My "New Year" Mantra

I love to make goals. (Perhaps a new goal should be to blog more, huh?) But here's the thing with me and goals. I don't wait until January 1st to make goals. I've never been one to conform to society, so why conform with goals, right? For me, I like to make goals around my birthday. Afterall, it truly is a new year. Since my birthday just passed, I decided it was time to make some goals.

Problem is, I couldn't think of any specific goals. Sure, there are lots of things I would like to do - if time, money and circumstances allowed. I needed some new goals, but I just wasn't sure what to declare as my new goals.

And then, it hit me. A mantra. I've got a mantra for my new year. I think it works for goals as well as a sort of mission statement. It's what I'm going to strive to live up to in the next year. Ready for it?

"Try new things. Hang on to the right old things. Be brave."

So there you have it, my "new year" goals. Let's see what kind of adventures I can come up with based on this life mantra.

Perspective

There were once two caterpillars, one brown and one green, who lived in the same tree and became extremely close friends. Each morning they would find each other and then settle down on a large leaf where they could eat and talk throughout the day. Munching on leaves in the cool shade of the tree, they were as happy as two friends could possibly be.

Then one morning the brown caterpillar awoke to find his friend missing. He crawled frantically from one branch to another looking for the green caterpillar, but his friend was simply nowhere to be found. Sad and lonely, the brown caterpillar finally gave up his search and selected a leaf to eat for breakfast. The next day and the day following that, the brown caterpillar spent each morning looking for his friend but with no success. Gradually he forgot about the green caterpillar altogether.

Then, one late afternoon just as the sun was setting, a beautiful butterfly landed on the same leaf where the caterpillar was resting. The caterpillar had, of course, seen butterflies before, but he had never been so close to one of these beautiful creatures. He couldn't help but contrast the delicate body and wings of the butterfly with his own thick and clumsy appearance. To his surprise, the butterfly spoke to him.

"Oh, it's so good to see you again, old friend!" said the butterfly.

"What?" responded the caterpillar in surprise. "Are you talking to me?"

"Well, of course I am," responded the butterfly. "Don't you recognize me?"

The caterpillar, puzzled and embarrassed, said: "I'm sorry, but I really don't remember having met you before. Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else."

"No, there is no mistake," said the butterfly, "but I suppose that I have changed a lot and so I shouldn't be surprised that you don't recognize me anymore. I was once a green caterpillar, and you and I spent many days together in this very tree."

Looking at the beautiful butterfly, the caterpillar was astonished and asked, "You were once my friend the green caterpillar? But how could that be? How could a caterpillar become a butterfly? That seems impossible."

"Well, it wasn't easy," admitted the butterfly, "but when I was a caterpillar I always believed that I had the power to change if I really wanted to. And to tell you the truth, changing into a butterfly wasn't even the hardest part. The hardest part was giving up being a caterpillar." (See also Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers [New York: Paulist Press, 1972].)

Thanks for the Ride

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey…delays…sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

-Gordon B. Hinckley

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Hey, long time no blog. Something very important brings me to the blogosphere today. Consider this a public service announcement (or just something never to do to me).

I cannot stand it when someone uses my personal email for their business gain. Let me explain.

You know how you give your email address out for church, to a friend, or another person as a means of communication? When someone gives you their email address for any of the above purposes, do not start using that email address to promote your new Avon, MaryKay, drink beverage (insert any number of MLM/Direct Selling companies here) business. I’m happy you’ve found a job that works for you, but unless I gave you my email address to specifically send me information about your product, please do not use it. In fact, it’s rather irritating and I no longer consider you a friend at this point in time.

For example, if you have my email address for visiting teaching purposes (and I admit, email sometimes comes in very handy for visiting teaching), I would really appreciate it if you didn’t send me 3 emails a day about your “awesome sale” or “clearance items.” Because not only have we not talked for 6 months, I really don’t want to buy your crap. And I really don’t want your excessive emails clogging up my inbox.

And furthermore, I happen to know quite a bit about emailing for business. While it may not be illegal, it does borderline on unethical to add my email to your mailing list without my permission.

Don’t even get me started about “friending” me on Facebook for this exact reason either. If I haven’t talked to you in the last year, chances are I’m not going to meet you for lunch to discuss “an awesome business opportunity you are sure I would be interested in.” This earns an automatic delete.

And thus ends today’s rant.

Letters, We've Got Letters

Dear Blog,

I'm so terribly sorry I've neglected you. I'll try to do better, I promise.

Love,

Me

Dear Onion Days,

Thank you for another great year! It was especially wonderful to be able to participate in the parade this year. Two life long dreams have now come true thanks to you - driving a van and driving a van in a parade.

Love,

The girl who drove over the curb only 2 times

Dear Van,

My goodness, you were a beast! But it was especially lovely to drive a van and "haul" stuff around.

Sincerely,

The girl who drove over the curb only 2 times

Dear September,

Welcome! You know how much I love you! I can't wait to see your pretty leaves change color real soon.

Love,

The girl who loves fall time

Dear Young Women,

Please tell me you are learning something! Please! If you aren't, then this gray hair is all for naught!

Love,

Your Young Women Leader who is prematurely going gray

Dear Birthday,

I really do like you, I promise I do. And I'm super excited for you to come again. But please, can't you stop making me older? Because that is just not cool. Not cool at all.

Love,

The girl who keeps getting older but feels much, much younger

Dear Cute Sundress,

Three strikes and you are out! I think you are super cute and I enjoy wearing you, however, three times wearing you (including three washes) and you are still fading blue all over my white t-shirt. It's time for you to go bye bye. I wish we could remain friends, but it just isn't going to work out.

Love,

The girl with blue arms

Summer O' Fun: Shakespeare Style

Every summer I take a trip with my friends to Cedar City to the Shakespeare Festival. We made the annual trip last weekend. It was certainly not a disappointment! I saw Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummers Night Dream, and Noises Off! (Which did keep its promise of 1 million laughs...or 999,999 in my case).

We headed to Cedar City on Friday afternoon. On the way we saw two beardies in a Volvo pulling a trailer full of carpet pad. Always interesting moments on I-15.

We saw our first play on Friday night. I chose to go see Romeo and Juliet with one of my friends while the other two went to Music Man. Romeo and Juliet was in the outdoor theater. As is custom in Utah during monsoon season, it rained. And rained a lot. The actors kept going and fortunately our seats were covered. Others in the theater were a little wet.

On Saturday morning we had some time to kill before the matinee. So we ventured south for a little shopping.

This is where we found our next encounter with weirdies. Here is where we found a weirdee (who happened to be traveling with me) wearing a crown while a creeper weirdo (who was not traveling with me) watched in the background. Most interesting store...ever.

That afternoon we watched A Midsummers Night Dream and then I (like the nerd that I am) headed to the SUU library to do some work. Like a total idiot, I completely overbooked myself and had some freelance work to do. You know you've lost it when you spend vacation time in a library working. I need some help.

The last play we saw was Noises Off! It was very funny and I highly recommend. In fact, I recommend all the plays we saw this year. All were very well done.

Then, at 11:00 at night, we headed home. K is always such a good sport and drives us to and from our adventures. I'm thankful she's so good at staying awake, because I am not. Five minutes into the drive home and I was out!

Check off another summer adventure! This year is turning out to be a great summer! Too bad it's now August and the fun needs to start coming to a close. Boo! I want one more month of summer!

Summer O' Fun: California Style

It's been about 3 years or so since I've taken a real vacation. So while technically Summer O' Fun is supposed to be activities that are done in your own area, I decided to make an exception this year with a little trip to California. Besides, when the CMan, Mr. Mster, and LizBit are involved, I have a hard time saying no.

Summer O' Fun California Style lasted an entire week. There was Disneying, beaching, Legoing, and lots of eating...which was fun at the time, but not so great now that I'm home. Enjoy a few highlights.



Meeting Mickey! I think Mr. Mster's life is complete now.



Small World is open again.



The beach...first time I can remember in my life being on the beach when it's warm.



Going on rides with my buddies.



There truly are not very many legos in LegoLand. Which was disappointing to me.

And now, I'm ready to go back.

Lessons Learned

1. Do not, I repeat do not, attempt a self tan at home. Just trust me on this one.

2. When going to get home self tan fixed, be prepared for an extremely awkward situation. No worries, it will be over in about 15 minutes.

3. After getting self tan fixed, be prepared for A LOT of spray tan to come off on your clothing. Do not, I repeat do not, wear clothes you care about.

4. After getting self tan fixed, don't make plans to go out for the rest of the day. You will, I repeat you will, look like an Ompa Loompa until you can take a shower in approximately 8 - 12 hours.

5. Learn to accept your natural skin tone. It's just better this way.

4th of July - Summer O' Fun Style

We're already doing much better this year with Summer O' Fun than we did last year. To the outsider, Summer O' Fun might not look all that fun. But trust me, Summer O' Fun is awesome!

Since Memorial Day ruined my plans to hike the "P" I decided to hike for the Fourth of July. I was probably 14 the last time I hiked this little "mountain" and I had completely forgotten how steep that thing is! Going up wasn't too bad, but coming down was a whole different story...especially with a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old along for the ride. They were little troopers though and made it all the way up and back.




After the hike, we played in the back yard. A little swimming pool and slip and slide action were in order. Papa Chuck may have had more fun than the kiddos in the pool.


Next up...a traditional 4th of July BBQ followed by fireworks.


I still hate fireworks (ever since the sparkler incident in my younger years), but every year I put on a brave face and participate. This year, "legal" fireworks were part of the line up. I'm still not sure how I feel about explosives going off so close to me.

All in all, I'd say we accomplished another successful outing.

O' What Do You Do in the Summer Time?

I'll tell you what we do...we roast hot dogs and marshmallows, even when it is 90 degrees outside.

Summer O' Fun activity #2 occurred yesterday. This time, the mother decided to take a turn planning the activity (perhaps my guilt trips have finally worked). She decided we were going to go to "Beer Can Flats" and roast hot dogs and have smores.

While I was driving to meet the family, I got a phone call. It went something like this:

Me: "Hello."
Am: "Hello. We are going to our house. There's a dead raccoon up here and it stinks...stinks real bad."
Me: "OK. I'll see you in a bit."

So Beer Can was out, you know because of the dead raccoon and all. Since the rest of the family had to make their way down the canyon by now, I arrived at the destination a little early. I got out of the car and was serenaded by the neighbor's mariachi music. So I sat on the lawn and enjoyed the sounds!

A few minutes later, the rest of the family came and we got the party started.

Jar built a fire in the pit and I may or may not have said numerous times, "It's only 90 degrees outside but we're building a fire." And then the roasting commenced.

This was Mr. Msters first time roasting his own marshmallow. He did a great job.



Coach, Em, and Ken enjoying the evening.



The boys decided to take a break in the wagon.



Two Summer O' Fun activities so far...we're already well ahead of last summer. Take that 2010!

Summer O' Fun Returns

Memorial Day marks the return of Summer O' Fun! Some of you may remember the antics from Summer O' Fun 2009. While everyone made fun of me when I made plans for Summer O' Fun back then, turns out the family participants actually missed the festivities since we slacked with Summer O' Fun 2010. For one reason or another (and everyone has their own opinions here) last year did not turn out to be very funnish. Apparently I am the glue that holds Summer O' Fun together.

Yesterday, the calendar said Memorial Day (even though the weather said President's Day) and Summer O' Fun made its valiant return.



The plan was to hike the "P." I had high hopes that the weather would cooperate, but alas, it did not.

Check out that snow level! On May 30th! This really makes me nervous as I'm supposed to take 20 girls into the mountains next week. Oh heaven help me!




Obviously, Plan A was thwarted. So we resorted to Plan B (Or maybe it was Plan C). We had a barbeque, and needed a quick trip to the grocery store. So off we went!

See, Coach was really excited at this point.



Kenny was upset about not being able to go on the hike, but he was still willing to participate.



See, this is where we would have started our hike. No can do with those clouds!



That trip to the grocery store was really exhausting, so we stopped for a drink. The Crest has pebble ice now - enough said.



Coach got upset because I took his picture while driving. Oh well, that's part of Summer O' Fun!



Pops even got documented. He was having a great time.



We had our barbeque and then decided to head to the cemetary. We decorated graves for our family on Saturday, but we wanted to find some graves in our local cemetary. So off we went!

And it was raining, but I kept searching. Turns out, there are lots of pioneer graves in the Payson cemetary. Who knew? Well, I didn't.

I didn't document this part, but it did happen. And I plan on returning to check out those pioneer graves.

Then, we watched a movie. I wanted to watch "Leap Year." I love that movie. I'm not sure everyone else enjoyed my choice.

I didn't document this part either.

We did some exploring outside. I was picking flowers to take to the cemetary when I discovered this.

At first, I thought it was just some strange lawn ornament my mom had found. Turns out, that is




a real mushroom - thanks to all of the rain we've had so far.

I made Coach cut it out because it gave me the heeby geebies.

Then, it was time to go home.

Now, doesn't that sound like a great start to Summer O' Fun? Indeed it was.

On the list this year:

SLC cemetary
Lagoon
Peteetneet Quilt Show
Hiking the P. I will get there eventually.

A True Royal Wedding

Yes, I watched the Royal Wedding. I admit, I loved every second of it. In fact, I’ve watched parts of the wedding over and over again the last two days. It truly was a modern day fairy tale. I loved the dress, the music, the carriage rides, the palace, and the genuine smiles on the Duke and Duchess’ faces. Yes, it was a magical day that I’m glad I was able to be a part of – even across the pond.

But as I’ve watched the Royal Wedding and oohed and awed over the day’s events, one thought kept coming to mind. The Royal Wedding in England was beautiful and wonderful, but the most special “royal” weddings I’ve ever been part of are those that take place within the sacred walls of the Holy Temple. Truly, it is in the temple where we are sealed together as families for eternity. Forget “til death do us part”… a marriage is eternal. There is a sweet peace that is only found within the temple. A bride and a groom dressed in white in the Holy Temple are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. A royal wedding indeed is one that takes place inside the temple.