Subscribe

RSS Feed (xml)

Powered By

Skin Design:
Free Blogger Skins

Powered by Blogger

Saturday, February 13, 2010

If I was president....

Graeme came home from school Thursday with this poem that he wrote. I got such a kick out of it that I just had to share.

If I was president, I would make a new holiday.
I would call it dino-day.
In dino-day, everybody would celebrate the dinosaur bones.
They would also ware dinosaur costumes.
At the end of dino-day, everyone would gather at a big table.
They would have a HUGE FEAST!
Then when everyone is done, they make dinosaur noises!
Roar, roar, lots of roars!
Soon, everyone would get tired.
Then they would go to sleep and say, good by dino-day.

Graeme for President!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

I love skiing!

One of the great things about living here is the fact that our school takes the 4th and 5th graders skiing every year. Last year I didn't get to go with Chloe (for various reasons) but this year Brian and I both went. I can't believe how much fun I had!

The sun was shining the whole day! It's been weeks since I saw the sun with no clouds or fog or SMOG. The air was crisp and clean, it was so clean I couldn't taste it! The snow sparkled and the only sounds were the creaking of the chair lift, the laughter of children and my skis gliding across the snow. My world has been gray for so long that I forgot how crisp colors can be in the winter. The blue sky, green trees and white snow were like ambrosia to my sad self. I apologize for waxing poetic, but I experienced five hours of pure, unadulterated sunlight. I just can't help myself!

Aside from the fantastic weather and scenery, the skiing was phenomenal! The resort wasn't crowded and my meager skills came back to me pretty quickly in spite of the ten year gap between now and the last time I went skiing. Of course, no ski trip is complete without a good crash and boy did I crash good! It was my first time down the regular hill and I got going a little too fast so I steered towards a powdery area thinking that I could slow down and regain control. Unsurprisingly, all the powder did was trip me up. Down I went in a blaze of glory, skis, poles, ear muffs and snow flying in all directions. I bet it was spectacular to watch! When I finally rolled to a stop, I was amazed to discover that I was completely unharmed. I got up, dusted myself off, collected all my gear (not an easy feat since it was scattered halfway across the mountain) and skiied down the hill. In spite of the fact that this whole thing happened right next to the chair lift, in plain view of every person on the mountain, my only regret is the fact that not one person got a picture of it. Dang it!

I do have to say, I feel very proud of myself. I skiied from about 9:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon and I wasn't completely exhausted. Hooray! I'm pretty sore today, but I'm very pleased with my stamina overall. I guess all that exercise I've been doing is paying off! Man, I love to ski! Can I go back tomorrow?

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Spelling Bee

My amazing daughter was in the school spelling bee yesterday.

I am so proud of her! They took the top two spellers from each of the fourth and fifth grade classes so there were 18 students who participated in the school-wide spelling bee. They sent home the big list of words that even I can't spell (I swear half of them were French) and we dilligently studied with her.

Chloe made it through to the third round (there were only four students left) and then misspelled "consensus". The sad thing was that she knew how to spell the word, she just got in a hurry and said "o" instead of "u". But she reacted so well! She was a little disappointed, but she didn't cry or freak out.
I'm just so proud of her for doing her best and accepting the outcome even though it meant she didn't win. I love her so much! Does this mean she's growing up?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

We shook his hand

As I mentioned yesterday, I hauled my sick butt out of bed Sat and Sun to go to Stake Conference. I'll admit, if a member of the Quorum of the Twelve hadn't been there, I also wouldn't have been there. But I was there and I'm glad. I feel like I appreciated the experience more than I otherwise would have because I made a bigger sacrifice to be there.

Elder Anderson has a very relaxed and humorous way of speaking. I got to hear Pres. Hinckley speak once in person when I was on my mission and Elder Anderson reminds me of him. He spoke about many things, and I left feeling spiritually fed. I was most touched, however, by the apostolic blessing he left us with. He had talked about the necessity of teaching our children the gospel and then he blessed us with the strength to teach our children. I loved his word choice because my children are very intelligent and independent and the effort required to teach them is sometimes beyond me.

When the Sunday meeting ended, Elder Anderson stayed up on the stand and shook hands. I waffled about whether to take the kids up and shake his hand. I still wasn't feeling well and there were quite a few people waiting. As I debated with myself, I realized that here was a chance to teach my children. I've only had two opportunities in my entire life to shake the hand of an apostle of the Lord. I'm fully aware that neither of those two men remembers me, but I remember them and how I felt near them. These are men who are filling a very special calling. They are close to the Lord and full of His Spirit. Shaking the hand of a man like that is a unique experience and I suddenly wanted it for my kids. So up we went and shook his hand and it was worth it.

Once again, I'm sure he doesn't remember me or my family, but I'm also sure that we will never forget him.

Monday, February 1, 2010

The weekend

It's over. I survived. Barely.

I caught the crap Brian had the week before and spent most of the weekend in bed or on the toilet wishing I was dead. Then to add insult to injury, that time of the month rolled around yesterday. Ugh!

I did drag myself out of bed Saturday night and again Sunday morning to go to Stake Conference and listen to Elder Neil Anderson (Quorum of the 12) speak. We also got to shake his hand (more about that later).

And I weighed myself yesterday morning because now I'm just in the habit of doing the old weigh-in on the last day of the month. I don't know if it was the previous two days of not eating or the other previous 30 of diet and exercise, but I've lost 7 more pounds, bringing my grand total of weight lost up to 47 pounds. Whatever the reason, I'll take it!

If I felt better, I'd probably do a little dance. I'll forgo the dance, but I did exercise this morning, cramps, bubbly stomach and all.