The Prairie

It was a balmy 32 degrees today. That is 60 degrees warmer than it was last week! While the boys were in school, I loaded up my little girl, and we went for a walk.

The lone tree in the middle of the prairie.

Part of the State Park is wooded, so we also saw many trees.

In the summer, the grasses are taller than me, and they are all standing. You really could get lost. But in the winter, the grass gets matted down by the storms, with only a few left standing.

One of my favorite hobbies is trail running in this park. During the snow season, the trails are groomed for cross country skiing. Does anyone know of a baby stroller with cross country skis? For now we staying on the road, and had a beautiful walk. It was so nice to be outside, and be able to breathe without it causing pain.

Most of the prairie has been turned into farmlands, but there is a big movement to restore it. I think it is beautiful!

Back to Work!

Back in the saddle again, and it feels good! It was wonderful to go back to school and work yesterday. I only felt the smallest amount of guilt. Now this wasn't the healthy kind of guilt-- it was the kind of guilt that makes you wake up at 5am to make homemade cinnamon rolls. They were delicious by the way.

I dropped the kids off at their babysitters, and then I was off to take my class, and teach two classes. What fun! The first day of class is always so easy: here's the syllabus----blah, blah, blah. It was fun to see old friends, and I am so excited to use my mind again!

This semester I am taking Reading Methods, a class that teaches the teacher how to teach the child to read. I am also teaching two sections of Microsoft Office Suite. I had a great day, but came home exhausted. Perhaps it was waking up at 5am for the cinnamon rolls, but teaching does seem to a lot of energy.

My word of the year

I know, I'm a little late, January is nearly over, but it took me awhile to decide. Actually, I wasn't going to do it, but then I kept thinking about discernment, especially how it applies to parenting. I love this talk by Elder Bednar because it explains the spiritual gift of discernment.

"Discernment is a light of protection and direction in a world that grows increasingly dark. In these latter days you and I can press forward safely and successfully through the mist of darkness and have a clear sense of spiritual direction. Discernment is so much more than recognizing right from wrong. It helps us to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, the important from the unimportant, and the necessary from that which is merely nice."

Elder Bednar, BYU Devotional, May 5, 2005

I kept thinking about discernment and its relationship to parenting, especially Elder Bednar's definition. I need to know the relevant from the irrelevant and the important from the unimportant. I like this so much better than the phrase: "You need to pick your battles." I never thought parenting should be about battles, but teaching what is important, what is necessary, and what is relevant. So as I go through my year, I will hope that I can develop this wonderful gift.

Another aspect of the gift is recognizing the good in others and helping to uncover the good and bring it out. Isn't that what we all want to do for our children. Give them the confidence they need to face their challenges.

The last aspect, perhaps one of the hardest: recognizing the things in yourself that needs to change. Wow, can I do that as a parent? Recognize what I need to change, and more importantly have the courage to change.

We can all pray that we can be better parents, but sometimes it helps to know exactly what to pray for--so I will pray that I can know the important from the unimportant, I can see and uncover the good in my children, and I can see how I need to change as a parent and make those changes.

My Personal Philosophy on Chocolate Chip Cookies

I just finished watching Babette's Feast, a wonderful movie about the power of a delicious food. It started to make me think about my favorite food: chocolate chip cookies. There is nothing like the goodness of warm chocolate chip cookie that allows us to feel love and warmth.
Philosophy #1: chocolate cookies contain love and lots of it!

Anakin is making M&M cookies!

Luke reading the recipe and following it.

Philosophy #2: each type of chocolate (from semi-sweet to white) and chocolate chip (from mini's to chuncks and the m&m's inbetween) needs its very own recipe.

Philosophy #3: cookie dough is just as good as cookies, but maybe not as warm. I love cookie dough, it is so very, very tasty!


M&M cookies must be made with shortening.
Mini's must contain oatmeal and have a butter base. (It's all about texture!)
Semi-sweet has a butter base as well.
I don't have a good recipe for chocolate chip chunks. I guess I will need to start searching!

So the last time we made chocolate chip cookies, each child made a different type of recipe: yummy and a little crazy. Getting each child their own ingredients was a bit chaotic.

We froze some of the cookies and ate most of the cookies!

P.S. As I told Luke about this post, he said that when he eats a chocolate chip cookie he doesn't feel love because the last cookie he ate was cold (those frozen cookies!)

Keys Anyone?

This week we went to visit Mike on a layover. He has the same trip every week for the entire month, so we decided while I was still on semester break, we would enjoy the time together. I pack up the kids and the car, and I'm off at the hotel. Mike brings in everything from the car. Runs to McDonald's for us, and then early the next morning leaves for a full day of work taking the keys with him. We are stranded at the hotel, yes Mike took the keys. I had just gotten all the kids bundled up because of the sub-zero weather, and started looking for the keys. Now misplacing keys is part of my M.O., but not Mike's. He always takes the keys out of his pocket and puts them away. I frantically try to call him, he is not picking up. I call his company and they send a message to his plane, "Captain Mike, please call your wife as soon as you land." As soon as he received the message, he knows, and he reaches into his pocket, and there are the keys. Security didn't even pick up the extra metal in his pocket. He asked when the next flight was going back to Milwaukee, so he could send the keys, but it was pushing back just as he landed. They couldn't exactly open the service doors to toss the keys from one plane to another (although he seriously considered it). So what to do? I called a locksmith, can't do it (our keys have a computer chip), I called the dealer, and they need the car on the lot to make a new key. I called the hotel, book it for another night (only $36.00), and we hope that Mike can make it back that night. We then proceed to enjoy the day at the hotel. Luke thought the hotel restaurant was the coolest restaurant ever! We went swimming twice, ate at the hotel restaurant twice, watched lots of PBSkids (which is a treat because we have no reception, satellite, or cable) and enjoyed the day. I would keep getting these updates from Mike, "There's a ground stop for LaGuardia." The weather in New York was not the best, then he tells me that they are boarding up the passengers and taking off. He will make his flight, and come join us at the hotel with the keys! Then a text message, "Ground stop for LGA, turn on CNN to see why." The boys only let me watch for two seconds before we had to turn it back to PBSkids. But during those two seconds, I see an airplane floating in the Hudson, and the announcement that everyone is safe. Will Mike make it home to us? How long am I going to be in the hotel? Then within the next few hours: the ground stop was lifted, Mike landed safely in NYC, and made his flight back to us, keys in hand (well really in his pocket.)

Thankfully during the entire experience we were safe, warm (did I mention it was 35 below with windchill), happy, full, and had each other. Fortunately Mike had just been paid so there was actually money for food. Finally, the kids didn't miss any school because it was cancelled due to sub zero temperatures on both Thursday and Friday. The kids had a great time. We had a great day, but we are glad that we are home! Hopefully, this will be an experience that we will laugh at for the rest of our lives! ......remember the time we got stuck at the hotel because Dad took the keys with him!

Ice Skating

Anakin loves his skating lessons! This was his second lesson, and he is doing great, he can get himself up off the ice almost every single time that he falls, and he isn't falling nearly as many times. Last week I signed both the boys up, but as Luke said, "I was scared of everything!" But Anakin comes off the ice believing he is the best skater out there. Luke had a great time just playing with his little sister. They ran up and down the ramp to the skating rink and climbed through the bleachers. So I got to actually watch Anakin. This is the place where I love watching his determination. He just keeps on trying, and keeps on going. He will be able to ice skate because he keeps working at it, and doesn't get discouraged. It's amazing how the same quality can be completely frustrating when you are trying to get him dressed in the morning!

The Vanagon

I found this photograph, and it looks very similar to our family vanagon. We got it in the early 80's and it died while I was on my mission in '93. What great memories......

We would travel across the country in that car. I grew up in New York, but all of my grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles lived in the west. So we would spend four days in the car, and three nights camping along the way. My dad would take out the middle seat of the van, and put in a platform, that he created for this trip. He would put all the suitcases, food, tents, ect underneath the platform, two foam pads on top, and all the sleeping bags and pillows in the back. We never wore our shoes in the car. They were tucked into the holes against the sliding door. I was always a little nervous that one of my shoes would be left at the last reststop. We would have the entire area to do whatever (it was about the size of a queen size mattress), except when my dad wasn't driving. Then he would sleep on the diagonal of the bed, leaving two small triangles of space. Life was so different before car seats and seat belts. Our only entertainment was listening to the soundtrack of Annie and Songs for a Mormon Child. I quote from my journal, "We are driving through Nebraska, I wrote Nebraska so long because it take so long to go through."

I learned how to drive standard on that car. The van does not have the easiest clutch, and I was told that if you could drive a vw, you can drive any standard car. My brother (six years younger) loved when I had my driving lessons. He would yell to his friends, "Kaylynn's learning to drive!" All the neighborhood 11 year olds would come running. Again the middle seat was left out, and their game would start: who could remain standing while I jerked the car around.

Once I learned how to drive the car, I got to use it pretty regularly. (One of the benefits of living in a small town where your parents work at the same place.) The car did have some minor problems: the gas tank had a leak in it, so we never filled it more than 1/4 tank full of gas. Because the gas gage was broken, the car was constantly running out of gas. We had an extra gas can in the car, so I was never stranded anywhere. The sliding door was also broken, so I would never open it. I was always taking people home from school, and they would have to go through the two front doors. Once a girl was about to open the side door, I stated matter of factly, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Then I explained how the door would fall off if she opened the door.

Intermittingly, the only way you could start it was by rolling it down the hill. Luckily, we lived near a hill. We would push the car around the corner to Sand Road, my dad would start the car, he would go around the block, and we would all jump in, probably through the front two doors.