Baby girl gets her ears pierced!!

 Not sure why 11 is the magical number for ear piercing. That's when I got mine done. My mom didn't get hers till she was in her 20's. My mother-in-law was also an adult when she got hers. For whatever reason I've chosen to keep that age, my daughters may not continue that age and that's ok!! 

Anna turned 11 on November 27th! We went to the mall with her sisters and both Grandmas to get her ears pierced, to have lunch, and to do a little shopping. It was a total girls trip! Anna did great, no tears but she said it did hurt, despite what everyone told her.

She also had two friends bring gifts over. It was really sweet. I think it felt like a celebration despite it being during Covid.  

We had grandparents over for dinner and an ice cream cake decorated by Bella. It was a great day that honored our favorite blonde 💕

Crazy health week

 This week a coworker of mine had major surgery on Tuesday morning. I made her dinner on Monday as well as things she could eat after the surgery. And by the phrase "I made" I mean my family. Olivia went to the store with my list, Parkin made the Jello, and Anna helped me deliver it. She is a sweet co-worker who is always helping others. I enjoyed expressing my appreciation. 

Later that evening Holman kept complaining about stomach cramps and was moaning. Benjamin and our friend Clint gave him a blessing. The pain didn't stop and so Benjamin took him to urgent care. They thought it could be his appendix but couldn't tell for sure so they sent him to the ER. At the ER they did an MRI and it showed fluid by the appendix but it wasn't conclusive. They sent him home to wait and see. 

The next day Benjamin had a heart appointment with electrophysiologist and I was at work. Holman's pain got to a fever pitch. I called my parents and they took Holman to the ER and Benjamin met them there after his appointment. An x-ray showed that he had a bowel obstruction, luckily no surgery was needed.. That night my mom brought my family dinner complete with Jello... isn't life a crazy back and forth of giving help and needing help?!

Holman is much better. He is on a very strict diet. Basically he can't eat anything that brings joy.  Benjamin seems to be right in the middle of his heart issues. He's be having arrhythmias in addition to his heart birth defect that he was born with. He has another appointment tomorrow. He has three medications and if those don't do the trick he would have obliteration procedure....sounds frightening to me. 2020 just continues it's rollercoaster.

Civility

 I have what I call a "patience" job. This job is extremely difficult because it requires this attribute for 8 hours straight. This skill is not valued in terms of monetary compensation but every parent hopes that the person who has my job has copious amounts because they know all to well how difficult it is to maintain prolonged patience. A couple of weeks ago I had a particularly rough day at work, one that tested me to the brink. I got off work and headed to the grocery store to grab dinner. This is the last place I wanted to be. The lines were backed up with one cashier working. A lady behind me proceeds to go to a bagger and yell "this is so stupid to only have one cashier open"...she said "what is your name" the teenager looks down. The lady continues, "you have to look at your name tag for the answer?! Stupid. I've been coming here longer than you've been alive this is ridiculous! This is terrible." I was shocked who talks to someone like that? I said the first thing that came to my mind. "Ma'am why don't you cut in front of me, you only have a couple of items and you seem to be in a hurry." She replies with, "no it's no big deal you were here first," I tell her apparently it is a big deal since you yelled at that teenage employee. She says I didn't yell at him. I said, yes you did. She said no I didn't. Then a young couple behind me both chimed in you defently yelled at him. Then the lady replied with all I said was "can you open another checkout lane?" I said if you had said it like that then there wouldn't be an issue. I told her that I have two teenage daughters who work at an ice cream store and get yelled at by strangers over ice cream. They work for minimum wage just like that teenage boy. He's not in charge of anything. She starts to cry and tells me she didn't mean to yell and her husband has cancer. I told her how sorry I was for her. They opened a new checkout lane and she goes next. She leaves the store and the couple behind me says, "ma'am I want you to know if you were my mom I'd be real proud that you stood up for that teenager. I work at a store and you'd be surprised how often I get yelled at" I thanked them for backing me up when I told her she was speaking rudely. 

This week a "friend" posted a political question on Facebook. This person wasn't really wanting a discussion based on his tone. Lindsey however tried to engage in a civil discussion. Then a stranger responds with name calling and total rudeness. The original friend said nothing and frankly joined the fight. I was so disappointed with the lack of civility and this friend standing behind his rude friend.  I had to post about civility and humanity. Our original friend showed how he values our friendship. I have no time or space for people that can't be kind. 

We desperately need civility in our country right now more than ever. I hope I will always stand up for civility with kindness and courage.

 

22 years and we still got the heat!

22 years of married life under our belts. I think we have officially reached that time where it doesn't feel like just yesterday we got married. No, it feels like a lot of blood, sweat and tears and...a lot of laughs. We kept up our recent tradition of going away to a small town in Arizona, this year it was Prescott which is not so little anymore. The first night we stumbled upon a concert at town square. It was awesome. We also had the best pizza we have ever had at a small mom and pop shop. The next day we hit a farmers market, a museum and two trails. After hiking we went to a soda shop and ordered 4 different drinks, cause we are still young at heart.  That night we had yummy BBQ and later DQ, to honor our roots.

On Sunday we zoomed into our ward sacrament meeting and walked around a lake before heading home. What a crazy journey life is. So many ups and downs. So many. Grateful this man came into my life and that he had no idea how good looking he was. Grateful his love language is time and service. He justs wants to spend time with me and plan outings, simple date nights and future adventures. Grateful that when I go grocery shopping he cleans out the fridge. Grateful that he does all of our laundry. Grateful that he loves the gospel and loves people. Grateful he is a good tipper. Grateful he can fix almost anything. Grateful he chose me.

 

Benjamin and Anna go to Bama!..I.n July

Benjamin and Anna had a trip of a life time back in July. They drove to Alabama with Sarah's family. It was a two day journey with 5 kids. The trip looked amazing and the rest of my family needs to make this journey! We love getting to See Sarah and Reece's family several time  year when they visit their Arizona family, we need to do the same! Benjamin was also happy to visit with his brother Jeremy and their mazing crew. It was Annas first time meeting those cousins. Its just so green!!

The Beautiful Potter family!

The Amazing Howe family!

 

Olivia's favorite childhood toy

This is an essay Liv wrote for a college application. The prompt was "tell us about your favorite childhood toy."

Growing up, Christmas at my house was always a little different than what I imagine is typical. That isn’t to say we didn’t celebrate, because we did. Hardcore. I’m talking whole house, inside and out, decked out in wreaths and knicknacks. On top of the extreme interior decorating, my family is religious so this season was always extra special. But what made my Christmases different than most was that none of my siblings or I really ever believed in Santa. I tell people this and they’re always shocked that my parents spilled the beans when we were so young, but what were they supposed to do when their 3 and 5 year old daughters came to them and asked “ why are we wrapping presents for people? Does Santa not love the poor? Why don’t they just get presents from him”? After my parents had explained systemic poverty and the consumerist christmas machine to us, all of my wish lists were addressed straight to mom and dad. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of the mythical fat man who brings toys and we continued to celebrate the spirit of santa, but I knew he was a phony and went straight to the source of my toys. Unfortunately for my parents, their candor created a problem. We knew that they did all the buying and would go on and on about specific things so they knew exactly what we wanted. 

Christmas 2007 was a particularly memorable christmas for my mom for this very reason. Unfortunately, I don’t actually remember much from this time (my whole childhood is basically a blur), but my mom does- like it was yesterday, so i'm going off her version of events. I was almost 5, had a killer bob and self-cut bangs, and I was absolutely obsessed with dogs. So when it came time to write my list, I knew exactly what I wanted- a remote control dog. I waxed poetic about this remote control dog for weeks and weeks, and so my mom made finding one a priority. My birthday is the day after christmas so she has always tried hard to make the two days distinct and special. WIth the weight of one of  two most important days of my year on her shoulders, She looked far and wide for this remote control dog because it was nowhere to be found. After searching through an insane number of stores, she finally found one and was so excited to give it to me. 

Christmas day rolled around, and my family gathered by the tree in matching pjs and opened presents. It came time for me to open my dog and my mom waited with baited breath while I undid the wrapping. I opened the present to find a really cute, very fluffy  animatronic dog that walked and barked when I pressed a button on a remote. Seeing the excitement of my face, my mom said something like “look sweetheart, a remote control dog! is it exactly what you wanted?”. Unfortunately for her, my poor, long suffering mother realized that she missed the mark when i said “ no momma, I actually just wanted a cover for our tv remote, you know, like a cover that looks like a dog”. She was halfway heartbroken but mostly just amused that a remote cover was the object of my obsession. All i really wanted for christmas that year  was a cool way to change the volume of my favorite pbs shows. 

But Luckily for my mom, that dog toy ended up being one of my favorites for years, even if it wasn’t what I wanted. I guess I should have been a little more specific. This story of a mother's love for her daughter has an important message- People don’t really change. My mom still loves me, and I am still just as obsessed with television as I was then.

Bella back at college

Bella is back in the dorm. Major upgrades this year 1) more room 2) better lighting 3) better views 4) a sink in the room 5) more indoor bike lock space 6) Morgan Clark and Hailey are in the same dorm 7)  Madison Holman is her roommate!!

We were about to leave for campus so I had to run upstairs and put on a black shirt and black baseball hat to match her 🤣 Bella was a good sport.