Mower Family: March 2008

1. Go to BYU-Idaho. I know this is a crazy one, because going to school there was one of the best things I ever did! I believe that Rexburg is one of the greatest places on earth and the people there are some of the best. My experiences there will be a blessing to me for the rest of my life.

2. Get pregnant within a few months of getting married. What can I say? When the Lord has other plans for you he has a way of changing your heart and blessing you when you put your trust in Him.

3. Major in music. Growing up I didn't want to do music because that's all I'd known growing up with my mom teaching elementary strings. I wanted to do something more exciting and fulfilling. Well, once again God told me he had a different plan for me and directed me to leave BYU and head to BYU-Idaho to study music. I enjoyed it immensely, and now the experience I have gained and the knowledge I have obtained has given me the confidence to teach and it is one of the most fun jobs in the world!

4. Martial Arts. Chris had to drag me almost literally to get me to go to an on-campus Tae Kwon Do class with him. I told him that I would only go to the one class to please him, and to not ask any more of me. Well, turns out I loved it so much that I continued to go for a year until I earned my green belt! Chris earned his blue belt. I hope to pick up where I left off someday and get a black belt.

5. Be part of a multi-level company. This was another one of those "Chris dragging me" incidents to get involved in a multi-level company. My family growing up had not had a good experience with multi-level marketing. We dove in head first with high hopes and lots of energy and had the time of our lives for a few months. Chris was exceptionally talented at what he did and I found that my best place was in supporting him. Our attentions then turned elsewhere and even though we never returned to the business we have always been grateful for the things we learned there.

6. Work in a phone center. Well, when you're graduated and have to get a job and you live in Rexburg, Idaho, options are pitifully limited. I enjoyed my first month on the phones quite a bit but then it only went downhill from there. I switched departments a couple of times over the next year hoping that I could survive a little bit longer......just a few more months.....a few more weeks......and then it hit the point of escape or go insane. My friend/co-worker and I were so desparate to leave our job that we decided to create our own job opportunity as an excuse to quit. We had downtime now and then and we got together and planned furiously. At first our plans of starting an outdoor summer camp for kids was a dream, but it soon became a reality. We worked out every tiny detail and then got to work making it happen! We started what we called Outdoor Learning Adventure Camp for kids 7-11 years old and we held it in a Rexburg park for 3 hours every day for one week (during the summer, of course). We did science experiments, recreation, history activities, canoeing, teepee building, nature walks, skits, swimming, and much more and it was sooooo much fun! We put the program on through Rexburg Parks & Recreation and ended up holding two camps with a total of 5 boys the first week and 11 boys and girls the second week. And, we actually made money doing it! So, my phone job wasn't that great, but it was probably the only thing that could have led me to putting together and directing a summer camp! That was an awesome experience, most of all because my friend and I learned that it was possible to make your dreams happen if you work hard enough and want it bad enough! We were amazed that we pulled it off!

7. Work in a fast food restaurant while pregnant. I still have to laugh about this one. After the excitement of the summer camp wore off I was left with the majority of the summer ahead of me and I was unemployed. I had gotten pregnant at the beginning of the summer and now I needed to work for just a few months and then I would quit before I had the baby. Well, here I was still in Rexburg and my job possibilities were now twice as pitiful as before because I was pregnant and didn't want to work very long. So, I got a job at Arctic Circle. I got paid less than I had worked for since I was about 16 years old, but I actually had a lot of fun working there and I made some friends. I learned a valuable lesson: it is better to work for less at a job that you can enjoy than to suffer through a job you hate for more money. I am a firm believer of this now. I would go back to work at Arctic Circle before the phone center any day because for me it was the difference between feeling happy every day and feeling weighed down, frustrated, and on the verge of a breakdown. Jobs you hate are not worth it! (Don't worry, I am aware that sometimes you don't have a choice in the matter because you HAVE to make more money to survive. But if you have any choice in the matter - choose a job you can enjoy) Anyway, so there I was working at the drive thru window at Arctic Circle with my big pregnant belly. Yeah, I got some interesting and pitying looks from people. It was fun.

8. Live in Utah. It's not that I hate Utah. I have always had family in Utah and I have always loved to visit. But I always wanted to be adventurous and move back East and experience the "real world", right? Well, that was all and good until I had a baby and then I started getting nervous to move far away and never see my familiy, and I started to want to stay closer to home. Suddenly family was more important to me. Because I have so much family it was easier to find jobs for Chris and a place to stay when we first moved here. Now we're getting settled in and it's not so bad, however I do hope that we can find a more country-like setting and experience some new locations as life goes on.

9. Have kids more than 2 years apart. Let's just say that after having two preemies our reproductive future is very uncertain at this point. When I was young I was sure that by the time I was my age I would have 3-4 kids, and I was sure that God's plan wouldn't keep me from it. Well, once again I have been taught that God has a different plan for me than I ever imagined. We're still hoping to keep our family as close as possible but adoption does not allow for controlled family planning. We will feel highly blessed when the opportunity comes to have more children - however we are able to get them.

10. Scrapbook, crochet, knit, Blog, enjoy cooking, and pretty much anything that is absolutely domestic! I always wanted to be a tomboy growing up, and I called myself one sometimes. When we had just my mom, sister, and myself in our house I took over the lawn-mowing and fire-making duties, and I let my sister learn the bread-baking and crocheting. Unfortunately I left the house with very little homemaking skills. I got by fine until I got married, then my incredible mother-in-law became someone I had to try and live up to! My first exposure came in a day of canning peaches. I barely survived the day. A while later something weird happened to me and I went crazy and scrapbooked all of my old photos - creating 4 scrapbooks! Thank goodness that phase ended. Then I got pregnant and decided to crochet a blanket for the baby. Years later I was quarantined indoors with my baby for the entire winter and I was given a knitting project - and I fell in love! Friends introduced me to blogging, I started to have weird urges to bake now and then and expand my meal options. Encouragement and pleading from my husband also started to have an effect on me. :) By no means could I be called domestic at this point, but I am learning and slowly, sslloowwwllyyy improving. Hmmmm... maybe I'll go bake some banana bread. :)

One of the biggest lessons I've learned in life is that having an open mind can actually provide you with some amazing experiences that you could have missed! There is so much to experience in life and deciding not to be involved in things because you think it's silly, nerdy, embarrassing, or whatever else is a pity. Chris has taught me to open my mind and to try new things and I must say I have had more fun doing things I thought I would never do than doing the things I always planned to do! There is so much out there to enjoy and experience! Don't close your eyes for fear or prejudice. Open them and see what's in store for you!

I was just rocking Maggie after she was frightened alone in her room and I told her that her brother Dan and her great-grandparents were watching over her from heaven, because I really felt that they were. At that moment I felt a deep love from my grandparents, and I thought I could feel how deeply they love my little Maggie, even though they never met her in this life. I knew that they cared about her and were relying on her to grow up and continue the heritage that they left our family on the earth. I then realized that if my grandparents care so much for Maggie, then my great-grandparents (only 1 of whom I ever met when I was very young) must also care about me just as much, and they are helping me to continue their legacy. There is a family bond that reaches beyond the veil between heaven and earth and it is very strong even over a span of many generations. Family traits and family blessings are passed down and I believe that's one way that we continue our family legacy, by using our inherited talents to further the Kingdom of God and to bless our individual families. By exercising our faith just as our ancestors did and finding and fulfilling our purpose on the earth. I think that decisions I make and opportunities that come my way and experiences that I have are often the result of loving family watching and guiding me from beyond the veil.