A Cluttered Mind

 One of my favorite artists is James Christensen.  The name of my blog came from one of his paintings.  We recently learned that one of his prints was for sale.  The print entitled, "Balancing Act" is similar to the themes of The Burden of the Responsible Man and The Responsible Woman.  Nathan and I both fell in love with it and the price of a print was pretty good, so we now own our first real piece of art.  I had it opened up in our room and was staring at the different images.  I really liked what Christensen said about the piece, "This is a very autobiographical piece.  I just didn't know how I could balance another thing in my life, and then, bingo, this idea came into my head.  Life is a balance between fun and work, spiritual qualities, education, nutrition....our lives are continuous balancing acts.  Of course, some of us make it a little more complex by putting our only balancing foot on the back of a moving turtle.  why are there three clocks in the image?  Because we're always balancing time."  After I stared at it for a while, I went around the house taking pictures of images in my house that I found very symbolic of the balance I am working toward achieving.

My white board was maxed out, and I needed to redo it every day just to stay on top of everything.

This was Brandon's pile by the back door.  This was not posed, but it fit his summer perfectly.  There is a paint can for the rest of the deck that he needed to finish painting.  His eagle form is there along with his basketball bag, and his trek cowboy hat.  Also, his book that he was trying to squeeze in was balanced on top of everything else.  That boy has had a BUSY summer.  I'm sure it's just the beginning.

This piano was used for piano lessons, piano practice, and my organ music is on top of it, as I had to get ready for another Sunday of playing.  There were wipes sitting on the piano, and my group counseling textbook that I had to read in 3 weeks and then take a test on was in process of being read.  Somehow it all got done.

We got Danielle a cool bike, and I'm afraid it is still sitting mostly unused.  We will get there hopefully.

The boys have been writing a book together.  Connor is the author, and Andrew is the editor.  They have also discovered computer programming. 

I wish that was the explanation to the unmade bed and the trashed room, but I don't think it honestly is.

My pile of trek clothes, church bag and books take up one corner of the room.

My school books and laptop take another.  I should have taken a picture of our main computer, since it died for about a month, before we got a new motherboard. 

A pile of laundry was sitting in my bathroom waiting to be brought to the laundry room for three days, before I finally got it there.

Our Family Home Evening lesson was sitting where we left it when we finished it, but it was a good lesson.

I read in one of my textbooks this summer that our environment is a reflection of where we are currently in our life.  If that is true then my life is close to chaos.  Someday we will get our picture framed, and I will enjoy looking at it and continue to ponder the idea of balance, but it may be in two years.  Still, I have no regrets, and though the balance is precarious it is working for the time being.

One Year Down

This adventure of Graduate School is already one year down, only two to go.  This past year I have struggled and been blessed through the struggle.  I started in the summer last year, and so I was able to get my feet wet while the kids were out of school.  Online school was flexible enough to allow me to still pull off a girl's camp and a youth conference as well as take Connor on a surprise 9th birthday trip.

The fall came and I saw the fruition of the Priesthood blessing that Nathan gave me, where he helped me to be reassured that I am doing the Lord's work and that He will help me to accomplish this task.  I saw the ability to get by on less sleep that was promised me fulfilled.  What a busy fall it was.  I knew that because I had my Practicum in the Spring semester I had to fit all of the children's activities in the fall.  They had soccer, ballet, swim lessons, football, speech and debate and all our other activities on top of school and my classes.  Nathans' parents were gracious enough to watch our kids while Nathan and I went to Washington D.C. for our anniversary.

The spring semester nearly killed me off with my practicum.  I needed 100 hours over the semester on top of my hardest class so far.  I also knew that we were going to Hawaii, so I had one less week to accumulate hours.  The experience was incredibly rewarding though, and I absolutely know that I am going into the right field for me.  My parents came out with the kids for our trip, but Danielle was an absolute mess from me being gone so much already and then leaving her for over a week.  She is just now starting to like her Grandpa Frey.  I ended up with 140 hours. 

Somehow we made it through that semester.  I am loving my summer classes and have enough down time with the kids that I am feeling very rested and the kids are enjoying sleeping in.   I have learned so much already, and I still have more to go.  I am in no hurry to graduate, but I am glad that I decided to do this.   I have learned more about myself than I ever knew before.  I am highly social, which isn't surprising, but I can see that I have more social needs than most people.  I have a hard time digesting theory and putting it into practice, but I am starting to learn ways to work with people beyond just my gut instinct.  I have a lot of biases that I wasn't aware of before, and I have discovered that there are a lot of questions that I will have to shelve, because the answers won't be immediate.

I am nervous about my internship, but I figure that like every other part of this process, I just have to take things one step at a time.

Hawaii Part 2: A Jawdropping Experience

 

The second half of our trip seemed to speed up.  We spent Thurday at BYU-Hawaii and the temple in the morning, and then the rest of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We had lunch at a Shrimp Shack that was amazing.

The temple grounds were beautiful, and you could see the ocean from the temple.  There were beautiful murals on the walls of the inside of the temple as well and you could see a rich heritage of temple service.

Wild flower grew everywhere.  You know you are in paradise when orchids grow in the wild.

 I know that next time I will definitely plan two days for the Cultural Center.  I loved it there!  We took a boat ride past all the Islands and then found a good spot to watch the parade.

 
It was a good overview of all the countries represented:  Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Fiji.  They work at the center as a way to provide scholarships and preserve their unique cultures and music and dancing.  

Our boatman told a ton of corny jokes just like they have on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.

The pictures I took of the boat parade can't do justice to the amazing costumes, dancing and music they had.  It was so enthralling.

 

 

Each island also had shows that you could go to where they had demonstrations and entertainment.  We only saw half of what was there.

  That night we watched the show Ha-The Breath of Life that was absolutely amazing.  It was one of my favorite things on the trip.

 On Friday I finally got to try out snorkeling at Haunauma Bay.  It looked just like ordinary water, but as soon as I stuck my head in the water I was surrounded by a huge variety of fish.  It took me a little while to get used to the snorkel gear, but once I adjusted I loved it.

On Saturday we went to the Dole Plantation and tried out a Dole Whip....Delicious!  We also took a train tour of the plantation which was fascinating.

I didn't realize that pineapples grow on bushes and not trees.  We also saw Mango, Banana, Macadamia and many other trees.

The soil is a very dark red from the iron.

The only damper on our trip came at the end.  The last day we checked out of our hotel and then went to lunch at a fish place from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  The food was amazing and delicious but as we got back into the car we noticed a suitcase and backpack in the back seat were missing.  It turned out the car had been robbed and our friends, the Tolleys, lost all their souvenirs and her backpack which had an i-pad and her wallet.  We waited for the police report to be filled out and then drove around a while before heading to the airport. 

Our flight was supposed to be at 11 pm, but it was delayed several hours.  It was a long sleepless night and then just as we were close to landing the Denver runways were all closed due to snow.  We were nearly out of fuel, so they re-routed us to Colorado Springs, delaying us another two hours.  We finally landed in Denver, hours later than anticipated, exhausted and starving.  We got off the plane, ordered some food and then as Nathan was taking a bite of his wrap, he started to yawn and his jaw suddenly dislocated and his mouth was stuck open.  He couldn't get it back in place and couldn't talk.  It became more and more painful as the muscles tightened up.

We got to end this adventure on an ambulance ride to the hospital where they were able to give him muscle relaxants and finally pop it back into place.  The Tolleys got our luggage and met us at the hospital, and we finally got on the road for the four hour drive back home.

All I can say is that Hawaii truly was a jaw-dropping experience.

Hawaii- Part I, The Arrival

Hawaii is a special place. We went to O'ahu which is called the most touristy island. That may be true, but I loved every minute of being a tourist there. We had a non-stop flight there and enjoyed a beautiful landing. We got our groceries for the week and checked into a gorgeous room at the Ko Olina with our friends the Tolleys who have a timeshare there and were generous enough to share it with us.

Monday morning we started the week off on a hike up to Diamondhead. What a view! It was great weather, and I loved the smell and humidity of the island. It also helped that we were 7500 feet lower than normal.


After that Dave took us on a tour of the island. It was so breathtaking:


I got to see my first whale breach.


That was the coolest day of the week, but we had pretty perfect weather for the rest of the week.


We also enjoyed swimming at Waikiki Beach and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I had fish almost every day, all of which was amazing.


We spent all of Tuesday at our hotel where I took a test and had my online class. We spent the afternoon enjoying the beach at the Ko Olina with the Tolley's friends. I made macadamia nut-crusted Mahi Mahi, which was delicious!


Wednesday was our Aloha Market and Pearl Harbor day. We toured a submarine which I hated. It stunk, was crowded, and was hot. I couldn't imagine having to live in one.


We toured the museums and then rode a boat to the Arizona memorial.




That was impressive and somber. I had heard about the drops of oil that come up, but it was amazing to see them for myself.


Next, we went on a bus ride to the Mighty Moe.


I had no idea what an amazing tour that would be. We were able to tour the entire ship include the spot where WWII ended.

I think one of the best parts of our trip was going with friends. We talked and laughed the entire week. It was so great to sleep 10 hours most nights, to eat great food and just plain have fun. I almost had forgotten how. I've decided that I need to include more fun in my daily life. I also need beauty!

Easter 2012

We had a wonderful trip to Hawaii. (More to come on that in future posts). We brought all the kids home some Easter clothes, and it was fun to dress up.

Brandon is looking good and growing up way too fast. He is still a basketball maniac:

Andrew is our mathematical whiz! He is growing up right behind Brandon. One of these days he really will pass him up.


Connor was feeling under the weather today, so he stayed home from church. He is such a good helper. He loves to cook and is a help around the house. He is growing too quickly as well.

Nicole loves to play with her friends. She has been having a blast during spring break having more opportunities to get together with her friends. She is also a mama's girl and loves being able to do things with me. She looked pretty in her dress.

Danielle wouldn't stand still long enough for me to take a posed picture. This was the closest I got to one. She really loved finding Easter eggs and eating all her candy. She was up late from the sugar high.


Nathan and I had such a great time getting away and feel refreshed after a particularly difficult semester.

Happy Easter! What a blessing that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we all can be saved. Spring is such a hopeful time of the year.

Piano Teaching and Housecleaning

Less than a month after Danielle was born our piano teacher called me up to let me know that she was getting too busy in her nursing program and would no longer be teaching piano lessons. I cried for about a week over it. I may have been slightly affected by my hormones at the time, but I knew there was no one else that I felt could teach them. I called all possible leads, and short of driving an hour one-way every week, there were no openings or options.

I admitted to myself that I could probably teach them at least as well as our teacher had, but I was so overwhelmed with our new little one and keeping up with my other responsibilities that I just didn't know how I could fit one more thing in and still do a decent job.

I prayed for about a month about what to do, and finally the answer came to me. I could spend the money that I used for piano lessons and use that to hire someone to clean my house. After asking around for a good person we found Jan! She came the first time and whipped my house into shape in just four hours. The three things that I love the most that she always cleans are the washer and dryer in the laundry room, the inside of the microwave and the top of the trash can. I know those are small things, but I can guarantee you that they were never cleaned before she entered our home. She comes every other week for the same price that we spend on just three 30-minute piano lessons. I don't know why we never thought of this before. Just when it seems like my life is spinning out of control, Jan shows up and brings order out of chaos.

I started out teaching my 4 kids piano lessons and have learned a lot after researching piano books, lessons, and strategies for teaching. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel more competent than I did 2 years ago. I have to turn down requests almost weekly to teach others, and I have added 4 others to my lineup. It is very rewarding to see all of my students making progress and getting better. I also have been surprised by how much I enjoy teaching even the younger children. This is definitely a new addition to the titles I go by as "The Responsible Woman." Probably the greatest encouragement I got was from my own children who have told me that I am an even better teacher than they had before.

It is just another lesson to me that what can start out as a challenge, often turns into a blessing.