My New Obsession

I LOVE this bag! This is one of the new items my friend Amy and I are selling at our newly redesigned website. We saw this bag at a retailers show in Vegas a few weeks ago and decided we couldn't live without it. It's technically a diaper bag made by Fleurville but I carry it anyway and think it's fabulous.

Speaking of the website, it is nearly finished. We are working on a few more things but are close to having the website we've wanted for a few years now. In the near future we are hoping to offer discount codes to those of you who would be willing to advertise on your blogs for us. That's one of the little kinks we're still working on so we'll keep you posted.

What the. . .

Grace is learning cursive in school this year. Each time they learn a new letter they make a list of words they can think of that start with that letter. Once their lists are complete the teacher then writes suggested words on the board. Today the letter was "h". Grace says she was trying to write "heel" and instead wrote "hell". Grace whispered her word to the teacher who then said, "Well, I'm a religious person so I'm not going to write that one on the board." The kids heard the teacher say that and wanted to know what the word was. The teacher told them it was the opposite of heaven and all the other students covered their mouths in surprise. I'm guessing that most of the other kids have only heard it as a swear word rather than reading it in scripture like Grace. The poor thing had no idea it was a bad word and was thoroughly embarrassed and confused. I guess I need to swear more often around the house so she won't be surprised again! :)

Back to School for Me

I wish! Instead I visited my kids' school today. I spent an hour in Grace's ELP class with her. What a fun classroom. There were eight students and the teacher and they were using manipulatives to learn algebra. And Grace was awesome at it!

I also saw Jenna on my way into the office. She was lined up with her class outside the classroom and when she saw me she ran over and puckered up for a kiss. I loved it! I dread the day that my kids will be embarrassed rather than thrilled to have me at school.

And just because I haven't posted pictures in a while here are a couple that I love. I wish I could freeze time and keep them small forever.

You Do Dolls

Amy Stephens related this story to me and I just had to share as well as preserve it for myself. Grace and JJ (Amy's son) were talking this morning on the way to school. They were discussing a boy in their class named Karl who has honestly been their nemesis for three years now. (That's a story for another time.) Grace told JJ that she wished she had a "You Do Doll" which had JJ (and his mother) thoroughly confused. Grace proceeded to explain that it's one of those dolls that looks like a person and when you tell it what to do then the person does whatever you say, hence the name "You Do." I'd kind of like one of those myself! :)

Repentance

I have realized that I was too hard on my new yoga friends the other day (see the previous post if you have no idea what I'm talking about). After spending a second day with them I learned that while they are a little kooky they are also really good, nice people. What I came to realize is that they all have some level of spirituality, it just isn't focused like it should be. Many of them believe in a higher power, some God, some other more vague things, but they all are searching for that thing that motivates them to lead a better life. What I also discovered is that my instructor is LDS. I learned this because she shared a quote by Neal Maxwell at the start of class yesterday. It was so interesting to watch and listen to her after that. I was amazed to notice all the times she talked about our beliefs without identifying them as belonging to any faith. She even mentioned the tender mercies of our lives at the end of the day. I'm sure some people wonder, as I did, how you can marry such deep religious faith with the philosophies of yoga but as I watched and listened I think she managed it perfectly. It was mostly all the same stuff just wrapped in a different package. She has provided a beautiful foundation for eventual conversion for these people. I know it's not necessarily likely that any of them will be exposed to the possibility of conversion, but if they are, at least something about it will be familiar and hopefully they will recognize it as good.

This weekend was a little rough for me (some of you who read this will realize why) and I actually found it really nice to be surrounded by all these "crazy" people. At the end of the day we had another share circle and shared our feelings about the weekend. It was amazing to listen to how people felt about their experience and especially how much they appreciated the instructor and her ability to be accepting and loving to each of us. I only hope I can somehow be more like she is in this regard. That when people meet me they will recognize and appreciate the light of Christ and feel accepted and loved so that one day when they are presented with the Gospel in its fullness they will be more receptive because of how I behaved. Who knew you could get that out of a weekend yoga course?

Chakra Balancing & Energy Flow. . .What?!

I had my first day of yoga certification training today. Wow--I've never been in a room with so many interesting people before. I really just like yoga because of the health and fitness benefits. I've never been into the entire mind/body stuff so it was pretty funny today. I was wishing there was someone I knew there with me so we could enjoy a good laugh together.

At the end of class we stood in a circle and held hands. We each took a turn saying one word that described how we felt about the day as we squeezed (or squoze, as my instructor said) the hand of the person next to us. It was Girls' Camp all over again. We got to the end and the assistant instructor said "Family" and the woman next to me said, "I should have said tearful." I thought to myself, "I should have said INSANE!"

(For those of you who will be coming to my yoga class--don't worry, I did learn some good stuff and I'll leave the crazy people stuff at home.)

Bullies in Kindergarten?!

Jenna reported this week that there are two boys in her class who have been making fun of her. They tell her she looks pregnant or that she has a baby in her tummy. She said it hurts her feelings and she cried when we talked about it. Why are kids so mean? If they only knew how much I love Jenna's little pot belly. Her face has thinned out recently and she definitely looks like a little girl now instead of the chubby baby we once knew. The pot belly is all we have left. I for one hope it sticks around a while. She would probably disagree heartily about that when she's grown but for now I love it!