The Apple Doesn't Fall Far...

After snapping some pics of Brent and the girls in their Sunday best I realized something seemed familiar... REALLY familiar. Almost creepy it was so familiar. I asked Mom to check out my baby book and sure enough, there it was.

Dad and Ireland

Me with my dad walking into the picture

The photo of me as a little girl was taken on Easter so I would have been about 18 months. Exactly the same age as Ireland. In a pale swing dress. With pine trees in the background. And Dad in a suit. Uncanny, eh? Especially since it wasn't staged.


A photo of all of us minus Mom. I love, love, LOVE the huge green bow tie on Logan!



Mormons are supposed to do anything for food?

One of the wonderful perks of having my parents here is they can catch me up on all the random YouTube videos they've seen. I just don't have time to peruse the web like that! Maybe someday when I retire...

This one just put me under.

HELLFIRE!

Miraculously, no one was injured. I feel compelled to say that first off.

Yesterday we had Stake Conference which this year was one of the newfangled broadcasts from SLC rather than one with our local leaders. It was right during Liesel's normal nap time at 10AM so of course she was fidgety. Brent and I took turns taking her into the hall to work it out in the vain hopes she might fall asleep. Elder Eyring was the last to speak and as he began his talk, the feed went awry so there was no sound. I joked to Whitney (who opted to come to the Belmont chapel with us rather than the Longfellow chapel) that I wasn't getting anything out of Elder Eyring's talk... was it because I was so hard-hearted? She obliged me with a laugh and Brent told me he overheard in the hall that the Longfellow chapel had been having feed problems all day.

At the conclusion we sang a closing hymn when Elder Christensen (recently released as an Area Seventy) got up on the stand. That was a little odd since President Lowe had been conducting. Then he explained that while we were listening to Stake Conference, a fire had erupted in the Longfellow chapel. Like I said, everyone was safe, all 300-ish people, but the building was completely gutted and will have to be rebuilt. Welllll, that helps explain why they were having trouble hearing conference! We were asked not to rush over there and mob the place as fire fighters were still working on the blaze, which was finally extinguished an hour later at 1PM. A quick text to friends I knew would be there confirmed everyone indeed got out okay.

I waited until dark to head over and check it out with Whitney. Even after all the reports, I was shocked. It really was gutted! Had it been made of anything but brick it would have probably truly burned to the ground. Then I got sentimental. This building is where I attended church as a lost, broken-hearted, single girl with little hope or direction in life. I eventually left on the arm of my fiance to attend church in a family ward in Belmont. Consequently, that building was burned down by arsonists not long after the adjacent temple was built. But I digress.


This chapel is the one where I heard countless talks over the pulpit, made some of the best friends of my life, checked out prospective guys from the balcony in sacrament meeting and tried my best to live up to the callings I had the chance to serve in. The spiritual transformation that occurred for me in that chapel was my balm of Gilead so to speak. It wasn't the typical chapel either! It had chandeliers, high ceilings and a large round window behind the pulpit. To see the charred and broken windows, the complete lack of a roof and the dripping steeple just broke my heart. The building was dedicated in 1951 by David O McKay and was one of the first Mormon chapels in New England. Elder L. Tom Perry was a bishop there many years ago. Countless local leaders attended church there before membership in the area couldn't be contained within its walls. I'm not the only one who's sentimental about the Longfellow Park chapel, believe me. This video shows the curtains covering the windows of the chapel instantly going up in flames:



They will rebuild and because it's in a historic area kitty corner to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's house (hence the chapel name) it will likely retain some of that New England charm. In the meantime, the 3 congregations that meet there will have to find a temporary home. It will be interesting to see how that works out. I'm pretty sure all the church buildings in the area are at maximum capacity already with 2 or 3 wards utilizing them. Rest assured though, Whitney reports she received an email and FHE is still on for tonight :)

If you'd like to read more, the Boston Globe story here.

The Ties That Bind

Brent woke up a bit late for his temple shift this morning. He rushed about getting showered, putting in his contacts and frantically throwing on his Sunday clothes. In general I love watching him tie his tie but this morning even more so. He quickly ran through the dozen or so things on his mind with me while he quickly and precisely tied his tie. In the few years we've been together I think I've bought him a dozen ties. Initially it was because all his ties were totally wrong for him. Olive green, grey and burgundy just don't fit an upbeat, happy, blue-eyed, blond. Eventually I bought them because I came to love watching him handle something I'd given him with such mastery. The end of the tie flies in various directions before he gives it two firm tugs and slides it up, perfectly knotted, to his crisp, white collar. Oh my, it really is impressive.

There are a couple of other random things I adore about him. Anytime he holds Liesel I'm struck by how tiny she looks and how natural he looks. Brent was truly meant to be a father and even more so, a father of a little girl. When she's tired and she puts her little strawberry blonde head on his chest while she rubs her eyes I just want to cry it's so cute. Even at almost a year old, Brent can still carry Liesel in one hand. Perhaps it's the two ear infections I've had lately, but I tend to teeter when I pick her up. Brent has a way of doing it so smoothly and easily. It gets me every time.

Almost everyday Brent impresses me with some random fact. Did you know Amber Alert was named after a girl called Amber? Or that the Rooney family who owns the Pittsburgh Steelers initially purchased them for just thousands of dollars? Or Liam Neeson's wife who is the sister of Joely Richardson and daughter of Vanessa Redgrave recently died? Casual conversations are never boring with Brent and when he really impresses me with some tidbit of information he gets a sparkle in his eyes (no kidding, they really sparkle!) and the slightest smile. It's so adorably humble and I love it when he does that. Seriously, it just kills me.

Liken These Things Unto Yourselves

I cleverly brought along my In Style magazine to read while I waited in the dr's office. This month's Man of Style is Matthew McConaughey and he mentioned that his son, Levi was born at 6:22 which happens to be his favorite passage in the Bible's book of Matthew. It reads, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."

I thought that was really sweet! It got me to thinking, so we decided to look up Liesel's birthday in the Doctrine and Covenants. Consequently, there are no scriptural books named Brent, Danika or Liesel. Her birth time of 5:31 wasn't very interesting so we tried her birth date of April 2nd. D&C 4:2 reads:

"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."


Given our love of missionary work, Brent and I thought this was very cool. Next we looked up Brent's birthday which would be 7:5 for July 5th:
"I say unto thee, Peter, this was a good desire; but my beloved has desired that he might do more, or a greater work yet among men than what he has before done."


Again, very cool! So okay, lets check on mine which would be 10:27 for October 27th:
"And thus he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men"


Ok , so I have many ex-boyfriends who might agree with that, but anyway. Talk about being born under a bad sign! What's yours?

Ding Dong Not So Much

We have some of the most awesome home teachers. The Salazar family in particular has taken VERY good care of us. After I had Liesel, Annie called to tell me she was on her way to Target and to ask if I needed anything. Who does that? Once she dropped off some homemade pasta salad so I wouldn't have to worry about dinner. No reason, she just thought I could use a little help (even though they have 4 kids of their own). Josh visits us consistently and always leaves a wonderful message that really make us think. They have the most adorable kids and whenever we visit, their little noses are pressed up to the front window. They get so excited when we pull up. Forget Cheers, the Salazars is where everyone knows your name. Well, not exactly... they call me "the girl of your home teacher" which is kind of close to Danika. Anyway, it's with this plethora of goodwill that we thought we'd pay them back a little kindness.

Red velvet cake is my favorite and to keep myself from losing control and eating it all in one sitting I make cupcakes. It's built-in portion control. Even then, we always have way more than we can possibly eat. Brent and I decided to give a plate of cupcakes to the Salazars but to make it even MORE fun, we'd ding dong ditch them. Well, not really because we called Josh ahead of time to let him know we were doing it for the kids excitement and not to be rude. We told him there would be something just outside the front door and to not step in it.

Brent looked SO cute sneaking up to the door in his suit (this was Sunday). He's perfect for this kind of thing because he's up for just about anything and he's so fast. Brent rang the doorbell and in a flash was back in the car. I was so distracted watching him I didn't even notice the minivan pulling out of the driveway I'd parked in front of. Then it went from comical to painful. I'd moved so close to the driveway, the minivan couldn't curve around and get out. Brent and I were ducking to escape being seen and by then the entire family was on the front step watching us. The woman in the minivan was getting more irritated by the second. It seems she hadn't clued in to our plan and with typical New England impatience wanted me to get in gear. Finally I put the car in reverse to give her some room. If there was any doubt as to who was doing the ding dong ditching, the headlights from the minivan solved that mystery. I've never heard Josh laugh so hard. Even as we squealed away I could hear him laughing down the street and I worried a bit he might drop their baby.

Smooooth. We're real smooooth.

Et Tu Mom?

After Christmas Brent, Liesel and I caravaned down with my parents to NJ. A dear friend had made the decision to get baptized and we weren't about to miss it. Turns out we weren't the only ones traversing some distance for the event. There was even a family who had flown in from California and needless to say, the room was filled to capacity. After the baptism the branch had a pot luck to celebrate. Brent and I hung out and talked to the family while Mom and Dad kept things moving. Eventually the crowd thinned and people began folding up chairs and putting away the tables.

I was talking to one of the daughters who's attending college at Northeastern in Boston when I spied Liesel crawling towards a garbage can. Garbage holds a strange sort of fascination for her and if there's one within eyesight she's sure to crawl as fast as she can to empty out the contents. To prevent this disaster, I swiftly picked her up in my arms and returned to my seat. As I sat down, the Northeastern girl got the most curious expression on her face. She suddenly became mute and her eyes grew as big as saucers. Her body went rigid as she leaned towards me. It really threw me off until I hit THAT point. You know, the point where you've squatted enough to realize there is no seat under you anymore and it's much too late to try and stand up. The point of no return.

I'm not sure how, but as I went down I instinctively cradled Liesel so she wouldn't get hurt by the fall. I fell mostly on my butt and side but managed to pick up a bruise and nasty rug burn on my elbow. My first thought was, "Is Liesel okay?" followed quickly by "Did everyone see that?" All movement in the room stopped as everyone stared at me as if I'd started doing an impromptu Mexican hat dance in the nude. Apparently, everyone saw. Liesel continued to blabber as if nothing happened while the circle of concerned onlookers focused on me. As I turned around I expected to see one of the punk kids who had been running round all night making trouble. Ha ha, very funny. That kid was about to get a tongue lashing from me about what could have happened to my precious child in the fall. Imagine my surprise when I turned to face my shocked mother... holding my chair.

Her eyebrows were practically in her hairline. "OH!!! I didn't know you were going to sit down again!" Every once in a while Mom has a way of making something sound like an angry accusation and a question at the same time. This was one of those moments. Then came the rush of questions from the well-intentioned onlookers: Are you okay? Do you want me to take Liesel? Can you get up? All the while my angel mother was still standing there with my chair in hand. It seems neither of us really knew what to do. I didn't want to answer the questions so I got up and helped clean up the room so we could get out of there as quickly as possible.

There's a phrase that goes something like this: "I felt like I had the rug pulled out from under me." Well now I can say I know what that feels like and then some. I had a chair pulled out from under me. While holding my 9-month old. In a pencil skirt. By my OWN mother. Even though I'm a grown woman, could this still count as a childhood scar?

As Far As It Is Translated Correctly...

This is from Comedy Central's Joke of the Day which I get on my iGoogle reader:

The Pope dies and, naturally, goes to heaven where he's met by a reception committee of angels. After a whirlwind tour, The Pope is told that he can enjoy any of the myriad recreations available. He decides that he wants to read all of the ancient original text of the Holy Scriptures, so he spends the next eon or so learning the languages.

After becoming a linguistic master, he sits down in the library and begins to pour over every version of the Bible, working back from the most recent "Easy Reading" to the original handwritten script.
The angel librarian hears a loud scream, and goes running toward its source only to find the Pope huddled in a chair, shaking and crying. "The R! They left out the R!" "What do you mean?" the angel librarian asks. After collecting his wits, the Pope sobs again, "The word was supposed to be CELEBRATE!"

The Amazing Race

"Hey, that's the Sorensons!" my husband said as the SUV pulled into the street behind us. On Sundays it suddenly becomes much easier to spot the Mormons in town because they 1- are usually in a MAV (Mormon Assault Vehicle such as a minivan or SUV) full of kids and 2- are dressed in Sunday clothes. We stopped at an intersection and the Sorensons pulled to the side to make a right-hand turn.

There are 2 basic ways to get to church. The first option is to drive up the hill to where the rich people live. It's also where the private school is and the road is a tad windy. You cross over the highway and continue on the frontage road after which you cross back under the highway and voila, you're there. The other option goes a little bit out of the way, but takes the windy roads out of the equation. Take a right at the intersection so you head down to the closest freeway entrance. Then take advantage of the speed and get off at the appropriate off-ramp, cross under the freeway and voila, you're there. We typically take the first and on this fateful morning, the Sorensons took the second.

Brent was suddenly very alert. "Why are they going THAT way? This way's much faster... isn't it?" Hmmm, well I think that depends on the lights. Both ways have 2 sets of lights and if you get to them at the wrong time, you can be significantly delayed. As we headed up the hill he shook his head, "They're going to beat us" even as he pressed on the accelerator a bit more than usual. We hit the first red light. Clearly despondent Brent sighed, "Yeah, they're going to beat us." The light changed and we breezed through the second light. Brent brightened as he watched the cars coming off the freeway. "That's not them... that's not them... THAT'S not them... THERE THEY ARE!!!" he gleefully shouted as they merged just behind us. "Yeah! YEAH! Oh yeah baby!!!" He high-fived me. Even as we parked the car he continued to glory in our triumph. I never knew the joy that could come from beating another family to church. After all, Mormons tend to be late.

Even though we've been married for over a year, sometimes he still surprises me... and he still always makes me smile :)