Current Medal Count

No, this is not an official NBC website and I am not reporting the current medal standings at the Winter Olympic Games. (But if you really wan to know, Team USA currently sits on top of the medal count with 6 golds and 23 total medals - I have an app on my iPhone and I have tried to watch every broadcasted second of these games, except hockey (blah)... and curling (?). I must admit, it is an addiction, but luckily one I can control, because the Olympics are the only sports I ever watch, and they happen only two weeks every two years. I'm pretty much glued to the TV from opening exercises until they extinguish that flame. So exciting!)

anyway...

I am reporting the medal count for Team VanBuskirk who has had a really great run these last couple of weeks, and though we have not won any actual medals, per se, we have an armload of new ribbons, trophies, and certificates to add to the family trophy case (if we had one).

Here is a rundown of the highlights:


In taekwando last Friday, Dennis tested for his red belt. He did a great job, and is well on his way to black.
He finished off the evening by putting his hand through a brick! He did it perfectly, because this time it didn't hurt a bit (his hand I mean - but I think the brick sure felt it!)

For his hard work and dedication, Dennis won a big trophy and a stylish new red belt! That is my man!

In academics, Alex once again earned straight A's at school and earned a Platinum 4.0 Award at the recognition ceremony at the middle school last week.

But even more impressive is the special award he received as the Principal's Patriot of the Month. The principal recognized him for the hard worker he is and for his helpful, happy attitude that is an example to all the students!

That is a gold medal in my book! Way to go, Al!

In science, there were a few upsets last week as both Derek and his twin brother Dylan unexpectedly received first place blue ribbons on their science fair projects (no pics, sorry). No one thought that they were in the running since they started both projects the night before they were due, and Mom and Dad, who were up half the night helping with both projects, got to the point where they could care less if anybody got any prize and just wanted them to get those stupid things done and turned in for credit. AGH!!!

Dylan's project was to try different lubricant to make a pinewood derby car faster. Derek tested where the weights should be places on the pinewood derby car to make it faster.

Despite having unenthusiastic support from their parents they both persevered and won blue ribbons. Now they get to move onto the district science fair! Whoopee!

In racing, there was excitement and high speeds this week. Despite initial discouraging results at the den pinewood derby due entirely to a ridiculously terrible beat-up old wooden track, The VanBuskirks redeemed themselves at the Date Festival, as the defending champions, returning to the track for more! On the nice smooth metal county fair track, Dylan's racer, the dark Knight, won every single race until the final race where it came to a photo finish just barely behind only one other car...

Derek's turquoise speeder that came in first place in the Webelos division!

Then, in the final round, Derek's car faced off against the other first place winners and won every race getting Best Overall at the county fair! (You know it was the county fair because you can see a trace of the signature cinnamon roll on Derek's face.) The VanBuskirk racing legacy of fast cars and winning runs continues 6 years running!

I guess they really did learn a few things doing those science fair projects after all.

In music, two weeks ago, Nathan performed a lovely piece on his saxophone at a special soloist even at his school in front of a judge and was awarded a grade of "Excellent!" Awesome, Nate! All of that practicing is really paying off!

(Nathan was also given a big part in their school's upcoming musical, the Pirates of Penzance. He will be the Pirate King! How cool is that?)

So there's the wrap up, folks. In the past two weeks, the VB "medal count" stands at:

3 certificates

4 ribbons

4 trophies

(and a very long strip of red fabric)

Way to go Team VanBuskirk!

Oh, and way to go Team USA too!

Desert Rain

Ten things I love about rain in the desert:

1. The rarity of it all. I just love the rain, and when it comes I want it to stay forever. I say that I would love it to rain every single day. I think that at the time, but in reality I know it would get old, and a lot dreary, after a while. The reason I love the rain so much is that it never happens here. This is a desert for a reason - it is not wet. So when the rain comes, it is almost like a little nibble from the forbidden fruit - making it all the more desirable. But who would really want it to rain all the time here? Then it would be all green and overgrown and tropical, just like Hawaii, and who would want that? Um, me. But alas, this is not Hawaii. It is the desert, and the rare rainstorm in the desert is a blessed thing!

2. The smell of the rain. Even before the rain comes, just the whiff of it in an impending rain is delightsome - that spicy tingle on the nose portends of what is to come. It stings the nose and smells like green and Grandpa and wool. Every time I walk outside in the rain I can't help but stop and suck it in like a thick milkshake. Ahhh!

3. The sound of the rain. That pat---- pat-----rat-a-pat-a-pat-tat-tat is music to my ears. Mother Nature is quite the percussionist! I can hear it best on the roof of the car, or sitting on the toilet. But my favorite place to listen to the rain is sitting in the big chair in the front room next to the open window where I can hear the fat raindrops plop into the fountain like kids doing cannonballs at the swimming hole. Plop! Plop! It makes for a great cadence to read by.

4. Soup. A rainstorm is a call for soup - soups in all it's varieties. This past storm it was tortilla soup, vegetable soup, tomato soup (with cheese, of course),white chili, curry (which is more like a stew, but shares the same category as far as I'm concerned) and best of all, and reserved for only the coldest and rainiest of days, Dad's Oyster Stew. Just the thought of it makes me all warm inside and I start to salivate. I hesitate to share the recipe with anyone outside of the family, because they just might think it sounds disgusting - plump green oysters floating in milk and cream, egg noodles, puddles of melted butter, and sprinkled with lots of pepper. Oyster sauce (must be Dynasty brand, Dad's orders) gives it a perfect salty sweetness. Some of my earliest and warmest memories are of staying up late enough to watch Daddy make a late night snack of oyster stew (yep, even after we had already had dinner) and feeling like the lucky one that got to have a small bowl while my siblings slept. I am happy that oyster stew is now my kids favorite meal as well, (since in my mind it is as important a Signs' family tradition as cheese balls at Christmas), and when the rain starts to fall, it is what they ask for. Mmm, mmm good!

5. Puddles. Perhaps it is because I was a desert rat that I have always been fascinated by bodies of water. Lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds fascinated me as a child. I imagined what it must be like to live in a place where there was a pond in the back and a little creek running by. So when the desert rains come, I am thrilled when grassy parks turn into ponds, gutters turn into babbling brooks, and streets turn into canals. Everything is transformed! As kid I imagined that there were fish in there and that I could rig me up a fishin' pole with a stick like Huck Finn and catch some dinner. I am not the only one who loves the temporary water holes. In that last big rain I saw folks at a neighborhood park-turned-lake floating around in their inflatable boat. And I still get a little thrill out of splashing in the rain puddles, and an even bigger one driving my Surburban through the large pools of standing water in the streets. You can still be driving slowly when the waves your tires make come clear up to the windows. Except when there is traffic coming the other way, then the game is to see if I can drive slow enough to not make any splash at all, like an Olympic high diver - extra points for a clean entry!

6. Sweaters - I love sweaters - in theory. Warm and snuggly! I say "in theory" because even with all the sweaters I own, (more than there are actual chilly days in the year), when that blessed rainy, chilly days comes, I gleefully try on a sweater that I have been waiting all year to wear, just to remember that the sleeves are too short. They are almost all too short - or, rather, my arms are almost always too long. I dream of the perfect long sleeved sweater to wear on the perfect rainy day. But alas, such a thing has yet to be. Until then, when there is a chill in the air, I wear one of the otherwise darling cuddly sweaters I do have and tug at my cuffs all day. A small price to pay for sweater weather.

7. Hot chocolate - Heaven in a cup! My one true weakness in the wintertime. Is there anything better than creamy hot chocolate flowing down your gullet, warming you up from the inside out? Every January when we all start looking to shed those holiday pounds, its the hot chocolate that holds me back. Cold weather calls for hot chocolate - hey, even mildly cool weather. Anything below 60 - I'm there! But when it is raining, hot chocolate is absolutely imperative! And for my hot chocolate, only the best will do - Stephens. Period. (Thanks you, Winco!) I love it extra strength and a really big mug with milk, mini marshmallows, and a chocolate dipped biscotti. Morning. Nightime. Anytime. I never lose weight in the rain for this very reason, so it is a good thing rain is so rare, I guess.

8. Baths. I love the pull and tug of opposites - sweet and salty, laughing till you cry, hot and cold. And in a rainstorm I love taking a hot, hot bath near an open window. When we bought this house I was thrilled about the big beautiful soaking tub until I realized that the big picture window right above it was a fixed single pane - it didn't open! Baths lost all their appeal to me because as steamy and hot as I like them when I get in, it isn't long before I am overheated and have to get out. After years of whining about the useless window, Darling Hubby finally had it replaced with one that slides open. Now bath time is perfect! I open the window wide and kick up the heat - bubble bath, a tall glass of ice water, a good book, and a perfect storm! That's all I need! When I get hot, all I need to do is stick my foot out toward the window to act like a wick to cool me off, and the sound of the rain falling (see #3 above) is like icing on the cake.

9. The morning after the rain. The sun is shining again and the sky is clear. Colors are brighter than ever, and everything is clean and fresh. But my very favorite part is that very first glimpse of the mountains surrounding us, perfectly white and sparkling in the bright sun, like someone poured out giant piles of powdered sugar onto the desert floor. During the storm, I love to see the clouds sitting heavily on those mountains. The mountains look like giants that have been tucked snugly into their down comforters with wisps of feathers poking out the edges. I love seeing that, and anticipating the transformation that tomorrow will bring. When those storm clouds roll away...magic! Those mountains really are glorious- especially those first few daylight hours of the morning after the storm, with the palm trees swaying in the foreground! What a sight!

10. And then come the wildflowers! Just wait....

Blogger help!

Does anyone know why my "comments/posted by" line is now appearing at the top of my posts rather than the bottom? I didn't touch anything and I don't know how to get it back where it should be, at the bottom of each post. Help!

Please leave your comment above. Thanks. :)

Use Your Words

Today I was driving to a friend's home with Luke to go visiting teaching. As Luke has had an issue lately with potty mouth (the 3 year-old version) I was doing some mom-coaching on the way, reminding him that he must be a nice boy at her home and not say bad words.

"OK," Luke announced. "I won't say mean words like stupidhead and butthead. I'll just say nice words like fluffy and rubber ducky! Fluffy and rubber ducky are nice words. People like those words."

I almost had to pull of the road and hold my breath to keep from laughing. Where did he pluck those two words from?

But you have to admit - fluffy and rubber ducky are about the two most inoffensive words anywhere. Maybe I should replace my bad words with fluffy and rubber ducky (so, like, when I am driving with my kids listening to, say, the State of the Union Address on the radio I can say "Oh PLEASE! What a rubber ducky! That is the fluffyiest fluff I have ever heard!")

Try it! ( It feels just as good rolling off the tongue.) I think Luke was onto something.

Easy Come, Easy Go.

I can't stay away from my blog for long, so even though my computer is still (sniff sniff) broken(that particular screen is on back order - there is a "worldwide shortage" on only that screen, don't you know, ugh!) I am attempting to blog from my kids' computer and it is like driving and old jalopy when you are used to driving a Porsche...

or driving a beat-up old Suburban after driving a brand new Volvo.

A few weeks ago, Dennis, Luke and I drove down to Carlsbad to pick up our new Volvo from Legoland.

The car had been all detailed and shined up pretty for us. The hand-off was informal. The official from Legoland fished the keys out of his pocket and handed us a packet with the registration and such, posed for a quick picture for me, and it was done. He was very nice. He told us some more details that we didn't know before. Dennis' guess of 6,732 lego bricks was exactly right, and there about 90 other correct entries (not the 30-50 that we had guessed). And he was surprised to find out that we had only one entry in the pot, because he told us that most of the entries in the pot of finalists were multiple entries, meaning that several people, once they figured out the number, kept coming back and entering again and again to better their chances. I bet they were pretty disappointed when they didn't win. Dennis only had one entry, but like he said, "If the Lord wants us to win that car, all we need is one entry."

Actually, Dennis said that line a long, long time ago when he was just getting started in the insurance business. Dennis was driving a tiny little Ford Festiva back then because that was all we could afford on his small commissions. That was way back when he drove to his clients' homes. He would have to park around the corner so they couldn't see him climb out of a tiny little used car. The company he was working for at the time announced that they would be giving a 2 year lease on a new Jeep Cherokee away to one of their agents nationwide. Agents earned a ticket for every so much in sales they had during a certain period. Most agents earned several entries, but since Dennis was just starting out, he sold just enough to earn one ticket. But he was confident that he was going to win. "If the Lord wants us to win that car, all we need is one ticket." He went to work that day knowing he would win that car. Sure enough! When he called to tell me the good news, I didn't believe him and he had to get his boss on the phone as backup.

Anyway, so here we are at least ten years later, with the keys to another brand new car! Can you even believe that??? Something tells me that won't be the last car he will ever win, with the Lord's help of course. Goodness!

And with the new keys we opened the trunk of our new Volvo to find THIS:

Yep! All 6,732 lego bricks. Legoland let us keep ALL of them! Legoland ROCKS!!! (or BRICKS, perhaps.) That is 6,732 lego bricks that I will have spread all over my house and be stepping on in no time. Actually, we were very excited about all the free legos, and we knew the boys would be THRILLED!!! Legos truly are their very favorite toy in the whole world. They play with them for hours on end. This was going to be better than Christmas for sure!

In total there were 19 boxes of legos in the back of that car, a few were worth over $100 each! I added up the prices of all the boxes and they totaled $1,140!!! Score!

So Dennis, you just won a new car! Where are you going? - Um, to the Volvo dealership.

As cool as Dennis looked driving that new Volvo (just like a Cullen if you ask me), we both decided that our best course of action was to sell it. Dennis called all of the dealerships in SoCal and after picking up the new car, we drove directly to the dealership that offered us the best price.

Yes, I did get to drive it. I drove it from one parking lot to the one next to it at Legoland, reaching speeds of up to 15mph! It was quite exhilarating, I must say.

I know, selling our brand new Volvo is not very glamorous or exciting, but we decided it was our best option. The car is wonderful, but was too large for Dennis' needs (besides he already has a nice car), and it is too small for our family car (only a 5 seater). Although my Suburban is falling apart - literally, in chunks, we have recently put a whole heck of a lot of money into it, so instead of trading in the car for something new we decided that we will put the money into the bank and run our old car into the ground - even if we can get another year or two out of it that would be great. Besides, do you realize the damage 6 boys can do to a car? Oh my! We figure if we can hold off a few years that is a few years older (and hopefully less destructive) everyone will be to a new car.

We have also decided that we would use that money, after paying tithing, of course, to pay off all our credit cards and such first. That way we can use the money we would be spending on interest to save toward our new car.

So we drove home, without a trophy car, but feeling much, much lighter!

Of course Dennis' car was weighed down a bit with 19 boxes of legos in the trunk. The boys had no idea. When we got home we told the boys to come outside and help us carry in some stuff from dad's trunk. When we opened the trunk...

... it was Christmas all over again! The looks on their faces were priceless!!!

New car/old car - they didn't care. Those legos were more exciting than anything!!!

We have opened 5 boxes so far, and they have been having so much fun with them. I'm so glad we won a car full of Legos and not, say, Barbies. Just saying.

They are such good boys. They deserve it.

Undaunted

I just finished reading The Undaunted by Gerald Lund, the author of The Work and The Glory series. I really enjoyed The Work and the Glory books because they helped me understand church history, and the names and places that we have learned about in Sunday School became real to me. But I had even more reason to be excited about Lund's new book, The Undaunted, because it is about the harrowing "Hole in the Rock" expedition. Ever heard of it? Most people haven't, but for us, tales of "the Hole" are part of our family lore. My mother's grandfather was one of only 3 babies born on that remarkable pioneer journey. So when my mom heard what Lund's new book was about, she bought us all a copy.

It took me a little while to get to it because, frankly, I was daunted by The Undaunted - it is 800 pages long! But once the holidays were finally over and I had a bit more time for reading, it was the first book I wanted to read. To tell the truth, I was a little frustrated because I was almost 400 pages into the book before Lund finally started getting to the meat of the book - the expedition. He spent the first half of the book setting up his fictional story, which was interesting and all, but I wanted to read about the expedition, so I was glad to finally get the preliminaries over with.

The "Hole in the Rock" expedition took place in 1879-80. Several families from Southern Utah were called on a mission to settle the San Juan valley in the Four Corners area . They sold their homes and businesses to follow the call. My ancestors, Mons and Olivia Larson, were not actually part of these "San Juan missionaries." Brigham Young had actually called the Larsons to settle Arizona, but were friends of Silas Smith, the leader of this expedition, and so decided to travel with this group and then continue on to their own destination.

After it had been established that a Northern route and a Southern route were both infeasible, the group set forward on a direct route Eastward. But once they had gone a ways, they realized that the way they were going was some of the roughest country anywhere - even impassible. But it was late fall, and the pass that they had come through already was now stopped up with snow and they could not turn back. It reminds me of the children's game "can't go over it, can't go under it, got to go through it!" They decided that their only options were to wait out the winter there in the desert with little resources, or move forward. They prayerfully chose to move forward.

Their first and most major obstacle was the "Hole in the Rock" for which the expedition was named. They were up on a high plateau and had to cross the Colorado river which was thousands of feet down steep cliffs below them. It seemed that there was no way down, until they discovered a deep cleft in the rock cliffs that might just be turned into a road. It took 6 weeks of blasting and road building, and a whole lot of Mormon ingenuity and hard work, but they finally were able to create a road wide enough to allow wagons to descend. It was extremely steep, 45-50 degrees, and absolutely frightening for all involved, especially the horses! Amazingly, all 80+ wagons made it down safely. My great great grandmother, Olivia, walked down the trecherous Hole, holding a baby in each arm, and was only a few weeks away from giving birth again. Remarkable!

But once they were finally down the Hole, their problems were just beginning. They had to cross the river, build roads back up the cliffs on the other side of the river, just to find more deep ravines, cliffs, rivers, slick mud, deep sand, thick forests, scarce water, and lots and lots and lots of big rocks. But there were also a good many miracles as well, and testimony building right along with the road building.

My grandparents were mentioned a few times in Lund's book. In Chapter 66, the fictional character records in her journal "Great joy in camp today in spite of snow. Olivia Larson, (wife of Mons Larson) gave birth to a baby boy today. Named him John Rio Larson - Rio is Spanish for river- because near here is a magnificent view of the San Juan River far below the mesa."

And in the footnote of the chapter Lund gives much more information about Olivia and Mons and the remarkable circumstances of the birth. Olivia gave birth in the middle of a harsh blizzard on the spring seat of the wagon while her husband was trying to put up the tent. Later, after giving birth, she was in the tent when a huge wind came and lifted it up and she reached up and held the tent down herself. Not the most comfortable of circumstances for giving birth.

It was actually the people in the company that gave my great grandfather his name. He spelled it John Reo, not John Rio, but he was indeed named after the San Juan River. My brother named his son after this good and stalwart man, my mom's grandfather.

The footnotes also mention that because of Olivia's "unusual vitality" she was up and traveling again over the rocky terrain in just a few days with her new baby. "If it wasn't snowing she would bathe him," it said, "otherwise, this wise mother of 23 years old, who now had three babies, rubbed him well with flannel instead of bathing him."

I was so excited to have my great, great grandmother (and personal heroine) mentioned in this way. Her story is remarkable.

There was one part of Lund's book that bugged me a bit. In one part the fictional character David, and another boy, were kicked off of a ferry by spooked livestock and into the freezing river. This event did happen, only it was Mons Larsen, my great great grandfather, who was knocked into the river, and not the fictional character. In fact, Mons rescued the other boy and saved his life. I understand why Lund would have his fictional character do it instead, of course, but there was no footnote on that. Perhaps Lund didn't know. But now you know. That was Grandpa.

In the end, the company took 6 months to make the "impossible" journey, but they DID make it, against all odds, and remarkably, without any loss of life. And when the journey was over for the rest of the company, my ancestors still had a long trip ahead of them and still faced many harrowing experiences (especially with Indians!) when they were on their own - just Mons, Olivia, and 3 small children. It took them 11 months to reach their new home.

I was enthralled with the book, and amazed by what these people went through. Fortunately, Lund created a great interactive website http://www.undaunted-thenovel.com/ that is really interesting. It has maps, pictures, and video to really give you a better idea of what he is describing in the book. It is a great source of information about this remarkable piece of Mormon history. I kept referring to it while reading the book.

When I was finished with the book, I had to pull out my family history and read that account of Mons and Olivia's story. It all made much more sense to me, and my love and appreciation for these good people really grew. Not only were they people in church history that became real to me, but people in my own history.

It was interesting to me that on the same day I was reading about their experiences in the wilderness, I was also reading in 1 Nephi where Lehi's family is traveling through the wilderness and their wives are blessed with strength like unto men and they were able to deliver healthy babies in the wilderness and have plenty of milk for them. I saw so many parallels. It also was the same weekend that we had stake conference. I had complained about my calling and how hard and time consuming it is all the way to the temple on Friday night. Yep, I was murmuring. Then I went to the temple, where I became painfully aware of my own murmuring. That was reinforced the next evening at the adult session of Stake Conference when President Stearman and President Stanger spoke on our need to be willing to serve and to sacrifice for the Lord and his church. Many words were spoken that I needed to hear. Then I finished The Undaunted, the very next day, followed by my family history, where I read about these people and their commitment to fulfill their callings at all costs.

In the Larson family history it says that in preparation of the move, Mons' "property was disposed of with considerable sacrifice, yet the thought of not honoring the call had never entered his mind."

And later Olivia stated about her Hole in the Rock experience "All in the world that carried us through was knowing that we were on a mission. We tried to fulfill it and the Lord cared for us and protected us, so I never worried." What a marvelous statement!

All of this has really given me a lot to think about. What a great example she, and all of these pioneers are to me. What do I have to complain about, really? Sure, being YW president and raising 6 boys is tough, but not impossible. I cannot say that I am 'Undaunted'. I need to come at it with a better attitude. The Lord sent me six boys, and the Lord, knowing this, also called me to be YW president (a calling I do love, by the way. I really do love those girls. It is just all of the time involved and the stress it puts on me and my family that I whine about.) I need to remember, like my great great grandmother did, that the Lord is caring for me and my family and the girls and I should not worry either.

(It sounds almost ridiculous of me to even be comparing my calling to what these pioneers went through, doesn't it? So why on earth do I whine as much as I do? Ugh. I bet Olivia wouldn't have complained about seven straight Saturdays being filled with YW stuff during roadshow season. A walk in the park.)

I cannot say that from now on I will be undaunted, but I hope to be a little less daunted. I cannot promise to stop my whining (sorry Dennis, mom, and my presidency), but I want to try harder to have the right attitude about what the Lord has called me to do, and then dig in and do a little road building of my own.

In stake conference Pres. Stanger promised us that if we keep our covenants and fulfill our callings, our children will be blessed. I know that is true because my ancestors, Mons and Olivia Larson did, and I have been truly blessed for their undaunted faith and sacrifice.

Smashed!

I have a casualty to report. My dear friend, MacBook, was valiantly working hard helping me print off some stuff for my YW when, Luke, decided to climb up onto the desk and accidentally knocked my digital companion on the floor! The computer seems to be working just fine, but the screen was broken so all I see is a spiderweb of vibrant colors that looks like modern art. Interesting, but I'd rather be able to see what I am doing.

So I rushed my bleeding and broken laptop over to urgent care at MacGallery, and the "MacGenius" there told me that the screen wasn't covered under the pricey AppleCare protection that I had purchased. What? I was told when we were buying the computer that I really should get the AppleCare when buying a laptop, because they tend to get knocked around a lot. But now they say that it does not cover accidental damage, only manufacturer's defect. Um, excuse me, if they are manufacturer's defects, shouldn't they fix that for free? Why should I pay through the nose to fix their mistakes? Does that make any sense at all???? Ugh!

Anyway, after establishing that AppleCare is completely worthless, the "genius" told me that it would be $400 to fix my screen, and after I recovered from my near heart attack, he suggested I might get a much cheaper price at another company that fixes computers by mail. So hopeful, I left.

Well, when I called the other place the next morning, I was indeed quoted a cheaper price $399. Terrific. But with shipping costs (up to $100) added, I decided it would still be cheaper to take it back to MacGallery. When I brought it back, another "genius" helped me, and told me the cost would be $600! What?!? Yesterday it was $400, and today it is $600! Yikes! That's half the price of the computer! I told him that I was quoted $400 just the day before, and he sounded skeptical. "I don't know who you spoke to, but the cost is definitely $600." Um, I was talking to a "genius", of course. What, does he think I was making things up? I said, "Wow! Yesterday it was $400, today it is $600, if I come back tomorrow is it going to be $800?" MacIdiots!!!

Needless to say, I did not leave my precious computer in their incompetent and greedy little hands. I came home and did some research and found a seemingly reputable company who would do it for about $300 plus shipping. The problem is that I need to send my computer all the way the Kansas to get it fixed. I don't have a problem with that, except that my computer, (with all my precious photos on it) has not been backed up since my external hard drive filled up over two months ago. I told Dennis I needed a new one asap, and he said he's get me one for Christmas, but then he forgot, and for one reason or another I still hadn't gotten one when the computer got broken. Of course! (Life Lesson #145 - Not backing up your computer insures that it will break down.)

Dennis finally bought me a new hard drive, but since my screen doesn't work, I can't see enough to install it and get it going. I have spent HOURS trying to figure out how to do it. I thought I could hook my laptop up to our PC monitor, but all I see is a section of my background image and the mouse arrow, but no icons whatsoever come on the screen. I tried hooking it to the projector with similar results. But I know it is all still there and running fine, because when I first turn on my screen I can see all the icons on the desktop, including the icon for the new hard drive, but only for a split second before the screen fills up with colors again.

I thought it would work if I hooked it up to a Mac monitor. My sister has a desktop Mac, and I went over there, but we couldn't find a cord that would connect them. Besides, her's is a computer, not just a stand alone monitor, so I don't think that would have worked anyway.

Does anybody have any advice on how I can get this computer backed up before sending it on a long journey? Or should I just take a leap of faith and send it? (BTW I am not a compete idiot. I still have all my SD cards from my camera with my unedited photos on them - I wan't gonna erase them until I backed everything up. So if anything happened, I wouldn't lose all my photos, just all the hours and hours of editing I have done.)

Meanwhile, I shall be forced to take a break from blogging (darn, because I have SO MUCH to blog about!)

Advice please (or, if your have no advice to give, just a wish of luck will be appreciated.)

Addendum on the Previous Post

After writing the previous post about my resolution to come closer to Christ, I was really excited to go to church, and hear that our Bishop has given our ward members a challenge to read the book of Mormon, cover to cover, in 6 months, and to give a Book of Mormon away in that smae time. I just finished the Book of Mormon not long ago, and am excited about this challenge!

This time I have decided that I will keep a journal about my thoughts, feelings, and impressions as I read it everyday. I have a little leather journal all ready.

I hope my husband, sons, young women, and anyone else who wants to will join me in accepting this challenge.

Its gonna be a good year!

Resolutions

Yesterday I un-decorated, which means (if you've seen my house at Christmas you understand) that it took me the entire day, and it is still not quite there yet. I've still got to re-decorate my place with all of the regular decor, but first I have to dust, sweep, and vacuum. Is it just me, or are you also amazed at how your house looks clean (well, relatively) before you start un-decorating and you don't realize how much crud there is underneath all the glitz until you take all the decorations away? Yuck. OK, maybe it is just me. Maybe that is my plan. Christmas visitors don't see all the dust and grime because they are dazzled and blinded by all of the bright sparkly holiday wonder! (That's not dust, its glitter!) But things just seem SO BARE now that my halls have been un-decked that I am wondering how long I have to wait before I can plaster this place with red glittery hearts for Valentines. (For me, every holiday requires as certain minimum of glitter, period.)

Anyway, every year I realize that as I am un-decorating, and as my home begins to be transformed back into just "home" again, my mind can finally start focusing on the brand spankin' new year and all this things I want to accomplish in it. Lists start forming in my head. Not just resolutions, but habits I want to develop, projects I want to accomplish, changes I want to make, stuff I want to fix. OK, yah - resolutions. And the funny thing is that as my home becomes more and more transformed from holiday wonderland to just cozy home, the more I really believe that I CAN do them, and the more I plan to do. It is the power of transformation. It is seeing that, with a lot of work, change can really happen. Change inspires change!

Back in November I published a post about the triumvirate of holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then New Years, and I said that I believed that the Lord put them in that order on purpose. First Thanksgiving, to bring us to a remembrance of our great blessings and our reliance of the Lord, then Christmas to, in that humility, celebrate the giver of all good giftsthe source of all love by sharing that same love with all, and finally a new year, which is like being born again. The new year is our chance to become new creatures in Christ, and to work to become more like him. I love that.

The truth is, I have a pretty good average about keeping my New Year's resolutions - it was kind of a nasty little habit I picked up back when I was a Young Woman doing Personal Progress (having girls learn to set goals and work to achieve them scars them for life.) People often ask me how I do so much. Truth is, I set a lot of goals for myself, makes plans for them, and get at it. (For instance, I resolve to lose weight every year, and I do. But then I eat my heart out during the holidays so that I have to resolve to lose it all again the next year. Maybe I should just resolve not to pig out between Halloween and New Years, then I wouldn't have to resolve to lose weight every year. Hmmm. Naw!)

My problem isn't keeping my resolutions as much as it is keeping my list down to a manageable size so I don't end up driving myself and my family crazy.

As my un-decorating is not at completion, neither is my list of resolutions, and it is already long. I keep a pencil and paper near by while I work, so I can jot them down as I think of them - I realize I might have to edit it down to a manageable size later. But in my head I think I can reasonably do them ALL. I think perhaps I could do a hundred-day blitz and see how many of the projects I can cross off my list in my first 100 days in office, like the president does (well, assuming we had a president who actually did something more than spend us into oblivion.) Among the items on my list I resolve to floss more and be late less. I resolve to paint more pictures, try more new recipes, read more books, and find more time to cuddle. Oh, and I resolve to finish all the half- written, unpublished posts that litter my posts list (watch for them). I resolve to improve my relationship with some friends, my relationship with my children (especially the teenagers), my relationship with my spouse (yeah baby!), and, most importantly, my relationship with my Savior.

I have come to realize lately that my relationship with Christ is not where it has been for me in the past, and it nowhere near where it could be, where I'd like it to be. I read my scriptures, but not as much as i should, and I pray, but not as much as I could. My efforts have been lack-luster as of late, and I can feel the results of that in my life. Like any relationship, I know, the more I put into it, the more I get out of it, but unlike any other relationship, how close I get to the Lord is completely up to me. He will go with me as far as i am willing to go - that is the cool part about building a relationship with a perfect being. He doesn't need to work at it, and he won't make mistakes and have to apologize, etc. He is just there for me - always, ALWAYS - and the rest is up to me. But I've got to get at it.

Just like with an resolution, first I will need a plan. Luckily the plan is already worked out - it is simply the BSSA (Basic Sunday School Answers) - pray, read the scriptures, keep the commandments, go to church, attend the temple, repent, serve others - you know them.

Well, I already do these things, but the key is that I need to do them better. I need to pray more earnestly, with more intent, focusing on to whom it is that I am really speaking, give thanks with more gratitude, and ask more fervently for the blessings that I am in need of. I need to not just read, but feast upon the scriptures, come with questions, and delve deeply until I find the answers and the other treasures of knowledge the Lord has for me. I need to keep the commandments more precisely, and with the desire to keep them because I want to be like Christ who authored them. I need to not just go to church, but be there - listening, participating, and trying with full purpose of heart to find what the Lord wants to teach me. I need to attend the temple more and concentrate more on the spirit while I ams there. I need to repent daily, which means I need to be better at apologizing (ugh, not my strength) and try constantly to change. And I need to try harder to serve others, but more importantly, I have to pray to be more aware of the need that others have, and then find more joy in serving others, especially those who I am not crazy about. (The truth is that I love to serve those who I love, but have a harder time with the "least of these, my brethren". Something I need to work on!)

Every year at Christmastime, I read Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" (this year it was easy because it is on my magic iPhone!) I love it because it is a story of change, of transformation, and the power of a life. Of course my favorite part is the end where Scrooge is a new man! He loves life deeply and loves all mankind as well! He sets out immediately to right a lifetime of wrongs and make what changes for good he can in the lives of others. We often only remember the "bah humbug" part and forget the "new" Scrooge, but that is the whole point of the story! After that really long night, he kept Christmas well, all year through. I, myself, would really love to have these feelings that I have rediscovered at this holiday season - the gratitude, the love of my savior, and the resolve to be better - be with me all year through - to transform into a "new" more Christlike me. I know the only way to do this is to improve my relationship with my Savior. That's it. All the other resolutions I have jotted down on my long list are really inconsequential if I can only keep this one.

(Well except for the flossing one. My hygienist was pretty adamant about that one. I guess I can do both.)

Happy New Year's everyone. May you check off every resolution on your list this year!

Lucky Day!!!

Yesterday was an extremely lucky day for our family - we won a NEW CAR!!!

It all started in August when we took the kids to Legoland. After a long day at the park I was so ready to go home, but Dennis caught sight of a free car giveaway that Legoland was sponsoring. The front row of a brand new Volvo was filled with boxes and boxes of legos. You had to guess how many lego bricks were in the car. Well Dennis got it into his head that he was going to win that car! He and the boys set about trying to figure it out! They spent at least an hour and a half peering into the windows of the dark car trying to figure out what was in there, then running back and forth into the lego store to figure out how many pieces were in each box, then there was all this math involved (I always joke with my Mom, who is a math teacher, that math is completely unnecessary. Well, I guess it is useful - sometimes.) Dennis and the boys were so excited about their quest and worked their tails off. When they finally were satisfied with their answer (something over 60,000 bricks!) they submitted their guess, and all the way home talked about "What if we win?" I rolled my eyes and humored them. Silly boys.

Well, last week Dennis received a letter in the mail congratulating him on his very accurate guess and telling him that he was a finalist to win the new Volvo XC90. All the finalists were entered into a drawing that was to be held at Legoland's Kid's New Years Eve celebration. They gave us free tickets for our whole family so we could be there. We had already planned to be in San Diego that day to go to the Zoo, so we decided to cut our visit to the zoo short, so we could be at Legoland for the drawing. Why not?

We had a little bit of time before the drawing, so we played a bit at the park. It was SO crowded because of the New Years event, so we didn't get to do much. But since the tickets were free, we didn't mind.

I did get a little stressed out just before the big drawing because just minutes before the giveaway, Luke disappeared into the crowd. We were all looking everywhere for him, and I was kind of panicked because there were a LOT of people crowded around. I was looking for his rainbow stripped sweater until I saw his sweater in the stroller and began to panic more! I had been looking for that sweater the whole time, and not a black t-shirt. Ugh! Luckily, one of the boys found him, but then I didn't know how to gather all my kids who had scattered all over looking for him. The drawing was starting. Stressful!

But they all found us just barely in time for the big giveaway. Whew!

You did not need to be present to win, but many of the finalists were there. They invited the finalists to come up by the stage. We were pretty confident when we counted only about 7 finalists there.

Then they brought out the box that held all the entries. My heart sank - there had to have been at least 30 slips in there. Our chances were not so good after all. Oh well.

They pulled out a slip and the announcer looked at it. He said, "Wow, I picked a name I can't pronounce..." With that, I knew the car was ours. Sure enough. "Dennis, um. Van..bur..sr...ick, I think."

I couldn't believe it! That man of mine had been right all along! I tell you, when that man sets his mind to something, he can't be stopped!

Everybody cheered for us, and it was very exciting! I think the Legoland people were glad that the winners were present, because it makes it more fun for everyone.

Some officials pulled Dennis aside, and gave him some paperwork. We were happy to find out that Legoland pays everything, even registration. We just have to claim it on our income taxes, and insure it and gas it up, of course. But we'd have to wait a few days to pick it up because of all the paperwork. Until then, we have a little lego version of our car to take home.

Then the boys, in their excitement, descended! They thought their dad was "SO COOL!" But they had all worked hard, and all deserved some credit for the win.

Actually, I think the boys were more excited about the lego mini-Volvo than the actual car that we won! Boys.

We were on a high, so we spend a few more hours enjoying as much as the park as possible, which wasn't much, considering the crowds.

As part of the celebration, they passed out party horns and prism rainbow glasses to everyone! The kids had so much fun with those.

What a way to end 2009!

2009 started out pretty bad for our family, but ended up pretty fantastic!!!

They even had fireworks to celebrate our win!!! How nice of them!

This isn't our car, (ours is black, I think) but close enough!

The ironic thing is that, anyone who know me well enough, knows that I really can't stand Legoland, (its not exactly "the happiest place on Earth" as far as I'm concerned) and every time I go, I say I will never go back. But we keep getting sucked back there, and we keep winning stuff there. When the twins were babies the won the Halloween costume contest (they were salt and pepper - so cute!) and the prize was free tickets for our family (woo-hoo!), so we had to go back. Then my kids have won several free tickets there, causing us to have to return. Then my twins had their logo-robotics competition there last month where they won 3rd place. And now this.

So has my opinion about Legoland changed? Um, no. (But I bet we'll be back, because Legoland has preferred parking for all Volvos. Yip-pee.)

What a lucky day! What a lucky year! Here's hoping 2010 is even better! Happy New Year everybody!