At Pack Meeting last week Collin was awarded his Webelos badge. Now we are working toward his Arrow of Light, which he is pretty close to finishing. Sione was asking Collin what the Webelos symbol meant, and they were joking around about it being a banana half peeled, or an ear of corn half shucked. They determined that it was a scout whose legs were stuck together. Then came the catch phrase “Webelos wobble, but they don’t fall down.” I couldn’t help laughing at that, although I don’t know that any of my children remember that commercial.
We have had quite a lot of ice skating going on in the past week. Last Wednesday the youth went ice skating for their combined activity. Thursday Collin and I went for his Knights of Freedom fieldtrip. Saturday the girls were invited to go along with their friends, which they did. Then yesterday I took Tarina, Collin, his friend Sully, and Alena to the rink. Julie opted not to go since she is saving up to pay for her ticket to the Youth classes at the Thomas Jefferson Education Forum and Family Ball. That did make it easier on me, since then I no longer needed to search for a sitter for the youngest three.  They have all enjoyed it quite a bit from what I can gather.  At least that’s what I take it to mean from their repeated queries for when we will go again, each time.  I’m glad they have enjoyed it, and I am looking forward to the Olympics and seeing if their interest in the skating sports has an added element to it.

Stand for Something.

There is an analogy I have heard a few times, including in church, and it really bothers me. I have decided that since this is my soap box, I can take a moment to address this, and you can join me for the ride.

I have heard it said that the man is “the head” of the family, but the woman is “the neck” and turns the head where she wants it to go. That really bothers me! My husband is the head of our family, and he is meant to be. I have spent some time thinking about this and I came up with my own metaphor. I believe that if we are to discuss this in a physically symbolic way I would suggest that we women are the heart of the body. That the head (logical, study, etc) and the heart (spiritual, feelings/intuition) working together create the best decisions for the body (family). When just the head rules or just the heart then things are out of balance. It makes me think of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Now I don’t really believe that men have no heart, just as I don’t believe that women don’t have any (figurative) heads. I think it is just stereotypical strengths for each group. Of course I know that speaking stereotypically can really get a person into trouble these days. Perhaps I should refer then to the stewardships that are divinely appointed to the different roles we take on as husband and wife, father and mother in our families. There is honor and beauty in fulfilling the mission that our Heavenly Father has set for me. I don’t feel the need to try to minimize the importance of my husband’s mission and role to try to raise my own up. It doesn’t need that. The moment someone tries to tell me my role does need that they are showing their own misconception that my role is less. It is most emphatically not. I rejoice in my womanhood, motherhood, wifehood.
I also must admit to finding it a little minimizing to be called a neck. I realize that the neck has an important job to do, physically speaking, but honestly, what would you think if your husband came up to you and said something like “My neck belongs to you.” How about “You are my neck-mate.” I don’t know, it just doesn’t “Wow!” me, kwim? Now, I know that it can mean something if someone has a “lump” in their throat. But, again, I don’t like the idea that someone would be thinking of me as being lumpy…. No matter how true that may be. No, I like the idea that I feel was whispered into my heart as I sat pondering why that metaphor bothered me so much. I will let my husband be the head…. I like being the heart.

Stand for Something.

My sister Wendy gave birth to her first baby yesterday. I was priveledged to be the doula for her birth. I am so proud of her and the hard work she went through to help her little baby come into the world. I am so happy for her and for her husband Tom. They have waited a long time for this blessing. Welcome to the world Enoch!

Stand for Something.

Sione is commuting again. This time we are here in Salt Lake, and he is working in Saint George, though. I am more worried about him this time, since last time he was leaving us to go stay with family and was able to visit with friends while he was gone. Now we are with our friends and family, and he is down there alone.
I don’t know if it is just because I am rather busy right now, or if it is the familiarity of this set up, but it almost feels like my “other” normal or something like that. Part of me feels guilty that I am not more thrown off track by this, but part of me is glad that I am able to take it in stride. I definitely miss him and wish we weren’t going through this again. But we are, and I can choose to be miserable, and make my children miserable, and play the martyr, or I can choose to look for the good, the lessons, and be happy. I choose the happy side….. most of the time.

Stand for Something.

I am doing something incredibly cliche, and I am making a goal to get fit this year.  I want to be ready for the Family Trek that we are doing for the Liberty Girl Retreat this year up at Martin’s Cove.  That and I want to start fitting into my clothes again.  So tonight we watched the season premiere of Biggest Loser, and when it mentioned the Pound for Pound Challenge I decided to go for it.  So, here we go.  My goal is to eat right, exercise, and lose 30 pounds in a healthy way.

For a few weeks now Losahina has been talking about her hoped for gifts. That is normal enough, right? But she isn’t saying “I want such and such for Christmas.” No, she words it like this: “Christmas is going to give me such and such!” Everything from a song she really likes to a particular food that she wants at the moment. The list would be quite long, if I actually was keeping track. Because, well, frankly, I am not going to be giving her the song by Evanescence called “Bring Me To Life,” although all Losahina knows it by is “the song that goes like this: “Wake me up inside.” To do that justice you really do need to imagine a little high-pitched 3yo girl trying to sing that last part. That is her most insistant request, too. LOL.

Today I heard Losahina singing the same line to a Christmas Carol over and over. I didn’t think much of it until I actually started paying attention to why it didn’t sound quite right.
“We wish you could marry Christmas” was the actual phrase I heard repeated throughout the day today. It made me smile each time. It sounds to me like she really thinks that Christmas is a person, not a celebration. With all of the stories we are reading, and the movies we are watching I’m a little surprised. LOL. I will have to have a little discussion with her. We’ll see how that goes.

Stand for Something.

We had a pretty nice Thanksgiving.  It was great to see some of my Dad’s side of the family, especially considering it has been a long while since I have seen some of them.  The food was delicious, and I have a lot to be thankful for.  So many blessings in my life that I take for granted.  I need to be more grateful and recognize them more. 

Faith had her 1st birthday.  We just celebrated on our own, due to sickness.  We haven’t had anyone over to celebrate like we had planned because of Thanksgiving and another flu running through our home.  Today she is 13 months.  Wow!  I would really like to be done with having sickness here.  I can’t even remember how long it has been since we have had this many colds, and bugs run their course through our family in such a short period of time.  I’m trying to get my kids to eat yogurt as often as possible, but I don’t know if they are just getting tired of eating the stuff.  :-\  I will admit to enjoying the first cold, though.  Not so much the illness, as the forced quarantine at home.  I am feeling the need to let go of things and contract into focusing much more just on my family.  I must admit to missing that aspect of Cedar City.

With Christmas coming on I am planning on making a lot of treats this week.  Last year we made most of the candy Santa brought, and we all loved it.  So, this year I am planning on doing that again.  I am starting out with the hard candies like suckers.  Root beer, butterscotch, and cherry are definites.  I am wanting to try some cream cheese mints this year, and I am looking for a recipe for buttermints, as well.  We will be repeating chocolate covered pretzels, caramels, nut clusters, peanut butter cups (both creamy and chunky), and chocolate suckers.  We will be adding chocolate covered cinnamon santas (YUM!), caramel pecan clusters, small Christmas chocolates, and possibly chocolate mints.  Last year we also put popcorn balls in the stockings, and I loved that.  From how quickly they were gone, I think everyone else did, too. 

Alena is turning 8 this year.  I’m trying to decide if sewing her baptism dress is realistic or not.  After sewing Faith’s blessing dress last year, I really want to do Alena’s baptism dress.  I loved making it, and seeing how nice it turned out when I was done.  It’s funny how much I enjoy sewing.  When I was in my teens I would never have imagined that it would be something I like to do.  At that time I was much to caught up in thinking of becoming a lawyer, and FBI agent, or some other such thing.  Motherhood seemed to be such an “if-then” type of thing to me.  I couldn’t plan on when it would happen, since it was up to more than just me, so I figured I wouldn’t really expect it.  LOL  I do believe Heavenly Father has such a great sense of humor.  I can just see Him up there laughing.  All I can say is, laugh away, because I am happier now than I could have imagined.  Being a mom, not just a mom, but the homeschooling, mom of 7 (and hopefully more), and all that it entails for me, brings me more joy than I realized was possible.  Well, here I go getting sappy.

I will try to post more often. 

Stand for Something.

This is my sister’s entry for Glenn Beck’s video contest. I think that they did a great job.

This is the link to her video on youtube if you would like to leave a message telling her what you think.

Stand for Something.

Announcing The First Annual AYLI Family Festival

Friday, August 14th, 2009

At This is the Place Heritage Park

1:00pm to 7:30pm

Join us for a fun filled day of:

*Carnival Games – tickets sold for only 50 cents each
*Curriculum Fair previously loved books and curriculum at yard sale prices – open to all event attendees. Curriculum donations are gladly accepted at the main AYLI Curriculum table to help raise funds for AYLI, or you may rent a table for $10 to sell your own curriculum from 1-5pm.
*Knights Quest (open to all boys 12 and under.) Come build a sword, learn the virtues of a Knight, be Knighted and participate in a mock battle. Two sessions to choose from – 2:00 to 3:30 or 3:30 to 5:00 for your quest. Limited to 100 boys per session, only $5 a boy.
*Old Fashioned Tea Party (open to all girls – and Moms too if they want to come!) Learn some etiquette, sample ribbon sandwiches and other delicacies, try some herbal fruit tea, and learn to dance the Virginia reel and other pioneer dances! Only $5 a person. Two sessions to choose from 2:00 – 3:30 or 3:30 to 5:00 for your Tea Party. Limited to 72 people per session.
*Yummy Food for Sale, including a family dinner at a great price and lots of delicious snacks throughout the day.
*Free Entertainment provided by great local talent – Door prizes will be given away throughout the evening!
*Vendor Opportunities – have a business you’d love other families to know about? Have a product you’d love to share? Rent a vendor table for only $10 from 1:00 to 5:00. Open to entrepreneurial youth too!

All proceeds will benefit American Youth Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization that reaches hundreds of families, providing fun and educational clubs for youth ages 6 – 18. Come find out more about us, and the wonderful events AYLI has to offer! Contact Noreen at gibbonsfamily1@ gmail.com with any questions.

This is the Place State Park is an authentic pioneer village with many fun and educational activities. Ride the train, dip candles, see a real old fashion printing press at work, visit an Indian village or take a pony ride. The park is offering a substantial discount to families attending The AYLI family festival, only $2 a person! The normal entrance fee is $6 per child and $8 per adult. (Let’s do some math! A mom and 5 children would cost $32 normally. Come to the AYLI Family Festival and get in for $12!) The park opens at 9:00 am, so come make a day out of it. If you’ve always wanted to see the park, now is your chance!

I know it has been a while since I posted, again. Very disappointing, I know. As my sweet SIL Tani was helping point out I am living in quadrant one right now. I really need to get into quadrant two, but it is going to take some serious work.

We just got back from a family reunion for my husband’s family. We had fun, and it was great to be out of range for any service on my cell phone. I was where I was supposed to be, and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty that no one could call or e-mail me. LOL. We are planning on having the reunion in Florida in 2012, and we are planning on doing some family fundraisers to help us get there. So, if anyone would like to have a bang up wonderful Polynesian show put on let me know!

We have eaten the first peaches from the tree in my back yard. Yum! There won’t be enough to bottle any, I don’t think. I’m pretty sure they will all just be eaten fresh.

I was recently called to be the Young Women Secretary in my ward. I am happy that I am going to be in there with my two oldest. I plan on working on my personal progress again. I guess I can earn it again as a leader, so I think it would be a good way to encourage my daughters to work on theirs as well.

Here are some pictures that I am very late in posting.

Mmmmm! Bananas!

Feeding herself

I got her to look at me.

Stand for Something.