Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
A couple days later
These pictures are from last Thursday during preschool. We learned letter R last week so these are pictures of them making the letter into a rabbit.
The Rabbits.
The Rabbits.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Hugging my girl
Right now I am feeling an overwhelming gratitude for Abi. I was looking at a blog a while ago and it had a link to youtube to a video of the Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman's families appearance on Larry King. I am actually not that into christian music. It's not something I listen to very often but when I was a teenager I saw a video of one of his songs (the Great Adventure) and really liked it. I then bought a few of his albums. I haven't listened to them for years but I have continued to like him.
Recently I had heard that one of his five year old daughters had been killed in their driveway by being struck by one of her older brothers that was driving into the driveway. I was saddened by the news but hadn't really seen anything on it. I followed the link and watched the videos. They are broken up into six parts. I was sobbing the entire time. It was seriously one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever watched. It was also extremely faith building -even though they don't share my exact religion we still believe in so many of the same things.
At one point I was just sitting on the couch crying and Abi was dancing and as I watched her I was just amazed at how blessed we are to have her in our lives and wishing that I always could be a person that deserved that. She turned to me and saw that I had tears running down my cheeks and ran over to hug me. She looked at me and said, 'Are you so sad?" I told her that I was watching a video that was sad but that she made me so happy. She then said, "I love you so much momma." and kissed me. These moments are the ones when you think about what is the most important and how wonderful it is to have the faith that we do about what happens after this life.
In the interview Steven was saying that right afterward they were all praying and wishing that they could just see a sign that she was okay, see that what they believed was true, etc.. and the next day they came home and found a sheet of paper that little Maria had drawn on. She drew a 6 petaled flower (there are six kids in the family including her) and she had colored in only one of the petals of the six. Then she had written a word that none of them had ever seen her write before- didn't know that she could write. "SEE"
If you have a moment you should check it out on youtube. It is incredible and inspiring to see a family come together and have so much faith and love in such a time of tragedy. Hold your little ones close!
Recently I had heard that one of his five year old daughters had been killed in their driveway by being struck by one of her older brothers that was driving into the driveway. I was saddened by the news but hadn't really seen anything on it. I followed the link and watched the videos. They are broken up into six parts. I was sobbing the entire time. It was seriously one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever watched. It was also extremely faith building -even though they don't share my exact religion we still believe in so many of the same things.
At one point I was just sitting on the couch crying and Abi was dancing and as I watched her I was just amazed at how blessed we are to have her in our lives and wishing that I always could be a person that deserved that. She turned to me and saw that I had tears running down my cheeks and ran over to hug me. She looked at me and said, 'Are you so sad?" I told her that I was watching a video that was sad but that she made me so happy. She then said, "I love you so much momma." and kissed me. These moments are the ones when you think about what is the most important and how wonderful it is to have the faith that we do about what happens after this life.
In the interview Steven was saying that right afterward they were all praying and wishing that they could just see a sign that she was okay, see that what they believed was true, etc.. and the next day they came home and found a sheet of paper that little Maria had drawn on. She drew a 6 petaled flower (there are six kids in the family including her) and she had colored in only one of the petals of the six. Then she had written a word that none of them had ever seen her write before- didn't know that she could write. "SEE"
If you have a moment you should check it out on youtube. It is incredible and inspiring to see a family come together and have so much faith and love in such a time of tragedy. Hold your little ones close!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursdays Thirteen: Things I think about today
1. What I was doing 7 years ago this morning. I was home sick from work. The phone woke me up. I was laying in bed and could hear my mom on the phone downstairs. She sounded distressed. I distinctly heard "Oh no." Of course this freaked me out thinking something must have happened to someone in the family. I went down to see what was going on. When she saw me she said "We're being attacked." or something along those lines. The tv was on. I imagined a huge missile of some kind heading straight for our house. Then I saw what was really going on. We both sat and watched as the second plane went into the towers and as the information about the planes at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania was discovered. I felt in shock all day.
I was freaking out when they started setting up the triage at the bottom of the towers. I kept telling my mom "they're going to fall down.... they're going to fall down.. why are they staying near them." I guess no one else thought that was going to happen. I remember watching people jump. I remember watching the towers fall and people running. I will never forget those images or that day.
2. I remember that night watching as we attacked- our first strike I guess. I was so worried about it. I kept thinking, "What if they have nothing to do with it." I felt like we didn't know enough yet. But, obviously I don't know what they knew so I can't really say for sure.
3. I think about the way everyone seemed different right after. I would go to the grocery store and everyone was being friendly and actually looking at you. It seemed to bring us all together. I don't even remember when that changed. I don't remember the moment when people stopped acting that way. I think that is one of the reasons people say "never forget". It's hard to keep that feeling of how fragile life is, how special every person is with you in every day life.
4. I think about how many movies and tv shows take place in New York City and there is always that twin towers shot. It is still wierd to see that.
5. I remember feeling like I never wanted to fly again. I'm not a huge fan of flying anyway. It gave me one more thing to worry about.
6. I think about the day that my dad, mom, and I went to New York City one year later. We went to Ground Zero. I will never forget what it felt like to stand there next to the chain link fence littered with little flags and flowers and look at the massive hole that was once those landmarks. It was so much bigger than I had imagined. It was surreal to be there. There were construction vehicles cleaning up and moving things around still. It was only a week before the anniversary that we were there.
7. I think about looking toward Ground Zero from the top of the Empire State builiding and seeing the ginormous flag on the building behind it. It looked like it had got some exterior damage as well. It had become kind of a landmark in itself. You saw that flag and you knew where the towers had been.
8. I think about the guy on the water taxi. After our day in New York City we rode a water taxi back over to the parking lot in New Jersey. There was a man on with us that worked in the city. We were talking with him and he mentioned that he had worked near the towers. He had been there that day. He had experienced the running, the smoke, the chaos. He said he had thought he was going to die. After he talked about it he seemed a little haunted. I have a picture of my parents a little bit after that and he is in the background sitting hunched over looking very serious. I wondered if he was thinking about it. I hoped that he didn't regret talking to us about it. Yet, maybe it helped him to talk to someone that wasn't there.
9. I think about going to Arlington cemetary on that same trip. From the cemetary we could see the Pentagon. We could see the large gaping hole. Seeing all of these things made it so real.
10. I think about a few days later while we were on Prince Edward Island weathering a small hurricane in a little cabin watching the news and that even though we were in Canada it was a special for the anniversary of 9-11 and had stories of the people involved and affected. It was really moving to watch it after having just been there.
11. I think about the movie I watched a few months ago about the flight that went down in Pennsylvania. It was so hard to watch. I had no idea. I mean, I had known as much as anybody else, I guess, about what had gone on in the plane but I never really thought about how terrifying it would have been on those planes. It just made me more aware of how brave and amazing those people aboard the planes were. After the movie I watched the special features where it showed each actor and talked about the person they had played.... it gave some back story and showed the actors meeting the family members of the people they portrayed. They had done such a good job casting that some of the families felt like their loved one was with them. Most of the actors were crying. It was so touching. I also admired the fact that they got the permission of the families first before making this movie. They waited until all of them were ready for it and then were able to find out all of the phone conversations, etc from the people that knew exactly how they had happened. It isn't a movie to watch with soda and popcorn for entertainment, but it is good and powerful show and I think it is nice to remember the individuals instead of just the event.
12. I think about how much the world has changed since then. It is so weird that my daughter will never know what it was like to walk someone to their gate before their flight or meet them afterward at the gate. She won't know a time when she didn't have to line up with trays for her bags and take off her shoes. She won't remember the time when people came together over something-united as a country- even if for only a moment. She'll just hear all the yelling and fighting and slander thrown back and forth from both sides of every issue. Not that this is a new thing but for some reason it seems like it has gotten a lot worse in the past few years. No matter what I think of President Bush it still really bugs me to have people call him horrible names and talk about him like he is not a person in a public forum. I think everyone is entitled to their opinion and that is what is so great about our country but I always think about what it must be like for that persons wife/ parents/ children and themselves when they can't open a magazine, watch tv, watch an awards show without people saying really cruel things about them.I wonder why, at least in public, people can't be nice about their opinions. I don't know when it became okay to talk about someone the way he gets talked about just because you don't agree with them or because they don't give good speeches. I stopped watching the VMA's online because I was so annoyed about it. I don't know why celebrities think they know everything. I don't know why being famous all of a sudden means you are right and everyone else is dumb and you are supposed to tell everyone this anytime you get the chance.
13. I am thinking about how grateful I am to be an American. It's not that cool or PC to be 'patriotic' anymore but I don't care. It's not PC to say we are the best country in the world anymore. I don't think we are the only great country- I hope to go to Europe someday, I LOVE Canada... but I am so proud to live here. I think we are a great country founded on amazing principles that I wish we could get back to and remember. I think the founding fathers would be apalled at how some people interpret the things they devoted their lives to. I am feeling grateful that I live here. I am feeling grateful that I get to raise my daughter in this country. I am thinking about the sacrifice that those founding fathers went through to give us the freedoms we have, the sacrifice that my ancestors went through as pioneers to further our freedom to worship the way I do, I am thinking of the sacrifice made by all of those who died and helped out on September 11, 2001 and I am feeling grateful that so many people have been willing to make these kinds of sacrifices. (Dad in Vietnam, Brent in the first gulf war, etc) I am hoping we can never forget these things.
I was freaking out when they started setting up the triage at the bottom of the towers. I kept telling my mom "they're going to fall down.... they're going to fall down.. why are they staying near them." I guess no one else thought that was going to happen. I remember watching people jump. I remember watching the towers fall and people running. I will never forget those images or that day.
2. I remember that night watching as we attacked- our first strike I guess. I was so worried about it. I kept thinking, "What if they have nothing to do with it." I felt like we didn't know enough yet. But, obviously I don't know what they knew so I can't really say for sure.
3. I think about the way everyone seemed different right after. I would go to the grocery store and everyone was being friendly and actually looking at you. It seemed to bring us all together. I don't even remember when that changed. I don't remember the moment when people stopped acting that way. I think that is one of the reasons people say "never forget". It's hard to keep that feeling of how fragile life is, how special every person is with you in every day life.
4. I think about how many movies and tv shows take place in New York City and there is always that twin towers shot. It is still wierd to see that.
5. I remember feeling like I never wanted to fly again. I'm not a huge fan of flying anyway. It gave me one more thing to worry about.
6. I think about the day that my dad, mom, and I went to New York City one year later. We went to Ground Zero. I will never forget what it felt like to stand there next to the chain link fence littered with little flags and flowers and look at the massive hole that was once those landmarks. It was so much bigger than I had imagined. It was surreal to be there. There were construction vehicles cleaning up and moving things around still. It was only a week before the anniversary that we were there.
7. I think about looking toward Ground Zero from the top of the Empire State builiding and seeing the ginormous flag on the building behind it. It looked like it had got some exterior damage as well. It had become kind of a landmark in itself. You saw that flag and you knew where the towers had been.
8. I think about the guy on the water taxi. After our day in New York City we rode a water taxi back over to the parking lot in New Jersey. There was a man on with us that worked in the city. We were talking with him and he mentioned that he had worked near the towers. He had been there that day. He had experienced the running, the smoke, the chaos. He said he had thought he was going to die. After he talked about it he seemed a little haunted. I have a picture of my parents a little bit after that and he is in the background sitting hunched over looking very serious. I wondered if he was thinking about it. I hoped that he didn't regret talking to us about it. Yet, maybe it helped him to talk to someone that wasn't there.
9. I think about going to Arlington cemetary on that same trip. From the cemetary we could see the Pentagon. We could see the large gaping hole. Seeing all of these things made it so real.
10. I think about a few days later while we were on Prince Edward Island weathering a small hurricane in a little cabin watching the news and that even though we were in Canada it was a special for the anniversary of 9-11 and had stories of the people involved and affected. It was really moving to watch it after having just been there.
11. I think about the movie I watched a few months ago about the flight that went down in Pennsylvania. It was so hard to watch. I had no idea. I mean, I had known as much as anybody else, I guess, about what had gone on in the plane but I never really thought about how terrifying it would have been on those planes. It just made me more aware of how brave and amazing those people aboard the planes were. After the movie I watched the special features where it showed each actor and talked about the person they had played.... it gave some back story and showed the actors meeting the family members of the people they portrayed. They had done such a good job casting that some of the families felt like their loved one was with them. Most of the actors were crying. It was so touching. I also admired the fact that they got the permission of the families first before making this movie. They waited until all of them were ready for it and then were able to find out all of the phone conversations, etc from the people that knew exactly how they had happened. It isn't a movie to watch with soda and popcorn for entertainment, but it is good and powerful show and I think it is nice to remember the individuals instead of just the event.
12. I think about how much the world has changed since then. It is so weird that my daughter will never know what it was like to walk someone to their gate before their flight or meet them afterward at the gate. She won't know a time when she didn't have to line up with trays for her bags and take off her shoes. She won't remember the time when people came together over something-united as a country- even if for only a moment. She'll just hear all the yelling and fighting and slander thrown back and forth from both sides of every issue. Not that this is a new thing but for some reason it seems like it has gotten a lot worse in the past few years. No matter what I think of President Bush it still really bugs me to have people call him horrible names and talk about him like he is not a person in a public forum. I think everyone is entitled to their opinion and that is what is so great about our country but I always think about what it must be like for that persons wife/ parents/ children and themselves when they can't open a magazine, watch tv, watch an awards show without people saying really cruel things about them.I wonder why, at least in public, people can't be nice about their opinions. I don't know when it became okay to talk about someone the way he gets talked about just because you don't agree with them or because they don't give good speeches. I stopped watching the VMA's online because I was so annoyed about it. I don't know why celebrities think they know everything. I don't know why being famous all of a sudden means you are right and everyone else is dumb and you are supposed to tell everyone this anytime you get the chance.
13. I am thinking about how grateful I am to be an American. It's not that cool or PC to be 'patriotic' anymore but I don't care. It's not PC to say we are the best country in the world anymore. I don't think we are the only great country- I hope to go to Europe someday, I LOVE Canada... but I am so proud to live here. I think we are a great country founded on amazing principles that I wish we could get back to and remember. I think the founding fathers would be apalled at how some people interpret the things they devoted their lives to. I am feeling grateful that I live here. I am feeling grateful that I get to raise my daughter in this country. I am thinking about the sacrifice that those founding fathers went through to give us the freedoms we have, the sacrifice that my ancestors went through as pioneers to further our freedom to worship the way I do, I am thinking of the sacrifice made by all of those who died and helped out on September 11, 2001 and I am feeling grateful that so many people have been willing to make these kinds of sacrifices. (Dad in Vietnam, Brent in the first gulf war, etc) I am hoping we can never forget these things.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Some videos of Abi for the family
Here are some silly videos of Abi dancing around her room a little while ago while we were playing.
Childhood book
As a kid one of my favorite books to look at was this one:
I loved the little poems and I really liked the illustrations as well. As I got older I would look through the book every once in a while and there was this one little girl throughout the book that I just loved. I always thought that if I ever had a daughter I wanted her to look just like this girl. Here are some pictures of her (she is always the littlest one)
So, yesterday we got home from church and I took Abi's dress off during dinner so she wouldn't spill on it. Afterward we let her play for quite awhile before bedtime (getting to stay up much later than normal) because she was so good again during Sacrament meeting- and today that was hard for her as we had opening prayer, two baby blessings, 5 baptism confirmation blessings, and the sacrament right in a row meaning she had to stay relatively quiet and reverant for almost 40 minutes!! As I watched her play in just her little bloomers the book came into my head and I grabbed it to look at the pictures of the little girl and then back at my own little girl..
I think I got her!
I loved the little poems and I really liked the illustrations as well. As I got older I would look through the book every once in a while and there was this one little girl throughout the book that I just loved. I always thought that if I ever had a daughter I wanted her to look just like this girl. Here are some pictures of her (she is always the littlest one)
So, yesterday we got home from church and I took Abi's dress off during dinner so she wouldn't spill on it. Afterward we let her play for quite awhile before bedtime (getting to stay up much later than normal) because she was so good again during Sacrament meeting- and today that was hard for her as we had opening prayer, two baby blessings, 5 baptism confirmation blessings, and the sacrament right in a row meaning she had to stay relatively quiet and reverant for almost 40 minutes!! As I watched her play in just her little bloomers the book came into my head and I grabbed it to look at the pictures of the little girl and then back at my own little girl..
I think I got her!
Friday and Saturday
We had a pretty low key weekend. Abi and I stayed home all day Friday only going outside to play for a while in the afternoon. She really wanted to paint with her dot painters again so I got them back out for her to create this masterpiece... in her pirate hat. She kept saying "Arghhh. I'm a pirate" while she painted.
Saturday we all enjoyed a slow lazy day at home together. Doug played on the computer, Abi played with toys and watched Dora, I did pencil puzzles... all in the same room together. It was really nice. That night I had some friends over and so while I was getting ready Abi was playing with her Bitty Baby in the playroom. When I finally went in to join her this is what I found....
she was reading Bitty Baby a good night story. I had a little moment of joy.
Saturday we all enjoyed a slow lazy day at home together. Doug played on the computer, Abi played with toys and watched Dora, I did pencil puzzles... all in the same room together. It was really nice. That night I had some friends over and so while I was getting ready Abi was playing with her Bitty Baby in the playroom. When I finally went in to join her this is what I found....
she was reading Bitty Baby a good night story. I had a little moment of joy.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
I won something!
I've participated in a few blog giveaways and lots of real life ones throughout my years. I never win. Recently I found a blog where the blogger was leading everyone in discussions of all things Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Every day she had an item to giveaway. I entered for quite a few of them but not all of them. I was so surprised on the announcement day to find out that I had won the new Masterpiece Theater version of Mansfield Park on DVD!
I was so excited to get it in the mail today. The really great thing is that it also includes Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. I have not seen any of these new versions so I am very excited to see them. She also included a CD of samplings from different audio Austen books. Yay!
I was so excited to get it in the mail today. The really great thing is that it also includes Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. I have not seen any of these new versions so I am very excited to see them. She also included a CD of samplings from different audio Austen books. Yay!
Today in School:
This week we have been learning about S. We had a lot of fun today and Abi and Alisse had a great time using Do-a-dot paint to decorate snakes.
Afterward, I wanted to get a picture of them with their S snakes but as you can see in the picture they weren't happy with me. They were doing the 'snake dance' we had done earlier in music/movement time and didn't want to stop for a picture.
Afterward, I wanted to get a picture of them with their S snakes but as you can see in the picture they weren't happy with me. They were doing the 'snake dance' we had done earlier in music/movement time and didn't want to stop for a picture.
The speech
Did you see the speech given by Sarah Palin? I just saw it online today. I have to say that I wasn't sure how I felt about her until then. I have been reading and hearing a lot about her from people who live in Alaska and the one thing I heard over and over again from those who did love her and those who didn't was that she says what she means and when she says something you can believe it. Because of that I watched with great interest to see what she would say. I was so impressed. If you haven't seen it go search on Youtube.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Abi's Comfort
I have often wondered why Abi has never become attached to any object like most kids do. She occasionally used binkies but never cared about it. She had bottles, blankies, toys, etc. but she has never had anything she really couldn't be away from. The closest we've come to it is her green boots but she's not 'attached' she just loves them. Anyway, I think I have finally found out what her comfort 'thing' is. Her hair! She has always played with her hair but I didn't think much about it until lately when I noticed that when she is nervous or hanging out she will usually have a chunk of her hair in her hand. She does it with my hair too.
Good Mail
A few days ago we got some more good mail from my parents. Abi gets so excited now when we get packages because recently they have all had fruit snacks in them. Yep, this one did too. It also had some stickers for Abi that she played with and moved from place to place all day. I had mentioned to my mom that I wanted to watch Summer Magic with Abi so she mailed it to me so we could watch it and then bring it back to her when we go to Utah. Also, they threw in an envelope with some money it to get dilly bars for Labor day.Thanks mom and dad!
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