Starting anew

I guess it really doesn't feel like such a fresh start. Maybe it is that we still have the house in Arizona, but I think it is more than that. I think that Arizona had the kind of effect on our family that makes it more of a stepping stone than something from the past. I miss it, but not too much right now (I know there will be days for that). All in all things here the first week have gone well. We spent Sunday night with my mom, Monday unloading the truck, Tuesday thru Friday slowly unpacking and trying to figure out where all this stuff came from and where it is going to go. Today my family came over for lunch and to swim. Very nice. Tomorrow will be church. Isaiah is excited at the prospects of being able to meet new friends and has been talking about that in his prayers for days now. What would we do without the social network of the church?
A few lessons learned in the first week:

1. The lack of heat (unlike the arizona right now) from the sun in Utah can be deceiving. I have a sunburn from today. I don't think I ever got one in Arizona.
2. The cafe Rios in Utah are better than in Arizona. When we lived there I just thought I was getting used to the taste and it was getting old. Nope, delicious!
3. It is so nice to have family around.

We are soooooo thankful for all the help we got with our move. It was well over 101 the days we loaded the truck in Arizona, and I don't know how we ever would have gotten the washer and dryer up the stairs without Clints brother Kirk. And all the help in between. Wow, I just don't know how other people do it.

Right now I have no idea where the camera is, but when I find it I will post some picts from the move and of the new place.

Chaos in Arizona and my mind

Well I am down to my last week here. I am in some serious denial, which makes packing hard, there is just a part of me that holds back. I am making progress though, and by Monday I should be cleaning and shutting down most of the rooms so I only have a few to do next week when the real chaos hits. I have been wanting to do a post about our little town in Arizona is like for awhile, but it is going to take more time than I had hoped, so I think for now I will just touch on a few things I will miss.
1. The ward. I have been working with the cub scouts, and in the primary presidency. I love the people I serve with and "for".
I leave presidency meetings feeling rejuvenated. I had no idea what I was walking into when I said "sure" to working with 8 and 9 year old boys, or taking on the primary. Both were new territory. Its what I love about callings, you go in just thinking you will give it a try and people usually appreciate that.. because they have no choice really. So I have learned the cub scout motto, about patches, belt loops, achievements, beads, pack night, pinewood derby, sharing time, conducting, etc. etc. How I will miss it. I was skeptical of the ward in the beginning, as people did not seem too friendly to the new family (us), what I did not know then was that we were part of a constant flow of new families, so it was hard to get a welcome, because everyone else was new too. Through play-groups, callings, kids, visiting teaching I have felt welcomed and love these people.
2. A new community, away from the town. I get sick when I am in the city. I feel so small and insignificant. Being out here (about 45 miles from phoenix) was an automatic comfort to me. People are trying to build a community, and it is fun to be a part of growing recreation programs, libraries, and expansion. I appreciate the sense of ownership it creates in those who care... though I admit that that is not everyone.
3. Recycling. I have never lived in a community with a local recycling center (at least one that I knew of). The one here was started as a non-profit by a lady. It is only open on Sat. (though you can arrange for a can pick up), so I head down there on Saturdays and with a volunteer sort out my recyclables. I am amazed at how much I can recycle.
4. Being out on our own. I do love family, there is no doubt. But there is something about being out on your own and having to rely on your own immediate family, start your own traditions. I didn't have much time to do well at it, but I have tasted enough of it, to work for it now.
5. Ikea. I know Utah is getting one, but it just won't be the same. This was always on our list of to sees when we had company... I don't know its just so big and cool, and the cheap good food is such a bonus.
6. Being in a place you don't know. The sense of adventure it creates that you need to discover a whole new state. Where do you hike, take your kids, do on a saturday, are there unique places to eat?? Again I didn't do so great, but do think that I will do better at appreciating adventure because our time here was so short.
7. Being a distance cougar fan. The Y on the back windshield of my car is like a secret symbol beckoning other fan to nod in appreciation. Traveling (2 games) to see the team is a different feel that just walking up to the home stadium.
8. Intel. I know Clint had to deal with not liking this every day, but from my end working for the big company was nice. Nice benefits, bonuses, and hours. What more can a wife ask... oh yeah, for her husband to like it.
9. The warmth.. the several months of the perfect about of warm make up for the couple of hot. I don't feel the same about the one (maybe) month of perfect warm and several months of drawn out cold in Utah.

I think that is enough for now. Giving Utah credit, I am excited to be by family, be by the mountains, enjoy some of the food (Cafe Rio, and Fresh food Junkies come to mind), Clint being happy with his job, and the chance to de-junk while I pack (again). Here we come... if I can make it through this week. Stay tuned.

Whats behind a name?

One of the top concerns I hear when people are nervous about starting a blog is "what will I write about", "what will the name of my blog be?" etc. I just say go with it, the ideas will come. That being said, I did ask myself these questions before setting up a personal blog (I had already been involved in my family blog) because I wanted to know if it would be worth the effort and time it would take... so these are the reasons why I went ahead and took the plunge.
1. I had a lot of friends I wanted to reconnect with in a way that would allow me to check in on them and at least have some contact when there had been little or none.
2. I had seen that there are many cool things that can be done on the blog, and I want to learn how to do them. So far I have only been refreshed on saving and posting images, and posting links, but I have a big list waiting.
3. I wanted to be seen as cool by my peers.
4. Most important, I wanted to be more mindful of my day to day activities, and thoughts (thus the name of the blog). Something about the blog makes this more exciting than a journal. maybe the pictures, maybe the interaction.. something.
I have thought often about needing to be more mindful, intentional living, pushing myself to do something hard everyday.. (all names for the same idea I have in my head for quite sometime) and I think the blog, in a way, is helping me to accomplish at least a little bit of doing that.

Books by the bedside

I wanted to get the pictures of these books off my desktop, de-clutter a bit if you will, so I am posting about them before I am done with them. These are the books that I am reading right now.




Yes all at the same time. I have a bad habit of feast and famine with books. I tend to get interested in an idea and then a couple more and can't decide which to read about and so I get a bit on each. The problem with this is that I don't think I get the complete picture of each individual book because the concepts in each start to blend. I guess in some ways this is actually good, because maybe it expands the idea set out by the author. I don't know if anyone else has this problem ... except Jill, I know she does. I just thought I should post about it so that my posterity would know why I am all over the place in my thinking.

Some media plugs

I will preface this by saying I am not big into t.v., movies etc. and so by suggesting the following I am in no way saying that I am an expert in the field, I am just sharing with you what feels right.

This American Life is a radio program on NPR, that usually has 2-3 segments on a different subject each week. Its a may be a good introduction into what NPR has to offer. Showtime has now picked this show up and made a weekly show of it. I know that this is a sore spot for some fans, the host Ira Glass talked about being booed about it by his audience, but you can check out the opening episode for free on sho.com. I liked it. One reason being that I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the radio broadcast about the first episode on the show, and I was pretty close on everything I envisioned. The next t.v. episode looks interesting and has some Utah links, but I think you have to have showtime for that one.


TV land has these interviews with comedians, and I checked out the Jon Stewart interview the other night and really liked it. Seeing interviews like this help me think that dinner parties with the right people could be so fun! Here is the link, though I have no idea how to make it work right now.
http://www.tvland.com/originals/sitdown/season2/sitdown_bios_Jon.jhtml




NPR. I know that this is getting ridiculous, but so many of you commented that you haven't heard NPR or of it, so I am just going to tell you try it. I tried the other day to get a short list of things to sample, its very hard, I like so many programs. I would say that Saturday Edition, Market Report, Wait, wait don't tell me, the diane rheam show (hit and miss), science friday are some of the most popular. You can download it all at itunes or from their site. Its well worth looking into. You can browse the site, but you really need to listen to get the feel. The web site has a station finder and that may be your best bet. I plan on sending some of you links to shows I think you may find interesting as I hear them, until then you are on your own.
http://www.npr.org/

Also If you need to move, get out of your shell a bit I have to push pulling out the playstation and letting loose with a little dance revolution and guitar hero. I have only played these games in the company of familly and it will stay that way. But I love, love, love them.


That is all.

Tagged

I really had wanted to be more consistent on this blog than I had been on my family one, but life has a way....
I do have a stash of pictures I have been saving on the computer until I need them for the posts, so I do have a couple in the back of my mind ready to go, now if the hands will just do the work. So out of laziness tonight I am going to do the tag that I was given of "6 random things, 6 happy things", even though I had hoped to think more about them before posting, especially after my 100s list was so fresh but here it goes:
RANDOM:
1) Is it better to try something even with out looking into it, training for it, doing it really well, or is it better to hold off until you can do it well? I tend to do the first one (e.g.. blogging and roping others in without knowing really how to do much, races/running, etc) and I think it may bug those who do the second.

2) Sadly I think I am a pessimist.

3) When I visit my hometown, I have lots of flashbacks of walking... all over the place. I am sad that my kids won't have that freedom to explore. And I think its beautiful there.



4) I am nervous about having to reenter the workforce in the future

5) I am not a very touchy feely gal, except with my kids.

6) I felt that Bro. Holland was talking directly to me in Sat. general conference.



HAPPY
1) I love the way that Clint smells! He is a natural guy, and his natural pheromones are what I believe colognes try to copy. I am mad that I did wash before he left and have nothing that smell like him. So Clint if you are reading... Call me.

2) NPR have I made it clear that I love this?? It is on in our house almost all day, I feel it is my only contact with the outside world.

3) Dance Revolution!! Oh boy I cant wait to get back to Utah to play this. I am no dancer, but I love this game. Guitar hero was very satisfying also.



4) I'm not sure how to phrase this ... I love to get to know people, not so much in the where are you from sense (though that has its place), but in the what do you think about where you are from kind of way. Make sense. Its a natural high for me. I pretty much like everybody I know.

5) I am crazy for Ruby right now. I love all the kids, but something about Ruby melts me. Maybe it's the age, her petiteness, or her indifference to me. Probably a bit of all.

6) Reading in bed. I swear I sleep better, and it feel like the me time of the day.

Whew, there it is. This was even harder for me than was the 100s list. I am going to tag Angelica, Lorie, Erin, hoping it will get them blogging.

How will you die?

Last weekend after parting with Clint, I took the boys to the video store to pick out a movie to watch while I unpacked from the trip. While at the store this movie was under the "guaranteed in stock or you get it free" sign. All the movies were gone, so I figured why not just get the receipt, and then if I ever want to see it, it will be free!. Backfire, when I asked and they handed me one that had been returned, but not replaced. So I brought it home, and watched it the night before it needed to be returned. I wasn't sure what to expect from the previews. I did think that Will Ferrel did a good job. I felt that the movie could have been pretty good, but was just ok., which is pretty much what they say in the movie about the book that the movie is about. (I think you know what I am talking about if you have seen the movie). All this to say that it is interesting to ask oneself, and others, "if you could find out when and how you were going to die, would you? Clint and I had talked about this a week or two before I saw this movie, we just came up with a yes/no answer. But I am still thinking about it. I do have to say I usually like movies better after I watch the background and interviews included on the tape, it was the same with this movie.

Would you find out when and how you are going to die, if you could?

Do you tend to like a movie, song, show, better after learning more about it?