The Trilogy of The Great Trade: Part One

Two months ago, I knew what I wanted for Christmas.

Trevlove was absolutely shocked. I NEVER know what I want for Christmas, or my birthday, or our anniversary, or anything else for that matter. To be honest, sometimes I feel a little sorry for him. Personally, a guessing game like that would just drive me nuts, and he's had to get pretty creative sometimes (not that I don't enjoy planning a good surprise for him every know and then. I just don't relish not having a steady, dependable backup gift in case my creativity fails me [note: relish has been the word of the week. I think I've used relish more in the last week than I have in the rest of the last year]).

This year, though, there is something I've been craving for months and months.

I want a Bosch bread mixer.

I love the idea of making my own bread in the same way that I love shopping at farmers markets, working in my garden, and refinishing old pieces of furniture from Savers. Something about it makes me feel so down to earth and in touch with my creative, self reliant side. I get shivers of delight just thinking about it.

There is one catch.

You may notice that I said, "the idea of making bread" as opposed to "making bread". I do all those other things, but I don't make bread. Honestly, I haven't made bread since we got married more than two years ago. So basically, cancel out all that homey, hardworking creative mumbo-jumbo. The truth of the matter is, the thought of making my hands ache kneading and getting my counters all floury and nasty has been a strong deterrent, and my hand-me-down mixer can't handle bread dough.

Would you like more of the scary, awful truth? There's another problem. I don't even bake. I love cooking, mind you. I adore simmering sauces. Chopping chicken really tickles me. I relish making relishes (Ooo, two pointer!) But baking usually involves a lot of sugar and fat, and heaven knows I don't need more excuses to have all that lying around my house. I only bake for family events or when I know I'm taking the food elsewhere. Bread is the only thing I would really want to bake, and we already went over the barriers to that.

Enter the Bosch Dilemma.

The little angel (or is it the little devil?) on one shoulder says: What? You mean you can have fresh home baked bread without achy hands and nasty counters? And to top it off, you can double other baking recipes to take to family events with the big bosch bowl and use the splashguard to avoid spraying flour all over your kitchen (which is what my current appliance loves to do)?You mean you can actually live the next installment of your homey, creative dream? You may notice that the little critter has been listening to a lot of advertisements.

Then the devil (or is it the angel?) on the other shoulder responds: But can you really justify buying an expensive piece of baking equipment when YOU DON"T REALLY BAKE?!?

So you see, I've been at a months long impasse until The Great Trade was devised...

Really, blog, I love you.

I'm so sorry, blog.

Can you ever forgive me?

I know I shouldn't have left you alone so long like that, just leaving without saying anything. You must have thought I was abandoning you forever.

I'm not going to give you excuses about where I've been and what I've been doing that stopped me from coming to you for so long. My words feel so empty, and I wish I could say more, but the truth is I thought about you all the time and longed to come back to you, but circumstances outside of me prevented it.

In the time I've been away, so much has happened. The garden has grown, the pregnant llama brought forth a foal (Kid? Calf?) Rylan has flourished, bell practice has continued, and I longed to run to you to tell you these things, but I couldn't.

So, I don't know. I've never left my blog like this before. How do these things work? Are we allowed to just pick up where we left off like nothing ever happened? Not to be presumptious, but I think you need me just like I need you. Can't we be just like we were before?

Oh, thank you blog. You're far too good for me.

Bells are back

Every year, my family prepares a hand bell concert and plays in my parent's front yard the Monday before Christmas.

We've just started practicing for the upcoming season. I think this will be the 6th or maybe 7th year.

It is very time consuming. Practicing takes so much time, especially in the last few weeks before Christmas, when everything is already so busy. We spend a ridiculous amount of brainpower trying to juggle schedules and find times to practice with so many busy people.

I won't lie. I have mixed feelings about bells. To me, at times it has come to symbolize in so many ways what our modern, hectic, anything-but-peaceful holidays are, and more than once I've caught myself wondering if we're missing the whole point.

And then we have the concert.

Hot chocolate and muffins are set out and waiting for our arriving family, friends, and neighbors, who are bundled up and ready to settle into lawn chairs. Everyone chats and visits until we begin.

The music is beautiful. The coordinated movements of the polished bells, glowing in the dim light, is like watching a fire flicker in and out. Some songs float sweetly and peacefully, and others are cheerful and brassy, but all are a celebration of the season.

After we play, I am always content. I'm so happy to see everyone. Mixed in with old friends and faithful family are new faces, or sometimes the faces of neighbors whose names I don't know but I see without fail when we play every year. Everyone is happy, and I feel peace.

It's then that I wonder if I'm mistaken--if in those times when I question, maybe I'm the one missing the whole point.

Autumn Arizona style

Fall has finally come to Arizona. Now, in Arizona, when we say fall is here, it means that all the grocery stores are selling pumpkins, it starts to get dark a little earlier, and the temperatures are finally suitable for outdoor activities other than swimming during daylight hours.

I have been in a perpetually good mood since Saturday, when a gentle breeze blew in temperatures in the 70's. Autumn happens to be my favorite season.

So what did I do? First I took pictures of Rylan playing with pumpkins, of course. Please excuse the mashed carrots still on his face. I've had these puppies for about a week in anticipation of the arrival of Autumn. When I bought them, it was still in the 100's. I think it was my pure and unwavering faith that brought Autumn this year.

My pure and unwavering faith will also keep these temperatures here, even though both Trevlove and Weather Central tell me I'm wrong. Those pessimists assert that this is just a cold front blown in by a hurricane in Baja (only an Arizonan would call 70's a cold front).

In the meantime, Rylan and I are thoroughly enjoying the cold front. We donned our shorts and t-shirts, took off our shoes and played in the mild sun while a refreshing breeze tickled our hair. It's nice to introduce my son to the great outdoors at it's best.

The overwhelmed whiteboard

This is my whiteboard:

It currently sits in the kitchen, where I spend a large portion of my time. Soon, though, it will relocate to the office wall, where it will hang safely out of Rylan's reach. Lately he really enjoys pulling it down and rubbing the quotes off with his fat little sliding belly.

On my whiteboard, I collect quotes that strike home with me, or things that I've been thinking about. It's my effort to keep things of importance "always before my face". When I find a beautiful statement of truth, something that uplifts me and edifies me, it goes on the whiteboard.

My whiteboard has been a little overwhelmed the last few days.

You see, last weekend my church had a semi-annual general conference. Twice a year, we hold a two day conference in which the leaders of our church, messengers called of God to testify of Christ, speak to us. They give us counsel specific to our time and our circumstances, teaching us how to draw closer to God and be more like Him.

It was wonderful. I was uplifted and edified. There were so many beautiful statements of truth taught. I was reminded again why I am here and what I need to be doing.

The text of the talks given were posted on the internet two days ago, and I've been reading them and dissecting them a little more. My whiteboard simply isn't big enough, so today my blog is going to be an extension of my whiteboard.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught us that receiving revelation for our calling and in our personal lives “requires serious mental effort on our part…. Revelation is not a matter of pushing buttons, but of pushing ourselves"

"Without personal revelation, we cannot succeed. If we heed personal revelation, we cannot fail. This will happen as we allow ourselves to be still enough and quiet enough to listen to the voice of the Spirit."

--Julie Beck

He didn’t know everything, but he knew enough. He knew God loved him. That priceless piece of spiritual knowledge was sufficient for his doubt to be replaced with faith.

Faith is not only a feeling; it is a decision

--Neil Andersen

Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father’s perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate.

We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty

Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination.

Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter

As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you.

--Deiter F. Uchtdorf

These are excerpts from just a few of the wonderful talks. To read more go here.

A new little Ray!!

No, no, no, I'm not pregnant.

But on Tuesday, little Katelyn Jane was born only seven months after Rylan-- he has a new cousin! Due to a complication of pregnancy, Caroline had a planned C-section, and we decided to enjoy the benefits of knowing when the baby would come. Trevor and I spent the night there to keep an eye on their kids, Lizzy, Scott, and Brian. The schedule was as follows:

Monday, 7:00pm: My crew shows up at Caroline's impeccable house for dinner and a lesson about family unity for Family Home Evening

7:30 We give Rylan a taste of lime, which he has a love/hate relationship with. He kept wanting more, but check out that mug.

8:30pm: The kids head to bed (though none of them fall asleep too terribly soon. A case of Christmas Eve syndrome).

11:00pm: We finally convince Caroline that morning will come mighty soon and she'd better head to bed

Tuesday, 5:00am: Brad and Caroline leave while we're all tucked away in bed

6:00am: Rylan wakes up right on time, followed shortly by the rest of the kiddos.

6:01am: Caroline's impeccable house is demolished.

7:30am: The scheduled time for the birth

7:35am: We turn on The Village People, bust out the pot lids, and run around in circles screaming, "WE HAVE A NEW SISTER!!!"

8:24am Katelyn's actual birth time-- the C-section was delayed.

You may wonder why Lizzy is blurred. She was pretty much spinning in circles in her princess dress the whole time. There were no clear pictures of her.

11:45am we finally get a call and come to the hospital to see the precious bundle.
I think for Brian it was love at first sight.

Check out this hunk: this is my hubby, Trevlove (otherwise known as Trevor). I don't think I've introduced him on the blog yet.

Rylan being introduced to his new cousin, being held by Grandma Judy (Caroline's mom). It takes him a minute to realize there's a little person over there...

and then he finally catches on.

Welcome, Katelyn Jane!! We love you!

Finally, Reena, Happy B-day!

For those of you who don't know Ms. Reena Patel, you're totally missing out. Reena and I have been best friends since 8th grade. Actually, because of the special nature of our friendship, we even created a new category: we're not just best friends, we're life friends.

Reena is currently getting her Masters in Social work in India, so for the time being we have to deal with phones and computers to communicate. Her birthday was last month, and Trevor and I had been making videos of Rylan to send to her for her birthday. Now, I recognize that not all readers will enjoy/understand all of the random videos we took, but Reena will, and that's the whole point.

So, Reena, yesterday after I talked to you I promise I tried to get all these on the blog, but I couldn't figure out how to put them all on efficiently, so now they're going on different entries. These are the oldest videos, so I'm posting them first. So sorry they're so late, but here they are!!

Rylan eating solids for the first time. We're giving him some mashed up avocados. Please listen carefully for the gag at the end. This was when he had just turned 5 months old. (Beginning of August)

Rylan playing with his favorite toy :)

Rylan's cute little bod

Amending wrongs

So, apparently I lied. We started regularly trying to feed him solids at 5 months, but apparently the first try was earlier. I guess it helps when you watch the video before you post it.



This video is taking forever and a day to post. Waiting...waiting...waiting...

Okay, enough waiting for one day. More tomorrow.

Simple

This picture was taken a month ago when we were up in UT for cousin Kirsten's baby blessing and Aunt Holly's graduation.

How are babies so beautiful?

Sick, sick, sick!

So for the last week or so Rylan has been F-U-S-S-Y!! He's just kind of grumpy and wants to be held. I knew he had a little runny nose and had an earache that was resolving, so he was excused for his grumpiness and got lots o' lovin' from his mama, but guess what?

Now I'm sick and grumpy and I just want to be held, too.

Poor kid, I wonder if he had a throbbing headache like me. Here's a piece of photographic evidence: indeed, he has a cold.

Had I felt a burning need, I could have posted a matching picture of me, but I decided to spare the world wide web today.

Signing out.

P.S.

Rylan stuck in his favorite toy

(Nasty, I know. At least it's only the office garbage and we've learned to empty it frequently).

A morning stroll

Every morning, Rylan and I bust out the stroller and the tennies in a humble effort to walk away that baby weight and enjoy the lovely September weather. As is evident in the photo below, he thoroughly enjoys this morning tradition.

Our favorite place to conduct this daily exercise is a small portion of our neighborhood we'll call The Island. The Island was once a county island, but was incorporated into the city of Mesa about 15 years ago. It is no longer a county island, but is now a paradaisical dreamland of pastures and wildlife.

Okay, wildlife may be stretching it, but besides the usual assortment of goats, horses, chickens, and geese, today we saw:

A pregnant llama

(we met the owner, otherwise I wouldn't have picked up the pregnant bit)

A herd of dogs

(8 full grown labs in one yard that defied my attempts at a pic)

and last but not least (drumroll, please...)

A ZEBRA!!!!!!

Our subject was a little shy, but that is, indeed a zebra.

Who knows what we'll find tomorrow in our brave exlporation of....

THE ISLAND

if we don't fall asleep first.

May the blogging begin!

So I've been inspired by some other blogs I've seen lately and I'm going to actually start posting on our own. My goals for this blog are:

1) Journaling-- I'm not so great at the regular pen and paper kind, so we'll give this a shot. Besides, I can post PICTURES in this journal. Fun, fun. Quite frankly, I don't care if no one else ever looks at it (well... almost no one else... which brings me to my second goal...)

2) Create a way for Reena to keep tabs on my life back here in the good old U.S. of A. For her birthday I've been preparing all these videos of Rylan to send to her and then I thought, "You idiot, there is an ever so much easier way of doing this"-- and the blog idea was born. So this one's for you, Reen.

So for my first post, I'd like you to meet my garden.

This is actually just part of our garden. Our backyard has no lawn whatsoever, and has only two planter areas, so we've had to divide our veggie patch. I'll call them Patch A and Patch B, based on the order of planting. This is patch B.

Rylan here has a front row seat to our sprouting green beans, but in the background you can see our strawberry plant and a butternut squash plant. These are new additions as of yesterday. The rest was planted a week ago.

We just had to find something to fill in the place where our little buttercrunch lettuce transplants used to reside (May they rest in peace. The sun got 'em before they were much of anything).

Yes, that is indeed one lonely buttercrunch lettuce transplant. We'll pamper it and see if it comes to anything. In the rest of patch B we have spinach and carrots.

In Patch A, we have basil, tomatoes, sweet peas, pepper, brocolli, cilantro, and cucumbers (I'll be honest, I'm just too lazy to post a picture of Patch A. I'm kind of putzing my way through this whole posting business-- first time post and all).I'm amazed so many plants can fit into such tiny spaces.

Out front mixed in with our deset landscaping we have rosemary and thyme. Last but never least, the grapefruit tree we have been faithfully tending for the last year in the hopes of getting something better than last year's dinky fruits.

We can hardly wait.

Rylan, I'm sure, will be loads of help in the ensuing months with weeding, watering, eating, etc.

THE END!!!

Mar 8 Update- Rylan Eric Ray

Well.. it's official- yesterday we finally decided on his name, Eric is his father's middle name.but we just like the way Rylan seemed to fit him.

Rylan has been back in the nursery since he was born, and we haven't been able to bring him to stay with Mommy. His breathing had been very rapid and they have been running tests to see what was wrong. Initially he had signs that he had some kind of infection, but the antibiotics have worked great and those signs are now gone. They're going through a big range of scans and tests to see what else may be wrong, but so far everything had turned up well.
We're all hoping his high breathing rate was just left over from that infection.

In the past day he has been doing a lot better- he's usually very active when he wakes up to feed and his breathing rate is now just barely higher than the "good" range... and seems to keep coming down towards normal.

We thank everyone for their prayers and concerns. Thanks for all the support we've received!

Mar 5- Little Baby finally makes it

Becky and I have had a busy few days, and they seem to continue to be busy for the next several days.

As most of you know we had an emergency C-section at 1:15am Wed Mar 5.

Becky went into the hospital Mar4th ~9:30am when contractions were 5 minutes apart. Throughout out the day those contractions eventually lessened to two minute intervals... unfortunately the necessary things didn't happen, and after about 24 hours nothing we could do was progressing the labor along. The baby, unfortunately was undergoing a lot of stress and his heart rate was showing signs of a problem. Even with all the attempts and preparation for a "natural, healthy birth" we ended up needing a C-section. Prayers were answered with peace, and we felt it was the right thing to do.


Within 20 minutes of knowing we had to have a C section and agreeing to it we were in surgery and 5 minutes later we had a crying baby with hair about as long as Trevor's. Our son was born at ~1:30. He weighed 8lbs 4 Oz, length of 21.5".

While mom was being sewed up (a good strong epidural anesthetic) we took a few new family pictures.

We're very appreciative of the medical staff that are helping us get through a lot of health hiccups. Baby is on antibiotics to fight an infection that was found when they drew some blood... and oxygen because of his rapid breathing.

Becky has been able to start nursing baby and Trevor's able to burp him and have a bit of bonding time. They're currently spending about half their time in that nursery- and the staff is handling their constant traffic within the nursery.

We've had lots of family come to visit him- Grandma and Grandpad Brown, Grandma Ray, His Aunts: Hannah, Courtney, Meagan, Uncle Brad and Uncle Josh. Others are biting at the chomp to come- but for now we're hoping to limit it to just family so that Mom and baby can rest a bit.

For the next few days we'll be resting up trying to get Becky recovered and full of energy. Baby is also fighting off some kind of infection, and hopefully he will continue to nurse well and gain strength.


I'll try to keep everyone updated... right now I'm on a 1:30am break at home to get a little uninterrupted shut-eye.
-Trevor