Our eight year old was baptized this weekend, as we had waited for my parents to come into town for another event and coordinated with them. It was wonderful and he was surrounded by so much love from family and friends!
And that family photo cracked me up! We got some better ones but I like that one. 
(Bumping and updating after another discussion with a friend! Originally posted in 2010.)
I’m adding a few things to my LDS reading list for a friend after a deeply thought provoking and beautiful discussion. It was good. (Good is an understatement, I hope it was as wonderful for her as it was for me to talk with her.) Here are some of the things we discussed in our too brief visit!
(I post this with some trepidation and an explanation to follow later, but I post this because I had an epiphany today and I realize I need to not be so hesitant about expressing my beliefs – conventional or unorthodox or mainstream or unusual or any of the above. Not that any one of these books can summarize my beliefs but they have all influenced my beliefs. And standard disclaimer – I do not speak for my church, these are my views and mine alone, please don’t take my word for it, any questions or concerns you should pray about and receive your own answers!)
Updating – I keep adding more links as I run across old ones I had bookmarked or get some from friends/family. Let me know if you have any I should add to this post so I can have them all in one spot. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had people ask me to email them these articles or links, I hope this will make it easier to share them.
Some of these I’ve just skimmed, others I’ve read multiple times. I don’t agree with every point in every article/book (who does, right?) but they have all been thought provoking for me and influenced my views.
(This is a set of questions I found online and shared with my extended family as we worked on gathering our family history. Fun questions to record for your children!)
When, where & how did you meet? January 2000, Denton Institute (a church building used for religious classes and church services usually associated with a university.) We were at church and introduced in the hallway by mutual friends.
What did you do on your first date? Our first official date we went swing dancing – Friday, March 31st. It was in a dormitory building on the UNT campus that did swing lessons each Friday night. No one knew yet that we were together but a friend saw us there and word spread quickly.
What was your most memorable date (before or after marriage)?
When and where was your first kiss? Kit’s apartment (on Hickory Street in Denton, which has since been torn down) on March 28th/29th – it was after midnight we’re pretty sure. After talking for hours and hours and admitting my crush and him saying he liked me, too, and then some more talking I finally said to him (I was tired, it was late, I had no filter), “Aren’t you going to kiss me?” Then he kissed me.
Tell us about your proposal? The first time Kit proposed was April 2nd/3rd (again, pretty sure it was after midnight) and it was in the middle of a conversation about something completely unrelated. He just slipped it in there, “Marry me,” and I said, “Yes,” and we kept talking. Then he proposed every day for the next two weeks, randomly popping the question when we were together – Will you marry me? Marry me? Want to get married? Every day for two weeks. When my wedding band arrived he knelt on one knee and slipped it on my finger and that was one of the times he proposed. That last time he proposed was in the foyer of the Dallas temple after he went through for his endowments (about three weeks after I went through for myself the first time.) I said yes in the temple and then I guess he took me seriously.
When and where were you married? July 8, 2000 in the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple in American Fork, Utah.
Tell us about your wedding? (To come.)
Where did you live as newlyweds? We had an apartment just off of Preston in Frisco, Texas – back when it was still a pretty small town. Kit worked off the Tollway also in Frisco, then later off the tollway in Dallas. In March 2001 we moved to LA when his company consolidated offices.
Anything else you would like to share? (More later.)
Back when we had our family blog public (started in 2005!) I wrote a post about Kit’s proposal. It was linked to by a Babble author and got a lot of hits, but it obviously went down when we took the blog private. I shared it again on my doula page here as I talked about our love story.
I thought I had written out our whole story on the blog but as I searched the archives I realized it was just bits and snatches here and there. So I’m going to do it! To celebrate our 13th anniversary I’m going to at least start writing out our love story. I’m hoping I’ll get Kit to chime in as well and I’ll copy over some posts we wrote from the old blog as well.
Goal stated, now I must follow through!
Kit shared this with me and I cannot stop laughing.
Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.
(It was so funny I’m sharing it again!)
Randomness I found when searching for a new header photo – one of our many beach lake trips last summer, and our new year celebration:
We have three bedrooms and a sunroom. Boys’ room, girls’ room (bunkbeds and single bed in each) and the sunroom has a daybed with a trundle bed. The older two girls have been sleeping in the sunroom since Emily moved in with us, she had the girls’ room (the baby is with us) and the boys in their room.
Today Emily moved out. Suddenly the kids wanted to all swap rooms!
So, tonight we’ve got the girls back on their bunkbed, C took over the daybed in the sunroom (he’s so excited – his own ROOM he can keep the light on and read way too late!) and J really, really wanted to be in the bedroom with his “best buddy” (E) so he’s on the single bed in the girls’ room. Which means B is solo in the boys’ room (and he thinks that’s so cool.)
Now if we could just get Miss O out of our room!
But yes, our house feels strangely big and empty. We tried to drill into the kids that they were NOT allowed in Emily’s room so now that it’s empty we’ve essentially added a room onto our house. It’s weird! The kids are in there playing on the bunkbed and I have an extra room I have to go check when things get too silent during the day.
It’s been an interesting experience to realize that even though we’re NOT in a big house (relatively speaking – it’s ginormous compared to most of the world) we’ve been 8 months living with three adults and 6 kids in under 2000 square feet. And it didn’t feel crowded! We have empty shelves and cabinets, the kids had private spaces to go play. There were times we laughed because they still seem to move in a pack – they’ll all crowd onto one couch to read (we have four couches in three different rooms) and when playing they all move in a swarm from room to room.
But now? It’s like we’re all bouncing around a bit lost, like we lost our borders! It’s so strange to not have Emily here, we really miss her! And she’s been gone longer than this before, of course, she travelled while living with us. But we lost a family member and we’re all feeling it. 
Fortunately she’ll be back in a month for their wedding, even if that will be a too brief visit.
We’re all missing Emily this morning, but the kids were consoled knowing she and Richy will be back in a month. We’re planning the menu already.
Last night I attended #2 of my seven births in seven weeks. Last Saturday it looked like we might have a baby jump ahead in line but nope, he’s patiently waiting his turn. Yesterday’s mom gave me a heads up in the afternoon, I headed over at dinner time and was home to nurse Miss O when she woke up and go to bed with her at my usual (but later than it should be) time. It worked out beautifully – thank you, sweet baby! (Photos on Facebook page and doula site.)
Today is Emily’s last night with us, she takes off in the morning for her move. We’re sad to see her go, but we are well prepared to party tonight! I’m hoping my next doula baby waits until after tonight to arrive… but ideally before Mo’s party on Saturday! Or after the party, I’m flexible.
We received three large lemons from Bountiful Basket this week. The moment I saw them I knew with an absolute certainty what I was going to do with them.
Crust
1 1/2 C crushed graham cracker
1/3 C sugar
4 T butter, melted (2 T butter, 2 T coconut oil)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix until saturated with the melted butter. Press into a 9″ pie plate.
Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 7 minutes or until golden toasty.
Remove and let cool.
Meanwhile:
Filling
1 C lemon juice
zest from lemons you juiced
1 C sugar
4 T cornstarch
1 can evaporated milk
8 oz cream cheese
Splash of vanilla
In a sauce pan, combine cornstarch and sugar. Whisk well to combine.
Add lemon juice, zest, and evaporated milk. Heat on medium.
When it starts to get warm, add in cream cheese. I broke my block up into smaller chunks before adding. Whisk until cheese is all melted in.
When it starts to bubble consistently, the cornstarch will be warm enough to gelatinize. Remove it from heat, and pour into cooked graham pie crust.
Chill until set.
We served ours with some real whipped cream I whisked up (1/2 C cream, 2 T sugar, 1 t vanilla, or so — I never measure any more). Not vegan by any stretch, but egg-free.
It was delicious.
Right now, I have a strawberry variant in the fridge cooling.
Strawberry variant
1 C sugar
3 T cornstarch
1/2 C water
2 C puréed strawberries
8 oz cream cheese
Splash of vanilla
Exactly the same method as the lemon filling. I have high hopes. If it turns out, I’ll post pictures.
Update: Big hit!
