general conference.

Imagine a teeny tiny basement.  Imagine four hours of General Conference on a bright and beautiful Sunday.  Now imagine nine children, ranging in ages from 11 down to 2 all listening to all four hours of that General Conference in that teeny tiny basement.  Now are you thinking to yourself that I must be imagining things?  I'M NOT!!  IT HAPPENED!!  Maybe there were some moments when some of those smaller children were more enamored with the toys in that teeny tiny basement than in what the speakers were saying, but for the most part this was the best conference Sunday ever.  My amazingly wonderful beautiful friend and her equally wonderful husband brought their FIVE children to our home for conference yesterday.  We decided that it probably wouldn't work.  We decided that they would probably go home after the first session.  We decided that the kids would probably fight and complain and whine.  THEY DIDN'T!!  The whole day went so well that I'm almost nervous to write about it here, for fear of jinxing anything.  I wish I could rewind and take a picture of those nine children watching conference all together - it was truly a beautiful thing to behold.

Each talk, we gave the children a different something or other to listen for.  When they heard the word, or a quote from the scriptures, we asked them to raise their hands.  Best.  Game.  Ever.  Those kids listened and had such a great time being the first to have their hands pop up.  There may or may not have been a treat in between each talk to reward such amazing listening...what am I saying.  Of course there was.  I'm not above bribery.

During the two hour break between sessions we had the most delicious crepes with strawberries and a to-die-for filling.  I'll post the recipe one of these days.  Everyone should have it.  It will make the people around you like you even more than they already do.

I did miss the talks on Saturday due to a lacrosse game, but we DVR'd them and I started watching the Saturday morning session today during laundry.  That's when you know that a DVR and laundry are truly inspired things.

My favorites so far?  Sister Wixom's talk and the way she really made me want to be better to my boys.  Elder Clayton and the way he made me want to work harder on my marriage (not that it isn't perfect already.  Right Seth?)  And Bishop Davies and the way he talked about strengthening your foundation through prayer.  I can't wait to listen to the Priesthood session; Seth took a few notes for me and I know there are a couple that I can't wait to hear.  (You can click on any of these and the rest of the talks that were given here.)

I love conference.  I love how I feel after it's all over.  I LOVED that we were able to enjoy it with friends.  I especially love crepes with strawberries.  And most of all I love the fact that nine of the most important reasons for watching these wonderful men and women speak about the gospel, listened, absorbed, and truly rose above our expectations yesterday.  I can't wait to see them do it again in six months.

four.

We had a birthday, shout HOORAY!!!  Zachary turned four years old last week.  Man, oh man this boy is amazing.  Unfortunately, he had the flu on the big day but I could tell that he was trying his best to smile through the yucky haze I know he felt.  We did our birthday traditions of opening one present at each meal, choosing his own breakfast, having lunch with daddy, and having chocolate chip cookies with a candle stuck in the ice cream that sat on top of the cookie.  I can't believe this little man is getting so old.  I still consider him my baby, and for all intents and purposes he will be forever.  One of his favorite things this year?  Money.  Oh heaven help us. 

p.s. I will never never ever get over his eye lashes.  I'm such a sucker for this kid's face...and unfortunately he takes advantage of that every chance he gets!

dr. oz three day detox review.

When I think of detoxes, I usually think back to that one time about a million years ago (maybe 5) when I did my first detox.  Apple juice with flax seed in it for three days.  That's it.  That's all you could drink, and nope, I did not make it.  The second day I passed out and decided that m&m's were more important to me than trying to be cleanzzzzzzed.  This time I thought I'd do things a little differently, and maybe not be quite so dumb about it.

I decided on the Dr. Oz three day detox, and this time I made it all the way through.  My thoughts?  I will never never do another detox.  Ok, maybe it's not that dramatic, but by the third day I hated it.  First of all, the article on the actual detox talks about how inexpensive it is.  I had to basically start from scratch with many of the supplies so it seemed like a crazy amount of money to spend.  I also didn't feel better after the three days and I was so lightheaded.  Now, the average person might think this was because I'm not used to drinking smoothies, but I've been drinking green smoothies twice a day for three years straight, so I think by this point I could turn into a giant green smoothie and be able to function.  But, I really like my meat for dinner.  A vegetarian I will never be.  I thought the breakfast and lunch smoothies were so yummy, but the dinner smoothie was so so spicy for me!  I'm a big fat baby when it comes to hot foods though, and drinking that for three nights in a row made me want to quit and maybe cry into my cayenne pepper laced smoothie.  The baths were also really hard for me.  Heat isn't really conducive to someone with MS and they made me feel like I was going to die (seriously, I'm not a drama queen in real life...promise).  

However, I loved knowing that I was able to have enough will power to do the entire detox. I may not ever do it again but it's been a couple of months since I finished it and I have adopted the morning green smoothie recipe into my every day breakfast.  It's that good.  If you try anything from this, I'd start with breakfast.  I even do the lunch recipe every now and then for lunch or dinner.  I think overall that it just goes back to the basis of "everything in moderation".  I'd choose this detox over apple juice with flax seed, and I'm really glad that I tried something that was really hard...but those m&m's called to me the entire time.  Or, it could have just been the delusional voices in my head from not eating for three days.

our reading list...so far.

This year, one of my goals for the two older boys is to have them read more; not just read more, but read at a higher level and quality.  Not that Calvin and Hobbes isn't quality reading...I was just hoping to  get these boys of mine reading at a level that I knew would challenge them a tiny bit more than just a comic strip about a boy who has the genius ability of coming up with as many excuses as he can for why his homework didn't get done.

I had no idea where to start, so as I was looking around the library one day I noticed a huge poster of all the Newberry Winners.  I figured that was the perfect place to begin as these books are all under the junior fiction section.  I remember reading through a lot of these when I was in elementary school and loving so many of them, so I wanted to start this tradition with my boys. Another part of the goal is that I will read every single book the boys read so I'm trying hard to keep up with these little voracious readers of mine.  So far we've read, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn Dixie, The Whipping Boy,  Sign of the Beaver, The Twenty-One Balloons, Sarah Plain and Tall, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. Right now, we're working on Sounder.  Keep in mind that I have a third and fourth grader so I'm trying to keep the books at this reading level or within a few grades above.  The Twenty-One Balloons has probably been the most challenging in terms of vocabulary and length so far.  Each week, the boys have to tell me about the book and give me a short list of new vocabulary words that they've learned from their reading.  Their teachers ask them to do this as an assignment that is due every week so it works well for their homework too.

There are a few on this list that they haven't liked...Island of the Blue Dolphins is one of them, which completely surprised me. (What??!!  They didn't attach themselves to my very favorite book on the list??) Seth thinks it might be because the heroine is just that...a heroine. A girl that they can't relate to.  However, they really enjoyed Winn Dixie so go figure.

The boys are reading things at school during their free reading time like the Percy Jackson series, so we aren't being exclusive to the Newberry Winners.  Our little list seems to be a great jumping off point though and I love being able to have a conversation with Jared and Adam about the books they've been reading.  We also discuss Calvin and Hobbes on occasion.  Man oh man, I do not remember Calvin being as crazy as he is when I was little though.  That poor child's parents... 

calm.

You know what I love about these pictures?  They look calm.  They remind me of quiet and peace and somewhere that I love to be.  Calm has not been a very easy concept to grasp around here these days.  There is always somewhere to run to.  A boy needs something for school.  Another boy needs extra love and attention.  There are calls to tend to someone's needs.  I'm freaking out a little bit about health problems and issues with Jared's Autism.  There is volunteering at the school and worries about whether or not I'm working hard enough with Noah to help him learn to read. Lately, as much as I crave simple and organized and calm and quiet, I just feel like I keep coming up short.  I feel like I am in over my head and I am struggling just to try to keep my mouth out of the water that will inevitably fill it.  I want to do it all and I want my boys to have it all.  However, I know exactly what I need right now and what I need to focus my attention on, but sometimes it's so hard to find the time.

Or is it.  That isn't a question but my own answer to questions that have been nagging me.  All I need to do is let it go. If I prioritize my spiritual needs and my family's needs above everything else, I feel like I will get out of this little rut that I've gotten into.  I know that a house of boys isn't the optimal place to have a whole lot of calm, but if I can make my mind into what I see in these pictures, calm will find it's own way.  It's right around the corner.  I can almost feel it.