V-day

What a weekend! Saturday morning Adam made breakfast. I'm not sure what these pancakes are called, but it is our friend Liesl's recipe and they are wonderful! Then we got the house clean, even the kids helped because they knew Gram's friend Pauline was bringing them Valentine treats. Adam towed Sierra and Kaia in the bike trailer all the way to the gym so that Tristan and I could nap in peace. Then we all met up for swimming. For dinner we were lured in by a Papa Murphy's pizza special. Then we all watched "Mama Mia" together (heavily edited by myself).



Last week I saw a newspaper article titled "Holiday dining on a 'dime'" with a bunch of recipes to make at home instead of fighting the crowds at the restaurants. Since Adam hates nothing more than eating out on V-day weekend, I started planning the menu. Chicken Paillards with Cremini Mushroom Sauce, a side of rice and asparagus is what I ended up making. The article boasted that "this dish can be prepared in 30 minutes and costs less than $2.75 per serving." It certainly took me longer than 30 minutes, but I thought it turned out really well. We ate together by candle light and had a wonderful meal. Adam had to rush off for a Priesthood meeting, so we made and decorated cupcakes in his absence. Then--stealing a family tradition from Meagan and Cory--we watched a slide show of our pictures and videos from the past year. I told Adam not to bother with flowers and to just write me a love note. He wrote a doozy, I tear up just thinking about it. I wrote to him saying, "I hope our children are watching us and that when they start to date they say "I want to be in a relationship like my parents have".
p.s. (yes, Kaia is wearing her super woman cape and mask at dinner. She has worn it as often as possible since attending Cooper's birthday on Friday. The flowers on the table were part of Gram's bouquet that she said didn't fit in her vase. But really I know she knew how much I love to have flowers and she is so good at sharing.

Goal: Make Stuff

In January I had an intense desire to make stuff. We had several projects going on at once and I did my best to be patient while the kids helped.
This was our Christmas gift to Gram. We wanted to "doodle-stitch" things that Gram loves. Kaia drew Vinny, the cat. Sierra was in charge of the cake, we all sewed on the buttons and I did the rest. The tree is my favorite.  It has four branches to represent her four kids and 14 apples for all her grand and great-grandkids.  Then "FAMILY" sewn with beads on the trunk.  The pillow screams "homemade by unskilled craftsgirls" but it was made with love.

This is the pillowcase I had up for auction way back in August (see here) for Nie-Nie day. Thankfully my mom won the auction and is very merciful and patient because it'll probably take me at least another month to finish the other pillowcase.
This is one of 9 cards I made for card club last month.  I just noticed this picture is upside-down.  I spent lots of time cutting and sewing paper on my sewing machine and had a lot of fun.  The background is my Valentines Day table runner I made a few years ago.  Also fun.
These are the best.  I didn't make them, my amazing friend Joy did, but she is my inspiration for creativity so I get to include her in this post.  For Joy's son's birthday party she made each kid in attendance their very own super-hero cape (really high quality too!).  My kids haven't taken them off.  Kaia sleeps with cape and mask on.  Thank you, thank you, Joy!

Juror # 3547

Jury duty, again?! Really?  Can't they only ask me once a year?  I just went in three months ago!  Adam hasn't been called to jury duty once in the 8 years we've lived here!

Talk About The Weather

"There is a destiny which makes us brothers, None lives to self alone; All that we send into the lives of others Comes back into our own." —Edwin Markham

I'm currently reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which is a bit depressing unless you are on the verge of feeling sorry for yourself on any level. Then you read this book and think, "Wow, I have it really good."

The weather was wonderful yesterday and we were able to go to the zoo with my sister, Janelle.


As we were leaving the zoo, the local news station was doing a live weather report. Sierra was asked to join in. Here's to 20 seconds of fame:


Spiritual Enlightenment HERE

Blessings

I've been reading a blog by Dr. Mark Perry, an economics professor in Detroit, and a few days ago he had an interesting post.  It showed this graph of the unemployment rates in Dec. by sector. Construction is in the most trouble, rising to 15.2%.  We joined those ranks this week when Adam was laid off.  Don't worry about us, I'm more than confident in Adam's abilities to provide and he has a great opportunity to start his own company.

A few weeks ago I read the following quote:

"As the forces around us increase in intensity, whatever spiritual strength was once sufficient will not be enough.  And whatever growth in spiritual strength we once thought was possible, greater growth will be made available to us.  Both the need for spiritual strength and the opportunity to acquire it will increase at rates which we underestimate at our peril...I plead with you to do with determination the simple things that will move you forward spiritually....You have the right and the obligation to choose for yourselves.  You can search the scriptures or not.  You can choose to work hard enough, to ponder, and to obey His commandments so that the Holy Ghost can be your companion....Or you can choose to delay....If you will let your heart be drawn to the Savior and always remember Him, and if you will draw near to our Heavenly Father in prayer, you will have put on spiritual armor.  You will be protected."  Elder Henry B. Eyring

After I read that I decided to increase my efforts at nourishing myself spiritually.  When news arrived that Adam was laid off, I felt as though I had spiritual armor on.  I knew everything would be alright; that one door was closing and another would open to bigger and better things.  It was wonderful to be able to spend so much time talking with Adam this past week about our options.  I loved listening to him talk about his goals, helping him crunch numbers for the new business idea, and most of all being able to go to the Temple together and pray for further guidance.  It has been a great blessing.

Speaking of blessings, Sierra gave me this little note today.  Little things like this are such a  

perquisite (I just used a thesaurus) to motherhood.

On Friday we were able to meet up with my sister, Janelle, at the library.  Tristan ran up to these stuffed animals like they were his long, lost pals.  The library has a wonderful kids section.  I wish I was organized enough to get there every week.
On Wednesday night we drove with Gram and Pop to see my little brother Jay earn a scout award.
Afterwards, Grandpa Don took us all out for ice cream!

Mormon Temple Revealed

Click below to see the interview between ABC and two LDS leaders:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6616644

Sierra

Yesterday Gram picked up Sierra from school and took her to run some errands.  They picked up Gram's friend, Pauline, and took her to get her car from the repair shop.  In the car, Sierra proceeded to complain about how hungry she was.  Saying things like, "My mom didn't have time to feed me lunch today because she was too busy drying her hair."  Gram said "that doesn't sound like your mom" but Pauline believed every word and both gave her lots of food.  I couldn't believe it when Gram told me.  I didn't even get to take a shower yesterday, let alone leisurely dry my hair!  The true story is that we had a picnic lunch and Sierra refused to take me seriously when I said, "You better eat now or you'll be hungry at school today."  Instead she played tag with some friends.  Thanks for making me look like a crummy mom, Sierra (but at least if I was that mom I'd have stylish, blown dried hair--which I don't).