star student and the farm

Little Layla was the star student in her class at school. She was so very thrilled to make her poster and bring it in to share with the class. 

She wrote that she loves dance, rock climbing, art, piano, singing, babysitting, chores, and swimming.

She also had a field trip to the farm on Friday. I met her there and stayed for part of the time.

I love Layla’s creativity, planning, and independence (most of the time ;) ). She set up a rock museum for our family to enjoy one morning.

the belly part

We were watching the new Star Wars movie as a family when Kylo Ren came on the screen without his shirt on. Perry quickly yells to everyone “Don’t look! This is the belly part!!”

He jumped up and pointed at us all demanding we close our eyes. Then he placed himself in front of the tv to block “the belly part.” 

Well, his small frame wasn’t doing much blocking of the screen. Layla brought him a blanket to be more efficient.

And so he covered up the belly part. Thanks for keeping it G-rated, Perry boy!

The irony of the whole thing is that Perry has no problem running naked through our entire house. But I’m still glad we got Kylo Ren’s belly covered.

wisdom from Kyler on a sunday

I have always had major anxiety about speaking in public, in a crowd, to a group, to an acquaintance, in a class, etc. I am talking about major anxiety here! My face turns red, I shake, my brain shuts down, I feel nauseas. And then I worry even more because I am quite aware that my face turns red, I shake, and my brain shuts down. It was awful in jr. high and high school. Didn't get much better as a young adult (once in college when my professor called roll by asking a question, a question like what's your favorite movie, I couldn't answer. even though it could've affected my grade. I was that paralyzed.)

When I finally recognized it was anxiety, called it what it was, and accepted that it was me but it didn't define me, then I started to stop stressing about it and to try not to let it hold me back. Perry was part of my therapy in this, too, because he taught me to let things go and stop worrying so much what other people think. So that is when I learned to speak up a little more often in classes, at a party, or in front of a group.

When I moved to Arizona, one of my goals of my fresh start was to speak up in classes and reach out to others more often. I'm proud to say that I am living that resolution. I raise my hand in RS classes, I participate in group discussions at book club and article group, and I've tried really hard to be more friendly to people I meet at the park or at church.

And I'm still really awful at speaking! I still shake sometimes. And things hardly ever come out of my mouth right. Why did I say that?? And why didn't I say that?? Those are questions I often ask myself. I've made some comments in RS or I've taught a portion of a lesson and then thought afterwards that I can never, ever show my face at church again. And that I should just keep my mouth shut.

Then I bore my testimony today in sacrament meeting. I was actually prompted to share my testimony months ago. But I came up with a good excuse then and many other excuses since then--I am holding a baby, I need to take Perry out to the foyer, I didn't do my hair today, Eric's not here, I'm not sure what to say, That lady who just spoke said it so much better than I ever could. Stuff like that. Today I got tired of my fear controlling me and told myself their will always be an excuse and I just did it. I did it!

This evening though, I was stressing about what I said/didn't say and sharing some of those anxious feelings with my family (and putting myself down about it). Kyler finally just said "At least you weren't one of the losers who didn't bear their testimony at all." 

Ha!

I'm super grateful for Kyler's 14-year-old boy wisdom here about sharing my testimony. It helped me to settle down and remember something important. You know what, we really don't need to be eloquent and perfect, we just need to be willing. We just need to stand up and do it. We just need to raise our hand and say it. I do believe that Heavenly Father accepts our humble offering when we muster up the courage to share our testimony, experiences, and thoughts with other people. When we try, we show Heavenly Father that he can count on us and use us in whatever way he needs. And I think when the time is right and if he really needs us to say something in a certain way, if he knows we are trying and willing to be his mouthpiece, he will totally help us. And if we stutter or stumble or make a complete fool out of ourselves or fall, well that’s a great learning experience, too (if only to learn how to pick ourselves up and keep going). All of those experiences can work together for our good.

So, for today at least, I wasn't "one of the losers who didn't bear their testimony at all." ;) 

Washington DC

Back to spring break...
After our time in New York City, we spent a day in Washington DC.

Can I just say, I think public transportation is really great. Maybe it's the novelty of it, but I loved riding the metro and the subway to get around on our trip.

We visited a few of the monuments to start out our day.

Washington still has my heart.

We grabbed lunch at the food trucks parked by the Washington monument.

We visited the Holocaust museum. That is one of the most sobering and important places to visit. I think everyone needs to spend some time in that museum. It is truly horrific, but the only way to prevent it happening again (and to stop similar atrocities around the world) is to educate ourselves and to remember the individuals.

It is not really place to take pictures, but one of us did capture part of this photo wall. These were beautiful individuals.

I also took this picture for Kyler since he had just finished reading the book. Though at the end of the week Eric took the boys to this museum, too.

I didn't really like her book when I read it in Jr. high and I haven't read it since (though I've read countless other WW2 books), but I absolutely LOVE when she says "in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." That gives me something to think deeply about.

I really appreciated the children's artwork displayed on the wall--the innocence, purity, creativity, and beauty is at the core of humanity.


My favorite part of the museum was the list of names of individuals who helped hide or bring people to safety (no picture). Such heroes and examples to us all! It makes me wonder, would I be one with the courage to help protect others? Do I even have the courage now to help those around me? I am grateful for courageous people who did what was right in the ways that they could under such horrific circumstances.

We spent a few hours at the Holocaust museum. We easily could've stayed longer, but it was time to move on and see a few more things in DC.

We hopped back onto public transportation

and made it to Arlington National Cemetary.

I appreciated these signs around so many of the monuments. There is such a strong feeling of reverence and sacredness around these places and you could feel it in the quiet of the monuments.

We spent the last part of our day on a quick tour of as many monuments as we could. We were all pretty worn out after three days of hoofing it all around so we were dragging a bit (and a few of us had blisters) at the end of the day, but I'm so grateful we were able to see as much as we did that day.

Isn't this a perfect place for a walk?







We made one last super quick stop by the DC temple before a late dinner at Cheesecake factory on our last night of the girls trip.



I love DC!