Laughing Babies

So have you ever wondered what it would be like to make quadruplets laugh together? I thought this video was pretty cute! Check it out.

Primary fun

Congratulations, Susan, on your mid-terms! What a relief to have that out of the way, at least for a while.

Well, I love my calling teaching primary to the 6-8 year olds. Today when I arrived at Primary opening exercises, one of the 6-year old kids in my class gave me two sheets of paper. One of them had my name, "Brother Kemony" with 1 sentence "I love church." The other page also had my name, and was simply a list of about 10 math problems. She got all the problems correct, except 1: she had "8+8=12."

Also, today during Primary sharing time we were talking about advice that President Hinckley has given to members of the church, and why we should follow it. The teacher asked "what kinds of movies has the Prophet told us we we should watch?" One of the 5 year olds yelled out "Jesus movies!" I nearly busted up laughing, it was so cute. But it's also so very true... We should be watching more Jesus movies I suppose. Out of the mouths of babes...

Massage

I had my massage today. I've had some serious back pain and neck tension these past months so I booked a full ninety minutes of deep tissue massage and explained very specifically that what I wanted was my neck and shoulders and upper back done. Anouk, my massage therapist said "sure, and I like to do a full body massage since it's most therapeutic and we have time." Uh, no. Anouk was friendly and the massage was relaxing but it accomplished very little. She did not actually do what I consider deep-tissue, she basically did gentle swedish massage and spent way too much time on my hands. I had to ask her twice to forego the feet and keep working on my shoulders. I kept telling her and showing her where I needed and asking her for more pressure, but to no avail. Some people have their own massage schtick and that's the only note they play. Speaking of playing notes, she kept laughing at the classical music CD I selected and fast-forwarding past tracks she didn't like. :( I was parched the whole time and afterward I asked her for some water and she gave me a plastic cup with a hair in it from the salon upstairs. >:(

Honestly, the best part of the massage was after she left and I massaged my own shoulders for 5 minutes. The knots were all there, exactly as they had been before I came. Maybe I'm just too picky. I love my old therapist from Palo Alto, Betina. A little woman who dug into my kinks with so much of her body weight that I couldn't lean up against anything for a day afterward. Bless that woman! That's my idea of deep-tissue massage. I don't get massages that often because they're expensive and if all I wanted was to relax in the dark listening to music, I'd just go take a nap. So when I do get them I want results, and today I was disappointed.

On a happier note, I booked our room for 2 nights next weekend at a Bed and Breakfast in the bay-front town of St. Michaels, Maryland. Kent's excited about this weekend birthday excursion. The manager emailed me this picture of the room we get. And now, I must do some homework. I really must.

Ahhh... the memories

Who could forget Ashlee and Smokey, best friends from the start? We had some fun times that week in October 2004, didn't we, Ashlee?

As we walked through the parking lot upon arrival at this little Holloween festival, all we saw were parents dragging their crying kids to the car. Heather and I wondered aloud how bad this fair could be. Were the kids really so miserable at this charming fair that parents just gave up and took the kids home? We decided to give a try nevertheless.

Well, we had tons of fun. Ashlee rode the pony, petted the goats and llamas, chased newborn piglets, went down the jumbo slide, and had some candy. We were all having a great time. Those whining kids we saw on the way in must have just been spoiled! How could they be unhappy at such a fun place?

Well, after a few hours, we had to leave to get dinner. As we made for the exit, Ashlee started resisting. She wasn't quite done yet. I think she wanted a few more runs down the slide, a few more turns with the pony, and ... well, you get the picture. As it became apparent to Ashlee that we were serious about leaving, and we started towards the car, her precious little heart began to sink, and the tears started flowing. It was then that Heather and I had that "Aha!" moment. We got to the parking lot to find several other parents with crying children. Now, we understood.

It was a fun, fun, fun week when Ashlee came!

I'm the one in the middle

You can't tell how awesome my costume was from this picture, but you'll have to trust me that it was hot. Corsets are fun. And so are wigs. In addition to the wig featured here, in one scene I got to wear a big curly white wig like a member of British parliament and speak in an outrageous French accent. This, friends, is my life after Minersville.

Spring Break fun

Thanks to everyone for praying for me to do well in A Little Night Music. I did! The director and the audience all seemed to like it a lot. And most of all, I wasn't nervous and sick with stage fright so all in all, a triumph. The best part is, it is over and I am on spring break and catching up on some much much needed sleep. And I'm going to read a book and you can't stop me! Remember when I "gave" you David Copperfield for Christmas, John? Yeah, I told Kent about that the other day. Good times, good times.

Today was a great day. I got up and took Kent to the train station and then spent a good 1.5 hours researching spas in the area and booking myself a 90 minute deep tissue stint for Friday. This is my present for working like a mad woman for the past month with rehearsals and too many courses and 3-4 hours sleep a night. Then I went back to sleep. Then I went to the mall and had a 2 hour conversation with mom on the phone while failing to find Kent a belated birthday present. Kent is the kind of person who doesn't ever want any presents. Not that he's an unworldly self-depriver, oh no. When he decides he wants something, he just immediately buys it for himself so the would-be present buyer is always too late. Maybe we'll splurge on a Bed and Breakfast weekend somewhere on the bay. They get awfully pricey in April and May so we'll have to go soon.

Which reminds me.

Today as I was getting in the car in the Target parking lot, I was really irritated with myself for making myself soooooo busy this semester that I had to cancel our glorious Pretty Woman-esque trip to the Metropolitan Opera for my stupid mini-recital as well as my ticket to Todd Hillyard's wedding in Utah which would have been so fun. I've over-commited myself right out of the most enjoyable things in life. It makes me sick and angry at myself for being such a masochistic over-achiever. (I blame you, Mom! :) Well, then I started the car and there was a report on NPR about how a course has finally overtaken Ec10 (introductory economics a.k.a. "how to get rich") as the most popular course at Harvard. That course: Positive Psychology. It's like a self-help type course on "how to get happy." They read stuff from Eastern and Western philosophy, watch Ellen Degeneres monologues and basically talk about the psychology of wellness rather than of pathology. The main thrust of the course is that people are not created for the rat race and that money and achievement don't bring happiness, that simplification and focusing on the things we find fulfilling and are good at are the real keys. Then I felt even more angry that I sacrificed a night of NYC glamour and fantastic Mozart with my adorable husband in order to do a piece-of-crap recital with music I don't even like and get an A on my Renaissance counterpoint project which interesting as it is, is not a memory I will treasure forever.

One of the studies in the course that they specifically mentioned is the research showing that counting your blessings daily will make you happier. Time to dust off the ol' gratitude journal. Today I am thankful for my Mom and all the sacrifices she made for my education. Plus, she's hot. I am also grateful for whatever prompting made me put on makeup and comb my hair today before going to the mall. Normally I wouldn't, because I've never run into anyone I know at this mall I go to, so of course today I bumped into two people I go to conservatory with. Phew! The illusion remains intact for another day at least!

Hello FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys.

I was talking to mom today on the phone and wishing we could all keep in better touch. Thanks to Jenni and to John and Cammi and Mom for the emails. I know I've not been very good at keeping up correspondence in the past, but it sure would be nice to have this place to post pictures and updates on a regular, hopefully weekly, basis. If you have any trouble posting on the site, email me at heatherscraw at hotmail.com or call me on my cell, and I will get Kent to help you. :)