Come, Saints

Sunrise in Los Alamos, photo by Karen Brown

Come, Saints

Do not fear your body, for you are your body

Recognize the joy inherent in the path you follow

Your journey may appear hard, tough, solid, impenetrable

But your perception changes; 

          grace is given to you, 

          regardless your merits 

                    or desires, 

          inevitable as tides; 

          you control this gift and its giving no more than you control the rising and setting sun

There is work to do—consider the true value of your thoughts, that they may be made light

And you will receive a new, revelatory word: 

All is well

Colors!

Ever creative, Miss Lucy's latest artistic trend is the use of color. Lots of color.

 

 

 

 

Class scarecrow

 

Miss Lucy's first-grade class put together this scarecrow for the town scarecrow competition. She's been pretty excited that her scarecrow is out on the main street :)

Two questions from Miss Lu

Mom, I have just two questions.

Is there anything higher than heaven? You know, above it?

How was God born? Not Jesus, I know how he was born, but, you know, God. Where did he come from?

Season's end

Lucy's soccer team had their "big game" day for their last day of practice. I'm really proud of her—she's learned to run after the ball (as opposed to just running around), how to protect it by blocking out, how to dribble, and even scored a few goals here and there! She had great coaches, so to say thank you I made these cute soccer cookies to hand out to all the kids and coaches during the awards ceremony. When Lucy saw me frosting them in the kitchen she said "Oh thank you Mommy—I feel loved and special that you're making these cookies for my soccer team!" Too cute :)

 

 

(If for any reason you need little "Go Team!" flags for an upcoming event, here's a JPG of the ones I made.)

I thought this was a joke

"10 Ways to Live with a Wife Who is Forward, Decisive, Motivated?"
It's not that I'm against taking care of yourself, praying, going to the temple, blessings, or anything like that. It's just that I find the author's rigid interpretive strategies highly problematic in a religion that ostensibly preaches a personal, revelatory relationship with God.

For my rich days

Things I'm loving right now:

 

Dwell Studio's Hans Leather Chair (and matching ottoman, since I'm splurging) 

 

This "Croissants de lunes" mural by Bartsch (it makes me want to re-do Calvin's room)

Annie Vought's "Paper Cut Letters" series

 

Luke Lamp Co.'s unique up-cycled lamps

Rainbows for Miss Lu

Miss Lucy and I made the following rainbow to hang on her bedroom wall. We followed this tutorial. The whole time we were melting the crayons, she kept on shouting "Come on Red! Go Red! You can do it! Go, go!" to encourage the appropriate color to both melt and run clear down the canvas. Gotta love her enthusiasm.

Communication 101

 

I took Miss Lucy to see the Indian dancers this weekend, hence her outfit here. But this post isn't about that. I just like these photos. 

Here's the conversation Miss Lu and I had on Saturday.

Me: "Lucy, we just need to communicate better. Any ideas how we can do that?"

Miss Lu: [pauses for a moment] "Umm, text?"

Made me laugh :)

Lunch bunch

This fantastic banana is going in Lucy's lunch tomorrow. Yes, I'm really an amazing mother :)

 

 

(It's double sided! Sweet!)

I love TED

Favorite TED talks of late. (For you to watch in all your spare time :)

For sheer fun and beauty: Marco Tempest's "The Magic of Truth and Lies (and iPods)"



For thinking about the relationship between algorithms and their potential for changing the actual, physical earth: Kevin Slavin's "How Algorithms Shape Our World"



And, just in case you want more and you never watched Jill Bolte Taylor's "Stroke of Insight", which is a must-watch in my opinion, here it is:

Paint as paint

An artist I admire, Paul Ferney, recently redesigned his website (it's beautiful). While flipping through, I came across his description of painting, which I really like:

I like the way paint feels, the look of paint. If I'm painting a tree, I'm not trying to make the painting look like a tree; I want it to look like paint—to never forget that it is paint. I like how primitive painting tools are. I use hair tied to a stick to spread oil mixed with plants and dirt on cloth.

 That last line is fabulous.

Conjugation

 

Favorite part of General Conference: Miss Lucy, listening to Pres. Eyring quoting a scripture about Alma, asks "Is he speaking the words that Alma spake?"

Coming Home Dance

Our latest ward activity was a formal dance. Even though Nick and I can't dance to save our lives, we went and had a good time admiring all of our friends who can. And now we can pretend we went to homecoming together :)

My boys

Mom for a day

 

Today I

wiped Calvin's nose fourteen times

bought soccer cleats for Lucy

filled the bathtub twice (after Calvin emptied his first bath)

made lunch

made dinner

supervised a playdate with the neighbor

played trains

sat in the car with a napping baby

& watched out the window during Lucy's soccer practice

bought bread

brushed Lucy's hair

changed five diapers

unloaded groceries

made snacks

changed outfits for each child twice

played peek-a-boo

sang silly songs

found Lucy (hiding in the clothing racks at the department store)

helped Lucy practice for music class

shared my bread with Calvin

ran a load of laundry

made (a healthy!) dessert

started family home evening

gave hugs & kisses

received hugs & kisses (and wet smooches and loving hair pulls)

Wisdom with age

Conversation between Miss Lu and a new friend:

Lucy: "How old are you?"
Friend: "Four and a half."
Lucy: "Oh, that's a good age. I liked four!"
Friend: "How old are you?"
Lucy: "I'm six. Six is fun too, but you have to do a lot more work. Like WAY more than kindergarten."


(Recent examples of all that first grade work)