A laundry-folding man. 
I know, right? I didn't know that cool invention existed either!
And this:
And, yippee, five inches of this:
Get out yer shovels. (Well, not me. I stayed indoors like any smart person would.)
And these (a.k.a. Jenn poison):
Next we will feature our favorite Christmas gifts in a little blog segment I like to call, "Only time will tell if it was worth the money we spent."
Laura got a mini netbook (internet restricted) so she can type her stories. Did you know the great American novel--set to hit stores in the spring of 2018--is about dragons? 
My favorite gift was the coupon book Lincoln made for me. Very thoughtful, plus he knows me well. Here are the best ones:
One coupon for two "be quiets."
Three free "kids not wild."
One free "go downstairs." What? Only one?
3 free "no bouncing balls." Boy, do I hate those bouncing balls!
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 20, 2010
It's all about peace.
Last week, Steve and I were together at the mall doing a little Christmas shopping. We stopped in at Barnes and Noble for a bit. This book was on display:
We thought, "Interesting," and flipped through it. Essentially, it's the story of a Mormon girl who moves to New York as a young adult and experiences the world outside of Mormontopia for the first time. She begins to date an atheist and, subsequently, question her beliefs. The book comically depicts her journey from "blind" belief to disbelief.
In the last four years or so, I have had many close friends decide the church is not true. I keep in touch with them--they have blogs, they email me--and their stories parallel this author's journey, one in particular so closely, I wondered perhaps if she, in fact, wrote the book and used a pen name.
I can relate, in a way. About five or six years ago, I woke up one morning and had the terrible thought that perhaps I believed the church was true only because I had been told so as a child. That all the experiences I'd had that had "reinforced" this were all in my mind. For a couple of years afterward, I only saw the discrepancies in the scriptures, the flaws in the church. I didn't live any differently, though. I still went to church every week and fulfilled my calling. I felt as spurred on as ever to teach my kids the gospel. But I wondered and doubted. And I felt really yucky and anxious deep down inside.
Then one night I had an experience that confirmed to me once and for all that the church is true--that the inconsistencies and flaws serve a purpose, that if everything appeared perfect then there would be no test and no need for faith. And suddenly everything made sense. I felt overwhelmed with peace. The peace that only comes from God and cannot be had by any other man-made source.
Since then I get frustrated whenever I hear a friend's argument, maligning the church on some issue or another. I get irritated when I see books like the above pictured. Because as logical as their arguments sound, there is no peace in it. Not for me. Not for them. I just think all my friends deserve peace. Not just the temporary satisfaction that comes from their embittered, intellectual conclusions.
Last week we were in Nauvoo. I retrieved my camera, and while Steve was doing a session, I drove the kids around and took pictures of them. It was a beautiful, blue-skied day. In the 30's (practically Spring weather). No wind. No cars. No people. Seriously deserted. Quiet. Everything decorated for Christmas. Just me and my kiddos and the temple as a backdrop. A day of peace.
Everything dusted in snow.
Bows and boughs.
They saw some cows and went to get closer.
Then walked back to the car. It was cold.
Little cabin and covered wagon backdrop. Really, really glad we're not pioneers. We love our heated van.
In front of the temple gates.
This is the life, I tell you.Thursday, December 9, 2010
I almost lost my mind, but then I got it back again. (Also, Noelle's birthday.)
I left my camera at the Nauvoo temple, so I haven't blogged in a while. I guess my camera is kind of a blogging crutch for me.
Anyway, these pictures are not my own.
A few years ago a strange man broke into our neighbor's house and even went so far as to explore the house while they were sleeping, looking into their bedrooms. Imagine waking up to that...luckily the husband was home. I'm pretty sure they were freaked out because I was, and it didn't even happen to me. We thought, very seriously for a solid week afterward, about getting a dog. But then I realized that I would rather put up with one night of a burglar than twenty years of dog crap, and that settled that.
Except Laura really wants a dog. And she keeps asking for one for Christmas. And she thinks I'm a bad mom because I won't let her get one. She has told me that repetitively with tears in her eyes, just for emphasis.
A few weeks ago we found this little guy:
I lost my mind when I saw this picture. We researched a little bit and thought it would be a good idea to finally get a dog.
We were about five minutes away from writing the check.
And then my senses returned to me. Potty-training a dog in the middle of the night in the middle of winter? What was I thinking???
Instead, for Noelle's birthday, we bought her a toy resembling this:
It yaps and walks around and is soft and cute. It has an off-button and it doesn't poop. We bought this little dog house for it, too.
This fake dog has surprisingly received a warm reception from all. Almost like it is the real thing. Who knew? And it only cost $15. That's 1% of what it was going to cost us to get a puppy for the first year. Seriously, any idiot could write out a list of pros and cons and still come to the same conclusion that I did.
Also...
Four-year-old Noelle is the best! She gets so excited about any little pink thing. She just wanted a princess balloon and pink cupcakes. How easy is that? I decided to try to make this supposedly amazing frosting for the cupcakes, literally took all morning making white sauce, chilling, beating butter and sugar and flour and milk for, like, 87 minutes, I don't know. They were supposed to look like this (only pink):
For once, I was glad my camera was MIA because my cupcakes did not look like that. I'm not sure why I keep trying to make my life harder than it is with these occasional attempts to imitate Martha Stewart, but I'm pretty sure Noelle would have been more than happy with the Betty Crocker canned frosting.
Tell me what you really think.
I found this "character sketch" Lincoln wrote about his brother yesterday. It goes like this:
Isaac is 7 years old, but what's really surprising is that he's amazing at building. He's little, smart, short, and has glasses and a little round head. With his building skills, he built an awesome spaceship. He's nice, but he has a bad temper. Once, when we were walking home, he was mad, so he stopped and wouldn't walk unless I was 10 feet ahead of him. He's a fun brother. I most of the time like him. (Not the angry little monster, though.)
I thought this was a very accurate observation. Especially the "little round head" part.
Full steam ahead...
