Video

Little Orphan Annie
While I was growing up,
my sisters and I loved Little Orphan Annie.
We didn’t just like it, we were obsessed with it.
I guess we kind of wished we had a Daddy Warbucks too.
Even though we had great parents,
we wanted Daddy Warbucks’ house.
And Pun-jab.
We also wanted to dance like that
and sing like that.
One thing bothered me about the movie though.
I know, I can only think of one thing. Weird.
Little Orphan Annie’s rat tail.
Imagine my surprise when Caroline was sportin’ the same “do” last night.
I cringed all up inside.
My little girl Alice wanted to brush it and make it right.
Yeah, I am weird.
And a little obsessive.
Even orphans deserve good hair.
Especially if they are on TV.
This video is for my little sister Renee.
I want her to know that I finally forgive her
for placing the VHS Annie in the VCR
with peanut butter all over her hands.
And like Annie taught,
there is always tomorrow.
And this tomorrow we will be watching Annie on DVD.
And the next tomorrow we may even have Blu-Ray.

Did I tell you my new secret obsession?
I want to make Caroline famous.
She deserves to be the modern day Shirley Temple.
She is sooo dang cute.

If we dyed her hair red she could play Rosie.
And if LG lost 80 pounds and grew his hair out he could sooo be Matt Damon.
I guess Abigail will have to play Scarlett Johansen
since I am nowhere near close.
Man, all we need is a zoo.
See it always goes back to Daddy Warbucks.

(We loved the movie by the way,
but beware there is a lot of language)

Redneck Caroline
We’ve been having all kinds of fun with our four new idevices.
We are so grateful to LG for spoiling us rotten this Christmas.
Abigail and I got i phones
and
Sophia and Bella got i pod touches.
The girls now sit right across from each other
facetiming one another
like they no longer know how to have a conversation without a device in between them.
We are all glued to our screens.
We have everything at our fingertips at all times:
free music, games, books, notepads, cameras, dictionary, google.
You name it, it’s in there.
It has been absolutely ridiculous how much we already rely on these things.
We have even adjusted our family scripture study around them.
We now have the kids read a chapter ahead of time,
on their i device, of course, 
because that somehow makes it much more fun than the regular paper Bible.
They make notes on their gospel library app as they read.
We then get together and discuss what everyone learned.
It is awesome.
Totally awesome.
Our scripture study has never been better.
We are truly likening the scriptures to our own lives.
I have been floored at the insight our kids have gained.
If I would have known what would have transformed from getting
i stuff, I would have done it a long time ago.
Of course, we have also been having a lot of fun.
Check out the juicyfruit sweet talk app.
Hilarious.
Absolutely hilarious.
Please disregard my overly obnoxious laugh at the end.

Family Dance Night

Do you remember this ancient post about the family staying up all night to dance.
We couldn’t afford to go to Chuck E Cheese and so we pulled out the old records.

Well now we can afford to go to Chuck E. Cheese but I believe I would rather
travel back in time and do this all over again.
I finally figured out how to post the video and these are so cute.
The girls have grown so fast but I am pleased to report that they still giggle just the same.
And they still think they can dance.

It started out slow. Very Lawrence Welk feeling slow.

Then we moved on to Bob Dylan’s song on banjo.
Dad does some tapping and at the end the baby has to join in.

More with dad and baby. Puff the magic dragon.

Then dad goes a little crazy.

A little Beverly Hillbilly’s. We were in TN after all.
We have some underwear malfunctioning.
This is when I hope that no sickos have found the blog.
But, if you sickos have found us, make sure you watch this one through
to see the man you will contend with if you come within 50 feet of our daughters.
And then know that I am about 800% more ferocious.

Now dad kindly introduces the two-step to our flapper girls.
Has anybody seen our girls?

And if you’ve been the loyal watcher,
you will be happy for this finale.
One final laugh for us all.

Good times. Good times.

Mormons and Music
A few weeks ago we attended

Abigail’s informal

choir performance.
I was astounded!

For just a few weeks of school,
this 7th grade choir
sounded amazing.
I love how in this song
Abigail misses the first clap.


And seriously,
this middle school has enough talented pianists
to accompany all their choirs.
Astounding.
Check out this accompanist.
She’s so young
and
wonderful
and inspiring.
Watching her accompany the choir
made me emotional and proud
and she isn’t even my kid.

I am grateful that our girls have the opportunity to go to school in Utah.
The choral music programs here are remarkable.

As evidenced by the recent Mormon ties
in the popular show Sing off.

Everyone knows that there is no better choir
in the world than
The Mo Tab.

What about The Osmonds?

The Jets are my personal favorite Mormon musicians.

I recently read about Brandon Flowers,
also a Mormon musician.

There are so many amazing Mormon musicians that I could do this for months.
I haven’t even gotten into Mormon contemporary music.
I recently shared Hilary Weeks and Michael McLean.

The Hinckley brothers are personal friends.

Here is one of my new favorite singles
by a new favorite Mormon musician, Stephanie Mabey.
LG and I had the privilege of seeing her in concert recently.
I really liked this song.
Weird but catchy.
I dare you to watch this
and try not to find yourself singing
along with the lyrics
“If I were a zombie,
I’d never eat your brain.”

Do enjoy some less known Mormon music on me.

I have a thing for the smooth harmony
that only Polynesians can produce.
These Polynesians must be Mormon
because they are singing two of our most beloved hymns.

Here are 21,000 Mormons singing together. Powerful stuff.

Last but not least,
some crazy Mormon missionaries.
Their mothers probably died when watching.
It’s a miracle that these 19 year old boys don’t all kill themselves.

From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous.
Isaiah 24:16.

One really has to think for a moment about the possibility of the Mormon church truly being inspired.
How else could it motivate so many to sing such glorious praises?
And we do it so well.
In my humble opinion.

Beautiful Heartbreak

I’ve experienced heartbreak.
More than one.
I remember vividly a day years ago when my friend Lindsey
walked in my front door
to find me completely debilitated,
inconsolable, defeated, and heartbroken.
I was on my couch crying uncontrollobly
while my three small children
were running around neglected.
When I told Lindsey what was going on
she cried too.

Earlier in the day, I had tried to go to the library
to escape the pain,
my toddler was a monster,
surely responding to her mom’s emotional state.
A mean old man confronted me
and told me I was a horrible mother.
Of course, that day I was a horrible mother.
It was all I could do not to shoot myself in the head.

He didn’t see all the other days.
The good days.
The days before the crippling pain.
But the other mom did.
She was usually by my side for weekly storytime.
She rushed out to my car and prayed for me
while I bawled some more at the wheel of my car.

You may think I am just some dramafied attention mongrel,
but you will never know.
The heartbreak is one I have shared with very few.
But it was awful. It is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

I have worked for years to overcome that pain.
The only thing that finally gave me solace
was turning it over to the Lord.
Over and over again.
I have become
an expert at handing it over.
So much so
that I have become a new person.
A better person.
A stronger person.
A happier person.
A more peaceful person.
And a person who seeks the Lord.

I have experienced a beautiful heartbreak.
More than one actually.
I have experienced a repeated heartbreak
until I gave it to my Lord
so many times that it
became beautiful.
Just because I shared it.
And He turned it into beauty.

So, I loved this song this morning.
Even if Hilary Weeks
stole it from this life-changing blog post.

I hope we can all be Lindsey’s
or praying moms,
but really sometimes we may
be moms who neglect our kids
or ornery old men who are mean and critical.
And hopefully other people will just remember
that we might be at the bottom,
or trying to hike our way out of the
beautiful heartbreak.

But even though I don’t have a video made about me
or I am not an inspirational speaker
or a famous blogger,
I can testify
with all the honesty of my heart
that God will bring us through
our worst pain.
He may even take us through it on purpose
so that we can have a new and beautiful vista
when we reach the top
where we have learned to
stay right by His side.

P.S. Help DeAnne not to experience the heartbreak of coming so close to first place as HeroMom of the year and not winning. Please go vote now. If you get someone else to vote, besides you, leave me a message and tell me who you got to vote and I will add you into a real special post coming up very soon.

Flecks of Gold

Any message with gold in it is good enough for me.
This one is especially pertinent in a world where people are more entitled and impatient.

Speaking of gold.
I am filled with inspiration this weekend,
listening to a living prophet and apostles.
Yes, the gospel of Christ is restored.
And it is my greatest treasure.

Feel free to listen along today at 10 am and 2 pm MST  here.
Conference is one of the best ways
you can understand
what those crazy Mormons actually believe.

Family Feud

Do you remember this post about my family’s appearance on The Family Feud?

Well, LG and I were at a Radio Shack the other day and it reminded me of my brother’s terrible answer in the final round. He will never live it down. What would you buy (other than a radio) at Radio Shack? A wire. I think one other person had actually picked that answer. So funny and fun.

We didn’t win the $20,000 but we did make some great memories.

Go to my brother Adam’s facebook page to watch the video.
And come back and tell me how terrible my hair was.