the twists and turns of life

{I Matthew John Ellingson having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. That I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. That I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.}

so, when we first got married matt and i wrote down and mapped out a 5 year plan. from planning schooling, to jobs, even down to when we wanted children. as for that 5 year plan, which planning and working towards a goal are great, the only thing sthat truly happened are that i became a kindergarten teacher, and matt is in dental school. i guess we should have done it in pencil so that we could erase and add changes as they came our way. also, to leave room for all the wonderful life's lessons learned and relationships gained along the way who help shape you into the true person you really become. even though jack came 3 years early, and my sweet husband joined the army...i would have it no other way.

well, as we embark on a new chapter in our lives, the military chapter, we go forth with excitement. if you asked me a year ago if this was even a possibility, let alone the army, i would have screamed NO! matt was always on board. with the military paying for all our school plus giving us a substantial monthly stipend...we figured that after all was said and done, and after paying off our student loan for the next 30 years, the military will save us over 1 million dollars. huh, it's a "no-brainer" if you ask us. plus, matt and i both like to consider ourselves patriots and are happy to serve our country in this way. matt will give 3 years back as a dentist for the US Army.

after many prayers, and 100s of questions, hearing the good the bad and the ugly...the army was a better fit for our family. if the opportunity arises, we hope to spend our 3 years in Europe. we'll see where life takes us at that point.

{jack and gracie sitting by matt while he signs the paperwork}

{jack and gracie sneaking in a squeeze...jack wanted to wear his camo pj's like the "solider" and they were both very excited about the "soldier" coming to our house}

{matt taking the oath written above}

{matt and major Riggle}

drumroll please.....

k, so i just got back in from chicago ( i was at {cha}, the scrapbook mega trade show ), and i thought, i've got to draw some names!!! let me just tell you ladies, that i was so excited to hear what your ideas were. i even shared them with my team for ideas for the next release. we want to design what you want!!! so thank you so much. i have to say that most of you are DYING for some boy paper, 78.2% to be exact. (i took the percentage from your comments) so, hmmm, i thought to myself...let's see if i can get a TOTALLY RAD boy paper in the works! although, i have to say that i got some FABULOUS ideas from you all. i'm tucking them away in my back pocket. i always am working on several lines at once, so stay tuned for a new release in january!

so here are the 2 lucky ladies:

CONGRATS LADIES!!! just email me with your address, and i'll get that stuff sent out! laraellingson@gmail.com

thanks again everyone who posted and gave me tons of ideas that i hope to incorporate into many of my papers. keep scrapping!

i know for my az friends that scrapbook etc (on lindsay and university) bought CARMA, and for those who need to order online, go to: A Cherry on top
**it might take a week or two for them to get it in, so check then! i can't wait to see what you come up with!

a new line.....

****keep reading, there is a prize involved!********

twice a year, i get to design a line of paper for a scrapbook company called dream street papers. i like to name each line after someone important to me in my life. this time i chose the name CARMA - my mother-in-law's first name. she is a very important person to me, not only for the wonderful grandma she is to my children, but most importantly because she raised the most important person to me in my life, my sweet matt. i LOVE her for raising a wonderful man, and 5 other wonderful children that i not only call family, but also dear friends. if i could use one word to describe carma lee, it would be BRIGHT - thus the collection of bright colors in this line. all of my lines thus far have been created to fill a need. i wanted a cute zebra pattern, and couldn't find one...so here is what i came up with! this line was so fun to work with! hopefully you will see it in a store near you! if not, tell your store you WANT it!!!

also, now is the time for me to start my next line...but i'm a little stumped, so this is where the prize comes in. i want everyone to leave me a comment of what you would LOVE to see in your local scrapbook store that is not already there. at the end of july, i will put all the names of the people who comment on my blog into a bowl and pull out 2 winners. i will send you a goodie box full of dream street stuff! also, if you leave more than one comment, your name will go in the drawing for as many ideas as you leave! thanks, and i look forward to hearing what you are wishing to have! check back on july 21st for the winner!

i took these pictures of my neighbor's baby

our family picture on the beach

gracie and her sunglasses

swinging at the park

you have your papa's {john's} smile

my little poser

jack's temple talk

{i distressed this picture of the mesa, arizona temple to hang in my house}

jack was asked to give a talk in primary (sunday school for kids age 3-12) about temples, so as i was coaching him through the talk, i would whisper things in his ear, and he would say them. he was doing a great job with speaking clearly into the microphone, and was not shy at all. we brought in pictures of temples all around the world, and told the children all about the special things that we use temples for...
*learn about Heavenly Father's plan for us
*perform special ordinances for our ancestors
*get married for forever, for eternity
then, at the end of the talk i whispered for jack to repeat, "i know that temples are special places and someday i want to get married in one like my mom and dad." well, jack started by saying, "i know temples are special," but then he stopped. so i repeated the rest of the statement thinking that he just forgot the rest of the words. but jack just stood there. so i whispered it a third time a little louder, but this time he squished his lips together and shook his head. i prodded him to say it, but he turned around to me and said, "i'm not saying that!" by this point the audience started to chuckle because they could hear my "loud" whisper, so they knew what i had wanted him to say, and it was funny that he wouldn't say it. so i took the liberty to say in the microphone, "and someday jack wants to get married in the temple." then jack says, "no i don't, i don't ever want to get married." i couldn't help but laugh, and the audience thought this was quite funny. after we sat down, i asked jack why he didn't want to get married, and he said, "girls have cooties, and i don't want to marry one!"
i'll just have to tuck this story away for later when he is 16 and thinking that girls don't have cooties!

"every day things" every day

(matt took this picture a little over a year ago because he wanted to depict life as it really is. this shot is so typical of my life with 2 small children, one in hand, and one on my hip!..a t-shirt, jeans, and tennies or flip flops)

last week i was talking to a mom of a little girl in jack's preschool class. we were letting our kids play for a little while on the playground before we put them in the car to go home. we were talking about the things our children loved at the time. jack, i said, was obsessed with super heroes. he loves dressing up as spider man or super man and captain jack sparrow! i told her that gracie wanted everything to do with babies. she carries her baby doll everywhere. she said that her daughter was very much into dollies too and that her daughter is always talking about the day when she can become a real mommy. then she went on to say that it bothered her because she didn't want her daughter to think that motherhood was glamorous....and that she needed an education and a career path to make a difference in the world. she didn't want her daughter to be "just a mom". well, i wish i could say that i stood up for mothers. quite frankly, i didn't know what to say. i can't even remember what i said, if i said anything at all, that comment sent me into deep thought and introspection at my life. the comment, "just a mom" haunted me.
then a few days later, i was nominated to be the historian for the board of parents over the school both my children will attend next year, and i was at the first meeting of the new board. i was talking to the women sitting on both sides of me. the women were talking about what they "do". one woman was a lawyer, and one was the ceo of public relations for key bank (the tallest building in downtown cleveland and largest bank of the state). when they asked what i do, the thought popped into my head, "i'm just a mom". but i said that i stayed at home, but i was a graphic designer and photographer. i also went on to say that i was a teacher for 5 years. WHY COULDN'T I STAND UP FOR MOTHERS?????
i was totally wrapped into society in thinking that unless you get a paycheck, you don't have a real or otherwise important job, which is so NOT TRUE!!!
the world would say that unless you
-increased sales by this much
-closed that deal
-won that case
-climbed more more rung up the corporate ladder
- gave that speech
-or received some sort of tangible reward
that what you do is not important. motherhood is not that way, aside from God Himself, no one sees what we do. most, if not all of the work we do, is behind closed doors. there is no bonus for doing 14 loads of laundry a week, and no award for the cleanest refrigerator...no one to cheer when you picked up the last toy or used the hand vac for the 17th time that day!
however, mothers are indeed important, and though the world devalues our "job", we must not. the poet william ross so eloquently wrote, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." i found this quote in the book titled, "I am a Mother", by Jane Clayson Johnson. we are reading this book for our book club this month and i have found it to be uplifting and inspiring.

as mother's day approaches, i wanted to have this week to feel what i do counts, and that being a mother although so tiresome and many times thankless, is indeed a job, and not something to feel like less of a person because that is my "chosen career path". maybe it is just a day that the greeting card companies make a ton of money, but it's not so bad to have one day a year to pay homage to our mothers, and feel good about being a mom.

so although a baby on your hip, and a child in hand may not be glamorous, it's my life, and i love it (most of the time!)

may we teach our daughters that to be a mother is not to be "just a mom", but a true person who holds the future in her hands (or on her hip), and mothers make the BIGGEST difference in the world. i truly have a legacy of wonderful women behind me, and may the legacy i leave be just as wonderful.

first lady's luncheon

well, i wasn't very good at journaling about all the fabulous "stuff" we got to do as kids to a congressman, so i'm trying to be detailed in this experience so that i'll have something to share with my posterity of my experiences with the government "perks".
so, every year in april, the congressional club puts on a luncheon for the first lady. anyone who has ever been in congress (or married to a congressman) is a part of this club. my mom has been to this luncheon several times, but it has never worked out for my sister and i to go. it was easier this year since i'm in ohio, and my sis-in-law, sarah, is in virginia, and kate had to be flown in from good 'ole utah.
we all anticipated this event for many months and each of us got a new dress for the occasion, and thanks to jergens sunless tanning lotion (it's the best one out there b/c it doesn't have that funny smell), i got a tan! my wonderful friends agreed to watch my kids for 2 days while matt was at school, and i was off!
we drove into d.c. (about 40 min from my parents house) and arrived at the hilton where the luncheon was being held. it was a site to see when we walked into the hotel, hundreds of women all dressed up for the occasion as well, many were wearing big fancy hats too! it was fun to see all the spring suits and dresses adorned on a variety of women. we purchased cook books with some of the first ladies' recipes in it (Jacquie Kennedy's spinach quiche looks super YUM!) and mingled with ourselves as my mother ran into an occasional acquaintance or friend.
when we walked into the banquet hall, it was absolutely lovely from floor to ceiling. the tables were decorated with colorful floral table cloths, flowers, and center pieced with a metal dress form (that we bought so I could use it in my next craft show). there were 2 sets of forks, 2 knives, and a desert spoon and knife. the meal was absolutely divine too. The menu read: Spring Southern Salad (with roasted sweet potatoes, glazed pecans, red beans, green roasted tomatoes, & pumpkin seeds), Spicy Shrimp and Grits (with roasted sweet potato, caramelized lemon, green tomato compote), Bread presentation to include (sourdough rolls, seeded flat bread, jalapeno corn bread), Peach Sunrise (ginger crust with peaches, red currents, dulce de leche, and passion fruit glaze)....SUPER YUM!
we were entertained with a poem reading (i felt a bit like anne of green gables), a very candid and real speech from laura bush, and a musical presentation from frederic yonnet.
i LOVE laura bush. i have met her before at the republican nominating convention in philadelphia in 2000, and when we met she asked me my name, and what i do. i told her my name and that i was going to school to become a teacher. she said, "well, 2 lara's who are both teachers, we must be kindred spirits". i've liked her ever since. this time we did not get to go up and see her, but we got to hear her talk. she was funny b/c she had to come out on a catwalk escorted by a military man, and she told us that the first time she was to come to the first lady's luncheon she was debriefed and told a little about the event. she said she was not warned that she would have to come out on a catwalk in front of a thousand pair of eyes! she said that the thoughts went through her mind, "is my dress wrinkled in the back?, do i have on new pantie hose?, and how much do i actually weigh?" i love that she didn't ever put herself above us, but seemed very human and had the sames thoughts that the rest of us would have and totally owned up to them.
so this picture will have to do as my up-close-and-personal with laura bush! and katie pricked her finger on the washington monument (people were laughing as they walked by, but we still did it any way).
we all relished in the awesomeness of the moments at the luncheon, and had fun too! it seemed as if this was all second nature for most of the ladies there, but to us an anomaly...and i'm glad because it made the day more special and out of the ordinary.

i wash my hands of this snow stuff

so this is what i've got (see above), and this is what i'm longing for (see below)so i know that i haven't been as good as a blogger as usual, but seriously...i've got nothin! we are stuck in the rut of winter...STILL!!! nobody told me that the sun don't shine for 6 months out of the year here!!! i've realized just how much of a sun baby i really am. and it doesn't help that this is hands down my favorite time in arizona right now because all the orange trees are blossoming, and it is the best smell in the world, not to mention, the weather is FABULOUS and not FREEZING! yeah, today was a whopping 30 degrees...i was boycotting the cold and wore a pink skirt with no nylons to church...and all my leg hair grew back in the short walk from the car to the church b/c my goose bumps wouldn't go away!

so i'm sorry about the griping, but i miss the sun, and i miss my arizona! i'm ready for this weather to CEASE!!! but the locals tell me that we should get at least one more big storm before spring actually hits...and there is usually no green until mid may, arghhh!

on a good note though, i made a new years resolution to exercise at least 4 days a week, and i've been sticking to it. i actually crave it. i know when i'm getting cranky with my kids, that all i need is a good work out. so here's the deal...we were signed up with a community center, but with an address mix up, we got kicked out...so i decided that i wanted my own elliptical. so costco.com had a $75 rebate on this baby in december, so i bought this for myself for christmas. it was $350...but my community center pass was $290 a year, plus extra for babysitting, so pretty much this is worth paying for a year at the community center.
I work out Mon-Friday at 4 pm, because that is when this awesome show, SUPER WHY, is on PBS, and it's educational (Jack is actually sounding out words because of it)...so no guilt there, and this is the only show that my kids stay glued for the full half hour. so i put 30 of my fav songs on my new i pod shuffle (thanks mom and dad), and have a full half hour to myself, not to mention the burning of 300 calories! i totally can't quit until the calorie meter says over 300 calories...I always want to quit right around the time the meter says 215, but i keep going.