Love, Hugs, and All That

Yesterday, T and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.  Look at those young, whipper-snappers! The photo is even starting to yellow; it's that old!  That was the night before the BIG day.  We were so excited, full of exuberance and confidence, ready to take on life.  I like that excitement.

We are more subdued now. And tired. Life, seminary, teenagers, a cold coming on can do that. We went out to eat. After dinner we looked at each other and said, "Now what? What do you want to do?" We both said, "Let's go home."  And we did. And we were ok with that. We don't have to impress each other with our sparkliness, our energy, our abilities. We're comfortable with each other--comfortable in our skin. We like each other. Sometimes we're exciting, but mostly we're peacefully happy being together. I like that peace.

Though I still get excited when T comes in the door from work. He listens to my rants, my "trauma" stories, and my epic adventures in laundry, carpool, and grocery shopping.  He makes me laugh. He treats me like a queen. He brings out the best in me. He won't argue with me though I sometimes try. He's like Sister Falabella, wife of Elder Enrique R. Falabella of the Seventy, who says: "In order to contend, you need two people, and I will never be one of them." (April 2013 General Conference).

We've learned to share, help, forgive, let go, and cherish. We're still learning. Thankfully, we've made covenants with each other in the temple, and we have an eternity to get it right!

Full of Hot Air

Different hot air balloon festivals are cropping up in our area, so we decided to go to one. I checked the take-off time for the balloons and off we went. When we got there we kept searching the skies for balloons. There were lots of little kids hanging onto helium balloons, so T got a kick out of saying "Balloon!" and watching us jerk our heads up to the sky, looking for a hot air balloon every time.  After talking with the crew chief of one of the balloons, we found out that unless the wind died down, the balloons couldn't leave the ground. They also had to be on the ground at sundown which was in an hour. Unfortunately, the wind never died down which made for a pleasant evening...a pleasant evening with no balloons. The balloonists were able to inflate their balloons, so we could see what they looked like.

 When Pigs Fly...

We had a fun time anyway, looking at the different vendors. I even found some baklava!

 The cuties! 

 The parents.  

Big, bad L!

He tucked his shirt in so he could do somersaults and cart wheels without showing off his manly chest and stomach. That or he's doing his grandpa impersonation. 

I can say that because that's something Bumpa taught him.  

 X-man showing us his cart wheel. 

And his grandpa impersonation. 

Miss A after her cartwheel. 

She would only do one if one of the boys did a handstand. 

L did--with T's help, so she had to be a woman of her word!

T remembers seeing many hot air balloons floating high, growing up near the Hot Air Balloon Capital. He wants to show it to us some time. 

Even though the balloons didn't fly, we had a great family time. 

I love my family. 

The Land of Nod and Fog

What has a bunch of teenagers up before dawn? 

What has a bunch of teenagers up before dawn 

to study? 

What has a bunch of teenagers up before dawn to study

 the scriptures?  

What has a bunch of teenagers up before dawn to study the scriptures

 every school day? 

What has a bunch of teenagers up before dawn to study the scriptures every school day

even when its dark?

even when its cold?

even when its tiring?

If you guessed, early morning Seminary you guessed right!

Isn't that amazing!  That a class, an early, early class, an early, early class studying about prophets, commandments, and Jesus Christ would get teenagers out of bed??!  I think it's absolutely awesome!

The girls started early morning seminary this week. Of course, being the taxi service means T and I are up bright and early too. And feeling it. A faint fog from lack of sleep has been drifting through my brain all day.

As a high school teen, I went to early morning seminary. I feel like my love of the scriptures, which started with my Mom's example and love of the scriptures, developed and expanded in early morning seminary. I don't remember what we learned day by day--it WAS early--but a habit of always making room in my busy life for the teachings of Jesus Christ began. I'm thankful for seminary then and I'm thankful for seminary now. I'm even thankful for seminary for the next 10 years we will have high schoolers. gulp.

I hope each of my children will love seminary and the truths they learn there. They might not love the blaring beep of the alarm. Or the opening of the eyes at an unforgivable hour. But I hope they'll feel and see the blessings of starting their day off with their Creator.