kindness begins with me

Is it too simple a thing to wish that all of you might live lives filled with kindness? We live in a harsh and mean world. It is spoken of as "the jungle." It is often so ruthless, so heartless, so mean, so vicious. What a marvelous thing is a little human kindness.

Today will never come again. "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?"

--President Gordon B. Hinckley

Today as I walked into the store, ready to begin my weekly grocery shopping I was greeted by the madness that is Wal-mart. I couldn’t even get to a cart--it felt eerily like “The Truman Show”. As much as I like my weekly excursions to the grocery store one of my pet peeves is SLOW people. I hate getting stuck behind slow walkers, drivers, or decision makers (but the last one only if I have already made up my mind.) Just as I was about to begin impatiently tapping my foot, a man—who had been waiting just as long as me—must have seen little ol’ me standing there holding my 100 pound weight (otherwise known as James sitting in his car seat) because he asked, “Do you need a cart?” I was about to say “No, it’s okay, I can get it myself” when he pulled out a cart and pushed it in my direction. All I could do was smile and say “Thank you!” That was a great start to my shopping trip.
So the rest of the trip went off without a hitch. I picked out my food (and special treats for our “picnic” dinner tonight) and James talked to the friendly shoppers. (William was playing at grandma’s house).
And then when I got to the register I told the cashier—one of the few that recognize me there—that I had some “price matches” (any of you who don’t know the beauty of Wal-mart’s price matching are sadly missing out). I told her which items I was “matching” and she asked me if I had brought in a particular ad. No, I hadn’t. “Well,” she says, “I have it.” And then proceeds to discount my grapes to half of what I was planning on paying for them! So nice!
So here two strangers made an alright shopping trip into a great one! As members of the Church we should be doing this every day! WE should be the ones handing out shopping carts and passing along deals and smiling at others and baking cookies for a new neighbor and any number of other things—little things—but things that will brighten someone else’s day.

Have you done any good in the world today?

drumroll please...

Today as James was chomping on my finger I felt something hard. Upon closer inspection I found that his first tooth finally broke through! Hurray!

baseball, frustration, and organization

Man, I haven't posted in a while. I feel like I have had ADD all week. Probably because I should be preparing my talk for our upcoming Standard's Night and I haven't. Have you ever felt like that? I know that I need to be prepping but at the same time I can think of a thousand other things that need to be done right now. Anyway... I pounded out a pretty good rough draft last night so I feel like I can sit and type for a second.

William loves baseball. If we tell him that we're going to the "baseball place" it's almost like Christmas for him! He gets so excited and can't stop talking about it all day. Before we can even leave the house William makes sure we all have our baseball hats. Rich, being the baseball fan that he is relishes these moments. So whenever we get the chance to go (read get free tickets) we seize the opportunity. Tuesday was one of those days. William had a blast playing on the playground and making new friends, watching baseball (briefly) with Rich, and looking for the mascot. I was watching William play on the playground and turned to look at James for a brief minute (does this sound familiar?). I looked up just in time to see William rounding the corner of a nearby building! James and I ran as fast as we could, and when we caught up to him he told me that he was just going to watch the baseball game! He was pretty upset that I wouldn't let him go over there by himself. We hade a night of baseball fun and afterwards we stopped at Braum's for some ice cream cones... who doesn't love ice cream?

Another favorite thing of William's (and Rich's) lately is X-men. One morning I woke up and William told me all about how dad had given him his "X-men book". He loves to read it and the other day he read it to James. These are sights that I love to see. However, the other day I left William and James reading on the couch and the next thing I hear is screaming. I peak around the corner and James is no longer on the couch but on the ground! William later came up to me and said meekly "Saw-we I hurt James's fee-wings." Sweet... but you hurt more than feelings I believe! James is a good sport though and puts up with the abuse.

And while I'm thinking of William-isms... Occasionally Rich will load William into the jogging stroller and take him on a ride. They always have adventures on their runs and so when they returned home from a brisk jog last Saturday morning I asked "How was your run?" to which William replied, "dang good". Ha! And then yesterday after James' doctor's visit (which went well... he's in 80th percentile for height and 50th for weight and head) William tripped on the way to the car. He was really more concerned about his spiderman sticker than the fact that he fell. As we got in the car I asked if he was alright to which he exclaimed "Yeah, but I just got pust-uh-wated (frustrated.)" (I guess he's heard mom say that one too many times.)

And another trait he no doubt gets from his mom... Although he can make a mess like this (and worse) in no time flat...

...he also likes to be organized. I bought these bath toys for him last week. Every night at the end of bath time he lines these sea creatures by color up on the wall (except for the star because "it's a star in the sky"--of course). Now if I could just get him to organize the rest of his toys...

happy birthday to ME

Today I awoke--not to the crying of a baby or the whining of "mom I want to watch a show" and the attempt to pry open my eyes--but instead to the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls and pleasant voices saying "Happy Birthday!" Yes, today I am 26. Rachelle tells me I'm so old but so far 26 has been pretty dang good.
The morning was pretty laid back and relaxing. When Rich came home at lunch I opened the presents that have been sitting on my dresser, begging to be opened. And what did I do next? Well, I don't really recall but I do know that William played by himself and James took an extra long nap. The best presents I could ask for from them! I enjoyed all the phone calls and emails and cards remembering my birthday. Thank you! Rich came home a little early to make dinner so I snuck out and got a nice massage (my present from mother's day that I had not yet used). It was so relaxing that I almost fell asleep. And upon returning home I found a delicious dinner waiting for me--tender, juicy steak, mashed potatoes and corn. YUM. Of course we had dessert too... cake with homemade chocolate frosting and candles shaped in 2-6. And what party would be complete without party hats and balloons? (The other day William told me that on my birthday we'd have balloons and everyone would wear party hats "and James will have a small party hat." So Rich made sure it happened). Rich pulled off a pretty amazing birthday for me... he's pretty amazing.

Any day that begins with breakfast in bed has got to be good, right?

joyously james

Now that we have all recovered from our various illnesses I can give James a little more attention--both personally and in the blogisphere. I think the poor baby has been feeling neglected. He was so good while we were all dying but now seems to need lots of attention! (I think he's teething which may have something to do with it!) But other than a little extra fussiness he is still our happy, happy baby. He has grown up a ton in the past month or so. Here's what our little James has been up to:

*He has been eating cereal like a pro

*(He eats his toes as well)

*He's moved from mom and dad's room into William's room... and all parties seem to be adjusting well
*At 5 months he's already getting too long for his 6-9 month jammies

*He loves to roll onto his tummy (and just today decided that rolling all over the room would be a fun thing too.)

*He thinks that jumping is lots of fun!

*He's great bubble blower
*He's got cute curly hair
*And he LOVES his brother!
Yesterday we went to Target to hang out for a while (and because William want to "look at toys"). We stopped to play with the puppets for a little bit and not only did William have a good time but James thought it was hillarious! I wish I could have captured his laughter so that you could hear it. (William is wonderful at getting James to laugh.) I can't say enough how I love this sweet, joyful, little baby. I love to listen to his sweet coos and watch as he learns new things every day.

Rachelle's celebrity connection

A few weeks ago I wrote of listening to Colors and the memories it triggered. Well, my youngest sister, Rachelle, recently started her senior year of high school. And with the commencement of school comes with it the early mornings of seminary. Now, Rachelle is a superb student both in school and seminary (she is, of course, Mr. Phillips' scholar). This year though she doesn't mind waking up at the crack of dawn to make it to the church building because she gets to see the smiling face of Bro. Merrill--aka Ryan Merrill from Colors. She tells me that not only is he a great teacher but not too bad to look at either! She cracks me up. So there you have it... my little sister and her celebrity connection.

I love to see the temple!

I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday to feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God, a place of love and beauty. I'll prepare myself while I am young; this is my sacred duty.

I think that I've always loved this song... from the time I was a tiny girl singing those same words for the members of my parent's temple prep class. It's amazing the spirit that can be felt just walking around the temple grounds. This morning, after our early morning meetings, we had some time to kill before church began. It was a beautiful day so I decided to take a walk around the temple. The grounds were so peaceful and gorgeous. It was wonderful to have that quite time to reflect and to feel the spirit. On my second time around one of my Beehives joined me and commented that even the dew looked like diamonds on the grass. And it did! It was a wonderful way to start my Sunday.

I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to walk around the temple any day I please and go inside often as well. I am especially grateful when I hear of people around the world who have to travel great distances and at much sacrifice to have that same experience.

Another great blessing of living so close to a temple is the service opportunities--not only in the temple but around it as well. It's been much too long since I've helped with a nice, dirty service project. A few weekends ago we had the opportunity to help plant flowers at the temple grounds. I can honestly say that I enjoyed myself. And I loved watching William participate! He and Grandpa Crane planted a flower on the corner that is "William's flower." He was pretty excited about that. When we stopped by the church a few days later he told me "my flower grew so much!"

When we had a Family Home Evening lesson about temples we actually sat on the temple grounds. And when the nursery lesson was on temples they took a little field trip across the parking lot!

I really do love to see the temple and I love to feel the spirit that surrounds that holy place.