all set for three days

Anyone who’s anyone knows September is National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security. I took this as a sign that I desperately need to update our family’s 72-hour kit. To motivate myself even more, I said, “I think I’ll blog about it! Before and after! This should help the world!”

For anyone unaware, a 72-hour kit is what you can take with you in an emergency, and you should be able to live off of its contents for 3 days.


I was most proud of myself when I put our existing 72-hour kit together when Shane and I were first married – back in 2003. Indeed, the Top Ramens placed into the kit at that time are the same Top Ramens that were just rotated out of the kit. (I tried to cook with them; dear heavens, it was awful. Just toss them if you wait 5 years like I did.)

Our first kit was in an Igloo cooler, kept on the floor of our pantry. It contained:

• Two mugs
• 2 plastic bags
• 4 hot chocolate envelopes
• 4 packages of peanut butter crackers
• 4 granola bars
• 3 cans of Dole tropical fruit
• 2 cans of mixed fruit
• 4 top ramens
• 2 bags of Bear Creek “just add water” soups
• Shampoo
• Dish soap
• Hand soap
• bar of soap
• an Ensign
• a book of Jumbles
• a pen
• a list of all of our household items and their worth
• two freebie packets of tylenol
• two freebie packets of gum
• two freebie packets of breath mints
• Emergency radio (added just recently, actually)

Tada! And not just me, but Shane and I were both supposed to live for 72 hours on that.

Since I am older and wiser and our family is bigger and better, our kits needed revamping.

I love love love love love (LOVE!) this Web site, which really makes this emergency-preparedness-food-storage-stuff seems oh-so-manageable. By way of improvement, I already had a pretty good idea of some items our kits were lacking, and awhile ago I had heard the “backpack” concept and decided it was brilliant. Instead of one huge 72-hour kit, each family member has a backpack, just for him or her. Once a year, for family night or something, everyone goes through his or her personal backpack and updates the clothes, rotates the food, etc. Genius! I have a bunch of backpacks around the house that we aren’t using regularly, so this was completely feasible. I even have a teeny little backpack for Wesley (courtesy the Boeing 787 program).

So, after much gathering and organizing and buying (on sale, of course), I present our new 72-hour kits:


(note, this picture doesn’t even INCLUDE all of it since there were some other things I wanted to grab but Wesley was napping, and I was ready to stuff the backpacks.)

• 6 oatmeal packets (x3)
• 4 individual applesauce cups (x3)
• 2 packages of peanut butter crackers (x2)
• 3 Top Ramens (x2)
• 6 granola bars (x3)
• 3 bags of Bear Creek “just add water” hearty soup (x2)
• 2 cans of mixed fruit (x2)
• 2 hot chocolate envelopes (x2)
• change of pants, long-sleeved shirt, short-sleeved shirt, and underwear (x3, except for Wesley, who has diapers instead)
• blanket (x3)
• 6 plastic bags
• 2 travel-sized packages of tissues (x3)
• new toothbrush (x2)
• new travel-sized toothpaste (x2)
• teeny little dental floss!! (x2)
• body soap, face soap (from a hotel! x2)
• container of shampoo
• container of dish soap
• container of hand soap
• Travel-sized set of baby wash, baby shampoo, baby lotion
• deck of cards
• a paperback Book of Mormon
• an old Ensign
• a book of Jumbles
• pens
• Emergency hand radio
• “The Family Emergency Handbook”
• small sewing kit (again, from a hotel)
• ziploc full of cat food
• little cat toy
• Thumb drive of important documents

Some things I still want to add:

• A (plastic?) bowl, plate, and set of silverware for everyone
• Those “emergency” blankets that are waterproof, lightweight, and rolled super tight to be space savers
• Crayons and coloring books? Or maybe some other books or baby toys for Wesley
• Little deodorants
• A bag of hard candies
• Couple packs of gum?
• Bag of kitty treats

I don’t know where I’d put these things, though, since the bags look like this:


WOWSERS. Jam packed to the rims.

Some things to note:

• These kits should include water. Our water is located in another place in the house. I’m not entirely sure what to do about that… in an emergency, I wonder if I’ll remember to grab water? But we have it. We have at least 3 gallons for each of us.
• Wesley didn’t get his own soups and stuff, since right now he really only shares with us. I think I should put a box of cheerios in his kit, actually.
• All of our important documents (social security cards, marriage license, birth certificates, plus that list of all of our possessions and their value) are contained in a fireproof safe, which is next to the backpacks. I guess in a perfect situation we’d grab that, too. The safe also includes an undisclosed amount of emergency moolah. I recommend this to everyone!
• Additionally, most of these documents – as well as the Excel spreadsheet of all of our possessions and their worth – can be found electronically on a thumb drive. Pretty important to have!
• I didn’t include a can opener – because all of the cans contain pop tops! I’m brilliant!
• We have first aid kits in both of our cars. If we had to leave, in our cars presumably, we’d have a full first aid kit if needed.

Could I add more stuff? Oh sure. Prescription drugs (luckily we don’t have many of those to worry about), candles or light sticks, disinfectant, bleach… the list cold go on. I guess there’s always room to improve. Maybe in another 5 years when I do this again. No, seriously, I think my goal is to revisit the kit every September – rotate the food, check the clothing sizes (diapers!), add anything else we may need, etc.

Another Web site I like is this one that goes over preparedness for all over the house. The 72-hour kit is just the beginning! There is also:

• Food storage (my goal: a 3-month supply of meals easy to cook, similar to daily life as we know it, and an additional 9-month supply of sustenance-only foods to prevent death, such as wheat, rice, beans, etc., to equal a 12-month supply for each family member)
• Car emergency kits (first aid, kitty litter for getting out of snow, more blankets, etc.)
• Household emergency procedures (where to go in case of fire, how to shut off our home breaker box, etc.)

I am 100% serious when I say Shane has told me I’ll have really mastered this preparedness mumbo jumbo when I can cook bread without electricity. I’m thinking, a dutch oven made of aluminum foil and cardboard on the balcony? Any thoughts? I have seen peach cobbler made in a dutch oven. Um, yum. I could live off peach cobbler.

So, that's what I've been up to lately. I feel a sense of accomplishment but also worry, since they COULD be better, they COULD be more complete, they COULD have flashlights and matches and bleach and Coleman stoves! But I just have to be happy with what I was able to collect.

And the truth is -- I hope I never have to use 'em.

useful -and- cute

Wesley has been battling an icky runny nose and cough and bouts of unpleasantness (aka he whines at the drop of a hat), so we're worried it's a cold and we're finally trying to get it taken care of. A toddler with congestion is just such a sad sight! Especially my sweet little toddler.

The nurse at the pediatrician's office recommended getting a cool-mist humidifier. I have, in the past, resisted the urge to get a humidifier since we just don't need more stuff, but we finally figured we might as well invest in one since this probably won't be the only time Wesley will be sickly.

I had seen this little guy in a magazine awhile ago and knew if I had to have a humidifier, it might as well be as fabulous as this:


That's the frog. I had no idea the line of humidifiers gets even better!

There's the pig:


The cow:


The dragon (which I hadn't seen before yesterday; check out the shifty eyes):


The elephant (my favorite actually):


The penguin:


And the one we came home with yesterday, the duck:


There are lots of options online, but it turns out the stores only carry one or two kinds, usually the frog and cow. Bed Bath & Beyond had the duck, and it matches the red, yellow, and blue of Wesley's nursery, so we went with it.

But dang, aren't these things CUTE?! Come over anytime to see Wesley's fancy humidifier. Or, well, wait until he's feeling better.

time to reflect

I think it's time for a break from our regularly scheduled programming for my favorite quote, probably of all time. I love this. It gives me such strength -- often. It's in my scriptures and everytime I happen upon it, I read it. I need it.

There are few of us, if any, who don’t walk the refiner’s fire of adversity and despair, sometimes known to others but for many quietly hidden and privately endured. Most of the heartache, pain, and suffering we would not choose today. But we did choose. We chose when we could see the complete plan. We chose when we had a clear vision of the Savior’s rescue of us. And if our faith and understanding were as clear today as it was when we first made that choice, I believe we would choose again.

Therefore, perhaps the challenge is to have the kind of faith during the hard times that we exercised when we first chose. The kind of faith that turns questioning and even anger into acknowledging the power, blessings, and hope that can come only from Him who is the source of all power, blessings, and hope. The kind of faith that brings the knowledge and assurances that all that we experience is part of the gospel plan and that for the righteous, all that appears wrong will eventually be made right.

Richard C. Edgley, For Thy Good, April 2002

Keep on keeping on, everyone.

looking the part

Many of you are probably aware I am a Dancing with the Stars fan (I'm not crazy obsessive, but I enjoy it), and after its debut I've been thinking about the rigors of training the celebrities and professionals undertake to succeed on such a show. And I just think, it would be really wild to be in a profession or a situation where your professional or situational success is so very closely tied to your personal health and hygiene.

Basically, these people are doing intense cardiovascular exercise that they need to be able to sustain in order to succeed. Can you just imagine it? Can you imagine your success as a professional being directly related to how healthy you are? How fit you are? How fast you can move? Or even, to some extent, what you look like?

I actually have been thinking about this for awhile, since (ahem) in our home we watched Shaq Versus this summer. For those of you who missed this televisionary summer gem, Shaquille O'Neil was so convinced of his excellence as an athlete that he challenged other athletes -- the best in their respective sports -- to take him on. He boxed against Oscar de la Hoya, he swam against Michael Phelps, he played volleyball on the beach against Kerri Walsh and Misty May.

I first started thinking about this when we were watching Kerri and Misty take on Shaq. Kerri had a baby like two months earlier, and Misty had an Achilles tendon issue and had been injured for months. Kerri still looked pretty fit, but Misty, surprisingly, didn't. She hadn't exercised for months! And here these gals were, gold medalists, now being put back into the spotlight and expected to be just as awesome as in their heyday. They, of course, kicked Shaq's pants, but it took some time for them to warm up and understandably they made mistakes along the way.

It just hit all me so strongly: These are people who are only good at their jobs if they are in shape, fit a certain physical profile, and are not injured! What pressure!

So who fits in this category? Any athlete. Any actor/actress. Any entertainer really (even singers, circus clowns, stuff like that). Fitness instructors, mountain climbers (Bear Grylls!), lifeguards, the list could go on.

I just think for me, it would be so hard to do something like that and not take it all so personally. How would you differentiate "yourself" from "your job" ?? You couldn't! Anytime you wanted to eat a piece of pizza, you'd have to realize that you'd pay for it on the volleyball court or dance floor.

Think about actors and actresses. They are expected to play a part, to turn themselves into someone else. Yet, most of the time, the "someone else" at least has the same physique and hair color and gender as their own person. But not always! Did you realize that the actress that plays Bella in the Twilight movies has green eyes? But the movie required brown eyes, so she wore contacts. And, did you know Renee Zellweger gained like 50 pounds or something to pay Bridget Jones? I never saw any of those movies, but I read an interview with her where she said how hard it was to gain weight, and she had to make herself eat donuts every day! I mean, wow! These ladies had to alter their personal person to fit the profile for their jobs.

I just think it's an interesting concept. I go to work, I sit in a desk, and my success is based on the intellectual decisions I make that help my company make money. These people, when they "go to work," their success is based on how they look, how well they perform, how fit they are.

And, if I can say one more thing about all this, didn't Kelly Osbourne just blow you away last night? For anyone who missed it.... generally, Dancing with the Stars has its favorites, its fan-favorites, and what I'd call its "throw away" contestants. There are people who are GOOD, people who are POPULAR, and people who are there because the producers like to keep it interesting, but we know they won't win.

Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne's daughter, would totally be put in the last category, right? She is punky, she's a rocker, her hair was pink for crying out loud. She's a kid, she's overweight, she's been in this "box" her whole life, and no one would expect her to succeed on a show like this.

But holy cow, she blew everyone away last night. What she did on the dance floor was absolutely amazing, and all of us watching could not believe our eyes.

I think Kelly is an inspiration to all of us who feel like we have been put into a "category" for our lives, and who would love to break out, but it's too hard or too strange or we'd just take it too personally. She's amazing; she's using her body and willpower to do something no one would expect. She's taking a leap of faith that for once, she won't be judged on her intellect or personality (which one could argue is brusque at best anyway!), and instead how she looks and dances and entertains.

In any case, I suppose I'm grateful I have my personality and humor and intellect to get me by. It would take a lot of discipline to be an athlete or actor or circus clown or lifeguard. But on the other hand, I imagine it's rewarding to push your body to the limits and achieve something great. Maybe that's something I would like to experience. When I've given up donuts.

it's beyond rude

What a week it's been. I'll apologize in advance for the tone of this post. I guess I'm scared, frankly, and it's a tough subject to breach.

Up until a day or so ago, I'd only been vaguely thinking about all the public outbursts that have been going on. Then, one news story put them all together as a collective, not just isolated incidents, and I sharply realized that some serious dissin' was going on here:

• Joe Wilson
• Kanye West
• Serena Williams
• Michael Jordan

All that just in a week? Wowsers. Then this morning I read this article in the Seattle Times with a headline of "What's with all the rudeness?"

So. Let's think about it. What is with all the rudeness? Some quotes from the article, and my thoughts:

"[Kanye West] posts an apology to [Taylor Swift] on his blog. He publicly ruined her moment and forever tied [him]self to it. And [he didn't] give her the consideration of saying [he was] sorry personally, but, instead, [he said] it to [his] own fans? ... It was such an inconsiderate way of dealing with the situation."

This is interesting. Kanye West interrupts and embarrasses Taylor Swift (well, he embarrassed himself actually, but it was pretty mortifying for her, as well) at the MTV Video Music Awards, and so he apologizes to his fans whose opinions he desperately values. We don't know if he actually apologized to her. The same could be said about Joe Wilson. He apologized to Obama for his outburst, yet refused to apologize to Congress. In both cases, someone wasn't apologized to who arguably could have demanded an apology.

The lesson here? If you made a mess by being rude, you'd better be darn sure that an apology doesn't come off as rude as well. For Kanye (who I have never thought highly of), at the end of the day, it still appears as if he only cares about himself.

Another incident discussed in the article:

"Even the usually calm, cool Roger Federer used profanity Monday during the men's final at the U.S. Open, telling a chair umpire: "Don't tell me to be quiet, OK? When I want to talk, I talk."

This was the quote in the article that got all this introspection started for me. Look at what Federer (an excellent tennis player) says: When I want to talk, I talk. When I want to do anything, I do it. It doesn't matter who, what, when, why, where, how, I do what I want to do whenever I want to do it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the problem with society (and people) today.

I truly believe that sometimes it is better to just shut your mouth. Sometimes it's better to give people the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it's better to just let it go for crying out loud, and realize you are not always right. Sometimes it's better to go against your natural instincts because you are actually wrong and another way is better.

Shane and I have been talking about this lately, and it's kind of scary. Take the environment and cars, for example. We all know there is a finite amount of oil in the world. We all know one day it'll run out. We all know huge gas guzzlers use a lot of oil and aren't helping the situation any. But when it comes down to it, people just don't want to change. We expect the government to regulate the car industries and make automakers more accountable for their vehicles, but the government isn't asking the people to make any changes. Are we being forced to drive less? Bike more? Buy better cars? Invest in alternative energy sources? No, we're not being forced. Sure, we're encouraged to do these things with this "cash for clunkers" program and that "subsidized public transportation" program, but in the end, the American people, in general, are the same as they were in the '70s. Or worse. It appears to me that the people of this country have a standard of life and darn it, they don't want to give it up. And if any government agency tries to make us change, we're going to complain.

I think Roger Federer is saying the same exact thing. If I want to mouth off, I do it. If I want to drive as Escalade even though I have exactly one kid and the vehicle is a larger than a studio apartment in downtown Seattle, I do it. If I want to buy a latte every morning even though I can't afford to pay my medical bills, I do it. No one should stop me from doing what I want to do -- even if it makes no sense, and it would so much easier if I could but learn to control myself a little bit.

The lesson here? Things are never going to change unless we as a society change our mentality. We can't be all about "me." We've got to start thinking of 1) other people!, 2) society as a whole, and 3) how our actions affect everyone else -- because they do. Sometimes when you want to talk, Roger, you just shouldn't.

Did you guys see A Beautiful Mind? Russell Crowe's character, he has this crazy idea. I might get it wrong but I'll try to sum it up here: three guys are in a bar and in walk four girls -- one blonde, three brunettes. Although the blonde is clearly the most desirable, if one of the guys goes after her, it sets off a series of unpleasant events: the other girls get jealous, the guys get competitive, everyone scuffles to pair up, and overall it's a big mess. However, if the three guys each take one of the brunettes, each of the guys end up with a girl, and they are all happy (well except for the blonde, but I'm sure she gets another guy in the bar anyway). His theory was that even though you're not getting exactly what you want (since guys all want the blondes anyway, right?), you are getting something that is good for you and good for the entire group.

Selflessness. Self-mastery. Self-control. I seriously think every problem we have in the world today can be traced back to a lack of these characteristics. Heck, communism would work as a form of government if everyone's intentions were pure. But they're not. People are selfish. They abuse the system. They demand power; they demand their way or the highway.

Back to the article:

"This is the rudest time I have seen," Baldridge said. "We were taught in school how to be kind when I was a child. The schools just don't teach that anymore. We simply have to learn self-control. That's what distinguishes us from our animal friends in the forest.

We think the younger generation has no manners, which is what our parents thought about us, and their parents thought about them."

So what's the answer? I don't know. It's such a hard one. I want to teach my child to be selfless. Not to be rude. To hold his tongue and not hurt other people's feelings. To be a good steward of the environment. To not spend more than he earns. To deal honestly with his fellow man.

But is my son just going to get trampled on in that big bad world out there? I know it's worth it to teach him these values, but are these values just laughable? In the "get-rich-quick" schemes at the peak of the housing boom, did anyone consider that selling mortgage-backed securities wasn't honest? It was making money out of nothing? It was just greed? And if they did realize that, why didn't they do something about it? Then it all fell. I think that's what I mean when I say so much of the world's problems center around this issue. If we as a society could get over ourselves, things would be better.

I'm not immune. I'd like a huge house that I don't need, a fancy cell phone I don't need, a lot of stuff I don't need, power I don't need, a ginormous salary and bonuses I don't need, etc. It's easy to get swept away and feel like I deserve these things simply for being American. I deserve to be able to run my mouth simply for being marvelous me.

So. There it is. We -- myself included! -- need to get over ourselves. We don't have to right to stomp on anyone, or anything, else. As powerful as we are as the human race, you think we should show a bit of power over ourselves.

i want to help

I'm feeling something new. Different. Maybe God is trying to nudge me.

My newest obsession is borrowing movies for free from the library. The other day a familiar title caught my eye, and I brought it home. Shane and I snuggled up Friday night with a blanket and some popcorn... and what followed I did not expect. My mind was blown.

We watched The Kite Runner. My boss is in a book club and she read the book several years ago, and I remember her telling me about how it was just so sad. I'm not really into historical fiction, but when I heard they made it into a movie I figured I could at least watch that. Controversy surrounded the film, since it takes place in Afghanistan, the child actors are Afghan, and it covers some pretty sensitive subjects. If you've seen the movie, you know. It's a heavy heavy film (I'm sure the book is even more thought-provoking), that especially strikes me as a mother, since a lot of the injustices in the story occur against children.

I've been thinking the last couple days about how this works: atrocities abound all over the world, but we in the cushy U.S. of A don't really know about it until a movie is made (even though I do read the paper every day but tend to glaze over the foreign affairs sections; go figure). Hotel Rwanda affected me, Blood Diamond affected me, these dramatic (and somewhat historically true) movies affect me, of course. Thank you, Hollywood.

But then what?

I guess, for me, there must be something more. This hasn't happened before, so I'm just figuring it out for myself. There must be some subconscious x-factor that actually makes me want to do something about it. I think The Kite Runner did that for me. I want to help.

(Tangent: let's really think about this. Do movies motivate us to act often? I remember watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and being motivated to read the book. I suppose several movies have motivated me to read the books. But other stuff? Did I want to run out and play soccer after watching Bend it Like Beckham? Did I want to study U.S. history after watching National Treasure? Did I want to learn a musical instrument after watching Mr. Holland's Opus? I guess I haven't really thought about it.)

To add to the fact that I think this is something I need to be doing right now, just today I was reading the 100 emails in my junk email account and came across this amazing article. It's a compilation of stories of Latter-day Saint women profiled in a new book, and several of these women were in the cross hairs of these international atrocities. One woman was tortured in the Philippines, one woman went on convoys to Bosnia, one woman was arrested in Armenia. I just can't get over it. These brave women -- who had the gospel -- lived the life every day and managed to keep smiles on their faces. Would I be so strong? Do I realize that this is happening every day, all over the world? To women and mothers and Church members just like me?

So here I am, living a sweet life. Currently I am smelling brownies in the oven, listening to my sweet baby chatter to himself as he falls asleep, feeling grateful I remembered to change the sheets on the bed this morning. By comparison, a ridiculously sweet life.

I want to help. Have any of you experienced this? What organizations do you trust? Do you just make a couple hygiene kits or leprosy bandages and send them off and feel good about yourself? I think I want more. I'm not sure. This is new. But I want something. I can't just sit anymore.

A PSA on The Kite Runner DVD cites www.takepart.com to help people get started. You can research low-impact farming, solar energy, whaling, and every other social issue under the sun. I know the Church also has an excellent humanitarian aid program with various efforts people can help with. I guess I'll start there. I've got to start somewhere.

I have been given so much, I need to do this.

15 months

My sweet little man had his 15-month appointment this week! He's all grown up. The stats:

• 21 lbs 9 oz, the 20th percentile for weight (WOW! considering he's been in the 3rd percentile his entire life)
• 31 in tall, the 50th percentile for height (DOUBLE WOW)

The latest and greatest:

• We have a walker! He's almost a runner. He loves to toddle and fall on his bum or trip and get right back up. Here's a video for the grandmas of us at Jetty Island a week or so ago:
  
  

• He loves to make noise. He screams and chants and babbles and it's just gorgeous music to my ears. I love it.
• He loves to say "Hi," and is doing very well mimicking our sounds. The other day I was reading to him about a duck and he said, "duhhh," and another time I said the oven was hot, and he said "haaaa." We're getting close to real words, I can feel it!
• He is still a picky eater; he tends not to want to try something, but then as soon as he tries it and realizes he likes it, he'll gobble it up. I usually feel like I'm forcing just the smallest taste into his mouth.
• Another thing he loves to do is watch us, and when we have just taken a nice refreshing swig of a watery beverage and say, "ahhhhh," in relief, his eyes will light up and he'll say "ahhhhh!" -- an exact imitation of us. Or, he'll take a swig of his own beverage and say "ahhhhh." It's CUTE.
• When he's all done eating, he "clears his place" by throwing all the remaining pieces of food one by one into the floor, or running his hand over his tray really fast to brush everything on the floor. Um, it's awful, I hate it. I always tell him in a stern voice how that "disappoints mommy," but he usually thinks that's hilarious.
• Still no baby signs. Maybe this week I'll try really hard, one last gung-ho push, to at least get a "more" or "all done" out of him. Usually he signifies he's all done eating by the shenanigans of the previous bullet, and pulling his bib off and tossing it to the floor.
• His newest favorite thing: pulling my dish towels off of the oven door handle and dragging them all over the house. It makes me crazy.
• Pretty much anytime we (or anyone for that matter) say "good job!" or "yay!," he starts clapping. He claps a lot!
• He's finally getting more and more wisps of white hair in the back of his head.
• We're up to 15 teeth now -- the front 8, 4 molars, and 3 of the canine teeth. Just one more canine and one more set of 4, and his mouth is FULL! Wesley has one little friend -- his age! -- with ZERO teeth!
• He loves to take his balls and rings -- hard plastic toys -- over to the kitchen and throw them on the floor and listen to them bounce. It's something about the sound I think. He does this all day. He loves to bring all his toys into the kitchen.
• He loves to pull his books off the shelf and flip the pages and "read" them. It's so cute. I've even noticed that if the book is upside down, he notices and rights it. Impressive!
• He loves crawling all over, jumping on, closing, and pulling things out of the dishwasher. Is it funny it seems his favorite spot in the house is the kitchen?
• He is an excellent sleeper (12 hours a night and one 3-hour nap daily), and we are currently working on weaning him from the pacifier. He took a nap without one today, and he has been put down to bed without one for the last week or so. Those naps are just so precious, I get nervous jeopardizing them. But we're working on it! I figure it's easier now when he still can't be "reasoned" with, i.e., I don't have to explain anything to him and it's still in mom's control.
• He likes putting both fingers up both nostrils at the same time. Oh dear. At the fair the other day, I was waiting in line for ice cream and when I got up to the front, the gal said, "your little boy is so funny. He's got both his fingers up his nose." And I just laughed. That's my son... picking his nose in public.
• He also likes taking both hands and covering his ears at random times. We can't figure out why. Maybe because the muted sound feels funny?
• He loves to laugh. We tickle him lots. In fact, dad is doing lots of tickling right now as I write this. He's so dang happy!
• Mom and Wesley have started having Family Home Evenings on Monday nights! It's a work in progress, but it's fun. I'm following the Church's FHE guide. My M.O. is generally to find some toy of his that I can parallel to the lesson and use it as an object lesson. For example, we played with a shape sorter while I explained that keeping the commandments helps guide us to where we want to go. Make sense? We'll see. Tomorrow I'm going to use various assorted rubber duckies to explain how we're all different but all children of God.
• Here's a cute, super-short video of him in a perfect Wesley-sized rocking chair (he figured out what to do!):
  
  

I guess that's enough for now! I could go on all day! We just love him so much. We're so lucky. Today after Church I wanted to be so mad and frustrated at him (since he pretty much just screamed the entire third hour), but his big eyes are so blue and his precious face is so sweet, I just couldn't be mad. I love him so much! I can't imagine my life without the Wesley background noise. It's beautiful. Here are more of my favorite recent summery pictures:

We love our Wesley!

so many books, so little time

My current reading list for your consideration:

• I just finished: Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer (on to Breaking Dawn?)
• I read a chapter every Sunday: Jesus The Christ, but James E. Talmage
• I just got from the library: In the Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan (thanks to Danielle for the recommendation; I'm looking forward to it)
• I'm in the middle of: Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert (SO FUN! my favorite part so far is the profanity-laden Italian soccer match, which had me laughing forever)
• I started ages ago but then my brain stopped working: The Complete Book of Wills, Estates, and Trusts, by Alexander A. Bove (I was reading this when Michael Jackson died and actually was excited since I knew what was happening to his assets!)
• I read a chapter here, a chapter there: Covenant Hearts, by Bruce C. Hafen (motivates me to be a better wife and all)
• I try to read every day, of course: the scriptures, mostly the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenents right now
• (this just in! breaking news!) I just put on hold at the library because Whimsy is doing an online book club: The Solace of Leaving Early, by Haven Kimmel

I thought the list, although well-rounded and intriguing, was a bit ridiculous -- a little much. Either I can't commit, I love to multi-task, or I'm just plain scatterbrained. I don't think it's because I'm bored. These books are all really interesting and good. But c'mon! If I piled these puppies together, the result would be a stack of books more than two feet tall!

There was recently a "chain note" going around Facebook encouraging you to post the 15 best books you had read in your life. I started the note actually, but am still working on it. Some ones for the list, for sure, include The Belgariad by David Eddings (actually 5 books -- my favorite books), Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura, and I Don't Know How She Does It, by Allison Pearson (recommended to me by Marianne). Those are just a few of many, of course. Maybe that's a blog post for another day.

(Interestingly, I noticed the chain note about books somehow morphed into a chain note about the 15 best movies you've ever seen... I guess for those people who didn't read the book...)

Whew, that's enough links for one post. I'd love your comments on what's on your list now, if it's too much for you to handle, what I should read next, what you favorite book is, etc.

evergreen state fair

Although Wesley is refusing to go back to sleep after his 15-minute powernap in the car, I am choosing to ignore him and pray he does go back to sleep and instead write this blog. Ah.

Today we went with our cool friend Christi and her bebe Emily to the Evergreen State Fair! I feel like a blob since we live in the coolest state ever, and yet we hardly ever do stuff. (Do we hike Mt. Rainier? No. Camp at Deception Pass? No. Stalk vampires in Forks? No. Kitesurf in the Sound? No.)

The fair was a great place to start. A friend of mine has a booth there and got us a free parking pass (saved $10!) and I got my ticket ahead of time from a drug store (saved $2.50!) Please note that despite my enthusiasm for saving, what we saved was promptly spent on wonderful food, including but not limited to, a corn dog, the hugest lump of curly fries I've ever seen, corn on the cob, an elephant ear, ice cream cone, and kettle corn as a souvenir.

Some highlights:

The Snohomish County Department of Agriculture had a cool booth where you could make your own creature out of Snohomish-County-grown vegetables. I laughed and of course immediately began my creature. You can see my creature is way less cool than some of the others left for display. (Check out the broccoli/carrot/green bean man in the bottom left corner there. I love it!)

I don't know what you call this, but it's when two guys on a log in water try to knock the other guy off the log. It was super fun to watch. Log rolling maybe? They try to mess up the other guy by like splashing water on him with their feet, changing directions, etc. It was fun!

This was a cool demonstration; we got to see guys with gigantic chainsaws carving wooden stumps into cute bears that you'd buy for your cabin in the mountains. I am pretty sure my in-laws have one. It was loud and of course totally something a baby boy would be intrigued by. Unfortunately there was a bit of sawdust so we didn't hang out long.

Of course, Wesley enjoyed the livestock. We have only read about these cool animals in books! "Tingo" the goose was especially fond of Wesley and Emily and "barked" at them for awhile. I got a funny video of it. Wesley clapped when he saw the sheep. We also saw HUGE dairy cows with HUGE udders (which means so much more to me as a post-nursing mother), horses, goats, ducks, roosters, rabbits, whew.

I was most impressed, of course, with the "country fair" entries, especially the fancy cakes. I am SO doing a movie-theater-themed party at some time and making THESE -- that's right folks, they are cupcakes! COOL!

We felt obliged to do some sort of carnival "ride," so we put our little bebes on ponies. Wesley was cool with it. He was super belted in; I didn't even have to hold him, but I was right there. He had a funny look on his face the whole time, like he couldn't figure out if he was on the brink of tears or squeals of delight. He rode "Derby" the pony. I bet those ponies get super bored going around in circles all day long. Ahh the life of a carnival pony.

Some more fun pictures of my little toddler at the fair:

The fair was 100% reminiscent of my days as a kid, and I have vowed to do more awesome things in the fabulous state in which I live. It was also a gorgeous day (when we thought it would be cloudy and drizzly), so we lucked out. We had a super time! Thanks Christi!

too few, too many?

This blog post covers something pretty personal. I debated whether to post it, but here goes. I guess I’d like your feedback and thoughts.

This weekend I was at my in-laws’ home in the TriCities. The Mormon Church is very strong there and there are lots of members and churches. Their ward newsletter did an introductory blurb on a new family in the ward – with eight children. The oldest was 15 and the youngest was 5 months.

I was aghast. And I wondered why I was aghast. I’ve heard of ginormous Mormon families before, but I guess I don’t see them a lot in Seattle so I forgot that they existed or something. In fact, in Utah, it’s not uncommon for any given mother to be pregnant at the wedding of one of her oldest children! It happened to one of Shane’s roommates.

To explain this, I think the general consensus is that Mormons take very literally God’s commandment to “multiply and replenish the Earth,” and they feel they need to do their part by having lots of kids. One could possibly say that a “more righteous” couple could handle more kids, since the couple would be blessed from following God’s commandments and would be able to handle all those kids. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I know there is a culture in the Church to have families and enjoy families. I don’t get the sense of “smugness” from families with lots of kids – for the most part.

But if you consider it from the outside looking in, I’d have to say here in Seattle, I know a lot of people (usually non-Mormons) who frown upon big families simply because of environmental concerns. It’s pretty obvious that the more kids you have, the bigger your carbon footprint is going to be. They call it “irresponsible” or “not Earth friendly.” Do I think this is silly? Maybe.

I guess I’m pro-families, and I figure that if a parent has enough love to go around, then go for it! As long as parents know all their kids’ names and can give them the individual time they need, then why not? Of course, the more kids in a family, the harder that will be.

Several of my friends expecting #2 are struggling with the concept of that “alone time” that they had with their first child that the second child will never get. And it’s true. The more kids you add to the mix, the less 100% mom or dad time each of them get.

(I worked in Primary once at Church with this little 6-year-old boy who had something like 10 older sisters. One day I put him on the spot and told him to tell me all of his sisters’ names, real quick! His eyes bugged out. He did it though, as fast as he could! It was cute.)

But anyway, back to me. So since this is my blog, how do I feel about this? Well, I have one kid, and truthfully I’ll be lucky to have two kids. My husband is happy with one, and we can honestly say to ourselves, “wow, our kid is so awesome, why push it?” It’s true. What if we get a real stinker next time? We’ve been so lucky with Wesley.

But if I think about me, and my life, I guess I always thought I’d have a slew of kids. I came from a family of three, so I figured I’d at least have two, probably three, and if I could handle it, maybe four. I suppose that’s always what I’d envisioned.

But my husband and I have a “let’s take it one kid at a time” policy, which means we make no concrete plans on “number” and instead reevaluate often. So, I’m feeling this pressure to keep our family small, even if part of me maybe wants a larger family.

Then, I realized, what about the woman with eight kids? Could she feels the same way I do? Of course, it is entirely possible that this was all her idea, but perhaps, it is also entirely possible that she feels pressure from her significant other to keep going, when maybe she’s exhausted.

The truth is, I don’t know. I can only look at her and wonder what is going through her mind. Maybe she feels incredibly blessed. Maybe she feels incredibly stressed.

The first gut reaction from me is disdain (“how could you DO that to yourself? Insanity!”) but instead, part of me feels a little envious (“she’s not afraid to have all those kids. Wow!). And yet, maybe she looks at me with my one little guy and feels either of those same emotions.

The obvious answer is that (similar to my last post!) we shouldn’t judge people. We don’t know what they’re going through. Yet, there is part of us (I know it’s there!) that sees huge families and either feels disgust or admiration or fear or pity or (insert emotion of your choice here). You never know what pressures people are under.

What do you guys think? Lots of kids all the way? Keep it at one for me? I don't care what you do, as long as you don't go on welfare so I'm literally paying for your procreative adventures?

(This just in; and they're not even Mormon!!!)