Tornado Warning

About a year ago I posted a photo of the "totally awesome" tornado that we saw on our road trip outside of Peoria, IL. Today I had plenty of time to to reflect on our stupidity of stopping to take a picture of the twister (you can see our picture here). There's really not much to do while waiting out a tornado siren in the stairwell of the 10 story building I work in, so I thought about that tornado and hoped I never saw another one ever again.

Today was my first real tornado warning and it wasn't super pleasant. The entire building was crammed into the stairwell as we all tried to figure out what was happening outside in relation to us and our families. We heard reports that a tornado had touched down just blocks away from where I work and was headed straight for my home, where Alexander and Godiva were. I will admit that I started to get a little panicky as I tried to get a text out to Alexander to warn him to get the dog ready and get the tornado kit (I made the kit in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago when I was freaked out by the Alabama tornadoes).

Finally he sent a text back and told me he had just gotten Godiva on her leash when the sirens went off. Just then I heard that a tornado touched down less than 5 miles away from our house and was heading right towards them. Alexander couldn't get Godiva to get down the stairs and I was a nervous wreck trying to find out if they were okay and if the tornado was still on the ground. Needless to say, it was sort of hard to get minute by minute info while sitting in the stairwell. Luckily for everyone, the touch downs were only brief and none hit our immediate area. Nonetheless, the storm was raging over our home for awhile and the sirens continued to blare for an hour (which Godiva really didn't like). That must have been a really long hour for Alexander dealing with the crazy dog in a bare basement filled with cobwebs and yuck.

I think the neatest part of the day though was this morning before I left for work. I wasn't feeling totally up to par and was rushing out the door as usual, but Alexander pulled me over and said that we needed to have family prayer, which we usually forget to have. I felt that he was inspired that we would need a little extra comfort and help today and I am so thankful to have him as the priesthood holder in our home. :)

My prayers go out to all those in Sedalia, MO who really got hit with a tornado today and to all those in Joplin, MO still recovering from the horrible tornado they got over the weekend.

The Eternal Nature of the Family

I am a frequenter of Yahoo's Shine, a page compiled with random blog posts in all sorts of topics. Generally, for no reason I can explain, I stick to the parenting section and read all the blogs of mothers and their various experiences or complaints. Apparently I think of myself as a mother without kids.

However, today I wandered upon a blog post written by a woman named Abby, a sex-writer and nude model (not the type of post I would generally read). She explained that she is a feminist who was raised in an unconventional home where her dad stayed home and her mother worked. She is working on a degree in Feminist, Gender, Sexuality Studies but has a secret (or not so secret anymore) desire to be a stay-at-home mother with at least 3 kids. She says, "I just want to fall in love with someone for the rest of my life, have kids with him, and watch those kids grow up".

Reading her post struck such a chord with me. The past two weeks I have been teaching my YW Beehives about the eternal nature of the family: how before this life we were a family unit and that pattern continues in this life and if we are worthy, will continue in the life to come. Admittedly, Abby is anything but traditional and her ideas are considerably liberal, however, even she recognizes the unconscious pull toward a family that has all the potential to be eternal.

I loved this statement that she makes: "I know that marriage and the nuclear family is a screwed-up social construction. I’ve even written papers on the topic. But this argument is based on logic (and a desire to get an A). My happiness is not logical. My choices are not logical." I felt that this is a witness toward the sanctity of marriage and of raising children. She may not realize it and her mind can't make sense of it, but her spirit does.

Along those lines, isn't it amazing that with all the wickedness that this world has experienced, that the traditional ideas of marriage and the nuclear family are still the mainstream? I find this to be a testament of the eternal nature of families.

Additionally, I absolutely loved this statement that Abby used to conclude her post, "Being a feminist is about having the right to choose what you do with your life. My choice (as of today) is to be a stay-at-home mom. Therefore, I am a feminist". With all the negative pressure against women who decide to stay home with their kids, I love this affirmation. Women who choose to stay home aren't giving up their right to be independent free-thinkers, they are actually asserting those rights. (FYI, I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with women who choose or who are unable to stay home, just appreciating a feminist woman who is not bashing on stay-at-home mom's.)

So bravo to all the women (not just conservative, traditional types) who, in their search for happiness, acknowledge their desires for a nuclear family life that may not always be the popular choice.

*If interested, you can read Abby's post here: "I'm a White-Picket-Fence Feminist"

Drooling Yet?

Yeah, I know how to bring it in the kitchen. ;)





Did you notice my new catering company name stamped on the photo?

Ambrosia

In Greek mythology, ambrosia was the food of the gods and I feel that nothing says heaven more than a few delectable chocolate covered strawberries. I made these for a class I had tonight. :)





And yes, they were delightful!

Busywork

Despite life not going quite the way I planned with getting a job and making lots of money, I have been keeping myself busy. The young women presidency was released but I was re-called to be the 2nd counselor again. I was pretty happy about that as I have really enjoyed my Beehives. They are so much fun to be with and they say the funniest things. Here are some of the things we have been doing recently:

Making Babysitting Kits: Actually, I feel like I may have taken too much on with this idea. I spent a lot of time typing up different forms and info sheets. I also painted the girls' names on their bags and created some foam stick puppets as an example of the craft we were doing to include in their kit. That night was a lot of fun and I relived a lot of my own babysitting memories that had been stashed away since I was a teenager.

(The stuff on the bags that looks like dust, is actually silver glitter.)






Tomorrow night we are painting simple pictures with acrylics. This is the example painting that I made to help fuel their ideas and to make sure the girls could do it in less than an hour:



Along with all the church calling stuff, I have also decided to bring a piece of the wedding business out here and see how it does. I am starting a chocolate fountain catering business and I have found some awesome kitchen space to rent. I am really excited about it, as I don't have that much competition. I just made the website live last week and am working on marketing strategies right now. You can check it out at: Elegantly Edible.

I have also been cooking a ton. Mostly to save money, but also because I have the time to do it. I've been working on some of our favorites and perfecting the recipes. I have created the most awesome chicken enchiladas ever and am working on some other new recipes. For Valentine's Day I decided to surprise Alexander by making his favorite German food. I made homemade spaetzle(cute little noodles) which he adores and costs a lot to buy at the store. The noodles were perfect! I was so proud of myself. I also made bratwurst and German potato salad. Here is a pic of Alexander's plate:



I also resurrected my Asian cooking and made my famous Thai red curry and some chicken tikka masala,served with basmati rice:



Last but not least, this juicy pot roast, complete with steamed carrots, roasted red potatoes, and divine white asparagus, served with a homemade gravy. I have to admit, I was in Sunday dinner heaven ;).


I've made a lot of other things, but I won't bore you to death with a play-by-play of our eating habits. Tonight I am making a green chili chicken salad that is an attempt to copy Bajio's salad (which we don't have out here). It's not exactly the same, but it does help quell my cravings.

I'm still applying for lots of jobs, and crossing my fingers that by some miracle one is offered to me. There is some potential with someone in the ward who is pushing the prestigious Nelson Atkins Museum to hire me, so hopefully that pans out. I would love working there! In the meantime, we welcome any prayers and extra cash you can give. Just kidding about the cash, the prayers would be nice though.

Alexander is doing an amazing job in school and is constantly impressing his professors. He is becoming known as an excellent scholar and has been excelling in all his classes, despite people saying that he has too heavy a load. I keep telling him that he has to get all A's so that he can get a high paying job and take me to Europe. I think he owes me ;).

Four Years and Forever

I absolutely love my husband. On January 5, we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. I can't believe we have been married that long! These past four years have been amazing! Even though we have had our fair share of trials, I really think we lucked out in our happiness. If you know us at all, you will know that we are beyond perfect for each other. We complete each others thoughts and we make up for each others weaknesses. As Alexander said the other day, together we make an almost normal person :).

Alexander is a fantastic husband. He is attentive and patient and puts up with my odd requests without any complaints. He is a brilliant writer, intensely intelligent, and naturally witty. I hate going anywhere without him because he makes running errands fun.

I think my favorite side effect of spending time with him is how much I learn from him. He knows more about history (ANY history) than I could ever dream of remembering. He also loves music and knows hundreds of classical favorites and can accurately guess the names and composers when they come on the radio. Don't let his intelligence intimidate you though, underneath he is really quite silly and will go to extreme lengths to make me laugh.


I know this all sounds really cheesy, but isn't marriage supposed to be full of these lovey-dovey moments of pure bliss? I sure hope so! I am planning on this marriage lasting a whole lot longer, and I really need a few blissful decades to look forward to. In the meantime, I am appreciating every moment we spend together. It's only getting better! :)

Here are some of my favorites from that cold day four years ago.

Christmas 2010

Christmas is always a magical season for me and this year was no exception. We had a few Christmas miracles come our way and were able to spend the holidays with our family and friends in Utah.

Even though we were in Utah over Christmas, I still needed to put the tree up. The twinkling lights have always felt so comforting on the winter evenings.



Every year we get an ornament of our family. This year we were able to add Godiva. :)



While in Utah, we enjoyed a major snowstorm that dumped about 18 inches of snow on us. In the euphoria of the first snow day of my memory, my family couldn't help playing in it a little bit. It doesn't hurt that none of us could leave due to a downed power line trapping our cars in the driveway.



We were also fortunate enough to go to temple square with my adorable little sis, Nattie. We were lucky that it wasn't very cold that night.





As always, Christmas was wonderful and we were truly blessed to spend it with those we love.