Battle Park

A little over a week ago, for my Field Methods class we went to Battle Park. Our assignment was to use GPS to find various locations, find where we were using a topographic map, and then measure strike/dip, trend/plunge, or elevation using our Brunton compasses. Normally it's not especially helpful to do those measurements on trees and boulders because it doesn't tell you anything about the geology, but in Chapel Hill there aren't a lot of outcrops, so that's what the teachers had us measure so we could get some practice. They marked the rocks and trees with chalk. It took a while for my partner and I to figure out what we were doing, but after a while we got the hang of it. We didn't finish, so the rest was homework. I decided to check out a GPS right after class and bring Ryan and the kids with me to do it the next day. Good thing, too, because the next day was Sunday and Sunday night it rained and washed off most of the chalk marks.

It's a beautiful and peaceful park and it was a lovely walk. 

Here is Kevin playing with a big stick (his favorite type of toy) and I am  measuring the trend and plunge of that line on the tree.

Turns out there's an old septic tank in the park.

book sidewalk

Last week Kevin and Heidi worked very hard together to make a "sidewalk" using books. I got a panorama shot of it. The blur is Super Kevin running faster than a speeding bullet.

The captions below the pictures are what Kevin actually said. Every once in a while I manage to capture priceless expressions, and this was one of those times.

(Indignantly) "Mom, did you just take a picture of me?"

Annoyed sigh.

Then Heidi decided she was upset that no pictures were being taken of her.

Eww.

One of the things Heidi has been saying lately is "Eww." She says it exactly the same way Ryan and I say it, although she just says it at random times because she knows we think it's cute, even if she's eating something she loves or if she's not even eating anything. I caught it on video. For most of the video she's just being silly, but she says it at the very end. Enjoy. It's short.

http://youtu.be/p1tqruhyOPg

Hats

Kevin and Heidi love hats.

This is evidence for how sick Ryan and Kevin were. If Kevin falls asleep on the couch you know he's not feeling well. This is probably only the second time he has ever done this.

The Wheels on the Bus

Heidi loves the Wheels on the Bus song and has learned a lot of the actions. It is very cute.

Heidi singing Wheels on the Bushttp://youtu.be/z0r_Zh_LaeY

Heidi's acrobatics

For the past year or so Heidi has been sleeping in a pack n play in our closet. Thankfully she is sleeping in Kevin's room at night now, but for naps she still is in our closet. Apparently that may not last much longer based on the contents of this video (taken in January).

Heidi acrobatics

North Carolina Museum of History

 At the end of December we went to the North Carolina Museum of History. Here are some things we saw:

They had a cow that you could practice milking.

This is a replica of a statue of George Washington made in Italy. (See the picture of the explanation below.)

The image of the statue is on this plate.

This is the radiator for the old car shown above.

A replica of the Wright brothers' plane:

See the second bat (#13)? It was made for Slaughter. No, really, it was. With that bat you could slaughter anybody.

 

Dale Earnhardt's car was sitting on the first floor right by the front doors (he was born in North Carolina).

We came home and Kevin wanted me to build him an airplane using his constructor set.

How Jesus Christ has Blessed My Life

Last year our bishop decided to have an entire year where the sacrament meeting talks were about Christ. It was a really great idea. At the end of the year he asked several people to share their testimonies of what Christ means to them. I didn't get asked to speak, but I thought I would share my thoughts here.

Jesus Christ has blessed my life because by giving me the Atonement he made it so that I can repent and have a change of heart. One of the reasons it is so hard to repent is because most of the time when I sin it is because there is a flaw in my character that needs to change. So when I sin I often feel horrible not just because I did something wrong but because I have a weakness that I give in to again and again. I am grateful to be able to receive forgiveness for my sins, and even more grateful that Christ goes beyond providing forgiveness and actually helps me to have a change of heart if I am willing to let him in. As I heard recently in a sacrament meeting talk, the atonement is not just redemptive--it is rehabilitative. It is a great comfort to me that when I feel frustrated with my flaws I can turn to Christ and ask for help to overcome those flaws, and to know that it's never too late to change.

I am grateful for Jesus Christ because through him all people will be resurrected. I look forward to the joyful time when I will see Grammy, Grandma Velma, Grandma Taylor, and my niece Allison in resurrected bodies. Although I sometimes worry that I will lose Ryan, my children, or other loved ones, I am grateful for my faith in the resurrection because I have hope that even if that happened I will one day be reunited with them again. I am blessed to be sealed through the priesthood to my parents, to Ryan, and to my children and to know that we will be a family forever if we are faithful.

I am blessed to know through personal experience that Christ suffered the pains and afflictions of all men. Although I have lived a fairly comfortable life, I have still experienced emotional suffering at times. There have been a few times in my life when I have felt so troubled that I couldn't bring myself to get up. I know that for many people this is a common occurrence--fortunately, for me it hasn't happened very many times. At these times I was brought out of this depression by the reminder that Christ had experienced this pain also and that he did that willingly so that he would know how to help me. It didn't make the pain go away immediately, but knowing that Christ knew how to help me through my challenges gave me enough strength to move forward. This testimony helped me through the self-esteem issues of my pre-teen and teenage years and has been even more of a strength to me through the various challenges I have had as a mother.

Christ was willing to do this because he loved all men and wanted them to be saved. Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, "This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God." Knowing that he loved me so much and felt that it was worth it to suffer an infinite atonement so that I could be saved is a powerful reminder to me that I am a person of worth. This is the most important thing that I learned from the Young Women's program as a teenager.

Knowing that he did this for all mankind reminds me that everyone has worth and deserves respect and love. Through this principle Christ has helped me to learn to forgive (although I still have a lot more learning to do in this area!). I can think of one particular time when I was angry with somebody who had hurt my feelings without realizing it. I knew that the right choice was to forgive the person, but I did not want to. I was really struggling to overcome this anger when it occurred to me to ask for help. I turned to Christ and asked for a change of heart. Instantly I felt a wave of peace rush through me. I was able to forgive the person.

This is how I know that Jesus Christ is real and that he lives. You can't prove it with science. But I have experienced his influence in my life. It was unmistakable. He is my Savior, my Counselor, my Healer, my Father, my Brother. He knows me, loves me, and understands me. I know that my Redeemer lives.

lots of stuff

This is a blog post that has just kept accumulating because it has various things that I just wanted to write down at various times in the past month, which means it's long and disorganized. But it's for posterity. Enjoy.

1/12/2013
Kevin likes to "cut scissors," as he puts it. Tonight he spent a good fifteen minutes cutting a piece of craft foam into little pieces. Meanwhile I sat across from him with my emotions swinging wildly from freaking out (in fear that he would blind himself with those scissors) and calmly enjoying the moment.

When Kevin hurts Heidi I often tell him to give her a hug and say, "I'm sorry, Heidi. Are you okay?" Well, yesterday Heidi handed me her stuffed dog and then reached out to pet it, saying, "I'm sorry, dog. Are you okay?"

Kevin knows how to say his own prayers, but sometimes he doesn't want to. So a lot of the time we end up telling him what to say, and we repeat ourselves several times to encourage him to copy what we said. One night I told him it was time to say his prayers, and he said, "Okay, Heidi, it's time to say your prayers." (She had already said her prayers.) Then he sat beside her and told her what to say, repeating himself several times if she didn't say anything. He was even scratching her back the way we do to get his attention if he's not saying his prayers. It was very sweet. I think it's funny when he sometimes tries to teach or encourage Heidi to do things that he still refuses to do himself.

I am really enjoying that Kevin occasionally draws things with a purpose now. He is even drawing people. A few days ago (1/28/13) he drew a circle with two legs, feet, and hands and said that he had drawn himself. Then he drew Heidi. He can be a perfectionist in some ways, which means that he has been really resistant to drawing and coloring for quite a while because he couldn't get on paper what he had in his mind.

Today (2/1/13) I was cleaning up a billion game pieces and Kevin decided to take lunch into his own hands. (He made a slab of graphite out of cheese and a tortilla because I wasn't watching closely enough, but that's a different story . . . ) When he opened the fridge, he pulled out a container with leftover canned green beans, which he dumped onto a plate and offered to Heidi, saying, "Oh, are you hungry, Heidi? Here, eat this treat." I had to chuckle because honestly nobody in this family wants to finish those green beans.

Kevin is very gradually making progress with learning to use the toilet. I would say that about five days out of the week he uses the toilet at least once. I've decided to leave him alone and let him do it himself because that's better than going back to square one, which is what happened last summer when I got too involved. That's just how things work with Kevin. It's hard to be the mom with the 3.5 year old who isn't potty trained. I can't think of any friends who have been judgmental, but it still kind of wears on your self-esteem even if you know it's not that important. I love Kevin, but subconsciously it starts to feel degrading at times to still be changing his diapers. I hope that makes sense. I am sort of hoping that Kevin will catch on in the next few months and then Heidi will be ready this summer. She is very interested and her communications skills are developing much earlier than with Kevin.

Heidi likes to make cute faces on purpose so that people will think how cute she is. Her favorite these days is to cock her head to one side and smile, and then say, "Hi," in a sweet little voice.

Heidi's language is developing so rapidly. It seems like Kevin didn't speak this well until he was maybe two or two and a half. She picks up on words really fast and is already saying sentences sometimes. She is very interested in names of body parts, clothes, and animals and their sounds.

We've discovered that Heidi's diaper rashes aren't as bad if we give her baths instead of completely wiping her after she has a soiled diaper. Then she usually gets to air dry for a few minutes. So now if we change her diaper and she doesn't get a bath she thinks she's been short-changed and she screams bloody murder and flails and thrashes. It's quite the feat to get a prefold and cover on her when she does that. Very frustrating, but I admit I also have to laugh at the drama. She is such a joyful little girl, but she can also throw quite the tantrum.

Heidi had her first kiss last night (1/19). My friend Annie and I decided (all in fun, of course) when her little boy, John, and Heidi were born that they are secretly betrothed. Last night at a ward party I turned to see Heidi and Johnny giving each other a hug, and then all of a sudden Heidi gave him a big kiss on the lips. I wished so badly that I had a camera right then. It was quite adorable.

My supply of pajama pants has been a little depleted lately. Some are wearing out, some are too small, and some are too big. So in December when flannel went on sale for $1.99/yd at Joann's I bought four bolts of fabric to make some pajama pants. I followed this tutorial to use an old pair of pajama pants as a pattern, and it worked great for the one pair I have made so far. It took almost three yards to make one pair for me. It was nice to have a quick and successful project. I hate it when I spend a lot of time making something and in the end I don't really like the result.

I also made myself a skirt using some fabric my Grandma sent home with me. I started off using this tutorial. Note to self, don't follow skirt tutorials made by skinny people if you are average sized. I followed her suggestion to make the circumference of the skirt 1.5 times the measurement of my waist, and it was enormous and looked awful. I felt depressed because it was my favorite of the fabric I brought home, but I cut off about 15 inches on one side and sewed a new side seam, and it actually turned out quite nicely!

I do have a couple of skirt patterns. When I bought them I forgot to check if they would work for the width of my fabric, and then later when I tried to cut out the fabric I realized all of my fabric was 45" and the patterns were for 60". But I recently found out that if you fold the fabric the other way (hamburger instead of hotdog?) it will work, so maybe now I can try that.

Oh, and I also figured out how to hem jeans using the original hem. There are a lot of tutorials online, but this is the one I used. I wasn't sure how my old machine would handle it, but it did pretty well.

I think I've probably blogged before about my issues with getting into a Lifetime Fitness (LFIT) class at UNC. When I transferred here, they were being very picky about which transferred classes they would accept to fulfill the requirement. I had taken Ballroom Dance at BYU and Weight Lifting at NC State and they wouldn't accept either one. I made an appeal for them to accept the Weight Lifting class and they responded that my appeal was denied. So I tried every semester except when I was pregnant with Heidi to get into an LFIT class so I could get it out of the way. But UNC does this weird thing where they reserve LFIT classes for certain class years. So I could never get into LFIT classes (even if there were 15 spaces open) because I am a senior and the classes were all reserved for students from other years (I'm assuming freshmen and sophomores). It was very frustrating because I just wanted to get the class out of the way. Well, this semester I finally got into a class. I registered on the waitlist and ended up getting added to the class. Fast-forward to a week before classes start. I got an email from the teacher giving us instructions for paying the fee for the class. The fee was $40 and they would only accept cashier checks and money orders for payment, or you could pay using a credit card online. I was mortified by the cost of the fee. My tuition is supposed to be paying for my classes, and this is a required class that everyone has to take. I could understand a small towel fee for a uniform, but that seemed ridiculous. Out of the blue I decided to check my Tar Heel Tracker (the place where you can check your degree progress online) just to make sure I had to take this class. Lo and behold, something changed and they decided to allow the PE classes I took at BYU and NC State to count for the LFIT requirement. This is a change that must have happened in the past month or two, because when I checked before I was still required to take an LFIT class. I checked with an advisor to make sure I didn't have to take the class, and then I dropped it. So in the end I feel like it was a tender mercy that every time I tried to add an LFIT class to my schedule in previous semesters I wasn't able to get into a class. If I had been able to sign up for the class I would have had to pay a huge fee and then I would have found out later that I didn't even have to take it. I can think of a lot of things I would rather spend $40 (plus the tuition money) on. Now I have all my general education requirements taken care of!