I've got to get one of those counter gadgets!

Nate and Kelsi have lifted the no talking ban.

I'm going to be a NONA!!!!!

So the details are Kelsi is due on June 5 more or less as any expectant mother knows.  The sad part is she is soooo sick.  She is teeny to begin with and I just hope once she hits the 3 month mark that she will start feeling better.

These are last years pictures - I'll post new after they arrive this year!

Now this is where my heart is full of blessings. A continuation of life.  I've thought a lot about the fact that the genes running through bodies today are thousands and thousands of years old.  We marvel at buildings that are still around since the middle ages, or stones and trees known to exist in Christ's day.  But the marvelous fact is that the bodies running around the planet are a part of something that existed longer than that. Amazing.  Life is really a miracle. A baby to hold. A child to lavish love on. Hopes that my children are healthy and happy.  Joy they are moving on to a new step. Watching them have the joy I've felt and the knowledge that they will be happy (and stressed) as we were. Life goes on. Life is good.

Cogs Make Life Happen

Recently, I was asked what I do. It was difficult to give a quick significant answer. My first thought is what my children are doing. I'm not a CEO,  I haven't dicovered anything new, I haven't written a book, I'm not a star, I haven't solved any world problem. I'm very happy with life. Thinking about it.......
Why is it that two hours after I always have a perfect reply?
The truth is, I'm a cog.  I cause things to happen, and usually for the better.  I'm a great support to others and can make their project better, or more efficient, or just give moral support.
For instance when my friend Laura has a wedding or event to cater for, I help haul in the supplies and run around with her while she is shopping. She and I are a great team while rolling out rolls, breading chicken, cutting up strawberries, and chopping up lettuce.  Yes, Laura could do it all herself, she is talented and very good at what she does.  I just make it faster and hopefully more fun during the process.
When my children have reports, I gather materials - poster board, pens, colored paper, makers and stand ready to type up what is needed. They can do the homework work themselves.  I make a great counselor, secretary and gofer.  I actually like being a support and help to others. I don't like being on the hot seat where the buck stops. I really don't like being in the spotlight or up front.
Being a scoutmaster, the den leaders presented the awards to the boys and called out the flag ceremony.  I merely welcomed everyone to the meeting and then the den leaders took over. My job was to set up all the details. Meeting places like airports, parks, hiking trails, or the church for blue and gold dinners, then picking up awards and making sure prayers, food, and cars were assigned. I kept track of the charts, numbers and who needed what.  I felt a sense of accomplishment though I'm not sure if the boys knew I was anything other than a mom who was there.
I liked being the secretary at Girls Camp. Setting up, collecting papers, calling to remind people of what they needed to bring - I'm in my element.
I guess that is why being a mom is so fun for me.  I just enable my kids to do what they like to do and encourage them to be better.  They have to do the hard work of deciding what it is they want to accomplish and working for it. I'm here to run them around, collect stuff, listen to their triumphs and defeats, and plan ways of making them successful.
Cogs make clock hands turn, fans whirl, wheels rotate, gizmo's perform, life run.  I'm a cog in helping things happen and I'm efficient at what I do, and being a facilitator usually makes me happy. The flip side is being a witness, waiting, setting up things that fall apart, watching efforts come to nought, and helping endeavors in vain.  But more often I quietly sit back and enjoy watching the show.

Silence......gift or curse?

Silence in the House

No one practicing the piano, no one bouncing basketballs, no one dropping a pack and books and pulling things out of the fridge.  Just one very active girl who has been gone most days and most night in her freshmen year of high school, then holing up in her room to get ready for the next day.  Even Rebekah moved out this Saturday. There have been things I've been waiting to do - and now I have the time and room. But....... I miss the commotion.  Jeffrey and I looked at each other one night and just laughed.  It was great.  But when he is busy, I just have to remember how much I wanted to catch up! I guess I need a list of what all it was I'm looking forward to catching up on........

Maybe I could get someone over to practice the piano.

Such a lovely Summer!!!

Where did the time Go?

Michael is checking boxes and filling out questionaires to get ready for his mission.  He doesn't turn 19 until January but will be in school for the next semester and so is getting ready now.  How did my baby grow up so fast and decide he is going to college and is ready to leave home so soon?  And where did the summer go?

Let's see, starting off in May Jeffrey and I went with firends to Mexico (first time for me)

Multi-million dollar homes iwth this animal lurking in the rocks - I had no idea crocodiles lived in Mexico!!!

Such a beautiful place

Where I fried and had a terrible heat reaction that lasted 2 weeks after I got home.

In June (before all the swelling went down) Michael recieved his Eagle Scout Award - and only another Eagle Scout mom knows how much work that is....

Last boy in the family.......oh yeah!

Before June is over my two children graduated from their classes

Michael Concord High graduation

Rachel graduates from El Dorado Middle School

Then straight on to a Family Reunion for my side of the family and then a picnic on Jeffrey's side of the family during which I dropped Rachel off for EFY and she stayed in Utah for another week with my brother.

Family Reunion - almost a 100 people in the middle of nowhere by nowhere
On the border of Utah and Idaho

Picnic in Provo

I dropped off  Rachel and hooked up with Laura Nausin and the boys she was taking back to California and I was amazed again how much growing boys can eat!

On the way home we stopped at Laura's friend's home by Truckee and spent a day in luxury up in the mountains - Awesome!

July barely begins and the Adams come to visit and we are off to Pajaro Dunes for another family get-together and somewhere I had a birthday lunch with friends and then I'm madly preparing for Girls Camp, which then slides into August and just as I'm done unpacking and doing mountains of wash it's already the 13th and I'm bringing Rachel to Band Camp at the school and helping Michael pack up.  Good thing I've learned how to enjoy moments as they come along because life sure isn't waiting around to be enjoyed!

Janice Adams came to visit and reacted badly to something in one room of my home and had to go to the ER - welcome to our house!

Had a wonderful time on the cool coast while Concord soaked up the heat.  I love the ocean!

Girls camp is soooo much work - And so worth it!!

Rachel and her friends just after The Hike

What is an hour?

I know it's late at night and I should be in bed so I can be up and happy for my family tomorrow morning - BUT - (there is always a rationalization) - I thought I'd gnaw and bite on a little issue,  because I can't deal with the real huge problem of feeling helpless watching the storms rip the roofs off and toss semi's around over my sisters head while her family destructs emotionally and probably physically - though not from the tornadoes.

What is a hour when counted for your time?  The Boy Scouts of America wants to know how many hours are spent on an Eagle Scout project.  Do they want to know the learning curve time, the discovery time, or just the time it actually takes you to go down the street and find it?
 Example: for any building project there is this great MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) report that tells lots of information about how many particles are going to fly into the air when you saw a board, or pour out a bag of cement and mix it up.  In fact every part of construction has an analysis done to determine what the consequences will be somewhere.  These facts are written up on sheets and I've heard are floating around on the Internet.  So in order to present a project to the Eagle board you must have the fact sheet for redwood, glue, varnish and whatever else you will be using to finish your project.  I was told this was on the Internet.  How very nice.  Not WHERE to find it, just that it was there. I googled it of course and found quite a few hundred or more hits. Taking the first few sites they all wanted me to sign up for their fact sheets and pages which I don't really want to ever hear from again as I only want this information once, and don't want to give out an email address much less my name.  I went to the store websites to see if there would be any mention of these sheets where they were advertising the product - no luck.  Back to the googled sites and even skipped over the advertising and sign up and searched all over for any sheet on redwood and varnish.  Stretching after approximately 3 hours I realized I wouldn't find them easily.  I drove down to Home Depot and asked for a MSDS and was told I could have a report when I bought the material (do you have to pay for this analysis?)  I told them my son was doing an Eagle project and I wasn't going to buy anything until it was approved and it wouldn't be approved without the sheets.  They were very nice to give me the reports - I didn't pay anything at that time. But when I told Michael how much time was spent I gave him the hour it took to go down and bring it back home.   Does the Boy Scouts of America want the real time mom's use to help their boys?  Who reads these sheets? How are they useful? How does this help the Scout or the boys working on it?  Do they really want to know how long it took to find it?

I really don't know what the real time spent was.  Most of it felt wasted. Writing up a report in minute detail that no 12 year old scout would ever take the time to read.  The lady from the scout board who read his project liked all the detail, I'm figuring they want it so detailed because they want the Scout doing it to understand his project. Making a model helped him understand his project far more than the write up.   In reality my son learned and understood when he actually did it with a man who knew carpentry.
 
Then there is the cost.  We planned out all the food he thought it would take to feed boys working on the job.  Well the job took twice as many days than he had planned. So you would think the cost of food would double.  Not really.  One day I brought over a bag of burritos and tacos from El Pollo Loco, but some of the boys had already gone and some were going to lunch with other friends.  So I gave food away to the Scoutmaster and some to my other kids. It didn't really go to the Scouts and I didn't count it as such though I did pay for it because of the scout project.  It is very hard to determine exactly how much the food cost much less the materials that were just given from the scoutmasters garage.  Or when a friend made sandwiches she thought the boys would like - they loved them, best meal of the project.  The scouts didn't eat the apples and oranges either, the little kids did. There was lots of water bottles left over.

Then there are the details.  So many details. All the details written up in various forms and formats.  I would feel stupid telling anyone how many hours it really takes to find out all the details.  Calling, driving and typing, getting pictures, its really not for the faint of heart, it would br nice to have LOTS of time.