First Photo Shoot

I told my friends that I'm trying to start my own photography business.
So Danielle and her family offered to be my first guinea pigs.
Here's a few teasers and the rest are on my webalbum.





For those photography experts out there.
Nearly all my photos came out too dark. I took them during the day, how can I fix that?

Mark's Birthday

Mark turned the big 31 this year, so we didn't do anything extra special, just the regular special ;)

Our family tradition (which we get from my family of origin) is to wake up the birthday person with a doughnut and a candle, singing "Happy Birthday." This year I got it on film, and halfway through filming realized Jaxon was the only one singing, oops!, so I helped him finish the song.

Then Asher lovingly offers Daddy some tasty pastry, which he apparently did not want to eat at the crack of dawn while he was still 90% asleep.

I thought he did eat is, so I was a little surprised to find chocolate smeared on the sheets. Yep, that's what I get for continuing this tradition.

For the evening, our friends Meghan and Brandon came over with their two kids and had dinner with us. My dad and brother, David, came too.
Mark opened his present and got, exactly what he asked for! An I-pod Touch.
This is probably one of the only times I've actually gotten Mark what he asked for. I didn't buy it on craigslist or refurbished, I paid FULL PRICE. It was very hard for me to do that, so Mark knows how much I love him.

And I do.

Happy Birthday, Toad.

Uncle David's Visit

Mark's brother David spent his spring break with us last week. He's playing trumpet up at Snow College and came down to sunny Arizona to get away from the cold.

David will be doing a service mission for our church this summer in Nauvoo. He'll be playing trumpet in a brass band as part of the historical festivities that they do over there (I've never been, but maybe this summer is the time to go!). When he finishes there, he'll serve a two year full-time mission somewhere else (we don't know yet). So, we may or may not see him for 2.5 years. We're really glad he came to visit and took a lot of photos while he was here.

Here are some photos from the visit. We went to the zoo, Amazing Jakes, and the park (where Jaxon and David both rode scooters down a concrete hill and got scraped up). There are even a few photos of Mark and David's grandpa Barney who came to visit from San Diego for a few hours.

As you browse the photos, notice the number of times you see David texting. He and his friend Megan spent a lot of time conversing via text. It was to the point where he would check and respond in the middle of conversations, Wii games, you name it. So, imagine my amusement at this conversation.

Me: "So, Dave, is Megan your girlfriend?"
Dave: "No, we're just friends. I'm going on a mission and don't want to get too attached."
Me: "Attached? You text her every 3.5 seconds! I don't know how you could get MORE attached!"

*full disclosure (I am now friends with Megan on Facebook. I like her, she seems nice.)

Nightmare

Today was a stressful day. Not so unlike the day I recorded last month.

I was juggling too many things on my plate, searching library archives online, planning a retreat, returning calls, delivering old bras for a humanitarian project (I know?!), communicating about the change of time for the BBQ, deciding which of 7 events scheduled today we were actually going to attend, helping my sister through a health crisis, answering calls from Mark's work, reading to the kids, going to Costco, perparing for company coming into town Saturday, returning emails, Cub Scout drama, talking to Hemophilia Association folks about advocacy, reviews, and tonight's conference call, and taking Jaxon and his friend Ethan to soccer practice.

Which is actually where the nightmare begins.

Danielle and I switched Ethan for Asher and she took my food to the BBQ early while I took Finn and the kindergartners to soccer practice.

While watching the kids play, I got acquainted with the coach's wife, Wendy, with whom it turns out, I graduated from high school. We chatted about our kids and I occassionally chased Finn off the soccer field.

When it was time to go, I hurried because I parked in the way of some other cars and we were late for the BBQ (and I was thinking of half of the things on my list above). I hurried and folded up my blanket, grabbed two water bottles, both sets of soccer pictures (Jaxon is making a goofy face) and marched up the hill with my arms full and two soccer players behind me.

As we pulled out, I looked back urgently and when I saw that the boys were buckled in the back seat, I breathed a sigh of relief and headed 2.5 miles away to the park where we were having dinner.

Mark and I pulled in the parking lot at the same time. I turned around to hand Ethan his photos while the boys climbed out and saw

Finn's empty carseat.

I went into shock. I ordered the boys out quickly and told Mark that I left Finn at the soccer field.

It was the longest 5 minute drive of my life. I ran a red light at the very end just to see my baby a minute sooner.

Luckily, a few of the families were still there, just as I'd left them nearly 10 minutes earlier. They were chatting and helped Finn come my direction when I pulled up. Obviously, they were waiting for me to figure out what I had done and come claim my son. One father was really nice, "Don't feel bad, my wife's done this before. We've all been there."

My feelings of shame, desperation, embarrassment, and gratitude were overpowering and I choked back tears as I held my baby closer and with more tenderness than I have in a while.

As I buckled my happy little guy into his carseat, he started to fuss. He was hungry and wanted to be back toddling around in the grass, not confined to the car. It amused me that he was less happy now that I had him safely back in my car. I was infinitely more happy.

The lesson of the day?

Something's gotta give.

If I have so much on my plate that I can forget my own CHILD then I am overbooked, overscheduled, overcommitted, oversomething.

So, simplicity is where it's at for me.

Paring down.

Cutting back.

For me, my sanity, and my family.

Geez, it's been a long day.

On Emma Smith

I spoke tonight at Enrichment about Emma Smith, wife of Joseph Smith the founder of our church. I chose to speak about her as a woman whom I admired.
Our theme was the birthday of the Relief Society, so it was quite fitting. I was a little nervous about the polygamy part, but it went over pretty well.

When I signed up to speak about a woman that I admire, I immediately thought of Emma Smith.
In the last year, I've done a lot of research about her, and including seeing the new movie about her life.

Through this research, the woman I've come to know and love is much more remarkable and resilient that I had imagined.

First, I want to talk about Emma's remarkable qualities, then I will speak to her resilience in the face of difficult trials.

Here are some of the roles Emma played in her long and rich life. Of course there are too many roles and stories to share tonight, but I just wanted to highlight some of the ones that impressed me.

Hostess: As she and Joseph moved from state to state, and home to home, Emma was constantly at the mercy of strangers. Later, in Nauvoo, Emma would repay this kindness by offering room and board to strangers and friends for the vast majority of her life. As wife of the Prophet, Emma also held banquets for dozens and sometimes hundreds of people in her own home. With the cooking technology of the time, this was quite a feat.

Manager: Emma managed the household affairs, buying and selling property, dealing with lodgers and tenants, organizing and aiding the church in countless ways.

Founding Mother: As the founding mother of the Relief Society, Emma used the keys that Joseph had turned to her to aid the temporal needs of the citizens of Nauvoo and protect the moral integrity of the Saints.

Nurse: In the 1800s, healthcare was so poor, Emma found herself caring for the sick nearly full-time. The number of people that she nursed back to health throughout her life is astounding, and she put her own health at risk every time she did so.

Everyday Mother: One of my favorite stories about Emma as a mother shows me that motherhood doesn't change that much, even over nearly 200 years.
One day when Julia, the eldest Smith child, was small she started to throw a tantrum. Apparently her behavior was mimicking that of Sidney Rigdon's daughter, Lacy. Emma is reported to have told Julia sternly, "Don't you go Lacy Rigdon on me."

Faithful: Emma's testimony of the Golden Plates, which she was never permitted to see, and later the Book of Mormon never left her. She testified of the book as the word of God throughout her life.

Advocate: During the last few years of Joseph's life, his safety was always in question. Emma corresponded on many occasions with the governor of Illinois in an attempt to clear her husband's name from wrongdoing.

Trials.

Many of us know something about Emma's trials. Her father, Isaac Hale, never approved of her marriage to young Joseph Jr. This was devastating for Emma. But, despite her close relationship with her parents, Emma stayed by Joseph's side for 17 years, until Joseph's death at Carthage Jail.

Of her many trials, the most difficult for me to imagine is the death of 6 of her 11 children in infancy. Burying baby after baby must have been excruciating for Emma, but she continued strong in her role as wife and mother. In addition to the pain of children dying, almost every time her babies were born, Joseph was gone, or departing for a long trip.

Another difficult trial in Emma's life was dealing with Joseph's polygamy. Despite her testimony of her husband as a man of God when moved upon by the Spirit of the Lord, Emma never believed that polygamy in the church had divine origins.
The inner struggle must have been great as she vacillated then acquiesced to Joseph and then Hyrum's pleadings over her accepting plural marriage.
And while she did for a short time support the celestial marriages that Joseph entered into, she would later change her mind over this issue, and would refuse to follow Brigham Young out West as they openly practiced polygamy.

In this way, Emma demonstrated integrity in an extremely difficult situation. On a lighter note, many years after Joseph's death, a boarder asked her where the doctrine of plural wifery came from. Emma's answer illustrated her opinion on the issue, "Straight from hell, Madam."

After the Saints had left Nauvoo, Emma remarried a man named Lewis Bidamon. Her marriage was relatively happy, but later in life she discovered a child her husband had fathered out of wedlock. When the mother of this child could no longer afford to care for him, she brought him to Emma. At this, the kind Emma raised him as her own, eventually employing his mother to work in the house so she could be close to her son.
On her deathbed, Emma joined the hands of her husband and this woman in a sign of her approval of their marriage after Emma's death.

Still, Emma's love for Joseph lived on. With her children at her side, Emma's dying phrase was, "Joseph, I'm coming!"

I've been told that in LDS history, Emma Smith occassionally gets a bad reputation for not coming with the Saints to Utah, or encouraging her children to lead church her husband founded. In my study, however, I believe that Emma was as admirable as any woman could possibly be in her situation. Taking a very difficult life and making it full, Emma served and loved those around her with grace and gratitude. Poise and humility. Intelligence and integrity.

In many ways, Emma exemplified the Christlike ability to bring something good out of something evil.
So many of Emma's experiences would have crushed a weaker woman, and yet she not only persevered, but blossomed and helped those around her to blossom as well.


Emma is the great founding mother of the Relief Society and she deserves our honor and respect.