Tuesday Tell All: A Season of Giving

When I got the topic last week, my mind started working overtime thinking about all the wonderful people who have touched my life through service. The stranger lifting a huge stroller box into my car as I struggled to get it in. The friend who waited with my boys at pick up when I was a few minutes late. Those who share a smile and kind word at a store. The friend to invites my kids over to play. The Relief Society president who spends countless hours visiting unknown women on our ward roster. The family who secretly dropped cookies off on our porch. The group of voluneeters running the November 6 election in the pool clubhouse. The friend who watched my 5 children so I could go to a doctors appointment. The group of people selected and serving as the November Jury panel in Fayette County. The gorgeous handmade diaper bag, hair bows and personalize blankets made for the girls with love by dear friends in Louisville. The LDS missionaries I saw making a street contact just yesterday. My brother Kurt who is busy tracting the streets in Taiwan. The friends who picked up the stranded traveler and took them to a gas station and then back to their car with the needed gasoline. My family making projects for the Humanitarian Center at the Larsen Thanksgiving party. The thoughtful package in the mail from a friend that contained a Halloween decoration they had made just for me. The kind thank you note from a woman after I gave a Relief Society lesson. The neighbor who took Josh and Matt over to the church for primary activity so I could stay at Trey's game. The meals brought in when we had new babies. Rich spending sleepless nights at the hospital helping patients and other doctors. My sons who set the table without being asked. My girls sharing toys with each other. My brother Jeff taking flowers to his mentally challenged friends that worked in food services at BYU. Jeff and his soon to be bride Sarah leaving goodies, gifts and driving directions in our hotel rooms when we arrived in Sacramento for their wedding. My brother Brad volunteering at a clinic on a Saturday afternoon. My brother Rhett and his entire high school choir completing a community service project. My brother Greg memorizing and singing a song at Jeff's wedding dinner. My sister-in-law Kate getting all her young women home after an activity in the large city of San Francisco. My father-in-law spending hundreds of hours in interviews as a stake president in Provo. My father at the MTC four nights a week helping his little branch of Elders and Sister. My mom who cared for my nephew all summer while my sister-in-law studied for the bar. My mother-in-law who left her own daughter and brand new baby and flew to Louisville to help me with my new baby girls. My Grandpa and Grandma Larsen who have worked for years on Monday and Tuesday morning in the Provo temple. Grandpa and Grandma Hansen's generous Christmas gifts to the all the great-grandchildren. Grandma Jackson's handmade birthday cards. My Grandma Nance who did extractions from her home computer for years. Each of these people have touched my life and heart and taught me more about the importance of looking beyond oneself to help others.

If we look for acts of service, whether it be large or small, we see how we can all be instruments in the hands of God. I have been impressed lately with the Liberty Mutual ads on TV. They show someone doing something kind for someone and then the person watching helps another in return. Yes, we should pass it on, pay it forward and try to make someones day a bit easier. Isn't that why we are here in on earth, to help lift another and lighten each others loads. It makes me think of scripture, Matthew 25: 40 "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

My hope this Christmas season is to see the true meaning of Christmas. To put aside the ribbons, wrapping paper and bows and focus one the one real reason we celebrate this joyous holiday: Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I heard this idea from a friend years ago and have wanted to start it as a tradition. I think I'll introduce it to the kids at FHE on Monday night. Take a shoe box and wrap it up to make it the prettiest, loveliest gift you could ever find under a Christmas tree. This is the present for our Savior, the person whose life we celebrate. He was our perfect example and taught us to love and serve one another. The box starts out empty, but every time you do an act of service, you write in on a paper and slip it into the box. These are the gifts we give to him. I hope by doing these little acts it will shift the focus from the lists of toys, to the needs of others. My desire is that we all, especially the boys, can look back on this year and remember the service we gave, instead of what we unwrapped from a store.

May we all focus on the true meaning of the season and share our time, talents and love freely with others.

Merry Christmas to all!

Straight from their mouth....

The boys brought home proofs of their school pictures. As I studied each, Matt came up and told me he wanted to get his picture retaken. He didn't like his smile because it made him "look small and not so happy." He then glanced at Trey's picture and told me he should get a retake too. I asked him why? Matt looked up at me and said, "Mom, look at his smile, it's like totally creepin' me out!" I told him that Trey looked nice in the photo and Matt again said, "No way, it's still creepin' me out!"

One Weird, Wild, Wacky Day

Sometimes things don't go as you planned. This isn't something I enjoy. I am the kind of girl who sits and thinks about what I am going to do the next day and then try to map it out so I can hopefully get it all done. I feel like I only have so long until the girls meltdown and need a nap or the boys need to be picked up from school, so I try to plan accordingly.

They also say truth is stranger than fiction and today I believe it. If you had told me yesterday what today would entail, I would have climbed back in bed and decided not to come out. But somehow by the end of the day I managed to scratch a few things off my never ending list and feel like I did get something accomplished.

Where to start... Of course I'll start at the beginning which oddly would be last night. When you are busy preparing dinner and your husband says he doesn't feel well enough to eat dinner when he hasn't really eaten anything all day (he was post call down in Danville), you know he's caught some nasty bug surely from one of us. You worry even more when he closes the bathroom door in the middle of the night and sits by the toilet. I can not remember the last time this has happened. I do know the last time Rich was really sick was December 1998. Really. When he told me he was going to call in sick for the first time EVER I knew he was not well. The situation got even worse when the boys all complained of stomach aches last night and I really didn't know if anyone would be moving in the morning.

And no one did until the girls woke me up at 7:45 AM. Not good when school starts at that moment and Josh and Matt had a field trip (Alice in Wonderland play) that was leaving at 9:15 AM. I let the boys rest until 8:30 AM, threw together 3 lunches and rushed them to the school just in time for them to check in and hop on a bus.

When we got home I realized that my plan of getting up, riding the bike, running my errands (Wal-mart and the Mall) and be back home by 11:30 AM to put the girls down so I could write up my Tuesday Tell All just wasn't going to happen. It was already 9:30 AM. When things go off course, so do I.

Suddenly I found myself perched on a bar stool in our front yard wrapping our dead tree (I still haven't given up hope it'll come back next spring!) with Christmas lights in an attempt to make it look like Temple Square. We have never done outside lights and my family doesn't do lights, so this was a new adventure. The girls wandered and explored by me as I built Christmas trees, plugged, wrapped, climbed and even sprayed painted (yes, I made the white electrical cord green) the yard. I soon realized that I needed more lights and many more extension cords.

I went in to check on Rich and he asked me if I could get a prescription called in (courtesy of my dad). No problem. I put the girls down for their nap and figured I had a good hour and half to get something done. Wal-mart: first off, told the pharmacy I was here and waiting for the RX, then waited in line at customer service to return a game I re-bought thinking it was cheaper (not so). Fifteen minutes later I am buzzing around the store tossing in lights and cords and plugs. I was so ready to get this project done! Of course it was a no go on the RX (after 1 hour) so I ran to the mall and literally ran up and down the place trying to get the last things checked off (Build-A-Bear, Dillard's, Webkinz). I was really surprised a security guard didn't stop me thinking I had shop lifting something from a store. I hurried back to Wal-mart only to find my insurance would not cover the Z-pack ($72). No thanks. Looks like trip #3 would in my future after we got something else called in.

Went home to find that my Toys-R-Us order didn't go through (after I talked to 2 customer service people and 1 Paypal representative- what I'll do for free shipping and 20% cash back!). Not happy about that. Also found that only 1/2 of the net web lights I bought yesterday were working. That meant another long wait in the return line at Wal-mart. Not good at all.

Grabbed the boys, dropped them off, found Rich awake and talking (good sign) and headed back to Wal-mart with Brynn and Kaitlyn in tow to get new lights and RX. Finally! Got home and realized some lights have white cords. Oh no! I just want to get this stupid project done.

Here it is 5 PM and I haven't written my TTA, haven't worked out, haven't sat down and nothing has seemed to work out. Augh! As they say in Meet the Robinson, "Keep Moving Forward"! So I did.

I got Rich his medicine just as he headed out the door to be back on call all night once again. I went back to Wal-mart for the 4th time and pleaded with the outdoor workers to just let me swap the lights instead of hitting the return line AGAIN (as all my kids are sitting waiting in the car). They said yes. Got dinner at KFC, flew through the kids homework, put the last touches on the front yard, tucked the kids in bed and finally got a chance to sit down. Hurray!

Yes, I still have to reorder my Toys-R-Us stuff, decorate the tree, paint frames, I'm dying to write my TTA about all the wonderful people who serve me, need to fold the laundry and maybe get some sleep. Yes, not quite the day I planned, but one I'll remember (thanks to this very, very long post)! I guess the moral of the story is, you just take it as it comes and try to smile all the way through. I think I mostly smiled... except to the Toys-R-Us guy. Better luck tomorrow!

And I can't resist posting the one thing that finally got done today! Good night to all!

Straight from their mouth....

Matt snuck downstairs after we had tucked him in bed and begged me to read his libary book to him before he returned it in the morning.After ten minutes reading about spiders, bees, centipedes and butterflies Matt turned to me and exclaimed with a big grin, "Mom, this book is so scientific, I don't know what you are even talking about!"

Black Friday

Who needs 4 AM sales and the massive crowds when you can spend a lazy morning at home browsing the Internet for good sales and gathering Christmas gift ideas. I got lucky when I called the Pottery Barn Kids customer service and asked why their fun Thanksgiving Countdown wasn't marked down (we don't have a store here in Lexington). They sold it to me for 1/2 price. Love it! It was my one and only purchase of the day. Since we weren't out before dawn, we were all well rested and ready for our afternoon outing up north.

I have been dying to go to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal for years. The building was built in 1933 as the Union Terminal train station and was named a historic landmark in 1977. The museum opened in 1990. This beautiful building is really three museums in one. There is the Duke Energy Children's Museum, Cincinnati History Museum and Museum on Natural History and Science. I knew our Louisville Science Center pass would get us in for free, so it was the perfect way to spend a day together.

The drive is about an hour and half and I loved the view of the city once you come around the curve. It's beautiful. We took our first trip up to Cincinnati with Jim and Marcie Alcorn with the men in the front and Marcie and I in the back with Trey in between us. I was 4 1/2 month pregnant with Josh and Matt. We hit the Gap Clearance Center, Newport Aquarium and drove around the city. What great memories.
The front arch is made of limestone and is 10 stories high. It's quite the site to see when you pull up.Our view as we waited 20 minutes to get tickets. It seemed everyone had the same idea to spend the day at the museum. When we finally got to the ticket counter we discovered we could only get into the Natural History and Science part for free. Fine by us, though the kids were dying to go to the Children's Museum, so we'll have to come up again soon!
The Natural History part is located in the right wing of the building. The history museum is on the left and the Children's Museum is in the basement. This Mastodon is visible through the front glass doors. It reminded me a bit of the movie Night at the Museum. The boys loved feeling the piece of polar bear fur they had on display.
Trey with a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.The boys petting a snake. I really wish I snapped a picture of Rich touching it. I was shocked when he did. It must have been a first since, well forever!Trey gets the heart pumping.Matt rings up some sweets in the candy shoppe.Brynn LOVED the sand. I realized she hasn't been around it much. Only once this summer at my parents. She just played and played.Kaitlyn was content scooping it up while sitting on the boardwalk.I loved this. It shows which part of the earth is day and night. We had fun finding Taiwan on the map and seeing Kurt was just getting up, but was a day ahead of us. The boys thought that it was strange that is was Saturday there already when we had just ate lunch on Friday!Matt would have loved to take home this huge chunk of Pyrite, or otherwise called Fool's Gold.This was the best part of the museum. I really could say it the was one of coolest thing I have ever seen in a museum, and that's saying a lot. It was called "The Cave" and is a re-created Kentucky limestone cave, complete with underground waterfalls, streams, fossils and a live bat colony. You entered by going down 65 stairs through the "natural entrance."There were narrow passage ways,water flowing through the cave,

stalactites, stalagmites, columns
and a huge cavern. It felt like I was back at Mammoth Cave. It was really, really awesome.
After our cave adventure, we got to walk through a glacier. It reminded me of Sea World.The boys got to see how glaciers (or mudslides) flow.Next was a huge mountain type area. The girls thought the wolf looked a bit real.
Matt, Josh and Trey.
We ended with a part about reptiles and dinosaurs. We spent 3 hours in the one museum and can't wait to return. Maybe the girls will be up for a Imax film next time around.
What a way to beat the Christmas shopping frenzy!

Cincinnati, Ohio. The end of a great day!

Patriot of the Week

At Veteran's Park, each class, every week selects one student to be named Patriot of the Week. Matt was it a few weeks ago, but his teacher didn't send home any get to know you things. Josh was it this past week and Mrs. Corales sent home a blank white piece of poster board and told us to send it back by Friday. Thursday night we were busy scanning and printing off pictures and selecting clip art. At first Josh refused to put anything up not related to sports, but talked him into a few different pictures because it was a large space to fill. At the end of the week (It was a holiday week so Josh only got to enjoy two days, but he didn't mind) the class reads over the poster and then has a little interview session where they can learn more about Josh. He was so looking forward to it and popped out of bed on his own at 6:30 AM (school starts at 7:45 AM) so excited to get to school. He's one funny kid.

Love you Josh!

Sick Day....maybe

What to do when you are up at 2 AM cleaning up vomit in a bed? Call your husband who is awake reading films at the hospital and let him console you. Oh the joys of motherhood. To be perfectly honest since Rich was on call I was actually down on the computer at the time when I heard the pitter patter of little feet, the toilet flush and then silence. I thought all was well. Not quite. Soon Matt was standing zombie looking at my side and stated that he thought he had just thrown up. One glance at the food and gunk clinging to his entire left side of his PJ bottoms told me it wasn't just a possibility. It could have been worse. At least it was contained to the bed. I stripped him down and he showered while I spooned up the fun stuff all the while talking to Rich on the phone in between my gags. What we do for our kids!

It all began earlier in the week when the girls got runny noses, Kaitlyn got diarrhea and everyone seemed to have a bit of a cough or sore throat but we all just carried on. By Wednesday my stomach was cramping and I knew sooner or later I'd be leaning over a toilet. (Thankfully it never happened!) Just a few hours of nausea makes me pity all the pregnant women out there. I ran a low grade fever Wednesday night (100.7- I told Rich was radiating heat and it felt good to be warm. I bet this is what Josh Madsen feels like all the time!) Anyway, with a bit of rest and little to eat, I was 100% by Thanksgiving. We had a feast, smiles on everyone's lips and when we woke up on Friday the happy faces were still there so we headed on up to Cincinnati grateful no one was battling any aliments.

Then things turned south last night. We rented more movies from Redbox (best invention EVER!) and were rushing back to return them just seconds before 9 PM when they are due. As the kids and I hustled into Wal-mart (boys in PJ's-Matt minus shoes in the cart with the girls-, Kaitlyn fully clothed and Brynn in Kaitlyn's Halloween costume and red glitter shoes- boy did we look homeless!) to the drop box, suddenly Trey's face had a look of panic as he shouted he was going to throw up and started to search for a garbage can. I REALLY didn't want to do this in Wal-mart so I talked him through some deep breaths (reminded me of when I am in labor) and soon the pains passed. We deposited the movies, grabbed some milk (2 shoppers asked if they were ALL MINE!) and happily rushed out the door. When we piled into the van I soon heard complaints of stomach pain, but the hungry kind. Yes, it was getting late, but it was better than making new messes in the kitchen when we got home. We grabbed some food at Burger King, but Josh said he didn't want anything because now he was feeling sick. As the other boys ate on the way home (Trey obviously recovered quickly as he scarfed down a hamburger) Josh started to cry saying he was hungry and wanted some food. I turned back around to get a bean and cheese burrito at Taco Bell. Just as we pulled out of the drive thru with the burrito in my hand I heard yells from the back as Josh was now throwing up in the Burger King bag. Great idea, but paper can only hold for so long. I felt around for a plastic Wal-mart sack and tossed it back hoping to avert a major disaster. Ten minutes later we were home, the kids were tucked in bed and I thought the worst was over. Until Matt's little surprise.

As you can see I had no choice but to stay home with the kids from church even if Rich had to sleep in the basement guest room to avoid contracting the plague since he had to go in tonight and it seems like almost every other night for the next two weeks.

Everyone was up bright and early this morning and Josh wolfed down 2 pancakes since he slept on an empty stomach and no one mentioned feeling poorly the night before. By 11 AM (church time) the boys were wrestling, chasing and being all around wild. Totally 100% normal. Good for them, crazy for me. You can only do so much with 5 children inside when it is 1) Sunday 2) raining 3) Rich asleep downstairs next to the toys 4) no video game rule. We got up all the Christmas things except decorating the tree and watched Pres. Monson's wonderful devotional (Nov. 13) on BYU-TV. But I really missed going to church. I am glad everyone is feeling better, and I have yet to clean up a huge mess again (that is if you don't count the banana I was cleaning out of the basement carpet with the Hoover at 1 AM last night), but it really stinks to be home with sick kids, or at least almost sick kids. Here's for a healthy week ahead!

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving 2007! Rich's favorite day of the year. What a great day we had here in Lexington. The weather had begun to cool down from the record high of 70 the day before, so it felt like it should be November 22.

Since we moved to Kentucky at the end of 2000, we have years of happy Thanksgivings all with friends. So many wonderful meals and memories with people we love. We have spent six years with the Hamiltons and Madsens. Fun times. We wish our schedule allowed us to travel to Louisville once again, but it couldn't be. Thanks for the invite Josh and Tiffany. We know it would have been perfect to share your last Kentucky Thanksgiving with you. Todd and Kristi- plan on us next year!

The girls were up VERY early at 6:15 AM and the boys soon followed. So much for sleeping in. We had lots of time to cook, get dressed and enjoy the day. I watched the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as I cooked and loved seeing American Fork High School and Dunbar High School (Lexington) marching bands in the parade. Of course I love to see Santa, but the thing I like the most is watching Broadway songs performed. This is when I first was introduced to Wicked years ago.

We invited the Badger family (Eric, Jonni, Luke, Sadie and Cameron) over to celebrate the big day together. They will be moving back to Utah in June when Eric finished his periodontics residency, so we were very excited to spend this special day with them.

I cooked the turkey, stuffing, yams and potatoes, bought cranberry sauce and had a few crafts for the kids. Jonni brought a ham, fruit, rolls, green beans, vegetables, pies and ice cream. We had enough food to feed the masses and there were only 12 of us and only 4 who really ate a bit of everything! It was a great meal. My biggest helpers. I guess I should say, my much too helpful helpers! Brynn loved to eat the little piece of bread and Kaitlyn tried to stir up everything with her fork. I let them help me dump in the spices and they both had to put their hands on the spoon. They smiled and giggled through it all. Such fun to have two constant shadows.
What to do when your 20 pound turkey cooks in record time and you still have 2 1/2 hours til dinner? Do what my mom does and wrap the bird up with a million towels! It was still hot when it was served. I was impressed!Rich was impressed with the turkey's great knee cartilage (he would like his to look that healthy) and dissected the back so we could see the spinal cord. Still a doctor even while carving a turkey. (He did miss either the Hamilton's or Madsen's electric carving knife he's used in years past!)Eric and Jonni Badger.
Most of the kiddos. Gotta love the Little Tykes picnic table (it is used more often in the house than in the backyard) and the Neat Sheet keeping things clean underneath.Brynn is happy to be part of the big kid gang.Matt checked out all the choices and was really daring when he chose to have some turkey and a roll.Josh on the other hand tried the green beans and ham, but only had one bite of each. Kaitlyn enjoys a homemade roll and tries to destroy the butter on the table.Trey turned into my dad and insisted on devouring a turkey leg. He ate it all!Cameron was a fan of the ham.Luke wanted bones with his turkey and lots of chocolate milk.
Sadie wasn't feeling great in the morning, but was 100% for the party.
A perfect time to cuddle when our bellies were full!
The kids had Thanksgiving coloring pages to work on before dinner. Josh did a great job on his.
After the feast we had wooden Christmas ornaments to decorate,and made beaded necklaces. We didn't even get to the pom-pom penguins!
The kids said forget about the pies (pumpkin and cherry) and gobbled up almost an entire carton of vanilla ice cream. The girls were trying to get spoonfuls of cool whip or at least a few finger dips and licks!

Hope your day with filled with many happy memories!