Ready, Set, No Go

Costumes are sewn. Treats have been purchased. Games have been prepared. The pinata has been stuffed with prizes. Decorations have been procured. Food has been cooked. Guests have RSVP'd. The house has been cleaned.

We are all ready to have a great Halloween party in celebration of Mia's birthday.

Except one thing.

Mia has the flu.

Poor Mia. She started to cry at the doctor this morning.

So, for now, our Halloween plans have been postponed for a week.

We really just seem to have bad luck with Mia's birthday.

Mia's first "friend party" was a "Pony Party," but despite gorgeous weather the preceding days, it SNOWED the afternoon of Mia's birthday and the owner of the pony that was supposed to show up and give rides refused to come.

Her next birthday was a couple of months after we moved and the lack of family or close friends to share the event loomed large over the whole celebration. I could tell Mia felt the contrast.

Then, last year Mia did not get any party. I didn't make her a special dinner or cake either. She got visits from her grandmas, plenty of gifts, and special moments, but nothing remotely organized since I was on bedrest until the day before and we knew Elsie Jane would be born at any moment.

This year, I thought I had everything in place for a successful birthday bash. I had planned and prepared. I had sent invitations weeks in advance.

But, even the constant use of hand sanitizer that Jeffrey has forced upon our home lately could not prevent this setback.

Maybe Maggie will still go trick-or-treating.

Otherwise, I figure the kids will enjoy a Halloween-themed party in November just as much as tonight. And, in the meantime, I have packed all the party implements away in the garage and am enjoying an unexpectedly calm Halloween.

Channeling My Mother's Muse

Growing up in my family the fall meant one thing: boutique season.

My aunt started probably the largest, most successful, and (I am not being partial here) the classiest craft boutique to take Utah by storm in the 1980's. Cherry Hill Barn Boutique.

"Cherry Hill" was held in an old, white barn off Geneva Road in Provo, Utah. It was a pastoral location, surrounded by fields of former farmland, the streets lined with yellow and orange leaves during the middle of October.

It was held the weekend of the annual deer hunt in Utah; a convenient time for women to shop for crafts while their husbands were off, I suppose.

To me, as a child, Cherry Hill meant lounging around the barn, cold mornings setting up booths, swinging under a large, auburn maple, and lots of fresh bread, popcorn balls, and pink frosted cookies. Somehow the sites and smells of Cherry Hill have fused with my love of all things fall. It was a magical place in my youth.

It also meant weeks of sewing and preparation as my mom prepared her wares for sale. There were fabric chickens in little baskets (trust me in the 80's they were all the craze),witches with faces made out of nylon stockings riding brooms, various painted goods, and of course, appliqued sweatshirts.

Ultimately, the sweatshirts were my mom's niche. She sold hundreds each year. Many prepared in advance, but also personal orders taken at the boutique and then sewn until the wee hours of the morning well into December.

As I grew older, I became her assistant, and even a co-designer of the sweatshirts. Drawing patterns, shopping for fabrics, cutting out appliques while watching movies, ironing them on. Our home was a small factory, complete with child labor.

But, at some point, the charms were lost. I swore I would never sew myself. Definitely, never mass produce any item for pay in my life. Whenever I make something and Jeffrey remarks that I could make good money making more and selling them, I shoot him "the look." The "Not-on-your-life-how-could-you-even-propose-such-a-hell-for-me" look.

But, somehow, once a year, the crazy, creative juices take over. I say it won't happen, but Halloween dawns, my kids start dreaming about all the fanciful ways they can dress up, and I find myself hunkered down in the basement, amidst an assortment of scraps of fabric, thread clippings, tons of toys, and general mayhem.

It's October, and all my promises to myself to the contrary, I just can't help but start sewing. And, as I stressfully wonder if I am going to finish in time, as I try to put in a zipper while my one year-old crawls between my feet eating elastic and pushing the presser foot of my sewing machine, as I think again about the dinner I haven't started and the mess filling the house, as I pop in another movie for my daughter who has not participated in an alternative activity for days, I realize how close to the mother of my falls I have become.

So, I haven't written on my blog; I have not written at all. I have made no progress on plans for Christmas and too little on the three birthdays that are coming up in the next two weeks. I have exercised only sporadically, but I have created four awesome Halloween costumes this October.

In terms of the details, you will just have to wait. Halloween is coming soon, and I will certainly post pictures of my darling family and my annual handiwork then.

For now, I am ready to pack up my sewing machine and put it away to remain untouched for the next eleven months, having thoroughly worked my mother's muse out of my system for another year.

A Perfect Ten

For some reason the passage of Jeffrey's and my tenth wedding anniversary yesterday has found me a bit nostalgic.

This perfect September day in 1999 does not feel very long ago:


But, now we find ourselves here:

And, I must admit that some significant amount of time has passed.

The past ten years have brought many things, more changes than I can even comprehend, but here are the top ten discoveries for me from marriage.

10- Friday nights when the kids are in bed early, ordering take out and watch a movie or favorite show at home.

9- America really is full of lots of open space. We had a quote we would read in high school debate about how there was plenty of room in the country for more people, based on all the open land in the Midwest. I may question the science of sustainability of the logic the author was employing, but having moved across the country three times, I can definitely vouch for the quantity of open space between Wyoming and Nebraska.

8- Running. We celebrated our five year anniversary by running the St. George marathon together. Never would have considered that I would love running, but am glad we discovered it together.

7- Jeffrey really is a handy man. Given his parentage, I never expected my husband to be handy around the house, but then we bought our first home, our first drill, and Whoa! He can do ANYTHING (if he really wants to, which often he doesn't, but...).

6- Working together. I like working with my husband. He is my best critic, editor, sounding board, colleague. I have loved campaign trails, desks across from each other in Congress, community projects, home improvement projects. All the times we have gotten to work side by side.

5- Getting Away. Among my favorite memories are the times we have gotten away, for an evening date or a family vacation. I have come to love these chances to leave behind daily life and focus on one another. It began with a perfect Honeymoon in New York and has included Oregon, California, Arizona, Chicago, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Bear Lake, San Diego, Florida, the Outer Banks, Minnesota, St. George, Williamsburg, Park City, Sundance, Boise, Lincoln, Nebraska, Bethesda, Salt Lake City, Manassas, maybe even Marietta, Ohio and Sioux Falls, South Dakota (although those two tie for the scariest motels on the planet and may not count). Anywhere we have been together has been bliss to me.

4- The beauty and blessings of the temple. It seems to be woven throughout all the significant moments of our lives, including our sealing ten years ago, doing work for family-members, working in the DC temple together, visits to temples throughout Utah, California, Arizona, Minnesota...

3- The providence of God. I could never have planned the course of life that has unfolded for us, but through it all, things have always turned out better than I ever would have conceived was possible.

2- The joy of parenting. I could never possible have imagined the wonder of Mia, Maggie, and Elsie Jane.

1- Jeffrey. Every day, I still wake up happy to be facing the day with Jeffrey by my side (even if, given his early schedule, it is most often figuratively right now). Life really is sweeter when you are married to your best friend.