Life's not fair

So despite my best intentions to get out of my blogging slump and post this past week, it didn't happen. Partially because of my inherent laziness, but also because the last couple of weeks haven't been that stellar. Life is really sad sometimes, you know? Sometimes it's stressful and frustrating and sometimes it's surprising and delightful and sometimes it's just . . . sad. And even when the tragedy isn't directly yours, it still means that someone is hurting and grieving and no matter how much you love that person, you can't take that pain away - which is heartbreaking in and of itself.

Because I'm a girl, and I'm emotional, and I have a natural leaning towards discouragement/depression, I sometimes find myself focused on sadness. I start thinking about one set of sad circumstances, and my train of thought follows that until I'm emotionally drained from mentally empathizing (often for the eighteenth time) with everyone I can think of who's recently endured hard times. As I was caught in the midst of sadness and worry and a lack of my usual optimism last week, my doctor wisely encouraged me to 'be of good cheer'. And in order to be a good patient, that's what I've decided to do.

I have a strong testimony of an eternal Heavenly Father who loves His children and will always send peace and comfort, often through other people. My favorite block of scripture comes from the Doctrine and Covenants, section 121, verses 7-9. Joseph Smith had been wrongly imprisoned and was pouring out his heart in prayer. These are the words of comfort that were given to him:

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions
shall be but a small moment;
And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high;
thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again
with warm hearts and friendly hands."

So, although life is sad and confusing and painful, it's also beautiful and funny and peaceful and meant to be lived. And we're not alone - we have each other to turn to for aid and lifting of spirits.

In an effort to help everyone 'be of good cheer' (and kind of in keeping with this post's religious overtone) I'd like to share two slightly hilarious (if somewhat sacrilegious) recent Clyde stories.

One day a couple of weeks ago, Clyde was in the playroom and Chuck and I were in the living room when Clyde suddenly exclaimed "Jesus Christ!" Chuck and I quickly raised our eyebrows, then Clyde bounded out into the living room waving a program from church and said, "Look, it says 'Jesus Christ' right here!" I breathed a sigh of relief and then promptly shared with Clyde that I was so proud of his reading but we usually speak about Jesus in a slightly more reverent volume and tone of voice :).

Then last week, the little boys and I were hanging out with Quinn when Clyde shared some funny little ditty about how 'the worms make the dirt and the dirt makes the earth'. (Google has informed me these are song lyrics from the Aquabats and I sincerely have no idea where Clyde picked them up). Anyhow, Clyde thought it was hilarious and Quinn and I laughed heartily along. Later that day I was recounting the story to Chuck, but after I recited 'the worms make the dirt and the dirt makes the earth', Clyde indignantly rebuked me with "No, Mom, Jesus Christ made the earth." Obviously, I stood corrected.

Weaksauce promise fulfillment

So I clearly haven't felt very witty of late, hence the lack of blogging. But I promised Courtney that I would post something today and I've only got a half-hour left to keep my word, yikes. (Also, Court, I forgot to specify that I meant my time zone, not yours!)

Luckily, there are many fun and exciting things that I have every intention of posting about . . . soon! For instance, tomorrow night is the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, and I am absolutely making my own car to race, so that event will obviously be over-photographed and recorded for posterity on the ol' blog. (If anyone needs me tomorrow afternoon, I will be frantically painting said car).

In the meantime, however, let me share that I do not enjoy watching movies/TV in 3-D. Totally gives me a headache, and I don't feel like the viewing experience is really all that enhanced. Chuck, on the other hand, thinks 3-D is super neat and he's sure that in time, I will agree. To this end, every time we go to Costco he insists that I put on the silly glasses and check out the display TV just in case it's a lack of exposure that's holding me back. It's not.

Buuut on a trip last week, I realized I might at some point be persuaded to bring a ridiculous 3-D television into our home:

Ohhh, the hilarity of this picture. It brings me such joy, and who wouldn't want such joy replicated with each TV viewing experience?? (I would definitely insist all 3-D glasses in our home be attached to the couch or something because I feel like 30% of the endearing dorkiness my boys are exuding is coming from the coiled chain things).

Of course, after about four seconds, both boys did this:
meaning they've inherited their mom's lack of appreciation for the 3-D movement and we have no need for such a television after all :). Sorry babe!

Mother's Day, er, Weekend . . .

I believe in dragging celebrations out a bit. Like, I often wish facebook friends 'happy birthday' the day after their actual birthday. I'm sure most of them think it's because I'm forgetful, or lazy, or just want to stand out from the many other well-wishers. And they're right. But it's also because I want to help them extend their birthday as long as possible!

So it was with Mother's Day; I opted for fun adventures all weekend long, starting with a Friday evening trip to the Botanical Garden with the little boys and Grandma Pam.

It was National Public Gardens Day, so admission was free . . . which is definitely what prompted the visit :).

We had lots o' fun wandering around and looking at all the different plants, going over bridges, relaxing in the swing, trying to decipher the little map so we could find the bell (made all the more frustrating by the fact that we could hear it being 'rung' every so often, taunting us), and most importantly, trying to keep Clyde's Crocs rock-free (a task which proved even more impossible than the eventually successful finding of the bell).

The next morning I (no big deal) RAN FOR LIKE THREE FREAKING MILES IN A ROW, hooray! And it's okay if all you marathon-ers are snickering a little bit right now, I don't blame you :). I have never been a 'runner' and I am definitely still not a 'runner', but I've been trying . . . slowly . . . to become one. So when some friends from church organized a group to do the Susan G. Komen 5k Race for the Cure, I let Paulina talk me into joining them! I was pretty nervous and definitely prepared to have to walk at some point (my longest consecutive run before Saturday was around 2 miles) but everyone was right and the adrenaline totally kicked in and I ran (well, jogged) the whole dang thing.

We didn't end up running as a big group, but thankfully Tasha and I stuck together - I would not have been able to power through without her. And a shout-out to my awesome mama who came and cheered me on near the finish line, I was definitely struggling at that point and her encouragement totally gave me a push I needed right then. (Man, I should clearly never attempt anything longer than a 5k if running for just over thirty consecutive minutes was this dang hard, haha!!) Anyways, it was super fun and I'm psyched to do some more 5k's - I've almost convinced Heidi to do one with me next month . . . right Heid??

After the race, my mom and I went straight to get our hair done, yay for mother-daughter pampering! The absolutely amazing Nicole did a chemical relaxer on my hair, and I loooove it.

Soo this is my sad 'phone self-portrait at 11:30pm at Walmart so I could show Sam and Heidi my hair' picture (what, like you don't have one?), but it's the only one I gots from that day, so it'll work.

That evening, post-haircut but pre-Walmart, Chuck and I went to an Elder's Quorum date night playing games at the church, which was really fun. I contributed some vocals to Rock Band, Chuck got reacquainted with the board game CLUE (hilariously driving Kara Walker craaaazy in the process), and Nicole and I humiliated ourselves playing the silly raft game on the Kinect. Good times!!

And then it was officially Mother's Day!

My thoughtful parents-in-law sent me these beautiful flowers, which I have managed to not kill yet. Thanks again Mom and Pops!

Will made me this darling work of art at preschool - making me so, so proud that my sensory issue kiddo braved putting his hands in paint for me!!

Clyde made this cute framed picture for me at Playschool. Please take a moment to appreciate his facial expression. This is clearly how the little lad must look whenever his beloved mother is not around.

He also brought this cute paper home from church that day, and more amazingly, went up and sang with the other Primary kids during Sacrament meeting! I was pretty sure he'd freak out and not go up, but with a slight promise (bribe) of cinnamon rolls after church, he marched on up and sweetly sang!

After church I took a nap and Chuck bravely attempted to heed my request and take a picture of the boys in their cute yellow church shirts.

The little photo shoot (shown chronologically) apparently started out promising (albeit somber), then came to light, er, life a bit in the next shot, then got a bit wild/fun/crushing, just to finish off more somber than before - I'm guessing in response to some sort of cross between a Mother's Day guilt trip - "Come on, all your mom wants is a nice picture of her boys" and a good old-fashioned threat - "Okay, I guess we can't play any Lego Star Wars after all if it takes too long to get a picture".

Basically we've realized that candid is the way to go as far as photographing our children - here they are playing at Grandma Pam's house that evening.

The grown-ups played too: Settlers of Catan, yay! Chuck couldn't decide who to let win -- his wife, mother-in-law, or brother-in-law whose birthday was the next day -- so he went ahead and diplomatically schooled us all. Thanks honey!

Me and my mama. She's one of my favorite moms ever :). I've said it before, but I think one of the reasons that Chuck and I go together so well even though we are sooo dramatically different is because our moms are so wonderfully similar. Incredibly supportive, generous, kind, thoughtful, creative, 'time ambitious' - that's a nice way of saying they think they can do more/drive farther in a certain amount of time than they really can, and are thus late frequently, fun, sweetly nostalgic - that's a nice way of saying they never throw ANYTHING away, smart, and unconditionally loving. We love you both lots and lots!!

The b-day boy and his mama.

Me and my boys - the reasons I wake up in the morning.

(Usually around 2am when Will randomly decides to be awake for an hour, around 5am when I get up to make Chuck's lunch and get him out the door for work, and around 7:30am when Clyde decides to get up for the day).

Man I love them :).

Happy (quite belated) Mother's Day!

Happy birthday to Cody!!

Today is a very special day . . .
it's my brother Cody's birthday, hooray!

Cody is one of the most charismatic, intelligent, awesome people I know. The kid is sooo smart and well-informed. If I were on Cash Cab and there was an obscure history/politics/geography/religion question, I would call Cody. . . and maybe even share a little of my prize money with him when he gave me the correct answer :). Cody's had a rough go of it at times; he has certainly introduced experiences and situations to our family that we never anticipated, but I am absolutely a better person with a deeper understanding of the Gospel and the Atonement because of Cody, and I'm grateful for that.

Cody and I have been tight pretty much since I was born.

One of my favorite things about Cody is that, like me, he owns his dorkiness. Years ago, we started having pictures taken of the two of us randomly pondering - sometimes looking at a statue or picture, sometimes just staring into space. It makes me laugh every time I see us striking this same pose!

Cody is also pretty willing to risk public humiliation to make me happy, such as bustin' a move on the dance floor with his little sister at our friend's wedding so I wouldn't have go out all alone. Thanks Coders!

As I've said, Cody's an excellent brother but he's found his true calling in life as an uncle. Clyde and Will both adore Cody (and Bailey is his birthday twin!!).

Will has just in the last two and a half months started identifying people by their names, which is WONDERFUL and such a great milestone for him. Initially he correctly called Cody 'Cody', but at some point in the last few weeks it has morphed into 'Cocoa', which is hilariously/sadly/appropriately the name of our family's late dog that Cody was especially close to.

Cody and I have very different music taste, but over the years in the car together we've been able to agree on a few songs/stations. We even have a lucky song: when Dido's 'Thank You' was so popular, there was a month-long period where Cody and I heard it on the radio every single time we were in the car together. The one time we didn't ended up being kind of a crummy day, and we attribute that to the absence of that song! :)

Our taste in television is much more overlapped, particularly our shared love of the West Wing (although I only acknowledge the first four seasons of the show; I left when Aaron Sorkin did). One of our favorite activities is quoting dialogue back and forth - here are just a few of our favorite bits:

Toby Ziegler: He calls you and me the Batman and Robin of speech-writing.
Sam Seaborn: Well, I don't think he does.
Toby Ziegler: He doesn't, but he should, 'cause that's what we are.
Sam Seaborn: Okay.
Toby Ziegler: We're Batman and Robin.
Sam Seaborn: Which one's which?
Toby Ziegler: Look at me, Sam. Am I Robin?
Sam Seaborn: I'm not Robin.
Toby Ziegler: Yes you are.
Sam Seaborn: Okay, well, let's move off this.
Toby Ziegler: You bet, little friend.

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Josh Lyman: Could you possibly get us some dried leaves?
Donna Moss: Yeah, I'll just run out to the forest and be right back.
Donna Moss: [Donna leaves room]
Sam Seaborn: You know what?
Josh Lyman: You think she was being sarcastic?
Sam Seaborn: Yeah. I don't think she's getting the leaves.
Josh Lyman: You know what we could use?
Sam Seaborn: Newspaper.
Josh Lyman: See, this is what I'm talking about. This is teamwork.
Sam Seaborn: It really is.

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[the President neglected a formality transferring executive power before going into surgery]
Margaret: Can - can I just say something, you know, for the future?
Leo McGarry: Yeah.
Margaret: *I* can sign the President's name. I have his signature down pretty good.
Leo McGarry: You can sign the President's name?
Margaret: Yeah.
Leo McGarry: On a document removing him from power and handing it to someone else?
Margaret: Yeah. Or, do you think the White House Counsel would say that was a bad idea?
Leo McGarry: I think the White House Counsel would say that's a coup d'etat.
Margaret: I'd probably end up doing some time for that.
Leo McGarry: I would think. And what the hell are you doing practicing the President's signature?
Margaret: It's just for fun.
Leo McGarry: We've got separation of powers, checks and balances, and Margaret, vetoing things and sending them back to the hill.

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Sam Seaborn: Where you going?
Josh Lyman: Where *you* going?
Sam Seaborn: I was following you.
Josh Lyman: I was following you.
[awkward pause]
Josh Lyman: All right... don't tell anyone this happened, okay?
Sam Seaborn: Yeah.

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Ainsley Hayes: Mr. Tribbey? I'd like to do well on this, my first assignment. Any advice you could give me that might point me the way of success would be, by me, appreciated.
Lionel Tribbey: Well, not speaking in iambic pentameter might be a step in the right direction.

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And our absolute favorite exchange is this one:

Josh Lyman: I'm just sayin' if you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for a beer.
Donna Moss: [stands up] If you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for red lights.

I'm pretty sure we called each other at the next commercial break to 'squeee' like the fangirls we are :).

We celebrated Cody's birthday in combination with Mother's Day last night at my mom's house - a wonderful dinner and then a game of Settlers - Cody's first time! It was a lot of fun, and I'm pretty sure Cody's hooked now :).

Happy birthday to my favorite biggest brother - I love you lots, Cody!!