Eat Pray Love

So. Been gone for a while from my little blog. I've been reading a lot: The Help, Northanger Abbey, Eat Pray Love, The Potter and the Clay, The Glass Castle, and I'm currently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I haven't been blogging-I've been reading instead!

But what better time to do some writing than at the beginning of the year?  Of course I have some new goals, but first I want to review last year. My goals are here.  And how did I do?  Well, let me tell ya!

Attend the temple every month. I didn't make it every month, but I did better than the year before.

Earn my honor bee. Well, I did all the work for it, but now that I'm not in Young Women's any more, I don't know if I'll get the official token. But it's nice to know that I did the work to earn it.

Be more financially fit. Done and done.  I still haven't done any investing on my own, but we've been a lot better with our money.

Laser eye surgery. Read about my experience here.

Exercise. Again, a little hit and miss with this. But trying is the thing, right?

Learn to play a new instrument. Nope. Right now I just don't think I have the time to take lessons. This might have to go on a future goals list or something.

Last year my motto was "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!"

This year's motto is....drum roll please...

Eat Pray Love

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

I mentioned reading the book Eat Pray Love.  I really enjoyed reading it, and there were some things that resonated with me.  No, I'm not going to go travel the world. But these are three areas in which I need to work.  And here is my plan.

First, EAT.  To be honest, I eat...not like I should eat. I love me some chocolate, and Coke! A couple of months ago some ladies in my ward did a health challenge, and I thought it sounded really great. So my family and I are going to do this, starting tomorrow.  Here are the things in the challenge: sleep for 7 hours each night, eat 3 servings each of fruits and veggies every day, exercise for at least a half hour every day, no sugar, drink 64 oz. of water every day, and no eating after 8 p.m. It's a point system, and whoever wins (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) at the end of 6 weeks gets the kitty.

For exercise, I've been doing yoga a bit, which I really enjoy.  I also got another exercise video, and a jump rope.  And I go mall-walking with my mom.  So that should keep things mixed up for me exercise-wise.

I'm really excited to do this. It's something that I really need to work on, and maybe I'll get some money out of it, too. It will be nice to do it with other people-I think that will keep me going.  And after 6 weeks, it should become a habit, right?

Next, PRAY. Yes, I pray, but sometimes I just mumble something up to heaven, and get on with my day.  In that book, the author talked about meditating a lot, as in communicating with God. I talk to God, but I don't really take the time to listen afterwards.  So I'm going to work on my prayers, making sure they are sincere, and making sure I take the time to listen to my Heavenly Father's responses.

Also in this category I'm putting my scripture study. Last time I read my scriptures, I did it fast, which was nice because the story really flowed.  The time before, I read a chapter at a time, and wrote down any thoughts that I had about that chapter, or a scripture that stuck out to me.  Both ways, I've gotten things out of reading The Book of Mormon.

As a family we just barely finished reading, where mostly it was me reading to my kids, which was okay, but not the greatest. This time around as a family, we are taking turns reading.  Jakob and Brock split a column of scripture, then I read a column, and then Pete does too. So we'll go a little bit faster, but it will be good for my kids to read out loud and get used to the way the scriptures sound.  And as Troy gets to be a better reader, we'll include him in the rotation.

For myself, I decided I would read my scriptures along with the Gospel Doctrine manual.  That way I can have ready-made questions at my disposal.  And since I teach every 4th lesson, I might as well have it be part of my personal reading.

And last, LOVE. This one is a little bit harder to define into specific goals.  I just want to love more.  I want to give more service.  I want to be kinder.  I want to spend more quality time with my children.  I want to be more patient with them.  I guess if I can do one nice thing every day that I wouldn't ordinarily do, then that's what I could do to develop more love.

So, yeah.  There you go.

I feel bad that I didn't post about Christmas. Christmas night my kids decided that they wanted to take pictures of their toys, so they borrowed my camera, and -surprise surprise- it broke.  Luckily, I had a warranty on it, so we'll see if they can fix it or whatever, but I won't get it back for a couple of weeks.  So my pictures are stuck in limbo for a while.  Our Christmas was fabulous, though.  Not only were we blessed materially, but it always makes me realize how much we are spiritually and physically blessed.  I think some of my kids' favorite new toys have been their pillow pets that Santa brought, although Brock's made him break out in hives.  We washed them, though, and now it's all good.

Well, wish me luck tomorrow, being chocolate and Coke free!  I'm sure I'll need it!



Like a Fiddler On a Roof!

So, now that Christmas is long gone, one would think that the busyness of my life would have gone along with it (hence the lack of posts as of late). Because I’m usually busy, but you take busy and add, like, 20 million more things to The Busy, and…well, you get the general idea of how the end of 2010 went for me. (And for some reason the fun hasn’t stopped. I need a remote, like Adam Sandler in the movie "Click".  But I think I’d perpetually have it in the pause mode, so maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea.)

Anyway, Christmas was awesome. It always is. But you know how I was whining about how we don’t have any traditions? Well, after I thought about it, I realized that we really do. And we added a few more this year. Wanna hear about it? (YES, Nat! PLEASE fill us in on what happened 3 1/2 weeks ago! We’re on the edge of our seats with anticipation!!!!)

Tradition 1 (old, but tweaked to be new): For FHE after Thanksgiving, we set up the Christmas tree. Usually I decorate it by myself, and try to have the breakable ornaments at the top. I also try to get the ribbon just right, and have all the ornaments all spaced evenly. But by the time Christmas rolls around three weeks later, all the ornaments have been moved (thanks to my kids) and the ribbon has been pulled down (thanks to my cat). So this year I had the kids help me, but we ended up with about 42 ornaments on a single bough. Oh well. They had a blast decorating, and that’s what matters, right?

Tradition 2 (new tradition): In Pete’s family, I guess they drew names amongst the siblings when they were younger, and then exchanged those gifts on Christmas Eve. They still did the everyone open stuff all at once thing, though. So I told Pete that Christmas morning we can have the kids open things all at once, but on Christmas Eve the kids were going to take turns. This is the first year I’ve had the kids draw names and get gifts for each other. So they took turns, and it was really great because they got to see the gifts that they got for each other. They were all, “Thanks, Brock!”, or whoever gave the gift. I loved that part of opening gifts when I was younger-seeing the person’s reaction to what I got for them.

They all did a great job picking gifts out for each other-I only helped Ivy with the selection.  Jakob got a Bumblebee from Brock, Brock got an Ironman from Ivy, Troy got a Batwing from Jake, and Ivy got a Rapunzel barbie from Troy.

Tradition 3 (oldie but goodie): Early Christmas Eve evening, we did luminaires. Which, I guess they’re called “luminaries”, but I think that sounds weird. We also ended up doing them over at my parents’ house as well. I think it looks really cool when they’re all lit up. I didn’t get a picture of it, though, because it doesn’t show up very well in a picture. My whole neighborhood did luminaries growing up, and it looks SO cool.

Tradition 4 (another golden oldie): We went over to my parents’ house and ate a very yummy dinner. And then we had a little Christmas program, where we sing songs, and read stories, etc.

That night I took a video of Jake playing the piano, but I held it sideways, thinking that there was some button I could push to make it be upright, but apparently not. So sideways it is, and I know better for next time around. I’ve been teaching Jake piano this year, and he is doing so well at it.  (I tried to upload the video of Jake playing the piano 4 times, and for some reason it won't do it.  So tilt your head to the left and pretend you're watching Jake play "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night".)

Tradition 5 (a yummy oldie): For Christmas morning, I made butterscotch rolls. They are called different things by different people-I’ve heard Sweet Rolls, and Monkey Bread, and Breakfast Rolls, but to me Butterscotch Rolls is the most descriptive. (My kids say “butter-squotch”. Super cute.) What was that? You say you want the recipe? Happy to oblige:

BUTTERSCOTCH ROLLS

Place about 12-15 frozen Rhoades rolls in the bottom of a greased bundt pan. Melt ½ cup (one cube) butter and pour over the rolls. Sprinkle one 3.5-oz. package of Cook N’ Serve (NOT instant) butterscotch pudding on top, along with ½ cup packed brown sugar. Add nuts if desired. Let it sit overnight with greased Saran Wrap on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes with a piece of foil loosely on top.

Like I said before, we had a great Christmas. Jake got a Robot Cop:

Brock got a Megatron and a new Woody from Toy Story:

Troy got a Batcave:

Ivy got a “Tih-chin”, or a kitchen:

We all got movies, too:

And, the grand finale, from my parents-a Wii! We bought Dr. Mario for it, and I totally got my mad skills back. (Can we say Level 20 on Hi? That's right, baby.)

So, like I said, Christmas was great. Add to it the elementary school program, my piano students’ recital, and doing Brock’s school party (where we did the star thing like in Jake's kindergarten class), and you get why I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

The week after Christmas was a lot more relaxed. Though, that’s when I started potty training Ivy. That story coming soon to a blog near you. Meaning this blog.

Memory Monday: Christmas Misunderstanding

I'm trying to remember how old I was for this one.  I'm going to guess about 4th or 5th grade, so 9 or 10.

Christmas traditions in my house growing up were plentiful.  Which was awesome.  My poor kids-I feel like we have no traditions whatsoever.  But Pete and I can never agree on what we want to do with our little family.  Growing up, though...Christmas Eve we would go skiing, unless the weather was extremely awful.  It was great, because there was hardly anyone there, so we didn't have to wait in line for the chairlift.  After skiing, we would come home and light luminaries (which my kids and I have done, but this year I'm feeling very Scrooge-like, so it may not happen-we'll see), which are paper sacks with candles in the middle of them.  Supposedly it is to light the way for the Christ child to come.  Then we'd open a family Christmas Eve gift, which was always some sort of game, like Sorry or Apples to Apples, that kind of thing.  We'd play the game, then the girls would all sleep in the same room together downstairs.

Christmas morning, bright and early -too early, usually- we'd get up, and then cover our eyes as we made our way upstairs and into our parents' room to wake them up.  We would all go in together to see what Santa had brought for us, which was usually a big gift sitting by our stockings, and then stocking stuffers like CDs and Lip Smackers and chocolate oranges.  (As we got older, college age, our stocking stuffers morphed into things like toothpaste and socks.  Now my kids get a mixture-still the big Santa gift by the stocking, and in the stocking things like a movie or books, and socks or undies.  My kids love the new clothing-or not.)  After spending time doing the Santa stocking thing, which was in the family room where the fireplace was, we'd move to the front room, where the tree was, and do the family gifts.  We'd also take turns opening gifts, which Pete thinks is so weird.  His family does the mass opening/chaos, which I think is weird.  We still haven't decided on that, but so far Pete is winning, though I end up not opening up anything and just stand there cleaning up wrapping debris.  Which kind of sucks.  I might put Pete on garbage duty this year, since he wants to have the chaos.  That's fair, right?

Okay, so that's kind of how it went for us.  So one year, we got up, and went in to see what Santa had brought us.  I located my stocking on the couch, but...no big present.  Hm.  I sat down, and started looking at my stocking stuff, and watching my sisters enjoy their "big" presents.  By this time I knew the whole Santa secret.  And I didn't know what to think.  A couple of thoughts crossed my mind: one, that my parents didn't have money to buy me a big gift, and two, that I got overlooked.

I didn't really feel sad.  More like disappointed.  And then content.  I thought, "I'm okay without a big gift.  Maybe next year.  And I can watch everyone else enjoy their gifts."  Which is what I like about taking turns opening up family gifts-you get to see what everyone else gets, and you get to see people's reactions when they open the gift that you got for them.

So, like I said, I was sitting on the couch, looking at my new socks or whatever it was, when my dad said, "Nat, aren't you going to look at your Santa gift?"  And I looked at him like, um, what do you think I'm doing, Dad?  Suddenly I realized that he was pointing to the new glittery purple ten-speed bike that had been standing near my stocking.  I had totally thought it was for my mom.

Then I got all excited, because I had asked for a ten-speed bike for Christmas, but didn't think I would get it.  And I knew that my parents hadn't forgotten me.  I took it out to ride that day, on the icy roads, which was so super smart on a ten-speed.  If anyone remembers, ten-speeds had super skinny tall wheels.  Yikes.  Bikes.  Literally.

That day I realized a couple of things about myself.  I realized that I liked getting Christmas gifts, but if there came a day when I couldn't have anything for Christmas, then that would be okay, too.  I realized that Christmas is a small fraction of what you get, and a bigger fraction of the joy that comes to those around you, and basking in that feels just as good.

Now hopefully I can try to find some of that Christmas spirit in me this year.  Brock asked, "Mom, when are we going to make our house a Christmas house?"  Because I haven't pulled out my nativities, or Christmas lights, or stockings...We have the tree up, and that is all.  I definitely have "Bah! Humbug!" at the tip of my tongue this year for some reason.  I just need to shake it off and get with the program.

12 Things of Christmas*

*Kind of like the song. But less repetitive. And with fewer birds.

The 12 things of our Christmas that were so cool to me:
12 luminaires a-lighting,


11 Bakugans a-brawling,

10 piles of garbage growing,

9 more days' vacation,

"8" some yummy goodies, (get it? 8? ate?)

7 DVDs a-watching,


6 spoons a-swapping,

5 Transformers!!!!!


4 spoiled kids,

3 cool guns,

2 Buzz Lightyears,
and 1 mangled Christmas tree!!!

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Merry K.I.S.S.Mas

This year for Christmas my unofficial motto was K.I.S.S.-Keep It Simple Stupid. Call it the Scrooge factor, call it laziness, call it lack of ideas for gifts, but Santa was the only one that brought gifts for our kids this year: one toy (albeit a bit bigger than normal) and one movie. Of course, we had other gifts under the tree from the grandparents. But actually it was pretty nice; less really was more.

Our Christmas Eve traditions for the last few years have included doing luminaires at my parents' house, a tradition we started at our own house this year. My parents usually put salt pellets in the bottom of the paper bag, but we just put snow in, which did rather well. My boys are so spazzy:


And thus:


Brock was being very efficient:


And Troy couldn't get enough of the lit candles:


We did luminaires at my parents' house this year as well, but of course my camera died for that portion of the night.

And the kids, Christmas morning, with their loot:

Brock was sooo thrilled to get his picture taken on their new trampoline that takes up the entirety of our basement. (It will be going outside come spring. So, like, in June.)


Ivy, with her new phone cord. She loves the thing.


Jakob with his new Iron Man DVD.


Troy on his new bike.


Brock with his Wall-E toy. It plays music and dances around.


Pete asked me when we were going to start having the kids give gifts to each other. But after reading this post, I'm kind of thinking I may have the kids give immaterial gifts to each other-like services or something. Just to keep it simple, and to help remember what Christmas is about in the first place.

Anyway, I know it's a bit late, but I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Chicken, Not Ham

Jakob's school had a Christmas program last week. Give you one guess as to how Jakob did during his "performance":


Yep. That's my son, the ham, the star of the show. This is his expression during the entire three songs the Kindergartners did:


I had oodles of fun getting his picture. After sharing half a seat with Arin, we snuck up to the front of the auditorium. Then I army crawled with my butt in the air, in front of the whole gym of parents, to get over to where Jakob was "singing". I didn't want my head in everyone's video shots, after all, so they got shots of my butt instead.

After the Kindergartners were done singing, we could go to their classroom to pick them up. Jakob was sitting on the floor, cross-legged, head in hands, crying his little eyes out. I asked him what was wrong, why he didn't sing.

"I just wanted you, Mom."


Poor little chicken. Oh well, maybe someday he'll grow out of it.

New Christmas Tree Ornament

I had heard cats liked climbing Christmas trees. She also likes batting at the ornaments, and pulling on the ribbon hanging from our tree.

Between her and the boys, our once put-together, eclectic ornamented, red-and-gold themed Christmas tree is a saggy, limped ribboned, ornaments-all-rehung-on-the-bottom-and-front-two-branches Christmas tree. Kind of Charlie Brown Christmas tree style. *sigh*

Honing My Fine Glue Gun Skillz

I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus this week, mostly because I've been crazy-busy with stuff that coincides with the celebration of Christmas. (I'm thinking next year I'm going to celebrate a holiday that doesn't take as much preparation, decoration, or perspiration. Kwanzaa? Hanukkah? Maybe I should learn how to spell those first. Hm. Or maybe I'll just stick with Christmas.)

Anyway, one of the many activities that has been occupying my time has been Jakob's Kindergarten Christmas party. I made these little popsicle star ornaments, with my hot glue gun. Yep, I'm practically a pro now. If anyone is looking to mass-produce popsicle star ornaments, I'm definitely your woman. For a very large fee.



The other activities we had were coloring a picture, and stringing a macaroni necklace (here's Ty with his):


Jakob's Halloween party was way too complicated; we had too many activities and too much going on. But the Christmas party we had too little, so the kids were done in a matter of a few minutes. Doh!

Here's Kaylan, taking extra care making her star:


I just realized I have no idea where Jakob's star went. But his necklace is hanging on his bed post. The things that kid treasures!


Here's Ila and Jakob. Arin and I are kind of hoping they end up getting married. Jakob is already planning on it after his mission. You know, the whole "girl/boy next door" thing.

Yes, not enough activities this time around, but I think the kids still had fun. And we gave them a sweet bag of sweets at the end. Although the gum (bought at the dollar store) left much to be desired. It was awful! Live and learn, though, eh?

Copy Cat

I've had a bit of a debate this year with Christmas cards. When I first started doing cards, I sent them to everyone and their dog, which cost me a pretty penny in postage. And I got, like, 5 in return. So then I decided I'd just send them to the people that sent them to me, but then I was sending some out the day after Christmas. Then I started keeping track, and only sending ones to those that sent them to me the year before. Hmm, that sounds kind of Scroogey.

But anyway, since the world has gotten more electronic and virtual, I'm going to post my Christmas letter following the examples of Amy and Kristy. I'll probably also email, and still send a few cards to those that don't have computer access.

Greetings, family and friends! This year has flown by so quickly; I can't believe it's time to write another Christmas letter. We've been busy busy busy...

Jakob turned 5, and is now in Kindergarten. His first love, Spider-man, has been replaced with Iron man. He played an unenthusiastic season of T-ball in June. He's kind of indifferent about school, but gets really excited when he knows the answer on his homework. He can color, draw, and talk until the cows come home, eat, and get milked. He's as sweet as ever and is a great big brother to his siblings.

Brock is 3 1/2, and is our strong silent guy. He always talks with a purpose and is very earnest in his execution. He's very content to just sit and suck on a blanket's fringe and observe the goings-on in his surroundings. He loves to be pampered and held. He's very protective of his little sister and loves to play with her and his brothers.

Troy is our 2-year-old. He's Very Important and would hang out with the adults over the kids in order to make sure he knows what's happening. He's quite the little ham, and has a bit of sass and temper. He's very mischievous as well, but his cute little smile has saved his life more than once.

Ivy Marie was born May 11, 2008, on Mother's Day no less. She's a sweet little thing and is the most protected girl on the planet with three older brothers that love her and coddle her. She loves to eat, and sleep, and eat, and smile, and eat. She's discovered that sitting is awesome, and can do it forever.

Pete has been working at the INL. He loves him some World of Warcraft in his spare time. He got his 5th "baby" (kidney stone) right before his 30th birthday, and ended up spending the day after his birthday on a surgical table getting it removed. Pete started a blog this year as well: http://iztrebitelya.blogspot.com/

I've been keeping busy being a co-coach for T-ball in June, being a room mother for Jakob's class, being the organist in our ward and 2nd Counselor in Young Women's. I also started blogging, which has become my new favorite hobby. I try to keep it updated with the craziness that 4 little kids can bring into the world: http://natpete.blogspot.com/

I hope this Christmas season brings good luck, good wishes, and good tidings to each of you. May the Spirit of the Lord bless each of your lives as we strive to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

With much love,
Brian "Pete", Natalie, Jakob, Brock, Troy, and Ivy