Since You Twisted My Arm...

My sister requested some tulip pictures. Last fall I planted 2,560 spring bulbs in my front beds. I know that sounds like overkill, but I really did come up with a plan beforehand. And I wanted to excavate, which meant everything had to be planted all at once...and now I'm done (that is, until I figure out what summer and fall-blooming perennials to throw in there). I mapped out the colors I wanted in certain spots, and then bought a variety of bulbs to give me those colors from early spring through June. I bought everything at Colorblends.com, and highly recommend them for their selection, service, and prices. I've been taking photos every day or two since mid-March, and I'll make a slideshow of the flower progression when the bulbs are all done in early summer. But in the meantime, here is a little peek at what we've been enjoying in our front yard...

April 5--Crocuses. The dark pinks in the background are called tulip crocuses. They look like miniature tulips, and bloom early with the crocuses. Love their color!


April 13--These white flowers are a wild tulip called Turkestanica, a fabulous flower whether it's open to the sunshine or closed during cooler temperatures.


April 18--Hyacinths. The fragrance and color from these flowers is AMAZING! The whole front yard smelled of sweet perfume for three weeks.


April 18--I also cut some daffodils today. I planted 200 mixed daffodils that blooms throughout the spring...and I love the surprise of what type of daffodil shows up each week.


April 30--We had 4" of snow overnight, and I love how the pinks looked wearing their white blanket.


May 3--The wind blew these flowers together. It looks like the tulip is wearing a daffodil corsage.


May 3--I just love to come home to this! I asked Kent if the $700 I spent on the bulbs was worth it. He asked if they made me happy, which of course they do, so his answer was that it was worth it. I should add that many of the varieties I chose will reproduce underground and fill in these beds more in years to come, so this show will only get better!

These Kids Are Getting Expensive!

I realized last week that we are entering the expensive phases of parenting.

Here's what the first part of that phase looks like:


When our dentist recommended recently that we get #1 to an orthodontist, I took a deep breath, prepared myself for the worst, and went shopping for a doctor. Because we have no dental/ortho insurance, I wanted to be sure we got good treatment for a fair price, knowing that the rest of our crooked-smile children would also go to the same doctor. I followed four recommendations from friends and family, and after two weeks of exams and consultations, we decided to go with Dr. Berg. Since I'm into plugging doctors lately, you can click here to see his website. I'm happy to recommend him to anyone else and tell you our comparison shopping story. The short of it is that I feel confident in the treatment he recommends, and his office is giving us a good deal on the price for #1 and siblings to follow.

It seems likely that #3 will follow soon, too. One of her front incisors came in too far forward, and Dr. Berg is concerned that it will break off if she falls off the monkey bars or gets hit in the face. (Did I mention she is in karate and wants to start tumbling next fall?) We'll take her back in July to see if the tooth has moved back on its own at all...so I've dangled a little "carrot" in front of her. If #3 will push against that tooth whenever she is just sitting around, and the tooth moves back, I will give her FIVE DOLLARS! I hope it works, because I dread the $6,000 if that tooth does break off.

Last week when the ad for Gerber's college saving plan came on TV, I told the kids in no uncertain terms that I am not saving for their college and I do not plan on paying for it in the future. They can either get scholarships or jobs if they want higher education.

Still, my first little brace face made me realize that these kids are only getting more pricey to maintain. #1 is only three years away from jacking up our car insurance premiums, and then a wedding or two could very well happen in the next decade. Yikes!

Just for kicks, let's take another look at the $4,000 wire in my kid's mouth:


That's a pretty funky zig-zag. In fact...if you turn your head sideways...it almost looks like a dollar sign! Oh, the mockery!

Return and Report

WARNING: This is not an entertaining post. Feel free to skip it!

In case any of you are wondering how our Rallying Cry (refer to the Frantic Family posts last Fall) went over the winter, I'm happy to report we finished all our objectives by the final deadline. Some of those didn't happen until the very day we had set to be done, and I'm still not perfect with filing and managing mail, but we're done and the progress feels good.

I forgot to mention that we use our white board each Monday for a family council after home evening. (Usually it's just a discussion for me and Kent, but sometimes children are still hanging around, hoping that we won't notice they didn't stay in bed.) At this council, we have three dry erase markers: green, blue, and red. Next to each item, we color a dot. For example, if we both feel good about our individual and family discipleship, we draw a green dot. If we missed a date night but we spent time talking most evenings, the marriage relationship gets a blue dot. If our next objective towards completing the rallying cry is off track, that gets a red dot. Then we focus on those red dots, and maybe the blue dots, and come up with specific actions to address the shortfalls. The system keeps our councils to about five minutes, and it works well overall to keep us focused on those things that are most important for our family.

You may be wondering--but probably not--what our new Rallying Cry is. (Drum roll...) Organize Our Living Space!


We added a new member to the household this month. Kent's former mission companion from Mexico, Edwin, is living with us for a few months while he gains fluency in English. (And yes, he is here legally with real documents and everything.) The only option for his bedroom was the playroom, so our rallying cry began with that. We then set a deadline for de-junking and organizing each of the seven rooms that have experienced some degree of neglect. Guess what? We're on schedule so far.

Those of you who ever saw our disastrous playroom will appreciate the transformation pictured below. (Sorry I didn't think to take a "before" picture.) The rest of you will just have to imagine the biggest mess of a room you've ever seen children make, because it looked like that with five years of dust and cobwebs on the walls.

Looks good huh? Here is a shot of the bed. It's practically brand new, but technically a hand-me-down from some African refugees. (Seriously, I love that the Africans are helping the Americans to help a Mexican. Let's all sing Kum-Ba-Yah.) My parents called on the Saturday that we were moving furniture--the deadline day, the day Kent and Edwin were traveling home--for the new room and asked if we could use a twin bed. Impeccable timing!

I was happy that our children got in on the Rallying Cry. They were excited to de-junk old toys and to then scrub walls and move furniture over spring break. We had a nice time working together. Now on to the next Defining Objective:

The master bedroom!

(Well where did you think all the stuff from the playroom ended up?)

P.S. Nate, feel free to use this last picture in another presentation for your office. I haven't had vanity over owning a clean house in at least six years.

Walk-a-thon

It's that time of year again. The time when our school's PTO asks for money. I don't mind supporting the PTO because they do some great events and give good teacher support. What I've disliked in the past were the various fundraisers that involved selling overpriced cookie dough and gift wrap. I've always preferred to just give some cash instead of giving more cash than I normally would and ending up with products I don't really want.

Last year, the PTO got on the same page as me and held it's first walk-a-thon. It was such a success that they've discontinued all other fundraising efforts to focus on this one event. The kids get exercise and have to work for the funds a little, which I think is an important part of school fundraisers. With four children at the school, I thought this year I'd make their efforts a little easier and less in-your-face than knocking on doors and making neighbors feel like they need to sponsor all my kids.

If any of you would like to donate through one (or more) of my girls, you can post a comment saying so, or just email me (MarySWhite@gmail.com). I'll let the girls know and whichever of them is most motivated will contact you to talk about whether you want to sponsor for a set dollar amount, or an amount per mile they walk. (I've got some good little runners, so be careful on those per-mile donations! This photo is #1 after running a 5K last fall with the school's cross-country team.)


Thanks!

If you want to know more about the school you're helping out, click here for Freedom Academy's website. On the website, you might see news about a boutique the school is hosting this weekend. The boutique is raising funds toward hiring more teachers in the arts and languages, as well as supporting the individual artisans at the boutique. The walk-a-thon funds go toward the PTO, which gives its money to teacher support and family activities. If you want to donate directly to the school instead of the PTO, there is a link for online donations on the website.

A Source of Stress

See that blemish? That painful pimple? The big red zit?!

That's a result of stress that built up from October through March. And it was worth it.

I decided a school named Freedom Academy would do well to add a little learning about the legal system that seeks to protect our American freedoms. So I started a competitive Mock Trial team for the 7th and 8th graders.

Not a lot of people have heard of mock trial. Basically, the students prepare to present a court case. We had a bailiff, witnesses and attorneys. They learn court procedures and the application of law in a courtroom setting. Then they compete against other teams from schools around the state who have prepared the opposing side of the same court case. Each team competes at least twice: once as prosecution and once as defense. While in the trial, the students don't get any help from their coaches. Though they've practiced their questions and answers, it always comes down to thinking on their feet, raising and answering objections, and interacting with the judges (who are real-life attorneys and judges).

When I took on this project, I figured I'd get a teacher and an attorney or two in place as coaches. Then all I'd have to do is decorate the team members' lockers and drive them to competitions. Not so! It turns out that attorneys are busy people and our teacher coach had other obligations during the first half of each after-school practice as well. So I helped the kids outline their side of the case, edited the attorneys' questions, coached the witnesses in acting, and drilled the opening and closing statements. It was a lot of fun, a lot of time, and a lot of stress.



But like I said, it was worth it! I spent most of those hours with my own #1 (On the far right in the picture above.) In the end, our students won both their first two competitions and went on to narrowly lose at the state quarter-final round. They did great for their first year. And #1 was named the best attorney on our team at each competition, which was no surprise to me considering her proclivity for arguing!

This was the first time I've ever coached any competitive group. Last week when I was returning books at the library, one of the team members saw me and hurried over to say hi. We talked about her plans for spring break, and then she left with her family. It was weird and fun to feel her gratitude and camaraderie disguised in her thinly veiled excitement at seeing me outside the school setting. Next year will be good.

Attending to My Spine

Chiropractors have always been a somewhat uninteresting puzzle to me. Are they really doctors? I've never been injured and so never needed to see one, but friends and acquaintances swear by their back adjustments. But I also always had a nagging at the back of my mind about why chiropractic patients seemed to never be weaned away from their chiropractor.

Having never needed a chiropractor, I gave little heed to their advertisements...or to the growing pain in my lower lumbar.

I know, back (ha ha) around Christmastime when I couldn't lie flat or stand up straight in the morning, I maybe should have given it a little thought. I picked up yoga, which helped the pain dissipate, and figured if I didn't complain about it, the pain wouldn't be so noticeable. And it did subside with time...as long as I didn't lie flat on my back...or skip and jump...or make any sudden movement of any sort.

Then a few weeks ago, a representative from Alpine Spinal Rehab in Provo gave lunch and a short presentation at Kent's work. He told of a chiropractor who believed in healing spines rather than adjusting them chronically. My curiosity was hooked.

At my first visit, following a good (and price friendly) massage, a tech took x-rays and the doctor used some sort of sonar device to detect misaligned vertebrae and then adjust them. He showed me some exercises to do at home to stretch and work the imbalanced muscles around my spine. I was happy that he recommended two of my favorite yoga poses: the cat and the camel.



At the next visit, we looked at the x-rays of my spine. It's more of a mess than I ever would have guessed! Straight where it should be curved and curved in the wrong directions. (Kent also got x-rays, and his spine is a mess in completely different ways than mine.) He invited me and the other new and prospective patients to a dinner at Sizzler where he taught about the make up of the spine, it's curves, and how not to mess it up. He explained that all sorts of physiological problems can be caused by the spine pinching any of the multiple nerves that branch from it: headaches, tingling limbs, over-active bladder, etc. His approach to healing the spine is to identify the problem areas, adjust the bones back into place a little at a time, and then build balanced muscles on either side of the spine to keep everything in place. Basically, I get to have a focused workout on different sets of back and neck muscles using some fancy weight-lifting machines. Theoretically, I should be done in ten weeks with a healed spine to last the rest of my life as long as I continue the at-home exercises.

After the first two or three visits, my lower back pain was--and is--gone. Now my back muscles are sore from the workouts, but I'm optimistic that I'll gain good posture and lose my occasional numb fingers and toes. That is, lose the tingling, not the digits.

I consider myself an experiment for the rest of you. If this experience goes well, I will recommend Dr. Clark myself. If it doesn't, I'll tell you that, too. He says he has my back. We'll see!

Winter Olympics!

Due to each of my four siblings losing their minds and deciding to move into new homes last summer, the GFOOC (Glauser Family Olympic Organizing Committee) agreed to hold a Winter Olympics in lieu of our Summer Olympics. We gathered a month ago at East Canyon (in the hills behind and between Salt Lake City and Ogden) to measure our athletic abilities in a variety of indoor and outdoor events.

After team photos in our uniforms, we headed outside where it had begun to snow again. Among the events I didn't take pictures of were a sled race (parents had to pull their kids, but when my parents couldn't even get the sled moving with us on it, we let them just drag my sister) and an indoor sudoku event. My sister, Carolyn, had thought she was stacking the odds in her all-adults team favor with that one. What she didn't know is that Kent and I complete a sudoku puzzle at least two or three nights each week. So, without even meaning to, the Whites came home with the gold again this year. I think our strategy is simple irony. If you don't care about winning, you'll have so much fun that you will. (It's worked twice now!)



I'll end with a short video. We wrapped up the outdoor events with an obstacle course race. I had planned to arrive early and build hurdles out of snow, but since that didn't happen, it was very nice of East Canyon Resort to supply the obstacle course. If you're bored enough to actually spend one more minute of your time on this post, you'll at least maybe be amused by the squealing four-year-old who quickly and effectively demanded my attention at the end of the clip and made us both miss our team's run on the course. (I must say, though, boys are much easier to attend to in such situations than are girls.) Have a look if you like:



Just kidding. I'm not ending yet because I just remembered to journal the unexpected turn of events the following day. Our family stayed at the condo with my parents to enjoy a relaxing Sunday and late Church in Henefer. Well, the snow that started during the Olympics didn't quit all night, and we had at least another foot of snow when we woke up. About three minutes after I put cinnamon rolls in the oven and started sizzling sausage, the power to our condo went out. After we all sat around for over an hour eating PB on bread, my mom found a friend who was also at the resort and who still had power. We finished making breakfast at her building and then waited for electricity in our own, which never came back on. When the maintenance crew had finished digging the snow off one lane of the road, and the indoor temperature had noticeably dropped, we made our escape. I'm glad we didn't wait around to defend our gold against survival of the fittest!