Opposites: Happy, Sad

This week was different and exciting for so many reasons, but mostly because studying was no where on the agenda. I worked out, baked lots of bread, made new delicious recipes, played with E a lot and even went on a field trip with E and our friends V, K, and K. We went to the new children's museum in Ogden and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It's funded by a non-profit arts society and is essentially a no holds barred indoor play arena. There are various themed play rooms set up, such as trains, gardening, the kitchen, the tea room, the sushi room, dinosaurs, Utah history, etc. Each area has wonderful, high-quality toys, exploratory props, books that correlate to the theme, and absolutely no play restrictions whatsoever. It's basically a Utah mom's wintertime haven. We really loved it until a large group of school children came and some were yelling at E while he played near them, resulting in an ornery E and a frustrated me. I don't really like big crowds, especially of crazy children without parents, so we left not too long thereafter.

E trying to find the fish on his laminated card.

Gleeful expression after the arch of numbers was knocked down.

Contemplating a future career. That's Mr. President to you.

Naturally, playing with the trains.

Then the weekend came and Travis and I did yard work, cleaned the garage, cleaned the cars, and went to Baby Animal Days in Logan. Baby Animal Days occurs one weekend out of the year and a bunch of farmers bring their young animals to the American West Heritage Center and let the community bask in their cuteness. We went with our friends and had a lot of fun until the crowds got larger and T and I bailed. (I'm noticing a pattern.)

E was climbing up the fence post to look at the ram and then he started to jump in.
Don't worry, his suicide attempt was prevented.

Are you chicken? As a matter of fact, I am!

E wouldn't pet the baby goat, but when T asked, "Can you give him a kiss?" he quickly obliged.

Meeting the mini horses in the open petting zoo.

Me showing E and K it was okay to touch the animals in the petting zoo.

Cutest calf ever!

K and the obese rabbit that doesn't move.

My favorite picture. T and E holding a delicate bunny.

My week was only getting better as we drove down to my eldest brother's home to celebrate his birthday with all my family that lives in Utah. Right as we exited the freeway my mom called with the bad news. My sister was diagnosed with a staph infection almost a month ago and after the hospital made an error producing her culture, they put a PIC line in her and prescribed their strongest antibiotic. Her swelling went down and then five days ago they removed the PIC line. However, on Saturday her swelling returned and by Sunday morning she was in the ER with swelling and blisters all over her body. She's been transferred to a specialized hospital's burn unit and we're awaiting test results to find out what exactly is happening.

My mind has been going nonstop and is filled with unanswerable questions. My sister is the world's most service oriented person and would do absolutely anything for anyone. I can't even begin to count the number of times she's been there to cheer me up, cheer me on, or perform an outrageous favor I wouldn't ask of anyone else. Several times I've watched her swoop in and alleviate someone's worries and I've marveled and thought to myself how I wish I could do the same for her. Now a time has come when she needs help more than anyone else and I feel powerless. All I can really do is pray and hope and pray some more. Please pray for my sister and her family. I know she has heaven and angels fighting for her and will appreciate all the prayers you send her way.

New Beginnings

I've pondered how to begin this post for quite some time now. On days when I was overwhelmed with life I'd envision right where I am today and begin writing in my head about how today would feel. What would I do on today? Would it be noticeably different from any other day? Now, today is here and I have concluded that it is different. Gloriously, wonderfully, sumptuously different.

Last Friday I took my very last test of college. I'm done. Finito. Graduated. It looks odd to write that so I'm going to do it again. Graduated. I presume that graduating isn't as large of an accomplishment to some people as it was to me, but I truly had to fight for it. When I started college I was completely terrified and literally sick to my stomach. I was sure that I would walk into my first class and find all my peers were members of Mensa and I would shortly be revealed as grossly lacking the intellect required to succeed. Through much prayer and faith I worked up the courage to trepidly attend my first class. When it came time for my first test, I threw up all morning. My fear of being woefully inadequate paralyzed me. I kept trying my best and when I began receiving my grades I saw that not only was I succeeding, I was excelling. It shocked me more than it could have anyone else. Through each test, assignment, paper, and class I learned more and gained more confidence in myself. Yet, at the beginning of each semester, I'd still fight my fear that the upcoming classes would manifest my nescience.

When I met T, I was about to begin my first semester at BYU. I'd completed 3 semesters at BYU-I and had just returned from my European study abroad. By then I'd gained more confidence in my intellect, but I desperately wanted, even needed, to finish my schooling to prove to myself I could do it. I fought the same fears and found the same success at BYU. When T and I got married I knew it would upset my education, but T supported me whole-heartedly and I loved him more than anything. I knew that together we could do anything.

It took two changes of my major, three years of independent study classes, four months away from T while E and I were at BYU, and one year of class at USU to finish. It was hard. We had a baby, bought and remodeled a home, and put T through graduate school in the midst of it. There were infinite times I felt discouraged and exhausted. But through prayer and faith and the aid of countless physical and spiritual angels I was enabled to do it.

Today I woke up early and went running. I read my scriptures, showered and made the bed before E even woke up. E and I ate breakfast, went to the library, ran errands, read books, played the piano, ate lunch, and did laundry before he took his nap. Now he's sleeping and for the first time in his life I'm not doing homework during his nap. Best of all, throughout the whole day I've been pinching myself to think that this is my reality.

Graduating didn't change my worth at all, nor did it alone prove that I'm a smart, capable person. There are scores of people that are brilliant and successful that never go to or complete college. Likewise, there are innumerable people who graduate from college and really aren't any more intelligent than an earthworm. But fighting for it and finishing it proved a lot to me about me and that made every hour, dollar, tear, and stress worth it.

At the Eiffel on my study abroad.
I would meet T in 4 months.

With my wonderful family at Christmas time.
I would graduate in 4 months.

One Step, Two Step

Technically, if I wanted to stay true to tradition and post events chronologically I would be putting some pictures of Easter on the blog. However, I have one week of school left (my last final of college is next Friday!!!!!) and I don't have time to make a long post. Consequently, I'm sharing a ridiculously funny video with you instead.

By way of introduction, E received an Easter card from Grandma and Grandpa F that plays The Bunny Hop when it's opened. It was an instant hit. Observe.




My kid has rhythm! I don't think he's too far off from following in the footsteps of the one, the only Fred Astaire!



See the similarities? Sure, Fred is a little more polished, but give E some time and he may be tapping with the best of them!

Animal Quiz

Note to Scott: The narrator would like to issue an apology for having said, "...a elephant" and not "...an elephant". Due to the sporadic nature of the filmed content the narrator was unable to receive a script from our writers in time and was forced to ad lib at the last minute. Tragically, our editor quit yesterday and we were unable to cut the offensive statement without missing our production deadline. We ask for your mercy and understanding and hope that this violation will not cause you further injury.

Me vs. The TV

Lately, E has become a little obsessed with trains. Obsessed is probably downplaying the situation. In all reality, he's completely neurotic. I think it all started with a wooden train that Uncle Scott gave him for Christmas. At first it was innocent enough, he just wanted as much "train time" as he could get. But soon thereafter he realized that we had a Thomas the Tank Engine book and would ask for that book to be read to him. Fifteen times a day. Then he realized that the soft, flannel blanket his Nana made for him had small trains all over it. More and more train paraphernalia seemed to pop up all over his little world, feeding his addiction.

Unaware of the severity of the situation, I rented a Thomas the Tank Engine movie because, hey, he's never even watched TV and I thought it might be funny. It wasn't funny. It was depressing. My child who never sits still unless he's firmly strapped into a 5-point harness sat motionless and mesmerized for 20 whole minutes. Throughout the duration of my creepy movie experiment I watched him with an open jaw, aghast that this was really happening. Once I turned the movie off E looked at me and excitedly yelled, "Thomas! Thomas! Peep, peep! Choo choo! Wow!" It was as if he'd just been on the greatest sensory adventure of his life and I was left to deal with the pathetic realization that my child was enthralled by TV. Forget all those hours I've dedicated to reading books with him, cooking together, engaging in goobery conversation with him from the day he was born, playing the piano with him strapped on my chest in his baby carrier, and ensuring that child development recommendations for each stage were heeded. All he really wanted was some tube time. Blughck!!

It didn't take long for me to decide that I needed to be the victor in this situation. We'd recently heard about a train museum in Ogden so I researched it, called my sister and invited her family to join us, and off we went. You'll be pleased to know that real-life trains beat out the TV. E's excitement as he ran about the train museum far surpassed the cheap thrill of the Thomas DVD. He kept asking for "Wa-burt" (his cousin, Robert) and the "Train" and it made me so happy.

The moral of the story is that I succeeded. Granted, I picked my battle very carefully. For example, had he been convinced that Lion King was fantastic we couldn't exactly go on safari to teach him about modern day Africa. But I was proud of myself for taking something he saw on TV and turning it into an educational experience. Regardless of the fact that he's cognitively unable to make the distinctions between the two trains that I do, at least I taught myself how to make the most of what TV had to offer.


Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong, I don't think TV is the devil, but I do think it's watched far too often these days. I'd much rather read books, make-up plays, play games and whatnot so I've tried to foster that environment in our home. I actually really like Thomas the Tank Engine and I think he does a great job at teaching values, but most importantly I wanted E to see that real trains were cool even if they can't talk.

T & E taking a train knowledge quiz. E outscored T.

Sing: Ring my belll, ring my bell, my bell, woo woo woo.

You may not have known, but Travis has high ambitions of being a bronze bust model.
I think he does fabulously. Isn't the resemblance striking?

E and Mommy playing inside the train car.

E, Robert, and Mommy sitting in the train. I don't know if this was a typical layout for all trains, but you had to climb a little ladder to get up to the seats that sat about 5' up.

Ethan Heaven = Train on the left + School bus on the right

Inside the train museum there's also an antique car museum and a Browning gun museum. This car was my favorite. I envisioned Nick from The Great Gatsby gallivanting around in it and smiled.

Tammy brought some pants for E that R had outgrown and not only were they adorable, but they matched a darling sweater that E's friend, Kynzie, gave him for Valentine's Day. We had a little photo shoot and here are my favorites.

*Sigh* His cuteness melts me.