Here Comes the Sun

I am happy. The sun is OUT again. And yes, I have spent some time on the tile floor in my kitchen just soaking it up. I am doing laundry and folding socks(which I dislike immensely), and I decided to just fold socks on the kitchen floor. I am also happy because I just got my dream calling of being the Camp Director in our ward. I have wanted to go to camp with the girls for a long time and finally I get to go. I am just giddy. I am also the Mia Maid advisor which will be fun too. By the way, what does Mia Maid even stand for? And for those of you at the Girls Night Out, I got my callings on Saturday morning, so I was not trying to be tricky! I've got to get back to my sunshine tile.

Solar Power

I really do love the snow. I want it snow a ton. Until January 1st, then it all must go. I don't mind the cold as long as there is sunshine. You see, I am solar powered. I don't function well if there are too many days of clouds. What is even worse is the dreaded inversion. It is like pure misery pushing down on us. Everything loses it's color. The past two years have been great as far as inversions go. But now after two weeks of gray dreariness I am ready to move to Arizona! A few years ago, we had a long inversion and when it was over, I remember sunshine pouring in my kitchen window. I sat on the tile in a puddle of sunshine and just soaked it in. I could feel it bring me back to life. I am ready for the sun. Although I love my Alaskan, I could never be one. Juneau gets about 30 pure sunshine days a YEAR. I am ready for flowers and sunburns and sunsets on the beach.

Cousins

What is it about cousins? My kids have just spent this holiday season with all of their cousins. Including our cousins from Virginia. It was a continual sleepover. Boy cousins at one house. Girl cousins at another. All cousins at Grandma's. Really they could have spent every waking and non-waking minutes together. I was thinking about my own cousins and how important they are to me. Cousins play a special role in my life. They are the ones I played with, fought with, laughed with and got into trouble with. These are the people who helped me learn the finer points of pinochle and how to cheat the younger players. We camped and cross-country skied together. We cheered each other on when learning to waterski. They are the ones who love me and support me and would drop everything to help me. We share a history. We took care of our Grandpa as he struggled with Alzheimers. We love and take care of our funny Grandma. We share inside jokes. They get me. As we left our Cousins Christmas Party this year, my heart was so full. I thought of how lucky I am to call these great people MY FAMILY.

One Perfect Day

Stephanie gave a great lesson in Relief Society yesterday. It was about tuning out the world and tuning in your family. I was sitting there thinking about what we could do to tune in more to our family. I came up with no-screen Sundays. This means on Sunday, we will not watch movies or tv. There will be no blog checking or spider solitare. No playstation. Just us. I made my family a nice brunch and then I proposed this crazy scheme. Probably lots of people all ready do this. I must say that my favorite thing to do on Sunday is pile everyone on our bed and watch a movie together. So this plan is going to be hard for me. Also, I can't go to sleep at night without listening to a movie. I think I must have some sleep disorder. If the tv isn't on, my mind will not go to sleep. I just keep thinking and planning and worrying about silly things. With the tv on, I am out in less than 5 minutes. So back to our day. Everyone somewhat reluctantly agreed. We played Quiddler and I laughed so hard my ribs hurt and tears were running down my face. Then Emily suggested the Corn on the Cob game. After a bit of investigating, we realized she was talking about Pit. So we played a few rounds of that game. We did a small family service project. I put curlers in both of the girls hair. Michael read his new fishing magazine and had a nap. We all went to bed at a reasonable time. And I even went to sleep to the sweet sounds of Norah Jones. Now I am not so delusional to think that every Sunday will be like this. But it was One Perfect Day.