Sacrifice and Blessings

Brandon graduated from basic training a year ago today.  He'd been at Fort Benning, Georgia for three and a half months.  I'd been in Bountiful, Utah with our three kids.  I was able to fly out (without the kids!) and see him for a few days. At the time we didn't know where he would be stationed.  We'd find that out a few days later.  And then we'd have our crazy move to Texas a few weeks after that.

Was it hard? Yes!  Was it worth it? Yes!

I've been thinking back to when we were deciding whether or not he should join the military.  That was back in January of 2012.  It seemed like the military was ALL we talked about.  Should he join, where would I live during basic training, how would we tell our families, etc.  To distract myself from everything  I started reading Work and the Glory Volume 9. Some distraction it turned out to be. A major plot point in the book revolves around the LDS Saints call to join the Mormon Battalion. I felt like the following quotes from Brigham Young were speaking directly to me.

"I know what many of you are thinking. You are concerned about your circumstances. Well, I am as well acquainted with the situation of every man in camp as they are themselves. But now the surrounding circumstances must recede from our minds. Let go of them. We may as well consider ourselves in good circumstances as in bad ones.

"But says one, 'I will go if my family can be made comfortable.' I told my brethren not to mention families today. I am aware it is desirable, were it our privilege, to have every man's presence in the camp to take care of his family and team and go along to the West. There are no more men here than what are badly needed. But these feelings must be dispensed with. We have to learn to control our feelings and act according to our best judgement.

"My experience has taught me that it is best to do the things that are necessary. I have learned to do the necessary thing independent of my feelings and at the expense of everything near and dear to me. May of us have been called upon to forsake the society of friends, wives and children, and you will all be brought into a situation to learn the same lesson.

"The blessings we are looking forward to receive will only be attained through sacrifice . . . If we want the privilege of going where we can worship God according to our consciences, we must raise the battalion. I say that it is right. Who cares for sacrificing our comfort for a few years?"
After I finished reading these section I knew that Brandon should join the military, and that I would fully support him in it. 

Looking back on it all I'm so glad that we decided to sacrifice our comfort for a few months.  We have been so rewarded for it all.  

Christmas Under the Tree - 2013

Brandon's parents created a family tradition called "Christmas Under the Tree" when he was a little boy.  They wanted a way to help the kids understand the importance of Jesus and what Christmas is really all about.  So they always set aside the Friday before Christmas as a night to focus on Jesus and spend time as a family.  

The tradition has continued over the years.  Up until a few years ago we would all gather at Brandon's parent's house for the evening and then sleep over.  Every since we had the twins it's kind of turned into an individual family thing.  But we've talked about doing it as an extended family again sometime.  

We are celebrating Christmas early this year so we can do it in our own home before we travel to Salt Lake.  So that meant we needed to do Christmas Under the Tree this weekend.  We were babysitting the neighbor kids on Friday so we decided to do Christmas Under the Tree on Saturday.  

The night started out with the traditional "children crying and freaking out and making mom and dad consider cancelling the whole thing" routine.  Fortunately that ended when we sat down by the tree and had an opening prayer.  

Then Brandon read the Christmas Story from the Bible while I put the manger scene people out.  

 This was Veronica's first Christmas Under the Tree and she seemed to really like being apart of it.

 Usually we eat all the treats that neighbors and friends have brought to our house for the holidays.  But we haven't received any yet.  So we just had some cookies we made ourselves and some candy.  

We were able to tune into a broadcast of one of my brother Billy's concerts.  It played in the back ground while we read the "The Night Before Christmas" and "When Jesus was Born in Bethlehem."

Brandon and I started having a discussion about what the word "espoused" means. The kids wandered off and started playing in another room.  Brandon and I continued our discussion and it lead to talking about Jesus's royal lineage which prompted me to remember something I read in the book "Jesus the Christ."  So then we got that out and read a few things about how scholars believe that Mary and Joseph were cousins.

I was impressed that I remembered something from that book. I'd tried reading it around the time the twins were born and all I remember is thinking about how tired I was while reading it.  I never finished reading the book, but now maybe I'll try again.    

The kids were still playing nicely together so I got out another book about Jesus called "Two From Galilee."  It's a fictional love story about Joseph and Mary.  My dad read it to me and my sisters when I was about 13.  I borrowed it from my parents before we moved, but I haven't had a chance to re-read it.

I started reading part of it out loud to Brandon.  We read all about when Mary went into labor and how Joseph had to find somewhere for her to have the baby.  In this story, a midwife didn't arrive in time to help Mary deliver her baby.  Joseph helped deliver Jesus instead.  Brandon and I really related to that version of Jesus' birth.  I remembered that when I was about to deliver Veronica, the thought flashed through my mind that I was experiencing something similar to the "Two from Galilee" story.

The kids started fighting over something, and Billy's concert was over so we turned on a Christmas CD we'd made several years ago.  We call it Uncommon Christmas songs and it has a bunch of songs that we love, but never seem to hear enough.  The kids had fun dancing around to "The Christmas CanCan" by Straight No Chaser, and "Rocking around the Christmas Tree" by Beetmas.   Lydia started crawling around with her head rubbing on the floor.  It was really funny.  

 The CD moved onto calmer songs like, "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant ad  "Gifts" by Cherie Call.  Brandon uploaded a Christmas picture into the puzzle game on his computer and the kids played with that.

 Then we put the kids into pajamas and started making beds by the Christmas Tree.  We all laid under the tree and told each other that we were each other's favorite Christmas presents.

 The girls were excited to sleep by the tree.  Derrick didn't know what to do.  He'd come lay by me and then wander off.  He seemed to get comfortable on the couch, but soon he was up wandering around again.  He ended up laying on every pillow in the room in an attempt to get comfortable.  Then he got up and wandered into the kitchen.  At that point I decided he needed to sleep in his crib.  He didn't complain.

 Lydia made sure her pink baby was snuggled up with her under the tree.

 Charlotte shared her blue baby with Veronica. (Who also ended up in her crib.)

 Charlotte made it very clear that she wanted to "snuggle with my daddy."  So Brandon shared the cushion with her.

 Lydia stayed up looking at "The Night Before Christmas" book until she fell asleep on the floor.

I stayed up and enjoyed the quiet while drinking hot chocolate and reading some things on the WhatCulture! website (Beware, that thing is addicting.)  Then I fell asleep on the couch.

I love all the little traditions that we do around Christmas time.  And Christmas Under the Tree is one of my favorites.  I thought about how it was kind of a sacrifice to set aside a whole evening to spend together.  There is Christmas shopping that needs to be done and presents that need to be made.  We could have used that evening to do those things.    But spending time together as a family is much more important than any superficial gifts we could give.

Pre-Christmas catch up

Today is kind of the last lazy day of we have left for the year.  In the next week and a half we will celebrate Christmas, bless Veronica in church, host a party for her at our house, and pack up to visit Salt Lake.  Things will be busy, busy, busy!

I have a bunch of pictures and random things from the last 6 weeks that I want to blog about.  I figured I better post them all today before we start doing all the big Christmasy things.  So sit back and enjoy the recap.

Our tree has been up since the beginning of November.  It's been kind of weird to have it up that long - especially since the leaves on the trees outside didn't really change colors until December - but it's also been fun.  The kids love it. 

We don't have a lot of ornaments on the tree because I don't want the kids to break them. So we've been making kid appropriate decorations for the tree.  Here are some little trees we made.

We've had to go to the hospital twice for some things.  One time was for a follow up audiology appointment for Veronica.  (Silly girl couldn't pass her hearing test when she was a newborn because her ears were too gunky) Its kind of a long walk from the parking lot to the doors so I put Veronica and Derrick into the double stroller and then had the girls hold on to the handles.  We got a lot of stares, but it worked really well.

Here are Brandon and the kids in front of the hospital.

Brandon took the Honda to get the alignment fixed.  The girls wanted to go with him so he took them along.  They dropped the Honda off and then walked over to Hobby Lobby and explored the ENTIRE store together.  He bought them each a little bird house for a dollar.  The girls were so excited to get those bird houses.  We painted them as our project a few days later.  

Here is a random picture of Veronica.  She's such a cutie! (Oh and she can hear just fine.  She passed that follow up hearing test right away.)

I volunteered to be in a small choir for a Christmas Concert at church.  We sang With Wondering Awe.  When I volunteered I thought, "how hard can it be, its just a Christmas hymn."  But when I saw the arrangement I realized I was in a little over my head.  There were ahhhs and notes higher than I usually sing.  Add that to the fact that I can't read treble clef (I played the string bass so I know bass clef really well) and I had to work hard to learn my part.  Here I am trying to learn the ahhs part.  The concert went really well.  I hope to get around to writing a separate post about it later.      

Charlotte snuck out of her room and fell asleep like this in the toy room one night.  I love how she first lined up all the links on the window seat.

I got this idea from Pinterest. I put our graduation tassels into clear ornaments.   

We made "baby turkeys" at story time at the library.  The girls insisted that we hang them up in the kitchen with our big turkey that has been up all year.

Our Christmas cards and newsletter are finally all done.

One evening I lay down to take a nap when Brandon came home from work.  I woke up to a silent house.  EVERYONE was napping.  Here's how I found Lydia.

I couldn't find Charlotte at first.  I was about to start panicking when I finally found her in my closet.

Even Brandon was asleep.  It's like a sleeping spell had been cast on the house.

Brandon moved the table into the living room one Saturday so he could mop the dinning room really well.  The kids couldn't resist it.

They all would jump from the table onto the couch.  Derrick is normally cautious about things like this, but even he joined in on the jumping.  You should have seen the mischievous look he got in his eyes the first time he saw Charlotte jump.

Brandon had to get an official photo taken for his Warrant Officer application packet.  There is about a two month waiting list to be able to get one of these photos done.  But Brandon's commander gave him a letter that let him schedule one right away.  It was another of the many small miracles we've had in relation to his application lately.  

When Brandon came out in his ASU's Lydia said, "You look like a pilot!"  

It happened to be another really cold and rainy day so Brandon wore his overcoat for the first time.  I teased him and said it seemed like I had a member of the gestapo in my house.

The girls like to use our shoes as cars.  Here they are driving their blocks around.

And here they are playing in a box.  For some reason we are still planning on giving them real toys for Christmas.

Lately I've started doing dishes by hand.  Somehow it's just easier that way right now.  Charlotte and Lydia love to help.  Sometimes they even demand that I leave them alone.  My evil plan is working.

The weather here was gorgeous on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The girls went out to watch the garbage truck go by and ended up chasing butterflies in our front yard.

It was 80 degrees outside and it was a shame to go back inside so we ended up weeding the flowerbed and dividing up the irises.

We found worms and the girls held them for the first time.  We also saw a little lizard.  We even found a marble and a little plastic dog buried in the dirt.

Derrick was napping pretty much the whole time.  Veronica spent a lot of time outside in her chair.

Here's what the flower bed looked like when we were done.

And then the weather swung the other way and dropped below freezing.  We have ice on our lawn that hasn't melted in two days.

Here's Lydia showing her "clapping hangers" to Veronica.

Veronica loves here chair, but she also loves to stretch out on the carpet.

Brandon and I are working on converting the toy room shelves into a doll house.  I'll do a whole post on it once it's done.

The girls and I tried out that salt dough ornament recipe that everyone keeps pinning on pinterest.

The picture in the pin has a handprint painted to look like Santa.  We made ours into snowmen.

The girls loved painting them.

Brandon made chocolate chip and candy cane cookies for our movie night treat.

We had movie night with our neighbors who we were babysitting.  Our kids love playing with them.  

I put an ornament into the girls' stockings every day.  Once they change into underwear for the day they can get their stocking down and pull out their ornament.  Then we put the ornament up on the wall.  This has been a really fun tradition for us.

Okay I think I'm caught up.  And just in time too.  We're going to do our "Christmas Under the Tree" traditions tonight.

Love Story: Part Four - December

Brandon and I were set up on a blind date at the beginning of September of 2006.  He kissed me three weeks later, but then told me he wasn't interested in a romantic relationship.  We spent all of October getting to know each other as friends.  He kissed me again at the beginning of November.  By the end of the month we were an official couple.  

Brandon knew that I wanted to marry him, but he wasn't ready for that kind of commitment yet.  And neither was I really.  I was content to enjoy life as his girlfriend for a while.  

I'd stopped writing in my journal after our "second first kiss" so I don't have a good record of what we did every day in December.  I did retroactively fill in a calender with important relationship milestones so at least I have something to jog my memory.  

That calender is pretty blank for the first week of December.  I'm sure we spent most of our time doing homework together.  The semester was winding down and there were papers and projects to complete.  

We went to Salt Lake for the weekend and I tagged along to his extended family Christmas Party.  I worried that it would be awkward to be introduced as "Brandon's Girlfriend" but everyone was really nice. 

The next week was finals week.  Every morning Brandon and I met up at his apartment and then walked up the steep hill on 700 North to get to campus.  We'd eat the free breakfast that the LDS institute provided during finals week.  Then we'd split up and go take tests or study.  I also worked a few hours at my job.  At the end of the day we'd meet back up at Brandon's apartment.  

Finals week was always a weird week for me.  On the one hand it was extremely stressful because of all the tests.  But on the other hand it was really fun because the regular class schedule was over.  Aside from worrying about our respective tests, Brandon and I had the most free time we'd had all semester.    

One night we used our new-found free time to try to make pine needle air freshener out of real pine needles.  We chopped up pine needles that we found outside and then boiled them.  Then we strained out the water from the needles using coffee filters that we bought for the project.  Brandon put the water into an old hairspray bottle that he just happened to have.  The spray really did smell like pine needles, but the scent didn't last very long.     

As far as I remember we both passed all of our classes that semester.  I remember the look on Brandon's face when he found out he'd passed his College Algebra class.  It was the only college math class that he passed on the first try.  (Though he'd always get an A on the second - or third - tries.)

At the end of the week we celebrated the end of school by decorating Brandon's apartment for Christmas.  I wanted to buy a Christmas tree, but I didn't want to set it up at my apartment.  I'd asked Brandon if I could set it up at his apartment.  He said yes and bought the lights.  After Christmas when we took the tree down we put the tree in his closet.  I told him, "remember, if we break up it's my tree."  And he said, "well they are my lights."  (And we remind each other of that every year.)

I also bought some sparkly ball shaped ornaments because I'd always wanted to decorate a tree with fancy balls.  As a final touch we cut snow flakes out of the coffee filters.  Decorating a tree together was more than just something fun to do.  In a way it was a symbol of our growing relationship.  We were starting our own holiday traditions.

The Saturday after finals week we went on a date to Ogden Utah.  My brother Billy had a high school symphony concert at Weber State University.  We planned to do things in Ogden during the day and then see the concert that night.  We both knew this was kind of an important day.  We'd spent hours and hours together every day the past week.  If we could make it through an all day date together without getting sick of each other then we'd know that we had a pretty good relationship going.

We started out the day at the Ogden Train Museum.  I've always kind of had a thing for trains.  When I was in high school I'd walk to and from school via an illegal short cut on a train bridge.  I loved the view from the train tracks.  Some days I'd hear the train whistle and so I wouldn't get on the tracks.  I'd watch the powerful train go by from the sidewalk that was about 15 feet below the tracks.  Once I was driving in the evening and I had to stop for a train at another part of the tracks.  It was dark and so the train had it's light on.  I was impressed by that bright light and the big train chugging by right in front of my car.  I couldn't believe how magnificent the train looked.  It made me feel small.    

Brandon didn't know I liked trains, but he knew it was a fun museum.  We played around on the large trains outside the old train station and then we went inside to see the model trains.  I was enchanted by the little model train that chugged it's way through the different displays.  I was like a little kid as I followed the train around.  Brandon thought my enthusiasm was cute.

After we finished up at the museum we drove to a park and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Brandon's car.  This was the first of many times we would save money by bringing our dinner from home instead of eating out at a restaurant.

Then we drove over to Weber State University and met up with my parents, my sister Lindsey, and her new boyfriend John.  Lindsey and John had met on the 11th of November.  They'd recently become a couple.  My parents took this picture of the four of us.     

The concert was great (Billy's concerts are always great), but even better was the fact that Brandon and I weren't sick of each other yet.  In fact as we got back in the car to drive back to Logan Brandon thought of something we could do to extend our time in Ogden.  He drove to downtown Ogden and parked the car.  Then we walked to the Christmas Village.  I never even knew about the village.  I was so impressed by all the cute little displays.  Once again I was like a little kid running around and getting excited.

Our relationship had survived a week of constant togetherness and so we continued to spend as much time together as possible.  School was over so all we had to worry about was work.  I worked 20 hours a week as an office assistant and Brandon worked putting together bikes for Smith's MarketPlace.  When we weren't working we'd relax by watching our favorite TV shows on DVD.  I was introducing Brandon to Veronica Mars and he was acquainting me with MacGyver.

On Thursday the 21st, Brandon was in charge of an activity at the church.  We planned to leave for Salt Lake as soon as the activity was over.  Brandon set up a projector and we watched Muppet Christmas Carol.  We turned out to be some of the only people there.  Most everyone else had already skipped town and gone home for the holidays.

We continued to see each other a lot when we were in Salt Lake.  Our parent's homes were only about 15 minutes away from each other so it was easy to get together.  We went Christmas shopping together some days.  Brandon invited me to his family's Christmas Eve party.  I brought my brother Billy and sister Emily along with me.  We had fun playing Christmas songs on the chimes.  Billy impressed everyone by being able to play three chimes and still keep up.

I felt awkward staying the whole time at the "family" party so I left early before the traditional dancing around the Christmas tree.

Brandon and I got together the next day and exchanged gifts.  He'd bought me slippers with rubber soles so I could wear them when he walked me home from his apartment every night.  I bought him a page a day Far Side Calender.

The days after Christmas were spent seeing different things in the Salt Lake area.  One day we went to the Clark Planetarium.  Another day we went to see the lights at Temple Square.  We went to Dee's and ate with Brandon's brother Bryan and his friend Jake.  (Apparently that was their hang out in high school.)

Towards the end of the month we went on a walk at the Jordan Parkway.  We started talking about our thoughts on marriage.  We'd talked about it before, but this time it seemed more serious.  I told Brandon that I'd like to get married in May or June.  He said that he didn't want to get married until September.  I was a little crushed that he still thought we needed to wait 9 more months before getting married.  I remember getting back into his car and wondering if he would ever want to commit to anything.

On New Years Eve we spent the evening watching movies at his parent's house.  After midnight we got into his car to take me home.  Brandon's car had "cancer of the electrical system."  Sometimes it wouldn't start and we'd have to wait 5 minutes before trying to start it again (this was always a great opportunity to makeout.)  The car didn't start and so we sat and talked.  Brandon asked me, "what should our goal be for the New Year?"  I replied with, "to get married."  And he said something like, "we'll see."

Click here to find out what happened next.