A Vacation, A Calling, and a Crazy Idea

Wow. It's been quite the few weeks, and I even have pictures to share!

We left for Rexburg last Wednesday and arrived that evening around 5. It was a great drive. We decided to take the back road through Wyoming, and it took us through Star Valley (sorry, family, for not stopping by!) and Swan Valley, ID. It was a gorgeous drive. The kids were pretty good until about 4 p.m. Joseph had barely fallen asleep when Kenny woke him up, so they were both really grumpy for the last hour.

James and I attended his parents' marriage class. We went to the whole 7 weeks last year, and it was a wonderful class. I recommend it to anyone. This lesson was a great review on anger. I need to work on controlling mine much better. I felt like I had improved, but then I had another kid. :)

James and Joseph went with his mom to I.F. the next day to run errands. I spent the morning relaxing in the quiet. Joseph may be one person, but he's not super quiet! James and I went to D.I. while the kids were napping. We scored a kid bike trailer and a bike rack to hook onto our car, so we were able to bring back the other bike. Too bad it's snowing, or we would've gone on a family bike ride by now. We had dinner that night at Big Jud's with James's parents and Sam and Jesse.

Friday morning we went to Bear World. It's not super cheap, but James's mom paid. It was well worth it to go on the fun little rides with Joseph. He loved the train, of course. We had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Lee. Melodie and I went to a Relief Society retreat with the ward, and it was a lot of fun. I took Kenny, and he was an angel. Too bad the kid next door kept crying at midnight. I came home really sleep deprived. It was like one big sleepover with my old ward. I loved catching up with everyone.

Saturday night we watched Avengers (best comic book movie I've seen so far!) but I fell asleep. The sisters had a Halloween dance, and they woke me up at 1 a.m. I was not pleased. Somehow, I managed to go back to sleep.

After church, we packed up and drove home. It was a much better drive than on the way up. We took the Salt Lake route. I fell asleep for some of it. The boys napped for 2 hours and were angels. I love those little guys. We made it home around 9 and put them straight to bed, then went to bed early ourselves. Traveling wears me out and stresses me out quite a bit. It's great to be home.

It's been an uneventful week. We had our first snow yesterday and I've just been doing my normal thing.

I am now the Relief Society pianist! It's been great to learn hymns, and 2 a week is perfect. I love getting to know new songs. It's too bad that I can't sing along, because our R.S. is a little (okay, maybe a lot) off key. I guess pianists are hard to find in my ward, so I'm happy to be needed! (My ward last year had about 10 piano-players, so it was easy to find people to play. Here, not so much, and the R.S. president had to sub for me last week!)

I've been a little discouraged about my post-babies/nursing mom body. Yes, I wear my original size, and I only have an extra 5 lbs. or so, but it just isn't budging with 4-5 workouts a week and pretty healthy eating. James and I are going to join the rec center, and I'm going to start learning to swim (since I'm horrible) and work on my endurance with running. I said I'd never do it, and I'll probably never run faster than a 9-10 min. mile because of my short legs, but I need to do something more. I don't think I'll race against anyone but myself, because I just wasn't built to run fast. I think I'm crazy for even trying, because I haven't run since 9th grade. My teacher passed me out of the goodness of his heart because I was unable to run 2 miles in 20 minutes. (I still had 1/4 of a mile to go, and I was trying my hardest after intense training for 9 weeks.)

Joseph and Uncle Joseph

me, because "Mom stays in the picture"

Kenny loving his paci

little shorty isn't quite 3 feet tall

the bear family

fun ride

another fun ride

We'll see how this goes! If anyone has good advice, I would like to hear it (cousins reading this!)

On Politics and Baby Food (Rant-Free)

I promise that this is not a political rant! Nor is it all the things that people say on Facebook that simply hate on the other party. Bear with me: sometimes my thoughts get a little jumbled as I try to put things on "paper", but I've been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about these elections and how to deal with all the negativity going around.

I've felt somewhat complacent about political issues in the U.S. Many of them do not seem clear cut to me even after reading about both sides, and I don't believe everything I hear. After all, news stations are clearly biased toward one party or another. How can people really say that they know the "truth" and that the other party is completely wrong, ignorant, and/or plain evil? Although I live in Utah now, which is a very conservative state, the extreme conservatism that I hear really bothers me sometimes. There is a lot of assumption going on about the "other" party, whichever that may be. I see hateful memes and messages about our current president almost every day. Although I may not agree with everything he does (or when I'm just indifferent), I just can't seem to justify how people would compare him to "the devil" or say that he is anti-American...or perpetuate rumors that have been proven false about him. How does trying to bring the other party down give any credit to your own?

Where can we find "the truth"? I think we've forgotten. Logic does play an essential role is discovering the truth of all things, but where logic fails to explain things, we need to have faith and rely on the Spirit to teach us. This country is facing a lot of challenges right now. I don't have any idea how to fix them. It's not in my stewardship to take care of the whole nation. Regardless of the outcome of any election, I'm not going to have a fit about it, because I know the truth through the Spirit. If the devil himself really were the president of this country, I would still be proud to be an American, because I know that God is really the one in charge. Ultimately, he will not let evil win. I don't think that all evil is found in ONE leader. Nor is all the good.

From an LDS mom's standpoint, I can still do my part in solving the big issues, even if it's just a drop in the ocean.

I'll never go to war and I can't solve the ones we have, but I can promote peace in my own home: the peace that comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I can't get rid of national debt, but I can certainly start in my own home by getting rid of ours. We're already working on becoming more self reliant.

Abortion and gay marriage have not affected me or my immediate family directly, but I can instill in my children the values taught by The Family: A Proclamation to the World. I can't change the decisions made by others, but I'm not afraid of offending anyone when I stand for what I believe. How would that trample on anyone else's rights? They have their agency. It's my duty to share my knowledge of what I know to be true, whether they accept it or not.

Don't want to pay income tax? Just be a stay-at-home mom. If I did work, I would sustain and uphold the law. I can't say how to fix this economy, but I'll never break a law, even if it seems unfair to my middle-class family.

I can't make more jobs for others, but I can find fulfillment in my own as a mother. Someone who needs my teaching job more than I do can certainly have it.

I can't fix the problems with education, but I can educate my own children. Whether I send them to public school or not, they are still going learn the Gospel and the most important lessons at home. Having been in public schools, I know that most of their problems come from a lack of good family structure anyway!

The environment needs my help. I don't know how to take care of oil drilling, but I do know that I can conserve in my own household. I look at the positive side: God made us a beautiful world to enjoy! I do enjoy it, no matter how the electricity gets in my house.

Healthcare for others isn't something I can do much about, but I can keep my own family healthy by living The Word of Wisdom to the best of my ability (therefore avoiding the need for much healthcare!)

I have faith in the American people. Many do not live with the constant guide of the Spirit as I do. I can't judge them by their political decisions when they lack the guidance that I've had. I don't condemn them for voting differently because I can, from a logical standpoint only, see why.

These are things that I know to be true, not just because of logic, but because the Spirit has testified of their truth to me. I have pondered the big issues many times, but I don't think there's one way to fix them. That's why I'm starting with my home.

No matter how this election turns out, I will follow God in my daily life. Nothing will change in the way I worship. He's taking care of this world and country. We have no need to fear as long as we're doing our best to follow Him.

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On a completely unrelated note, Kenny is doing especially well with baby food and seems to really like it. Despite my best efforts to produce a chubby baby, I just ain't got it in me. He didn't gain anything between 4 and 6 months, so he's in the 2nd percentile on weight. The dr. is going to weigh him again next month to make sure he's okay. I just have to remind myself that he's fine. No baby who sleeps 11 hours at night and is happy and active could possible be starving to death. He has his moments, sure, but he's a great baby, and we are really glad to have him in our family. I hope he gains even just a little bit, but I think he's going to be a little guy. I'm okay with that. I'm sure he will still be taller than me when he grows up!

When You Make Plans...

...life hands you a baby who doesn't want a nap.

It's been a long week.

Where did all my sunshine go? :( Not a fan of waking up at 6:30 when it's still dark!

The Simple Life RETURNS!

It's been one heck of a week in the Head household. I'm used to a pretty laid-back schedule. I almost never leave the house while James is at work, and I'm totally cool with that.

We hosted James's whole family, minus his dad, who is in Ecuador. They arrived last Saturday and left today. We did a lot together, ate lots of yummy food, and had fun introducing his siblings to Star Trek: Enterprise.

I enjoyed the Relief Society broadcast last Saturday night. I wish I would’ve paid more attention, but that’s hard with a little boy who keeps doing cute things. My neighbor Chelsie came with us. There was dessert afterward, and it was yummy.

Other highlights:

Thrift stores: Okay, so one is a pawn shop. I found some hooks for the boys’ room and Melodie bought us a couch—our first ever---for the living room! I washed the covers and we vacuumed it out. It’s really comfy!

Dinosaur stuff. You just have to when you’re in Vernal.

The park.

The temple.

A date with free babysitting. We sure miss that.

I also got a calling. I’m nervous, but excited. I will share once I am actually sustained, so you have to wait 2 weeks. Let’s just say that I really need to practice. J

4 loads of laundry later, the house is just about back in order. I’m loving this gorgeous weather. I want it to stay forever. I can’t wait for Conference!

Also, my brother Christian is HOME from his mission. I can’t believe it’s been 2 years. Joseph was just a baby when he left. Kenny is 6 months old as of today, so we’re heading to the dr. to see how little he is. (Definitely not big: that child is a bean pole!)

And that is all. Enjoy the pictures.

Auntie Anna with Joseph at the park

Grandma and Kenny

This makes me happy!

Love this boy.

Uncle Joseph

wall of bones/ dinosaur quarry

Aunt Angie 

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.