My Version of the Kool-Aid Mom

When I was growing up I always pictured my future self as the cool mom in the kool-aid commercials. All the neighborhood kids were going to want to be at my house and I was going to spend my days playing with them and making them awesome meals and snacks and, of course, always have pitchers of kool-aid cold and icy from the fridge that they would all come running for when they saw me step outside with it. 

Well, as I had kids and they started getting old enough to play with friends I had a stark realization...I didn't like other people's kids as much as I thought I would. Haha In the kool-aid commercials it didn't show the kids saying mean things to each other, all the tears that ensue, the kids "helping themselves" to things out of my pantry and sticking them in their socks to sneak the food out of our house (yep that really happened on more than one occasion) and all the chaos that happens when you have all those 5-7 year olds running in and out of your house! In our old neighborhood we had 35 kids in our cul de sac alone so we did have many, many children over at our house constantly...I just didn't have the "kool aid" mom attitude about it everyday...only some days. :)

But as my kids have grown, I do look back on those crazy days with fondness. I actually miss the craziness of all those kids and as I see the kids from the old neighborhood grow up I laugh when I think of the ones that stuck food in their socks or the boys that had a peeing contest with Bryson on our front sidewalk. When your kids are young the days seem long but the years go by fast and before you know it, they're teenagers. 

Of course we've all heard the dreaded "teenager" stories and yes, you certainly deal with stronger opinions and more emotions but I'm finding myself enjoying the kids having their friends over more these days. (Maybe it's because I just appreciate the times that they're home because they're gone so much...either with activities or friends.) One of the things I'm most thankful for is that Nick and Hailey both care about getting good grades. Nick has somehow managed to have friends that also care about getting good grades and getting their homework done each night. When I went downstairs a few weeks ago, I found 4 or 5 friends with Nick in his room all laying around on the floor doing their homework. Nick told me they like to do homework at our house because it's quieter...everyone else has a lot younger siblings. So I decided to make a designated homework area that would be more comfortable than laying on the floor...it's not fancy by any means, but it gets the job done! Nick and I moved the long table downstairs in the unfinished kitchen area and now there are two tables along with school supplies and some goldfish crackers so they have a quiet, productive place! 

I may not be the cool "kool aid mom" that I pictured, but I do love my kids' friends as much as I thought I would! :)

Kindnesses

September 21st was our 16th anniversary and we agreed that we would not do gifts for each other but instead just go out to a nice dinner and spend the evening together. Around 3:30 that afternoon, in walks Brian with a dozen red roses. He didn't have to do that, there were no expectations on him, but he did it because he wanted to...out of the kindness of his heart. 

I believe nothing feels better for the giver or the receiver than these little kindnesses done completely from the heart without any expectations. Brian's thoughtfulness made me want to not only return the kindness, but pay forward the kindness. I think that's just how kindness works. :)

Undefeated!

Hailey's volleyball team is having a great season so far...they are undefeated with 2 games to go before the tournament starts. This video is for you mom and dad...a couple of her great serves. :)

Poor Little Toes

Hailey had to pay the price of cutting her toe nails too short for years last week and had ingrown toenail surgery on both sides of both big toes. Because I tend to be a little squeamish with things like this I brought in a pseudo-mom to hold her hand during the surgery. (Thanks Chris!) The night before I was feeling bad about this so I told her I thought I could do it...I would just turn my back to the ickiness but she told me in no uncertain terms that she didn't want to worry about me passing out on top of everything else going on so she would rather have Chris...no offense. :) The numbing shot was by far the worst part of the day in that it's thick stuff that burns going in and they move the needle around in there for a while to make sure they numb it all good. She cried it hurt so bad but Chris told me she was a trooper and her toes did stay numb for about 3 days...which is a good thing! She's glad to have it over with and on the recovery side of things and doing a great job of soaking them everyday!!! 

And as a bonus she got these stylish slippers with smiley faces on them and if you look really closely at her left foot you can see the smiley face the nurse made on top of her foot with the iodine. :)

Time Well Spent

For Mother's Day this year my sister-in-law Janet purchased tickets for me, her mother and herself to attend the Author Series up at Sundance when Stephanie Nielson was going to be speaking about her book and her experiences surviving a plane crash and being burned over 80% of her body. Stephanie also has a popular blog called the NieNie Dialogues. She is a wife and at the time of the accident, a mother of 4 small children. The tickets included a buffet style lunch in the Tree Room, the opportunity to listen to Stephanie talk about her book and her life, a Q&A session, a copy of her book and the opportunity to meet her and have her sign the book. It was a perfect day to be up the canyon at Sundance!!!

 It was so interesting and emotional to listen to Stephanie talk about the reasons behind writing the book and then add additional insights and stories to the survival, healing and recovery process. When she first woke up from her comma, 4 months after the accident she did not have a desire to live. She wanted the doctors to stop taking care of her and just let her die because she could not face the pain both physically and emotionally of going through the rest of her life healing from this disfiguring injury. She felt like a monster and it was too much for her to bear. She literally would pray to be able to get through the next 5 minutes. As the days and months went on and she began to heal both physically and emotionally she told of a prayer she offered one night where she "made a deal" with God. She told him that if she could get through all of this and get her old life back, she would do anything He wanted her to do. As she lay in her hospital bed that night she had the very clear impression that she WOULD be able to do the things she used to do and she WOULD get her life back. All He asked in return was for her to tell her story. She very clearly understood that her story is a story of faith and of God and His goodness. When the publishers started calling her a couple of years ago to see if she was interested in writing a book, she knew this was her opportunity to tell her story.

Since the book came out she has had the opportunity to do many TV and radio shows and share her story. She told us how frustrated she was after the piece on her family aired on 20/20 because they removed any mention of God in their editing process and to her, that IS the story. Since then she has made this qualification with anyone that has contacted her for interviews, etc. that her story is about God and if that isn't what they're looking for then she wasn't interested.

During the Question and Answer period someone asked her how much pain she is still in and she said that she is still in pain everyday but that moving and exercising help. She said she's always stretching her hands and her face (by opening her mouth wide) because it just doesn't feel like there's enough skin to cover those areas. She said that early on in the recovery process she felt like two different people...one "person" was her spirit and the other was her body. Slowly but surely her body is catching up with her spirit but she said it's still not quite there yet. Of course, the most incredible moment of her body catching up with her spirit is when she was able to become pregnant and have her 5th child.

One of the most emotional stories she told was about her oldest daughter Claire. She actually didn't even know this story until quite a while after the accident (I think close to two years). Claire came up to her one day as she was sitting at the dining room table in front of her computer and she put a barrette down on the table by the computer. Stephanie looked at it and recognized it as one she used to wear in her hair before the accident. Claire, who I think was around 7 at the time of the plane crash told her that as she was watching many of her aunts and uncles pack their house to move the kids to Utah (they lived in Arizona at the time and since her and Christian's recoveries were going to be extensive...and at that point they weren't even sure that Stephanie would survive...the families decided to bring the kids back to Utah to live with one of her sisters) she was wandering from room to room looking at their lives being packed up. She went and sat on her mom and dads bed for a minute and looked over at the bathroom counter and her mom's bowl of barrettes caught her eye. She quickly went in to get one and put it in her pocket. She told Stephanie that she has carried that barrette in her pocket every day since and whenever she was feeling scared or missing her mom she would rub it or hold it. But as she looked at it sitting on the table she told her mom she didn't need it anymore because she had her mom back now. That is a moment when Stephanie felt like she had her life back, just as God promised her she would.

It's now about 4 years after the accident and as she looks back on her life and as "bummed" as she is that this happened to her, she feels "honored" that Heavenly Father trusted her family to go through this horrible ordeal.. When she and Christian were both still in the hospital, the burn unit staff brought both their families together and told them that statistics showed that divorce was a very high likelihood in cases like this. They rarely, if ever see couples stay together after going through these kinds of serious injuries. How sad of a statistic is that?! She and Christian have not only proved them wrong but have had the opportunity to show the world what it means to be devoted and committed to your spouse and having an eternal perspective of marriage. (Those are my words, not hers.) But it was so emotional to hear her speak about her relationship with Christian and the support and admiration they have for each other. As we all moved into the next room where she would be signing our books, Christian slid past us and said, "As the president of her fan club I'm going to sneak up to the front." He stayed right with her the whole time rubbing her back and talking with everyone as she signed.

It was an incredibly inspiring afternoon and in the midst of a very busy weekend, it was definitely time well spent!

The Influence of Pinterest :)

 I'm Julie Morrow and I'm addicted to Pinterest. :) The first step is admitting it right?! :)

I have found that anytime I have a couple minutes of free time I log on to Pinterest either on my laptop or on my phone to see the latest and greatest pins and how they are going to change my life for the better. :) I tend to try the recipes more than anything else I pin but as I was taking my summer decorations off my sofa table this year, instead of going right to my fall/Halloween decor, I decided to get a little more creative and do a "Back to School" theme for a month or so before I move on to Halloween. So below is my attempt to be a little creative...using the pieces from our scrabble board as well as a couple of metal rulers and Brian's great grandpa's old Webster's Dictionary which probably weighs 10 lbs. Of course you also need an alarm clock to represent back to school as well. :)

FHE in the Canyon

We went up American Fork Canyon last Monday for Family Home Evening with our friends Greg, Heather, Ellie & Lynlee and had a great time!!! It's so fun to hang out with little ones as they explore the outdoors and we had a lot of fun throwing rocks into the water with these cute little girls. Linnie knew exactly who to come to to ask to go back down to the water since Nick, Hailey and I could not say "no" when she'd put her little arms up in the air to us and say "wa wa" or "ock". :) 

 Nick and Brian were the fire builders to roast the hot dogs and marshmallows.

 Greg was in charge of cooking the pork chops on the Hibachi and they were delicious!!! We didn't end up at a site that had a picnic table so he made good use of the cooler which doubled as a chair and table.

 Linnie had to be woken up from her nap to leave to head up but you would never have known it by how happy she was the whole time up there. She is one of the most easy going little girls I've ever known!

 Ellie and Nick spent a lot of time down by the water...they are definitely little buddies!!!

 We were short on chairs so Brian found this little log that was perfect for Lynlee or Ellie to sit on...I think Lynlee liked it the most.

 These three girls spend lots of time together as Hailey gets lots of opportunities to babysit which she LOVES!!!

 And I just had to document these two actually being close to each other and not arguing...although Nick looks like he's on the verge of being annoyed...haha.

We had so much fun that we're all going back up in a couple weeks to do it again!! :)

Who Would've Thought...

I was talking with my mom the other night about how much Hailey has changed from when she was little. She was the SHYEST little girl you've ever met and I was convinced she would never participate in anything where anyone had to look at her. :) Now she is involved in so many different things we can barely keep up...and I love it!! I'm proud of her that she stepped outside her comfort zone to start participating in the things that interest her and she's growing to love. 

She had her first volleyball game last Saturday and her team won in two sets? matches? games? I guess I don't know what they're called in volleyball but they won so that's a great start to the season. :)

 She's also started tumbling recently and just mastered the back bend. Tumbling was the one thing I could get her to participate in as a little girl but when she broke her elbow (not doing tumbling) the day before her 4th birthday the doctor recommended we get her out of that sport. She has ALWAYS been sad about that and finally convinced us to put her in a beginning tumbling class. Her and her two friends are the oldest ones in beginning tumbling and she said it's so funny to have these little 8 year olds showing them around the gym but she's just happy to be there. :)

 The swimming season ended on a great note with Hailey getting qualifying times in every one of her swims...something she didn't do last year so she was excited about that!!

 ...and she's looking forward to basketball season starting up again in a couple of months along with piano starting again this week. Who would've ever thought it would be HER schedule that we were juggling!!!!

 Not to leave Nick out of the post completely...this is what he's been up to...

 ...breeding mice for his snake to eat...

...boys are gross!!

Good thing we love him!!!