It Was a Week

Hola!

It has been a week, not an extremely pleasant one, but sometimes life happens, right! Frank is in Argentina and Brazil for last week and next, so he can only call every other day. So of course there were house/renter issues to deal with, and car repairs that couldn’t wait! Ugh.

(Automobiles are those Necessary Evils we must deal with…how disgusting, to put hundreds of dollars into a car repair or maintenance, only to then be able to…drive it away, which it seems like you should have been able to do ANYWAY??!?!)

My friend Audrey reminded me in her blog, however, that there are also bright spots of my week, found in photos and scrapbooking. So I thought I’d share a few pages I’ve been working on. (THIS is what I do some nights after the kids go to bed, and I give myself an hour or so of computer time to edit photos, organize, and create. Meet my therapist, Dr. Photoshop Elements…)

Above are 3 pages: Kara’s baptism, some beach fun in Playa del Carmen last Thanksgiving, and David’s scout group in Mexico City last year. The kids’ books have 8.5 X 11inch pages, and our Mexico book will have 12X12inch pages.

Have a great week! Love, Kari

It Isn't Easy Being Green

Hola!

Here’s a plug for Earth Day, or Earth Week, or whatever it is…the kids brought home potted plants for picking up trash from the playground, and the city had an Earth Day awareness program last Saturday.

Now that gas is about $25.00 per gallon, maybe we can think more about consolidating our trips or carpooling more often. It’s easier to recycle when your town/city has a program for it and they pick it up from your curb. But even if you can’t do that, you can find other small ways to: RE-DUCE! RE-USE! RE-CYCLE!!

Dr. Seuss wrote “The Lorax,” who speaks for the trees. We have so many wasted reams of paper daily, from junk mail and newspapers. I read that the rain forests in Brazil are being cut down at the rate of a space the size of Connecticut PER DAY. We can at least try to recycle newspapers and junk mail.

Grocery stores are starting to push for bringing your own mesh or canvas bags to carry your groceries in, since SO many plastic bags go into the landfills daily.

Kermit the Frog may say, “It isn’t easy being green…” but it’s not that hard, either. Our earth is worth it!

Wonder-ful Weekend

Hola!
This was such a good weekend. Thought I’d stop and write down why.
First, Frank is home this weekend—yippee! It is so nice to just…have him here. I picked him up at the airport late Thursday night, then Friday he had a couple of conference calls scheduled, but in between…it’s just so good to have him here.
Then of course there was a scout campout Friday night, and what a great coincidence that he was home this weekend, and he could go on that with David (12). He turned around and left with the scouts Friday night. They hiked up a mountain to a “Bridge to Nowhere,” crossing the same icy river about 20 times. At midnight, in the dark and cold, in shorts and t-shirts…and we wonder why Frank has lost his voice by Saturday? Please…

But besides that, Kara was baptized Saturday. She was so beautiful, smiling the whole day, excited that her Grandma Kay (my mom) came to visit, and soaking in every detail of this neat, neat day for her. In the morning we drove to the church Bookstore, a tradition with my parents—now just my mom—to get the special grandchild getting baptized, her own set of scriptures and a case, with her name imprinted on them. Kara knew exactly the ones she wanted, a burgundy quad (With tiny print! She assured me she could read it just fine.) The "quad" has 4 books of scripture in one book.

Then we drove across the street to the temple, and walked around the grounds. The flowers are in full bloom; it is such a pretty setting.

At the church that afternoon, Kara was just beaming in her white dress to be baptized! She listened intently to the talks, the first (on baptism) given by my mom. Grandma Kay told how when she was a little girl (in Arizona), their church building was an old schoolhouse, and they didn’t have a font so they went to the public swimming pool for her to be baptized. They had just filled it, with cold water from the Colorado River! So Kara's grandma was baptized there, in the cold water.

Then Frank (Kara’s dad) walked with her into the water, and baptized her. I cried. This is my baby, the last one to be baptized…it was really neat! A wonderful service, and a very special day.

books, balmy, box step

Hola!

Another weekend, equals more days closer to spring and summer! (OK, I know, officially it IS spring.) Yesterday was amazing; I think it was over 90 degrees here. The kids went swimming, of course. First, it was a Library Day, followed by a Swimming Day.

Then last night was our church activity, a family dinner and Ballroom Dance Show. All in one day! Whew.

I bring up the dinner/Ballroom Dance Show activity, because that is my “job” right now in church, organizing the activities and making them happen. THIS time, we had a dance group come perform for us.

There is a group of high school students, all from this county so they are still pretty spread out, who ballroom dance. They practice every Saturday for 2 hours, and they perform each weekend for different groups around the county. It is quite a time commitment for them--they are really 'into it.' They also go each summer to BYU Ballroom Dance week, where they are taught by not only the university dance staff, but also national and international ballroom dance champions. Their show last night included the Charelston, different waltzes, the Tango, Fox Trot, and different routines to musical medleys: Fiddler on the Roof, Singin’ in the Rain, and Bye Bye Birdie. It was a really good show!

(Not to mention that because of my personal efforts, we did NOT run out of food. This is a very big deal, since my experience – or lack thereof – has not always yielded that result…Ha! I believe a good time was had by all.)

Frank, on the other hand, took a little road trip and drove…to MAINE yesterday! Yes, it was only a 2-hour drive or so. He said the kids would really love this drive—lots of lighthouses, and beaches with tide pools and rocks to climb. (OK, he didn’t actually see THIS lighthouse…but you get the idea.)

Have a great week! Love, Kari

(P.S. The kids swimming photo was actually a year ago in the Agua Azul River in Palenque, Mexico. I--gasp--did NOT take my camera to the pool yesterday!)

Happiness Is...

Hola!

I have been a little distracted lately. (Reality: I am the most distracted person I know.) I like to have a small semblance of control in my life (reality: Control Freak to the nth degree), but occasionally I find that there are a few things that are beyond the range of my control (reality: everything that happens from sun UP to sun DOWN…).

Given my state of mind lately, I have chosen to post a “Happiness Is” blog. Do you remember those 2 little naked people in the comics, who told us what Happiness Is...? Or maybe it was “Love is…” At any rate, this is a Count Your Blessings blog.

Happiness is…strawberries! It is strawberry season, and they are just delightful.

Happiness is…tortillas. I really could live on flour tortillas. (Even before we went to Mexico, they were one of my favorite foods.)

Happiness is…sleeping until your eyes open by themselves in the morning. If you didn’t set an alarm, and nobody woke you up, that…is heaven.

Happiness is…a hug. A heartfelt hug can brighten the dreariest day.

Happiness is…computers! No, really, when they work correctly, I get a lot of joy from email, editing and creating with photos, and more.

Happiness is…an unexpected call from an old friend.

Happiness is…no cavities!

I am also grateful for doctors, who have dedicated their lives to making life better for the rest of us.

I am grateful for forgiving friends, who may get a stressed response from me but later…they are still my friend.

I am grateful for teeth, transportation, and grocery stores. I am thankful for microwave ovens and

washing machines.

I love glass! Blown glass, glassware, artsy glass.

And I love that some people are so talented, they can hear a song in their heads and write it into beautiful ballads, concertos, musicals and operas, so the rest of us can enjoy the music.

We are very blessed. Of course this only scratches the surface, but even this short entry has made me feel better!

Happy Tuesday, love, Kari

Boston in Late Winter

Hola!

Wow, a whirlwind week! Last week was Spring Break for us, starting Good Friday and the week following Easter. I took the kids to Boston so we could visit Frank (yippee!) and see the area. Kara and I celebrated our birthdays on the planes…we flew out on hers (March 21), and flew back on mine (March 29).

We went to be tourists and to house-hunt, and we did a bunch of each. The kids thought it was a big slumber party, to sleep on mattresses on the floor in Frank’s apartment, and they each had opinions on the houses we looked at. We probably saw around 20 or so houses, not a huge selection at this point but we’re hoping more go on the market as spring progresses.

The “tourists” part was made much easier with the GPS in the rental car. Those things are like magic! “Stay to the right. Now exit Right.” “Make a u-turn if possible.” We had a good time just imitating the voice. (I know, I know, we should probably get out more…?)

Frank worked a couple of days of the week, and when he worked, I took the kids downtown to the Old North Church (one if by land, two if by sea), and Paul Revere’s House. I learn so much from those small museums. Paul Revere was a silversmith and married twice, and had 8 kids with each wife. 16 kids!

With Frank, we saw the U.S.S. Constitution, a.k.a.”Old Ironsides,” because cannonballs bounced off her sides and someone shouted “she has sides made of iron!” The name stuck. It is the oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world.

We also walked to Bunker Hill. Its monument is very similar to the pillar of Washington’s Monument in D.C. This one has 294 steps, and we climbed to the top for a fabulous view. Of course, Bunker Hill is actually Breed’s Hill, site of the first Battle of the Revolution. Whether by mistake or by design, the Revolutionary forces were ordered to go to Bunker Hill and went instead to the next hill over, Breed’s Hill. Supposedly this is where the order was given (not sure by whom): “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!”

**It should be noted that upon learning that we would soon be walking over to Bunker Hill, Kara (2nd grade) immediately started chanting the words her grandpa (“Papa”) always recited, with the kids bouncing on his knee: “I’m the king of Bunker Hill…I can fight and I can KILL” and then they’d fall down or get swung around in a circle, or whatever. The verse is forever ingrained in their brains, and while it is not quite politically correct…it does rhyme.

This is a teaser for you, so you will start planning your next trip to Boston and come visit us. Of course it was cold in March, but it surprised us by being sunny every day but one, when it really poured. Frank says “Don’t think all this sun is normal!” But it was a good week.

Here are some photos, since Jolyn introduced me to this new option on the blog.

ALSO: David (7th grade) has started a blog, where he highlights the Children’s Museum and the Aquarium we went to. (BTW, he mentions a 1000-gallon tank. Correction: it was a 100,000-gallon tank. You wouldn’t even believe this thing.) His blog is http://www.maxridewings.blogspot.com/ if you want to check it out.

Love, Kari