Cameron and I accompanied the choir in church on the First Noel/ Pachelbel's Cannon piece.  One of Mike's friends from work played the other violin part with us.

Christmas was good.  We acted out the Nativity with the kids a couple of days before Christmas... that is always fun (and crazy) with kids.  Kevin came and stayed with us for several days; it was good to visit with him.  We also took the kids to the dollar store and let them buy presents for their brothers and sisters, Kevin, and Mike and I.  They were SO excited to watch each other open their gifts to each other.  Later we went to Carols and saw Carol, George, Grandma, Jim, Kathy, Brian & his girlfriend Jennifer, and Janet's family.  We all had a good time eating, opening presents, and just visiting with each other.  We almost went caroling to a Nursing Home on Christmas day, but I was in the middle of a bad cold, so we decided not to go... although we did go last year and enjoyed it.

And today... is our 15 year Anniversary!!

Yes, we celebrated a couple of months ago, but we still went to dinner and a movie last night (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty... we'd already seen everything else good).  It was surprisingly clean and a descent movie, although I was expecting to not enjoy it at all.  I've had some friends look back on their big anniversaries and say they don't feel like they have a good marriage and they are disappointed.  I have to say, I have a good marriage.  I have a wonderful husband, who although has different hobbies than me, is still so similar to me in action, thought, belief, and general likes and dislikes.  He puts up with my weaknesses and compliments my strengths.  I love him so, so much and am so excited to spend the rest of my life and beyond with him!

Today, Mike and I sat on the couch with all of the kids and had them ask us questions about how we met, some of our dates, when we knew we loved each other or wanted to marry the other one, etc.  I think the kids enjoyed finding out some more details, although they wanted no part in finding out about our first kiss, lol.

Today was Emma's last day in Nursery.  She'll be in Primary next week, but Logan is moving up to Senior Primary so she'll be alone.  It's weird to think Logan and Emma are far enough apart in age to be in different Primaries. 

Errolyn is reading Divergent and for the first time ever has been non-stop reading and can't put down the book.  I'm glad she finally found a book that she likes that much.  Cameron and I want to read it when she's done, and we also want to read Mortal Instruments since we enjoyed the movie.  Yesterday, I went through Mom & Dad's records and had a blast playing my favorites for the kids all day.  I have many, many memories with those records and am excited to listen to more of them!  I'm sure there has been a lot more happen that I've missed, but such is life.

Update: I have a cold sore healing on my mouth.  Emma looked at it and said, "Did you hurt your mouth?"  I said, "Yes."  She asked, "Did a Zombie hit your mouth?"  Lol... I have NO idea how she even knows what a Zombie is.

After only 6 weeks on our "Eat to Live" way of eating, Mike's cholesterol has gone down 65 points!  This is the first time he has not had high cholesterol since we've been married!  So happy for him!

Cameron is having his friend Christmas Party right now.  They are all having a blast playing laser tag.  So glad he has a good group of friends!

Update: Mike actually said his most recent test before the diet was much higher, I was quoting a test before that, so his cholesterol actually went down almost 90 points!

So, every year in Relief Society we have a lesson on simplifying our lives during the Christmas season to focus on what's most important.  I've done that... we don't do our adult Christmas party anymore, we only make one type of cookies when caroling and we go to less houses, I buy the majority of my presents online in October and November... and yet I still feel bombarded with everything.

Maybe it's the four choir concert's Errolyn has had this week, or the three orchestra concerts Cameron has had this week, or the 2 dozen cookies required for Activity Days, or the side dish for the ward party, or the dozen cookies and book for Cameron's GT party, and the doughnuts for Errolyn's party, and the fruit tray for Logan's party, the Christmas Pageant at Emma's school, the side dish for the High Council Christmas Party, the teacher and friend gifts for four different classes, and the practicing for the church Christmas program... on top of the last minute presents, Christmas cards, and regular grocery shopping and teaching violin.  It's just too much.  Honestly, everything would have been fine if we didn't have to waste 4 nights for the SAME choir concert just at different venues, 3 for orchestra concerts, and 3 for church parties... that's a lot of wasted evenings where I could be getting things done.  We can't back out of the orchestra one's because they are a grade, but I think next time we will tell the choir teacher that Errolyn can sing in one concert and he has to choose which one... it's just too much.  Next year we'll have to simplify more.

Thankfully all of the school parties, church parties, concerts, etc. are over after tomorrow and then I can relax, get some sleep, and spend some time with my family.  So excited for Christmas break... seriously!

Not much time, yet I'll probably still write a lot...

We have two churches on board with the multi-faith choir I'm spearheading, a local Baptist church and a Presbyterian church.  Hopefully we can get a few more on board.

Cameron's orchestra played in the lobby of the "nice" seats as people were getting seated for a pro basketball game.  After they played they were able to sit and enjoy the game.  Cameron had a good time with his friends.  We also dropped off our van to be repaired on Wednesday and surprisingly got it back less than a week later.  Last Friday we saw "Catching Fire."  I really enjoyed it although I could have done without the elevator scene.  Errolyn had her last volleyball game on Saturday, but Logan's soccer game was cancelled because of the weather.  Logan had a soccer party later that night and I had a good conversation with his coach about the Messiah and United Voices for Christ since he sings.

Thanksgiving week went well.  On Monday and Tuesday we saw Carol, Grandma, and Heidi and the kids.  Tuesday night we had the missionaries over for dinner and Cameron and Errolyn babysat David & Heidi's kids.  Afterwards, I took them to see "Catching Fire."  Wednesday, I packed, cleaned, went visiting teaching and then left to go to Houston.  We had a good time visiting with everyone in Houston.  There were a lot of people so there wasn't much one-on-one time, but it was just nice to be with everyone.  Mike and I ate our special diet for most of the break, but did cheat a couple of times.  We thought for sure we'd gain some weight, but we both lost two more pounds when we got home- yea!  I am finally the lowest I've been since having Emma, but I still have a long way to go.

While in Houston, we mostly just ate, talked, and refereed kids, but most of us were able to sneak away to watch "Frozen," which I loved, and then we ate out at Los Tres Ranchitos.  One day, Dad, Janet, and I took the kids on a walk around the lake and it was nice.  Mom and Dad's new house is super nice.  I'm so glad they are able to enjoy something nice after sacrificing to raise all of us kids.  I bribed my kids and Janet's kids to do a Harry Potter re-enactment of a puppet show my kid's love watching on Youtube.  It was fun to watch.  :)

Saturday, I helped Mom do a little sorting and packing.  Once I got over there and saw how much there was to do, I wished that I had taken some time earlier in the week to help more than I did.  On the way home we stopped at Janet's and talked for a little bit.

In church yesterday, I subbed for the choir in the morning.  Mike stayed home with Emma who was so sick and crying that we didn't dare take her to church.  Logan bore a sweet testimony, although my ears did perk up a bit when he said, "I know that Joseph Smith restored the Kirtland Temple."  Lol...  I also bore my testimony. 

Errolyn bore a funny, but good testimony and she got compliments all day about it and two mentions in other people's testimonies.  She started by saying that she started off the day not fasting, but now she was.  She explained that she had put top ramen in the microwave and just before it was done her mom (me) had reminded her that it was fast Sunday.  She described how good top ramen was and how difficult of a choice it was and said, "I mean, who wouldn't want top ramen?"  Lol, it was cute.  But then she went on to say that I told her it was between her and the Lord if she fasted or not and that I would support her in her decision if she prayed about it.  She prayed about it and still felt it was her decision.  So, she decided to eat the top ramen.  And then she described how every bite she took of the top ramen made her feel worse and worse about the decision she'd made.  So, then she decided to stop eating and start her fast.  It was a great story on repentance and agency and she told it in a humorous yet still spiritual way.

The Messiah dress rehearsal was kind of crazy... it always is.  The choir and orchestra were great, but the solo rehearsals were just ok.  I'm hoping that everyone was just tired from being there so long and that everything will smooth out by Friday.  I think this year's orchestra is the best we've ever had!  The choir is also great.  I think they get more volume than last year's choir even though they're a little smaller (120 vs 135).  We aren't doing the Trumpet piece which is everyone's favorite because the trumpet player has two Air Force concerts earlier in the day and won't have the air for a long solo like that.  Next year.  The choir numbers are great as usual and I'm excited to conduct again!  The children's and youth choir pieces are awesome!  I think it's the best youth choir we've had and I like the song selections this year.  Cameron and Errolyn are playing in the Youth Sting Orchestra which is playing one of the prelude pieces.  Logan and Errolyn are singing in the Children's Choir and Cameron is singing in the Youth Choir.  Mike is working the soundboard and I'm conducting, so we'll just have to find someone to watch Emma.  Excited for this weekend!

So, I've lost 12 pounds in just under three weeks.  I'm finding some better recipes for our new "Eat to Live" lifestyle and am slowly adding them into the kids' dinner rotation too.  Mike has lost 13 more pounds (in addition to the weight he lost this Summer) and hasn't been this weight since before we were married.  There are quite a few people in our ward eating this way so we had an "Eat to Live" recipe exchange and sample night which was fun. 

Cameron has been practicing really hard for All-region and he made 3rd chair!  He was SO excited.  He was 5th chair last year, so he moved up.  He was especially excited because he beat the best cellist in his school (who sometimes tells him everything he is doing wrong).  Cameron and I also played a violin/ cello duet of "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" during Sacrament Meeting today.  Cameron did a great job even though he was worried he didn't have enough practice time because of Region. 

I've gone over to see Heidi a couple of times and then they came over last weekend to watch the BYU game.  It will be fun to see them more often!

Messiah rehearsals are going well.  The United Voices for Christ, multi-faith choir concert, I'm planning is going slow, but will be good in the end.  We have a nearby Baptist church on board and are talking to two nearby Methodist churches.  Hopefully we can get enough churches on board with the idea to make the concert great and memorable. 

I saw a movie trailer for "Divergent" and now I really want to read the book.  Monday, I went to Cameron's mini-concert for Veteran's Day and then ran over to the elementary school to hear Errolyn's choir sing.  She is doing well in 5th grade Strings but I don't think she's really learning anything in class; just showing off what I've taught her. 

Errolyn is doing well in volleyball and Logan scored another goal in soccer.  I looked forward to the Fall season being over so we can have our Saturdays back.  We have a different Conductor for my Symphony this concert, and I am learning so much listening to him rehearse us and watching him conduct us.  It will be a fun concert to play!  We are performing the Nutcracker pieces and Vivaldi's Gloria.  I know I've played the Gloria before, but I don't think I truly appreciated it before.  It is wonderful!  Such a moving piece of music!

I probably won't update Emma's blog very often until she's older, but I wanted to preserve some of her answers to my questions and her memories.

http://princessemmagirl.blogspot.com/

"Eat to Live" is going well.  I have my Green Smoothie for breakfast, a large salad for lunch, and then a healthy dinner, usually involving beans and lots of veggies.  I feel like my mood, sleep, and energy has been better, but only time will tell if it is a true change as I've only been doing this for five days.

Mike and I watched Ender's Game last night and enjoyed it.  We haven't watched a lot of movies this year, but there were previews for Thor 2, The Hobbit, and Catching Fire... all movies we want to see... so I guess we've been saving up.  I also helped set up the dressing rooms for the Gladys Knight concert and choir.

Today was interesting.  Logan had his soccer game and did well.  Then on the way to Errolyn's volleyball game, Errolyn said "Beep, beep."  When she said that I realized that the car was beeping since my seatbelt wasn't on, so I put on my seatbelt.  Later Errolyn told me she was saying "Beep, beep" because the car in front of us was going too slowly.  Either way, I'm glad that I put on my seatbelt because at the next light we were stopped and a large truck wasn't paying attention and slammed right into the back of our van.  I felt the seatbelt stop me from lunging forward and I immediately was grateful for Errolyn's "beeping."  Errolyn and I were both pretty shaken.  I was on the verge of tears, but I was too shaken to let them out.  Mike's back hurts a little, but he thinks he'll be fine.  The bumper is dented and scratched in several places and it popped out the lift gate, whatever that is, and a tail light.  The other driver was very apologetic and says he'll pay for everything because he doesn't have insurance.  Luckily, our accident happened right in front of a police station, so a policeman came and took down the information so we could file a claim with our insurance company and exchange information with the driver.

I called Kathy to see if she could take Errolyn to her volleyball game, but the policeman finished with us just before Kathy came so I called her and she went back home.  Errolyn played really well in her game.  I wish I had volunteered to coach her team as I think they wouldn't lose most games if they had a little more direction.  Next time, hopefully!

We cleaned a little and went shopping, dropped off Logan and Emma at the babysitters, and then went to the Gladys Knight performance at the Stake Center.  Grandma and Kathy were able to sit in the soft seats with Errolyn, but Carol, George, Mike, and Cameron, and I sat in the middle on hard chairs.  It was a fun performance and some good testimonies and words were shared.  Some of the testimonies were a little direct and I was worried they were too preachy, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Cameron didn't feel the music was appropriate for the chapel.  It definitely was different to be clapping to upbeat music in the chapel so I understand why he felt that way.  Even though I had a great time and enjoyed the music, I have to agree that I feel the Spirit more sometimes with a simple, reverent hymn... but that doesn't discredit the performance because it still was very enjoyable.

Gladys walked down our aisle and I got to slap her hand as she walked by.  Also, years ago I wrote a piece for a Youth Fireside, but as I was writing it I could picture Gladys Knight and her choir singing it.  So, I printed off a copy of the piece and gave it to her manager to give to her.  I know nothing will probably come of it, but I'm still glad I gave it to her.

Oh, and I also bought tickets to see Rascal Flatts at the Rodeo next year!  We're taking the whole family (since we haven't been to a Rodeo Concert since Houston three years ago) and we're going with David & Heidi's family, Carol and George, and Kathy and a friend.  It will be fun!

Not a good Halloween.  I was running errands all the way up until it was time to gets the kids dressed.  We dressed, took pictures, and ran over to Grandma's to see everyone.  Carol, Heidi, and David were all stuck in horrible traffic so we decided to wait so we could see them.  Anyway, I was trying to be a good Aunt and take Halley trick or treating to a few houses so her parents could eat.  I did not communicate to my husband what I was doing, but had assumed he had heard that I was leaving and he was watching Emma.  There were 6 adults at Grandmas and Emma still wandered off.  We had sent the older kids trick or treating together around the block and apparently she was trying to find them.

I only went to a few houses with Halley and came back and realized Emma was gone.  I ran up and down every street yelling her name and asking people if they had seen a purple princess.  I did not know I could run that long... but everytime I was tiring out it was sheer willpower that kept me going.  I started to circle back thinking maybe she'd been turned in.  I ran into a tall banana who was also running.  He had heard me yelling for her on another street and had started running down the streets looking for her too.  Finally a lady found her at a haunted house with Errolyn.  Apparently, Emma caught up to Errolyn around the block on another street, so Errolyn just kept Emma with her and took her trick or treating.  I am SO glad she is safe!  Talk about panic!  I'm so grateful for so many nice people that were looking for her also and came and found me afterwards to see if she had been found.  That's it.  That's all I want to talk about.  I think I need to install a device on Emma so if she wanders more than 10 feet from us an alarm will sound.

So, this last week I was super, super busy and we ended up going out to eat a lot.  I've noticed that when I increase my sugar intake or processed foods/ fat intake (e.g. going out to eat) I get really cranky with my family.  Additionally, I'm not good at going hungry to lose weight so it's a huge effort to stick with a diet.  A ton of people at church have read this book called "Eat to Live" and lost an astonishing amount of weight.  Additionally, some of them had diabetes or were just sick all of the time and now they are fine and have tons of energy.  I decided to read the book and now I'm convinced.  Even though I don't agree with everything said in the book (e.g. I think you need a lot of protein for breakfast to have more energy), I do agree that in general people need to be eating a LOT more fruits and vegetables and way less processed foods, dairy, meat, sugar, salt, etc.  The cancer and heart disease studies quoted constantly in the book were very convincing.  The essence of this way of living is, you only eat foods that are high in nutrients, vitamins, or minerals.  If they're not high in nutrients, why waste your calories on them because they all seem to cause cancer or heart disease?

Mike and I decided we would eat as the book suggests for 6 weeks, and then we will see if we should continue to eat this way or maybe modify the plan a little bit.  I honestly believe, even before reading the book, that many diseases and problems are a result of our diet choices, so I'd like to eat healthier in the end.  Anyway, the first day was not a great success because everything tasted so bland, but the second day I finally got some good tasting recipes.  It will be a huge effort to find good tasting "nutritarian" recipes that don't require cooking for hours, but I will find them.

The first recipe I got from my friend, Candice, and I modified it a little bit.  I had this for breakfast and it was pretty good... it will probably be my staple breakfast, but I have some oatmeal recipes I want to try too.  Also, the ingredients sound gross... but they actually taste good all together and are super healthy... I don't eat gross things.  This is specific for my size blender, so proportions may need to be lessened for smaller blenders.  It is very filling and big, so cut in half or share for a smaller smoothie.

HUGE Green Smoothie
Fill blender with 16 oz. of water
Add greens to 32 oz. line (I used 2 lrg handfuls of spinach and 1 lrg handful of kale, but I will try even more tomorrow)
Blend
Add 1 banana (just added an extra banana and it was even better!)
Add about 2/3 cup white beans (I added for protein and couldn't taste a difference)
Blend
Add 3/4 of apple
Add small handful of frozen blueberries
Blend
Add 2 handfuls of frozen strawberries
Blend
Add 2 more handfuls of frozen strawberries
Blend
Add 1 Tablespoon Ground Flaxseed
Blend
Enjoy your super healthy, all natural, and still good tasting smoothie!

(On a side note, my land sickness after my cruise went after the day after I complained about it on this blog... lol.  I just needed to complain to heal; j/k.)

Oh my goodness... my friend Candice just sent me an e-mail about her cousin's family.  I get e-mails once in a while about people with cancer and what not and it just breaks my heart.  This particular family has two girls in the same family with the same rare disease.  I watched the video on their website and made it about half way through without crying and then I lost it and bawled the rest of the video.  It breaks my heart how much this family and these two little girls (and even their son) has had to endure.  It makes me extremely grateful for the small trials my family has had.  Anyway, just thought I'd share.  I think we'll be donating when Mike gets his Christmas bonus.

Blog: fishesformarrowwishes.blogspot.com

Fundraiser for the girls: seefishcreate.bigcartel.com/products

I'm pretty sure only Linda reads my blog now that we've switched from Xanga... but I guess it doesn't matter since this is my journal in a way.  I am DONE with my English class.  I got 100 in the class.  :)  I really enjoy writing.  I decided to withdraw from the Speech class I had registered for to start on Monday.  I just am too busy and need to catch back up on housework and my kids.  I looked at the syllabus and it was going to be three times as much work as my English class (which was a LOT of writing) and I just don't have time for that right now.  Additionally, it was not a required class, but an elective.  It's the same price to register for two classes as one class, and me not wanting to waste money registered for a 2nd class... yeah, not happening right now. 

I am teaching violin up at the middle school one day a week which has been fun and some extra money.  I'm also planning a Multi-faith Choir performance for next year so I've been busy creating documents, organization, and setting the frame work for that.  I'm also conducting the Messiah every Sunday and we just had two days of solo auditions that I had to judge.  We have some good soloists again!  We just did our family pictures, so I don't have to worry about that for Christmas cards anymore.  I really need to clean my house and start ordering Christmas presents though!

David and Heidi are moving here soon, which will be fun!  We'll definitely get to see them more, but how often will depend on where they buy a house since our city is very spread out.  Errolyn had a volleyball game yesterday and they didn't have enough players so they had to play the whole hour.  I've been working with her on her serves and she was so excited that she made most of her serves at the game yesterday.  Logan had a soccer game at the same time and scored the only goal.  I sold my ALJ stock this week and made some good money, but of course it rose way more after I sold it.  I need to be less conservative in my selling points... but at least I'm still making good money and learning the ins and outs of the stock market.

We went to the Updike's last night to catch up and play games; we had fun as usual.  :)

I don't know if I can ever go on another cruise again.  :(  I had a GREAT time on the cruise and wasn't sick at all!  But, since I've gotten off of the boat I've been very, very motion sick.  I've realized that if I move slowly or not at all, then it's not so bad.  But today, I went grocery shopping and with all of the quick turns to get food off the shelves and go down all of the rows, my head was spinning so fast and my eyes hurt so badly that I could barely open them by the time I left the store.  This has been going on for a week.

I've looked online about my vertigo symptoms and think I have Mal de Debarquement Syndrome, which is not well studied but happens occasionally after cruises or long term motion activities.  Apparently, the brain can become so adept at adapting to the motion that it thinks the motion is normal and so you become land sick instead of sea sick.  So, I somehow need to figure out how to snap my brain back into knowing that how I live now is normal.  There are no cures for this.  Everyone says it just takes time: days, weeks, months, years, and some people never get over this.  I'm hoping it will be over sooner rather than later.  But when I dream now, I dream of rocking back and forth or being on a boat... not good.

I called my ENT and they said I need to see an Ophthalmologist who says I need to see a Neurologist.  I don't think anyone knows what to do and after reading for a while online, I don't think there's anything they can do.  So, I will wait one more week before going to the doctor and pray.  Meanwhile, I feel like I'm drugged up because my world is in constant motion and everything is spinning.

And I have finished my final project for English!  Whew!  I also just completed two discussion postings today and one was quite interesting. 

"If you found a magic pen that would allow you to write something that would create a profound change in the reader, in other words, the person/s reading your text would, act, do, or be convinced as a result....what would you write and who would you address your text to?" 

Of course, what do you think I wrote about?  Haha... 

Only, when I wrote my answer, I tried to testify without being too religious in my answer.  I did not mention the name of my church in the post.  I was talking to Mike afterwards and I told him that I feel like I never tell people I'm Mormon.  For instance, in this class we had many discussion posts and if I offended someone I didn't want them to associate my church with perhaps my offensive words.  It's the same reason I don't have an LDS or BYU sticker on my car... if I'm driving badly, I don't want someone to say, "Those crazy Mormons."  And as I was talking to Mike I realized... I feel like I have to be perfect to testify of my church because I want people to think the best of it.  But, if I wait until I'm perfect to testify, then I will never testify.  So, I went back and edited my post to include the name of my church.  It's not the best testimony I've ever written, as I was trying to keep it low key since it's for a class, but I'm proud that I added my church name.  I'm proud that I'm a Mormon. Maybe I'll go buy a BYU bumper sticker now.  ;) 

"My letter would be to all mankind and I would write about God, Jesus Christ, and their teachings.  I would write about moral principles that have remained unchanged in God’s eyes even though society has changed them.  I would write about prayer and that prayers can be answered if a person has faith and does what they need to do to remain close to the Holy Spirit.  I would write about scripture study and how studying the words of the prophets not only teaches us more about Christ but can guide us in our daily lives for the better.  I would write that there is a divine purpose for us being sent to Earth, that we are all God’s children, and that his son, Jesus Christ, atoned for our sins so we can return to live with Him again.  I would write about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon church, has changed my life for the better, and how happy it has made me.  I would write that part of God’s eternal plan is that families can live together forever, not just in this life alone.  

I don’t share my beliefs maybe as often as I should because I don’t want people to discount what I say on the basis that I’m some religious fanatic.  But, if I truly had a pen that could help people desire to act upon my words, I would choose the topic that is most dear to me and that I feel would help people the most, and that is to encourage a belief in God, Jesus Christ, and their doctrine."

Catching up...

Errolyn started volleyball and Logan started soccer.  Both are doing well and Logan is the star goal scorer as usual.  General Conference was wonderful, especially Elder Holland's talk about depression.  I'm not depressed or anything, but was at one point in my life and know many people who are... so I bet his talk was extra inspiring.  But honestly, Elder Holland could read the phone book and I would still feel extra inspired... lol.  Maybe not, but he's such a powerful speaker, no matter the topic.

So, three weeks ago, I was starting to worry that we would not have a 15 year Anniversary celebration because of some events we are planning for (we do something big every 5 years).  So, we decided to celebrate a couple of months early.  We found a super cheap cruise to the Bahamas and booked it.  We hired a young single adult in our ward to babysit the kids all week, and Carol came over a couple of evenings to help.

The cruise was SO wonderful!!  The first day, we flew to Orlando and then took a shuttle to Port Canaveral.  We sailed on Royal Caribbean and it was great!  The first night Mike and I started getting a little sea sick so we tried the sea bands we had brought and they did nothing.  So, we took some ginger capsules I had brought and they worked wonderfully.  We kept up on our ginger and were not sick the rest of the trip.  Actually, I'm more sea sick now that I'm home... lol.  I have been having vertigo ever since the cruise and still feel like I'm rocking... hopefully it'll go away soon.  Anyway, I won't go into every single detail, but we attended a lot of the live game shows or trivia games on board, we ate way too much (Windjammers, Park Café, and the My Fair Lady Dining Room were all free and had good food), and we relaxed.  The boat was quite large and it was so peaceful to sit on the top deck and watch the waves and talk.  It was very relaxing and fun.

The first day we took tender boats to Coco Cay, a small island owned by the cruise company.  We went snorkeling which I am not very good at.  We saw some really cool fish and jelly fish.  After that we walked along the beach.  We had been worried about the Tropical Storm earlier in the week, but it didn't affect us at all and the weather was just beautiful!  We found some hammocks and laid down and eventually fell asleep... but not for long.  I had just drifted off when a rooster (I had no idea they were on the island) walked up right in front of my hammock and crowed really loudly.  I was so startled from my sleep that I screamed and leapt from the hammock, getting my foot stuck and frantically trying to free it.  When I realized what had woke me up, Mike and I both laughed.  I'm convinced the rooster is either mean or has a good sense of humor because it then walked over to the next set of hammocks and did the same thing.  It was funny to see the other couple who had been sleeping leap up from their hammocks too... lol.  Then we played in a volleyball tournament which was fun and then got back on the boat.

We got dressed for formal night and had a good evening.  The next day we docked in Nassau and took a group taxi to see some of the historical sites there.  We saw a couple of forts, government buildings, this really cool 5-star hotel that had gorgeous gardens, Queen Anne's staircase, the Atlantis, and some local shops.  We didn't enjoy seeing the Cuban Cigar making room at the hotel... it stank and Mike and I left the group to wait outside.  We ate lunch on the ship and then came back and went shopping for souvenirs and I got my hair braided with corn rows on top and beaded braids in the back.  It was fun!

The rest of the trip was filled was a lot of relaxing, eating, having fun, and just spending time together.  Mike also did some bungee jumping thing and climbed the rock wall.  We had a wonderful trip!  We flew back with Mike's airline points and Carol brought the kids to surprise us at the airport which was nice.  I sure missed them a lot!!

Now that we're back, I'm in the thick of the Messiah and am now planning a multi-faith choir for next June.  I had to cram all of last week's English work into the previous work so I could take the week off.  This is the last week of my English class and then I begin my Speech class.  I also have started teaching violin lessons at the Middle School during the class periods one day a week, so that's been fun.  Cameron went on a big 5-Stake Scout camp-out this last weekend to celebrate 100 years in Scouting.  President Beck, the general YM President was there.

Saturday night we all went to Mike's company party.  They had booths all over the place with different kinds of food and games.  The three soccer fields were covered with moon bounces, rock walls, zip lines, etc. and the kids all had a great time.  Afterwards we drove to the roof to watch the fireworks.  Cameron went to a leadership meeting and fireside last night with Pres. Beck again and enjoyed hearing him speak as well as seeing his friends from the other wards.

I think that's it... whew.  :)

Lol...

Quotes for the day, both by Logan...

Logan: Can I have this orange?
Me: Yes, but that's a lemon not an orange.
Logan: I hate lemons, they're made of Warheads.

Me: Why are you watching TV without doing your chart first?
Logan: I'm sorry.  I'm watching General Conference and it's just so sacred.
Me: (I look at the TV and see he's watching the Relief Society Broadcast) Oh.  Well, you can watch this anytime you want.

I love my Logan!

This is a test for Dad.  ;)  I know the kids and I haven't written lately.  I just have too much going on right now.  David and Heidi came last week and it was good to see them again.  I loved, loved holding Miles!  And Carter was his cute usual self.  I don't know Halley very well yet, but hopefully I'll get the opportunity real soon.  ;)  I started teaching violin lessons today at the Middle School.  I'll be teaching each week while Emma is in Mother's Day Out and it will be a nice little income.  I had a dress rehearsal tonight for my concert on Thursday.  Logan and Errolyn started soccer and volleyball.  My first Messiah rehearsal went well.  I submitted a proposal for a multi-faith choir and it was approved.  Now I get to plan it... yea (half sarcasm, half real).  I have a research paper due for English that I need to start.  I have to go to the doctor for a sinus infection tomorrow.  My car's oil life is down to 5% so I have to get an oil change tomorrow.  I'm also over due for a haircut which I'm getting tomorrow.  Lots of laundry and cleaning to do.  The government is shut down and so my stocks are in limbo.  That's it.  I'm too tired.

We had Ward Conference today.  The Stake President made a great analogy.  He has started running and made several comments about how slowly he runs.  He said he sees all of these really fast, strong, young people running by with wonderful looking strides.  He said he wished he could borrow their strength, youth, or stamina to help him run faster... but that it doesn't work that way.  He then talked about the ten virgins.  In the same way that we can't borrow someone else's stamina and strength that they've worked hard to build while running, we can't borrow someone else's oil.  He said Elder Bednar says the "lamp" is the lamp of testimony and the "oil" is the oil of conversion.  We can't borrow someone else's conversion, but have to build it drop by drop by the little things we do.  And just as a runner practices to build up his or her endurance, we need to practice to build our oil of conversion.  Many of us have testimonies and know something to be true, but we are not truly converted and don't make the commitment to act on that testimony.  He even said that the adversary probably has a testimony of the gospel and its truthfulness, but obviously is not converted to that truth.  It was an interesting thought.

He also made another analogy to trout fishing.  He said they would go fishing near Yellowstone when the edges of the lake were still frozen over.  They could lean over the edge and see the large trout hiding under the ledge of ice.  If they quickly tried to grab the fish, the fish were too fast and swam away.  But, if they very slowly put their hand in the water and slowly moved the hand along the fish and slowly started to squeeze around the tail, then they were able to snatch it at the last minute.  The fish didn't suspect anything because it's used to brushing up against things in the water.  He said Satan uses the same tactics and will slowly start tempting us with small things until he's so close that he's got us.

I'm on the up side of my cold which is nice.  The youth are having a General Conference Activity tonight to help them get more out of General Conference.  And guess who's teaching the rotation on the music?  Lol... me.

I'm starting off with some fun trivia about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir found on this Infographic.  http://ldsmediatalk.com/2013/06/22/infographic-mormon-tabernacle-choir/.  Then I'm going to tell them about the mice study I recently wrote about in an English paper.  It's fascinating enough that I'll share it here.  In 1998, David Merrell ran three groups of mice through a maze.  They all ran the maze with a time of about 10 minutes.  Then, one group of mice listened to no music at all for 4 weeks, one group listened to classical music for 10 hours a day, and the third group listened to hard rock music for 10 hours a day.  The mice were raced at the end of each week for 4 weeks.  At the end of 4 weeks, the group that listened to no music at all improved their time by 5 minutes.  The group that listened to classical music, improved their time by over 8 minutes to 106 seconds.  That's fast!  The group that listened to hard rock music decreased their time by 20 minutes and took an average of 30 minutes to run the maze.  I read similar studies and some mice in the third group actually would stop racing and start killing each other.  Pretty scary.  There have been similar studies in humans showing increased test scores and increased neural stimulation when listening to classical music.

Then I'm playing different musical clips and asking how it makes them feel and why.  And also, what memories the songs evoke.  Most clips are from movies, so certain memories will be elicited.  Then I'll of course play part of a Mormon Tabernacle Choir piece and another cool arrangement of "I Am a Child of God" and ask the same questions.  I'm trying to make the connection that not only does music make us feel a certain way, but also provokes certain memories and thoughts.  We should listen to the words of the music and think about times or experiences in our life when those words have been true or made us feel a certain way.  Also, that the music is approved and sometimes requested by the prophets and apostles and so is a specific message they want us to hear.  "The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me"... we wouldn't walk out during a prayer to use the restroom... the same respect should be shown for the musical prayer that we are listening to and the message that was selected for us to hear.  Anyway, there's a little more I'll share, but that's the basic connection I'm trying to make... thoughts, memories, and feelings associated with music.

Good day... despite my horrible cold.  I took kids to school, sold my NRGY stock (great profit in only 2 days!), wrote part of my compare/ contrast paper for English, saw "Austenland" with my friend Maryann (it was a super cheesy take on a Jane Austen fan who looks for true love, but I like cheesy romances), picked up kids from school, dressed up the kids like pirates, went to Krispy Kreme Donuts with my friend Maryann and got 4 dozen free donuts for dressing up (picture on Facebook), dropped off a couple of donuts at Grandmas, ate dinner, and I'm getting ready to finish my paper.  :)

3 months of freezers meals cooked- check
Dishes done- check
9 crock pots not washed- no check, but Mikes' volunteered to wash them
9 page Process Analysis paper turned in- check
Sold my shares of TGA and made a lot of money- check
Caught a cold this morning- check
3 kids picked up from school all at different times- check

Whew... I'm exhausted.  Time for FHE and then finishing my Messiah markings list.  Blah... lol.

Is there a way to do protected posts in BlogSpot?!!  I need to vent about my morning,  but I don't want to do it publically.  Maybe I'll use my Xanga for that.

Update: Nevermind.  Xanga doesn't do protected posts anymore, only password protected and private posts.  Oh well.  Needless to say, it's been ONE of those mornings... lol.

I almost sent this to Dad, but it was too good for just him alone... so I'm posting it here.  What a great analogy!

From S. Michael Wilcox: 

“My wife often cans peaches and pears in the fall. A great deal of work is necessary just to prepare the fruit. Then, once it is prepared, she puts it into jars, places the seals on, twists the lids tightly into place, and sets the jars in boiling water. Then she waits for the seals to set. 

She has performed this operation dozens of times with hundreds of jars. In all that time I have never seen her seal an empty jar. Unless the jar is loaded with fruit, a seal is not placed. I doubt if anyone, among the thousands who can fruit every year, has ever sealed an empty jar. There must be something to preserve or the seal has no significance. 

The sealing of temple covenants is similar. When we are married at the altars of the temple, the Lord, from one point of view, gives us an empty jar. Then he instructs us to fill it with the wonderful fruits of righteous marriage. We fill it with love and compromise and forgiveness and joy and peace and shared trials; we fill it with all the things of life, all the good fruit. As we keep our covenants, returning often to renew them as we work for the dead, the jar begins to fill. As we grow older and our love deepens, we desire to preserve forever all the good we have stored.  

Our abiding in the covenant allows the Lord to place the seal on our covenant relationship and preserve the fruits of our righteousness for all eternity. This is the same for all temple covenants. Nobody seals an empty jar; neither does the Lord seal empty covenants. First there must be fruit to preserve.”

This started off trite, but the message made was definitely worth sharing...  

A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it...?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. 
 

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We may feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.  
 

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.

Sometimes I have a difficult time with change.  I have been with Xanga for many, many years and although it's currently free for me, I'm unhappy with the new settings and changes.  So, I will switch to BlogSpot for a while and see how it goes.

We had Stake Conference this weekend and I had to organize quite a bit of music that was requested by the Stake Presidency.  For the Priesthood session, I organized a High Council Choir that sang a Hymnplicity piece and I heard they did a good job.  For the adult session, I organized a women's quintet for "There Is No Other Name" and it was a gorgeous piece.  Also for the adult session I organized a triple quartet and I accompanied on the violin.  :)  For the general session, a Missionary Choir was requested for the first piece comprised of High School seniors, prospective missionaries, current missionaries, and recently returned missionaries.  Then the Stake Choir sang another musical number and the closing hymn.  For the musical number the choir sang "Testimony" by T. Chemain Evans... an absolutely beautiful piece that just came out last year.  I received many compliments on that piece and the Spirit that was felt.  For the closing hymn we sang "Consider the Lilies" and the choir nailed it... I received many compliments for that one too.  I'm just lucky to be able to conduct such a talented group of singers.  President Slaughter (I know, I know), the new Mission President, said we sounded like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and asked where I received my training... haha.  How do you say a little school, a little family, a little Youtube, and mostly God?  Anyway, the Stake Choir sounded really good today on both pieces.

I started back up with the Symphony again... it was so fun to play again.  On Tuesday, Cameron spoke at Standard's Night and I played the piano.  I had an interesting experience with that.  I've always prided myself on saying "Yes" for serving when I am available, especially when it comes to music.  I quit piano lessons at an early age, but was called to be the YW pianist and because I said "yes" I progressed and learned and grew.  I have never thought of myself as a great pianist, but I've always been able to fake my way through or be blessed enough to play and sound descent when accompanying.  Well, I was asked on Sunday to play for Standard's Night with only two days notice.  I was going anyway to hear Cameron speak so I accepted.  For one of the pieces, they wanted me to accompany the YW and it was a rather difficult piece.  If I had spent 20 minutes on it I probably could have mastered it well enough to get by.  Instead, because I was upset that I was asked last minute and I didn't want to take the time to actually practice, I said they would need to sing with the recording but I could play the other hymns.  When I got up to play the easy hymns that I'd played my whole life, my fingers did not work well.  I found that I was not able to naturally and easily play like I had always played before.  I had to concentrate and choppily plough my way though the hymns.  I sounded like a beginner.  I wondered why I was having such difficulty playing.  Then the thought came into my mind that because I had always selflessly served in my musical abilities that I had been blessed beyond my capacity.  I realized that because I had not been willing to try or serve when I was able to in this instance, that the blessings I had been so accustomed to receiving had been withheld.  As soon as I had the thought, the Spirit bore witness to me that it was true, that I had been blessed numerous times in my abilities because I had been willing to serve.  Lesson learned.  I am grateful that I have been blessed for so long in this capacity and I will try to serve when I have the opportunity.