back again...again

HELLO!? Hello?...hello...hello...hello.

It's been a while.  Eight months.  Long enough to lose the interest of anyone who used to come visit.

I've assembled a few pictures, not even a fraction really, of the last few months.  There's really no rhyme or reason.  And some of them don't have anything to do with anything...

...Like the very first picture of Steve's fashion choice one Sunday.  He gets cold feet.  Even in summer.  But it wasn't summer.  Still, he wears wool socks year round.  They make me feel claustrophobic.  And you can't see, but he's wearing a long sleeve shirt.  He looked goooood!  Feel free to avert your eyes from the glare. 

In this first montage, we have Lily's birthday.  Lily being happy at the "beach."  Lily being grouchy in the morning.  It usually takes her an hour to become Lily.  Then there's my hunky hunky man.  My delicate sister showing me...something.

That bottom middle one is my dad--the senior citizen--who, while atop the 5 foot tall tire, bragged that he would out live the rest of us.  I believe he's getting a little cocky in his old age.  He's probably right though.  And I hope he does.  I refuse to give his eulogy.  In case anyone was wondering.

And there's another sister on the bottom right.  Sometimes I'm startled when I look at her cuz she looks a LOT like me...only taller and more blonde.  She looks happy here, doesn't she?  It was a good day, after all.  We had a family get together at my favorite park in Sandy.  We ate a lot.  And if you know anything about my family, you know that if we can eat a lot, we are happy.   

This was Lily for crazy hair day at school back in the Fall.  It had kind of a mo-hawk/mullet vibe.  She wore it proudly.

Then she wanted her hair chopped off.  So off it went.  Girl hair is much easier to do when it's long, btw.  

In this one we have Halloween, Christmas, Lily's first dance recital, a cozy winter evening snuggled on the couch and Valentine's Day.  (If you look closely at the lower right pic, you can see a fading shiner on Lily's head.  Her head had a party with the wall.  Now we have a golf size hole left to remember that day.  It isn't the first time.  It won't be the last.  I don't plan on patching the wall up.  It would just look worse.  Next time, I'll have to write the date on it.)

Then, of course, there is this kid.  See her?  We're expecting her arrival in June.  The later, the better.  I'm sure this is bias--or maybe not--but I think she's cute.  I'm assuming she'll come out looking more like Lily and a little less...khaki.  Definitely has Lily's wonderful, big head already.

 "I'm not kidding, that boy's head is like Sputnik; spherical but quite pointy at parts! Now that was offside, wasn't it? He'll be crying himself to sleep tonight, on his huge pillow." 

We don't know her name yet.  This time is harder picking some we like.  I definitely like the more old-fashion sounding names as opposed to modern.  For the most part, I think they sound more feminine...which is my preference.  It's also more difficult picking names cuz Lily thinks she gets a say.  She's had a couple meltdowns because we dared to suggest names she didn't like.  Maybe I'll just tell her that babies come out with name tags and we aren't allowed to change it.

Whatever her name ends up being, I know she'll look good in blue. 

Lily started piano a few months ago.  She's doing great.  I don't remember having any concept of quarter notes when I was six, so she's already got one up on me.  I do remember feeling tortured when my mom would give me lessons though.  My lessons always seemed to end the same way family home evenings did...with someone giving a guilt trip and someone in tears (sometimes that person was the same person).  Which is why my magical sis-in-law is teaching her.  

Bringing you way up to date:  we had a good conference weekend.  Elder Holland's talks are usually my favorite.  He never disappoints.  Even if you didn't go into conference with any specific question or lesson you wanted to learn, he makes you realize that what he's talking about is exactly what you needed and wanted to hear.  I really liked all the things he said about envy and pickle juice.  Read it if you missed it.  You won't be sorry.

We made cinnamon rolls for the occasion.  I don't know why we made cinnamon rolls.  Everyone else makes them for conference weekend.  Why does everyone else make them?  Wouldn't cereal be easier?  Whatever the reason, we make them too.  It's pretty much the only time of year we home-make them.

You know what looks a lot like cinnamon?  Cumin.  You know what tastes a lot different than cinnamon?  Cumin.  I sprinkled about 1/3 of my rolled out dough before realizing that I wasn't smelling cinnamon.  But I did smell chili.  Luckily, my family is small and I salvaged enough to serve us two times over.  And they were good...except for the one I ate that had a little cumin essence still on it.  Not so good.  I always use a recipe I got from Lizzy Writes.  I gave Lily the tainted dough and it kept her busy for at least an hour.  (I gotta remember that.)

There's eight months crammed into a few pictures and paragraphs.  There's more.  Some happy.  Some not happy.  But I'm started to to feel the afternoon kick in and I think a nap is at the door.

I will say that sometimes, life really makes you earn it.  It can be rough!  I've learned that if nothing else is cutting it, there's prayer.  And if every blessing you need is being given to you, there's prayer.  If it's going good.  If it's going bad.  Either way, you have reason to pray.  (Sorry for the rhyme.)

"...surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it."  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland