Compensation.

LHS's Prom was Friday.

Shilo did not attend.

All of her friends had dates, and she didn't want to be the only one going without one.

It breaks a mother's heart. 

A tear or two may have been shed as I perused the beautiful pictures of some of Shi's friends on FB.

I love these thoughts by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin:

"Yet like everyone else, I have had times in my life when it seemed that the heaviness of my heart might be greater than I could bear. During those times I think back to those tender days of my youth when great sorrows came at the losing end of a football game (or by not going to Prom).

"How little I knew then of what awaited me in later years. But whenever my steps led through seasons of sadness and sorrow, my mother's words often came back to me: 'Come what may, and love it.'

"How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can't - at least not in the moment. I don't think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don't think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life."

Shilo has had a great attitude. I have not seen her be upset, cry, or act depressed.

Instead, on Friday, she worked as my assistant doing Prom hair for others.

She totally rocked the job and saved my bacon. And made a little bacon in the process.

"Learning to endure times of disappointment, suffering, and sorrow is part of our on-the-job training. These experiences, while often difficult to bear at the time, are precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build our character, and increase our compassion for others."

That evening we headed to the mall to return her dress, shop for her graduation gift, and eat pizza (we tried a new place, The Mellow Mushroom - no fear of running into Prom crowds there, but oh-so-yummy, and a nice waiter with chops sideburns to boot).

We applied the money for the dress to the MacBookPro she wanted for graduation, and with her student discount ($200 from Apple, btw, if you have your college acceptance letter) and mine and Bill's pre-determined budget amount, she came out pretty even-Steven. Win!

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."

I have seen Shilo continuously look for the bright side, come what may.

I wouldn't have wanted her to go to Prom with just any boy - there are some pretty yucky ones out there (yucky meaning having very different standards.)

I loved spending a Friday night as a family.

Shilo would love to get her hands on that laptop right NOW, but she has to wait for graduation.

Ahhhh, patience.

"Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God's will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully. Patience is related to hope and faith - you must wait for the Lord's promised blessings to be fulfilled." (Preach My Gospel, p. 120)

Today is a rainy day AND a Sunday. I love both.

Ambition.

am·bi·tion 

/amˈbiSHən/

noun; a strong desire to do or to achieve something,
typically requiring determination and hard work.

This past Tuesday we tied another quilt for one of our graduating YW, McKenna.

Mckenna purchased the fabric, then cut, sewed, and pieced this little baby together for a Value Project over the second week of Spring Break while pretty much working full time that week. That meant that she was at my house at 7:30 until 10am Tues, Thurs, and Friday mornings, then headed directly to work. That girl is ambitious.

I've decided that it was a pretty ambitious project to get these quilts done prior to graduation.
Of the two graduating YW left, one did her quilt on her own and has it ready to tie, the other still needs to purchase her fabric, then I will cut, piece, and get it ready to go in the next two weeks. And I still need to get the three we've tied ready for the girls to do the hand-stitching part of the binding. My goal is to have all the quilts completed, binding and all, by graduation.
Ambitious, I know.

Mar headed to school today in this:

Nice burry front-shot picture - I honestly took about 6 (phone camera), and that one was the best of the bunch. Of course the picture of the BACK turned out the best of all.
Showtime is almost here!
Hallelujah.
Mar was bummed to miss out on Take Your Child to Work Day because it's blackout week for the play and attendance is mandatory. Bill's working in Colorado Springs today, so there was no way he could have had her back in time for practice.


Our family spent last night helping some new neighbors work on their house. The house was a short sale and needs a lot o' TLC, so they haven't moved in quite yet, but they have been working all-day-every-day on getting it ready. They were in our ward before the split a few years back, and we are super excited to have them in our culdesac. With all the kids that have moved in over the past few months, the culdesac is booming with action on every good-weathered day.
Just like old times. 

Bill, Shi, Mar and I painted their laundry room, start to finish, including the ceiling. I kind of feel like we are pretty much paint pros with all the painting we've done over the past few years.
It was an am•bi•tious project since we didn't even start until 8pm, but Shi and Mar were troopers and moved the work along. It was lovely to spend the evening in such close quarters with our fam, listening to tunes and chatting it up.

With all the house makeover stuff going on across the street and to the backside of us (we had another family in our ward purchase a home in the culdesac to the southwest of us and they are working on a makeover, too), I am feeling the bug.
Since my needs are great and my budget small, I'm not thinking BIG.
Something do-able, budget-friendly, but impactful.

I've decided our first project will be to paint the kitchen cabinets.
(After I finish painting Shilo's bathroom and door... the remains of our last big project due to a flooding toilet, and not before all the big approaching events like grandparenthood and graduation.)

I have a large kitchen with many, many cabinets.
They are the cheapest wood cabinets available. Natural oak, no raised panels, plain trim.
To replace them would cost mucho dinero, so painting is the perfect option.

And I'm not thinking white. 

Here are some of my Pinteresting ideas:

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(This green is too dark, and I obviously wouldn't do the floor-to-ceiling color... but I'm really drawn to blues and greens. I think a shade of green would go the best in my house. I hope to eventually subway tile the backsplash, probably in white, and someday get a dark-ish countertop to replace our tired tile.)

So... what do you think?

A Lovely Easter.

I tried my hand at something new... bunny shaped orange rolls.

Yeah, they were good. 

So good I ate four (I had been doing pretty good on that diet thing until then).

 We made up some plates to share with friends, and kept the rejects for ourselves.

These are the not-so-bunny-ish rolls (the rejects):

I also wanted to try a new coconut cupcake recipe. Coconut screams Easter, don't you think?

They, too, were tasty, although I felt that they could have been more coconutty.

(Yes, I've had one - or two - of those as well.)

Saturday evening we colored eggs.

And made a big ol' mess.

 I saw this ingenious idea on Pinterest... using a large muffin tin vs. a million cups or bowls. The eggs weren't entirely submerged, but it was nothing a little egg rotating couldn't fix.

The girls concurred that it was brilliant.

Shi, Mar and I snapped some pictures after church on Sunday.

We went in the house to discover that Bill had come home while we were outside, so we snapped a couple pictures with him (he had already changed into jeans and we thought it might be cruel to require he change back into his suit).

Then we had a celebratory dinner.

Mar made the festive napkins.

We had the oh-so-traditional ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, asparagus, salad, and good old-fashioned jello with homemade whipped cream (we also had the do-you-know-what-they-make-jello-from? conversation at dinner). No carrot soup or fancy food this year.

Note: I started my diet again today... sort of. 

I've had a few peeps and jelly beans. Tomorrow I will try a little harder to be a little better.

 That is a big table for such a small crowd.

Mar demonstrated how her bunny napkins could also make awesome holiday party hats.

It was a lovely day spent with lovely people
pondering lovely teachings and singing lovely songs
about the One who showed the greatest love of all.
Love that.

Because of Him

We've watched this more than a few times here at our house... love it.

Happy Easter!

Girls, Girls, Girls.

Today I am starting a diet.

Just putting it out there so I won't cheat (I hope), since I've started this same diet 3 or 4 times over the past two weeks. Then I cheat and tell myself I'll start tomorrow. 

Seriously, today is the day.

My goal is to lose 10 pounds in a month.

The same 10 pounds I've packed on in the past 6 months.

On to the real reason I'm posting: a catch up on the girls at our house.

Back in mid March, Mar had another choir concert.

A couple of notes: 1) After the concert Mar told me she had been standing near a girl who was singing with gusto out of tune, and she was having a hard time keeping in tune and hoping others were not thinking the loud, off-key voice was hers. 2) The girl standing to the right of Mar is the daughter of a girl Bill knew - and attended a girls choice dance with - in high school.
It's a small world, after all.

I know I've talked up Mar's teacher, Mrs. A, before. She reminds me of my Jr. High choir teacher, so I thought I'd share a quick clip of her. She is awesome.

Mar, Tori and Taylor

(Taylor has lived in our culdesac for the past 12 years, and just moved out this past weekend. She'll finish out 7th grade at Cimarron, then go to another school next year. We'll miss you, Taylor!)

Mar and Faith

This past week Shilo participated in LHS's Mr. Titan event.

For Family Home Evening we all helped her get the locker tags ready.

This is a fundraiser ($8 a ticket to attend!), where senior boys compete for the prestigious title
(and prom tickets - a whopping $100 - and a free tux rental).

The guys competed in formalwear, group dance, and talent before the first elimination, then Titan wear and answering a question before the second elimination, and the final 5 had to compete in a social graces-type relationship scenario (for lack of a better description).

The winner. We concurred that he rightly deserved the title.

He had some serious entertainment skills.

And while I'm on Shilo, I've been working like a mad-woman on her grad announcements. She had decided not to go with the traditional Jostens announcements, which I thought was a great idea at the time, however, my fingers are crossed that the announcements we created and ordered will turn out how we want them to. I'm super nervous.

Here are a couple of the rejects:

Two of the above pics made it to the final layout... just tweaked a bit.
If you happen to receive a hard copy announcement and it's messed up, you'll know it's all due to my computer/picture/pixels/layout/cropping incompetence. There is no time or money to reorder, so they will have to do.


Lex has been here the past week while on semester break.

Before locker-tagging Monday night, we went out to dinner. Lex had been to the oral surgeon that day and was excited to be told that her bone graft from Dec. had worked and she was ready for her implant. They had an opening Tuesday. We figured all aggressive chewing should be done prior.

Our chosen destination was Rumbi since Lex had been craving their teriyaki burger, but when we arrived we found that they close at 8 (who the heck closes at 8?? oh yeah, Rumbi). It was 7:45, so we decided to head over to The Rock (open 'til midnight every day of the week, btw).

Lex supported Shi at Mr. Titan, gauze from her implant clenched between her teeth and all.

Sister photo op.

Friend photo op.

Family... and friend... photo op.

And we can't leave out the who's your daddy? photo op.

This morning I had to snap a couple pictures as she and her friends got ready to make the long drive back to ID.

 And she's gone, baby, gone. That went too fast.