Brittny - 30 December 2009

Oops! Sorry, I thought I'd posted this a couple weeks ago. Here it is now :)

Low: Sam is teething, poor kid :(

Highs: Today was my niece's wedding and it was awesome to get to be a part of it. She did an awesome job of keeping everything focused on the spiritual aspect of the day rather than all the frills. We started the day by all participating in an endowment session. Eric and I have had a difficult time going to the temple lately because Sam is going through separation anxiety, so we were worried that he was going to make it so we couldn't go. But when we got to his cousin's house to drop him off he just hopped down and went straight to his cousin. Apparently he was good for her the whole time! The Lord really does bless you when you are serving Him!

It was really neat to get to do an endowment session as a family. It was really cool to look around the room and realize that all of the siblings in Eric's family could be in the temple. Not all of them were able to be there right then, but all 9 siblings had received their endowment, married in the temple and was living worthy to be in that sacred place. That was such a neat feeling to be surrounded by faithful people as part of my family. I can't wait for the day when we can have that experience with our family, although obviously we have to wait until Kyle's old enough to receive those blessings. It was pretty cool.

Then we got to go straight from the endowment session to the sealing. It was awesome to see how the ordinances all flowed together. You know that they all build on one another but it's different when you can actually see it right next to each other. I really want to go to the temple sometime and start with doing baptisms and go all the way through to doing sealings. Obviously it would be a long day but I think it would be so cool to see the whole progression in one experience.

27 December 2009

High: Spending a lot of time with lots of family this holiday season.

Low: Not getting much sleep.

All Pooped Out (TItle courtesy of Taylor)

High: Getting a clean bill of health today
Low: The preparation for a colonoscopy...i will spare you the details but let's just say that I took 20 days worth of laxatives in 12 hours.
High: I lost 5 pounds in about 3 hours
Low: Leaving Cody and Kyle to entertain themselves while I was at the procedure. I entered the house to find 4 teenage snipers in my hallway with nerf guns aimed at me. The first words I heard were "hey guys hold your fire while my mom comes in." Needless to say they all quietly played while I recovered....OH YEAH RIGHT.

Late Entry

High: Having everyone home for Thanksgiving. I had such a good time. It is a mother's first wish and joy; to have all her family together. And we had no contentions - that was a true joy. Thank you for that gift. I can't express how much I enjoyed being with everyone.
Low: You had to go home. The boys are begging to go to Utah for Christmas because they can't stand to be here alone. Most people think that five people in a household is a housefull we find it to be empty without you all around. Having said that though we are grateful that you are off doing great things in your life.
I love you all.
The Momster

A Better Workweek

High: Working a normal shift has been wonderful!

Low: Still no news on the China opportunity

Sunday - Eric

Low: Not being able to have a regular work/sleep schedule. It makes waking up that much more difficult.

High: Had a good experience teaching Elders Quorum today!

Spiritual Sunday

High: Being able to prepare and deliver a lesson about the testimonies of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I also read through a good portion of my mission journal entries.

Low: Still feeling pretty lousy from a physical standpoint.

Brittny - 18 October 2009

Low: Eric and I have decided to go back to being more adamant that Sam sleeps in his playpen and not in our bed (since he's kicked Eric out of bed - literally - every night this week). I have a feeling tonight is going to be a loong night.

Highs: My lesson in Relief Society went fairly well. I had a lot less material than I had thought so I was sort of panicking as we raced right through the first two sections. And I didn't feel like my thoughts were coming across very cohesively. Luckily, Eric had a video clip that he was using in his lesson that he let me play from his laptop for my lesson. It was from Elder Holland's talk in our most recent conference. It pulled together my lesson very nicely and filled out the rest of my time perfectly. Phew!

This evening we got to take a family nap after lunch, Sunday naps are the best! (and yes, I do mean nap, get your mind out of the gutters people!)

We had family home evening tonight! It wasn't anything fancy or elaborate, but it was good to be able to spend time together as a family and getting our lives in order and talking about the gospel. It's been difficult to FHE since Eric's been working nights, but we've finally found a good time that we can do it!

Speaking of working nights... my real high is *drumroll please*.... THEY FOUND SOMEONE TO REPLACE ERIC ON THE NIGHT SHIFT!! The new girl won't take over the shift for another 2 months since she has to go through training, but it's SO nice to know that the end is in sight :)

Highes and Lows...

Highs- Being able to watch Sam today at church as Brittny and Eric both had to teach in their auxiliaries today. Also finding out that The ESPN college gameday crew is coming to Provo this weekend for the TCU vs. BYU game. Also another high is being able to be with my wife this weekend and to spend just us time. I love it, also do not tell Taylor this but as I was holding Sam while he was sleeping I could not stop thinking about being a father. Is the time right now that I should be a father no, but I am looking forward to that day.

Low- Seeing Taylor not feeling well, please keep her in your prayers. Also having tomorrow being Monday, not that excited to wake tomorrow at 5am as Taylor and I are training for a marathon in April.

High and sickness...

High- Being able to spend more time with Taylor at home today, and learning yesterday that I received employee of the month at work.
Low- With being able to spend time with Taylor means I am sick...not that fun being sick. So for Cody and Jayson who are both recovering we know how you feel a little bit.

Gettin' buff

High: I got to go on a gym date with my wife and take a nap with her in the afternoon.

Low: Still feeling a bit tired, and I'm super busy with work.

11 October 2009

High: Stake conference is over for the year.

Low: Realizing the Ward Conferences are just around the corner.

11 October 2009

High: I was a lot more consistent in developing my Christ-like attribute of the week as well as prayers and scripture study.

Low: Lack of sleep from a busy schedule and me not getting to finish my side projects.

Covenants and neighbors

High: On Wednesday I had the privilege of acting as escort as Martha Blackmer and her husband received their Temple Endowment. It was really wonderful to see how excited they were. She made comments about how beautiful the ceremonies were.
Higher: The Bishop asked for ward members to join us that evening for a ward temple trip. Nearly everyone on the session was from our ward. When the Blackmers walked into the celestial room they were greeted by about 50 ward members. Way cool.
Even Higher: On Saturday I again acted as escort to Martha as she and her husband went back to the Temple with their children to be sealed. I can't even type this without starting to cry. I got to drive down in the car with them. Emily kept saying, " I can't wait to be sealed." The whole family was soooo excited. I think Dean might have even been a tiny bit excited but he is way too cool to show it. When we reached the 405 split, Emily looked out the window and saw all the signs and asked, "Are we going to Disneyland?"m
Let me first say that my own children's sealing ceremonies were obviously a way cooler experience but this was definitely a close 2nd. There were young brides also preparing to be sealed that day and it was interesting to see the difference between them and Martha. They were concerned about bridesmaids and flowers. Martha, who had already been married for 20 years instead was focused on the wonderful opportunity to be able to be finally be sealed for eternity to her spouse and her children who she loved so much.
President Brimhall officiated at the ceremony and Beau Belnap and Breck Laing, the missionaries who taught them the gospel, acted as the witnesses. I can't find words to describe the ceremony, let's just say it was awesome and I used a few kleenexes.
Highest: After Martha and Keith were sealed the Temple workers brought in their children. To see their three children all dressed in white kneeling at the altar together was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Again I just can't find the words.
It has been one of the most exciting experiences of my life to be able to work with the Blackmers and help to teach them as they have progressed in the Gospel.
Low: That I don't work more diligently to teach the gospel to more of my neighbors. The reward is so incredible. I wish I would find more ways to be more diligent in helping my friends and neighbors have the opportunity to embrace the covenants of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sunday October 11,2009

High- Being able to spend time with Brittny, Eric, Samuel and Taylor this weekend and watch BYU blow out UNLV. I know it is not a very big win as far as the AP poll but it was a good win.
Low-Is Brittny and myself the only ones doing this anymore? Any way other then that no lows as life is great at the moment.

Brittny - 10 October 2009

I've meant to post highs and lows a few times this week but hadn't gotten around to it. So these will be for the whole week -

Low: Sleep. I think our whole family needs to sleep more consistently. We need to teach Sam to sleep through the night, and Eric to work normal daytime hours. And by teach Eric to work normal hours I mean teach Omniture to finally let him work the normal daytime hours since they're not using him at night anyways (not that I'm bitter about that or anything :P)

Highs: On Thursday Eric pulled out his violin and practiced some and played for me and Sam. He thought he was rusty but I *loved* listening to him play. It's not a coincidence that I agreed to marry him after seeing him play for the first time (ok, yes it is, but it sure didn't hurt anything ;) ). Whenever I see him play I am always left feeling in awe that I am the wife of such an incredible man. It's hard to explain exactly what it is, but it always reminds me what a smart, passionate, dedicated man he is and how lucky I am to be married to him.

On Friday we had a really fun day. Eric's friend Vance found this place in Provo that has authentic Taiwanese food so we all went there for lunch. It's called the Cooking Taste Right Cafe and the food was really good. Definite high! Then that evening Eric and I went with our good friends the Criddles to Trafalga. Sam stayed at our place with Taylor and Ryan and apparently wasn't a big fan of being left behind, but we had a fun night out with just the two of us, which doesn't happen very often.

Today I went to our Quarterly Relief Society meeting. I ended up not signing up for any of the crafts because I had a hard time deciding on one to do that would be within my skill level without having it be no more difficult than putting stickers on something (sorry, I like the vinyl things that people do, but I have a difficult time considering it a craft) and something that I would actually want. So I spent my morning making a soup for the lunch and just going for that portion of the meeting. I'm really glad that I did! I got to talk with a sister in our ward who has two high-functioning autistic kids and is struggling with a degenerative disorder that is causing her to lose motor function. She needs some help in the evenings and Sam and I need to get out of the house and do something useful. Win win! I'm really excited to have made a new friend in our ward and to finally have something worthwhile to do with my time.

So, I guess that pretty well covers me! Happy Weekend :)

Brittny - 29 September 2009

High: Eric and I got to go on a date to ... the Gym! It was actually pretty fun to finally get to use my membership, and to have a hot gym buddy to go with ;) Eric did a really great job showing me how to use all the machines and not making me feel dumb that I could only lift a small fraction of the weight he was lifting... or that I couldn't even bench press the bar. Thanks Eric!

After the gym we went to Five Guys which was another high in and of itself. Yum, good hamburgers. But better still was when Eric told me about this. Yup, In 'N Out is coming to Orem!! Boo-freaking-yah! (But, don't worry mom, I would never use the word freaking :P ) Five Guys is excellent, but this is real live In 'N Out!

Low?: I'm not really sure these count as lows but sorta the parts of my day that didn't quite go according to plan. For the most part they turned out pretty good, but they didn't quite belong in the highs category. Perhaps though they should go in a different category altogether....

Chicken Smoothies: When Eric and I got to Gold's Gym we found out that we were supposed to have set an appointment to have them watch Sam in the childcare. Oops! Luckily we were able to set an appointment for a couple hours later. In the meantime we went and made a Costco run. We are now all stocked up, including a little bit of food storage stuff.

When we did leave Sam at the childcare I was a little bit concerned because it was our first time leaving him with someone other than Taylor and Ryan or his grandparents. Not that I didn't think the child care people could take care of him, but he's been having some separation anxiety lately and I just wasn't sure how it was going to play out. We dropped him off at 3:30pm and at 4:25pm (5 minutes before we were supposed to go back and pick him up) I got paged to go to the front desk. I went into the childcare to be confronted with a very sad Sam :( The girl running the childcare said he'd been crying for about 5 minutes and was just looking for whatever would make him happy. Luckily, I was pretty much done with my workout anyways and he was happy to just have Eric and me again. It was sad to see him sad, but I actually feel really good about how well he did!

After we came back from the gym and Five Guys Eric took a shower with Sam and then I got Sam all ready for bed (he was rubbing his eyes and acting sleepy). I put Sam down around 6:00pm and was excited to have a couple of hours to clean up and get some stuff done. I was able to take a bath while I talked to Mom on the phone. Of course, just as I had shampoo in my hair... I heard Sam. He'd only lasted about 45 minutes. So I quickly finished washing myself and hopped out to get Sam. He proceeded to stay awake until 11:30pm. I'm not actually complaining about him staying awake that long, he was really cute as it turns out. He was just quietly playing for most of the time. And he ate a little bit, but mostly he was just pretty chill and cuddly. It was pretty fun. Just not quite what I was planning to do with my evening.

Anyways, that was my day. It was a pretty awesome one. I really love my boys!

Back at Redwood

Low: Kyle is back at Redwood and it is the end of September, which for those of you who attended that school know means (drum roll )...................yes of course you remember......magazine sales.....did you know that if you ONLY sell 150 orders of magazines you can win a whole lot of wonderful prizes that are more commonly referred to as ....excuse the bad language......crap. So for the next few weeks Kyle will be pounding the pavement in search of the opportunity to annoy the neighbors and receive pittance for his time. Oh how I like Redwood.

Low and High: Yesterday was our Primary program. It was soooo good and also funny. Jacob Garcia stole the show by grabbing the microphone after his two word part and yelled no. It was the last primary program that I will have a child perform in. I have loved watching my kids in this annual event, especially the year Brittny put her feet up in the air and revealed an area of her body that usually isn't revealed and sucked on her socks until they were sopping wet. So now it is your turn to have children so that I can come and enjoy their program. Love you guys.

LOW- Watching BYU get their butt kicked by FSU

HIGH- Being able to spen time with my wife and friends. Every moment we are together reminds me of how much I love her.

Brittny - 18 September 2009

I don't want to post lows. So I'm not going to, neener neener.

Highs: I listened to a book this week that I really enjoyed. I felt a little bit guilty for spending so much time listening when I probably should have been paying more attention to playing with Sam (which isn't to say I neglected him, but my attention was probably more split than it could have been). Sometimes I forget just how much I love reading.

However, my big high for today was taking a walk with Eric... around our living room. As dumb as that may sound it was really great to just get to talk with him and spend some time with him (Sam was asleep, but Eric wasn't feeling too well so he wanted to walk). It's funny how we always seem to wait until late at night when we need to be asleep before taking the time to just talk to each other, but it's always time well spent.

Eric - 14 September 2009

Low: starting to feel better from whatever disease I've had since last Thursday, but only slightly. Wish I didn't feel so sick.

High: Despite being sick, I was able to help out with Sam enough so Brittny could have some time by herself. And Sam was really cute today--always brings a smile to my face!

Brittny - 13 September 2009

Low: Having two sick boys this weekend. Strangely enough though the older one had a worse time than the little one. You probably wouldn't have known that Sam was even sick if it weren't for the fever he was running and the goop coming out of his nose! He was running around and smiling like everything was good in the world still. Cute kid!

High: Sam and I went to Ryan and Taylor's for dinner tonight and it was yum yum yummy! Eric also let me take a nap this afternoon while he played with Sam. Then Sam ended up taking a 4 hour nap on his chest! Who would have thought that Sam could take a 4 hour nap?

September 13th

High- being able to go to church today and hear a wonderful talk about the atonement, along with over coming adversity. It was just a testimony builder for me to listen to the wonderful examples of how Heavenly Father blesses His children. Also we were able to have dinner with Brittny and Sam and enjoying the oppertunity that we have to be with some of the family. Another blessing was the opportunity to help one of my former companions get a job since he just moved to Utah and has been looking for a couple of weeks. And I almost forgot making cinnamon rolls!

Low- Not having Eric here due to illness (I hope he feels better) or the rest of the family for that matter. Waiting for Saturday as I will then be able to go to the BYU game with Taylor and friends from the ward.

September 5th

High- Watching BYU pull past # 3 OU, and being able to have season tickets to also watch BYU put a whooping on Utah!
Low- not living with Kerry and Curtis to watch the Utah/BYU game this year.

Brittny - 01 September 2009: Ferber Method Day 1

Low: Listening to my baby cry for 4 hours and only being allowed to comfort him about every 10 minutes. Then comforting him... making him happy again... and then leaving him to cry some more. I feel like the worst mother ever :(

High-ish: Sam is finally asleep in his Pack 'n Play and hopefully will stay that way for a few hours. Unfortunately, now that he's asleep there I feel like I ought to pick him up and hold him and hug him and apologize for letting him cry so much. Yeah, not much of a high, I feel like poop.

Thanks Cody and Kyle and everyone who's praying for Sam to learn to sleep on his own. I didn't want to resort to the Ferber method but I can't get anything done all day because Sam will only sleep on me or Eric or another warm body (and most of the day I'm the only warm body to be had). I truly appreciate all the support from our family in this.

Brittny - 28 August 2009

High: Lexie came over tonight! (For those of you who don't know Lexie and I were best tech crew friends in YAs for my last two years of the group) It was so much fun to reminisce with her and talk about all the things she's doing now and all that we're doing now. You've got to love friends who can come over for dinner and you're still having fun talking and laughing and just enjoying each other's company 5 hours later. We finally had to force ourselves to stop talking so she could go home and get some sleep. It was soo much fun. Plus, Sam took a good nap while she was here, and I made us some really yummy food (BBQ chicken, potato salad, watermelon and cookies :)

Lows: Lexie and I were talking about some of the situations that face kids today. It's scary to think about the world that we're bringing Sam up into.

There are lots of dishes now to do because of the yummy food I made. Crap, I'd almost had them all cleaned up when I started making the food too :(

RadDad - 25 Aug 09

High: Baby chickens arrived today. Now Cody can officially claim he is a chick magnet

Low: Had to drive up to Modesto tonight and just got to my hotel

August 25th

High: I have found a new job that is solid and I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and all that it does to help us make decisions that are within the Lord's will. Also being able to spend another birthday with Taylor only this time I could kiss her and eat her cake!!! I know this is a day late but better late then never right?

Low: Learning to go to sleep early again to be able to wake up at 5:30 to make it to work @ 7am.

Brittny - 25 August 2009

Low: Trying to get a project done for a client that was rather hot and bothered that it get done tonight. In a tool that I hate, but am apparently the "expert" from our company on it. Eww gross.

High: Taylor made cake for her birthday that I didn't get to have last night... but I got to have some today! It is incredible! I know this makes two days in a row that Taylor's cooking has been my high... but she's a really good cook, so you shouldn't be surprised.

Also, I got to ride on the scooter with Eric after dropping our car off to get maintenance done on it. It was only my third time on the scooter and it was more fun this time because I was not pregnant like I was the last two times. Plus, we went on the freeway, which was kinda fun to see the scooter get to go that fast!

Brittny - 24 August 2009

High: It was Taylor's birthday today! It was fun to get together with her today and celebrate her birthday. And she made really awesome chicken parmigiana for us. It probably should have been that I made dinner for her... but she's definitely the better chef so, oh well.

Low: Sam had a baby meltdown and we weren't able to go back to have some of the awesome looking cake that Taylor made. I'm still not quite sure what's up with him, but he hasn't slept much in several days. I think we might need to have a few days of just Sam and mom time so that he can get onto a schedule again. Luckily he is asleep now so that's a start!

23 August 2009

High: Get to go to a temple dedication today!

Low: Feeling pretty sick :(

22 Aug 09

High: Attended a Spanish session at the temple this morning. Comprehended probably 18% or so.

Low: Can't remember the word for 'priesthood'. Sacredocio?

19 August 2009

High: Released a missionary tonight who served in Michigan

Low: An uneasy feeling...

19 August 2009

High: Spending time with family. I love my kids and kids-in-law and grandbaby.
Low: Having to leave.

18 August 2009

High: I was able to jump right in to my new job, and I am loving it so far!

Low: We've bought multiple pieces of furniture from Wal-mart in an attempt to save money. Only one end table has actually been assembled, and we're making a ton of returns on everything else due to missing or broken pieces.

August 18, 2009

High: Having family coming up and spending sometime with us, as it is nice to get together and have fun. Also being able to spend time with Taylor to have new funny memories and just being with her.

Low: Not have any hours with work, kind of discouraging.

Brittny - 16 August 2009

Low: Today Eric and I changed wards for the fourth time since getting married, and my 10th ward that I've been in since high school. I don't do well with change. It seems like every time I start getting settled in a ward, it's time to move out of that ward :(

High: I really think I'm going to like our new ward. It's exciting to be in a real family ward again. Everyone was very friendly and I think we're going to enjoy our time here.

Also, Taylor made us some really yummy salmon tonight. I love eating fish and don't make it very often, so I get really excited when I do get a chance to eat it. Thanks Tate!

8-17-09

High - I get to go to Lagoon tomorrow.

Low- Itouch broken for half the day

Sent from my iPod

15 August 2009 - Saturday with the family

Low: Felt pretty sick all day, and the headache was no fun to deal with.

High: With some encouragement from Brittny, I popped two Advil and went up to Park City with the rest of the family for some fun and games at the Park City ski resort. Had a blast jumping on bungee-corded trampolines, which I had done years ago, but I was still able to perform my triple back flips and double front flips like I used to. Also raced against Cody in the Alpine slide. Fun times all around.

High and Lows...August

LOW: Having Taylor not feeling well earlier this morning...

HIGH: Being able to go to the Salem 10th ward and hear one of my fellow missionaries give their homecoming talk...And more importantly being able to spend time with Taylor today!

Family

Low: Brittny and Eric moved and we couldn't come and help them. It is hard to watch your kids work and need help and not be there to provide it.

High: Taylor and Ryan helped Brittny and Eric. Woohoo for family. Thanks Taylor and Ryan. Watching siblings grow up you sometimes you wonder if Heavenly Father just had a sense of humor when he put us all together because sometimes it felt like all we did was fight. Now it is rewarding to see you each support and serve one another. You are all great kids (adult kids) and I am really pleased that I can call all of you my family.
Love you all lots.
Mom

5 August 2009 - Eric

High: I felt like I got a lot done today. We looked at three places we could move into today, and we've narrowed the results down to two options: a condo or a house rental, both in west Orem.

Scary part of this high though is the fact that we just found out the house rental was a bogus scam by a Nigerian. Good thing we didn't pursue that option.

Low: I haven't been able to go work out in awhile, and I am really starting to feel the effects of it.

Ryan's High and Low -August 5th

High- Able to go to work today, even though I am not feeling 100%

Low-Not being able to spend time with Taylor...thats a big low.

Brittny - 04 August 2009

Low: I went to go work on some updates for work and the email has completely disappeared. It's not in my inbox, outbox, trash, spam... nothing, it's just gone. I have never in my 15 years as an internet user had an email disappear so completely without reason.

High: I got to talk to my dad for about an hour tonight while working on some stuff for the Theronyx website. I'm lucky to have such a great dad and I always enjoy getting to talk to him :)

August 4, 2009

Low: Ryan and I are both sick with some sort of stomach something.

High: We got to spend the day together!

Bigger High: I finally posted something for the high and low...something for the record books :P

August 3, 2009

For my first time with this whole high and low thing I am going to simple.

High: I can finally drive a car and got to drive to and from church yesterday. Plus mom let me drive on the freeway for the first time. Yes it is legal I passed my permit test on the 3rd time.

Low: I don't get to go to the Mormon Dodger night on Thursday and watch M. Russel Ballard throw the first pitch and Russel M. Nelsen catch it.

Sent from my iPod

2 August 2009

High: Receiving an answer to prayers about China (see Brittny's post for the novel-length story)

Low: My insides wanted to be on my outsides and I was too sick for Church today.

Brittny - 02 August 2009

Low - Sam fought me through all of church. Eric was home sick this morning so it was just Sam and me. We bounced in the back through all of sacrament meeting, and then tried eating, bouncing, rocking etc in the Mother's Lounge. I finally gave up and went home (since I couldn't listen to Sunday School/Relief Society from the Mother's Lounge like I can with Sacrament Meeting). Of course, I put Sam in his carseat and drove halfway home... and he was out cold :P Just my luck.

High - Taylor and Ryan came over tonight and we made really yummy banana chocolate chip bread! My tummy is still happy thinking about it :) The recipe we used is here.

Brittny - 30 July 2009

I'm going to break with my current trend and actually post my high and low in the prescribed order, since I think it will work better that way.

Background - As you all know, Eric and I have had a very special conundrum placed before us. On Wednesday, July 21 - the day before our due diligence deadline (the last day to cancel the offer we had placed on our house without losing our earnest money) - Eric was informed of an opportunity which would take us to China. Of course, this meant that we had to scramble to get information about this opportunity and others which we had and reconsider whether or not we were buying the house we had placed an offer on. It was an incredibly hard decision. On the one hand we've always felt like we wanted to end up doing something in China someday. However, the opportunity that Eric was presented with wouldn't really make the most use of all of his skills or give him much room to grow. Plus, we were really happy about staying here in Orem. We *loved* the house that we'd put an offer on, and we'd already invested a good chunk of change in purchasing it. We have lots of family around here, and are much closer to the rest of them here than we would be in China. Now that we're done with school, and have a baby we're kind of ready to just settle down. Anyways, we were able to push our due diligence deadline back a week from Thursday, July 23 to Friday, July 31 while we tried to gather up all of the information about the different options we'd been given. By Wednesday, July 29th it was pretty evident that we weren't going to get all the answers we needed to make an informed decision, and we were obviously staring down the barrel of a pretty major decision with a hard and fast deadline.

High: Taylor agreed to watch Samuel while Eric and I went to the temple to get a chance to think things over and ask the Lord for guidance. We were running a little bit later than we would have liked, and we got to the temple just after a session had started. That was actually a blessing because it meant that we had longer to just sit in the chapel and read scriptures and ponder together. I got in there before Eric and was able to flip through the scriptures for a second. I opened up to the back where the pictures are (yes, I am 4 and am drawn to the pretty pictures). As I looked at those pictures of the church history sites - most of which I've been blessed to be able to go to - I had a feeling of how blessed I had been to have seen those places with my own eyes and be able to feel of their spirit. Then when Eric came in he opened the scriptures at random to Doctrine and Covenants 68. We read through it and even though most of the chapter is devoted to priesthood hierarchy and things that would generally be considered less inspiring (not unimportant, but not what I'd generally look at and be inspired by), there were a few phrases that jumped out to me. In particular verse 8 -
Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, acting in the authority which I have given you, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Before going to the temple I was leaning towards that we should go to China, but since we didn't have an official job offer, and we didn't even know if it was going to come through ever... and we *really* liked the house, it was only a slight leaning and I can't say I really wanted it to be true. After reading that scripture I felt like my leaning was confirmed and that I couldn't fight it anymore, we were supposed to be going to China.

That endowment session was one of the best that I've ever been to. Somehow going with a purpose to receive an answer opened up the endowment for me. I can't explain what it is exactly that I got out of it more than usual (not just because there are things that shouldn't be talked about outside the temple, but because I can't explain what I saw that was different even if I did talk about it), but everything seemed to have deeper meaning and I came up with more questions than ever before. Also, since Eric and I were the first ones in the chapel we were asked to be the witness couple which is always a cool experience. I felt like the Lord was particularly aware of us and our being there when in a prayer given in that session the brother giving the prayer asked that anyone who had come to the temple that day with a special purpose would have their purpose granted. No one there knew what we were facing at that time and I knew that Heavenly Father had inspired that brother to give that prayer on our behalf. The spirit that I felt at that moment was so strong and unmistakable.

After the session was over Eric and I had a few moments to sit together in the Celestial Room and ponder together. After a few minutes of silent prayer we discussed our feelings. We had both come to the same conclusion, even though we didn't have an official job offer, or a place to live or many of the other things you'd want to have before making such a decision - we needed to be ready to go to China at any time. Which leads me to my low...

Low: Our lease on our condo ends next Monday and we don't have somewhere to live yet. We don't know how long we're going to be here and we don't have a particular job offer. We're in the ultimate limbo land. However...

High Part II: My Facebook status right now says that we are "living it up by faith." That's not how you'd usually see it phrased but I'll tell you why I phrased it that way. We're not merely living by faith, but thriving on that faith. Even though we're in this mega limbo land with nothing decided, I'm totally at peace. I hadn't even realized how much turmoil I was in before receiving this answer and getting to a point where I was totally at peace. Weird huh? You would think that receiving an answer to move to the opposite side of the planet, and not having anything prepared would be a state of turmoil, but I am at peace about the whole thing. It doesn't mean I'm not sad about not buying that house, or scared to death of moving to China, or frustrated that we don't have somewhere to live next week... but I'm perfectly at peace. The Lord truly does take care of us when we are willing to listen to His counsels. I am so grateful for His guidance and the power of prayers and temples.

Aging

Low: I just got my first solicitation to join AARP
High: People keep saying that I am much to young to be a grandma. Though I am flattered to hear the compliment I am quick to let people know that I am legitimately "old" enough because the other alternative is that Brittny or I were teenage mothers. Love you all. Mom

Brittny - 28 July 2009

Low: I went to the store yesterday with Taylor and didn't realize that Eric and I were almost out of milk. So instead I only bought chili powder... and now we're out of milk :P I should know by now that it's almost always a safe bet to buy more milk for our little family.

Highs: Taylor brought dinner over on Sunday and I had super yummy veggie casserole for dinner that night and lunch yesterday as well as watermelon, rolls and "Gorilla Poop Cookies". Yum yum yum! Thanks Taylor! Not only was it really yummy but it meant I didn't have to figure out what I was making for dinner that night AND I didn't have to make more dirty dishes to add to my growing stack.

Sam slept for 3 hours by himself last night while Eric was at work so I was able to do all our dishes and clean off our counters (no, the floor still isn't swept, but Eric took out the trash when he came home so we're almost there!). It feels really good to have our kitchen mostly clean again. I was also able to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for Eric in celebration of him completing an impossible amount of work in a week. I was all ready to surprise him with it and he surprised me by coming home with leftover Brick Oven pizza and root beer - yummy pizza too with good veggies on it :) (wow, apparently my highs and lows are very centered on food right now... maybe I need to eat breakfast :P ) It was fun both to surprise Eric and to be surprised by him.

After that 3 hours of sleep Sam woke up and ate and played with Eric and I for a little bit, then slept for another 2 hours in his crib. This meant Eric and I had some time to cuddle and talk before going to sleep. I'd forgotten how much I missed just being able to spend time with my husband when we can have each other's undivided attention. Overall, it was a really good night!

Friday Night Loser's Club

High: Last night I met Dad after work and we went to Home Depot. We spent an hour and half and $400 on things for the house, including a new toilet seat. Hey we took about 10 minutes to analyze whether plastic or wood will show the fewest stains. The reason this is a high is that we had 10 minutes together to talk and discuss these types of things as well as the size of mesh to keep the rats out of our chicken coop. We then went to Wendy's and spent $5 on our meal that we shared(obviously waters and no soda) and ended by laying on the couch with Kyle and watching Disney Channel.
This was the ultimate Friday Night Loser's Club. But it was one of the most enjoyable evenings for me. I love just having time to work with my husband and spend time with him. No one else needed our time and we just got to be together. I am really really really glad that after 27 years that just being together is so enjoyable. That is truly a high.
Low: We now need to go work on the toilet in the boys bathroom. Yuck.

Busy Bee

High: I finished the last lesson for my History 202 class today. Standard under-writing on the house went through just fine. Last, but not least, I had a really good final interview at work today for the new Internal Job opening at Omniture.

Low: I still have another class to finish by next Thursday! Wish me Luck!

Brittny - 17 July 2009

I'm going to break from my habit of posting my low first. Usually I want to focus on my high, but tonight I feel more like elaborating on my low.

High - I'm going to post highs both for today and yesterday. Today's highs were getting my hair cut (it always feels SO soft afterwards) and getting to spend a part of this afternoon with my favorite sister :)

Yesterday's high - Eric got off work unexpectedly early last night. He came home and we started to watch some Battlestar Galactica together. I was still working on the dishes and taking advantage of Eric playing with Sam so I could do so. After a few minutes Eric handed me Sam and sent me to sit with the baby so I could focus on the episode (plus Sam wanted to be fed and Eric sorta lacks the necessary equipment). He then took over for me in the kitchen and finished all of our dishes!! For the first time in probably a month all of our dishes are clean!! Thanks honey, you are the best. I love you!

Low: One of my dearest friends, whom I have known since birth, posted in her blog tonight that she has left the church. I'm not sure I can describe in words how that wrenches my heart. This is someone that I have shared many spiritual experiences and who I love deeply and it just makes me want to cry to see her reject her testimony.

Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm completely shocked to see this. I've watched her decide to live on the fringe of righteousness for awhile now. Not that I'd say she's been doing things that were blatantly wrong, just not staying as far on the side of the gospel as possible. She's been participating in things like drinking caffeine, swearing, and attending activities in questionable atmospheres. Obviously, none of those are against church doctrine and you can definitely be a member in good standing even if you do any of those things. However, it seems that the closer you stand to that line between evil and righteousness, the easier it is for the adversary to knock you over onto his side. Satan truly is out there trying to attack us on every hand, and delights to watch us fall.

I'm not saying that I think those things were what caused her downfall. I've been guilty on more than one occasion of skirting the edges of the gospel. However, I think it's the attitude we develop when we start participating in those activities that is dangerous. The idea that "well, it's not *sinning* so it's ok for me to do it" isn't always true. The Spirit withdraws from us as we allow ourselves to rationalize these activities and we slowly give ourselves over more and more to Satan.

As I was pondering these events I thought of this scripture in 2 Nephi 26:22 -
[The devil] leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
I had been taught before something interesting about this scripture. Flaxen cords are made from very fine threads. Each thread is very weak and is easily broken. However when combined with other flaxen threads it forms a very strong rope that is nearly impossible to penetrate.

I was looking up a reference to confirm what I'd been taught about flaxen cords when I came across this interesting article. It talks about the story of Samson. Because the writer of this article did a much better job explaining this idea than I would I will just quote directly from them:

...Samson playfully allowed Delilah to bind him with green withes and with new ropes and to weave his hair into a web. In each case he escaped easily, mocking the Philistines, until at last he was betrayed by his overconfidence, deprived of his strength, and bound with unbreakable fetters.

The story of the binding of Samson is a powerful lesson in the dangers of flirting with evil and confiding in our own strength.

I think the last part of that quote is most significant. As we skirt on the edges of righteousness, or as they put it "flirt with evil" we are relying on our own strength to keep us from harm rather than allowing the Lord to protect us. As we near that line we allow Satan to slip one more thin thread around our necks that can slowly drag us down to hell.

There is some good news with this parable though. Quoting again from that previous article - When a flaxen cord is burned, the ash retains the cord’s outward form but crumbles at the touch... This can be compared to the Atonement. If we decide to come away from these choices Christ can come in as with fire and burn those cords so that they crumble to the touch. That's not to say that it's as easy as just asking Christ to take over. If the cords were set on fire while you were wrapped up in them... you would have problems that would likely outweigh the ropes. But with His help we can free ourselves from those ropes or questionable activites, then He can burn them so they crumble to dust and become as if they never existed.

I want to just take a quick opportunity to bear my testimony of the gospel. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. The more I put my life in line with the teachings of the church the more I realize that it is the only path to true joy. I have joy that is indescribable as I spend time with my husband and son and realize that we are blessed to be a family eternally. I can think of no greater blessing than to have the love of family forever, and of nothing more miserable than considering being without them. The more I free myself of choices that are evil or even questionable, the happier I am. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life and for the way that it blesses me. I am grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, that He would sacrifice his perfect life for us so that — as incredibly flawed as we are — we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again and enjoy the blessings of exaltation. Our Heavenly Father loves us more than we can possibly imagine. We are so blessed to have a prophet on the earth today to help lead and guide us through the challenges that face our day. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Notes: Just for the record, I don't want anyone to think that I'm condemning this friend. I still love her dearly (obviously, or her choices would not have such an effect on me) and hope for the best of everything for her. Nor am I coming out against the particular activities I've listed. My point is more the attitude of participating in fringe activities than these activities themselves.

Lastly, a quick legal note. All statements in this post are my personal opinion and should not be considered the official stance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Technology

High: I bought a new carpet cleaner, it heats the water and everything.
Low: I lied it doesn't do everything....I have to push it around and add and empty the water and soap but
High: My carpets are getting cleaner
Low: Did I mention that I have to push it around
High: My arms are getting stronger
Low: I have to work to make it work
High: The stench in my car may finally be gone since I cleaned the carpet.
Low: Like I said I had to do the actual cleaning.

Brittny - 22 June 2009

Low: Our dishes still aren't done. I think it's been a few weeks since I had all of the dishes clean at the same time. Unfortunately, if I wash dishes with Sam then he ends up getting all wet or bonked in the head by a pan. And if I wash them while he's sleeping, it gets noisy and he wakes up. Boo.

High: I found the coolest tracking program online today to track Sam's eating, sleeping, pooping, growing etc. I know, I'm easily amused :) But if you ask me for the password you can check out our reports here : http://go.trixietracker.com/site/samall . There's not much there yet (since I only started a couple hours ago) but I'm really excited to see how it works!

Another high, Eric bought fajita meat at Costco. We used it tonight to make fajitas and it was SO good. Plus, it was pre-cooked so we only had to microwave the meat for a minute. I'm a fan of meals where the most time consuming part of preparation is cooking up tortillas. Yum!!

22 Jun 09

High - When I called Blue Cross to check on COBRA insurance options for Taylor now that she is married, I was told that they had Taylor down as being male. When I informed them that she was decidedly female the guy on the phone asked me "could you verify her sex for us please?" Uhhhhhhhh **stifle laughter**, do I have to be a doctor to do that, or would being present at her birth be sufficient? Ultimately they settled that I could give them her date of birth. Tate, watch out!!!!! They may be sending someone your way for further verification!

Low - My butt STILL hurts from sitting on a 5 gallon bucket for the youth conference testimony meeting for two and a half hours on Saturday.

Eric - 22 June 2009 - day after D-day

High: Having a wonderful wife and adorable baby boy to make my father's day very enjoyable. Also, spending time with lots of family today.

Low: Incredibly tired and I just found out that one of my programming projects got deleted from a work server. :( I have to rebuild 33% of it from scratch now.

wedding fallout

Low: When I go to sleep I dream that I am still preparing for another reception. No wonder I am still so tired.

High: I have had lots of opportunities to talk to friends about the church lately because of Taylor and Ryan's marriage. The wonderful pictures that Tami took in the Sacred Grove convey the Spirit of the area. As I have the chance to show friends the pictures I have been able to tell them about the First Vision. I now need to make sure that I invite them to church,

01 June 2009

High: A week in Cumorah with my family and witnessing the marriage of Taylor and Ryan.

Low: That week is over and I have 398 emails that I need to wade my way through

Brittny - 26 May 2009

Low: I know this sounds uncreative, but I wish Eric was here with Sam and me in New York. We're definitely looking forward to having him here on Thursday!!

High: Kyle prayed and Sam was excellent on the plane rides! Yay for Kyle's prayers :) It's also so awesome being back in NY after 9 years. I'm really liking seeing the Clarks again, especially since I practically lived here when I was growing up. I'm really looking forward to getting to see more friends that I haven't seen in a long time (and really good friends, obviously, if I can still call them friends after not seeing them for such a long time!). Plus, I get to see the whole family (except Eric :( ) in the morning! I like our family!! This is going to be a great trip :)

A glad day for marriage!

High: Finding out that the Supreme Court upheld the law of the Constitution as defined by the people of California and maintaining marriage's true definition.

Low: Not having Brittny and my baby boy home with me tonight.

Brittny - 21 May 2009 & More on Manhood

Before I get into my high and low for today I had to add to what Mom was saying about we Anderson women having wonderful men for husbands. It reminded me of a very special moment during last October conference. Eric's mission president has challenged us to always go to conference with questions that we are looking for guidance on. He's told us that if we go into conference with those questions and are prepared to listen we will receive answers. That conference my biggest concern was childbirth. I didn't know what answer I was hoping to receive during conference, but I went in with that question anyways. My answer came during Elder Holland's talk about angels. Although it was obviously not said over the pulpit, this idea was spoken very clearly to my mind that Eric was my angel, and that I could get through anything with him. I couldn't have possibly known then how true that would be. How the blessing I received through Eric, as a worthy priesthood holder, would help get me through the needles. How comforting it would be to have him by my side, even when I was encouraging him to take a nap. How he would lean over the hospital bed to squeeze my hips to help me get through those last contractions, regardless of how much his back would ache afterwards. Eric truly is my angel and I cannot express enough how wonderful he is and how grateful I am for him. What an incredible blessing it is to be married to a wonderful, righteous, caring man who I love more and more every day, even after almost two years of being married to him :)

Ok, on to my high and low.

Low: I didn't really have a low today, it was a pretty good day. My low would have to be from yesterday. Our water was turned off from 9am - 4pm. Once our water was turned back on... our power went out. Not having water was a bummer, but we had ice in the ice maker and I just held off on taking a shower, no big deal. Not having power though was not as easy. Samuel and I sat in our increasingly hot, and increasingly dark apartment for 4.5 hours without power. I hadn't realized how much I rely on having the internet up as my communication link with the outside world. I had a hard time getting a lot of things done that I would have liked to (apparently when there really is an emergency where we have no internet, I'm toast). Fortunately for the long hours without power I had my cell phone fully charged so I was able to document the whole thing on twitter and keep myself from going nuts :P I finally gave up and decided that we'd go to Omniture and hang out with Eric. We hadn't even rounded the corner to get out of our complex... when I saw the lights go on in our condo. Of course.

High: I don't think I have any one specific high for today, it was just generally a really good day. Sam and I were able to run several errands that I'd been wanting to get done. There were some small thunderstorms nearby and I got to see some lightning. We went to Enrichment night and learned how to make some yummy food. I was able to schedule my visiting teaching appointments. Eric came back from the gym relatively early so we could have more time with him. We watched a couple of good episodes of Battlestar Galactica (we're such nerds, but I really do love that show). We got some cute video of Sam. I got to take a shower. Eric made me a really yummy quesadilla. So, yeah, nothing earth shatteringly awesome... but it was a good day :)

Manhood

Low: This is a continuation from the last episode where Taylor gets her hair chopped right before she plans her fairy tale wedding. If you need a reminder of the nightmare go back and read the previous post. On that same day I got a phone call from Brittny and it was quite apparent that she was having a bad day...Samuel had been crying most of the night. My mom heart wanted to jump right onto the plane and race up to help her. I felt so bad for her because I know how hard it is to have an consolable baby but I was sooo busy.

High: This is the best part. So I have two daughters that are having a really hard time. What was so cool to watch was how wonderful and kind their hsuband/fiancee where to them. Ryan had to study for finals but instead he spent the evening with Taylor. I watched him comfort her and tell her how beautiful she was and then we spied (well they were in my bathrroom right infront of us) as he sat her down and washed her face and did her facial cleansing routine. When Brittny called she sounded much better. She told me that when Eric saw how hard it was for her he took the day off work and cared for Samuel and gave her a break.

They remind me of how Curtis has cared for me over the years. When it was time for Jayson to be born and Curtis was hundreds of miles away I did everything I could to wait for him to arrive. Later people told me that Curtis should be so grateful to me for holding on so he could be there. They had it wrong. I was being selfish. There was no way I wanted to go through a birth without him because he cares for me so well and I knew that he would make sure that I was taken care of.

I am so pleased that my daughters have chosen men who take after Curtis. They are really blessed to have them. As I watched Ryan wash Taylor's face I was reminded of the Savior and the care he showed to his Apostles. I am grateful to be surrounded by "real men"; those who follow the Savior and serve as He did. And I am grateful that my boys will have these men to pattern their lives after.

The Miracle

Low: Taylor came home from the hairsalon, yes we are only two weeks from the wedding, with 12 inches cut out of the back of her hair. She had asked for some layers and the stylist had whacked big uneven chunks out of her hair. Unfortunately even though it was in the back it was obvious to her that her long had been ruined and there was no way to put it back on.

High: I have been teaching seminary this week, which in and of itself is a high. I love working with the youth and testifying of Christ. (One day we had 5 non members in the class...that was a high. Actually the real high was that three came one day and they brought back two more later in the week...anyway I am digressing.) Because of seminary I have been getting up early again and having time to ponder, pray and study the scriptures. I love this time of the day but without seminary I lack the discipline to get up and take advantage of it. As I was praying about all that has been happening and the many set backs we were having with planning the wedding, I felt the impression to pray for a miracle for Taylor's hair. Heavenly Father can do anything and he can grow hair. I pondered on the faith that it took to grow hair in time for a wedding and decided to go ahead and ask anyway, even though I felt I really didn't think I had enough faith for a miracle of that magnitude.
"We" - no wait this story involves Taylor so we all know that - "I" called the stylist and tried politely to explain that we needed help. I am ashamed to say I forgot about faith and prayer for the rest of the day. We left to the salon. The stylist was defensive and I tried to be polite but firm. I then went outside to finish the sewing I was working on.
When Taylor came out her hair looked beautiful and the layers were even. I was stunned because I really didn't expect it to work. (see my lack of faith) I had looked at the chunk of hair that had been taken out and I couldn't see how it could have been repaired. We then went off to go get her make up done. At the end of make-up and hair, Taylor looked stunning.
While Taylor and I were talking about how good she looked I think I said something about how surprised I was with how well her hair looked and as I was talking the Spirit hit me and reminded me that I had prayed for a miracle, why was I surprised. I had forgotten that I had prayed for help in the morning but apparently Heavenly Father had not forgotten.
This has been a good reminder to me that Heavenly Father deeply cares for us, even when we have bad hair cuts. Yes in the scheme of the eternities, hair doesn't matter much, but it is obvious to me that if it matters to us it matters to our Heavenly Father.
I am reminded that as I encounter problems that I need to turn to my Heavenly Father and trust that he can help me find a solution and have faith that he will. I am certain that in the next few weeks we will encounter some difficulties, it always happens when you are planning for a big event. I pray, as we are all together, that you will remind me that there will be a solution, we just need to turn to our Heavenly Father.
I am sooooo looking forward to being all together in New York. I love the land of the restoration and I am so happy that we can all gather together as a family there, especially for such a wonderful event.
Love
The Momster

Mother's Day

High: Being a Mom I love being a Mom. Including being Mom to some of my adopted kids. It was very fun to get a call from Brandon Schlecht. Thanks for all your thoughtfulness today. I felt pampered and appreciated.
It was fun to work along side Taylor in the kitchen. We have similar cleaning styles. I really enjoy watching my girls embrace their role as women in Zion. I am very pleased (more like proud but I can't say that) with their desires and actions to help build families.

RadDad - 10 May 2009

High - Having our traditional Mother's Day dinner with our friends the Nielsen's. We started about 10 years ago alternating between our two homes for Mother's Day and Father's Day. This year we invited three other families to join us and it was wonderful!!!!

Low - Not having garlic powder to use to marinate the pork loin that I cooked on the grill.

Lest we forget, our favorite Mother's Day tradition.

Brittny - 10 May 2009

Low - I put some clothes in the washing machine last night for us to wear to church today. I was going to put them in the dryer when I woke up to feed Sam in the middle of the night. Great plan, except Sam didn't wake up in the middle of the night so I ended up wearing a mostly damp undershirt to church today - brrrr!

High - Uhm, did you not just read?!? Sam slept through the night last night! Don't worry, I'm not counting on this being an every night thing, but that was the best Mother's Day present ever! Well, at least it's right there in the running with what Eric bought me - a mobile that doesn't require cranking (Hooray! My fingers have literally developed callouses from cranking Sam's current mobile so much!) Thanks Eric!

However, the real high for today was having a wonderful mother. I feel so blessed to have mom as one of my best friends and a great example of living the gospel. I hope that I can emulate her as I raise my own children. Thanks Mom for being a pillar of strength, caring and righteousness in our family! Happy Mother's Day!

Eric - May 09, 2009

High: Finally getting some really cute photos of our Samuel as well as a good family portrait (a nice confidence-boost to my amateur photography skills)


Low: Being so sore from my intense workout session with a personal trainer yesterday. Owwww!

RadDad - 29 Apr 2009

High - Completing the latest three quarter outlook for Theronyx and seeing cautious hope for optimism (how is that for qualified optimism?).

Low - Hearing that a brother in our stake suffered a massive heart attack and died this afternoon. He was younger than me.

Ahhh, nice! - 28 April 2009

High: Being able to sleep in!~

Finally getting things done that have been on my to-do list for months!

Low: Found an unpaid parking ticket that had $50 of late fees on it :(

Brittny - 27 April 2009

Low: Eric came home from work tonight and Samuel woke up. So he was walking around with him and playing with him to keep him happy. Then Eric needed to do something so he handed Samuel off to me. Samuel proceeded to scream bloody murder until Eric took him back :( I promise I don't abuse him! Samuel is decidedly a daddy's boy (although, on the positive side, I am extremely glad that he does love his daddy so much)

High: Eric has been done with school since Thursday so we've had him home a lot more! I really like having him at home during the days. We've gotten a lot done, our entire apartment cleaned up and kept in order for one thing :) It's wonderful to have a clean apartment, and to feel like we're going to be able to keep it up! But more exciting than having a clean apartment is just getting to see my husband. Somehow I don't feel like I've seen him very much since we got married :P

Eric - 22 Apr 2009 - SCHOOL!

High: Today is my last day as an under-grad at a University! It's been a long time coming!

Low: I still have to take two finals :P

Wedded bliss

High: Celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary by serving in the church. There is no where else I would rather be than with my husband building the kingdom. It was fun to watch him talk to the Young Adults. He is pretty good. It was great to have some alone time.... rewind I guess it wasn't alone time, it was together time. I am happy when I am with him.

Finding a dress for the weddding....under the $345 price tag seen the day earlier.....WAY under.

Low: Not being able to take credit for finding the dress. Curtis found it. Before that I lost him in the craft store. He disappeared so I finally just went through the checkout and figured he was just searching for me. Apparently not because he never came. The store clerk thought it was funny that the husband was the one who was lost browsing in the store. You may want to ask him what he was doing.

21 April 2009

High - Celebrating that I have been married for 27 years of eternity. Okay, so I celebrated by eating a hot dog with Kerry at the Moorpark Institute and shopping for a dress for Taylor's wedding and buying chocolate chips for cookies for Cody's basketball awards banquet. At least we got to spend 3 hours together, mostly uninterrupted and that doesn't happen very often.

Low - Reflecting after stake conference this weekend that I should be doing so much more to build the kingdom of God.

RadDad - 13 Apr 2009

High - Slept in (kind of) because the boys are on Spring Break.

Low - The Jazz totally gave up in the fourth quarter tonight

Wonderful Weekend

High: Standing in Holy Places with the family this weekend. It has to be one of the absolute coolest experiences to escort a young couple to the Temple as they prepare to marry. Brittny has already expressed how I feel about being together with ALL the family and how much I desire that we are all together through eternity. Maybe a new family motto should be "No man left behind". As I sit in the Temple I just can't imagine not being ALL together someday.

Brittny sent me this quote which I think expresses my sentiments:

With your companion, make it a family objective to all be together in the celestial kingdom. Strive to make your home a little bit of heaven on earth so that after this life is over, you may be able to say:

We are all here!
Father, mother, sister, brother,
All who hold each other dear.
Each chair is filled—
We’re all at home. …
We’re all—all here.

-Ezra Taft Benson, “The Honored Place of Woman,” Ensign, Nov 1981, 104

The next high was witnessing the blessing of Samuel and being again together as a family. I am so grateful for the power of the Priesthood and grateful to Brittny and Eric for the opportunity to witness the growth of a new Eternal family.

Low: I was going to say having to drive back and forth to Utah so many times but I have realized that it has given me a great opportunity to be with family. So can't complain.

RadDad - 13 Apr 2009

High - Hiking with family in Zions National Park.

Low - Realizing that these hikes were easier 30 years ago.

Hansen family short version

My guess is that Brittny will write a novel lengthened post about similar things for this weekend, but here it is from my POV:

High: Increased spirituality from Elias' baptism, going to the temple, giving a baby blessing, and spending time with family. It really was a wonderful weekend, and I am grateful for those opportunities and blessings.

Low: The ridiculous amount of tests and assignments that have yet to be completed within the next two days.

Hansen family looong version

Eric was right, when he posted his highs and lows I was already working on this post. My heart is very full so there was no way this was going to be a short post. What can I say? I grew up wanting to be a novelist, not a newspaper columnist! :P I hope that at least my family members will read the whole thing as the highs are all about you guys and I want you to know how much I love you all :)

Low: Forgetting my wallet at home on Saturday morning and not having my recommend to go to the temple for Taylor's endowment. Although, as you'll read below, because of this ultimately low moment, many of my highs were given so much more meaning.

High: The entire weekend. Friday night it was really fun putting together the bridal shower for Taylor. I like getting to organize things with mom and I was really excited to get to hold the shower for Taylor. I'm so grateful to have her as my sister, she brings sunshine everywhere she goes and truly is a party in a box :) It was fun to have the shower, even if we were running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get everything put together in time! It was all worth it though to see so many of our friends and family that night, and be able to celebrate Taylor's upcoming wedding... and getting to show Samuel off was a plus too :)

I think the funnest part of the shower was showing the video we made of Ryan. We played a game where we asked Ryan a bunch of questions about himself and Taylor before the shower and recorded his answers. Then during the shower we played the video, but we paused before each of his answers to quiz Taylor to see if her answers matched up with his. If she got an answer wrong (or just different from Ryan), we made her chew a piece of gum. She did pretty well, but she did end up with 4 or 5 pieces of gum before the game was over! Mad props to Eric for filming it and for adding all of the fun effects to the video!

The next morning Eric, Samuel and I went to the baptism of our nephew Elias. It is always so neat to celebrate when a child chooses to join the church. It reminds me of my own baptism and the covenants I've made. I also am reminded of the great blessing it is to have the knowledge that we have and how fortunate we for the direction it gives us in our lives. Of course, the lunch at Mike and Marianela's afterward was awesome as well :) . I think I'll say this at least 10 more times in this post but I *love* spending time with family. There's nothing else like it in the world. I feel so blessed that Eric and I both have such wonderful families.

After the baptism we went to Salt Lake to attend the temple as Taylor received her endowment. As we were hopping in the car I had the impression to double check that I had my wallet. I couldn't think why I would have taken it out but I followed that prompting and searched the diaper bag - no wallet. Usually I check for my recommend at least 5 times before leaving the house if I'm going to the temple. However, since I'd had 3 hours of sleep the night before and we'd been racing to get out the door for Elias' baptism that step had been neglected all 5 times :P. I felt so ill when I realized that I didn't have it. I'd just renewed my recommend that week since it had expired the week before. I don't want to say that I renewed it then *for* going through the temple with Taylor since the reason to renew my recommend was to have a current recommend. Particularly because of this challenge given by President Howard W. Hunter:

...I invite the Latter-day Saints to look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of your membership. It is the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the Church worthy to enter the temple. It would please the Lord if every adult member would be worthy of—and carry—a current temple recommend. The things that we must do and not do to be worthy of a temple recommend are the very things that ensure we will be happy as individuals and as families.

(President Howard W. Hunter, “‘Exceeding Great and Precious Promises’,” Ensign, Nov 1994, 7)

Anyways, even though it wasn't the reason for renewing my recommend, it was what lit a fire under me to get it immediately. Anyways, Eric took over driving so I could try to track down our bishop to see if he could call the temple and verify that I was worthy to attend the temple. I couldn't get a hold of him at any of the numbers I tried. So, Eric dropped me off at the temple to try and work things out before taking Samuel to his parents' apartment (they watched Sam while we were at the temple - Thanks Mom & Dad Hansen!). When I got to the recommend desk I explained what had happened to the temple workers there and they called for a member of the temple presidency to come help me out. Fortunately, because the church now makes our recommend number part of our church record they were able to verify that I had a current recommend! I was so grateful that I was able to go and attend that special ordinance with my sister.

In a way I'm a little bit glad that I didn't have my recommend because it made me stop and think about some things a little bit differently. I had several different thoughts during that experience which I wanted to share. I'm sorry if this post gets a bit scattered. The temple is so symbolic and a lot of the experiences I had were also symbolic in my mind. One of the cool and frustrating things about symbolic things is that they can have so many different meanings depending on how you look at them. I've thought through this experience a lot so I've found lots of different meanings and I feel like I should share them all, even if they don't necessarily all go together.

I think pretty much anyone who knows me is not surprised by the fact that I managed to get all the way to the temple without my recommend - I've always been rather scatterbrained. Of course, I think they're also not surprised that I was able to work it out. My mom calls it "pulling a Brittny". Somehow despite my disorganization and scatterbrainedness I seem to be able to pull off things like that. My mom is convinced that there is a huge crew of guardian angels just running in circles around me trying to keep me in tact :P These moments are where I get a phrase that some of my friends have heard me say many times - "Not only does God love me, but he likes me... and he thinks I'm pretty :)" Of course, I don't really believe that God likes me anymore than anyone else, but these moments are some of those tender mercies that remind me that He is concerned with me personally and even in the silly little things that are important to me.

One thing that I noticed was how interested my family is in me. By the time that I made it into the chapel my whole family had heard what had happened (it took me a bit longer to get dressed as my temple dress doesn't quite fit as well post-pregnancy, although not in the way you might expect...) and was there (very reverently) cheering for me and so excited that I was able to be there. I felt very loved that they would all be there to care for me like that.

It also made me think of the Atonement. Even though I had screwed up and fully deserved to not be admitted to the temple that day, there I was. Likewise, all of us have made mistakes in our own lives that would render us unable to enter the Celestial Kingdom. However, our Savior, Jesus Christ, has made it possible that despite all of our shortcomings and stupid mistakes, we can receive those blessings anyways if we are striving to live the commandments and make His Atonement part of our life. I am always so humbled when I realize how much I do not deserve the blessings of the Atonement but that Christ is willing to give them to me anyways.

When I got to the chapel Eric had saved a seat for me and we were sitting with my dad and Ryan. I mentioned to dad that I probably wouldn't get to sit with my mom and Taylor during the session. I was a little bit sad about that because I really wanted to not just be in the session with Taylor but to actually be WITH her as she was receiving these very sacred ordinances. When I mentioned this to my dad he said "If I know your mom, she'll have a seat saved for you." I didn't expect too much though since I wasn't sure that the temple workers would allow for saved seats. However my dad was right! Sure enough, as I walked into the endowment room, my mom found me and motioned that she had a seat for me with them! I was really excited to get to be with my mom and Taylor at this time.

While we were sitting waiting for the session to start I had a few more thoughts. I was so excited that Taylor was finally able to be there with us. The temple is such a sacred and wonderful place and I was so thrilled to have her there to share it with us. I loved being able to look across and see Eric and dad and Ryan in that room with us as well. I wish I could adequately explain the feelings I had. It was like what I imagine we would feel like to all be together in heaven, which I guess is appropriate since that's what the temple is supposed to symbolize. There was such a sweet and wonderful feeling about having all of us together there and especially having Taylor join us for the first time.

The excitement of having Taylor there made me so desperate to have the rest of our family there. I felt like Lehi did in the vision of The Tree of Life. Once I had received these blessings for myself and tasted of their sweetness I wanted to share it with my family.

11 And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.

12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.

- 1 Nephi 8:11-12

As excited as I was to have as many of us there as we did, my soul yearned to have my brothers there as well. I can't wait for the day that we'll all be able to sit in the temple as a family and knowing that we can all be together forever. It also made me look forward to the day that we get to take our own sweet Samuel to the temple to receive his endowment. I know that day is a long way off, but I am already anxiously anticipating it. I can think of nothing sweeter than to be with my family in the temple.

Also, as I saw the seat that mom had saved for me another thought ran through my head. What if I hadn't been able to work things out at the recommend desk and had missed out on being there? Obviously, I would have been devastated to have to sit outside while my family was participating in such an amazing experience. But I also thought of how it would have made my mom and Taylor feel. They had that seat saved for me because they wanted me to be there with them, and if I hadn't shown up I'm sure they would have been sad. I think it will be much that way when we get to the other side. As I mentioned before, I'm so excited to get to share these blessings with my brothers and son someday, but even more so to be with them forever in the eternities. I can only imagine how my heart would break to be there on the other side "saving a seat" for family members who I love so dearly, and to have any of them not show up. As great as my joy and rejoicing would be for all of those who did make it, I can still imagine the empty feelings I would have for those members who didn't. I dearly hope that I will never have to know that sadness.

On Sunday we had Samuel's baby blessing, which was another transcendent experience. I know that because of Eric's and my temple sealing he was born in the covenant and already ours forever, but it seemed like this ordinance somehow made it more official. That feeling was only magnified because we had been in the temple the night before and I'd had an opportunity to reflect on the eternal nature of our family. I am incredibly grateful that Eric and I made the choices we did so that we can have our family sealed to us forever. Nothing else in this world is as valuable to me as that blessing. Not to sound morbid, but without it, I don't know how anything else in this world would really matter. Our family is my greatest joy and I can think of nothing more wonderful than to be with them forever. It is what makes every day of trying to live righteously worthwhile.

I was also reminded once again of what a blessing it is to have a worthy and righteous priesthood holder for my husband. I can't even describe how grateful I am for the power of the priesthood and the blessing it is in our home. It brings so much peace to me to know that Eric is worthy to act in the role of blessing our family through the power of God. What an awesome responsibility that is for him to live worthy of. I'm so grateful for him always striving to live worthy of that responsibility so that he can bless our lives. I'm likewise grateful for the power of the priesthood and that God does entrust His worthy sons with the authority to act in His name to bless His children. What amazing love our Heavenly Father has for us.

I was also grateful to be able to see all the other worthy priesthood holders in our family who were able to participate in this sacred ordinance. I was grateful to see both of our dads and my grandpa in the circle, and to remember that great heritage of faithfulness and worthiness. I was also grateful to see so many of my brothers-in-law and my cousin who were able to participate. What a powerful force it is to have those men in our family. I am so glad that my own son has these great men to look up to in his life. I hope that he can emulate their example.

Also, I was grateful for all of our friends and family coming to celebrate our Samuel. I'm so thankful to have this cute baby, and amazed by the trust that Heavenly Father has placed upon me to be his mother. Words cannot describe the love that I have for him. I don't think anyone can understand the love that a mother has for her children unless they are a mother, and I'm sure that even I only know the smallest part of that love. Perhaps fathers can understand that love, but I think that mothers and fathers feel it and show it in different ways. Not that one is better than the other, but I think that they are different and supposed to be so. It's part of what makes families so awesome is how mothers and fathers bring different pieces into the family. I love this kid more and more every day and want all of the best things for him. I want to be the very best mother that I can be and hopefully be a good example to him. I hope that he will live worthy of the blessings that were pronounced upon him yesterday by his father. He is a special child of our Heavenly Father and I hope he remembers that every day.

Before I wrap up this post I want to make a proposal to everyone in our family. Let's agree not to have any empty seats when we get to the other side. I plan to be there and saving a seat for every single one of you, and my heart will be broken if ANY of you aren't there. I hope you all know just how much I love you and that I am pulling for all of you to be there in the celestial kingdom so we can realize the blessing of our eternal family. I would do anything in my power to make that blessing a reality. It's what gives me the strength to live righteously every day.

With lots of love,
-Brittny

Rad(Grand?)Dad - 12 Apr 2009

High - Attending sacrament meeting with Jayson in his student ward (tremendous spirit in that ward) and participating in the blessing of my grandson, Samuel (a.k.a. Samall or Samyl)

Low - Wondering how the Easter Bunny ever got to be part of Easter. Easter is probably my favorite day to attend church, but it saddens me to see how some celebrate(?) the day.

RadDad - 11 Apr 2009

High - Attending the temple with my youngest daughter and having Kerry, Brittny, Eric, Mom, Dad, Blake, Laurie, Todd and Ryan with us as well.

Low - It wasn't quite like I had envisioned it a six months ago ;(

RadDad - 10 Apr 2009

High - Reminded of great friends who gave me a ride to LAX after the temple session so I could fly to Utah.

Low - SoCal freeway traffic getting to the temple. It can be maddening!

Brittny - 07 April 2009

Low - Samuel was upset from 10pm until 1:30am. We tried changing his diaper, playing, rocking, bouncing, music, vibrating chair, burping, dancing, swaddling, leaving him alone and a lot of other things. Nothing would get him back to being contented and going to sleep. It's hard listening to that cute kid cry and not be able to make it better!

High - At 1:30am we decided to take off his sleep sack and try feeding him... again (he'd only been fed like 6 times in the few hours previous to this :P). That calmed him down so that Eric could go to bed. He ate rather noncommittally for the next hour. He'd eat some, fall asleep, wake up, eat a little more, fall asleep again, get startled, eat some more etc. Finally at 2:30am I was convinced that he was really asleep. So I took my little boy in just his diaper and a receiving blanket and went to bed. When I woke up next... it was light in our room and the clock said 7:45am - I got 5 straight hours of sleep!! Hooray for babies that will sleep for 5 hours at a time!!

More Reason for this Blog

I was watching BYU TV yesterday and came across a talk from President Henry B. Eyring. I think what he said is part of why we're keeping this blog. His talk is called O Remember, Remember. I think everyone should read the whole talk, or download the mp3 and listen to it. It's a good reminder to look for the blessings in our lives and recognize them. Here's an excerpt from that talk -

When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. Let me tell you how that got started. I came home late from a Church assignment... My father-in-law... was carrying a load of pipes over his shoulder, walking very fast and dressed in his work clothes. I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream below us up to our property... I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind—not in my own voice—these words: “I’m not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down.”

I went inside... Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write. And as I did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family...

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.

More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance—even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened...

My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness. It will build our testimonies... you... will be blessed as you remember what the Lord has done... the challenge to remember has always been the hardest for those who are blessed abundantly. Those who are faithful to God are protected and prospered. That comes as the result of serving God and keeping His commandments. But with those blessings comes the temptation to forget their source...

Sadly, prosperity is not the only reason people forget God. It can also be hard to remember Him when our lives go badly. When we struggle, as so many do, in grinding poverty or when our enemies prevail against us or when sickness is not healed, the enemy of our souls can send his evil message that there is no God or that if He exists He does not care about us. Then it can be hard for the Holy Ghost to bring to our remembrance the lifetime of blessings the Lord has given us from our infancy and in the midst of our distress.

There is a simple cure for the terrible malady of forgetting God...

The key... is receiving the Holy Ghost as a companion. It is the Holy Ghost who helps us see what God has done for us...

Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children?

Brittny - 29 March 2009

Low - Samuel woke up at 7am and didn't sleep any appreciable amount until 3pm. That made for a VERY long day...

Highs - Eric was finally feeling better! Also, since we didn't make it to church (being sick all weekend will do that) we watched the BYU channel all day and I got to listen to lots of uplifting messages from different general authorities. Including the Young Women's broadcast from the night before, it was an inspiring broadcast. I really want to get a new Young Women's Personal Progress manual now and complete the goals for the new Young Women's Value - Virtue. Probably though the highlight of the day was having my visiting teacher come over and having Amber Phillips come visit us as well. I've been cooped up in the house for a little bit, and I hadn't realized how starved I was for company. It was SO good to have good friends over to visit with for awhile :)

Papa John's Pits

Weekend low: I got food poisoning from eating Papa John's pizza on Thursday night at work. That put me out of commission for the rest of the weekend.

Highs: Because I got sick Thursday night, I didn't have to take any personal days from work.

I was also able to figure out and fix my computer.

I calmed down a fussy Samuel so the entire family could sleep last night :)

Its a great day to be alive....

I have a hard time posting a "low" because I want to be positive but definitely my low at this time comes from the death of my brother-in-law Jay. It is not his death that makes me feel low, because I know that he continues to live through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The low is knowing that my sister and her family are mourning. Jay truly loved being a husband and a father and I know his family will miss him.
There are so many highs I can't list them all but here are a few:
Listening to the Prophet and the Young Women's leaders speak about virtue. I am so grateful to live at a time when we can receive instruction from such great leaders. The General Young Women's presidency has challenged the young women of the church to do three things every day. I think these would be good goals for each of us:
1. Personal prayer
2. Read for 5 minutes from the Book of Mormon
3. Smile

Next high was working in our yard. I love our yard and I love how everything looks during spring time.

Going to the beach and seeing the dolphins. I love being close to nature.

Hearing or seeing in texts or emails, honestly I don't care how it is communicated, "I love you" from my family.

I feel the Lord leading and directing my life constantly. I am so grateful to live at this period when the Gospel is restored in its fullness.

I love you all.
The Momster

Brittny - 28 March 2009

I like starting with my low so that I can end with the high. It's something I picked up from Pregtastic - a podcast I listened to a lot while I was pregnant. Anyways...

Low - Having a super sick husband for the past couple of days. You need to get better Eric!

High - Getting to take a shower and get all dressed. Who knew that taking a shower was such a luxury?!

RadDad - 28 Mar 09

High -- Attending the General YW Broadcast and dinner at the stake center. We have an awesome stake YW presidency. (The General YW Presidency aren't too bad either) ;-)

Low -- Finding out my brother-in-law Jay had passed away late last night.

RadDad - 23 Mar 09

High - Attending my grandmother's funeral and being reminded of my blessed heritage.

Low - Observing how casually so many members of my family are in living the Gospel

Brittny's First High & Low

Sorry, I can't limit it to a single high, so here are my highs for the week in no particular order -

• Going to church for the first time since Samuel was born (and getting him all dressed up and looking super cute). You start to forget how much you miss being at church if you miss for awhile, it was good to be back.


• Having Dad come stay with us for a couple days and get to play with Samuel


• ... then seeing the rest of the family this week (thanks Grandma Bonnie for dying so everyone could come!)


• The Relief Society bringing us dinners for the past week - I never realized what a necessary blessing those meals are until having my own baby. Just feeding a baby takes a lot more time than you would think! I have a hard time finding time to eat or go to the bathroom in a day. At least since someone else was bringing the meals I could easily eat at least once a day!


• Samuel finally sleeping in a bassinet - I love cuddling with the kid, but it's nice to be able to do things (like write this blog post) while he sleeps!


• Eric having the last two weeks off of work to help out at home. Paternity leave ROCKS! I don't know how I'd have done it without him (although I guess I'm going to find out starting tomorrow :P )


• Taking Samuel to the doctor and being told we're doing a good job as his parents and that he's still healthy and looking good!


• Discovering that Samuel is pretty happy in a carseat


• Getting to go out and get some new shirts and a bunch of random necessities (and not so necessities) at Target with Mom on Saturday

I'm sure I've missed some of my other highs, but that's a good start on the list :) My only real low for this week has just been being sick on and off again, but fortunately I'm doing better so I can't even complain too much there!

Food High, Tech Low

My high was not having to worry about food. This has been the case for about the last entire week! And knowing that Brittny doesn't need to stress out about what to make for dinner makes me feel happy for her, too.

My low, and this is a biggie, is that I inadvertently corrupted my Windows Vista partition. Not a big deal itself, except that it has a ton of backup files on it!!!! Off to try and save it... I don't know how much sleep I will get tonight.

High and Low!

My high for today is being able to have Turkey with great gravy, potato's, corn, and amazing rolls. Yes you can say I am easy to please or in Taylor's words "Fresh and easy!".
Low would be laying on the floor as it is the only comfortable spot to be right now!

The Story of US!

The idea of highs and lows comes from one of Mom and Dad's favorite movies - The Story of Us. Unfortunately the movie is rated R, but we bought an edited version for them one year for Christmas. Anyways, in the movie the family has a tradition of having everyone tell what their high and low was for the day while sitting around the dinner table. It's one of our family's favorite scenes in the movie for this exchange -

Dad: What about you? What was your high today?
Josh: Gary Ellis' mom bought a new juicer and I went to his house and drank a chicken.
Dad: And your low?
Josh: I don't have a low.
Dad: You gotta have a low.
Josh: I've been racking my brain. I do not have a low.
Dad: We'll enter the chicken smoothie in the high and low category.

We tried to have this same tradition at dinner when we were all at home, but now that the family is getting more spread out we needed a way to share our highs and lows from across the country. A blog seemed like a fitting way for us to do that since everyone can contribute and view it this way. Plus it's a cool way for us to keep a record of all of the blessings (or highs, whatever you want to call them :) ) that we have through the years.

So, enjoy the Anderson family highs and lows... and chicken smoothies :)