Body and Soul

Hi everyone!

I don't know who reads these posts, but I wanted to check in. Christmas is over and the bad air is settling in, literally. I think it was last year that we had the worst air in the nation for about a week. Pretty gross! Its called an inversion because the small dust particles mixed with exhaust emissions gets trapped in between the mountains. Needless to say, the valley has nasty air that you don't really want to be out in....it makes for a very long winter. We always wait for a good storm to clean out the air.

Luckily, the imversion only settles in the valley and you can go to higher ground to get out of it. Last Saturday we went to the mountains to sled. It was really fun. We did some hiking up a wide trail (more like a service road). We hiked up about 30 - 40 minutes with sleds in tow. The kids eventually got on the sled as we pushed...good workout. Anyway, we decided we had gone far enough so we slid down. It took 4 minutes to get down on the sled. At the bottom E said, "let's do it again!" ....we didn't. :) we slid shorter hills after that. It was a lot of work and a lot of effort, but it was good for the body and the soul!

So, my message is this....get out and do something active this week. Maybe it's a walk around the block or a walk to pick up kids from school or a walk through the park. But, winter can be long and its good to get out in fresh air, even if you have to go to the mountains to find it. I know we all made those New Year resolutions, so bundle up and get going! Your body and your soul will thank you!

An Ancient Irish Tune "Slane"

Remember the melody that I used for my "Memories of the Cabin" verses? Today I went to the dentist, and Dr. Trantow, who is also a lover of music (guitar and he sings) knew this melody! I told him that I had written some verses to a melody that I had heard in a movie. The verses had to do with memories of my childhood at the cabin in Utah, and music was a good way to share those stories. He asked me, "What is the melody?" I started to sing it to him, and he hummed along and said that he has played it  many times! It is an ancient Irish Tune called Slane, in public domain, and the melody has been used for several songs and hymns. One hymn is called "Lord of All Hopefullness" (Dr. Trantow knows this version that is sung in the Catholic Church), and another called "Be Thou My Vision" which are the words that were sung in the movie where I first heard this melody. I looked it up online, and I found that there are many many pages devoted to the history and performance of this apparently very popular tune. Well, now I KNOW I have good taste in music! I think that you will enjoy this from The Web Family. Web Family Music
Ahhh...I am so glad I went to the dentist today!

       Hello my dear daughters! I am most excited to hear that you are as happy as I am to be connecting on the blog again! I took a mid-day walk into the new Huntington Park today, which is across the western edge of Riverfront Park and behind City Hall. I love the texture and colors in this fall landscape. This area used to be all rock and weeds. What a difference! In this area are several places which offer a good place to take portraits.
       So I have begun a 12 week Business Mastery Course to learn more about running a business. It is scary! But I know I will learn so much which is what I WANT to do. I have a new idea for a NEW portrait package, and I want my customers to be able to easily order items from my website which means adding another element that is not there. Baby steps now, but hoping to lengthen my stride.
     I hope you had a nice day today!
Love You,
Mom

Unexpected happenings

After I had Piper I was SURE that she was going to be our last. I could not imagine getting pregnant again or even having a little newborn.  I would look at little babies and just think about how glad I was that the child wasn't mine and the only thing I saw was HARD work.  Hard being pregnant, throwing up all day, gaining weight, crazy hormones, the pain.....oh the pain! Hard waking up at night, swollen boobs and leaky nipples. Spitting up was less than fun and the list goes on.  I could think of a million and one reasons why I wanted to be done having kids. Trying to convince Kevin was extremely difficult.  But I was stubborn and I was done, done, done. 
  
 Then one gloriously beautiful day standing outside in my front yard I had a feeling. I calm peaceful feeling that rocked my world forever, and especially my husbands.  There was another spirit for us.  What?????? No, not again!   Please don't soften my oh so amazing strong will(heart)!  But I couldn't deny it and then I started thinking about it constantly.  So after many battles in my head, I had to bite the bullet and admit to Kevin and myself that I was wrong. But more importantly, I had to convince myself that I could do this ALL over again.

You can imagine the joy Kevin felt when I completely blindsided him with the information.  He was just stunned.  And still as I was speaking the words, I could hardly believe what I was hearing myself say.  Really? Really?

So, without giving all the gory details we started to "try" again.  And since I've set records in the conception department three times in a row I naturally thought that I was in complete control and would be reading a positive pregnancy test in two weeks.  Wrong.  What? Weird.  Okay, let's do this again.  And a month goes by and this time my period is a week late.  Slam dunk, I thought. Well, I thought wrong.  Nope, no dice.  How can this be? I've done this before. I know what happens when......... well you know.    So three more months go by and still, I'm waiting.  So that's five months and no baby on board.

It's strange to think that it took a major softening of my heart and now I'm over here expected to wait.  It's fine, just unexpected I guess. I'm not is a hurry but at some point it would be nice to get the "show on the road," if ya know what I mean. :)  

So there......a completely post that is total TMI.  But hey, what are sisters/daughters for?

Love you all.

Jen

Frustrated!!!!

Frustrated

 It's so funny how we think we make New Year's resolutions stating how we are going to lose weight or finish something or start something etc..... Lately I have been so frustrated with myself. Santa bought the kids an xbox360/kinect for Christmas. We received a gift card from Hung's parents. Long story short, I have a zumba workout video I do on the Kinect. It was great at first but now, I'm getting bored with it. I would love to incorporate other exercise routines to my schedule besides zumba.

I also am frustrated because every time I say I'm going to eat better, I do it for awhile and then revert back to my old habits. I absolutely hate my tummy!! I look at it and want to cry. I know you all must think I'm crazy but this is how I truly feel. I want to lose weight and just be a better me and healthier. I give in to temptation too easily. I thought it would be hard no to drink or do drugs as a teenager....clearly my hardest habit to break is eating jumk food. It's not just the candy and sweets I have to worry about. It's the fried foods, pop, chips, pastries, too much butter I put on toast or veggies, etc....you guys get the picture!

Anyway, I just needed to vent.....hopefully I can get back on track and stay focused. Sorry it's taken me so long to post on here. Miss you all!

Our choir

Today was the Christmas program in Sacrament Meeting at Church. The Bishop chose to have an all music meeting and it was very nice. The choir, which I still direct, sang 3 numbers: one prelude and two during the meeting. I am still amazed at how beautiful they sounded. Someone said that it sounded as if there were angels singing with us because of the power and majesty of their voices. I would not be surprised at all if that were the case. I invited angels to come join us, if it were allowed. : - )
The songs were:
Born is the Light of the World, The Gift of Love, and O Come O Come Emmanuel..
Jennie, how did your solos go?
Mom

I got called "Heather" today!

I went to Michaels (store) tonight and saw Brother Hawker. As I walked by him, saying "Hello!" he said, "Hi Heather!" I just smiled and kept walking. Made my day!