Little Mommy

Scott wrote this account in his journal. I thought I'd share it especially since this seems to be a common theme in Ellie's life.

Today I offered to help out in the nursery during the second hour at church. I really enjoyed Ellie, although I must say I grew weary as I watched her taking care of her two favorite dolls from the nursery collection. All the other little kids were on the floor playing with balls, cars and other toys. Ellie didn’t really have time to play. She stood in the corner with her two dolls putting them in a cart and taking them out and then back in again. Later, she gave them bottles and held them—one in each arm—as she stood and bounced up and down. For a brief moment I saw her take a short break from her mothering to stoop down and move a dinosaur around on the floor—all while holding both dolls in her left arm. Soon she was back up and working to keep those babies happy by taking them over to the other side of the room and putting them to bed.


Then it was time for snack. She quickly put her dolls away only to pull one of them back to take with her. I proceeded to try to take the doll away and was wondering what to do with her stern mother-like protective look when I was informed about the “Ellie Exception.” Apparently all the kids are to put their toys away—which I noticed left a few upset little ones—but Ellie is allowed to have a doll at the snack table. It was at this time, exhausted as I was from watching her efforts that I had to go help with the Young Men. I think Ellie was pretty happy to be rid of me and the danger that I presented to her babies.

After church was over I met up with Sarah. She was holding Ellie. Ellie had tears on her face from all the crying. Sarah explained that she had to leave her dolls in the nursery. I couldn’t help but feel for the little girl who spent that past two hours toiling tirelessly to care for those babies only to put them up for adoption. What a traumatic experience—not to mention this process repeats itself every week. No wonder she sucks her thumb.

Love Multiplies

(If anyone has a good picture of mom email me it. I don't think she'd appreciate any of the pictures I have. )

Today is my mom’s birthday. My dad is exactly one week older than my mom. I’ve always thought that was so cute. I wanted to write a few things about my mom too. As I thought about her I thought maybe I could talk about her amazing artistic talents. She’s REALLY REALLY into quilting and does some amazing pieces. When I was a teenager she sewed most of our formal dresses, and she taught me how to sew.

Maybe I could talk about her fight with breast cancer while I was in high school. She tried to stay positive through all her treatments. I remember she went wig shopping and came home with a short-haired blonde wig and a long dark-haired wig, neither which resembled her normal styles. I was a bit surprised by her selections but she said, “Everyone will know I’m wearing a wig anyway so I thought I’d try some fun styles.” I liked that; she is fun. She is an amazing lady with a lot of talents, but I thought I’d share a doodle she drew that she titled “Love Multiplies” and the inscription she wrote. I think this sums up one of the things I love best about my mom.

“This doodle resembles the Indian sculptures of the storyteller. When I first saw one of those figures, I thought it was a mother with many children and was thrilled at the concept because of an experience I had when I was younger.

I was taking a Lamaze refresher course in preparation for the birth of my fourth child. The teacher was expecting her second. Her reaction upon hearing that I was expecting Number four was “We are only having two children. We don’t want to have to divide our love between more than two, it wouldn’t be fair to the children.”

I was literally speechless. Didn’t she know love multiplies? It doesn’t divide or subtract, it adds and multiplies. The more you give it away the more you have to give. So this piece is dedicated to my mother and all those she has taken in and loved, and all her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She taught me that ‘Love Multiplies.”

My mom truly personifies this principle. She has a great talent of taking in and loving those who need it most. When I was a teen-ager we were a foster family for several sweet babies who were waiting for a permanent home. We even had two pregnant young girls live with us for awhile. My mom loved those girls like her own and still keeps in touch with them. She was a pediatric hospice nurse for quite some time. You have to be a special person for something like that. Now she gets to love a sweet little boy born with many disabilities.

I am grateful for my mother’s example of love. She is so fun to be around and helps make everyone feel a little better about them self. I wish she'd come visit me soon!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Lucky Leprechaun's!

Who knew St. Patrick’s Day was one of those holidays that keep you up late the night before in anticipation? When I was a kid you just wore green. It’s WAY bigger than that now!

Brynn had to build a leprechaun trap for school. She and Kaitlyn thought long and hard about what they wanted to do. They made a trap door in front of a pot of gold in a box. When the leprechaun fell in the trap he would fall to the dungeon (an aluminum cake pan). Compassionate Brynn felt bad for any leprechaun that had to be trapped so she built a little home in the dungeon for the leprechaun complete with a bed and pillow, food and of course some gold!

Thinking the whole leprechaun business was getting a little out of hand, and when Brynn asked, I told her that leprechauns were just for fun. But on St. Patrick’s day the toilet water was colored and a box of Lucky Charms was wrapped on the table. Brynn exclaimed, “Mom, you said leprechauns were just for fun, but you were wrong! Look what they did to us!” I guess I was wrong after all.

The kids were ecstatic for the box of Lucky Charms, and I had to inwardly laugh when no one could finish their bowl because it was so sweet. In fact, Jared asked if he could just eat the cheerios part because he didn’t like the other things (the marshmallows)! I remember ONLY wanting the marshmallows. I know it’s silly but at that moment I felt like I must be a good mom because my kids weren’t used to that much sugar in the morning. (Had it been cookies or cake it would have been a different story I’m sure). Scott, on the other hand, ate several bowls—of course always as dessert!

Getting into the St. Patty's excitement I made a green meal. I put food coloring in pasta and then made a creamy spinach sauce that Hannah’s family likes. I think I should have just made the sauce on regular colored noodles. The combination of the spinach sauce and the bright green noodles was a little too much. I was going to take a picture, but it looked disgusting! It didn’t taste bad, but the sight was shocking. Jared wouldn’t even try it, Brynn made a sickened face with every bite, and Kaitlyn had three helpings! Thank goodness Kaitlyn likes EVERYTHING!

A Birthday Tribute

Today is my dad’s birthday. He works at BYU as Associate Dean of the College of Life Sciences. Realizing the other day that my dad’s birthday was coming up, I started remembering a few things about him.

Before I turned 16 my dad took me to the school parking lot to teach me how to drive. I was learning on a car with a clutch and was having a difficult time. I couldn’t even get the car moving and it made a funny noise. My dad tried his hardest to figure out what I was doing wrong so he could help me learn, but to no avail. I remember him saying, “I’ve tried to make the car make the same noise you do, but I just can’t!” Getting desperate and thinking that if I understood the science of motion perhaps it would help me be a better driver he began a lesson on inertia. Obviously his brain and mine were not on the same wave length. I still do not know the specifics of inertia, but I can drive a car. My dad was very patient, and my next lesson was on a car without a stick shift. I knew immediately what my problem with the clutch was. I didn’t realize what little pressure you have to put on the gas pedal to get the car moving! I was practically flooring the gas as I tried to put the car in gear. We still laugh about inertia.

My dad came to almost every one of my field hockey games. He drove me to my friend’s houses even though they lived far away from us. When one of the cars was in the shop he took the city bus to work and let us drive the car to school. He played games with us almost every Sunday. I still love to play “Pig Mania” with my kids. He made pancakes every Saturday. I loved going into his office and talking to him and getting advice while I was a student at BYU. Last summer I got to run a half-marathon with him and my sisters and sister-in-law. He is an animal and has run many marathons (7?).

I'm so lucky to have him as my dad and the grandpa to my kids. Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

An Outlet

Lately I have felt unsettled. Trying to explain it sounds funny--Scott thinks I'm weird (but he loves me anyway). It's like I've had creative energy bottled up inside aching to be discovered. I think I needed an escape from the mundane chores of life.

For quite sometime I've wanted to sew a bag for myself, but have never done it. I spent some time on the Internet looking for a bag I liked and came across a million tutorials from amazing people. I found a pattern I like and spent a couple nights sewing, and I love the way it turned out! I was reminded how much I like to sew (it's in my genes, you know--check out my mom).

Of course, the dilemma is what do you sew? The fabric I like is not cheap so it's not very economical to make clothes. You can only have so many bags (as Scott will attest to). I've made pillows and window treatments, but what else?

I came across three kitchen dishtowels at Target (in my favorite colors) on 75% off clearance...only $2.48! I bought them thinking I could use the fabric for this:

(Kaitlyn was taking these pictures for me. I didn't like the way I looked in any of them so had to make a silly face.)


I looked on the Internet again and found some things I liked about aprons and put them all together for this apron. I would prefer the ties be a little longer, but I was working with a limited amount of material..remember only three kitchen towels! The best thing about these projects is I figured out how to sew a zipper and gather material. It feels so good to have created something!

Kaitlyn and Brynn got the creative bug too. Kaitlyn used scraps of material to make a scarf. After she finished it I mentioned how quickly she got it done. She said she sewed half of it and then realized it would be much quicker to just use a glue gun so used it for the rest. Good thinking Kaitlyn!

Brynn spent a long time sewing many tiny pieces together to make a camera bag. When I was taking pictures she was not in the mood to show it off. She did an awesome job and I was very impressed.

Fun Times?

The girls had a couple of days off for parent-teacher conferences. Brynn and Ellie weren't feeling well so I was trying to come up with some fun things to do at home. I pulled out the huge roll of newsprint I had leftover from a Primary activity and told the kids we would make big paper dolls. Of course, my creative girls thought it was the best idea.

Some ideas don't turn out the way you want them to.

I first traced Brynn and cut out two of her shape. It took a LONG time and Ellie was jumping on my back the whole time making it very difficult. I tried to staple the shapes together and stuff them with paper. Then Brynn would be able to make clothes for her girl. If you ever do this...cut out the shape much wider than the actual tracing. Brynn looked at what I was doing and told me she didn't really want a munchy-looking girl. The paper was tearing and wrinkly. It was very hard. I was frustrated--my plans for fun were diminishing quickly!

Brynn abandoned her project and I wanted to be done too, but Kaitlyn insisted I do her. She followed through to the end and loved her life-size paper doll.

Life Through Brynn's Eyes

We gave Brynn our old digital camera for her birthday. It was the best present for her and keeps her busy all day. When I looked at some of the pictures she'd taken I thought she was doing a good job documenting some of the things that have been going on. Here's a few pictures from her camera.

Brynn has been sick...strep throat. She's felt miserable. Ellie also had a low grade fever for a couple of days and just snuggled her "Kee-Kee" and sucked her thumb all day. Oh, wait...Ellie does that whether she's sick or not!

Ellie loves to hug Jared. Jared is such a sweet boy that he enjoys it too and gets a kick out of Ellie when she hugs on him. Also, from all the pictures of Ellie you might gather that we never fix her hair. I promise I try...she rips those cute piggy tails out as soon as she realizes they are there!



Jared was crying for me to hold him while I was in the middle of something. I told him he needed to wait (Jared would like me to hold and snuggle him all day.) When I finished what I was doing I realized that Jared's cries had stopped. I called for him, but he didn't answer. The girls weren't playing with him and hadn't seen him either. There were a few minutes of panic as we raced around the house and outside in the yard to find Jared. We were all getting nervous with Jared's sudden disapperance. Then I heard Brynn yelling that she had found him. He had climbed in my bed, snuggled under the covers and fallen asleep. Brynn couldn't resist a picture of sleeping Jared.

We pass the Albuquerque LDS temple every Sunday on the way to church. Brynn (and Kaitlyn, when Brynn is in a generous mood) try their hardest to get a good shot of the temple through the windows of the car. They have asked me to drive very slowly as we pass the temple to help aid in their quest. This is the best picture so far.