The Big Three

We'll call this one a Friday Flashback. My mom sent me this picture yesterday and it puts a big smile on my face. I think I was four (or nearly four), so I was about the age Phoebe is now. I remember posing for this photo. We set up a little studio at my Grandma Bonnie's house and gave our best smiles.

When my brothers and I were young people thought we were triplets. We're not, but we are close in age and at the time we were close in size. I never wanted for someone to play with because I always had my brothers. Those poor boys had to put up with a very bossy big sister, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Let's be honest, I'm still a bossy big sister. I'm so glad I got spend Thanksgiving with them.

Thank you for the picture Mom!

Update: I've been corrected. Apparently this picture was taken at my Grandma Miriam's house. I must be combining memories because I remember taking pictures at my Grandma Bonnie's house. Oh well, it's a cute picture no matter where it was taken.

Beans and Rice, Mighty Nice

Santa's Elf, Hard at Work

It's almost Christmas, which means I've got a hair-brained-scheme-of-a-gift I'm working on. I've gotten lots of help so far (thank you to those that are reading this that have contributed!), but the final product is up to me. And I need to have it all finished sooner than later. Don't you hate when people are vague? Sometimes Peter and Cooper read over my shoulder when I'm looking at the blog, so I'm not going to get any more specific about the gift.

This project is going to be pretty time intensive during the next week, so you can look forward to some sweet cop-out posts.

And on that note, I'm off to covertly create!

Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself

Remember how I was freaking out about singing on Friday? Well, I probably psyched myself out more than I needed to. There were some stressful aspects of the night (I couldn't find my accompanist to rehearse one more time beforehand, he played everything veeerrryy slowly, that kind of stuff), but overall it went well.

And due to the casual nature of the event, there were only about twenty people in the chapel while I sang. I know that there were many more people in the cultural hall looking at the displays, and that they could all hear me as well, but I couldn't see any of them, so it was almost like they weren't there.

The weirdest part of the night was that after each song people applauded. In the chapel. I was not anticipating that.

So that I remember (because I have a hard time recalling after only a few days) here are the songs I sang:

1. Do You Hear What I Hear (Carrie Underwood version)
2. Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep (from White Christmas)
3. Does He Remember? (by Janice Kapp Perry)
4. A New Star Shines Tonight (from the December 1988 New Era)
5. I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day (Sally DeFord arrangement)
6. What Child Is This (1st and 3rd verses), with an interlude into one verse of I Believe in Christ (1st half of 1st verse and second half of last verse)

I'm glad I sang. I'm glad it went well. I'm glad it's over.

A Time to Remember

Peter took his turn speaking in Primary yesterday. He worked on his talk for most of Saturday. After each draft he would call me in, deliver the address, then I would give my notes. That sounds like a really smooth process, right? Now imagine it with lots of whining and arguing and you'll have a more accurate picture. The final product was pretty good. I couldn't convince him to say it in a loud voice (which is ironic since his usual volume is quite loud), but I'll keep working on that aspect of his public speaking.

Here's the talk:

The Sacrament is a Time to Remember Jesus Christ

The Sacrament is the bread and water we take at church every Sunday. In The Gospel Principles, chapter 23, paragraph 2, it says,

The sacrament is a holy priesthood ordinance that helps remind us of the Savior’s Atonement. During the sacrament, we partake of bread and water. We do this in remembrance of His flesh and His blood, which He gave as a sacrifice for us. As we partake of the sacrament, we renew sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father.

The Sacrament Prayer for the bread says

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

The Sacrament Prayer for the water says

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

When it says “that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy son,” or “drink in remembrance of the blood of thy son” it can help us remember about Jesus Christ. Other ways we can remember Jesus Christ are by reading the scriptures and reading hymns while the Sacrament is being passed. In the back of the hymn book you can look up songs by topic. Look up: Jesus Christ-Creator, Jesus Christ-Example, Jesus Christ-Friend, Jesus Christ-Savior, Jesus Christ-Second Coming, and Jesus Christ Shepherd.

I know that remembering Jesus during the Sacrament is important. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Say A Little Prayer For You

Tonight I'm singing at a Stake Christmas Creche. When I was first asked to participate I was under the impression that it was a fireside and said yes. Later I learned that it is actually a three day event open to the public and advertised in some of the family magazines in the area. People, some of them professional musicians, will perform during assigned time slots over the course of the three days. I was asked to fill twenty minutes. Oh, and I'm the first performer of the whole event.

I'm kind of freaking out.

Really, I've been freaking out for days. If anyone has talked to me recently and I've seemed overly distracted, this is why. Well, this and the amazing lack of sleep I've been getting. Those two things have me extra spacey.

I have sung for large audiences in the past, but it's been maaaany years since that's happened. I met with my accompanist on Sunday and I was not great vocally. I'm hoping (and praying) that everything goes well today. I'm also hoping that since I'm first there won't be a ton of people there yet.

This reaction is really out of character for me. Yes, I get nervous just like everyone else, but not usually to the point that I'm tempted to call and cancel. For previous singing engagements I've had lots of time to sit and rehearse. This time I'm lucky if I can sit at the piano for five minutes in a row before one (or many) of the kids need my attention. So now I'm tired, stressed, AND under-rehearsed.

If you think of me today, please say a prayer in your heart that I'll have a voice and calm and appropriate stage presence.

Thanks.

Strictly Academic

Yesterday I needed to fill out a paper for school about Cooper. The first question asked about his favorite subject in school.

Me: Cooper, what's you favorite subject?

Cooper: (thinking deeply) Ummm... well... math. No, not math! Uhhh... hmmm... is parties a subject? Like, holiday parties?

He was sad to learn that no, it is not a subject.

For those that are curious, he decided art is his favorite.

One More From the Weekend

Ready or Not, He Won't Come

Phoebe 's preschool lesson today focused on Christmas. I'm not sure what all of the discussion topics were, but she came home with activity pages about stockings and Christmas trees. And she listed off the holidays in their proper order, so I think they talked about the calendar as well.

As I was trying to extricate Phoebe from the princess costume she had donned at the conclusion of learning time, the mom who taught let me know that during lunch Phoebe had enlightened her classmates about the existence of Santa Claus. I was shocked. We don't teach that Santa comes and delivers presents, but we also don't come right out and debunk the whole thing. When the kids ask us, we are truthful, but we are careful not to volunteer information. As of now, I have not told Phoebe that he's not real.

On the way home, the following conversation took place.

Me: Phoebe, what did you tell the kids about Santa?

Phoebe: That he isn't real.

Me: Were the kids talking about Santa?

Phoebe: No.

Me: Then why did you tell them?

Phoebe: (with complete innocence) Because I wanted them to know.

She was concerned that I was mad at her. I assured her I wasn't, but that other parents might not like someone else telling their kids about Santa.

As for the other kids, none of them seemed to notice what she had said, so I guess no one's Christmas magic was shattered.

Let's Go Have an Adventure

We have adventures. I don't mean the my-kids-are-full-of-energy-so every-moment-is-an-adventure kind of adventures. We have those as well, certainly, but I mean honest to goodness, pack a lunch or stay in a hotel, see amazing landmarks, kinds of adventures.

Of course, those of you that read the blog (I'm pretty sure you're still out there) have seen the pictures and read the travelogues of these adventures, so this isn't news to you. But it came as an epiphany to me today. I recently printed out a bunch of pictures at Costco to make our walls fancy. This afternoon I taped several of the pictures up, just to get an idea for where I'll put them when they have frames. As I looked at all the places we've been it struck me: we have adventures.

I want to say the adventures are because of my own drive for excitement or knowledge or culture. But really, it's because we've now lived in four different time zones and we want to take advantage of what each place has to offer. And so Bryan and I have a list of what we want to see and we put forth a lot of effort to make that happen.

The Thanksgiving break was one of these adventures. Two of my brothers live in the Baltimore area, so we made the drive down and spent four days with them. The kids got to play with their cousins, I got to see my brothers, and we all ate delicious food. Then we spent a day visiting museums and seeing national monuments.

It was a great adventure.