Pi Day to Patty's Day

Who doesn't want an excuse for a day of pies?? Though it WAS Friday (our normal date night), since Brian came home not feeling well & not up to much, and since I was having a strange bout of energy that day, I put together a Chicken Pot pie and Blackberry pie for dinner.  Emily's class had a big pie-eating celebration, and is working on memorizing as many post decimal digits as possible. 
The kids got to perform in the Davis County Music Competition.  They MAY have won if:
-Maddie had been here and not in Disneyland
-Brent had not missed 3 days of school and still been sick (I made him go since Maddie was already missing it)
 -Emily's certificate/scoring sheet had not gotten lost at the bottom of the stack until after the winners' recital, or
-Spencer had practiced a bit more (did I say that?--no, they all did great, but it's been a crazy season :) )

Maddie WAS in Disneyland for an Orchestra trip (she really stuck it out in Orchestra these past 4 years, I think, JUST for this trip!!).  Her great "M-n-M" friend (Mandy) was there w/ her, and they have WAY too much fun together :).  We're SO glad Mandy moved in up the street last year! (even if she has stolen Maddie away from us!)

Maddie got home Sunday, after being gone for 5 days--I was fine at first with letting her go, but when I had to go drop her neck pillow off to her on the bus (it had fallen off of her suitcase in the van), I (first, felt like a spy, running through the dark searching 3 buses for her, and stealthily bypassing the chaperones and teachers to pass it over to her) suddenly got all choked up as I could imagine her leaving more permanently, and proceeded to sob a bit for the .5 mile trip home.

She did make it home in one piece, and even as quiet as Maddie may be (except for her Priday sneezes), we certainly noticed her absence! We didn't get to talk to her much when she got home b/c she was a bit sleep deprived:

 

And we may be more Scottish than Irish, but we love St. Patrick's Day! Green milk for breakfast, and corned beef, cabbage, and colcannon for dinner :)

AND, the job we've been so hopeful about was finally posted last week (great), but the payscale was about 25% LESS than what he had anticipated (compared to other County jobs offered, and the benefits listed publicly), so we felt like we'd had a real punch to the gut for a few days, as our expectations went reeling(not so great).  Brian is convinced that he wants to go back to Government work.  Positions do not open up that frequently, especially those looking for experience, AND for a pension to really be beneficial, he would need to start ASAP (or else work until age 100), so if this job comes and goes, locally, where he has the connections and reputation, there may never be another chance to go this route! WHEW!! Such a twist! We've looked hard at our finances, thought seriously of downsizing house-wise (but would have to stay in Syracuse b/c of City Council), and prayed and cried, and prayed and cried.  (okay, I did all the crying, I'm nice that way to Brian, doing enough for both of us).  As things always go with time, we're more calm now, and Brian DID apply last week, and looking closely, we feel like we can make things work either way, which IS a great blessing, and looming college and missions will even be okay too, with or without my losing sleep over things.
We also got to go to the temple last Saturday to do the sealings on my first batch of family names.  These were names that Dad had helped me get started on, and guided me through as I got stuck.  Even though they're 4th generation cousins, it was SUCH a fabulous experience feeling their definite presence there in the temple, and being reminded of things that are most important.  It was also precious to feel Dad's presence and involvement from beginning to end.  Boy, I often wish I could just forget the whole day to day stuff, and do that full-time!
This last week, we had our Utah-unique Caucus Meetings (leading up to the Primary Elections) at the high school, and I just love an outing of any kind, not to mention w/ neighbors and friends, and feeling like you're about to change the world a bit.  For date night the next day, Brian surprised me w/ a trip to another high school for a free performance of  "Taming of the Shrew."  We thought it would be a high school drama group, but it was NOT--they were PROFESSIONALS!!! hired by Utah Shakespeare Festival (on a tour to lots of schools), and they were FABULOUS!!! I was THRILLED, and we were both VERY pleasantly surprised! Very fun!
Jane's still a pretty great sleeper, but she's sporadic about sleeping all through the night--usually only about 1-2 days a week, and the rest she'll just wake up once.  It's hard to plan on getting too much done on any given day, but I can feel good about clean clothes and dinner made, and over the weekend, I was able to play some music for a young man's choir tryout, help a new family move in, and take some dinner to our new neighbors w/ a newborn--if I can't stay on a productive train here, it's at least nice to pitch in where I can elsewhere!--and let's face it, I'm a slow learner, but I've finally decided I'm only really happy worrying about someone else more than myself anyway.  Saturday I woke up SO tired (I think Jane had gotten up twice that night), and like a zombie, I literally crawled from closet to closet in the house, and managed, even in my sleep-deprived state, to clean out bathroom, linen, and medicine cupboards, and then clean out under my bed and in my closet--it was actually a great time for it, since I was mildly grumpy, it was easy to just keep throwing things away. :) Here are some pic's of the drawers and cupboards I did a few weeks ago (Emily loved helping me w/ labels)

Sounds great, except that I had the random thought this morning after feeding Jane at 4AM that I don't know where my wedding video (or small assortment of home videos on VHS) is!! I cleaned out all of our VHS videos when our VCR broke a couple of years ago or more, and I honestly don't know where I would've put the videos to keep!!! I hope those angels are silent notes AND videos taking--pretty sad! We did pull out what videos I had on dvd today though, from right after we moved into this house over 5 years ago, and the kids were DYING at how funny it was to see themselves so little, which made me happy AND tragically sad over those lost!

My favorite quote from church today was from a talk quoting Elder Anderson, "Faith is not a feeling, it is a DECISION." As I've struggled w/ doubt and worry this last little bit, I also tend to heap on myself guilt for NOT feeling more faithful and courageous.  I wish I could always face adversity w/ cheer and peace of mind, but this reminded me that I CAN have faith even if I don't feel it immediately, and it probably takes more courage that way anyhow.  If it came SO easily every time, it would hardly be faith!

And, just because she's our favorite reason to own a camera, and she changes by the hour, here's more Jane! Love her pouty face and the crazed look in her doting sister's arms :).

MARCH-ing on!

Emily had been SO excited to turn 12 and go to the temple, and she had a secret (at least at first) desire to have her first baptism trip be to the Salt Lake Temple, and THEN, the Young Women planned a trip TO Salt Lake right after her birthday, so she was SO-O-O excited,...until they had to cancel.  They were set to try again in January, but they started with just Laurels, so by the end of February, I knew, baby or not, we needed to plan a trip for her.  We planned for the first Saturday of March, and I was SO grateful as I started dabbling back into Family History (after a YEAR!!) to find 2 cousins that needed baptisms from that Hefner line Dad had coached me in.  It was a brother and sister that Dad had actually submitted, so it was nice to include him in things too :).  That morning Brent AND Maddie both got up and dressed, then realized that both of their recommends had expired (the DAY before--typical temple resistance!), but Maddie was fine to accompany me to the Family History Library w/ the younger ones, and Brent worked on jobs at home after his last basketball game.  It ended up just being Brian and Emily, and they each just did the one name, but still a great day.  I looked (without finding) for a name on Brian's side that's had us stuck at the awesome Family History Library (that was SO MUCH MORE kid-friendly than I expected!), but even w/ coloring and kids webpages, their limit was reached, so we met up w/ Brian and Emily as they were coming out, and spent some time in the Children's are of the Church History Library before getting Siegfried's sandwiches on the way home :). 

(Love this picture of them walking to the temple!) and hard to see, but Anne's kneeling in front of some purple crocuses!--first signs of spring!

Sweet Emily bore her testimony in Sacrament Mtg the next day, of the peace she felt at the temple. Then, that night, we had a great treat of Elder and Sister Nelson coming to a stake Family Fireside!! We asked the family if they wanted to get their (very) early for good seats, and maybe a chance to shake an Apostle's hand, and they all agreed to try.  We got there when the doors opened, and enjoyed having the last soft bench in the chapel. We kept popcorn and snacks in the van that the kids would go out in shifts to eat while a few stayed on the bench.   Emily was sad we didn't get in line fast enough to shake his hand afterwards, but they had great messages--of making our lives holy, and just doing our best at living the Gospel, even when not everything is perfect all at once, and of the Eternal Significance of FAMILY and TEMPLE.  Elder Nelson left us with a blessing to hunger and thirst after the word of God, and a blessing of healing for those seeking it.  Such a great thing to hear from an apostle!--we really had a good taking advantage of Utah weekend!

I taught Sunday School today, such a fun lesson, as the sole female teacher, to be able to cover all of the weddings, women, and babies of Genesis 24-29, and living up to our birthrights.  To me it was a lesson on the importance of priorities, and keeping that focus on what is most important.  I love the verse in Genesis 24 (27) describing Abraham's servant, that because he was where he should be "in the way" ,"the Lord led [him]."  Then with all of the importance and effort of marrying in the covenant, and the trading of Esau's birthright for a bowl of pottage, I started with the example of Mom and Dad's wedding.  I shared how I love that I grew up hearing that Mom made her own wedding dress, and that it turned out a little shorter than perfect, and that she "picked" her wedding colors just by which nice fabric was on sale for the bridesmaid's dresses, AND that she just didn't remember CARING about all of that too much, because she was so amazed at the prospect of getting married to Dad, and marrying HIM is what mattered, and marrying him in the temple WAS taken care of.  So opposite to a world full of magazines and TV shows dedicated to getting the perfect dress, the perfect cake, the perfect decorations, and missing what matters most :).

Salmon was on sale this week, so Brian treated us to, I'm not kidding, POMEGRANATE BALSAMIC GLAZED SALMON for dinner today! So delish, AND he heard that a new prosecutor job should be posting this week, so we are quite hopeful at the prospect of him getting back into government work! We shall see, but in the meantime, we'll enjoy these unseasonably warm days and LOTS of rain we've been having after fasting to overcome threats of a drought this summer.  The hope of Spring feels SO good!

JANE

 Here are the results from Little Jane's photo shoot (in her bedroom!) thanks to a talented young man in the ward.  We love our little Jane! We heard her first laugh on Brian's birthday (Jan 5), she rolled over for the first time right at 2 months, always has lots of smiles for her family, has just taken to vocalizing long speeches for us that we LONG to understand :), and she is generally a good-natured, easy-going darling (I think she'd have to be to survive here!). Love the quilt she's on that (my) Mom made for her! (sorry I couldn't figure out how to rotate!)