Today I'm Grateful For...

...my family.

I'm grateful for my great big whole family: the ones I get to see often, the ones I get to see not-so-often, and the one wonderful one I get to see every day; the family that I was lucky enough to enter into at birth, and the family that I was lucky enough to enter into at marriage.  I'm grateful that my favorite people in the world are the people to whom I'm related, because even if I annoy them, they still love me.  I'm grateful for the Restored Gospel on the earth, and for the sealing powers of the temple, because I know that I can be with my family forever.  That man sleeping on my couch right now?  The one who's taking a nap in the middle of the day because I possibly gave him food poisoning last night?  I get to be married to that man for eternity, and nothing in the world can ever separate us, and I'm so grateful.  I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who knew to organize the billions of people who would inhabit the earth into families.  I'm grateful for the joy that my family brings into my life.

I'm especially grateful for my knowledge of God's plan right now.

{I'm also grateful for old family pictures -- I love this one of me and my two older sisters.  I just noticed today that Alice has her arms wrapped around me in it.  Could anything be sweeter?}

Snapshot of July 1987

My mother let me borrow a bunch of old pictures recently because Christian wanted to see Baby Me.  I have yet to return them, partly because they've gone into hiding in our second bedroom.  {Our second bedroom is where Christian keeps his clothes, his memorabilia, and his hideously uncomfortable twin bed.  It also often becomes the refuge of junk that we aren't ready to throw away, and random items that don't have a home in any other part of the house.  We tend to put things in the corners of the room and leave them there until it seems normal.}  I looked through these today and fell in love with them; not only am I adorable, but my family all looks healthy and happy, the colors in these pictures are beautiful, and right now I'm looking forward to the bright, sunny days of summer.

As the title of this post indicates, these pictures were taken in July of 1987 {or they were at least developed then -- they could have been taken earlier that year}.  I would have been fifteen months old; Laura would have been three; Alice was ten; Aaron was thirteen; my mother was 37, and Dad was 41.  We were in California visiting both sets of my grandparents.  You can see my Grandma Webb and my Aunt Kathy in one of the pictures with my mom, and all three of them had permed hair.  You can also see my Grandpa Cunningham, reading outside while I attempted to ingest the hose.  {You can even see a swollen diaper peeking out of the snaps in my red overalls.}

I look at these pictures and I miss things.  I miss California and gardenias and the dry hotness of summer.  I miss the cold water of pools and the smell of cut grass baking in the sun.  I miss my family being all together; I miss my brother, and I miss my mom's family.  I miss old wooden fences crowded with flowers, and I miss houses that my family has lived in for so long.  I miss sweet old men in baggy clothes.  And I really didn't intend on becoming so nostalgic; contemplating old pictures brings it out of me, I guess.

But Then...

I know I post about my adorable niece almost too often, to the point that this is almost turning into a mommy blog.  I always figured I wouldn't have a mommy blog until I actually was a mommy, and then it would be forgivable, because everyone {I'm sure} would want to know all about my kids all the time.  It seems like having a mommy blog when you're not a mommy is supremely obnoxious, and I apologize.  I'll try to post more about me-and-Christian things, and less about... less about... I can't do it.  I don't want to have a mommy blog, but I feel like I can't help it when there's this:

Don't you just want to eat her up?  With the little buns on the top of her head, and her princess t-shirt?  She's brushing her teeth with her Dora the Explorer toothbrush.  It's too cute.  The other day I was laying her down to change her diaper, and I kissed her feet, and she said, "Why you kiss my feet, Mimi?"  And I said, "Because I love your little feet."  And she said, "Yes, I love your big feet, too, Mimi."  And it melted my heart, because my feet are big adult feet, not tiny pudgy baby feet.

So whatevs, people who are tired of hearing about Baby Lara.  I love being her nother mother, and I love sharing adorable pictures of her.  The End.

Pink Toe*

Lara and I took some time today and painted her toes a lovely shade of pink {her choice}:

 

When I tried to take a picture, however, she would not hold still, and since I refuse to use our camera's flash, every picture came out blurry.  "You have to hold perfectly still," I said, about fifteen times.  I would even demonstrate for her, holding my hands on my knees, my fingers extended and motionless.  "You have to hold still.  You can't move at all.  The pictures are blurry right now."  "I want to see blurly," she said.  But showing her the unfocused pictures I'd already taken had no impact.

I think maybe she couldn't comprehend holding perfectly still.  I think she felt the attention on her and squirmed to relieve the sense of pressure, because her toes, especially, were in constant motion.  I tried holding them down, even, while snapping the picture, but anything less than painful force {I'm guessing} was insufficient to keep her still.  Finally, I found a position that worked for us:

*The title of this post refers to an inside joke that Laura {my little Lara's mother} and I shared when we were both little.  We had these phrases that we could say, at any moment, and for any length of time, and it would make the other laugh hysterically.  Phrases like "pink toe," "Telly," and "elbow" {pronounced "el-a-bow"}.  It's a phenomenon that remains, to this day, completely inexplicable.  My three-year-old self would give you the same answer as my 23-year-old self, which is that we just thought they sounded funny.

10 More Happy Things

{photo via PaperTissue.}

1.  Listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks on my iPod.

2.  Telling Christian I've been to the gym.

3.  Leaving my coat in the car because it's a beautiful 64 degrees and sunny outside.

4.  Welcoming Christian home with big hugs and kisses.

5.  Having several hours in a row free to read; wanting to read; having a good book to read.

6.  Knowing what to make for dinner.

7.  Hearing my little Lara say a blessing on our breakfast.

8.  Huge spoonfuls of peanut butter.

9.  Knowing I have something waiting for me on the DVR.

10.  Planning for and fantasizing about the future.

More happiness...