What the Hair?

When James asked me to grow my hair out a few months ago, I told him I'd give it a try. I'm not usually big on long hair, mainly because I've been unhappy with my hair for as long as I can remember. Especially while living in Florida, it always looked like a huge, frizzy mess. Thankfully, living in Utah/Idaho has helped a lot. No humidity means a lot less frizz!

I've never cared much of styling my hair. I hate the smell of hairspray, and it never seemed to help much with all the little fly-aways. One thing really bothered me as I got older. What happened to the curls that I used to have?

Well, after Googling a little, I realized that I've been doing my hair completely wrong my entire life.

Mistake #1. I shampooed it every day. Nope! I should only be doing it every other day, or not at all.

Mistake #2. I never used conditioner because I didn't like the greasy feel. Turns out that I should use it every day.

Mistake #3. Brushing. Apparently, I shouldn't use a brush - EVER. Brushes are for straight hair only. Oops. Running conditioner through my hair with my fingers takes care of any tangles.

Mistake #4. Applying too much heat. I did notice that blow drying seemed to make things worse, so I didn't even own one until a few days ago. Using warm or cool is the way to go - not hot! I'm also not supposed to straighten my hair often, or it will ruin the waves and damage it. I knew that. I'm lazy and don't use it often anyway.

Mistake #5. Not styling with gel. Gel doesn't equal crunchy hair! It helps define the waves and eliminates frizz.

Yes, our webcam is horrible. :)

I have since corrected my mistakes, and I'm happy to say that I LIKE my hair for the first time ever! It takes about 10 minutes to "do" it every morning. That's really not too bad. I even made a few headbands to keep it out of my face. It's pretty nice not to have to worry about a part, and I can walk through light rain without worry about a frizz nightmare. Thanks again, Google! I now know how to take care of my WAVY (not straight, but not curly) hair!

Slowing Down

ready for Church!

I am grateful to my Heavenly Father these last two weeks for inspiring me to slow down. It's too easy for me to get caught up in the trivialities of running a household and forget about the most important part of my job: nurturing my children. There are hundreds of "good" things that I could be doing with my time, but I sometimes lose sight of what's the "best".

James gave me a sore throat that he picked up at school. Last week, I'd been despairing (quite literally) over my suddenly super-whiny children. Nothing I did seemed the make the difference for them. I felt that the extra time I set aside to care for them had been wasted, because it didn't seem to make a difference in their level of happiness. I couldn't even leave the room without Kenny screaming hysterically. I realize now that they probably picked up a mild version of the illness, not enough to get runny noses, but enough to have sore throats and be super grumpy.

Still, I'm glad that I was better prepared for it. I felt prompted to finish my blog about food storage. Simplicity was part of my original goal, so I figured that stopping at 35 posts seemed pretty reasonable. I've realized over time that my little hobbies do make a difference, but it doesn't mean that I'll always have the time to be perfect at all of them. I don't need my own cooking show, but I can provide nutritious, tasty meals for my family. I'm not worried about becoming a world-famous blogger; I just want to record what's happening in my life and what I'm thinking about. I'll certainly never finish my 15-generation pedigree chart, but finding one person at a time makes all the difference to that one person. The rest will have to wait for the Millennium, or at least until I retire. I don't use my keyboard as much as I should, but my boys love it when I sing to them and play songs. (It's one of the ways that I can get Kenny to laugh!)

I love this little face!

I've made many goals this year that I haven't gotten around to and probably won't. Some of my goals took a different direction that I thought they would. I felt a little guilty about the ones I didn't even touch, so I ripped that page out of my notebook and pretended that I never made them in the first place.


I guess my point is that when it comes to good, better, and best, and you only have enough time and energy for the best things, that's okay! The past 2 weeks have been a little like that. Though I haven't expended a lot of "creative" energy, my house isn't falling apart and my boys are happy and well. I've relaxed a little during this (mild) illness and taken advantage of my extra time when I would've been working out. (Because who works out while sick?) I painted my toenails and watched a chick flick while drinking mint tea with honey after the boys went to bed. Does life get better than that? Not much. :)

Treasure in Heaven

I've been reading in 3 Nephi recently. These verses took on new meaning this week.

Ch. 13

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

My family is my greatest treasure. I never realized it until I had my own children, but I would be lost without them. I grew up in a wonderful family that taught me everything I needed to know. I rejoice now as this family keeps growing.

I'm not perfect, but I'm doing my best at this job. My parents weren't perfect either, but they were the perfect parents for me. I hope that one day my children will say the same of me: I wasn't the perfect mother, but I was "good enough" to teach them everything they needed.

Earthly "things" don't matter so much. I used to think of treasure in heaven as only spiritual things. In a sense, it is. The family is both as spiritual and temporal creation. Physical bodies are temporal, but we are spiritual beings, sealed together in this life and the next. No one was meant to go through life alone. We will spend eternity with our families.

Nothing makes me happier than to have this knowledge. I love my family a lot. With such a treasure, I am truly rich.

Mothers Who Know

I know that everyone has heard this talk (well, members of the Church, anyway!) but I felt that I should read it today. Here's a quote that really stood out to me:

"Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying."

This quote is especially applicable to me right now. It gives me peace and reminds me that I'm doing the right thing.

Weekend Adventures

Well, today has not been my day. Both boys have been grumpy, which makes me grumpy. However, we had a very enjoyable Labor Day weekend. We did a little bit of exploring of the the cool stuff found in this area. There's a lot to do and see!

digging out bones with Joseph in the Dinosaur Museum

outside the museum in the gardens, the mighty stegosaurus

James showing off the allosaurus

The museum was one of the coolest I've ever been to! It shows a whole history of the earth and has a bunch of interactive exhibits. It's a good thing I believe in evolution, or it might not have been quite as cool. :)

Monday, we went on a short but grueling hike to see the petroglyphs. Coolest. Hike. Ever. (Though it definitely wasn't the easiest! I'm a wimpy hiker.)

driving up: you can see tons of layers of rock

a deer

warrior with shield

more people

yes, it's my other job

There were a lot more petroglyphs that I didn't even include, mainly because they're hard to see. We probably saw 100 pictures altogether. So cool! I don't love hiking, but I love the history that this area has and being able to see it. Now, why isn't gas cheaper?!