Regally Blonde

This month, our book group is reading Eleanor Roosevelt by Russell Freedman. It is a Newberry Honor Book. I particularly liked one of her quotes about when she left for boarding school in London and learned to become her own person.

“I felt that I was starting a new life, free from all my former sins and traditions… this was the first time in my life that all my fears left me.  If I lived up to the rules and told the truth, there was nothing to fear.”

Many people say that our religion is restrictive and that freedom is found on the wandering path. Although I agree with the sentiment that “not all who wander are lost” I find that wanderers and travelers are almost always described as weary. Why? Because the way back home nearly always was more cumbersome, lonely, dark and full of danger than that of the well lit road.

 Like Eleanor states above, true freedom comes from a clear conscious.  Nothing to worry, nothing to fear.  Who fears a policeman when abiding the speed limit, who fears a teacher when they are not cheating? But how can we start the new life, free from sin and old traditions? How can we find the well lit path or return to it once lost?

I have been doing an exercise in scripture study wherein I studied ways our sins can be forgiven. There are so many!

Repentance:  D&C 58:24 Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven and I the Lord remember them no more.  By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will confess them and forsake them.

When we ask for forgiveness: Mosiah 4:10 … And ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them. And Moroni 6:8 But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.

When we forgive one another: D&C 82:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, my servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord forgive you.

In our trials: D&C 95:1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you.

In missionary work: D&C 31:5 Therefore,  thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire.

In the bearing of testimony: D&C 62:3  Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.

D&C 84:61 For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment - that you remain steadfast in your minds in solemnity and the spirit of prayer, in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which are communicated to you.

“The relationship between the bearing of testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost and the forgiveness of sins illustrates a glorious gospel truth. It is that whenever faithful saints gain the companionship of the Holy Spirit, they are clean and pure before the Lord, for the Spirit will not dwell in an unclean tabernacle. Hence, they thereby receive a remission of those sins committed after baptism” Bruce R. McConkie

In Baptism and the Reception of the Holy Ghost: 3 Nephi 27:20 Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost.”

How does this make us feel?

“And the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ” Mosiah 4:2-3

There is infinite freedom in peace of conscience. Beyond that, truly living gospel principles should lead us to be free from debt, addictions, unrighteous traditions and sin. “We are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.”

I am thankful for this country, for the freedom to worship how, where and what I may. (Art. of Faith #11) I do not feel restricted by commandments but I feel free to improve,  the ability to be free from guilt, free from fear and of judgement, free to be me - just a lot better version.

Hooray for independence! Hooray for freedom!  Let us all reflect on the true giver of freedom through the great plan of redemption - Jesus Christ. Through Him all freedoms flow.

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day.

This is what we call tornado sleeping.

We tucked both our girls into different beds neatly and cozily after reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle to them last night.  As you can see there was some ferocious sleeping going on. How do kids get turned upside down, pillows strewn about, with their stuffed animals hurtled around the room? And this doesn’t only happen in their bed. Many times I have woken up with a heel on my eye and a kid kicking through a nightmare (ouch!) When Elizabeth wakes up she looks like she used a blender to style her hair.  Elizabeth has been caught sleep walking a few times too.

Do your kids actually “sleep tight” through the night?

Caroline is 6 months old and doesn’t want to be a baby. She wants to be a big kid. She likes playing with her sisters and is learning about gravity at a very fast pace.

Superbaby can pull up and climb.

Superbaby can crawl! If you put her down in one part of the house she can get to another in seconds.

Superbaby can climb stairs.

Superbaby can give you some funny looks.

Oh what a girl. We’ll call her silent but deadly. She doesn’t cry to much, but that’s because there’s too much to explore. I can’t vacuum enough to try to keep her from putting things in her mouth.

What are your 4th of July plans?

The 4th is one of my two least favorite holidays. I also don’t care for New Years Eve too much. I used to like it when I was a youth and went to the New Years Eve dance but now I’m not so into it.

What I do like about the 4th of July:

The historical significance.

Patriotism.

Honoring servicemen and servicewomen.

The music - I really love the music.

Gratitude for freedom especially freedom of religion.

So I really love the meat of the holiday, I think there is a lot to celebrate and be grateful for. I just don’t have the best execution of how to integrate these good things into my family’s traditions.

Here’s what I don’t like about the 4th.

Staking out firework viewing spots days in advance with large blankets.

Melting to death and getting a mega sunburn at a parade.

My neighbors setting off fireworks in the street and waking up my baby at all times of the night.

Freezing to death during the fireworks.

Worrying about parents not watching their kids closely enough at a swim BBQ. (I normally just get into the pool with the kids myself and force Alex to as well so we can be lifeguards.)

Drunk people driving, boating, walking…

So what do you do? What are your family traditions to celebrate our great country’s independence? Do you have a great FHE planned for tonight? Can you email it to me?

Can I turn this holiday into something really great for my family, something we look forward to year after year? Help me, and if you live or have lived nearby where do you go to view the fireworks?

9 1/2 ?!?!?!? Is there even a marker on my speedometer for 9 1/2 ? I’d like to thank the Oakland Temple for making my Friday.  Just the opportunity to see that sign again may improve my temple activity.

There is a restaurant very close to us that we go to on occasion. Well occasion enough that the waitresses call us the little blondie family.  We typically have the same waitress. She’s tall, and may have been attractive at one time, or could possibly be attractive now but you’d never know because of her make up.

She is make up fabulous, it must be applied with a paintbrush and glue.  She has three stripes of glitter on her eyelids; purple, pink and green. False lashes, dark blush and bright pink lipstick with 1/4″ worth of lip gloss. 5 pair of earrings in each ear and 2″ fake nails with the stars and stripes (of course in glitter) on each nail. Her hair is always swept back into a bun with the bangs plastered into a long sweep hitting her right brow. I’d say she’s about 45. (Can you tell we go a lot from my detail?) But it is NOT her looks that make her interesting.

Its the way she talks.

Well Hi there little blondie family aren’t you lookin’ fiiiiine this evening? Oh and what a nice hair cut on this one, isn’t she a beauty? Of course you all want waters.  Of course! I’ll be right back with the bread and butter and all those waters!

So what’ll it be tonight Papa bear? (and he’ll answer)

Of course you do your highness. And ranch on the side?

Yes, yes and what for your queen?

And the princesses? Oh papa bear you have such cute princesses!

She never looks at you in the eye, just stares at the ceiling saying this stuff. I finally made eye contact with her when she said, “Oh just a bunch of daddy’s girls, just a bunch of Daddy’s girls! And when they’re teenagers and messin around you just tell him whose girls they are!”

She is a very attentive waitress, but I don’t think I like anyone calling my husband Papa Bear or alluding to our messed up future. Here’s a tip - a Q tip, it’ll help you get all that make up off tonight. Just kidding… she adds to the fun of eating out and I think Alex tips her in real money.

With or without you ahh

I will blog…

With or without you.

Ohhhh o, Ohhhh o. o.

I will blog,

With or without you.

Despite waning interest in my blog I am still going to post. So niener, niener, niener. I don’t care that its summer and you’re on vacation.  I don’t care that your kids are driving you crazy with lego and craft projects and you have no time to read. I don’t care that its so hot the power got turned off in a brown out. I will still write even if no one comments. (Thanks to the handful who have)

Clogging your google reader one post at a time…..

-Janelle

Scripture study is starting its summer session! We will be reading Preach My Gospel. Meet Wednesdays my house at 1pm. Sorry all you working moms, there is another ward scripture study group that meets at night. I used to go to it, and I loved it! Please read the first section in preparation for next Wednesday.

I have started a new blog for Frozen Dinner Swap. www.frozendinnerswap.wordpress.com I would love it if my fellow swappers would send me pictures of prep and how it your dish looks when its ready to be swapped. If you have freezer meals that you’d like to share please email me at regallyblonde (at) gmail (dot) com. Photos are welcome!

Thanks!

-Janelle

Hallelujah we can see their cute faces again. Elizabeth and Allison made it to the shop for a mop chop.

Before:

Dana’s workin’ her magic:

After:

We deserve a treat:

The best summer hair cuts are short n’ sweet.

(Similar to Gilligan’s)

Oh the Birthday plans were perfect but the execution was far from it.  Remember how well my week was shaping up? It shaped up and shipped out. We went on the Delta for Alex’s Birthday breakfast. It was a scorcher, like 103 but the wind and occasional splashes cooled us right down. Allison sat in the open bow, wind whipping through her teeth because she was smiling so big.  Elizabeth sat in the back, alerting us of any safety violations or excessive speed. Caroline sat on my lap licking her enormous yellow life jacket that smooshes her little cheeks so she looked like a chub for once in her life. And then an enormous speed boat came through our channel and Alex wanted to avoid hitting its wave head on so he edged over toward the levee sides and WHAM! Our boat hit a huge rock (unmarked mind you) and slammed to an abrupt halt. We were terrified that we put a hole in the hull or broke off our prop or were taking on water. We were stunned. When Alex started the boat back up, it was apparent something was wrong but we didn’t know what. Immediately Elizabeth said, “We need to say a prayer.” I said, Ok you say it. So she blessed that there would be no hole, we could make it to safety and we would be ok. It was short and to the point. We made it to our Breakfast destination so well we thought we were in the clear. Elizabeth’s prayer was answered. We had a nice breakfast and got back on the boat to go back home at 11 am.

*****Please remember I had a party at my house at 6 pm and although I had pre made a lot of the food I thought I would still have 5 more hours to clean if we got home at my goal time of 1pm. ****

(Summary of 4 hours from H.) We got back in the boat and out of the no wake zone and Bam something gave out. We were only being propelled by exhaust and we limped up river to a known repair place. It was 103 degrees and were dying. Alex tried to repair the boat by buying parts and installing them while floating next to the boat in his life jacket, my dad came to rescue us and took my mom and the girls home, Alex thought he had the boat fixed, so we waved my parents on and said we’ll get the boat home. The crash caused an ear piercing alarm to go off that stayed on the entire time the boat was on (so bad it gave me a head ache that was so bad I wanted to throw up) and the boat was sooo not fixed. The parts guys sold us a prop that didn’t fit our boat and we had to go on a 15 mile boat ride at maybe 5mph not counting current or wind. Alex and I rode in near silence because of the ear splitting alarm for 2 1/2 hours and got back to our original loading dock at 4:30. I think, ok I’m still good for the party if I can just get home by 5pm.

We pulled the boat out of the water, no hull damage but the thing that holds the prop and the rudder are beat to death. We can really thank Elizabeth for her thoughtful and effective prayer. I had to drive my mom’s car home since my Dad picked her up and took the kids home so Alex and I were in separate cars. We pulled out after snapping all the tarps down and all that misc. boat stuff that takes forever and started driving down the road and we make it all the way to the Hwy 4 bypass when I notice something is askew. I honk to tell Alex to get over - He has a flat tire! He notices it before he gets out in his side mirror and as we hop out of our trucks we both say at the same time “Happy Birthday!” and just start to laugh because the day is going horribly bad. We W’s have phenomenally bad luck. We now have a party in 45 minutes at our house and it is NOT CLEAN! Alex tells me to go, he’ll deal with the tire. I’m pretty sure he had to hitch hike to a tire place and hitch hike back to the truck. Ugh!

I got home at 5:30 and started running for my life. If there was an Olympic home cleaning race I would have won it. But I smelled. So bad! I had been sweating in 103 degree weather and had no shower. So I took the fastest shower known to man. I turned on the shower and got out - done -  before it had even gotten warm. I furiously worked on a fruit salad, green salad, ranch dressing, finished a strawberry pie found someone to pick up my girls and the babysitters, put on my make up and welcomed the guests who showed up at 6 on the nose.  No one was allowed to open any doors down the hall - I just threw everything in my bedroom and slammed the door. Whew!

Alex was only 1/2 hour late and showed up to his Birthday party in a grease stained shirt and swimming trunks. Hooray!

We ate, we laughed, we had piano karaoke and had a marvellous night. I’m still tired.

You know how they say “you break it, you buy it.” The W’s like to buy it, then break it…..

If you made it all the way through…. thank you.