Dancing with Daffodils

It has been quite a month. I missed two days but it has been a good experience to write every day and think back on my life and the experiences I've had that have been important, good or instructive. On this last day of November and my blogging extravaganza, I want to look forward to the future and list what I hope to experience someday. In no particular order: 1. Europe. I really want to go to Europe and do some serious exploring. Bring on Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. I want to see the Nuschwanstein castle, eat pizza next to a canal in Venice, climb the Eiffel Tower, eat French cheese, see the Matterhorn, visit the Sistine Chapel and swim in the Mediterranean Sea. I'd love to go back to England too and see it all over again. 2. Celebrate our first Christmas in our new house. This year is so weird because we're moving right before the holiday so no decorating, no time to bake, no setting up the electric train or the advent calendar and no huge Dou...

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...