Kid President

 

 

You NEED to watch this video!

Writing Club: Stream of Consciousness

Stream of Consciousness: 

As I was leaving Target I thought about this essay.  How I might be a little embarrassed writing down my random thoughts because one,  I don’t think I think much and two, my thoughts are about the depth of...the depth of…something not very deep.   

Speaking of Target, I don’t know how I even ended up there today.  Maybe because it was Thursday and Thursday means either me or my sister call each other from Target and cry over how many cute items we would love to take home with us and how we will probably only end up with a couple items from the dollar section.

But that statement isn’t true.  Oh I buy my dollar section items but then proceed to add one or two items that are not needed but apparently I can’t live without.   

Those purchases lead to tight chested sadness and chocolate cravings. 

Appropriately enough Pat Benatars, “A total eclipse of the heart” came on the radio on my way home from THAT store.  I sang my heart out.  This tragically romantic song lead me to think of more tragically romantic songs like Toni Braxtons, “Unbreak my Heart” and Poisons “Every Rose has its Thorn”.  Then I thought why not have more tragically romantic songs on a whole CD that I can listen too after my Target trips.  Or while I eat a cookie after my workout.  Or even after I make my bed which I swore I did yesterday.  But now I can’t think of anymore tragically romantic songs because like I said my thoughts run minimally deep.   

I just Googled “A total eclipse of the Heart”.  I guess Bonnie Tyler sings it.  Can you help me think of more songs for my CD? 

One other thought.  In sixth grade my science teacher stopped mid-sentence and told the class that if you pick your zits the puss will create more zits which will spread across your face.  All of us immediately looked at the one kid who always picked his zits.  He was then slowing taking his hand away from his face.  Away from the contagious zit that he was picking.   

I need to know the truth.  Are zits contagious or did my teacher just tell us that so she didn’t have to watch us pick our zits anymore? 

I’m not going to Google that one. 

p.s. there are my thoughts for you.  Unedited. Unspellchecked. Ungramically correct. 

p.p.s.  I will hopefully get to normal blogging soon.

Churchy Weekend

 

We had a good weekend that included a Ward Party, Santa Claus, a Temple, and lots of lights.  I love Christmas!

 

Should I set on his lap???....Yes, yes I should.

 

 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was nice this year and was an extended trip for me and the girls since we won't be there for Christmas. We had Thanksgiving at the Janes house which was nice and low-key. Diane wins the Mother-in-law of the year award for making me her yummy brownies. They have a pound of butter in them people. Heavenly.

 

 

The day after Thanksgiving Jackson came home and it was a neat weekend.  We had everyone together technically for the first time because Bucky and Brant are new additions.

 

 

 

 

Emma wasn't too found of Jackson right off the bat.  See the terror as she hides behind Kade.  Olivia fell asleep on the way to the Airport.  She slept the whole time we were there...on the ride home...and through the rest of the night.  Apparently she was tired. 

Pin-Worthly Pins

Sooo I just had a awesome trip in Utah where we celebrated Thanksgiving and my brothers return from his mission.   I'm too lazy to upload the pics right now so I'm going to just post some awesome stuff I have found via pinterest and my own internet browsing. 

 

No Bake Energy Bites:  Made this for our camping trip and pretty much ate all of them.  Whoops

 

Tub Cleaner:  Really worked and inexpensive!

 

 

Water Catcher Thingy:  In efforts to make my sister think my house was always clean I tried this annnnd it worked!

 

 

Slow Cooking Enchiladas:  Really yummy.  Kade was sick that night so I got to eat all of it! Mwhaha

 

Also try THIS recipe, easy and yummy.

 

Lastly I read a couple things today that I love.  Read THIS entry on being "pretty" and check out THIS new website by the Mormon Church.  I'm really excited about it. 

 

 



Writing Club Part 3

I was a little nervous to publish this one but I figure I'm not the only one who went through something like this...

 

The moment you knew you were no longer a child 

In second grade I decided that I was going to start swearing.  I was sick of my childishness and thought a little rebellion would give me power.  I remember the morning I said my first swear word.  I was curling my hair in preparation for school and I burned my arm.   

$#*%!.   

Alright, that wasn’t so bad.  It even gave me a little relief.  This would be easier than I thought though I think I stretched the word out longer than professionals do.  I’ll do better next time. 

Later that day a boy, who constantly picked on me, gave me a hard pinch on the arm.   

$#*%!.   

Whew.  This time the bad word came out not as stretched.  My bully heard what I said and to drag out the teasing asked, “What did you just say?”  Embarrassed I turned bright red and mumbled “nothing”.  I quickly turned around and continued walking with the class, being very carefully not to look back at that boy.  I realized in my walk of shame that the words I said really didn’t feel good.  I vowed to never swear again.  I sounded ridiculous.   

I guess rebellion wasn’t adulthood.   

At 15 I had the world figured out.  I wanted nothing more than to find my high school sweetheart, fall madly in love, and get married once he returned on his mission.  I found him in a shy 17 year old boy with handsome features and a contagious laugh.  We started hanging out once our friends informed us that we liked each other.  Sparks flew when we spent Valentines night at his friend’s house playing duck hunt on the Nintendo.  He made fun of how bad I was at the game while he shot the ducks from a great distance, sometimes with his eyes closed.  Our friends snuck away and we shared our first kiss.  After that night we were inseparable.   

My parents advised against having such a serious boyfriend but I knew what we had was different.   After 6 months of dating I started separating myself from my family to rid myself of the guilt.  Interaction with my siblings was nonexistent and my relationship with my parents was informational only.  My friends moved on too.  They went to after game activities and had new crushes each week.  They filled their time in semi-illegal but mostly innocently goofy activities.  I figured if I sacrificed everything I loved for him then our love was real.  

I told myself that I didn’t care.  Our relationship was more important and I had a genuinely fun time with him.  He spoiled me with gifts and I gave my emotional self completely to him.  I loved his family and they treated me like a daughter.  We had a bright future ahead of us.   

After almost three years of dating he left on his mission.  The short months before his mission were rough and it was a bitter sweet moment when his plane flew off to a foreign country.  He was gone and I set there crying in the airport while his future wife comforted me.  He was gone and it left me completely empty.  All my time and energy went into him.  Now I was left to fill it with what?  I went back to normal high school activities but still felt empty.   

Apparently sacrificing wasn’t adulthood.     

So I did what I thought was my only other option.  I found another boy. 

I tried to recreate what I had with my first love.  This second love came from a broken home and I wanted to be one of the people that showed him what it was like to be loved.  He was oblivious to what I was offering so I gave him what was left of me.  Desperate for a response I did whatever I needed to create another deep relationship.  It seemed to be working and for two years we continued an unhealthy relationship.  I finally became fed up of being weak and called it quits.   

I guess fixing someone wasn’t adulthood. 

In a couple months span my first love came home from his mission, my second love left on his mission, and I met my future husband.  After a couple of dates with my future husband I knew he was the kind of person I wanted to be with.  I quickly invested my time into becoming the type of person that deserved someone like him.  My future husband and I were not dating seriously when my first love came home.  I was extremely distant from my first love.  After a couple nights of spending time together I briefly told him I didn’t feel the same way towards him and gave him no further explanation.  Truth be told I was extremely embarrassed about the way I handled life while he was gone.  If I told him goodbye maybe my mistakes would disappear too.  It allowed me to keep my darkest secrets tucked away. 

I started dating my future husband with a clean slate.  We fell in love and after a year of dating we were married.  I stayed mum on my past relationships and it clearly affected our first year of marriage.  It was obvious to me and my husband that I didn’t have much to give him.  The time and energy I spent in past relationships tainted what could have been a new and exciting time for us.  I finally opened up to him about my frustrations and what I thought I was going to be.  We shared many raw conversations that expressed our regrets and uncovered truths of our past.  We hurt each other’s feelings more than we wanted to but it was necessary in the healing process.  As time went on our relationship became exactly what we hoped it would be.  I slowly felt liberated from my past. 

Apparently keeping everything tucked inside wasn’t adulthood. 

Three years later I found myself sitting in a Bishops office with my husband next to me and our two little girls on our laps.  Our Bishop asked us how we were doing and we gave our response.  He then turned to me and with a smile and kind eyes he said “It sure has been neat watching you mature these last couple of years.”  I stared at him for a moment thinking “Doesn’t he know I’ve been mature since I was eight?”  I kindly said, “thank you” and as he continued to talk my mind raced, his voice moving farther in the distance.  I saw my life flash before me and I witnessed how naïve I was.  Why did I ever think I knew better?  It started with my innocent rebellions in elementary school and ended with my self-sacrificing loves in high school.   

His humbling compliment helped me see myself for what I really was and who I was actually becoming.  All of my mock attempts at adulthood were really just a fight against God.  Since marriage I had learned what it really meant to be obedient and for the first time had actually done it.  Obedience equaled growth.  I realized the naïve sparkle in my eye had turned into a knowing empathy and grace.  The once bleached hair and tight figure had turned into a faded roundness that understood the purpose of a body.  My all-knowing mind and heart finally realized that it didn’t know everything and needed some major work done.  I realized in that moment to be an adult we had to be like a child; Obedient to what God wanted for us and not obedient to our own desires.  

God has a funny way of teaching us.  He lets us make mistakes and protects us along the way even though we don’t deserve it.  He taught me in that small office that if we are willing to make small and sometimes big adjustments he will bless us with anything pure we ever wanted.  And he did. 

School Pic

 

Olivia's first ever school pic.  Pleased as Punch