HELP! Calling for the aid of moms!!!

So I know many of you who read this are moms so I'm begging for help--mainly because my own mother isn't answering her phone at the minute. I need some help being a young mom. Here's the problem:

Abigail won't eat. She didn't want breakfast and now she didn't want lunch. It's been three days since she's had a substantial meal. Every time we sit down to eat she swats the food away and signs to me "all done"--before we've even started. She has been sick this week so I know she probably didn't have much of an appetite, but she's much better now. I've tried giving her her favorite foods: yogurt, rice cereal, cheese sticks, etc. But she's just not even interested.

So what do I do?! Do I just not worry about it and hope she'll eat later? I obviously can't force her to eat. Okay, Moms with wisdom (or even if you're not a mom, but you have wisdom), please shed some light on this hopeless situation for me. Give me suggestions or words of comfort to ease my panic. If you can't comment on the blog because you're not a blogger yourself, email me at laurencallista@hotmail.com. Thank you!




You'd think I'd learn by now...



Playing with dad in Bama.




And more playing. Just with multiple duckies.

Brilliant Babe

I'm not kidding. I think my babe is super brilliant. We've been signing to her (simple signs) since she was six months old, but she's never signed anything back--until about two weeks ago. While we were in Alabama, her signing just took off. She nows signs: "more", "eat", "sleep", "ball" (her favorite), "please", "thank you", and "baby". She also responds to the commands: "wave hi! (bye)", "shrug", "clap hands", "what does an elephant say", "dance", etc. And then today, Stephen started singing Raffi's "Brush Your Teeth" and Abby put her finger to her mouth to brush her teeth! I've never done that with her finger. She's only ever watched me! I know there's so much more, but I just can't think of it all right now. Ah, my brilliant babe. I love it.

And I love that she just found, crushed, and spread crackers all across my kitchen floor.

Love it.

Quote of the Moment

This quote is on my friend's blog. I think it's absolutely, marvelously true (even more so when you become a stay-at-home mom):

"A house does not have to be perfect to be a home of joy, a child does not have to behave perfectly to love and be loved, and every moment of life does not have to be perfect to be of value. Too often, I realize, we fail to see the glorious reality of the simple joy that abounds in the seemingly mundane routine of day-to-day living. Instead, we tend to idolize the past, idealize the future, and devalue the present....

What better way to show our appreciation to Heavenly Father for what we have than to embrace our lives, albeit 'ordinary' and 'unexciting,' with joy?"

--Winnie Dalley

We're home!!

Stephen and Ashton




Larsen Family



Jesse, me and Abigail

Abigail and I have finally arrived home after a long two weeks of crazy summer events. Jesse was with us, but he got to be home for a few of the days during that time.
We started off the two weeks with a family reunion in Park City. We stayed at the Marriott Mountainside Resort for a couple nights/days. We went to the Olympic Park to watch the freestyle skiers practice into the pool. It was pretty awesome. And then we mainly played in the pools. Jesse's birthday was during that time on Sunday. We had a Wall-E birthday party for him (it's his favorite movie right now). I spent hours trying to locate Wall-E toys, but they were gone everywhere! I called the Disney store every morning and checked out Toys R Us, but no one had them. My mom managed to find a bakery that made a 5" cake that had Wall-E toys on top. That's the best we could find. Then while we were singing happy birthday, my dad and my sister Sarah pulled out a Wall-E figurine and an Interactive Wall-E toy. Sarah and my dad drove to Salt Lake and West Valley, respectively, looking for the toys. It was awesome! And I made a cheesecake. Huzzah. So then we hung out in Park City for a couple days and then it was Stephen's wedding!
Stephen got married to Ashton Brooke Scott in the Bountiful temple on July 31. We had a luncheon at the Eldredge Manor in Bountiful and the reception at this amazing house in Provo. Way fun. Galya the duck was even there. Ashton is super cute. She's from Orem, UT, and graduated from Timpview in 2004. She is studying Social Work at UVU (yay social work!) and she loves Jane Austen (specifically Emma) and Audrey Hepburn. She's an amazing interior designer too. She made their apartment looking incredible. So the wedding was fun. We were in brown skirts and cream cardigans with varying tops. I had awesome 4" brown stilettos on. Mmm. They were fabulous. Then from Bountiful we flew out to Alabama!
Jesse's family moved to Alabama last September. We hadn't seen the whole family since last November. It was such a blast!!! We went boating in the Tennessee River on Saturday with Kelsey and Jared, and Kenzie and Aaron. It was Aaron's fam's boat. The water was so unbelievably warm! We went to tubing and the girls totally dominated. We lasted WAY longer than the boys. It was awesome! Later in the week we went to Gibson's BBQ. They have the best ribs in all of northern Alabama. We about died. So good. Basically it was an awesome week of fun with the family, the music of Journey, and the game of Spoons. Fabulous. We got home from that on Thursday night.
On Friday, we had a wedding and three receptions to attend. Aaron Gusa and Amber Leary got married in the Bountiful temple and then that night Jesse split to West (or South?) Jordan for their reception and I stuck around for Cody Gunnell's reception as well as Mike Curtis' reception. It was way fun to see so many people.
So that was all up north. Except 'Bama in the South. Super fun, but super crazy. Like I said, I just got home this morning. I'm looking forward to a good nights sleep and my own bed. Huzzah.

Dear diary,

Last week I had an amazing experience. Sarah (my sister) received her endowments in the Mount Timpanogos Temple and I got to attend the session. The night before I decided that I would fast for my mom that she could have an experience of her mother the next day at the temple (my grandmother passed away when my mom was a little girl). I spent the day of fasting, praying, and focusing on that. I wore my church clothes all day and only listened to church music. I felt the Spirit the whole time. When the session began, I could feel the spirit telling me that my grandmother was close--if not already there--but to focus now on the session's instructions. At a particular point in the session, words were spoken that completely overwhelmed me with the Spirit. I knew that my grandmother was in the room with us. She was right there with us! I thought I could sense her sitting with my mother and Sarah. It was as though she were right there trying to hold my mother's hand. I've never felt so much joy and success in fasting and praying. I've never felt the spirit so strongly! It was absolutely remarkable. Later, my Aunt Paula commented that she could feel her there and that she hadn't felt her that strongly in a long time. I smiled and thanked my heavenly Father for the amazing experience.

I truly believe in the power of fasting and prayer and of the temple. I've never felt so close to the spirits of the heavenly spirit world than when I was in the temple. The veil was so thin and the spirit so strong. I know that we can receive answers to prayers through sincere fasting and praying. This is an amazing tool that God has given us to help us through this life. We must use it (but only sincerely and appropriately) as we would any other tool. It must be couple by true faith in Jesus Christ--faith that He lives and watches over us and wants us to be happy and have success in life. Have faith in Him and His atonement. That He came to earth and lived so that we could have an example to follow. And he died so that we would have a means to return to Heaven some day. Jesus Christ lives. I know this more now than ever before.

I also know that the spirits of the next world are so close at hand--particularly in the temple. Their bodies die, but their spirits are still reachable. If we truly need them, then they can be there for us. Nobody is ever completely gone---and one day we will see them again.