children on the autism spectrum. We learned a lot and are still trying to apply all that we learned. One of the things the consultant said was, "Sometimes you have to slow down in order to be able to speed up." She meant that slowing down now, while Clara was young, was important in order to be able for her (and us) to handle the acceleration that will be necessary later in adolescence and in adulthood.


Today was Clara's last horseback riding lesson, at least for a few months. I have felt too busy, too stretched, too little at home, and something had to give. I have mixed feelings about it because (1) I don't want her to think that we can quit something just because it's hard, and (2) she has made so much progress. Perhaps in January we will be able to start up again.

. . . .

And here I am, just interrupted from my musings with a call from the sister missionaries, reminding me of a dinner appointment we had scheduled for tomorrow night . . . sandwiched in between adaptive therapy, and a Cub Scout pack meeting.

Well, apparently I just like to type about simplifying my life instead of actually doing it. Who was I kidding?

While I am trying to figure out what the heck I am going to be cooking (did I mention that I am attending a funeral service during the day and our house is being shown by a realtor--the owner is selling but we're still staying so I need to make sure everything looks nice--during the day?), I hope you can sense the absolute pleasure that being rolled up into a cocoon (and the subsequent butterfly emergence) gives my kid.

It's all about enjoying the moment. And the moment is telling me to go to bed now, so that is what I am going to do.

29 reasons to be happy

Sometimes I look on the bad side of things. I want to change this weakness and always look for the good because both sides of the coin--the good and the bad--are always present. But if there weren't two sides to it, the coin wouldn't be authentic and therefore would have no value. I want a valuable authentic life, even if that means accepting the reality of opposition in all the things.

1. It was my birthday on Wednesday. I pampered myself by spending some time at Barnes and Noble reading an interesting book and then placing it unabashedly back on the shelf and leaving the store. I seriously don't know how bookstores make any money with people like me around.
2. My husband bought me an electronic pepper grinder. (I didn't even know those existed, but I am excited to try it out.)
3. Clara got on the bus happily yesterday.
4. My family is in good health. What a blessing to be healthy.
5. I get to eat peanut butter every day. I like good peanut butter.
6. The weather here is lovely. It's currently 78 degrees and the blue sky is filled with giant cumulus clouds.
7. We are going to the temple tomorrow, and Hyrum is babysitting. First time we've done a session at the same time since we moved here.
8. We went to Coldstone to celebrate my birthday.

9. We are spreading out my birthday fun even more by going to Five Guys tonight.
10. I have wonderful parents and in-laws and siblings. A good family cannot be purchased. What a blessing it is to be part of these people whom I admire so much.
11. In two weeks I can put out our fall decorations.
12. I have been having some trouble with my left wrist and thumb for the past few months but I am currently in no pain.
13. I love reading. I feel bad for people who don't love reading. What a world to miss.
14. I finally got my hymnbook back from the stake center last night. I have missed it.
15. Michael and I have been taking an enormously informative "parenting" class for parents of kids on the spectrum. We've learned a lot about how to help Clara be a dynamic communicator and share experiences with her.
16. Michael is loving his job. It is very stressful and busy, but I am so glad he loves what he does. It makes paying off the student loans less painful.
17. I just cleaned out my Contacts list in my email account. There were some really old addresses in there.
18. I finally replaced the burnt-out lightbulbs in the hall.
19. I don't think it's supposed to rain tonight, which means that Clara will (most likely) sleep through the night.
20. Swimsuit season is over.
21. I listened to Mozart while baking this morning.
22. I am married to a wonderful man.
23. Hyrum wrote me a very nice note for my birthday.
24. We are reading These Happy Golden Years in the Little House series. I love these stories.
25. There are no roaches here.
26. My dream last night about giant frogs the size of dogs coming into the store and of me picking horn-wormed caterpillars off my tomato plants wasn't real. Phew.
27. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true.
28. I am a morning person.
29. Our lives are divided into days, separated by sleep. What a miserable life it would be if we never got a break and had to carry our burdens without stopping. I can do anything for a day, knowing that I will have night before I have to start again the next day. Almost any time that I am upset or feeling discouraged, I am really just super tired. Thank goodness for a good night's sleep.

Horseback adventures

{a final post reminiscing about our visit from the Weilers}

Michael's youngest sister, Melody, turned thirteen when they were here. On a previous visit she had mentioned that she would love to ride a horse, so for her birthday we arranged with Clara's horseback riding instructor for Melody to have a lesson right after Clara's.

 Here Melody is helping brush Macy, Clara's horse. Clara has helped to brush in the past (which is a pretty significant thing for her) but wasn't interested that day.

 Bethany came to observe as well--she was a volunteer at a similar therapeutic riding program out in Provo.

 Here Clara is leading Macy out to the ring.

 She has really come far since her first lesson--now she rides without a lead rope and is learning to turn Macy and start and stop her.

 After Clara's ride was done, it was Melody's turn. She is riding Apple, a very gentle 22-year-old horse (hence her boniness).

 An instant pro.

 Happy 13th, Melody! We just love this girl--she is patient and kind with Clara and a real pleasure to be around.

Fun fun fun

Last weekend I got to hang out with two of my favorite people--Joy and Chelsey--who were two of my roommates at BYU. Much to our dismay, our third roommate, Karisa, was left stranded at her parents' house in Philly due to the weather. We missed you!!

We enjoyed lots of chatting time, delicious food, and some foot pampering time.

 Sadly I didn't get any pics of our faces, but this pedicure kind of sums up our friendship: colorful, easy to maintain, and rejuvenating.

An unexpected visitor

The other night after the seminary kick-off, Hyrum hurries in the house and tells me to come check something out.

I follow with trepidation, which only increases when Michael shows me one of our recycling boxes with the lid on it.

"What is it?! Is it going to scare me?" I ask.

"No," Michael and Hyrum reassure me. I wasn't reassured.

Michael lifts off the lid and takes this guy out.

Can you believe how huge he is? They found him by the road and thought at first it was a squirrel.

We decided to name him "Stu," as in frog stew.

Despite some interest in keeping him as a pet (not by me, in case that wasn't obvious), the boys let poor Stu go.

Hopefully he wasn't carried off by a cat or something. Actually, he was so big I bet he would give any animal a run for its money. Yikes.

Daddy-daughter date

Clara has really loved the Beach Boys song, "Barbara Ann," for a few years now. When Michael found out that the Beach Boys (okay, there were only two of the originals, but still) were coming to the Rockingham County Fair, he decided to have a date with Clara and take her to the concert.

They didn't go on any rides--maybe next year we'll try the ferris wheel.

They did enjoy a few of the festivities before the concert began.

 Watching this acrobat show was pretty impressive, Michael told me.

Clara had cotton candy for the first time. After two bites she was done, and the giant mass of sugar gradually shrunk into an amorphous blob as the night went on.

As you can tell, they were sitting in a crowd of baby boomers. But hey, some music never gets old, right?

Party on, dude, and hooray for a kind daddy and a lucky little girl.

Other Weiler visit festivities

 The requisite family photo, complete with dead grass and glaring sun.

Lots of hugs.

 Playing in the pond at Great-Grandma and -Grandpa's house in Pennsylvania.

 Chatting with family.

 Visiting with cousins we haven't seen in over six years.

Lots of Crystal Light tea parties.

Rollin' down the river: a saga

{continuing our adventures from the Weiler visit}

We want to take the Weilers tubing down the Shenandoah River. After discovering that tube rentals are barely less than the purchase of new tubes, we decide to buy our own: two double tubes and four singles.

Michael plans out the route: 8 miles of river. We know that it will take a while, so we bring lunch and snacks (the double tubes had little "coolers" built in--pretty handy). And while Clara wants to use her pool floatie, we make her sit in a tube with us.

It is a beautiful day. Most of the river is slow-moving, but we enjoy some spots of class 1 rapids.

 Clara does great for most of the trip . . .

. . . especially when she gets to get out and swim.

 During the slow parts (i.e. we are barely moving), we entertain ourselves with a few games of Twenty Questions, as well as enjoying the hilarious spectacle of Joseph throwing a dead fish into Bethany's tube. Despite her screams, she actually handled it with aplomb.

After about eight hours of tubing (yes, I am serious), we still haven't arrived at the cars we'd parked beforehand. "Bums up!" becomes a familiar refrain as we encounter very shallow water, forcing us to get out frequently and clumsily walk over the rocks to a deeper area.

Clara says she wants to get out of the river. I make up a story about Gary the Groundhog who wants to fly in order to keep her entertained.

Our tube gets a hole in it. And our patch kits are all wet.

You can guess where this is headed, but this story is getting too long and is probably boring. Long story somewhat shorter:

1. After trying to keep his finger of the hole and feeling our tube gradually lose air, Michael gets out of the river and to find the car and meet us at the bridge.
2. I decide to get out of the river as well and "persuade" everyone else to follow my lead.
3. We tramp through high itchy grass along the river with tubes and Clara on our backs, following a cow path to a dead-end (and poison ivy for Joseph).
4. We get back in the river and travel to the other side.
5. We get out again and carry our tubes up, with Michael's dad and me laughing. (It is either laugh or cry.) I keep singing children's pioneer songs as they seemed to fit the occasion perfectly . . . minus the tubes and the swim suits and the car at the end.
6. Michael sees us and comes tearing down the hill to help us.
7. We hear a loud "OOOWWWW!" coming from his direction.
8. We discover he has run--literally--into a barbed-wire fence.
9. We all climb over the barbed-wire fence, but I get stuck.

10. Actually, my hair gets stuck in some nettle balls--about eight of these things claw their way into my braid.

11. Joseph and Hyrum get them out for me.

12. We wait on the side of the road.
13. I administer first aid to Michael's lacerations (which miraculously aren't NEARLY as bad as they could have been).
14. After ten hours on the river, we drive home exhausted, hungry, and sunburnt. I have put on sunscreen about every hour--on myself and Clara--and Michael did as well. We are still sunburnt, but not nearly as bad as some. (Hyrum's skin looks pretty leprous as it peels and blisters.)
15. I make dinner at about 8:00pm and we all shower and fall into bed.
16. I feel like my bed is floating on the water.
17. Then we fall asleep.

All in all, it was quite a fun and memorable experience. And now we have tubes (and we'll patch the holes) so when you come visit we can go tubing--a shorter version, of course.

"Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you" . . . 

. . . but not for a little while.

First grade

Clara began first grade yesterday. She rode the bus and got on it like a champ.

(Helping her be awake and ready to get on the bus at 7:23am is another matter, but hopefully future days will not consist of my waving the bus to wait while I mash her feet into her new tennis shoes and run her out to the bus. Not that that happened today or anything.)

We thought we'd celebrate by enjoying the absolutely amazing Shenandoah Valley weather (70s) with a backyard picnic.

My to-do list is quite long with all those things that I've postponed during the summer--blog posts among them--so I am excited to get some stuff done.

The air already feels different here: the cool mornings are preparing me for fall, but the warm afternoons remind me just to enjoy the moment.

{Also, for those who heard, we felt an earthquake yesterday--pretty crazy! Nothing fell off the shelves, fortunately.}

Clara-ty

(While eating breakfast): It's like [the cereal pieces] are getting baptized . . . in the milk.

(After passing gas): There's a puppy in my bum.

(After pointing to a mole on my forehead): What's that?
ME: That's a mole.
CLARA: Can I pop it?
ME: No!
CLARA: It's not a mole, it's a zit.

(After giving me a kiss): I smooched you!

(Observing me making pita bread): Is that yeast?
 ME: Mmm-hmm.
 CLARA: Not west, yeast. Right, Mama?

(Expressing her disapproval): I'm grumped up.