I'm hoping to make a regular comeback on this here blog. It's time I start documenting our lives again!!!
Last night I got to have a heart-to heart with Conrad. He fessed up to a little lie he had told me. I was almost in tears, and I think he was too. He originally told me he accidentally punched Ruby in the mouth. At bedtime he felt really bad for lying and so he told me how sorry he was for lying. I told him I knew he was lying. I can't remember exactly what I said after that, but I knew that if I got upset at the time he lied to me, it wouldn't do any good. I knew he wouldn't learn anything. He kind of shuts off when I get mad or upset.
I've started reading Raising Cain. It's a book about raising emotionally sound boys. Thank you Angela for posting that on your blog, I took your recommendation and it's been great for me. I feel like I needed that for Conrad. I have felt like I haven't been treating him the way he needs to be treated. I have learned a lot about boys from reading this book. And I have 5 older brothers! They are older, though... so give me a break :)
People I think should read it:
mothers of boys
fathers of boys
wives of husbands
if you know a boy
It's so enlightening!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
a late-night post
Some of you readers (my family and facebook friends) know that we have been visiting with family in Utah for the past 7+ days. It is SOOOO good to connect IN-PERSON and face-to-face!!! I get so involved in facebook and texting. Let me tell you, physically being WITH your loved ones is a lot better than facebook. That's just fyi.
Josh and I were driving around, talking about where we would live when we moved back to Utah. He mentioned how we potentially might have only 1 more year of coming back AS A VISIT. (unless he does a fellowship, then it would be 2 more years). He was getting kind of excited, talking about where we might live. I have felt a strong pull towards Utah since we've moved away. We moved away in June 2007. 6 years ago. When we moved away, I was really excited! It was an adventure!
For the first time ever, when I thought about returning to Utah, it was kind of anti-climatic. Moving to Utah is not an adventure.
What do you think of that? I have REALLY enjoyed growing up and having to be a big girl. I have LOVED making new friends. I LOVE LOVE LOVE living where mormons are the minority!
I have loved getting to know other people that are not LDS. In Utah, you are either LDS, or you hate LDS people. And if you hate LDS people, you scare me! I was afraid to tell people when we lived in Kansas City and now in St. Louis that we are LDS for fear of them judging me or having a pre-conceived idea about me. Seriously!!! So dumb of me, but I am a people-pleaser. I have this bad habit of wanting people to like me. At a birthday party in Kansas City, a guy asked me where I was from, which led him to asking if I was a mormon. I absolutely hesitated. I wish I didn't. When my next door neighbor in STL asked where we were originally from, I hesitated and kind of quietly answered Utah. I have to pep-talk myself when I tell people where I am from and that Yes, I am a Mormon.
As a high-schooler I definitely had my testimony, but I always wanted to have some uniqueness about me, maybe a little rebellion or wild side. I didn't do anything stupid. Ok, that's debatable. BUT, I never tried drugs or smoked or went too far with a boy. I just didn't want to have the "Molly Mormon" label. So what do you do if you live in Utah and want to be a rebellious teen without going off the deep end? You wear funny shirts from Savers. You say semi-scandalous things like, "Oh I partied too hard last night," then clarify that you weren't drinking, you just stayed up too late. True story. Or, maybe I wore clothes that were slightly immodest (short shorts, tight shirts). As a mormon girl with a testimony, you know where the line is drawn. I just wanted to prove to others that I wasn't a molly mormon. I think that idea for teen mormon girls happens more so in Utah. There are SO MANY mormons!!! You just want to stand out somehow! I wanted to be original. Not just another blond-haired, blue-eyed mormon girl. (Did you know there are a lot of those in Utah?) OK, that was a tangent.
I LOVED in Kansas City when the lady at Sam's Club asked me if I took my children to church. I told her "yes" and she simply said, "That is so good, they need that." Nothing else was said! There are so many good people out there. Here comes another slightly offensive remark. In my experience growing up in Utah, if you were not LDS and/or inactive, you probably had a chip on your shoulder or were a little bit "off the straight and narrow." Let me tell you! SO SO SO many good people out there. I have LOVED getting to know families of other faiths. People are nice!!!
Maybe it was my shy-ness or my immaturity or self-righteous attitude that made me feel those ways about people in Utah. 1 thing is for sure, I have grown up since we've moved away. I have learned a lot.
Or at least, I like to think I have. I sure hope I have.
Please forgive me if I offended you. I typed these things after 10:30 PM. My filter goes out the window after 10!
Josh and I were driving around, talking about where we would live when we moved back to Utah. He mentioned how we potentially might have only 1 more year of coming back AS A VISIT. (unless he does a fellowship, then it would be 2 more years). He was getting kind of excited, talking about where we might live. I have felt a strong pull towards Utah since we've moved away. We moved away in June 2007. 6 years ago. When we moved away, I was really excited! It was an adventure!
For the first time ever, when I thought about returning to Utah, it was kind of anti-climatic. Moving to Utah is not an adventure.
What do you think of that? I have REALLY enjoyed growing up and having to be a big girl. I have LOVED making new friends. I LOVE LOVE LOVE living where mormons are the minority!
I have loved getting to know other people that are not LDS. In Utah, you are either LDS, or you hate LDS people. And if you hate LDS people, you scare me! I was afraid to tell people when we lived in Kansas City and now in St. Louis that we are LDS for fear of them judging me or having a pre-conceived idea about me. Seriously!!! So dumb of me, but I am a people-pleaser. I have this bad habit of wanting people to like me. At a birthday party in Kansas City, a guy asked me where I was from, which led him to asking if I was a mormon. I absolutely hesitated. I wish I didn't. When my next door neighbor in STL asked where we were originally from, I hesitated and kind of quietly answered Utah. I have to pep-talk myself when I tell people where I am from and that Yes, I am a Mormon.
As a high-schooler I definitely had my testimony, but I always wanted to have some uniqueness about me, maybe a little rebellion or wild side. I didn't do anything stupid. Ok, that's debatable. BUT, I never tried drugs or smoked or went too far with a boy. I just didn't want to have the "Molly Mormon" label. So what do you do if you live in Utah and want to be a rebellious teen without going off the deep end? You wear funny shirts from Savers. You say semi-scandalous things like, "Oh I partied too hard last night," then clarify that you weren't drinking, you just stayed up too late. True story. Or, maybe I wore clothes that were slightly immodest (short shorts, tight shirts). As a mormon girl with a testimony, you know where the line is drawn. I just wanted to prove to others that I wasn't a molly mormon. I think that idea for teen mormon girls happens more so in Utah. There are SO MANY mormons!!! You just want to stand out somehow! I wanted to be original. Not just another blond-haired, blue-eyed mormon girl. (Did you know there are a lot of those in Utah?) OK, that was a tangent.
I LOVED in Kansas City when the lady at Sam's Club asked me if I took my children to church. I told her "yes" and she simply said, "That is so good, they need that." Nothing else was said! There are so many good people out there. Here comes another slightly offensive remark. In my experience growing up in Utah, if you were not LDS and/or inactive, you probably had a chip on your shoulder or were a little bit "off the straight and narrow." Let me tell you! SO SO SO many good people out there. I have LOVED getting to know families of other faiths. People are nice!!!
Maybe it was my shy-ness or my immaturity or self-righteous attitude that made me feel those ways about people in Utah. 1 thing is for sure, I have grown up since we've moved away. I have learned a lot.
Or at least, I like to think I have. I sure hope I have.
Please forgive me if I offended you. I typed these things after 10:30 PM. My filter goes out the window after 10!
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