There and Back Again and There Again

The girls had a blast at camp...visit www.thetechfamily.com for pics! We sang camp songs all the way home and both girls were full of stories. We also got to visit with Grandma J and Papa Strong on the way back. Dad gave me some precious bits of family history to go over. I've been working on my 5 Generation chart and I was missing everything on his mom's side. I also got some names that Scott was missing from Louise...Scott's grandmother. It's a start.

Taylor is already gone again...she went back to Holden with my mom. We'll catch up to her on Thursday after we send Shaylie off to Camp AGAIN...this time with her troop to Trefoil Camp. She had so much fun last week, that she is super excited to go again this week.

My 20th reunion is this weekend! Yikes!!! It doesn't seem like 20 years should be able to fly by in the blink of an eye. I will be glad to see if the years have abused all of my friends the same as me. I'm sure we're all much better for the wear and tear....on the inside if not the out. I'm on a mission over the next couple of days to find something to wear...no easy task, but there it is. I've had a new hair color and cut and I'm trying to avoid the last superficial, vain, pretentious, utterly female step...putting on fake nails. For one thing, I never wear them anyway, so it is the height of pretention. But I'm willing to do it because I'm afraid to admit it probably will bolster my confidence a bit. Weird. Whjat's a girl to do?

We'll probably come home Sunday and then next week Tay's off to Girls Camp...her first. Summer has definitely been full of adventure for the Jesienouski's this year.

Baby Come Back

My babies are at camp! I wonder if moms ever quit feeling like their children are babes in arms, needing us for every little thing. Taylor is 12 and Shay is 7 almost 8 and here they are at camp completely on their own. I know (hope) they must be needing me for something by now.

It's very bizarre to think that they will come back to me safe and whole and probably having had the time of their lives and I wasn't even there. It's actually kind of satisfying in a way...I must have given them some survival skills along the way. Maybe right now, they're thinking, "I'm so glad my most perfect and wonderful mother taught me how to weave a basket out of human hair so I could gather non-poisonous berries in the woods." Or something close to that, anyway.

I actually got online to read the camp journals (www.gsutah.org/blog) and it seems like they are having lots of fun, I'm sure it was just an oversight that they forgot to mention how much they miss us. Maybe a couple poisonous berries got through and made them a little delirious.

At any rate, I will feel much more useful when they are back home where I can continue to teach them valuable life lessons for the next time they leave home. As long as they always come back, I'll consider it a mission accomplished!

No Worries

Today was Stake Conference and the wait is over...WF5th Ward remains mostly unchanged. We added a small subdivision to the north of Heritage Fields. So we are going to have more younger families with children in Primary. This is good news. My presidency will still continue to serve together...so I worried for nothing. We are moving to 9am...which is fine. It throws a wrench in a couple of my plans for the next two or three weeks, but we'll deal. Yay! It's nice to finally know.

A Change is A-Comin'...

Last night, I had a bittersweet night out. My friends and I went out to dinner in lieu of our weekly Primary Presidency meeting. Our stake is going to announce some big boundary changes this coming Sunday..we have three General Authorities coming for a Tri-Stake Conference...and I'm anticipating (dreading) that our Ward will have some changes. My hope is that everything will stay the same, but I don't think that will happen. Almost all of them live across the main road which is a likely place to draw boundaries. So we had a fun night out, but it was sad that it might be the last "meeting" we'll have as a Presidency.

I will miss these ladies that I work with, but in saying that I realize something...It's a weird phenomenon in the LDS culture...that the Ward boundaries create a strange kind of social boundary too. I have friends who still live relatively close, but because they are in another ward I hardly ever see them. I'm sure this is even more pronounced with non-LDS neighbors. I know we've tried to have "neighborhood" parties and activities to involve everyone on our street or in our development but they are still perceived as an LDS function or as an attempt at missionary work, so they're not always that successful. It's too bad, I think. We could all benefit from knowing each other. I know it's always something I try to fight against, but it is a strange thing.

At any rate, I know that for my part, I will always consider the people of this ward as close friends no matter where we all end up. It's been a great pleasure to love and serve with the people of this ward. The Lord teaches us some of our greatest lessons through challenges and changes. I'm sure there are great expereinces in store for all of us....even if they are sad and scary at first.

Taylor is a little sad about the possiblities too. She is enjoying Young Women very much and she doesn't know how this change will affect her. The great thing about the Church is that no matter where you go...the gospel is the same. The teachers and leaders may change, but Christ's teachings are always constant...and there are always people who try to live what they are taught and love those around them.

I suppose I should wait to see what is actually going to happen before waxing so philisophical. I'm sure next week, I'll be too overwhelmed with reality to be bothered with it all, so this is a good time to say it. For my friends in the Washington Fields 5th Ward...I love you and I'm a better person for knowing you all.

Split Personality

I may have started a trend in my family. Not only do I have a personal blog, but Taylor has started one and Shaylie is in the process of developing a WebShow (like a tv show but posted on a website--nothing that girl ever does is big, is it?) so now our TechFamily has split into many different blogs and it's a lot of work keeping it all going. So thetechfamily.com is still the place if you want all the Jesienouski news in one place...at least you can get to everyone's sites from there...

Personally, I have also felt split today. I've been pulled in different directions all day long and it's felt like everyone has needed me for some project or another all day long. First, Shaylie started pestering me about her Web Show. For those of you with preteens, you probably have seen iCarly on Nick...well, this is the inspiration for Shaylie's latest project. She started to tell all her friends that she was going to do a web show and asked me if she could make a set and she needed the video camera battery charged and she needed a website with flash animation,...all the usual things that 7-year olds pester their mothers for...and snacks. If you know Shay, she is relentless. To her credit, today she got the set made and, with the help of her friends and sister, filmed the first episode. Now she just needs me to find a home for it on the world wide web. Oh, and she wants to get paid...Oh well, another day.

Then Taylor and her friend Shaylee needed me to help them with their blog backgrounds, but it wasn't working properly so I had to figure out what to do to appease two grumpy, impatient 12-year-olds. Even after Shaylie went home, she was calling to get advice and help. Happy to do it, but it was in the middle of helping Scott with his project which was...

His new train layout. He always wants me to help, but I never have to help much, because he is so capable of doing it himself. He just needs me to give him some moral support and kind of hold his hand. I'm always glad of the progress...And all of this amidst the crazy everyday things like lunch, rec center, dinner, cleaning, and shopping which I actually didn't do.....

I have to admit, now that I've complained about all of this, that I don't have much to complain about. These are all the things I love about being a mom...my husband and kids are so creative and they love to take on new challenges, and I love to be a part of it all. I like that my kids inspire others to be creative and follow their lead. I'm glad they are ambitious and make their wishes into reality. I guess, like any mom, I'm of two minds...on one hand, I wish for more time and peace and quiet and on the other I like the chaos of creativity and conundrums. Like I said...Split Personality....maybe someday, I'll get a handle on what I want most...

For now, I think I'll just split.

There is Music in my Soul Today

I added a Playlist widget to my site last night. It was fun to see what kind of music I like--NOT fun to see that I tend to skew old--or should I say Classic? I mostly only picked songs that I know all the words to or had some kind of memory attached, por ejemplo: Restless Heart was played at my wedding! Love that song.

If I could find a site that let you do the same thing with LDS music, I'd have a big long list there too. I've mostly been listening to BYU radio over the past year or so and there are some beautiful songs and hymns that I'd love to have on my site. I especially like the Gladys Knight song Jesus' Love is like a River and my favorite of all time: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

I don't really listen to music unless I'm in the car. I forget that my phone has a music (mp3) player built into it, and every once in a while I want to go out and buy an IPOD but with radio and the internet and even music channels on cable, I'm usually covered. I am glad to have a Playlist though, for my favorites. I'm sure the list will grow...I'm already looking forward to adding more songs....and listening to them the next time I update my blog! See you soon!

The Start of Something New

I've been thinking of starting my own blog for a while now. If you know my family, you know we have been avid bloggers (http://www.thetechfamily.com/) since before blogging really began. However, that endeavor has turned mostly into a family calendar of daily events and I wanted to have a place where I can post more personal observations and stories that relate to our lives and to my LDS Faith. So, this will be a first for me. I hope it can be of worth to anyone who reads it, but mostly it will be for me...to explore, to discover and to share who I am with the world...hopefully this won't be too disturbing for any of us...me included!