Facing East

I have a confession. Yesterday, I didn't shower until late - really late. Sun in the afternoon sky late. It was for a good reason - I worked in the garden all morning and into the afternoon- but still it felt funny. I'm a creature of habit and my habit is to wake up early, go for a morning run, and hopefully grab a quick shower before the kids wake up. It was pretty hard to go pick Cole up from preschool still hanging out in my grubbies. And I was nervous that someone would come over and see me in my un-showered state all morning.

But there was something very nice about my afternoon shower. The sun. We have a west-facing window in our bathroom and on the rare occasion when I take an afternoon shower, I bask forever in the sun streaming through the filtered window. It can warm me even on the coldest winter day. It feels tropical - like I'm standing under a Hawaiian waterfall with the sun beating down. I love it. This is the first time I've lived in a home with a bathroom window facing the sun. Growing up, only one of the three bathrooms in our home had a window, and it faced north. I've lived in five different apartments, four with no bathroom window and one with a north-facing bathroom window.

Not having much experience with bathroom windows, when we were buying the house, I thought it awfully strange to have a window in the shower. But then again, every house has some weird features, so I didn't worry about it too much. It wasn't really until this winter that I came to appreciate my shower window. I don't think I would be clinically diagnosed with SAD, but I do start to miss the sun by the time January rolls around. One winter afternoon shower left me feeling warmed by the sun for the first time in months and I realized how grateful I am for light and sunshine. I loved it. I haven't minded afternoon showers quite so much since then.

As I was enjoying yesterday afternoon's peaceful shower, I thought about how great it would be if my shower had an east-facing window so that I could have that same experience each morning when I showered. What a great way to start the day! I'm a morning person. Mornings are always calm and peaceful and I'm just not the same when I don't get to enjoy a bit of the morning before rushing into the day. Growing up, sleeping in was something I rarely experienced. There was pipe to be moved, you see. Lots and lots and lots of pipe. I rarely missed the sunrise all summer long. I can't say that I really enjoyed getting up at the crack of dawn as a teenager, but it makes for some great memories. My grandpa had two favorite sayings - "the morning air will make you beautiful," and "just think of all those poor people asleep down in their beds who don't get to see the sunrise." I didn't think they were so poor back then, but I think I understand a little more now.

I guess old habits die hard, because now I love to get up early on summer mornings. One of my favorite things about our house is my east-facing bedroom window. I love waking up to the sun streaming through my window. I don't have any problem waking up as long as the sun wakes up with me. Dark winter mornings are another story. It just feels wrong to wake up without the sun.

I also love the symbolicism of facing east. We are taught that the Savior will come from the east when He returns to the earth. We know this will be at a time when the world is troubled and there is darkness all around. I love the picture of the Son breaking through the darkness of this world and bringing light, just as the sun rising in the east brings light to our dark world each morning. For this eternal source of light, I am forever grateful.

When I build a house in that far-off someday, I'll build it with an east-facing window in my shower. And in my bedroom. And probably in the kitchen. And maybe in the living room. After all, you can never have too much light.

P.S. Thanks for the picture, Coley! You're a great photographer.

Daddy's Girl...

Annie loves her daddy. She is always trying to be just like him.

It was a little tricky for her to get her hands in her pockets like him, but she was quite proud when she did.

And Floyd, I'm sorry that I always cut your head off in pictures. Good grief! You'd think I would have figured out by now that you are pretty tall.

Easter

Easter started off with a lovely FHE lesson about the Easter story (you know, the Biblical one, no bunnies). The lesson was taught by Floyd and included many PlayMobil and other toys as props. They say irony is an effective teaching tool and I guess the contrast between such a serious topic and such funny teaching aids worked because Cole sat attentively through the entire thing. Can't say the same for me, who was hiding laughs the entire time, particularly at the guards, or Annie, who just wanted to rearrange the toys.

The cast - those the 12 apostles at the top and the women of the story at the bottom. I thought it was fitting that Floyd chose a rough-looking pirate as Judas.

The guards (a construction worker and a scuba diver) and Pilate (Noah from Noah's ark).

Annie playing with the toys. The Bible doesn't specifically mention that Calvary was a volcano, but then it doesn't say it wasn't either so it worked for us.

Saturday was spent dying eggs and hunting for eggs Grandma Ali hid at our house. Notice that Annie had to bring along her princess phone for the hunt.

Cole is really starting to get into it. He was a fast little hunter this year.

Here is Annie's little hand reaching for another egg to dye. After we initially dyed them, she kept at it until nearly all of them had also been dipped in the pink. Most of our eggs had a rosy hue by the end of the egg dying.

And here they are in their Easter finery. Annie was good and kept her hat on most of church.

It was nice of the trees to cooperate and blossom in time for Easter. Last year's Easter photos were not so springy.
After church, we headed off to Newton for some egg rolling. Beats the pants off eating 4 dozen hard-boiled eggs any day.

Annie was a meticulous little egg roller and really got into the swing of things.

Cole enjoyed the initial rolling, but then just wanted to play with his cousin's new puppy.

And we couldn't leave Newton without one more Easter egg hunt with Grandma Donna. She loves a good egg hunt and always has the best treats for them. If you need a good treat, she's the person to see. On a side note, this is one of maybe three pictures we have of all five cousins.
Whew! What a fun weekend. I'd like to thank the weather for cooperating. I love a nice warm Easter day.

Betcha can't guess what we've been doing...

...the blue hands ought to go nicely with her pink Easter dress at church tomorrow.

A letter...

Dear Mother Nature:

We are most appreciative of the weather the last couple of days. It was much needed. See exhibit A below:

Exhibit A:

As you can see, things were getting a little squishy around our place and we were running out of shoes. We have really enjoyed the sunshine. See exhibits B, C, D, E, and F below:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

Exhibit E:

Now, if you could just do something about the rain that is headed our way, we would really be grateful.

Sincerely,

The Griffiths Family

Fool Me Once...

I love a good prank. It's genetic - you need to have known my Grandpa Max to understand. In my former life, I came up with some pretty good April Fools Day pranks, my favorite being sending out fake wedding announcements to missionaries. This year, all I did was the old rubber band on the hand sprayer trick. I was feeling a little bad that I hadn't done something too creative, but it totally got Floyd not once, but twice. As for my lack of creativity, Floyd really picked up the slack for me. He called on Tuesday afternoon to tell me he had to stay late. Not too finish up a project, not to meet a deadline, not to take a client to dinner - just to set up some pranks. Here is a list of shenanigans, which were carried out on his boss (risky) and his office boyfriend, Tyson:

1. Taped the lasers of their computer mouse so they wouldn't work
2. Taped down the ringers on their phones so they would pick up but not answer
3. Put clear nail polish on the tips of their pens and pencils
4. Put confetti in Tyson's oats
5. Filled office drawers with confetti
6. Tied fishing line across the door to the office and to their office chairs so that cups of confetti would fall at various unsuspecting moments

7. Put an air horn under Tyson's chair
8. Listed an ad on KSL.com for Jimmy's car at a ridiculously low price (lots of calls)
9. Listed an ad on KSL.com for a breast pump Tyson was selling (again, lots of calls)
10. Had a telephone service call Jimmy's phone 1o times throughout the day

All pranks were very successful, leading Floyd to declare it the best day at work ever. I, nervous about retaliation, sent a tray full of cream puffs to work the next day to apologize for his antics.

How to Catch a Monster...

As Cole explained it to Aunt Kar, "We seem to have a bit of a monster problem at our house." The problem started when Cole had a very scary dream a week or so ago and we were awakened by his screams at 4:00 AM. Since then, he's been following me around like a puppy dog non-stop, even in the daytime. Things are getting a little better, so in case you have a monster problem at your house one day, here is how we have dealt with said monster problem.

Step 1: Mom "sleeps" in Cole's bed with him. Except that no sleeping took place.
Step 2: After 2 hours of the above nonsense, mom gives up and turns on cartoons for Cole.
Step 3: Mom explains to Cole that he cannot walk so close to her after he gets smooshed between mom and the wall .
Step 4: Realize that logic is not going to convince him there is no such thing as monsters when he says, "But Mom, bears and scary men can be monsters." So true.
Step 5: Cole creates 3 monster traps - big boxes with marshmallows inside for bait (we use them when we catch fish, after all) and a sign that says, "no monsters allowed." One for his room, one for the front door, and one for Annie's room.



Step 6: Put Cole to bed and promise that the monster traps will catch any monsters that come to our house
Step 7: After Cole reappears from his bed 3 times (which is not unusual), promise to buy him a new shark if he goes to sleep. I am never above bribery. Realize at 4:00 AM when Cole stealthily appears in our room that I should have told him he had to stay in bed the entire night to receive the shark.
Step 8: Cole enjoys shark.
Step 9: Purchase a new green squirt bottle, fill it with water and vinegar, and attach a label that says, "Monster Repellent."
Step 10: Be grateful that vinegar is a cleaning agent as Cole proceeds to empty the bottle spraying the house with monster repellent.
Step 11: Re-fill monster repellent. Lie to Cole and tell him that it came with instructions of how to make your own.
Step 12: Tuck Cole in with monster repellent under his pillow.
Step 13: Floyd suggests we say a prayer. We actually say several because mom forgets to ask for no nightmares.
Step 14: Realize I should have just asked Floyd in the first place.