Charlie's new location...

My brother Charlie is serving a mission in Portugal, and was transferred to Sao Miguel. 
I went on the internet and googled Sao Miguel---

yeah, that's right... he is on a tropical island where Hydrangeas grow like weeds. (I seriously found tons of photo's showing the Hydrangeas) They are used for hedges.... I immediately turned to Ryan and told him we needed to move to Sao Miguel... :)

here is his newest message:

So I did get transferred.   It’s a place called Ribeira Grande.   It's pretty close to the ocean!... actually it's sitting about 500 miles out in the middle of it... yep I’m sitting on the island of São Miguel in the Azores ha-ha it was a bit of a shock.  They called me up at about 10:00 pm Sunday night (February 17) and said "pack your bags you have to be in Lisbon by 7:00 am tomorrow morning!"  I don't think they realized it's a 6 hour bus ride.  So they changed it.  I grabbed a bus at 9 the next morning, traveled to Lisbon, I had an hour and a half to get to the office weigh my bag (I could only take one) and get to the airport.  Grabbed a plane at 6pm and arrived in São Miguel at 8:30pm slept at the missionaries house in Ponta Delgada then grabbed a bus in the morning and got to my area Ribeira Grande.  I then found out that we have nowhere to do internet in Ribeira Grande so we waited until today.  Yeah it's a bit of a change.  But then they surprised me on Saturday and told me "oh by the way you're being called as the first counselor in the Branch Presidency; yeah quite a change from my last area...

photos courtesy of:
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/photos/brazil/brazil_photos_06.html
http://www.123rf.com/photo_1768722_azores-typical-flowers-at-the-island-of-sao-miguel.html

Happy moments when things work out.

I found out today that it looks like I only need to take 4 more classes. I also found out that the art department at BYU-I is going to be accommodating of my situation, and will be flexible in the last four art history classes I need to take. This means I will be able to take at least two of them online from CSI, and then find equivelents for the other two (hopefully online) from another school (It does not appear that CSI has any upper level art history courses). It looks like things will work out. I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief.

randomness

http://pinterest.com/pin/238127899017672015/

                                            http://pinterest.com/pin/275352964688745646/
I'm getting excited for my trip to LA. As a class we are supposed to make "thank you" gifts, also called leave-behinds or something like that. Anyways, they are for the people at the different museums, etc. that are going to be helping us with behind the scenes type tours. The other class members have been less than enthusiastic to participate, so I came up with a gift idea, and we are slowly getting it going (and the teacher LOVES it). Above are pictures of the basic idea of what we are doing.

we are going to basically make an accordion book (contained in a box) that will include artwork from all those going on the trip. The purpose of these types of trips is for students to get their work noticed by publishers, etc. with the hopes of getting a job. Obviously, I am not looking for a job, and I am quite aware that my art work is not yet up to the standards Dream Works, and others in the art community, are interested in. However, I am still taking the project seriously, and maybe it will prove beneficial to one of the other students on the trip as a means to gaining recognition in the art world. I will post pictures when it is complete and awesome :).


I just finished reading Othello... it took a lot longer than it normally takes me to read because I had trouble focusing. I feel so accomplished getting it done, simply because it took me several hours today, because I kept getting distracted. Random thing to blog about, but oh well :).

I'm so ready for spring. And I want to be doing yard work instead of homework, but I keep plugging along. On a happy note, I'm getting all a's and one b. That is pretty good, I think, for being a mom taking 15 credits.

On a frustrating note, I have NO idea how I'm going to finish my last four or five (its under debate right now what exactly I need to graduate) classes in order to graduate. BYU no longer offers them online (I'm hoping they simply pulled them for spring, and that they will be available again in the fall). I'm trying to see if another school offers them online (they have to be transferable to BYU-I). Ryan and I were talking about what I would do if we can't find them online- I mean, seriously to come so close to graduating, and all those years of work, only to stop 4 or 5 classes away from a bachelors!!!?? I don't know. Ryan said I'll just have to be content with an associates, but I won't be content with that, not after all that work. I did have the strong impression when I started school again that everything would work out, so I will keep chugging along and have faith that it will all work out for the best, whatever that is.

TRIFLES

I have been thinking a lot lately, about how we tend to get caught up in our own lives, and we forget about those around us. We rationalize that we are too busy, that they are fine, etc. and yet we know, from our own experience with the trials of life, how lonely and painful life can be at times. I wish that people would serve each other more, show more compassion in day to day life. We complain about our wards or towns or schools not being friendly enough, and yet what are we doing to make it better? Are we out bringing a loaf of bread to someone, or dropping off a dinner to a young family, or stopping by a widows home to just chat? What would the world be like if we did?

As a side note of clarification, I am aware that the following play/story is not as much about having charity for each other as it is about how woman are treated, but when I read it, the part about charity kept popping into my head.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10623/10623-h/10623-h.htm

the closet

As I was scrubbing the glue from the pink flowery wall paper boarder off of Ethan's wall today, in preparation for painting his room a nice shade of grayish-blue, I suddenly came up with the perfect idea for what to do about his closet doors. He has a "custom made" closet that looks like a giant cupboard, with hand made doors which are fairly thin and not so pretty... just plain boards really. They are currently the same shade of pepto bismal pink as the walls, but I didn't want to paint the entire room blue... that would just be too much (along with the already blue carpet). I didn't want to paint the entire closet white either, because it is rather large in relation to his room and would stick out if it was all white. I don't have time to do anything extremely crafty like stripes or faux painting techniques. I suddenly thought of the idea of painting the doors with chalk board paint!! His room is going to be so cool when it's done, and I'll post pictures... although it might be a while until it's all done. I'm also going to do a map, on some old wood and make it look old and weathered... but I don't know when I'll get to that project.

http://ms-smartie-pants.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-03-13T09:19:00-07:00&max-results=3&start=3&by-date=false

Time to paint walls...

So, I am back to figuring out what to paint the walls of my home. I have three rooms figured out or done, leaving the kitchen, hallway, laundry room, bathroom, and master bedroom.

I've finally decided for sure what kind of feeling I want to portray with my paint color choices/decor items. I want a English country cottage type feel- I have a small home that feels like a cottage, and I want something earthy, warm and comforting without being too heavy. Basically, I want to draw in the feeling of a country garden into my home...

I would love opinions on paint color choices. I love green, and gravitate towards it, but I also love some creams, browns, and yellows.... I also am considering bringing in color in things like some home made roman shades in the kitchen (future project... maybe).

The picture to the left is of Benjamin Moore tree moss (darker) and dune grass (lighter). http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/for-your-home/our-favorite-paint-colors-color-schemes

                                  The above paint color is Tony Taupe. http://www.storiesofahouse.com/2012/04/our-paint-colors.html

clarendon green http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/for-your-home/darryl-carter-green-cool

I love the wall color here with the other colors, but I don't know what it is....
http://www.huntwood.com/showrooms/kitchens/craftsman/an-artists-cottage/

These are just several ideas... any input would be appreciated.

Funeral

Late Saturday night Ryan and I were going to bed when we heard sirens. After a moment I realized they sounded like they were in front of the house, so we went out to the living room and saw that there was a fire engine across the street from our neighbors house. Sister Kemp is the Primary President, Brother Kemp is the Young Men president, and they have 4 sons, the youngest being 10 soon to be 11, and the next oldest is 18 and soon to be going on a mission. The oldest two no longer live at home. We watched for a moment, and an ambulance pulled up and they rushed inside with a stretcher board right as a police man also pulled up. I got Ryan's phone for him to call the bishop. Pretty soon more cars pulled up and people rushed inside, including their two oldest sons. I watched for quite a while, but when the police men, and the fire engine left, and the ambulance crew brought some of their stuff back out to the ambulance I thought maybe it was okay.

The next morning we discovered that Brother Kemp had passed away from a presumed heart attack. He had spent the day going to several meetings (it was stake conference weekend) and didn't feel well, so that night he went to bed early. His 10 year old son Ethan went in and played battle ship in bed with him, and after a while he told him that he didn't feel well and turned over and closed his eyes. He didn't wake up after that.

It has been a sad week. I sit at the computer a lot in order to do homework, and I have watched as people from the ward and community have come to offer condolences. The hardest thing I saw was when a group of teenagers showed up. They took Peter (18 year old) over to the park across from his home and goofed off for over an hour. Then when they went to leave they all of a sudden started forming an impromptu group hug (just the boys) around him, and stood for a moment. Then they each were giving him individual hugs. It was very emotional to watch.

Brother Kemp dying was so sudden and unexpected. I had seen him earlier in the day working on one of his son's cars out behind his house. I gave Ethan (my Ethan) a mini lesson one night about the pre-existence, earth life, and what happens when we die. It was a very sweet, sad moment.

Today was the funeral. Violet was very tired, so I spent most of it in the hallway, but it was still amazing to see the amount of people from the community that were affected. He was a physical therapist at the hospital, he was on call for helping with the EMT's, he did sports training at the schools, and he was very involved in community events. He would often go do things with his son Ethan such as marathons.

Life is so fragile and can be over in the blink of an eye. I went to see Chris (the mom) on Sunday afternoon and she was in shock, but handling things pretty well. My heart aches for them, but I'm grateful for the peace the gospel brings.

Here is the obituary in case anyone is interested: http://www.rasmussenfuneralhome.com/Obituaries.aspx?ID=156