The Hills Are Alive!

With the sound of Lucy!  

On General Conference weekend we took a quick break in between sessions and took Lucy to an audition for a community theatre production of Sound of Music.  She had to sing a musical theatre piece acapella and memorize a monologue.  So she sang 'The Second Star to the Right' from Peter Pan and recited 'Falling Up' by Shel Silversteen.  

We prepared ALL week.  With a LOT of prodding and one shave less than forcing her to do it.  It was a rough week.  It's hard to know where to push and where not to sometimes.  

Lucy's personality lends towards hermit sometimes.  She would be content to sit at home and read or draw all the time.  And I'm ecstatic that she loves to read and draw, but I also want to encourage her put herself out there too.  And try new things.  

I told her the story of when she learnt to walk as an example.  I told her how she was perfectly content to sit.  Forever.  She never pulled herself up on furniture.  She never ventured forward with timid steps first, falling down and getting back up.  She just didn't try.  And then one day, when she was 13-months old, she stood by herself.  Without any practice, she just did it.  And we clapped and cheered.  And the next day she stood up and walked.  She didn't stumble.  She just walked.  Up hill.  Down hill.  All over.  She just walked.  That was my first indication of her perfectionist nature.  

She doesn't like to try anything unless she knows exactly what she's getting into and that she can do it well.  Her teachers have often commented on the same.  

And so it is with most anything.  She didn't want to try swimming.  In fact she would scream if someone tried to hel her learn and took it as a personal attack.  But this summer she has taken to swimming on own.  Teaching herself.  

The same goes with Taekwondo, soccer, etc.  One of the many arguments we heard her say over that week was that we always force her to do stuff she doesnt want to.  We never let her choose.  

We pointed out that it was necessary for us to push her because she doesn't on her own.  She tried Taekwondo and soccer, and have it an honest try.  When she decided it still wasn't for her, we let her drop it.  She chose dancing.  Loves it.  And we let her chose it.  Great.  

But singing.  Oh singing.  I think that girl has been singing longer than she's been talking and she's been talking for a long time.  She's often commented that her life is a musical.  She will sing things to me rather than say them.  So when the opportunity presented for signing lessons with a most fantastic teacher, we jumped at the opportunity.  

And Lucy said no.  

So we pushed.  We insisted.  And after one lesson she was hooked.  

I told her how she takes after me and that being married to dad is a good thing for me because he pushes me to be more and do more, and I help him to be calm and relax and we make a good team.  But that she needs to be pushed sometimes too.  

So a musical seemed like the next natural choice.  

It was a rough week to say the least.  So much pushing, and talking and reassuring and finally just putting our foot down and insisting.  And we didn't even know if she'd get the part! 

She auditioned.  (Someone even started practicing the pipe organ in the other room and she held key and kept going). The director listened to her sing.  And said, 'ok thanks.' And stood as if to leave.  But Lucy held her ground.  Then he said, 'Oh, unless you have a monologue...?' 

'Yes, I do.' 

So she did her monologue.  He smiled and walked us out and our five minutes were up.  We went home for the next session of conference, not expecting much and not getting our hopes up, but full of HUGE congratulations to Lucy for trying.  

That was Saturday.  

On Sunday during dinner I got an email.  

Hi

I would love to offer Lucy the part of Gretl for Sound of Music. It would be a shared role. 3 shows out of 6

Hope that works for you.

Cheers

Charles

And we all cheered.  She skyped with both our families to tell them the exciting news and they cheered.  

At bedtime she said she still didn't know if she wanted to do it.  We hugged her and said goodnight.  

She went to her feet rehearsal, which was more of a meet and greet, and she came home over-the-moon excited.  Phew!  

Sometimes being a parent is hard.  

Since then she has soaked up all things Sound of Music.  We watched the movies and we sing the songs and she gets so excited for rehearsals.  And she's doing great.  Little Gretl.  

And so far, Grandma and Bumpa and Gigi and even Lucy's cousin Emma are coming out to see her performances.  

So the hills are alive with the sounds of relief mostly.  When is it right to push?  

She takes after me so much! 

Teeny Tiny Late night visitors

The Tooth Fairy came last night.  We love her.  She writes super tiny and it's hard for tired eyes to read so Lucy read for us.  They were super excited to think that the tooth fairy even touched Lucy's pen!  The little things...

It's a good day

Surprisingly so...even though yesterday ended SO late and today seemed to start SO early.  

I went to a ladies night last night.  With my ladies.  We started earlier than usual - 7:30pm - with the hopes of ending earlier (I think) than we usually do.  I got home at 2:35am.  Is that earlier than usual?  I've learnt that starting earlier does not equate finishing earlier...just to enjoying each other's company longer.  Not a bad thing. 

6:30am came waaay to fast.  Fortunately all I had to do was roll over and tell my husband his alarm was going off so he could get up for Branch Presidency Meeting.  Than I rolled over and slept until 7:45.  Still harsh.  

But, in spite of myself and my sleep hangover, I had a greatly exhausting day.  

It's a good day for singing a song,

And it's a good day for moving along,

Yes, it's a good day, how could anything go wrong,

It's a good day from morning till night. 

Actually, it's a good day for listening to little kids singing songs: 

Today was the Primary Presentation.  The very best sacrament meeting of the year. And our little primary was phenomenal.  And my little Max had 3 lines and sang all the songs, and my sweet Lucy sang a solo in front of 198 people (The Sacred Grove - it's not a very familiar primary song but it's hauntingly beautiful and she sang it justice) AND she was a narrator.  Her microphone didn't work and she handled it seemlessly.  Professional!  

Today was my day to fast for our branch's 40-day fast. Sleeplessness and fasting is a hard combo.  Why don't I think ahead? Plus linger-longer! 

We also had a double baptism today too.  Things are moving forward in this area.  It's beautiful to witness.  Lucy also sang a solo at the baptism.  She is so wonderful.  She's shy with all the compliments she receives, but so sweet and willing to serve in her own special way. 

Logan wanted to wear a suit like dad today and he was so good through many hours of church. 

We rushed home for a quick bite to eat (3-bowls of Cheerios for me! That's a nice way to end a fast) and then headed to our friends for a bonfire.  I love a fire.  It was chilly and I'm thinking we might need to finally turn the heat on.  Blah! 

We roasted hot dogs and Max bit into one and his tooth came out!  First tooth fantastic boy! He lost the tooth...literally.  But we figured the tooth fairy is pretty nice and won't mind. 

We were treated to a beautiful rainbow too.

I love a bonfire night.  Especially a bonfire with Miss Maddie serenading us with her guitar.  Logan especially liked when Danny sang Sweet Home Alabama because it's a song from Cars.  

Max got ready for bed and got a letter for the tooth fairy.  I think the tooth fairy loves kids.  Especially my kids.  

So it was a gloriously exhausting day...from morning till night.  

Life in pictures

A picture account of what we've been doing lately.  Since pictures are worth a thousand words...

Weddings

FHE icecream sculptures 

Gymnastics

Porcupines

Playing with Dad

More weddings.  At this wedding, Lucy was asked to sing.  She did amazing! 

Waiting at the church for dad.  This happens a lot these days. 

FHE building piggy banks.

School.

Terry Fox run.

Field trips.

Empty movie theatres where we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.  And finished with a meal of 'Taco-diles...supreme!'

General Conference - Sunday

For the Sunday morning session of conference we went to the church.  It seemed like the right thing to do, since Tyler is the Branch President...although Jammie's are always a nicer way to enjoy conference.  We were prepared for this one too with lots of non-messy, non-noisy snacks - I made the mistake one time at a fireside of bringing veggie straws and had to shush the kids a thousand times as they crunch-crunch-crunched on those things...lesson learned - coloring activities, quiet toys, and a loot bag for each.  Since Saturday's treats were such a hit, I decided to make baggies that held snacks of varying types labelled with key listening words on them.  It worked out well again.  

We zipped home to Skype with Grandma and Papa and Sarah and Tyson and to quiz them about conference.  Lucy and Max enjoyed coming up with sneaky quiz questions, such as: 

- what color was the prophet's tie

- how many keyboards on the organ

- what type of flowers were on the pulpit, etc

I was quickly trying to throw together Japanese chicken wings for dinner.  A favorite of Lucy and Tyler's that I hadn't attempted to make yet.  

The afternoon session had us cozied up in the basement again with a few light snacks, coloring and play-doh, and fruit loop candy necklaces.  

Our Japanese chicken wing dinner was a huge hit, with enough leftovers for another meal.  

It was so fantastic to listen to the leadership of the church.  Talks on family are always the most keen for me.  I also enjoyed listening to priesthood session over the internet on Saturday night while running on the treadmill.  It was a good wind-down to the day.  

I can't believe it's done for another six months.  We'll need that long to recover from all the treats, and hopefully we'll be able to bear in mind our prophets' council during that time as well.  

There has been a lot of talk about women and the priesthood this conference, with a group of women trying to get into priesthood session on Saturday night.  It's all over the internet, especially Facebook.  I had the opportunity to comment on an article my cousin posted last week and thought if share that comment here.  Of course, all differences of opinion should always be treated with kindness and love.  These are not issue that are worth losing our tempers or testimonies over.  I appreciated the number of leaders who spoke of the power of the priesthood this conference and the benefit it is to everyone, not just men.  I also appreciated Elder Christofferson's remarks on the choice of stay-at-home mom as a career is a noble and important one.  

My comment: 

This is a good article.  I was sad to hear this was happening.  The biggest issue to me is not whether woman have the priesthood or not.  If The Lord reveals it, then I will support it.  But I don't seek it.  What I do seek are the blessings that are available from the priesthood...and they're available to all.  The true church was restored because many people (throughout the apostasy) were urgently seeking God and his blessings and knowledge.  Those who were (and are) seeking power have always damned their progression.  Joseph Smith was not the chosen prophet of the restoration because he was seeking the power of God, but because he was seeking knowledge, light, and truth.  

The priesthood is the Power of God on the earth.  His name is Heavenly Father, because his greatest power is that of his parenthood and potential for parenthood/creation/continuance.  And I have that power.  He has given me the power to create life and I do not take that power lightly.  

Our goal is to become like him.  So if I am to be more nurturing, or gentle, or assert leadership qualities, it is not because I am a man or a woman...it's because I'm a child of God and those are godlike qualities.  Fathers can be nurturing and woman can be great leaders and it has nothing to do with bearing the priesthood, but instead to responding to the influence of priesthood power...whisperings of the Holy Ghost.  

It has been a great blessing to me to witness my husband grow as he tends to his priesthood duties and fatherhood duties, and his duties as a provider for our family. And in the same way, I know I have grown through our 10 years of marriage because of my diligence in tending to my roles as mother, teacher, counsellor, pianist, or wherever The Lord would have me serve.  I have stewardship over 5 young woman, and I receive revelation on how to run my program and on their needs.  I have not been denied any ability in the magnifying of any of my callings.  

Heavenly Father wants so desperately for us to be like Him and experience the joy that He has that I cannot entertain feelings of scorn or selfishness in not have the authority of the priesthood, when I know His plan for me is to inherit all that the Father has.  I'm just working really hard on being prepared to receive it.

Kid Wars

This is what Tyler and the kids do when I'm at Young Women's...they're too awesome.

General Conference - My Vital Breath

General Conference is just fantastic.  I look forward to it for 6-months.  We have some fairly typical traditions that we always try to incorporate, and try to add new and exciting things each time.  

Two weeks ago Tyler spoke in sacrament meeting about preparing for General Conference.  I am amazed every Sunday when I see him work and speak with the mantle of the calling he holds as Branch President. He's pretty fantastic all the time, and always has been (just ask my mother...she's his biggest fan), but when I see him in that capacity I literally feel like I'm seeing him as his Spirit self...the man that I will know throughout eternity.  I saw that man once before, as I knelt across from him at the alter of the temple.  I felt a glimpse of eternity in that moment and felt the Holy Spirit in such force that I have never doubted our covenants.  Now that I see him as Branch President, I get to experience that again and again.  It's definitely one of the greatest blessings our marriage has received as a result of our willingness to accept this calling.  

Anyway, side track!  My point was that he spoke to the congregation about preparing for conference.  Urging them to go to conference with prayerful questions in their mind and heart.  He also spoke about making ourselves available for the sessions and preparing our children so they can enjoy conference too.  We have always tried to make conference a family event, and included our children.  We tried extra hard this year.  Keeping 3 kids of varying ages reverent, attentive and engaged through '10+ hours of conference' (as Pres. Uchtdorf put it) takes some forethought.  So I've been planning food and activities over the last two weeks.  I've also been reading the Ensign from April conference to help prepare myself.  

The kids greatly anticipate conference because of the effort we put into it and the traditions they rely on.  I love hearing them say, 'I'm so excited for general conference!' 

We started out the Saturday AM session by reading Mosiah 2:1-6 about King Benjamin addressing his people.  They pitched their tents towards the temple in family groups.  So we made our family room look like a tent and the kids even dressed up in Nephite costumes.  Now that we're out East conference runs over meal times (12-2 and 4-6), so we also had a Nephite picnic which consisted of lots of cut up fruits and vegetables, crackers, cheese, pittas, hummus, juice, and pepperoni sticks.  

For the afternoon session, we sang 'Follow the Prophet' and talked about how listening to the prophets and apostles will lead us back to Heavenly Father.  We had bowls of treats labeled with different key words, and every time they heard that word, they we're allowed to take a treat from the corresponding bowl to make their own 'Follow the Prophet Trail Mix.'  They loved it!  It was awesome to hear Logan (age 3) shout out, 'I heard scriptures again!' Over and over.  They all listened so well.  And we switched up the words with each talk so we could cover all topics.  This has probably been the most successful conference attention activity we've ever done.  

Needless to say, we were all so stuffed from following the prophet that our dinner was very meager at best.  Logan told us he was so full he had two babies in his belly: 'Tyson and Lucy'.  Love that boy.  

My biggest question as of late has been 'How do I ensure my children remain on the straight and narrow?' I feel nervous bouts of choking anxiety at times when I think about this question.  Sleepless nights as I see some of the most valiant youth I have known slip away.  It presses on my mind and heart constantly.  I was so grateful to hear Elder Hales words that listening to General Conference (and the words of the prophet) will protect our children.  Exclamation Point!! 

I enjoyed so many of the words today.  The simple guidance on finances we received from Elder Bednar's talk on tithing; the powerful reassurance on my career as stay at home mother from Elder Christofferson; Sister Stephens timely talk on priesthood; and Brother Soares piercing talk on meekness and controlling our tempers.  I love it all.  

Looking forward to more traditions and uplifting words tomorrow. 

'Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.' - President Uchtdorf