cosmically orphaned

I was enriched today during Sacrament Meeting, which is so rare these days, and not because of the message of the speakers but because I am often distracted by two kids climbing off and on my lap, putting together puzzles, making sure one kid doesn't eat the crayons, picking up cheerio snack crumbs, and all other things that come with taking two toddlers to an hour silent meeting. But today Evelyn sat on Jared's lap, and Warner laid his head on my shoulder a good portion of the meeting and I could actually listen. The speaker was wonderful, and gave a very insightful talk on the importance of music in religion, and the sacred nature of which we can offer prayers to God via a hymn. He then gave this quote that just struck me to the bone, which I think is so beautiful and truly puts into words how I often feeling about my God.

"I get impatient with dogma and dictum, but somewhere way inside me and way beyond impatience or indifference there is that insistent, infernal, so help me, sacred singing - All is well, All is well. My own church, inhabited by my own people - I would be cosmically orphaned without it." Emma Lou Thayne

I would be cosmically orphaned without it - that has been ringing in my heart over the past hours. How true that statement is. Last year, if you recall, I had a bit of a tussle with my faith in God. Less than a year later, my heart and circumstance stands in a different place - in a better place, in a more humble place, more grateful, more rejoiceful place. I, too, can find my heart singing "all is well, all is well." I tried putting faith on the backburner for a bit, and I did feel lost. There is nothing worth abandoning God for. Truly without my religion I would be cosmically orphaned, lost in this vast universe without purpose, love, direction, and true joy. God is good.

how reading books on parenting is really loony

Haha! My bestest friend sent this to me, and I just died with laughter. While I admit to having read a good handful of parenting books, it is pretty funny to look on as an outsider at how loony it is to really expect one method or book to have the answer on how to raise a perfect child ;)  

our own magical world, but not disney

Ok, treadmills really need to tone down their beeping of buttons. You know, when you push incline, speed, weight, WHATEVER, it dings. This causes a lot of anxiety when you are confident doing your thing at your own speed, but then someone comes on the machine next to you and holy cow, starts pushing the crap out of the buttons and all you hear is  beep beepbeep beepada beep beep beep beep beep beep, and then you're totally intimidated thinking what type of superstar am I now competing with right next to me?! What's their incline, what level did they choose, am I running faster than them? I hope they look over and see that I've been on here for 20 minutes already, so I totally already did my sprinting at super speed thing, which is why I'm not going turbo right now... and also - i'm pregnant, so, ya know, I can't run that long before my bladder wants to explode. But wait, do I look pregnant or just fat right now? Ahhh, then they start pushing more buttons - what does it all mean!? So then I push buttons and we're all just trying to out ding the other one with our beeping until finally I get off the treadmill and head over to the weights so they can think "wow, she lifts weights, too" :)

Annnnyyywayyy.... We are really enjoying our new city. Sacramento is super family friendly with the most amazing parks! We bought a year pass to Fairytale Town because it is the most charming play place. Having been built in the 1950's, Fairytale Town has this antique-y feel to it, but it has been so well-maintained that it's not run down and creepy but rather magical. It is a gem of a place!

Being the family photographer is a tough position. Looking back at these photos I'm disappointed that these are the only ones I took. They totally don't do the park justice. They have live animals for Little Bo Peep, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Peter Rabbit, and the Three Little Pigs. They have a playground in "Sherwood Forest," a slide and well on "Jack and Jill's Hill," Cinderella's Coach, Jack and the Beanstalk Slide, and Evelyn's favorite - the Crooked Mile, and so much more. But while taking photos, I was also taking video, and trying to be a partaker of the moment and not the mom behind the lens. But here is Fairytale Town documented on the blog to look back on years from now when we reminisce about our time spent there. 

uh, what a dull ending. my blogging skills are really rusty...