March Madness

Oh boy...do I have March Madness right now. As a matter of fact, it's sweeping through everyone in my house! And that includes my wife's sister and her 7 kids. Ok, so maybe not Brooklyn but she's still a cute little baby. They came to stay with us on Monday afternoon because events in their lives that are compelling them to move to Oregon...to a town where nobody knows what a 4 bedroom house is. With 7 kids, this is frustrating for them. So until they find something, they are house hopping, this week we took them in. Yes, I know it's only Thursday...and morning at that. But 3 adults and 12 kids in a house that feels full with only 5 kids sometimes...thank goodness for nice weather and a fenced backyard. But the strain is showing. Time for a bigger house! :)

In conjunction with that is what most people refer to and that is NCAA tourny. Always a fun time as I totally guess at teams I know nothing about and then for some reason still get emotionally involved when my bracket does poorly. Which it does every year.

On top of that, as was announced by the company that just bought the company that bought us a few years ago, my company(or division) is up for sale. This creates no small amount of stress at work as our future is uncertain. But my team has tried to deal with it in fun and humorous ways. On such way was to create our own 'bracket' of companies that might buy us. Some could have been real prospects, some were just for fun (Larry H. Miller, Rio Tinto, Disney) and no I'm not going to be listing any real prospects/rumored prospects because I know nothing. But it was a huge hit in our engineering department although very few have actually filled out the bracket and returned it.

And last but not least, it's spring time. Which means cold nights, warmer days and plants beginning to think they should blast pollen into the air like their very survival depends on it. I love allergies. Their like the huge zit in the middle of a teenager's forehead that can be popped forever and never goes away. Or the annoying neighbor kid that has decided you should know everything on his mind. Or cats.

blowing his nose....again,
Mark

Bearing in mind

So it seems that 3/4ths of the world/ward is pregnant...again. Didn't we just do this two years ago? Aren't our poor nursery workers deserving of a break? Isn't our sacrament meeting loud enough with the gajillion kids we already have?

The answer to all three questions is YES! And personally it's great. Babies are cute. And God did say to "multiply" and replenish the earth. Not just add but multiply. I'm just glad we're done with math. I'd have to buy a bigger van. We'd need a bigger kitchen table. I don't want to do diapers again...EVER! And the twins are finally big enough to get into serious trouble without any help from the older kids! Oh wait......

So Easter has been on my mind for about a month...when the twins got into the storage room and started hauling the plastic Easter eggs out in droves, gaggles and Dora backpacks. I now have a slew of half-eggs littering my house. I think the Easter bunny may be on vacation this year. Probably not. I'm starting to run out of Halloween and Christmas candy.

Easter this year will be special. Not that it isn't other years but my oldest daughter has the same unfortunate situation as my wife: on a regular basis, her birthday will be on a holiday. Although on a more regular basis, Adeena's birthday will be on General Conference weekend. As it is this year. She gets Easter, General Conference and her birthday all on the same day. She's excited. I'm glad because she'll hate it as adult.

And the week after Easter/GC/Adeena's b-day, I get to baptize Ethan. I know. I can't believe my #2 is 8 either. Scary. But the good news is that means he is going into scouts and that means Dad gets to get his power-tools on and make stuff...I'll let him touch the pinewood derby car once it's done. ;-) I'm just excited because I hope it will help him be a better person and I have a few good memories of being a scout. Just a few.

Till next time...

**Edited to fix what seemed like a cynical comment but really wasn't meant to be**

Hearts on your sleeve

February is finally here. Valentine's Day has long been one of my favorite holidays. Being a hopeless romantic for most of my life really helped. Of course, until the Valentine's Day my first year in college, I never actually had a girlfriend to dote upon. For eleven years now I've had a beautiful wife to give flowers and chocolate and try to plan romantic things for...but something was different. As the years have progressed, my excitement for the holiday has waned.

It's not that I love my wife less...if anything it's quite the opposite. So I took to some soul searching to figure out why it was that I get less and less worked up for what was my favorite holiday. Here is what I have learned:

1) Valentine's Day is different when you can throw every dollar you own at it because you don't have a mortgage, to buy food, pay utilities (always higher during this stretch of the year)

2) Valentine's Day was a chance for me to let girls I liked, know I liked them because I was too chicken the rest of the year.

3) I try to show my wife how much I love her all year long so I'm not trying to pack a year's worth of love into one day. Plus, a marriage should be built on consistent affection. You can't make up in one day for 364 days of neglect.

4) Our Anniversary is at the end of November which I feel is a much better time to celebrate our love. Doing it again 2 and a half months later after paying for Christmas is a litte more difficult.

5) What I wanted romantically vs. what I had were worlds apart back then compared to now where they are pretty equal.

6) I don't have hours upon hours every week to think about it because I have other things which are more pressing.

And 7) I really suck at planning more than a few days or a week in advance. In high school I flew by the seat of my pants. On my mission we planned one week at a time. Most of my college classes have assignments done on a weekly basis. As a poor high school student it was easier to delay planning and still pull something off. Now I need to plan a baby-sitter, make reservations and figure out how to pay for it.

So over the years I've learned that Valentine's Day for many is an excuse or a reason to show the one they love how much they care but when you try and show it on a regular basis Valentine's Day transforms into a simple reminder once a year that if I haven't celebrated it at least once a month the other 11 months since the last time, I need to step it up. I love my wife. I'm lucky to have her and I'm thrilled she will be my Valentine for eternity. And I'm grateful that if I try, every day can be Valentine's Day with her.

Doors and Windows

This has been a hard winter. Much more than just the freaking cold temps that plague Eagle Mountain. My mom lost her leg after two hip replacements. My brother buried his baby girl after months of prayer and fasting. My wife's sister may be moving back to Oregon because her husband can't find a job in Utah. The company I work for got bought again and the future is uncertain. Plus quite a few other things that have just compounded. I understand that God's ways are not my ways and that sometimes He does things that in the long run are for the best but we won't know it until then. But can't I just get a hint? So much of it doesn't make sense. It's like working for hours on a project for class and getting a bad grade. You don't know what else you could have done. You did everything you've been told for so long is the right thing to do and still you appear to fail. Ask and ye shall receive. What if you ask every chance you get and you still don't receive?

It's not that MY faith is shaken. I have had too many answers to prayers to believe He isn't listening. But those were prayers for me. They were "selfish" prayers. Why don't my prayers for others work like those? Why does everything we've prayed for lately for those we care about always go opposite to what we and they desire?

When God closes a door, He opens a window. I've heard that and said it more times than I care to remember. But lately it just seems like all of the doors are closing and no matter how frantically I search, I can't seem to find any windows. I don't need a lot. Just one. Just something that will renew Hope so I can keep going.

Elementary school plays

Welcome to the little leagues. And I can say that with authority. I've done high school and college theater. I'd call that the minors. But to their credit they are ages 5-12. What the heck are you talking about?? Adeena has become an extra-curricular junkie. She joined her school choir, she tried out for the musical and joined Knowledge Bowl. A little nuts but she's smart and enjoys it so who am I to complain? Anyway, so the musical was "A Christmas Carol" and considering the ages, it actually turned out pretty good...but it showed that they were amatuers. Oh, I'm not talking about the kids. The school had rented or bought or something some wireless mics that go over the ear and down the cheek. The tech-guys struggled to get clear sound and at several points we got to hear the screeching of two mics too close to each other. It was not good. The chorus, which Adeena was part of, sounded the best and that was because none of them were mic-ed.

I can go over and over the reasons that they had so many issues but let's just suffice to say they did. Which was sad because if I didn't know the story so well and hadn't just seen the Jim Carrey version it would have been hard to follow because it was so hard to hear. But the kids were cute and Adeena was pretty shy before this year so we were very proud of her to get so involved with things that require public performance. And since I did theater, I'm kinda proud she is getting into it. Who says we can't live through our children? :)

Facing Mortality

Well, I just got the phone call I was hoping not to get. On Saturday, (if she makes it that far) my brother will be taking his older kids up to Primary Childrens to have Christmas with their baby. Then on Sunday they are taking her off the ventilator and letting her live as long as she decides to. The forcast isn't for a long time.

I'm surprised at the stability my brother maintains as he talks to me about it but I'm sure he and his wife have had more than enough tear-filled conversations and I also know I'm not the first person he calls. But still, saying goodbye in this mortal life is hard...even with the knowledge of eternal families. Yet, ever since they found out she had hypoplastic left-heart syndrom shortly after birth, they have had to face her mortality. Best case scenario is she could have gotten a heart-transplant around age 20 and have it take and live as long as she could with it. Most likely scenario was she lives to somewhere between 12 and 20 and her heart gives out and she dies then. Unfortunately, my family is not one that enjoys the best case scenarios very often. My mom had to lose her leg from the hip down (another story). This precious baby isn't going to last to her first birthday.

And so I sit here facing my mortality and thinking about my family and wishing I could change things for his. ****** I'm grateful I've gotten 5 healthy children despite wanting to give them away occassionally. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and that he has made it possible for this sweet little baby to return to our Heavenly Father spotless.

It is sad and as my dear wife sniffled last night, "There are two things that shouldn't happen: Mom's shouldn't get sick and babies shouldn't die." Amen.


****** Continued the next morning.

Cabbage Patch kids of DEATH!

Titles have to be some of the most fun things that I get to come up with. Do you remember the Garbage Pail Kids? All of the grotesque trading cards of demented Cabbage Patch kids knock-offs? Good times.

So today is my Thanksgiving post. This time of year is my most stressful and that was before I started school. We got married 11 years ago last Saturday. So Michelle and I went out to dinner at Red Lobster because she loves seafood. Then we went to Curtains which is a musical being put on by Hale Center Theater. It was funny and fun. Great show. Over dinner Michelle asked me to tell her my favorite memory of the last 11 years. That was a tough task and we spent a good portion of our time together when we could talk without disturbing the show, talking about some of the good times we've had.

Then is Thanksgiving which is generally at Michelle's parent's house because it's around her birthday(if not on it) and so we go up there. Then this year, her birthday is the day after Thanksgiving. It's also Black Friday. And from there we are plunged into the Christmas season with baking and decorations and parties. And for the last two years it's also finals. Oh joy.

In the long and short of it, I have been very blessed. I have many things to be thankful for and I'm going to make a short list of those things I'm most thankful for:
my wife
the gospel(Jesus, Heavenly Father, atonement, etc)
my kids
my job

I said it would be short. Happy Thanksgiving!