random things

Here you have it -- our new kitchen table. I, for one, love being able to all sit down to eat at the same time. For those of you who might remember our previous "table and chairs," you can see that this is quite an improvement.

Now that we have four working chairs, maybe we can actually invite people over for dinner!


The last picture is of the lovely surprise I got when
I went to get Ethan out of his room for naptime a few days ago.
Now that he no longer sleeps, he has time for such funner things.

To Kill a Mockingbird

My Life Monday: Week 4 -- what is your favorite book and why.

Okay, so I'm kind of cheating for this one. For enrichment night a little while back, a friend asked me if I'd give a short little presentation on my favorite book along with a few other sisters in the ward. Being the dork that I am, and sadly deprived of opportunities to write essays and papers and so forth, I probably went a little overboard in the presentation I prepared. Nevertheless, To Kill a Mockingbird IS my favorite book, and the following description IS what I truly feel. So here you go...

"Through the eyes of Scout Finch, [the novel's young narrator], Harper Lee explores with rich humour and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's struggle for justice..." (excerpt from the jacket cover).

Written during a period of deep political and civil unrest in 1960, this book is one of the rare finds that transcends time and remains as potent and applicable today as it did 50 years ago.

In his 1950 Nobel Literature prize acceptance speech, William Faulkner declared the only thing worth writing about involves the human heart in conflict with itself. As Scout struggles to make sense of the world in which she lives and the conflict between what her heart feels is right and what society tells her is right, she comes to the conclusion that "there's only one kind of folks in this world, and thats just folks."

As for why this is my favorite book, and why I think it is perhaps one of the best books of the 20th century, I want to refer again to Faulkner's acceptance speech. I'll close this little presentation with his concluding remarks: "I believe that man will not merely endure: he wil prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help men endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail."

So there you have it. Read it if you haven't already.

I thought I'd list a few other books that I've read lately that I think are good reads:

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini is EXCELLENT. I really like books that have a redemptive quality to them. This book has some serious subject matter in it, but in the end is the triumph of the human spirit, which makes any book worthwhile for me.

As far as epics go, "The Far Pavillions" by M.M. Kaye is probably not one you've heard of. Its by a British author, and it is a sweeping tale that will just suck you in. The ending felt a bit long to me, but I still loved it overall.

If you like mysteries, M. M. Kaye also has a series of "Death in ---" books which are fun reads. I really liked "Death in Zanzibar" and "Death in Cyprus." Also in the mystery genre is the series that starts with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie King that is a Sherlock Holmes spin-off.

If you're in the mood for some non-fiction, I just finished a fascinating book called "Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology" by Eric Brende. This guy decides to try an experiment of living without any type of modern technology for a year to see if the quality of his life actually improves. I really thought his ideas and conclusions were interesting.

As for juvenile literature, I love Andrew Clements' books. My favorite by far is "Frindle" -- probably because it has to do with words and their meanings. In this book a 5th grade student decides to try and get his whole class to stop calling a a pen "pen" and call it a "frindle" instead. Its a really quick read and I love how it shows that it just takes one person to institute a big change.

Okay, you're probably tired of reading all my ramblings by now. Sorry!

Next week's topic - Take a picture of something (not somebody) that represents part of who you are. Share that object and tell why it is significant to you.

new for next week

For next week's My Life Monday topic, I'm going to make it up myself! Because I like to read, and I always like new suggestions for books, I'm making the topic this:

My Life Monday: Week 4 -- What is your favorite book and why?

I thought I'd give you a little time to think about it before you post it next week. I can't wait to hear everyone's answers!

The Photographer

Last Sunday Ethan kept BEGGING me to get the digital camera out for him. He kept saying he wanted to take a picture of Mommy and Grace. I finally relented and here are the results. Turns out he has some photographing skillz.

Say my name, say my name

My Life Monday: Week 3 -- My parents named me Jessica Lynn because...

Ahhh. This could be opening up a can of worms. You see, I'm very particular about names (just ask my husband). I have not one, not two, but THREE different baby name books in my possession. Perhaps its because I love words and their meanings so much, but I really love learning what names mean and for my own children -- Ethan and Grace -- I (although I should say we, because Scott does have SOME say in naming the kids. hahaha) have chosen names based on their meanings and what I want them to live up to or embody. I want their names to MEAN something.

However, we're not talking about my kids names -- we're talking about my name. According to my baby book, my mom says that they picked my name (Jessica Lynn _____) because they thought it was pretty. Growing up I liked my name fine. I guess when you're used to your name you don't know what its like not having that particular name so you can't really compare whether you'd like another one better. As I grew older, I got to the point where I didn't DISLIKE my name, it just bothered me that it pegged me as such a child born in the eighties. In fact, according to ssa.gov, the name Jessica was the third most popular name in the country the year I was born (1980). So, as I said before, I didn't DISLIKE my name, I just wished that there weren't so many other Jessicas around me.

The name that bothered me more was my middle name -- Lynn (sorry mom). It just bothered me that it didn't MEAN anything special or meaningful, and even more importantly, it seemed like such a filler middle name. I mean come on. Its like Lynn is the go-to middle name that will flow well with almost any first name. (Go on, try it out with yours). When I got married, I was happy to get rid of the middle name and adopt my maiden name as the middle instead.

As I've gotten older (and so much wiser -- haha), I've come to appreciate a certain irony. First of all, my mom has never been crazy about her name (Nancy) and it turns out that HER mom always hated HER name (Rita). But the thing I like about all of our names, is that we represent a little bit of history. My name IS an " '80's " name and Nancy totally conjures the " '50's " and Rita is definitely a name that fits in with the " '20's " and " '30's." Of course, the biggest irony of all is that the names I've chosen for my kids will also date them to the time they were born even though I picked them for their meaning and not because they were popular names at the time. Oh well! Hopefully they won't hate their names because of that, and even if they do, perhaps one day they'll realize how much thought went into picking their names and at least appreciate the effort.

I know that as I've become a mom, I've come to appreciate my own mother so much more. And I've also come around to the idea that a mom picking a name simply because she thinks it is "pretty" gives it meaning in and of itself. So for my next little girl -- I'm already planning on naming her Sophie Lynn.

And that is all folks.

a little thing called My Life Monday

Okay, so I'm totally stealing this idea from someone else's blogspot that I found while wandering around the blogger universe, but I really think its a fun idea, and I think all of y'all should do it too! Okay? Anyway, this is how it goes. A lady named Rachelle started this and basically each week there's a new topic to blog about. So here goes. I really liked last week's topic, so I'll write about that first and then I'll move on to this week's.

Here goes:

My Life Monday: Week 2 -- The Story of My Spouse

Most of you have probably heard some variation of this story, and some of you have actually lived through it. The reader's digest version that I usually tell at church when I'm introducing myself and husband is that Scott was writing an article for The Daily Universe for Valentine's Day and he quoted me in it and thats how we met.

However, the actual story is a little more complicated than that. First of all, I have to thank Natalie for being, first of all, my roommate in college, and secondly for being a Broadcast Journalism major. Because this is how I really met Scott. (And just as a warning, this is turning out to be much longer than I was planning!)

My junior year at BYU, Natalie and I weren't technically roomies any more, although we still told people that we were because it was just easier than explaining that we had been roommates since freshmen year, but we weren't roommates now, but we were going to be living together again in the spring/summer, etc. Anyway, Natalie knew Scott because he was also a Broadcast Journalism major and they had classes together and worked in the newsroom together and had become pretty good friends. So, for the sweetheart edition of The Daily Universe that winter semester, Scott was assigned to write an article about conversation hearts -- you know the little heart valentine candies with the sayings on them. Scott needed quotes from people who actually liked them, and Natalie told him to call me because she knew I loved them, and she knew I was good at popping out quotes for articles , seeing as to how she had used me a TON the semester she was writing for the paper.

Anyway, Scott called me and the rest is history. Just kidding. We didn't even officially meet then. He called me on the phone and interviewed me and that was that. I remember thinking that he sounded like a cool guy, but I knew that Natalie had said he had a girlfriend. So that was really all there was to it.

Fast forward a few months and we were right in the heart of the BEST SUMMER EVER!!! Me, Natalie, Heidi, and Emily were living in an unairconditioned house south of campus and having a blast! Seriously, it was the funnest summer of my life. Natalie was working late nights up at the newsroom that spring/summer and so was Scott (along with a few other newsnet crew) and the rest of us roomies tended to hang out up there a lot as well. The first time I officially met Scott up there I remember thinking "wow, he's really smart" because he knew like every answer on that show "The Weakest Link." Us girls, Scott, and another guy friend up there started hanging out a lot and playing games. Our favorites were trivial pursuit and boggle and pictionary. And to be honest, it bugged me a little at first because boggle is my GAME, and Scott beat everyone every single time we played. We (meaning the whole gang) would also watch movies a lot at Scott parents house in their basement where they have a gigantic TV.

By the end of the summer, I had a big crush on Scott, but I couldn't really read how he felt about me. Around the beginning of the school year, Scott wanted to borrow my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird (my favorite book in the whole world) to prove that the phrase "how 'bout them apples" originated in this book (it didn't in case you're wondering). The copy was pretty old and being a paperback it was kind of falling apart. So, Scott took it upon himself to get me a new edition -- one that was "classy" like me. He bought a hardback copy and gave it to me on a Saturday morning. That was my first clue that maybe he might like me too. And then when I told him my roommates and I would be watching Miss America that night as per tradition, he asked if he could come over too. Now I knew there had to be something there. What guy voluntarily comes over to watch a beauty pageant with a bunch of girls, right? Well, come over he did and later (much, much, much later) that night we kissed outside on the steps of good old Crown apartments after staying up talking about anything and everything till about 4 in the morning.

From that moment on, we were pretty much inseparable. You know, except for when we had to go to bed and stuff. I knew from that first night he kissed me that I was going to marry that boy. However, a couple months into our dating, I started doing some major freaking out about whether or not we should be together -- but that is a very long whole other story that will make THIS long story even longer! Suffice it to say that we started dating at the end of September of 2001, were engaged in February and married on April 30, 2002 in the Salt Lake Temple.

Four years and 2 kids later, he's still my favorite person in the whole entire world and I don't really know what I'd do without him.

(sorry this is a repeat picture, yo)

Wheww. Okay, that ended up taking A LOT longer than I expected. I guess I should just stick to the reader's digest version in the future, right? hahaha.

Well, I can't wait to hear everyone else's stories, and just to whet your appetite for the next My Life Monday topic:

My Life Monday: Week 3 -- My parents named me ________because...
Tell us about your name. Do you like it or dislike it? Would you name yourself something else? Does your name fit you? Share all your thoughts and feelings on your name. If you prefer to keep your name anonymous, be creative.


Alright, peace out y'all.

Good Friends, Good Fun

I know its been a while since I posted anything, so for all those of you who know the Gruwells (and for those of you who at least know OF the Gruwells) -- here are some pictures from Lucas' reception on Saturday night.

Lucas and Meagan

Paul and Scott

Jessica

Me, Esther, Missy, and Levi

Elle and Levi

Jessica and Eliza

Elle and Jessica

Cute little Mya

And now for a few candid shots from the reception:











And now here's one last parting shot for you:

Awwww-- how cute.

Chalking it up

The weather here has been really beautiful for the last week or so, and we've been able to venture outside more and more for a little freedom from the confines of our apartment.

Drawing on the sidewalk with chalk is always a fun activity for the kids, and as you can see from the picture above, sometimes I get into it a little bit more than they do.

Here is a portrait of my rugrats. Enjoy!

Three Cheers for Nursery!

So, my little baby's all grown-up! Here's Grace (with Ethan) on her first eligible day of nursery (hip, hip, hooray).




As you can see, Grace is literally jumping for joy she's so excited. Ethan is very excited to have her join him as well. After sacrament meeting it was so cute because Ethan says to Grace: "Grace, you're big now. You get to come to nursery with 'Niki' [this is how he says his name -- I don't know how he got it either]." I guess thats one perk of having kids 16 months apart. They're able to keep each other company in nursery for the rest of this year.




Fortunately, Grace LOVED nursery, and the only time they had to bring her to me was for a diaper change. The funny thing is, this is the first time practically since we've been married that Scott and I can sit with each other through all of Sunday School and to be honest I don't really know what to do with myself. Call it adult-onset ADD or maybe its just being around kids all day that causes my attention span to dwindle to the size of theirs, but today's Sunday School lesson was the longest 40 minutes of my life!

Okay, before I close, I just had to post one more picture. Ethan (and Grace) are notorious for their "rocking." They rock when they're sitting on the couch watching Little Einstein's, they rock when they're eating, and they rock when they're in bed. Ethan doesn't usually fall asleep for nap time anymore, but a few weeks ago he must have been really tired, and he rocked himself to sleep (this time in an actual rocking chair). How funny is that? Notice the death grip he has on the aforementioned watering cans I got at Wal-Mart (in case you can't see in the picture, his arms are looped through the handles). What can I say? My kids are crazy!

Sunday, Sunday

So, do any of you out there have 11:00 church? Because we do, and I never thought I'd be saying this, but it is way too late for me! Perhaps its because my children are up by 7 or 7:30 every morning and Scott is already at church meetings by the time they/I wake up, but there is just way too much down time before we can finally get out the door. And I don't know what it is about Sundays -- every other day of the week I manage to shower and get dressed for the day without Scott here to keep an eye on the kids. But on Sundays, showering and getting dressed for the day are monumental tasks!

I think I've finally gotten the system down. I've learned to get the kids dressed at the very last minute before leaving for church otherwise they're sure to spill something or get stained by something before we leave. I've also learned to take advantage of Little Einstein's on the TiVo to shower and start getting ready. And just to make sure they leave me alone for a little while, I ply them up with lots of snacks. Despite all my tactics, etc. we still have 3-4 hours of down time every Sunday morning with nothing to do!

I don't even know what I'm going to do when we switch to 1:00 church next year!