a.rose

Hallie really wanted to write a post for you all.  I thought, lots of people have guest posters. Why not me?  So, without further ado, please welcome HALLIE!!!  mn  vmmn  gmngh cnbbbbbbbmmmmgb     gf nmmgt gm n fvfr n btn tn bbbbbbbbbbbbbbmfjkfjnfjjkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk/.j/j/j/jm// Well, I don't know about you but I think that was really profound.  Thanks Hallie, for lifting our spirits and brightening our day.

The Case of the Missing Soap Devin and I bought a nice little soap dispenser to put in our downstairs bathroom.  It sat there, day after day, sweetly dispensing soap into dirty hands.  One day it was gone.  It has never since been seen.  There are no clues as to its current whereabouts, or the identity of the soap thief. The Case of the Missing Scriptures One Sunday as I was getting ready to go out the door for church I realized that my scriptures weren't in my bag.  They are always in my bag, ready for church.  I only use them at church.  (I have another set for at home, people.)  I looked.  For three weeks I looked.  I looked in the laundry room three times.  All in vain.  I was at the point of despair, Devin and I had agreed we would buy me a new set.  I did not want a new set.  One lovely afternoon I was standing in the laundry room, trying to make sure I had not forgotten anything for an outing we were goi...

any monetary compensation for writing this post.  I say that now, at the beginning, because by the time you are done reading this post you wouldn't believe me if I said it. I was never a fan of BYU (Brigham Young University).  There were a lot of reasons, some of them valid, some of them distinctly petty.  My dad wanted me to apply to ten schools to make sure I had "plenty of options".  I did not apply to BYU. Then I met and married a man who had gotten his undergraduate and master's degrees at BYU, a man whose dream in life was to someday be a professor at his alma mater.  I crossed my fingers, and married him anyway. We get the BYU magazine in the mail quarterly, and when you factor in that I am addicted to reading and Devin decidedly is not, you can probably figure out which one of us reads every page of it. And, in an ironic twist of fate I find myself beginning to respect BYU as an institution.  And we all know where respect leads: love.  ...

Some people are social butterflies.  Some are social smokers, and some are social drinkers.  Some people are just plain socialites.  Whatever that really means. Turns out I am a social cleaner.  I guess it probably all started in my childhood, same as everything.  I can only imagine it's because I used to share a room with my sister, and so either we were in there cleaning up the room together, or I would be in there alone grumbling "why doesn't Mimi have to clean? This is her mess too. Life is so unfair. My parents hate me. I wonder if I could crawl out the window and run away."  You know, that sort of thing.  Then as I got older and we didn't share a room anymore I probably felt lonely and disconnected, after all those years of having someone, so instead of putting the laundry away I would just put it on the bed, to do later, so I could go back out and be with my family, or my friends. Or, let's be honest, read a book.  But quite often to be w...

So Halloween is in a week.  We are entering the free candy zone.  We've been practicing around here, in preparation for it.  I mean, I have to ensure that we get maximum candy intake from the handers-outers, and that means Hallie has to have her game face on.  This is important to me, because, come on, let's keep it real here - you know I'm going to be eating 75% of that candy. (Don't judge me.)  But, so, really, this is for her. The more we practice, the more she gets.  The more she gets, the more she gets.   (I don't let myself think about this for too long. I don't want to let myself consider that the math goes both ways. Er, ah, hehe. ) So, how much candy would you give this face?  She calls this her funny face. And she calls this the scary face. I know, I know. But that's what she calls them.  And so, seriously.  How much candy would you give this face?  Just ignore the pajamas...

Are you dying to know what the mystery plant is? It is a sweet potato . That's right. A sweet potato from my grandparents garden. They gave it to my mom, she never got around to eating it, so she stuck it in some dirt and well, it began to grow. Then she gave it to me.  And now I have a sweet potato growing in my kitchen. Like I said, edible.  Food storage.  Why not? So I realize that this game probably wasn't entirely fair. I mean, how many other people do you suppose have sweet potatoes growing in their kitchen?  I'm gonna go out on a limb and say probably not many.  Thanks to those who played, you made some good guesses, and you gave me some good ideas for house plants if I'm ever in the market. But probably I won't be, what with my mom giving me spider plants and sweet potatoes all the time. I'm thinking about starting  a group called "People for the Putting of Sweet Potatoes in Dirt and Growing them in Pots in their Kitchen".  What do yo...

my plants?  AND play a game too?  Come on, let's play! I call this one the spider plant. This one has been with me the longest, since 2006.  He is my favorite. Would you like to hear the story? (Here it is, as I know it.) When my mom went away to college her dad gave her an offshoot of one of his plants.  She has had it ever since.  When I was at college my mom gave me an offshoot of that plant, and I have had it ever since.  So this is the grandbaby plant of my grandpa's original plant. I have high hopes of keeping it alive until Hallie and/or Hanna go off to college.  Wouldn't that be sweet?  He's been with me these four years except for a brief stint with my friend Nicole, and I've learned a few things. 1. Plants are pretty resilient, determined creatures with a fierce will to live. 2. Even so, they still need to be watered every so often. I call this one the "cactusy kind of one with the pretty flower" This little guy is a fairly re...

I wrote this for a homework assignment in sixth grade.  My sister found it for me.  It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but she couldn't wait.  I think it says something about our personalities that she had a copy of it, and I didn't.  I am also left wondering if this is still an accurate "recipe" of me: If there were a recipe of me It most certainly would be: One half cup of eccentric, One third cup of cinematic, Four teaspoons of thoughtful, Two dashes of bashful, Half a teaspoon of curiosity, and One cup of gentle ferocity. A bit of careful teasing, Mix in with loud wheezing (Hey, it's not my fault; I have allergies!). A tablespoon of golden strands to be braided by my hands. Stir in stretchy bands, A drop of childlike happiness, and Three thirds cup of silliness. Put it in a pan for a cake— Careful! There is a lot at stake! I mean, seriously, I don't really have allergies anymore. (Strange. I know, but true - except to cats an...

My friend Heather recently wrote the following on her blog : You know that song from The Sound of Music . The famous one that has somehow become associated with Christmas, even though the only mention of anything remotely related to that holiday is the mention of brown paper packages tied up with strings . I was thinking about that song today and it got me to thinking about my own favorite things. Those things in the song are all nice, very well and good. But mostly not my favorite things, if I were to have to name them. So let’s go. Let’s name our favorite things. I’ll name mine, you name yours. And then she followed with her list of favorite things. I tried over and over to leave a comment on her blog with my list of favorite things but you know  how sometimes the universe and blogger conspire against you and won't let you leave comments?  So, Heather, this list is my favorite things.  Thanks for sharing yours. Amy's TOP TEN (which means I really ge...

Today my friend Alison asked me, "What do you think Hallie will be like when she's all grown up?" I said, "I have no idea." But whoever she becomes, I wonder if the world is ready for her. Are you ready, world? This I do know: I love watching it happen, even when it breaks my heart a little bit.

I was somehow registered to run the race.  It was a track meet, and the event was hurdles.  There were only two people registered for that event, and so it looked like I was in a good position to get second place. We started off.  I ran with everything I had, jumping those hurdles like I was determined to prove to the world that I was not a rotten egg.  Alas, the girl I was competing against was no rotten egg either.  We were neck and neck, except she must have been a giraffe because she was ten feet in front of me.  My strength was sapped, my energy leaking away.  I had nothing left in me.  But wait! Apparently neither did the either girl, for she suddenly collapsed, her body completely spent she had nothing left to give.  I thought that looked like a pretty good deal, so I collapsed as well. We'll lay here for a while, I thought to myself, then maybe get up and finish the race when we're feeling better.  That was my plan.  Until...

I have a family here on earth Hallie did not like sitting up there. We loved having you visit, Andrew and fam!   They are so good to me I love those faces. I want to share my life with them Yes, I am blinking. But Hallie looks good. Through all eternity Hallie loves her new buddy Owen. Families can be together forever through Heavenly Father's plan Olivia was a trooper all weekend. I always want to be with my own family And the Lord has shown me how I can.  The Lord has shown me how I can.

Learning with friends is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do A few clarifications: This is my "dining room".  So, that's my paint you like, Charity... but it was like that when we moved in.  This is Hallie with her "fun school" "play school" "pre-pre-school" call it what you want, they are sitting on that bench singing the "ABC's". It's a pretty good group of kids. We have one more now, Lindsey. And can't you just see how much Hanna wants in on the action?

Sometimes when people look at a glass of milk, they see the container as being half full.  Other people look at that same container and see it as being half empty.  And sometimes the same person, at a different time of day may change his status from half full to half empty. Are you happy? I sat at my breakfast table, eating my delicious Crixpix yesterday morning and I thought about glasses, and milk, and people.  I am teaching a lesson in church in a few weeks, the topic being Optimism.   I thought about that old cliche, the one to which I keep referring.  I wondered, "How cheesy exactly would it be if I really brought in a glass, with some beverage not milk   in it, and asked the class if they saw it as half empty or half full?" And it took me two full seconds to decide it would be too cheesy.  I watched my Crispix float around and I kept thinking about that ambiguously filled glass. I wonder if people would be more happy if they tried to focus ...

...with this little guy.  I couldn't help myself. But, I know I can't have him because apparently, he belongs to this family: So, I'll let those kind looking folks have him while he's little. Because I have a plan. When he's big and tall and strong and handsome, I will introduce him to: Blurry Hanna. She never sits still. Yeah, this is going to work.  They will fall madly, deeply, truly in love and I will reign forever more as MOTHER IN LAW.  And he will love me too, then, because everyone loves their mother in law.   Right?  (Congrats, pal. You are my hero.)