This is normally the sort of blog post that I make only when I am facing some sort of deadline where I need to be getting things done. What better time to completely waste time writing a frivolous and fairly meaningless blog post? Well, I'm not facing any looming deadlines other than the need to tackle the post Christmas disaster that is my living room. But today I saw a thing going around facebook that made me want to write. I haven't seen any of my facebook friends doing this, but on Laney's facebook wall there are a few of her friends that are posting their top five musical dream roles, and my mind immediately started spinning. I love musicals! I love to sing! I'm a terrible singer, but I love singing, and in that alternate reality that exists in my head I would love to be a Broadway singer. This is a post that was made for me. I'm not sure what the answer to this question says about me, but here it is.
I give you my top five dream musical roles ...
5. Penny Pingleton from Hairspray
She's my total opposite ... but I think I could pull this role off.
4. Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady
I could never hope to equal an Audrey Hepburn, but a girl can dream, right?
3. Elphaba from Wicked
I'm a sucker for the roles of tortured heroes/heroines in musicals.
2. Belle from Beauty and the Beast
She's a reader ... and I already have all of her part totally memorized. I could nail this role. :)
1. Eponine from Les Miserables
Her songs are in the perfect range for my voice. I totally get her despair and her passion. I've got her part totally memorized as well. On My Own was my theme song in high school (yeah, I was a tad melodramatic). And the death scene would be epic (but in my reality it would be Enjolras, not Marius, who would be singing goodbye to Eponine). Love this role!
Honorable Mentions (because I can't make up my mind, and since this is my alternate reality ....)
1. Maria from the Sound of Music 2. Eva Peron from Evita 3. Anita from West Side Story (but only if I can play opposite George Chakiris) 4. Mary Poppins from Mary Poppins 5. Marion Paroo from The Music Man (preferably opposite a Robert Preston Music Man, not a Matthew Broderick one)
And what better song to end this post about my impossible dream than this musical classic? ....
Hooray for the musicals that brighten my life and bring me joy ... even if I'll never get the chance to actually be in them!
I absolutely love the magic of Christmas. There is no other time of the year that can compare. I love the wonder of little children who wake up on Christmas morning, anxious to see what presents are under the tree. I love the tradition of Santa Claus and all that goes with that. I love walking through the stores and seeing parents talking together, trying to determine the best gifts to give their children. I love shopping for my family each year, taking the opportunity to get things that they don't normally get during the year. I love cooking lots of sweets all week and making a delicious Christmas lunch. I love our family traditions that define us a little bit. I love singing Christmas music ... even the cheesy stuff. I love the sounds I love the smells. I love the love. And, of course, there is the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ, that we celebrate. I love the story of the birth of Jesus Christ because it is a story of love and a story of sacrifice. It is simple, and it is beautiful. I love everything about Christmas. Sure, people spend way too much sometimes. There can be a tad too much commercialism. Too many people end up stressed out or depressed because of the expectations of the season. It isn't a perfect holiday. But it is my favorite. I love it.
Team Blau had a beautiful year this year. We are still missing Laney who is serving her mission in Chile. That will be the case for us for several more years as our children take their turns in the mission field. But it was glorious to be able to skype with her on Christmas morning. We had tons of great food. JoJo wrote the best letter from Santa ever (I'll blog on that later. Too cute!). We managed to do a much better job of choosing quality presents that were exactly right without being over the top. For some reason I did a terrible job of getting a picture, but we had a great visit from family to make the day sweet. I could write a huge blog about the experiences, but I think I'd rather just tell the story in pictures this year. So here you go:
There are going to be lots of Minsy shots in this montage since she still "believes" and has the cutest expressions on her face.
A lady at church made this for us to hold our stockings. I LOVE IT! I have been trying to find a good way to display our animal stockings, and this fit the bill. It is the best.
Each year we get an ornament (or two or three or four) to commemorate something our family did during the year. This one is a Mission Field Christmas ornament since Laney is gone serving a mission.
Here's our ornament for our trip to Washington DC.
Our Palmyra Temple ornament since we visited there while Spencer and Savannah were at EFY in July.
Minsy delivering the cookies for Santa.
Right before bed on Christmas Eve.
JoJo got the enviable job of eating Santa's cookies.
Hyrum leaving the "staging" area for bed after putting JoJo's presents out.
Spencer covered the hallway entrance with wrapping paper to discourage anyone from looking too early.
Maybe Savannah's last Christmas at home (sad face).
I love getting presents together.
A few of my Christmas goodies. Yum!
Our annual picture on the stairs before seeing Santa's work. We couldn't quite get everyone in the picture when they were stacked together, so we had to go two to a stair.
Minsy is the first to come see what Santa left.
Last one through gets to break the paper barrier.
That look. That's what it's all about.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season. I know we did. Now I'm ready for spring. Bring on the nicer weather.
One of the things that people may not know about LDS missionary service is how restrictive communications with home are. Missionaries are allowed to email home once a week during their preparation day, and they really only have less than an hour to do this. During that time they are also emailing their mission president to share their experiences for the week and hopefully having a little time to maybe email a few friends and family who have also sent emails. Try taking an hour to do this someday. It is no easy task. Other than that weekly email the missionaries can only call home two days during the year, Mother's Day and Christmas. That's it. Two phone calls a year. I'm sure a lot of people find this horribly confining and unfair when they hear this, and I will admit that there have been times during Laney's year of service in Chile that I have desperately wanted to give her a call. But ultimately I really do think that this is a good policy. Restricting communication in this way gives missionaries a better opportunity to really devote themselves to the work and tampers a bit of the homesickness that is inevitable. I support this policy wholeheartedly, and we have managed to survive just fine during this year. Laney too. In fact, there is a sort of excitement and wonder that comes from the anticipation of hearing from her by email each week that is super neat. Still, getting the chance to see her face and hear her voice is a great blessing.
That is why Laney's video call home for Christmas was such a great thing. Laney called us at around 9 am. We were still mostly in our Christmas PJs and still in the midst of the excitement and glow that comes from opening presents on Christmas morning. Nandy and Aunt Katrina dropped by to participate as well, so that was nice. We hooked our computer up to our big screen television, pulled the couch around to make room for more people, and gathered around the computer to talk with Laney "face to face."
Some things I noticed during our call:
1. Laney has grown up so much.
During the entire call I was floored by how mature Laney seemed. It was like I was talking to my little girl, but she wasn't my little girl. She was a full fledged adult with experiences that were creating a stronger adult personality. It was still the same Laney, but older and wiser and more settled. It really wasn't all that hard to imagine her heading off on her own to start her own life with her own family someday in the future. Sure, I've always known that this was the direction her life was heading ... eventually. But it seemed like it would be awhile before she was anywhere near ready to be making adult decisions and eternal type choices about her future. Now I truly could see this older life in Laney's future. Kinda freaky.
2. Laney truly loves the people of Chile.
Laney's always sort of naturally been the kind of person that generally thinks well of others. I never really doubted that she would come to love the people surrounding her in Chile. But sometimes Laney sort of talks herself into this love for others. She knows that she should love others, so she does. But during our Christmas call I could see that she had this sort of deeper love for the people of Chile that can only come when you completely devote yourself to serving someone. It was neat to see how much she cared for these people, even those who weren't always so keen on hearing the gospel from her.
3. Laney's Spanish sounds BEAUTIFUL!
Okay, I'll admit that I'm not much of a Spanish speaker. Okay, I'm not a Spanish speaker at all. But I hear it enough that I can recognize when a person is comfortable with the language and when a person is flubbing their way through things. We asked Laney to share The First Vision in Spanish, and she did it so beautifully. It is so wonderful that the youth of the church have this opportunity to be immersed in other cultures and languages in such a way that they can develop these language skills. I know of no better way to truly become fluent in another language. I wish that there were more opportunities in our country to learn other languages in such a way like they do in other countries, but unfortunately, in the US we are excessively weird about promoting dual language learning, somehow believing that this would somehow make us less American. It is a ridiculous and frankly shortsighted view when we live in such an interconnected world. I'm grateful that Laney will have this language skill when she returns home.
4. The people of Chile love and appreciate Laney.
This was actually something that I have seen throughout her time serving in Chile. Thanks to facebook I have been able to see the posts that people in Chile write about her. She served in the same area for almost seven months, and during that time she made a huge impact in her area. She served in a branch, and the people of that branch really came to love her. It makes my heart happy to know that Laney is friendly and loving enough to inspire such love and devotion from those she meets. We had the excellent opportunity to skype on Christmas Eve with a man who served as Laney's bishop in Chile when she first arrived there. Side note ... I am sooooo glad that Herman is fluent in Spanish as well. It made our skype call with Bishop Torres and his wife so much easier. He told us that he attended a Christmas devotional last weekend where Laney participated. The sisters from her old branch were there, and they showered her with love and gifts. The mission president was talking to Bishop Torres about Laney, and he mentioned how special of a missionary she is. He said that if she were an elder he would have called her to be an assistant already. Bishop Torres said that there is something special about Laney. He could tell from the moment he met her. I thought that was super sweet to hear. It is great to know that she is making a difference where she is.
There is nothing quite like seeing the personal growth of your children. I am in awe of the experience. I really am. I can't see how my disjointed and often disorganized life could have prepared my children to become successful at life, but they have. I can't imagine how life for missionary parents was like before the internet when they could not have such personal interactions on these important holidays. It warms my heart and made my Christmas a sweet one.
Six more months until Laney comes home. It seems like forever, and yet it seems like it was only yesterday that she left for Mexico City last year. These six months will fly by. I am just so happy that she is in the midst of people who love her and look out for her. Hooray for that!
I didn't get a good picture of Laney smiling. I think she was thinking about her answer to a question from one of the kids in this picture.
When I was growing up I was a REALLY good bread baker. Really good. My bread always came out light and fluffy and delicious. I loved to bake bread and rolls and anything like that. Even as I was first married I did a decent job baking. I've wanted to bake more, but with a hectic life running back and forth all over the world it isn't always feasible to do that.
But lately my bread baking skills have completely fallen apart. I'm not sure what has happened, but in the last year or so it seems as if all of my baking projects have totally flopped. Oh sure, you can tell that it is some sort of yeast project that I have undertaken, but the results are not light and fluffy and delicious. It is more of a a dense bread-like creation. Add to that problem my new convection oven and the learning curve that I am struggling with in figuring that thing out, and, well ... I've had more fails than successes lately. But no big deal. I'll figure out what is going on. It probably is just a bad batch of yeast that I need to replace. And one of these days I'll get all the little nuances of convection oven baking down, and it'll be a blessing, I know.
But today ...
Today I had volunteered to bring rolls to our ward Christmas party. I was really worried that lots of people did not sign up to bring rolls, so I felt a certain responsibility to make a good amount. I have THE BEST dinner roll recipe. The best. It is so deliciously yummy that I make it for every single holiday meal and any chance I can get to add to a fancy dinner. I love them. I knew the ward would love them. They are super yummy, but they are also super pretty as well. Bonus.
I started early today, determined to let these rolls have all day to rise if they needed the extra time. They did. It took a little longer to rise than it should have, but it did rise. Everything was on track. The rolls looked delicious and beautiful. Finally, my bread fail streak was going to be broken. And then ... disaster. I had my rolls sitting in the oven rising in a warm place. Katie came home from school and decided that she wanted to make cupcakes. She preheated the oven, but didn't look inside to see my rolls there. I caught her mistake quickly, but not quickly enough. The rolls just sort of shriveled up. They still looked okay ... ish. They just weren't big and beautiful any more. At this point we only had an hour until the party began, so I just decided to roll with it. I baked the rolls as directed, except ... the convection cooking actually browned them a bit too much. They weren't burned ...exactly. They were just really, really toasty. Egads! This was a disaster. But still, they looked close enough to rolls that people would know what they were. They actually tasted quite nice, even if they weren't nice and fluffy like they should have been.
I made the call and decided to go ahead and bring them to the party. It wouldn't hurt anything. No one was going to gag or die from them, so I figured it would be just fine.
Well, as I sat at the party I noticed that very few people had picked up my rolls. Okay ... no one had picked up my rolls. It's okay. I wasn't crying or anything about it. It wasn't a contest. But that little part of me that notices such things did notice. I just wished that I could have brought something that was a lot more appealing to the crowd. Oh well.
That's when I noticed my sweet Hyrum walking in between the tables ... carrying one of MY rolls. Oh, sweet Hyrum. I knew that he would come through and support my baking, even in failure. It just warmed my little heart to see him carrying it with him. So, with my heart full to overflowing I stopped him and said, "I see you grabbed one of my rolls."
His reply?
"Oh, yeah, Mom. This is great. I'm going to take it outside so I can use it as a boomerang."
Ooooooohhhh. Well, that knocked me down a notch.
So my rolls weren't a home run tonight. But that's okay. Tomorrow is another day. I will conquer this. I will. Or, worst case ... at least I know that I can bake some killer boomerangs if I need to.
Today Herman and I stopped at the bank to sign a mortgage loan for a rental house we just bought. Herman has been finding some crazy good deals in the real estate market these days, and he is gobbling them up while we can in this buyer's market as we expand our rental business. It is something that we have done often enough that now it is a fairly simple process. I remember our first house and how crazy it was to fill out paperwork and find money for down payments, and things like that. Now it seems like the process is so much smoother and less complicated. Herman has the process down to an art now.
Today when we went to close this loan our banker told us some of the things that they look at when considering whether to give a loan or not, and he told us the weirdest thing. He showed us our financial statement which showed all of our various financial pieces. Then he told us that he used our financial statement for a banker training meeting that he ran. Why? Well, our financial situation is just a tad crazy and complicated. We have multiple streams of income with multiple structures of real estate debt. It's just a little crazy ... not something that bankers in this neck of the woods see very often. Therefore, it made the perfect scenario for banker training. So crazy. I have always liked my financial world to be fairly straight forward and simple, but somehow along the way Herman and I have turned into a complicated financial couple ... and by complicated I don't mean risky. We are really pretty conservative as far as our real estate investing goes. But it sure blows my mind to see all the moving parts in our situation. I could have never done this on my own, but I support Herman. Unless something horribly drastic happens and they close post, we should be okay for a long, long time. I'm just not sure how I feel about being a case study for a group of bankers. Weird. That's about all I can say.
I haven't taken enough time lately to share the remarkable growth of Spencer, both physically, mentally, and spiritually. It wasn't long ago that I would have used the word 'squirrelly' to describe Spencer much of the time. Because he was. There was no other way to describe it. He was a bundle of energy and excitement that could barely be contained. He had the hardest times really recognizing boundaries in his interpersonal relationships. I don't necessarily mean that in a horribly bad way. He was a good kid ... just squirrelly.
But lately Spencer has undergone a remarkable transformation, and it has been wonderful to behold. He has replaced squirrelly Spencer with a young man who is a bit more introspective about things. He is developing a good understanding of who he is and what he wants to do with his life. He now towers over me and also over Herman at more than 6 feet tall. He has developed into a pretty good soccer player and an even better student. But more importantly, I have noticed a deep compassion in him that is surprising in many ways. I really noticed this on Thanksgiving Day this year. It was heartwarming.
Spencer has been coming over to my parents' house to hang out with Ryan quite a bit since they moved to our area. He stays there and gives my parents some respite so that they can go out shopping or to run errands. Ryan loves the chance to hang out with someone besides my parents. It all works out lovely. On Thanksgiving my parents had a car accident on the way home from Kansas City. You can read about it HERE. Ryan had stayed here in the area, thank goodness, so he wasn't in the car. While Herman and I ran up to the site of the accident we called Spencer to come and hang out with Ryan. After all was taken care of there at the accident Herman took my dad to the ER to get his hand examined. Spencer and I stayed at their house with my mom and Ryan since they couldn't be there alone. My mom went straight to bed, but Ryan stayed up to watch some football with us for awhile. Spencer took charge of Ryan's care the entire time. He did a great job talking with Ryan all night. Then, when Ryan said that he was ready to go to bed Spencer got him ready all by himself. It is a bit of a process to get Ryan ready for bed since his cerebral palsy leaves his muscles so rigid at times. That makes dressing and undressing a little tricky. Spencer had never done it before, and I was a little worried that it would freak him out a little bit. But he did AMAZING. Ryan would tell him what needed to be done, and Spencer would do it without question or complaint. Spencer is a bit of a germaphobe, so I thought that getting so up close and personal with Ryan would really bother him, but he did wonderfully.
Sitting there and watching Spencer I was so impressed with the growth I have seen in him. He is becoming a solid young man with a strong and compassionate nature. I can't wait to see what is in store for him. He is an interesting cross between Herman and my brother, Joe. It'll be crazy to see what that looks like in a grown man, but so far I think it'll work out just great. Watch out world!
We had a pretty crazy Thanksgiving ... crazy at the end. The beginning was fairly average for Thanksgiving ... maybe even a bit better than average because I did a killer job this year of timing my meal just right. The biggest problem was that I was still learning how to cook with the new convection oven that I got, so some of the dishes didn't cook exactly the way I like them. Still good, just not quite right. After our nice dinner as a family for lunch we had a pretty relaxing day watching football or just relaxing together. My brothers, Joe and Ryan came to eat with us while my parents were in Kansas City visiting my aunt and uncle for the day. Joe helped Ryan all day, but he had to drive back to St. Louis for the evening so that he could eat dinner with his girlfriend and her family.
Herman volunteered to hang out with Ryan until my parents returned in the evening. I would be in charge of helping the big kids run the "Black FridayThursday" shopping. I can't even begin to tell you how much this freaked me out. I do not do Black Friday shopping. Ever. The crowds absolutely freak me out. I go into a mini panic attack every time I see it, and it would have to be a crazy great deal to get me out in that. Herman is the guy who does that. The kids and he have a tradition of waking up super early on Black Friday, planning their routes, and braving the stores to find some really good sales. Now that the sales start on Thanksgiving things aren't quite as exciting. Friday crowds are actually pretty tame here in the Waynesville/St. Robert area. Still, Herman and the kids wanted to come to Wal-mart and see if they could get some of the good deals. This time they had a great plan. They came earlier in the day and left a car parked in the back of the lot (easier to geto out later). Then my job was to drive the kids to the store and drop them off at the front. Once their shopping was done Savannah would drive the car home. Piece of cake. It was still half a nightmare trying to navigate the parking lot just to drop them off at the front door. The cars were backed up all the way down the street in front of Wal-mart. But we made it. Mission accomplished.
After I dropped the big kids off I drove to my parents' house to hang out with Herman and Ryan for a bit while we waited for my parents to get home. I called to see where they were, and Dad said they were about an hour from home. No big deal. And then ...
(For this section I'll just repost the account I wrote to Laney in Chile when I wrote her my weekly email).
Here's where the holiday got CRAZY. We were expecting them any moment when I got a call on my phone from a number I didn't recognize. It was my dad. That was weird. He said that they had hit a cow south of Crocker on Hwy 17. Apparently a herd of cattle had gotten loose and were crossing the road. It was dark at night, and Dad couldn't see them until he was right on them. He couldn't avoid hitting one of the cows. The Highway Patrol was on their way along with an ambulance. He sounded kinda loopy, so Dad and I called the kids who were just leaving Wal-mart. Spencer came over to watch Ryan, and we drove up to the scene of the accident.
Let me tell you ... it was surreal. There was a line of emergency lights for several hundred feet down Hwy 17. Emergency personnel were everywhere. I jumped out of the car and ran toward the ambulance. I passed by their car, and it was demolished. The front end was pushed all the way in, and the windshield had shattered. I couldn't see how anyone could make it out of that wreck okay. I am so glad I had actually talked to my dad or else I would have been FREAKING out. I opened the ambulance and saw three HP officers talking to my parents. An EMT came out and told me that they were basically okay. The main problem they had was that the shattering glass had cut them up a lot. G'ma was okay physically. She had a tiny cut, but mentally she was struggling. She has been doing okay with the bipolar stuff for a long time, but she has been struggling with anxiety ... and, Oh Man!, she was anxious after this event. She was shaking a bunch. G'pa's hand was wrapped like a mummy. It looked awful, but the EMT said that it was just cut up with a ton of shallow cuts ... nothing terrible. Still, he said that we needed to get him seen by a doctor to make sure there were no pieces of glass left in the cuts. G'pa didn't wait to ride in the ambulance, so we drove them home. I stayed with Ryan, G'ma and Spencer while Dad drove G'pa to the emergency room in Rolla.
My dad's shredded hand before the glass was removed.
While at the accident site I dug around in their car trying to find G'pa's glasses, but they were nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, there was glass EVERYWHERE, and I think I ended up getting some embedded in my pinkie finger. No big deal. Still, it hurts a little. I can't imagine how G'pa is feeling with his whole hand cut up with tiny shards of glass. For this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for SEAT BELTS, because if my parents were not wearing theirs, I am sure they would not have survived that accident. Intense!
Dad and G'pa got home around 1:30 in the morning. The doctor had to dig all around in his hand to get all the glass shards out, and he got some mega doses of meds for his back, but he is pretty much okay. You can see the pictures we sent of the car, G'pa's hand, and the unfortunate cow ... "Not the livestock, George." (We've been watching that scene from O Brother Where Art Thou" quite a bit today. So funny, especially after G'pa's encounter with a cow).
Funny thing about our unplanned trip to Crocker ... I was not prepared to be seen in public. I had been wearing PJs all day long. My intention was to take a shower and get dressed, but after the work of the morning and afternoon getting ready for our feast, I just didn't have time. Oh well. I wasn't horribly disgusting. When I drove the kids to Walmart I debated about whether or not I should change out of my PJs. My fear of maybe having to come rescue them in the shopping chaos forced me to at least throw on a pair of jeans. But I didn't put on a bra, I wore my old Drury music sweatshirt, and I had on flip flops even though it was 30 degrees. And my hair. Oh my hair. Katie has become quite the hair stylist, and today I let her "do" my hair. She did some sort of elaborate braid along the top that seems pretty nice, but she just pulled my shorter hair into a "pony tail" in the back that just stuck straight out like some sort of mutant alien was boring its way out of my skull. None of my hair could stay in that style, so half of it was just flopping around without a purpose. I looked ridiculous. That was okay to stay and lounge at G'ma and G'pa's house, but not so cool to show up at the scene of an accident. Oh my goodness. I'm sure I looked completely bonkers when I stuck my head in the ambulance. Oh well. I'm sure they've seen worse.
(End of my account to Laney).
So that was our crazy Thanksgiving Day. My parents are doing okay. My dad's hands are healing quite nicely. His back has recovered fairly well, all things considered. I don't think that my mom is suffering any undue anxiety from the event. Ryan is a bit freaked out still. I think it just got him to thinking about how precarious his situation is. If something happens to my parents, he is in a bit of trouble. We need to make appropriate plans so that he doesn't worry about things quite so much. The insurance has sent Dad his settlement, so now we are in the market for a new car for them. Dad said that he hasn't been in an accident since he was in high school. He hardly knows what to do in a situation like this. Luckily, Team Blau has had a bit of experience taking care of things after accidents. We took care of him. I am extremely grateful for seat belts. I am grateful to have my parents so close so that we can help them in times like this. I am grateful it was just a cow that hit them (or more accurately, that they hit). Happy Thanksgiving!
I am feeling incredibly melancholy today. I don't know why. Maybe it is the gloomy weather that has plagued us here in Missouri for the past few days. Maybe it is a bit of a seasonal slump. Who knows? So, what better thing to do to get me out of the winter blahs than to post a cute little story about JoJo?
At Freedom Elementary they run a Christmas shop every December so that the kids can bring in some money and buy a few trinkets as presents for their families. It is nothing too fantastic, but it is lots of fun for the kids to feel independent as they choose gifts to give to others.
This is JoJo's first year at Freedom, and he was super excited to take a turn buying presents at the shop. Yesterday he brought his money to school and carefully budgeted so that he could get a little something for everyone. When I came by the school to pick him up, I asked him about the presents he bought. As he told me about some of the gifts, he told me that he even bought something for himself.
"Really?" I asked. "What did you get?"
"I got myself something that says #1 BROTHER," he replied.
"I think you are supposed to get those to give to your brothers, not for yourself," I explained.
"What? I am the number one brother. That's why I got it for me."
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