Florida

My sweet parents flew me and Abby into Florida before Christmas. I like to think that they missed me but who am I kidding. Anyone who has children know that you take a back seat to your kid when they are born. Your child becomes their pride and joy, and why not? They are too young to do anything to disappoint them, they can spoil them rotten and not have to deal with any of the consequences later, I mean the list goes on and on!
We arrived on December 13th and stayed until the 21st. Our first whole day there, we went to go visit my uncle in Miami. I was a little worried about Abby and the 4 hour drive that we had to take, but she was wonderful the whole way there. As soon as we got to my uncle's place, he gave Abby an early Christmas gift (shocker!). She got a tickle-me-Elmo. WOW this thing is obnoxious! I understand why kids like it but geez! We then ventured off to South Beach and had a scenic walk down the strip. I got to see Versace's home. It was cool so I took a picture but I refused to stand in it. Something about standing where his body was found got to me. We also took Abby to the beach and let her put her feet in the water. She didn't like it at all. Granted it was 75 degrees outside, the water wasn't as warm for her! After the beach, we went to eat at this little cafe on the strip..it was so yummy! After we left, my dad was thinking about the bill and how high it was. He mentioned it to us and we were all thinking about why it was so high. Apparently in Miami, the gratuity is already added! No wonder the waiter was so thankful to us as we left, he got a sweet tip! We laughed all the way to the car :)
We also went to the Florida aquarium while we were there..wow this was a pill to swallow. With all the cool animals that were there, Abby only wanted to see Nemo and Dory. As soon as she found them, nothing else mattered. Forget the huge sharks, or the fun rays and sea otters...nope, it was all Nemo and Dory. At the end of the day, we went into the gift shop and Abby saw a clown fish and of course said "Nemo! Nemo!" She put one in each hand and started running around. My parents told her that she could have one, so they took one away from her and she decided to throw a fit in the shop. Apparently she had to have 2 of them! Well, that wasn't going to happen so we just bought her one and eventually she calmed down. The rest of the day, she would not let ANYONE touch Nemo, and she gave him kisses all the way home. One of the coolest things I saw at the aquarium was the biggest fish I have ever seen. I passed by it and thought it was a large rock. It was the ugliest thing I have ever seen but man it was huge so I thought it deserved a little credit.
On one night, we took a trip to Orlando and went to a all you can eat lobster place, The Boston Lobster Feast, aka HEAVEN! I will not divulge how many lobsters I ate, but in my defense, I don't have lobster very often so I felt I had to take advantage of the opportunity. After dinner, we went to downtown Disney and walked around a bit. We met the toy soldiers that were over 10 feet tall and they were booty dancing with a college basketball team. That was pretty entertaining. Abby busted a move or two but my camera had died at that point.
We also took a trip to good ole Clearwater beach. There are a bunch of street performers there but as soon as Abby saw the little monkey, she didn't want to go anywhere else. Of course you couldn't touch the monkey unless you gave them money so Abby held out a quarter and the monkey would walk over and take it from her. What a joke! There was also a street performer there that I had seen a few years back. He was doing the same act that he did when I last saw him. You would think that if this was his only source of income that he would come up with new tricks!
We spent the last night in Florida at my brother Bryant's house. He was such a good host! When we got there, he had the BYU football game on for me, since it was their bowl game. He made everyone delicious fried chicken and salad, and we all talked and enjoyed each others company. I stayed late and we watched "What happens in Vegas". We did a lot of other things but I didn't have the pictures for them. Thanks to my family for a wonderful time in Florida!

Christmas Pictures

Jesse's Dad took some pictures for us at the Murray Park. Abby was not being very cooperative and she rarely looked into the camera so these were the best we could do :)

My first Gingerbread House!

Our neighbors and good friends, the Smyth Family, invited us over for some yummy dinner and activities. They surprised us with the gingerbread houses that we got to decorate. I did the icing and Jesse decorated with the candy. I was so proud of our little house :) After we were done, Jesse and Adam ate all the extra icing by sqweezing it straight into their mouths. Lindsey, who is prego with twinners, was not amuzed and looked like she was going to blow chunks. We then went downstairs where we played Taboo while Abby watched Nemo (again) and Gunner (Adam and Lindsey's son) ran around and demonstrated his leaping abilities from sofa to sofa :) Thanks for the good times Smyth's!

Palmer Salon

In preparation for going to Florida this Saturday, I decided to get my hair done. My friend Lindsey is a very talented beautician and did an awesome job. I've always wanted my hair to look like Shakira's when she had red low lights in her hair. I figured that I already had the outrageous curly hair so might as well give it a shot. Lindsey's hubby, Nate, came to help and keep Jesse company. Nate has done Lindsey's hair for her a few times and I must say I was impressed :) Here are some pictures to document my adventures!

she had to bleach some of my hair first before putting the red in so my hair looked really funny after the bleaching was done.

Ummm....ya I don't think i could ever make it as a blond!
The Palmer Salon at work!
Jesse getting his hair did :) It looked SOOOO good afterwards. Pictures of my hottie hubby coming soon!
It took me forever to get a picture where you can see the red...these 2 are the best I could do.
Thanks for doing such a great job Linds! Love ya !

Invisible Mothers

This was on one of my friends blog and I just had to share. Get a tissue ready! To all the wonderful mother's and future mothers.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to somewhere. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this ? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Can I have some money?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' or I'm a car to order, 'Right around 8:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated college- but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. Initially I had thought, oh she remembered I wanted to travel this year. Until I read her inscription: "With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no button you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

A t times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the girlfriend he's bringing home for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies', that would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to bring his friends home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.