Dancing with Daffodils

I was a senior in high school walking out of my AP English class when this nice boy who sat in front of me followed me out of class and asked me out on a date. It was my first official date and it happened on November 21, 1997. We immediately hit it off and went on a second date that I didn't think went very well. He was very indecisive and didn't really have a plan for the evening and it was kind of lame. But we had good phone conversations regularly and for lengthy periods of time so we went on a third date. By then it was Christmas and he sent me the most beautiful roses I had ever seen. I was incredibly embarrassed though because my parents were living in Boise at the time but were home for Christmas and I hadn't really told them about him so they teased me for weeks. We didn't see much of each other over Christmas break because I was busy with my family and volleyball practice. We spent a lot of time together in January and held hands for the first time while at...

I have driven across the country numerous times. As a kid almost every summer we would pack up our blue Chevy conversion van with the two bench seats in the back that folded down into beds and head out west to visit extended family. We would leave at 4pm when my dad got home from work, usually hit Chicago somewhere in the middle of the night and then wake up early in the morning just over the Nebraska border. Then we would spend all day driving across Nebraska, all 500 miles of flat, smelly Nebraska. We usually made it to Grandma's house in Colorado by dinner time. We'd spend a day or two there then finish the last eight-hour stretch through windy Wyoming to Salt Lake City. I loved being in the car and watching the scenery go by while listening to my mixed tapes on my Walkman. We'd play car games or cards, jam to John Denver or sometimes my dad would listen to old time radio shoes on tape and we'd all have to listen too. We only ever stopped for gas so I learned some ...

I love celebrating holidays and I love traditions. I am grateful for all of the wonderful family traditions that are a part of who I am and of the family my husband and I have created. A typical Thanksgiving for me as a kid meant that our friends, the Adams family, came over for the day. We would play games all day and snack on veggies and cheese and crackers, then eat our dinner around 4pm. Turkey, yams and apples, homemade rolls and stuffing, cranberries, corn, green beans, and Jello salad were always on the table. Then we would talk and eat and talk some more until we ate pie. My favorite is my mom's apple pie with a big scoop of ice cream, but I also love her cherry and pumpkin will do if that's all that's left. Then we would all gather to watch a Christmas movie and during the movie we would pause it to make turkey sandwiches with the leftover rolls and turkey. It was a simple celebration but it became tradition to share our day with friends since we never had any ...

My mom is a wonderful lady. She loves to do things for people to make them happy. That often includes cooking or baking of some sort and she is known for her delicious homemade bread and her cinnamon rolls. She made my lunch for me until I was a senior in high school, she was constantly hosting and feeding people, and she made every holiday special. She also was happy to drive me anywhere I needed to go and once even drove three hours down to Pennsylvania to pick me up early from a special church camp I had gone to so that I could make it to casting day for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I desperately wanted to be a dancer that year and that required being there for casting. Over six hours of driving in one day just to give me a chance to make my non-important dream come true. Her nature is to take care of people and helping others is just what makes her happy. She has been here to help when each of my children were born and many other times when she would come to visit she would take me ...

I've been trying to think about the nicest things people have done for me and I apologize because I have written about this before but it keeps coming to my mind. It was one of the most selfless gifts and in a time of great need and my heart still swells with gratitude whenever I remember this story.  On May 9, 2006, my husband and I came home from being out all day to learn that my brother-in-law had passed away in an accident.  It was devastating news to think that my dear sister was suddenly a widow and her three boys were now without a father.  I felt such overwhelming grief for my sister and her position; that her life had turned upside down in a matter of minutes. I felt a great need to be there with her, especially to help out with my nephews.   My sister lives in Michigan and I was living in Utah at the time, working at the university while my husband was in school.  First I had to arrange the time off and then I had to figure out how in the world...

My husband and I moved to Dayton, Ohio for him to attend graduate school at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He was one of the few civilians to be accepted in his class. This was a very busy time for him and could have been a lonely time for me. But then I met Liz. She was outgoing and so friendly and welcoming. She invited me to her recipe exchanges and book club, she invited us over for dinner and would ask me to go on walks with her and her little boy. She made it easy to love living in Dayton even though my husband spent the majority of his time at school. She was the first person I told besides my husband when I finally got pregnant with my daughter. I saw her just about every day and didn't want to keep it a secret from her. We went to every church event together and had countless meals in each other's homes. Her husband and my husband became good friends too and so it was easy and fun to spend time together. Every good memory I have of that 18 months includes Liz...

Today I'm grateful for the funny experiences I've had in life, the ones that have made me laugh. Like this summer when I was attending our church's young women camp and six of us leaders decided to take a little action. After much discussion on what we should do, at 1am we took saran wrap and duct tape and went out to make it difficult for the girls to open their cabin doors. In the process we ended up running into some girls who were also headed out to make some trouble and the moment we scared them still makes me laugh.  Even just running around in the woods with ladies who think I'm the young one in the middle of the night was hilarious. Silly times make for good times. One of my very favorite funny moments was when my husband, friend Michelle and I were in Hong Kong visiting my parents who were serving a mission there for our church. They took us to a cultural park just over the border in China and when my husband saw these huge, plastic balls floating on the rive...

When my husband and I were newlyweds, we lived in married student housing in Provo, Utah while attending BYU. We were in that new phase of life where we had to make couple friends and with people who going to school and working too. We made a few friends but I quickly realized that a lot of the people I thought were really great and wanted to get to know had babies, toddlers or both. They tended to hang out with other people that had little kids. So I formulated a plan that once or twice a month we would offer to babysit for one of these families so they could have an evening out. That would also give us time to interact with them a bit and hopefully get to know them better. The first family we offered to help out was the Strom family. They had a boy who was about 3 at the time and a baby girl, just eight months old. I had lots of experience babysitting from when I was a teenager and also with my many nephews, but my husband had never really been around other people's kids before...

When I was sixteen, I attended a church youth conference and one of the speakers encouraged us to make a dream list. He said it didn't matter if it seemed plausible or not but to write down what we dreamed would happen in our lives. I went home and wrote in my journal the following dream list: 1. To dance in a Broadway or West End musical 2. To play a piano solo on a stage by myself on a grand piano in front of tons of people [I should have added and be good enough to do so!] 3. To manage or own a hotel or bed and breakfast 4. To work at a newspaper as a reporter 5. To have my work published in a magazine 6. To appear on television 7. To live in England for a period of time 8. To dance all by myself on pointe in front of lots of people Here we are almost 20 years later and half of my dreams have been realized. Of course I've also come up with new ones so I suppose I should update my list. But I do feel good about what I've accomplished. I checked off number 4 whe...

Some of the most wonderful people that I met in Ukraine were the Nescherets. They were a family of five girls, which is very unusual there. They were not active members of the church at the time and so we spent a lot of time with them as missionaries helping their family to read scriptures together, hold family home evening and attend Sunday meetings again. The parents were warm and welcoming and Mama Nescheret (as we came to call her) was one of the two best cooks in all of Ukraine. Their daughters are the ones who started attending church again though and so we began teaching the two youngest about our church so that they could get baptized. They were some of the silliest people I ever met on my mission. One of their favorite games that we taught them as part of having family home evening with them was the animal game where everyone has an animal sign and you clap to a rhythm doing each other's signs. If someone messes up the rhythm or a sign, they move to the end of the food c...

There is a fabulous program in my church called visiting teaching. Under the organization of the Relief Society (or the women's organization of the church) we are put into companionships and assigned three or four other ladies to visit monthly. Our responsibility is both temporal and spiritual. A typical visit lasts between 30-60 minutes and includes catching up to make sure all is going well or to find out if there are any needs then we share a spiritual message which often leads to a good gospel discussion. If that woman needs help, she should first turn to her visiting teachers and hopefully they are good friends who are happy and willing to help. I love this program. When I turned 18 and started visiting, it was a bit funny to be at college and visiting other girls my age, but I made good friends and had the opportunity to care for others at a very selfish time of life. When we first moved here I was assigned to visit a woman that is a great grandmother. I'm pretty sure s...

It has taken me the last few weeks to decide if I am actually grateful for this life experience but I've decided that I am grateful to have lived it and moved on. Without getting too personal, I have an irregular cycle and some family history of fertility issues and so I knew even as a teenager that it was going to be a challenge for me to get pregnant. All I've ever really wanted to be was a mother so a year after we were married we decided it was time to go off of birth control and see what happened. The answer was absolutely nothing. A year later I decided it was time to talk to our family doctor and he prescribed Clomid, a typical first fertility treatment since it helps you ovulate. A year and a half later I was starting to get worried when still nothing happened. At that point we moved to California and I started see an infertility specialist an hour away from where we lived. She started me on different medication and then we moved to giving myself shots for ten days an...

I unfortunately never had a relationship with any of my grandparents. My maternal grandparents lived thousands of miles away and did not ever come to visit us. We saw them once a year when we went tot their house for a few days and it was always awkward for me because I didn't know them and they didn't know me at all. My paternal grandfather died when my dad was just six months old so he didn't even know his father. My grandmother lived far away as well and so we saw her infrequently. I was 15 when she died but she had experienced some mini strokes when I was nine or ten that left her incapable of communicating clearly. I have a card that she sent me when I was eight and she wrote that she loved me but I have no memory of any personal expression of love, though I know she must have. When I started dating my husband, one of the first family members I met was his Grammy. She had lived with their family since before he was even born. She was a quiet, sweet lady and everybod...

We had a really great summer. I thought it was going to be tough trying to keep my older kids occupied while sticking to the little kids' schedule but what ended up happening is that the little kids did a great job keeping up and having fun with the big kids. My friends roped me into this program the library was doing called More to Explore. We each got a passport and each page had information about a different park or area of interest in our county. The idea was to go visit the site and do a rubbing from the marker (after finding the marker which was not always easy). The passport was complete if you visited 10 or the 22 sites and you could get a compass from the library. We easily got four parks that we visit on a regular basis, plus the library but that left at least five more places to visit. I started planning out adventures and how we could get the most rubbings in one outing. We went to a new park that my kids absolutely loved and I hadn't even known it was there. We...

My senior year of high school was a bit unique. My dad decided to retire early from Kokak and accepted a job with Hewlett Packard in Boise, Idaho. I am the youngest and luckily, one of my older sisters had just graduated from college and moved back home. Thanks to wonderful parents who trusted me a great deal, they moved to Idaho and I was able to stay in Rochester, New York to finish my senior year. It was an incredible challenge but blessing because that year I was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, an NHS officer, captain of the varsity volleyball team, involved in symphonic and jazz band, and I met my husband. But this did lead to some interesting circumstances. I was 17 and basically taking care of myself while my sister kept an eye on me. My parents would come home at times and one such time was for my high school graduation. I am a late night kind of person and remember staying after a graduation party one night just talking and playing ping pong with a few friends. Befo...

I love to play volleyball. It doesn't involve a lot of running, it requires good timing and being smart, other people are not getting in your space, and blocking a hit or putting one on the floor is a thrilling experience. I am competitive but not aggressive in a "I'm going to rip that ball out of your hands" kind of way so it is a good fit for me. When I got to BYU, my freshman roommate was working in the athletic department and hooked me up with the most amazing job: scoreboard operator for the volleyball games! I was already going to every single one. BYU has always had great teams and filling up the Smith Fieldhouse (holds about 5,000) was easy to do and it was an exciting crowd to be a part of. Now I was going to get paid to sit on the court and watch the game while pushing a few buttons. Dream come true! That year was when Nina Puikkonen, one of the most honored BYU women volleyball players, was also a freshman and she was fantastic to watch. She played the s...

One of the greatest experiences of my childhood is my participation in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. My dad was the photographer for many years and as staff, that allowed my family to be a part of the Pageant many times. It is a huge outdoor show held in Palmyra, New York, every July that tells the story of the Book of Mormon. It starts with Lehi having a vision to leave Jerusalem and goes on to Nephi's vision of the Savior and building the boat to come to the Americas. Then one of the more visually stunning scenes is wicked King Noah's court when Abinadi comes to call the people to repentance and is burned to death for it. The pinnacle is when Christ appears to the people and teaches them, then it ends with Moroni burying the plates in the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph Smith later was directed to find them. It is dramatic and spiritual and has technically challenging special effects. The cast is made up of 600 volunteers who show up on a Saturday to be cast into their roles and then ...

I was not happy on the day I had to send my oldest to kindergarten. Her younger brother wasn't either. The two of them did everything together and were the best playmates. I hadn't sent her to preschool because it didn't work for our family and I knew she didn't need it so putting her on the bus that day for all-day kindergarten was very difficult. I could tell she was nervous about her teacher and making friends but she bravely marched onto the bus that first morning and I bravely held it together until we'd gotten back to the house. All day we moped around, missing her. I had no idea how she would react to adults she didn't know. Would she be too chatty? Would she be afraid to ask where the bathroom was located or if she could go? Would kids be nice to her? Would she enjoy learning and work hard? She and I had been pretty inseparable for five years and relinquishing control over her environment was a challenge. Plus I just missed knowing what she was up to a...

I really love good food and one of my favorite eating experiences was a day my husband and I spent in Vermont. We were staying at a wonderful little bed and breakfast in Stowe and we started our day with these light and fluffy cottage cakes (something between a pancake and a crepe with cottage cheese in them) with real Vermont maple syrup and a side of the most delicious breakfast quiche I've ever had. After breakfast we went to the Ben and Jerry's factory and took the tour to see how they make ice cream. At the end of the tour we got a very large sample of their chocolate chip ice cream, which was simple but creamy and chocolaty and wonderful. We then went to a cider mill and watched them as they pressed the cider. They also had cider doughnuts and I don't even really like doughnuts but I lost count on how many we ate with their fresh cider. A little slice of heaven on earth. We went back into town and decided we should probably have some real food so we got small panini ...

In this moment I am overwhelmed with love and appreciation for the man I married. We have had 17 years worth of experiences together and I'm grateful for all of them. From the first time he asked me out on a date to when he was holding our last baby with such tenderness, whether they were good or bad, I'm grateful to have shared them with him. We've had water fights in amusement parks, driven across the country, welcomed four children into the world and manged to come up with names for them, watched the sunrise on the beach, explored big cities, dealt with financial stress, finished three college degrees, moved four times, put together bookshelves and bunk beds, watched hundreds of movies, changed thousands of diapers, served in multiple church responsibilities and supported the other in doing so too, purchased two new cars, taken moon lit walks, cried together, attended lots of BYU football and basketball games, gone to the temple together, taught our children how to rid...

Today my friend Michelle came to visit me from California. She and I have known each other since September 5, 2001 when we entered the Missionary Training Center to learn Ukrainian together. Not only did we spend 24/7 with each other for nine weeks in the MTC, we were then able to serve as missionaries together in Ukraine for four months. We've shared some pretty unique experiences ranging from the hilarious to the sacred. One of the hilarious ones happened on a beautiful summer day. We lived on the eighth floor of our building and had the windows open to get some air. We had just finished lunch and were getting ready to head back out when we saw a huge grasshopper on the bookshelf in our main living room. I am not exaggerating when I say that this grasshopper was close to a foot in length with legs and antenna to match. We both are squeamish when it comes to bugs but I especially have a hard time with ones that jump and could therefore possibly touch me. I do much better with sp...

When I returned from my semester in London, I decided to do the spring term at BYU from April to June. The friend from home that I had lived with my freshman and half of my sophomore year decided she wanted to live with some other girls but she was kind enough to sign a housing contract for me so that at least when I got back I had someplace to live. I was anxious though about moving into a place where I didn't know anyone, plus I had furniture from my old apartment that I had to somehow to get my new one. I moved in on a Monday and just six days later I was writing in my journal how I loved my roommates and felt so at home. Carrie and I actually shared a room and on Thursday morning she made my bed for me while I was in the shower and on Friday she made me dinner. She also borrowed her parents' big van and helped me move my furniture from the old apartment to our new one. At first I was kind of overwhelmed by her energy level but her kindness and willingness to love quickly ...

Today as I pondered what experiences I am grateful to have had, a few came to mind that are all related. The first was when I competed in a musical festival with my high school symphonic band. I played the clarinet in high school and loved being in the band. Our director was incredible and pushed us to work hard and he challenged us with quality music. My junior year of high school we played a song called Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed. It is beautiful and haunting and difficult. After months of practicing we went to a competition in Toronto I will never forget when we finished the last note after we played so well and the applause that followed. It was wonderful to be part of something bigger than myself and accomplish something difficult to create something beautiful. I had that same feeling participating in the women's choir in high school. I am not much of a singer but they needed more voices and so I sat next to my best friend who has a fantastic voice and just tried to mimi...

When my husband and I were college students with very little income, I decided we needed to go on a trip to San Francisco because neither of us had ever been and we weren't sure how long we'd be living in the west. We drove the eight hours across the Nevada desert and had an amazing week exploring the city on the cheap. On our way back, we spent a day at Lake Tahoe and then the plan was to stay the night in Reno and drive home the following day. As we were driving the windy road down from Lake Tahoe into Reno, our 11-year-old car started making a funny noise and the engine light came on. It was 4:30pm on a Friday. We managed to find a Pep Boys and they wanted $800 to replace the radiator because they said it was cracked. However, they weren't going to be able to do it until Tuesday. Considering we had no extra money for more days at the motel, plus food, plus we had school and work to return to on Monday, this was not going to work. I went into full panic mode but luckily...

I was able to study abroad for a semester my sophomore year of college. I lived in the BYU Center in London, just minutes from Kensington Gardens. It was the experience of a lifetime studying Shakespeare from a professor named William Shakespeare (no joke), visiting the Globe theater and going to Barbican to see Othello from the third row. In our English history class we learned about the signing of the Magna Carta and then went to Runnymeade. I loved every minute of it. For one weekend we were sent out for a live-in experience. Members of our church invited us to come in twos and stay the weekend, showing us a more authentic English experience. My friend, Sara, and I went north to stay with a single woman named Catherine Stubbs, or as she said we could call her, Cathy. She was a humble lady with chapped red legs from walking or riding her bike in the bitter cold in only her knee-length skirt and a sweater. She had a big black dog named Jesse that came everywhere with us. She was g...

Continuing on with experiences I’ve had for which I am grateful: This year I turned 35. I love hosting parties and was all set to host a small celebration for myself with my favorite people around here when I turned the calendar and found “Alecia’s Birthday Bash brought to you by your man” written from a Friday over into the Saturday rectangle the weekend following my birthday. I was pleasantly surprised and figured he was planning the party for me, which was very thoughtful of him. My friends and I celebrate every birthday with a lunch out or girls night in and so when no one asked me what I wanted to do or when I wanted to celebrate, I figured they were all in on the party idea with my husband. On my actual birthday I had a lovely day at the local little river beach with my friends and children. I had a quiet afternoon talking with my sisters and parents and some long-distance friends, then my husband brought home a delicious dinner and ice cream cake and I opened very thought...

My goal for this month is to record every day an experience for which I am grateful to have had. Here is the first one. I have been very anxious to sell our house in order to move into a new home that will better fit the needs of our family. It has been a very stressful month of cleaning, waiting, hoping, while feeling restless and on edge all of the time. So when some other options of how to make this move happen without selling our house first were suggested to me, I lept on them. Finally, something I can take more control over and a way to make what I want to happen without sitting around and waiting for someone to show up. My husband, however, was pretty against these other options, which I could appreciate were not very financially responsible but sometimes you take risks to get what you want, right?  I was annoyed and even referred to him as a wet blanket to my friends. Why was he squashing all of my hopes? He had been traveling and we had spent very little time togethe...