It's Mom Day!

Mom. I love this picture of you. It makes me so happy. 

And this picture, too.

And this one, our family boy band. :) 

And this is one of my all-time favs. 

I love you more and more every day. Especially those days when I want to throw Oakley out the window. I have to remind myself that you never threw me out the window, and for that I am grateful. I'm sure it was tempting. Thanks for feeding me, clothing me, teaching me, bringing me to church, and spending countless hours helping me to pursue my interests. Most of all being the BEST example. 

Happy Mother's Day Mom! 

I love you!

And p.s. this doesn't count as one of your 14 blog posts this year. :) 

Glenn Anderson and Glen Campbell

Okay, I'm in a blogging mood so indulge me once more. You're probably wondering what these two have to do with one another. Well, as you can see they both have similar first names. The rest of the connections are sketchy at best, so thank you in advance of humoring me.

Currently, I am inspired by the CD that Wendy made for me for my birthday. I am always inspired by music, which made me think of some of my favorite songs from my past, but I digress. A couple of those songs were from Glen Campbell." Glen Campbell" you say, "What!?!". Yes, okay it was Glen Campbell. My kids all know my obsession with Glen Campbell and I am not, I repeat NOT a country fan. To get this part out of the way, the songs are: "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston". Back in the day, Glen Campbell had this variety show. (Variety shows were a staple in the 70's.,one of the good things of the 70's, but that's just my opinion) I was a little girl, but I had this "crush" on Glen Campbell. He was just so handsome.

Anyway, back on subject. These songs always bring back memories of traveling to Grandma and Grandpa from Ashton's house. Yes, that is how we referred to them, Grandma and Grandpa from Ashton. Our other grandparents were known as Grandma and Grandpa from Pocatello. You are probably thinking how vexing it is that I am not staying on topic, but that is what happens while you are watching "Psych" while attempting to write a blog. If you have stayed with me this far, you are very patient. So while traveling to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house I often heard these songs on the radio. I was also obsessed with the different power poles and their shapes as I gazed out the window. I even made up names for each of the different shaped power poles and would recite them in my head every time we passed one. By now you are probably thinking how I made it this far in life. I can't explain that. This relates to the song, "Wichita Lineman". I always imagined this lonely power line worker out in the middle of nowhere. You should listen to these songs, you might like all that 70's glam country.

 I looked up to my Grandpa, Glenn, just as much as I looked up to Glen Campbell. Grandpa was the strong silent type. I used to love to go out to his workshop to see what wonderful creation he was working on. I would follow him around as he took care of his horse, Blaze. I even tried to replicate one of his tricks as he demonstrated how he stuck his finger in a plastic ball with holes. Only, when I did it, my finger didn't come back out until after a soaking of cold soapy water. Once, I told my Grandma that Grandpa reminded me of Bob Hope, another of my childhood favorites. Grandma could only chuckle and tell me how Grandpa did not like Bob Hope. To me, my Grandpa was a hero. I wish I could tell him that now, but I think he knows. Thanks again for humoring me. I think I'm just trying to take my mind of my talk that I have to give tomorrow.

Dad, that is an awesome stache.

The Love Bomb!

If you haven't watched the "It Was Mom" video, you really should. I get emotional every time I watch it. Just think if we could capture all of the love, blood, sweat, and tears that mothers invest in their children and condense it into a "love bomb", we could release it all over the world and all the booboos, anger, disputes, sadness, misunderstandings etc. would be solved. That would be one powerful bomb!

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Guess who and what is turning 50 this year? If you guessed Mary Poppins, you are correctomundo!

I'm sure you are dying to know just what and who is turning 50 this year. Even if you could care less, I am going to tell you anyway.
1. The dad from Back to the Future. Yes, that is true that he was younger than his son in the movie.

2. Michelle Obama. 

3. Rob Lowe (Soda Pop)

4. Lucky Charms, breakfast of champions. It's magically delicious!

5. Gilligan's Island, my favorite after school show.

6. Well Gaw-aw-awllly! It's Gomer Pile USMC. Shazam! I wish I could use that word every day. 

7. Russell Crowe

8. The mayhem guy from All State.

9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

10. Ford Mustang

11. Sandra Bullock

12. Jonny Quest (I put this one in for Wendy and Brita)

13.Pop Tarts more excellent breakfast fare.

14. Bewitched another of my favorites.

15. The beginning of Nike. 

I would share with you so many more and I have inadvertently published this post a couple of times. Sorry about that. Anyway, it seems I am in some good company.

Happy Birthday Missionaries!

We love you!!!!!!

Lucky Charms and Violins

So, this weekend as I was checking out at Walmart I was lectured to by the checker. I'm not sure if she really knew she was lecturing to me, but it was definitely a beat down to my psyche. She noticed the three super sized bags of sugary cereal among my groceries and proceeded to inform me that Utah had the highest per captita cereal consumption with Utah county the highest. (Which is where we were at the moment). I informed her that I was from Nevada. Checker:1 Me: 0

She went on to droll on about how she never let her kids eat that stuff. No, she fed her kids good old fashioned oatmeal, cream of wheat, and pancakes.Translation:  I, on the other hand, was a terrible mother feeding my kids such junk. Checker: 2 Me: 0

She figured out how much she was saving by not buying that expensive stuff and instead saved the money not spent on cold cereal and took a trip to Disneyland. Translation: Not only am I poisoning my children, I am also frittering my money away. Checker:3 Me: 0

I thought I would redeem myself somewhat by weakly responding that my mother never let us eat the sugary poison either. To which she responded "Oh, my kids follow my example and don't feed their kids that stuff either" Translation: You still failed. Checker:4 Me:0

Feeling the agony of defeat, there was nothing more I wanted to do but to slink back into that hole of motherhood guilt.

However, several hours later while traveling back to the real world, I began to remember the real reasons I allowed my precious children to eat that sugary cereal and I wanted to replay that conversation with the checker again.
Checker: Did you know that Utah has the highest per capita consumption of cereal in the nation?
Me: Hmm. Isn't that interesting.
Checker: I never fed my kids that stuff. I fixed them old fashioned oatmeal, cream of wheat, and pancakes.
Me: Really? Well, that's great, but I was busy giving my kids violin lessons before school. It would have been nice to fix them a warm breakfast, but I chose to teach them a skill that would help them in their lives.
Checker: I figured out how much I saved by not buying cereal and took my kids to Disneyland.
Me: I saved hundreds of dollars by teaching my kids violin myself. And, we went to a lot more interesting places than Disneyland.

Translation: We need to stop feeling guilty about the choices we make as mothers. We do the best we can with the tools we are given.

The Wait is Over. . .

No, I'm not talking about the return of Downton Abbey. I'm talking my final revelation of the goals I have set for 2014. I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seats just waiting for this next installment in my exciting life.I had a really hard time narrowing it down. I could have had 14, but since 7 is a divisor of 14, I went with that. Drum roll please.......My 2014 goals are: (You may notice a theme as I am inspired by Peter's birthday and the current year)
1) 14 Dates with Bill. And no, Sportscenter does not count.

2) 14 Family names to take to the temple.

3) 14 Acts of service that I don't usually do. Just an excuse to add a picture of my fam.

4) Read 28 books goodreads.com has a book challenge.

5) 14 completed art projects. Watch out, you may receive one of my "projects".

(just another cute picture)

6) Plan 5 days of meals and record what I eat. myfitnesspal.com has a great food and fitness tracker. If I don't plan, everything but the kitchen sink goes in my mouth.

7) Last but not least, you are not finished hearing from me because I will post 14 times to my blog. Rest assured that I have counted my previous posts this year already!

So, there you have it Lisa version 2014.1. Don't worry, I will keep you posted as to my progress. I'm sure you will be just waiting for it like you have for the new Sherlock.  I have this nifty goal tracker on my phone so I will see them every day. If you have any goals you would like to share, I would love to hear from you.