Baby Gabe

Little baby Gabe was born last Thursday. He is the cutest little guy. He was 6 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches long. He has the longest little toes! I am just so in love with him. It's so weird that my little sister is a mom! She is doing great and I love to see all that she is already doing for the lil tyke. Steve is a great dad too! He is just love struck with him as well. How could you not be?! And now I really can't wait to have my own dang kids.

Maggie Baby

I have a new niece. I guess she isn't totally new, she is five weeks old, but she is the newest addition to my family. I got to see her on Saturday and she melted my little heart. Actually, she made my heart grow. Kind of like on The Grinch, how his heart grows however many sizes. Everyone was outside eating lunch and I just sat in the lovesac and held the little Mags. She just snuggled right up to me and fell asleep. It was great because there weren't a thousand fingers poking her face and waking her up. And I just got to see her and what a beautiful little baby she is.

I know no guys that I know read this blog so this won't freak any of them out, but I can't wait to have my own kids.

Missin mission letters...

Okay, so while I was going through mission stuff, I found some letters from my sister Alana. Seriously, she is just so hilarious. She tries to blame it on her pregnant brain, but I think it’s always been like this.
September 26, 2004
“Oh boy, on Wednesday at work, I had a fruit loop necklace on and this little rascal turd face named Diego, runs up to me and bites my necklace off! And the fruit loops go flying! So I get on my hands and knees to pick them up and he starts pulling my pants down! And he kept calling me “a little nerd” in his cute little Latino accent. I really like this job – it is way easy and the kids really are so adorable.
“Anyway, so ya, on Friday I asked this kid named Brett Miller to MORP (a high school dance) – You know how dad has like a million hot dogs in the freezer? Well we got 32 hot dogs, defrosted them, and put them all over his porch and said “HOT DOG! Let’s go to Morp!” Ha ha. I thought it was funny cuz I made it up. Oh and I put my name on a toothpick and shoved it in one end of a hot dog. So me and Shawna went and delivered the lovely little mess – as we were laying out the dogs, a black cat walks right up and kifes one of the hot dogs! Then it looked at us, kind of snarled, and ran off! Crazy lunatic cat I tell ya. “
Can you see why I really miss getting letters!?

Missin the Mish

Last night after I got home late, I found a bunch of things from my mission. Letters I never got sorted out, some pictures, my going home Dobra Strona (newsletter), you know, that kind of thing. I went through it, and I got really home sick. I won't lie, I even cried a bit. I am such a home body, I love to be with my family, but I miss the people who became my family when I was a missionary.
I don’t miss tracting. Or the cold weather. Or being yelled at. Or not being able to pick up the phone to chat with my friends and family. Or being able to take naps. Or my long skirts and button up shirts. But I miss having a sense of purpose. Living for others. Knowing what I was supposed to be doing with my life. My friends who have all moved on to another stage of life. Speaking Polish. Not having to impress boys. Companions. Writing letters. Receiving letters. Helping people make life changing decisions. I miss my mission president and his cute wife. Sharing my testimony a gazillion times a day. The food. Feeling like a rock star when people actually knew who we were. Train rides. Sleepovers at zone conference. People praying for me daily to find people searching for the gospel (and not a husband haha). I just plain miss being a missionary.
I am so glad I went. And that I have such a wonderful part of my life to look back on. And miss.

This is part of my MTC groupat a zone conference in Katowice. Some of these people I miss the most. From left: Starszi Cragun, Patterson, Dyer, Siostry Spainhower, Jensen, and me.

Grammy-Cakes

My grandma is the coolest rockin-est grandma. Here is why:
1. She is the best cook. She lost her sniffing senses a while back, but she still makes the best smelling and most delcious tasting food. She is the go-to-girl when anybody needs something catered. Ever tried her cinammon rolls? If not, you are missing out.
2. She wrote me lots of letters while I was a missionary. This is how they started: "Dear Pooh,..." It was awesome.
3. I was helping her cater a very busy job one time. I was running from kitchen to table and back and getting a little bit frazzled when she grabbed my arm and pulled me down so she could say, "Guess what? I love you."
4. She cracks me up. If I tease her she will say, "Come over her so I can smack you."
5. She takes care of other people. She makes dinner for little old ladies in her ward.
6. She is very thoughtful. She makes and gives gifts to my brothers and sisters that are not her grandkids. They feel like she is their grandma too.
7. She goes walking every morning. She is a mall-walker. She picks up her 92 year old friend Anna and they go walking. Cute little ladies!
8. If someone speaks for too long or their talk is too boring in church, she'll leave. And if a hymn is too annoying (Can we say, "There is Sunshine in my Soul?), she won't sing it. I am totally like that too.
9. Grandma has the best yard with the greenest grass and a little creek running along in back. There are ducks back there a lot of times and quail love it on her lot. Her flowers are gorgeous and weed free and she loves working out in the yard.
10. I just love her.

So, it was kind of tough this last Saturday when I got a phone call from my mom telling me Grandma was having an emergency appendectomy. It had perforated a while ago apparently without her knowing it, so it did some damage, but they were able to care of it for the most part. Grandma was a champ though and has had a pretty good recovery. I was able to spend some time with her in the hospital a few of the days. She had to go for walks and on one of them, she wanted to find the elevator and bust out of there. That was the only time I heard her say something about how she didn't want to be there. She just doesn't complain. She got home yesterday and has been getting up on her own and doing everything by herself. It's great! I went to see her this morning and asked her what she had planned for the day. She said "Rollerblading." I think she is going to be just fine. :)

D.A.R.E.

I mentioned before that Emma graduated from the D.A.R.E program which is taught in schools to help kids learn how to say no to drugs and alcohol. It had been a while since I had been in my stomping grounds and everything looked miniaturized. The adults all sat in folding chairs and the pint sized kids came filing in from outside. I think they have even gotten smaller. I mean I used to be a "big fifth grader" too. Anyway, the officer told us some of the things they have been learning and then three kids got up and read their essays. The first girl was so cute. You remember that one girl who got 100% on everything and always had the right answer but wasn't annoying about it like that other girl. Her mom definitely helped her on her essay. The second kid, oh the second kid was a riot! He was the class clown, but smart too. He had me giggling to the point I had to cover my mouth because all the kids started looking at me. He definitely wrote his essay all by himself especially becasue it was torn out of a three ring binder and had all the edges still connected. The next kid was the stereotypical smart Asian. His essay was over three pages long. It was typed. And I'm pretty sure he didn't write a word of it. Pretty sure his mom did it all. Anyway, then they did the D.A. R.E. song. The actions just kill me. "I will respect myself."

Anyway, I was pretty proud of that little Emma D. She's such a good kid, and you know she will always be one of those kids that parents are glad their kids are friends with. Oh, and she didn't have sunglasses becasue she loaned her pair to someone who forgot them. What a little sweetie!

Old

I am going to Mehico on Sunday with a non-profit organization. I'm way excited. We had our final meeting last night and a few new people showed up. One kid walked up and I was like, "Whoa." He sat down and people started asking him about himself. He mentioned that his dad was the Bishop of a single's ward in Salt Lake but that he definitley wouldn't be going there. Without realizing he probably meant that he wouldn't because his dad was the Bishop, I asked why. He actually said that it's because everyone in the ward is so old. Like 25. Come to find out, he's only 19. I guess was that naive once, but 25 is NOT old, thank you very much. Especially because I'm 26.

Those Poor Frying People!

My dad and Linda-mom have been out of town since last Saturday, so I have been playing mom again. Inevitably when they go out of town, there is something going on over at the elementary school so i take a little time off of work and go watch a program or whatever it is. Today Emma had her D.A.R.E. Graduation. More on that later. I took an early lunch to go see the graduation, and not only did I get to see the graduation, but also the state fair. Every year the fifth graders do a report on a state and it's a big to do and they have to do a tri-fold back drop and everything. Then I guess they put them on display. Emma picked Nebraska. And I learned something I didn't know before: Nebraska has peculiar weather. This is her back drop: And this is what I learned:

Empathy

I am one of the most sympathetic people I know. Seriously. I can just feel what people are feeling. I mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that need comfort. People just tug at my heart strings. I think that is one of my greatest strengths. But then there is empathy. Empathy is something that endows a gift of charity. It obliterates every judgment, every grudge, every misunderstanding. It helps us truly understand a person, all guards down, because we know where they have been. We have been there too. It forges a different kind of bond with people. You don’t just feel their pain, you know and experience it too. I look at my closest friends and reflect on what has made us so close: it’s empathy.
Every time a big storm blows into town, I can feel it in my right hand. It aches and I hate straightening out my last two fingers. I tend to think I have arthritis in those joints but only feel it when the pressure drastically changes, though I haven’t seen a doctor. Two weeks ago, a big storm rolled in. I realized that’s why my hand was hurting. The pain was acute and lasted for about a week. I started worrying that it wouldn’t go away and all the implications that would involve: like having scary fingers and having to learn to write with my left hand. I complained about it to my mom and then realized what a wimp I was. Alana had been practically bed ridden for months last year because of that kind of pain all over her body. My heart hurt so much for her during that time and I wished there was something I could do for her. I was filled with that sympathy. As I whined to my mom, I realized that now I had a taste of what it was like. And then I realized that not only did Alana experience the physical pain that arthritis brings, but she also had to deal with a lot of fear.
I had been expressing wimpathy. I don’t think I could handle that! And I am grateful that she is so strong and able to handle such a difficult trial. But now I can look at it differently. Because although I don’t have a clue what it would feel like to have sore and stiff joints all over my body, I have had a little taste of the pain it involves. I have developed a little bit of empathy, and my respect and love for my little sister has grown by leaps and bounds.
I think it is empathy which draws us closer to the Savior. He understands our pain because he experienced it. And because he understands, it draws out a different kind of love and trust from us. It sort of binds us closer. At times, he will let us have a glimmer of understanding what he has gone through, that is when we are humbled and our love and gratitude for Him become more solidified. When He does that, He gives us the gift of empathy, and with it, charity.

Chicago 6 of 6: Easter time!

Boy am I a slacker. Looks like I might have run out of steam. Either that or I got busy. I think I’ll stick with the second one. Anyway, I rolled out of bed again around 8. I just couldn’t get up! Annalisa had made a delicious breakfast of amazing French toast. If you want a delicious breakfast, you should make it. Yum. I felt like a bit of a skunk because they were all dressed up in their Sunday clothes (it being Sunday, and all). But since it was Conference, I didn’t bring a dress of any sort. So I was just in jeans. Oh well.
We dyed eggs. So fun! I haven’t done that in years! I made a upper cool swirly egg. Actually, that’s the only egg I dyed. But it was fun watching Addie and Greg do it together. She is just the sweetest little girl and Greg and Annalisa are just so sweet with her. I loved seeing their family together.

Well, then conference was starting so we all gathered around the internet. It was nice that we didn’t have to go to the church or something to watch it. The internet really makes life so much easier! Anyway, that session was amazing! And Addie was so good. I was impressed by that little one ;)
Then I had to go upstairs and get ready so I didn’t have buffalo wallow woman hair, and Addie came up with me so the easter bunny could come. She seriously is such a crack up. She loved getting into my stuff. Anyway, when they were ready, we went outside. The Easter bunny had left me a basket too! Complete with Zac Efron erasers. All of my dreams came true. She was so darn cute. Anyway, we went on a hunt to find everything. Addie got hung up on putting rocks in her basket. It was awesome.

Then, when I dumped those out for her, every time she found an egg, she would open it and start shoving all the candy into her mouth. Hilarious! The hunt was taking way too long so we started making little piles of eggs so she wouldn’t have to stop so many times to open the eggs. Well it didn’t really seem to help because even though she couldn’t eat the candy anymore, she had to open all the eggs anyway. Then Greg made me find the hardest egg. It fell down in the wheel well. He just likes to see me get confused and exasperated. I’m sure I would laugh at myself too if I saw it. Anyway, I did find it, thanks to Annalisa’s subtle hints :)

When the hunt was over, we did a little bit of a photo shoot. It was fun to play with a real camera and I got a little bit jealous. Maybe one day, I will get a nice big camera with different lenses and take some nice photos. But for now, I will let other people take those pictures… which is what I let Annalisa do the whole trip. So most of the pictures, in fact, all but two, were taken by the BFF and her awesome camera. Then we went inside and watched another hour of conference and it was time for me to go. So sad! I really didn’t want to leave! I seriously had so much fun and it wasn’t like on most other trips when you are ready to go home. I wanted to be able to stay longer. Wah.
So we piled in the car and drove to the airport. We said goodbye and I lugged my 34 pound suitcase around.

I started reading and looked outside and it was pouring. Chicago was crying that I was leaving. It just loved me being in its city limits. So I boarded the plane. An hour later we took off. I get kind of mad when that happens, but I was mostly ok because I had a great book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The BFF loaned it to. I absolutely loved it!! It was so cute and I couldn’t put it down. So I was actually kind of gladd I had more time on the plane to read it. That is, until the guy behind be started sneezing. The first time he did it, I flew out of my seat it scared me so badly. You guys, I can’t even tell you how loud it was! It was like he was shooting a potato gun. The guy next to me found it more entertaining that I was flying out of my seat every time I did it. But then the sneezer started blowing his nose. He sounded like a fog horn! How can you blow your nose as loud as a blow horn? I don’t know, because I can’t even YELL that loudly. Well, so I decided to put on my headphones to try and drown that guy out, but I was still jumping out of my seat every five minutes. I almost turned around and yelled at the guy nfor being so inconsiderate and sneezing every five minutes. That’s what happens when I get frustrated with the noises people are making. Luckily, the white and peacemakery part of my personality was there to reign me in and I didn’t say anything. But man I was glad to get off that plane. I read all but 20 pages of my book. And then I finished in peace at my own house.