"Poor Unfortunate Soul"

You ever have a week when you feel like you've been washed in cold water, wrung out, and left to dry in a little, crumpled ball?

Me either.

But I have had a killer week. On top of the emotional events that we are all dealing with, I've been working frantically on my thesis, baby-sitting (not just JR but at time also Abby (2.5 years) and Ethan (13 months), so that would be 5 kids under the age of three), playing in the park (oh, the lovely long naps we've accomplished by totally wearing out the kids outside), pulling weeds (oh the dandilions) and preparing for the Republican County Convention.

Which was this morning. I had a great time (here's my summary), but I didn't get home until 1:30. Then we started putting up the shed--it was actually kinda of fun! We didn't get finished, though, but we did get roasted. I haven't shifted into "summer" mode, and I didn't think about sunblock. Oh well. Anyway, I'm afraid I'm not thinking straight right now...I better go to bed. I love you all!

Old Man Samuel's Party

Well, given that post I would say that for Samuel's "old" birthday party I would have to bring Junket, whatever that is. Now I know that I constitute part of the younger age group of the family but I do not normally feel like I am so young to be that far out of the loop. Have fun with your Junket Samuel.

a new discovery at frys

Frys is our local version of vons. We found Junket there. How cool is that!

Re: QOTW and snow!!!!

First of all, I think that I would like to present Samuel with a set of false teeth so that he can eat his birthday cake. (No, Samuel, you can't just use mine). Included with the present is an "effervescent denture cleaner" to "help remove stubborn stains and leave your denture feeling fresher." Happy Birthday.


Now!!!! Guess what?!? It snowed today!!! Yeah!!! I went over to Corina's to exercise this morning and we ended up walking in the snow! We made it a shorter walk then usual and frankly, I was thankful and not only because of the cold. We played tennis yesterday (please note that played tennis is a slight exaggeration. Actually, the goal was simply to see how many times we could hit the ball over the net.) In any case, I defiantly used muscles not used to being used and could feel the results today. But that is good for me, RIGHT?

new qotw

Samuel has been laying it on pretty thick the fact that he turns 25 next tuesday. Pretty old, quarter of a century, it goes on.
So the new qotw is
if we had a party where "old" would be the theme what kind of gift would you bring him?

my gift to him would be a pretty obnoxious hair piece because he has been saying forever he is bound to lose his hair. One that definitely looks like a hair piece. One that looks like a rug or looks like an animal thats been run over.

Kids are crazy!!!!!

Two stories for your reading pleasure.
1- Yesterday, Erica got some chocolate chips for sitting on the potty. She ate some and scattered some on the ground, etc. This morning I was getting her dressed for the day, and noticed that she seemed dirtier then normal for first thing in the morning. Well I grabbed a wipe and set out to clean at least her face for her. She kept dodging the wipe, the way she does, by turning her head from side to side, sort of an exaggerated NO NO NO NO, and I noticed a dark junk in her ears, both of them. Concerned, I laid her down on her side an attacked the inside of her ear with a wipe. You guessed it, chocolate. In the other side, it became more obvious what had happened. She stuffed a chip in each ear and slept on them. The side that she slept on had completely melted into her ear shell, and the other side had only melted a little and was still lodged there mostly.

2- Benjamin came home yesterday early from school with a tummy ache. I should have been clued in when he immediately ran upstairs and put his backpack away. Then, when Heather got home, I yelled for her to be sure to take her backpack out of the car as I was entering the house. Benjamin got a panicked look on his face and said, "Why do you need to see my backpack?" Believe it or not, I was STILL not clued in. This morning I asked him to bring his backpack downstairs so I could pack his lunch. He brought it downstairs and I asked if his permission slip for a swim trip coming up was in his backpack. He said, "Yes, I'll get it for you." OK, I concede that I was a little slow, but the light finally came on. I insisted that he let me go through his backpack. Inside was TWO half finished writing assignments that he was supposed to finish yesterday. Big sigh. He finished one this morning before school and I told him that if he didn't finish the other at school, he would have to finish it tonight at home. If he "forgot" it at school, he wouldn't be allowed to go on the swim trip, and I would be going to school with him tomorrow and asking his teacher if he finished it tomorrow morning. Were we as obvious as that at that age, you think?

My life at the moment

At the moment my life is going, going, almost gone. Not really, just some days feel like that.
My car had surgery yesterday. Major, open heart surgery. Actually, I don't have a clue exactly what was opened up but it felt like an open heart when I saw the pricing for the operation. I knew the poor thing was having trouble. I have been very loudly making my way around corners for a while now and had two 'gaskets' of some kind replaced on either side of my car, along with my power steering pin and my battery. Major sigh- but as the man at the garage said, "Toyotas will take you easily to 4 or 5 hundred thousand miles (I am only at 102) but only if you take care of this now." Sigh!! Oh, well, that is life! At least people can't tell I'm turning a corner for miles around. Now if only gas will allow me to drive the thing, I will be happily happy.

By the way, did you know gas in LA is over $3.00 and closing in on the $4.00 mark??? Glad I don't live there. We are at about $2.68 or so which is hard enough, in my opinion. What you are dealing with at the moment?

Love you all!

"Just a Spoonful of Sugar"

I meant to post these awesome recipes a little while ago. This (plus a green salad, white-chocolate dipped strawberries, and angel-food cake with strawberries) is what we had for our Easter Dinner with Telima and Tyler:

Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas
2 cans (8-10 oz each) cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1 medium onion, chopped
1 2.5 oz. can chopped or sliced olives
1 4 oz. can diced green chilies
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (boiled and cubed)
8-10 flour tortillas (cut into bite-sized pieces)
3/4 lb grated cheese (cheddar and Monterey Jack make a good combo)

Heat oven to 350 degrees (F, not C)
Mix soup, sour cream, onions, olives, chilies in a bowl. Add cooked chicken and stir. Place half of the tortilla pieces in a 9x13 inch pan and spread with half of the chicken/sauce mixture. Top with half the cheese. Repeat.

Bake, uncovered, for 45-60 minutes. Serves 8-10.

So yummy. And then we had this salsa with cinnamon chips:

Annie's Fruit Salsa
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious apples--peeled, cored, and diced
8 oz raspberries (I used frozen, worked just as well)
1 pound strawberries, cut into medium-small chunks
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
3 Tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor (I used red raspberry)

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix everything together. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes. Serve with cinnamon chips.

Cinnamon Chips
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray (I actually used the regular kind)
1 cup cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Cut tortillas into wedges and arrange in a single layer on sheet. Spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again.
Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Repeat with any extra tortilla wedges. Allow to cool about 15 minutes.

To tell you how yummy this meal is--we had it for Enrichment on the Thursday before Easter. I made the same meal on Sunday. We ate leftovers all week. I made the enchiladas AGAIN this Sunday, and just finished them off just now for dinner (with Mercy the Ravenous helping).

Library

We have a library in Queen Creek. It is a very small library. It is also about a 20 min drive away. I don't go to it very often. (Gas is just to expensive to justify it!)

Re: Library book

So, Jen, is your town so little that you don't have a public library? I mean, besides the school library? If so, I'm sorry. That is really sad to me!

And I haven't read the other two, either, at least I don't remember if I have. But I really loved "Howliday Inn". I think it was my favorite.

Benjamin's library book

Benjamin checked out a new book from the school library. Tuesday is library day for both Benjamin and Heather. Today, he came home with Bunnicula. I told him that there were two other books in that series; Howliday Inn, and The Celery Stalks at Midnight. He turned to a page just after the title page and said "Hey, there are two more! Nighty-Nightmare and Return to Howliday Inn." I didn't know there were more to the series. Now, I want to read these books. I told Benjamin that he had to check them out next so I could read them, and he told me that the library only has Bunnicula. I am bummed out! Maybe Santa will have to bring a boxed set for Christmas!

"A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes"

Or not. Aren't you glad that the title of the that song isn't always true? I mean, I really don't want to be a husband-wife spy team in Iran...do I?

At any rate, the alternate title of this post was going to be: "She Walks!" Or perhaps "She Stands, She Teeters, She Walks Two Steps, She Plops Down on the Floor!" Because the second is more accurate, but it is longer and more unwieldy. Mercy took two steps to much applause and cheering on Saturday, and although she hasn't managed more than that, she does do it quite frequently. She's pretty excited about it and so am I, because it's SPRING and we are spending a lot of time outside. It'll be a whole lot easier on her little knees if she can walk instead of crawl.

Not much else is going on in our neck of the woods, except for the Republican County Convention on Saturday--I'm pretty excited about it. And I'm going to watch my friend's son JR on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday--that will be interesting but mostly just fun, since Ezra and JR get along really well. (Ezra pronounces JR's name as "Juar". Which is okay because JR pronounces his own name as "Jar".)

Anyway, what is going on in your lives? And isn't Katy a cute name?

kathryn elizabeth is very cute

Although with her new ones i've thought of two more fun names. Kinder egg {the chocolate egg with a toy in the middle} and then here is another one for you;" keebler elf" ;)

I know my 2 cents counts for so much.

caren

Announcements!

Well, okay, only one announcement. I'm sure that we will be teased and ridiculed for this, but...we have changed our baby's name. Yes, that's right. After we announced it here, told everyone, even posted it on our website, that we were going to name our first daughter Alyssa Jenae, we have changed our minds. A little while ago, Tyler asked me why we were naming her Alyssa, and we couldn't think of a good reason...that's just what I've always thought I would name my first daughter. So, after some thought, some searching, and even more thought, we finally decided today to change it. So...our first daughter is...no longer Alyssa Jenae...she is now....(is the suspense killing you yet?)...Kathryn Elizabeth Smith.

We came to this name for a couple reasons. One is that Tyler's mother's name is Terese Elizabeth and we wanted to name her first grandchild after her. Kathryn came about mostly because it was a name we both liked and it fit with Elizabeth. We'll probably end up calling her Katy most of the time. We're happy with our decision but wanted to let everyone know so that it didn't come as a complete shock when she was born and named something other than what we told everyone. We love you all (and Katy says hello to all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandma and Grandpa!).

Re: Jeopardy

While watching a rerun of jeopardy, I heard the following correct responses. What is Jacob? and What is Heather? No, they were not asking about Aunt LaDale's niece and nephew but were found under a category "What's in a name." The first was in response to a bible name that rose to the most popular boys name during the years of 1999-2003 and the second in response to a beautiful picture of a field of Heather. There you have it- famous people right in our midst!

Aunt LaDale's letter

Heather got a letter in the mail today from Aunt LaDale. She was very excited and can't wait to write back. The downside, I was forced to write this so Aunt LaDale knows that Benjamin and Jacob feel very sad and left out because they didn't get letters, too! Of well, Ce la vie

Two year old logic

Never answer a "yes-or-no" question with a yes--at least not at first. Example: "Do you want a cookie?" "NO! Ummmm...cookie?"

Never ask when you can whine.

Whichever toy little sister (or brother) has is the one you need RIGHT NOW.

Songs are only to be sung at MY request. Heaven help you if you want to sing a different song then the one I want.

Never walk when you can dance.

Never hug when you can fling yourself into the arms of the hugger.

Never go an entire day without coming up to your mom and saying, "I love you, Mom."

Re: loopholes

And knights in shining armor!!

do not knock list

There should be a do not knock list. The government has a do not call list, so why not a do not knock list?
{with a slight loop hole for lds missionaries of course}

Wanted

Wanted, a couple of Secondhand Lion uncles with shot guns and a good aim. Please apply within.

Argh!!

It has happened again.
No, you cannot have two minutes of my time!
No, I don't want to see you make your pen marks disappear like I wish you would!
No, I don't want to buy your 'but I really believe in this' product!
No, No, No!
Aarrgghh!!!!

That's it! I am NO LONGER answering the door, ever!!!

Re: day-oh

Day-oh- I always think of that strange and bewildering movie- Beetlejuice when all the dinner guests are forced to sing.

Kidnap a dragon? How daring! How stupid!

I have determined in light of recent events to undertake the task of creating a sign (notice, placard) to place without the front door of my apartment in hopes of discouraging the presence of various and sundry boys and girls in their quests to convince me to spend money buying magazines from them either for my use or the use of various and sundry charities. I have only lived in this apartment how long and have had how many of these young people show up at my doorstep?!?! (By the way- young as in college age not elementary age- in which case I am predetermined to believe that not only do they read, they understand what they have read.)
My sign (notice, placard) will be a slightly modified version of the highly practical sign once positioned over the King of the Dragon’s cave which read, “WELCOME TO THE CAVE OF THE DRAGON KING. Pull handle to ring bell. ABSOLUTELY NO wizards, salespeople, or rescuers. This means YOU.”*
My sign, of course, shall instead read, “Welcome to the home of me (me being a pronoun habitually used when no other way of describing the said occupant of the house [which would, of course, be me] comes to mind). Knock with fist to sound arrival. ABSOLUTELY NO wizards, solicitors, or rescuers, (although knights in shining armor with a current temple recommend are welcome to inquire within about a possible date- age restrictions do apply). This means YOU."
I changed ‘salespeople’ to ‘solicitors’ in hopes that the various and sundry salespeople/solicitors approaching my door will understand the respect I have for their choice of a job but LEAVE ME ALONE. Unless, of course, they are in disguise and are actually knights in shining armor with current temple recommends and a yearning to met me (once again you see the use of pronoun when no other term appears to apply).
I think a three foot sign would be large enough, don’t you? I wonder what my neighbors will think?


*Taken from the delightfully hilarious book, “Searching for Dragons” by Patricia C. Wrede.

day- oh!

adam's been encouraged to say more things because he's been watching baby einstein with kip. His daddy was telling him who played what instrument. We just happened to be watching "Meet the Orchestra". When Samuel said what Aunt LaDale played. Adam said day-oh. And each time we say aunt LaDale. So there you go LaDale's new name is day oh!

Re: Mirror of "rac"

My dream car dosen't exist. It is a minivan, but a cross between the Toyota Sienna and the Dodge Caravan. I LOVE the disappearing seats in the Dodge but have to go with the reliabity of the Toyota.

Fun websites

I've found a couple of really cool websites I thought you all would like to see:

US Surname Distribution This website shows, for a given surname, the amount of people with that name on a map of the US. So you can type in "Tobler" for 1990, and you can see which states had the most Toblers (the answer won't surprise you). It's pretty fun. Try "Staker" in 1920, try "Romney" in 1920, try "Osmond" in 1990, "Staheli" in 1990--some traditional Mormon names show up in the appropriate places. Cool website.

HiddenPassageway.com This is for all the "Clue" fans in our family (oh, right, pretty much the whole family), and especially for Mema and Telima's evil twin brother. (The link has music playing, so if you are in the library or something make sure your sound is off.)

And, finally, some of the coolest sidewalk art I've ever seen. No offense, Mary Poppins, but your sidewalk chalk drawings were nothing compared to this guy's.

Enjoy!

RE: The Mirror of Rac

It's pretty sad when, after years of wishing for a Hummer and/or lime green new VW Beetle (named Kermit), my dream vehicle is a...minivan. I know it is situational, but this dream has currently wiped out all other dreams. Sort of like Harry really wanted to know where the Sorceror's Stone was.

So...my minivan. It would have sliding doors on both sides--the kind that are automatic. It would have a CD player, remote start (for those snowy mornings), a DVD/VCR system that disappeared so that the kids wouldn't see it unless I wanted them to (out of sight, out of mind), plenty of storage space, cruise control, automatic windows and locks, high-clearance (so that I could take it on dirt roads), and (since we are being wishful...) wireless internet access all the time. I really don't want much, do I?

My mirror of "Rac"

Anything that will reliably get me to my cabin in the mountains all winter long!! It would be nice if it had seat warmers and a cd player (radio, etc). I would also love a GPS system in case I get lost in the snow that is floating down at 100 miles an hour. Dark green- to match the pine trees. Room for my big family and NOT a gas guzzler. (Ahh, dreams!)

Re: Mirror of "rac"

I wanted to add my 2 cents on this topic. I admit that my vehicle of choice might not be anyone else's, but I am OK with that. My image would show my riding a motorcycle. Of course I would be properly dressed with helmet and cloths made for a motorcycle. I am not interested in those "bullet" bike that are often used in races. Nor do I particularly fancy a Harley. Right now I just want 2 wheels and the reliability that it will get me from point a to point b without any engine trouble.

That is what I would see. Keep in mind this will not come true any time soon if it comes true at all. My family comes first and right now we feel the commute is too dangerous for me to have a motorcycle. Oh well. Maybe some day. - SKT

Happy Easter

Usually Sundays are simply my most favorite day of the week. Only, how does one cope with Sunday and Easter on the same day?? It is too good to be true!!!


P.S. And guess what- It will happen again next year as well!!!

Re: Happy Birthday and QOTW

Happy Birthday Bradley! I'll be sure to collect my present that you are giving me for your birthday at Easter dinner on Sunday! =) I hope your day was a good one.

As for the mirror of "rac" -- well...I don't know much about cars or which ones are good ones. I know that a red Pontiac Grand Prix looks good to me right now, but that's what my goal is for Mary Kay right now...that car. If I could have any car? I don't know but I've always liked Toyotas.

Happy Birthday, Bradley!

I just wanted to say happy birthday to the best husband in the world (at least to me). Happy Birthday, Brad!

new qotw

I am copying j.k. rowling's idea of the mirror of erised... "desire" spelled backwards} except for changing the idea a bit.

my qotw is if you had the mirror of rac "car" spelled backwards, what kind of car or truck would you see yourself driving?

My visit to the mirror of "rac" would show me driving a big blue truck either a dodge dakota sport or dodge ram.

Re: Taxes

Late last week, Jeff came home and announced that he had Good Friday off of work. So, I have my husband home today, but not my kids, they have school. It's strange, but we decided that one of the new owners is probably very Catholic. I asked Mom if Daddy ever considered taking Good Friday off, and she reminded me that it usually falls at a very inconvienant time of the year for CPA's. Especially this year, Tax day is Monday!!! I tend to forget that lately, we file in Febuary and then it means very little to reach April 15, (or the 17 in this years case!)

Re: April 15

Driving home from Institute tonight, I stopped at the red light and looked up at a building to my left. It was one of those buildings with dark tinted windows everywhere. Usually, they are pretty dark, in the day because of the tint and at night because nobody is usually there. I thought, "Wow, there are a lot of people working late tonight!" for several of the upstairs lights were one and I could see people sitting at desks and studiously toiling away. Then I saw the huge logo on the side of the building. Yep, you guessed it. They were the William T. Something-or-other Certified Public Accountants. Ah, Spring!!!

a good big brother

So adam has gotten over the flu, and now it's kip's turn. I put them both down for naps yesterday and kip was having a hard time because of his tummy hurting. So i wait a little bit and go back in to comfort Kip. I went in adam was resting in his bed and I looked in Kip's crib to see that adam had chucked over his baby doll, carebear and monkey, everything he could think of to cheer up Kip. I told him he is a great big brother. I left the room and next time I checked they were both asleep and now Kip was surrounded by swimmer's diapers too.

By the way we've taken the boys swimming twice at the community pool and they absolutely love it!

Thank you everyone!

I haven't posted for a while because I haven't had much to say recently, but thank you all for your birthday wishes! =) I love you all very much and have enjoyed reading what you remember of my birth (even Caren's!). I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, caring family. Thank you again!!

My birthday so far has been good, though very ordinary. But tonight, we're going to dinner and then to a jewelry-making party that Diane (the woman we rent from) is having. I think even Tyler is going to that with me, though I'm not sure. He has a paper due tomorrow, so probably his time would be better spent working on that. =) Anyway, it's been a good day and I love you all!

Happy Birthday, Telima

My memories of the birth of Telima are very clear. I was so glad that she was coming but I was not so happy about what I had to go through for her to get here. I was thankful when she made her apperance and she was well and healthy and all the parts were in the right place. I was also very pleased with the very powerful answer to my prayers about whether she was the final member of our family. I think that I was as thankful and relieved more about that than that she was here and healthy, almost. Telima, I love you very much and I am sooo thankful that you are a member of my wonderful family.
Mom

hey guess what

Happy Birthday Telima! {this is caren, this time}
Sorry i don't have any memories of Telima's birth except for that my mom was pregnant with my brother Joe at the time. I'm a little slow on the uptake because i just realized that the movie United 93 {THE MOVIE ABOUT 9/11}is in theaters at the end of the month. Of course it's r rated for the obvious reasons. But i was thinking , they didn't wait too long to make it into a movie. I wander how people will react.

Is it Telima's birthday?

Oh my. I must have forgotten. Just kidding. I want to say that I love being an older brother to Telima. Being nearly 3 years old at the time that Telima was born I have no memories of her birth. I do have a memory of waking up in the middle of the night because the baby was sleeping in our (the boys') room. I was so glad when she was moved out of our room. I felt that I could sleep during the night again.

Here is my favorite Telima story. Right after David went on his mission Telima still wanted to go to the choir that she and David were in. This left me to drive her. On the very first Sunday that we were driving to the choir we got a flat tire on the freeway just outside the spaghetti bowl. So I turn up having changed a tire. What fun. I love you tons Telima.

Happy Birthday Telima!

Twenty-two years ago this day...

I was in first grade. The intercom buzzed and the secretaries in the office informed the whole class that Keryn Tobler was to go home with McKay Baker today, because Keryn's mom was having a baby. I was so excited. I wanted it to be a girl so bad because it meant that we got to keep our amazing bunk-type beds. That is as far as my seven-year-old brain could comprehend. Jen and LaDale wanted another little brother.

So we all went home with Kasey and McKay. (I have no idea where the boys went.) Not too long after we got there, we got to talk to someone on the phone (I can't remember if it was Mommy or Daddy. Probably Daddy.), who told us it was a GIRL! Hooray!

Later that day Grandpa Pace came and picked us (at least Jen and me) up. He took us to McDonalds, where we got Happy Meals!!!! Oh, the happiness. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Pace's house, where we spent the night. I vaguely remember sleeping in the mask room, which really scared me because of those awful stories Erin and Amy Pace told us about the china doll that came to life and killed all the family of the little girl...but that's another story. Anyway, I remember feeling superior to the boys because, even though they were staying at G&G Pace's house that night too, they didn't get Happy Meals. Oh, the mind of a seven-year-old.

The only other thing I remember is when Mema and Telima came home, and LaDale, while sitting on the edge of Mema's bed, got to hold Telima.

I'm so glad you are part of our family, Telima. I'm grateful that it was you and not Jacob Ernest, because Jacob Ernest wouldn't be pregnant with his own little girl right now the way you are! I love you!

(Anybody else have any memories they want to share about Telima's birth?)

RE: Tyler's mission ami's

My favorite line from Tyler's post, "We only had about 7 investigators at that time." I think I had about seven throughout my entire mission. Isn't it amazing how different, yet how similar missions are???

P.S. Ami's were what we called investigators on my mission. (friends of the church)

Hair...prayer...wow that rhymes!

LaDale, I would like to start by saying that you already have a great line to tell those who comment about the aparent abundance of hair. You said yourself that you can not just glue it all back together. That would make a great remark for those who need to think a little longer about what they say. You can tell them simply, "It was getting to long for me so I cut it so that I could reglue it to my scalp." I don't think anyone will take you seriously but it would get the point across that you already had it.

Amy, this might be an interesting story about prayer and I hope that none of you will think me the worst for telling it. When I had been out in the mission for a little over a year I had a companion go home because of depression. It was hard for me to see him go, it seemed like I had failed him. That hurt. Because there were not an abundance of missionaries in the area I was assigned to work with the zone leaders who were having enough problems in their own companionship. My presence did not serve to make things better but at least it kept them from killing each other. After a month with them I recieved a new missionary from the MTC in Guatemala. Now, all of that is the back story to understand the situation.

My new companion was Elder Macias. He was tenacious to say the least. Much of the zone could not stand his personality but somehow I think that the previous few months had prepared me to be with him. At the start of our last month together we were praying to find out what our goal should be for people prepared for baptism. We had only about 7 investigators at that time. As we prayed I felt like four would be the proper number. That was a crazy number and so I convinced myself that the Lord must have meant to say 2. So, after the pray we talked about what we had fealt. He, very boldly, claimed that it should be 4. I, being the senior companion, decided that the best thing to do would not be to down talk him. We talked about all of our investigators and how impossible it was to get 4 of them prepared for baptism. After about 30 minutes we decided to pray again, he still believed in what the Spirit had told him. We prayed and once again I felt that 4 was the right goal. The Spirit softened my heart, the feeling might have been deniable if it had only happened once but when it happened again I knew that I was the one who needed to pay attention to the Spirit. My companion again felt that it was right. We then called our zone leaders so that they could report it to the mission. These were the zone leaders that I had been with for about a month. I was quickly counceled to pray about it again. Trying to stay humble about it we knelt to pray. The Spirit again a third time comfirmed that it was right. We called our zone leader back again and let him know. It took a full month to get them to believe us. I was transfered just before the end of the month. I was in the office to recieve the notice that Elder Macias had finished the goal. It changed my whole attitude regarding taking faith in the Spirit. I am so glad that God prepared me to be with Elder Macias, an Elder who knew what the Spirit sounded like and would not doubt.

Third: prayer

I’d like to go back to my mission for my story about prayer. Sorry if you have heard this before, but for me it bears repeating. I recall this incident every time I wonder if our Heavenly Father really knows who I am. Without fail I am reminded every time. He does.

It happened in Beziers, my last area. Six weeks remained before I was to return home and I was serving with a fabulous district, consisting of me, my companion and two Elders, all of whom worked very hard.

Well, it was the first week of the new year and we had been having some amazing experiences with the Spirit. Suddenly, it was as if night were day and day were night. Everything twisted completely upside down for me. There was no particular event that occurred, but doubts started leaking into my thoughts. I started feeling worried all the time and horribly depressed. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t snap out of it. I started praying all the time, but I wasn’t hearing any answers. It became hard to get out of bed in the morning and this dark cloud was all I could think about. I even had the Elders give me a blessing but I could not seem to find comfort.

This went on for a few days until one morning Elder Ellis, my district leader, called to say the mission president and his wife were coming to met with us that evening. Now, this was entirely unusual event. There was no zone conference scheduled in our area nor any apartment problems. I mean, even when my last district leader punched out his companion only the AP’s showed up, not the mission president. Besides, it was a four to five hour drive to get from the mission office out to our little ville. Nevertheless, they was coming.

That night, the six of us (four missionaries, the President and his wife) met in the little building wherein we held church. President Dansie then said something that struck me. Earlier that morning, while he was on his knees praying, he had heard a voice telling him he needed to go to Beziers. He did not know why but he immediately searched out his wife and informed her they were going to Beziers. This said, he calmly proceeded to ask us about the work.

Not once during that conversation did I burst into tears (which I am wont to do) or explain what I had been feeling. Instead, we all simply talked about the work. Then, President and Sister Dansie proceeded to praise us for what we had accomplished. We were told we were doing exactly what we should. The president even mentioned some specifics to me personally and I felt a sudden peace and knew that the Lord had heard my prayers and because I was struggling so hard to hear the soft voice of the Spirit, He arranged for my mission president to come all that distance to comfort me.

I am bawling right now just thinking and writing about it. I am incredibly grateful for a righteous mission president who listened for, then followed the promptings of the Spirit. I am even more grateful for my Heavenly Father and for His Beloved Son, both who know me intimately, right down to the most minute detail. I am grateful for such an experience upon which I continue, even today, to draw strength from. I know He hears our prayers. I know they are answered, although sometimes in strange and unexpected ways. “Look unto me in every thought,” Christ said to Joseph Smith, “Doubt not, fear not.” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:36).

Oh, Amy! Thank you for asking for our thoughts on prayer. I needed this reminder.

Second: Favorite pictures

I just wanted to post my two favorite pictures from my vacation with my nieces and nephews. I forgot to even get out my camera in Vegas until just before Jen and kids went home and didn't end up with too many (sadly- none of Heather. How that happened, I'll never know. I've been loving the school pictures of her and Benjamin though. They sit my little keyboard for all to see and admire.) In any case here are my two favorites. The first is called, 'Safe in Mom's arms' and the second 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'.

First: hair

After a ton of endless chatter, I finally convinced myself I could lose much of the dead material surrounding my face. Yes, I CUT my hair. For many, this might not seen like such a big deal- but for some reason, it seems like a major production for me. It is a little shorter than I had, at first, hoped it would be. After, as I returned to my car, I almost left like crying, but buyers remorse doesn’t work with hair. I can’t imagine returning to demand everything return to the way it was! They certainly can’t glue the ends back on, even if they could straighten out which strand went where.
However, since Wednesday, the length has grown on me. In church today, the most frequent comments were favorable for the change, but a close second was: “Where did you get so much hair?”
I wished more than once I had a witty answer for that question, but I’m not that fast. Any suggestions?
The picture above is the Sunday 'do'. It takes me an hour to blow dry the hair straight like that, so it will not be a normal day arrangement. You’ll have to wait for that picture until another day. (If you even care?!?! I mean really- is my life so boring this is all I have to talk about?!?)

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday--the day that commemorates the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey's back, with the crowds laying palm fronds on the path before Him. And next week is Easter Sunday, the glorious day on which our Lord and Savior rose from the grave.

All my hopes for the future have roots in the events celebrated this week. All my desires for my family, all my dreams for happiness--they all come back to the Atonement. If it were not for Christ's sacrifice, I could never repent of the stupid things I do--and therefore I could never return to Father in Heaven, or be with my precious family again.

I don't have any specific memories of learning of the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were taught to us bit by bit, line upon line even, from before I can remember. These lessons were woven into our ordinary lives so subtly--Family Home Evening lessons, discussions around the dinner table, car trips, visits to grandparents--that I don't remember even learning them. I just know.

Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day--these are important days. But they should not be the only time we think about the Atonement and Resurrection, nor the only time we teach our families about them. We deserve to spend more time than a few days a year dwelling on the miracle that makes all our happiness--present and future--possible.

RE: Sick babies

Oh, Caren and Samuel, I'm so sorry about your babies! Sick babies are the pits. And what fun to have one that spikes a high fever. Oh joys of all joys. We love you very very much and hope that the Wellness Bunny hops your way before the Easter Bunny does.

The sun has come out...

Yay! I love the rain, but not while I'm leading a class of fifth graders on a field trip around Rock Canyon. And I don't like the hail when I'm outside. Or loud, seemingly close flashes of lightning and a crack of thunder that sends the kids running down the trail. But that was on Wednesday. Yesterday it rained all day long (it was snowing in Provo), but today the sun is shining! Which is good because we just got notice that our shed is ready for pickup from Sears. Not that we are going to put it up this weekend--that's next weekend's project.

"Oh!" you think. "Keryn is going to put her mad shed-erecting skillz to use!" Exactly. Or maybe you were taken back to the summer of '89, where Keryn learned her mad shed-building skillz. It was an extraordinarily hot summer, that summer was (okay, not really, but it felt that way). Daddy woke us up at two or three in the morning, if I recall correctly, to be able to put up as much of the sheet metal shed before the sun made the pieces too hot to handle (Oh, all right, it was probably more like five-ish in the morning, but it was summertime! Vacation, you know?). It took us several days to put it up, so we had to get up early on successive morning. And we had to "hide" the metal pieces in the shade of the house, because even the early morning sun would heat them enough to blister the fingers. I even remember the glitch we ran into--the cement pad was too close to the neighbor's fence, and so Daddy had to use metal-cutting shears to cut the eaves on that side.

You now see a grateful woman--grateful she lives in Utah County, where putting a shed up can be done in normal, daytime hours. And grateful that she is able to put her shed up in April instead of July.

And even sheepishly grateful that her dad taught her that she could put a shed up. That it was even possible. Ditto with the sprinkler system (that will be a little later, probably May).

Other pregnancies

Please do not misunderstand. We are not pregnant. I wanted to post this information because there are several people who read this blog who know the person. I am refering to Erick Gremlich. He was married in late December of last year. I just found out today that his wife is pregnant due late November. I am, of course, happy for him and his wife. There you go. SKT

a few of my least favorite things

I woke up and adam had come in my room to tell me he's awake. He's a good boy. He also pulled me into his room to show me he had thrown up. {sometime during the night} and had slept in it {poor kid}. I am very glad he showed me, that way, i could take care of it right away.

It was confirmed to me yesterday morning that kip is going to be my worrisome child in running high fevers when he gets a virus. I of course drugged him up and gave him a luke warm bath to help. It's a lot easier being sick in your own house.

Onto better things welcome back to the blog LaDale! Thanks for letting us have fun with your pen name ;)

RE: Hike

Oh, Jen, I remember that stinging nettle! I remember that I thought it was a pretty purple flower. And then I remember the large blisters I had on the outside of my thigh, too!

Hike

I remember that hike through the Narrows. I remember that they shut down the trail behind us because of the overcast and I remember that as we came down that list streach, where you are actually IN the water, it sprinkled on us. That just terrified me! However, my clearest memory of that trip was that I had gone off of the trail to "hide behind a bush" and somehow ended up squating over a stinging nettle bush. I had a large blister on the inside of my thigh for a week!

As for my prayer experiance, and I am sorry that it's taken me so long to get to this, one of my most memorable prayer experiance was when I was 5 years old. I had just had a nightmare and had gotten up to find Mommy. She and I kneeled down and we prayed that I wouldn't be scared anymore and that I could go back to sleep. I did. However, to this day, I still remember almost every detail of that nightmare. A dinosaur had hatched on the kindergarden playground and that bront was eating KIDS!

Hi, my name is...

LaDale Tobler. I know, I know. It has been a while and it will probably take awhile to catch up. First, I loved the past two weeks and appreciate all the time everyone spent with me. I missed seeing those I couldn't (those still in Arizona) but I suppose one can only do so much.
Okay, so there were numerous questions asked since I quit paying as close attention to the blog as I normally do. (It is strange how being away from home gets you out of normal habits.)
*In any case, my pen name will be Madeleine Christopherson.
*My favorite Easter candy is the marshmallows Jenafer mentioned- the peanut kind. I also like the Cadbury eggs- the cream eggs Caren was not talking about, but only fresh ones- which are quite difficult to find most times, so I rarely buy them because I find myself disappointed.
*I am still thinking about the prayer question, I haven't forgotten.

Love you all, will be back soon!!
LaDale

Mercy's birthday

Well, I imagine you all remember how Ezra acted toward his second birthday cupcake--total distain. The same was with his first birthday. Mercy, on the other hand, is very different. She ate--no, inhaled--no, consumed her birthday cupcake with complete concentration on the matter at hand. It was hilarious.

I didn't take any pictures of her with her presents, but Tyler did, so you can go look at them at tylerandtelima.com. Just go to "pictures" and you'll see a cateogory called Mercy's birthday.

A little bit of catch-up and a story about prayer

So I've basically spent the last few days in a drugged stupor--another one of my teeth abcessed and so I have been on some heavy drugs waiting for the infection to clear out. Today is the first day I have felt half-way human since Wednesday evening. I know others in the family are having some not-fun with pain, and I am really praying for you.

Tonight we went to feed the ducks at Salem Pond. I'd heard about Salem Pond, but we'd never been there, so when we saw how beautiful it is we were stunned. It is gorgeous. I'm going to take my camera next time and take lots of pictures. Ezra had so much fun with the ducks.

My favorite Easter candy is probably lemon drops or those candy-outside- marshmellow-stuff-inside ones that Jen was talking about. Yum, except not with a bum tooth.

I've been giving some thought to answers to prayer, Amy. I really have been blessed in my life by answers to prayers. A specific one that came to mind when you asked was the time we hiked the Virgin Narrows. I was in ninth grade, and everyone came to Zion except LaDale, who had pneumonia. But Mema and Telima didn't hike it with us. Before we went, everyone was repeatedly warned about flash floods, and of course it was not a hot, dry day. Oh, no, it was an overcast, gloomy, drippy day. So of course my overactive imagination went haywire. I was almost scared sick (I can now recognize the signs of a panic attack, but I didn't have a clue then). But I prayed and prayed, and we even prayed as a group, and lo and behold--it didn't immediately clear up. In fact, I think it stayed gloomy for quite a while. But I felt so much better. In fact, I felt cheerful and happy and just fine. It was a very meaningful experience for me. I realized that God doesn't always calm the elements or stop the storm--sometimes he calms the child within the storm.

I would be very interested in hearing about others' experiences with prayer, too. Amy, thanks for bringing it up.

Re: easter qotw

So I wanted to say that my favorite easter candy would have to be jelly beans. I must admit that the starburst flavored jelly beans have taken top bean with me. Sounds like fun. SKT

re: QOTW

I have two favorite Easter treats. I know that it is because these were always ones we got at Easter, so they are probably favorites of Mommy. They are the circus peanut like marshmellow bunnys and the color-candy coated, harder marshmellow eggs.

new qotw

Samuel and i are excited because adam is especially old enough to enjoy easter this year. All of us Arizonan Toblers had an easter egg hunt yesterday. It was very enjoyable! Of course we did it with plastic eggs with candy in them. So the new question of the week is
What is your favorite easter candy?

I love the mini eggs by Cadbury. They are not to be confused with cadbury creme eggs or the miniature version of them. They're the ones that are chocolate with the candy coated pastel colored shell sold in a purple bag.