I Spoke in Church Today...

Two weeks ago, as we sat on our usual bench during sacrament meeting, the speakers were announced and Josh leaned over and gave me a high five, whispering “we made it through this ward without having to speak.” I responded with a thumbs up and a wink. I guess we celebrated a little too soon, however. Actually, we are very grateful for the opportunity to speak today and pray that the Spirit will be here that we may all learn together and rejoice in this glorious gospel.

Before I get into the real topic of my talk today, I just want to thank all of you, but particularly the permanent or at least semi-permanent members of this ward. I don’t know exactly how you feel about the Wharton crowd. You get a new batch of us each year and just as you are learning our names or coming to recognize our faces we disappear for the summer. We come back after a few months and start getting settled in, maybe even squeeze in a visiting teaching or home teaching visit or two. Then we start packing up our things and disappear. I have been on the other side of that equation, where I was the semi-permanent resident watching families come and go. As much as you try to convince yourself that its a great opportunity to meet people, it’s still difficult, especially when you are trying to strengthen a ward, or a quorum, or a class. But on behalf of all of us, fickle Wharton families, I want to sincerely thank you for opening your hearts to us, taking us as we are, and reminding us of the power of the gospel in pure & simple form. Next Fall you’ll get a new batch of Wharton students and you probably won’t think of the Woodfords very often. But we will think of you. You have taught us and had a lasting influence on our lives. So thank you, Brothers and Sisters of the Independence Ward, for blessing our lives.

Brother Rennie asked us to speak on something we have learned during our time here in Philadelphia. I have learned to love rivers and watching crew teams as I run along the Schuylkill River Trail. I learned a lot about Benjamin Franklin and the Revolutionary War Era. I learned to care about Baseball. I’ve learned to love steaks wiz wit. I learned to love four beautiful young women. And, I have learned the importance of living the basics of the gospel.

In my family growing up we had an inside joke that if you were ever asked a question in church or seminary or FHE that you didn’t know the answer to, you should just answer with “Jesus and go to church” and 9 out of 10 times you would be right. There are certain principles of the gospel that we call the Sunday School Answers, the very basics that we hear about over and over and over again: pray, read your scriptures, serve others, keep the commandments. Well, there is a reason those are the Sunday School Answers...they are the truth. They are the basic building blocks of a happy, productive life and “though simple enough for a child to understand, provide the answers to the most complex questions of life.” (Elder Uchdorf, Of Things That Matter Most)

We like to complicate things in our society. Look at our government, our legal system, our relationships. The Lord on the other hand keeps things simple. Over and over again we are asked to pray, read your scriptures, serve others, keep the commandments.

We also like to speed things up in our society. Look at how many activities we try to cram into each day. Look at the length of our “to do lists” and the way we rush from place to place and get frustrated with anyone in our way. The Lord has asked us to slow down, to make time to notice the needs of others and to draw closer to him, to turn in our “To Do List” for a “To Be List” (Lynn Robbins, What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be). “Let’s be honest; it’s rather easy to be busy.” (Elder Uchdorf, Of Things That Matter Most) You can be selfish and focus solely on what you need to get done. If we slow down we may notice that someone around us needs our help, or that we need to change something in our lives. Returning to the basics takes faith, patiences, forgiveness, and the guidance of the Spirit but it also builds faith, patience, our ability to forgive, and strengthens the influence of the Spirit in our lives.

I am a cyclist, one of those crazy people you see around in bright colored jerseys and tight padded shorts. I have found a parable for life in one of the basic lessons of cycling. Road bikes have very skinny wheels. That is great for riding fast but not so great when you come across an obstacle in the road. One of a cyclists’ worst enemies is gravel. Gravel used to freak me out. I knew in an instant I could loose control of my bike and gravely road burn doesn’t sound fun. Now I know how to get through gravel. You can slow your speed a bit, but then you just stick to the basics of riding a bike: hold on, keep your wheel straight, keep peddling. You may not be able to see clearly for a few seconds as you bounce up and down, but you will come through it just fine. We come across gravel patches in our life as well, but if we slow down a bit and return to the basics, the Sunday School Answers, we will come through it just fine.

I have loved my time here in Philadelphia, but it has also been one of the most difficult periods of my life, not merely because of the strenuous graduate program, but certainly exacerbated by it. I found myself wavering, much more than I ever expected I, Allison Woodford, would waver. Fortunately, and probably through the Spirit, I recognized the fact that I was wavering and did all I could to stick to the basics. Although I didn’t feel like I was progressing spiritually, I clung to the basic principles of the gospel, the Sunday School answers, and kept moving forward. I held tightly to the rod and keep moving my feet until the mists of darkness began to clear. I had scriptures study with my girls, prayed, did FHE, tried my best to fill my calling. I wasn’t growing spiritually, but I was hanging on. The habits I had worked my whole life to establish of reading my scriptures, saying my prayers, serving others, and keeping the commandments brought me through the trouble to solid ground.

President Uchtdorf said, “When our stress levels rise, when distress appears, when tragedy strikes, too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate, thinking somehow that the more rushed our pace, the better off we will be...

Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and light.” (Elder Uchdorf, Of Things That Matter Most)

The basics of the gospel, the Sunday School Answers, are powerful. “Though simple enough for a child to understand, [they] provide the answers to the most complex questions of life.” (Elder Uchdorf, Of Things That Matter Most)

I served a mission in Japan. When I had been in the country for about four months I hit some gravel. My mother, whom I am very close to, became seriously ill back home and I felt the separation keenly. On top of that my companion decided she didn’t like me because (1) I was American, which I couldn’t change, and (2) I was happy, which I wouldn’t change. About this time it was stake conference. We had to travel a couple of hours to get to the meeting and had picked up a member on our way. We arrived late and slipped into some seats in the back, just as I heard my name announced as the next speaker. I don’t do that well with speaking on spot and when you add to that the fact that my Japanese at this point was mediocre at best I really didn’t have a great chance of success. I went up to the pulpit and my heart was full. I wanted to talk about how I had felt the power of the Atonement lifting me in the last little while, but the more I tried to say the worse my Japanese got, until I realized that I was getting nowhere. I paused for a moment and then went back to the most fundamental elements of my testimony. “I know God lives. I know Jesus is the Christ. I know they love each one of us individually. I know they have a plan for us.” After I finished I returned to my seat and wept, because I felt like I had been given an opportunity to testify and I had completely blown it. Then one of my missionary friends passed me a note that said, “That was one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard.”

The basics of the gospel are profound. The Sunday school answers give us the key to most complex questions of life. When we hit turbulent times the Lord wants us to slow down, to simplify, to return to the basics.

The Beginning of the Lasts

I’m turning into my mother. I tried again today to teach the lesson I prepared last week for Young Women. Again we had one girl at church, a different girl but just about as enthusiastic to be there. I had to go and find her, tell her it was time to come to Young Women, and then listen to her moan and groan the entire way to the room where we meet. “I don’t want to go.” “It’s always so boring.” “It’s the same every week.” My temper was flaring. I honestly had to consciously check my anger and hold my tongue, which is not typical me. She complained the entire way through our opening exercises and the first few questions I asked her she answered with a curt, “I don’t know.” I just continued on, showing her pictures and telling her the story of the Savior’s last few days of life with the moaning and groaning in the background. Finally I had had it! Using my best Tiger Mom voice I said, “Destiny, I am a VERY patient person, but I have just about had it! LIsten to what I am telling you.” Those are words straight out of my mother’s mouth. Then without waiting for a reaction, I continued telling her the stories so dear to my heart. The tone immediately changed. She was engaged. She wanted to read the scriptures. She answered the questions. And the Spirit was there. That was my last lesson in the Independence Ward Young Women.

Joshua attended his last classes at Wharton this week--a bittersweet accomplishment. Finals are looming and then it’s 14 hours of freedom before he starts his career. I can’t believe how quickly our time here has past. The days sometimes dragged, the weeks were long, the months moved on at a steady pace, and the years flew--relativity at its best. We are entering into the “lasts” phase: last classes, last group project, last preschool, last run around the Schuylkill River loop. We aren’t finished with Philly by any means; it just makes you think twice about what you are doing when you realize you may not get a chance to do it again.

In grand celebration of Josh’s accomplishment and our survival, we took a trip to New York City. It was the “best weekend ever!” To prove that we don’t learn from the past, we took the bus again. We were prepared this time with ziplocks bags, wipes and sour treats. I even stepped out of line and asked to board ahead of the rest of the people. “Carsick” seems to be the magic word. We sat on the top level of the double decker bus in the first row so the girls could look out the front window. We had two happy girls and a great view the whole trip.

After checking into our hotel, giving Jane a nap, and eating at an authentic cantonese restaurant we headed to Times Square to see the Lion King. The evening was magical. The girls had been looking forward to this for weeks and Josh and I were even more excited than the girls. The opening scene of the Lion King is one of my favorite theater moments and this production was incredible. The girls were mesmerized. I took a mental picture of them dressed in their cute Spring dresses, Jane perched atop two booster seats and Kate on one, staring at the stage, completely engaged in the production. They were perfect. They laughed out loud, shrunk back in their seats during the scary parts, and clapped with delight after their favorite songs. Zazu sang Supercalifragilistic to Scar and I thought Kate was going to fall off her chair she thought it was so hilarious. We bought a stuffed Simba for the girls to share to remind them of the play. Jane, who has always been a stuffed animal girl, took to it immediately and wouldn’t let go. Kate was reminding her that they were sharing Simba and Jane replied, “Yes, we will share Kate. Next time you can get a Simba doll too.” It was a late night and we ended up carrying two sleepy girls back to the hotel, but every now and then you need a good late night.

The next morning we took the subway out to Brooklyn and then walked back into Manhattan across the Brooklyn bridge. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. We had a great view of the city as we walked. I guess I should have listened to Josh when he wanted to take the double stroller though, because Kate thought walking was the worst idea ever. She decided it was most unjust that she had to walk while Jane got to ride in the stroller. After much weeping and wailing we ended up carrying Jane and pushing Kate.

Once back on Manhattan we made our way down to Battery Park and the American Indian Museum. I figured Kate the Indian had to see the American Indian Museum. It was actually a pretty incredible display and we ended up staying there a long time. I was struck by the beauty of the craftsmanship and the extent of the knowledge of American Indians. Interesting to see how far we have progressed or fallen as a society depending on your perspective. We try so hard to be “green” these days by recycling our plastic. Well, they had “green” down to a science. Makes you wonder what could have been had Henry Knox and George Washington had their way in Indian affairs. Not one of the bright spots of our past.

After we had had our fill of tipis and beads, we headed out to find lunch. The rest of our trip was a wild goose chase. We had a recommendation for a ramen shop. I was so excited to taste real ramen again. Please do not think of instant ramen. Ramen in Japan is so tasty! We took a couple subways, walked several blocks and arrived 10 minutes after they closed. Doh. We searched around, found a decent place, tried to get the girls to eat something and then realized we had to get moving. We had less than an hour to gather our bags from the hotel and get back to the bus stop. We overlooked one small detail, however. It was 5 o’clock on a Friday in New York City. We came up from the subway stop closest to our hotel and Josh dashed to get our bags. I dashed into the lobby of a closer hotel to take the girls potty. We met up, navigated the rush hour traffic on the subway with two little girls, a suitcase, a stroller, and our day pack and arrived at the bus stop 20 minutes after our bus was supposed to leave. This is where miracles start happening. Just as we got into ear shot of the bus lines we heard the guy say “5:40 to Philadelphia” and the line started moving toward the bus. It was 6:00. We just walked right up and started loading our luggage on and then merged into the line. We didn’t check in or go to the back of the line. We just considered it a miracle that we made it and got on board. We didn’t have our premium seats this time, but the girls did okay. Jane slept. Kate only got sick at the very end.

It was a whirlwind trip, but so worth it! Fun memories and who knows when we’ll be back to New York City again.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

I think this little family has come a long way this week. When I asked the girls on Monday what Easter was about they both independently responded, “eggs!” Then came family night, morning scripture study, and making Easter Story Cookies from a recipe my mom sent over which uses the ingredients to talk about the Savior’s death and resurrection. I think we have a better grasp of the holiday now. You can test them and see, but I think the girls will say that we celebrate Easter because Jesus was resurrected. We still dyed eggs and did an Easter egg hunt with our friends, but hopefully the significance of the day was not completely lost.

After the news of our early start date last week, I spent the next several days spinning my wheels. I knew there were a million things I should be working on and I felt like I was working really hard but the truth be told, I hardly accomplished anything! Thanks to Josh and my family I feel like we have a few things in place now, enough to move forward anyway. We chose the company we will use to move and store our things and we picked a day to load up the truck. Our time in Philly is limited--kind of sad, kind of exciting, kind of scary, kind of stressful, kind of fun.

Friday of this week my cousin, Laura Krantz, came up from Washington, D.C. to visit. We took her to Longwood Gardens in the morning to see the tulips and then in the afternoon we went on a Philly sandwich quest. She had the current issue of Saveur, a culinary magazine, which just happened to have an article highlighting sandwiches in Philadelphia. We chose three different sandwiches from three different shops, divided them up among us and had a fun family style dinner at Reading Terminal Market. It was great to see Laura and catch up on the last...oh, 15 years or so. Laura is an editor at NPR and is engaged to be married this Fall. We are so grateful she took the time to come up here. The girls were excited to meet her and tried their best to impress. Josh and I had a great time asking her about the inner workings of NPR. It was delightful to re-establish a connection after so many years. As different as our lives are there are still unmistakable marks of our common heritage: similar humor, using playful threats like “I’ll tie your arms in a knot,” signing notes xoxo, and enjoying card games to name a few. Here’s to family!

We had a classic prayer in Sunday School this week. “We are grateful, Father, that the temple is going to be built here in Philadelphia and we know all things are done in Thy time. BUT, if it’s possible could you hurry it up a little!” I thought Josh was going to have to excuse himself. ☺ Our ward. We were back to no Young Women today. Actually, there was one there, but I couldn’t get her to come inside for the lesson, my last lesson which I had prepared especially for Easter. [sigh]

On a happier note, we have had some great times with friends this week. Jinhee, my dear friend from South Korea, hosted a lunch for all the LDSSA ladies in Center City. We let the kids go wild in her toy room and enjoyed a rare opportunity to chat. We have such a fun group of student friends here. We also had an Easter Egg hunt as an LDSSA group. Kate has the concept now. I didn’t see her from the moment they said go until she returned with a basketful of eggs. Jane was more interested in collecting sticks than eggs. I also spent a day creating with my kindred spirit, Lori. We made Spring skirts for our girls. The pattern said it would take 2-3 hours. With all the interruptions of motherhood, we sewed all day and finished one skirt at 11:30 p.m. I’m still working on mine. The material point, however, is that we had an entire day (she even slept over) to talk and be together. The project was a secondary achievement, although it did turn out wonderfully well.

Kate has learned how to use Ping!, a texting app on our phones. She knows she can’t bother me while I am typing my letter, but I have been receiving a string of messages from Josh’s phone:

Kate: Mom lets go pik up Makenna

Mom: It is Sunday, bug.

Kate: Evin if it is Sunday

Mom: You are cute.

Kate: Bot i rele wont to go pik up Makenna

Mom: I know, Little One.

Then she came up to talk to me. I sent her downstairs to go see if the bread has risen to the top of the bowl. She texted me: “Not kwit.”

Jane is in a really cute stage. She is figuring out how to jump and skip. Any time she is on a flat surface she is jumping and dancing. It’s so cute to watch because she bends her head down in order to see her feet leave the ground. After the Easter egg hunt yesterday, we returned home with helium balloons. Jane would let her balloon go and float up to the ceiling and then run over and tug on us until we came to see her balloon. “It’s magic! It’s staying up there, Mom!” Maybe it’s magic that her feet can leave the ground too.

Josh only has two more days of class! We are sneaking in a trip to New York City as a family this week when he should be studying for finals. He’s got to have some sort of vacation before retirement.

Big Happenings

Big happenings in Philly this week.

1. BCG Start Date

Josh’s official start date with BCG Dallas was August 29^th. He had, however, expressed interest in starting earlier if possible. Tuesday morning he got an email exploring the option of starting in May. By Tuesday evening the official start date was....May 16^th, the morning after graduation!

The up sides:

We are less than a month away from having an income!!!! Wahoooooo.

Josh’s project leader over the summer told him to start as early as possible for career development purposes & Josh will be the first of his class to start.

We have something set in stone around which to build the rest of our plans.

The down side:

Josh will have the shortest break ever documented between finishing a graduate program & starting his career, approximately 14 hours. Take out 8 hours for sleep and we have six hours to live it up big. As Josh put it, “we will eat a lot of ice cream that night!”

Somehow Josh managed to leave the packing and moving to me...again.

2. Offer on our Land

After three years of buyer’s remorse, a couple of contracts falling through, and many frustrating days, we found out Wednesday that we have another offer on our land. We didn’t even counter. We just want to get it off our hands. We are under contract now and the closing date is...May 16^th! Please pray that this one will go through.

3. Sunny Had a Day Off

Yesterday I left. I got on a bus and went to New York City for the day with three friends, also Wharton Widows. We took a walking tour of Manhattan focusing on history, neighborhoods, and food. We ate soup dumplings in the heart of chinatown, a risotto ball and cannoli in Little Italy, some ethnic jerky of some sort somewhere in our travels, ice cream in Greenwhich Village, a great Italian dinner, and carmel corn on the way home. No shopping for this crowd, just a whole lot of eating, gentle mixed with learning. We had a great time. It was nice to be footloose and fancy free for a day in the Big Apple.

4. Josh Played Super Dad

Yesterday when I left, Josh had a day on his own with the girls. As far as I can tell he was Super Dad. I hear tales of German Pancakes, an outing to see the stars, light up light bulbs, make paper, and seeing a train at the Franklin Institute, and reading Fairy Tales. I see signs of a trip to the grocery store, moving laundry, and straightening up the entire house. The girls were sleeping peacefully when I came home. Josh was folding laundry with extremely tired eyes.

5. We Went to the Shore

Almost every weekend last Fall, Josh wanted to “go to the beach.” Today we couldn’t return to our house after church because our place is up for sale and the realtor was hosting an open house. So, we dropped off our Young Men and Young Women and kept driving until we crossed New Jersey and came to the beach, only it’s called the shore around here. The sun was shining today, but the wind was blowing and it was pretty chilly. When we stepped onto the sand Jane protested saying, “there is something on my feet.” I had to tell her it was sand and then realized that this was the first time either of my girls had seen the ocean. We took off our shoes and socks and walked down the beach toward the crashing waves. The stiff breeze was blowing at our backs. The seagulls were squawking overhead. The girls were firmly clutching my hands. Kate was concerned about Tsunamis, she knows I have been worried about the people of Japan lately. As we got closer to the waves Kate said, “This is actually pretty incredible!” The second a wave came up and encircled their toes, however, the fear factor soared and we had two girls who were sure they were about to be swept away into the ocean. We had to quickly retreat, assure them they were safe, and break out the snacks. Still, a good portion of our half hour on the beach was weeping and wailing. We pulled together some semblance of a picnic a very long way from the water and things settled down a bit.

So there you have it. It’s been an incredible week in a lot of ways. I feel very blessed. We have been fasting and praying for help and guidance in getting things settled for our move to Dallas. Nothing seemed to be falling into place, however. I must admit that at times I have been more in the “help thou my unbelief” camp as I looked at so many variables and could not see how they could possible come together neatly, especially with regards to our piece of dirt. This week after receiving our tax refund, the early start date, and then the offer on our land, I was simply filled with gratitude. The girls and I offered a prayer of thanks and then I drove home with a feeling in my heart which I hope never to forget. I was simply filled with the knowledge that God had been watching out for us. He was watching out for us when Josh applied to school. He has helped us through the whole process. Now he will help us as we move forward. God is in charge. He always has been. Could it be coincidence that Josh’s start date and the date for our land to close both happen to be May 16^th? Possibly, but I choose to give credit to a loving Father in Heaven.

I’ll end with a couple more stories.

Any day when the sun is shining we try to squeeze in a run. The girls usually negotiate for riding bikes in the park afterward in return for good behavior in the chariot. After finishing one such negotiation, Kate sat back with a look of triumph on her face and said, “Okay, now run as fast as your little legs can carry you!” And Jane pipped in, “No, not little legs, big legs.” Then the two of them cheered us on the whole time we ran.

Kate has been telling me for months about the spotlight they do in primary. They pick a child to come to the front and ask them questions. Today Kate was chosen and she was so thrilled. She reported, with a huge smile of satisfaction, that they had asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she had the best answer. She told them she wanted to be an Indian! Kate the Indian.

A few weeks ago we had some friends over and somehow a stool came crashing down from the top bunk (don’t ask) in the girls’ room and hit the head of Kate’s dear friend. It was serious enough that I called the Staker doctors for advise. As I got off the phone I saw Kate tenderly wiping her friends tears with her soft green blanket. She wanted to help her friend and what could possibly bring more comfort than Soft Green, her most treasured possession. After all the messes and chaos, it’s nice to see your little bedlamites be sweet and kind.

Four Girls and a Pet

Today I am the mother of four. (Actually, without pregnancy, increasing the number of children you have isn’t that bad. It definitely ratchets up the Mom-I-Need-You-Right-Now! factor, but as long as you are feeding and cleaning up after two, it may as well be four.) I volunteered to watch my friend’s two girls while she & her husband flew to California for a wedding. Josh thought it was such a great idea, he fled to New York for the weekend.☺ I just decided I wouldn’t try to accomplish anything other than playing with the girls and, consequently, we have had a great time. I wish I had a recording of all the cute conversations and imaginary games that have taken place. These two girls, Lucy and Sarah, are cut out of the same mold as Kate and Jane. We haven’t had a single quarrel, but the imagination meter has been off the charts. Several times this weekend I found myself just listening from the adjacent room with a smile on my face, wishing I could capture that moment. We have been Rapunzel, Indians, pirates, mountain climbers, artists, Spirit, Mickey Mouse, ballerinas, explorers, fairies--you name it!

Yesterday the sun was shining so the girls and I walked down to the Azalea garden. Two seconds after arriving the girls had their shoes off and were running, twirling, dancing, rolling, spinning, and exploring. They were darling! Irresistible in fact--even crusty old Philadelphians cracked a smile and paused for a few moments to watch. As Josh put it, “When these four girls are together they sparkle!”

In case two additional children wasn’t enough, we also have a new pet. Kate came downstairs earlier this week and told me, with Jane as her witness, that her little plastic frog “really moved.” It “hopped along her arm”, so she knew that “he had become a real frog.” I could tell that Kate’s almost five-year-old mind could not decide whether the frog was real or not. Jane, on the other hand, was completely sold. Kate knew the frog was plastic. She also knew it moved. And she really wanted it to become a real frog. She put out two tart shells, one filled with rice and the other with milk, in case the frog was hungry. When we came home later that day, the milk was gone! All doubt erased, Kate named the frog Sam and he became her beloved pet. It sleeps on the post of her bunk bed. It gets regular meals. It kept hopping away and getting lost, so now it has a leash.

Watching Kate become attached to and care for her little pet has been really cute. The nice thing about having a plastic pet is that I won’t have to flush it down the toilet when the novelty wears off.

Josh and the girls have a new game. It is definitely a dad game. They tie a rope to the railing and repel down the wall. I just cover my eyes. Kate thinks it is the greatest game ever. Jane is terrified but yields to the excitement and peer pressure. She does put a pillow from the couch on the floor before she starts. Josh and the girls have four rules of the game: 1) tie a good knot, 2) walk your hands, don’t slide them, 3) strong legs, 4) never repel with friends.

Josh went to an LDS MBA Conference in New York City this weekend. He said it was, “awesome.” That’s all the information I have so far, and I think that’s all I’m likely to get until dinner and the end of our fast.

Conference & Croissant

I have a new semi-annual tradition: Conference & Croissant! I had a lot of fun cooking this weekend. I made pot-au-feu, ham & cheese croissant, pork tenderloin in a salt crust, whole wheat rolls, and lemon tarts! Three days of culinary fun = Deliciousness all around.

My plan was to make croissant Saturday during conference. I started first thing in the morning. However, with all the interruptions of motherhood and the fact that this was my first solo attempt, I didn’t pull the croissants out of the oven until 11:30 p.m.! Josh was still out after the priesthood session and the girls were in bed, but I was in desperate need of sharing my triumph. The croissant turned out looking so wonderful. I called Alan and told him to get on iChat. I hauled up the tray of croissant fresh out of the oven to the computer room and did a victory dance showing off my achievement to a very appreciative audience of Alan, Mom, Dad, Shannon, Greg, Carrie, and some of my darling nieces. When you spend all day cooking you need someone to tell you it looks great. I was honestly almost giddy. I literally did a jig in front of the computer. Josh came home shortly thereafter and we had a delightful midnight snack together. The next day Kate ate a croissant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I thought we would never eat two dozen croissant by ourselves. I shouldn’t have worried.

Conference was great. Service was my personal take home message. I can’t wait to read all the talks. That’s when I get the most out of them.

I have had a lot of fun with Kate’s preschool lately. One of the advantages of living in a big city is having so many resources at your fingertips. A couple of weeks ago we learned about the Wright Brothers in preschool. I found a video on youtube showing the Wright brothers’ first few flights that we watched after the lesson and then we walked over to the Franklin Institute and saw one of their actual planes! Last week we finished a unit on art. We walked over to the Museum of Art and saw paintings by all the artists we had talked about, mobiles, sculptures, stained glass windows, etc. You don’t have to learn from pictures in a book here, you can walk a few minutes and see the real thing. Kate loved the ballerina sculpture by Degas. It is in her preschool book, but once she saw it in real life with the fabric skirt and the silk bow she was in love. All day long when we would pose her and Makenna for a picture she would assume the ballerina pose. So cute.

We found a brilliant new babysitting strategy last week, almost as effective as the iPhone sitter we hired for Valentine’s Day. Last Sunday after the morning church rush, letter writing, and visiting teaching I came home, put Jane down for a nap, went directly to my own bed and crashed. Sometime after I was lost to consciousness, Josh also came and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Kate was on iChat with Alan. They talked for over an hour! Kate read Alan some chapters from Cowboy Sam. I’m sure they talked about indians, cooking, the Please Touch Museum and whatever else rules the world of a 4 1/2 year-old. Then Kate told Alan she wanted to watch Pocahontas. Alan talked her through the process of sharing her screen with him, opening the internet, and pulling up youtube. As I walked downstairs I heard him saying, “now type just-around-the-river-bend.” There was no turning back from that moment on. Alan said that without any instruction she figured out how to pick out videos and play them. He called my phone about 10 minutes later in a panic. The iChat connection had failed so he was no longer sharing her screen. He said, “Your 4-year-old and your 2-year-old are upstairs watching youtube unsupervised!” I went upstairs and found them both mesmerized by a Pocahontas II clip. A few minutes later when I made them get off youtube, Kate pulled up the instant message part of ichat and sent Alan a message: “thank you for helping me find pokahatis”. It is amazing how these kiddos grasp technology. Every day now Kate asks to iChat with Alan.

Josh bought a membership to a gym near our house. He is determined to be HUGE by graduation. All I know is that he comes home completely exhausted and shaky and our egg consumption has skyrocketed. In fact, I bought eggs at Costco this week--7 dozen--because we are going through them so quickly.

I was with my girls at the house of some of our dear friends the other day. We needed to get home for dinner, so I gave the girls a two minute warning. Kate responded with, “Can we have a Dad two minutes because it is much longer than a Mom two minutes!”

Outside of culinaria and conference, the best part of this week was the release of Tangled! It was delivered to our house the day it came out on DVD and we had a great Tangled party: picnic dinner, popcorn, chocolate, & painted toenails. Then we had a Tangled party with our friends: pizza, costumes, ice cream, & a dance party. I don’t know if the girls or I like it more, but I’m just about ready for another Tangled Party. Who’s in?

Rest & Recovery

Kate gave her first talk in primary today. She wanted to talk about the 2000 Stripling Warriors because we just read that story in our morning scripture time. We tied it into the primary theme of following prophets by saying “We can be like the 2000 Stripling Warriors. We can trust God and follow the prophet with exactness.” She did a great job. She stood up there all by herself in front of the heckling crowd and gave her talk from memory. Cute girl!

This week has been mostly rest and recovery from last week. The house is clean, the girls are back on a schedule, and I’m even planning on cooking again today. In fact, I have ambitious cooking plans for this week. We’ll see how it goes.

We got together this weekend with all of the Wharton students headed to BCG Dallas for internships or jobs. It was a fun group of people, which bodes well for the future. The girls stayed with Jinhee and Wonjoon, our dear friends from South Korea, while we went to the dinner. I was prepping Jane before we dropped her off and I said, “You will have so much fun playing with Caleb! He is so nice.” Then I added, “You can even marry Caleb when you grow up if you want.” Jane, without skipping a beat, replied, “No! Caleb is NOT a prince.”

Josh was checking the weather on his phone on Saturday to plan when we could go out for a run. He reported that there would be a lot of sunshine but it was going to be really cold again. Kate, not thrilled with that report, said, “push another one!” I think we are all ready for the WARMTH of Spring to arrive.

In spite of the cold, Josh has taken the girls out a few times to ride bikes. Kate is doing great on her two wheeler and begs to go out any time the sun is shining. Jane thinks she’s pretty big stuff on the skuut. In fact, she likes to be referred to as Big Little Jane now because she “can ride a skuut.”

Ready or not, our time here in Philly is ticking down. Josh is ready. I’m not. We are sending out a last call for visitors. We’ll give you the best tour of Philly available for an unbeatable price. :)