#metoo and airplanes

For someone who had my own #metoo toxic moment on a plane ride this year, this was pretty triggering and upsetting for me. 

This follows on with exactly what we were talking about in class yesterday. When the most powerful individual in the United States sends the message that it is okay to grope women....well, we have a problem. Yes, this man is responsible for his own behavior, and he likely was just using Trump as a scapegoat, but STILL. The fact that this is even a possibility makes my heart ache - both for the men and women of America. 

A beautiful motherhood moment, brought to you by Matilda

I just had a beautiful moment with my daughter, Hannah, tonight that I wanted to record. Paul and I were out fairly late hanging out with some friends. The older kids were babysitting. When we got home, the kids were still awake and they wanted to talk. We all sat on Nathan's bed (my eldest son) and just chatted for a while. Then I put the boys to sleep and went in to put Hannah to bed.

We were talking for a bit and then she randomly started singing "My Shot" from Hamilton. Dang - she has most of those words memorized and there are A LOT of words in that song! She is going to be "Matilda" (the Broadway version) for Halloween this year, so I asked her to sing a Matilda song. She sang the song, "Quiet". It is such a beautiful song, and she has such a clear, pure voice. She looked up over the computer at me, and I was struck by one of those moments of motherhood where I just wanted to stop time. Hannah is 11 next month and is really growing into an incredible young woman. She is strong, and confident, and bossy, and just SO full of life, and I drank up every moment of that song. At the end I gave her a huge hug and whispered, "Never grow up. Ever".  So then she had to sing me the song, "When I grow up"....also from Matilda and really made me cry. Ha!

Hannah and I really bond over Broadway songs. We sing them all the time to each other (sometimes belting them out WAAAAY too loud). Hannah loves to act in plays and early this year asked me to try out for a play with her. That is NOT my thing, so I told her no at first, but then ended up agreeing to try out...because when your daughter asks you to spend time with her doing something you love, you say "yes" even though it might be really hard and scary for you! We both ended up making it and performed in Payson Community Theater's "A Night on Broadway" (and I even got to sing Edelweiss as a duet! So much scarier than talking in front of hundreds of people like I often do for my job. AHHH!!) Singing and dancing with Hannah is one of my VERY favorite things to do with her and I am so grateful for the many, many ways that music touches my life and allows me to deepen relationships with others.

Singing "You will be found" - my sister and niece are also in the picture

Hannah singing "Carrying the Banner" from Newsies

Edelweiss duet

New family pictures!

Soooo Liam is now FIVE years old, making my previous family picture almost six years out of date! I hope you enjoy the newest one up on the blog! These were taken by my very cool cousin, Stephanie Ward. Here are a few extras that I love! In case you were wondering, my kids are Nate (age 13), Hannah (age 10), Aidan (age 8), Liam (age 5), and Finn (age 1). 

P.S. My husband Paul was thrilled that spouses can finally get a BYU ID without having to shave. Took them long enough!