Finley's Blessing

Finley Nina Larsen

We blessed Finley in my mom and dad's branch in Shelby, Montana. The blessing was lovely and among the blessings she was given she was blessed with the gift of being self sacrificing. I can imagine that just in how she's such a peaceful and patient baby. She of course looked just lovely in the blessing gown her sister and cousin wore just a few years before. Grandma Maureen made this lovely gown for all the girls to be blessed in when Ky was born.

It seems so long ago that Ky was born and blessed. In fact it really doesn't seem like there was ever a time that Ky wasn't around. I can't believe how lucky I am to have all these little ones. After Kyanne I thought, I how much I would love to have more babies but, if she's the only one, I'm still the luckiest mom ever! And, now I have three, and they're perfect and sweet.

I am so fortunate to have the gospel in this life, a beautiful marriage and three sweet babies on top of that! It just makes me want to kick my self for ever complaining a day in my life.

Confessions of "That Mom"

"That Mom". It's such an versatile phrase full of cynicism and insinuation. Today as I used this ambiguous phrase, I couldn't help but contemplate which part of 'That mom' I am. I suppose...

I am "That Mom" who hangs the kids latest and greatest on the Fridge. The kind that has more than one cute expression for ugly words or body parts, ie. "baby's milk", "girl parts", "fort" & "squeak". I'm sad to say, this year I was "that mom" who planed the Preschool Valentine's Party but, forgot to supply my kiddo with Valentine's. The kind that teaches her 3 year old VCR skills, so she can catch more zzz's.

"That Mom" who serves cereal for dinner and cold pizza for breakfast and kisses her kids so many times in a day, they have perma-dention in their foreheads.

I am "That Mom" who wipes away dirt with a licked thumb and hold kids over public potties. The kind who buys xtra underwear to avoid laundry and has a "Company's Coming!" drill. I am "That Mom" who cries a little each time she folds the kids out grown clothes and wishes they'd never grow up and grow up quicker, all at the same time.

I am "That Mom" that sweeps crumbs under the stove and kicks toys under the couch when noone's looking. She who forgets to change the non-smelly diaps and every once in a while forgets a kid here or there. I am "That Mom" who throws the occasional and not-so occasional tantrum along side her preschooler, loves dress-ups, twirling, and polishing tiny toe nails.

I am "That mom" who blogs away her lifes complaints, loves to sew mediocre creations, and do "yo-go". What more can I say sometimes we're all a little bit of "That Mom".

Be of Good Cheer

"To be cheerful when others are in despair, to keep the faith when others falter, to be true even when we feel forsaken—all of these are deeply desired outcomes during the deliberate, divine tutorials which God gives to us—because He loves us. These learning experiences must not be misread as divine indifference. Instead, such tutorials are a part of the divine unfolding." --Neal A. Maxwell, "Be of Good Cheer", Ensign Nov 1982

If I told you these words:

• Toddler
• Nap Time
• Licorice
• Both Hands
• "Nigh, Night, Honey"

Would you know just how desperate I was today?

"Super Mom", take a hike already!

What to do when Chocolate won't fix it?

Due to Fin I'm short on sleep, the kids have contracted cabin fever along with every other fever floating around calgary, my house looks like a battle zone and my desperate attempts for order are seeming dismal and sad. At my breaking point last week Jess suggested hiring help. It was like the magic of an epidural all over again. A housekeeper, what would that be like? Heaven, mixed with a little bit of guilt, but I'm guessing more Heaven, than guilt.

Really, I know it's silly to feel guilty, or bad about not measuring up to the 'super mom' that nags in the back of my mind. Where did she come from anyways? In the cartoons there's only the little angel and devil that sit on your shoulders, there's no minature idealistic mom demanding perfection from good intending mothers.

Either way, I'm going to do my best to ignore 'super mom', who from here on out will be referred to as 'stupid mom'. The housekeeper comes for the first time on Tuesday. I know I'm the kind of woman that will be tempted to clean top to bottom the morning before she comes, but I'll try to resist that as well. In fact, that temptation comes from 'stupid mom' as well. To all the other guilt ridden women out there, relinquish 'stupid mom'! Send her on a permanent Hiatus. And, be thankful to just be you: a great woman because she does her best and chooses to be happy with that!

"Sooo Romantic"

Scarf for Two by The Black Apple










Shoe Lovers
by: Genevieve Gauckler

"We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet"

"Could any people have a greater blessing than to have
standing at their head one who receives and teaches the will of God concerning them? How thankful we ought to be, how thankful we are, for a prophet to counsel us in words of divine wisdom as we walk our paths in these complex and difficult times. The solid assurance we carry in our hearts, the conviction that God will make His will known to His children through His recognized servants, is the real basis of our faith and activity. We either have a prophet or we have nothing; and having a prophet, we have everything."

First Presidency Message “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet”

Yesterday was President Hinckley's funeral services. I really enjoyed hearing the sweet talks and especially the tribute to him after the services. One of his children said that "he never took himself too seriously" and that President Hinckley was not a worrier but a persistent optimist who liked to tell jokes at the dinner table but "never at the expense of others". Tonight as I was surfing around on the internet reading different things about his life, I found this great article about him and his wife. It's a bit lengthy but worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

A couple of years ago, when somebody asked President Hinckley what he would wish for his wife, he said, "That we might live together for as long as the Lord wills and that when the time comes for us to move on, that we might go together or very close together, without one lingering a long time after the other. We've lived together for a long time. I hope we'll continue to move on together."

Recently, while standing at the pulpit together in a church area conference, President Hinckley discussed the years they had been together and began to weep.

"Has it been that bad?" said Marjorie.

How wonderful it must be for him to be reunited with his sweet wife.

Thought Provoking Questions

• Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
• Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites?
• Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?
• Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink what comes out"?
• Why is it that when trasporting stuff on a car its called a SHIPment, but if transporting stuff on a ship its called CARgo?
• They say kids brighten the home. That's because they never turn the lights off.
• Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have a "S" in it?
• Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?
• Why do we drive on the parkway and park in the driveway?
• The "Psychic Friends Network" went out of business... didn't they see it coming?
• Can you get cornered in a round room?
• If something "goes without saying," why do people still say it?

My Three Cuties!

“When God wants a great work done in the world
or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts.
The greatest forces in the world are babies.”
-E. T. Sullivan