double dose of the weekly picture post

Trying to get caught up around here.

One Sunday a month Anthony and I both have meetings before church. My mom very graciously came over to our house Sunday morning to watch the kids. She brought along this stuffed turkey, which Will requested be put on the mantle.

Baby hair is tricky. When Will was Lauren's age, we got out the clippers and evened things out. Girls don't have the same luxury. I am now attempting to pin some of Lauren's hair to the side, using clips her Aunt Carly sent this past summer.  I think she looks pretty cute, but I have to distract her or else she pulls it out.

Tuesday afternoon we walked to the neighborhood elementary school, our designated polling place, and voted. Will was very sad that he didn't get to vote. He kept trying to hit buttons while I was voting. It kind of stressed me out, but luckily there was a summary screen and all my votes went where I intended them to go.

Wednesday morning we were kind of slow going. Anthony and I stayed up too late watching election returns, but the kids were up bright and early, as usual. They love to play in this little nook between our glider and toy shelf. Here Will is making some sort of "soup" and Lojo is busy dissembling all the toys she can get her hands on.

On Thursday evening I went to the temple with a friend from the ward. Our Relief Society sets aside one day and evening session a month for sisters to try to attend the temple together. I have gone a few times and have really enjoyed getting to know some of the women in my ward better. I took this picture of the waterfall outside the temple entrance (now is the time to be jealous of my awesome camera skillz) because I was struck by its beauty, though my camera failed to capture the peace I felt when looking at it.

This is Will being a "turtle." At first I thought it was cute and clever. Those feelings have passed, and now I feel annoyance. Will-the-turtle gets mad if anyone touches his shell. Especially Lauren. Which means there are lots of fights because Lauren is going through a phase where everything Will likes must be interesting.

As I was living it, Saturday seemed like such a long day. Looking back it really wasn't that bad. Regardless, at the end of the day I treated myself to a little retail therapy at the Legends (courtesy of a coupon and gift cards).

Sitting in Relief Society I realized my head hurt. Pretty bad. By the time we made it home it had reached migraine status. There seemed to be a perfect storm of triggers in my life last weekend, so it wasn't too surprising. After Anthony treated me to a long Sunday afternoon nap, the kids and I snuggled on the couch for a bit.

We are still figuring out the food allergy thing over here. I recently was planning on making some spaghetti, only to find out that the sauce I intended to use contained cheese. Luckily I noticed before I served it to Lauren, so I ended up making the sauce from scratch. I'm learning that food allergies = lots of cooking from scratch. Some days I feel more up to the challenge than others and some of my creations taste better than others, but it is starting to come more naturally.

These kids are starting to have genuine fun together. There are few things that make me feel pure happiness more than the two of them enjoying each other.

We were all getting a bit stir crazy, so we took a walk after dinner. Both of the kids were pretty cheerful when we left the house, but I snapped this picture about 2 blocks from our house on the way home. I'm not really sure what happened, but both kids got super cranky half a mile from the house, so we hightailed it home.

Will has a funny sense of humor. I once told him to ask Anthony if he liked the Yankees. I'm not even sure how he responded, but Will caught on, and now he constantly tells us that the Yankees are his favorite team. This is the smile on his face as he told me the Yankees were the best team and the Royals were gross. I know many people would agree with this sentiment, but not in this house. :)

Will really likes to rough house. 

A while back I saw that JCCC was putting on a production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and took note. It's been on my list of "plays I want to see" for awhile being that Anthony participated in the play when his senior class preformed it on at Belmont High School in 1999. The guy with the turban on his head is the character TJ played (regrettably, he did not get to wear a turban in his production).

belated weekly picture post

Will loves it when Memaw reads books with him. It is pretty hard to have a conversation with my mom when we go to her house because Will does all he can to monopolize her attention.

We barely got in our annual pumpkin patch trip in this year...with 2 days to spare. The weather was quite nice and the kids were really well behaved. Even though she is a year old, it was Lauren's first trip. 

I love it when I have an excuse to make treats. I needed to make a treat for a Halloween party, so I made some caramel popcorn. I absolutely love caramel popcorn, but TJ won't eat it because he is afraid of getting it stuck in his teeth. It is just too tempting for me to keep around because I don't need to eat an entire batch myself. Suffice to say, I was pleased to have a reason to make this popcorn.

The kids were just so cooperative when I wanted to take a few "Halloween" themed pictures before we went trick-or-treating. They actually were pretty good that day and humored me for many pictures. Just not this one.

Will and I spent Lauren's nap outside on Wednesday and Thursday. I raked, and Will did a variety of things. One of the things he did was draw with sidewalk chalk. He drew a rocket and and airplane. I was pretty impressed with his artwork. I've never seen him use the chalk with such accuracy.

On Friday I met my friend Stephanie at the mall for lunch. We got there a few minutes early and checked out the American Girl. Imagine my delight when I found out one of the newest American Girls is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl named Caroline. This would have been a dream come true for me about 15-20 years ago. Would TJ suspect anything if Santa brings Lauren a Caroline doll for Christmas?

We joined some friends for a hayride on Saturday afternoon. We sat on the end of the trailer closest to the tractor and it was a bit loud. Will spend part of the ride with his fingers in his ears. Silly boy.

Because I Have Been Given Much I Too Must Give

Yesterday scored an unexagerrated 10 out of 10 on the "surprisingly frustrating" scale. Within our ward (Mormon word for congregation) we had a person who needed help moving her belongings from two storage units to a home 25 minutes away. I will call her a friend, but I guess that is stretching the truth, as I had never met her before yesterday. She needed our help, and my job within our ward to is organize help for those who need it.

I arranged for a group of volunteers to meet her at 8:30 AM at her UHaul storage units. We were also planning on renting the biggest truck they had to make sure it all fit. When I arrived my new friend was haggling with the manager. She had not paid the bill for her units for the past few months. Right away I had my guard up, thinking: "Oh boy here we go. I have taken these volunteers away from their family, and this move is not going to go as planned." Depressingly, my inner cynic was exactly right. Not so depressingly, another wonderful friend arrived with dozens of donuts and cold water for the anxiously waiting workers.

Around 9:15 the UHaul manager was dangerously generous and let us into her storage units. They pulled the truck over to the loading dock. When I saw it, I knew it was not the biggest truck they had, which in turn would eventually present a problem. Our group pressed on.

Our friend continued to try and find someone to pay her bill so that she could leave, but with no success. My inner cynic was preparing for the worst, wondering when she would ask me and the church to pay her bill. For those of you who have served in service organizations that have limited funds, you understand how much I was not looking forward to that conversation. All I wanted to do was come and work hard, lift heavy boxes, and drive the truck. I was ready to work hard, but not to have hard conversations.

Within 90 minutes, our crew had emptied both storage units (which had some biological hazards left by the year-round tenants). We filled the first truck to capacity, and yet there was another truck's worth of belongings ready to be loaded. My inner cynic was getting pretty chapped now. I went into the office and rented another truck on my credit card, fully knowing that the church would re-imburse me. But I was nervous to give UHaul a good credit card number when my friend was still unable to pay for the first truck and the last few months of storage unit usage plus late fees. My inner cynic screamed: "Now you have done it. You are going to get hosed now. UHaul is going to make you pay the approximately $1000 our friend owes. No Christmas. My children will hate me. Carrie will wait for awhile, but feeling her childrens' grief, like any good mother, will murder me on my birhday." My inner cynic was getting creative.

Within a half hour we got the rest of the materials into the second truck. As it approached noon, some volunteers had to leave. Six of us stayed, and I took everyone to McDonalds for lunch while we waited for the payment situation to iron out. We got to McDonalds, and I oozed bitterness. The leftover stalwarts were cheerful enough that my boiling, inner cynicism wasn't bringing them down. I called the Bishop of our congregation to see if he had any ideas of what to do. Having spent his morning with the youth of our congregation, he was tired as well, but he came to UHaul to meet with our friend. He told her if she did not have this resolved within a half hour he was going to send me and the volunteers home. My inner cynic wanted this to end, and not well for my new friend. My cynic wanted her to not be able to pay for things, and for me and the crew to leave her. My cynic chided her: "Maybe that would teach her to be more organized and not selfishly take so much of my time."

Of course that did not happen. Her brother came through and gave her his credit card number. We drove the trucks and our crew to the belongings' resting place. Before we left UHaul I felt like this move would never end, and I called my Christ-like father in law to send out an S.O.S. message to get more volunteers there. When he was the only one to show up, and it was incredibly generous that he took that time to help us, my inner cynic's circle of attacks grew to include people in our congregation who seemed reluctant to help: "Just like them. Why won't they come help? I will be stuck here all day."

But the work from there exploded into high gear. We started unloading the truck at an unnatural pace and the boxes and furniture were fitting too easily into the small basement we were loading the boxes and furniture into. Boxes felt lighter than they should. People were laughing. Others started to call me and offer help, and I told them to stay home as we were going to be done relatively soon.

As we pulled away in the trucks to return back to UHaul to meet there to carpool home, I started to be angry with my inner cynic. He had caused me unneeded stress. I heard the hymn "Because I Have Been Given Much" in my head:

"Because I have been given much I too must give
Because of thy great bounty Lord each day I live
I shall divide my gifts from thee
With every brother that I see
Who has the need of help from me"

"Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy great care
I cannot see another's lack and I not share
My glowing fire, my loaf of bread
My roof's safe shelter overhead
That he too may be comforted"

"Because I have been blessed by thy great love deal Lord
I'll share thy love again acording to thy word
I shall give love to those in need
I'll show that love by word and deed
Thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed."

Thinking of the what I have been given in my life, and how I have not earned really any of it, made it clear that my inner cynic was horridly wrong. As I pondered how much I owe the Savior, I realized that my day, no matter how long I waited and how much longer the work took, would never repay the Savior for all the blessings and peace I have in my life. My heart burst with gratitiude. I thought of the Savior. I thought of my friends who were willing to sacrifice their time. I thought of my wonderful wife, who came down with a migraine today in part because she has been left alone with our toddling tyrants during a busy week. I felt my heart soften, and I was no longer angry with my new friend (easy to say when the job is done). I felt grateful for all I have been blessed with and grateful for being in a position to help others.

As pride washed away I saw her as my sister, a potential new friend, who really needed help. I realized that this day was much more stressful for her. I was ashamed at how my selfish thoughts had clouded my judgment and prevented me from truly supporting her.

This Thanksgiving month, I will try to see people as they really are. I wish to have a truly grateful heart and to serve others more completely. May we all show our gratitutude to the Savior by giving to others as He would, with all of our hearts. Fire your inner cynics. They stink.