Maren

Everyone knows I'm addicted to my sisters and I would do anything for them, which is why when something happens and there is nothing I can do it breaks my heart.  Tuesday morning my sister Sarah will walk into Children's National Medical Center with her two year old daughter Maren and hand her to someone, having the faith that the doctors there will be able to fix the heart problem that has plagued Maren since birth.

Sarah's family is my hero.  I walked a similar path that Sarah has and she constantly amazes me with her strength and her faith.  I am honored to be her sister and my prayers and all my faith go out to her and Maren this week.  Sarah, I love you.  Thank you for being such an amazing example to me.  Your McDonald's card is coming :)

Me Me Quite Contrary

What in your garden grows?

Peppers,

pommegranates,

melons and cucumbers all in a row.

Oh Sweet Ikea

I love Ikea.  Did you hear me?  I LOVE IKEA!  It's the best store ever and today it got even better.  We discovered last week that Ikea delivers to Sierra Vista so we finally bought a couch.  See, we've been sitting on lawn chairs for two months and prior to that we had been using a double reclining couch/chair combo that had been given to us after the fire and it had seen better days.  But the point is our couch was delivered and if you know anything about Ikea you know that the furniture comes not put together - not even a little, so Rick put his assembling hat on and went to it.

The delivery guys brought it in...

...Rick got straight to work...

...The mess began...

...and got worse...

...It finally started coming together...

...Look!  It's a couch!

The mess is still there and we need to re-do the pictures, but isn't it great?  I love the green against the brown.  Now we just need some pillows and a nice little rug and a sweet storage/coffee table.  Ahhh.  Life is good again.

No Hard Feelings...

So, for whatever reason, our stake decided against celebrating Mother's Day this year.  That's right, you heard me.  No chocolate, no treats, no nasty marigolds that die no matter what you try to do to keep that sucker alive, nothing.  Was I annoyed?  Umm, yeah.  Was I disgusted that our stake decided to flaunt their political correctness?  Absolutely.  Am I still bitter about it?  Well, I'm trying not to be, hence this thing of beauty that Rick is taking to bishopric meeting this morning...

Adorable, right?  I think this is my back handed way of saying, "Happy Father's Day...jerks."

What Makes a Great Dad?

Someone who lets his little girl help put together the chairs...

And then lets that same little girl put Ariel lip gloss on him.

Something to Think About

Have you ever seen the movie Mean Girls?  LOOOOVE that movie.  It has way too many funny lines that need to be repeat over and over.  My sister and I will text each other or call and leave messages saying only the random phrases and then hang up.  Again, love it.  One of my favorite phrases I picked up from that movie was "word vomit".  You know when you can't help but vomit and it just all comes out and you can't stop it?  Yup, word vomit is the same thing - you start saying things...things you know you shouldn't say, but you do anyways and it's never good.

Rick and I were talking the other day and he said something to me that was totally normal and instead of just going with it, I questioned him...and questioned and it was so stupid.  I could tell he was getting annoyed with me and I knew the conversation we were having was completely ridiculous and had no point and was only going to end with one of us getting annoyed/hurt, but still I continued with the word vomit.  Finally Rick cracked and he said something that really hurt my feelings and I walked out of the room.

I started thinking how insensitive he was and what a jerk he was to say something he knew was hurtful but then I started thinking about exactly what he said.  Now, what he said doesn't really matter, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was true.  What he said was spot on!  So now I was faced with a new dilemma.  Was I upset because he hurt my feelings or was I ultimately upset because he was right?

In the end he apologized and I told him thank you, that yes he was a jerk, but far worse was the fact that what he said was true and it was something that I needed to work on and I would try a little harder to be a little better.  I've been wondering since this incident how many times I have had someone tell me, or heard through the grapevine what someone has said about me, and thought what big jerks they are because they could say such hurtful things, when in reality they were correct in their judgments of me and I missed an opportunity to change and improve myself.

Just something I'm thinking about.

Happy Birthday Tatiana!

Tatiana's birthday is actually today, but because Rick has to be at church from about eight in the morning until after six at night, we decided to have a little shindig last night with a few friends.  We had a really great time with friends and family, but the best part of the night came when Tatiana was opening presents.  She is really into princess stuff right now and Rick is not very happy about that.  Apparently he's a little worried that she'll be eighteen and her greatest desire will be to major in a land far far away.

To help with this, our friend Taryn bought her a nice doctor set to help her broaden her horizons.  Tatiana opened it and went straight for the stethoscope.  Rick watched with pride as she grabbed it and...wait for it...put it on her head like a tiara.  Classic.  So, here's what we did yesterday...

We had a little bbq...

Blew out some candles...

  

Ate some cupcakes...

 Opened some presents...

Played in the sprinklers on the trampoline...

Learned how to pee on the grass...

And dressed up like a princess...

Happy Birthday Tatiana!

Thoughts

I was sitting at the computer in the kitchen hanging out on the internet and I have a clear view of our family room where I see Tatiana sitting on a chair watching Mulan for the third time today and trying to sing along with whatever that song is that the not really a princess sings.  And then I burst into tears.

Tatiana will be three years old in just two days.  I didn't cry because she's getting older, in fact I'm one of the few parents that LOVES watching their children grow.  I love seeing them grow and develop and doing things on their own.  It truly makes me happy.  No, I cried because I realized I have another little girl who never made it to her third birthday.  I cried because I wondered if given the chance Lily would have loved princess movies and dress up clothes as much as her younger sister.  I cried because I wondered if given the chance would Lily and Tatiana have been best friends like me and my sisters.  I cried because I don't have the faith that so many people have, and I constantly have to remind myself that Lily is real and that I will see her again.

Sigh.  I cried for lots of reasons.  Maybe I just need a diet coke.