Dancing with Daffodils

I read an interesting article lately about what the author called emotional labor. She talks about wanting to get a cleaning service for Mother's day and how her husband handled the situation, which mostly led to him just doing it himself because he misunderstood what exactly it was she wanted. The true gift was going to be the work of researching different cleaning companies, talking to friends and vetting companies and then making the appointment, relieving her of the time and energy it would take to make it happen. She said a clean house was just going to be a bonus gift. But instead he thought she just wanted a clean bathroom, did it himself and then was frustrated when she wasn't grateful. While he is a super helpful husband, he has to be asked to do anything, making his wife the one who bears all the emotional labor burden. It goes on about how to discuss emotional labor with your spouse, how frustrating it can be to wives when their husbands don't have equal initia...

February is always such a tough month for me. I don't know why but it is so dreary and everyone seems to get sick so there are many lonely days stuck at home or if we make it out, our friends are stuck at home with their sick kids. It always seems to be the toughest month for me to be happy; probably a lack of vitamin D or something but this year has been no exception. First, it started off with my daughter being sick and home from school for four days. She can be drama so that was a long time for me and I was very happy to send her back to school and have a break. My in-laws came to visit for a weekend and it was nice to have them here but it took a lot of emotional energy (still haven't discussed or resolved my very negative feelings about their move and my kids were disappointed that it was such a short visit) and then wouldn't you know it, I spent all the next week sick myself. That Sunday night I went to bed shivering and totally layered up and then Monday I could ha...

2019 was a good year of reading. I made my goal of reading 30 books and there were some I really enjoyed. I would say the best two books of the year were Where the Crawdads Sing and The Good Neighbor (about Mr. Rogers). I enjoyed both of them so much and have talked about them with many people since I read them. Where the Crawdads Sings is so different and it really draws you in with the murder mystery but I loved the other side of it too with all of the character development and life story of the girl. I loved learning more about Mr. Rogers and his unique approach to child development. It was truly fascinating to me and such a great read. I tried to branch out a bit this year and read something other than historical fiction but that really is what I love best. I am a bit tired of sad WWII stories, but Refugee and Salt to Sea were both excellent. I continue to go to book club every month and we have had some great discussions lately. 2020 is already off to a great start: I read B...

I have realized that I have very little, if any, alone time, and that makes it difficult to write. But it has been quite a month. It started with a wonderful New Year's Day where my family just relaxed and watched the Rose Parade and a movie and played games. Then it was back to school and back to work. In years past January has been quiet and I tend to hibernate and just enjoy its calmness after a busy December but this year we got right back into it. We celebrated a birthday one weekend, then the next we went to Philadelphia to attend the temple. We decided last minute to make a go of it and it all worked out, but it was pretty stressful. We drove up Friday afternoon but with traffic, we didn't make it to our hotel until almost 6:45 pm. We checked in, scarfed down some dinner and then changed so we could make it to the last session of the day. The Rays came and met us at our hotel and stayed with the kids while we went. They swam and watched a movie and were perfectly happy. ...

It has been awhile. I have often thought of how I would like to write things down but there was always so much to do. I had a very nice Christmas season. Last year I was extremely stressed about making it magical and meaningful for my children, making sure I was doing enough service and giving enough and that my children were too. It was a relief when it was all over and I think January last year was my favorite because I could hibernate and rest and have nothing else really expected of me. This year was much different. I had a difficult November with some emotional let downs and stress and frustration with some things that happened and I was feeling really down when the first Sunday of December rolled around. Every first Sunday of the month we as a church fast (go without food and water for 24 hours) and we donate the money we would have spent to those in need. I'll be honest and admit that this is my least favorite commandment because I love food and often have a headache or fe...

Wednesday we went back to EPCOT to do the World Showcase. We went right to Norway to do the Frozen ride and didn't have any wait, then we did Test Track with a fast pass. Then we went back and started in Mexico to make our way around the world. My mother-in-law bought the kids passports so in each country we would find the station where they could get their passport stamped and talk to someone from that country. It was fun to talk to all the people and ask them questions. Our usual question was what they missed most from home and at least 80 percent of them said the food. So in each country we looked around, did the attraction, stamped our passports and got a treat to try. In Mexico we got churros, served with a dulce de leche dip that was amazing. We all enjoyed the boat ride, trying on sombreros and seeing Donald Duck. Next was Norway. We all loved the Frozen ride and got what was called a school cake that was a cream-filled pastry that had a unique flavor. I think Josh told me...

So we finished watching our last few movies in the car but we did it. We watched every animated Disney movie in order of release before our trip. (If I'm honest, we did leave out Chicken Little, Home on the Range, Atlantis, and Nightmare Before Christmas on purpose and Wreck it Ralph and Emperor's New Groove on accident).  But my kids knew every character they saw and understood every ride and I really think the Disney education made our experience more fun. I feel like I've told so many people about out trip already but here is a quick summary. Friday we drove the 13 hours with just one stop! My kids are awesome travelers and we made good time which was great because we were excited to get to the Wilson's house. It was so fun to see them and catch up. I really miss them and it was super fun to spend time with them again. Saturday we spent the morning with the Wilsons then left about lunch time to head to our hotel. We met up with my in-laws and since our room wasn...