The Henderson Family Chronicles

I like favorite things. I like to look at my Pinterest boards, and see all these images that together represent me, who I am, my taste, personality, faith, hope. As I look at that collage of images, I feel wrapped in this blanket of security in knowing who I am, what I believe. It's like giving myself a hug and saying "Self, I love you. I know you. I accept you. You are beautiful."  There is a confidence and comfort in not wondering who I am. I know I am a daughter of a Heavenly King. I know HE loves me too, and I like to think that, overall, He is proud of who I am becoming. So for myself, and posterity, (and potentially people thinking about Christmas......) I leave a little record of things I love. Other than the obvious, you know, Andrew & the kids, Heather, my Mumsley, Sisters, and friends, The gospel.... These are a few of my favorite things: -Color: PINK! Except when it's green. Or Red. Or Orange? Blues? I really LOVE colors!!! -Food: Dairy Products. :...

Yes, I studied photography in college..5 classes worth. No, I am NOT good at REMEMBERING to take pictures, or share them. So here are some oldies that have been hiding out on my camera, some for a very long time... Nate & Em got into the dress-up, and this was the result...I believe they were both super heroes. This is one of my most favoritest pics ever:  First day of third grade, September 2013. Goofy Smile, but the other one had closed eyes:  Gomers on the couch, very recently. I can tell because the shirt was purchased in July or August:  New Haircut, Saturday last. I can now shower, dress and dry/style my hair in 12 minutes flat. Can I get a HALLELUJAH???  Today, Halloween 2013 - Fit-it Felix and mean old Taffyta Muttonfudge:  About a year and a half ago. She has a tendency to fall asleep all over the place. See later in the post for further proof:  My Bestest and her Lovah, the night before the wedding: ...

Well, big things folks!!! First, our stake had some very uneven ward boundaries, as in ITTY BITTY wards, and GREAT BIG wards, so we had a realignment happen, and I got shuffled out of my ward, away from nearly all of my friends, and stuck in the ward on the other side of the highway. My mom, who lives a block north of me, was in a different ward. She got shuffled out of HER ward, and into the same ward as me! My dad is the Ward Clerk in the new ward. While we are EXTREMELY sad to leave some of the people in our old ward, we are very excited about the new ward, and the change in general. We've learned in our little family, that change brings new opportunities, mostly good ones. The new ward seems to have good energy, and we are so far very happy. Well, mostly.... :) I got a calling! It's the same one I've had for years - Teaching 4th Sunday. I LOVE it!!! It was a little sad, because I thought "Well, I can do other stuff too!!!!" But I also know I love this call...

I've been thinking lately about friends. Dear friends, I love you all. I could type here what I love about each of you. I probably should, but I am terrified that I'd forget to mention one, and then we'd both feel horrible. So many touch my life, and enrich it. Life would be so bland without all of the colorful faces and personalities that I like to pack my world full of. But I've been sad, because I didn't feel like I was giving enough to any of them. I told Andrew the other day that I felt horrible because I don't ever feel like I have enough time for my "everyday friends"... You know the ones. You'd like to talk to them nearly every day. Check in on them, hang out, let the kids play, make lunch together, run errands together, work on projects together.... I used to have that with Amy J. I miss it! We'd rearrange rooms, and make things, and be all sorts of productive together. This summer my Rosie-Doodle was husbandless much of the time, a...

I am very happy about that. NOT because I was dying for Nate to go to school, but because I HATE summer. Spring is nice, Fall is my favorite. I can even thrive in the winter. But I Can. Not. Handle. Summer. I hate yard work, I hate being hot. I hate it. Hate it. That is not too strong of a word here. At least three times this summer Nate barfed because he was too hot. Just one reason I HATE it. And have you heard of SAD? Seasonal Affective Disorder? It's the one that makes you lay on the couch, dying from depression in the late winter when all you want to do is GET OUT IN THE SUN. I get it in the Summer. I don't want to talk, I don't want to play, I just want to die, or at least celebrate my self pity by laying on the couch, possibly with ice cream. But maybe not. Getting up to get said ice cream might be too much. So in comes slightly cooler weather, and I am seeing glimpses of the shell formerly known as Maren coming back out. If I didn't call you, or play with yo...

Emmy came to me yesterday afternoon, with a baby in each arm, and pronounced this: (presenting Baby Merida) This is my brand new baby. Today is her Birth day. The day she was birthed. The doctors had to cut her out of my belly (sad face), but we're ok.  (presenting Baby Tangled) This is my other new baby. She was born today too. But she wasn't in my belly. She was in my husband's belly. He's dead now. (dramatic pause, and uber sad face) He was getting ready to go to war, and she just fell out of his belly, and he didn't even know! So he brought her home to me, and then he drove to war. But when the bad guys came, he didn't have a weapon, and they just chopped off his head, so he's in heaven now, which is in the attic, but just in our game. Okay, Mom??? Ok, Em. Ok....

While in the shower (because that's where I have ALL my good thinking thoughts) I discovered the right way to say what I was trying to express in point #4 on my thinking thoughts post: Finding out that we are 99% sure that we won't be having any more kids allowed me to give myself permission to just enjoy what I have.  I think I always felt like "It's great to have to two awesome kids, but we should have more. More will be coming. Don't get comfortable, it's going to change. Soon. Any time...." Now that I know that this is what I've got, I can just relax and enjoy WHAT I'VE GOT. All I've ever wanted, All I've ever dreamed of, Everything I've hoped, and all the things I've prayed for Couldn't hold a candle to what I've been given. I've been given what I need.

You ready? Here we go... 1. I'm trying to lose weight. Well, let's be a little more concise here. For the umpteenth time I am attempting to battle my hormones into releasing stored fat, by making an effort to make permanent healthy lifestyle changes. I am using MyPlate by Livestrong to track my calories, fat and such. I've done it 4 full days now, and am starting to learn more about what is appropriate portions and balance. I hope in about 3 weeks I will start noticing a little difference, and I hope that by then I will not need to put every bite that goes into my tracker. But I have been pleasantly surprised at what all fits in under my daily goal. It really just comes down to make a few healthier choices, (light sour cream? water down the juice? THAT'S all I get in a serving?) and not going back for seconds. I got really hungry one night, but I was 200 calories under, so in the evening I had half a bowl of Special K, and felt much better. So. Hopefully this works. A...

I was remembering last year, when it was SO hot, And I would sit in front of the fan, and I would blog. And because I was hot, I was a little random. Well, more so than normal. And I said to myself, "Self, it's a hundred fetching degrees outside, and it feels that hot inside. Maybe we should blog". At this point we will NOT take note that I have stunk at blogging this year. So. Updates. Hmmm. Our 4 year old refrigerator died. Sad times. They aren't supposed to do that after 4 years. So we had to buy a new one. And Andrew wanted an upgrade, so it's a lovely white french door model. Eh. It's a fridge. We've been camping twice this year, both times with my parents. it's fun to camp with someone else. The first trip was a quick one to Palisades. The second one was this last week, we took a 4 day vacay to Alturus Lake, near Redfish Lake, and Sun Valley. We had a blast! Which reminds me. A lot of women talk about their family's five year plans. ...

Recently my friend Rose told me that her mom always told her you can tell how clean a person is by how clean it is behind their kitchen sink. Mine is always GROSS, and I've tried keeping it clean, and it just doesn't work. It's hard! And I wondered how it wasn't a big deal for other people to clean back there. Today I realized why I HATE it, and why it's no biggie for pretty much everyone else. I am 4'11" tall. I can't reach, I can't get my hand up over the faucet and back down. I tried it with a low step stool today that made me 5'8". Not only did I feel like I was going to fall and break my neck, but it took one little swipe to clean it. Today I felt like I earned my "legally handicapped" status that my height places me under. Most the time It's no biggie to be a shortie (hahahaha), in fact I think sometimes I forget that I am below average height. I think it's time to invest in a few more step stools. I wonder ...

I've known I needed to write this post for a while now. I've tried to write it, then I crumple it, throw it in the trash, and walk away. If it was less important I'd just forget about it, but I need it for me, if not now then in a few years. And I need to say it so that I can process it, and I need YOU to know, so that you you know it's ok to talk about it, but when someone asks you, you know what to say. When someone asks you what, you say? Sigh. It's "that" question - You know...the one about babies. Is Maren Pregnant? Are they planning on cracking out another baby or what? Why do they only have two kids? Aren't they ever going to have any more kids? For a long time I haven't known the answer to any of those questions either. It just never seemed to happen. We even tried Clomid. Then on top of THOSE questions were all the questions about why my body was so fruity - my periods so out of whack, hormones all over the chart...and nothing...

I was just reading back on my early early blog posts, from before we bought the house through Em's first birthday. I noticed a few things: 1) I was pretty happy and cheerful. I think it was because my house stayed cleaner.... 2) I took a lot of pictures. I should take some again, I have virtually no pictures of my kids, and they are HUGE. I don't think I've ever even posted a pic of Em's short hair. 3) I started making comments about Em being a sassy pants LONG before she was even born. :) Glad I was observant enough to call that one. Nothing's changed there! So. Updates....My job at David's Bridal lasted until Mid to late January. I just didn't have a way to work THEIR schedule. I would tell them I could NOT work on a certain day, and they'd schedule me for THAT day, and say sorry when I'd say that I could work ANY day but that day. Finally one day I couldn't get a sitter, and I was going to have to cancel plans I'd had in place for 2 m...

Be sure to read the post below, it's far more interesting than this. As mentioned below, I have some monies burning a hole in my pocket. It's my monies, for me to spend on me, whatever I want. But that's a lot of pressure for someone indecisive. I'd like your thoughts, so here are my options: 1) Books. Like 14 of them, of all sorts. Fiction, writing, sewing, gardening...A lot of books. Yay!!!! 2) Bike - I sold my mountain bike last summer, with plans to buy a cruiser. A pretty one! 3) Clothes, like a whole wardrobe. I have never done this, but if I combine the right deals I could get about 4 pants/capris, 2 skirts, and 6-8 mix and match tops, all new and not on clearance...and I wear the same tops all year round, I am not a long-sleeve person...But there is the highly unlikely chance that I'd get pregnant, or lose weight, and clothes would get packed away. Andrew sees the least value in this plan. 4) Wood and supplies to build loft beds, closet organizers, desk...

Shhh, don't tell how bad I am doing at blogging!!! I have a list of things to blog about, like how my sewing business is going, how just days after my big update post I quit at David's Bridal. About Andrew's New new job, (the one he just got at the hospital in town!!), about his new calling, or my new extra calling. About how we almost bought a trailer, but didn't. About how I have some monies burning a hole in my pocket, and I can't decide what to do with it (Hmm, I may come back to that today...) About my goals for the year. About my hormones...well, maybe you DON'T want to hear about that...About Em's swim lessons, and Nate's karate, and Andrew's Karate, and choir, and.... I'm not here to blog about any of that. 'Cause I have a cold. And a fozzy brain. And I don't want to think that hard. Instead we'll play a game. Today I was wandering around friends blogs and discovered that I haven't read them very carefully lately (proba...

co·nun·drum    /kəˈnəndrəm/ Noun A confusing and difficult problem or question. A question asked for amusement, typically one with a pun in its answer; a riddle. Synonyms riddle - puzzle - enigma - mystery I've said it before, I've puzzled over it before.Our family schedule is different that ANYONE else's. Or NEARLY anyone else's. Andrew works 6pm to 6am, normally arriving at home around 7am. Because they are 12 hour shifts, he only works 3 nights a week. Every week he works different nights. Sometimes it's Tues/Wed/Thurs, sometimes it's Sun/Wed/Thurs. You name it, it could be anything, and just when I think there is a pattern, it changes.  Sometimes after working a night shift, he is able to bounce back to a regular schedule of sleep, sometimes it takes 3 days to get back on track. Sometimes he just settles for a stay-up-till-3am-sleep-till-nearly-noon plan. But it's never the same, or predictable.  Because he works 3 nig...

In honor of our tenth anniversary this week: Just read this article... I think I disagree with most of it. If the only thing your children see in your marriage is gushy sweet stuff, they'll have no idea what a real marriage is. Real marriage is about disagreeing AND working it out. It's fighting AND forgiving. if all they see is the good they'll be awfully sad and confused when they get married. They'll feel like failures, and like their marriage is doomed because they'll have NO idea that their parents fought and made up, disagreed and accepted, and compromised. I'm not condoning screaming matches in front of the kids, but let them see you frustrated, let them see you work it out. They'll learn how to apologize, they'll learn about healthy relationships. But that's just my two bits. I also believe that the worst marriage advice ever given is to "never go to bed mad". But that's a story for another day.

It's not really important, but because it will be fascinating to look back at later, I record a list of my current favorite songs (with the potential to be added to over the next week or so): Cupid - Daniel Powter Some Nights - Fun. Everybody Talks - Neon Trees Home - Phillip Phillips Ho Hey - The Lumineers The A Team - Ed Sheeran 50 Ways to Say Goodbye - Train Landslide - Any Version: Fleetwood Mac, Dixie Chicks, Glee Does the Journey Seem Long - Mormon Tab Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift It's Time - Imagine Dragons Wanted - Hunter Hayes  (OMGolly, he is such a cute little boy!!!!) Hall of Fame - The Script and Will.i.am  - Watch the Video!!! Feel Again - OneRepublic As Long as You Love Me - Biebs (I know, I know - But listen to the words, especially in the chorus!!!)

Garsh. I don't really know where to begin. You know that this is going to be a killer long post, right? My computer (laptop) has been unusable due to power cord issues. It's old, for a laptop. Like 5 years old. (At the beginning of paragraph 2 of this post, I've already lost power twice, and had to wait for it to restart. By the beginning of paragraph 4 I got sick of it and went and found Andrew's computer.) The laptop downstairs that serves as our "family desktop" is over 6 years old, and the sound card is nearly dead, and the whole thing runs like molasses in January. In a particularly cold year. Andrew was unemployed, and that left us super busy with important things like eating copious amounts of ice cream while watching Man Vs Wild. He was completely unemployed, and we were feeling pretty hopeless until Halloween. He got offered an on-call job at Good Samaritan, a skilled nursing facility (nursing home) that he had worked at before going to Pocatello. H...