POTW---Week 3 Topic Sweet

Dear readers,

Lately, my mind has been on my boys alot. It seems that the children take turns as to who needs me more at any one time and right now, Jared has come to the front. I don't mind that, he's one of my favorite people. He's having a rough time of it, but we're working through it slowly but surely. When this week's topic came up, I thought to myself, there is no one sweeter than my sweet boy, so he's my focus of the pictures for the week. I can't ever choose just one so you'll have to bear with me.

He had just gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night and instead of going back to his room, he decided to curl up in the sock basket.

Possibly my all time favorite picture of the boys. Jared's first fishing trip to the lake, he's probably about 2 years old. He was so excited and every fish he caught was given a kiss and thrown back in.

Christy P. took this while she was taking the pictures for Christmas. This is so him, always full of energy and acting crazy.

Another one of Christy's beautiful shots of him. This one has the smirk that I love so much.

He really is one of the sweetest people I know and I'm so glad he's my son. We have a ton of fun and I enjoy listening to him and talking with him. He really is one of the most interesting kids I know.

So, that's my picture post for the week. My sweet boy! If he sees this he'll probably want to kill me.

Peace and love y'all!

POTW---Week 2 Home

To some people, home is where you live, but to me home is people. My house is made of wood and siding and walls, but my home is wherever my family may be. We may bicker, but we mostly laugh. There are occasionally some sad tears, but they are aways balanced by the tears of joy. Mike is the anchor, always steady and sure. I'm the listener and worrier (not a surprise to most). Kiersten is our dreamer, always writing or drawing. Jared is our hugger, always quick to help or give you a hug when you need it most. So, this is my home.....

photo of the kids done by Christy Peake

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

This morning as I was doing my usual meander through the internet, I came across Orson Scott Card's article for the week in the Deseret News about respecting the Savior. There was also a lot of thought put into the language of prayer and how we show respect for Heavenly Father and Christ when we use the whole "thee, thou, thine" stuff.

However, I'm not going to write about that, it's somewhat confusing and I haven't had my Pepsi. My mind soon wandered onto other paths dealing with respect. If Christ was standing next to us, how would we behave towards others around us? I can pretty much guarantee you that there wouldn't be so much gossip, back biting or bickering. How about how we treat our family? There wouldn't be the fussing and fighting or talking down to each other or abuse. How about in the workplace? We wouldn't degrade others or make them feel bad about themselves. We would build each other up instead of tearing each other down.

In the cartoons that I watched as a kid and take great delight in educating my children about today, this whole thing was usually depicted as an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Too bad that the angel usually got thumped off and the devil took over which led to general mischief and mayhem. Just think about what a great place the world would be if it were the opposite in real life. The angel stayed on the shoulder, which led to kindness, gentility and compassion.

Just a thought---keep the angel on your shoulder and as we learned in Bambi "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"!

Peace and love y'all!

12 hours or so and counting....

Hello dear readers!

As I sit here thinking about the past year, I can tell you it's been one of mostly joy with just a little bit of stress thrown in, which is the way we like it. The Christmas holidays have come and gone and I never did get in the "Christmas Spirit". I think maybe working so crazy might have had something to do with that, but all is well now. I decided to take a page from the books of some friends and pick a word for next year. They pick wonderfully cool words, but I'm just starting out on this path, so I'm picking something that I can sort of work with. I thought of many words for next year, but one kept coming back to my mind. Fit. Not like fitting in a crowd or anything. More like spiritually fit and physically fit.

My spiritual fitness has turned to flab lately and I feel that needs to change. I need to get myself back on track so I can set the right kind of example for the kiddos and all that jazz. Because I'm inherently lazy, this is going to be a challenge, but I think I'm up to it. Maybe I'll even talk the family into getting in spiritual shape with me because it's much more fun if you're pulling each other along.

My physical fitness-YUCK! Exercise? What on Earth is that? Sweat? You must be kidding me. Yes. I hate to exercise and I love to eat. You may say---but I just saw you and you look fine! To you, maybe. To me, not so much. I'm carrying 10 pounds that I don't like---don't laugh or scoff. 10 pounds is an issue for me. My clothes don't fit as they should and I feel uncomfy in my skin. That 10 pounds has to go!

So dear readers, that's my word for the year. FIT. I will get in shape both spiritually (which really is more important to me) and physically (even if I have to break a sweat-ick!).

So everyone, here's to a healthy, happy and safe New Year! I'll be seeing ya!

Peace and love y'all!

A post for Connie

My DFC has written that it's time for a silly Chesley post. Here is my silly post for today, because I'm cool like that.

The Humidity Song (think O Christmas Tree)

O Humidity, humidity, how much I miss you right now
O humidity, humidity, how much I miss you right now.
Winter's cool and drier air
plays havoc with my fine straight hair.
I miss the days when it was warm outside
that way my hair would not skyward fly.
I walk across the floor
Knowing I'll get shocked at the door.
I rub dryer sheets on all my clothes,
and on my hair a hat cannot repose.
So my ears are cold at the tips
No I haven't been taking any nips (of alcohol).
Humidity, you're my hair's best friend
I hate to see the summer end.
For I know in just a few months time
I'll be shocked in a way not so fine.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Peace, love and Merry Christmas y'all!

no title

Writer's block, no time, special project rolling around in my head for Christmas. Not dead!

Peace and love y'all!

The Chesleys go to Washington...

A few months ago, Mike and I decided to take some much needed time off and take our little family to our nation's capital. I had been in high school but none of the others had ever been. We figured now would be the absolute best time, not too hot, not too cold, leaves changing, everything dandy. Well, we were absolutely right! Here's a little travelogue (with pictures) about our trip....

Tuesday...pick up kids from school, hit the road. All goes well, thank heavens for a portable DVD player. We stop a few times for bathroom breaks, eat dinner and stuff. The best thing about this day is that we don't get to DC area until late at night so hardly any traffic. Mike makes the observation that the highway system in DC looks like a plate of spaghetti. We only get lost twice.

Wednesday...The first adventure with the metorail system (we all survived and loved it although Mike found out he can't ride backwards). We ended up heading to the National Zoo. If you've never been and you're in the area, go, it's so cool and free!

You've got to see the pandas! They really are a beautiful animal. I read somewhere once that they are nature's most evolutionary inefficient animal. There were a ton of school kids there on a field trip and all we heard was "Panda! Panda! Come back Panda!". Jared remarked to me "Mom, I'm sure that panda's got a name besides hey panda!" We felt like the pioneer children in the Primary song at church because we walked and walked and walked but it was a good time.

This isn't the best picture of this little guy, but he was the coolest frog! He was about as big as two keyboard keys, maybe three. Very tiny but very colorful. By this time we were just about too pooped to do anything else but say, oh look! An animal!

At this point in our story, let me digress. I had read that food in the zoo and museums was atrociously expensive and I shared this fact with my family. We took our own water (I refuse to pay $4 for a bottle of water) and snacked on trail mix (the homemade kind). But we were HUNGRY! We ended up buying a couple of cheeseburgers and splitting them (hey, we're on a budget here!).

Really, what can I say? He's Mike's son. He was super excited and all we heard the whole day was, "I want to take a picture" repeated over and over and over and over again. We decided that day to go and find him a camera as part of an early Christmas present. He actually did really well with it. He took a lot of pictures of pigeons.

The two monkeys outside of the zoo. I just want to say that although it doesn't look like it, Kiersten does actually have lips. She just hates to have her picture taken. After we got back to our hotel, we went to find a place to eat (thank heavens for Texas Roadhouse). Even one bite left Kiersten ate her ENTIRE dinner (plus a salad).

Thursday was the air and space museum... home of the Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo moon landing stuff, rockets galore and the most expensive McDonald's in Washington D.C. There is no dollar menu there folks! Mike was in charge of the camera during our trip so we got bunches of pictures of planes and rockets. This, however, is my favorite picture....

Can't you just hear the teenager in her saying, "Daddy! I can't believe you're making me do this, how embarassing!"? I was asked numerous times where the big field that they kept all the airplanes was located. Apparently some people in my family believe everything they see in Transformers 2.

We also went across the mall to the National Gallery, which was really beautiful, but we were again very tired so we just meandered for a few minutes and then back to the metro. Have I mentioned we all LOVED the metro?

Friday was tour day. We booked tours on the trolley tour (the orange and green ones, I can't remember what they're called) and had a great time. We were able to hop on and off (really that's the only way to do a decent tour) and take our time. We went by most of the monuments, even if we didn't stop. They really are quite beautiful.

The Jefferson Memorial---it really is one of the prettiest places I've ever seen built by man. We didn't go in but it's still an awesome sight just to ride by. I wanted to go to the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial and the newish World War II Memorial, which is what we did.

The Lincoln Memorial is just huge, and again, beautiful. While we were there, the National Park ranger played Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and it was all the more powerful because you can stand where Dr. King stood and look down the reflecting pool and think about all of the people that have marched for a cause in that place. It really is a vast place. On to my favorite memorial....

The Vietnam War Memorial. It's really hard to believe that the Wall is in the middle of a busy city. It's so quiet. There were people there doing rubbings of names, a few veterans looking for lost friends or family members seeking to reconnect with a lost loved one. It really is my favorite. This is where I wonder about the stories, behind the names on the Wall as well as the stories of people that come there to pay their respects or just to see it.

We did get to the WWII memorial and it really is another beautiful place. Walking from The Wall to the WWII memorial, Kiersten and I were stopped by a squirrel. Apparently it was a tourist as well because he looked a little lost and seemed to be asking for directions.

Saturday was our coming home day, but we had one more stop to make. A few weeks before our trip, Jared told me at dinner one night that he thought we should go to the Holocaust Museum and Memorial. I wasn't too sure, but they outvoted me so we went. Let me tell you, that brought even me to tears. You're given the identification of someone who actually was in a concentration camp or lived during that time when you go in so it personalizes the story for you. Pictures aren't encouraged there, but what we saw there was seared into my brain. We saw the cattle cars, the bunks from Auschwitz, and in one hallway, thousands of pairs of shoes from prisoners that were never heard from again. Jared gave out pretty early, so I went with him into the Hall of Remembrance, where we lit candles for those that were lost and talked about why people do awful things and how we can stand up for others.

Then, we were on our way back home. It was a wonderful trip. We have to go back so catch those things that we didn't get the first time. It was a great experience to take the children---they of course think we're the coolest parents on the planet for getting them out of school for a couple of days for an educational trip.

I have plenty of other pictures, but just don't have room to share them with you. The pictures that are the best ones are really in my mind and heart of spending time with my family.

By the way, sorry if this doesn't format quite right, I'm tired and needed to get it done.

Peace and love y'all!