we love,

we love to PARTY!

there's ALWAYS a reason to celebrate around here.

cookies=medicine

*

I drove home from my meeting this morning to find a surprise hanging from my mailbox.

Packages are fun!

But packages that look like this:

are like a box full of HAPPY pills!

THANK YOU Jody!!

XO

And what?!?...

A couple of hours later, look what showed up at my front door:

peanut butter, chocolate chip.

YUM.

This is my lucky day.

Thanks, Gretchen!

Yesterday

Enrique

joined the world of the gainfully

EMPLOYED.

We left him some congratulatory love on his wall.

(can't wait to see him in his apron and hat!)

Hip

Hip

HOO-ray!!

My favorite thing about today

My friend Rehema's baptism.

Na kupenda!

el templo

No matter how you say it,

  Temple means the House of the Lord.

 The Panama temple 
is where Yonder and Elder Monge spent their last p-day.

It was his first trip since arriving in Panama, and he loved it.

Santidad al Senor. 

Casa del Senor.

Welcome Baby Niece!

Born Yesterday, and we love her to pieces!

Welcome, little precious.

XO

it's always fun

When Gramma comes!!

One sock, two sock...

...Twenty-SEVEN socks!!

all of them, 

stuffed down between the head of the bed and the wall, 

or down there on the floor.

I'm not really sure how that happens.

SO, after tidy-ing up JUST A BIT,

I left a little reminder taped behind the pillows.

My first book report of 2011

Let me start off by saying that if I owned this book, I would have spent more time underlining the parts that really jumped off the page and enriched my understanding of the connectivity that we can achieve as human beings.  Heather Lende is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, gardener and active community member that I could relate with on so many levels.  This book caught my eye as I strolled hesitantly past the adult shelves in the library, on my way to accompany my son to his Lego Club meeting a few weeks ago.  I snatched it, almost as an after-thought, because leisurely reading just has not been at the top of my attainable goals so far this year.  I'm so glad I made the time for this one.  And I nibbled on it, in small bits over the course of about three weeks.  I have had Alaska in my line-up of travel destinations for a long time, now, so the fact that this memoir takes place in the middle of what feels like an Alaskan adventure is just frosting.

Heather's reflections begin about the time that she becomes the victim of a tragic accident, and her thoughtfulness as she intertwines her life experiences with the narrative of "life's bad breaks and unexpected gifts" offers perspective that I have been honing of late.  Her statement "you can't have real joy if you don't understand what real sorrow is" speaks volumes about the caliber of her irrepressible spirit, her commitment to living life to the fullest and the art that she creates of the mending process.  She is funny and pensive. She has a gift for seeing and bringing out the best in the relationships she forms with her Alaskan neighbors.  Her bear-hunting story and the account of how she dealt with her neighbor's chicken-killing dogs made me laugh out loud. ("I know chickens are not the most intelligent of creatures, but my hens have been raised to believe the world is good and that they are loved.")  She is real. Her exposure with death and dying, serious illnesses and the fragility of human emotion brings the reader right to the bedside of her experiences.

I hope, if you read this, you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Love is in the air

 ...and on the table

 and on the windows, walls, and light fixtures.

Happy day of LOVE~

A gift

Perspective has been on my mind.
I loved this clip from TED:

Are You Having a Good Day?

I think you must be.
Because I'm off to have a Root Canal this morning.
NOW how does your day look?
I hope it's a great one!
XO

Just to clear my conscience

I may have cursed the universe.
For which I am, indeed, VERY sorry.

Last night at bedtime, I was getting some resistance from the youngster.
All these snow days have disrupted more than the school year.
His comment to me?
"I don't have to go to bed YET, mom... We probably won't even have school tomorrow, anyway."
I rebutted:
"Oh yes we will, little mister. As a matter of fact, there is not even any snow in the forecast.  And as a matter of ANOTHER fact, it will not storm again on a school night for the rest of the winter."
ahem.
I may have been feeling a little more desperate than I thought I was when those words slid out.
So if you adhere to the school of karma, I am sorry for disrupting the entire cycle of cause and effect.

Ohmm...

Waiting for the school bus

Tuesday, February 8th

(note: they're standing on TOP of the mailbox)

Monday Missionary Update

There's no doubt in my mind that our missionary enjoys every opportunity he gets, to dirty his hands.
Their next door neighbor had some water trouble, so Yonder and his companion spent the better part of two days digging down through 2.5 feet of concrete and Panama clay to find the source of the problem.

I know that the principle of work is important on heaven and on earth.

I also know that when Yonder is working, for him it's truly heaven on earth.

My six daughters

We had a spontaneous visit from the women up north yesterday afternoon.

When Becky called to ask if she could come, she suggested we wear our curtain skirts.to church.

It was fun to be all match-y.

And then I had two men ask me if Becky was my daughter.

[a-hem.]

I'll claim ALL six of them!

sledding

Until the skies told us it was time to go home.

Namaste

Good Morning!

and Namaste.

(The divine in me greets the divine in you.)

I'm seeing and feeling 

the divine 

ALL around me today.

Dear popcorn,

I do love you!
But I will confess.  I am feeling betrayed.

I made a double batch of kettle corn
this afternoon, with my very fun appliance,
the whirlipop.
I sat down to munch and read, not paying enough attention, apparently, to the rogue kernels, and
CRACK!
My right maxillary molar BROKE.
And so did my heart.
How could you do this to me?
I called the dentist right away, but they are enjoying the same paralyzing snowstorm that we are, so there will be no one in the office until at least tomorrow.
Now it's me, warm salty rinse water and very soft foods.
I'm sad, popcorn.
Very sad.
But I'll be okay.

*sigh*

if you're tired of SNOW: LOOK.AWAY.

Woke up to SNOW.

(surprise!)

This is our back patio.

That dark green object in the lower right hand corner of the photo below is our table.

Yikes.

I opened the back door onto the deck to find more snow than I would care to step in to with just slippers on.

I'm sorry if our snow delivery means that you are getting less than you wanted in YOUR backyard.

When the roads get plowed, come play in ours!

 The question of the day seems to be 

WHERE? are we going to put it all?

But don't misinterpret the question.

We're HAPPY about it!

Snow = FUN.

 And there's going to be plenty of FUN to go around today!

Getting the mail