Eddie in the shower!

Sorry, no pictorial on this one, but the headline is the point of the blog, let me back up a little, ......(insert do-do-do-do-do-flashback sounds here)

My mother recently came to LA from Hong Kong for a visit, My Grandmother lives an hour away from me and so Mom can visit us both. Usually, she spends a few days down with Grandma and then comes up to my house for a while. This time, we all thought, why not bring Grandma up here too? She could spend some quality time with my girls and Mom wouldn't have to feel torn between us.

FYI, my grandmother is 85 and still lives on her own in her quiet single story house.
My house is full of noisy girls and all the bedrooms are up a flight of steep stairs.

Needless to say I had some concerns, but she came and she was a very good sport about it all, reading stories and singing songs, taking naps when the girls became too much for her. Other than her love of suddenly rolling down the car windows while on the freeway going 80 mph to "feel the wind on her face" she was amenable to any plans we made.

She let us guide her down the stairs each morning and back up the stairs each evening, and a good time was had by all. Understandably she was tired and sometimes a little disoriented in my home and she went to bed before the rest of us grown-ups each night. However, once she turned in we didn't hear much from her till morning......until...

One night, she had turned in, my mother and I were chatting downstairs, while Eddie went up to take a shower. Minutes pass and then I hear "OK Grandma here is your room and I'll get back to my shower" I realized what must have happened and fell to the floor laughing uncontrollably, when I came up for air I went up to find out the whole story, which I include here in Eddie's own words.

As I was showering I heard the sweet voice of someone singing and I thought it was Jannah bringing the baby in to say goodnight in before going to bed.

I toweled off expecting to greet my wife in "all my glory" when I instead see Grandma who's only comment was

"This isn't my room is it?"

"No Grandma it isn't."

Of course the capstone to this story is that while Grandma has short term memory issues and has probably already forgotten the whole thing, I will be able to share it over and over in the years to come and it will get funnier every time....until I'm the one with short term memory loss and disorientation.

Diagnosis Chinois

Last Monday I spent the entire morning and a bit of the afternoon in the Children's Eye Institute. Since Nina's birth, SOME PEOPLE have insisted that she is either cross eyed or has a lazy eye. A CERTAIN PERSON has been known to point out to others that she might be cross eyed, and so I asked the pediatrician to look into it and got a referral to be sure that all was well.

The appointment was for 9:30, I arrived at 9:00 because I wasn't sure how long it would take to find the place, by 10:00 we had been in for an initial assesment, by 11:00 we had been back out the waiting room and back in for an exam and to have dialating drops put in, by 12:30 I had seen the "Polar Express" 2 times too many and was about to go insane when we were called in for final exam and consult.

Our diagnosis? Nina is half chinese.

Of course, I kind of knew that already but now we have a technical name for her condition and an informative pamphlet on the subject " Pseudostrabismus "is the false appearance of strabismus, which basically means she looks like she might be cross-eyed, but she's not. According to Wikipedia, "Pseudostrabismus is more likely to be observed in Native American or East Asian infants due to the presence of epicanthic fold obscuring the medial aspect of the eye. "

I have never been so glad to have "wasted" an entire morning to find out nothing was wrong, and after all, now that I have a pamphlet, SOMEONE can't all her cross eyed anymore, of course now SOMEONE is looking up plastic surgery options to "fix the epicanthic fold"

12-25 Random and not so random thoughts

I am off of the sudafed and Nina let me sleep all night last night, and I have for a while been thinking about writing a bit of a shout out to lots of people, so Here goes,

12 - "Panda girl" I just emailed you but I thought I would add here that when I gave up on being Ella Fitzgerald I wanted to grow up and look like you, even though you were growing up behind me.

13 - "Mand E" I think you had a shot on biggest loser, as long as the chicken was grilled and not fried.

14 - "Big J" - I think you should name your new kidney and you could have a man shower for it, register for DVD's you want to watch during recuperation and maybe a remote controlled padlock for what ever room you recouperate in, to limit the amount of attention you recieve.

15 - "sports car girl" - I think when people ask you "when you are going to have that baby?" you should answer "Never, I'm protecting him from idiots like you who don't realize how annoying it is to ask that question."

16 - "CrisT" - WHy don't you want me to read your blog, why won't you let me in? Please, let me in, come on, we are blood related and sisters of the red elephant, please, let me back into the loop!

17 - "MarG" would you really take hula class with me?

18-Artemis - I think we should write a musical about motherhood, I think there could be a romantic ballad called "WHile the children watch disney shows" and an epic anthem called "cleaning up the toy room" I have one line already, "I used to have dreams of being famous on stage, now I have children I might like to cage."

19 - Speaking of writing, how about an anthology of children's stories by the "Sisters Ferg" Not quite the same as the brothers Grimm, but maybe in a hundred years or so it would sound natural?

20 - Kris10 - I'm glad you like the recipe but now you gotta return the fav, I need a new meal in my repitoire.

21 - mamamamamama - thanks again for one of the best gifts anyone ever gave me, a large piece of plastic swiss cheese is always appropriate but rarely found.

22 - "Joel B" I love your commercial where you play the trucker who decides not to fool around with the waitress, for some reason my daughters like it too, they think its a music video about a guy who misses his family - thanks for choosing to be faithful, every time.

23 - your ad here
24 - Coming soon
25 - Coming soon

25 random things about you

The facebook phenomenon has leaked over into my blog, but I would like to change things up a little and share random thoughts I have had about others this past week, Please read with the understanding that in this last week I have either been up all night taking care of sick children, been up all night because I myself cannot breath, or have been under the influence of Sudafed (the real kind that you have to ask for at the pharmacy counter, none of this “PE’ stuff.) In interest of protecting your identities, I am assigning some random nicknames, this has the added benefit that you can choose which random thought is about you as long as you can justify it.

1- “Ginger” - I think we should have a 3/4/5 year old kick line finale at the end of the recital this year, in order to accomplish this you put a red dot on each girl’s right foot and a blue dot on the left, then you stand on the side and call out “Red!” “Blue!” and so forth.
2- “MarG” – Maybe next year for preschool we could focus on real life skills, things like bargain shopping, food tasting and dramatic analysis (watch tv and try to figure out what is going on, and what will happen next.
3- “Red headed vixen momma” – I often wish I had the audacity to wear the lovely shoes you often wear,
4- “Van girl” – has anyone ever called you a “sri-lankan Barbie doll”? if not I would like to do so now, not only because you are stunningly gorgeous, but also because like Barbie you seem to be able to be whatever you need to be, One minute a mild mannered insurance adjuster, the next minute a raging party gal.
5- “Mary ma soeur” - if by a loralai kind of relationship you mean sitting around watching bad movies and consuming mass quanitities of multi ethnic food call me rory and let’s schedule it for this summer!
6- “Mee Ray” though you probably won’t read this I have been thinking of you and I hope you know how much love I send out into the universe for you and trust God to carry it to you if you ever should need it. - If you want a christmas card though, you should call me and give me your address.
7- “Diana” –not a very creative nick name, to leave out only one letter but for some reason (probably the Sudafed) I found it very funny just now as I typed it out. Oh oh oh, wait I have a better code name – Artemis - this may be the most random thought yet, but do you remember when you were dating your husband and he had given you presents that were marvelous and sort of random things that were perfect because they were things you loved, and you came too me and said “I don’t know if he really likes me?” - that was really funny, and I am glad it gets funnier every year you are with him. – Just think, if all prayers were answered you might be married to someone who eats chocolate bars with a knife and fork.
8- “Eminem” I know it was your birthday and I missed it, but I think it only fitting because I also miss you. – no disrespect to my other best friends, it is not an easy life to have my bestest friend far away and few between. That said, I am so glad you are still my BFF
9- Sean "duh" You make me feel a little silly being overwhelmed by daily life, or rather I suppose, you give me hope of what can be done.
10 Le T sha - is it really fair that you have 2 such handsome boy children and I have none? Of course I wouldn't trade my girls for anything, not even handsome boys, so I will just keep on admiring the boys from afar.
11- Summer Daze - speaking of handsome boys I need to meet yours, if only we weren't afflicted with our version of the plague, I would have already driven down there to snuggle him.

12- 25 aren't quite making it past my brain, that is probably just as well, and makes this all the more random.

My Hunky Valentine!

I have not always been the very biggest fan of this holiday, mostly it seemed like a lot of superficial commercialism – you didn’t know I remembered words that big did you?
This year, I am a believer, because my Valentine gave me the perfect gifts, a blow dryer, replacement blades for my paper cutter, and time off!

This may not sound romantic to you but when my blow dryer went silent last week I was sad, not only that I had wet hair when I wanted dry, but also because it meant an extra shopping trip complete with necessary comparison of price and features, I really don’t enjoy shopping.

I am a firm believer in the Fiskars paper trimmer, I use it almost daily for something or another (especially during preschool or sharing time seasons.) I have been needing replacement blades for eons and magically, they are now here and I didn’t even have to remember to put them on a list!

The third gift was the biggest, even though it was Valentines Day, he sent me off with only Nina in tow ...

to reconnect with my good friend from university days.

While I was having lunch and chatting with my sister friend, remembering good times and catching up on fabulous families etc., Eddie cleaned up my house, did our taxes and painted watercolour valentines with the older girls. He puts me to shame sometimes.Eddie my love, my Hero, my friend thank you for a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Daddy's Special Chicken

By popular demand, the recipe for "Daddy's Special Chicken"*

6-8 Drumsticks of chicken**

1 Cup Sugar

2- 2 1/3 Cups Water

2/3 Cup Soy Sauce

3 sprigs fresh Rosemary (or 2 T dried)

1/2 Tsp fresh ground black Pepper

1 tsp Sriracha (rooster) hot chili sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil,

simmer until you can see the meat separating from the bone.

To thicken sauce (Which may well be the very best part of the dish) ,

1 T cornstarch

1 T cold water

Mix until all combined and milky in consistency,

add to boiling sauce

Serve with white rice.

Feel free to adjust the amounts of sugar and soy sauce to your family's tastes.

* (In interest of full disclosure, Eddie used to make "Shoyu" (or soy sauce) Chicken to woo women when he was in college. After we got married he cut down the amount of sugar and added more spice, I take full credit for introducing him to Rosemary, if you need some and you live in So Cal I have a very prosperous Rosemary plant and I am willing to share.)

** If you are one of those silly people who doesn't like drumsticks you can use any part of the chicken, even the white meat and it will still be tasty.

Handsome in my house!

Results are in, and
Once in a Blue Moon's
"Man of the Year" 2008 is.........
My husband Ed

The above photo (taken by Ella when she was 5) illustrates one of the reasons that he wins, he will pose for 5 year old photographers, and play hide and seek for little girls who hide when they hear the garage door opening to signal his return from a long day at work.

Another reason he wins is that he does the dishes, this would be reason enough, but he also cooks! That's right ladies, and not just chicken dinos or hot dogs, "daddy's special chicken" is a favorite of not only our family but neighbors and friends too.

My husband got me a gift certificate for a massage for my birthday this year and watched the children while I went.

He also happens to be a very sexy ukulele player, when he starts strummin it makes my heart happy, so thank you Mr Edward for being my man of the year - every year!

Six-year-old-in-the-house!

This morning I awoke to the sound of Ella coughing, not something I love to hear in any situation, but especially on her birthday.

She came in my room and I braced myself for her sickly cuddly mode to hop into bed and snuggle up, instead she leaned in and whispered

"Did you wrap my presents yet? and did Liana get me a present? cuz I got her a present for her birthday and I got Nina a present on her birthday.......(yadda yadda yadda-you get the picture)"

All year long when I tell her I will not be buying whatever new thing is being advertised during the Dora commercial breaks, she says to me

"Maybe for my birthday could you get me a _____?" And I usually take the chicken way out and say "Maybe, we'll see."

Starting in November she begins the conversations with "when it's my birthday I want to have sparkly bracelets for all the kids and I want to invite everyone I know and I want to have prizes and ...yadda yadda yaddda...!"

And I take the chicken way out and say "We'll talk about it when it is your birthday, we won't have everything, but we will have fun things."

This answer gets me through the other girls birthdays and holidays but it means that once the party is on the calander all bets are off, and my little diva must be tamed daily.

Don't get me wrong, she is grateful for everything and shares at the drop of a hat, but she just thinks soooo many things are fabulous that she can hardly contain herself when she thinks there might be one of the things she has been longing for wrapped up in ribbon for her.

So the party is scheduled and we have a plethora of sparkly, frilly things to do - the big thrill this year will be stringing their own candy bracelets. I am already anticipating the shrieking fun of a gaggle of giggly girls and mentally reminding myself to take ibuprofen before the headache sets in.

I ask myself why I want to throw a party each year, and I guess the reason is that I want her to feel special, I want each of my girls to be a princess for a day.

Growing up in a family of 6 children I never felt like my parents loved one of us more than the other, but it was sometimes a little too easy to feel a bit lost in the shuffle. My birthday was always a time where I did feel special, and I felt like people really did like me and that my opinions mattered. My Mom shared her birthday with me and only now I can really appreciate what that must have meant in self-sacrifice some years.

So thank you to my Mom who gave me the gift of life and the beautiful childhood birthdays that made me feel celebrated, even when my hairstyle and choice of eyeglasses weren't worthy of applause

And thank you Ella for reminding me what that feels like, and for the last time, I am not buying a Barbie that is taller than you! (But I might get a princess one with a horse!)

A little love from the islands!

Right before Christmas Ella had her Polynesian Dance Recital and I am still trying to figure out how to add a video clip, but here she is with her dance buddy Kyalea

She is very proud and is doing very well, especially since Eddie acts as her own private tutor!

I added Aloha Oe to the playlist not because it was one of Ella's songs or because this rendition is any good, but for the pure kitch of Tia Carrere singing it.

All that glitters is not princess nail polish...some of it is princess hair glitter!

This week we celebrated Liana's 4th birthday, and we did it in style!
All year long Ella and Liana have been talking about "When it's my birthday..." usually adding things like "everyone will dance a ballet with me" or "we should have only girls and no boys, except (every boy they know by name here). There are so many ideas and requests that I cannot even begin to listen to them until November when birthday season begins.

This year Liana told me she wanted a princess party with Cheetos. I was grateful because I know how to do that, but then the details began, "I want puffy Cheetos, not crunchy ones!" "I want glitter in our hair" (because she attended a fabulous party a few weeks ago where they had hair glitter and nail polish) - "I want some crafts to do and some pizzas you sprinkle things on, and I don't want a cake cuz I don't really like cakes. " And so it went.

I tried my best, we borrowed the hair glitter, bought some sparkly princess nail polish, made ponytail holders and clips for everyone to glue glitter onto, we strung sparkly beads onto pipe cleaner bracelets and even made some foam-sheet "watches" for boys to glitterfy. I bought the puffy Cheetos and the mini pizzas (which everyone, birthday girl included ate plain) We had chocolate and strawberry ice-cream, chocolate and strawberry syrup, whip cream (or whup cream if you are my daughters), and all manner of candy sprinkles.
We even had sparkly stuff in the goody bags, including shiny sunglasses which I think make the party photos spectacular.

At the end of the day as I was putting my exhausted girl to bed she asked me "Why did you want today to be my birthday party?"
Not quite sure what she meant, I answered that Saturdays were good party days, and it was before all her friends left for Christmas Holidays.

She asked me again "But why did you want today to be my birthday party?"
I thought a minute and said "Because I wanted to have a special day for my special girl, is that a good reason?"
"Yeah! Good night Mommy, I love you."

Tonight when I was putting her to bed she said "I hope I had a good birthday."

Liana my angel, I hope you did too!

Turning 34

I had thought about a few things to post in light of my birthday, but then the stomach flu came into our house and I spent the little computer time I had this week figuring out how to add a playlist to the blog.

So consider it a birthday gift to me if you take a moment and enjoy some seasonal Ella Fitzgerald. I love her voice, and the attitude she infuses in her songs. When I was little for a brief while I thought I could grow up to be her.

That dream may not come true, but I have a house full of sleeping, and soon to be healthy people that I love, and I am going to bed myself, so have hope, prayers are answered, illnesses do pass, and moms do get to sleep, sometimes even on their birthdays!

The power of saying yes!

The power in saying yes
Years ago when I was not even an aspiring actress yet, barely an aspiring acting student, I learned an exercise where you must say yes to everything your partner offer within a scene, you can't refuse of reject their idea, but must simply “say Yes” and go with it. Of course there was a lot of hilarity involved with these practice scenes, but I think that there is definitely some power in saying yes to the things that pop up in your life.

Not much later, when I was a mere Sophomore and still not accepted on the acting track at BYU, I auditioned for a Chekov play called “the Three Sisters.” As I recall, I made it through initial auditions and one round of call-backs before being cut, and while I was disappointed I was also a realist and knew it would have been somewhat early for me to be cast in starring roles, I was after all, only a sophomore.
Then the cast list went up, and there were 3 girls my age cast in lead roles, and to make things worse, the non-speaking maid role had gone to a Russian girl who fittingly spoke little English.

I was very disheartened but I was already moving on to the next show to audition for. I heard from the girls who had been cast what an amazing experience they were having, the rehearsals working with a lot of more experienced actors and the incredible director Barta Heiner. I was very envious and only a little bitter at not being a part of it all.

Three weeks before the show was to open, the aforementioned incredible director approached me outside of the theatre lobby, just next to the SLAB (a large flat “bench “ on the ground floor of the Harris Fine Arts Center)

She explained that the maid role had come open (perhaps due to lack of communication?) and offered it to me. I knew it wouldn’t be glamorous but I thought that maybe I could learn something just being in the room with all that talent and so I said yes!

I was right, it was not glamorous, but it was amazing, I walked into a basically crafted show, and had to figure out how to be where the maid was supposed to be, I had to follow people around carrying a large silver tray and sometimes a heavy silver tea service, I had to sit in the wings for hours at a time waiting for my 2 seconds on stage. I learned that sometimes the actors aren’t the only ones you have to say yes to, during a preview performance a door on stage got stuck and while others chose to leave off the side of the stage, I knew the silver tea service wouldn’t fit so I had to kick the door open, graceful? NO, but it was pretty funny.
And yes, I did learn a lot just being in the room with all of that talent. My example probably could end there, I count among those I got to know during that show some of my closest friends, and I learned a work ethic that served me well in all my shows since, but the story goes better than this.

You see, the show had started and was going well, and there was some question about the date of an upcoming matinee showing, we had understood that the theatre would be closed on a certain day and many of the cast had made plans, then we learned that tickets had already been sold and that the show would have to go on. My friend Mireille was playing the sister-in-law Natasha, and had made plans to be in LA, I believe for a professional audition, and was unable to reschedule.

I was asked if I would take her role for that performance. I would like to think it was because I had shown some ability, but in fact it may have been that we were the same size and I fit the costume. In any case, I accepted and began three days of intense cramming. The rest of the cast rallied around me and held emergency rehearsals of all my scenes, the backstage crew made sure I was where I was supposed to be and helped me tape copies of my scenes to the walls backstage, the leading man kindly lied to me and told me the terror in my eyes during the first few seconds of my first entrance gave him “something interesting to play off of”, in short, it was an incredible experience that I will never forget, and it taught me that no matter what comes up during a run of a show, I can deal with it.
I think about that amazing time and all that I would have missed if I had said “no” and today, I am going to try to say yes to more things. For example, my little bosses just came in and asked if I wanted to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons and snuggle with them, I think I’ll say “Yes”

Happy Happy Birthday Nina

A year ago I met one of the most important people in my life, I had known she was coming, I had felt hints of her personality through my belly wall, and I loved her already, but I didn't know until I saw her, how much she would mean to me.

Nina is one of my favorite people in the world.

From the start she has known what she wanted and persevered to get it.

She wanted to surprise us, and didn't let us know she was a girl till she was born.

Her C-section birth was her doing too, she sat her little bum in my pelvis and refused to be moved by anything less than a major surgery.

In the last year she has applied her determination to many new skills and is doing well at all of them.

She has learned; to smile,

to crawl,

To stand;

to walk,

To do the dishes;

To use a telephone;

Even how to drive a car!

Happy Birthday My Beautiful Angel Girl!


Do you think maybe this year you could learn to actually get the food in your mouth?

kindergarten girls

Today was another milestone, Ella's first field trip, to the Pumpkin Patch. I wasn't able to chaperon so it was an exercise in letting go and trusting the school. They returned her in good health, a little dustier and a lot more tired. She proudly brought home her pumpkin and we carved it up like a "vampire that looks sideways a little."
We had our dinner, our Monday night Family Home Evening and made it into the tub with relative ease, when someone new showed up.

I call her "CRAZY MAISY" she is the insane and giggly creature that seems to take over my daughters when they are too tired or have had too much going on to process (for example your first field trip day ever!)
Maisy may sound fun, but when she makes my oldest girl refuse to put her clothes on apres le tub, Maisy is not our friend.

Ella was being silly and lost her bedtime story because she didn't put on her PJ's, lest you think me inhumane, I gave her 3 warnings and the final one being that if I saw her run through the halls naked one more time she would not get a story that night. As you have already surmised, Crazy Maisy went streaking through the hall and the story was lost.

I am glad that my daughters cherish their bedtime stories, but from the reaction that came next, one would think Ella's entire future happiness had rested upon her hearing that story. She howled and railed, she cried and hyper-ventilated, she had to go to time-out to try to calm down but ended up in bigger trouble for yelling at us, her innocent parents.

40 minutes later, she finally calmed down enough to lay down and crash, dead to the world asleep.

Eddie asked me where she gets the hyperventilating thing from and I had to confess, she is a girl, our emotions and our bodies are very tightly connected.

I was once a kindergarten girl too I give you exhibit "A"

I look pretty sweet and innocent, I was pretty sweet and innocent. I had two evil older brothers who made it easy for me to be the sweet and innocent one in the family (at least until I became an evil older sister, sorry Mary)
I can only now appreciate what my Mom went through, she survived 6 kindergartners, half of them girls.
Of course I can also now appreciate the benefits of really knowing a five year old girl.

Picture day hit us a few weeks ago, My big girl had a hard time sleeping the night before picture day (lack of sleep and Ella are a little too common) She was so excited and nervous for her class picture to be taken, her mind was racing and she couldn't fall asleep.
The next morning she spent ten minutes looking in the mirror because her teacher told her to "practice your smile"
She didn't just admire herself, she practiced all kinds of smiles and examined the benefits of each. She wanted her dimple to show, but she didn't want to show too many teeth, and so on.

One of the joys of having this beautiful girl in my family was seeing her face when she saw this face:

The perfect school picture!

Protecting marriage part 2

For those of you who read my blog looking for cute pictures of the girls and anecdotes from my life, those posts will return, but I wanted to respond to some of the comments that have been made here on the blog and in emails others sent to me in regards to Prop 8.

I must confess I have been thinking about what to write for weeks now on the subject of Prop 8. It's not so much that I didn't know how I felt, but rather that I know how hurt and/or offended some people would be. I have had friends, close friends who are gay/lesbian since High School. I have loved these friends and felt sorrow for the struggles and conflicts they have had to experience because of their sexuality. I have been grateful for their friendships, valued their opinions, and enjoyed their presence in my life. I do not believe that because they are living a homosexual life that they are inherently evil or bad. I do not believe that they want less in life or that they feel any less deeply.

That said, I do believe that homosexual behavior is against the teachings of the Scriptures. I don't say this in a dismissive way, I'm not saying that just because it is a "sin" I'm against it and that is all there is to the issue. I am saying that I believe God gave us the commandments for our benefit and protection. I believe that sexuality is not the most important part of identity.

I am saying that I believe that God's plan for me started before this life and continues after it. I believe that marriage was created for the purpose of creating families. I believe that a man and woman are each given a definite role in marriage and that those roles were created by God for reasons. I believe that Marriage is not something humans have a right to re-define, in order to be all inclusive or to make things easier. I believe these things are true because I have read and studied the scriptures, prayed and meditated on my own, and I have lived 30+ years on the planet observing and interacting with families and individuals.

I grew up going to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and believing in God and Christ, but please don't make the mistake of thinking I am simply a parrot or blind to the reality of the world.

I have chosen to live my life following the commandments of God as taught by Jesus Christ in the scriptures. This was a very deliberate choice made in my early twenties and reaffirmed on a daily basis, I knew in making this choice I would be giving some things up. There are friendships that would not last, and romances I would not undertake, experiences I would forgo because I believe that in sacrificing things that are nice, fun, and even some things that were fulfilling, I could achieve things that were even more important, including my marriage and family which I hold to be sacred. I believe that sacrifices are required of everyone in life.

I am not perfect and not without sin, I hate confrontation, I don't want to cast stones, but neither can I sit quietly while my beliefs are attacked by some and dismissed as uninformed or naive by others.

Protecting marriage.

Here in California we are currently getting ready to vote on something really important this year, Prop 8.

Prop 8 basically would add to the Constitution of the State of California the words

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."


It would not affect "Domestic Partnerships" or remove any priviledges which California has already granted to same sex couples, it simply states that the word marriage is preserved for the union man and woman. So what's the big deal? Why does it matter if gay couples want to be married? How does that affect me?


This is the big deal, marriage to me is not just a word to put on whatever floats your boat, Marriage is one of the most important gifts God has given me.


I believe that God is a loving Father who has a plan for us, He wants the best for us, the most happiness possible. He has given us His son Jesus Christ as an example of perfection and asks us to follow that example and try to perfect ourselves. God gave us marriage as an example of perfection as well, the very best circumstance for happiness.
1 Corinthians 11:11 "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. "


I'm not saying I have a perfect marriage, or that I have ever even seen one, I am saying that God knows the greatest happiness we can achieve comes from our family relationships and that the best circumstances for those relationships to grow in, is a marriage. A marriage where a man and a woman come together in love, respect, and commitment, to make a family, to have children and to raise them, all in a partnership with God.

Neither gender can reproduce on it's own, both are required to produce children and I believe that both are needed to raise children. Obviously this doesn't always work out, but that doesn't mean it isn't the best way for families to grow.


To me, marriage is like a Diamond. As I understand it, carbon molecules are exposed to pressure, heat, and passage of time, and the miracle is that rather than be destroyed, a thing of great value and beauty is produced. Diamonds are not just sparkly things, they are strong and used right they can cut through substances otherwise impenetrable.
Married couples are exposed to great pressures and trials too, and like Diamonds, we can produce relationships that will get us through things that would otherwise trap or cripple us.


So I value my marriage, at 7 years I think we are still very much in the formative stage but have already made it a thing of beauty and strength. My goal is to have a diamond like marriage, clear and pure of flaw or defect, strong enough to cut through any obstacle.


I ask you to consider the effect on the value of a diamond if any clear looking gemstone were allowed to be labeled "diamond"

Yes, real diamonds would not change in their chemical composition, they would still retain their properties, but they would lose the value they had. Diamonds would no longer be something one could rely on as being strong and durable, but simply as something shiny.

I think this has already started to happen to marriage, high divorce rates, abusive or neglectful spouses, and infidelity have cheapened what marriage means to many people. Society as a whole is not doing enough to value the importance of family and as a result we are seeing greater trials and hardships.


When I teach my children about marriage, I want them to know that God has something great in store for them. I hope that they will strive to have a true marriage, where each individual overcomes selfish desires to make the family something great. I don't want schools to teach my children that any relationship can be called a marriage.

I hope that marriage and family can again become something it once was, the most valuable thing in our lives, worth more than careers or passions, not just a relationship begun with a party. I want marriage to mean what it should, not just a contract signed by two people, but a covenant with God to create a family.

I can't control the rest of the world, and I don't want to, Free Agency is another of God's greatest gifts to us, His children. But I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity this November to say that I believe in the sacred nature of marriage and that I want my state to uphold the bare minimum of standards, by defining valid marriage as "between a man and a woman"

I hope that you'll join me by voting Yes on 8.

Contagious!

I have alluded to recent illness but felt it was time to come clean, we had the dreaded "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease" Actually only Liana had it this time, perfectly timed to miss her 2nd Tap class, her regular dental check-up, the first week of pre-school, and 2 weeks of church.
As we were biding our time indoors, not exposing our secret illness to others, I had a lot of time to reflect, if not a lot of time to write it down, and so, here are a few thoughts I came up with.

1-Sometimes you just have to quarantine yourselves, for the good of all.
2-Sometimes you have to break your quarantine so you and your children don't go crazy!
3-If you are breaking quarantine go to the grocery store that is farthest away from your home, this way you not only get a longer break from being cooped up, but you also avoid seeing people from your play group/ward/school/etc. who know you have the dreaded disease.
4-If you see someone you know at the farthest away grocery store, try not to let them see you, if they do, nod politely but do not engage in conversation - Remember, plausible deniability is your friend, and the less details the better. All it takes is one person saying that they saw you "spreading the plague" and you will be blamed for whole outbreak, even if your child was the last one to get it.
5 - Do not tell people who don't have children the name of the disease your child has. trust me, you say "Hand, Foot and Mouth" they hear "Hoof and Mouth" and you are never invited to another BBQ again.
- and finally,
6 - If you don't like what your pediatrician says is the correct amount of time to wait before rejoining the populace, ask your friends what their doctor/advice nurse said and choose your favorite answer.

Country Bumpkin Pumpkins

Well, it is October, and Fall has come to Southern California, we had 104 degree weather last week, and down into the sixties last weekend. The cool was short lived, but it was perfectly timed for a trip to the pumpkin patch with Eddie's work. We climbed the "Hay Castle" and took the above shown picture before heading off to the patch.

The girls were delighted to get a free ride
Especially since their favorite pack animal was pulling the load
The girls started with the thought that we should get the biggest pumpkin we could find, then we told them they could pick their own so they decided to find the smallest pumpkins they could, so that they could pick and carry it on their own.

Nina decided not to go with this one, but she was happy to sit in the mud while we took her picture with it.

Ella searched high and low and in and out of the vines
Liana got a little help wrestling the little pumpkin of her choice
and seemed very satisfied with the results!
Part of the festivities included painting your own pumpkins, and here are our results

It should come to no one's surprise that Ella won the prize for the "most creative" pumpkin (far right) Not only did she paint "bloody teeth and blue spit, and a purple ghost!" but she also painted actual leaves and used them as stamps on the reverse side.

I've not posted in a while because we have had colds and stuff, so I thought this little photographic essay might be a nice way to say Happy Fall Ya'll

glory days

Recently my 5-year-old boss was caught red-handed in my photo boxes, I am not an avid scrapbooker, I am not the most organized of mind, my pictures (from the pre-digital era) are in photo boxes, sort of sorted, in general epochs of my life. Ella happened to be in BYU-HFAC section and uncovered the following gems.

I find myself smiling when I look at them, what pretty young things we were, what a pretty young thing I was! Of course at the time I often felt the angst of being unmarried, relatively unsuccessful at getting cast in productions, untalented in comparison to my closest friends, and lonely.

Amazing thing perspective.

I know that I cried when a cast list was posted and I wasn't on it, I know I felt sad and even slightly depressed when my friends were dating or got engaged or married, I know that I lost hope when the crushes I had pinned hopes on for eons graduated or left. I know I felt all of that, and that it was real, but looking at these pictures from the perspective of 7+ years of marriage and 5+ years of motherhood, all I really think about is how much fun it was.

In High School when someone said "these are the best days of your life!" I laughed and knew that that was not the case with me, but now that I am thirty-something, I guess I can see how sentimentality might make someone see that as true.

Ella's First Day of Kindergarten

Well, we survived it, truth be told we did even better than that. Here is Ella in the outfit she wanted to wear on her first day of school. I was very brave and let her choose her own clothes, and in case anyone wants to know, the sparkly white sneakers from Walmart are tons more sparkly than the ones at Payless! Can you tell she felt confident? (credit for this pose goes to her tap teacher, who taught her well, Hiya Ginger!)
We walked her to the courtyard outside of her classroom and waited for her teacher to give her a name tag. Once she was properly tagged, I gave her a kiss, told I was proud of her and told her I would be back to pick her up. The teacher asked the children to line up, and so Ella walked right to her spot so that she would be ready to go in.
I had some supplies (tissue, wet-wipes, etc.) to donate for classroom use, but I was waiting for the teacher to take care of all the students first before I asked where to put them.

This is a picture of Ella right before she said (and I quote)
"What are you still doing here?"
Liana and Nina and I watched her go into the class, left our bags of supplies inside the door and then went to a PTA welcome where we ate donuts and signed up to help with a craft fair near Holiday time. We left to make our umpteenth trip to the pediatrician's office to take care of the millionth form so that Ella can have all the medicines she needs available in case some peanut sneaks into campus.
We made it back to school right on time to wait for Ella to emerge triumphant from her classroom, here she is, exiting the gate where she had to raise her hand when she saw her mom and shake hands with the teacher before she could leave.
And finally here is our girl, mission accomplished, she played with Hula Hoops during recess, colored a raccoon, and survived snack time, what more could I ask for?
Aren't you proud of me? I didn't even cry!