Brigham City Temple Open House

 In August Kenna, Alec, and I toured the Brigham City Temple before it was dedicated. Todd and Brent weren't able to join us because Todd was drumming in a video shoot for Alex Boye but he went the next day with the Young Men and Young Women in our ward. Kenna got a double viewing. (And yes, they let her in with her tattooed arm/hand. What is up with that habit?!) We don't have a picture of them but Stephanie, Wayne and their four crazy kids drove down from Pocatello to make it whole event a million times more fun.

As expected, it is a beautiful building. The artwork was interesting to me as many of the paintings depicted a local pastoral theme with peach orchards and foothill farms. I especially loved hoisting Alec to look into the mirrors the sealing room's opposing wall mirrors with Kenna and me. I love the thought of being with these kids (and the missing one) forever.

Um, no thank you.

I was grumbling recently (surprise!!) about the quality and condition of our pots and pans when Brent unwittingly announced that maybe that would be a good thing to get me for Christmas. I told him that I didn't really want pots and pans for Christmas and that he probably shouldn't suggest getting them for his next wife either.

A wise man once told me that the best way to get gifts that you want is to do some good advertising so in case you need some better ideas, smarter Brenty, here are some winners:

Dragonfly-Themed Jewelry

  

Glee Christmas Album Volume 2

 

Fabulous Sewing Machine

Book Full of Sewing Projects to Sew 

on the Aforementioned Fabulous Sewing Machine

Boys' Night at the Ballpark

During the Summer, both Todd and Alec asked multiple times if I would take them to a Bees game. I thought it was a good idea, but didn't know a good day to go. I procrastinated the Summer away until Fall came. With only three days left in the season I finally made time in my schedule to take them. I'm glad I did because we had so much fun.

The day of the game it rained on-and-off almost the entire day. I assumed the game would be rained out, but when I checked their web site it said the game was still scheduled to be played. We drove to Salt Lake, found a good parking spot, and walked to the ballpark. We bought tickets and went inside. Just as we got to our seats it started to rain. It started as a sprinkle but then turned into a cloudburst. About half the seats in the park are covered and half are not. Our seats were just under the canopy, so everyone in the rows in front of us got up and moved to the upper rows to stay dry. This meant that we basically had front-row seats, but there wasn't anything to watch. I assumed they would cancel the game at this point, but they kept announcing that the game was only delayed, not canceled, even as the downpour continued. We waited patiently.

We had chosen to attend that particular game because they were going to have fireworks. What we didn't know was that it was also fan appreciation night. That meant that they had a lot of goodies to throw to the crowd. The rain delay meant that they were throwing things to the fans for an extra long time. The delay ended up being three hours. They were throwing candy and other things to the crowd most of that time. Todd and Alec were in heaven. The best part was when Alec caught a baseball hat and Todd had the idea to get it signed by the mascot.

Once it finally started, the game was pretty exciting. There were two home runs and 16 total runs. The Bees got down by six runs and then came back to tie it. They ended up losing in the ninth.

The fireworks after the show were great. They were just as good as any 4th of July fireworks.

Todd and Alec thanked me about 20 times each for taking them. It was a very memorable event for all of us.

Dear youth programs of the church,

Thank you for a peaceful Wednesday night.

True TV Confessions

We recently downgraded our Dish Network subscription in order to minimize our 'junk' TV watching and to counteract significant backlash from our kids, we signed up for Netflix. The kids have been mostly happy and accepting of the change and I think they spend less time watching TV and make better choices when they do watch. I, on the other hand, no longer have access to HGTV (Home and Garden TV) and have replaced it with the following absolutely terrible TV choices.

Ally McBeal is a comedy-drama series that tracks an eccentric, single, lawyer who works in a law firm with other crazy people including her ex-boyfriend and his wife. I watched this show a few times when it was on the air and remembered it as odd but funny so I thought it might be fun to try out. WRONG. How on earth do they try to sell the female lead as someone bright enough to graduate from Harvard Law School but dumb enough to believe in unicorns and soul mates? Ally and her equally successful but more trampy roommate frequently boo-hoo about their vain attempts to find Mr. Right. Another giant turn off is how many times the show creators can recycle and revamp the same unbelievable and almost always sex-related lawsuits the cast of lawyers get mixed up in. Yes, it's a lame show but somehow I find myself on episode 19 of season 2. In fact, if I finish this post in time, I'll probably partake in the next installment.

The Glades is a crime drama about a bad boy detective that seems to be able to solve every gruesome murder in Florida. He and his best buddy, the rule-abiding but reluctantly compromising forensic pathologist, cut open alligators, take advantage of the nerdy intern, and drive the police chief nuts week after week with a re-hashed version of the last mystery they miraculously solved. The beginning of each episode features some falsely happy scene in which some innocents find the disgusting remains of the body that will serve to open the next murder case. The tough guy detective, Jim, falls in love with a woman who appears to be a single mom but whose husband is actually in jail. The want-but-can't have relationship tension is oh, so cheesy, but, somehow kept me hooked long enough to finish off the first two seasons in record time and hope the third doesn't take too much longer to post to Netflix.

Do not watch this show. Do not. Do not. Do not The Walking Dead is about the zombie apocalypse. Yes. I have a Master's Degree, a squeamish stomach, a healthy value on human life, and am hooked on a show about brain-eaters. Ridiculous.There is so much nasty carnage in this show that I watch many scenes out the corner of one squinted eye. The constant fight for survival against the "walkers" (zombies) provides much fodder for character development because it brings out the worst in everyone. Many of the characters are unlikeable but still strangely compelling. The writers are not afraid to get rid of main characters to further the chaotic and tragic plot twists. Bottom line. This show is about alive people trying to stay alive by killing people who are already dead. Despite the last two semi-redeeming sentences, do not waste your time or brain cells (get it?) on this show...I'll do it for you.

Mid-Year's Resolutions

I recently updated you on my New Year's Resolutions, but what I didn't tell you about are my Mid-Year's Resolutions. They are resolutions that I didn't have at the beginning of the year but picked them up later in the year.

The first resolution was to not play video games. I didn't attach a time-frame for this; I simply resolved to not play for "a while." I wanted to see if I could live without them. I was pretty strict with what was allowed. No XBox, Wii, or PC games. Not even Sodoku on an iPhone was allowed.

This resolution lasted six months and then I gave it up. I probably could have gone longer, but I think once I proved to myself I could live without video games there wasn't any motivation left. I now play a couple of Facebook games and also Civilization with some guys I know.

The other Mid-Year's Resolution was to not be late to church for a year. That's right, me on-time to church for 52 weeks in a row. A safer bet would have been to enter the lottery. I was very strict with this goal, too. I didn't live by my "church starts when the opening prayer begins and being in the foyer counts" rule. I was to be considered late if I wasn't in the chapel by 9:01 a.m. whether the meeting had started or not.

Not surprisingly, I didn't get this goal. I was two minutes late for church last week. However, I made it 41 weeks in a row. That's about 40 weeks better that my previous best.

Another resolution is to post on this blog every day in November, but you already know about this resolution. Today is day six. So far so good.

Overheard in Primary

For the past three years, I have been assigned to teach the four-turning-five year-olds at church. I LOVE this calling. The kids are loving, sweet, and so, so funny.  I've heard plenty of accidental disclosures of bad words parents have spoken and beatings doled  out by older brothers. These are a few of my favorite crazy things my little friends have said. Names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent ;)

When a boy in class started biting the sucker he had, a classmate informed him, "It's a sucker...not a cruncher."

To encourage children to bring scriptures to class in order to look up references and help with lessons, the Primary presidency gives candy to children who remember to bring their books. When the president asked for a group response as to why it was important to bring scriptures to church, a chorus of children resounded, "To get a Starburst!"

Two weeks ago the chorister asked what the (boldly displayed) monthly theme was. The kid who raised his hand and was chosen to respond was Alec who proudly announced, "Halloween!" Uh, no. The large sign read 'the Priesthood'. The answer we were looking for was 'the Priesthood'. Who is that kid's mother?

Near Easter, I prepared a craft for my young students to symbolize Jesus' death and resurrection. A picture of Jesus glued on a popsicle stick could be lowered into a plastic cup decorated as a tomb to show His death and burial and then pushed out of the cup to signify His resurrection. I snickered when one little boy exclaimed, "My Jesus is green!" I laughed out loud when I heard two boys giggling in the corner while raising and lowering their pictures of Jesus in and out of the cup tomb, "I'm dead. I'm alive! I'm dead. I'm alive! I'm dead. I'm alive!" I guess they listened, right?

My Bucket List

You know what a bucket list is, right? It's a list of things you want to do in your lifetime...before you kick the bucket. The term was made more popular by the 2007 movie called The Bucket List. I created a short life's to-do list about 15 years ago and have been refining it ever since then. I've added items here and there and even deleted a couple. I have checked off an item roughly once a year.

I maintain the list using a website called My 50. You can view the list here, including pictures of me completing some of the items. Currently, there are 27 items on my list. Twelve have been accomplished and fifteen remain to be completed. I checked three items off my list within the last six months. This is my list of accomplishments:

1. Scuba dive
2. See the Northern Lights
3. Visit Carlsbad Caverns
4. Visit Hawaii
5. Go whale watching
6. Become a parent
7. Hike Kings Peak
8. Own a rental property
9. Go to an NFL game
10. Watch a solar eclipse
11. Hike the Narrows in Zion
12. Hike Mount Kilimanjaro

The last three items are the ones I most recently accomplished. I've done all twelve items with immediate or extended family.

This is my list of to-do items:

1. Visit Machu Picchu
2. Visit Europe with Rita
3. Qualify for the Boston Marathon
4. Start a successful business
5. Get completely out of debt
6. Visit the Galapagos Islands
7. Write a book
8. Patent an invention
9. Visit Yosemite National Park
10. Go to an NCAA tournament game
11. Go to an NHL game
12. Retire early
13. Leave a large inheritance
14. Mountain bike in Moab
15. Write my life history

 I don't really have any of these items in my sights right now. Do you see one that you think I should do next? Are there any that you would like to do with me??

If you have a bucket list I'd love for you to share it.

B.A.G. it

When I was an undergrad at BYU I took a Marriage Prep. course. Okay, okay. Laugh it up, fuzzballs. Don't judge me. I *HAD* to take either that class or Marriage Enhancement as one of my major--Home Economics Education--requirements. At the time, I didn't have anything to enhance, so I opted for the preparation version and see how that panned out? I am, like, THE BEST wife ev-ah. Well, maybe not but I certainly employed exceptional charater judgement when choosing a spouse, n'est pas?

Anywhoo, on to the point of this post. I can't remember the context in which my Marriage Prep. professor suggested that we keep a B.A.G.s journal but I loved the idea then and have since encouraged several of my therapy clients to keep such a log. For my blog post today, I've provided a small sample of my Blessings, Accomplishments, and Goals journal entries:

Blessings are God-given, un-earned, benedictions.
A few of my blessings:
My siblings. Stories of disagreements that lead to limited or no contact among family members make me truly sad.What a blessing it is love and like my family members.

My parents. They are good, good people. Funny, human, caring, lovely. I thank Heavenly Father that I lined up in front of the right chute when it was time to make the trip down here.

My kids. I feel so awfully inadequate to be a parent most days. I am grateful that my three sun spots grow and learn so beautifully regardless of my many mistakes.

My Brenty. When I look back on our short introduction, acquaintance, friendship, and courtship path, I know I wasn't thinking logically when I agreed to his on-the-spot marriage proposal. So blessed I said yes to this guy. Love him.

Accomplishments are achievements earned through hard work and dedication.
Two of my accomplishments:
I graduated from college. Twice! My Bachelor's degree in Home Economics Education and my Master's degree in School Counseling/School Psychology have brought me much fulfillment and many opportunities for service.

I live with and manage significant Anxiety and Depression. This is a difficult thing for me to announce to the world and even to admit to myself. Often I feel guilty for having these disordered symptoms amidst a relatively easy life. Sometimes I feel weak that I require medication and a significant exercise of deliberate and difficult self-control strategies to cope. I can only grant this as personal success by admiring others whom I know that trudge with similar burdens to bear.

Goals are plans for the future that one is working toward on some level.
Some of my goals:
Have all four bathrooms clean at the same time! I know, hard, right?!

Train for and run the 2013 Ogden Half Marathon in May. ENJOY myself while doing it.

Become a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) by providing 4,000 supervised hours of evaluation and therapy. I am currently working on this as an employee at the Neuropsychology Center of Utah.

Accept myself. Compassionately tolerate and address faults and failures. Acknowledge and do not dismiss strengths and honorable qualities. This is a toughy and will probably be on my goal list forever! 

What are your B.A.G.s?

The On-Track System

As part of my attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I've gotten very interested in fitness and weight loss. I have realized that the critical part of a diet isn't the diet, it's the self-discipline to follow the diet. Almost any diet will work if you follow it. It's been my experience and observation that you quit a diet because you get discouraged or distracted, not because you decide not to diet. At the same time, I've been reading a book called Self-Discipline in 10 days. Using some of the ideas from the book, plus other ideas from my father, I formed a self-discipline routine. It focuses on self-evaluation, self-discipline, habit formation, and positive self-talk. I explained it to Rita and she thought it was really good. She thought of a name for the program and encouraged me to write a formal description of it and then have her and other friends and family follow it. Thus the On-Track System was born.

The On-Track System is not a diet or exercise program. It is a system for applying self-discipline to reach and maintain a healthy body weight. It helps you stay on your chosen diet, no matter what that diet might be. I've mentioned the system to a few other people and everyone has seemed interested. The system hasn't been completely formed yet, but it is to the point where others can try it and give me feedback. Hopefully I'll be able to improve the system and document it enough that anyone will be able to follow it.

If it sounds interesting to you, and you are willing to give me feedback, I will send you what I have so far. For now, I have just an outline of the system, plus some daily checklists and other workbook-like materials. In the future I will supplement this with detailed instructions and tips.

Email me or leave a comment below if you want to give it a try.

Djembe (JEM-be)

Brent and I find ourselves in lecture mode with Todd more and more often as the teenage years take a toll on our patience. One day’s topic centered on Brent’s opinion that Todd needed to get a worthwhile hobby—you know, one that didn’t require an electronic controller and over-priced, mind-numbing games. The talk went something like this:

Brent: “Todd, you need a hobby. When I was your age, I had lots of great hobbies. I loved bird-watching, participated in chess tournaments, collected stamps, and did lots of other stuff.”

I grimaced and gave a neck sawing motion to indicate Brent should arrest his speech outlining the varied and "exciting" hobby options before Todd died of a mocking spasm. Todd wasn’t paying very detailed attention (no duh) to the offered possibilities list and announced, “Okay. I want to do the djembe.” 

My puzzled and half-frightened look that djembe was code for some illicit drug cued Todd to explain a little further. “The djembe is a drum from West Africa made from a hollowed out section of a tree and a spine section of goatskin stretched over the top.” Figuring he was trying to get our goat (our goat…see what I did there?) and wasn’t serious, we called his bluff and negotiated the reward of djembe lessons based on improved school performance. Well, Todd called *our* bluff and hit the goal. Brent googled djembe lessons and found a teacher in Salt Lake. That was two years ago and the hobby has stuck. To say that Todd plays the djembe is to under speak. Todd breaths the djembe. It is a true blessing that he found a talent that he loves.

Here is a sample of Todd playing with his teacher at a Gala held in Davis County. (The group was playing during dinner so you can hear a lot of conversational back noise.) My favorite part happens around 1:40 when Todd and his teacher do a section of call and response. Andy, his teacher, plays a rhythm phrase and Todd immediately echos it back. These are impromptu, unrehearsed phrases. Cool stuff.

Todd's Home Run

Imagine a baseball player enters a close game in the bottom of the ninth inning. Now imagine that instead of the player coming off the bench, the coach calls a young spectator from the crowd and inserts him in the lineup in place of the team superstar. Now imagine that the spectator thrills the crowd by hitting a home run. That pretty much describes what Todd did at the Fara Tolno show last night.

Fara Tolno is a master drummer from Guinea. He played lead djembe for the national performance troupe of Guinea, called Les Merveilles de Guinea. He currently travels the US teaching and performing. He put on two shows this weekend at the Eccles Community Art Center in Ogden. Rita got tickets to last night's show for her, Todd, and Alec. (Kenna and I were at the Lights concert.)

Fara doesn't travel with a large group, so he asked some of the local drummers to play for his show. One of the people he asked was Todd's drum teacher, Andy Jones. When Andy does a show he will often ask Todd to play, but this wasn't Andy's show so nothing was mentioned to Todd. With no expectation to play, Todd didn't take his drum to the class, nor did he wear his traditional West African clothes.

The first half of the show featured Fara on the djembe. Needless to say, he was amazing. For the second half of the show, Fara performed West African dance. He went backstage between the two halves so that he could change into his dance clothes. He asked Andy and the rest of the drummers to perform without him while he changed.

Before Andy and the others played, Andy pointed to the far side of the audience where Todd was sitting. Todd looked around to see where Andy was pointing. Then he realized that Andy was pointing at him and wanted him to go on stage to play. Todd got out of his seat, walked across the stage, grabbed Andy's spare djembe and started to play. There were three men dressed in traditional clothes, and Todd wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt.

They played the traditional West African rhythm known as Kuku. Each of the men took turns playing a solo part while Todd and the others played the standard rhythm parts. After the last one was done with his solo, Todd leaned to him and said "Should I solo?" The man gave Todd a little shrug that said "Sure."

That was when Todd hit one out of the park.

He started to improvise like only Todd can. Andy's drum is not like Todd's, and Todd had only played it once before. It's a different size than Todd's, but that isn't the main difference. What sets it apart from Todd's djembe is that around the head it has sege-sege, which are metal shakers. Todd didn't let that slow him down for a second. In fact, he incorporate the shakers into his solo routine, occasionally hitting them with his hands. I've never seen that done and I don't know where he got the idea.

Todd's hands were a blur he was going so fast, incorporation different solo phrases that he'd learned. During his routine someone in the back of the crowd let out a yelp and soon everyone was applauding. There was another round of applause once Todd's solo was finished. They were the only two times the crowd applauded during the middle of a song.

Todd and Fara Tolno

After the show, twenty different people came up to Todd to tell him how well he'd done. They didn't carry him off the field on their shoulders, but that's about how it felt.

Lights Concert with Kenna

Kenna and I just got back from the Lights concert. No, not the laser light show; the concert performed by  the music artist called Lights. Her music style is electro-rock and she is from Toronto. I had never heard of her when Kenna requested I take her to the show, but I went ahead and purchased tickets anyway.

Allow me to go off on a tangent for a minute. If you would ever like to learn to enjoy a certain activity, spend money on it. Ideally you would spend a lot of money. As any psychologist can explain, your sub-conscious mind will respond to your actions by formulating a reason why you would spend your hard-earned money. The only logical explanation is that you enjoy the activity.

With that in mind, it won't surprise you to learn that even though I purchased Lights tickets without having ever heard a single note of her music, I totally enjoyed the show. It also won't surprise you to learn that Kenna made the concert loads of fun. *Everything* is fun if you do it with Kenna.

I won the lottery!!

This year, the Ogden Marathon and Half Marathon went to a lottery system. I guess the number of people who want to risk injury, get frostbite in winter training and heatstroke during the race, and set high-only-to-be-dashed expectations of their running performance outweighs the amount of saps the race sponsors can morally accept money from to do so. After running the Utah Grand Slam in 2010, my brain, self-confidence, and aged body was spent. I haven't done much running since but analogous to "forgetting" the pain of childbirth to brave more hardship with the faith that the second child will turn out better--oh, sorry--I mean, faith that more kids will bring more life joy, I am going back for more. Yep, I "WON" the lottery and will be running the 1/2 marathon in May. I am almost excited.

Let's get this 30 day party-that-feels-more-like-a-headache started!

My lovely sister-in-law, Andrea Paxman challenged the Zimmerman family to a 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and because I looooove her, I accepted. Brent accepted too so you're in for a LOT of Zimmerman news this month.

My first post is a little bit of a cheat since it is a recent update I wrote for my own family's website on MyFamily.com but, knowing that it's going to be difficult to come up with enough material for 30 days, I'm using it. Here's what's going on with us:

Brent is fabulous. He is being super nice to me lately and I'm not just writing that because I know he's checking the site more often. (Well, maybe I am doing it for that reason but it's still true.) He is working on a cool new healthy behaviors/weight management program that is different and great. If you are interested in being a test subject, let us know. Since I gained back 6lbs in 10 days of the 10lbs it took 6 weeks to lose, I think I am a prime candidate ;<

I am going to GREECE in May. Yep, Greece. My super fun, sweet neighbor who works for an airline asked if I wanted to go with her and I jumped at the chance. I'm saving up jokes and conversation bits and stockpiling headache meds for her so she doesn't regret inviting me on the week-long excursion.

I just finished sewing some more African dance skirts and jackets for an instructor who knows Todd and Todd's drum teacher well. She is darling. Sewing for other people is a little nerve-wracking. That said, any sewing project lately has given me a joyful feeling of productivity. I'll save one of my posts for more on this.

Todd bore a very nice testimony at our church a few weeks ago. Many mothers of young women were swooning. Hahaha. I guess won't flash them his report card. It is easier to be patient with his lack of organization and seeming ambivalence toward school when I think of what a good, good boy he is.

Todd got his driver's license today!! To clarify, he has his license but is still restricted from using it until completes the paperwork for his Eagle Scout award. Could be a long time. Will one of you give him a ride to my funeral? Oh thanks.

Kenna does not hate Jr. High. She does not hate bass lessons and she does not hate me. Halle-freaking-lujah! Her grades are up and despite some typical Jr. High girl insecurities, she is generally a happy girl. I love her.

She just got her hair cut. BANGS. So. Dang. Cute. She and Brent are going to a "Lights" concert next weekend. She is some Canadian (all the best ones are!!) singer that Kenna loves. Brent will do anything for baby Kenna. I don't blame him.

Today Alec is wearing the Calgary Flames hoodie that I got for Todd a million years ago. Crazy. My kids are getting so old. He is a happy, toothless boy. When kids start losing their teeth, they look like little trolls and he's no different. The fact that he never wants to shower is not helping. Gross. He just told me that he wants to sing in the Christmas Primary choir. Cute. When I try to pay him a compliment, he fills in anything I missed.
For example:
ME:"Alec. You are good at so many things. I am glad you want to start singing too."
ALEC: "I know, right? I am can dribble with both hands. I am like, THE BEST, at Math in my class. Plus, I am super nice to everyone. AND, I am killer on Minecraft."
ME: "Yes you are." Uh...healthy ego too.

I'm OUT. See you for the next 30 days.