Summer Hair

It was Brynn's turn to choose an activity for the week.   She came up with this: Hairstyles from the local Beauty College. Little Brother wanted no part and happily went to a friend's house.  $3/each hairstyle and some quiet reading time for me was a pretty sweet summer deal!

Meanest Mom on the Block

Kids have been out of school for a week and lest they thought the words "summer" and "vacation" were synonymous, I formulated a plan.  The plan involves chores, practicing, reading and some field trips.  All of it rings with an air of order, discipline, edification, and it has earned me the dubious title,  "Meanest Mom on the Block "

If only my kids knew I am capable of so much more...
We could form a family Bluegrass band * Label all the items in the house and only speak Spanish to each other * Read Anne of Green Gables together under the sun.
 Like a tea party set with stuffed animals and plastic vittles, those are the things I will be doing with my imaginary children.

Last Day of School 

 With my real children, I have taken them to the park, the library, the bakery, and really just let them run like riff-raff through the neighborhood on their bikes, roller-blades, and those rip-stick things that I can't ride for the life of me.  It's summer--just a different kind of crazy--but I love it.

3 Beaches and a Wedding

What could be happier than a beautiful couple getting married in a beautiful place for all eternity??

  My niece got married! It was a great reason to take a road trip to visit family and spend some time at yep, my favorite place in the whole world...the beach!!

 We drove extra speedy like so we could spend the afternoon here at Laguna Beach.  We relived favorite memories with Nana, like visiting the Candy Baron, and sharing nachos at Las Brisas.  One thing is for sure, a lot of people here were talking to themselves--and they weren't using wireless headphones...

  The next day we visited our most favoritist beach of all Crescent Bay. Sun, sand, waves, tidepools, frisbee--surely there was not a lovelier day --and a more stark contrast from fighting and biting on the car ride over!!! . I do believe I have thought of the BEST Mother's DAy present EVER?!! It's not too late is it?? a DVD player installed in the van.

Kate must have some animal attraction.  In Florida it was manatees. Here, it was a seal, bobbing it's sleek head and swimming right in her vicinity not 5 minutes after she swam out to sea.  So fun!  We explored the tidepools and found starfish, urchins, anenomes,  California blue mussels, gooseneck mussels, sand crabs, hermit crabs, sculpins, and yes, I am a real beach NERD who also loves to boogie board. 

 We played until we had sand in every crevice and then called it a day! I can pat myself on the back for remembering everything from beach chairs, boogie boards, even People magazine, and of course sunscreen, but OOps! forgot to APPLY it on that winter white skin.   We were totally fried for the next day's special event... (where the slightest Pat on the back would have all of us screaming in pain.)

The wedding at the lovely Newport Beach Temple....

 Our girls were asked to be the Flower Girls for the event, a title they have been waiting their WHOLE LIVES to fill.

 And here is the lovely couple after being married for TIME and ALL ETERNITY. Aren't they smashing?!

 The bride's family, which is my family--sister, nieces and nephews. I love these guys.

 Flower girl duties included handing out wedding mints and flitting around. The reception was a beautiful backyard celebration in Mission Viejo. There was great food, a DJ, and some late night dancing. Dancing is FUN! we should do it  more often.  . The whole reception was perfect. There was the cutting of the cake, the bouquet toss, and the garter toss and there was no line. Gotta love that!  We wished the couple adieu with bubbles and off they went on a honeymoon that was so top secret even the bride didn't know where it was. Ooh la la!

So, yay. What a happy great time. But, wait a sec, here we are at the end and  I know you're thinking "Hey??  what about the 3rd beach, we've only covered two so far???"   Good job! That is where our family  went BETWEEN the temple and the reception because we had 1 1/2 hours to chill.

Here we are at DANA POINT, still in our Sunday best.   We're having our own ooh la la moment because it's the BEACH--romantic, fun, and will always be my favorite place in the whole world!

Life in a Pit-house

I took the younger batch to the Fremont Indian State Park

 We toured the museum and exhibits and learned about the Natives that used to live in these parts. Yes, as always the creepy lady was there--a life sized replica of a Fremont indian woman inside a glass cubicle with a recorded voice that tells about her life. Cannon hid behind the safety of my legs until I told him she was not real.  "Wait, did she just say, 'I'm going to get you Cannon' ..."
We ran over to the children's zone where they had a model of a pit-house for us to play in. Also there was  a nice selection of children's books about Indian folktales. The kids warmed my heart with, "Mom read us a story in the pithouse!"  This is why the younger batch is so fun. Adrie served us some berries and ground up corn-meal and Cannon shot a deer that we roasted over our pretend fire. Then it was off to the great outdoors.

Our first time on this particular trail, we saw enough evidence to rename it the 100 Dingleberries trail.  Cave was cool though, and actually had Indian handprints on the walls, just not actually 100 of them. 

Cannon spotted a squirrel and several lizards darted across the trail.  We made Indian names for each other. Adrie was Jewel Eyes,  Cannon decided he liked Silly Squirrel, and Adrie named me not Running Deer or Majestic Eagle but Blue Badger.  I bought her rock candy anyway.

Internationals in the Mix

"If you can't travel the world, bring the world to you"

That was my mom's philosophy and the reason we always had international exchange students and other visitors in our home growing up. We hosted a girl from Italy, 3 boys from Spain, a doctor from China, to name a few.   I can only imagine the dull and tranquil life we might have had if my mom had not spiced things up with "set an extra 10 plates for Thanksgiving dinner. I found some Bosnian refugees!"  

I can say that next to music lessons, hosting internationals was the best educational experience my parents gave me. Because we invited people to our house, they invited us to theirs.  The summer after my Junior year of High school, my mom and I spent an awesome summer in Spain. My Spanish classes proved useful. I really learned Spanish, which helped later with job and school opportunities. My point is, it was a life changing experience that really shaped who I am.

So I've been wondering....how could I give my kids the same opportunity? 

I don't exactly live in an international hub. But recently I happened to reconnect (yes, Facebook has benefits) with an old friend from Study Abroad days who of all things is now an International Coordinator. That means she works hard to make exchange students' dreams come true by finding families to host them for a school year in America. Would I too want to join her non-profit foundation, making lifetime friends from all over the world???!  Heck yeah! Sign me up pronto!

That is how it all started. As an International Coordinator,  I now spend a lot of time sharing my passion for hosting international exchange students!  It is quite the roller coaster of thrills from the joy of hearing the word "YES, we would love to host a student" and matching them up with the cutest kid ever from  to the lows of finding out that family couldn't pass the background criminal history check (Yep, true story) and then starting all over again! Best job ever. 

I think of it as giving birth to a teenager. It's about as much work, but when you do find the perfect family and the perfect student? The joy makes it all worth it. 

These teens are top notch kids. 

Take Alessandro from Italy, for example. This kid is a great soccer player and would love to cook Italian food for your family. Want to host him and make his dreams come true? Give me a call! I can totally arrange that. 

The next time you see me I may just be hangin' with my muchachas doing quintessential American activities like sipping Root Beer at the local greasy spoon or picking out a dress for Prom. Just making some dreams come true. That's my new job. 

Auf Wiedersehen.

Conference Gleanings

Last weekend was the hundred and somethingeth General Conference which we relish as a good time for spiritual and literal feasting and a few projects.

Can you match each family member with which special treat they chose for the event? 

answers below

Project #1:  Food Insurance for Six

Project  #2:  Assembly Required.  Raising a new generation of trampoline lovers.

 Most exciting of all was this:  Kate's 6th Grade Basketball Traveling Team placed 3rd in the Region. Aren't they cool?!

In and around and between all that we listened to the Good Word.  The literate ones in the family wrote down a few tidbits according to age.

A:  Jesus is real * You need to get baptized * You can be healed *  Healing comes when you move away from darkness. 

B: "True things from Conference":  You should be kind and honest * God is our loving forgiving father * Jesus rose from the dead * Jesus began teaching by inviting * Jesus taught if ye love me Keep My Commandments * Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself * The lamb of God redeemed us by his blood*  Jesus is Jehovah. 

K: No force can stop the work of God * Be an instrument * Take away your guilty feeling * Pray for others * Share gospel * Forgive people * Give to poor and needy * give generously to needy * Fast offerings help the hungry * 300,000 hours of service were given to help people during Hurricane Sandy

Oh yes, there was nail decorating (courtesy of Jamberry Nails) 

My own conference gleanings: 

Faith is a real power    Few things are more powerful than the prayers of a righteous mother  Procreative and Priesthood power are shared by men and women. 

 Cedar City is getting a temple!  Peace = abiding deep happiness and spiritual contentment. The Gospel is peace.  14, 722, 000 members of the church.  The Gospel teaches us  what we must  KNOW, DO, and BE.   As we draw near to God, He draws near to us.  Missionaries are in 189/224 countries in the world. Pray to open areas not available.  Sharing faith online is a part of our daily lives   Everyone has the power to increase a child's confidence and faith with the words they speak and write.  Marriage is humility, repentance, respect, transparency, love.  Be fiercely loyal.  Obedience to the law is liberty.  Next to life itself free agency is God's greatest gift.   Be not afraid, only believe.   To contend you need two people and I will not be one of them.  Humbly and quietly trust in the Lord--He will help us in every challenge.  Go about doing good--helping, defending truth, alleviating suffering. 

WE BELIEVE

treat answers: BD--beef jerky, ME--Flipz, K--orange sticks, B--Andes mints, A--Goldfish, C--Animal cookies

50

Life is cruising by in a fast car and probably 50 things have happened since our trip.  But, the best use of the number 50 is...

Number of years Brandon's parents have been married.
We celebrated with them big time!

Picture from their mission to Massachusetts 

A celebratory program included a fun variety of tributes to the parents from feel-good slide shows to hilarious puppet shows. Our contribution was our version of a song Brandon heard his mom sing growing up "16 tons."  Brandon personalized it with some original verses, the kids snapped, and I plucked out the bass rhythm.

If there's one thing Brandon's parents have taught me it is that FAMILY IS NUMBER ONE.  Every phone call, every timely birthday gift, every holiday,  baby blessing and baptism is evidence that to them, family is first.  I feel like God was really watching out for me when he put me with the C. family.    And after the wonderful program commemorating their 50 years together I feel extra grateful to be part of this great family.

 Added to the celebrating were Easter Egg Hunts--5 of them to be exact.  The fields around the homestead glittered with plastic eggs and treats but only briefly. In no time everything was picked up, gathered, and consumed. Happiness.

Back at home we had our own Easter celebration.   What a joyful holiday.  I couldn't help reflect on all the blessings I enjoy. Because Jesus lived and died for me I will be able to live with my family forever, I will get to be with my mom and dad again, I can forgive and be forgiven, I can return to live with Heavenly Father in a perfect body that never gets irritable or exhausted!!   Easter is undercelebrated don't you think?

Brandon and I were in charge of the Easter Sunday Program at church. We based it on the "Living Christ" Testimony of the Apostles and Prophet. We had encouraged the youth weeks prior to memorize it and divided them into parts. In between we had musical numbers by the children, youth, and choir. The whole program was Christ-centered and, as always,  turned out better than we practiced. 

Later in the evening we were going to attend the Easter Convenio where different faiths from our community present a program about Christ through word and music. After attending weeks of rehearsals and meetings, and just 30 minutes prior to the program, Brandon started to not feel so good.  He ended up home with a stomach bug. We all stayed home and watched Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which I think explains the Resurrection more vividly than I ever could. Luckily that stomach illness was confined just to him.  

More Easter yum.

Throw in the volleyball games, violin lessons, school programs, and orchestra rehearsals, book club, and yep, we probably made it to 50 things!