How do you teach your child about beggars?

{Little Blue playing at the park for Homeschool playgroup}


Today I had an interesting moment. As we were driving away from a parking lot from shopping my oldest, Sweetface spotted a man sitting on the curb with a homemade cardboard sign. The girls all asked what he was doing and what the cardboard said. We drove by so fast they were not able to read what it said. You may have guessed. It said he was homeless and needed any help anyone could give him.
SweetFace had just gotten done whining about how I wouldn't let her run back in the store to spend a few quarters on a toy machine because she had forgotten them in the car. She was mad that her little sister Moonbeam remembered to bring her money and was able to buy something. (moonsand...my advice...never ever ever let your kids have this in your house. They played with it on my porch thankfully and it was a huge mess and nothing like it seems.)

Anyhow. She immediately started bossing to me to turn the car around right now and that she wanted to give this man her money. She told her sisters he was homeless meaning he had to sleep int he grass and dirt with bugs. By the time she wanted me to turn around I was caught in traffic far away. I told her we could pray for him and then tried to explain to her that although it is nice to help those in need we need not feel obligated every single time.

I think it is so sweet that she immediately stopped thinking of her "woes" and wanted to give her money to him. She promised me that next time we were there she would look for him and if we saw him she wanted to give him her allowance. SweetFace has such a tender heart for those in need. We love being able to help those less fortunate then us. Especially during the Holiday season. My husband has even been known to pick up hitch hikers through out the years when he felt it was a non threatening situation. I still have a hard time knowing when to give to a beggar is ok. In NYC I remember every now and then buying a lunch sack at a fast food place for a beggar that was close by instead of giving money, and always when I was with other people. I want my daughter to feel the same joy but I also want to teach her that not every situation is appropriate.
Soon as we got closer to home her concern then turned into "what if we let him live with us?" yikes. I have not had a chance to discuss this with Conan Man as I am sure he would have a very simple way of teaching our girls about helping beggars etc.

I am curious, How have you explained or taught your children about this? What have you found difficult to explain to a child who has such love for everyone. I would love to hear from you on this subject. I think this would be a great Family Home Evening lesson for us someday soon as we eneter the Holiday season I know we will see more and more beggars.

I love Utah

Two days ago I attempted a blog post. It was cute. It was sweet. it was about my Time Out for Women experience recently. You may wonder, where is it? Well, I don't know. It disappeared. It was accidentally deleted. I was sad. i mourned for two days and am back now and may or may not blog it again. Well, I'll be honest. I'm sure I will manage a few posts about Time Out for Women as I always do. I just love that event. If you are curious, check it out here for their 2010 tour schedule and I hope to see you there. I hope to attend the Ogden event in February, the Omaha event in may would be fun so I could visit my sista and go to the event with her.
Up for that Tiff?

Utah is wonderful. Heavenly. Who wouldnt love it here? I love the mountains. I love the open views. I love that there are so many community rec centers around. I love our new homeschool group. I love our wards old people and how hilarious they can be with the things they say. I love the stylish gals all around. Cute hair and cute everything. I love the parks with the ducks and weeping willow trees. I love that I walked into walmart and saw books I used to only see sold in my local Temple book store. I love that I can grab a hot caramel apple cider in a drive through window at Starbucks across the street from my house. I love that I don't have to share if I don't want to. Because I am the mom. Most times because I am the mom, I share anyways.

I love that I have my very own Downeast Basics store to shop at. Not a catalog, but a real store. I love the dress I scored there for $10 buckaroos. Black of course and super cute for prego bellies. I love that my hubby works 3 min drive from the Ogden Temple. Beautiful. I love that Temple Square is so close and we get to see the Christmas lights there with the girls for the first time. I love that my brother and sister in law are so cool and fun to hang with. I love that I live across the street from a Super Target and not a Super WalMart. Although that one is down the street too. I love that my offices for my new midwife gave me a 4d ultrasound and do every visit. Baby Sophie is so cute and has a bottom pouty lip and she has hair!
I love that my midwife said she would induce me early if I wanted to schedule an exact time to deliver as long as baby is alright. January 1st or 2nd sounds good to me.

I left North Carolina for this place called Utah.

I miss Nc. I love the greenery of NC. I love the warmer weather. I love knowing I was a few hours from the beach although I rarely went. I love the south. I love the cultural diversity of the south. I love that my church had huge oak trees in the front yard. I love that my ward congregation covered so much area I was able to get to know diff areas easily. I love that my parents lived a mile down the street and my girls got to play in their huge backyard and tinker around int he garden with Grandpa.

In thinking about it there are so many things I love about so many places. The best thing to do is to always dwell on those things and forget the negative things I have heard or noticed. I could do a whole blog post about why I love NYC, Paris, Hungary, Charleston,SC., Boston and Seattle. Someone else could easily share why they hate those cities. Although it is in my nature to always wish I were somewhere else, I am thankful we are here. I am thankful the Lord has given me this new adventure. I have not wished I was anywhere else right now. I am happy just where I am right now. It is truly amazing.

Dragon Tales, Tales from the trip and bushy tale experiences

Our trip started out wonderful. Probably our favorite experience from the first part was in Tennessee. At the NC Tenn border there was a huge rock slide that closed the highway. They suggested a new route that would of added an hour 1/2 to our trip. We decided to cut through a smaller road that looked to be a much shorter distance.

We soon found ourselves in the Smokey Mountains. Not only were we in the smokey Mountains but we were on a world famous road for bikers and sports car enthusiasts. This road is nicknames "The Dragon" by no accident. There were 318 turns in 11 miles. It was both fun and scary to drive. At one point we stooped at a scenic overlook and my brakes were smoking. I had never driven such a road and rode my brakes way too much. Conan Man then alerted me I should drive in D2 and it should be much better. It was fine after that but still pretty tricky. See the video here someone posted.



The views were beautiful. We got to see it in the fall with bright yellow, orange and red trees surrounding us. The scenic overlooks provided great places to stop and rest, take a few pics and let scrubby our bunny out to stretch, On a leash of course.


The funny thing is at one point he slipped out of his leash pointing out to us it was a bit too large for his little body and he ran under some bushes, as bunnies naturally do. I screamed "Get Him! I am not going to torture my daughter any more this week then the move already has!" Conan Man , our hero , caught him and all was well. We did not, and have not used that leash since.
We did get a cute pic of Conan Man walking a bunny on a pink leash. So masculine right?



I loved seeing so much open land while driving across the states. I love our country. I also was amazed at how quickly land changed as we crossed state lines. One state would be alot of trees and then almost instantly it would be all flat and crop lands. Our drive across Wyoming was one of the hardest but most beautiful drives we had.
The wind was blowing the whole time at about 45 mph. making it hard to handle the Durango without getting exhausted holding the steering wheel so firm. The distance we could see was unknown to me before. I was absolutely awe struck. We were blessed with dry roads and great visibility to where we could see for miles and miles ahead and behind us. The sky at dawn was fantastic. I wished I had more time and better lenses to spend taking photos.

I did manage to get quite bored. Bored enough on the straight road where it was just Conan Man and I following each other so I took pics of who else but Moi. I felt like a 12 year old again. I used to take pics of myself all the time. I thought, why not now. It was quite entertaining. For a small time.



That's all for now. More to come soon about the wedding and some fun Utah activities.

Goodbye W.

Wow. What a whirlwind of a week.
I am still amazed we are across the country from our old place called home.
It seemed like forever when we knew we were supposed to move here. It felt like it would never happen. I found my self aching inside for change. I found myself aching inside for adventure and new surroundings. Time seemed to slip by as slow as when you are a little child and are waiting to grow up.
Then all of a sudden we did it. We actually moved our family successfully across the country. We moved our family with much amazing help of friends and family. Friends of mine that came to help me clean and pack. Friends that helped me learn more about the areas we were looking at.

Family, wow. My parents are amazing. We had my brothers wedding in South Dakota on the 29th and my parents drove all three of our girls across the country for us to the wedding. We arrived a day or two later in time for the wedding then we left a day earlier then them to get into our apartment and get things unloaded and ready for them to arrive.

Drive through Wyoming. Heavenly skies.

My parents drove with a 7 year old, a 4 year old, and a 3 year old across the country. That is no easy task! Especially for empty Nester's who sometimes lack energy of a 20 something year old. They were truly blessed with extra energy and patience to complete the trip safely and still love being around the girls.
I knew when they left it would be hard. The girls have always lived a mile down the street from my parents. We have always had the luxury of driving to stop by and say hi. We have been so blessed to have free babysitting so many times for Conan Man and I to have date nights weekly and take little weekend trips.


The girls would tinker with Grandpa in the backyard gardening, building campfires, or whatever project he came up with. They loved playing with Grandma, especially when she helped them paint, and do crafts, or when she would sing to them in French.
I had a hard time not crying and still tear up thinking about my girls being apart from them. It is hard yet I am so thankful they had those years to build close friendships with them and I know they will continue to have that over the years.

We love our new place called home. For years I have tried to avoid mentioning where I lived. Never said city names. People either just knew because they know us or guess from things I wrote. The closest I mentioned where we lived on this blog is "The South".
Well, I cannot hide it any longer. I love love love where I live and cannot help but want to blog about it. Utah is one of the most beautiful and peculiar places I have ever been too. It has definitely been a small dosage of culture shock to us. We love it though.There will be many more blog posts about our adventures here for sure.

Every morning I get to open our blinds to see views of TALL HUGE REAL mountains. Not the "fake" ones back home in NC. NC mountains are pretty but...These mountains make NC mountains seem like hills. Both states have their beauty. That is for sure. I know I will miss the beauty of NC. I will miss it, but not bad enough to go back anytime soon.

Conan Man and I lived there for almost 9 years and it was a wonderful 9 years. When we got married we never imagined ourselves settling in one place for the rest of our lives. We love adventure and travel too much. We both knew it was time for a change. Changing states is a great way to do that. Starting school Diving in head first with 4 kids is also a HUGE change. We are in for a whole new lifestyle. I am thankful for it though. We will not have an easy road ahead. We are in in for the long haul but are super excited for what our future holds. We know what our plan is and we know why we are doing this. We also know we cannot do this without the Lords help. We are not alone.

The girls do not understand completely but they are excited about their new home. They are excited to live so close to mountains with snow on the top. They are excited to live near so many LDS Temples and they are excited to live near there little cousins.

Our new apartment at first was a bit disappointing to me for a few reasons I will not get into. But after being there a week I have been able to see how much nicer it is then our old one and how it is such a blessing to us right now. I have so much extra storage space and an extra spare bedroom to use for home school, craft, sewing room. It is going to be such a blessing to use that instead of trying to cram it all in one small dining room area. Organization will be key to having a successful schedule and utilizing the room to help life be easier with the kids, not harder.


In a weird way I feel like a Pioneer. We knew we were supposed to move here. We knew it would not be easy. I had many days wondering if we will ever get there. Would we actually arrive? How would we do it? Although we both decided to sell or give away all of our furniture to make the move easier it was not easy for me some days.

I had to remind myself of the big picture. I had to remind myself that the things we own do not define who we are. It is the path we lead and the example we set for our children that does. We, like Pioneers in a covered wagon, packed as much as we could that was most precious to us in our cars and left the rest behind. We left it for a new life. A better one. The one piece of furniture we did manage to bring was a rocking chair given to me from my friend Sadie. I love it. I love the shape of it and in the next few weeks will be transforming it into a new color and changing the fabric of the seat to match my style.

Although this is exciting to me what I love most about it, is rocking in it and reading to my girls. Having them ask me to "rock and cuddle" with them is the best. This chair will always remind me of our trek west. Just as some Pioneers trekked west and most times were only able to bring a few items. I like to imagine I have more in common with them now. Now that I brought just one rocking chair and left the rest behind. It makes my days that much more durable. I feel so blessed even if my apartment sits empty of furniture for a short time. I have a rocking chair to spend time with them in and that is what I hope they will remember about this move. I know it is a memory I will not forget. Who knew a rocking chair could bring so much joy and comfort.

(and laughter once you scroll down and see the awesome job my husband and his friends did roping and covering the chair to the back of our car.)

By the time we arrived in South Dakota the plastic was so ripped up it seriously reminded us of a mummy. We had to have it recovered in a thicker plastic to protect it from rain and snow for our drive to Utah. It arrived safely and has no damage. operation duck tape the rocking chair: Success.

ps. stay tuned for more pics from our trip and more stories of our adventures, There are so many it will take time. Especially since I do not have our internet hooked up yet. So right now I am at Barnes and Noble using their wifii. Usually I like to respond to your emails and comments more often but this next few weeks I will be slower then normal. Thanks for understanding.

Our move to Utah was not an easy task. First we decided that hauling all of our stuff would be too expensive. We chose to have a yard sale as we accumulated so much stuff that really didn't matter all that much to us in the long run. The yard sale was a success. Then we weighed in the options on furniture. We could take what we had, pay close to 3k to uhaul plus gas, or send it in a pod. When we really thought about it it just wasn't worth it. For around the same costs we could just replace what we had. I knew replacing the furniture wouldn't happen all at once but I also knew I would love my home so much more after.

In 8 years of marriage we still had alot of furniture given to us. Nothing wrong with Free by all means. Free is great. Because we had what we needed it was hard for us to justify going out and buying brand new furniture if we didn't really need a new table, or couch. What we had worked. It was functional but definitely not at the moment stylish.

After blogging entered my world, more then ever before I created ideas of ways to take what I had and re design it into a super stylish home that complimented our personalities. This poses a bit of a difficult task when in a 3rd level apartment, no garage or driveway or backyard to do long, overhauls on furniture. Painting Sanding etc.

So my project ideas were procrastinated to the point that we had to make a choice. Take it ugly, or leave it and start over. So I chose to get on board with my husbands suggestions and just start over.

We are now looking around for simple in expspenive ideas to create a home atmosphere we love. A place where we not only enjoy family time, but also feel happy to entertain, teach our children and create our little Heaven on earth. Where we can escape to and love.

I have found a few ideas My husband loves as well. We will have to tweak these ideas obviously to work with living in a rental apartment but it is doable. It will take time but I thought I would show you some pictures/ideas that inspire me and are close to the mood we want to create.

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Jessica Claire, an amazing photographer shows on her site her before and after studio pictures. I fell in love with this and we have both decided to take this as inspiration for our Living room.

The simple couch for us will most likely be an Ikea Klippen sofa in black.
Easy for me to dress up with custom self made pillows in fabrics I love.
Next, The two funky chairs. They SO remind me of my old vintage chairs I left behind for a friend to love and enjoy. I had plans to reupholster these babies


but alas, I will find my new favorite funky chairs. I love the idea of them in velvet. Adds a great touch of new textures into the room. I also love the shape of Jessica's chairs.

Next, I LOVE the theme of black, white, with two accent colors. The green wall is AWESOME! I love it so much I thought I wanted a GREEN wall. My hubby suggested maybe we go with Fushia. What a dream! A rare occasion to have a husband who actually says you can paint a wall in the main living area so girly as fuchsia. I may still opt for green. Only because of some other ideas I have that I think will be complimented much better with a green wall vs. Fuchsia.

Next, Look at that wall! She had a carpenter friend custom make the molding design for her. This diea is not totally feasible for us in a rental but easily could be recreated on square wood boards painted white then hung on the wall. Something we could then take with us when we leave to a new place.

The tv stand is not my favorite. I do like having a tv in our Living room for the convience of watching a movie with friends or keeping an eye on the kiddos as they watch a movie. We do not like however, tv's being a huge, if not the only focal point in the room. These days there are so many fun options for tvs in large size, great picture and sound. There are thankfully many options we could look into to hide it when we are not using it when we evenutally buy one.

I do love the simplicity of this room but would definitly need to add more elements to make the room ours. I am thinking a painting like this would be a dream.


Not sure where it would go but it has been my favorite and a dream of mine for years to have. It would go well with my love of decorating using traveling themes. Photos from Conan Mans hitchhiking in Ireland. Pictures I took in Paris. Items we collected from Hungary, France, Ireland, Phillipines, Seattle, Oak island, and other favorite places we have visited together or individually.

My next post I will share my dream ideas on a simple dining room that goes along with this theme in the LR.