Uh Oh

My girl officially has an official first word: "Uh oh."

Maybe that's a commentary about our lives right now, or maybe she just FINALLY got over her fear of falling (my fault?) and realized that walking is, generally speaking, an easier way to get around.  Let the bumps and bruises begin!

I just love this girl to pieces.  She's usually smiling, don't let the picture fool you.

In other news, it's Wednesday again?  Already?
Wednesdays are my piano days.  I teach 8 students from 3:30-7:00, and it's looking like I may have a voice student to fit in as well.  The schedule works out perfectly.  My brother Braden comes to my house right after school (while the kids are still napping) and stays until Slice gets home; I go to my mom's and hope everyone shows up on time.  (Unless I'm hungry, in which case I like some time between lessons to snack.)  At the end of the day I have some extra spending money, and I feel like I'm using my talents/contributing to the greater society.  Bam.

Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat but I just found a website where I can watch all of Downton Abbey Season 3 ...

Sisters

Right this minute my parents are dropping my Kiana off at the Provo MTC, where she will train as a missionary (for a week? two?) and head out to Jacksonville, Florida for the next eighteen months.

It's hard not to feel just a little jealous of my younger sisters because they get the chance to serve at 19 instead of 21.  If the age had been lowered a mere five years ago, I'm almost certain I would have gone (maybe even made it back in time to get married the same time I did!).  I know getting married was the right thing for me at the time, but oh, The Road Not Taken.  Endless possibilities.

As it is I'll look forward to a mission experience in my future, and live vicariously through my siblings as they travel the globe, preaching the gospel.  Exciting things are happening with missionary work right now, and they're only going to get better.  How fun will it be if Ki & Em serve at the same time?

We WILL miss having Ki around though.  We never really got used to her being gone because she kept coming back, that crazy BYU-I track schedule.

Anyway, Hurrah for Israel!  And for sister missionaries!

Details

One of my favorite college classes was European women's history, 1500 - present.  There were 12 of us enrolled in the class, which was held in a conference room on an upper floor of the beautiful JFSB.  We sat around a table and talked about gender roles and wartime sacrifices, and how women's lives have changed over the last several centuries.

One point I remember distinctly was about the invention of modern appliances.  You know, labor-saving devices: washing machine, electric stove/oven/iron/refrigerator, dishwasher.  (For which I am eternally grateful.)  When these devices became widely used, the standard of cleanliness went up.  Women were expected to keep their homes and clothes cleaner and brighter than ever before.  Ultimately, those labor-saving devices weren't "saving" them any labor.

And so, I think, it goes with us.  A revolution is happening across the world.  The internet has given each of us a glimpse into other people's homes and lives.  We are all budding interior designers, building, creating, re-purposing, photographing, sharing.  It is truly a wonderful thing.

But we see only the beautiful things.  I come across organizational tips and numberless concourses of pallet projects and homemade curtains and kitchen makeovers and I think, wow, what a great idea!  The Type 2 in me finds all the details, all the things I could make better in my home.
Then the great ideas breed discontent.  I get irritated with my front room curtains (if only they were grommet top), and my bookshelf (if only I had a bunch of junk to "style" it with), and my laundry room (if only it was actually a room so I could make it look nice), and my bedroom (if only I could walk around in it), and my house (if only I had more space!).  I have lists of things I'd like to do here, oh yes I do.

But there's a delicate balance to be found, isn't there?
I was raised to use it up, wear it out .... and, at the end of the day, I don't have the heart to spend money on a new dresser for my room when I don't really need it.  Every once in a while I have to take a step back and think about what's really important here, what I want out of life and what it's going to take to get me there.  That dresser doesn't even factor in.

So I just keep quiet, and hope that if anyone enters my home, they don't judge me for my shabby couch pillows and mismatched decor, the many interior faux pas I've committed.  I know I could fix it, I just haven't.
Yet.

Obsession

It seems that Liam has inherited a tendency to obsess over certain things - surely from his father.

Long before Liam saw the movie Cars he knew the names of most the characters and pointed them out at any opportunity.  We got him a little Tow Mater to play with several months ago, and he has played with that thing until it's hardly recognizable.  Then Slice came home with a Lightning McQueen for him.
That was the end of it.

He is COMPLETELY obsessed.  He totes them both around everywhere, including the table.  He insists on sleeping with Lightning at night, and wakes up in the wee hours screaming because he can't find him.  He goes for them first thing in the morning.  It's becoming a nighttime problem.

This happened once before, with tractors he got for his second birthday.  There are FOUR of them so there was no way he could sleep with them all.  Slice made a "tractor garage" out of a shoebox that they could sleep in, and that worked out perfectly.  Now if we can convince him to let Lightning and Mater sleep in there too....

Boring

"Your blog's been pretty boring lately," my sister Emily told me.
("Because no one comments anymore, MISSY," I told her, "and that's your fault as much as anyone else's.")

But then I got thinking about it, and well, my life is just pretty boring lately.  The things I'm most excited about are the Roosevelt Wellness Center Project (which is just getting off the ground), the roman shades I hung up in my bedroom this week (which I now need to redecorate but HOW?), and getting my house in order via my extensive list of New Year's Resolutions (which I am trying my best to keep).

A small sampling of my extensive list

I checked last year's resolutions and surprisingly completed all of them but two, namely, the last two.  Sometime during the year we decided that we don't really need a bigger car until we have another baby, and since that also didn't happen during the year, the car was put on hold.  As for exercising, well, I ran that 5k and never went running again.  Have I told you that I am lazy?

This year I'm motivated though, without excuses like a newborn/6 month old+broken wrist/pregnancy/job (years past, you like how I did that?) - I'm embracing my inner Type 2 and making plans that I can actually follow.  It's made me happier already.

And if that makes me boring, well, so be it.