New Camera!

Thanks to my friend Sarah, I didn't even have to do much research. I decided to get a Canon A1000. The problem was, I couldn't find one in stores, so I ordered it online. I got a great deal on a refurbished camera. Hopefully, it will work beautifully and get here soon! Thanks again!

Anonymous kindness

I went out to get the mail today and a letter immediately caught my attention. It was crisply and starkly white. My name and address were written perfectly in all caps, the lowercase letters smaller that the uppercase. There was nothing else on the envelope except a stamp, and a postmark which showed it had been mailed from Provo, UT. I opened up the letter to find inside a $100 money order and a black die-cut of a camera neatly folded into a blank piece of white printer paper.
Now, you have to keep in mind that I have a huge, red, swollen bug bite on my arm, and I had just taken some Benadryl to see if it would help with the allergic reaction. My head was not working correctly. I freaked out! My first reaction was that this was some kind of scam and when I cashed the check I would have somehow signed myself up for a loan or something. I called my sister Angie who instantly said, "Who do you know in Provo that reads your blog? You did post about your camera dying. Someone sent you the money to buy yourself a new one!" She has always been brilliant--that Angela sister of mine.
So to you, dear reader who was so loving and thoughtful and kind to take the time and money to do something so thoughtful and wonderful, I want you to know how much it meant to me. My heart is full of gratitude. Thank you for helping me to remember that I am loved.
Today was a hectic day, and I didn't have time to go out and look. But I'll go tomorrow and see what I can find. Hopefully, before the end of the week I'll have some new pictures up!

Blogging silence

I figure even without a camera, the blogging silence can go on no longer. I thought I'd just take a minute to let everyone know what's going on. Monday will be the beginning of the 4th week of school. Ryan, Julia and Emily all seem to be doing well in their classes and with their teachers. A sweet sister in our ward decided to start a preschool for $75 a month, and so we enrolled Benjamin. He goes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9-12 and really seems to do well and enjoy his time at preschool. I was overjoyed thinking about all the "free time" I would have with just me and Hadley at home. Unfortunately, with Hadley there it isn't much like free time. She pulls me around everywhere saying, "Tome on," and feels like she needs my every minute attention.
I now officially have 17 piano students. 17! It's a little crazy, but I really love teaching. It's funny because before they arrive I dread it, but when we're in lessons I love it and things seem to go relatively smoothly. And I must own up to the fact that 3 of the 17 are my own children. That doesn't necessarily make it easier though, in a lot of ways it's harder to teach your own children!
Scott's still the EQP, and I'm still the 4th Sunday teacher in RS and the 3rd Sunday organist. We are busy, but happy. I don't know what was wrong with me before, but I just barely realized that it takes every hour of every day just to get the basics of day to day living done for our family. There really isn't a lot of extra time. I feel guilty, like I should be doing SO much more than I am, but in the quiet moments I realize that I am doing the most important thing that I will ever do, I'm being a mom to my kids and trying each day to be present and to love my job.

SO ready!

I am SO ready for school to start. My house is a crapped out mess and my kids and I are sick, Sick, SICK of each other. Monday cannot come soon enough.

The Power of the Word

Many of you know that I have been struggling over the past year or so. I have felt very sad, very distraught, at times even despairing. We live in perilous times. Our day is the day spoken of by ancient and modern prophets alike. Many are lost, wandering in mists of darkness. Many are purposely seeking out that great and spacious building Nephi described in his vision of the tree of life.
I have often found myself wondering what I should do and feeling like there was nothing I could do. I remember one Sunday in January while I was sitting in sacrament meeting having the thought, "read your scriptures," very clearly enter my mind. I was relieved, ready to try anything. I spent the next week reading daily, and then something happened and I got out of the habit before it could even become a habit. I guess I just didn't have enough information to convince me of the great importance of reading the scriptures daily.
Over the next six months I often felt the spirit whisper again to me, "read your scriptures." I justified my excuses: I'm too busy, I'm too tired, I have too many little children, now is not the season of my life for reading the scriptures, I don't see how it could help all that much anyway, on and on and on.
As I was preparing last month to teach the 4th Sunday lesson out of the conference issue of the Ensign on Adversity and Be of Good Cheer, a wonderful series of events unfolded for me. I was led to the information I needed. The Ensign had been left open to a page that had an excerpt from the talk given long ago by President Ezra T. Benson called "The Power of the Word."
I strongly encourage each of you to read it. I absolutely LOVE this talk. He was speaking to the priesthood leadership of the church. So instead of the flowery often watered down talks they give in conference, this talk is no-holds barred. He just lays it out there and it was exactly what I needed to hear.
If we seek for comfort, for guidance, for understanding, for direction, for love, for help. . .those things are all to be found in the scriptures. The scriptures, especially The Book of Mormon, are the small and simple things to which Nephi referred. They are absolutely essential to our spiritual survival. If you do nothing else every day, except read the scriptures, it would have been a day well worth while.
There is a power in the scriptures which our mortal minds cannot exactly understand. When I was justifying away the direction the Holy Ghost was giving me I often thought, "how will the scriptures help me have more money?", or, "how can the scriptures keep my kids from annoying me?" It seems like it would be impossible for the scriptures to impact those things.
I have now read the scriptures, or the words of the latter-day prophets, every day for 17 days, and there has been no great miracle, but there has been many small miracles. It's not that I have magically found more money, but the spirit brings hope and acceptance to my heart. It's not that my children magically obey everything I say, but that the spirit grants me a larger measure of patience and understanding. It's not that I always feel elated, but I am content with what the Lord has seen fit to bless me. I am not magically stronger, smarter, or happier, but my capacity has been greatly enlarged by the spirit of the Lord.
The small sacrifice I give the Lord each day of taking 20 minutes to read the words He has provided for me is enough, and He blesses me by lifting me above what I could otherwise do.
I love each of you, and want you to find the same joy in the scriptures that I have just found.
I have always loved the scriptures, but have never been a consistent reader because I have never fully understood why it is necessary to do so.
I bear my testimony of the power of the word, and pray that each of you will hold tightly to the "rod of iron" that is the scriptures, so that you can guard yourself and your family from the evil that is at our doors. So the the Holy Ghost can be a constant companion, and so that he may lift you above that which you can do on your own.

A "death" in the family

Well folks, I know it has been incredibly long since I posted. We have had a sad thing happen in our family. I think my camera has officially died, been dropped one too many times by tiny hands and well-meaning hearts. It still works, but it drains a battery in about a week. I just don't have $10 to spend every week on a camera battery. So, it looks like photos will be few and far between while I save up for a new digital camera. Wish me luck.
Everything else is going well. We have 24 days until school starts. The kids are excited, but not nearly as excited as I am. Although, I have to say that this has been the most enjoyable summer by far. I have actually enjoyed having them around and for the most part things have gone very smoothly.
I just finished sewing a dress for myself with knit fabric. I don't recommend using knit--it is extremely annoying to sew with. And sadly, the dress doesn't look very good on me. I keep blaming the clothes, but if nothing looks good on me I am led to believe that it's most likely my out of shape, post five pregnancies body. Looks like I better get a move on and start exercising. Blech!
Another fun development is that Hadley is dropping signals left and right that she is ready to potty-train. I HATE potty-training. I will definitely be glad to have all my kiddos potty-trained. But at the same time it makes me a little bit sad, it will mark the end of an era. Scott thinks I'm crazy to feel sad, but I do feel a little bit sad. I love being a mommy, and I will quietly miss having babies. I feel a lot of regret for not enjoying my babies as much as I should have, so I move forward hoping to enjoy to the fullest every minute of my kids growing up!

A New Surge of Craftiness

Here are the newest completed crochet projects. I made this d0-rag for Julia's friend's birthday. I made the pattern up myself and I think it turned out marvelously.
The red, white and black flower necklace I made for my mom.
It was my sister-in-law Cristina's birthday almost a month ago. And terrible sister-in-law that I am, I finally completed her dishcloth set and sent it home with my mom to give to her.
Happy Birthday sweet Cristina! We feel lucky to have you in our family!
And last, but not least, the final necklace was one I made for my sister Angie while she was visiting because she's just super nifty!

Julia's baptism

We had a wonderful event to celebrate in our family this week. That in fact, is why my mom and dad came from Utah to Texas to see us. Julia got baptized. It was such a wonderful day. I just wish that they would have separated the nine kids they had to baptize that day into two separate sessions. It dragged on and on until all the little kids just couldn't take it anymore! But we do feel proud of Julia, her choice, and the young lady she's turning into!
I should add that I was a silly girl and decided to make Julia a dress the Tuesday before her baptism. I really struggled with the idea of having her baptized in a jumpsuit, I also didn't want to ruin the sacred occasion with too much pomp and primp. But I love the symbolism of the three white dresses (their blessing dress, baptism dress and wedding dress) and I just want that for my girls.
Anyway, I mention this because my mom is amazing. I had most of the dress done, but couldn't figure out how to put sleeves on it. My mother the genius went to work and did the hardest part sewing that whispy fabric that's so hard to sew. But thanks to her the dress turned out beautifully!

Fun with family

My mom and dad came down for Julia's baptism and brought with them my sister Angie and her two beautiful boys. It's been a fun week of playing and enjoying some time together!

Julia's new haircut

Summer swimming!

Look at my little fishes! Such a cute little school of fish. We arrived early at our swimming pool just to make sure it was open and be there before any guests arrived. We took the opportunity for a little photo session. They were all so excited for the fun to begin!
I feel bad because Ryan ended up with a bad sunburn. It was just him, no one else had one. I'm still baffled at why he would be the only one to burn when they are all pastey white. The only thing I can think is Ryan was at cub scout camp all week long and I took the other kids swimming most days for about an hour. Maybe their skin was used to the sun and his wasn't. It's an enigma to be sure!

Happy Birthday Julia!

I'm trying to be a better celebrator. Because Julia's and Scott's birthdays are so close, we decided to do Julia's the Saturday before and Scott's the Friday after. For Julia we had a swimming party and invited 13 friends, only two of her friends and their two siblings showed, but we had fun nonetheless! We were also excited that our cousins and Aunt Laura made it to the celebration! Thanks to all for making Julia's special day a good one!

Bowls and a hat

Haddie looked adorable in this hat. So I had to snap a picture.
Ben was getting very creative with our breakfast bowls. He's an excellent builder!

Newest crochet

I made this necklace for my beautiful, wonderful, fantastic friend Marie, and I made the bag for Emily's friend Bailee who had a birthday and was moving far away:(

Newest projects

Here are my two newest creations. I made them both for my sister's little boys. The blanket I made for her newest--Dexter. The lion I made for Oliver who is only 14 months old. Those two beautiful boys are very close in age. I hope they love their presents! The funniest thing about the lion is that I was working on it at our ward party on Saturday and I had several people tell me they wanted to see it finished. I stayed up until 1 so I could bring it to church and show them. My friend Marie has a big son named Dexter, who loves the lion so much he asked her if I could make him one for Christmas. The coincidence of names separated by twelve years and the lion all jumbled together makes me laugh!

Ward picnic

It was actually somewhat disgusting. We ended up having hot dogs and hamburgers three out of four consecutive days. We had a friend graduate from college and we attended her graduation party which was AWESOME, but at which were served hot dogs and hamburgers. The next day we attended our ward picnic, which again--STELLAR--but at which was served the same thing.
I therefore decided today, this blessed Memorial Day, to serve hot dogs for the kiddos, but the adults got delicious marinated pork ribs.
Anyway, that was a total sidebar.
Our ward picnic was fun. Kids climbing trees, seeing how many kids could cram onto a merry-go-round, Haddie eating the bark and Ryan playing some schoolyard b-ball with the missionaries. Good times. . .good times.

Post-grad picture

You can't have a Kindergarten graduation with out pictures afterward. Emily absolutely insisted. We are all getting bigger and bigger. The 2008-2009 school year is seven more school days away from being complete. Where did the year go? We will officially have a 4th grader, a 3rd grader and 1st grader and a kid in preschool. Wow-ee!

Kindergarten graduation

Emily had her Kindergarten graduation last week. They did a cute singing program. Emily even had a speaking part and did a fabulous job. Our little Emily is moving on up.

Habu-bear

Here's my 1 1/2 year old making trouble as usual. She thinks she is big enough to sit at the table and have cereal with milk. Inevitably, she pours the milk all over the table and floor and ends up with cereal mush in her hair.
Her new favorite thing to do is climb up onto the chair we keep at the computer nook. Climb onto the countertops, and then pull all of my spices out of the cupboard. We've had a couple of close calls with glass jars.

Easter cousin dresses extravaganza!

So I had what I thought was this brilliant idea to have 5 matching dresses made for the five Matthews girl cousins that all live down here in TX. It was adorably cute, but trying to get five tiny girls to all sit still and be happy for pictures was quite a circus. Oy, vey!