The Butterfly Metamorphosis

One of my favorite fall activities as a child was discovering that certain caterpillars transformed into butterflies. The one favorite was the Monarch Butterfly with its brillant reddish-orange, black, and white coloring. Most butterfly caterpillars are not the most attractive things in the world. The Monarch caterpillar is a black, yellow, and white striped little crawler. Once a caterpillar was found, my siblings and I would carefully break the part of the Milkweed plant that had the caterpillar on it, and place into a glass canning jar. There we would wait for the whole process to occur. Finally, the caterpillar would find a safe spot on the plant and form the chrysalis or cocoon to protect the caterpillar during it's process of metamorphosis. During this process, this chrysalis turns different colors and then finally clear, so that we could see the dazzling colors of the butterfly.


Before the New Year begins, there is talk of organizing and dejunking, setting goals, making deadlines, and essentially, creating a "brand new you." Looking back on the year's successes, triumphs, joys, disappointments, and such, we have been given the beautiful blessing of rediscovering ourselves not only on a yearly basis, but on a day-by-day basis as well. It's a way of receiving that "second chance," "extreme makeover," or "clean slate" that is desparately needed. This is when the Butterfly Metamorphosis takes place. It is our opportunity to be that caterpillar and take a journey to becoming that beautiful, dazzling Monarch butterfly every year. It's not an easy process, but soon, we can become more brilliant as our goal to becoming that man or woman that we need to be.

Life is a beautiful thing. We are created after the image of an amazing Father who has made it possible for this "second chance." He has given us the ability to choose and the outcome of each day and year depends upon the choices we make. Sometimes we have no control over the outcome, but we have control, most of the time of making it or breaking it. And here we are, another year gone and another one begun. What stories will be written? Only time will tell, but now is the time to write something beautiful, something amazing, something wonderful. This, my friends, is the best gift of 2011.

Wondergirl

In about two weeks, we will have another birthday, but this time it will be a special birthday because our amazing little Wondergirl will be a year old. She is a bright, blue-eyed, precious, sweet-tempered, and happy girl who has an incredible "melty" smile and kissable, pinchable cheeks, full of life and bringing lots of laughter to our home and because she is so petite, she has several nicknames: P'chunky, P'chunkers, Peanut, and Wondergirl.

I'm no Martha Stewart but the "Best Mom Ever"

Martha Stewart, the goddess of domesticity, may rank on the top ten list of many individuals out there. Fortunately, being a mom doesn't require me to be Martha. It never has, it never will. Besides, I am my own person, with talents unique to no one, but myself. I can do anything through the guidance and direction of a loving Father in Heaven and to this I say, move over, Martha Stewart, because my children say, "Mom, you're the best Mom ever!"

Winter Wonderland

I love the first snowfall of the year because there's a feeling of excitement knowing that skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, snowboarding, and other "snow" activities can take place. There are many times during the season that capture the beauty of the creation in various ways. One of those times is right after a snowstorm when everything in sight is covered in snow, edged by ice crystals. The sparkling prisms of the snowflakes creating a dazzling winter wonderland is simply a marvel and I hope I see more days like these before this year's winter is over.

Raindrops On Roses

It's funny how favorite things can be pretty much anything. Some of my many favorite things include winnebagos, "scuba diving" in the scriptures, a ripe, juicy, sweet and slightly tangy mango, and seeing the Lord's hand in everyday living. However, three of my most favorite things are more than things. They are my pride and joy, my world, my life: MY KIDS.


Each one since birth, has god-given uniqueness, gifts, and talents that we have been able to discover and build upon. I am so grateful our children DON'T come with instruction manuals. They are individual children of a Heavenly Father who has blessed us with the opportunity to raise and teach to become the best they can, to understand their potential, importance, and role in society, but as a son or daughter of a king.

What's in a name?

There are a few things in this world that society, as a whole, can agree upon and one of those things is having a name. Everything has a name. Even objects have a name...fish, dog, cat, that electrical thingy that goes bzzzzz...everything has a name. In this case, I am going to refer to us humans.

What is the signifcance, if any, in your name? Anyway, yesterday morning as I was driving the boys to school, somehow a conversation topic turned to names when I hear, "Hey Mom, let's change my name to Lightning! Lightning would be cool because I could be fast and loud like lightning." Needless to say we had a good little laugh while I'm thinking, "Lightning? You want to change your name to lightning?" That'd be like going from being known as Paul David Hewson to Bono. In the end, the conversation drifted off to something else, and Lightning has been dropped altogether.

Well, I guess we could call him "L" or "Light" or something like that.

The Little House on the Prairie kind of life

One of my many favorite childhood stories was that of the "Little House on the Prairie." I enjoyed and still do enjoy reading about the many adventures of the Ingalls family and realizing that the essence of the novels focused on the family. There was a necessity for each member "do his or her own part" and enjoy in the times spent with each other, utilizing the imagination, being resourceful, Everyone was involved and yes, it was hard work, but what isn't work? Work is a way of life. Being alive takes work. Keeping a house clean is work. Improving one's self is work.

Whatever it is, the strength of the family relies on the togetherness of each member when the electronics, busy schedules, etc. are taken away and just the "good" things are emphasized and enjoyed. My Little House on the Prairie kind of life is still possible when made a priority. It doesn't mean reverting to candles and kerosene by any means, but it does mean "unplug and simplify" to enjoy. And as Henry David Thoreau once said, "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand..."

Halloween Fun

Traditions are so awesome.

ABC's and 1, 2, 3

There comes a time when a child needs to learn the basic foundation that creates a lifetime of learning, and part of that involves the alphabet and numbers. In order to reach the desired outcome, each part, each block, needs to be secured and mastered so that eventually, it can be as easy as reciting the ABC's. I believe we are all like this child, that when faced with a new experience, responsibility, event, or whatever it may be, we have to be taught the ABC's and 1, 2, 3 all over again. The best part of all, is that we have the tools, insight, and previous knowledge to figure out how to succeed with each step we take.

"I'll Be Home For Christmas."

The song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas" rang true for our family this year because for the first time in 12 years, we didn't have to travel anywhere for Christmas.

You Gotta Love "Dem Bones!"

Ah, the holiday parties! Yummy food and a little bit of overindulgence to let the great times roll. December's parties included the ward party, which was fun for us and the boys. Oh, and you can't forget about Santa. He was definitely the hit of the night for all the kids and parents, especially for the fact that pictures were free!

Anyway, after the party ended, we stayed after to visit and assist in the clean-up. Some of the kids were playing on the stage riser that was used as a prop for part of the program. The riser wasn't very high, maybe 12" at most, but, some of the kids, including Sanford and Ammon, were jumping off the riser and having a great time playing with each other. Next thing I know, I'm watching Ammon fall off the riser head-first and hit the floor. In the meantime, I'm frantically hoping he's okay, but his screaming said otherwise and then I saw his arm and knew it was broken. So we got out of there as fast as we could headed up to the InstaCare in Bountiful. After the on-call doc stabilized the bones, he sent us up to Primary Children's Medical Center.

On our way up to PCMC, I made a quick phone call to Brent's mom to see if she'd be willing to take Sanford for the night and gratefully she said she would. We arrived at the hospital around 9:00 p.m. and Linda showed up shortly thereafter and took Sanford with her back to her house, which was a good thing because Me, Brent, and Ammon ended up being there until about 3:30 a.m. Ammon was such a trooper, surviving the I.V., X-rays, and resetting of the bones. It's times like these that tries a mother's soul. After the docs put his arm in a sling and gave us the 'green light,' we finally headed home to get some much needed sleep.

Ammon's first cast, which extended about an inch past his elbow, was blue because of both BYU AND Utah State. His second cast, which ended right below his elbow, was a yellow. Well, maybe more like a bright, neon yellow with a hint of green. As for the fate of both casts, Ammon decided that he'd rather have lots of pictures than to keep either one. Thank goodness!

The adventures begin...I mean continue

Okay, I'll spare the details of the last 12 years, however, I have come to the conclusion that our family has seen more doctors in the last 4 months than in the 12 years that Brent and I have been married and to this I say thank goodness for awesome insurance!

New Year's Excitement

New Year's Eve was quite a celebration! We all headed over to my parents in Farmington and enjoyed some incredibly yummy Chinese food, played games, and waited up to ring in the new year. Sanford and Ammon were so excited to be up so late, it was hilarious as Sanford exclaimed, "Hey Mom, this is so cool that you and Dad are letting us stay up so late!" Later that night he wanted to know if he could go to bed. :) Ah, the great times.

Miracles never cease

Yes, it's a miracle! I'm finally getting on the blogging bandwagon after putting it off for who knows how long, but here it is, in full color. So sit down, hang on, and hold on tight for the adventure of a lifetime.

Obviously some of these posts have been written after the fact, but hey, I guess it's better late than never.