Ish

For a while now Laila's  been using the word- "ish" to describe her day, her friends, her life, if she's excited or if she's sad.  

For instance, I'll say to her, "Laila how was your day?" Or "Did you have a good time with your friends?"  

Her response..."ish"

"Laila how was dance?"

"Ish"

Laila, did you do a good job cleaning your room?"

"ish"

"Did the pizza taste good?"-

"Ish"

 It's  pretty funny.......ish

Time out for all of us

My sweet friend Linda Wangsgaard had a great idea last spring to get Time out for Women tix in Logan and take our Daughters to a little girl get away. I got the tix and hotel lined up then Bre got  in a play and couldn't come. So I invited my sister Angela to go. In the morning of the event Lexi woke up with strep  and bronchitis. I teased her that she didn't have to go to such drastic measures not to go with me. She felt so bad. We invited  a friend, Jan Clinger to take her place instead. So my DIL getaway didn't work out but we had a great time anyway   

TOFW was excellent. The speakers and the music are always so inspirational .  I really loved the talk about “Deliverance from our Problems”  by Kris Belcher, a blind lady who has such a good attitude.  She says the key is to Look Up, Look In and Look Out.  She is like a stand up comedian and  makes everyone laugh and then be in awe over her realness.     We also heard for Olympian, Noellee Picus Pace. Such an amazing story as well about perseverance and sticking with a dream.    Fave quote: “Difficulties are made to change us for the better.”

Wayne took Tru and Monson to Michigan to be in the Big house for the Michigan vx. Utah game.  MONSON WAS IN HEAVEN…it didn’t matter who won.  These are his teams.  He sat in the sea of Red fans with his Blue and Yellow on ….and it was great.  They loved being with “superfans” Blake and Mark…who are crazy, screaming, jumping on every play.   With 10 minutes left in the game and the Utes up 26-10 it was delayed for almost 2 hours because of Lightening and Rain that was coming down in sheets.  It rained REALLY hard….. By the time the game started up again, most of the Michigan fans had left, so the Utah fans went down almost to field level to finish watching the game. They were there so long that their phones all died, most of the food stands were sold out of food and when they finally got back to their hotels they had to eat at the same sports bar two nights in a row.  Wayne was there  with his boys, Mark Welch  Terry Welch , Lizzy Welch, and Blake Bentley.   It was a quick trip but sooo fun.

Fairy tale Festival

I have been running around the past weekend with the Fairy Tale festival at CenterPoint Theatre... I was in charge of the craft booths…set up of tents and chairs and tables and supplies, and clean up and basically  the over all look of the festival.    I was at the Theatre Friday and Saturday from 8-8….and never stopped moving.  It was exhausting…and I was happy to be involved.  So many cute little kids buying into our magic.  The Tea parties and the Daddy Daughter Ball…and the character greetings and entertainment…all just darling.  Hopefully next year, Sophia and Andrew can attend.  They would have been in HEAVEN!     Periodically, we had all of the little kids that wanted to, join the singers on the steps and sing Frozen songs at the top of their lungs.    Olaf was a big hit!

Let me share One experience that I witnessed that was so sweet… This was written by Shelley Davies, a wonderful woman who was in charge of all of this….   In the second tea party on Saturday, there was a little red-haired girl named Whitney. I am not sure what her physical challenge is, but she is in a wheel chair. Her head was held in place and she is not verbal. She was dressed in a beautiful pink princess dress. Her mother sat by her side. As  I was placing a "fairy kiss" on her cheek, her eyes lit up and I saw and felt something I have only felt a few times in my life. I couldn't stop the tears and I felt badly because mine brought them to the mother's eyes also. Again, at her tiara crowning I had to fight hard not to dissolve as I saw that light again. Her mother grabbed me and said, I don't know who made this happen, but I can't say thank you enough for giving my little princess this experience.   …

Holly's special Friend to Friend group sang on the steps a song from The Little Mermaid.   She found her friend, Chris Brown.

I even had my knight in shining armor show up...... I had worked all day on Friday and wasn't able to even run home to get my "real" costume on , so I grabbed an "I dream of Genie" something and wore that to cover up my exercise clothes.  It was a crazy, exhausting time.  Can't wait til next year!

Why Family pictures?

I read this recently on the CSI project, and it really hit me... so I wanted to share. It's about families, and pictures and not being perfect, but just being real.  What  I strive to be. 

The more I live this life, the more I realize that family is so much more than just being born to someone. Family is a sacrifice on everyone’s part so that we all can progress in this life and become the best people we can be. It is a commitment to one another.

1994

1998

2003

2007

2009

 Maybe being a family has little to do with blood but more to do with love, trust, care and devotion. Maybe being a family has more to do with the time spent, the time invested into each others lives rather than how we all came to be.

My ideal family looks like us. We aren’t perfect. No one in the family is. We struggle.
We know who we are. We know what goes on in our four walls we call a home and we are happy with it. At the end of this life, I don’t think God is going to care how we became a family. I think he will care more about what we did with it. How we treated each other, how we loved each other and how we lived our lives.

May 2014

May 2014

So, we are going to take that family photo.  We will do these things knowing who we are.

A family.

How would you describe yourself in five words?

Sent this question out to my family...and here are the results....drum roll please....

Melinda:  Momma, Bossy, Accepting, Yellow, Lover

Wayne: Husband, Dad, Quiet, Dizzy, Competitive

Addison: Creative, Happy, Mysterious, Right-brained, Dad

Bre: Resourceful, Driven, Optimistic, Mother, Silly

Alfie: Observer, Chill, Foodie, Loveable, Baby

Landon:Talkative, Dad, Friend, Blessed, Happy

Alex: Dad, Kind, Smart, Big-hearted, Intuitive 

Andrew: Smart, Sweet, Humorous, Gentle, Observant

Sophia: Outgoing, Loud, Giddy, Loving, Happy. 

Truman: Loyal, Witty, Innovative, Quirky, Confident

Monson: Ginger, Cat-hater, Sporty, Rapper, Spiritual

Lexi: Sister, Loving, Psychotic, Blue, Daughter

Laila: Messy, Dancer, Friend, Connected, Moody

Baby:  Dog, Insecure, Hairy, Licky, Soft

Queen of her own life

Love the Welch clan

Wanee with all of her Children..... inlaws and outlaws.......Sept. 1, 2014

I have loved being a part of the extended Welch family for over 32 years. They are all so different...yet we come together in a common family cause.  We care about each other and what our children are doing.  We pray for each other, comfort each other, celebrate and cheer each other....just like a family should.

Rob, Tami, Terry, Cyrrena, Mark, Jill, Bret, Wendi, Dale,  Wanee, Steve, Jane, Clark, Sandy, Wayne, Melinda, Holly

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. When I look at this family picture, a thousand words can’t even begin to describe my love for them or how grateful I am.

Social Media Fast

I have been off Social Media for the past 5 weeks.  It has been an eye opening experience.  No Facebook, no Instagram, no Twitter.... I called it my Social media fast. I wanted to cleanse my brain and my time.

It's been nice to be "free" from my phone and checking it so much.

What happens to me and many others, is we turn to our phones when we are waiting in lines, or waiting at the doctors office, or waiting for the light to turn green, or even sitting with family and friends.. ...well you get the idea.  What did I do before my smart phone?  I actually had to be with my thoughts, make eye contact, greet and acknowledge other's presence and make conversation.

I want to return to this.

Not being on Social Media givse me so much more to talk about and catch up on when I'm with friends and relatives.  I am having conversations that we would not have had because I would have "seen it" already.  I like having conversations.  I like connecting with people.  This is why I thought Social media would be fun for me, but it's really a conversation killer.  Been there, seen that.   Being on smartphones so much is really isolating.

My fast would have been easier if I was a mom of younger kids...but all of children have a smart phone and post about their lives, including my grandkids pics, and  I definitely missed out.  Many times Wayne would show me something just to stay in the loop.  I was not as internet connected to family and friends.  Phone calls  and conversations used to help spread the news about an engagement, a baby birth, a move...with my "fast" I didn't get the news.

I missed out on the whole ALS Ice Bucket challenge...this is a good and a bad thing.

This isn't a rant against Social Media.... it's here to stay and ever evolving but.....we need to be responsible with all of this Social media we have around us.  It can be used for good or bad.  Let's be uplifting and caring about what we post to each other.  We also need to connect with each other person to person...not just screen to screen.

I'm back on now.... I got in this morning.

It's a requirement for my job to have a facebook account and more.  This is a great way to advertize and share what's going on with our online school.  I get this. It's also a powerful tool for our church. It's a great way to spread the good word and do a little missionary work.  I get this.

BUT........

I'm not going to return to my old ways.  I will not be checking it as often.  I will not let it take over my time.  I'm going to post more thoughtfully.  My goal is to look up, really be there...where ever I am, and connect.