Here it comes...

Great news!

I'm old!!  Benson was accepted to BYU-Idaho!  He's known for at least 6 months this was the only place he wanted to go, so he's pretty happy.

At the moment he only has one class needed to graduate, US Government.  So being the typical senior, this semester he also threw in Foods, Guitar, Seminary, a college credit math class (YES! I LOVE FREE COLLEGE CREDIT) and he's doing an internship.

His field of interest is in Psychology, so for his internship he'll be working at a center for special needs kids with counselors.  Great experience.

Here's the clincher... BYU-Idaho permanently assigns your semester tracks and Benson's assignment is January through July.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Pretty different than the typical summers off.

My thoughts?
1.  Less Idaho snot freeze with only spending half the winter up there.
2.  More time to $ave before school. I suggest a full time job plus a few night classes.
3.  He's ready to go NOW, but he doesn't start for a year?  Oh, boy.  This year might be tough.
4.  He'll turn 19 a year from July, so he'll leave soon for his mission after he gets home from his first year.  That's probably good.

My feelings?
1.  What?!?!?!  How did this happen so fast?
2.  Who will wake him up when his alarm goes off for an hour straight? (probably an annoyed roomate)
3.  How do you give permission for part of your heart to up and leave?
4.  We need to figure out how to moonlight something to afford this.  I'm thinking koolaid stands all over town. 
5.  I'm old!

I can feel the course of his life taking off, and under the best of all circumstances.  His testimony is strong, and he's headed into an exciting part of his life with enthusiasm and confidence.  Is there anything greater?

Yeah, doing it 5 more times after Benson. (fingers crossed I'll survive this)

This is so pinteresting.

Aren't you just the least bit pinterested?

I became pinterested just before Halloween and am thrilled there is a way to personalize the internet for ME.  Have you done it?  Want to know more?

This is a revolutionary website, exploding this past year.  Users create boards dedicated to certain topics -recipes, interior design, weddings, photography, for example- and then "pin" images there. Users can upload their own photos, pin items from around the web or repin posts from others.  "Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web," the site states. "You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

Here is a sample of what I've been "pinning":

Photography Ideas.  I really liked this pose and wanted to remember it, so I "pinned" it.  One click.  Added it to a category I created (a menu choice popped up) and wahlah.  I can always come back and find it again.

Christmas Idea.  I saw this on Pinterest and decided it was perfect to make and give away to neighbors for Christmas this year.  See?  I don't just pin ideas, I DO THEM, TOO.

For the Home Idea.  We just might be crazy enough to do this in our stair area.  We have the room, and by the time we run out of kids to slide down, we'll have grandkids.  Bonus: me, in a hurry.  Sliding.  Yes.

Food Glorious Food.  There are so many I have pinned.  But who doesn't have their spirit moved by grilled cheese croutons in their roasted tomato soup?

Or pumpkin pie for individual servings?

Humor?  I have a board for it.  Of course.

Smart ideas?  Pinned em.

Quotes? I've got plenty.

Dreamy home ideas.  Ya gotta dream em to do em.

I could go on.  And on.  I think I've pinned hundreds of things to my pinboard.  You aren't just pinning pictures, but it automatically has a link to the original site the idea comes from.  SO COOL. 


And it's not just for the ladies.  I see plenty of men on there, including my son.  Why?  It's for everyone and any interest.  It's searchable.  You can see what your friends are pinning and then repin it for yourself or anytime you come across ANYTHING online you want to come back to later, you click your pin button like it's an EASY BUTTON.


Is it addicting?  Only if you can't stop looking at all the beautiful and smart ideas.  Come check out my boards.  I can't wait to see yours!


P.S.  And no, I won't actually put the bike in my bathroom.  But if Michael pins it...

Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned From the Gym

1.  A trainer is someone who makes you work so hard you have no energy to rebel.  This might be helpful to think of parenting in this regard.

2.  You have a right to occupy space in the gym, no matter what level you are.  This applies to church and education, too, btw.

3.  Don't spit on the track.  (It wasn't me, p.s.)  Other people don't need to run in your muck.  If you got muck, get rid of it properly.

4.  Even though it's tempting to look at other people's treadmill display and either laugh or cry.... don't compare.  Everyone is pushing at their individual edge.

5.  Sign up early for the crazy hard classes. It might seem insane to sign up for pain, but if you are going to make an effort, make it count!

6.  Who cares what you look like.  In fact, you don't want to know what you look like.  Think sweat marks. Flushed face. Stumbling. Two hours after swimming I still saw goggle marks, WHAT?!

7.  Get your workout done early.  Go before you are actually awake enough to protest.

8.  You have a body.  Use it.  Even if you only have teensy tiny muscles.  It's still a miracle and a beautiful thing for a body to be in motion.  Exercise it so it can give you even more.

9.  Stretch and drink lots o' water.  You'll likely become best friends with the bathroom, so get cozy.

10.  Never give up.  I almost left a class yesterday to go chuck, but I knew that if I left I'd never come back.  Hang in there, find some inner strength, and slow down if you need to... but don't give up.


All this and more I have learned from my 15 days so far at the gym.  15/100 (100 is my goal).... and I am pretty sore.  But I've been promised it gets better.  I hope so since I can't even get in or out of the car gracefully today.

BOO YAH.

Wiiiiiii!!!!!!!

"Just Dance" (Wii) + disco ball in the family room = Some rockin' parties at our house

I bet you didn't know classically trained violinists can ROCK IT.  These are some friends from the Motab orchestra that I carpool with.  (We even had a sleep over.  Like we were 11 all over again, they showed up with sleeping bags and pillows. Squeal!)

But just in case you think we party at our house constantly, we don't.  It just slipped my mind to take pictures of people whining about sorting socks or cleaning the bathroom.

As a recovering perfectionist, I should totally do that.  Watch for the Whining About Chores post... and I can hear it already, "aw, mom! are you putting that on the blog??!!" (Did I just discover a new blackmail technique?)

PARTY ON.

The Start of Something Beautiful

This weekend we stole away to California for a friends' wedding.  Totally magical and amazing.  Once upon a time Michael and I were married in the Oakland Temple so this revisit was long overdue.  We spent a day tromping around San Fransisco and having a blast with our friends.  Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, a Cable Car, and Chinatown.

But the next day held the best treasures.


The wedding itself was emotional for everyone, lots of tears, so beautiful.  

The sealer said something that has been ringing in my ears.  "The union of this couple has quite literally begun a kingdom.  Within 11 generations the numbers of posterity will reach a billion."

A billion? W.O.W. I never looked at it quite like that before.


Following the ceremony, Michael and I made our way to the very spot he proposed to me, just over 19 years ago.  I remember feeling that I was committing to the total unknown, and how thrilling and scary that was all at once.  I did know that Michael was solid and that I could face this Unknown if he were with me at my side.  We talked about our future children and how we wanted to create our new life together.


Fast forward 19 years.  That was fast.  No, really fast.


Our lives are nothing like I expected and yet exactly as I had expected at the same time.  Our story is unfolding and I think being with Michael was a pretty good plan. It's come with difficulties and moments of pure joy. Far more of both than I could have imagined when we started all of this, right there in that very spot.

I just can't fathom the billionth part.

Mission Impossible

The power of the little people.

A few weeks ago, the neighbor kids (including my Aubrey and Jack) were all walking home from elementary school together when they came across an object set out on the street for pickup by the city.  Or for by pickup by interested parties.

So they banded together as an interested neighborhood party and hauled this baby up the steepest, longest hill in our city to get it to our street.  All 6-8 of them working together, I SO wish I had had my camera. 

Truth:  I'm kinda jealous of the neighbor who got to have it on their back porch, and maybe even more jealous of the long term bragging rights they'll have all their lives. 

New Year Cheer

Three cheers for a new year!

I actually like making new year's resolutions, but a have anxiety about keeping them.  A few doosy years will do that to one's New Year Self-Esteem.

BUT.  So far, I've worked out for 7 days.  (That means I beat the Resolution Rush and started the end of December) I'm going for 100 this year.  I'm only 7/100ths there!  I have a kinda-personal-trainer that takes no excuses and makes me sweat not so cute.  I'm learning to blow nose bubbles in the pool.  I found out an elliptical machine does not work your lips. Best of all I'm finding out my will power needs to build it's muscles just like anything else.

Now. Guess what else I'm going to try to do?  Blog a lot.  Like maybe every day.  Get that brain purged, short and sweet.  Like brain exercise. Maybe I'll call it working out on the wordical.  Elliptical.  You get it.

What's that?  An echo of myself talking?  Anyone out there?  Even better.  It'll be like shouting crazy words into a canyon, just to hear me myself and I.

JUICY FROGS!!

(see?  no one cared! and it sounded cool)