Oh those days when we were young

It's nice days like these that have me reminiscing on my childhood years.  I lived outside when I was a kid.  I drank out of the hose, climbed the one tree that the mean old neighbors didn't want us to, and even got dragged around by my Lab/Shephard mix of a dog as he pursued a squirrel. Like I said, I lived.  And I even have a scar on my forehead to prove it.  Turns out climbing and falling off a cinder block wall the day before the family move isn't the best thing to do.  But I was a little adventurer. 

When we moved, I think my mother breathed a sigh of relief when we ended up having kids next door that were our same ages. And their mom and mine had the same philophosy: Shove 'em outside and don't let them in till dinnertime.  Don't worry, we didn't have to go pee in the bushes, she would let us in, but we rarely watched that much T.V. growing up.  Instead we would play baseball, kickball, freeze tag, cereal tag, toilet tag, tunnel tag, seriously any form of tag known to man, in the field behind our houses.  We packed little picnic lunches and would ride our bikes down to the park and climb on top of the playground equipment, because we were legit like that. We had lemonade stands that would go toward funding our club, The Boys and Girls Club.  Such an original title, I know. And we would call each others houses pretending to order pizza.  And we would make hopscotches that would stretch all the way around the block.  We would have epic water fights that included 4 different houses.  We would go "snorkeling" in our plastic kiddy pool on the driveway.  We would wash the cars.  We made squirrel traps. We found a sparkely rock and made it our club mascot.  We would have the most epic Easter Egg hunts months after Easter was gone.  To this day I'm sure there are some in my backyard. We played in the rainstorms till we were soaked, and we did cool tricks with our bikes.  Don't tell the parents, but we would ditch our helmets once we were out of view because we were "cool", with our shirts tucked into our waist high shorts, our bangs and bowlcuts. And we would have contests of all kinds; Skip-It, Bop-It, Jump roping, Bike tricks, who could find the coolest rock....we played.  We had fun.  We used our imagination.  We were kids.

And it was great, those springs and summers when we didn't have a care in the world except for the adventures we were going to go on that day.  We did stupid things.  But they were awesome.  Sometimes I think that we underestimate how much just being a kid is important.  As we grow up into adulthood, we can forget about the things in our lives that really matter and the joys that come from it.  We forget how to live and to find that joy.  How do we view the world?  How easily we forget the tender mercies in our lives.  President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "Life is to be enjoyed, not endured". Now I'm not saying that we all need to start looking for the sparkley rocks in the flower bed or play a mean game of "Find the Easter Eggs", but we do need to find things that bring us that simple joy.  As we do, we may find ourselves a little bit more heading in the right direction.

Miracles

Mighty miracles were wrought  by God in the times of the scriptures.  Where are these miracles today?

Miracles today come in the form of other people, through service, mighty changes of heart, the birth of a child, the eternal union of husband and wife...The miracles have always come, but the real miracle is when we see them as such.

So find joy in the journey, and always remember the blessings that Heavenly Father has blessed you with in your life.  Let the laughter of a child, the brilliance of a sunrise, a smile from a stranger become a blessed and joyous part of your day.  Find those little pieces of light, and you will find your miracles.

Moments That Matter Most

Happy Birfday to my Mama!

Only like three days in and I've already missed a day.  Oh well.  This post is dedicated to my one and only mother, who not only bore me, but has also put up with me for 21 years.

So here's to my mommy:

She really has done so much for me.  I remember her making every Halloween costume I wore (she even made one for Lorin, my brother, who's 22 this last Halloween), and taking us on field trips to the zoo and other fun places.  We ate out on rare occasion, and she would always have something on the table for dinner.  We always ate as a family, and the reason I stuck with piano all these years is because of her gentle reminders (force).  But I'm grateful.  Because she loved to read so did I, although I think she started regretting it when she had to start taking my books away so I would do my chores. And ohhh the times I was weird and looked hideously awkward.....observe:

 

And she still loved me.  Bless her. :)  Because she's the bestest!

Playing UNO the five year old way.

So, I suppose I should give a little background before I get into this story. I am home from BYU-Idaho on my off semester working at a daycare close to my house.  Towards the end of the day we start to combine classes and just play games for the last hour.  And management has encouraged us to be more interactive with the kids.  Well, some of the Pre-K kids wanted to play UNO, so we did.  They picked up on the rules real quick and understood that.  What really got me was how they played the game.  The following conversation ensued:

(By this point, their hands had grown to like 15 cards in each of their hands)

Me: "Okay, do you have a yellow card?"

Lilly: (Name has been changed): "I dunno.  Let me look".  (Proceeds to spread out cards on table like so)

"Nope"

Me: "Well what about a 6?  Do you have that?"

Lilly: "Just a second. (Proceeds to re-spread out cards) Yes!"

Me: "Okay. (Turning to Alex) Now you can play any blue card or with another 6."

Alex (Name has been changed): "Well it's hard for me to look through with all my cards"

....Lightbulb

Lilly: "Here Alex.  Just do this."  She proceeds to assist him in spreading his cards out all across the table until they do indeed find a blue card.

And that's how the game proceeded. And I didn't cheat. But I had to suppress a laugh once or twice.

They would be so good at poker.

This is Me

I am short.
I have curly brown hair.
I sing.
I have never broken a bone.

This is me.

I can change a kid's diaper with them standing up.
I scrapbook.
I have blue eyes.
I am the oldest girl.


I am the fourth child.
I don't have a favorite color.
I hated dresses from elementary-middle school.
I am loud.

I have a good cry every now and again.
I love children.
I want to go skydiving.
I love fourwheeling (and I didn't almost kill my roommate).

I didn't get my driver's license until I was 17.
I play the saxophone.
I never practiced.
I love jazz.

I think Neville Longbottom is attractive.
I have never held hands.
I am the shortest person in my family.
I love the spring.

I play the piano.
I was born in Utah.
I fell off a brick wall and got stitches on my forehead the day before we moved.
I cried when my first dog died.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
I love playing board games.
I like making up songs on the piano.
I can sing like a black woman.

I had braces.
I donated my hair to Locks of Love.
I am legally blind.
I have never had a boyfriend.

I read books for fun.
I like finding a good deal.
I love my family.
I do not enjoy exercise.

I love the outdoors.
I prefer tents to cabins.
I can leave the house without makeup and be okay.
I love the temple.

I write stories.
I climb trees.
I am semi-good at volleyball.
I went to State with a speech about yawning.

I have no living grandparents.
I stink at keeping a journal.
I am a spaz.
I like to chill sometimes.

I am not good at homemaking.
I want to have six children.
I want to be a wife.
I want to be a mother.

I am a daughter.
I am a sister.
I am an aunt.
I am a friend.
I am a niece.
I am a teacher.
I am a roommate.
I am a co-worker.
I am a child of God.


This is me.

Here it goes!

A whole new year.  A whole new year to make resolutions that I know I won't keep...but it's worth a try, right?  Well, who knows what this year will bring me!  Another job, more money, some edu-mic-ation, a man...okay, maybe that's stretching it a little bit.  It really is interesting to think that 20 years ago in a couple days my mom was three months pregnant with me.  Little did she know that she'd go on to have a baby girl that would scream all the time, and then turn into one of those children that speak really loud and sing at the top of their lungs.  My dad has said on more than one occasion that he wished he'd had a mute button for me sometimes, or just a volume control!

(Wow...this really is rambling, isn't it?  Blogging = Fail.  Hopefully I'll be able to redeem myself.)

So I guess this is where I sign off, or something.  Here's to the new year and Happy 2011!