Mother Of The Year

One thing I've learned as I've gotten older is that I'm pretty good at being me. I might not be what others expect, but I'm me, and I'm happy with that. I'm a good wife, a good worker, and a good mother. I mean, so far I've raised 3 daughters, and none of them have died of neglect. Yet.

I do fall into the trap of comparing myself to those around me. Probably more often than I should. And I never measure up to what I think they are. But then I remember that I'm me, and I'm the best me I can be.

The other day, I was watching Studio 5, a local crappy TV show. It's basically a crappy Mormon Mommy Blog on the air. They have their fair share of "How-To's" and Fauxlebrities. This particular day, they had on Justin Hackworth. Or as I like to call him, Nie Nie's personal photographer. He takes all her pictures. He does a great job. He has recently done a project where he photographed mothers with their daughters. It was lovely. I wish I had lovely pictures of me and my mom together. But his project was a perfect segue into the next topic, which was Mother Of The Year, and Young Mother Of The Year.

My jaw hit the floor as I was so stunned that there was actually a contest for this title. I thought it was pretty clear that I already held the title. So I had to keep watching, just to see what it was all about. Apparently there really is a contest for MOTY and YMOTY. Governor Herbert appointed these women, and I had to keep watching to see how fabulous they really were.

Well.

I'll focus on the Young Mother here, just because I can relate to her more, seeing as I'm still young and whatnot. She is beautiful. Smart. Obviously a loving mother. Mormon. Blonde. Blue-eyed. Soft-spoken.

I'm all those things. Well, except not blonde anymore.

I waited to see what set her apart from all the other young mothers I know. She had a baby that died at birth. I have a friend who had that happen. Tragic. She has a husband who at a young age suffered a stroke. I have a friend who had that happen as well. So tragic. She reads scriptures to her children daily. I know lots of people that do that. She reads books to her kids. Check. I'm still sort of at a loss as to what makes her so spectacular?

And mostly I'm wondering why in the Hell someone would take a job as tiring, rewarding, personal, and intimate as motherhood and make it into a competition? Aren't we already hard enough on ourselves without being compared to those around us? Can't we all win our own personal MOTY awards?

This really got me riled up, and those of you that follow me on FB know this. I was quite offended. Not that I wasn't chosen (duh), but that so many of the wonderful amazing mothers I know weren't chosen. I feel like all of you deserve a MOTY award. We all have our own crap to deal with, and so many of you handle it with grace and dignity. I want to go down a list of qualities in my friends and readers that I admire, and that make you all Mother's Of The Year in my eyes.

Some of you are or do the following:

• Patient to no end with your children.
  
• Conscious of making sure your family eats healthy most of the time.
  
• Run crazy lives.
  
• Run literally. Miles and miles.
  
• Battle cancer and win!
• Deal with hardships repeatedly and quietly.
• Work and go to school and mother.
  
• Work full time as the family's supporter.
  
• Take in children that belong to others, either short term as babysitting, or long term as foster parents.
  
• Drive old beater cars so your kids can be involved in sports or dance or whatever.
  
• Reach out to help neighbors and friends without even being asked.
  
• Sacrifice anything to stay with your children.
  
• Make life lovely along the way.
  

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing on the YMOTY. She deserves recognition. But so do the rest of us. I don't want to see motherhood become another tool of superiority. There is no perfect mother. There isn't. Even my own mother had her faults. And those faults are what make us all wonderful and special and deserving of our own awards.

So to all you mothers out there, you all win the Mother Of The Year award in my eyes. Keep on doing what you do best!

Curses

This is a totally judge-free zone, mmmkay? Just so we're clear, I've never made any innuendo that I am actually mother of the year, it's merely a sarcastic joke. You'll see what I mean in a sec.

My name is Keli, and I'm a cusser. (This is where you all say "Hello, Keli," and nod your head approvingly at my desire to bear my soul to you.)

It's true, you know. I'm a cusser. I always have been. I remember distinctly the very first time I said a cuss word. I was in 5th grade. And it just came out. Just popped right out! I was as shocked as my friend that was on the receiving end of it. It was just a "damn", but it was significant. I still remember what it felt like, where I was standing, and even the book that was on the desk in front of me.

But honestly, 5th grade? Why was I even aware of cuss words in 5th grade? I have one answer to that. It's in my genes. My grandpa was a cusser, and my dad was a cusser. I don't think I heard my mom utter more than a few curse words in her life, and most of them were due to my misbehaving and they were usually muttered under her breath. But me? I just have it in me. It's not something I'm proud of.

I have made concerted efforts repeatedly in my life to overcome my curse word affinity, but I always fall back into the same patterns. It doesn't help that I have a bad temper. Those two character traits seem to feed on one another.

So why am I telling you this, you ask? Because I have become very aware of my use of curse words, and my bad influence on people (Jill). My kids notice, and say, "Mom, you shouldn't swear!" And I say I know, but I'm a grown up, blah blah blah. But that's no excuse. So mostly I'm just putting this out there to have it as a record for myself. I need to stop cussing. I need to work on controlling my anger. I need to be a better example to my kids and to certain people. (Jill).

Remember, this is a judge-free zone. I don't need snarky comments about how you never swear and people that do have an obviously lacking grasp of the English language, otherwise they could come up with better words than curse words. I need comments letting me know I'm not alone in my cave of curses, and that you totally get where I'm coming from, because you yourself find comfort in an occasional curse word, especially when your kids have been working your last nerve all day, and you JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

See? Mother of the year, indeed.

That's what I need.

All About Women

*I apologize for the length of this post sans pictures. Mostly it's just for my memory purposes. If you don't care to read all the way through, I totally get that.

Last week I had the privilege of not only attending, but being a part of, Women's Conference at BYU. I had been asked by a good friend and bowling buddy to help with the service project part of the conference. Being the giver that I am, I was anxious to help.

Let me say that I have never expressed any interest in Women's Conference. It's not something I would ever do on my own. It's just not my personality to want to better myself, or become more prepared. How can one improve upon perfection? Now if they offered a class in awesomeness, I would totally take that class. Are you sensing my sarcasm here? Because I want that to be abundantly clear. Okay.

So we had agreed to help with the Newborn Kits part of the Service Project, and attended meetings to prepare us for the work ahead. The humanitarian center people kept reminding us that it would seem a daunting task, but the women would come, and we would prepare adequate amounts of kits. We trusted them.

So Wednesday night, we headed to BYU to prepare our stations. We assembled 1,000,000 boxes. Okay, I might be exaggerating there, but it seemed like a million. I think it was somewhere around 5,000. Each box we assembled was to hold 8 newborn kits. You do the math. That's a lot of newborns getting needed supplies. We worked hard all night getting prepped. Around 10:00 we headed home, exhausted and bruised.

Thursday morning we woke up early to head to the conference. One benefit of being a volunteer is a free admission to the whole conference, so we thought we should take advantage of a few of the speakers. The first class I attended was called "Rising Above Depression". Although I remain medicated, I still struggle with symptoms of depression, and I thought this might be a good way to get a new outlook on treatment. The first speaker was excellent. She spoke about her lifelong struggle with her own depression, and even though she is well-educated, most of her life went by as if she was in a fog. That really resonated with me. She didn't get treatment and medication for her depression until her late 30's, and now she knows how hard it can be to overcome. Her thoughts were very practical; medication, therapy and a strong support group are all essential to overcome depression. The second speaker wasn't my favorite. She basically summed up her talk by saying if you're more grateful, serve more, and pray more you won't be depressed. Um, yeah, that doesn't always work. So I got a good 50% uplift out of that class.

The next class was about ordinary women doing extraordinary things. It was great. The first speaker was eh, not great, but the second speaker was phenomenal! I could have listened to her for the whole hour. I wish I was more versed in who I should and shouldn't try to fit into the packed class schedule, but next time I go, I'll definitely look her up.

That night we had the actual service project. We gathered at 4:00 for a team meeting and final preparations. The project was slated to begin at 5:00. 5:30 rolls around, and we're barely finding enough women to staff 1 station. We had 6 prepared. It wasn't looking good. I was so afraid that we'd be stuck filling all those kits on our own. But sure enough, just like the humanitarian center people promised, the women came, and before we knew it, the place was emptied out. If you want to see a great slideshow, including a rather unnerving close-up of yours truly, you can see it here. It really shows the scope of the project.

We ended the night exhausted, but very fulfilled. Honestly, I think I got more uplift from doing the service project than I did from the classes. There's just something about working physically hard, and going to bed completely beat, but knowing you've made such a difference, that makes you feel closer to God.

I'm so grateful to Tammis for asking me to be one of her helpers. I know that I was lead to be on her bowling team so this could all come about, and not just for this purpose. Tammis and Calleen have become very close friends of mine that I might otherwise never have had the pleasure of knowing. They are strong women who make me want to be better. I'll have a good bowling post coming up soon, so you'll want to stay tuned for that.

The Secret Is Out

Well, the secret is out. And guess who's pregnant? Nope, not me! Ha ha ha, I bet a few of you were thinking it, though, right?

We had a trip planned to Disneyland for 2 months, and we didn't tell the kids! It was so fun having such a big secret from them, knowing how excited they would be about it! We had told them we were spending a week at Aunt Jill's, and they were pretty darn exited about that, so when we told them we were really going to Disneyland, they were even more thrilled.

If you watch the video, you can see the reaction. I'm sure glad I taped it for posterity.

So enjoy the plethora of pics!



We got to ride in the VERY front of the monorail. With the driver. It was pretty cool. Literally. He had the A/C blasting in there!



And who needs to buy those pics of yourself as you plummet to near death when you can just take a crappy cell phone picture of the screen? Notice Emma's face. And notice Maggie is crying her guts out. She was super brave, and went on Tower of Terror twice!



Ahh, Goofy. Gotta love him.



And Space Mountain. I love the look on Maggie's face. This ended up being our favorite ride. We loved it! The FASTPASS thing they have going on at Disney is such a good thing. No lines, or very little wait time, and it was pretty crowded since it was Spring break!

So check out the video. I had it all ready to go and was expecting a huge reaction from the girls. Needless to say, I had it a little overdone in my head, and I didn't get exactly what I thought I'd get from them.

We had such a good time. We were exhausted every night. Saturday morning I had to drag everyone out of bed at 6:30 so we could do an early entry at 7:00. I knew it would be so worth it to get there before everyone else. It totally was! We did Space Mountain and Dumbo and Matterhorn without waiting at all. Totally a good plan. But that afternoon we bailed early and headed back to the hotel for a rest and some swimming before spending a very late night watching fireworks and riding rides until midnight.

I'm so glad we got to do this with our kids. We told them that when dad graduates from law school, we'll go back. By that time, Emma will be, gulp, 16! Hopefully they'll still want to go at that age!

I Have A Secret

Boy, howdy, do I have a secret. I am dying, DYING, I tell you. I can't reveal this secret until Thursday, and it's killing me. I've known for months now, and I just can hardly even wait 3 more days.

I'm so excited!

It's like Christmas, but better, if you can believe that!

If there was punctuation more exclamatory than an exclamation point, I would be using that instead of a measly little exclamation point. The exclamation point just doesn't do this secret justice. And also, exclamation point is nearly impossible to type correctly on the first try. Go ahead, try it. I screw it up every time.

But back to my secret. I have been so good holding it in. I haven't slipped once yet. But Sean, he is gonna blow it if he doesn't get his act together. I think certain people might be on to him, so he really needs to watch what he says for the next few days.

He might be more excited about this than I am.

But for now, I love that I have a secret, and I can't wait to see the looks on people's faces when they find out what it is!

Crap I'm Doing

I feel like I should really be posting more, and as much as I hate to say it, I've just been really busy.

Lame excuse, I know.

Really, though, I have been busy. Work is crazy, but in a good way. I love my job.

Home is crazy, but all in a good way.

Sean just finished up his last semester at LDSBC, and will be starting at the U on May 16th. He has about 43 semester hours left to get his Bachelors degree, so about 3 semesters, which is like crazy fast.

I've been going through a creative phase lately, and have taken to doing various projects of no importance. I did refashion a couple of pairs of jeans from boot cut to skinny, which is super easy to do, and makes me feel like I got a new pair of jeans without spending a dime. Winning!

I have also started crocheting, which I learned for Activity Days, and I really love it. Maggie has taken to it as well, and has made lots of projects. I started a baby blanket, but now that I look at it, it sort of starts to shrink toward one end, so I need to revisit that situation.

We made some cute skirts with pockets for my nieces. Maggie also got one, and Gretta and Emma each have one coming. I also made some cute ties for my nephews, and they should be getting them soon. Emma has become quite the little seamstress.

Reading this post makes me sound like I'm living in Walnut Creek or something, but really, it's just a phase. I get this way. Soon it will be gone. Such is life.

I'll get some pics posted soon enough so you can all see the crap I've made, because I know how interesting that can be.

What I Did This Weekend

Warm weather was calling. I had no choice but to give in. All the stars aligned, and my entire family was able to descend into the red rock valley to enjoy some serious pool/running/biking/baby loving/ time.

Maggie and Eli inserted themselves into the heated pool, and didn't emerge for the entire day. That is not an exaggeration. The.Entire.Day they spent swimming and jumping and splashing. They were sunburned and exhausted. It was awesome.



Emma was a little more trepidatious about getting in, but once she did, she was in heaven. I think she spent most of the afternoon running between the pool and the trampoline. She doesn't sunburn, lucky girl, so now she just has a gorgeous tan going on. With that blond hair, I'm in trouble in her teen years, I'm afraid.



Sean and Jill chatting it up in the wonderful huge kitchen. This house was amazing, and there wasn't a shortage of space for all 21 of us. Now that's saying something. We had a huge breakfast on Sunday morning, and Sean and Jill somehow ended up being in charge of it. Hmm, I think that might have something to do with the bacon that was involved.


Poor Meg. She's not this blurry in real life, I'm pretty sure. I sort of just called her name and clicked this picture. He he he. Sorry Meg. She has one of the 2 cutest babies to ever grace our family this year. Elliott loved the ceiling fan in the living room, and even though she was spitting up quite a bit, there was never a moment when she wasn't being held and cuddled by someone in the family. She is growing so fast, and I love her so much, I could just eat her!

We had such a good time. I spent all day Saturday lying by the pool with my Hawaiian Tropic oil slathered on, and a cold ice water next to me. Around 5 o'clock, I got showered and dressed so we could start dinner. I was pretty burned, but I knew it would turn into a tan. It has. But I also had to show off for some teenage boys, and pull out the magnificent backflip skills I acquired as a kid. Turns out, that trampoline doesn't have the appropriate amount of bounce it takes to propel my large body backwards and completely around. Things didn't go so well. I've been walking around like a robot, unable to turn my head for 2 days. But it was worth it. I should just learn that I'm meant to be a pool side tanner, not a back flip trampoliner.