Thursday, January 27, 2011

Just got back

I just returned from a trip to Disneyland with my older two boys. Just like last year, we went with Jesse, Brooke, Matthew, Drew, Trisha, and Naomi. We LOVE it. We had a great time, and I love having my little buddies on either side of me.

I will write a longer post later, but I wanted to dedicate a post to this one topic.

Last year, I left the babies with my parents, and Dave had the house to himself for 5 days. I came home to see not 1 thing done. Not a dish cleaned, not a sweep of the floor, nada. It wasn't a pretty scene when he found me.

THIS year, I came home to a beautifully clean house. With the mail, laid out neatly on the counter. With a nice smell in the house, and even a vacuumed floor.

Is this why people fall more and more in love every year? Their spouses get better every year? I think so.

Between him and my mom, they kept the babies healthy and happy while we had a blast in Disneyland. I'm so grateful for both of them!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was full of little boys, spending time with family, and eating lots of good food!

On Christmas Eve we started a few new "traditions." We'll see if they stick.

When I was a little girl, my grandad would come to town (maybe every other year?) and take us to a fancy restaurant. We really never went to a fancy restaurant other than those times. We would dress up in our fancy dresses and talk about restaurant manners so we didn't embarrass my mom in front of her dad. It was such a fun tradition for me, and we scarcely even take our kids out to eat, let alone trying to make it fancy.

So I exhorted my mom to start that tradition. There is slim pickin's on restaurant choices, but Beehive Grill was open on Christmas Eve, so we went there. Dave reserved us the back room, so we were all by ourselves in there. We dressed up our boys in their "fancy clothes" and we all dressed up as well. The food was great, and it was a lovely atmosphere. It was so much fun, she thinks she'll start it as a tradition as well.

Another thing that we did was go caroling to a few of our friends. I'm not a huge fan of that one, but it is really important to Dave, and I've squeezed my way out of it in the past years, so we did it. It was nice...... sort of.

Christmas morning was a little rocky. I sent Isaac down to bed with a phone so he could call me in the morning when he woke up. Instead, I got phone calls all night long as he woke up at 3 am and consequently Dawson too. I wouldn't let them come upstairs, but then they got hungry, so I sent food down with them. We planned to start our morning at 7 am, but we wanted to wait for Grammy to get here. At 7:30 they still weren't here, and Dawson was on the stairs crying. Finally we let them open their presents, and Grammy, Josh, and Kate came a few minutes later.

Santa brought them just what they wanted. Lego Indiana Jones 2 and Lego Harry Potter for the Wii. And remote control Buzz Lightyears for the babies. They got an air hockey table for the basement (which was given to us by a friend, and strategically saved for Christmas) and beard beanies for the older boys. They also each got a little toy: Isaac- Bakugan, Dawson- Iron Man, Henry- Power Ranger.

The day got a little rocky when Dawson accidentally broke Isaac's Bakugan. Isaac (being extremely tired) lost it, telling us how terrible his Christmas was. Then Dawson accidentally kicked Isaac in the face and Isaac declared it the "worst Christmas ever." I REALLY hate that bratty attitude, I wanted to strip him naked and throw him in the snow so he could really understand the worst Christmas ever.

Another interesting thing to note was that the remote control Buzz was labeled for ages 6 and up. So Dave thought it might be best to wait, and not open up G. Jesse's Buzz. G. woke up later than the other boys and came out to find his brother playing with a remote control Buzz??? He yanked the remote out of Henry's hand and said, "MINE!" So we quickly opened his Buzz and he stood there in the kitchen exercising his thumbs with that remote, and wondering who came up with the 6+ age limitation. He is a smart kid, but come on. Kids now a days are born with a remote control in their hand. He loves his Buzz.

Grammy gave the boys Lightning McQueen sleeping bags, backpacks, and underpants. A little sleepover kit. They can't wait to sleep over there, and ask me about it all the time. We LOVE having Grammy live close by.

At lunch time, we went over to Grandma Stevie's and ate a tremendous lunch of Prime Rib. Everyone was there (except the Alaskans and the Swiss members of the family- we missed you!) After lunch, there was a program which included talents and a nativity. And finally the crowning event.... present opening. **Angelic singing voices***

Isaac and Dawson got snorkle gear and remote control cars, Henry and G. got Woody and Jessie. (I could only find one Woody in the entire Christmas season) Funny stories there. Dawson's present was gigantic. I ordered it off of Amazon (with help from my dear friend Julie!) and it was $20.00. I figured it was an average $20.00 remote control truck. But it is HUGE. A few days later it went up to $60.00, and I realized it was a special truck.... So we were worried Isaac (Mr. Competition) would be jealous. And he was. Until he opened his. His is one of those light up tornado trucks that spin all around. Then Dawson was jealous of him. Uggghhhh!!!! And then I decided there would be no presents next year!

In my older boys brattiness, I told them they were really lucky! Not all kids have such good Christmases. But they didn't believe me. Why? Because Santa goes to all kids, (not just the kids whose parents have money... or credit). I rolled my eyes, and threw up my hands. How can I argue with them?

Henry and G. were delightful, and thrilled with their presents. G. loves his Jessie doll, and has clutched her as he goes to sleep at night. When he can't find her he says, "Er Jessie go?" And Henry loves his Woody doll.

And Dave and I got the best presents of all. From my mom and Kate we got a gift card, and a gift certificate for a weekend away (babysitting). And from Lauren, we got a La Caille gift certif and a night of babysitting certif. Wow! Does it get much better than that? Babysitting by those who love your children, is one of the very best presents. Oh yeah, and I'm leaving them the babies in January while I go to Disneyland. Just for the days, but still, very valuable.

And from Gordon and Stevie we got some cash, which we purchased a new picture of Christ to hang in our home. We have wanted to get it for a few years now, and we love having it. (So does G. who points to it 400 times a day and says "Jesus" and "I yu Jesus" (love). He also loves the Bauple, or temple, and he tells me about that 400 times a day too)

It was a wonderful Christmas full of gift giving. We did manage to fit the Savior into it as well. We did our nativity as well as read the Luke 2 passage. Dave gave a talk in church about how you cannot separate Bethlehem from Gethsemane. How we are really celebrating the birth of a baby because of what he became and what he did for us. That dwelt in my heart throughout the week, and made it a more meaningful Christmas for me.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

"Moooommmmy!"

In the middle of the night my baby G. woke me up calling for me. I was at a baby shower last night and Dave put him to bed before I got home. G. woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me about his night. And to hug me. It was so sweet. He told me that he went to Grandma's house and that he was with Daddy, and he just hugged me for a few minutes. Then he willingly got back in his crib and went back to sleep.

He missed me. And I'm so glad that when he called for me, I was there. I love being "Mommy" to these boys.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Special Day

Today and tomorrow are special. You wanna know why? Mari's baby was sealed to his parents for time and all of eternity today, and tomorrow he will be blessed. His sweet parents invited our family to go. My mom, Josh, and Kate are going (we have stake conference and Dave has priesthood responsibilities). It makes me so happy to know that he is with such an incredible family. In a way, I feel like it is one of my dad's last contributions in life. He worked SO hard and spent a lot of time and money trying to get Mari here, situated, and helping sway her to make the decision to place that baby. He is one lucky baby to have been given such a wonderful life and family!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Years

2010 was quite a year for us. I can't quite believe all the things that went on this year. I can't believe how much we love our basement, but I also can't believe how many hours we logged down there working. And it's still not totally done. 2010 involved a huge change of my life as my dad passed away and I became the only living relative of my mom that wasn't under her household. I went from worrying about my mom- not at all. To worrying about my mom-most of the time. She has done beautifully, but she has still needed lots of help. I spent hours and hours in Bountiful cleaning out her home, and hours on the phone helping her figure out everything from taxes (07, '08, '09, yikes) to buying her first home- a beautiful home in Providence in the same development and with the same house plan as our first home. We now have the Biada's here, close by, and it has been quite a change considering they only came to visit me before when I had a baby. The night after my dad died, Dave gave my mom a Priesthood blessing. He said that we would see miracle, after miracle. We truly have. The very windows of Heaven have opened up and poured out more blessings than we can receive. I just can't quite believe it. I have a hard time complaining about my dad's death as I feel we have been so well taken care of both by Heavenly and Earthly beings. I still do miss him though, but it is so much better now.

My initial reaction to the New Year was to think I was glad 2010 was over, but that's not true. It was a wonderful year. We had tremendous blessings and great memories together. God has been good to us this year.

I was struck by the song today at church. Confession: I frequently can't squeek out the words of songs in Sacrament meeting because they are so touching, they move me to tears. If you want to speak to my soul, the fastest way is through music. (I doubt Dave has ever even noticed this, I try to keep it to myself because it's embarrassing)

We sang "Come let us anew" which is one of my top 20 hymns probably. I love it. But we hardly ever sing it, so I don't remember ever reading the words. The last verse says this:

3. O that each in the day of His coming may say,
“I have fought my way thro’—
I have finished the work Thou didst give me to do.”
O that each from his Lord may receive the glad word:
“Well and faithfully done;
Enter into my joy and sit down on my throne,”
“Enter into my joy and sit down on my throne.”

I don't do New Years resolutions. I did them when I was younger, but I got so frustrated with myself when I didn't follow through that it was worse to me than not doing anything at all. I'm more of a spontaneous do-er. I decide I'm going to change it then, and I do. There is nothing about Jan 1 that helps me to set OR follow through on goals better than the rest of the year.

That's just me. Sometimes I feel like a loser, especially when people read off their list of the top 500 things they will improve on that year, and I'm like, "Yeah, I'll get back to you on that, I'm still thinking....."

So I have been pondering resolutions this week, and thinking how most of the time I am just hanging onto my life by a thread and I just can't fathom adding something huge. When we sang this song today, I was overwhelmed by the Spirit, and realized that this was my New Years resolution. It will require no huge daily changes. No money. No new running shoes. No babysitting. My New Years resolution is in everything I do, try a little harder to make sure that in day of His coming I may say, "I have fought my way thro, I have finished the work thou didst give me to do. Because all I want is to hear those words, "Enter into My joy and sit down at My throne."

That is something that I already strive for, but this year, I promise to try even harder. I'm not going to promise to read the Ensign cover to cover. Or memorize a hymn a week (although I did that one year and it is awesome to not need a hymn book most of the time). My resolution is simple. In 2011 I'm going to be a better me. I know that's vague, but I hope at the end of the year, I can look back and think, "Yeah, I did that." And be able to list off things that I improved on that year. Maybe that's almost like a reverse resolution. I don't know, but I'm excited to see what 2011 brings for the Low family. I hope we are ready for it.

We Believe

Today in Young Women's we were introduced to the new theme of the Year. The church produced a tremendous video on the new theme with songs, and testimonies from the youth all over the world. The theme is We Believe, but in full is the thirteenth article of faith.

13aWe believe in being bhonest, true, cchaste, dbenevolent, virtuous, and in doing egood to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we fhope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to gendure all things. If there is anything hvirtuous, ilovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.


I most of all am fascinated by that last sentence. Are we seeking after these things? Are the movies we watch virtuous and lovely? It really makes me evaluate the way I spend my time, and wonder if the things I seek are praiseworthy.