Food For Thought

Alma 26:2 reads: "And now, I ask, what great blessings has He bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?"

I love this! It hit home to me today. Every day we are blessed with so many things that we take for granted. We pray several times a day in our home, but I ask myself how often do I really stop to think about all that I have been given, to recognize the miracles both great and small that occur every day in my life. Be grateful!

Spring Fever's Kicking In!

Man, I feel antsy today! I have all these ideas and wishes rolling around inside of me, thinks I want to learn and do. I feel like a ball of nervous energy. I have so much I want to do! I want it to be spring, not just the teasings of spring with snow on the horizon. I want to plant flowers, wear flip flops and shorts, and go on long walks in the sun. I am getting so desperate I might even want a potted plant or flower for my table. (Gasps are coming from my mom right now.) I am ready to throw open the windows and do my spring cleaning. Like pulling out the fridge and oven to clean under them and reorganizing the basement. I want order!
I want to learn how to do more creative things with my hair. I have been reading a blog called The Small Things. Love it! Kate is a wizard in the art of hair. Seriously, every style she does is so cute! Now my hair is long enough I might be able to do some of these things. Now all I need is a new pack of bobby pins and someone to hold my mirror behind me so I can see where to put said bobby pins. A three-way mirror would come in handy. And while we are on the subject of hair, I could use some highlights or lowlights. Or maybe a side-sweep bang? Whatever, I just need some SHINE! And I need to make some headbands. I would wear my hair down more often if I had one or two to help hold it back from my face a little. SO many cute headband ideas and not enough time or money to make them.

I've recently become obsessed with fashion. I don't want to buy brand names like Prada or Louis Vuitton, but I want to learn about them, their history. In fact, I have learned a lot. For example, Louis Vuitton was started in 1858 with a specialty in flat-bottom trunks. It wasn't until 1999, the year after Marc Jacobs was made Louis Vuitton's Art Director, that they introduced the first ready-to-wear line. 1999! That surprised me. I recently checked out this 20th Century Fashion book. It talks about fashion from the 1900's to 2000. It is really interesting to see how connected fashion and social culture are. I have loved learning about each decade's styles.
I've also recently had a desire to learn more about art, specifically the impressionist artists. In the many books I have read I am constantly seeing references to artists. It has been fun to look up the artists and see their style and how the characters in the books I read view what they are looking at. It makes me what to really see these paintings for myself and discover if they move me or mean anything significant to me. I love the stories behind the paintings as well. I am loving Renoir and Claude Monet. Even Picasso is starting to make more sense to me as I learn more about him. I loved reading about Gertrude Stein and the many pieces in her art collection that hung from the walls in her Parisan home at 27 Rue de Fleurus. Fascinating stuff. I only wish I had paid more attention to my art classes in college. I was so wrapped up in my history classes at the time. Too bad I realized too late that art in itself is a form or history and showing what things were like during a certain time period, what mediums and styles were in fashion at the time.

See what I mean? I am all over the place!

Our New Ride

Saturday, March 3rd Chant and I went on the hunt for a new ride. After looking at several, and I mean several, dealerships we finally found the perfect dealership, the perfect salesman, and the perfect car! I could not have asked for a better experience buying a car. It was a low-stress experience and we felt so good about it when we left the dealership in our new car. We are now the proud owners of a Nissan Versa. I love it! So fun to drive. And it fits all our kids :) and two full carts of groceries in the back. When we picked the kids up from Gran's after buying the car, we were trying to come up with a name that started with V. All I could think of was Victor. But Ainsley came up with Venus and it is perfect. Venus the Versa! Love it.

We are now a one car family but so far it is working out well. Even though it was a rough week, I feel like it all turned out how it was supposed to. We are so blessed!

At Least They've Got Each Other

This has been an emotional week for us. Chant and Freddie got in their wreck in the early hours of the morning Thursday, March 1. We hadn't driven my car, Calvin our Chrysler Pacifica, since February 18 because it was sounding really bad. We hadn't taken it in to get looked at, we just parked it. After Chant's wreck we decided to find out what was wrong with my car. Friday the machanic called us back with bad news. It has a knocking engine and needs a new one. They aren't making this type of engine anymore, so to replace it would be $7,000. Poor Calvin isn't even worth that anymore, so a new engine wasn't an option.

Man my heart hurts! There are so many memories in that car. Calvin brought both Ainsley and Porter home from the hospital. He moved us halfway across the country and made several trips back and forth between Idaho and Missouri in the 4 years we lived there. He had amazing luggage capacity and we always used every inch! Calvin took us to far off places like New Jersey and Connecticut. He was there the first time my kids saw the ocean. We've seen so much country in that car! So many sights. Calvin was our cheaufer on our weekend explorations of downtown St. Louis, trips to Grafton on the ferry. He was witness to some of the best concerts. It was in Calvin that our kids learned Justin Bieber's "Baby." Our world has never been the same since. I still can't believe I won't be driving him again. I'm sure it'll hit me later today when I have to clean him out and say good-bye for the last time. One thing that's helped the kids is to think that maybe Calvin and Freddie will be sitting next to each other in car heaven, just like they've been for the past 6 years, probably sharing stories about the crazies they used to drive around. Love you Calvin, thanks for everything!

Goodbye Freddie

It's interesting how something can be such an important part of our lives and yet not have any pictures of it. That's not true, I do have a fantastic picture of Freddie. It was taken in Mecon, Missouri the morning we arrived at our new home in Manchester, Missouri. We had just finished loading the car and I was standing in front of Freddie holding Brinnley and the sunrise is behind us, coloring the clouds vibrant shades of pinks and purples. Another photo was taken a few minutes later of Freddie in all his glory on top of the car trailer being pulled behind our moving truck. The sky is bright blue in that picture, showing off just how dirty Freddie was after three days of travel half way across the country.

Freddie died yesterday. Freddie the Ford Focus that we always called our little frog because of his bright green color. I know it's silly to cry for a car, but I can't help it. Freddie joined our family in Spring 2004. One of the first things that pulled me to him was his color. I loved it! So rich, so bright, so full of life. He was perfect for me! Freddie and I made the 1/2 hour trek from Rexburg to Ashton every day that fall while I did my student teaching. He was such a good listener as I went over my lesson plans and told facts or stories I would share with my students later in the day.

Freddie was Brinnley's first car ride as he brought her home from the hospital. He was also my chariot to and from the hospital for months while i was pregnant with Brinnley and had to go to the hospital for my fluids everyday. He never failed me.

When we moved to Missouri, Freddie became Chant's driving buddy. They drove the 20 miles to school and back home every weekday for 4 years. They listened to music together, laughed at Brian Reagan and Frank Caliendo. They took care of each other.

When it was time to move from Missouri to Utah, Freddie got us here safely. Since we have lived here, Freddie has been Chant's work horse. Every morning at 1:15 they head out for the morning paper route. Once again, they listened to music, laughed at comedy routines. Freddie took good care of Chant. He worked so hard for us. He's been a part of our family.

Toward the end of his life Freddie was showing his age a little. His back window wouldn't roll down and his front window wouldn't roll up. Chant took the door off and rigged the window with a rope that he could pull to roll the window up and release to lower the window. It worked like a charm! His speakers were blown, all but the front passenger side. But he was still able to share his music even though it was a little quieter. He had the best heater! I know that's part of the reason that Chant hasn't gotten sick even though he is in the cold every morning for hours.

Little car, I love you and I am so sad to see you go. But even in the end, you kept Chant safe. You didn't roll over when you could have. Thank you little car, you've been good to us and we will miss you! Even the girls got teary eyed when we told them you wouldn't be coming home. They knew how special you were and always loved riding in you. Thanks for all the memories! We won't forget you!

Congrats and Uh-Ohs

February Ainsley was awarded the Principal Pride Award at her school. I am so proud of this little lady. I love that her school takes opportunities to acknowledge the good things kids do and their efforts to be go citizens.

This picture is a little dark, but you can't miss Ainsley, front and center with her tongue sticking out. I motioned for her to put her tongue back in her mouth so I could get another picture. And then, she looks away. Oh well, even if she isn't looking she's still cute!
All the students got their own certificate and a metal and pencil. She was super excited about the pencil. Made me giggle. Love this little lady!
Brinnley finally lost her first top front tooth. She was so excited! The one right next to it is loose. Too bad she's just a few months late or she really could have sung "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." It was cute the first day her tooth fell out. She was talking funny and she kept sticking her tongue out the little gap. SO cute!

And now the uh-oh. The girls were upstairs cleaning their rooms last week when Brinnley came down the stairs holding a handful of blond hair. Ainsley cut her own hair because she didn't want Chant to cut it. Turns out what she was trying to avoid was exactly what she got because now we had to even out the inch to two inch hair loss. It's short! But still cute. Hopefully she won't do that again!

Pictureless

February 13th I turned 30. Yes, 30. It was off to a rough start when the week before I found my first white hair. That wasn't how I had planned on kicking off the festivities. Oh, well. I figure I earned that hair and so I left it right where it was, in all it's glory on the top of my head in full view.

My birthday was wonderful. It started off with a date with my hubby. He took me to a matinee and then an early dinner at Chili's. We don't get to do dinner and a movie very often so I was looking forward to it. After dinner I asked if we could go to Wal-Mart before heading home. When we got home all the lights were off. When I opened the door Ainsley was holding up her light bright with a picture of a cake. Then when the light came on all these people were here. My father-in-law, mothers-in-law, Jen, and Jess (our massage therapist) and her husband Trevor were all here. It was a party! And I was totally surprised! Chant did good! We started off with cupcakes that Teran had made. She made Andes Mint cupcakes, my favorite. They were seriously so good! It's funny because I had asked Chant earlier the week before if he had plans for a cake, because if not I was going to make my own mint cupcakes. But Teran came through! And Chant had Moose Tracks ice cream, my other fav!

After cake we did presents. I got some awesome reference books of how to use common household items for cleaning. Very helpful! I also got some more things to help my cooking venture, a new menu board and a place to keep my recipe cards. Chant again came through. He got me the first two books in my favorite series. I have the third but had to keep getting the first two from the library. I squealed and did a little happy dance! Yep, I am a nerd.

It was a fabulous day and after it was all over I realized it was also pictureless. Not a single one. Oh well, it was still a fabulous day! Thanks Honey for working so hard to make it perfect!

Daddy Daughter Date

First, a little randomness. For Valentine's Day my mom made the girls each a couple apron tops. They are so cute! It was fun for the girls because they were able to pick the fabric out while Grandma was visiting and then when they got the package in the mail, they were all excited to see what Grandma had made with what they had picked.
February 10 our church did a Daddy Daughter Valentine's dance. The girls were so excited! We took extra care choosing their outfits and I curled their hair. They looked so pretty!
They were very into posing for the camera.


They came home bursting with excitement. They danced a ton! They did the Hokey Pokey and other fun dances. They got to see their friends and eat yummy treats. I think it was special for them to just have that time with their dad and to get all dressed up. I'm glad they were able to go and make this memory!