Sit-tures

"Sit-tures!" "Sit-tures!"

Sadie points at the mantle of the fireplace where we keep the scriptures. I put them up there because she loves to finger through the delicate pages and pull on the tabs.

"read?!"

I had realized my own lacking in the will to regularly read scriptures; noting that its a simple task I regularly fail. Its one of those things I always ask for help with to be better about, but never seem to act fully upon doing so. My good friend Jamie and I had a recent discussion regarding faith and prayer. We learned that faith requires action and prayer without faith is void. So doesn't that mean that prayer requires action?

I kept waiting for Heavenly Father to sprinkle excitement and drive to read scriptures down upon me like I sprinkle Splenda on my Rice Crispies in the morning. Maybe my prayers for help and inspiration were more like half hearted confessionals? In any case, this recent discussion with Jamie lead me to evaluate my prayers. I made an effort to act and Jared and I broke out the scriptures to read to Sadie before bed. Now this little 20 month old baby is begging for us to "read sit-tures" every night. How inspiring! She's excited to read them and then to "pay" (pray) afterwards. She'll fold her arms and repeat the words we speak.

He used her to answer my prayers. And I thought I was supposed to be the one teaching her.

I've got a lot to learn.

We are among the few who have no cable or satellite TV. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of the time we have to fiddle with the antenna to get a good signal for our television viewing. Today, during this all important final day of the US Open, the TV is giving Jared probems. Here is a picture of his attempt to remedy the situation.

No, it didn't work. We need cable!

Daddy's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

To all of you Daddies out there: today, I celebrate you. For all the "boo-boos" you kiss, and the monsters you chase from under the bed, for the times you transformed your child into a flying air-plane or carried them on your shoulders or rocked them back to sleep in the middle of the night. Remember, any man can be a 'father', but it takes a real man to be a 'daddy!'




This morning, even though it was Father's Day, Jared got up with Sadie at 6:30am, just like always. He's so sweet. See, this Father's Day weekend was more about Sadie and me since we've been sick since Friday night. He so lovingly spent the weekend taking care of us. That's why he's so wonderful and that's why he deserves to have a day to celebrate him. I wish I could have done more for him.

When I woke up he went back to sleep and I sprung into action. I...well, let me give Sadie her credit...we made Jared Strawberry Shortcake. Sadie helped me pour all of the ingredients into the bowl and stir it up. Then she helped me kneed the dough and shape it into hearts. We made a huge mess, but the end product was fabulous. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but remembered to take pictures of the huge mess we made!

New Bag of Shoes

Sadie LOVES shoes and yesterday one of Jared's co-workers brought a bag of play-shoes for Sadie. She is currently wearing at least one shoe at all times. Her favorite one has Cinderella on it or "rella" as she says.

Here she is wearing her "rella" shoe, before giving it up for the "mu-maid" one.

This was actually the first video, but I uploaded it first so it showed up last and after an hour of uploading it to the blog, I decided to leave it out of order. Here, Jared has just presented Sadie with her "surprise."

That's Him!

Jared was called to work in the Young Men's Presidency at Church. He's really excited about it and I think he'll be great working with the 12 and 13 year olds. What a perfect time to be thrown into the fire. Youth Conference is this week and scout camp is coming up soon.

The Young Men's President had been praying about who should fill the position of Second Counselor. One night he had a dream and guess who's face he saw in the dream? He hadn't even met Jared before! That's what I call divine inspiration.

Jared was called to be the Ward Choir Director two weeks ago and when he stood up to take the call, the YM's President said "That's him!" and though Jared did not know it at the time, two weeks later he would be released from Choir Director before he could even lead a single note of music.

Mommy Magic School

I used to think that eventually I would have it all figured out. You know, like i'd graduate, with time, from "Mommy Magic School" and have all sorts of tricks up my sleeve. In some respects, I have to give myself credit for all that I have learned in the last year and a half. But, in all other respects, I must admit, that my little toddler has humbled me. Just when I think I know that no matter what she refuses, she'll definitely eat string cheese or that no matter how late her afternoon nap was, she'll definitely go down for the night at 8pm, she throws the cheese and screams till 9pm.

Before I had Sadie, I used to think "They're just little babies. How hard could it be to get them to stop screaming through Wal-mart?!" or "Why do people complain that their kids won't eat? If they're hungry enough, they'll do it." or (my favorite) "OOhhhh...if I were that kid's mom...I can't believe the way he/she just talked to her! she must be doing something wrong."

That was before Sadie told me "NO!" and slapped me across the face. And before she decided to like her cereal one day, and turn her nose up at it the next. And before she cried so much through Wal-Mart as a young infant that I remember trying to push the cart, hold her, and retrieve a gallon of milk from the refrigerator with my foot.

You can't make this little person do what you want.

Sure this is frustrating. But, its so much fun trying to figure it all out! Call me crazy, but I like that feeling of awe that I have for Sadie. As she's using her sense of wonder to discover her little world, I feel a sense of wonder discovering my new little world as her "Mommy." Trying to understand her, I wonder what she's thinking, how her thoughts flow, what makes her tick. Why is it that she throws the cheese? She amazes me and dumbfounds me all at once.

Some people say that people don't change. Once a drunk, always a drunk. Once a cheater, always a cheater. If they leave their dirty socks on the floor, they'll always leave their dirty socks on the floor.

Other people say that our weaknesses provide us with opportunity to garner strength through our pursuit of change. Weaknesses are inevitable challenges that allow us to grow and learn.

I think I'm going to straddle the fence on this one. First of all, we can't change people. People change themselves. However, I agree with the latter of thoughts: that our weaknesses provide us with opportunity to garner strength through our struggle to change and ultimately grow. But, I think too, that there are some things that no matter what we do, we can never change. What do you think?

Jared's been leaving the shower curtain open after his showers. I like to have it closed so that it reduces the chance of mildew. I've told him this, but he still (for the most part) leaves it open. As I was stepping out of the shower tonight, I thought about all of the little annoying habits I have and how Jared doesn't point them out. I annoy myself with these things, but he quietly and lovingly lives with them. I love that about him. Its part of what makes him, him. He has a selfless consideration for other people's feelings. Its the way he strives to think of how he'd want to be treated when he interacts with others. At the same time, I want to sift through his thoughts and find all of the things that I do that annoy him so I can change them; so I can be better for him as well as for myself. Maybe its part of my subconscious quest to be perfect. Earlier tonight when Jared was sprawled out on the sofa leaving no room for me to sit, I impatiently barked at him to sit up and make room for me. Two seconds later, I felt like a shrew. Most of the time, my big-ole' self is the one sprawled out on the couch while Jared takes the floor. This double-sidedness is one of my flaws. Its okay for me to sprawl, but not for him. I don't like this about myself, but am terribly grateful my sweet husband did not throw it in my face. Maybe he patiently waits for me to see these flaws on my own? In any case, I can learn a lot from him.

I grab my towel and close the curtain. I realize I need to let the shower curtain go. If this is the biggest flaw I have to worry about with my wonderful husband, then I'll close that curtain myself for the rest of our lives. I'll embrace that curtain as a daily symbol that I have this amazing man in my life. I'll be grateful that I have a shower curtain to close. It means he's here and that we're together. Some things don't need to change.

ps...He just showered and he shut the curtain this time :)

The Maiden all forlorn

"This is the Maiden all forlorn, who milked the cow with the crumpled horn."

I told Sadie that she was crying. Gosh, i've never felt so guilty for reading Sadie a book.

"Cryie?"

"Yes, Sadie. She's sad. She's crying."

"Cryie? Cryie? Cryie?! Cryie?!! Cryie?!!!"

Her eyebrows furrowed and the corners of her mouth turned down.

I hurried up to turn the page and she stopped me.

"Cryie?"

She leaned over and gave the forlorn maiden a big kiss.

"Oh, Sadie, you're so sweet! You gave her a kiss? That's so sweet!"

But it wasn't enough because when we turned the page, there was the "maiden all forlorn, who milked the cow with the crumpled horn." It didn't even matter that there was a "man all tattered and torn who kissed the maiden all forlorn." She was still there, mouth ajar, wailing, with tears sprinkling out of her face like a watering tin someone's tilted back to water the flowers.

"Cryie?!"

There goes that book.