BREATHING DEEPLY

A few pictures of my walk outside this morning:

This is smog, folks. No blue sky around here.

The air quality is so bad, kids aren't allowed to play outside at school--poor kids, and poor teachers--for the past 5 days! Blurbs on the news urge everyone to avoid exercising (I'm SO good with that), drive less (like, not to the gym, right?), and not use their wood-burning stoves (again, since ours has a T.V. balanced on top of it, I think we will obey).

As we walked to school today, sleeve covering Joshua's mouth, I told him how this was just the way the sky looks in Tokyo.

"Guess you wasted a lot of money going over there, then," was his quick reply.

Guess not!

GOLDEN

We're all familiar with this, surely. I know my children, at least, should be.

I've tried hard to help them understand the way we should treat others, and that home is a great place to practice it.
Apparently, we've still got some practicing to do...

For example, I fold my children's laundry when I find it left in the dryer.

But I find my laundry like this:

I play nursemaid to the sickies, such as poor Lane, who just had his wisdom teeth removed.

But Lane, upon hearing me cough up a lung, said, "Geez, Mom, it sounds like you're coughing up a lung, or throwing up or something."
"Thanks for not coming to see if I'm all right, Angel of Mercy."
"Yeah, well, I listened. You didn't fall down or anything."

Touching. Typical.

Then, in one beautiful, golden moment, I found this:

An emptied dishwasher,

done by someone other than myself. Yes, golden. Glorious, even.

Of course, as we reviewed for a test today I asked the golden child/dishwasher-do-gooder to give me an example of a comparative adjective.
"Okay," he quickly replied. "I am cuter than you."

Oh, Robert Frost, how well you said it..."and Eden sinks to grief" (otherwise read as, and Keri goes back to business as usual!)...

MISTAKEN

I made a mistake. These are the best pictures of '08:

My son has been touched by a prophet of God.

Of course, what really matters is if my son will be touched by the words and counsel from a prophet of God. If he will be touched by the Holy Ghost when he hears those words. If he will follow the guidance of our prophet. If Joshua will touch others and bring goodness to their lives.

And if I will do the same.

That will be the best of all.

And, P.S., I think the iPod is going to win out on best purchase. Of course, I do really like riding my scooter. . . Ah, to have so many to choose from!

AULD...OR WAS THAT OLD...AS IN 2008!

BEST...or was that BLESSED..as in MY LIFE IS GREAT!

I couldn't decide on a title...so, you get both.

You also get my best and worst picks of 2008. Hooray! Warning: this post will be full of the fact that my life is full of BESTS (with just a few worsts, to keep things in perspective), and therefore absolutely nothing but BLESSED!

In no particular order...

Best Book:
Especially in audio format, as read by Davina Porter. Seriously, folks, I am in love with a woman, reading the part of a man, who is a fictional character in a chick-flick novel...that's just sick, I know, and still the BEST!

But there's also:
Which makes me laugh whenever I read it,

and
which I both read and listened to (again) this year. So very, very good! But Grandpa just doesn't do it for me like Jamie does...

Worst Book:
The one I just finished slogging through for my next book club meeting. Seriously not worth any time...Just read the front cover to get a gist of just how bad it is!

Best Album:
This is SO GOOD!! And although it may be targeted towards an LDS audience, anyone who can appreciate clever musicianship and great sound should really like this album. It comes highly recommended, by me and my kids!

Worst Album:
It's not really an album, but a computer game. Close enough, though. It, and my game-playing children, are driving me as crazy as though they were playing some awful music. Aaarrghhhh!

Best Picture:

I am no photographer, so this is nothing compared to what some people (read Lindsay, Mom, etc.) could do, but somehow I did manage to capture this sunrise in November. The view is from our back porch.

Worst Picture:
'Nuff said. And no, this wasn't Halloween. At least this year it wasn't a picture of me!

Best Coach:
Coach Jerry, Joshua's soccer coach. You could never want for better.


Worst Coach:
Lane's soccer coach. Boo. But Yeah for Lane for playing well anyway!


Best Joke:
It's a toss-up between what the two apes did to Evan,
and my aunt's Thanksgiving place-setting for Michael (you probably had to be there...but if you had been, you would have seen his lovely china place setting--a la Vance-family style, in comparison to the paper plates and cups that the rest of us got!).

Worst Joke:
Sometimes uncles are just not that much fun to have around.

Best Recipe:
Now, this would imply that I actually have used a recipe this year, and we all know that's just not the case. Still, if I would have cooked (and cooked well), I might have tried this:
What? You can't read it, either? Guess you can come join me in my non-recipe cooking boat.

Worst Recipe:
Whatever it was that made this:
And, yes, that is my attempt at cooking.

Best Purchase:
Now the difficult part begins. I've been blessed with SO MUCH GREAT STUFF!!!!
There's the Tahoe,


my red scooter,


my washer and dryer,


my pink iPod,


and my discovery that Rhodes bake-and-serve rolls
taste better than my own (are you in any way surprised at that?) and with far less effort on my part!

Yet they are still nothing like my Aunt Laurie's...which are HEAVENLY...sigh...

Gee Whiz! I am loaded with great stuff. And it is ALL attributed to my great husband. He spoils me rotten.

Worst Purchase:
Skinny Jeans.
Ugh. No one, I mean no one wants to see a picture of me in those!

And, speaking of clothes:

Best Outfit:
Michael, dressed for Halloween.
Worst Outfit:
Joshua, dressed for school (granted, it was miss-match day, but still...).

Best Trip:
Again, I am the luckiest of all luckies. How in the world does one pick from such greatness?

There was my trip to visit Merrit and Dana in Boston (see June entries):


Our family trip to Ft. Collins, Colorado:


Our family trip to Island Park, Idaho:


And the trip that Michael and I made with his parents to Japan:


One of these days I'll have to write about these...

Worst Trip:
My trip to the Kangen Water Factory in Osaka, Japan.

One of these days I'll have to write about that...

And, finally,

Best Moment:

Wait. Let's do this the opposite way.

Worst Moment:
Sadly, there were a few to choose from.

There was Michael's job loss. Not fun. But, thankfully, temporary.
His worst moment was probably when he had to tell me. My heart hurts for him over that.

There was a terrible car accident in Boston. But, thankfully, everyone is going to be completely okay.

There was a terrible tornado right through the middle of my brother's neighborhood in Colorado. But, thankfully, things there are going to be okay.

On no sort of similar level,

there was the paining and staining, in Maine-ing. It really was the worst.

And there was the tin sheet of roofing that Evan drove over on the Wyoming highway, ripping apart our gas tank, and leaving us stranded in Evanston until Michael Macgyvere'd us some special sort of gas-tank super glue/duct tape that got us home to SLC.

But enough of that. And back to,

Best Moment:

Getting to

see my

friends in Japan.


Walking in to my old branch (church group) in Nakatsu and hearing, "Keri Shimai"
was probably tops. The experience made me understand Alma 17:2 in a whole new way. It also made me think I know heaven a little better now.

Of course,
it's always tops when I get one of these!

Which is probably why my final favorite moment, besides singing, "Glory to God, and peace on earth, good will to men!"
as an angel on the colonnade in "The Savior of the World,"

was getting to perform in the show with two of my men.
There is nothing like doing the Resurrection scene with your loved ones, knowing that someday, no matter what else happens in between, that is where we are all going to be (okay, okay, "can be" for you doctrinal purists) : with our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. And that will be the best of all best moments.

My hope is that I will live to make that happen, 2009 and always. Join me in the adventure!