Wight Family

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Missing Family

So, my big sis has been here for a few weeks. She moved her little family into my mom's house for a few weeks while she and her husband house hunted in L.A.  Since before I got married (10 years ago!) she's lived in Texas and Maryland. Now she's headed to California. For YEARS I've been here with our lil sis but two years ago, she got to move to Nevada to help her hubby fulfill his life-long dream of med school... So I'm here alone with Mom and lil bro. Now don't get me wrong on this, I love them, and being here with them.  I love semi-quiet Sunday dinners and mom takes TERRIFIC care of me when I need ANYTHING!  But I got to see 'the other side' these past two weeks.  I loved having her here. I loved having her boys here.  I love watching Hurricane James (this is MY nickname for him) create all kinds of havoc on my mom's formerly quiet home.  Their dog is amazing and got along SO well with my mom's THREE (yes three) boxers. I enjoyed watching my lil bro tease her boys with Mike. They had a great time together. I loved watching Kenna play with/next to Cob. They are a few months apart in age and it is so fun to watch them sort of interact, the way only babies can. It was just so nice to have family around.  Sure I live in a sort of Wight Family compound, but they aren't really here much.  I don't get drop in visits from my sister-in-law, or brother-in-law and their kids... which sometimes I'm VERY grateful for!  We all congregate every few weeks next door at mom and dads, but it just isn't the same.

Now I have to give credit to my own little family.  I love to have them around... Mike, Elise, Kenna... Mike is home and awake for what 3 or 4 hours a day? I enjoy what time I do spend with him. I love watching him play with Kenna and Leese. They ADORE him as only daughters can. I cook (okay, I'm using that term very loosely!) and watch them in the living room. We eat, sometimes we get to play together before we all head to bed. Weekends are busy, though I don't really recall what it is we really 'do'... Sundays are VERY busy ALWAYS... whoever thought that would actually turn out to be a day of rest was joking... seriously! So I do have my own little nest to visit with and love and care for, but I miss my sisters. I miss my family. I'm sure this longing will pass soon enough.

Here's to you Tara and Joyce.  I hope that one day you move back 'home'. I miss you terribly!  We could have so much fun together.  See you again soon!! 

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

How Do I Tell Her?

(Elise on Lucky) (Petting Lucky) (Elise at age 3 on her cow!)

How do I tell her? It is going to feel worse than pulling out a sliver in her foot; or really close to that feeling of panic and fear of learning her TWO best friends will be moving this summer and she'll have to start over in the best friends department; or that maybe, just maybe we won't be here in Eden forEVER.... It really is eating me up inside, I have no clue how to prepare her for the next blow and I know it is coming and I can't stop it. I feel helpless and scared and hurt FOR her. But Aunt Sharon has to sell her horses. It has played out like a daytime drama here at our house, but Lucky and Crystal are no longer 'welcome' on the property and will be up for sale in the coming weeks. Elise has LOVED not just horses, but these two horses in particular for her entire life. I know as a mother, as a person that she will get over it eventually.... but I know her well enough to know that this is going to be very hard for her. Likely the most challenging loss she's experienced so far in her life. We haven't told her yet because she's struggling still with the news of her two best friends moving out of state at the end of the school year. It has effected her grades, her attitude, seemingly her very core. I kind of feel like I'm standing behind her with a frying pan and I have to hit her with it... I have no option, but I can't do it... I can't move forward, I can't run away, I can't warn her again (we have warned her that this could happen, but the little darling rode her bike to Aunt Sharon's and offered her her ENTIRE piggy bank to buy them but we have no way of keeping them!) I don't like this feeling!! And I don't like the situation surrounding it, not at all.

I know she'll live through it; I'll live through it. We have so much to be grateful for. So many wonderful beautiful things around us. And she's still got Sky and Alli and riding lessons this summer...... but it doesn't take the sting away. It doesn't make it easy for me to watch and hope she comes running to my arms to cry, because she very likely won't. I can see her running to her room in tears and blaming me and Mike for years for not buying her horses a place to stay where they can be ridden and cared for and loved and cherished by none other than her.

But alas it must be. We can't. We tried. I tried. She tried.

(Elise at the Petting Farm) (Birthday Balloon!) (Crystal, temperamental, beautiful)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

SlideShow 2010

Monday, December 28, 2009

Coming Soon.....

A slideshow of 2009 is coming soon!! Thanks to my 8 year old for going to her grandma's and using the same bag I used to pack McKenna's stuff to go to Jackson Hole and finding my CAMERA!!!

And yes, I looked in that bag a hundred times. I even used it since the trip in August. Amazing!

Thanks again Mom for having Elise over! She enjoyed it and we loved the movie today!!

Book Reviews

Ok, so in order to write better, I will be continuing to read more and I'll be making one change to what I do when I read, I'll also be reviewing the books I read. I am hoping that this will help with my current writer's block. I'm really not in the "mood" to write, but I'm not in the mood for much of anything. Strange how that happens!! So I'll start this tomorrow. hahah!

I've read lots of books lately. I'll summarize them, and leave my thoughts about them, I have no idea if anyone will be looking at this post or not.....

Master, by Toni Sorenson: Oh my what a wonderful book. I loved this one. It was full of details (though I wanted more), description of landscape, miracles and the life of Christ with the feel of a novel. You could see the life of the Savior and the apostles and the time of the Romans. It was well written and I couldn't put it down. Better at the scriptures at keeping my attention, but full of the same stories.

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini: Khaled has a unique way of sucking me into the world he created. His words are descriptive and hypnotic. I could not put this book down AGAIN. This actually is the second time I read this book. First read through I read it in about two days total. I sat down with it right after work on day two and read through until 4 am. I even had work the next day. EXCELLENT read. Second time around I spent more time "chewing" instead of "swallowing it whole". Again, a wonderful, masterful read. I love how he ends his books. It is like a sugar or adrenaline let down though. You get so high and so excited and then you crash. The emotional wrap up is like after crying your eyes out for an hour and then rehashing it, but you can't cry, it is nearly emotionless.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini: Again, another marvelous novel!! I had a hard time putting this one down at times too. I get so caught up in his characters and their lives and emotions and the mystery of the middle eastern culture. Maybe at times I feel like I could relate to the women because I sometimes want to cover all up and walk around like a ghost, no one can tell my emotions if they can barely see my eyes. But, hey, having a bad day every once in a while is no reason to take up wearing burkhas!!! Again, another great book. I will read this one again, and I'd recommend it to friends.

Almost Sisters: The Company of Good Women, Nancy Anderson, Lael Littke, & Carroll Hofeling Morris:
Of all the books most recently read by me, this one boosted my heart and boyied up my spirits! I did not devour this book, I savored every moment with these dear women. The language is smooth, the story is catching, and the characters build as the pages turn. Deenie, Erin and Juneau are just like "us". They are very human and their flaws show to us and to each other. Their journey is continued in two more books. The cliff hangar ending of book one sent me immediately to purchase book 1 and 2 (I borrowed this copy from a friend) for me and for a friend! Don't wait to buy these books as a set, you'll hear Deenie's words of wisdom in your ears when you go to sleep and want to put them on your walls. You'll see Erin and her quirky beauty in your friends and want to tell them all about her! You'll see Juneau when you see your little girls and wonder about how they will turn out.

I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story, Michael Hastings
I just finished this book not ten minutes ago. It is so fresh in my mind. The language is harsh. Lots of F-bombs. If you can handle reading those, or get through them it is a great story. It is a love story; it is a biography; it is a documentary. I enjoyed this book, the end is really intense. The beginning was fast paced as well. In the middle I had to put it down for a couple weeks. If you are having "drama" of your own, don't read this yet. Get the drama over with and then pick this one up. I enjoy war books, histories, details, the nitty-gritty of all that. Hastings is a powerful writer, a gutsy guy, and an apprehensive lover (but how many guys aren't?). I felt like I was in Iraq. Dirty, hot and very very tired. His accounts are well written, quoted and placed. He risked his life so we could have this account, the accounts from his embeds, his news articles. And he lost his love, his only love, in a dangerous place that we are for some reason involved in. Stunning. Factual. The title says it all really. I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story.

Three Tickets to Peoria: The Company of Good Women, Nancy Anderson, Lael Littke, & Carroll Hofeling Morris:
Like my above review, another charming book! I started this one on Monday morning and I finished by Wednesday morning. I love these ladies. They write with such reality. So plain. Erin and Cory's plight in this book really surprised me, but it turned out well. Just as I thought it should, every detail. I personally find the authors' work inspiring as a future writer myself. I am also inspired by the character's spiritual strength and real-ness. Deenie continues to amaze me, and yet not surprise me as she is the definition of a Utah Mormon Super-Mom, right down to the depression and the sense of loss. I love how in this second book each woman again has another trial, but so does Gabby! In the first book, she was everyone's idol with no flaws. This one we see it all. We feel it all and we wonder many things that should, hopefully, be answered in book 3, Surprise Packages which is due out anytime now! You can pre-order online at deseretbook.com or anywhere you buy good books! (I personally shop online at amazon for books that aren't going to be read more than one or two times, if at all possible.) Good luck to any of you COB's!!

My Gratitude Box

I was thinking the other day, while we were up in the wilderness, that I have so much that I'm grateful for, and I need to write that down somewhere.... Hmmmm.. blog that!! So here we go.

In no particular order:
Brand new SOCKS, I really do love them. They aren't stretched out, they smell AND look good.
My new hat. Camo with ARMY in pink. Cute.
That I live in Eden. It is always beautiful here. Really, come visit. You will find something that you think is beautiful any day of the week!
Elise. She always makes me laugh. Ok, sometimes, she makes me feel so much like a MOM, but the rest of the time she's great fun.
A wood burning fireplace. It really is cozy and it beats the furnace with heating. Strange, but true!
That I can sing. I might not do it well enough to make big bucks, but I'm good enough I like to hear me!
Elise lets me sing to her every night before bed. I am so grateful that she loves me that much. No one else asks for a bedtime song and that is OUR quiet personal time EVERY night.
My husband. Not only do I have one that is taking care of me, but he likes to and WANTS to. We get to be together forever and we both want that to be a happy thing. And I'm grateful that he is letting me just sit here and type.
For my testimony. Jesus loves me, and you too. He suffered for my sins, he knows what it's like to have a cold and to want children; he knows what it's like to BE ME. He died and resurrected so I could too, and so will my family, and we'll be together forever. He restored the true gospel to the earth again through Joseph Smith, a boy with a big WHY, and trust and faith that he really could get an answer if he asked.
That I had time to wash laundry, that I have a washer and dryer that work, and soap and water to put in the machine!! Cause washing it outside in this weather would not get done!

January 31, 2008-
I'm greatful that I have a car, and a husband that drove me to SLC today to the viewing of my dear prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. His passing on Sunday shook me. I guess in my childish and selfish mind that I truly thought he'd live forever! Or at least to 125. I was, just as many other people have expressed, immediately impressed after my initial shock that he is with his dear Marjorie, and that is just where he needs to be. At peace, with his loved ones.
And microwaves, cause Mike just got home, and I've done NOTHING for dinner as of right now. How about Mac'n'Cheese???

Elise's Guess Game

Ballet Guess Game.
I changed the rule. Now no yab yapping yapping yapping. And NO asking somebody else the law, and especially don't ask me to show my own self and No Cheats! Just let me do the rest of the magic.
SO, lets start with how many pets I have.
Next I want you to guess how many pets I have counting 2 horses, 2 chickens, 1 dog, actually I don't have any chickens. I do have 2 ducks and 13 little quails and 14 chicks and have you guessed yet??
Hurry up?
Stick around on Ballet Guess Game, we'll be back after these eleven messages!

Next time on Ballet Guess Game will be right back on Taco Bell at Tuesdays, weekdays and Fridays. Oh, and especially Wednesdays. See you next time!!!!

Publishing Updates

You never knew it did you? I love to write. Really. And I'm so serious about it I have a personal list of books to WRITE.

So, in my endeavor to write better and be a published author of a book before I turn 30 (that is in less than 2 years) I have started to write book reviews. This month I submitted, albeit at the request and suggestion of a good friend of mine, a book review of a book I just love. And I'm in the local newspaper!!

Ogden Valley Newspaper July 15th issue. Go ahead, I accept praise all day! ;) Love you all for checking in on me and routing for me! ~Vicki