Russell's Birth Story

(38 weeks pregnant)

Russell came two days before his due date

I have always loved documenting the birth stories of my babies.
They're each unique, just like them, and when they're older I want them to be able to read about how they came into this world.
Russell is sleeping soundly on our bed next me as I write this.

Russell Zachary Howe was born June 26, 2019 at 4:55 a.m.
He weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz.
20 in. long
head circumference of 14.7 in.
chest circumference of 14.3 in.
Surprisingly, our boy ties for 2nd place in biggest baby in our family.
Evelyn wins first prize at 9" 10' and then Lucy and Russell were both the same. I don't know why we're blessed with such big, chunky babies.

(Right before going home)

Today is July 3rd and Russell is officially a week old. We have loved transitioning into having him in our family and learning how to give all of my kids the attention they need. Russell is learning how to sleep at night (last night he gave me an almost 5 hour stretch and then two 3 hour stretches). Bless you, child.
Lucy is Russell's second mother. She helps me change his diaper (which can be quite an ordeal with a little boy that can shoot you at any moment), she brings him his binky when he cries, she holds him so steadily and sits there for long periods of time (which is helpful when I need to do something else but Russell wants to be held). So, yes, the second mother is absolutely in love with her little brother and "ugga mugga's" his nose whenever she holds him.
Evelyn is also quite in love. She wants to "Hold him! Hold him!" and then she rests her head on his (she is learning how to be soft). She thinks that he always wants his binky so even when he is sound asleep she is trying to put it in his mouth, but she is also learning about when the proper time is to binky her baby brother. The way that Evelyn says Russell makes my heart melt.
Zach and I are so happy to have our precious boy. We are so grateful that we were blessed with him, along with his big sisters.
Now, to the birth story:

Russell was born on a Wednesday. At the beginning of the week I had a feeling he was coming soon, but I had to get some last minute things done before he came, so I got to work (full nesting mode).
I rearranged the girl's room, deep cleaned the bathrooms, made sure we had groceries and meals that could be made after the baby was born, I weeded in our yard, and probably other things too that made me absolutely exhausted. I was so grateful he didn't come that night. Tuesday I finished my weeding job, took the girls to swimming lessons (which I really wanted to have happen before the baby came), made dinner, took the girls on a little walk, bathed them, and then I dropped into my bed feeling almost as exhausted as the day before...but I finished everything that I wanted to finish!
That night, Zach and I went to bed a little before 10, which was good, but the girls must have sensed that this was their last night before baby because they kept waking up and waking up and not going to sleep and not going to sleep from 12 to 2 (which was unusual!). Thank goodness they went to sleep because at 2 in the morning I started feeling some mild contracting.

They were about 10 minutes apart and started to get more intense. I wasn't sure if this was it because with Evelyn I would start having these somewhat intense contractions and then they'd just go away....for like a week! So, I wasn't taking these contractions seriously, but I got my hospital bag ready and started listening to relaxing music, hypnobirthing affirmations and relaxation recordings. I drank water and ate a snack and just continued preparing to go to the hospital even though I didn't know if we were really going to go. The contractions were still about 10 minutes apart but started getting to the point where I had to lay down and Zach was pushing on my lower back to ease the pain....it did ease it a little bit and I was trying to be calm and relaxed, but I remember saying to him, "I don't know how I did this before. I can't do this."
Zach reassured me that I did do it before and I am strong and can do it again. I didn't feel strong, but I kept telling myself that I could do this.
I asked him for a blessing so that I would know when to go to the hospital (which he only vaguely remembered because he was more than half asleep). That blessing gave me the confidence and peace that I needed to follow my feelings and OH am I glad about that! I needed it and I'm glad I acted when I did.

I called my friend, Sarah at 4:10 to see if she could come be with the girls while we left for the hospital. She said she would and she would bring Kylie. Thank goodness for good friends.
We called our doctor at 4:20 to tell him to meet us at the hospital.
I had been texting my mom since 3 so she knew I was having contractions and that we might be having our baby, and at 4:26 I told her to book her flight because we were going to the hospital.
Before we left I went into the girls' room and looked at them both one more time. I wanted to remember the time of just having my two little girls.
Sarah and Kylie got to our house just as we got in the car to leave (around 4:30).
Once we were driving I told Zach to drive fast! So Zach drove FAST.
We were in his work car with fabric chairs and he was praying that my water wouldn't break in the car. Meanwhile, I was praying that I wouldn't have the baby in the car!

Zach pulled up to the ER and there was a wheelchair outside. I started walking inside and Zach followed me with the wheelchair. I was probably quite the scene with my phone in one hand playing hypnobirthing relaxations out loud and my handheld battery-powered fan in the other hand. I sat down in the wheelchair and told the people at the desk that I was going to push a baby out right now. The lady looked a little frantic but asked some basic questions so she knew who I was (thank goodness that Zach answered the questions). The guy looked at the lady, looked at me, and said, "I'm taking her up". Zach had run outside to park the car as this blessed man took action and wheeled me down the hallway and into the elevator. I said a quick prayer that Zach could find us and then BAM, Zach's hand stopped the elevator door from closing. I honestly don't know how Zach parked and got back to us so fast but I was so happy that he was there with me. We got to a room and I was dilated to a 10. My doctor got there just in time. I pushed three times and at 4:55 the baby was out! (We did not find out the gender during our pregnancy so we were about to be surprised).
Zach called out, "It's a boy!" and I just started crying. I was so happy he was here and relieved that he was out. It all happened so fast and we now had a precious, healthy baby boy. A BOY! I didn't know how happy and emotional I would be when we found out the gender, but it just seemed so right. It was such a heavenly, special moment finding out right then that we had a boy. I felt heaven near and I felt my grandma Sharp near (she had passed away only a few weeks before).

They put my baby on my chest and I just held him and cried happy tears. Here was our baby.
After the doctor and nurses did all they needed to do they left us alone with our boy. The calm after the storm. It was quiet and peaceful and it was just us. I've come to know that for me, that is one of the most special times after a baby is born. Just to have that intimate alone time for the first time.

After a few hours we walked to a different room to settle in there for the day. We stayed at the hospital for a little more that 24 hours and our stay there was great. Everyone took such good care of us. At night, my nurse said that she could watch my baby while I slept and when he got hungry she would bring him to me. So I agreed to that and so needed the sleep, but what I loved most about this was that throughout the night and into the morning different nurses would come in and tell me that my baby boy was so cute and that all the nurses were just sitting around at the nurses station loving on him. I was happy that he was being loved and held and that he was in good hands.

The highlight of our hospital stay was when Grandma Karen and Grandma Linda brought our girls to see us and to meet their baby brother. Evelyn was so excited that she couldn't even handle herself and Lucy was so motherly and just wanted to hold her brother the whole time. Having our girls share our excitement was so special. I'm so grateful that our kids have each other to love.

Lastly, I'd like to share how we came about Russell's name. It's a strong name and we like the nickname Russ a lot. He wasn't necessarily named after the prophet, Russell M. Nelson, but that man of God is such a good example and a source of strength. There are other great men named Russell, one of them being my favorite soccer coach, Russ Godfrey. He was so good and fun and genuine. I really look up to both of these men. There are also some Russells (last name) on Zach's mom's side of the family. We learned a lot of interesting stories about them and we are excited to learn more. We hope that these reasons will give Russell's name meaning to him as he grows up.
Zachary, of course, is named after his wonderful and good father. Zach doesn't want the attention drawn to him, but I hope that Russell will grow up being glad that he shares a name with his dad.
Zach's middle name is Randall, so we also really liked that Russell also started with an R and ended with two L's.

Anyway, now we're home and loving life with our 3 children (my mom is still here teaching me how to mother 3 of them now. Bless her). Life isn't perfect but it's full of perfect moments and when Russell came into this world it was definitely one of those perfect moments.

 (About an hour after Russell was born)

(Meeting his sisters for the first time)

(We are all in love)

 (Lucy came to help take Russell home)

(That smile says it all) 

(Evelyn being so soft)

(Grandma Linda with Lucy and Russell) 

(Grandma Linda with Evy and Russell) 

 (Grandma Karen with Russell)

(Gpa Varge with Russell) 

 (Grammy Cecil with Russell)

(Me and my boy) 

(In the early morning, day 2)

Coming home

(Look at Evelyn's hand tight around my neck. Love her.)

(Russell's 2nd mother)

(3 Generation picture of Grandpa Steve, Zach, and Russell)

(Proud Grandparents with their first Howe Grandson) 

(My beautiful mother) 

WE LOVE YOU, RUSSELL!!!

2 weeks old...

The Process of Becoming

When I think about creating art I sometimes feel like I need some glorious end product to present. Perfect, flawless....

I've never achieved that and won't in this life, so why do I put that kind of pressure on myself? In art and in life?

It's important to have good, lofty goals, but if we focus too much on the end result we may give up before we even begin. We feel daunted by the large task of being or creating perfection that we fail to see the perfect moments of progress and the small victories of giving time to ourselves to better ourselves.

The process of becoming is a beautiful thing that shapes us into who we are. The journey is the whole reason we got to our destination. So why not focus more on that? Celebrating our successes of learning something new or overcoming a bad habit, rather than beating ourselves up because we don't think we're as good as this person or as talented as that person or as good looking as those people.

Our journey is our own. We become better versions of ourselves throughout our lives. We are unique and special, and God loves us just the way we are. 

You cannot put yourself beyond the reach of His love.

That makes me continue on in my mistakes and my faults, because I know that I'm loved and nothing I do (for better or worse) can change that amount of love that He has for me.

So go easy on yourself. Have parties for your small achievements. Remember where you've been and where you are now.

It's the process of becoming that determines who we are, and it's healthy to show others our beautifully messy journey through life.

Evelyn's Birth Story

Evelyn Carrie Howe was born June 2, 2017 at 3:05 a.m.

She weighed 9 lbs 10 oz and measured 20.5 in long.

   A little over 24 hours old (picture taken by Heather Keil)                                 

 12 days old (picture taken by Katie Floyd)

We had a list of names that we liked, but the morning she was born Zach was holding her and said Evelyn and I knew that that was it. She was Evelyn.
Fun fact: Rewind 6 years to 11/11/11. My roommates went to Lava Hot Springs with a group of guys that we had just recently met. We went to IHOP afterwards and while we were there we were talking about how cool it was that it was 11/11/11. Our friend Zach mentioned that if he had a baby girl that very day he would name her Evelyn (I thought to myself: I don't think I'll ever name one of my daughters Evelyn). Yet here we are with a beautiful daughter named Evelyn (I'm glad that my thought way back then was wrong.)
The "Lyn" of Evelyn is named after me (my middle name is Lynn).

Carrie is named after Zach's great grandma, Carrie Emily Christensen. She is the mother of the well-loved grandpa Varge Christensen. He only lives 20 minutes from us and we are so lucky that we get to see him so often. It doesn't take long for a complete stranger to feel the love he has for them and I am certain that his mother was the same way. She was a very hard worker (had a farm in Bear River, Utah) and she was a faithful and stalwart woman. I'm excited to meet her one day.

Evelyn's due date was May 22nd, which is my brother Danny's bday. Oooh, maybe she'll share a birthday with him. Nope. Ooooh, maybe she'll share a birthday with my sister Mindy on the 27th. Nope. Hmmm, maybe she wants to be born in June....Yup.

I was starting to think that she was going to stay in my belly forever. Lucy was born 4 days before her due date and everyone says that your second comes sooner. Well, everyone, that was not the case with Evelyn. 38 weeks passed, then 39, then her due date came and went...and let me tell you...every day after the due date seemed like a year.

My wonderful doctor let me wait it out even though I was dilated to a 4, then 5, then 6! I was fully effaced and she still wasn't here! At 41 weeks and 3 days we went in for my doctor to strip my membranes. He said there was nothing to strip and if he did any more my water would break! He started getting worried that I would have this baby at home or in the car on the way to the hospital, so Zach and I discussed what we should do and decided that that night we'd wait until my contractions started (because they had been starting and stopping every night for a couple of weeks now and we had almost gone to the hospital a couple of times during the night but alas...they would stop) and then we'd go to the hospital to have them break my water. PS I totally did acupuncture later that day after my doctor appointment. I had never done it for anything before but my friend said that it put her into labor for two of her kids that she tried it with, and let's be honest, I was willing to try anything.

That night we prepared for the hospital. I lost my mucus plug around 7 that night, so we were hopeful. We put Lucy to bed thinking that it might really be the last time putting her to bed with just us three. Well, we were right. 

That night I woke up at 1 o'clock and was hardly feeling anything. I prayed and prayed for a contraction to come so that we could go to the hospital. Then around 1:15 one came full force. I reached over and grabbed Zach immediately and told him that we need to go to the hospital. He woke up and was ready to go. My mom was staying at our house so we were able to just zoom to the car and drive away (after Zach grabbed his pastry from Porto's, of course). 

We drove away from the house at 1:30 and were on our way. Thankfully the hospital is about 10 mins away from our house so I didn't have to feel all of the bumps on the road for too long. We pulled up to the ER and Zach said he'd get me a wheelchair and wheel me in, but I didn't want the people to ask me all of the questions that they did with Lucy so I waited outside on a chair until Zach parked the car and ran back. We went in together and Zach talked to them (thank goodness). They got me a wheelchair and off we went to the elevator. I was listening to my iPod to help me relax but when we got in the elevator I thought it was funny how I was going through this whole ordeal yet Zach and the guy pushing me were making elevator small talk. All that was missing was the jazzy elevator music.

Finally, we got to the room and the nurse asked me to change into the hospital gown. I tried walking to the bathroom but stopped on the bed to have a contraction and then somehow made it the rest of the way to the bathroom. All of the sudden I felt like I needed to start pushing. I told Zach and he ran to me and ran to the bathroom door and ran back (panic mode). I told him to go tell the nurse! So he ran out to tell them while I walked to the bed for a more comfortable throne. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 9 and a half. That was very encouraging so I just took one contraction at a time as my doctor rushed in. My doctor asked the nurses to take the monitors off of my belly in between contractions which I thought was so nice because it's not super comfortable having a strap around you when you're all hot and sweaty. He also told the nurses to dim the lights because there was a light right in my eyes. Thanks doc. Zach was cheering me on and had an ice pack and a cold rag at the ready (he's so great).

On the 2nd or 3rd contraction after I started pushing my doctor broke my water to see if there was meconium in the fluid because it can be bad if the baby drinks a lot of it. There was just a little bit. I kept pushing. I remembered to breath A LOT more this time around and that helped so much. After about 4 contractions of pushing they told me she was crowning. Music to my ears. So I breathed down and pushed and at 3:05 Friday morning, out she came like a slippery fish. That probably sounds weird or grosses you out, but it's the truth! Oh, and I didn't tear. At all! With a 9 lb 10 oz bundle of joy! Praise the heavens. Recovery has been so much easier because of that. I attribute it to better breathing, not pushing too hard, and being dilated to a 6 for so long (everything was getting stretched out with her head pushing down on it).

I felt such relief and joy and amazement as I saw my baby. She was perfect and I just started to laugh and cry. Birth amazes me. I cannot believe that she was inside of my belly and I could hardly believe that she was finally out. I kept saying how tiny she was and the doctor and nurses would say, "She is NOT tiny" and then kept calling her "sturdy". Evelyn wasn't very tiny, but to me she was. I loved looking at her long fingers and toes and her round head. Zach and I discovered her hairy ears and laughed. Just like her sister, Lucy. Her little chin, her button nose, her buddha crossed legs. We loved and still love every bit of her. 

I am so grateful that her birth went smoothly and quickly. I know that my prayers were answered and that we were all being watched over. She was breathing shallow as she came out so they used something to help her breath for a few minutes and then she was fine. The doctor said that it could've been that she swallowed some meconium and she was just trying to get that out to breath normally. I was grateful that she got to stay with us and not go to the NICU. The doctor showed me my insane looking placenta and the sac that she was in (SO CRAZY), congratulated us, and then they all left. It was just Zach and I with our brand new baby. Those quiet moments of just us with Lucy and now with Evelyn have felt so close to heaven. Family is really what life is all about.

Later that day my mom brought Lucy to meet her little sister. Lucy walked in saying "baby baby baby." She saw us and smiled and saw the baby and got so excited. She touched her umbilical cord and was a little confused, but hugged her and kissed her. I never realized how happy it would make me to see our babies loving each other. It still hasn't gotten old to see Lucy get so excited to hug or lay by her baby sister. Evelyn and Lucy are gonna be little besties and I can't wait for Evelyn to learn things from Lucy. Lucy is already learning some things from Evelyn. Evelyn does all of these cool tricks like suck on her fingers and flail her arms. Lucy tries them after she sees Evelyn do them. The best was when Evelyn spit up I wiped it up and told Lucy that when the baby spits up we wipe it away. Shortly after I saw Lucy making spit bubbles and then grabbed the burp cloth to wipe herself up. Good job, Lucy. 

We had so much support from family and friends while we waited for Evelyn's arrival, when she came, and even still now two weeks after she was born. We feel so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people. Especially mine and Zach's mother dears. No matter how old you are you always need your mom. My mom and Zach's mom have been angels.

We love our little Evy.

 So grateful for Heather for taking most of these photos.

So much happy.

Our precious baby.

 I like that Zach's hand is on mine.

  

Smooching her sister.

Smooshing her sister.

Lucy is so sweet. I love that she is holding Evelyn's hand.   

      Our first picture as a family of 4.     

 I love this picture because of the way Lucy is looking at me. 

                                                    

 Look at those grins. I love them.

     Minutes after Evy was born.    

  Snuggling up to mommy in the hospital bed.

                                             

Going home!!!

Katie and I weren't prepared for newborn photos but Katie had the genius idea to incorporate this stitching in them. This embroidered pillow case was done by Carrie Christensen, Evelyn Carrie's namesake. 

This girl pulls so many faces.

We're so happy this angel is part of our family.

Our family.

Burns and Blessings

Wednesday, September 7th started out like any other day, but ended quite different from the rest.

I was making scones for the first time and I was pretty excited to use the life-hack my friend told me about, which is to use Rhodes dinner roll dough. 

I heated up a lot of oil in my biggest pan so I could chuck all the dough in at the same time. I waited until it got really hot and then I took the lid off. There was a lot of smoke and I got a little nervous. Then, just like that, the whole pan burst into flame. A big flame that reached halfway up the microwave (3ft! I measured). A plume of smoke rose to the ceiling and almost instantly started the smoke alarm.

My mind raced through different options of what I could do as I looked at Lucy's scared, crying face about 4 feet away from the fire. 

Salt? The fire is too big!

Fire extinguisher? It's in the garage (and I need my key to unlock the garage).

I knew that I had to act fast, so I reached for the pan handle. I needed it out of my house. I quickly moved it onto the cement outside, but as I was setting it down oil spilled all over my foot. 

I screamed in pain and panic.

I ran to the bathtub to run cold water on it. 

Lucy crawled after me crying.

I knew we couldn't stay in the house with all of the smoke (and I needed to get to my phone to call 911). I grabbed Lucy and my phone. 

Right then my neighbors stormed inside. They were in their backyard, heard my scream, saw the smoke, heard the alarm going off and they immediately ran over. They were heaven sent. I would've had to wait for an ambulance and then what would I have done with Lucy when it finally came?

Franz ran out to the backyard where the fire was and started to spray my foot with the hose. His wife, Janet took Lucy, and another angel neighbor ran into the backyard. Franz told Betty that I needed to go the the hospital right away. She ran to get her car while I got a bowl of cold water for my foot, turned the stove off, and got my wallet. 

(Good thing I had just learned about burns a few months before this. No ice! And for deeper burns/open wounds no aloe vera or oils. Just water.)

We raced to the hospital and I kept thinking about the absolute miracle it was that Lucy didn't get hurt. I kept crying tears of joy that she was okay and then I would cry whenever I thought about how scared she was and how she was crying.

But she was okay, our home was protected, our backyard didn't catch on fire, and all that got burned was my foot. Yes, it was painful, but it could have been so much worse. The oil stains on my pants showed that I should have had burns on my thighs too, but my thighs were protected. 

While I was getting the help I needed my amazing neighbors took Lucy into their home and aired out our home by opening all of the windows and bringing their fan over. Another neighbor, Julie, came over to gather a bunch of things that Lucy would need and sent me a picture of Lucy peacefully sleeping. That is exactly what I needed.

After that, 3 more neighbors (Brad, Sherry, and Tatianna) texted me to make sure I was okay and to let me know that they were watching our house and everything was under control.

I am so blessed to have such good neighbors.

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." D&C 84:88

It wasn't by chance that my neighbors were outside right at that moment. It wasn't by chance that oil didn't spill in my house. It wasn't by chance that Lucy was further away than usual when this happened. It wasn't by chance that my thighs were protected. None of it was chance. God doesn't stop all accidents from happening, but He can help with them.

It seemed like Lucy and I were alone in the house, but I know that wasn't truly the case.

"Though you may feel alone, angels attend you." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

After my neighbor left the hospital, Zach came. I saw him down the hall and I couldn't hold back the tears. I can always count on him to be there for me and it was such a comfort to see him walking towards me. He just hugged me as I cried. Frightened tears, relieved tears, and understanding tears. I was so glad to have him there to be with me.

There were so many wonderful and kind people at the hospital and the burn center. The lady that put lotion on a rag for me so that I didn't have to keep smelling the burnt oil, the man who gave me cold water to pour on my foot, the EMTs who transferred me so carefully from Henry Mayo to the Grossman Burn Center. 

There was one man that made the biggest impact on me and his name is Ibrihim. He is a custodian at the hospital and saw me alone and in pain in the hallway. He went completely out of his way to comfort me. He brought me tissues when he saw me crying, he changed towels under my foot when they would get soaked with water, he brought me a cup that I could use to pour water on my foot, and then after Zach got there he brought me a teddy bear. 

I'm sure he didn't realize how touching that was to me, but it was so comforting to know that someone cared. And when I was getting wheeled away to the ambulance I looked in a room and saw another lady with a teddy bear.

Ibrihim quietly moves about the hospital blessing others and that was a powerful lesson to me.

People are so good.

So, here we are now, a few days later. Family and friends have helped dress my feet twice a day and I've washed my burns twice a day, and yesterday my friend took me to the burn center where they rubbed my burned skin completely off. But my feet are comfortably wrapped and I get to use our office chair as my wheelchair. 

Zach gave me a priesthood blessing at the burn center and in it was said that this accident, despite the pain, has helped me avoid larger, scarier accidents in the future from happening. I'm so grateful for that. I will be SO careful while cooking, Lucy will ALWAYS be far from the kitchen, and now I know what to do in case something like this happens again.

Let me share my newfound knowledge:

I looked up what to do for an oil/grease fire for the future. 

The first thing you should do is to turn off the stove and put a METAL lid over the fire (a glass one will shatter). You can also cover it with another pot or pan.

Baking soda will put out a grease fire, but only if they're small. It takes a lot of baking soda to do the trick. Also, try salt.

DO NOT PUT WATER ON IT!

Also, it'd be smart to move your fire extinguisher to the kitchen since that's the place you'll most likely have a fire. Fire extinguishers contaminate your kitchen but I'd much rather have a contaminated kitchen than NO kitchen at all!

We have received love and support from so many angels in our lives. Family made sure everything was okay, my sister in law: Katie, brother in law: Michael, and their family came to help, afterwards my mother in law stayed with us and helped with everything, friends brought us food and love, and members of our church have reached out and brought us dinners.

We are so blessed. I don't even realize to what extent we're blessed. Only one of my feet is badly injured, my home is still standing, my family is safe, and God continues to perform miracles.

[If you want to see pictures you can scroll down (but let me warn you...it looks like zombie flesh).]

Ibrihim's gift:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3: (I don't have a picture of when they took the skin off....which is probably a good thing.)

My current view:

Update:

Day 6 (after taking off the weekend bandage). Sorry, the nastiness is real. 

Today the doctor said the burn is borderline 3rd degree. I may need surgery when I go in Thursday if it doesn't heal the way it should. It would include digging out the dead skin and adding a skin graft. 

Let's pray I don't need it, but if so at least it'll only be on one foot!


Another update (Sept. 19th):

No surgery!!!! 😄👏🎉🎉🎉
God is a God of miracles and He listens to and answers prayers.
I'm not walking quite yet, but the doctor said that I can start in a couple of days!

From today (look at all of that new skin!):

Zachary Randall

I've been wanting to write about Zach for a while now,

because I think about him all the time and he makes me laugh.

A couple of months ago we needed to pull the car out of the garage for some reason,

so instead of just reversing and parking like a normal person...Zach puts it in neutral (our car is stick shift) and opens the door to tell me to push against it to stop it once it rolls down to its rightful place in the driveway.

I laugh and go along with it and get ready to stop it. 

I was very confident in my car stopping ability, but then it didn't seem to be working. 

So instead of pushing on the brakes, Zach laughs and jumps out of the car to help me.

For a second I thought we would be able to stop it but I guess it picked up too much speed (or our muscles need to grow. Not Zach's. ;) Just mine).

So the car was rolling away from our house, into the road, and towards the sidewalk/our neighbors house.

We were laughing so hard that it was hard for me to yell at Zach to get in the car and slam on the brakes, but I did....thank goodness.

It could have ended in disaster, but we survived, the car didn't crash, and our neighbors got a show. 

We couldn't stop laughing, but through the laughs I told Zach to never do that again.

Another story that needs to be shared is a recurring one.

Zach and I read the scriptures every night and some nights we are both exhausted and kind of zone out (regrettably). 

So, I was having a zoning out night, not listening when I should've been, when I finally realized that Zach was reading about things that didn't make sense AT ALL and didn't sound like scripture. I looked over at him shocked and confused...and he busted up laughing and said that he had been saying gibberish for quite some time.

So yes, this has happened more than once now.

I tried doing it to him, but he caught it right away. Dang. Maybe next time.

Well, that's a little piece of my Zachary Randall.

I love that he makes me laugh.

Not Strangers

About a month ago on one of my weekly trips to the grocery store I walked down an aisle towards a lady. I wanted to smile at this lady so I looked at her, waiting for her to look back. She seemed to be making a conscious effort to keep her eyes glued to the ever-so-interesting floor. 

'Why isn't this lady looking at me?', I thought. 'It's not that hard to smile at someone.'

I continued shopping and forgot about the "no eye contact encounter" until I realized that sometimes I would do the same thing as that lady. Why didn't I feel up to making eye contact with some of my very own fellow shoppers. If it's not that hard to smile at someone why do I not do it more?!

Which brought me to this thought:

Everyone in our lives is put in our lives for a reason. It's our responsibility and privilege to brighten the days and lives of those people.

Love God and love they neighbor.

Those are the first two commandments. 

Cheryl C. Lant said, "We are all our neighbor. Our family is our neighbor. Our roommates are our neighbors. Our friends, our enemies, our acquaintances, and those we have never met—all of these are our neighbors."

So why not give a smile or simply say hello to those people you pass in the grocery store? Seems harmless. Easy enough right? Nobody even likes grocery shopping so why not bring some happiness or laughter to those not so happy moments?

After thinking all of this through I was determined to smile and say hello to EVERYONE in the grocery store (within reason- nobody wants a lunatic yelling hello across the whole store, but who knows...that might be very refreshing).

So I started putting myself to the test. I would smile, say hello, sometimes engage in conversation or joke around, but then sometimes I would completely fail! 

I don't know why there would be people that I would pass by. I suppose I'm not entirely used to it, but I'm getting better. I'm getting better at not pretending to be so interested in what's on my shopping list that I can't even acknowledge the people I'm standing RIGHT NEXT TO.

I'm not perfect, but I'm trying, and because of it I've laughed with a neighbor, tried to help a neighbor figure something out about coffee even after I told her I have no idea because I don't even drink coffee, I've connected with neighbors, I've let neighbors help me, and there has been a whole lot of smiling and friendly hellos.

I'm not sure how far this change will go, but at least I'll try to help people feel a little happier as they go about their day.

Matthew 25:40: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Mosiah 2:17: “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”

I'm sure if we saw Jesus in the grocery store, we'd say hi. Well, He is at the grocery store, and at the gas station, and at the park, and walking the streets. It's Him. 

Because when we do anything to someone else. Whether it be good or bad. He feels it.

So let's do some good.

Grocery Store conversation starters:

"Hello!"

"Hi there."

"I hope you're having a wonderful day."

"I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful today."

"I'll help you look for your groceries if you help me look for mine." (Zach's idea)

"Donuts are very necessary."

"Excuse me, can I please have some help finding _____?"

"Having a hard time?"

"You already found that? Do you remember where you got it?"

"Those kids are going fishing."

"My daughter keeps smiling at you."

"(Insert your good ideas here.)"