Things I Never Thought I'd Do

I’m still a kid at heart, as much as anyone I know. We owned most of our Disney movies long before I ever got pregnant with Ryan. I sing and dance randomly with or without Ryan around. I’ve always enjoyed playing with kids, but despite all that, there were things that I never thought I would do before Ryan came along . . . and yet somehow, I’ve done them anyway.

1. Watch Teletubbies or Barney—Neither is yet a staple in our house, but they are specifically geared to kids Ryan’s age, and he really responds to them, holding whole conversations with the characters on screen and dancing with abandon to the music. Though I’m still not a huge fan myself, he learns important concepts and really enjoys himself.
2. Watch the same movies over and over again—We have quite a few Disney movies, yet because Ryan is really only interested in animated or Muppet movies, we have seen them over and over . . . I’m getting pretty good at tuning them out now, but I’m thinking we’ve got to get some new ones soon before I stop enjoying the ones we have
3. Change a diaper on the seat of the car—If I had thought about it enough, I would have realized that I would need to at some point . . . but probably not as much as I’ve had to up to now.
4. Chase a soccer ball through Costco—Ryan has a little soccer ball that he absolutely loves and that we take nearly everywhere (he even prefers sleeping with the ball to any stuffed animal). Anyway, we often bring it shopping, and sometimes when he needs to run off some energy, I roll the ball down the aisle in front of me and he runs after it. I try to get there before he does, so I can control where the ball goes. We must look like quite a pair—a toddler and his pregnant mom running after a ball in the store aisles.

I know there are others, but these are the ones that I can think of right now!

Five Random Things

My friend Megan did a post like this, and I ended up learning a lot, so I thought I’d take a stab at it too! Here are five random things that you may or may not know about me.

1. Names are both interesting and important to me. My first name is actually Elizabeth, but I’ve never been called it; my parents liked the sound of Elizabeth Marie better than Marie Elizabeth, but they always planned on calling me Marie. My brothers and I each have a family name. I was named after my mom’s sister Elizabeth (not my grandmother, whose first name also was Elizabeth). My older brother’s is Laurence after Mom’s brother, and my younger one’s is Joseph after Joseph J. Daynes, my great-great-grandfather who was also the first Tabernacle organist. All of our children will more than likely have family names. Ryan’s middle name is Woodruff after another great-great-grandfather, Wilford Woodruff. Our next boy will be Alexander Reese (Reese is my father-in-law’s middle name). Of course, we haven’t picked a girl’s name yet, so I don’t know about that.

2. I used to think I was born in the wrong era; when I was younger, I was fascinated with both World War II and the civil rights movement. I used to read a lot of what Martin Luther King wrote, and when I was 15, I attended a march on Washington D.C. that commemorated the 30^th anniversary of the one when Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. Racial diversity and harmony is really important to me, and I’m so glad that my family embodies it. Between my dad and mom’s sides of the family, I am related to Mexicans, Navajos, Tongans, Asians, and, now that one of my cousins is in the process of adopting two children, Ethiopians. I love that at my uncle’s funeral, there was a traditional Tongan ceremony and that everyone has always been accepted without question.

3. I might as well come out of the closet—I’m a tree hugger. From the time I was a little girl, I remember watching the Earth Day TV specials and thinking how important it was to take care of the planet. Now that I’m older, I still believe firmly that we are the stewards of this planet and that at some point we will be called to account for how we handled that stewardship. I’m pleased to say that Nate and I are trying to do our parts. We recycle almost twice as much as we throw away. I bike to do a lot of my errands (which is also valuable exercise for me and a lot of fun). We have tried to buy Energy Star appliances and look for other ways to conserve energy. And I’m probably going to start a compost heap soon. Oh, and I also learned a few years ago that Nate and I were married on Earth Day. It wasn’t intentional, but I’m quite pleased with the fact now that I know.

4. I love to travel, and my favorite way to do it is to live in a place for a month or more to really get to know the people, customs, and place better. My first foray into this kind of travel was in high school. I nagged my father into supervising BYU’s Washington D.C. program for a semester. I loved it!! We spent every weekend going to historical sites or being at the Smithsonian (I had the luxury of getting to read every plaque of a number of the exhibits at the Museum of American History—sooo fun!). When I was 19, I went to a village called Nealtican in Puebla, Mexico, to teach literacy. I was able to get to know and love the Mexican culture, as well as see Mayan and Aztec ruins and beautiful cathedrals and eat absolutely amazing food (popsicles made out of fresh fruit and water, an amazing chocolate-chile-nut sauce called mole poblano, corn on a stick smothered in cheese, cream, and chile, fried bananas with evaporated milk and chocolate, I could go on and on). And then I was able to live in London twice, where I went to see a number of play, visited a number of parks, spent some serious time in Stratford-upon-Avon, Cambridge, the Cotswolds, and Chichester. I loved being able to get to know London so well and walk all over visiting historic sites and museums.

5. Last thing. I don’t normally consider myself a “crafty” person, but I really enjoy cross-stitching. I first did it in third grade, but then I stopped doing it until middle school when I did a number of projects. I got too busy in high school, so I didn’t start cross-stitching again until I got married. Since then, I’ve done a number of projects that I’m quite pleased with: baby afghans, curtains, samplers and other pictures, ornaments, and a stocking for Nate, which I finished stitching but still need to sew together. I stopped after Ryan was born, but I hope to get back into it. In the meantime, I have picked up knitting and crocheting because they don’t require as much intense concentration or exactness. :D

Recognizing Beauty

My mom sent me an article about Joshua Bell, one of the world’s greatest violinists, playing some of the world’s greatest music in a DC Metro station on his multimillion dollar violin. (See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html.) What happened surprised me, but probably not as much as it should have. Out of more than 1,000 people that went past him during the morning rush hour, almost no one stopped. He made around $32.

The basic argument is whether we are too busy to truly appreciate beauty. Without fail, the only demographic that consistently stopped (or at least tried) was children. They were always dragged away by hurried parents, but they continued to crane their necks until they were completely out of earshot.

As I read the article, I wondered what I would have done. It’s hard to find a balance, especially in the work world that is ruled by the clock and deadlines. I love being a mom because the pace is a little slower (not much, though). And I try to let Ryan explore the world around him. At the same time, though, I know I get focused on what needs to get done and forget to appreciate what’s around me.

I hope that can recognize beauty when it happens in my life and that I can take the time to appreciate it.

Happy Easter

This is one of my favorite paintings called "He Lives." It is by an artist named Simon Dewey and we have a more complete version of it hanging on our wall. (A big thanks to Mom and Dad Burt for giving it to us for our wedding; it has given us seven years of joy so far.)

Anyway, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter and say that I am so grateful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has made it possible for us to repent and return to our Father in Heaven and gave us a perfect example to follow!

I hope that everyone has enjoyed this weekend. We were able to spend it with family, which is one of the greatest blessings in the world!!

Fourteen Weeks

So I went in for an ultrasound today to determine our due date. The answer shocked me: I'm already in my second trimester! I'm fourteen weeks along, and the due date is October 4, three days before Ryan's birthday.

Ryan's New Bed

We bought Ryan a toddler bed yesterday. I probably would have waited a little while, but I found it used for a really good deal. Ryan was sooo excited when he figured out it was a bed for him that I thought maybe we should have him sleep in it. (We don't want Ryan to feel displaced when the baby takes the crib, so we wanted him to get used to this change now.)

These pictures are from before we mentioned bedtime last night.


Nate mentioned later that these pictures are such a lie because as soon as we mentioned bedtime, he started sobbing uncontrollably and his face went all red. I sang to him for a few minutes to try to calm him down and he eventually fell asleep.

Today was even better. I had to close the door for his naptime, but he stopped crying after about 5 minutes and fell alseep on the bed. Tonight after we closed the door, he sang himself to sleep in about 3 minutes.

Hopefully, he will soon be happy and adjusted to the new change.