Saturday is a special day..

...it's the day we get ready for Sunday, but along with that, we have a few other things to get done today.

• Buy fruit for the relief society birthday breakfast. CHECK
• Help set up the breakfast. CHECK
• Eat yummy breakfast with great gals. CHECK
• Go on visits. CHECK
• Wash the smashed bannana and lasagna residue off the couch covers. CHE- not done yet, but I SO love being able to throw these kinds of messes into the washing machine, and as soon as I move the current load to the dryer, I will be doing that.
  
• Break up the war that brooklyn and diego have declared on each other today. CHECK.
• Early naptime. CHECK!
• Sigh about how lovely it would be to have a furnished dream home and new car in Sonoma.
  
• Clean my house for just in case the HGTV camera crew pops by this week to tell me I won their 2009 Dream Home Sweepstakes. - Whoa, I better get to work.

Here's a picture of our future home. Pending the big win, of course.
( courtesy of HGTV)

Thank YOU!

100 ways I have been blessed by the kindness of others:

1. You always kept the cookie jar stocked for our visits.
2. You read to me even when I was plenty old enough to read for myself, just because I liked to hear what was so funny about the book you were reading.
3. You took an entire week of leave from work every year to help wrangle immature kids putting on a play.
4. You always let me pick something special from the produce section at the store.
5. You made me a fort under your desk.
6. You always had glazed doughnuts ready to eat after church on fast Sunday.
7. You still get me extra presents and say they are from Santa.
8. You bought me piano lessons.
9. You took me out on sister outings
10. You scratched my back before bed.
11. You let me come have the time of my life at your house two summers in a row.
12. You gave my shoulder rides.
13. You let me come to school with you when I was 5. It was so GREAT!
15. You proudly brought me to work each year for bring your daughter to work day.
16. You drove me everywhere!
17. You made me lemon pepper chicken, even though it was the most expensive kind.
18. You made me alien finger puppets, and a crochet space ship to play with on the big move to California.
19. You always took me out to the latest Disney movie, and then to whatever restaurant had the matching kids meal toys for my birthday.
20. You had me over just to teach me how to make pineapple upside-down cake.
21. You wouldn't let me quit at young womens when I wanted to.
22. You welcomed me like I was already a loved member of your ward.
23. You brought a bag of surprise christmas presents, more than once.
24. You made sure I had babysitting jobs so I could pay for my fancy show choir.
25. You took me to my first job interview, and told me it would be fine.
26. You wrote me the sweetest card when I had Brooklyn.
27. You are a stranger, but you brought me back to shore when I got caught in a rip tide after the life guards went off duty. (sorry mom and dad, I didn't think it would do any good worrying you about that at the time :) )
28. You listened to the spirit, and saved us from many things.
29. You made is mickey mouse pancakes.
30. You took me to Disneyland.
31. You took me to Disneyland, too.
32. You took me to sea world.
33. You took me to the zoo, and bought me an annual pass.
34. You got me treats at the snack bar where you worked.
35. You took us swimming all summer.
34. You took me out to try a blizzard, and didn't mind when I wanted a dipped cone instead.
35. You are SUCH a great friend!
36. You made crustless pumpkin pie for us to share. yummy!
37. You sat next to me in seminary, and have been my friend ever since.
38. You came to my choir concert.
39. You four snuggle me every day!
40. You planned the coolest prom.
41. You made my prom dress.
42. You whipped up my pretty purple formal in a matter of hours.
43. You helped me add sleeves to my choir dress.
44. You didn't think you were too mature to be friends with a teenage girl.
45. You gave me a home/family for a summer, and a job for 2 years.
46. You treated me like a sister.
47. You always did fun things with me, like gluing a puzzle to a water melon.
48. You and I made the craziest cakes.
49. You cried with me when I had a broken heart.
50. You never embarrassed me with the "let's just be friends" line, but actually showed me you wanted to be friends by your friendship.
51. You were the BEST roommates.
52. You let me use the extra meals on your card when my 1 a day meal card was empty.
53. You were patient when I had no idea you were asking me out.
54. You prepared pretty much everything I needed for college.
55. You made me quilt for school.
56. You sent me a lot of letters when I went away to Rexburg.
57. You are the reason this list had to be 100 instead of 50.
58. You didn't tease me about falling on my rear while puddle stomping.
59. You made me the cutest valentine.
60. You invited me, my roommates, and FHE brothers to thanksgiving.
61. You had me over for Sunday dinner every week.
62. You gave that scruffy looking boy who came to take me on a date a good, long stare, just like a dad would have.
63. You made me beautiful cedar chest, just like the ones you made for your daughters.
64. You pitched in and tied up many loose ends to make my reception beautiful.
65. You helped in the kitchen for HOURS without being asked.
66. You helped me pack up my room for college.
67. You invited us to Washington for EFY.
68. You made us feel like family, just because we were renting your basement.
69. You have treated me like a real daughter since the minute we met.
70. You cooked me a bag of chicken to keep in the fridge, so I wouldn't have to cook meat when I had morning sickness.
71. You always said positive things about my piano skills, even though I rarely practiced enough.
72. You spent the first 5 minutes of my piano final helping me figure out how to get liquid foundation out of my carpet.
73. You didn't date a million other girls while you were dating me.
74. You took me to Yellowstone with your family.
75. You were, and are patient when my emotions go hormonally haywire.
76. You went to the store in the middle of the night when I was craving steak and ranch dressing.
77. You made an extra point to tell me I was beautiful when I was pregnant.
78. You took off work to come to prenatal appointments whenever possible.
79. You taught me how to drive.
80. You deal beautifully with my nervous back seat driver habits.
81. You make dinner when I haven't thought about it, and it is past 6:30.
82. You always help me organize something when you visit.
83. You gals went on walks with me every morning.
84. You are a great visiting teaching companion.
85. You are so proud of that funny little associates degree I got.
86. You all take a nap at the same time so I can nap with you.
87. You frequently call to chat. I love that.
88. You are always up for something fun.
89. Your cute laugh makes me laugh.
90. You promised to be with me forever, and you mean it.
91. You let us use one of your air conditioners in the HOT summer.
92. You take care of me when I'm sick.
93. You always have something nice to say.
94. You always tell me when you like a comment I make.
95. You let me go to Spain to sing.
96. You are the sister I never knew I was missing.
97. You treat me like a daughter, instead of a pesky in-law.
98. You will drive any distance to visit us.
99. You brought me on an impromptu adventure to see MoTab.
100. You have done 100,000 other things that I can't put all here, and that many more that I don't even know about.

Dentist

Time for Brooklyn's check-up and Diego's first trip to the dentist chair.

Brooklyn held super still for the x-rays, exam, and fluoride treatment. However, she was expecting the fluoride to REALLY taste like strawberries, but I guess it wasn't what she expected because when she saw this picture, she said it was like "a gross strawberry that died."

You wont see Diego in that chair, since the 10 seconds he opened his mouth for the dentist to count his teeth had me too busy to take pictures. He was fascinated enough to stay and watch Brooklyn's check-up.

Thanks to the nice staff, and this great treat basket, I'm hoping Diego's next trip will be a little more productive!

No cavities!

Draper Temple Open House

The kids were SO excited about the open house for the new temple in Draper! First we watched a quick video at the church where we parked, then we were bussed to the temple. After the tour, there were cookies and water in the visitors center, then a bus ride back to the cars. It was quite the adventure for the kids!





In case you didn't catch that, here are their favorites:
Brooklyn: Um, the bus that we're on right now.
D: To see all the cows and where people could get baptized.

There are not REALLY cows inside the temple. The 12 oxen that hold up the baptismal font represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Here's roughly what it looks like:

Thoughts: How morbid can I be?

So, I was daydreaming the other day about going to Time out for Women. Cherrie Call would be performing, and by some fantastic twist of fate, I would get to sing one of her songs with her. And I would remember all the words and be so familiar with singing it(from all the times I sing her songs in my car, and while putting the kids to sleep, of course) that it would actually sound decent. Granted, not as cool as Cherrie Call herself, and even in my daydream I imagined people thinking "some people think they can sing, but probably shouldn't", but still it was adequate enough that it wasn't completly mortifying, and Cherrie was nice and very encouraging.
Very quickly, my mind gave me the reality check of "YEAH RIGHT! Not unless you contract advanced terminal cancer and someone in high musical places pitties your tragic existance enough to call in huge favors" And the daydream part of my mind agrees, "Yeah, that's probably true."
Which brings me back to the title. How morbid! Luckily, some other secondary reality check in my brain kicked in, "You can't live your life secretly hoping for someone else to make your life what you want it to be. Make -A-Wish is for people who don't have enough life left to pursue their own dreams, YOU have plenty of life to pursue talents and dreams. You just have to get crackin'!"

So of all the times I have thought of the terminal cancer scenario, this was the first time the other, clearly more healthy thought had a say in the discussion. Which brings me to something I have been thinking about a lot. Watch your thoughts! I've been trying to monitor my thoughts and really try to take control of what thoughts I let hang around, and what I should be pushing out. The Make-A-Wish idea that has been an icon on by brain's desktop is getting a little click and drag to the recycling bin, which will be emptied. Ooh, my brain as a personal computer...now there's a metaphor i'll be exploring. Decluttering the desk top, defraging the drive, anti-virus software, ... so much potential there. I just can't resist a good metaphorical hiatus.