Moving MADNESS

Hey Folks! I know that it's literally been FOREVER since my last post, but boy have I been BUSY!!! I had forgotten how much work getting ready for a move was (it's been about 2 1/2 years since our last one from Columbus, Georgia to Clarksville, Tennessee). You'd think by now that I would have figured it out (being military and all), but nope not yet. Moving is one tough thing to plan and prepare for; and regardless of how organized, or on top of things you are, there are always boxes labeled "miscellaneous" by the end. Moving just requirs SO much time, energy, and thought process that I believe it can burn out even the most energetic of people.

Well, as far as plans go (or went) the packers came a week ago last Monday and the movers came the following day on Tuesday, and man are they efficient. Four people came each time and they were in and out of there amazingly fast--on Monday they arrived at 8 AM and were gone by 2 PM, and on Tuesday (once everything was already boxed up) they were there at 8 and gone by 11. It was a pretty stressful process, particularly on Monday, because I hadn't quite gathered everything I needed and set it aside so that they wouldn't pack it. So, I was running around all morning long snatching things I needed, wanted, or had yet to still organize by the basket-fulls and shoving it into the office (which we decided to pack ourselves). We also decided not to have them pack the garage, our laundry closet (including our washer and dryer), and our upstairs attic space bonus room. All of those we will pack and move ourselves--it's called a partial DITY (or Do It Yourself ) move and they pay us to do it, so it usually proves profitable.

Now, still ahead of us we have the rest of the organizing, sorting, packing, and labeling of the remainder (about 10%) of our belongings. Then, we plan on picking up our Penske truck on Monday the 13th and driving away from beautiful (albeit humid) Clarksville on Wednesday the 15th. We'll take atleast 2 days to drive to San Antonio, Texas (about 14 hours of straight driving time, minus stops). Our house On Post (oh, did I mention that, we got a house ON POST--we're SO excited. It'll be our first time ever living on the Military base--and we got a good one: 5 bedroom, 3 bath, 1,600 sq. ft.) won't we ready until July 31st, so we'll just kick it in a hotel room (the Military pays for a 10 day stay, so we'll be sure to get one with a pool, and a yummy breakfast) until our home is ready. Instead of renting a storage unit for our Penske truck full of stuff we'll just keep it and pay for a few extra days. Once we can get into our house, it'll be a quick move in 'cause Blaine starts his Physician's Assistant (PA) program on August 2nd.

Well, that's the plan for now--busy, busy, busy, but also an exciting transition. If, and when, I have a free minute I'll add all of the pictures that accompany our weeks (some past and some yet to come) of Moving MADNESS.

Now, it's back to my lovely and exciting world of organizing, sorting, packing, labeling, and child herding. I'll miss y'all in the meantime. 'Till next time . . . most likely from TEXAS (Go Cowboys)!

Who needs a RADIO when you've got, what? . . . BLOGGING, of course !

Recently, I've been enjoying the TUNES on my Friends' Blogs. Here are a couple of the one's that I've been ROCKING OUT to lately Hopefully, they don't mind me posting their blog sites here--better to ask FORGIVENESS, than permission (or so I've heard). I guess that we'll find out., right?

Thanks for your AWESOME BLOGS girls and for sharing the

GREAT TUNES!

*I keep finding more and more great blogs with awesome music, so I'll just keep adding them as I find them, k? So, just plan on there being more to come . . . can you tell that listening to music has been my thing lately? I've found it to be very THERAPEUTIC. I call it MUSIC THERAPY and have found that it helps out a lot with STRESS, Anxiety, Insomnia, etc. (y'know, all that really fun stuff that many of us deal with these days)!

NOW . . . ON TO THE LIST

1. Karena (Sis-in-law): http://mcgrawland.blogspot.com/

2. Kaylea (Friend): http://sillylittlefrog.blogspot.com/

3. Terri (Sis-in-law): http://popehalfdozen.blogspot.com/

4. Shelly (Cousin): http://jeffandshelly.blogspot.com/

5. April (Army Wife): http://transtrums.blogspot.com/

6. Holly (April's Sis): http://thedippolds.blogspot.com/

AND

http://day2daywithhollyj.blogspot.com/

**NOTE: There are a few other PLAY LISTS that I really like too, but they're on private sites, so I only listed the public one's here. ENJOY!

LET GO, LIVE FREE, ENJOY LIFE, AND . . . SMILE!!!

Before I was a Mom . . .

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her/him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom .

--Author Unknown

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY EVERYONE . . .
Especially you Mom!
Thank you and I love you!

Re-Kindling the JOY of Motherhood

Hey Y'all (Texans here I come on. July 7th is now our hoped for outta-Tennessee-and-off-to- Texas Day)! I know I've been absent from the lovely World Wide Web for about a month now. It was quite the change of venue for me, seeing as I had something crazy like 30 posts during the month of March. If you couldn't tell by that number alone, I recently learned what a passion I have for blogging. I always knew that I loved to write, but blogging is a whole new world--a wonderful combination of journaling, scrapbooking, venting, joy-sharing, friendship-building, and information-sending all rolled up into one splendid wrap. Blogging, oh how I've missed thee and am thrilled to have re-joined with thee again . . .

Well, I only have a few short moments right now, because the munchkins are calling and it's meal-time again, (which I'm sure many of you mamas of young kids can relate to), but I just wanted to say "Hi" and let y'all know that I am happy and well. I took a break from blogging, facebook, e-mail, etc. to re-focus on family. I even had the thrilling privilege of seeing many of their beautiful faces, during an 18-day trek out West to CA and Utah. It was busy, and I didn't have nearly the time I wanted to do all that I desired, but it was just enough of a sampling to make me even more eager to return this December for the Christmas holiday. (I'll post some blog entry's and pictures of our trips--including Easter in VA--during the next few weeks).

Okay, enough explanation and on to the point of why I sat down to write this afternoon. I was just feeling a boost of mommyhood and wanted to remember, and share, the feeling. Sometimes the drudgery and monotony of motherhood gets me down and causes me to wonder what happened to the bright-eyed 18-yr-old girl that I still feel buried inside me. But the truth is, she's still there, and she's not all that different--just 8 years older, and hopefully a whole lot wiser. I still have all the passion that I had back then, it's just been refocused on being a good wife and the best mother that I know how to be.

It's hard when we let ourselves down, by not being as good as we know or think we could (or should?--this one's up for debate) be in all our different roles in life. Mine include: wife, mother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, cousin, niece, friend, and neighbor, just to name a few! :-) It's difficult to accept that we haven't become who, or what, we thought we would. But the truth is (and I have to keep reminding myself of this): IT'S O-K-A-Y to make mistakes and fall short of the/our mark, because . . . this life was meant to be a work in progress--a life in which we were intended to always be learning, growing, and becoming! It was our loving Father in Heaven who saw the master in His plan to send his spiritual sons and daughters to earth to gain mortal experience, to be tested and tried, AND (hopefully) proven. So that we too may become like Him (our Heavenly Father AND Mother) and join Them, our families and our Savior Jesus Christ at the end of our mortal missions. I pray that I don't let Them down as often as I let myself down. I often feel Heavenly reassurance as a pray and am grateful for the Hands of Heaven extended in my direction.

Motherhood is a journey, as is life, and I am grateful for the opportunity to take the ride and do the best that I know how. And when I fall short, I know that I have a Savior--a spiritual Elder Brother--to turn to for my sustainment, support, encouragement, and Salvation. I know that He lives and that He loves me. For this knowledge I am eternally grateful.

And that is all I have to say for now.

The End (or Amen, whichever you prefer).

P.S. Just a little something that happened while I was typing this blog post.

Opposition and balance in all things, right?

The Uselessness of an Emotion We Call ANGER!

**This blog post is becoming quite the essay in my mind, so I will leave it "to be continued", until I have a chance to do a bit more reading (research) on the topic. Thanks for your patience. Hopefully, it will become something worthy of reading when it is finished.

Hey y'all (preping for Texas here)! I've just been thinking a lot about anger recently. What is anger really? --and does it do us any good to really express it? So, I looked it up on dictionary.com and according to that site, anger is, a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility. Then there are more severe forms of anger, such as rage and fury which imply intense, explosive, and often destructive emotion. Does any of this sound good to you? It sure doesn't to me. I mean, honestly what good can come from using anger to accomplish our goals, express our feelings, communicate our frustrations, etc. Who really listens anyway when they're being yelled at. I certainly don't. I might let it sink in later as I attempt to process the message received through harsh words, but during an angry lecture or out burst by others, what I mostly feel is defensiveness, frustration, and a desire to retreat. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I just don"t respond well to anger. It just doesn't motivate me to change or better myself in any way. Sometimes I even feel a desire to do the opposite when I'm being yelled at--a psychological principle called "oppositional defiance" . . .

. . . Emily just woke up from her nap, so this post will have to be: To Be Continued . . .

LOOK AT ME . . . I'M "IN-FAMOUS"!

Gotta love the "Three Amigos", he, he! Okay, so I'm not "infamous", I'm just famous--or, at least that's how I see it, kinda--okay, not really. But, I definitely feel special. And the reason why . . . (drum roll please, j/k) . . . I just saw my blog listed on "Mormon Mommy Blogs" (see button on right).

I'm listed under the category, "Military Blogs". Check it out and see for yourself! [Make sure that you scroll all the way down. The Military Blog category is sandwiched between "Blog Designers" and "Scrapbooking, Card Making, & Digital Design"]. ENJOY!--there's also lots of other great Mormon Mommy Blogs listed that are probably worth taking a look at. I haven't had the chance to do it yet, but am looking forward to it, when I have the time. :^)

P.S. And No, this is not an April Fools Day joke, it's for real. Speaking of April Fools Day though, has any one master-minded any great pranks today, or been the brunt of any? Feel free to share! I thought about telling everyone (parents and in-laws included) that I'm pregnant AGAIN, but then I reconsidered thinking that it might send my hubby off the deep-end :^) [3 girls in 3 1/2 years has been enough for him--having at least a 3-year-gap between our baby, Emily (17 mos) and hopefully our BOY (fingers crossed) is a much needed break for both of us]. So, to make a "short story long", I decided against it. I haven't come up with anything else good yet--big or small. So, if anybody has any ideas, let me know. I still kinda what to do a little something, but I'm not sure what yet. I dunno, maybe no one's really into this holiday anymore. I've been out of school so long, and my kids are all still so young, I feel out of the loop of things and it's hard to know what's "in" anymore.

Rainy Day Fun!

The sunshine has turned into rain again and the weather has chilled a bit, but my girls still find ways to have fun!

Rebekah stopping in puddles

Sarah trying to stay dry

Emily--how does this thing work again?

I tried to keep her hood on, but the girl just can't stand

having things on her head--she's a silly little thing!

Adventures with Sewage and Spiders

Oh, the joys of home ownership--Blaine and I recently had a sewage line break. I know, ewe, gross, and absolutely disgusting!!! Fortunately, it was under the kitchen sink, so most of the leakage under the house was kitchen sink and laundry drainage, rather than bathroom (can you imagine?).

Anyway, it took us a little while to figure it out--a few weeks, in fact. We began smelling a yucky smell that appeared to be coming from the garage at first. However, I also smelled it under my kitchen sink, and on a rare occasion the smell wafted throughout the kitchen, much stronger than normal (looking back, I think these were the times that I had just done laundry AND dishes at the same time). You can imagine all the water, etc. pouring out of the broken pipe and into the ground (rocks and dirt) beneath the kitchen. I'd been telling Blaine for a few days that I thought the smell might be coming from an animal that crawled in the dryer vent and died under the house. Of course, I consider this all to be completely his responsibility to deal with--he's my man; it's his job, isn't it? I had no plans to crawl under the house Army-dead-man-drag-style alone, just little ol' me--NO WAY! Unfortunately, however, when he finally decided to check it out, I was recruited to assist (as usual).

I was very hesitant at first. I wasn't very thrilled about crawling under pipes and around air vents down there with all the spiders and webs (who would be?), but I braved it. I was slightly relieved to discover that it was not quite as disgusting as I had imagined, but all things considered it was still quite gross. Well, we crawled under the house together to discover that it was NOT a dead animal after all (which you already knew), but a broken sewer pipe. Blaine gathered all of the pipes he needed to replace the broken section (fortunately, he had them all on hand, from previous plumbing jobs), and only had to run to Lowe's to buy some plumbing glue (his had dried out). We were back under the house in a flash and completed the job in about 15 minutes.

The funniest part is that we couldn't find any working adult flashlights and, of course, it was very dark under there, even in the middle of the day. So, instead we grabbed the girls' kid flashlights--a hippo and a cow.
The best part were the animal sounds that they made every time we turned them on--and, of course, they automatically turn off every 3 minutes or so, to conserve the batteries. So, there we were, down under the house--amongst the grossness, smell-age, and spiders--"mooing" and hippo "laughing." The whole thing was pretty hilarious, and sufficiently unpleasant, all at the same time. It was definitely a memory not to be forgotten.

Returning to Our Nation's Roots

I noticed this sign while biking the other morning to one of my favorite parks--Billy Dunlop. Yes, it was without my children--and it was fabulous! My husband had the weekend off (Fri-Mon) so I took serious advantage of the freedom of exercising in the early morning hours, without my children in tow (speaking of towing, I've considered investing in one of those handy bike trailers for kids, as well as a bike car seat, so that towing my kids behind my bike is option; I think they would get a kick out of it as well).

Anyway, back to the sign. I don't know if you can tell the location of this sign very well from this particular zoom in, so let's zoom out a bit and see if the scene becomes a bit more clear.

Can you see it now? This is a trailer, if you can't tell. Seeing this sign, this particular morning, in this very location, got me to thinking. First off, because of where it was placed--a trailer, or the more classy version: a manufactured mobile home. I don't know why signs placed in locations like this seem to touch me deeper than if I were to see them proudly displayed in front of a small mansion, or in another fancy, well-to-do neighborhood. Maybe it's because it appears that family's who live in mobile homes are down on their luck (I've discovered that there are many war veteran's who live in mobile homes). However, I know that this is not always the case, because I lived in a trailer. Yep, that's right. My hubby and I proudly purchased a 1972 manufactured mobile home the first year that we were married. We paid $7,000 for it. 2,000 of which came from my personal savings that I brought into the marriage and the other $5,000 was a loan from my Dad. We were SO proud of our home-ownership (that is, if other's acknowledge that trailers qualify as "homes"--unlike homes who usually maintain their value, trailers depreciate, like cars).

We invested about a solid month (outside of work and school of course) on spiffing the place up. Okay, maybe "spiffing" isn't the proper word, truly it was a complete overhaul of the place in order to get it to pass code, so that the city of Provo would let us live in it. There were many late nights spent with me huddled up next to the camping lantern (our only source of light) snuggled up in a sleeping bag trying to stay warm in the dead of Winter (January), when I was too tired to help Blaine rip out carpet, lay linoleum, or replace bathroom fixtures anymore. We were staying with my brother Curtis, his wife Terri, and their three children up in Lehi during the renovation period. Sharing our one car was a bit tricky with Blaine working and me going to school during the day (especially after such late nights in the cold), but somehow we managed, and I even got straight A's that semester.

The point is, our trailer became our pride and joy. We put many hours into fixing it up and making it as nice and beautiful as possible. We were very pleased with our efforts and everyone who came to stay with us seemed quite impressed how open and spacious even a trailer can be (ours was a large one--about 14 ft. x 70 ft.). We cut off the hitch, replaced all of the skirting, built a new deck, painted the exterior, planted grass, hung curtains, etc, etc, etc. It was a lovely place to live and we were very happy during the year and a half we lived there before selling it for $10,000 to another young couple, also attending BYU. [Side note: these pictures are of what our trailer looked like last summer--5 years after we sold it. It is now on it's second owner since we left--supposedly a Chinese family with three young boys (whom I've never met). Sadly, they have not kept it up very well. I wish I had digital pictures of what it looked like when we lived there, but that was back before we had a digital camera and we don't have a scanner good enough to do a decent job if I scaned our printed copies in--maybe someday I'll get them up on here].

Well, I've gotten a little sidetracked with talking about our early marriage trailer adventure, but it all ties in. My original thought with this post was remembering God--"We all need God in America again"--as the sign on the fence outside the mobile home said. It's so true! It's not just the poor who need God, it's not just the rich who need God, and it's not just America who needs God. We ALL need him. Now, more than ever! He is slowly being removed from everything--the schools, the government, and so much more. Our Founding Fathers, built this nation upon God. And isn't that why they came to America in the first place--for Religious freedom from the Church of England. So they could worship their GOD how, where, and what they may. Yes, I understand the importance of the separation of Church and State, but "separation" doesn't mean that one (State) smothers the other (Relition--like taking the oxygen away from a flame) in a so-called fight for "equality", "justice" and "civil rights". We are supposed to be, "One nation, under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"--it's in our Pledge of Allegiance (which I used to recite everyday in Elementary school. It's stamped on our dollar bills. It's also in our national anthem, particularly in the fourth verse (yes, there are four--our Hymnal omits one of them, you'll see why below): "Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the HEAV'N rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto, "In God is our trust!"

Here are the lyrics to all four of the verses, for those of us (myself included) who have never had the honor or reading and/or memorizing them. My husband grew up near Washington D.C. in Maryland and had the good fortune of memorizing all four verses. I on the other hand--a born and raised Northern-Californian--did not have that same great opportunity. It's my husband who believes that the first verse (almost always the only one ever sung) is the worst of all four, and wishes that instead either, all four were sung, or at least one of the latter verses. I now understand why.

The Star-Spangled Banner
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

How is it that we/America can forget Him now? How devastating will surely be the result if we let Him slip too far from our grasp. It is only through God that our nation can be saved. I pray that all Americans, and all inhabitants of the world, return to their roots--to the Foundation upon which we were built--and remember their Maker. And not just those in desolate circumstances, but all men, women, and children everywhere, of all nationalities, races, countries, and religions. May God bless our land now and always and may we all recognize our need for God in America (and in the world) again. This is my prayer this morning.

Last summer, while my husband was deployed to Iraq, I visited the trailer park (Lamplighter Estates) where we lived in Provo, Utah and took some pictures to remember it by and to show my husband how things had changed. I was very moved by the display of Patriotism that I saw there. Here a just a few pictures that I took:

GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Notice the flags in the hitch on this one below--many trailer owners turned their hitches into potters for plants, flowers, etc. Fortunately, we had the resources to have ours cut off (a much prettier look, as far as trailers go).
Many also flew flags in their yards, or attached them to their homes.
This one's proudly displayed in the front window!
And then--here's the funnest part--I found my Grandma and Grandpa Cropper's (my mother's parents') trailer. I've been told that it was much prettier back then (1970's), but here it is today:

The paint color wasn't the only thing to change over the last 40 years, notice all the beer can boxes in the trash can?

And the laundry room, where my mother had several of her favorite dresses (that she hung to air dry) stolen:

That's all for now. I hope those of you in the Cropper family enjoyed this little blast from the past.

We All Need Chocolate Sometimes

Emily Susan--Our climber, Little Cougar (Go BYU!), and I guess now our brownie lover too!

I came into the kitchen and just found her like this. Her sisters had obviously been the first ones to help themselves, otherwise the chair wouldn't have been so perfectly positioned. I thought that it was too cute. Of course, I had to run and get the camera before I got her down and put the brownies out of reach.