A World without Love

Quote of the week Mom: “Felicity, girls can do anything boys can do”. Felicity: “yeah, and not get dirty”! Oh, that’s my girl. We’ve had a mundane, but busy week. I worked quite a bit as did Jeff. On Monday Felicity gave her first Family Home Evening lesson. It was on the gift of the Holy Ghost and she did a great job.

We also made a trip into Tucson this week to get the van tire fixed. We just replaced the tires and managed to get a screw in the sidewall where they couldn’t fix it so we had to replace it. While we were in Tucson Felicity asked ever so nicely to see Alice again. So for the second time, we saw the new Alice in Wonderland in the theater, and again, the girls were riveted.
Jeff’s schedule this week was rather unusual; he worked mostly days this week. It was nice to have him home in the evening. I think he’s beginning to feel run down by the ridiculous night schedules and working two jobs. He is really looking forward to getting back to school and I’m excited for him too. I’m so proud of him and his progress. I’m also grateful for his hard work and self sacrifice for us. We both worked at the estate sale this week. I love working with Jeff and I’m grateful to Beth and Richard for being up super early on a Saturday morning to watch the girls for us. They had so much fun playing with their cousins. It was SO hot on Saturday and the house we were at only had a swamp cooler which was not working well, it was almost cooler outside where you could catch a breeze.
We are going to the Warped Tour on Tuesday of the coming week and I’m excited for that. I’m not necessarily looking forward to being outside in June in Phoenix all day, but there are a few bands playing that we want to see. Here’s to hoping the van can make it to Phoenix! It’s had some problems with overheating this week…I’m so ready for a replacement.
The garden is really doing well. We’re bringing in tomatoes and okra every day. We have about twenty ears of corn growing, ten Anaheim chilies that are almost big enough to pick, and our lemon tree has regrown almost all of its leaves that were blown off in a wind storm. It also has blossoms all over, which, I’ve had to explain to overzealous flower picking children, if plucked from the branches will not become lemons. All the growth in the garden, along with our lush grass, can probably be attributed to the fact that the other night I turned the sprinkler on at about eight o’clock at night and forgot to turn it off. It was flowing down the street at 5:30 the next morning when I noticed! I felt so stupid.

I definitely thought this week, “why did I have kids again?” as Jeff was arm deep in the toilet trying to recover half a package of baby wipes that my beautiful Helen flushed; oh, and it’s prudent to mention that before we could fix it Felicity forgot it was broken and did her morning business in it. Those feelings fade quickly with good night kisses, hugs from nowhere, two year old “I love you too, mama”, and having my little girl climb into our bed in the morning just to cuddle. Take a deep breath Heather and remember they’re only little once. Remember these little sweet moments among the frustrating and mundane moments.

I had some wonderful thoughts about family this week and the footprint that devoting our lives to the ones we love leaves on the world. I know that raising a family is often a thankless job that leaves little time to one’s own ambitions. Sacrifice, however, brings the blessings of heaven and that the reward for putting family first and devoting our lives to the service of others will result in immeasurable joys. The world just wouldn't be as great of a place without love. I’m grateful for my family and my husband. We are just loving life at Casa de Davidson.

The Long and Winding Road

What a busy week! It was a great week though. I ended up doing four cakes this week. A cake for Emily’s baby shower which didn’t really turn out the way I had hoped, it looked a little amateur. I did a Father’s day shirt for Jan (she painted the tie), it was really cute. I made some Rocky Road cupcakes for my Dad, which while not artistically difficult were super yummy, and a fruit trifle for my grandpa.

The girls have continued to spend a lot of time out in the pool. They would play out there all day if I let them. They also got to play at Nana’s this week on her new “grass” in her little kiddy pool. We dog sat this week which was fun, well dog sat is not completely accurate seeing as little Bandit can hardly be considered a dog, he’s a Chihuahua and is more like a large rat than a dog. Helen got a kick out of it at least. Whenever she wanted the dog to come to her, she would bend at the waist and clap her hands and say “here, boy! Come here Bandit!” it was pretty cute.
She’s been doing really well in her big-girl bed. She also seems to have stopped wanting to climb the ladder to the top bunk. I think getting whacked with the fan blade while standing up there broke her of that habit. She has fallen out of bed a couple of times, but it doesn’t seem to faze her. I went in the other night to check on the temperature in their room and Helen was sprawled out in the middle of the floor snoring.

We had the opportunity to have our stake conference this week as well. Elder Sitati of the seventy spoke to us which was a unique experience. We went to the adult session on Saturday night and left the girls at the Bryson’s with a babysitter. We had ice cream after with the Bryson’s and Pickard’s. It was really a nice time.

Father’s day was wonderful. We met Mom and Dad for breakfast and spent the day with them. We took a cake into Tucson and visited with my grandparents. The girls were so rowdy. Felicity kept jumping on my 80lb 80 year old grandmother. Then Felicity started looking very closely at her and began what can only be described as petting her arm. While I’m watching Felicity it dawns on me what she’s doing when she goes to pet grandma’s neck. I start to say, “Felicity, stop, leave grandma alone” when Felicity say’s “Grandma, your skin is so weird!” I was so embarrassed! She was just enthralled by Grandma Lo’s wrinkled skin. Sometimes you just want to crawl under a rock…oh, well. We had dinner with mom and dad and the girls had a really nice time. Jeff enjoyed Father’s day as well. He got a quesadilla maker and a framed photo from the girls. We are just loving life.

All My Loving

Another week slips by us. If I had to use a single word to describe this week it would be industrious. I worked 30 hours this week and Jeff worked a lot as well. Saturday he worked the estate sale and then headed off to a night shift at the theater. He’s been working mainly nights, which is very difficult for me because I have a hard time sleeping when he’s not here. So on many evenings I wait up for him to come home, most of the time it’s around 2am, and then get up to work early. I’m grateful it’ll only be a few more months until he starts school. Working opposite shifts puts undue stress on a marriage and we want out before it becomes overly stressful. I know we’re doing the right thing for the girls though.

Jeff fixed the car, which has been great. The AC works now and it no longer makes that horrific squealing noise. We decided to move Jeff’s guitar lounge area out of the garage and into the spare bedroom which is a real win for him as it’s a lot cooler. This left enough room to put both cars in the garage which is a real win for me as I hate having the girls car seats hot when the van sits out in the driveway. The girls have enjoyed sitting in the spare room with dad and playing the different instruments and singing into the microphone; they are beautiful memories in the making.
Jeff is still waiting to hear back on when his orientation at the UA will be. They needed him to send a copy of his High School transcript, and even though he called the school a month ago to arrange it, they still haven’t received it. It is, however, a minor hoop to jump through.
This week has been one of great reflection for me since the events of last Sunday. I am more confident now in the power of the atonement and its power to change people. I’m grateful for my husband and his humility. I’m grateful for challenges in life; challenges that help us to stretch out of our comfort zone and grow beyond what we have been. Positive and wonderful things can come out of any situation. It’s all about our attitude and what we decide to learn from them; how we will become better people as a result of them. In my daily scripture study I read Elder Uchtdorf’s talk about patience from the April conference and felt so much appreciation for the perspective on life that the gospel of Jesus Christ lends to us. He said, “Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experience. Often we can’t see the lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness.” I know firsthand that that is true.

I’m so in love with my life, my husband, and my beautiful children. Life is good.

Here Comes the Sun

Summer has arrived! This week, in my mind at least, has marked the arrival of summer…it’s quite tardy in my opinion. The temperature finally got around to the 100° mark. Jeff and I were both off for Memorial Day and tried to get the most out of the opportunity. I was only needed for five hours at work this week, so I worked on some projects around the house and tackled some things that needed my attention.

The garden brought a new surprise this week; my corn has corn on it. It’s been getting a lot taller now that it has gone to tassel and there are three ears of corn growing on three separate plants. We have about six tomatoes growing right now too. I got okra off of one of the plants and there are buds on the other plant. I’m glad it looks like we’ll get some veggies out of our garden.

We really enjoyed our Memorial Day holiday. We started the day with a pancake breakfast and then went out to water the garden and to move, clean, and refill the pool. One thing led to another and an “innocent” squirting with the hose landed both Jeff and I in the pool in our clothes. The girls got a real kick out of it and it was a lot of fun until we realized we didn’t have the foresight to bring out towels for the girls, let alone ourselves. So we dripped dried, which took Jeff in his jeans a little longer, before we could go back in the house. We cleaned up a little and had a BBQ with swimming over at the Bryson’s which was also a lot of fun. Helen cut her leg on the flashing under their pillar, she didn’t cry at all. Felicity would have been beside herself crying, Helen, not a peep. Then we went and saw Alice in Wonderland at the movie theater. The girls were riveted and both sat still and quiet through the whole movie. It was a little too tense/frightening for them, but they enjoyed it. Felicity said about the Cheshire cat: “that cat is really, really magical”. We took them to the mall to play after the movie. It was a great day, the girls were a little cranky by the end, but that was to be expected.

I have found my new favorite sewing medium…juice pouches. I stayed up far too late on Thursday evening working on a new project. I’ve been saving juice pouches to make bags from. I experimented with a couple of different sizes and approaches and have found that it’s a lot of fun. So heads up family…the kids are getting Capri Sun Beach bags for their birthdays!

On Saturday afternoon, Jeff and I cleaned out the garage. Because it has gotten so warm, we’ve really needed to be able to park the van in the garage so that the car seats don’t get so hot. We had been storing a lot of things which were intended for a yard sale, but just really needed to be donated so we took the seats out of the van and filled it with stuff from the garage. I spent the evening sorting all the kids clothes and pulled out A LOT of clothes to donate which were either veary old, stained, torn, or otherwise not worth hanging on to. I reorganized the totes of clothes and put them on the shelves Jeff made for the garage. We rearranged Jeff’s “guitar lounge” area and swept the garage out. It’s always good to do some purging.

We’re really doing great and enjoying the summer season. Happy week everyone!