L's mosaic

Again, these photos are all from Flickr. See My Mosaic (two posts back) for instructions.

B's mosaic

1. first name

2. favorite food-Chinese

3. high school-Davis High. He must remember these mornings: dark, cold, snowy, and wishing you were still in bed.

4. favorite color-purple

5. celebrity crush-Marlon Brando. Okay, so he doesn't actually have a crush on Marlon Brando, but I just couldn't bring myself to post a picture of Marissa Tomei.

6. favorite drink-coke. Read what that wall says! "Delicious & Refreshing; Coca Cola relieves fatigue."

7. dream vacation-Lake Powell (Aerosmith: "DREAM ON, DREAM ON!)

8. favorite dessert-cafeteria style peanut butter bars

9. When you grow up, you want to be...-a professor

10. What do you love most in this life? The Lord.

11. One word to describe you: persistent.

12. Free Space: MOUNTAINS. He loves them; he craves them.

My Mosaic

To make your own picture mosaic, type your response to each of the following questions into the flickr search engine, choose a picture from the first page that comes up, then post the URL's into the mosaic maker. Thank you, my friend S. for doing this in your blog. (It was beautiful.) And do you see how many links I just did?! (Freakin' amazing.) Guilty conscience speaking: I bent the rules a tiny bit. But, rules are made to be....bent.

Q & Answers ala Moi:

1. What is your first name? Carrie [Originally, I was going to go with a Carrie Caye photo, but this picture reminded me of a beautiful and dream I had before I met Brando. And yes, I wrote Brando on purpose. It's his preferred nickname. (Smoooooooch!)]

2. What's your favorite kind of food? Italian food (But this french cafe reminded me of B. and our many explorations and happy restaurant discoveries and I like French food, too. Who doesn't?)

3. Where did you attend high school? Davis High, rah! rah! This pic was taken in the mountains above my home town. And, yes, when you arrive, you too will see things through a magical blue-green lens.

4. What is your favorite color? blue and green and.... (This image came up when I search "blue, green, white, pink.")

5. Celebrity crush? James MacAvoy (I can't help it. I loved him in Penelope. I'll get over him when I see another movie that I love.)

6. What is your favorite drink? Lemonade.

7. What is your dream vacation? Europe.

8. What is your favorite dessert? Chocolate mousse cake, carrot cake, and strawberry shortcake (The carrot cake picture won.) And since seeing S.'s apple pie picture, that's my favorite too.

9. When you grow up, you want to be.....? Brave. (But I found this picture by searching "perfect.")

10. What do you love most in your life? My husband and sons.

11. What's one word to describe you? kindergarten teacher (oh, that's 2 words. But this picture fills my heart with JOY.)

12. Peonies! I love their heavy heads. I don't remember what you're supposed to do for #12. I considered it to be optional.

photo description

1. Carrie's" Apartment, 2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/44548980@N00/176294592/">Bar le Baltard, Marais District, Paris, 3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/spoiler_3/1217864505/">Great Salt Lake Morning View, 4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shantaya/986017605/">A Berry Good Day, 5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ediehats/2301575380/">James MacAvoy, 6. http://www.flickr.com/photos/laffy4k/203627108/">Simply Lemonade, 7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/visbeek/2618425424/">Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28439449@N02/2733478263/">Carrot Cake, 9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/visbeek/2646265221/">You travel far to discover home., 10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/45414696/">A Child is Born - XII, 11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/willowpoppy/2108050388/">project central, 12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jstalusphotographs/2355382535/">Peonies in a Vase

Rest

With the advent cooler days, I've felt my spirit drooping. I am anticipating the bare branches, the dry brown grass, the creeping vines to replace their blossoms with prickly thistles. Mostly I'm remembering the wind, sometimes biting and sometimes filling the once blue sky with brown dust clouds. Winter's coming. Winter's coming.



With each spin of the earth, a new day dawns. The leaves soak in the sunlight, the roots gather nutrients. Everything is growing, working, producing in the day. Then night comes and even the trees rest. They do not soak in the sun. Inhale. Exhale. They rest.



In the Spring, seeds shoot roots down, shoot stems up, and the tendrils creep and gather nutrients, Sun. Summer flowers sprout, bees pollinate, fruit plumps. So much Summer bounty and sunshine and produce. Then Indian Summer sunshine and cool nights. Then Harvest and Blessings and Gathering.



Late Fall. We gather, give thanks.

And then it is the cold Solstice and the earth is still spinning but she rests. Peaceful snow-slumber night. And in the night, we read by the fireplace The Story and see the black sky and the pinpoint stars and the one star and the One. And we rest. And we rejoice.


And we endure. The winter drudges on. But then little by little the seeds shoot and the tendrils creep and find sun and earth.


Perspective.


And application. Produce! Carrie. Plant and sow and let your tendrils creep toward light and food, and produce! Then rest like Mother Earth in her season, in your night, in your winter. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe and rest...and rejoice.

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

So Dad, do you feel OLD?

In the car today, our little historian commented, "In 1849, Papa jumped out of airplanes."

Did you say, "1849??"

"Uh-huh. In 1849, Papa jumped out of airplanes. He doesn't do that anymore. Papa told me that."


(Papa is my dad --his grandfather-- not his great-great-great...you get the picture.)

"We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing..."

"He chastens and hastens His will to be known."

This is not a sermon; it's a personal reminder on which you are invited to eavesdrop. I have been filled with happiness today. I think Elder Holland's talk is lingering longest. It was unexpected and beautiful. (Saturday) And feel free to skip ahead to day 2. It was a bit more entertaining at our house.


These are the highlights of my Conference experience today.
1. I love staying home with B. xoxox
2. L. was exceptional for...L. Puzzles, blocks, some climbing (on me), raisins.
3. Now THE highlights:


KEY
blue - RE-READ (bold.)
green - work to improve
red - answers to prayers (STOP! NOTICE.)
purple - personal insight/prompting/revelation
gold-Opening a new world to me AMAZING or takes my breath away AMAZING.

day 1


President Thomas S. Monson

A temple in Rome. Pray for opening of areas for the preaching of the gospel.


L. Tom Perry
A Simplified Lifestyle.
The spirit and body are the soul of man.
Word of Wisdom
Live within your income. Thrift, industry, economy, frugality.


Sylvia H. Allred
She and her sister raced to read the Book of Mormon.

Neil A. Anderson
"Faith is not only a feeling; it is a decision." (a confirmation of personal reflection)


Dallin H. Oaks
"We are seated before the meeting begins." HELLO, CARRIE!!

President Deiter F. Uchtdorf
"Hope is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered."


Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Laugh. "The next time you want to groan, you might think to laugh." It makes the lives of others happier. "Put your trust in the Lord. Do your best. Then leave the rest to Him." (B.'s article, job search)


Jeffrey R. Holland

Angels. {Pray for angels to attend your loved ones and to attend you.} He will fight our battles, our children's battle's, our children's children's battles.



Elder Bednar

Prayer. Meaningful morning prayer is part of the spiritual creation of a new day. Morning and evening prayers are not individual instances, but should be linked together; a continued conversation. I felt like he was giving us a glimpse of a higher spiritual plane. It was conceptually new to me. Enlightening.

Heavenly Father lives and He hears and answers every earnest prayer.


day 2

Written in black for a reason. The reason is almost 4 years old and wasn't quite as cooperative as he was yesterday. He had to apologize multiple times today for various things, one of which was cutting the string holding the blinds together into the cutest little...SHREDS. (And I was sitting right there and didn't even notice. Classic.) Our conversation was as follows:

me: Do you think that was a good choice or a bad choice?

him: Bad choice.

me: When you were cutting, did you think Mommy would be happy or not happy?

him: (putting his hand out flat in front of him, head shaking left to right) But I did not think about that.

me: When Daddy sees this, do you think he will be happy or crazy-mad?

him: Crazy-mad.

postscript: He wasn't crazy-mad.

And so, I just don't remember as much of Conference from today.

But, Pres. Monson's was beautiful. The constancy of change. The little ones will grow up. Toys strewn all over the house. Piles of laundry. I cried because he said "piles of laundry" like he had actually seen piles of laundry.

At breakfast, Bubba talked about seaMOUSES. They live in the water and then when spring comes, they go to the forest to eat leaves. At dinner, he talked about pirates. On some pirate ships, there are good people. And the pirates say, "Well fellows, are you going to be pirates or walk the plank and go 'plash into the water?"

This is me immersed in motherhood.

P.S. And the baby fell off the couch today...this is you feeling like an awesome parent.

P.P.S. He's fine.