Aw, Do I Have To Go?

This is generally the face I make on Stake Conference Sunday (minus the hat and the airport setting, of course):I can give you any number of reasons for why I don't like to go to Stake Conference, a few being:
~I can't sit still that long
~I get cold sitting in the gym
~It's not necessarily the most enjoyable of meetings. It's usually a lot of information crammed into some dry talks

Anyway, all of these excuses (cause that's what they are) were some that I gave my husband for not wanting to go to Stake Conference today. A few wise words from Pops, you remember him from earlier this week, convinced us that we needed to go.

Man, am I glad we did. As you could probably tell from my last post I've been struggling this week. There are a few things that right now that I want so badly I can taste them (take my word on this one: according to my desires houses don't taste good... neither do babies). I've been having a hard time containing my jealousy, disappointment, and anxiety about these things. We sat through almost the entire meeting, except the rest hymn. We stood for that one. Finally the stake president got up to speak, as the final wrap-up for the day.

The first words of his talk went something like this:
"Do not give up hope. Have faith. Do not despair."

I was immediately a smushy, bawling mess. He continued on his talk to discuss the benefits of having hope, faith, and remaining cheerful in the face of adversity. He counseled us that if we are faithful and continue to work hard at obeying the commandments, our righteous desires would be granted to us.

So, just a quick thank you to President Brinkerhoff for restoring my hope, for reminding me to be cheerful, and for reassuring me while I was in a dark place.

Never again will I doubt the power of Stake Conference.

Little Green

I'm afraid that I have a new best friend. Sorry, Ally, you've been ousted. (Okay, not really. We'll just pretend for the sake of a good blog post)

So, there are a few things you should all know about me.

1. I like to have a plan. I don't do well with spontaneous, or fly by the seat of your pants.

2. I'm just a hair on the wrong side of OCD.

3. I get frustrated rather easily.

So, all of that being said, this is my new best friend:

Yes, my new friend (and pretty much constant companion) is the little green jealousy monster. And guess when he strikes the hardest? When things don't go according to my plan. I try not to be jealous of other peoples' fabulous lives. But it hurts a little bit everytime a friend buys a house. Or goes on a fabulous vacation. Or announces a pregnancy.

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer. I try and look at the positive things in my life:

~I've got a fabulous husband who loves me very much.

~We live in a great neighborhood/ward where we get to rub shoulders with some amazing people

~I have the best family in the whole world.

~I have an education and a stable job.

~We don't hurt for anything worldly.

And yet, I can't keep that little green monster from crawling into bed with me at night. I can't stop him from whispering in my ear how great it would be if we could buy a house, have a baby, etc. I can't seem to shake him from my shoulder when I'm at the gym and I see a skinny girl on the treadmill next to me.

So, oh wise readers of my blog, I come to you for advice. How do you keep the little green monster at bay? How do you reassure yourself that your life is just fine the way it is, that you don't need the things that so-and-so has? How do you become content in the knowledge that things will come your way when Heavenly Father decides it's time? How do you stave off jealousy?

The Bebe

Well, we've made our way through my family and are on the last member.
Blog friends, meet McKay. McKay, meet my blog friends. He is my little little brother, also known as Mac, Macsta, and Scooby (or Scoob). Mac is the baby of the family by a lot of years. The next sibling is 7 years older than he is, which makes me 12 years older. Consequently, I feel like we have a special bond. My favorite thing to do with McKay is our fieldtrips. Every summer that I've lived in the same city and owned a car we've taken weekly fieldtrips together. We've seen some cool places, done some awesome things, and learned a ton. I love getting to spend some one on one time with him every week, just because I missed a pretty big chunk of his growing up years.


Mac is a great kid. He's quickly shaping up to be the life of the party, and can already hold his own in our crazy family.

A more recent story about Mac: A few weeks ago we were at a fireside put on by a friend of ours who went to help in Haiti after the earthquake. At one point in the fireside, he showed a picture of one of the orphanages (cribs stacked 3 high, with 2 babies in every crib). I started to cry and McKay leaned over to me and said, "You know that one of those babies is waiting for you, right?" He is so excited to be an uncle. He asks me all the time when Curious George and I are going to start having babies.

Now, don't go thinking Mac is all fun and games. While Zach is on his mission McKay is holding down the fort of the lawn business. He is so smart and has so much potential.

So, little brother, I look forward to watching you grow up into the amazing man I know you can be.

Love you, Scooby!

Little Brother

Hey everyone, it's time to introduce you to my big little brother, Zach.
Say hello to Zach, Zig, Elder Hatch, or Little Brother (you can choose what to call him). He is currently serving a mission in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has about 6 months left, and I can't believe how quickly it's gone by! He is the first sibling in our family to serve a mission, and we are all so proud of him and the work he's doing.Zach has a way about him that just makes everyone want to be his friend. He is a gentle giant, and immediately puts people at ease. Ever since he was a little boy he has loved to talk to people. We'd be standing in line at the grocery store and little 5-year-old Zach would strike up a conversation with whoever was standing nearest to him. In fact, he used to talk so much that my mom would tell him, "Zach, my ears are tired of listening to you!"

I'm sure all of this friendliness has made him a great missionary, and I know that he has made a lot of friends, both with the other missionaries, and with the members and investigators. The Tongan wards that he's served in have adopted him as one of their own. His mission president even told him that if he peeled back his palagi skin, there would be a Tongan underneath.
I remember when Zach was younger he played ice hockey. He loved the sport, and he loved being part of a team. What he didn't love, however, was the locker room talk. He decided that his morals were more important than playing hockey. So, showing great integrity, he quit hockey and took up tennis. I like to tease him that he's so tall he could be a doubles team all on his own, just put a racket in each hand.

Zach's friends all love him, too. One of his mission brothers, Elder Eteaki, has even offered to bring all of his brothers from California to sing at Zach's "homecoming." Zach is the least judgmental person I know, and will love you despite any faults you may have.

In case you can't tell, I love my little brother, and look up to him so much (both physically and spiritually!).

Ofa lahi atu, Little Brother!

Maddie-Moo

"Sisters is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship." ~Margaret Mead

Ok, it's time for the next installment of "Meet My Family". Everyone, this is my sister Madison.
AKA: Maddie, Mads, and for awhile, she was Mamo (the baby couldn't say Maddie).

Seriously, when I grow up I want to be like my little sister. She's amazing. She's 22, almost 23, and she's in school studying to be a pharmacist. In 2 years, she'll graduate with her Doctorate Degree.

She is so much fun! She has a quick wit, a great sense of comedic sarcasm, and a healthy sense of adventure. Her friends all love her, and she is incredibly loyal to them. However, I happen to know, that her favorite place to be is at home with her family.
Maddie is such a great example to me of how to live life on the straight and narrow, while still enjoying it. She is kind-hearted, gentle, and has a way of putting people at ease. She always dresses modestly and looks fantastic doing it (one of her friends told her that this is the reason she's not married, she doesn't wear low-cut enough shirts). I seriously envy her sense of style, though, and wish I were small enough to raid her closet.

Maddie is also one of the best brownie bakers that I know. She's always up for a bowl of ice cream and a little bit of girl talk. We used to fight as kids, like all sisters do. Now, however, I consider her one of my best friends. I can't imagine going through life without having a sister.

I know that someday she's going to make a fantastic wife and mother. So, here's to you, Mads! Even though you're my little sister, I will always look up to you.

Love you!

Mother, I Love You!

Now that you've all met Pops, it's time to introduce you to my mom. Everyone, this is Mom:She is also known as Ma, Momma, and Mother. Any of the previous names will work... most of the time. If there are other moms in the room, the easiest way to get her attention is to actually call her name.

Anyway, I always heard women talk about how the older they got, the more like their mom they became. The older I get, the more I'm finding this to be true.

My mom has a lot of really fantastic qualities. As you can see from the picture above, she's very driven. She graduated from college with her Bachelor's Degree when I was just a toddler. She's spent the 20-something years since working as an elementary school teacher. She recently decided that she wanted to do more with herself, so she went back to school for her Master's Degree. I'm so proud of her for this.


The two pictures above are from our "girls trip" to New York. It was originally just going to be my mom, her sister, sisters in law, and my grandma. My mom thought it would be nice to invite her girls along, since we'd never seen New York City. After crunching the numbers, I wasn't going to be able to afford the trip. My mom, the kind woman that she is, offered to pay for my hotel costs to ease some of the burden.

My mom is very organized, and definitely keeps the family running. Pops affectionately refers to her as The Social Coordinator. She's a fabulous teacher, and a great example of motherhood to me. My children will be so blessed if I can be half the mother that she has been.
Ma has stood by me through some of the hardest times in my life, and wasn't afraid to tell me when I was making dumb choices. I am so lucky to have such a great mom.

Love you, Momma!

Back to My Roots

I feel like there are a lot of fairly new readers to my blog. Some of you know me outside of the blogosphere, and some of you don't. This is ok. However, I feel that in order to truly understand who I am as a person, and as a writer, you need to meet my family. Once you know them, you understand me... and it has so to do with so much more than genetics. So, I'm going to spend the next few blog posts introducing you to the people that have shaped me into the person I am today.

We will start with my dad, who we affectionately call Pops.Everybody, meet Pops. Really, you can call him that, too. Everyone does.

Anyway, I love my dad. He just gets me, you know? We share more than just our looks. We share a sense of humor. We share our "colorful" language habits. We can have whole conversations with just one look. As you can see from this picture, I definitely look like him. We share the same coloring. I have his blue eyes and curly hair. We even have the same dimples. I remember once when I was about 10 I found a picture of him from when he was about the same age. He was wearing a baseball hat, and it looked like me in the picture.

A quick story to give you the essence of Pops:

Generally on Sundays there is a rather large crowd for dinner at my parents. We had an innocent with us that night (he later became a regular, but at the time was fairly new to my family). For dinner that evening was an elk roast. After we finished dinner we were sitting around chatting and the innocent at the table mentioned that he liked elk much better than venison. He stated that his dislike of venison came from it being "tough and gamey". Then, just being himself, Pops chimed in from the head of the table, "Yeah, and it tastes like shit."

Pops is the baby of 7 kids (plus a couple of cousins thrown into the mix). His siblings love him and affectionately call him Eddie (which, by the way, is not his name). They also refer to him as the "bouncing baby boy" even though he's well into adulthood, with adult children of his own.

Anyway, I love my dad. He's always there in good times and in bad. He's not afraid to cry. He's willing to help anybody, anytime. And he always pushes us to be the best we can be.

I love you, Dad!