A First Kiss!

Tonight I ran out to get come dinner (yes, I succumbed and did fast food). I came in and picked up a glass of water that was by the couch. Without looking I just put the glass to my lips to take a drink. As I did so, something tickled/bothered my lip. I pulled the glass away and brushed off what I figured was a hair on my top lip. Then I put the glass back to my lip and felt it again. So, I pulled the glass away and to remove the hair and found the problem...there was a box elder bug crawling along the rim of the glass! ICK!!!!! It was all I could to not drop the glass as I raced into the kitchen to drown the bug in the sink. It’s been awhile and yet I still cringe at the thought of this first kiss. YIKES!!!!!!! That's one first kiss I hope to never ever remember!!!! Time to call the exterminator!

Vest Buttons Popping

Yesterday I would have made my Grandpa B proud of me....I don't have lots of memories of my dad's dad (aka Grandpa B). He was still working as a doctor when I was young and then when he retired, I was about 11, he had 2 strokes so he wasn't as active as he might have been. Plus he and Grandma lived in Cedar City and Salt Lake City, Utah and later Palm Springs, California when I was growing up so visits from Chicago were somewhat infrequent.

Anyway...my most vivid memory of Grandpa B was from when I was probably between 3 and 5. We were walking down the street I think in California (we were living there at the time) and I remember that I was walking ahead of Mom, Dad, Grandpa B and Grandma B. There were some puddles along the sidewalk. Being a typical child I would come to a puddle and stomp through it, stomp, stomp, stomp....After doing this a couple times, Grandpa came up and took my hand then showed and taught me how to carefully walk through a puddle without splashing water all over myself and those around me; "Heal toe, heal toe." “Gently.” “No, don’t splash.” “Careful.” “There you go.” “That’s right, good job.” It took me a few tries to figure out how to do it correctly while Grandpa patiently held my hand and reminded me, "Heal toe, Heal toe..." While holding his hand and doing it without splashing a couple times, he let me walk through a puddle alone again. On my own again…wanting to impress...showing what’d I’d learned…so proudly…STOMP, STOMP, STOMP….of course the adults all giggled at me. Back then puddles equaled splashing, that’s why they were on the sidewalks, wasn’t it? To this day, I think of that lesson whenever I walk through puddles and it always makes me smile.

Yesterday between work and school I stopped to fill my car. I pulled up to the pump, turned off the car, opened the door and discovered I was in a HUGE puddle. This wasn’t your average sized puddle…it was big enough to surround most of my car and I was worried that my car might sink into the depths of this puddle. Rather than restart the car and move to another pump (call me lazy or a conservationist either’s fine with me) I just carefully got out and walked through the puddle. However, thanks to Grandpa’s expert teaching the cuffs of my extra long jeans didn’t even get damp! A life lesson I’m grateful to have learned and eventually mastered…Grandpa, thanks for the memory and thanks for teaching me!

Thought to sleep on...

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie

This quote was shared in church on Sunday, February 3, 2008 as part of a lesson in Relief Society on gratitude. Since that lesson, I've been following the recommendation of the presidency to be more grateful and I've noticed a HUGE difference! There is real power in being grateful, I felt it almost instantly. I'll be posting this quote where I can see it frequently. Eventually I think it needs to be committed to memory but that's for when school's not in session.

What's in a name?

I saw this on my cousin Janette's blog and thought I'd see what they said about my name, as unique as it is....Here are the results regardless of whether or not I agree (please don't hold this against me):

What JaNae Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Quick update

4 grad school apps completed 2 to go!!!!! Now the "wait and see what's next" time has truly begun.

Way too long with favorite people!

It's been 2½ years (and 3 grandchildren) since all 5 of the Broadbent siblings have been together. We've had a few gatherings for reasons happy & sad over the years but there was always one family missing.

On Saturday, December 23rd were not only in the same state but the same place at the same time. We gathered at Kevin & Kelley's home for brunch, gifts and a Wii tournament. Not everything went as planned, the Wii tournament never really happened, however, Kevin & Kelley have ton's of great toys and we had a blast playing with them. After eating and a few group pictures we decided to expose our inner rocker and played Rock Band. You might not be able to tell but there are 2 guitars, vocals and drums (for the Rock Band illiterate). I don't know who laughed harder, the performers or the observers.Just setting it up was a challenge for Kevin. The girls formed a girl band first and just the setup of that was an experience. Poor Kevin was so patient with his ditsy sisters as they all kept pressing buttons and messing up what he'd started. Of course selecting our respective band members was a huge challenge, we are girls afterall...Kevin thanks for being such a good sport with all us!

A bit of competition took place too. The first drummer wasn't doing as well as her husband thought she should so when the next band formed, he took over the drums. After the song ended he admitted that the drums weren't so easy to play after all.

Kevin showed off his Rock Band expertise by playing the advanced guitar then switched to the advanced drums. We all commented on his selection of the hardest drums level forgetting that's he's a percussionist. Course, when it ended, he too commented on the difficulty...little rusty, Bro?

When it came time to open gifts we rigged things so that Grandma (aka, Nama) and Papa could join in the fun via webcam. As everything was getting set up Kevin decided to play with the webcam first. It was unanimous that he needed a facial, maybe that should have been part of his Christmas gift....

The Wii was played by some as a few of the littler ones slept, some even in the same room as the doubles tennis game was going on. But we couldn't let the music in us die. We also played a bongo game...4 sets of bongos...the screen telling you which bongo (right, left, both) or when to clap in rhythm with the song selected. As was the case with the other video games, there were many giggles and lots of laughter at ourselves and each other. So much for thinking we were all coordinated and know how to keep a beat.

We had a great time. It reminded me of when I was little and visiting my grandparents in Cedar City, it felt like there were people and grandchildren in every corner of the house. We may be somewhat small in number still (6 grandchildren and 4 in-laws to date) but it was a houseful of family, laughter, fun, and love. Let's make sure that our next gathering isn't 2½ years away and that Mom and Dad can be there in person next time. How I love these crazy people I'm lucky enough to be related to!

The best laid plans...

I've had all these things I've wanted to be sure to record while on break from school and now school starts next week and not much has been added. Guess blogging more regularly will be a good resolution for 2008.

Speaking of 2008, where did 2007 go?! Why is it that I feel like I lose 1-2 weeks every year? This is crazy. And I hear that it goes quicker when you are a parent...guess I'll really be in trouble then...

To trigger my memory, here's some of what I'll post later, after photos are downloaded & I have a few more minutes than I do right now: Temple Square Christmas concert, siblings Christmas gathering, trip home to Chicago, New Years, break fun, next semester...

Until later, have a wonderful day. Hope that 2008 is full of surprises, happiness, laughter, and joy for all of us! (So far so good for me!)