The Spice of Life

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. My mom has been in the hospital due to starting her chemo. After coming home and slowly recovering she made the decision to not continue chemo. It has been a difficult time for all of us involved in her care not to mention how emotional and difficult it has been for her. In the midst of all that life had to go on around our house. The merry go round doesn't stop for us to get off even when life gets tough. So in the last few weeks we have celebrated JJ's 10th birthday. It was a Star Wars themed party. I got some cute ideas from Pintrest. Hannah is in rehersals for another play. She just loves doing plays - she loves the singing, the dancing and the acting. Her play will be the first week in November. She is playing a zebra in Whackadoo Zoo. With the cooler Fall weather comes all the fun corn/pumpkin patch places opening up. We decided to go with Grandma and Grandpa Madigan to CornBelly's at Thanksgiving Point. We haven't gone for a couple of years so it was fun to see what the kids enjoyed now that they are a little older. JJ's summer drawing class from the Art Center was able to create a mural which is now installed at a bus shelter at what will be the Lehi commuter train stop at Thanksgiving Point. We got to go and take part in a little presentation with the Mayor and UTA reps. We are proud of what a good artist JJ is becoming. Lance headed down to St. George for a few days for a work conference. We always miss him while he is gone. Asher especially isn't the same until Daddy is back home. I decided to whip up a batch of Pumpkin Pie popcorn for the ladies I visit teach and the families that Lance home teaches. I didn't even get to taste it but hopefully it tasted good. Here is super easy recipe if you are interested in trying it out yourself.

Pumpkin Pie Popcorn


1 cube butter - melt
add:
3/4 c brown sugar
1 T pumpkin pie spice

Bring to a boil and pour over popcorn.

It couldn't be easier! You can decide how concentrated you want the flavor by how much popcorn you use.

Happy Halloween!

Your future is as bright as your faith

My best friend Missy gave me and my mom a vinyl quote to put on the wall by Pres. Monson. "Be of good cheer, do not fear. Your future is as bright as your faith." I have been contemplating this quote a lot lately. Growing up with my mom - fear of the unknown was just a part of our lives. It was like a living breathing thing at our house. My mom was consumed with a myriad of fears that she often transferred to me. Since the day I married Lance I joyfully found that I didn't have to live with the "fear monster" on a daily basis. I still have moments of panic but the peace and calmness that comes from living with someone does who not search for things to worry about was initially almost overwhelming. My mom still knows how to, albeit unconsciously, let the fear monster loose on me but I have had a refuge in my husband. The last few months have been terribly difficult for her and for Charlie and me, not to mention our spouses. My mom has a real fear to contend with now that the cancer is ravaging her body. Rather than that one fear being the focus of her attention though she still nurtures her many useless and often unfounded fears. She holds them tighter than life itself.

When I gave her the vinyl wall quote I tried to talk to her about the meaning behind it but she just changed the subject. I always thought she had a bottomless well of faith, and maybe at some points in her life she did. It is so hard now to see her trying to find the truth and peace behind the word Faith. It is easy to understand intellectually what it means but when you come to a point when you can't find the strength to go on you have to go deeper to find the kernel of tangible faith that exists if we only delve deeper.

Is it possible to go on when everything you have or are seems about to be taken away? I am trying to have faith that it is possible. There are more than a few examples in the scriptures and through out church history showing it is possible to be of good cheer in the blackest of circumstances. But for me the examples that have the most impact are of those souls I know personally who are struggling with mountains of adversity and doing it with a cheerful heart. My hope is to learn from those who are "enduring well" and be of service to those who are not. Therein I hope to find my one ability to endure well with a cheerful and faithful heart.

Sickies here, sickies there, sickies everywhere

For the past 3 weeks at least one of our immediate family has been sick. I fought it off until last weekend but then I succumbed. For Asher it was just a really bad cough/sore throat with a little bit of croup but not enough to take him to the doctor for. For Hannah it was all of the above as well as a bad case of the croup. She got to go to the doc and get the steroid. JJ initially complained of complained of the the sore throat but never really got too sick. Lance was out of town to a conference in St. George while Hannah and Asher were the sickest. By the time he got home he was sick with it too. It had him down for the weekend and a couple of days the next week. In the midst of this we were still doing soccer games and trying to get my mom fully moved out of her house. Then both Hannah and Asher ended up with ear infections stemming from it. The next weekend Lance was over it but it was General Conference and I was officially down with it. It is Thursday and I am still in the midst of it but you know mom's just can't take a day off even if they didn't get any sleep the night before. I am pretty sure I have an ear infection too. I am trying to decide whether to try and tough it out or just give in and go see the doc. I really hate going to the doctor and I was just there getting a physical a couple of weeks ago. Between the cough and the pressure in my ears I am pretty darn miserable. But enough boo hooing. We were able to get my mom's antique player piano moved to our house this week as well as a new dryer (the other one was literally eating our clothes). We have been repainting our living room area and rearranging furniture so the house is in total disorder. Hannah is in another play workshop called Whackadoo Zoo. She just loves the singing, dancing, and acting. JJ and Asher are playing soccer. JJ's team is so small that they never have enough players to substitute during the game so we asked if a girl could play on the team and we got the ok so my friend Missy's daughter Kynlee is going to play on his team. We are so excited! Asher's team has been doing awesome especially considering they are all either 4 or 5 year olds. They have one girl on the team and she is the star player! Lance enjoys coaching but this time around the assistant coach has been kind of interesting to work with. She is super competitive and really like to take over and try to push the kids to do stuff that they just aren't capable yet. Lance is really patient with her and the kids so things have worked out. I have pictures of the boys soccer games that I will post later. Right now I am going to crawl back under the covers and wait for this cold to take it's leave of me.