Spoooooky!

I saw these pictures on Photojojo a couple of years ago. I have been thinking about them ever since. This is our first try and I love how they turned out.

Pack Man

Over the summer a switch was flipped and Daniel stopped being my little boy. Here are a few of the rules that have been laid out for me since school started.

Things I am allowed to say to Daniel in the car when I am dropping him off:

Anything

Things I am allowed to say once the car door is opened:

Nothing, not "have a good day" or " love you" or "be nice to the nerds". I will be met with nothing but a quickly slammed door. If I am lucky I might get a dirty look, but usually no recognition of any kind is the result of any comment made.

Things I am allowed to call Daniel at home:

Dan, Danny, Daniel, Danny Pants, Pack Man, Bud, Buddy

Things I am allowed to call Daniel in public:

Dan, Daniel

I have learned to be on my best behavior when accompanying Dan anywhere in public. My mission is to be as inconspicuous as possible. This, as you can imagine, has proven to be harder than it sounds but I really am trying.

Daniel is having his first Halloween party tomorrow night. We are setting up a big movie screen in the backyard and are going to watch The Mummy. I am worried I might accidentally show affection to him. I am really going to have to watch myself.

Beyonce, youtube and the NYT

I am feeling out of the loop the past week or so.

First my friend/yoga teacher gave me a copy of a CD she used during a class a couple of weeks ago. It had this song on it.

Then I heard it on Glee. Then this conversation took place.

Me: I really like this song. I'll bet we'll be hearing it a ton.

Pauly: What!? Mom, this song came out last spring, listen to the radio once in a while.

Well! I never!! . . . listen to the radio apparently.

Then the big wedding was on The Office. They kept referring to a YouTube Video.

. . . I had to look it up.

I hate not being in on the joke!

Then, there was this funny article in the NYT last week, about this blog. How did I miss this?!? Since my discovery, I have spent an unacceptable amount of time looking at the pictures and giggling at the captions.

Dear Internet,

I am sorry that I have not given you the attention you deserve the past few months. I promise to spend less time with my children and husband and more time with you making sure I know Beyonce's latest songs and and that I am in on all the jokes, that I will be watching later on Hulu.

Love,
Rachel

This song is not a rebel song . . .

One day early in my freshman year of high school, Troy Thayne held up a cassette tape and asked me, "Have you heard these guys?" "Um, I don't think so." "You should listen to this." He handed me a cassette called U2-War, with instructions to bring it back on Monday.


It was Sunday afternoon, I was doing the dishes and I put the tape into my boom box and that was the first time I ever heard the song Sunday Bloody Sunday.

I LOVED IT!

It was different than anything I knew up until then. Although I didn’t know its meaning, it was obviously about a terrible day of war. Even more than the words though, was the way the singer was singing them, it was so beautiful and impassioned and full of genuine feeling. It was poetry to me and I couldn’t get enough. I was changed and the way I saw and listened to music was different after that.

Monday night was wonderful, Paul and I went to see U2 at the new Cowboy’s Stadium. The stadium itself is pretty incredible, it seats 100,000 people and is so enormous it makes the football field look and feel small. Paul and I got a great a deal on tickets and I was afraid we would be stuck behind a column or something but we could see everything!

They didn’t sing as many older songs as I had hoped and I wished that I was more familiar with their newer stuff but I was just so much fun to be there!

I told Paul beforehand that if they only played one song I liked, I would choose Sunday Bloody Sunday. They played it and Wow! The euphoria of singing that song along with 100,000+ people at the tops of our lungs was mind-blowing! (Yes, if you must know I did in fact harmonize with The Edge.) I drank in every second!

I love those times when it feels like I've come full circle. That concert, that song, was one of those times. What an amazing night!

Love and War

The most romantic thing I have ever heard is a story I've been told since my childhood.

My Grandfather Ralph Stanley served in WWII. He fought hard in North Africa where the temperature was blisteringly hot and where he saw horrific things. He said that during those nights when the heat was almost unbearable he would dream about bottles of cold Pepsi with drops of water dripping down the side.

Ralph met and married my Grandma Daisy after he returned home from the war and every night before bed she would bring a him a cold bottle of Pepsi to drink.

I love that.

It has meant even more to me in recent years but I have always loved that my grandfather served when he was needed. I love that he came home. I love that my grandmother did what she could at a time when polite society didn't talk about the ugliness of war and in many ways veterans were left to themselves to deal with the consequences of surviving.

Mostly, I love that she loved him.

On his farm he had a cow!

Okay, not really on our farm, it will be on our friend Larry's 30 acres about 20 minutes north of us. We are trading him 10 laying hens for our calf and Larry will keep him and feed him until next summer when we will eat him up.

I love that we are getting a cow but almost better than that; there is something really wholesome and lovley about bartering. Getting an actual product instead of money in exchange for eggs or chickens has made me so happy.

Having home-produced goods we are both proud of, agreeing on a price, walking away with something that excites me. I have been surprised at how satisfying it is to me.

This venture has just been such a fun and I want to share it with you so, here is what I suggest: Get the best husband ever, who loves to have a big project and likes to work hard and who has tons of really great ideas. Then let him try out some of his ideas, which will turn out to be incredible and will teach your children and bless your home in ways you could never have predicted. You will see what I mean.

Happy! Saaaaaad! Happy!

When my sister Gabrielle was still in college, she and her friend babysat tiny Robin and Paul; we were still in SLC. They taught my kids a game that we called "happy sad".

Here are the rules:

Draw a happy face and then say, "Happy!" as happily as possible while smiling as big as you can.

Draw a sad face and say, "Saaaad." as sad as possible while making the saddest face you can make.

Repeat 1 zillion times; in sacrament meetings, on trains, in the car, on airplanes, waiting in Dr.'s offices, waiting in line at banks . . . etc.

I just found out that Gabby and Ben are expecting another baby and I am so excited for them! That 4 Stanley babies in the next 6 months or so! Wow!

She has posted the the most beautiful stories on this special part of motherhood on her blog. Check it out here.

Journals

I haven't posted at all the past month. My schedule has been off since before school started and I can't seem to find a time of peace and quiet to reflect and write about even the simple things that have been happening. Let alone the significant and life changing events that we have been dealing with.

I've missed it.

The other day I went back and read about something that had happened in the spring of '08. It wasn't something that anyone would have thought of as special but it was a sweet thing to me and I was so thankful that I had recorded that experience. I started reading through the months and I was just so pleased that I had preserved all these memories.

When I write in the navy blue journal next to my bed, I write about things I am worried about and that trouble my heart and have always thought, "I hope nobody ever reads this, it is not only depressing it is boring." And to be honest I haven't write more than 6 pages in it since we moved to Lindale which is probably a good thing.

As I read my blog the other day though, it was different. It shows both the fun and mundane activities of our days. Okay, and maybe a few disappointments (I am good at bitter-sweet writing). Even more than that however, it shows me a life that I am proud of and can't believe I am lucky enough to be a part of.