Birds Flying High, You Know How I Feel!

I am always entering dumb contests, and the odds are always stacked against me.
"Why not?!" I justify.
"One of these days I'm bound to win something!"
Then I heard on the radio that they were giving away Michael Buble tickets the week before he was coming to town. WHAT!?!?! I had to win. I was going to win. Of all the concerts I would ever want to go to, this would be it.
I have never called into a radio station before in my life, but that whole week I called three times a day at the cue to call because I was determined! I was even caller Number 2 twice! Ugh! So close! Friday came and I was down to two more chances to win. But the problem was that I had to take Todd to a doctor's appointment during one of the call times. (I'm embarrassed to say that I even called to try to change his appointment so that I wouldn't miss the "sounder" as they called it). Instead, I asked my mom, aunt, sister, and husband to all wait by the phone while I was at the doctor's office. (Why didn't I think of that sooner?! That would have quadrupled my chances from the beginning!) I left the office, anxiously rushing back to my car to load up the kids and to call my family to see if they had any luck. But the sounder hadn't gone off yet. Oh yay! Now I could join in.
But we waited...
And waited...
Alex was smart enough to get back to his school work, and my aunt and sister were also smart enough to not linger by the radio anymore. But me and my mom (who was in California) kept waiting. Too long I might add. I called the station a few times asking if they were going to do the sounder anytime soon. (Crazy lady with a Michael Buble concert on the brain right here!) Long story short, we were never caller number one. I was bummed, but oh well. Go figure. Just add this one to my list of contests I don't win. It would have been so fun to have this romantic evening with the love of my life! Some other time when we have $400 to fork over. (ha! Probably never! At least not for a loooong time!)
Well, the next morning I decided that I wasn't going to give up just yet. I knew they had at least a couple of tickets left because they never did do the 10:30 AM sounder. I figured I had nothing to lose. I emailed the radio station, giving them a little bit of our story- medical school, three kids, yada yada - and basically asked that if there happened to be any tickets left over if I could maybe be entered into some sort of raffle of drawing to win the tickets. Fingers crossed!!
The whole next week passed by. I hadn't heard anything back from the station. And I actually hadn't thought much of it. It was Thursday now, I was driving home from dropping off Lucy at preschool, listening to the radio, and I was thinking about how the concert was the next day and how much fun that would have been, again thinking "oh well". I got home and while feeding Annie some yummy green beans, I checked my email and I see this:

Good afternoon Shauna!

I got your message that you submitted on our My 92.9 website, please give me a call at your earliest convenience and let’s see if we can work something out for you and your husband.

Best,

Aly

I JUMPED up from my chair! What!? Oh my gosh!! I saw that the email had been sent only three minutes ago. Should I wait a little bit to call so I didn't look like some psycho? Nah...I just hurried and called!! Another long story short, she had me play a little game where I had to name three of the DJ's on the station. I named them with ease (I had only been listening to the radio religiously for the last forever), and I won!! Freak out central! I couldn't believe it!! I couldn't wait to tell Alex!! He basically was over the moon excited and even apologized for ever doubting me. :) This was all for you, Lovie! For us!

For the last long story short...we had an amazing, romantic, magical, dance-filled night!! Pinch me please!!

Van Buskirk Family Photoshoot

Talk about a fun family! Their enthusiasm and love for life is simply contagious! Each of the girls has such a unique personality along with their own unique beauty. I don't think any of them look alike! And I can tell that the dad just loooooves being with all of his girls! And they adore him equally as much!  

I get to work closely with the mom and two older girls in the Young Woman organization at church and I'm so grateful to know such sweet, loving people!! 

We Build Up

What was I doing?! This isn’t me! Somewhere in my little fourth grade mind I decided that I wanted to be cool. I wanted to show Billy who was boss and I wanted to show others too. And for those 48 hours I was a bully… a real life Mean Girl. I called Billy names, I teased him, I splashed water on him, and I made sure that he was miserable. This time at recess, I found myself physically bullying him. My two girlfriends behind me laughed as they thought what I was doing was funny.

I shoved him, “Come on, Billy!” I shoved him again “COME ON! Aren’t you going to say something?”

I waited for an answer. My hands were on my waist, hip popped out, and my weight resting on my back leg. I waited for the little pipsqueak to make his move. What, in my power, was I able to provoke from this little nobody?

I waited.

And the next few seconds changed my entire life. They have played on repeat in my mind over and over again since.

Time had stopped. The breeze gently kissed the leaves of the trees as it passed by. The grass was still a little damp from the morning dew. The sounds of my classmates playing nearby blended in with the background. All I could hear was the snickering of my two girlfriends behind me and the loud snickering inside myself as I hovered over him, glaring.

But Billy didn’t say a word, the look on his terrified face said it all. He was on the ground, inching backwards away from me. He was on the verge of crying and screaming all at the same time. He was ready to burst! 

I looked at his eyes. Those eyes! Those eyes are seared into my soul. They said it all.

Why was I doing this? To what end? I realized then and there that Billy was a person too. He had a home. Probably a dog as well. I’m sure he liked TV and pizza was most likely his favorite food. He had people who loved him very much. He had a mother who could see the beautiful qualities in him. They were there. Surely I could see them too if I looked hard enough.

I just stared back at him, my hands falling to my sides, my weight leveled between my feet. My glare softened along with my heart. I was ashamed. I turned and just walked away. Not only from the situation, but from ever doing such a thing again. I had been taught my whole life that the Savior loves each and every one of us unconditionally. I had been taught that as a child of God, I should emulate my Savior’s love and extend a loving hand to those around me. What I had been doing those two days was anything but.

Ever since, I have lived my life trying to find at least one good thing in people. I have fought every urge to notice the bad, pushing those negative thoughts aside and looking for a positive. Even if it started with “Her hair looks nice” or “I like her shoes”, that was a starting point.

Now here I am, three kids later, and trying to teach them and instill in their little hearts and minds principles of love, kindness, sharing, and thoughtfulness. They are never too young to learn such things (and we are never too old!). But if I could ever teach my children one thing, just one thing, it would be that we build up. We build each other up in this family, we build up those around us, and we build up ourselves.

I have this picture hanging in my home. It is a picture of the Salt Lake Temple in 1892, the day that the capstone was laid. It’s telling to me that even though the capstone is being put in place, scaffolding still adorned the spires of the building. We are constantly building, we never stop, and the only way to build is up. It's impossible to build down. You can only tear down. 

Alex and I are building a family, and we are trying to build our family up unto the Lord. Building is a messy process. But it's a messy process that involves many contributors. There are tools, workers, scaffolding, a contractor, and a blue print. They all come together to make something beautiful.

As a young mother, it’s difficult to keep the floor clear of toys or the table clean of crumbs. The art supplies are always out with crayons strewn all over, and the couch is filthy from little dirty feet jumping on it. But those marks on the wall and the dirty couch and the messy table all serve as reminders to me that we are building. I don’t need to be so hard on myself all the time if I understand what comes along with building something. Though, that doesn't give me an excuse to let things go and to live in a mess, rather it helps me to be less critical of myself and my home. 

When you come to visit, don't mind the construction zone, we're building a family!

As the general contractors of this family, Alex and I have a duty to teach our children how to build, what tools to use, and how to work together. We can teach them how to build and lift each other up, to encourage, cheer on, support, and love those around them. We can build up emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually through words as well as action.

No matter what or who we are building, we build up. And our job of building is never completed. 

I Feel You, Pal. I Feel You.

It's either Monday or we're in need of a Disney trip.

Or both.

iLovin

Elder Segle - Missionary Photoshoot

Before I get into Dathan serving a mission for our church and all of that wonderful stuff, I first have to say that this great guy was one of Lucy's sunbeam teachers! She totally adores him! She's always talking about Brother Segle....she heard something over the intercom at the store that sounded like his name and said "Brother Segle?! Mom! They said Brother Segle!". Or we'll be reading a Curious George book and it happened to have seagulls in the story and Lucy will say "Just like Brother Segle!". Anyways, you get the point. :)

This is my first shoot for a missionary and I had an absolute blast! I could just feel the excitement and energy coming from Dathan. You can tell he's just so ready to get out there and share the gospel. He's going to make a great missionary!

Purple-Green Team

Costumes this year were pretty easy for me. Annie wore Lucy's Tinkerbell costume, Todd was Buzz again like last year, and Lucy wanted to be a mermaid. But more specifically - the one picking the sea star from Peter Pan. And she had to be a purple mermaid. No surprise there. :) With a little trip to Joann's and some Hawaiian souvenirs, Lucy's costume was complete. 

It wasn't until I was dressing them that I realized they were coordinating with purples and greens. 

One nice lady asked Lucy, "Are you a mermaid from Hawaii?" She responded with "No! I'm a mermaid from Arizona!" That girl's got good logic!

And one more for good measure.