Over the Rainbow Café

The cool thing about my career as a mom is that occasionally, I have the flexibility (and sometimes, the opportunity) to try out a different career for a month or so.  This month, I had the chance to be a bakery owner and a graphic designer.  Yes, this came at the expense of my sanity and the happiness of most members of our household.  But it was really, really fun for me.  And yes, I asked Ben for permission (to make everyone in our family suffer in order for me to play) first!

A few women in our PTA were planning an event called "Family Night: a Celebration of the Arts."  I was interested in helping out with such an event because of its focus on the arts.  And then when I realized that these women were planning to go all out and make it really special, something about me wanted in on the fun.  They chose the theme "follow your yellow brick road," and they planned to have a musical talent show and an art show for the students at the school, all based on a Wizard of Oz theme.  They wanted to also have a "café" with Wizard of Oz-themed treats, but they weren't sure if they could pull it all off.  Themed treats?  Apparently I have a weak spot for stuff like that.  I'm not usually tempted to volunteer for boring PTA assignments, but this one got me.  

And with no further explanation, I bring you . . .

The Over the Rainbow Café!

I had a lot of fun making these "over the rainbow" cookies.  But I tell you, my hand was really tired by the end of all that frosting.  

 I made 150 of them. 

 Here they are all packaged up!

 A small group of volunteers (including Ben and Henry) came to my house and put these packages together.  

 And another team (including my visiting teachers) came and helped me frost 250 cupcakes.  We made three different kinds - these Dorothy cupcakes (red velvet) . . .

 Glinda's "good witch" cupcakes, and the "wicked cupcakes of the west."  We had volunteers donate un-frosted cupcakes, and then we frosted them all to look uniform.  I later got funny comments of people saying, "We knew someone was serious when we saw specific requirements for the color of the cupcake papers, and that they wanted them to be un-frosted."  Yeah, apparently I am a bit overboard on the details...

A bunch of talented people decorated the school with so many cute decorations. 

This was the entrance they made for my café. 

We had kid helpers serving colored Kool-Aid from this stand. 

As you can see, it was in a classroom, so decorating had its challenges. 

 But it was a fun atmosphere.

 The food was all offered free of charge to all guests, so we had to be a little controlling about how to pass it out gradually so everyone could get some.  I may or may not have been a little feisty about warding of little hands reaching out to help themselves.

But I think people forgave me when they got to enjoy their cute, yummy treats!

This is me with my café badge, dealing with the aftermath of the event, which is still taking over our house...

The best part of the whole thing is that 1) Sam decided he wants to have a Wizard of Oz birthday party next month, and 2) We ended up having quite a few treats left over!  So you may see a very similar looking post about a month from now...

Sam was a little confused about this party though.  He was in on every detail and wanted to know all about the cookies, cupcakes, etc.  He also has been planning his own party as we've talked about all of the Wizard of Oz treats.  But he clearly couldn't keep the two parties separated in his mind.  He asked, "So is my birthday at the school?"  We explained several times that his birthday would be at our house, one month later.  Still, after the whole Family Night was over, when Ben was getting him ready for bed, Sam asked, "So is me 3 now?"  Hopefully he'll be excited in a month when we get to have yet another big party with once again, way too much sugar.  Stay tuned...

Standing in Holy Places

I'm holed up right now in a hotel room in Donegal, PA.  The temperature is quickly dropping below zero, and we're snowed in completely.  The boys and Jenn are playing United States Bingo, and I'm reminiscing about where I was just about a year ago: stuck in London while Jenn and the boys were snowed in during Winter Storm Nemo.  When Nemo hit, it dropped nearly 3 feet of snow in a day and closed down Logan Airport completely.  I suddenly had some extra time in London (not a bad place to be stuck!) while Jenn couldn't get out of the house with 3 boys to take care of (a much worse place to be stuck).

With my new-found leisure time, I jumped on the tube and headed to St. Paul's Cathedral, a place that Jenn and I hadn't made it to when we visited London in 2010.  I happened to get there at 4:00pm, just 45 minutes before it closed.  I did a quick version of the audio tour, and when I was turning in my player they mentioned to me that I was welcome to stay for Evensong, a 45 minute long worship service in which a men's and boy's choir sings verses from Psalms.  I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I decided to stick around.  I ended up being one of the first people seated and was placed in the Quire, which are those fancy wooden seats that are intricately carved:

The next 45 minutes were, in a word, divine.  I was in the middle of a very stressful job search, and it was just amazing to sit in a place where men and women had dedicated thousands of hours to building an edifice to the Lord.  Each chanted verse of the Bible seemed to strip off a layer of worry and stress, and replace it with peace during this beautiful and simple service.  Afterwards, I stepped out, admired the magnificent dome, took a deep breath, and then re-entered the world feeling much more focused on what really mattered to me.  Despite differences of belief, I had found a new holy place for me.

Fast forward six months, and once again I found myself on another continent with a few hours to spare.  This time I was in Tokyo presenting a paper.  After the conference was over, I had a few hours before my plane left so I braved the subway system (which was surprisingly easy to navigate, actually), and made my way to the Meiji Shrine, in downtown Tokyo.  I know pretty much nothing about Shinto spirituality, but I couldn't help but feel connected to the idea of wanting to cleanse yourself before entering a sacred place, as you are asked to do before entering the center of the Meiji Shrine:

I also really loved this tree in the middle of the shrine, where visitors are allowed to hang prayers written on small plaques.

Most of the plaques were in Japanese, but I feel pretty confident that I would agree with what was written on nearly all of them.  I loved the few hours I had to wander the grounds of the shrine, nestled in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world.  Again, I was struck by how close to God I felt, despite the huge differences between my beliefs and Shinto spiritualism.

And finally, a few weeks after being in Tokyo, I was in Tucson visiting Dan and Autumn after going to a conference in Southern Utah.  On a Sunday afternoon, they took me to the Mission San Xavier del Bac, which looks like this on the outside:

and this on the inside:

It was blistering hot while we were there, and it was very easy to imagine the effort that must have been required to build this mission way back in the 18th century.  And once again I was very glad to find myself in a place where my fellow brothers and sisters had worked very hard to set aside a holy place where they could worship God.



In the past year, I logged over 62,555 total miles (that's equivalent to 2 1/2 times around the world!) and passed through 30 different cities.  I missed being home during those trips, because my home is a sacred place for me.  But I'm so, so glad I was able to find just a few moments to stand in new holy places, and appreciate just how strong the human race's desire is, in all times and places and cultures, to connect with God.

The Night Before Christmas

I will admit it: December was crazy.  Our Thanksgiving trip was awesome, but it definitely set us back to get home already a week into December.  It has been wild, trying to do all of the things we love to do in December, all crammed into two weeks.  We definitely eliminated several things, but it still felt a little too crazy for me . . .

Which is why Christmas Eve was so special.  All the big things were out of the way, we had no plans, and we just got to have a quiet, magical evening at home.

We had a fancy candlelight dinner.  As you can see, my children have excellent table manners.  They would never, say, try to cram an entire roll into their mouth in one bite.

The excitement was palpable, and it was hard for a little boy to contain his excitement, but eventually the boys settled down for our program.

But first, a pretty good picture of my boys.

Ben set the tone with carols on the guitar.

We did a Nativity presentation using the little wooden set that I ended up painting at the last minute on the 23rd while Henry and I were doing a project.  I thought they turned out to be pretty adorable!

Then, letters to Santa and storytime!

We love Christmas story time with these boys.

Then, off to bed to try to sleep and dream of those sugarplums!

Merry Christmas!

Later grams, in which Thanksgiving and Christmas happen rather quickly, yet wonderfully

New chore idea from our wonderful preschool teacher, Nancy.  He even folded the dryer sheets!  #Montessori #practicallifeworks #folding

A grand weekend is in store.  #anniversary #tenyears #lotstocelebrate #grandamerica #saltlakecity

I've got my love to keep me warm.  #coatofmydreams #anniversarygift #benlovesme #thenorthface #chicagonecessity

Curling lessons! I wore the perfectly wrong shoes and kept slipping on the ice, so our instructor lent me his shoes!  They must have been lucky shoes, because I was totally a natural :)  #coolestsportever #slcolympicoval

This is our happily ever after.  

A grand tour of the part of Ben's life I know absolutely nothing about.  #snowbird #theworldofskiing

Edible turkey art, four ways. #cousintime #donutturkeys #freeform 

This boy turned eight yesterday, but he wanted to save the celebrations for today, to ensure that the day would be all about him.  #boyaftermyownheart #birthdayboy #presentsinpajamas 

We are happy to be participating in the annual Griffin Turkey Bowl. #cousin time #lovetheseboys

He is official!  I am so proud of this sweet, loving, helpful, clever, happy boy.  It has been so fun to watch him grow.  #iloveyouhenry #baptismday

#baptismday

Supermom Mary Pugh brought all of these cute kids to the baptism!

The boys have been playing House every morning at my mom's house, directed by Ellis.  Sam is the mom and has LOTS of babies!  I guess this is what happens when you live in a doll-free house. 

Goodbye, beautiful Utah!  #winterwonderland #lovethisview #dadsbackporch

This is happening.  #cubscouts #packmeeting #mybabyboy

Take notice: my sewing machine is out from the back of the dusty closet.  #thisneverhappens #gettingcrafty #papergarland

Better late than never!  #christmastree #papergarland #bostonlove

In this house, we do spontaneous boxing matches.  #drowninginboys

I just had a lovely little moment when I walked up to our front door and heard Christmas carols playing on the piano and the lively laughter of children.  #itsawonderfullife #moment

LOVED our ward Christmas party today.  My favorite part was when we suddenly heard the three members of the Bishopric singing "We three kings" and then saw them march into the room in costume.  Their song was amazing...and they ended it by the overflow curtain magically opening up to reveal three chairs.  Then the kids got to sit on their laps, get a gift bag, and whisper with the kings about the true meaning of Christmas.  Loved it!

You know you're awesome when the UPS guy has to use a dolly to bring your packages to the door.  Or when your stack of packages hits the ceiling.  #amazonhappy #timetostartwrapping

Gingerbread houses in Henry's classroom.  With all sorts of fun school activities and programs this week (I was late to every single one), I am feeling pretty exhausted.  Henry is not the only one who is happy about the 2-week break! 

Baby, it's cold outside, but it's a perfect night for a drive.  #threedegrees

I think it's safe to assume that Santa likes dark chocolate covered peppermint Joe-Joes.  #merrychristmaseve #cookiesforsanta

Nothing but playing today.  Scooters, LOTS of Lego building, and Ellis spent at least 2 hours working on his sticker mosaic kit.  #stickerbynumber #legofamily #merrychristmas

And here is the finished product!  This was the perfect project for Ellis.  He spent close to 3 hours working diligently and eagerly on those little stickers.  #lovethisboy #christmaswinner

And this one begged to sleep with his "punchers." He said, "But they keep me warm...and make my hands not hurt."  How could I resist?  #onlyonchristmas #sockerboppers #lovethisboy

I absolutely love this 64 pack of Pip Squeaks, but I'm wondering if I should start enforcing a 10-marker rule, since Sam can't put the lids back on.  This job takes me ten minutes!  #gettingold #pileofmarkers #crayola64