Month: April 2011

Our Man

One last Tennessee wink.

Or was that the flash in his eye?

Either way, what’s not to love?

Book Review: Have A Little Faith

Have a Little Faith: The Story of a Last Request by Mitch Albom

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have always loved the Jews. Anna Elovitz is one of the most wonderful people I know and she has been a wonderful friend since I was just a baby in High School. Her brother Adam took me on my first date. I was wearing the most ridiculous dress. Sorry Adam. I had no taste. What can I say? He was most gracious though. I am so relieved that those photos are all in someone’s attic about now. I am not even going to entertain the thought of sharing it. The Elovitz family is one of the best families I know.

Another book that I absolutely love was written by a Jew: Man’s Search for Meaning. Viktor Frankl was a very wise man. There is also another book about a Jew that I love. The Holy Bible: The New Testament.

Sorry, I wanted to give you some background of my knowledge of the Jewish faith. It’s limited. Very limited. I went to a Passover Feast once. I have seen menorahs in windows and I remember Anna having to do something on Friday nights sometimes because her Sabbath was from when the sun went down on Friday until the sun went down on Saturday.

This book, Have A Little Faith, was written by a Jew. It serves two purposes. It is first a wonderful testament to the power of faith. Secondly, it is a remarkable tribute and comparison between a beloved Jewish rabbi and a non Orthodox Christian pastor. Each have great faith. Each were completely inspiring.

I highly recommend this book to people of all faiths everywhere. I especially recommend this book to people without faith. I dog-eared half of the book, but let me give you just a few of my favorite parts:

The Talmudic translation of the account of the parting of the red sea. Mitch Albom remembered a religious school lesson fondly. God said to the angels who were celebrating the destruction of the Egyptians: “Stop celebrating. For these were my children, too.” Wow. God does love all his children, doesn’t He?

Rabbi Albert Lewis recounted the experience he had of trying to comfort a faithless physician who could not make his only belief in science save his sick brother. He had no one to blame but himself when people of faith can always blame God. Albert Lewis: “It is far more comforting to think God listened and said no than to think nobody’s out there.”

A conversation between a rabbi and his parishioner:
“So have we solved the secret of happiness?
I believe so.
Are you going to tell me?
Yes, Ready?
Ready.
Be satisfied.
That’s it?
Be grateful.
That’s it?
For what you have. For the love you receive. And what God has given you.
That’s it?
That’s it.”

I could go on and on, but I don’t want to ruin all the stories. They are each so inspiring. Collectively they are a bit overwhelming. In a good way. In a God way.

This is a quick read. I started one night at 11 p.m. and stayed up until 3 a.m. reading. I am slow reader. I never stay up that late. I couldn’t put the book down. It had the perfect mixture of laughing and crying and chillbumps.

View all my reviews

The Public Library

One of our first stops here in our new home was the Public Library.

for new library cards.

Of course.

The library is a poor man’s friend. It is the smart man’s friend and it’s my sanity.

I love public libraries.

And I love our new library.

It’s humongous!

There is a whole basement of movies, books on tape and music.

There is also a whole wing of children’s book with a whole upstairs of more advanced readers for middle school age.

Just thought you might like some of the photos of the view from the front of the library.

This is where you go if you don’t turn your books back in time.
He he

And look, we have blossoms here almost as pretty as in Tennessee.

We live in a wonderful place where we not only have beautiful mountains but also a lot of people who think literacy is important.

We are really looking forward to the world-famous Timpanogas StoryTelling Festival.

Ramen Noodles

My new across the street neighbor is great. She made us a homemade meal on our first night here. And it was delicious. I loved her homemade wheat bread. It was the perfect breakfast the next morning, toasted with jam. As soon as I get her recipe, I will be sharing.

For now, I am sharing with you a GREAT tip she gave me for a healthier lunch option.

After you cook Top Ramen, throw in a handful of frozen peas. It cools down the ramen and it adds some veggies to the usual carbohydrate overload with no nutritional value.

The bad news is that you will more than likely have a lot of leftover ramen when usually your kids scarf down every last drop.

The good news…more leftovers for mom!

Who knew that a random photo shoot could turn out such cute photos?

Caroline really is our doll baby. I gladly share her with her sisters and dad. None of us can get enough of her.

Home Sweet Home

Here is the long awaited post.

I have had so many people ask me about the house that I posting before I even attempt to return e-mails.

Our new house is a lucky number. I am not saying it on here, but everyone got a good laugh at church on Sunday when I told them our new address and the we are The Gold’s and we live in a gold house.

We try to make ourselves easy to find.

They thought it even funnier when I told them that we have a thing for picking great houses.

I am not sure if they believed me when I explained that we used to be The Gold and the end of The Rainbow, but most of you know that to be true.

Caroline loves our front window.
She smiles and blows kisses to everyone who passes.

Obviously my mom doesn’t read the blog.
This is what she brought me for the porch.
I’ve only lived in Utah for two weeks and I’m already a hypocrite.

Our front room.
I can’t believe that I live in a house that I love.
Thanks so much to my mom for her generosity in the decorating and furnishing department.
She thought it was about time that I love my space.
And she was right.

I absolutely went gaga over this portrait of the Salt Lake Temple.
This photo does not do it justice.

It looks like the girls have made themselves at home.

We already have Uno cards all over the downstairs family room floor.

Do you see those couches? They have your kids names on them.

And this is Abigail’s room adjacent to the family room.
It’s pretty much a Five Star hotel.
It doubles as the guest room.
Come visit soon, ya hear?
You can’t see the beautiful photo of the dogwoods.
You will have to see for yourself if it does Tennessee justice.
I think it can only do so much when it’s just in black and white.
Abigail and I fraught over who got this portrait for a whole 24 hours.
Her decor won out. Boo hoo.

Our office is in a little alcove off the family room.
It’s perfect. We were able to put in a table next to the desk for homework/laptop space.

The table is to the right.
You can’t see it but straight ahead is the downstairs bathroom.
We put in one of those extra roomy shower curtains just for you.

Here is half the backyard.
I can’t wait to plant some stuff in the flower bed.
LG loves the shed. It’s an extra bonus. And doubles as the kids clubhouse.
I think today he is really happy that it only takes him a half hour to mow.
We are gonna save ourselves some serious yard-work time.

The other half. The girls love the swing.
LG and I have been too busy to take advantage so far.
The photo is taken from the garage door entrance. You have to go through the garage to get to backyard.
Olive and KittyBear use the doggy door.

Back inside.

Going down the hall.

Our room.

Our half bath.

I told the owner of the house that having our own sink and toilet is an upgrade for us.

We still have to share the shower in the bathroom down the hall with the kids.
LG wanted to keep the extra powerful showerhead,
but I told him it would have to be toned down so that I could actually stand to shower.
LG loves the shampoo dispenser.
I love the glass doors that keep the kids from splashing water all over the place.

Sophia and Bella are so proud of their new room.

They even make their beds every other day.

Thanks to my mom and dad for the new bedding and dressers.
It is awesome having their own special space for all their things.
They even shut their dresser drawers every other day.

Last but certainly not least, Caroline’s room.
I picked out the shabby chic cherry blossom bedspread.
The green leaves match the antique dresser perfectly.

The old vanity/desk is painted white and ready to be moved in also, but I haven’t done it yet.

One thing at a time.

Next project is painting all my old frames brown to make a collage downstairs.

I’ll keep you posted.

You know I will.

The trek west

I only made time for a photo op when I knew we were on the last leg of our trip This was taken shortly after I stopped at the Utah Visitor’s Center to make sure I wasn’t lost. The previous 100 miles were nervous making. I was sure I took a wrong turn somewhere in Colorado. For 100 miles I debated with myself about turning around. I could have kissed those old ladies that live in the middle of nowhere when they told me I was on the right route. My phone’s GPS wasn’t working and there was no service to double check with LG that I was following my directions correctly. And the atlas was with LG in the moving van because Abigail loved checking it throughout the trip. All I could do is be the Mormon Pioneer that I am and forge ahead.

Oh yeah, funny side story. When I called my dad to talk to him about the details of our arrival the week before we left Tennessee, we got talking about the move-in. He asked me if we had a hand cart. I couldn’t figure out why he asked me that. Did all people need an obligatory historical handcart to move into the state of Utah now-a-days? I had never heard of such a thing and there was no way we would be fitting one in our truck along with the thousand pounds of food storage. I told my dad, “No dad, we have a moving truck. Penske. It’s the 21st century. It’s not going to take us months. Hopefully. Just four days, dad. Hoepfully.” He and I laughed heartedly when he explained that he meant one of those little dolly things to unload the boxes from the truck.

Here are the only other photos that were taken on the trip:

Even though this was taken on the same stop at the Welcome to Utah sign, it could speak volumes for the wind that we experienced all the way through Kansas, the third day of the trip. We traveled through what seemed to be a lot of dead farmland, but as the car was thrown all over the road by the wind and repeatedly ran over tumbleweeds it was no surprise that we were in tornado territory. All I could do is hold tight, click my heals together and chant repeatedly “there’s no place like home”.

Olive made it. She thought she was miserable until we arrived and she found out that her new home would be “outside only”. She hates the garage, even if it is attached to the yard for her own leisure. She especially hates it when we are eating dinner. She goes outside and howls at the kitchen window, hoping for some scraps. The kids have made a game of standing on the kitchen bench and waving to her throughout our meal. I can only hope that as I adjust, so will Olive. At least I’ve figured out how to get her to stop howling through the night. Apparently locking her inside her kennel makes her feel safer. Go figure?

And there are no pictures of Kitty Bear. We drugged her up really good every morning and the drugs usually lasted until we had 1 -2 hours left each night, when while we were all at our end’s wit, we tried to ignore her meowing and scratching at her kitty carrier. I won’t even mention how when we stayed with our friends in Colorado on our last night, when we went to leave, we couldn’t find her anywhere in their garage. We searched for a good 15 minutes. I thought it especially generous that we searched at all considering she had kept us up the whole evening before meowing at the door.

Kitty Bear must be a true Gold family member. She is always out to entertain. For some real fun, we couldn’t find her at all the whole day after we arrived in Utah. We were sure she had taken off to try to go back home to Tennessee. She had snuck in the house and was hiding in the food storage room. I guess that is where she took the most comfort because it’s the only room of our new house that has any semblance to her old space. Boy was I relieved to find her! After 4 days of drugging and dragging and scratching and wrestling and chasing, she had better not run out on us now.

A great shot of a dirty windshield if I do say so myself. You would never guess that at every gas stop the girls fought and fought over who got to do the windows. That wasn’t the only fight along the way, but this mom stayed focus. They pretty much fended for themselves. Caroline came up with the game of throwing her pacifier at the windshield and yelling “paci, paci, paci” when she was really had it, which was pretty much every day from an hour after we got into the van. Notice the photo above where she has one pacifier in her mouth and one in her hand. Every stop we would gather as many as we could like ammunition.

I was taken back by the blue in the skies. Who would have known that we barely missed a great big snow storm the day before. Only LG who was driving the moving truck with car trailer down the Rockies. You would think that the ritziest ski resort in the nation, Vail, would do a better job of making sure their roads were plowed. Needless to say, these Tennesseans who are very out of practice driving in snow were white knuckled for about three hours. Especially after passing accident after accident while winding and stopping and travelling what seemed straight downhill with a gorge on the side.

And for good measure. Here is the best shot Abigail could manage of the most entertaining thing we saw the whole way. Forget the St. Louis arches or the majestic snow topped Rockies. Here is what got the most laughs. The Wiener Mobile. It’s a good thing that Sophia was with dad in the moving truck because of all my children she would be the one to get the bright idea that this should be her only formidable mode of transportation when she turns 16.

As you all know by now, we made it.

Barely.

Thanks for all the prayers.

What I really want to know though is who is the jokester that included the request for the WienerMobile
and how did you know it was exactly what I needed after four days on the road?

Reunited

and it feels so good.

Sunday at church someone read a quote:

“An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.”

I never considered myself an optimist,

until Sunday.

That is only one reason why church is awesome.

Church changes my perspective often.

I am so glad to belong to a church that no matter where I go, I am surrounded by family.

We’ve been busy moving in. Moving in to our new home in Orem, Utah.

As many of you know, we have lived here before. It’s a weird feeling being back.

It’s weird to come back to such a beautiful state and feel so at home. It seems we shouldn’t feel at home considering how much 8 years in Tennessee changed us, but it does feel like home. It feels optimistically comfortable.

I am so grateful to my brother who let me borrow his internet card. We won’t have service for a whole ‘nother week. I am going a little stir crazy and am regretting not scheduling out some more posts. And for those of you who have tried to contact me, I will return your messages and e-mails just as soon as I dig my way out and get a faster e-mail connection.

Check out this photo that LG took on Saturday night. What a beautiful place we live. Beautiful indeed.

Come and visit us soon. We have the perfect accommodations for visitors.