My Mom's Birthday

Last week my Mom celebrated her birthday.

Actually, she was supposed to celebrate, but instead she spent the day sick in bed!
We had planned to have a grown-up celebration--going to the temple and out to dinner.
The kids didn't really like this plan, so they're not a bit disappointed that the temple is closed this week.
They were thrilled to have a Family Home Evening honoring Grandma.

We were also happy because the beautiful birthday banners my cousin Kristin made arrived just in time! You can see some great photos of them on Marianne's blog.

I won't tell you how old my mom is, but I will show you these cute cupcakes Marianne made for the occasion.
We were very careful not to get the trays reversed when we set them out on the table!

We had plenty of cake and ice cream and we played "How Well Do You Know Grandma?"

We learned some very unusual things about my mom:

• She always wished her name was Julia
• She has firewalked
• She had an uncontrollable laughing fit at girls' camp (And she was a leader!)
• She played the accordian as a child
• She doesn't like oysters
• She had her moment of fame in 1989 when she appeared on "Totally Hidden Video" (She brought a video of the show and the kids LOVED watching her!)
  

Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

The celebration continues because we gave her tickets to see
"The Scarlet Pimpernel"
We really wanted to invite our husbands and kids, but you know how the economy is.
We all have to make sacrifices.
We saved lots of money by only getting 3 tickets.
One for Mom, one for me and one for Jenny.

Thank goodness the economy is finally good for something!!

Who is your favorite author?

I realize this is an unfair question. It's a bit like asking, "Who is your favorite child?" or "Who is your best friend?" You may indeed have a "best" friend, but you likely have many friends whom you cherish.

As I pondered this question, I thought about my bookshelves. I have the largest number of books by/about/related to these two authors:

William Shakespeare

C.S. Lewis

These two Englishmen have had a profound impact on me, but by naming them, I feel like I'm playing favorites. So here is a list of other authors whose writing has changed me, shaped my adult life and made me who I am.


Core Canon - word of God.

• The Bible
• The Book of Mormon
• The Doctrine and Covenants
• The Pearl of Great Price
• Writings of modern prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Personal/Spiritual

• Arbinger Institute - The Anatomy of Peace, Leadership & Self Deception
• Frederick Babel - To Him The Believeth
• Stephen Covey - The Divine Center, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The 8th Habit
  
• Sheri Dew - No One Can Take Your Place, God Wants A Powerful People
• Colleen Harrison - He Did Deliver Me From Bondage
  
• Gordon B. Hinckley - Standing for Something
  
• David Noebel - Understanding the Times
• Barlow Packer - The Soft Reply
• Ester Rasband - Confronting the Myth of Self Esteem
• Cleon Skousen - 5,000 Year Leap
• Corrie ten Boom - The Hiding Place, Tramp for the Lord
• Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America
  
• Karol Truman - Feelings Buried Alive Never Die

Education

• Mortimer Adler - How to Read a Book
• Jacques Barzun - Teacher in America, On Writing, Editing and Publishing
  
• Allan Bloom - Closing of the American Mind
• Marilyn Burns - Math: Facing An American Phobia
  
• Oliver DeMille - A Thomas Jefferson Education
• John Taylor Gatto - The Underground History of Education
• William Glasser- The Quality School
• Kathleen Harward - Market Based Education
• Helen Keller - The Story of My Life
• Tetsuko Kuroyanagi - Totto-Chan
• Jane Claire Lambert - Five in A Row, Vol 1 -4
• Aneladee Milne - The New Commonwealth School
  
• Shinichi Suzuki - Nurtured by Love
  
• George Turnbull - Observations Upon Liberal Education

Classic Literature

• Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
• Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays and Poems
  
• Victor Hugo - Les Miserables
• Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird
• LM Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables series
  
• Patricia Polacco - The Bee Tree, Thank You Mr. Falker & others
  
• Chaim Potok - The Chosen
• Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Henry David Thoreau - Walden
• Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House on the Prairie series

Whew! That was a pretty long post just to answer the question, "Who is Your Favorite Author?" Do you think I cheated by listing 40 of them?

In the mood for soup?

In an effort to find something soft that Marianne can eat, I've been making lots of soup lately. Here's a new recipe I found in Family Fun magazine. We all really liked it. It is full of yummy stuff, and it only took about an hour to make. Special thanks to Evan who helped with all the slicing and chopping! He's even better than a food processor.

Creamy Mushroom and Chicken Soup

6 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 lbs mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup sliced celery
3/4 cup chopped carrots
2 cups quartered baby red potatoes
1 cup chopped yellow squash (We didn't have any, so I left this out)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 teaspoons thyme
2 cups light cream
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cups chopped cooked chicken

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium hear. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 6 minutes. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper and mix until smooth. Gradually add the broth, then turn the heat up to medium-high and bring the soup to a boil. Add vegetables. Reduce the heat and simmer covered until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the cream, parmesan cheese and chicken. Heat through for 10 minutes, but do not let it boil.

Makes about 15 cups.

Saturday Night

How did you spend your Saturday night?

We all had a chance to try something new.

John and the boys went to a
MONSTER TRUCK JAM.
(It was so exciting I thought it deserved all caps)
They were invited by a friend of ours who had tickets to this sold-out event.
He wisely advised everyone to bring earplugs.
The highlight of the evening was the demolition derby,
but the remote control cars were also very popular.
Evan said,
"The best part was when Gravedigger lost a wheel and
when El Toro Loco flipped over and lost a horn."
Aaron described the crowd as,
"Raucous, drunk and less educated."
I admit that I may fall into the "less educated" group
because I had to use my dictionary to figure out how to spell "raucous".
I decided to double-check the definition as long as I was there.

*******

Marianne and I also spend the evening trying something new,
although we didn't use earplugs.

We decided to try making "Art Trading Cards".
Marianne's are all cute and mine have a Shakespeare theme.
If you've never heard of these cards,
you can read a little about them on my very creative friend Shonda's blog.
My kids and I were invited to try making these cards
by a friend of mine. She is a great artist and a fabulous art teacher.
We're going to have a trading day in a couple of months.
Let me know if you want to join us, it should be really fun!
You can see some of Angela's work here.
You might even want to check out the rest of her site, she's got some great stuff.
Hopefully it will inspire you to try something new
(Earplugs are optional!)

Overwhelmed

What makes you feel overwhelmed?
Often I feel this way when things are out of control
or beyond my control.

Today
Marianne got braces.
She came home with a sore mouth
and a scrape on the side of her face.
I got her a milkshake and some Tylenol,
but really there was nothing I could do.

Today
Ryan had a painful medical test.
He is hundreds of miles away from home
and I called him to offer support,
but really there was nothing I could do.

Today
John spent hours searching for a new job
but his phone interview fell through,
and really there was nothing I could do.

Today
we read Psalms and I knew
that when there is nothing I can do
He is always there
Doing what needs to be done.

Psalm 61

When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings.

For thou, O God, hast heard my vows:

thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.

So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

Psalms 61 - My new favorite scripture
The power of one
just one minute spent reading just one verse
can make all the difference

Do you have a favorite scripture to share with me?

Questions from Mom

Ryan was called to be a gospel doctrine teacher in his BYU-I ward.

Do you think it would be over the top to send a thank you note to his Bishop?

******************

Aaron finished his Eagle Scout project. He's been planning it for almost a year.

Do you think the write up will take another year?

*****************

Marianne has been making & photographing all kinds of yummy things.
(See her blog for more details.)

Do you think she'll load the dishwasher too?

**************

Evan went on this great fieldtrip organized by his devoted mother.

Do you think he'll practice the piano when I ask him to?

************

My children are now taking very unflattering photos of me.

Do you think they like this post?

In Pursuit of an Education

I realize that you may not be interested in what I read last year, but I was inspired by Jenny and Tawnya's book lists and I decided to do a couple myself.

I've got my "To Be Read in 2009" list over on the side bar. Hopefully, putting it in writing before all of you will help me keep my commitments.

It's also uplifting for me to see that I actually did accomplish something (that wasn't undone within minutes or hours!) last year.

Books Read 2008

Title	Author	Date	w/kids x partial *
Boy in the Striped Pajamas	John Boyne	January 2008
The Real Thomas Jefferson	Andrew Allison	January 2008
Real Simple: Celebrations		January 2008
Beowulf	Seamus Heaney	January 2008
Beowulf: A New Telling	Robert Nye	January 2008
Anatomy of Peace	Arbinger Institute	February 2008
On Writing, Editing and Publishing	Jacques Barzun	February 2008
The Hiding Place	Corrie Ten Boom	February 2008
The Great Good Thing	Roderick Townley	February 2008
Rebecca	Daphne DuMaurier	March 2008
Wuthering Heights	Emily Bronte	March 2008
God’s Smuggler	John Sherrill	March 2008
The Real George Washington	Andrew Allison	March 2008	*
The Jackrabbit Factor	Leslie Householder	March 2008
Much Ado About Nothing	William Shakespeare	April 2008
Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare Can Be Fun	Lois Burdett	April 2008	x
A Whole New Mind	Daniel Pink	April 2008
Winston Churchill	James Humes	April 2008
Ink on His Fingers	Louise A. Vernon	May 2008	x
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership	John Maxwell	May 2008
The Forgotten Man	Amity Shlaes	May 2008	*
Boundaries	Dr. Henry Cloud	May 2008
Great Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court	Maureen Harrison & Steve Gilbert	June 2008
Ender’s Shadow	Orson Scott Card	June 2008
Captivating	Stasi Eldredge	June 2008
Wild At Heart	John Eldredge	June 2008
Emperors of Chocolate	Joel Glenn Brenner	July 2008
Chocolate Fever	Robert Kimmel Smith	July 2008	x
Castaways in Lilliput	Henry Winterfield	July 2008	x
The Business of Heart	Michael Glauser	July 2008
Good to Great	Jim Collins	July 2008	*
The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day	Scott O’Dell	August 2008	x
7 Habits of Highly Effective People	Stephen Covey	August 2008
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee	Charles Shields	Summer 2008
Taming of the Shrew	William Shakespeare	September 2008
The Chosen	Chaim Potok	September 2008
Mornings on Horseback	David McCullough	September 2008
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance	David Pirsig	October 2008	*
True Believer	Eric Hoffer	October 2008	*
Crucial Conversations	Kerry Patterson	October 2008	*
Understanding The Times	David Noebel	October 2008
The Story of My Life	Helen Keller	October 2008
Miracle Worker	William Gibson	October 2008
Helen Keller	Leslie Garrett	October 2008
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	J. K. Rowling	November 2008
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	J. K. Rowling	November 2008
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows	J. K. Rowling	November 2008
The 5,000 Year Leap	Cleon Skousen	November 2008
The Great Divorce	C.S. Lewis	December 2008
Nutcracker	E.T.A. Hoffman	December 2008
Outliers	Malcolm Gladwell	December 2008	*
Twelve Days of Christmas	Betty Van Orden	December 2008