Rainy Day

It was the most amazing rainy day today. It just about rained for three hours straight (and then some more off and on late afternoon through evening.) A monumental feat for Utah, not for Oregon. I lived in Oregon and England for some of my childhood, and it took YEARS of living in Southern Utah before I came to appreciate rain again.

Here are some things that, beyond the obvious (such as, maybe the always-dreaded drought will be vanquished because of this storm), I appreciated about the rain today:

1) That fresh RURAL dessert-rain smell. (Not be confused with a Vegas rain smell--it has a hint of the smell I am referring to, but with Vegas mixed in.)
2) The rain finally washed the nasty smudges from my windshield. (I won't describe them to you, that would be...unpleasant.)
3) The children got to see their first wild snails at ages 5 and 3 because the rain encouraged them to come out of hiding. (Slimy, but still cool. They were by the car and we had to work hard not to run over them. We cheered for them after we backed out without crushing them.)
4) The children got to dance in the rain. (I liked hearing them giggle and I didn't have to get wet).
5) I got to listen to thunder and see some lightning. (I used to love to watch lightning storms off my parents' deck. Still do actually, just don't get the opportunity).
6) Related to number 5 but deserves it's own recognition: We got to drive through the storm and watch the lightning. (Nate and I had a very memorable date once "chasing" a storm in Cedar City. We listened to the Sister Hazel CD, Chasing Daylight.)
7) Our next door neighbors' yard looked like an English garden. (Our yard looked nice, but....it needs a little more love from us I would say...)

ps. I did not take the picture. It is meant to be a general representation of the desert rain.

Behold the Power of Iced Cream!

Once again ice cream is the unlikely ingredient that breaks down walls and creates camaraderie. The first time this happened to me was on my mission. I was having problems with one of my companions and was praying for help with it. Then I got a prompting to buy some ice cream. I said, "ok," and I picked some up on our way home for lunch. I was about half-way through the carton by the time the 2nd step of the plan occurred to me. I stared at my ice cream and thought, "I'm supposed to share this with my comp." So I told my comp I was done with it and offered him the rest. He looked at me with narrowed eyes and then took the carton. Happily, our companionship greatly improved after that.

Tonight was a similarly surprising answer to prayer involving ice cream. I've been trying to promote unity within my deacons' quorum because these guys are not exactly the Getalong Gang.
The guys really came together for this top secret ice cream restaurant stunt for our combined mutual activity. We used our very own money to buy ice cream and lots of toppings. We met at the church early to prepare all the stuff, just barely getting completing our preparations before everyone else showed up at the church. After the water-rocket launch activity we sprung our ice cream party on everyone. The deacons were way excited about the whole thing, and totally combined forces to get it done. It was almost as good as Remember the Titans.

Shampoo: The Continuing Story

For those of you who are interested in the continuing saga of my shampoo. I bit the bullet and bought the shampoo to the left. It smells quite nice. I'd even say it smells like pomegranates--just like the freshly opened pomegranate on the bottle. So I am appeased.

I did look at the other 'fancy' shampoos. In my new empowerment I was thinking of spoiling myself. I smelled the Herbal Essences. It smelled lovely. But I just could not purchase it when a perfectly good bottle of Suave was over on the other shelf, larger and cheaper. Add the fact that I go through shampoo far to fast. (The nasty coconut bottle is actually 3/4s of the way gone already.) The contest was over really quickly.

Now, one thing that I do not stint on is conditioner. I love Tresemme conditioner. It is so thick and smells so good and does it's job so well. I try to buy it on sale, but when I run out of my current bottle, I will pay top dollar if I have to. The nice thing is that it takes me so long to go through a bottle of this stuff.

When I did buy the bottle to the left, I spoiled myself. This kind of Tresemme is new to me. Notice how it also says 'naturals'. In this case I do not think it misleading. There is no freshly opened fruit on the bottle to mislead and it says "with sweet orange". Therefore I know that it probably doesn't smell just like an orange although it is influenced by them. As a customer, I feel satisfied.

One note that I have to make about Tresemme right here is that, if you are buying the original line every bottle of shampoo from "for colored hair" to "for fine hair", smells the same. Have you ever noticed that? I wonder if each bottle actually contains the SAME shampoo... Not sure how I feel about this. But as the conditioner works so well for me, I won't worry about it too much.

So, I bought the pomegranate shampoo, but I guess that wasn't empowering enough for me anymore because I also bought the hairspray to the left. In my defense, I really was out of hairspray. I suddenly realized: why care about how your shampoo and conditioner smells, if you buy stinky hairspray (which I usually do because it is cheap). So I bought this one on a chance that it would smell good......and it does! So far it also does what it purports to do on the bottle which is to give you a good strong hold while not being too much like a helmet. It even works in humidity apparently, but until I win a vacation to Florida or Hawaii, I'm afraid I can't test that. The price wasn't too bad either, about a dollar or so more than usual.

Unity

"Los hermanos sean unidos
Porque esa es la ley primera-
Tengan union verdadera
En cualquier tiempo que sea-
Porque si entre ellos pelean
Los devoran los de afuera"

Canto XXXII, Decimoseptima Sextina

Martin Fierro, de Jose Hernandez

Take Hold of My Strength

I had my 10 year class reunion over the weekend. We had a really good time. It was good to see old friends and experience that camaraderie we used to feel. The bonfire was a totally fun nightcap, and that couch was practically begging for a pyre. R.I.P. couch, R.I.P.

The reunion made me think about why exactly we feel attached to these people even after 10 years of going our mostly separate ways. I concluded that it was because we influenced each other through shared experiences over time. Some influences were for the good, some not so much. The people we really bond with are the ones that lift us up and strengthen us. We take hold of each other's strength.

As I pondered this, I made it the point of my scripture study that night. I thought about how marriages, families and quorums are supposed to be like that. The ultimate should be our camaraderie with Christ. This verse put it the way that made sense to me, "Let him take hold of my strength..." Isaiah 27:5

On a completely unrelated note, this guy has an amazing voice. It makes my raise my eyebrows and close my eyes and hold perfectly still. Sometimes it seems absurd that voice comes out of that body. He looks like a teenager, but sings like a 40 year old. The more I listen to the song, the more I think it could be like a 10 year reunion--except that instead of an island, its a small town we're coming back to.

Just keeping it random.

I will be happy when....

......this shampoo bottle in my shower is empty.

Now, you expect Suave shampoo to be just as good as the "leading brand" with all of those commercials they put out urging us to save our hard earned dollars and buy Suave. Now you would hope that a company selling products in our good country would be honest with the people. You would hope that it really does clean hair. Well I'm here to to tell you that it does clean my hair. That is not what I am complaining about. I am complaining about the false advertising that occurred when word "natural' was printed on the bottle.

Why do I complain about the use of this word, when it states on the bottle that it is "infused with coconut extract"? What I am wondering is this: How natural can the shampoo be if it does not even smell like coconuts? Shocking, I know. Do you want to know what it does smell like? Nasty, Cherry, Cough Medicine. The kind that you have to choke down. The kind that I complain about Ellie hating so much (that she throws it back up), even though I hate it too.

I have tried so hard every morning to ignore the picture on the bottle that looks like a freshly cracked open coconut. I have tried every morning to pretend that it smells like a delicious cherry shake. But, sadly, it just does not work. Words can not express the excitement I know I will feel when I am purchasing a delicous smelling, new bottle of shampoo.

Now, if you are going to make a product that doesn't smell/taste such as it is advertised, the least you can do is make it taste as good or better. Like, my new alcohol-free Western Family mouth wash that helps stop gingivitis. It tastes somewhat of root beer. I am pleased enough with it.

Antlions vs. Lester

Way back when we created this blog, we declared that we would keep it random. I think we haven't been random enough of late. So here is a story about a random antlion date. Last night Meridy and I had a much needed date. We were on our way to Zion/Springdale, but I decided to pull over in Rockville. Meridy and I like to take walks and look at houses together. Rockville has a lot of old and/or novel houses and yards, so we had fun. Eventually, we got to the cool old bridge. We read the plaque and were duly impressed. It turns out there are hundred of antlions under the bridge...right next to some ant holes...go figure. Here are some educational links for antlions.

I decided to show Meridy the wonders of nature, so I started helping the antlions out. Most of those antlions were hopeless. The ants escaped almost every time. One ant in particular was especially wily, clumsy, but wily. He was Lester. Lester kept stumbling into antlion holes, but he always got away. Billy was not so lucky.

Life out of Order

These are some pictures of our life the past few months, not necessarily in order because it is too difficult to put it in order. Sometimes you just have to let these things go. Like sometimes you have to wear flip-flops to church because, they should just be happy you even made it there today. (I almost wore flip flops to church today, but I could bring myself to do it. So I wore nice black shoes that didn't really match.)

So now you all get to play a really fun game! (This is a phrase that works well during sharing time. You tell the kids whatever you are doing is a game and they usually go along with it.) I'm going to make a list of things of note, that isn't necessarily all inclusive---(I had to say that for legal reasons),and you get to find if there is a picture (or pictures) that coordinate with said item on list. Some items do not have a picture associated with them. Sorry.

Ellie graduated Preschool.

I got called to be Primary President.

Emily came to visit with her kids. Fun times!

We celebrated the 4th of July with a softball game, fireworks in Hurricane and Cedar, whoopie pies, etc.

We did the previous thing all over again for the 24th sans the softball game and Hurricane fireworks.

We celebrated Will's birthday with a pool party and cake, and then again at my mom's house only without a pool.

Ellie got her tonsils removed!! She is looking so much better.

We went to lots of cousin birthday parties that we enjoyed.

We saw old friends, whom we miss.

We got really messy.

We got really messy again trying to potty-train Will.

We grew a garden....and we grew weeds.

We went on a little family overnight vacation to Cedar Mountain.

Nate worked all the time at the law office. His office is nice, you should go see it.

We were silly.

We went to the fair.

Ellie started Kindergarten. She loves it. Will was sad the first day. Then the next day he said, "Today I will not miss Ellie." He still loves her though.

New world, new love

I really like Paradise Lost (both the song by Symphony X and the book by Milton) but I confess that I can only take the book in small chunks. It is so dense, so full of allusions, so old, and so inconsistent in its sentence structures that my mind starts going numb, and I lose comprehension of what I'm reading.

But it's been calling to me lately, and this morning I read some of the argument between Adam and Eve about whether or not they should split up and go exploring. Adam totally digs Eve and doesn't want her to ditch him, plus he fears the Tempter may attack them separately where he would never dare do it while they are together and able to support one another. Eve says Adam should trust her and that they could never be happy living in fear. Untested faith and love could never be real. Eventually, she wins, Adam proves prophetic, and Eve proves to be wise as she brings about the felix culpa.

Anyway, what I really wanted to say is that I love Meridy, and I'm so glad to have her with me as we enter each new world life offers. Meridy has been looking good recently too. Is it normal for a woman to look better as she gets older? Every day my love for her is new, and better.

I am tired of love triangles in literature!!!!!!!

I haven't written for a month, and all I have to say is: "I'm tired of love triangles in literature!!!", Yes. That is all I have to say.

Almost.

I'm looking up new books to read (a thing I often waste time on) in YA fiction (because they are "safer" in general), and half of them include love triangles. Why?!?! Perhaps I'm too straightforward a person to handle many love triangles. I want a book where boy meets girl, boy and girl may have issues, but boy and girl are not so easily distracted away from each other by some ultra-good looking, shadowy person just-thrown-in-there-to-make-the-book-interesting-to-the-hormone-influenced-teenager. Do you know what makes me mad? Half the time they end up with ultra-good looking guy instead of stable-I-will-love-you-forever-guy. What are we trying to teach here? Maybe I'll go write my own book.....

On Catching up:

Catching up a blog is so daunting, but perhaps I will make an attempt soon. I could at least post some pictures.....