In Vain

Over the course of the last few months, I have come across some wonderful blogs, amazing writers and touching stories, one of which is A Daily Scoop, written by Stephanie Waite, a young mom who lost a little girl at the age of 17 months. Her writing is brilliant and she wrote a post titled "In Vain."

She writes that whenever they speak the name of her deceased daughter, it is always with reverence. Then she compares it to the way we speak of our Lord, Jesus Christ. She knows the pain of losing her precious daughter, and always wants those to speak of her tenderly and with reverence. She ponders on how our Heavenly Father must feel when His children use His holy Son's name irreverently and disrespectfully.

I've been pondering the words of that post for weeks. When we speak of sweet Ella, we do so with tenderness and reverence. Her name will always be precious to us. She will remain a sacred special piece of our hearts forever.

Do I do the same with my Savior Jesus Christ? I have never spoken His name in vain. But I have covenanted to take His name upon me. Do I demonstrate respect, honor and reverence for His name through my daily actions?  Do I take His name in vain by the way I act or speak?  Is His name precious to me? Do I hold in the same sacred regard my brothers and sisters?

I've often reflected on this and pray that my life will always honor His holy name, thereby honoring and respecting my Heavenly Father.

A la the Snapple Commercial-Stuff

I giggle every time I watch the Snapple commercials......So here's the Stuff....

Hung out with these guys a couple of days last week while mommy was gone. (photo taken at my house)

LOVE this photo. Look at the concentration. Mom---this is Jen's youngest. Can you believe it??? Dontcha just want to nibble on those chubby cheeks??

Got some fake hydrangeas for my tablescape. Since there is no way in this life I'll ever be able to grow real ones here in AZ, I have to content myself with the fake. Momza-do I need a few more? Do they need to be taller? (I didn't cut their fake stems)

Finished this top--now I need to quilt it!

There is something so satisfying about going outside and selecting a few items from my garden to add to my dinner..... These are onions and cilantro.  You narthern folks.....you gotta grow something this summer! Really-it's super fun! The "bowl" in the photo is my salad spinner, an indispensible item in my kitchen inventory. A necessary tool when you garden and/or eat lots of veggies...plus they're cheap!

Not pictured......doing lots and lots of reading about eating healthy, went to a couple of classes, lots of church stuff, hanging out with kids stuff.....the usual momstuff.......

Color du Jour

Recently I bought a t-shirt that was a little bit different color than I usually wear. To my surprise, I got a multitude of compliments on the color! Something about how it matched my eyes, etc. The color is:

Please ignore the awkward expression on my face and the neck wrinkles. And the poor lighting. Thank you.

Aqua blue. I'm finding that it makes me feel kinda "sparkly." I'm thinking that I need to have more of this color in my wardrobe.

So what's your color du jour and why???

**Tip of the day**
Do not, under any circumstances, spill green smoothies onto any type of fabric. It stains. It stains badly.
Please don't ask me why I know this.
Just trust me.
Don't do it.

My Life: A project in process....

Hi there, just checking in! I can come up with the most brilliant ideas for post topics (especially in the shower-my best thinking time), but when it comes to follow through-well, sometimes it ain't happenin'.

So my momma doesn't worry too much about me, here's another photo montage of the latest and greatest around here, as it appears at this exact moment......

Project in process....I passed by a Pottery Barn tablescape and fell in love with it. Of course it had about 10,000 more tchotchkes on it than my table does, but we gotta be real here people... cuz we be real people. One thing missing are the artfully arranged fleurs that need to be placed in the "vase." And I'm certainly not buying them from Pottery Barn, even at a 10% discount! (Thanks Jess for letting me use your 10% discount coupon so I could buy the "vahz" and placemats) (P.S. credit for fabric goes to Scrapbooks, Etc-yes a scrapbook store that carries fabric....) (P.P.S  credit for fabric choice goes to mwah---polka dot on reverse side-uber cute!)

Another project in process......refilling of the pool after acid wash. Pool boy says "it was the worst job he'd ever done." Meh....last year the pool boy from the same company told me that the plaster was in fine shape and I didn't need an acid wash.....hence the reason we waited another year.......(not looking forward to the water bill)  But the plaster is looking mighty white and sparkly!

Project in process???? What the?  My garden this year has been CRAZY. If you can't see it, there is a teeny tiny broccoli floret growing on the teeny tiny plant. Usually the plant is about 5 times this size when the fleur appears.......Freeze, warm, freeze, warm...that's been the name of the game. I think I'm going to have to buy lettuce again sooner this year too.....sniff . It's almost time for the spring/summer garden planting too.

Another project in process. ..... (do I sense a theme here?)

Project in process..... study of this book. They told us at the training meeting that it was a "treasure." Boy, howdy are they ever right!  I've gotten tons of inspiration just from the first two chapters!

Ever ongoing project in process. Eating healthier. Eating more green stuff....

Welp, there you have it. My ongoing life is an ongoing project.

And Blogger is being super dumb and not letting me manipulate my photos or line justification......

{sigh}

Back atcha' later!!

♥♥Team Ella♥♥

On this day of hearts and love, I need to share the fun day we had Saturday, February 12th! Our whole family participated in Ethan's Run. I mentioned it earlier in my blog and we had a FABULOUS time! What follows is a photo montage of our wonderful morning. We figured that we probably raised at least $1000 with our ginormous group of red-shirted warriors!!

 Team Ella!!! (minus a few team members)

 Ella's Mommy and Daddy

 10 K runners!

This was their first race evah!!

 Getting ready to run....

 Getting ready to run #2...

 And they're off!!

 Still smiling! No pain.......yet....

 The intense competition between the stroller pushers during the Fun Run.

 Proper headgear and eyewear is most important, at the risk of being acutely embarrassed.

 Crossing the finish line!  Mom faking a long hard run!

Our warriors finish, actually #2 finished before #1.............

 

We felt Ella's presence with us and had joy being together as a family and remembering her sweet, short life.

Titles and Updates

I dearly love reading other people's blogs and catching up on their lives. I get miffed when people don't update on a regular basis. Maybe I'm a voyeur or something?????  So why don't I update my own blog often? Maybe because I think my life is borrrrrinnng????? But I know that maybe many of you are absolutely fascinated with my life and are wondering........did the computer get fixed? .....how was the trip???.....is it warm there yet???.....how is her weird crazy diet going??......does she still love her ipad?........and other trivia that the world is waiting to hear about which leads me to...

The trip
The trip was great. We told everyone in San Diego we were there to warm up, which totally confused the San Diegoans (is that a word) because usually "Zonies" are there to cool down. Most of the time we drove around trying to find a great place for our annual family trek to the beach. We stayed in the Gaslamp Quarter, which unfortunately I found out later was "party central" and we are definitely not party animals. I think dozing off at 8:30 pm does not qualify us as partiers.... We visited Old Town, ate yummy homemade corn tortillas, nasty clam chowder, visited Little Italy (I had no idea there was a Little Italy in San Diego), my favorite jewelry shop in Coronado......all in all it was fun, relaxing and I didn't want to come home.

Electronic devices
Yes, the computer is back on track, poor thing it was severely infected. And one of my favorite things to do in our hotel room every morning was surf the net and read other people's blogs and my emails on my ipad. I'm sure you can get a mental picture of the two old folks lounging around their hotel room, with their granny/grandpa glasses and playing with their ipads. (or maybe it's a picture you want to forget?) Really fun-who needs a laptop?

The weather
We missed a lot of the coldness while in California and I think we are having a warm-up phase but I've heard that we are getting a cold down again. We covered the garden and tucked it all in before we left, but we've got to repeat the process again tomorrow night-if the weather forecasters are correct. My poor garden has not been a rousing success this year.

The weird crazy diet
Uh, yea, still on it. The doctor said, keep doing it. After I picked myself up off the floor sobbing, I resolved to keep going. The only problem is, there is no such thing in Little Italy as wheat-free pasta. And when you go into Panera Bread, there is no such thing as a breakfast without bread. Needless to say, I did my best, but fell off the diet wagon a few times. The problem was, that my tummy didn't feel so hot with a belly full of wheat filled raviolis.  Sheesh. Can't win for losin'.

Lather, rinse, repeat.
Remember the instructions on the shampoo bottle? That's also a definition of my life since we got home.

Still not feeling like I'm over the cough/cold/virus thingie.  Annoying. I'm tired of the raw, scratchy throat and stuffed head every morning, over and over and over.
Just got done redoing the visiting teaching list again.

Unexpected surprises
Two Sundays ago:  Picture in your mind, a branch president, conducting the opening of the priesthood meeting with your small Spanish branch. You begin the meeting, turn your head, and in walks a member of the First Quorum of the 70, and not just a member, but one of the 7 presidents of the 70. After you pick your teeth up off the floor, you welcome him warmly and turn the rest of the entire meeting over to him. Then you sneak out to tell the Stake President, who happens to be in a meeting in the other room. (true story) (for those of you reading who are not Mormon, the only thing I can compare this to is if the Governor or your State Senator walks into the middle of your local neighborhood watch meeting)

Uh yea, it was really exciting. I won't mention his name, except to say that his son moved into our little branch, and he is defintely Hispanic and if you want to go figure out who it is, go here .

Photo February
Many of my talented offspring and others, came up with the genius idea of doing a photo a day for February. I'm actually going to copy the idea, but since I'm always a day late and a dollar short, you are going to get a random sampling of my just downloaded photos off my iphone....eight to be exact....one for every day of the month so far (with an extra one thrown in for good measure)!

 New branch presidency last year.

Me eating a fried pickle last summer.

The Christmas dishes I bought.

Poor little cb's cut lip.

Snow clouds. Yes Virginia, it did snow in Arizona. Yes, I was driving while taking the photo, and please don't chew me out for doing that. I won't do it again!

The branch president took a picture of the Relief Society president during one of their meetings.

See the fountain? Yes, those are icicles. Yes, I took this from my car. No, I wasn't driving when I took it. It was taken last week in the middle of the day.

Huh? My foot in our rental car.

The leather pouch carried by my great-great grandmother's first husband. His name was Ezra Allen and he was murdered on his way back to Utah after participating in the Mormon Battalion. It carried gold he discovered in California. The pouch was given to his widow and she used the gold to get herself to Utah. She then married my great-great grandfather, had my great-grandfather...and so on and so forth. (if you go to San Diego you MUST see the Battalion exhibit-it's awesome!)

Okay-

Nuf said.

I hope my sanity is not seriously in question at this point.

Random Chilly Thoughts on a Groundhog Day Night

It's COLD! I know all you hearty souls in northern climes are snickering right now, but today was the lowest low in Phoenix history on February 2nd. A blustery 44 degrees! And who knows how cold it is with the wind chill! I don't know if Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow today, but it's definitely winter here-and looks like it will be for the forseeable future. It's a good thing I'm headed to San Diego! We need to warm up a little! Brrrrrr....

And here's hoping that I leave all viruses there, come home with a clean bill of health, and speaking of viruses, my lil computer is mighty sick-thinking good thoughts for the computer doctor.....

Signing off again from the iPad,

Me

Happy February 1st!

My confession today:
My computer is fried and in the computer hospital. I dearly hope it isn't fatal. So I'm writing my post today on my new favorite toy. If you haven't already guessed, it's one of those fancy schmalzy iPads. I don't like to be all braggy, so I haven't shared my delight over my Christmas present. TL is always incredibly generous to me on Christmas and sometimes it embarrasses me. (the kids are saying, yea right mom!)

So anyway,one of the perks of being the wife of a partner in my husband's business is the fact that often we are the beneficiaries of gifts and goodies, this year being new iPads, which the wives received. I say Yeah!

So why do I love my l iPad? #1 being the fact that I can read my emails, other people's blogs and surf the net while my beloved computer is in the hospital. l have download (so far) a half-dozen books on the kindle app, I've downloaded all the manuals for the Church in Spanish, I have the scriptures in Spanish and English, my calendar and to-do list in one easy place! One of my dark secrets is that I love to read in bed and I have a whole library of stuff to read on sleepless nights without turning on a light to disturb sleeping hubby.

So oops... I digress...

Happy February!

Here's hoping that the month of love is filled with hope and healing. January was tough. really tough. I think we are all ready for a break!

First on my agenda this month is a lil trip with TL on Thursday......
Can't wait!