Floating

Yesterday my wonderful sweetheart (along with his favorite side-kick brothers) floated this device across the pool on campus.

The mechanical engineering department held this competition - called The DI Wars. Rules were that you had to have a device to float across the campus pool, it had to cost $10 or less, and at least one part had to come from DI (local thrift store).

This device was the winner - but only by a few inches.

What a fun thing to watch. And so glad that there won't be any more styrofoam being cut in my living room. To me that sound is like nails on a chalkboard.

For Time and All Eternity

This is where Sam and I got married. I took this picture about 2 weeks after we got engaged.

This is the Rexburg Idaho LDS (Mormon) temple. While there are many things that are done in a temple, weddings and sealings are one of the most special to me. In the temple we believe that we can be sealed together as well as married. This means that we will continue to be married even after we die. There was no "till death do you part" phrase in our wedding ceremony. Instead there was "for time and all eternity."

I know there are marriages that don't work, and a lot of them. But can I just tell you how much I love the idea of being married to my Cyam for ever? No, I don't really think I can put it into words. I love him, and he loves me and our marriage is going to last for eternity. Does that mean life will be easy? No. Our first 6 months of marriage proved that, even if we had believed the fairy tales that say "They were married, and lived happily ever after." No, the fairy tales are missing a step. There is being married and there is living happily ever after...but in between that there is a lot of hard work. It's not always easy to be married. We certainly have our differences. But both of us are committed to each other, to being married forever. And we can make it work.

Last night we had the opportunity to go back up to the temple. This time we weren't being sealed, but we acted as proxys for people who had passed on before us. We believe that all families should be sealed together, even those who did not live on the earth while a temple such as this one existed. This is one of the reasons Mormons are known for Family History. We go back through our family lines to fill in our family tree. As we fill in the family tree we also make sure to go to the temple to have children sealed to parents. It becomes part of an enormous chain. We are sealed to our ancestors - our parents, who are sealed to their parents, who are sealed to their parents. You can picture how large the chains could get quite quickly.

We are also sealed to our descendants - our children, who are sealed to their children - etc. This means that Caleb is sealed to us forever. He will always be our boy. I know that if he were to be taken from this earth right now, it would be so hard for me. I would miss him more than I can even imagine, I'm sure. But I would find some comfort in my knowledge that not only would I get to see him again, but that he would be my son still.

This knowledge doesn't make every hardship easy. When we lost our first baby it was really hard. Sometimes it's still hard and it's been well over two years now. Sometimes I still feel angry and hurt and confused by the whole experience. And then other times it is so comforting to know that even though we never met that baby, she is still sealed to us forever and we will get to meet her someday.

I love the temple. I love going and feeling the Spirit of the Lord there. It is one of the most special places on earth. There is a climate in that building that is only in the other LDS temples on this earth. What a blessing it is that the Rexburg temple is only a few minutes away and I get to see it out my window every day.

This video shows the inside of the Rexburg temple. It's beautiful isn't it?


For more information on temples visit lds.org

Would you belive it?

These two guys are twins....and they're normally considered identical.

Crazy isn't it? It's amazing what costumes, makeup, and hair styles can do. We saw these guys in a play this weekend. They are Cyam's brothers. And they're hilarious.

And they're great actors




It's always fun to see them on stage together. But this time was unique - because one got to clobber the other one over the head...

And then steal his clothes.






They have very similar profiles. I think this picture almost shows that they are twins...



The full cast of See How The Run - Madison High School. These guys did an awesome job by the way. The play was extremely funny and though it had elements of a mystery it wasn't scary. Absolutely amazing, you guys.

Just for a comparison:



See, basically identical twins. It's been weird to me since we saw the play several days ago.

Squirt does the blogging

I think it's about time I got to have a say on the blog, don't you?

At 16 and a half months old I am very busy. I love to walk everywhere - though I don't always watch where I'm going. I'm constantly tripping over things. I have also recently learned to climb.

I am always on something...

Or in something. I often have red marks and bruises on my head from falling off things - usually the heater. I even climbed up on the table the other day.

This week I have learned to say, "don't touch it" a phrase I hear probably a million times a day. And did you know...

my belly button is pretty awesome?!! I'm always showing it off to anyone who asks to see my "button."

For Valentine's Day Mom made me a heart cake

And I loved it

Grandma gave me a coloring book. Coloring is my new favorite activity. I can even say "ka cur" which means color.

I also spent most of Valentine's Day dumping my hamper out.

And wandering around to see how different my house looks with a hamper on your head.

Quite the change, I must admit.

Even my beanbag chair had to be tried out. Though I found that didn't really feel that different.

Then I decided it was time to give Tey a ride.

Tey is my teddy bear. He is my best friend

Apparently Tey loves being pushed around in the hamper.

Now I just need to convince Mom that I would love to be pushed around in the hamper as well. I've been working hard on emptying my hamper no less than 4 times a day...but she still doesn't get it. Hopefully I can make some headway on that this week.

Why I love boys

Today I was thinking about how much I love to be around boys. Growing up with 4 brothers I was always around boys and never realized how good I had it till I moved into an apartment with girls. Here are some reasons I love boys

Boys are far more likely to let a girl play with them. I can go play frisbee golf with the boys and they're all sweet and kind and try to give me pointers. However, they don't come with me to the quilting store...lol!

In general I would say that girls get more clothes...but I think boys get to have more fun with Halloween costumes. It seems most girls are princesses, witches, or some kind of fairy. But boys get lots of options.

They make faces just to make someone else laugh.

And they make crazy faces on purpose - and think it's cool.

Church clothes for little boys are SOOO cute. Plus they don't have to have a whole bunch of outfits for church. They can wear the same thing every week and everyone still says how darling they look.

Because they are often more daring boys sometimes get into trouble...and sometimes it's pretty funny.

They are especially cute when they are asleep.

Watching a boy and his daddy is super cute - especially when the boy is trying so hard to be just like his daddy. It's fun to listen to them wresteling in the other room and having the boy giggling so hard because his Dad is playing with him.

Even as much as they love their daddy - they love mommy too. And some days you get to have a million conversations of,

"Mom?"

"Yes, son?"

"Abasoiud uvoiud jsoifuej s sfiuwe."

"Oh really?"

"yeah - buh bye"

Yep - I'm lucky to be the wife of a great man, the mom of a sweet boy, sister to 4 awesome brothers, and sister-in-law to a bunch of great guys...not to mention a daughter and daughter-in-law. I really am blessed.

My Valentine

Can I tell you a secret? I am the luckiest girl in the world. You know why? Cause Sam Robbins decided he wanted to be my Valentine. And he made Valentine's Day so special.

We started off our fantastic evening with Ben and Cody coming over to babysit. We walked out the door and at the end of the railing there was a rose and a note for me. The note told me about the scavenger hunt type thing Sam had set up. Each location we went to was a place that had special meaning to Sam because of memories of the two of us. There were 12 locations in Rexburg. Each one had a note about why that particular place was special and another rose.

Some of the places we went were the temple, our first apartment, the high school, the public library (where I worked in high school) and the home where my family lived just outside of Rexburg. It was bitter-sweet to go around to these places and think that our time in Rexburg may be coming to an end.... anyway....

When I got home I had 11 roses. Then I found the next one - sitting next to a NEW COMPUTER!!! I didn't even see the new printer sitting under the table...

Then we got to have dinner. Cody and Ben made dinner while they were here and they got Caleb into bed. Jeff was out taking the roses and leaving them just before we got there so that they wouldn't freeze.

These roses are different than the others...I've never had so many roses in my entire life.

Thanks Sam for being my Valentine and for making yesterday so special. Happy 7 years since our first date too....we've come a long way since this:

First date - Valentine's Day 2004

Special Day

Today is a special day.
You see:
This picture was taken Valentine's Day 2004 - our first date.
7 years ago today...wow that makes me feel old. What a fun date that was. Love you lots my Cyam!

More than a bus

It's ok...I know it's a strange phrase. You can ask the question I'm sure you're wanting to ask...

"Why do you say you love someone more than a bus?"

It started when I was 9. At the time my parents had only one car and my dad rode the bus to work. We lived less than a block from the elementary school and we had all walked to school since kindergarten. It was a pretty big deal that Dad rode the bus. My youngest brother (at the time), Devan, was pretty little and would always talk about "daddy's bus." He got so he would say, "I love you more than daddy's bus" and that evolved into "I love you more than a bus." And it's been a part of my family ever since then.

Shortly after we started dating Sam got a job as a bus driver. And the phrase resurfaced in my life. I thought it was only fitting to tell the bus driver that I loved him more than a bus. If I'm feeling particularly in love it's often a million buses or 100000000000000000000000000000000000000 buses. Sam always tries to figure out exactly what that number is...but it's always too big to easily figure out. The point is - I love him a lot - even more than a bus.

Today

I'm not sure today is really ready to come. I think we should all go back to bed for another hour or two...maybe even three.

You see, besides the fact that I was awake between 2:30 and 4:30 for some unfathomable reason, I had weird dreams last night. One of them included people singing Supercalifragalisticexpialidoshious (or however you spell that ridiculous word. Blasted Mary Poppins ballroom dance routine) And then I had another dream about being late for, and ultimately missing, Presidency meeting (and that's not till tonight). That dream in particular put me in a very grumpy mood this morning. I absolutely hate being late - and missing a meeting would be mortifying. And I won't even mention all the 100000001 things that kept me from getting to the meeting...

Combine that with a cranky baby who insists he's not hungry at dinner but is then wailing for breakfast at 6:30 and a computer that's mostly dead and this:

Yep, I think today is a day to climb back in bed for a few hours. Let's have a restart ok??? Who's with me?

Conversations

Typical conversation with the Squirt. Only he usually says, "Mom?" more. Like a hundred times a day. And I answer every time - cause it's so dang cute.


Do you like how he randomly bursts into song? That's pretty new. And he's been doing that probably 20 times a day. It's pretty cute.

Blowing Kisses

A good friend of mine taught him this trick last week. He's getting pretty good - don't you think?

New Scrapbook Page

This is my little brother, Quinton. Yes, I took the pictures years ago - but I thought they totally fit this scrapbook paper. You wanna know something? Quinton's a pretty awesome guy. He's 13 now and last Sunday he sat down and wrote a 15 page story. He emailed it to me. It was about aliens and trying to keep them from taking over the world. He included each of his siblings (I got to be a famous photographer Ü) and it was a very vivid story. It was fairly easy to imagine everything - which is a big deal because I am so not a science fiction person and usually get lost in details about random guys or objects. It was great. Quinton has a great sense of humor. He is always a bit off in his own little world and he's always saying funny things. For instance...

When Quinton was little he pretended he was a leopard - EVERY day - for at least 6 months. If you said, "Quinton, go get in bed." He would say, "I'n not Quinton. I'n a leopard." If you said, "Leopard, go get in your tree." He'd clamor off to bed without a peep.

When we were at Bryce Canyon for the first time and enjoying the amazing view he said, "You know, if we remodeled Mars it would look like Earth!"

One night at a band concert for another sibling he leaned over to Mom and said, "Pssst! Mom, in the olden days how did they get shaving cream?"

And his most recent:
"You know, the Romans figured out a way to walk through walls. Yeah, it's called doors."

And that was the end of family scripture study without me giggling. For some reason, that was just too funny to me. I couldn't help it. It still makes me laugh. Quinton's good at that. He has been described not as "thinking outside the box" but "he doesn't know the box even exists. He's a great person - you should really get to know him someday.

Wiped Out

It's not even Valentine's Day yet. And I've been sick 3 times this year. I don't think that's fair at all. Not to mention the fact that each time I've gotten sick it totally wipes me out. Saturday it was all I could do to pick Caleb up for a few minutes. Sunday I folded two batches of laundry and had to take a nap. It's ridiculous. I don't like being so tired. I don't have energy to keep up with my little squirt - though I'm not sure I ever have enough energy for that. ;) Nor do I have energy to keep up with my AMAZING husband who cleaned the entire kitchen this weekend. Our kitchen looks almost as amazing as my sweetheart does. Ok, not really - but it does look fantastic. And it totally made my day. Perhaps I'll be able to get some more things done today - unless I keep needing naps.

Wonderful

Yesterday's post seems rather depressing to me - but I suppose that's just how life is sometimes. I want people to know that we are definitely not perfect in this house and we sometimes have bad days. But we do have better days...and here's why today is better than yesterday.

1. Play group: every Friday morning - sometimes my only lifeline to adult feminine conversations in a week. I love play group!
2. Sleeping in: No school today so the bus driver got to stay home. He watched the squirt and I slept in till 7:30!
3. French Toast: I even made real breakfast today - at 9:00 - my kind of breakfast!
4. Graduate Schools: Narrowed it down to three for applications. Looking at their websites totally sucks me in. I keep thinking every school is the best.
5. Phone Calls: Today I've talked to both of my parents and my sweetie on the phone - through gmail. I love their new phone calling thing!
6. Blogs: I love blogs - I like having a place to write about what's happening in life.
7. Books: I love reading - especially a book we recently got at the library. The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups. My favorite is that parent's don't tell their kids to eat broccoli just because it's good for them - but because we don't want broccoli to take over the world - so we have to make kids eat it. Though I love that parents make kids drink milk so atomic cows don't explode as well.
8. Panache: My favorite store. I think now that the squirt isn't napping and the bus driver isn't home from campus yet we should go visit.
9. Zuma: A fun computer game - though it is pretty addicting.
10. Princess and the Frog: Though it is a great movie - we have watched it way, WAY too much this week already. We haven't watched it yet today though - and that feels good to me!

Frustrations

Frustrating things today:

1. Caleb wanted to scream - really high pitched screaming - all day long.
2. I got very tired of reminding Caleb to use his inside voice
3. Went for Caleb's 15 month appointment at the Drs office and had to wait a half an hour but the people who walked in after us and people who were late for appointments were shown right into a room.
4. Caleb didn't think the waiting room was big enough for him to explore..and he was into EVERYTHING.
5. The doctor just made sure he met his milestones (walking, talking, coloring etc) and sent us home. (No shots)
6. In the past two weeks I have been on the phone with the office asking about 15 month appointments and shots (namely price) and they never once mentioned he wouldn't be getting any shots this time.
7. They charged me only $12 less than the price they quoted to me over the phone of a 15 month appointment plus shots.
8. I could have taken him to the health center on campus for $84 less than the price I paid today.
9. We had spaghetti for dinner - and I don't even really like spaghetti much.
10. Our breaker box isn't getting fixed till next weekend...and it's already a week over due.

Maybe I should just go to bed...maybe tomorrow will look better.