As I'm changing Sara's diaper this morning, she looks at me for a couple seconds and then says, "I like your nose." I am not a fan of my nose! It's a bit too long and pointy especially if you're looking at my profile. So, now my daughter likes my elbows (refer to earlier posting) and my nose! I wonder what it'll be next! I just giggled at her and of course I said, "I like your nose too." I wonder if I have cute ears...
Wow, am I a slacker! I haven't posted for a while, have I? Well, I'll do some catch-up later as today I'm doing a scheduled blog book review on a book I just finished reading.
The Forgotten Warrior was written by Kathi Oram Peterson. It is a well-written story of a teenage girl who while dealing with the sickness of her mother, a sister with a handicap, and a father who once abandoned the family, along with normal teenage life is all of a sudden thrown back in time...to Book of Mormon time...the time of Helaman and his strippling young soldiers.
She is not trusted at first as she comes upon Helaman and his men. But they soon find she can fight as she has a black belt in karate that she learned from her mother. She is soon recruited to teach her methods of fighting to the worn-out soldiers. She gives them hope and courage.
She learns a lot about herself and her abilities as her faith and testimony is tested and strengthened. She also begins to learn about forgiveness. She is grateful for what her mother taught her about faith which coincides with the 2000 strippling warriors having been taught by their mothers to have faith. I liked this parrallel in the story.
I liked Kathi's style of writing. I felt like I was there watching Sydney! I liked her personality; independant, responsible, and caring yet tough. The climax was climatic which of course is the battle very well known in the B.O.M. of Captain Helaman and his young strippling warriors and the lamanites.
I'm looking forward to the next book as the story continues! To purchase the book, click on the following link. http://deseretbook.com/store/product/5017602
Also, here is some information on a contest that Kathi is hosting.
LATTER-DAY STRIPLING WARRIOR CONTEST
Nominate a youth between the ages 8 to 18 (boy or girl), who has performed a kind deed and who you believe is a Latter-day Stripling Warrior. Each person nominated will receive a Latter-day Stripling Warrior certificate signed by the author and the three heroes of The Forgotten Warrior: Sydney, Tarik, and Ximon.Entry forms and more information regarding the contest can be found on the author's website: http://www.kathiorampeterson.com/.
Yesterday morning I was getting Sara dressed and we were chatting the 2 year old chat and she says, "I like your shirt." I reply with "I like your shirt too." She then looks down at my shoes and says, "I like your shoes." I say, "Thank you." She says "Elcome" (for your welcome). Then she comes up with, "I like your elbow"......that's a first! I just giggled and said "I like your elbow too!" It reminded me of a time way back when I was about 10 or so and we were sitting in church and a lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and told me how cute my elbows were cause of all the freckles on them. What do you say to that? Thank you? I probably looked at her funny. So, I have cute elbows! It's so nice to be reminded.
Wow, I have not even thought about blogging for a while! Time to catch up. It's been a busy month so far, but fun. Here is Richard raking our leaves. We don't have any trees in our yard so they've blown over from somewhere. Isn't it a great pile? (I'm being sarcastic.) The kids still had fun!
We celebrated Ethan's 8th birthday with taking him and his friends to Jump On It (the day after his birthday) which they loved. And we had cake and ice cream at the house afterwards.
I held a Christmas recital on the 5th for my piano students which turned out really nice. But boy, it's been a while since I've actually played a solo in front of anyone. Slightly nerve racking! I think the actual recital hall was a bit intimidating for my students but definitely good experience, right? Ethan even played a few songs. I was so proud of him!
Ethan was baptized on the 6th, (after his birthday party with his friends). It's so strange to think Richard and I are old enough to have an 8 year old now! But, it was so special to see him baptized. He was excited and maybe a bit nervous. 
I absolutely love the group Coldplay! They're a bit like U2 with a piano. So for our 9th anniversary that we celebrated this past week, Richard took me to their concert in Salt Lake on Saturday night. I was so excited! We bought their new cd 2 weeks ago so we could get to know the new songs and sing along. It was such a great concert! We had a really good time.
It was supposed to start at 7:30. But since the BYU/Utah game was still going and many of those fans were coming to the concert, they had other performers on stage until 9:00! Then they had to set up the stage for Coldplay, which meant they didn't come on stage until about 9:30. But by then, it was packed and wow was it worth the wait! They were amazing! Everyone was on their feet dancing and singing. I could have gone all night listening to them.
Then Richard insisted on getting something for the boys and for me. So we stood in line afterwards and got the boys a key ring. I know, probably cheesy, but it was one the cheaper things (you know how concert items are double the price than what their worth, right?) And he got me a cute t-shirt. We had to do it! We probably could have gotten online and got them cheaper, but then it's not authentic from the concert, know what I mean?
I love my hubby!
I have always had a calling in some musical spot in the church. For as long as I can remember. Choir pianist quite a bit, RS pianist, primary chorister, choir director (better at playing piano, let me tell you!), primary pianist substitute, playing on my mission at almost every zone conference, playing piano when I was in YW's, etc. I am the most comfortable with playing piano for a calling or being involved in some musical capacity. We all have our areas of comfort when it comes to serving in the church, right?
So when we moved into our current ward last June, I told my bishop/brother (yes, you read that right, he is my bishop. Kinda weird, but fun!) that I would love any calling that involves music, cause that's what I'm comfortable with. So naturally I think I'll get it. Right? Riiiight......
The first counselor comes over to our house to talk to us about callings. I'm thinking for sure it's playing the piano in something. Nope. Mia Maid advisor. Okay. Not what I expected but I am open to new experiences, but honestly I didn't want primary or YW's. I hesitantly said yes and questioned the Lord, "why me?" "Are you sure?"
It was really tough for me in the beginning. Coming to a brand new area and ward and not knowing the YW at all was a real challenge. It would have been easier had I been in the ward a while and knew them at least a little bit. I was so nervous and had no idea how to relate to them. I had a hard time wanting to go to church and activities for a while cause I just felt out of place! And I felt I wouldn't really get to know anyone else in the ward if I'm always in YW's.
Now we've been to girls camp and quite a few weekly activites, and sat through a lot of lessons, and it's getting so much better now! So for my #15 thing I'm grateful for this month is the young women in my ward. They are amazing girls that face lots of challenges. They are fun, funny, smart and spiritual. I have been learning so much about myself and my abilities as well. I think the Lord was just saying, "it's time to try something else now." I'm grateful for that because he knows what I need to learn. I sure hope I can be as good for these girls as they are for me!
When things get tough and frustrating, it's always good to remind yourself of what you have, right? It's called 30 days of Thankful. My friend Holly is doing this on her blog and I decided to give it a go as well.
As I've been sitting here thinking about what I am thankful for, I actually got a warm feeling in my heart. I am certainly so blessed! At first I thought it would take me a while to think up some things to get to the 11th day to be caught up, but it certainly wasn't hard at all!
I have the list on my sidebar if you want to follow up. I'll try to do some short posts as well.
