Best Option

So, as Spencer looks for a better job, we are also looking for an inexpensive place to live. Today, Braden built a great house for Jadelynn. The only draw back was that it was kind of difficult to get in and out of. However, one of the things that has sold us on it is that it is so easy to add on to. Just wait to finish a box of diapers and then add it wherever we need more space. So far, it's the best option!Look Closely, Jade is in There

Peek!

Climbing In Feet First

Making it a Little Taller

Big Already

Today was Braden's first Primary Activity Day. He had a pajama party breakfast with the bishopric. He looked so small sitting at the huge round table in the cultural hall with all the teachers and big kids. He had a great time there and the first thing he said when I got back to pick him up was, "I'm stuffed." So, apparently the food was great too. He said they had bacon and pancakes and fruit (oranges and apples) and a drink of milk. He was also sure to report that they had M&M's. But, that they didn't eat them, they played a game with them. Braden seems to be enjoying being a Sunbeam most of the time. He has showed some apprehension at going to primary on Sunday. I think the big room and all the older kids might be a little intimidating for him. He is warming up to it, though and is starting to really like singing in there. It's hard to believe that our little guy is so big already!

Loosening Up a Little

As many of you know, the Shaw's live on, what is known by the family as, "the land"... a number of acres all together where three of the Judy siblings live plus some other Judy in-laws. This exposes me to a lot of interaction with Spencer's cousins who are still living at home. Recently I was accused of being too serious and responsible by a 12-year-old cousin-in-law of mine. As I thought on this, it gave me an interesting perspective on how people see me. Granted, he only sees me in limited situations... looking after the kids, cleaning the house, at church, etc. But, maybe he is right. Perhaps I do need to have more fun with stuff and not worry so much about some of the meaningless details. Maybe I need to try to start acting my age a little more. I'm still young, and so I should also be young at heart.
So, tonight I decided to play a little prank. Actually (ironically enough) I chose the above 12-year-old cousin-in-law as the recipient of my prank. He came into the house the other night and left a nice pile of mud right inside the door and a little more a step or two away from the door. We confronted him about it the next morning and he responded with something like, "What? My shoes were muddy from planting the trees." So, tonight I finally cleaned it up. As I cleaned, I thought about this cousin of mine and thought... "He's 12. His mother has taught him to clean up after himself (and I know she has). Why am I doing this?" So, I decided to type up a bill of services for him. I'll be sending it to him tomorrow in a legal sized envelope with his name and address typed on the front. This is what it says:

2-21-2008

To: Name has been blocked to protect the not-so-innocent

At: Address of recipient

ATTENTION: BILL OF SERVICES

From Lilly and Co. Maid Services

There is an unpaid balance due on your account. This payment is due upon receipt of this document. Below is a summary of the services rendered by Lilly and Co. Maid Services and the charges accrued for these services. Please remit payment to the basement offices at:

Our Address appears here

We will accept payment in the form of cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, or a personal check (please make checks payable to Crystal Lilly).

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. If you have already sent payment, we thank you and look forward to serving you in the future.

Thank You,

Collections Department at Lilly and Co.

Service Summary

Service	Charge
Removal of large deposit of mud inside the entrance to the kitchen. (Admittedly from your muddy shoes)	$10.00
Disposal Fee	$2.50
Flat Service Charge	$5.00
Total Bill	$17.50

I hope he enjoys his mail, and even though it's just a joke, maybe it will help him think about being a little more responsible while I contemplate loosening up a little.

Sock Puppets

Tonight for Family Home Evening, we made puppets out of socks and then did a short impromptu puppet show. It was a blast and the kids were great at trying to act out what was happening in the story. Jade kept trying to look at her puppet instead of facing it toward "the audience", who consisted of Daddy. I loved it, and I don't think this will be last time that we do sock puppets.Introducing Braden and Jade!

Me helping Jade move her puppet

Taking a Bow (by the way, Braden picked his own clothes today)

Feel The Love!

This post is a couple days past due. Many of you may have heard that your state is the best state in the great US of A. Unless you live in Arizona, you have been misinformed. On February 14th, 1912, Arizona became the 48th state in the union, making it the last of the continental United States (they saved the best for last). As an ode to this wonderful place, I have posted a few interesting facts (plus some of my own commentary):

• The Grand Canyon is 227 miles long, 1 mile deep, and has an average width of 10 miles.

• Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time on a year round basis, never observing daylight savings time. (we don't need to save our daylight... it's always sunny)

• Arizona is roughly the size of Italy.

• Arizona has more parks and national monuments than any other state, more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland. (sounds like an awesome place)

• The hottest recorded day in Phoenix was June 26, 1990, when the temperature hit 122 degrees. (OK, maybe thats not so awesome)

• The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.

• In World War II, many Navajos enlisted as secret agents. Our enemies could never understand the Navajo language to learn our military secrets. (suckers!)

• The sun shines in southern Arizona 85% of the time, which is considerably more sunshine than Florida or Hawaii. (just try to be depressed here!)
  

• Arizona also frequently has the hottest and coldest temperatures on the same day. The temperature could be 75 degrees in the desert to 45 degrees in the high country.

• Camels were used at one time to transport goods across Arizona. (look out they spit)

• Four Corners is the spot in the United States where a person can stand in four states at the same time. (It's really only cool in theory)

• Historically, Arizona’s strongest economic support came from the Four C’s – cotton, copper, cattle, and citrus. In recent years, a fifth – climate – has been added.
  

• Arizona became the home of the first major irrigation project by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation when former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt dedicated a dam on the Salt River in 1911.

So, I hope you all enjoyed this little history lesson about Arizona. People call it the "love state" not only because of it's birth on Valentines Day, but also because there is so much to love about it! So, if you've never been here, shed your winter attire and come and feel the love!

I Am an IKEAholic!

Hi, my name is Crystal... and I am obsessively in love with IKEA. It is a good thing that the one closest to my house is about 30 minutes away. I don't have the money to go there all the time. Instead, I just pour over the catalog and have their website bookmarked. I could decorate my whole house in IKEA and be happy. But really, it's not just buying things there that I enjoy. I really like the whole package. I like a lot of the attitudes that are behind the stuff... like making quality things and finding ways to make them less expensive, or making the customer do some work in order to lower the cost, or being family friendly, or looking out for the environment in small non-obnoxious ways, or finding innovative ways to organize any space (no matter how small)... the list goes on. I went there today with the kids to return a sheet I had bought for the basement re-do. Just for some background, we had been out and about since about 10 am and it was then 4 pm. Jade hadn't had more than 20 minutes of sleep and Braden had been walking the whole time we had been out, so both were completely exhausted. I was contemplating just returning the sheet and leaving, but I really wanted to spend some time there since I'm not on that side of town very often. So, I decided to see how things went with the kids. It didn't start out too well. Braden was trying not to cry as he explained to me that it really was OK if I just locked him and Jade in the car and went in by myself. I stressed to him that I was NEVER going to do that, and he'd have to go in the store with me... even if he was tired. So , of course that put him over the edge. He started crying (although he was obeying me) and we all walked into the store. I returned the sheet with no problem. Then we walked back toward the entrance. There next to the return counter were some toys for the kids, so I got Jade out of the stroller and they played happily for a few minutes. Then I remembered something... IKEA has a supervised and secure play area for children to use while you shop. I took Braden over there and asked if he'd want to go inside. He said yes (of course), so we measured him to see if he was big enough. He was exactly 37 inches tall... just enough to go in. So, I signed papers, got my pager (like the ones you get when you have to wait at a restaurant), gave Braden some final instructions and encouragement, and then went shopping with Jade. I'll have to be honest it did make me a little nervous at first. After all, that was the first time I'd ever left Braden with a non-relative. But, I think it was really good for him. After we got home, he kept saying things like, "I'm getting bigger now." "I can do more things by myself when I get bigger". He also took charge of more things when we got home. He wanted to do things without help. And, even more exciting... he was very responsible about going to the bathroom. He went without reminders and was 100% successful. So this taught me something... It is OK for me to start letting Braden do some things on his own and make some of his own decisions (within boundaries, of course). As I give him some of these freedoms, he will gain more confidence in his abilities. So did IKEA do all of this for me and Braden? Of course not, but that doesn't change the fact that I am an IKEAholic!

Our Zoo Day!

The kids and I went to the zoo again today. (Have I ever mentioned that I adore the zoo?) This time we went with Miss Camille's preschool class. Braden doesn't go to preschool, but if I could let him go to one, it would be Miss Camille's school. Not only is she an amazing aunt, she is one of the most caring people I know. She is excellent with little children and supremely patient. She also uses very effective methods of teaching. (And I also just found out that she reads my blog) So, it was a ton of fun to go to the zoo with her and all the kids. Also, Kara, Andrea and Susanne came along to be helpers and photographers and so that was awesome to hang out with them too. They are great gals!

Some highlights of the trip were going inside the monkey village, seeing the baboons eat, Braden petting the sting rays (thanks Susanne) and Jade riding the carousal (thanks Camille), petting the goats, and pushing all the self-guided tour buttons on the signs. We spent about 5 hours there. Braden insisted that he didn't want to go home until we had seen all the animals. It worked out that we could since Jade fell asleep in the stroller and we had nothing else planned for the day. It was a really good time and the kids were excellent! Here are some pictures of our zoo day!

Checking out the baboons and having a snack.

Petting the sting rays with "Miss Susanne".

Consulting the map to find the petting zoo.

Petting/ harassing the goats.

My precious pearl!

Braden pretending to be scared of the crocodile.

Little Glimpse of Understanding

It has really been a journey lately. Within the last year our plans have changed drastically more times than I can keep track of. There have been times of doubt and great frustration, but throughout the process I have been able to come to the conclusion that there must be a reason for all of this. My experiences in life, up until about a year ago, have been relatively simple. That's not to say that there were never problems, but the problems I did have resolved themselves fairly quickly and then life went on. This past year has been different. We have tried and seemingly failed at so many things... taking one path only to find it was a dead end and we needed to try something else. I've almost felt like I've been playing Monopoly and have just kept drawing "Go directly to jail do not pass GO do not collect $200".
During all of this one question kept arising: "Why?" Our goals have been good goals. I have felt like we have worked pretty hard at them, so why could we not attain what was "best for us"? Well, yesterday I got a call that gave me an answer to that question (at least regarding one of our trials). If you've kept up with my life, you know that we have tried over and over again to move to a place with low house payments and take a position with Silver State Helicopters using that scenario as a means to pay off the school loan. Of course, I was disappointed when we weren't able to buy the house in Queen Creek. Then, as we made plans to possibly move out of state a few months later, Spencer found out about the diabetes thing and the whole plan took a back seat as we focused on maintaining his health. So, over and over again our plans were delayed. Why? The phone call I got yesterday was from Spencer. He had just found out that Silver State Helicopters folded. They went out of business and fired all of their employees with most of them receiving no word of warning. Most of the students weren't even notified and found out through other sources. If we had followed OUR plan, we would be in serious trouble right now. We would be miles and miles away from friends and family with a mortgage or lease payment based on a healthy income and a hefty school loan payment coming out every month (not to mention all the moving expenses and other bills), and then suddenly we would be jobless. There are things that are not perfect about our situation right now, but the Lord has truly blessed our family and watched over us. He doesn't always shine a light ahead of us. Sometimes he just asks us to move forward in the dark and trust in Him. And when we choose to do that and develop faith in His love and care, we will eventually see and understand why He took us on the journey.
I know this is a lot deeper than I usually get with blog posts, but I want to take the oppourtunity to testify of some truth that I have learned. I know that there is a Father in Heaven who cares intensely for all of His children. He knows each of us by name and knows even of our most secret challenges and struggles. He will never abandon us. As we seek His help, He will lead us to truth and to happiness, although it won't often be immediate or easy. Even if it has been a long time since we have truly come to Him and given our life to His hands, He is ready and waiting. All we have left to do is realize this and trust that He will make us better than we can even hope to be. I'm very grateful for all of the blessings in my life right now, and especially for this experience. I think I'm finally starting to get it. And I'm so grateful for this little glimpse of understanding.