Mine

I find great pleasure each Sunday having these five little golden heads sitting in a row down our bench. They are all mine, as is James, the best partner a girl could have in parenthood and life. Blessed am I.

Summer of the Monkys by Emily Sellick

This picture novels begins at the end and ends at the beginning---of summer.
*Hike up American Fork Canyon
*Cole turned 30!!
*FIRST Day of kindergarten, which included a Bon Voyage lunch at In-N-Out with Grammy.
*First day of school 5th and 3rd graders.
*Girls weekend...shopping, eating, playing, laughing and room service.
*Clint turned ONE in style.
*Sellick reunion and learning to share with cousins.
*Weeks long campouts in the playroom.
*Sprinkler fun.
*Baseball

It's Official

I finally had to cash in a portion of my Idaho heart and was rewarded with a little baptism by Utah fire...

Monday, September 13, 2010: After putting it off for a full year, we finally registered the van and turned in our Idaho plates for Utah plates. This was a hard pill to swallow, as I felt I was giving up a huge part of myself, although I am looking forward to seeing less of the 'bird' flying in my direction as I attempt to maintain the speed limit.

Friday, September 17, 2010: On my way to teach a sewing class in Draper I was rear ended while stopping for a clearly red stoplight and the 5 cars ahead of me. The poor teenage culprit was terrified to tell her father, the responding officer was pleasant and I'm still trying to place his accent, and our van was deemed undriveable and towed away. I guess you can say I'm an official Utahan now. I don't know how I feel about my initiation into the club though.

We've had a full summer and have hit the school year running.

Tomorrow: Picture Novel

Coming Soon

Updates! Updates! Are you dancing around on your tippy toes with excitement? I sure am.

Reprioritizing

Imagine me on a soapbox....

I was sitting in the temple last night thinking about priorities. My priorities to be exact.

Am I personally doing everything asked of me?

Will my children be successful in this life because I put forth the necessary effort to teach them?

Does my husband know the desire I have to be with him forever by my own actions?

Am I fulfilling my church calling to the very best of my abilities and as I have covenanted to do, devote myself and my time to building up the Kingdom?

Pretty deep questions I know and hardly ever answerable. It was with these thoughts that I woke up with this morning and it was with these thoughts that I did something drastic.

The following discourse is a reflection on ME and no other. I mention Whits in the conversation simply because it was her own actions that were the catalyst for mine. She is hardly the time waister I am and is always setting the example for me to follow and I like having her to follow.

Whitney and I have been talking lots lately about....Facebook....it has sort of taken over our lives. Most every conversation begins with "Can you believe what ???? posted on Facebook last night?" or "Did you see that picture?" Last weekend found us again talking about Facebook and how our time could most certainly be better spent. All of our 15 minutes here and there throughout the day were adding up. What could we have been accomplishing in that waisted time and could we please talk about something else besides what ???? said or posted on Facebook?

I do medical transcriptioning for my brother-in-law Tim. I am on the computer a lot. In between typing I would do a quick peek at my profile and what I thought was a quick peek would almost always turn into 15-20 min. of voyeurism. I have been amazed at what people are willing to put out into the world for people to read and see. Of course the same could be said about this blog (!?).

Step one to re-prioritizing my days, my duties and my need to be more productive:

*Delete Facebook profile

*Take those waisted minutes and turn them into productive minutes. Read a book to Tess, play a game with Nate, refold the towels Clint has pulled from the shelf, read a conference talk....get the rest of this house in order!

Liberating indeed.

Now imagine me stepping off of my soapbox. I will store it for another date in time.

May Days

I wish we could take credit for the beautiful tile job. Alas all the credit goes out to our brother-in-law Darren who spent 10 nights of his life at our house laying tile and listening to us negotiate with our children.

We love Darren.

We're currently trying to get all of the trim done so new, fresh smelling carpet can find a permanent residence at our home.
Our newest ballplayer is too cute for words.
He's got the look, now we're shooting for the ability.
Mark participated in the "Cubanopolis" for Cub Scouts. James helped him build Bumble Bee for his car. He's not the only 8 year old who looked ridiculous. We were relieved.
Mark was baptized by James and confirmed by his Grandpa Jim. It was a good day and we loved hearing Grandpa Jim confirm him. It was a wonderful blessing and I feel blessed Mark was able to have him do it.
The 4th grade did a Utah History program, costumes and all. Olivia was of course the cutest and the portrayal of Brigham Young will go down in history as one of my favorite elementary school moments. Hypothetically speaking, if BY was anything like what the child actor was acting like, no wonder outsiders thought we were kooks.
Baby boy loves his Buster Dog. It makes my heart melt.
Russell Crowe+Robin Hood=More please

Yes I Can-Can

I discovered these darling can-can skirts on Made awhile ago and fell head over heals in love with the idea. Here is my version and as soon as this house gets settled down I will be creating more...and more...and more. The decision at hand? What color combos will catch my fancy?

Help Meet

Last weekend in the midst of "Ankle Gate" the phone rang:

Relief Society President: Emily I heard through the neighborhood grapevine you twisted both ankles. What can we do?

Emily: While it is a 3 Ring Circus around here, we're doing just fine. Our biggest dilemma is trying to decide who is going to get up and find the remote.

RSP: Can we bring meals in? Watch your kids?

Emily: We've been living off of microwave meals while the kitchen floor is being tiled. I'm pretty sure I can work the microwave with or without functioning ankles. And Congress will be restructuring the child labor laws just for Olivia. Her sippy cup fetching abilities have improved drastically in the last 24 hrs.

RSP: Are you sure there is nothing we can do?

Emily: Actually, I've been mowing the lawn and I was going to ask your son Matt if I could pay him $5 to come mow our lawn for us.

James patiently listening to conversation: You've mowed the lawn 1 time. Can you really say, "I've been mowing the lawn"? You've been mowing it all spring too.

James...so happy to have him around to keep me grounded in reality.

Are You Kidding Me Right Now?

Emily: Fell down the stairs last night, Clint in her arms. Baby fine. BOTH adult ankles twisted. Still had to go out to find a tool to help tiling go faster and get milk. Looks like an 85-year-old lady with new hip replacements. Pitiful glances from other shoppers at Costco... embarrassing. Refuses to get up the rest of the day. Hopes Olivia gets home from school soon.

James: Laughing at the irony of it all. Won't share crutches.

We make a great pair. You should have seen us hobbling around this morning.

Thursday Afternoon

-House smells like sweat pea-

-Need to remove tape from bathroom-

-I don't know what to say...
still working on trim-

-Cub Scout Bobcat requirements knocking
at the back of my mind-

-Stop blogging (procrastinating)
and get back to work-

-View from my front door- -Wish I was doing this-

Wednesday Morning

Forget the beautiful view of sunshine, green grass and blooming flowers outside my window...this was my happy view as I readied myself for the day.

Baseball update:

We've been lucky enough to have another dad step into coaching duties to help out. He's my new favorite guy I'm not married to. I was telling him I needed to go pick up the uniforms and he told me they were already in his car...wow...thus his new status as my favorite, although he did call me Coach Seelick last night. This gave me a good laugh. When James and I were first married and went to church for the first time that was how some German brother introduced us. It's been a running joke between he and I ever since. I told the kids to call me Em and they seemed to like that just fine. Mark tried it out...and it didn't feel right in his mouth. He went right back to calling me "Mom".

Paging all Seinfeld Fans:

We learned last week my new fav is a mentor (!?) People actually get paid to do this and he works from home over the phone. As he drove off in his deluxe SUV last night I wondered if Jams was in the right business...

(yes I typed jams. my mom coined the term years and years ago and it stuck)

Who's the Boss?

A few facts to precede this anecdote:

*Tess has recently followed in the footsteps of her older siblings and is waking up 7-8 times a night crying and will not be soothed until a parent enters her room, gives her a drink and tucks her back in. This started with Olivia, then Mark and then Nate. I have not slept through the night in 10 yrs...since the day Olivia was born. No jest.

*We have had a problem around here with Legos. Lots and lots of Legos. They can be found in every corner of our abode, top to bottom, inside and out. Various Lego structures and ships can be found on counters, dressers, shelves and under beds and they are not to be disturbed. Nate likes to build a ship and put every teeny, tiny Lego he can find in his ship. "Bullets" he calls them. On Monday I had had a belly full. "Legos----if not entirely picked up in 30 min.----timeout for 2 weeks." The 2 weeks part was James' addition to the equation. As Legos are what Nate does all day, I'm not quite sure what we'll do for 2 full weeks. However, the Boss of Sellickville had spoken. End of the story? 2 crying boys with the beloved Legos in timeout. This was due to 2 naughty boys playing with the Legos instead of cleaning up the Legos.

*Mark, as mentioned in the previous fact, has a hard time following through. Every morning finds me in a less than stellar mood as I assign him easy tasks such as, "Please go make your bed, get your shoes on and then get your jacket on." Every morning finds him perched on his bed playing with some toy. I'm ready to walk out the door and Mark is in "going nowhere" mode. Needless to say, most mornings find Livvy and I waiting in the van for Mark. Tuesday again found me with a belly full of said behavior and Mark was grounded from friends and the Wii.

Now the anecdote:

Yesterday afternoon, because of 10 yrs. of sleep deprivation, I decided to catch a little nap with Clint. I tend to tune things out in these moments, 5 kids or not. I just cross my fingers the crackers won't be spread from, in the words of my mother, "Hell to breakfast." I'm not sure what it means, but I've always liked the sound of it. In between my winks I heard a knock on the door...

Mark: "Hey Tanner! I'm grounded. Come on in."

Nate: "Tanner the Legos are in timeout, but I know where they are. Let's go!"

Emily: Am I actually sleeping? I am. I am actually getting some sleep. Play on boys. Play on.

Knowing

This post is about knowing. Not the awful Nicholas Cage movie, but the knowing that comes with personal revelation.

it's also a little bit about sibling rivalry

Last Friday our ward primary invited the primary children and their families to meet at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to watch the film "Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration". On the way to temple square James and I talked to the kids about the importance of gaining their own testimonies of Joseph Smith.

I spent a great deal of my life hearing my father reason with me that if one had a testimony of Joseph Smith, then the Book of Mormon has to be true and if one has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, then Joseph Smith did see God the Father and His Son, he was a true prophet of God, and he did restore Christ's church in these latter days. He would then go on to reason, if these things are true and go hand in hand, then everything else within the gospel is true as well and will naturally fall into place.

These are the thoughts we discussed with our children as we headed into downtown Salt Lake City. We also talked about recognizing the Spirit, how he can burn within our hearts and witness of things that are true. We reminded them of reading about Alma and his testimony and how he knew his words to be true because, "they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God...And now I do know of myself that they are true."

It was a good talk and an even better experience within the theater...even though I was wrestling a cranky 9 month old. My testimony and love for Brother Joseph was strengthened as I watched and thought about his life and sacrifice. To quote a great man, my father, "It's all true."

Upon leaving the theater I felt my hand grabbed and looked down to find a sobbing Olivia. She told me through her tears, "I know Mom. I know. I felt it. Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God."

As a parent, this was one of those rewarding moments. James and I talked and she listened...and even better...she listened for and heard the Spirit. She may not listen on numerous other occasions, but she did listen that night.

--------------------------------------------------------

Of course this new level of spirituality she experienced did not extend itself to her younger brother. On the way to Leatherby's for more ice cream than was possibly needed, the following conversation was heard:

Olivia: "Mark did you see any other kids crying? I was crying."

Mark: "I didn't see anyone else crying."

Olivia: "I was crying."

At this point in time James and I exchanged looks. We both knew where she was going with this. In her mind, because she cried she was more 'in tune' with the message of the movie, whereas...Mark was not.

Mark: "I almost cried."

Olivia: "You must not have understood then. When I was little (?) I just didn't understand it all. Now I get it."

Next family home evening lesson? You don't have to cry to "Get it".

Word to the Wise

This whole coaching thing, while fun, is starting to show it's true colors. We haven't even had our first practice yet and it's already abundantly clear what the hardest part is going to be...

Parents!

I send this plea out into the unknown-

Please be the parents that just go with it. Please e-mail/call with your questions, not suggestions for how to run things better. A suggestion to, "Contact the parks and rec department head and get yourself better acquainted with the field numbers," causes me to suggest you request a new coach to harass.

If the coach asks in a funny, clever manner to have your player at the fields at 6:50 for a 7:00 practice and to look for the guy on crutches, wearing a red t-shirt that says "Assistant to the Regional Manager"...go with it.

There are only 2 fields, literally side by side, with a field of vision clear from left to right, right to left. May I suggest you slowly drive your car by at 15 mph. Scan the sure to be scare crowd and look for red shirt/crutches. It can't be that hard. Maybe if I had also added the coach is the 'roughishly handsome' one the instructions would have been clearer.

Can't wait to meet this warm and fuzzy dad. I've already determined he's "The Man of the House" type of personality. I do a lot better with 'equally yoked' type fellows.

Trying to decide if his kid plays left field all season.

Decided: Don't want to hear from dad about left field position-will have his kid play catcher.

Lesson to Learn

Do you ever feel like Heavenly Father really has a lesson he wants you to learn? It seems that in the last year of my life I have been blessed with the selfless in heart often and randomly. During those last few weeks of my pregnancy with Clint my own personal Burley Angels kept showing up at my door with bread, smiles, popsicles and offers to steal my other 4 ankle biters. During my delivery and the week after, food arrived in abundance and my children would again disappear for hours at a time. Always with a smile and always with an air of, "It's no problem." I credit those warrior moms with the sanity I was able to maintain while life most assuredly had to move on.

At the time I kept thinking to myself how blessed I was to be the recipient of such lovely service. I am the type of personality that doesn't want others to worry about me. I am determined to accomplish things on my own without having to burden others. I feel somewhat embarrassed when others are so willing to help, which is quite oxymoronic if you think about it. I am more than willing to provide aid to others, but ache inside when I am in need of service and find myself prideful about accepting the service. Question? How are others to grow and learn from being selfless if I myself am not willing to aid them in their own need to serve? Humility at its best.

Without exploiting the trials of others and with deep gratitude in my heart, I would like to offer a case in point.

Last week I was visiting a very dear aunt and uncle of mine. This is THE aunt and uncle who have played a dominate role in my life, even so far as setting me up with a guy while I was at Ricks and then hosting the date at their house. Good times. This pair is the one who made sure we had a bed when we got married. Not new mind you, but usable and available. Did we need a washer and dryer? Did we need a dresser? Eternal providers. Eternal doers.

My sweet aunt found out at the end of last summer that she has Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). When Clint was born she was able to walk into my hospital room and hold my little newborn. You would never have known there was something brewing beneath the surface. She now relies heavily on a wheelchair to get about. Shortly after her diagnosis my uncle was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Definition: When it rains it pours.

Last Monday found me at their house doing what I do best...boo hooing about James and his blasted Achilles tendon (I promise to never mention it again hereafter). My uncle had had a chemo treatment that morning and was lying in bed while I regaled him with how busy life was and how I needed James for this and that. My trauma that day was that our area was having its spring clean up with dumpsters available for dumping whatever you wanted. Boy did we have a lot to dump. We still had stuff from the previous owners sitting in our backyard waiting for a trip to the dump. My uncle laughed and said, "I'll be there Thursday." In true Emily style I put him off and told him I could handle it...He just smiled.

Thursday rolled around and so did my aunt and uncle. My uncle helped me load up the trailer full of garbage. He talked me into keeping a few boards for 'patch jobs' and found some people who needed the extra bag of insulation that has been sitting in our garage all winter. Eternal providers. Eternal doers. Even in the midst of their own despair...their need to serve exists. And my need to let them emerged.

I determined that night to do. Act upon opportunities to serve and let myself be acted upon. No matter the circumstances. We as brothers and sisters were meant to interact with one another, lift each other up and help one another progress...

lesson learned.

Your Mom Throws Like a Girl...or Obama

I volunteered James to coach Mark's baseball team the same day he ruptured his Achilles tendon. Karma?

Guess who's heading things up now? The truly sad thing is, this is the first year for player pitch instead of machine pitch. What could I possibly know about pitching, except that my brother Cole threw a wicked change up or that the leather string on his mitt that hangs down low drove the players and coaches on the other teams nuts?

I put out a plea to the other parents for help. In my lifetime the only girl I have personally known who could throw not like a girl lives in Burley, Idaho and is busy gardening and chasing after cows...I was hoping for 9 responses from 9 Dads.

I got a reply from one parent bowing out due to legal blindness and a wife with a traumatic brain injury.

It's going to be a long season.

I'm making them call me "Coach".

Worth Noting

So I'm a little embarrassed. I just heard Glenn Beck say, "Turn off American Idol and get involved in America." And here I am getting ready to blog about AI. Sorry Glenn, love ya, but television is my outlet. It might not be a productive outlet, but it's my outlet.

American Idol was actually good, entertaining fun last night.

Elvis...ah Elvis. I have a love/hate relationship with him. My 2nd year at Ricks found me rooming with a California Valley girl who was obsessed with all things Elvis. Night and day his music blasted through our apartment. I am convinced she believed he was still alive and looking just. for. her. She was especially fascinated with his movies, "Viva Las Vegas" to be exact. She would sit up close and personal with the television set daily, on her knees, clapping and rocking out to Elvis and his high waisted, white, shorty shorts. Sundays brought no reprieve either. I'm still trying to figure out when she went to class or ever studied or why she was even at Ricks. I'm also still trying to figure out why the other 5 of us didn't stage a coup. Seinfeld was at it's height during this time...I can't believe I didn't wrench the remote from her hands, smack her on the back of the head and state, "Devil be gone!" While I realize I am the captain of my own self, it was roommates like this that made me run home to Pocatello every weekend.

A+++++

*Crystal: Love fest-

*Lee: Tied for first in the love fest-

I would be happy to see either of these 2 win. I like them equally for different reasons. I kinda like Lee's shy, I'm just here to sing vibe. It's real and not so different than Crystal.

A+

*I can't believe I'm saying this...Tim...He did very well last night and did turn that 30,000,000 watt smile down just a tad. I found him more appealing because of it. He's still too 70's heartthrob for my taste, but I will be downloading last night's performance.

B

*I really like Casey, but last night's was just so, so. He is a modern day Huey Lewis and his hair reminds of a cover picture on a lusty loin novel, but I still like him. I wouldn't be torn up if he were voted off.

C

*Soibhan has lost all luster for me. I found her charming at first, but now I just find her grating. I'm pretty sure she's smoking a doobie before every performance. We could loose her fine.

*I like the tone and feel of Andrew's voice. He consistently keeps choosing the wrong songs. I think he could do much, much better. He's dispensable.

Just go home:

Katie, Mike, Aaron

P.S. I found out a few weeks ago the librarian for our ward is fairly adamant you ask for Books of Mormon and not Book of Mormons. I LOVE people like this. I can't wait to go get me some Book of Mormons fer my class this Sunday. I will return and report!

P.P.S. We just got an e-mail from our Bishop asking James to speak on sacrifice this Sunday...so much for a short testimony. I can't wait to watch him hobble up to the stand and deliver.

In the Last Month:

Wow...where to begin...

In the last month:

*We celebrated 2 birthdays. Tess turned 3 and Mark turned 8.

*We traveled to Twin Falls for Ali Belle's birthday. I got the cutest letter in the mail from my Belle telling me, "The only thing I want for my birthday, besides an iPod Nano, is for Tess, Olivia and you to come for my birthday. P.S. The boys can come too if they want." I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grant such a wish. I let her parents provide her with the iPod and we surprised her on the front steps, all 7 of us. She was very surprised. It was fun to see her reaction. In reward for my loving behavior and in a never ending attempt to get the Sellicks to move to Twin Falls she told me, "You need to start building your house right now." I told her we needed a job in Twin Falls first and lots of money to get going on that request. Her response? "James can come work for my dad and if you need extra money you can come clean our house and be our maid." I've never seen Tim and Whitney prouder....BTW:How cute is my sister in this picture? Tess would say, "Her's cute."

*Became addicted to MultiGrain Eggo Waffles and Train's Hey, Soul Sister. Hey I wonder if I would love them even more if I ate a waffle while I tried to sing Hey, Soul Sister?

*James ruptured his Achilles tendon playing church ball. White men can't jump. Ok-he can jump, just not this time. He's in a cast indefinitely and I'm picking up the slack indefinitely. I am woman.

*We returned to Twin Falls the week after Ali Belle's birthday for Easter and then the kids and I went on to Pocatello for spring break. I LOVE home. Tim spoiled us with some crepes. More crepes Emily? Oui! Oui!

*Had my heart broke. The keep you up at night broke.

*Found out I like being 'asked' to do things and not 'told' to do things. My Neider Pride rears its head in these situations...I take after my father in this regard.

*Got new bedding. Why does that always feel so good?

*Loved my father even more when after a particularly difficult meeting with a couple in his ward he came home and made a beeline for my mother, hugged her fiercely, kissed her and then turned to Tim and James and said, "Hug your wives. You've got it good."

*Came to love and appreciate James even more. Could that be possible? Yes x100. At the end of this life and far into the eternities I will count him my greatest blessing. We just work he and I. Through a variety of experiences this month we found comfort in each other.

*Discovered that American Idol this season has not captured my interest. Still watching? Religiously, but I'm just not feeling it like I did in the beginning. It's kinda like your high school boyfriend, you're infatuated in the beginning, swoon at the flowers arriving at work, but then after about a month everything he does drives you nuts, yet you want a date to the prom so you keep him around. I hope this and Simon's departure don't spell disaster with my one true television love affair. The high school reference: sad, but true. Here's to hoping said boyfriend is not blog stalking and reading about how shallow I was, although I suspect he already knows.

*Spoke in church. There were two youth speakers who each took a good 10 min. Seriously? My talk then took up the remainder of the meeting and James was invited to give a short testimony. In the words of the wise sage Napoleon Dynamite, "Lucky."

*As you can see, the last month was packed and I will be spending the next week catching my breath...oh and getting geared up to lay tile with a cripple. Should be fun.

p.s. I'm terribly sorry if the formatting is discombobulated (xoxo Sherlock Holmes). Blogspot and I have not been friends for awhile now.