Fathers

I don't know if you have the same problem I do, but shopping for Father's Day gifts gives me an ulcer.

It's not just the fact that I have wracked my brain trying to come up with gifts for Erik's birthday just days before Father's Day, but it's also that he's the kind of guy that when he wants something, he just goes out and buys it.

A few days before Father's Day, my ulcer was flaring up because I had not a clue as to what to buy for him. When I asked him what he would like, he gave me his standard answer, "a gun and a motorcycle". Funny boy.

I eventually came up with a few ideas, but I wanted to give him something meaningful- something that would remind him of how important he is in our children's lives.

I remembered an idea that had seen before. On a blog? In a magazine? On TV? Not sure. But what I did know was that I knew exactly what I was going to do.

I took a picture of his and Ian's hands,

and with Isaac,
and Nicole.
Then I printed each photo out and put them in a three picture frame. It turned out better than I had hoped.

After Erik had opened all of his gifts, he picked up the picture and said, "This is my very favorite."

My ulcer was healed.

Summertime!

It's finally here! Can you believe it?

Are you in need of something to cool you off? I wanted to share with you a fun treat that we discovered.

Ice, Ice Baby.

It's a place that you would pass right by if you weren't specifically looking for it. It looks like any other shaved ice stand, except it's not!
It has some pretty unique treats and the prices are oh so reasonable!
The draw for me was custard and the cream....

I fell in love with custard a few years ago while visiting my cute friend back East. I was so happy to find this place right here in good old Utah, and even happier when I discovered this stand just down the street that serves custard too! Mmmmm, custard!
With custard on the bottom, cream on the top of whatever flavor shaved ice you choose- I'm telling you, it's heaven!
Some afternoon when you need a little treat, stop by Ice, Ice Baby and you won't be disappointed!

3701 S. Highland Drive

Flag Day

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!
~Thomas Jefferson

This Week

Happy Monday friends!

Here's a few things on my to do list this week...

Taste each flavor of 'Creamies' that are stocked in my freezer.
Hope and hope that the library calls with my book that is on hold.
I will read lots of blogs.
Sleep (it's something I crave more and more since I started working 12 hour shifts)

Work my way through 3 shifts at the hospital.
Enjoy my morning walks with my friend.
Enjoy sitting outside on the porch and around the fire pit at night with those I love most.
Kiss and hug my family!

It's going to be a busy week for sure. I don't know how I will keep up with it all.

What's on your to do list this week?

A special thank you to my in-laws for sharing roses from their garden! They are just what I needed to brighten up my kitchen!

Bugged

I know.

They give you the heebie jeebies don't they?

Remember how I mentioned something about bed bugs in a previous post? It has taken me awhile to even want to talk about it- but now that we are finished treating the house, I think it's time.

Shannon, this is for you. :)

A few weeks after returning from our vacation to Bryce Canyon, Nicole was kneeling by the side of her bed, pondering after saying her evening prayers. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something move on her comforter.

Upon closer examination, she noticed lots of tiny bugs crawling along the seam. She went and got her dad. He looked at them. Neither of them were too alarmed. So she went to bed.

Now there are several things wrong with what happened that night. I am sure that you can figure them out so I will not list them here. But I mean, REALLY?

The next day, Erik casually mentioned to me that I should look at Nicole's bed. There were some bugs all along one of the seams of her comforter. It took me less than a second to put it together. Bed and bugs. That's all I heard.

I immediately went to her room. There they were. Bed bugs.

Just to confirm my suspicion, I looked bed bugs up on the Internet. Yep. We had them.

We tore her room apart, washing everything we could and bagging the rest. We called an exterminator and set up an appointment for two days later (the soonest they could be there). In the meantime, Nicole took up residence in the family room, and I washed every single piece of bedding in the house and vacuumed like a mad woman.

After our initial treatment- where the whole house was sprayed, including every one's mattresses, I started to rest a little easier. We hadn't seen evidence of them anywhere else in the house.

The treatments in the beginning were every two weeks and then the 5 remaining treatments were scheduled a month apart. The reason? The bugs can only be killed when they are alive. So we had to make sure that we got them as soon as any eggs hatched.

For months, I checked the mattresses for signs of an infestation. But we never really saw any evidence of them other than on her comforter. I guess we caught them early on. Thank goodness Nicole is a good girl and says her prayers!

So here's a few things that we learned from this experience:

-Bed bugs are everywhere. Clean hotels, old motels, apartments, houses and even airplanes.

-Be smart. Don't put your luggage on the ground in your hotel room. Always keep it (and your clothing items) up off the floor.

-When you first arrive, check your hotel room for evidence of bed bugs and if you find them, asked to be moved to a different *floor not just another room. Look for dark tiny spots on the mattress (bed bug fecal matter) or for the bugs themselves (most likely along the seams of the mattress). Also, if your room smells sweet- like overripe raspberries, that's another sign of bed bugs.

* the reason you want to be moved to another floor is that if your room is infested, it is very likely that the room down the hall is as well. They tend to move horizontally from room to room.

-When you get home from any vacation, throw all of your items that are not being washed in the dryer. The heat will kill any bugs that have hitched a ride on your belongings. As for your suitcases, put them in the trunk of your car and park your car in the drive way on a nice sunny day. Bed bugs don't like heat.

-If you do find bed bugs in your home (and this one is hard to do), DON'T stop sleeping in that room. Bed bugs like the carbon dioxide that a sleeping person exhales. They are attracted to it. So if you move to another room, so will they.

There you have it. Our bed bug story. I don't think it will keep us from traveling, but we will definitely be more vigilant in checking our rooms out, and keeping things up off the floor.

I hope by sharing this, it will save you some grief and a lot of money. Only now do I understand the saying "Sleep tight- and don't let the bed bugs bite!" Nasty!

Perspective

I have a two-sided mirror in my bathroom. One side shows a reflection of things as they are, the other magnifies.

I can get lost in the magnified side. My pores look HUGE as do the little fine hairs on my face. I will find myself, plucking, trimming, squeezing and pulling until my face looks acceptable to me.

Today after washing my face, I looked in the mirror and all looked fine. Then I flipped it to the magnified side. I was horrified! Out came the hair trimmer, the tweezers and coverup.

What changed from when I looked at my face in the mirror to when I flipped it to the magnified side? Just my perspective.

I have found the same thing to be true in my life.

To me, I live life on the magnified side. Everything looks huge and messy and hairy. I can get lost in the 'huge pores' that are my problems. I get weighed down by the 'fine hairs' that others would never even notice.

I have few friends that I can confide in and can trust in their advice and perspective. They don't see me or my life in the same magnified way that I do. From their perspective, they can show me that things aren't really as ghastly or as nasty as I think they are.

During a morning walk, I shared an issue in our family that is weighing on my heart. My friend listened quietly. Then she pointed out something that I had never thought of before- or even realized that I was doing. Because I was so caught up in this issue, (too close to it perhaps) I was unable to see that I was contributing to the problem instead of helping to make it better.

I am so thankful for my friends. They are wise and sincere, honest and inspired. They help me to take a step back from the mirror and see things the way they are- which is usually much different than what I have convinced myself that they are.

Magnified mirrors definitely serve a purpose- to show you that missed black, wiry hair that has grown out of your chin overnight. But don't forget to take a step back and realize that when you examine anything too close, imperfections are sure to be found and those imperfections can make you want to crawl back in bed and never get out.

Thankfully we don't live under magnification. And whatever problems you have- there is always another way to look at them.

You just have to take a step back.

Motherhood

My Mother's Day gift from my mom (it's a picture of her when she was 2 1/2 years old- the little heart is from the necklace she is wearing in the picture)


Sitting down to write my annual Mother's Day card to my mom is always a daunting task.

How do you adequately put into words and express how you feel about your mom? It's something I struggle with every year.

But this year, I just let go. I sat down with the card and my pen and just wrote. It felt good not to worry if I was sounding too mushy or if my spelling was correct (which it probably wasn't). In the end, I felt that the card came close to saying what my heart was feeling at that moment.

After reading it, with tears in her eyes, my mom looked at me and said, "You give me too much credit."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "You were and are a wonderful mother. I owe you so much for all that you have taught me. Everything I learned about being a mother I learned from you."

The next day, Mother's Day, I was sitting in church listening to the youth of our ward speaking about their mothers. I started sobbing uncontrollably. The emotion of it all caught me quite off guard. I wasn't prepared for the feelings I felt as I listened to these children praising their mothers.

I felt inadequate. I felt like I was not as good as the other mother's I was hearing about. I felt like a failure. It was ugly. (The feelings I had inside as well as the snot and tears running down my face.)

I felt beaten down instead of feeling inspired to do better. I felt like there was no hope. During those few minutes, I had convinced myself that I did not deserve to be the mother of these beautiful children that God had entrusted to my care. I felt that I was not living up to His expectations. It was awful. It was all I could do to make it through the final two hours of church.

After church, Nicole gave me her Mother's Day letter.

Each line seemed to mend and soothe the self inflicted rips and tears that my tortured heart had endured during the meeting earlier that day.

"I feel the only way to truly thank you and to thank Heavenly Father is to be a mom just like you." she said.

It was the same thing that I had tried to say to my mom the day before (only she did a much better job of putting it into words). But as I read her letter, I had to stop myself when I noticed the same words my mom had said to me earlier starting to form in my mind, "You give me too much credit."

Being a mom is a hard job. But it is also the most amazing, wonderful, joyful, and fun job that one could ever have. And since there is no handbook that comes along with each child- it's one of those learn-as-you-go type of positions, we all just do the best we can. The problem comes when we start comparing ourselves to others. It is never a fair comparison either. It is always a comparison of their strengths to your weakness.

After reading Nicole's letter, I spent some time thinking about motherhood.

I am so blessed to be a mother. But I am not perfect. I am trying, but there are definitely days when I fall short. I truly believe that Motherhood is a partnership with God. And that is where I find my comfort. Where I fall short, He is there to pick up the pieces.

I am so grateful to be a mother. I am grateful for the lessons I have learned because of being a mom. I am grateful for the hard times and ever so thankful for the seasons of joy. Motherhood is a divine calling- and there is nothing I would rather be doing than raising my children.

Yesterday I learned that there is one who would have us feel as though we will never measure up, that we are not qualified, or good enough. But that is a lie. We are exactly the mothers our children need and deserve. God is counting on us to raise His children- He trusts us. And that is all we need to know. That is what keeps me motivated to try harder. To do better.

I am a mother. And it is oh so good.