Where's the laugh track when I need it

Lately I've been daydreaming as I fill up my water cup from the fridge. The water comes out pretty slow, so my thoughts are a lot like this:

Hmmmm, what activity should I do with the twins next . . . we've done trains, so maybe we'll jump on the trampoline . . . they'll be ready for lunch after that . . . I think I'll make turkey sandwiches again today. I wish Mary ate more protein . . . turkey is good for you and that stuff I got on sale was a good deal . . . I wonder if she'll get her room clean today, that place is a biohazard . . . Do I have enough time to go to the store before Tyce comes home . . . wait, does he have Scouts this afternoon? Yes, so he'll be riding the bus . . . I hope that Young Women tonight goes well . . . and

HOLY COW, THE WATER IS OVERFLOWING THE CUP AND SPILLING EVERYWHERE.

Seriously, I feel like I'm on a bad sitcom when I do that. I might as well start spitting my water across the table when I hear troubling news.

Dilemma

I went to Whole Foods, which I mentioned earlier. I went a second time this week. Yeah, the gelato was that good. But that's not why I went. They carry such items as falafel, couscous, tahini, and other world foods that they just don't carry at the local Food 4 Less. I shopped for a long time by myself, mingling amongst jars of everything from Indian masala to the intriguingly-named "Mama Africa's Jabula Sauce." Everything was so clean, and the deli smelled heavenly with Indian, Greek, Mexican, and other smells together. The cashiers looked happy and helpful. If I were richer I would shop there exclusively.

Today I went to a new store by us called Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market. I know, you would think the last word of that title would be "bar." Or maybe that's just me. Apparently the "fresh" applies to food and "easy" applies to convenience and not the seedy nightlife we have around here. Anyway. It was like a tiny Whole Foods, with lots of fresh food and organic products in its little space. Again, the workers were super friendly and helpful and looked happy to be there. They even had samples. I had some fresh pineapple, Harrison had blueberry granola, and Cameron had a piece of cake.

So now I'm torn. I love a good value, which is why I shop at the dingy warehouse Food 4 Less. But I love the atmosphere and selection in those other stores, which is why they are so expensive. In one way I don't want to become a grocery-store snob and yet, in another way--that's totally what I want. To be surrounded by smiling people in a clean, fresh-looking store, with a wide selection of interesting food. Part of me wants to cry, "To heck with the budget!" and just make myself happy surrounded by beautiful things.

But the frugal part of me wants to slap that other part and say, "Just get yourself over to that warehouse and pick me up some waxy apples, a loaf of white bread, and a jar of grape jelly! We're feeding the whole family for $2.00 today!"

Voila!

Chef Bryce shows off his most recent culinary creation: a German Pancake.

Birthday Pictures

What a wonderful birthday! I have the best family and friends anyone could ask for.

We watched General Conference (and our city's mayor, James B. Gibson, was one of the area authority Seventies announced) and I really enjoyed hearing all the great talks. Between sessions we did housework and things like that. Or I should say Bryce did housework because he was a cleaning machine!

After the last Saturday session we had the party that the kids were so very excited about, because everybody knows that party = pinata! Besides, they had decorated the living room really nicely and were wound up about it.

I got some lovely gifts, including a juicer, a hand blender (again! My other one broke), a bracelet, some CDs, and a gift card. Also some nice telephone calls and messages. Tyce bought me a present in San Diego, which I thought was so awesome and nice. When he finds it I'm sure I will love it. LOL So his make-up gift was putting the twins to bed, which is nothing to sneeze at. The card from Mary was especially sweet; she drew a picture of my favorite animal, which she labeled "cawala bear" and wrote me a poem:

You like cawalas, you like the color red.
What else about you is to be said.
Well you are 34 now.
I just want you to know I love you.
I wish you a happy birthday.

Love,
Mary

She also drew 34 hearts on the back. I tried to keep myself from tearing up when I read the other card she made, which listed 34 things she liked about me:

You play with me
You take care of me
You read to me
You cook with me
You give me a home
You buy me things
You help me
You help me learn
You hug me
You kiss me
You talk to me
You try to understand me
You be calm with me
You prepare meals for me
You make my days happy
You give presents to me on my birthday
You help me when I'm sick
You make up songs about me
You dance with me
You sing with me
You help me do projects
You let me do things I want to do
You sing to me
You draw me pictures
You help me when I'm hurt
You comfort me when I need comforting
You smile at me
You pay for my food
You make me feel safe
You love me
You keep our family going
You make me feel strong
You do all you can for me
And you have always been there for me

(You can imagine that I was really touched by her thoughtfulness and sincerity. My eyes are welling up just typing this! What a lovely little daughter I have!)

Then Bryce made dinner for us(!). He made grilled chicken, pad thai noodles, green beans, and we ate it on our balcony. It was delicious. What a beautiful night. With Tyce on babysitting duty (the twins were asleep by then) we went to the gelato shop Bryce mentioned earlier but guess what. They were closed. We had a great time walking around Whole Foods and they had some gelato there! But I just couldn't pass up the raspberry and lemon sorbets. Bryce had dulce de leche gelato. Man, I am going back to Whole Foods again!

So you can see that I had a great day. I must say a big thank you to my wonderful husband who made sure that everything was how *I* would have wanted it--and it was. Thank you Bryce, you party animal!

Here are some pictures:

This is the cake that the twins helped pick out.


Flowers from Bryce (left) and from my friend Jen (right).


Harrison blew out one of the candles before I could get to them!


I couldn't believe that Bryce bought me a Barry White CD!


Harrison can't wait to find out what the next gift is (a juicer).


Mary takes a whack at the pinata.


We had to move it to the playgound, where I take my turn.


Tyce is a maniac with that bat!


Finally it falls (with some help from Bryce).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA!

Today Rebecca turns 34! Last night she went out with some close friends for pizza and a Nielsen's frozen custard. She had a good time with her friends and it was probably nice for all of them to get a break. We got to bed laaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I think Rebecca couldn't sleep, because she was so excited about her birthday....

Cam woke me up early enough that the twins and I went out and finished the shopping for Rebecca's family party. The twins convinced me to buy a pinata...they are obsessed and won't stop talking about it. Essentially, they are driving us crazy, b/c they know it is filled with candy. They helped decorate the house with banners and streamers and balloons! They are still excited by the little things. Tonight we will have dinner and I'll take Rebecca to a new (and relatively close) gelatto shop--a favorite of hers from Italy.

Ten Things About Rebecca you may or may not know:

10. She is quite good at arranging flowers, a hidden talent she probably wishes that she got to use more.

9. Our marriage has survived because of her sense of humour. She has a quick wicked tongue and I often find myself laughing because of her insightful digs rather than being angry.

8. She could probably make money writing jokes--she loves the pun and the little play on words--she honestly makes up jokes by the dozen and tests them out on me, the kids, and my dad.

7. She loves words in general, not just funny ones. Just when in my vanity I begin thinking I can outpace her vocabulary, she schools me. Yesterday she exposed my thirty-six year misuse of the word droll--look it up, it does not mean boring or tedious, just the opposite!

6. She's a very socially honest person. She never pretends to understand something that she doesn't, and is quick to ask questions in order to understand where I would just nod knowingly but be inwardly confused. If you've received a compliment from her, it's been genuine.

5. She's always been in tune with the needs of her children and not been afraid to follow inspiration that she's received to help them. Soon after one of our little one's came to live with us, Rebecca felt prompted that we should do very specific things when dealing with the child's birth family and treat them in a particular way. A couple of years later during a court ordered mediation setting, the child's birth mother stood up and said that because we had done the very things that Rebecca felt we should that she (the birth mother) did not oppose us adopting the child and would help us to make it happen.

4. Rebecca loves birthdays, not just her own. She always takes extra care to make sure that each member of her family has a special day, going out of her way to do what it is that will please that person.

3. When Rebecca was in Italy just after we were engaged and just before we were married, we communicated by fax! It was much cheaper than phone and much faster than mail--does the fact that we were married before email was super-common date us? She probably wishes that we would do that again, I probably wrote more in that two months than I have since :(

2. Rebecca doesn't like the beach, too much sand--where is she taking the Young Women for Girl's Camp? The beach.

1. What would Rebecca like most for her birthday? a thoughtful post on her blog, a card, a phone call---just to know that she had been remembered -- unless you have disposable cash on hand of course!

I love Rebecca!

Book Club

Our book club was last night at Carmen's house, where we discussed the very interesting "Man's Search for Meaning."

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of those he treated in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory—known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")—holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

His memoir chronicled the atrocities of his experiences in a thoughtful, non-sensational way. This is where our primary discussion took place, as we dissected human nature's motives, capacity for suffering, ability to overcome pain, choice in the face of tribulation, and the like.

One thing really struck me, and was the most painful thing to read. Throughout all the terrible physical and mental suffering--and the stories were as riveting as they were disturbing--what kept the prisoners going was that future day of liberation. Life could and would be better, they would reunite with their loved ones, their talents and abilities would be exercised again. In a phrase, there would be meaning to their suffering. But when many people returned to their former lives they found that things were not as they'd imagined--families were dead, jobs were gone, homes were unoccupied, people didn't care.

When, on his return, a man found that in many places he was met only with a shrug of the shoulders and with hackneyed phrases, he tended to become bittter and to ask himself why he had gone through all that he had. When he heard the same phrases nearly everywhere--"We did not know about it," and "We, too, have suffered," then he asked himself, have they really nothing better to say to me?"

. . . A man who for years had though he had reached the absolute limit of all possible suffering now found that suffering has no limits and that he could suffer still more, and still more intensely.

Doesn't that just tear at your heart?

It made me realize that while the Holocaust was particularly horrific, there are people throughout the world who suffer the same torture and suffering. Listen to the news and you'll hear about Darfur, Sierra Leone, Rwanda. Those are group atrocities you actually hear about. And yet most suffering is anonymous. What about the individual's capacity for fear, suffering, loss . . . or hope?

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.

So I have looked deeper into my soul to put words to that nebulous abstract that guides my days: my life's meaning. If faced in a similar circumstance, would I be one of those who turned to bitterness, hopelessness, or apathy? Or would I find that inner courage to actually live, to look forward to another day, to show a kindness and try my best--because my life has meaning?

And . . . Do I do that now?

As you wisssssssshhhhhhhh . . .

Mary Rachel is on track break and watched "The Princess Bride" for the first time. I have seen that movie a dozen or more times and still, it's the bomb. She loved it too. In fact, she was so taken with it that she constructed a "ship" that seems to be an homage to Westley and Buttercup. It includes a map, a thermometer, and a declaration of "I love Weslee". Of course, who exactly loves "Weslee" is a bit ambiguous . . .




And while I'm on the subject of little Miss M., I have to tell you how helpful she was today. I was busy cleaning the front part of the house today and she asked if she could make cookies with me. I told her, very mom-ishly, "We're not making any more messes until the old ones are cleaned up." Well she took that literally and she was a cleaning tornado. She moved all the dining chairs swept under the table, moved the chairs back, put all the toys away, vacuumed the living room, and cleaned the bathroom mirrors and sink. I couldn't believe how helpful she was. Usually when I ask her to put one thing away I'm still looking at it an hour later. I guess it's good to have that proverbial carrot (or cookie) out in front.

So we made some chocolate rounds from an adorable book from Aunt Brooklyn called "Fairy Cooking." They were very easy to make. But I must say that those fairies must have strange taste buds because they (the cookies) were a bit lacking in the delicious department. However, the lead baker was enamoured with her creations, which is the way it should be.

I know how Cinderella's nails looked the day after the Ball

During my kid-free two hours yesterday I went to the nail salon. My birthday's on Saturday, so, happy birthday to me, I have pretty fingers and toes. I tried out a new place. I wish I spoke Vietnamese. I never know exactly what I'm supposed to do when. And yet, I got through it.

This time I splurged on a manicure. A *French* manicure, oui oui. It looked pretty nice, I must say. And then today when I was pick-pick-picking off a piece of paper glued to the kitchen tile, I remembered why I never paint my nails in the first place. My polish job now looks a bit, hmmm, less polished. Lucky I'm showing you a "before" shot. You know that old saying, you can't have pretty nails and do housework. So guess what I've decided. Yeah, you know me.

YW Drama--Revised

We went to the temple with the youth on Tuesday night, which was lovely. The girls are so beautiful. It was a pleasure to help them serve the Lord in this way.

I had a meeting with the camp directors and Camp is really coming together. I showed them my pictures and they got excited about going all over again. I must admit that their enthusiasm was contagious and I started the think that maybe our campsite wasn't so bad after all.

Easter

This picture of Cam pretty much sums up all of our kids' reactions to their Easter baskets.



I gave them their treats on Saturday this year. I like the whole bunnies and chickies idea but I always felt that Easter Sunday--the celebration of our Resurrected Lord--was all about candy and egg hunts. This year I tried to focus more on the religious aspect and I was much happier. On Saturday morning the kids got their fun Easter stuff, in the afternoon we dyed eggs, and then in the evening we had a special meal.

I made the four symbolic foods of the Passover, which are lamb (signifying the Lamb of God), unleavened bread (representing Israel's abrupt escape from Egypt--I used a box of Matzo), bitter herbs (I used a spring mix of lettuces, but modern Jews use horseradish--this symbolizes the Israelites' suffering under the hands of their Egyptian taskmasters), and wine, which represents joy and celebration (we used white grape juice).

Since the Last Supper was a Passover meal I thought it would be a good way to help our family think of what it might have been like to eat foods Jesus ate before he went to the Garden of Gesthemene. I really enjoyed this part of the day (I got the idea from a book) and I'm sure next year it will be even better . . . meaning that no children will almost cry and refuse to come to the table because they don't like the weird smell of the food.

The next day at church Bryce gave a talk and Tyce and I sang "Beautiful Savior" in sacrament meeting. Bryce substituted in Primary for Mary's class and I taught Young Women, where we watched the DVD "Finding Faith in Christ" and then had a lovely testimony meeting. The children got an alarming amount of sweets in Primary, thus fueling their notion that church = candy = good. I guess I shouldn't complain.

Our camping trip--The Camp

We went camping for a few days in lovely southern California. How was it? How can I say it . . . there was some good and some bad.

THE GOOD

1. Singing songs around the campfire.
2. Tyce and Mary playing really well together, even having FUN!
3. Eating camp food.
4. Having a lot of family time, because I love my family.

THE BAD

1. Sleeping in the wicked, wicked, wicked cold.
2. Camping next to hobos/hippies/homeless people who kept offering our kids candy.
3. Cameron falling forward by the fire pit and burning his hand.

THE UGLY

1. Those crazy neighbors partying--playing guitar, singing at the top of their lungs, shouting, drinking beer, and smoking pot--until the wee hours. The other party-minded campers in the area joined them and I think there were about 20 at the highest point. It was 3:30 a.m. before they went to bed our last night. Why didn't we complain? Because the two ladies over there were so nice to us during the day. And because the craziest drunk/high homeless guy was out there sharpening his machete. The nights were so terrible they deserve their own category of misery.

And this is where I plan to take my girls to Girls Camp.

If not for sleeping in the tent--if we'd had an RV or a hotel or something--the camping trip was wonderful.

Harrison preferred to figure out the flashlight to roasting marshmallows.


Cameron preferred eating marshmallows to pretty much anything else!


Tyce is thoughtful around the campfire.


Mary Rachel is a little campfire cutie.


Cameron and his infamous pout!


Our campsite was beautiful.


The little tent held all of our supplies.


Bryce and Tyce had a great time with the water guns!


Everyone had a great time with the fling sock--Mary and Cameron were especially fun to watch as they tried to figure out when to release it. If you click on the picture you can actually see where the fling sock went.


The H/H/H compound. See all the tents over there? If you click on the picture you can see some rough-looking neighbors. Like I said, the ladies were so incredibly nice to us. It was just scary at night.


When our car was waiting for a jump start, one of our neighbors, Angie, gave us this craft to do. Mary actually took over the project and I think she did a nice job. We hung it on a tree with duct tape.


It wouldn't be a Jones family vacation if there weren't some sort of disaster. Our battery died and we had to call roadside service to assist with a jump. Then we were off to the beach.


We spent quite a bit of our time at the camp. We went to the beach and took a day trip to San Diego. We were really only camping two days since we spent the third one packing up and coming home. It was a good amount of time for the little ones. And I know Bryce and I coulnd't have handled another night like the last one we had there!

Our camping trip--The Beach

The San Onofre beach. My dad says that this one is mentioned in the Beach Boys song "Surfin' USA" and I can see why. The only beach-goers were our family and cool dudes with boards. It was gorgeous.

Even though I don't like sand, or getting wet and then sandy, or saltwater, or getting sunburned--okay, I really don't like the beach--I definitely appreciate the idea of a beautiful and relaxing getaway and wouldn't want to deny others the opportunity to enjoy. However, I discovered that half of our family are beach lovers (Bryce, Mary, Harrison) and half are beach-from-afar appreciators (Me, Tyce, Cameron). So I guess I'm not alone.

Tyce with a cool find.

Mary loved everything--the water, the sand, and especially collecting things.

Harrison loved everything too. Despite his sometimes-crankiness, he is very adventurous and curious.

Cam was afraid of the waves and preferred digging the sand and tide pools. Unfortunately his shorts didn't have the drawstring in them anymore, so he spent lot of time pulling his clothes back on!

Our camping trip--Day Trip to San Diego

Our whale-watching cruise ship. Bryce and I had a misunderstanding about the Dramamine and ended up not taking it with us on the boat. This resulted in our 3-hour excursion being THREE HOURS OF TORTURE. There was barfing, crying, and cursing, the high point being when our chipper captain said, "Folks, you may have noticed we've slowed down--one of our engines is out. But we'll try to get it up and running just as soon as we can. We'll probably be about an hour late in getting back ot the harbor."

Luckily the engine was miraculously fixed, the rough water stopped, and we started to feel better. The only one fit for the sea was Harrison. Ironic, because he was in one of his "moods" and was by far the least cooperative/pleasant passenger on the boat.

Tyce and Mary Rachel spent most of their time up on deck with the binoculars . . . until they got too sea sick and came inside to, uh, recover.

Rebecca and Harrison. Don't let his cute smile fool you.

A beautiful view of Point Loma and its lighthouse.

Sea lions on a buoy. Looks like a nice way to spend the morning.

You have to click on the picture--and then look really close--but you can see the dolphins. We saw three types of dolphin: Risso's, common, and bottlenose. But no whales. Because we were denied the main attraction, we actually got a refund in the form of another free cruise. (Not sure what we're going to do about that.)


After the whale-watching cruise we went to Old Town San Diego, mostly because Tyce was begging to go to a good Mexican restaurant. No complaints from me.

Our first stop was the Mormon Battalion visitors center, where the super nice sister missionaries kept exclaiming how cute our children were. They dressed up the kids and told them a little about what it would have been like to have been a soldier. We saw a really good video that Tyce and Mary really liked.

The boys dress up and look appropriately determined..

"I'ma shoot us some squirrel for dinner tonight, boys!"

Our little soldiers.

Then we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Bryce makes Harrison laugh, to keep him from running away again.

Tyce needs a big sombrero to cover his big brain.

My favorite picture of ALL! I told Bryce to do bunny ears behind me so everyone would look my direction. You can see that they all reacted to that . . . click on it so you can see their expressions.

Olympian

Mary won two medals at her school's Olympics on Friday. Her class's country was Canada, eh.

One was for a running race (I couldn't get the details out of her) and one was for sportsmanship. If you've ever seen her run, you know she is a little cheetah.

Because you want the play-by-play of my week . . .

Monday. The memorial service was really nice--and sad, as you can imagine. I keep thinking about that little girl and her not-yet-born baby brother without their daddy. Too, too sad . . .

I was fortunate enough to have one of the YW, Brittany, babysit for me so Bryce and I could go together. It was interesting to get to know our houseguests (the deceased's grandparents) through their remarks at the funeral. They are really sweet people who obviously love their family. I was really glad we could help in a small way by having them stay with us.

Tuesday. Another amazing YW, Tasha, babysat for the twins so Bryce and I could do a sealing session at the temple. Big kids had piano lessons in the afternoon.Tyce played with friends outside in the front (jumping over our landscaper's dirt piles with their bikes) and in the back (jumping on the trampoline). Mary went to Activity Days after dinner and made a butterfly wind chime.

I found out our landscaper's business partner (John) has a daughter who is an actress in Los Angeles. When I heard "actress" I immediately thought of a wannabe starlet, the teenage equivalent of a starving waitress. But I asked about her and he said, "Maybe you've heard of Daveigh Chase?" I hadn't, but I looked her up. Holy cow--check her out. I was so sad for him that he is obviously so proud of his daughter but he never gets to see her (as in, his ex-wife doesn't let him see her). I don't know, maybe there's a good reason for that, but I still felt bad for him.

Wednesday. Twins played at Emily Shapiro's house while I got ready for our "Laurels Birthday Party" activity that night. I spent an hour in the dollar store picking out party supplies. I know, how is that possible.

Tyce went to Scouts in the afternoon, we ate spaghetti for dinner outside in the backyard, and then I went to YW. I'd decorated the YW room with all the cool stuff I'd bought earlier. The party was super way fun. We played the "unwrap the candy bar wearing oven mitts" game, "Fruit Basket" and "Signs." Then I passed out the hats and blowers and we sang "Happy Birthday" to each other over cheesecake. Like I've said before, I have a great group of Laurels.

Thursday. Bryce and Tyce, Jim and Spencer are going to the basketball tournament today. Yes, they are all playing hooky. I wish I were playing hooky. (Bryce: "When a bishop asks me to do something, I've always been taught to say yes.")

I watched the three youngest Shapiro kids plus J.J. Marchant today and those little kids kicked my butt. Last time I had them all over it was easy as pie, but today there was a lot of whining and people being possessive (aka not sharing) stuff. I ran around the whole time referreeing. I should have had a whistle.

Rebecca S. said that Tyce made a 90 on his musicianship exam. Woo hoo!

I have to say a big thank you to Bryce's sister Betsie for teaching us about their home's structured study time. (And a big thank you to Bryce for implementing it at our house.) Before, we had the kids do their homework right after school amidst chaos, commotion, and neighbor kids constantly asking to play. I wanted the kids to "work before play" but the problem was that I couldn't monitor the big kids very well while chasing the little ones, making dinner, etc. Consequently, the big kids did a crummy job on their homework and never really got to play with friends. Now, we have our study hour (one hour for M., two for T.) at 7pm after the twins have gone to bed. The big kids have free time until 5:30, so they can play with friends or whatever. Then we eat, do our after-dinner chores, put the twins down, and do homework. The reason I am so happy is that everything is so much calmer these days, and Tyce's grades have improved quite a lot. (Most of his previous poor grades had been due to lack of organization--actually keeping track of what assignments were due when, etc.) Both kids sit at the table with one or both of us, and we're on hand to answer questions or check work. Bryce frequently does his own work right along with the kids.

But next week we're taking a break from normal life and going camping near San Clemente, CA for part of Spring Break!

P.S. Our sweet little niece Maya turned 2 on Sunday. What a cutie.

Weekend Update--Part 2

The other thing that happened is that someone we know from our old ward died. It is a really tragic circumstance too, as he was only about 30 years old. He has a wife who is 7 months pregnant and an adorable kindergarten-aged daughter. Apparently his wife got up in the night and saw her husband sitting up in bed with a strange look on his face. She asked if he was okay and he said he didn't know. Then he fell over. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital, where he spent the week. Unfortunately all his organs had shut down for some reason (aneurysm? blood clot? I'm not sure) and he was supported by machines. The neurologist said that his brain had swollen and would never recover. So the family had to make the terrible decision to pull him off of his support systems. He passed away several hours later.

We offered our casita to the family for extended family members and we have a set of grandparents staying with us. They are really nice. They have twin 3-year-old great-granddaughters and found our boys to be amusing.

The funeral is tomorrow afternoon.

Again, all my deep thoughts on death and life have been in the forefront of my mind.

The Weekend--Part 1

Two big things.

First, Youth Conference was Friday and Saturday, for all the kids ages 14-18. The first night there was an etiquette dinner and speaker. It was the most unusual menu: chicken fried steak, buttered penne, and green beans. I have never had chicken fried steak at a church function. I felt like I was at Luby's in Texas again.

The best part of Youth Conference happened the next day--we did a carnival for a disadvantaged elementary school without a PTA. Each ward was in charge of a booth. There was a soccer shoot-out, hair and face painting, bean bag toss, and the like. There was even a bounce house and a snow cone maker. Our group did a large-scale tic-tac-toe and, the favorite of the carnival-goers, DONUT ON A STRING. There were four pastries hanging from clips on a wooden frame, so four kids could "compete" at a time. Once someone ate their donut off the string the other kids could take theirs off too and end the torture. LOL There was nothing more entertaining than watching those little kids standing there, hands behind their backs, trying to catch a nibble while the donut spun around. (The trick was to either get above it or under it; otherwise they just pushed it around.)

It was wonderful to see the youth serving the kids and really enjoying it, and wonderful to see the families enjoy such a fun and free activity.

Later that night was what I considered to be the lamest part of the conference, the dinner and dance. The dance was DJ'd by an "old" guy (the dad of one of the participants) and he wouldn't allow any of the kids' music to be played. I understand that, IF YOUR COLLECTION INCLUDES MODERN MUSIC. Oh, those poor kids. They had to listen to Huey Lewis and the News, MC Hammer, Bryan Adams (Everything I Do, I Do it For You), and even Boot Scoot Boogie. There was a hula hoop contest (which was fun) and the song playing was "The Twist." One of my Laurels who likes to tease me said, "Sister Jones, why aren't you out there dancing? This song is from your generation." OOOOOOOO! She ran away laughing, the little punk!

I did get some good chatting in with the YW president of the Newport ward and a few other friends I don't normally see. Eventually when the talking was done I got really bored I decided to text message Bryce. I wanted to see what they hype was about, because all the young people are obsessed with texting.

i m bored what r u doin L8TR

Then I felt my IQ dropping so I had to stop.

Anyway, that was Youth Conference.

Book Club

We had our book club last week at Angie's house, where we discussed "The Glass Castle." It was an amazing tale.

She opens her memoir by describing looking out the window of her taxi, wondering if she's "overdressed for the evening" and spotting her mother on the sidewalk, "rooting through a Dumpster." Walls's parents—just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book—were a matched pair of eccentrics, and raising four children didn't conventionalize either of them. The Walls children learned to support themselves, eating out of trashcans at school or painting their skin so the holes in their pants didn't show. Buck-toothed Jeannette even tried making her own braces when she heard what orthodontia cost. One by one, each child escaped to New York City. Still, it wasn't long before their parents appeared on their doorsteps. "Why not?" Mom said. "Being homeless is an adventure."

Before she wrote this book, Ms. Walls graduated from Barnard with honors and worked as a gossip columnist for E! and MSNBC. You would think that someone who came from such a dysfunctional, poverty-stricken family wouldn't live that differently from how she was raised, let alone live on Park Avenue with a celebrity life. (She has since retired to the countryside with her husband.)

The parents in this story were tragic characters, as they were absolutely brilliant people stunted by paranoia, apathy, and alchoholism. By the grace of God their children survived and made something of themselves.

It made me wonder how many people I know in this world, that I know at this certain point--how many came from unspeakable backgrounds? Or at least uncoventional backgrounds? When I speak with the assumption that everyone thinks or feels the same as I do, because of shared experiences--how many times am I wrong?

Our next book is "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.

She got me

A few weeks ago Mary wanted to do Mad Libs. I took a turn to ask her to fill in the blanks. This is how our conversation went.

Me: Okay, I need an adverb. You know, a word that ends in "-ly".

M: No, Mr. Lavender said that an adverb tells time, like "yesterday." He couldn't remember what an adverb was so he looked it up in the dictionary, and so he's right.

Me: Well, that's a very narrow definition of an adverb, but that's part of it. To make this story right, why don't you just give me a word that ends with "-ly".

M: Hmmmmm . . . . . . . FLY.

Me: Ohhhhhkayyyyyy. That word ends in "-ly" but it's not an adverb. An adverb tells how something is done, like the dog ran happily, slowly, angrily . . .

M: MONOPOLY.

Going back a few weeks

After Mary's baptism everyone left except for my mom, who stayed a few more days. I'm so glad she did! We watched Touched by an Angel together, stuff on the Game Show Network (GSN), did housework, played with kids. So basically she just shared my normal day but it was really nice to have someone to talk to.

One day we even went bowling at Sam's Town. This time I made it over 100. Woo hoo! My mom hadn't been bowling for a really long time but she warmed right up to it. The kids were more naughty than usual, I think because Bryce was there(?). They seem to like to test him. Anyway, that was a fun day.

We also got to go to the temple together one morning, which was lovely . . . until the end. LOL You'll have to ask her about it . . . okay, I'll just tell you. She was given the wrong name at the beginning. So you can imagine that things came to a screeching halt at a certain point. Well, it all worked out just fine in the end and I'm so glad we got to go. I have to give a big thank you to Rebecca S. for watching the boys.

Thanks for spending so much time with us, Mom! We love you!