We Need Each Other

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about what these blogs have done for me. Reading your blogs and comments have given me a spiritual boost that I have been seriously lacking lately. As most of you know, being the mother of small children can leave you wanting more (spirituality, I mean) after church so I am so glad to have this supplement. It's not just the spiritual thoughts you share but the struggles and joys you find in life that boost me. So please keep it up and know that you are making a difference. Here is a quote by Sister Hinckley that expresses best what I am trying to say.

We are all in this together. We need each other, Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young. And, hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old. It is a sociological fact that women need women. We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other. These friendships are a necessary source of sustenance. We need to renew our faith every day. We need to lock arms and help build the kingdom so that it will roll forth and fill the whole earth.

~Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Favorite Things

I attended a "Time Out for Women" conference recently and Hilary Weeks did a very funny rendition of "Favorite Things" from Sound of Music with a parenting twist. Anyway, it inspired me to write a version of my own.

Before I begin, I'd like to thank all the little people, like Julie Andrews for the original version. My mom, for singing it to me at night when I was scared. My kids, for asking to have it sung to them, thus passing on the tradition. Oprah, because I love her Favorite Things show...you get the idea. So, without further ado, here are a "Few of my Favorite Things".

Summer and good books and chocolate and road trips.

Porch swings and hiking and Graeter's ice cream.

Nights full of thunder, the smell of the rain

Camping and planning don't make me complain.

When it's cold out, when I'm hungry.

When I'm feeling sad, I dance with the kids or

have dinner with friends and then I don't

feel so bad.

Fireflies and girl's night and walks in the woods.

A date with my husband sure makes me feel good.

A laugh from Savanna and Liam's smile.

Jackson's inventions and Luke's crazy style.

When I'm tired, stressed or cranky

When I'm feeling sad.

I chat on the phone, have a hot chocolate fix,

and then I don't feeeeeel sooo bad!!!

I hope that wasn't too awful. So, what would you put on your favorite things list?

Summer Fun II

Here are some more Summer Fun pictures. We noticed a huge lack of Jackson in the last group so I thought I would post a few more for your viewing delight. (We wouldn't want you to think he isn't loved, he just does't stand still long enough to take a picture of!)

The zoo carousel

Jackson's 7th birthday cake, I mean pie.

Check out those goggles on Luke! He wore them constantly for at least a week.

Autumn Blues

I am a scientist at heart, and like things to be explainable, but the power of the human brain continues to baffle and amaze me. I have been thinking lately about the effect that autumn has on me. Does anyone ever get the blues in autumn or is it just me? Most of my friends just looove autumn. I guess I know why, I mean the leaves are beautiful and it is nice not to have it 100 degrees outside but for some reason it always makes me melancholy, sentimental and nauseous. I looove the summer, so maybe the arrival of cool, windy weather is a bad omen of the next six gloomy months to come. Maybe that is why it feels so sad to me. Maybe the cool air of the fall causes memories to be just as clear and crisp as it is. I served a mission in New York and it may sound like a cliche but autumn in New York is amazing and the strength of this memory is seared in my brain. You may think "well, that's a nice memory, what's the problem?" The problem is that now, mixed with those sharp autumn emotions, is that (and maybe you ladies can feel my pain on this) I get phantom morning sickness in the fall. All my babies were born in the spring, so 4 out of the past 8 autumns have been mingled with nausea. A month ago, in the dead heat of August, I saw a television clip of a father and son walking in New York in the fall. I was instantly queezy. Tell me that's not weird! The smells, sounds and for some reason, even the change of temperature, now all trigger this phantom nauseous sentimental melancoly. The body is so amazing! The power of our brains to induce such emotional memories is incredible! And then, to force them into our physical senses so easily, makes me think that there is so much more to our mental capacities than we ever tap into. Too bad all this brain power can't help me find that lost pacifier that Liam has been screaming for for the last hour.

Summer Fun

Thought I'd post some pictures of what we've been up to this summer. Enjoy!

Trip to the zoo. One of our favorite places to be.

Here's the whole gang visiting Frankfort, KY. You can imagine how fun it is to get a shot of all of us. We really weren't trying to exclude Liam.

This is one of my favorites! The kids were playing in the rain and Liam was doing this great duck walk.

4th of July parade. It's no Provo Freedom Fest but the kids loved all the candy, someone should talk the Provo parade people about that.

Bottoms up! Lots of fun on the beach in California.

Savanna's 5th birthday with her new friend Laura

Why the Title?

Well, here I am writing my first posting and since I'm such a novice and really don't even know what to do with this blog yet I thought I would explain the title. Hopefully the blog will evolve on it's own and take on a life of it's own. Anyway, I digress. I was looking for a title that would encompass who I am and what I am passionate about and i came up with "Looking for Space" I got it from a John Denver song who, I don't care what anyone thinks, I LOVE! There I said it! Wow this blog thing is really therapeutic...So the title, ya, I really feel like I am in constant search of space, elbow room, peace. For those of you who don't know, Mark and I have a goal to own a small hobby farm. It is why we are in Ohio, so we can get a better education, make more money and get our farm. We like to drive through the back roads of Ohio and just ooh and aah over little Victorian homes on acres of land. It's what brings me peace. When I'm out in the woods or hills or meadows I feel like I can finally breath. Not that I'm not happy where I am, It's just what keeps me going. My favorite place in my home is the back deck where I can watch the kids play, bats darting for bugs in the evening and when the fireflies come out. So why the title? Because right now it's who I am and what drives me, it's what I want for myself and my family.



So, how about you? What drives you? If you had to title your life, what would it be?