To Wash My Hands, My Face, and Hair with Snow

**Warning:  Picture Overload

It's time for some weekly gems (I really need to keep a better schedule on this) but first, a tribute to snow.
I love snow.  Even as a college kid trekking all over campus I didn't get sick of snow.  (Okay, maybe once, but it had to be one of those days.)  And lately we have had some good times with the gleaming stuff.

My good friend prepping for a ride on a pizza pan.
I'm telling you, Pam works.

First, some late night sledding.


We live across the street from a hill.  One of the most popular sledding hills, I would say, since a person of any age can be found sliding, slipping, or rolling down it at any hour--which we prove.



And I must apologize for the beyond horrible quality of the pictures.
What can a girl sledding at 10:00 p.m. do.

I included this fuzzy thing merely to point out that the white blur is a laundry basket.

Next, I always want to live on the Bountiful benches on my drive up to them.  Then I change my mind on the way down.  But they're beautiful, aren't they?

Lastly, I had a brief relationship with the sublime a few weekends ago while at my parents'.  It was late and I was alone outside to take in the beauty of fresh snow.  So I snapped some pictures which mean more to me than they will to anyone else.

(Not to ruin the moment, but extra life points to my dad
for shoveling this driveway by hand year after year.)

Ok, and one gem real quick:

*Finding out my sister-in-law, Lauren, and my BFF,Chelsea, are expecting!  Congrats you two!

PS-- See you on the slopes on Saturday!

The Rent Collector

My mother-in-law gave us The Rent Collector, written by Camron Wright, for Christmas. The story is set in Cambodia, in a dump called Stung Meanchy, where the residents of the dump pick trash every day for a living, selling plastic, aluminum, and other elements of value to buy rice.  They actually have to pay rent for the shacks that they live in.

Though I found the characters' traits inconsistent throughout the book, I believe the story to be beautiful.  While the premise rests on one girl's journey toward literacy, richer threads about atonement, struggle, hope, and truth really color the story.

I've already shared some thoughts about this book, found {here}, but I want to share a few more.

Sopeap Sin, a drunken bitter old lady, is teaching Sang Ly, a peasant, to read.  Here, she is teaching about stories:

"Our trials, our troubles, our demons, our angels--we reenact them because these stories explain our lives.  Literature's lessons repeat because they echo from deeper places.  They touch a chord in our soul because they're notes we've already heard played...Stories teach us to not give up hope because there are times in our own journey when we mustn't give up hope.  They teach endurance because in our lives we are meant to endure."

Oh how I love stories.

Have a blessed day,

~K

A Softer Heart and Bigger Lungs

A valuable thought from the book I'm currently reading:

After finding a trashed clock in a Cambodian dump where she lives, the main character hangs it on the wall of her shack.  She says,

"Someday if we ever have the money, I want to take it to a clockmaker and have it repaired.  It's silly, I know, because buying a new clock would be less expensive.  Sometimes broken things deserve to be repaired."

Here's to recognizing when something (or someone) is worth repair, regardless the price.

***

On another note, I swam 2000 meters today.

I know, I know.

It has taken me way too long to push myself that far.

But woot woot for new distances!  Especially when I recall a few years ago when it took me an hour to finish 800 meters.

Also, I swam the mile comfortably (okay, mostly comfortably) under 40 minutes!  My love for this form of exercise is still going strong.

***

Lastly, found this treasure in my phone.  Car seat + 10 hour drive = faboosh!
Rock that 'do, Baby Luke.

And thanks to Preston, my suggestion that Wreck it Ralph looks like Ryan Reynolds is now proven.

Sweet dreams friends.

~K

Reckless Abandon and an Open Palm

I learned a new word this week.

Pestiferous:  constituting a pest or nuisance; annoying.

Thanks dictionary.com.  You're an asset.

Gems from the week:

Being able to finally kiss Preston again after his week long battle with the flu
Good times with my work friends
Ben and Jerry's

Also, check out this amazing gal from over yonder in the Midwest.  Love her blog.  Want to read her book After Nathaniel. Cling to her every word.  Especially this set:

"Love with reckless abandon and an open palm."

~ Kristina Clemens

I've shared this quote with many of you.  Yes, I'm still obsessed with it.  No clenching and holding back for fear of loss.  I'll love hard and then submit.

Here's to another neat week.

~K

A Surprise and Some Gems

Few things are more neat than a 16 year old boy truly giddy with surprise.

My youngest brother, Cougar (yes that is his real name and I'll tell you how he got it some other time), is in the Musical Productions class at Davis High.  At the end of their semester they do a musical revue, showcasing their talents and just plain having fun.  It is a great show, but Preston and I were not planning to drive the 4 hours north to see it since we've done a lot of traveling lately, and Storm Gandolf was letting loose.  I told Cougar this and he was heartbroken.  He is the only one home, and as entertaining as our parentals are, he is bored stiff and lonely.
Being the adventurers we are, we made a rash decision: we'd brave the extra-snowy-even-for-Utah weather and surprise him.

And I'll tell you what, it was a success.
We waited in the lobby after the show got out and then Preston "bumped" into Cougar.  Cougar looked to say sorry and then his face lit up in shock.  He looked behind Preston to see me, and then he let out a squeal (a very manly squeal of course) when he realized it really was us.  Boy oh boy I could replay that scene in my head a million times over.
The rest of my family didn't know we were coming either, and they were equally happy.  It's so nice to be wanted.

We spent Saturday sledding, and I have not had that much fun sledding in years.  My parents were like kids. I almost choked laughing watching my mom fall off her sled and slide backwards on her slick coat with her legs stuck straight in the air all the way down the hill, a little "poof" of powder at the end finishing the scene.  What a hoot.

Boo yeah.  Record for longest run.  Take that, 20 pound kids.

I wasn't kidding about all the powder.  White washed e.v.e.r.y t.i.m.e.
Oh yeah, and my mom's a champ.  She has a torn ACL, but that didn't stop her!

Some "Gem Moments" from the weekend:

*Cougar's face when he saw Preston and me
*Preston cleaning snow off surrounding cars in SUU's parking lot after the basketball game while I sat in our warm car
*My brother, Luke, carrying a little girl and his own sled up the hill
*Musical Productions singing "Homeward Bound" with their orange in honor of Duncan Howard, a sweet boy who passed away at 22 after living with cerebral palsy
*Preston (who has an odd obsession with facial hair), lying sick in bed:  "Now is the best time to have a mustache.  You don't want to kiss me anyway!"
*WINNER:  Running short on snow pants (we play dress up more than anything), my mom SARAN WRAPPED her legs to keep them dry.  Yep.  And it actually worked.  Glad goes pretty far.

First Book of 2013 and a request

There is this website with a name I can't seem to recall.  D________.  But you keep all kinds of records on it.  Like miles run, Cokes consumed, reality shows watched.  And I'd been keeping records of the books and number of pages I've read using this website for some time.  And then I forgot about it.  Entirely.  Which is why I can't even remember what it's called.

Also, I like to condense things.  And I like lists.  So I am going to adjust to my forgetfulness, continue to ignore that website of sorts, and begin my 2013 book list on this here blog.  I'm not a critic (officially), but I might at times include some thoughts about the book as well.

Most importantly, if you have book suggestions for me, please share.

First book finished of 2013:

Saboteur by Dean Hughes.

Maybe I'm biased because I fell in love with Wally in Hughes' Children of the Promise series when I was a little girl, but I like Dean Hughes, and I love his characters.  The same rang true in this book.  I never got bored.

And so it begins...

Here it is.  My first blog post. After over a year of considering it.  'Bout time, eh?
The final push for starting this blog is my regretful documentation of our last year.  I want to remember these early years of our marriage, like a rainy day box, and so far I have not done well in writing down happy or important events.  My journal writing has sadly decreased, and when I do write, I focus on my feelings and thoughts, not events of our lives.  Both are important.  Hence the blog.
As it is the new year, I'll begin with a skinny picture of 2012.  (A very skinny picture--like, it's diet January skinny.)

January--I began my last semester of my undergrad. Preston turned in the last of his graduate school applications.
February--Luke came home from his mission.  And we got a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphey's for Valentine's day (and that's about as festive as it gets for us).
March--I swam my first mile.  It felt sooooo good.
April--We dealt with a family crisis that unified the bunch as we worked together in the months that followed.
May--I graduated from college, and then Preston and I celebrated our one year anniversary with a two week trip to Europe.  Is it possible to feel homesick for somewhere you only spent a few days?  Must be, because I feel it.
June--Mom and Dad Einfeldt took all the kiddos on a cruise to the Carribbean.  What fun we had.
July--A monumental month for sure.  We decided to postpone graduate school and stay in Cedar City.  The right decision it was, but we are still discovering the many purposes.  We vacationed in Mexico at the end of the month.
August--We ended our numerous summer vacations with a trip to Lake Powell.  Oh how I love that place.  Like, love love.  We mountain biked around Navajo Lake, conditioning our latest hobby.  I also learned a new skill as I sewed (with crucial help from my lady in-laws) 7, seven, seh-veh-n! new throw pillows to accent our new bedspread.  What a feat!

September--The highlight of the month was hands down SUU's Homecoming.  We sure love our college friends and any chance we get to reconnect with them.
October--You are never too old to get giddy about a birthday in my book, and so giddiness it was from me as we celebrated with lunch, an afternoon up the mountain, and then dinner and a play.  I LOVE birthdays.  Like I love Lake Powell.  Also, Preston shot his first deer.  What a man.
November--I received (and returned) Oscar the guinea pig.  Still miss that little guy.  Don't miss the numerous "surprises" he left on my lap.
December--Christmas is always a delight, but this year was extra special as Preston and I chose to do some secret Santas.  And as they were secret, that's as much detail as I'll give!  Also, another week in Mexico to welcome the new year.

We're looking forward to what 2013 brings.  I'm still in the discovery stage in regards to the purpose of this blog (and it's color scheme to get right down to it) so I expect some adjustments in that realm.  Hold on tight.

Adios for now my friends.

~K