Our redhead

Our little redhead. May !st 1994 changed our lives forever. Tori Anne Trent entered our lives. We were surprised when the nurse said "look at all that red hair." The nurses in the hospital loved quaffing her hair up on top of her head with a little gel and adding a cute little bitty bow. A couple of my best friends in high school were redheads and for some reason I secretly hoped that I never had a redheaded baby. When I saw Tori for the first time I fell in love. She was perfect. Her red hair suited her and made her a little unique. People often compliment her on her beautiful red hair. I think she views it as one of her best assets. She sometimes is heard saying things like: "oh no the sun is turning my hair blond" while trying to shield it from the sun with a shoe or whatever else is handy, or "is my hair less red than it used to be?" She is a beautiful girl and yes, her red hair adds to her beauty. They say that red heads have tempers. Tori doesn't have much of a temper. She is fiesty and mischevious however. She loves to goose people, make them scream, then laugh and laugh. She seems to get great joy from teasing her siblings mercilessly.

Her red hair can not only be found on top of her head, but also on the wall of her shower. Teegan refuses to shower in there because "there is gross hair everywhere". Does Tori put it there to create a hair art masterpiece? Because she wants to admire it while she showers? Because she wants to sew a wig and give it to a poor soul with no hair (like her dad before long. I wonder what he would look like with long red hair)? She says she does it because she doesn't want it to go down the drain. Maybe she just can't bear seeing that beautiful red hair slide down the drain to disappear forever. We think it is strange that she displays her hair on the wall of her shower and then "forgets" to throw it away. But in the old days they did make art by braiding or crocheting hair into lacie doilies then framing it. Maybe I shouldn't have just thrown that shower hair away! Oh well, I am sure there will be more there again tomorrow.

Frogs, ducks and spaghetti sauce

Today was a nice little payday! Tori came home for lunch as she usually does.

She was her usual cheerful self. She was singing a song from Cinderella Some day my Prince will come. She laid her head on my shoulder and asked "Mom, when will my prince charming come?" I told her "not today" and she asked why not. I told her that he was still in the awkward frog stage. (Do they ever really grow out of that awkward frog stage? I think not. Although they can exhibit occasional signs of prince charmingness every now n then. But that's okay I rarely display princess like qualities.)

As she sat eating the spaghetti left over from last night's dinner, she told me that I was a great mom. She said you are always cleaning, and you laugh with me when I am being silly, you love me even when I am being annoying, (and yes, she is often annoying) Oops did I really just type that? She also said that I am a great cook and that she would miss my cooking when she goes to college. "Can you mail me some food?" she asked. I replied "Yes, I will send you a bowl of spaghetti in the mail." "Oh, I can cook the spaghetti just send the sauce", she replied.

I love that girl! Even though I am looking forward to sending her off to college to experience life on her own. I will definitely miss her. I love you Tori! Whom ever and wherever her frog (I mean prince charming) is, he is one lucky duck!

Happiness Is...

There are so many things that make me happy. Two of these things are exercise and naps. I feel so good after a spin or zumba class, a long walk or a quick run on the treadmill. I feel alive and invigorated as the blood pumps through my veins. I feel like I have done something good for myself. Don't get me wrong I am no gym rat nor am I addicted to exercise. It is not always easy to motivate myself to get moving. I don't always enjoy the act of exercise itself either. I usually feel the best after the exercise is over. Don't we all? But, I am thankful that I have a healthy body that allows me to move and exercise.

The opposite of exercise I also enjoy. A good nap! I love lying on the couch in a quiet house before the kids get home from school and thinking to myself "Self, you have _ number of minutes before the kids get home. Should you cook something, clean something, or take a nap?" I love it when I tell myself to nap! It kinda makes me giggle that I give myself permission. As I cover up with a cozy blanket I have a smile on my face and think "how many people get to do this in the middle of the afternoon?" Such simple things give me great pleasure.

How can two things that are completely opposite bring me so much joy? As it says in 2 Nephi 2:11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. This scripture must be referring to exercise and naps. I am really good at having opposition in my life. That is why there are places in my house that are very clean and some places that require a Hazmat suit to enter.

Go ahead! Get out and exercise then give yourself permission to nap, or whatever brings you joy and makes you smile.

Piano Lessons

Teegan came home from school cheerfully and when she remembered that it was piano lesson day, she instantly entered bad moodville and grumpy town. What is it about piano lessons that morph otherwise normal, happy children into little monsters? Why do we pay hundreds of dollars every year for these piano lessons? Children ranting and raving and gnashing their teeth. Begging and pleading to stop taking piano lessons as if taking piano lessons was the same as having their fingernails pulled off one by one. Teegan even offered to give me 50 dollars if I let her quit. “I hate it! It is the worse thing I have ever done!” she yells through the tears, then adds “you are just wasting your money. Why do you want to waste your money?” Doesn't she know that we love to waste our money, we love to torture her and make her scream and cry and holler?!

I don't have unrealistic expectations. I do not expect that they will become piano vertuosos playing at Carnegie Hall or attending the Julliard school of music. Is it too much to ask for them to just practice and enjoy it enough to be able to play for church, family home evening, or develop enough skill to teach piano lessons one day? How do other parents do it?

I remember being in her shoes. I did not love playing the piano as a child either. It only detained me from playing with friends or doing other activities I enjoyed. I had to practice for 30 minutes after school before I could play with friends. 30 minutes seems like forever to a kid. I would play songs that I already knew instead of the ones I was supposed to practice in order to appease my mother. My kids practice nowhere near 30 minutes a day. Maybe 10 on a good day.

We let Tori quit taking piano lessons when she turned 16. She has not looked back. Shortly thereafter she crushed her finger in a teeter totter. It required surgery and a long recovery. Call me crazy, but I have a hunch that if she had not stopped taking piano lessons, Heavenly Father would have prevented this accident from happening. We will never know. Maybe I will just tell my other 2 kids that if they stop taking lessons something similar may happen to them. Something tells me that they wouldn't believe me.

Why do we insist that our children take piano lessons? Because we have a piano? Because we want them to have some musical ability? Because it helps their brains? Because it cultivates talent? Because it gives them character? Yes! But mostly because my parents made me take piano lessons. And I am sure that they will make their children take piano lessons. And they will hate it just as much.

Cherry Blossoms and Bumble Bees

I love spring! It makes me feel happy inside and out. My favorite signs of spring begin poking their white and pink heads from the tree tops in early march here in St. George. Then before you know it there are fluffy puffs of white and pink flowers dancing on trees everywhere. Cherry blossoms! I am only sad that they don't last longer. It takes only a few weeks before the cherry blossoms flutter away and give way to eager green leaves. I remember seeing many many cherry blossom trees in Japan when I was on my mission there. They line gravel paths leading to castles, adorn parks and homes, decorate bridges. They even have cherry blossom festivals. I do believe that this is my very favorite time of year. If I were a fairy I would live on top of a cherry blossom.

Unfortunately, we do not have any cherry blossom trees in our yard. We do have three rosemary bushes growing right by our front door. If we don't prune them (and we rarely do) they become like a bad hairdo, unruly and out of control. Bees must love rosemary bushes. Visitors coming to our door are greeted by the sounds of buzzing bees. Some may even be scared away. It is kind of like we are raising bees, only we get no honey in return. I feel slightly cheated.

Along with these first signs of spring comes birds chirping, time changes, General Conference, Easter, daffodils, and green grass once again. If only it could be spring all year round.

Dimples n Dill Pickles

I was born with prominent dimples. My whole life people have been commenting on how cute my dimples are. I have rarely appreciated the attention this brought. I am not one who likes having attention drawn to myself. My dimples have become a part of my identity. They are just a part of who I am. I expect to see them in every reflection, happy or sad. They are always there. I cried after my son was born when I discovered that I had passed my dimples on to him.

A few years ago my age was becoming more evident on my face. I was frustrated with a particular crevice I had grown on my forehead. I think my husband got tired of my complaining about it, so for Valentines day that year he gave me a gift certificate to have it "fixed". How romantic right? I was a little skeptical to have the procedure done, but went ahead. After the doctor was finished he asked if I wanted him to take care of those dimples on my face, as if they were some kind of monstrosity. I was taken aback, not sure if he was serious. He must be joking. Remove part of my identity because it wasn't like everyone else? He referred to my dimples as imperfections. This concept was so foreign to me. All my life I had only been given positive comments about them. And now a doctor was trying to convince me to have them removed! He actually asked if my husband was rich. I don't know if he was trying to make me look better or trying to tighten his greedy little hands around our money. Nevertheless, I did not have them removed and I never went back.

I love dill pickles. I remember as a kid getting a dill pickle from the jar and carefully wrapping it up like a baby doll in a paper towel. I would suck on it like a baby bottle getting out all that yummy juice, savoring every drop, gnawing on the inside and making it last for an hour or more. Sometimes one pickle just wasn't enough, so I would sneak another and repeat the process. We would occasionally go on road trips when I was young and I always made sure I had my stash of dill pickles and celery sticks to munch on. These made the trips more bearable, even through the car sickness and the endless twangy country music stations I was forced to listen to. We didn't have Ipods, mp3 players or dvd players to entertain ourselves back then. My dad loved his country music! And he became a grouchy bear if anyone tried to change the station.

I always ask for extra dill pickles on my hamburgers. I love eating pickles with sandwiches, sloppy joes and especially grilled cheese sandwiches. I have passed my love for dill pickles onto my my kids. Now they love dill pickles almost as much as I do. Pickle breath? Perhaps, but we will continue eating and loving dill pickles.

Dimples and Dill Pickles! Isn't life sweet!?!

Mondays Mondays

Everyone loves to hate a Monday. The weekends never seem to last long enough. We have so many plans for the weekend and before we know it the time is gone. On Friday we begin anticipating the end of a work week, relaxing, going out to the movies or dinner, tackling a project, traveling etc. Whether we have accomplished all that we wanted to or wasted the weekend away doing frivolous things or nothing at all, the weekend is gone before we are ready for it to end. Then we have to face a new school and work week, responsibilities, bills, deadlines etc.

I don't necessarily dread Mondays. I usually greet them in overdrive. For some reason Monday comes and I feel this need, to accomplish so many tasks at once. Over the weekend or early Monday morning I think of all the things that I want to accomplish during the week and for some reason unbeknownst to me, I feel like I need to tackle them all on Monday. Its like I am racing against time. It is almost a frenzy. For example today I am making a big batch of granola, doing laundry (including washing the sheets), trying to create a blog to journal my life, getting a jump start on dinner, scheduling visiting teaching, scheduling a carpet cleaning, getting my exercise done, reading my scriptures, just to name a few. I am almost done with them all and it is not even noon yet. I have this energized feeling that makes me fly from task to task. It is strange that this mostly happens on Monday. The six other days of the week I feel more relaxed and okay if the house isn't spotless or the task at hand doesn't get finished until tomorrow.

weekends have a distinctly different feel than the other days of the week. Monday also has its own unique feel. I find it strange. Each day has 24 hours in it. The sun rises and sets. We eat sleep and breathe the same each day.

I am grateful for Mondays. It is a fresh new start. A new chance to accomplish goals, make someones day better, smell a flower, hug your kids, smile or wave at a stranger. Embrace your Monday and make it a good day!