I finished the two baby quilts I was working on this month. They are for a newborn and his big brother (age 1) who live in my neighborhood.
They are so soft and fuzzy on the back. Life just gets better when you touch that minky fabric. And look! My friend machine quilted them in a sock monkey pattern to make us smile.
I love that they are similar but each has a unique personality. The brighter one with the yellow back is my favorite.
The kids are posing with their piano teacher at the Fall Recital, which also happened to be Mark’s first piano recital. The younger children in the studio played Halloween pieces and dressed up in their costumes. Mark is Boba Fett from Star Wars. He played a spooky song called If You Dare! and he did a great job.
Daniel played Rondo Sonatina Op. 20 #1 by Frederic Kuhlau and The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. Daniel is very expressive and I don’t think I will ever get tired of hearing him play Joplin.
Timothy played A Neat Beat by Mier and he rocked the house. He is a wonderful pianist. Just… wow!
This is a picture of Paige and her teacher rehearsing the Shostakovich Concerto No. 2 Op. 102 for two pianos before the recital. Paige has two performances in the next few weeks for this piece. It’s beautiful.
Paige played Sonatina Op. 88 #3 Mvt. 1 by Frederik Kuhlau for the recital. She did a lovely job and she always has the grace to smile and give a confident bow after her performances. That’s hard to do.
Watching our four children perform at this recital was really something special.
Daniel celebrated a birthday last week with Chinese food, cheesecake, and a new motorized scooter.
I’ll tell you a little bit about Daniel, age 14. He joins clubs and auditions for things. He’s a pianist in the jazz band, a member of the Senate, and this last month dabbled in debate.
This week he is in a roadshow where he wears a shark costume and plays the scary theme from Jaws on his cello.
He plays The Entertainer all of the time and his favorite dynamic is fortissimo.
He earned 10 merit badges this summer.
He has a good friend in Texas with whom he still Skypes almost daily after many years of separation.
He loves engineering and computers. He mows our lawn. We depend on his rope skills, strength, and ingenuity on family trips and projects.
He has a growing circle of spiritual, outgoing, and interesting friends.
He was so happy last night to see the new episodes of Studio C. He is also a big fan of The Piano Guys.
I look forward to the things that Daniel will do this next year. He’s definitely worth watching. My health problems during my pregnancy with Daniel meant that he went through a rough time along with me. I knew that we should name him Daniel because he miraculously came through the lion’s den before he was born and I knew he was a great spirit before I even met him.
I’m making two quilts from the fabric I bought last week. One is for a new baby at church. I am not sure who will get the other one. I’ve been arranging the squares on the floor. I’m not loving the way they look right now. I don’t like the brown. Maybe that will change.
It’s a good thing that there are so many photos of this bride (our niece) and groom circulating in the world because we didn’t make it home with a single photo of them.
Here is what the kids and Richard took pictures of on the wedding day in Manti.
Oh, look. There is a picture of the bride with her eyes half closed. It was a beautiful wedding in the Manti temple and there was lots of family and love.
At the beginning of January I began a project to keep my daily TO DO lists in a planner. I know that I am not original in doing this. However, I didn’t appreciate the patterns that I would see emerge from my lists or the story that they would tell.
Here are a few randomly picked dates from the past 9 months and what I listed along with a little commentary.
Saturday, January 5
Piano lessons 10:45-12:45
Piano lesson 2:00 (Timothy)
3:00 Paige and Dan
Pay piano teacher
Apparently the only thing I did on this day was drive kids to and from piano lessons over a span of 5 hours. Even if this was actually all I did, I think that it would be enough.
Saturday, March 23
SPARKS This was the day we drove from Elko to Sparks to visit my Stewart Grandparents.
Thursday, July 4
Paint trim (2 coats) in Daniel’s room
Integrity goal #5: Stand as a witness day 4
Family barbecue 1pm (Spring Lake)
Summertime brought a lot of painting and Young Women Personal Progress goals. The Stand as a Witness goal that I mentioned was to write about my experiences as a Mormon on the blog.
Tuesday, August 13
library
lego shopping with little boys
work on Knowledge #9
type out YW calendar
vacuum upstairs
garden assignment: 3 needed
Summer was winding down; I was trying to make the most of the last days with my little boys by shopping for their favorite toys with them. Knowledge #9 was a Young Women Personal Progress goal where I collected and compiled my favorite quotes from General Conference talks by topic. The garden assignment was for the Church garden which supplies the nearby Bishops’ Storehouse. The big boys and Richard took the assignment.
Thursday, September 5
Drive Richard 5:45 am
Drive Daniel 6:50 am
30 minutes Virtue project
Pick up Richard at work–sick day
YW presidency meeting
10% of Richard’s group laid off today (notation on the side of the to do list)
Costco trip
Bring doctor’s note to school for Mark’s absences
Piano lessons 5:30-7:30
continue paint work in craft room
This was a very stressful day on many levels. There were extra errands because of illness and there was worry about Richard’s job. The Virtue project is my current Personal Progress goal to read the Book of Mormon. Thank goodness most days are not this busy.
I love my life, but I don’t always see the beauty in the little pieces. Keeping my little planner has been a good exercise to help me see that I’m going somewhere in all of my circles of errands and small efforts.
I’m working on a couple of baby quilts this week. Just thought I’d show you the cheery fabrics.
That is all.
One day when we were asked to introduce ourselves to a room full of new people, Richard decided to tell the group about one of the times I was rescued by first responders.
I have a few dramatic rescues in my life story and they continue to teach me.
One thing I have learned from being in peril is the quality of selflessness that emerges in the rescuers. They become my friends immediately, willing to do whatever they can to help. I’ve held hands with strangers who have run to my aid. They have carried me, watched over my family, and taken me to safety.
Most rescuers I have never seen again, but I have been blessed to have a few chance meetings with some of them.
They have met me with arms extended, tender encouragements, and even a cheer. “Here she is!!” and “I’m so glad to see you back with us.” They are the regular people and I am a small person, but I was worth their time and they cheer me on. They are my heroes.
Gratitude, love, and self worth are a few of the things I have gained from being someone who has been rescued.
These experiences have also taught me a lot about our Redeemer who has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. When we meet him someday, he will have a measure of love for us that can only be earned by a rescuer.
I’ve heard it said that everyone is in peril of some kind, or they soon will be. We can be rescuers with a smile, a note, or even consistent, mostly unnoticed efforts. We may never know that we have been rescuers or the depth of feeling others have for our service. Ready? Let’s go rescue somebody.
This month we focused on the piano room and the craft room.
I bought a few chairs so we have a little bit of seating in the piano room.
For the craft room, Richard and Daniel installed new outlets and I put fresh paint on the walls, trim, and door. I moved in a sewing desk (free from a neighbor). There is also a handle on the door now!
There is an open closet with shelves near my sewing desk. I like to keep those shelves hidden behind a curtain.
One end of the craft room stores my sewing stuff and the other end of the craft room is for Legos and craft supplies. Mark and Timothy always seem to have a Lego project going on in this room.
I love the warm look from the paint and the clean white trim. It’s a nice space to work and have ongoing projects.
The kids have been in school for a month now. Four weeks seems to be the magic number for finding a routine at our house. Our mornings begin around 5:15. For the next 3 hours I watch the family leave one by one. I try to interact with each one before they leave. The evenings and mornings go by quickly, but we’re finding the time to do the homework and extra curricular activities.
Timothy is playing fall baseball 2 or 3 nights a week. Here are a few photos of him as pitcher and catcher. Richard handles all of the practices and games while I go to Wednesday night youth activities and chauffeur the kids to piano.
