Friday, May 29, 2009





...just add BARBIES!!!

now that the sun is finally shining, the weather is warming up. the birds sing and the leaves soak up the vitamins needed for growth, all around me are the signs that summer is just a warm breath away. i know i'm feeling the summer itch and most certainly my children are feeling it. for instance: the boredom with school sets in. the boys gradually stay up later and later. they are ever so careless about what they are wearing these days. (i.e. holy jeans and mismatch socks!!!) end of year skip days occur frequently, and if i can get a pair of ...well if i can get Aislynne in ANYTHING at all , i'd be pretty amazed. in the past, we bought a small pool each year to kick off the "almost summer" season. well, this year we don't have much room for a pool at the top of a mountain, so i had to improvise.

bare with me....

it was a warmer day and Aisy and i were playing Barbies. we often play Barbies. it's one of our bonding girly times. anyways i have quite the experience playing Barbies, as i played with all four of my sisters growing up. oh, the hours of endless fun! our bedroom would be transformed into a lavish mansion or many mansions for our Barbies. we would play the same game for days, hours, weeks. whatever it took till our stories were played out. with all that supreme experience on my childhood resume, i feel more than qualified to teach Aisy how to play. however, i have been allowing Aislynne to play as she likes. it is more interesting to me to see her imagination grow before my eyes. the other day, she asked:

"mommy, can we gib da Ba-Bees a baff?"

i responded with a "why not", it would get me out of having to undress and dress the said Barbies over and over again for her.(even if by a few minutes) so, i search and scrounge up a "bath " for the Barbies. i fill up a short but long rubbermaid tub with water and let her have a field day with it. Braden then wanted to join the fun and splashing. he and Aislynne began making eachother laugh hysterically. i observed from the patio door. the two of them were knee deep and covered head to toe with water, laughing their heads off. they played like this for several minutes, as their attention span does not allow for more. then i hear that they are getting bored and start screaming at eachother because there isn't enough room in the tiny tub for the both of them, and how long can they sit there splashing water at eachother over and over? i knew just what to do...

"here comes the Barbies for their bath!" i said.

i start throwing in the Barbies for their bath, and what do ya know? they started playing and throwing and laughing with the Barbies. Braden throwing them(he loves to throw them by their heads) Aisy was bathing them. suddenly the water was fun all over again.

so why was i even writing this?...right...so...

when the fun and exciting activities and frivolities of life become the mundane and boring...

JUST ADD BARBIES!!!

my sisters and i always did. not only did it keep the fun rolling, it allowed our imaginations to take us where we wanted to go. even if it was just to the backyard pool, pretending the Barbies were mermaids. if you can't play Barbies anymore... find that something to give life a new twist. it helps us make a mundane and dreadfully boring day, a happy out-of-the-norm kinda day. those are the days i remember!!! and summer is the perfect time to make a ton of "new twist" days as the summer boredom sets in, ...it always does.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

memorial day thoughts

what does it mean? memorial day. growing up, i used to get labor day and memorial day mixed up. all it was to me was a day off with BBQ and fun with the family, just because there had been wars fought in the very distant (to me) past. the word war, also seemed somewhat a novelty to me. i hadn't seen it in my childhood. i had only read about it from my dusty torn history books. i was always a little facinated with history, though. i felt some connection to the past. as i grew into young adulthood, my facinations grew. i watched movies that told stories about the wars. i read books that would take me to war fronts. i learned about the things that war could and did do to families, countries, and the world. but only when i became an adult and began my own family, did i realize the amount of sacrifice that went into making this country free, the amount of continued sacrifices that are still being made, in order to keep this country free. i mourn the loss of all those boys who died in the heroic efforts to protect our freedom during the earlier wars, but also those who die trying to bring freedom to others who cannot fight by themselves. freedom is the most awesome, fragile power. It is what allows each of us to reach our potential. it is what our creater wanted for us. we needed freedom so the world could be able to learn of HIM. i speak of our savior, Jesus Christ. the world as a whole, not only one nation. we are all entitled to freedom. yes, we are our brothers keepers. if one cannot do for himself what we can do, it is up to us to help him. i didn't understand this fully, especially right after 9-11. my heart had broken for our country that day along with millions of others. it made me sick that humans could bend to such evil tendencies. i knew satan was real that day. i tried to draw a good guy bad guy line. i couldn't. i struggle for the losses we as a country have had to swallow and somehow make sense of. i think of the children who grow up not knowing their fathers and mothers. you see, i understand WAR now. i am living through it. it is not some fight in a distant land. but it lays at my door daily. i am aware ever so much these days how prescious life is. i marvel at the courage of those poeple serving, they are truely noble and inspiring to me. they teach me selflessness, love for my brothers and sisters at home and in distant lands, courage, strength, faithfulness, loyalty.

mainly these days, when i think of memorial day...it pulls pictures to my mind of someones brother, sister, son, daughter, mother, father, but i mostly picture a hero. a normal human, flawed as i am, but willing to give the ultimate price for freedom. "anything worth having...is worth paying for!" i heard a solder repeat this. how true it is.

so, to all that serve in those armed forces....thank you is never enough, but since it all i can say, i'll say it loud and clear....THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! my thoughts are with you all tonight in my prayers. may God keep you in the hollow of His hands.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

to my baby...

BRADEN, one year ago i held you in my arms for the first time. i already knew you. i held you before that day, in my loving womb and in heaven before. how i longed throughout pregnancy to hold you and put your face to your already growing personality. braden i knew i loved you as i carried you, but nothing prepares a woman for the overwhelming feeling of over abundant joy and love that fills her heart upon seeing her newborn child. i felt that upon meeting you. braden when i saw you and held you, i truly fell in love with you. you have a large piece of my heart and it keeps growing everyday. you make me smile and laugh out loud for the fun that you are. you truly belong to our family and we have been greatly blessed by your love, laughs and silliness. your acheivements thus far are quite astonishing to say the least. only a WALZ boy could pull off the crowning acheivements as you have, in such a short time. braden, throughout this year i have loved you more and more everyday and i thank our heavenly father that he allowed you to come to me. i will never forget the sacrifices i i went through to bring you life. (nine and a half months pregnancy, sleepless nights, back pain, four days of early labor, three epidurals, three units of blood, and 16 hours of extreme labor.) they were very hard to go through, but never will i ever regret it or wish otherwise. you truly are the greatest gift to me in this life along with your loving siblings. may you never doubt my love for you, your heavenly father's love for you or your father's and family's love for you. i greatly await a lifetime of loving, fun, hillarious, off-balanced memories from you. i love you, my baby boy, BRADEN.

here are some videos of Braden and his determined and focused daily habits and accomplishments!!! my brilliant boy!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

because if we teach them young....

ok, so last night i was feeling really sick and thought for a moment that i'd skip reading the scriptures for just this one night. as i was mentally weighing the decision out in my head, my oldest son reached for the book of mormon (the book we are studying) plops it in my lap and says "ready mom?" i hesitated nearly half a moment and replied "of course!"
We read in the book of Alma. As our routine goes, at the end of each chapter we discuss what the lesson is, or rather, why the prophets of old felt it needful for us to read it. Chapter 4 was about when the Nephites were growing prideful and felt they were better than the others. because of the pride in their hearts, they lost sight of the things of God and started to hunger for the things of the world. i asked my two boys, ages nine and ten,

"If someone offered you all the things in the world that you want right now, would you trade your testimony and membership in the church for it?"

the reply was instant.

"NO! NEVER!"

Collier shouted, followed by his younger brother Austin,

"Not on your life!"

Collier tells me then that he hopes he is never that foolish where he would trade his testimony or membership for anything that would only make him happy for a little while on earth!!

Now the truth of it is, that this little conversation was music to my ears. Will they ever falter? yes, probably at some point, but they will have had a strong rememberence of a foundation of their Savior, Jesus Christ to fall back on. And they are learning at such an early age that that is the safest foundation to build on and fall on.

Because if we teach them young, they will learn to build their own relationships with their Heavenly Father, they will love their Savior, Jesus Christ and they will stand tall and confident in a crumbling world where happiness is forgotten. but if we teach them young...they will know what true happiness is and how to get and make it last, and share it with others!!!

thank you boys for the reminder!!!