My Point of View

Hey! I can do that!

These aren't even all the holiday ideas I received inspiration from just the ones I had photos of.

I adore my Better Homes and Garden's magazine. I think I've mentioned that more than a few times. I was showing my sister Lindsey my folders of pages I've cut out that are labeled into things such as: holiday, bedroom, recipes...She said, "That's what Pintrest is." Look at me Pintresting without even meaning to. This summer I went through my magazines and chose my favorite things before sending the rest to be recycled. This was hard for me to do, I felt endeared to each one. Picture 8 x's as many magazines. That's how many I had (since 2004).

Everyone has to have something they're weird about it. This is mine.

The Treasure, Cheers!

Back in May when I had the open house for Matt's 40th birthday, someone brought him some sparkling cider (Jame's?). We put it in the back of the fridge for a couple of weeks because we had so many leftovers. Then at the beginning of June we got a second offer on the house. The first one had been in March (we countered, and never heard back). But this June offer was legit. It was made from the guy who would be taking over Matt's Heber position. Since our type of sale was new to the market our realtor told us it might be 30 days before things closed. We decided to hang on to that cider and toast when the house did close. Well, July came and went, August came and went, September, October, November came and went, and then came December.

In the mean time, we had found a lot we liked in South Jordan and a house plan that would work for our family. The builder convinced us to go ahead and choose colors for the house. This involved several trips to South Jordan's design center last summer where details such as the color of grout was decided upon. This was not drudgery for me AT ALL. Designing a house from start to finish was fun. Though stewing over details kept me up more than one night I'll admit. That was not a bad thing either, the occupations kept my mind off of my troubles that were the basis of wanting to move in the first place. I also continued to do what was in my power to smooth out the situation around me. Things were improving. Still though, smooth or not, we had our hearts set on moving. The kids were being fairly good sports about it but High School is not an easy age to move and so Katrina was our biggest concern.

At one point in the spring we had even decided that staying in Heber is what would be best for the family as a whole. We fell in love with a new construction home that was once a model but had fallen into foreclosure and was DRASTICALLY reduced. The hang up was the small yard, but the extra's more than made up for it. Matt and I discover that the back sliding door lock was broken. This enabled us to go over there whenever we wanted, which was often I'll admit. We'd walk all around, open closets, and talk about possibilities. We usually had Graham and Callie with us so when we'd pull up, the'd say, "Yea, we're going to this house again!" So we put an offer in on this house in the spring but the bank was being a turtle at getting back to us. In the mean time we moved our hearts to the South Jordan lot. It was then that we knew for sure that Matt had gotten the job position he wanted in West Valley. My concern for the South Jordan lot was it's proximity to Bangerter Hwy. I'm not used to freeway sounds and didn't know if I would ever get used to it. But this lot was literally in the shadows of the temple. How could we not feel good about it? Besides Matt wouldn't have an hour commute each day to work. However, as the weeks turned to months and our home STILL had not closed, the builder said he could no longer hold our lot. We totally understood because both of us feel that if things are supposed to work out then they will, if they don't, then they weren't suppose to. I was surprised I was able to feel this way. Who am I to try and plan out my life when I can't see the big picture? In the mean time the people who wanted to buy our house were living with inlaws in Ogden and commuting to Heber each day for work and school (towards the end they were even living in a hotel). But alas, December came and with it the news that the bank had reject the sale for the third time and that was that. It was not going to happen.

That night Matt and I broke open the bottle of sparkling cider (heck, I even made some creme brule to go with it). We toasted to our new home. The one we were sitting in.

There once was a man and his name was Isaac. He lived in such poverty that again and again he went to bed hungry. One night he had a dream. In his dream, a voice told him to go to the capital city and look for a treasure under the bridge by the Royal Palace. "It is only a dream," he thought when he woke up, and he paid no attention to it. The dream came back a second time, he said, "Maybe it's true," and so he set out on his journey. Now and then, someone gave him a ride, but most of the way he walked. He walked through forests. He crossed over mountains. Finally he reached the capital city. But when he came to the bridge by the Royal Palace, he found that it was guarded day and night. He did not dare to search for the treasure. Yet he returned to the bridge every morning and wandered around it until dark. One day, the captain of the guards asked him, "Why are you here?"Isaac told him the dream. The captain laughed, "You poor fellow," he said, "what a pity you wore your shoes out for a dream! Listen, if I believed a dream I once had, I would go right now to the city you came from, and look for a treasure under the stove in the house of a fellow named Isaac." And he laughed again. Isaac bowed to the captain and started on his long way home. He crossed over mountains. At last, he reached his own town. When he got home, he dug under his stove, and there he found the treasure. In thanksgiving, he built a house of prayer, and in one of its corners he put an inscription: Sometimes one must travel far to discover what is near. Isaac sent the captain of the guards a priceless ruby. And for the rest of his days he in lived in contentment and never was poor again.

In addition to this, I have learned some valuable lessons:

TIMING is important.

The Lord LOVES me enough to not give me everything I want.

The power of HOPE can not be underestimated.

Another thing; even though Matt swears up and down that he does NOT mind the commute, the kids are still concerned for him. I was so touched at the girls response when I told them we would be staying in our house for now. They said with genuine worry and concern, "So Dad is just going to keep making that long drive?" Their concern was immediately on him instead of celebrating that they would be with their friends. I have so much to be GRATEFUL for.

Cheers.

Faith in the Wind (Fall 2011)

I was perched on the counter cleaning a light fixture in the kitchen this fall while the kids had PBS on. They were watching Cat in the Hat. He asked the kids, "Can you see the wind?" They answered, "No." He then asked, "Then how do you know it is there?" They thought before answering, "Because things move." Something whispered to me then, "Can you see Faith?" No. "Then how do you know it's there?" Because things move. People move. As I thought about it, I realized it is because of my faith in Jesus Christ that I move. It is the reason I read my scriptures when I might not feel like it, why I forgive when it's hard, why I serve when it's out of my comfort zone. I look around me at family, friends, ward members, and even strangers, and I see people MOVE. This is also an example to me of their faith in Jesus Christ.

"And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever." Moroni 10: 7

These Young Women are Excellent

I thought it was cute that the girls introduced each other at Young Women in Excellence (Nov 2011). I kept their papers and asked for a copy of the pictures of my girls. You may call me a proud mama.

The theme for the night was "The Treasure within You."

"I would like to introduce the treasure Mallerie Bocanegra. Some of her favorite things are peanut butter bars and the scripture Mosiah 2:17 which reads "And behold, I tell you these things that you may learn wisdom; that you may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Some of her interests are cooking and laughing. Mallerie wants to be a Beautician when she grows up.
For her project she is helping Savannah Gordon with her Aspergers syndrome. Some of the things she did with her are coloring, cleaning, taking walks, and talking with her. Her project is under the value Knowledge."

"I would like to introduce the treasure Katrina Bocanegra. Her favorite school subjects are English, Spanish, and Seminary. Her favorite holiday is Christmas time. Some of her interests are reading and writing. She was born in Orem and wants to be a psychologist when she grows up.
For her project Katrina taught adults who speak Spanish and French to speak English at the Alternative High School on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. She had conversations with them, read with them, reviewed flashcards and did other activities with them. She said that she had fun getting to know the students and helping them learn. Her project is under the value Individual Worth."

Now for some side notes from Mom:
Mallerie had activities planned each time she went and worked with Savannah. For example, they made homemade applesauce for Johnny Appleseed day. There was another girl in her class that totally joined in on the project and showed up whenever Mallerie was there. She also counted this as her 10 hour project. To borrow a phrase from Matt, this girl was "gravy training on Mallerie's project." I shouldn't even be saying that when here it was a YW CHURCH project. So forget I even mentioned it. On the other hand, no never mind, I never mentioned it. PS: Grrrrrr.

Katrina was chuckling one evening when I picked her up after working with the ESL students. She reminded me of that part in Three Amigos where the bar tender tries to say, "Smile, smile" but instead it comes out as, "`e-smile, `e-smile." She said that Smile was one of the words she was working with the students on that night. When she held up the flash card she said, "Smile." The guy repeated back, "`esmile." It made both of us `esmile.

Sticky Situations (revisited)

One day in December when I picked up Ava from school she handed me a jewelry party invite. She was going on and on about how we HAD to go. I didn’t want to. I hate the pressure to buy at those parties. Being Christmas time, I was low on money, and I hadn’t washed my hair in three days. Plus Matt was out of town and I just wanted to clean up dinner and stay home. But another mom called me and said she had heard we were going and that her daughter REALLY wanted to go as well but they had company. Next thing I knew I committed to taking not only Mallerie and Ava but a friend as well. The invite said it was an open house from 6-8. We got there about 7. The house is a good 15 minutes up Center Street, past Timberlake’s, far. I pulled up to see we were the only car. Grrr. You can picture it. I wanted to back out and leave. But the girls said, “Who cares if we’re the only ones” (uh, I do.) And we were. We were the only people who came the ENTIRE night. It was a dire situation. There was a spread enough for a RS social; cheese ball and crackers, veggies and dip, chips and salsa, fruit platter, cream puffs, and a frothy drink in a glass punch bowl…all for us. I wasn’t even hungry but obliged by eating a couple puffs and some fresh pineapple. AWKWARD. Why is my life one situation like this after another? We chatted with the host and browsed the jewelry VERY thoroughly. Pressure to buy? You betcha. Good thing everything was just five bucks. And I did still need some jewelry to go with Katrina and Mallerie’s Sunday dresses. I shoed the girls to the car after they made their purchases and then handed over my last fifteen dollars. I mean, really, if I had know what my night had in store I would have taken it easy at dinner and WASHED MY HAIR.

Mallerie found herself in a sticky situation of her own. She decided to throw a surprise party for a friend of hers. I sort of feel for this girl, she is from a single parent family, they just lost their home (literally, it was bulldozed to make room for more McDonalds parking on Main St), so she is living with an aunt, etc...I thought that was sweet of Mallerie to want to throw the party but being December I have zero chump change to spend on a party (I have GOT to plan better next year). I told her to tell people to bring pizza toppings on the invitations and we would make the crust and sauce here. I had all that stuff in my food storage and it was cheap to make a cake as well. Side note, the cake TOTALLY sunk in the middle for a some reason. I scrambled and filled the dent with silk poinsettia's after icing it. Matt said, "Oh, you made a bunt cake?" Who even knew he was aware of such a thing as a 'bunt' cake. Anyway, I had to work the first train that night and got home well after the party was under way. I walked in to the smell of a wood burning stove. This was not a bad smell per say, however, WE DO NOT HAVE A WOOD BURNING STOVE. Mallerie confessed she had baked the pizza ON the wooden pizza paddle instead of the stone. Oops. She was super sorry and offered to pay me $10 bucks for the paddle. I took it. It came in real handy at that jewelry party.

Let the Celebrations begin! 11/24/11

First up: Thanksgiving and my Mom’s Birthday. This was the first year we had to spill over into a church because of our numbers. You do loose some of the homey feel, but no one was ready to offer up their sofas to 280 little fingers. Lindsey had made darling centerpieces and my mom brought tablecloths and it looked cheerful in no time. Another family was feasting till 4 pm so this made for a later than usual start time. No worries, I was glad to have the morning to make my stuffing and rolls. The day before I had enlisted the girls to help me with the pies. I was so happy they were willing to help. This was the only reason we were done in time to go to Orem and see Mike and Donna who had arrived. I had one pie still in the oven when it was time for us to leave. My friend Pam offered to come over and take it out. She called me, “When I went over there was smoke coming out of your oven.” I panicked, “WHAT!” She was KIDDING. Phew.

Peanut Butter Cup Pie: by Ava (next year we need to make TWO). She also made a banana cream pie.

Apple Pie by Mallerie. She also made cornbread and let it dry out over night for Jamie's famous stuffing.

Katrina: Pecan Pie and Cranberry SAUCE. I fear she thought she was making jelly. We won't cook it on hight for 20 minutes next year maybe.

The picture of baking. I made a pumpkin cheesecake pie and orange rolls.

Matt was helpful where ever he was needed. Mallerie had him open cans of chicken broth to put in her stuffing. He opened the can and asked, "Do I drain this?"

The bird! Neither Jon nor Matt wanted to pick at the bones for every last bit of turkey. My mom said to go dump it in the field for they animals, "They love stuff like that." Being her birthday and all, I sent those boys out into the field.

Let this be a lesson to us all why we don't encourage overhead fluorescent lighting people! I yam what i yam.

The food was soooo delish; I look at these pictures and my mouth waters. Eliza brought out a lovely carrot cake when the time was right and then we dove into the pies. I was sorry to see that my pumpkin cheesecake was left untouched. I think mainly because it looked like raisins were floating in it instead of chocolate chips. Also the pumpkin mouse was more the color of eggs. For this reason I put a sign, ‘Those aren’t raisins, their chocolate chips!” But to no avail, I had to bring it again to Granny’s Christmas party the next day. Sadie finally tried some, “Who would have guessed a raisin quiche could be so tasty.” Ha!

The little kids were all sitting at a round table till someone brought out this small one and they moved. This left the round table set up and decorated with no one sitting at it. I noted it was just like a ward party, "That's for the less active that we hoped would come."

The table proved useful for coloring time.

My mom had all kinds of info on the first Thanksgiving with a packet for each family. The kids sat for MOST of it.

For my mom's gift I crocheted around the edge of a soft afghan in beige for her. Graham came up to me and told me exactly what he wanted me to write in the card:

"Granny, we yarned this for you because you are always yarning stuff for other people. We made it long enough to go over your head if you are taking a nap and have a bad dream."

I brought large marshmallows for the kids to decorate with marker and then they saw how far they could throw them. I had tons of marshmallows leftover since I just gave them to the kids in the gym. I didn’t want to go hunting through the church. The next day at the Christmas party I brought the bag of treats again in case the kids needed an activity. We didn’t. Later while the adults were visiting some of the kids were saying they were hungry even though we had eaten a nice dinner. Lindsey said, “You have to eat when the food is out, otherwise you’ll be hungry.” I pointed to my bag of marshmallows, “That’s why I carry this around.”

(Boy word sure spreads fast when there is an open bag of marshmallows.)

**You may stop reading now if you want any respect for me in the future.**

After the party was over the older girls begged me to take them out for some Black Friday shopping. I drove them up to the outlets. There wasn’t even a place for me to park! I dropped them off and went to Wal-Mart. I’ve never been to black Friday and when I saw the throngs of people it was confirmed, “it does exists. “ I picked the girls up and we were home by 2 am. As I was getting ready for bed I got to thinking of a certain receipt that I thought I had thrown away with something I needed to return. I looked in the kitchen trash. Shoot, the trash had already been taken out. I opened the garage and lifted the top sack out. I rummaged through disgusting Thanksgiving debris; giblets, egg shells, oatmeal (with rubber gloves of course.) How can a receipt just disappear? The next day Matt said, “What took so long to come to bed last night.” I couldn’t tell him! It wasn’t one of my finer moments standing outside in the middle of the night in my robe digging through the trash. Then I started wrapping Elder Wasson’s gifts and saw in the bag that blasted receipt! I started laughing and then told Matt of my shame.