Mormon Momma

Funny thing happened. I came across the World’s Best Carrot Cake recipe! No kidding, hands down, the best. It was the bonus in my son getting married last summer. His wife came with the recipe. Or the recipe came with his wife. Not sure which.

Anyway. We had a get together at our house with some of our neighbors on Sunday. We call it Mountain Home Evening because we all live on the Mountain (and we all get our visit and home teaching done that way). Slightly unorthodox, but it works. Soooo — I wanted to impress them with the World’s Best Carrot Cake! They were set to arrive at 6 p.m.

At 5:30 p.m. my younger son called (college student living approximately 10 minutes away, all down hill from me — like I said we live on a mountain). He wanted to know if I was still going to come and pick him up for dinner. Oops! (Long story. I didn’t want to wake him up. He works nights.)

Not wanting my baby boy (read, “college student party animal”) to miss the spiritual mesage of Mountain Home Evening, I jumped in the truck (forgetting my cell phone) and rushed down the hill to get my baby boy (o.k. he’s 24). On the way down, I hit a rock (it looked like a snowball about the size of a basketball), and blew out the front passenger tire. Ooops, again.

It was now about 5:40 p.m. There were no houses for a half mile, so I coasted on down to the bottom of the hill to the nearest house, begged the use of a phone and gave dear husband the bad news that, even though people were expected at any minute he needed to come and get me (and our baby boy) and head back home, toot sweet. He of course obliged. Jumping into the jeep he headed out in a mad dash to try and beat the clock (and our neighbors) back to our house.

About 5:55, while standing in frigid weather beside my lame truck and while my husband was making his way down the mountain, a clear and distinct picture of my cake sitting on the kitchen table suddenly flashed across my mind.

And then I remembered that we also have a dog. Continue Reading »

When I was 27 years old and expecting my first child, (Yes I know, shocking isn’t it? I was LDS then, too, although judging by the sounds emitting from my mother-in-law and various neighbors, I could barely claim that. First child at age 27? Ye Gads and Little Tater-Tots! I was nigh unto pre-pre-pre-pre-menopausal. How could this be my first child?) — Where was I? Oh yes. When I was 27 years old and expecting my first child, no one could have told me, engaged as I was in the wonder of it all, that a mere 29 weeks later I would be grabbing my doctor by his Hippocratic Oath and telling him to get that kid out of me now!

I’m telling you this because a few months ago, which was roughly 18 years after my OB/GYN performed the fastest baby delivery of his entire career, I found myself thinking very nearly the same thing about the same child. Only this time the sentiment was directed at my husband, and it was more along the lines of me grabbing him by the Proclamation on the Family and saying, “Get that kid out of here and on her own now!” Continue Reading »

I wish I could say that I had lived a life of great learning, which learning I shall distill here in nuggets of columnar wisdom. Indeed I have lived. I have learned. And I have eaten nuggets. Whether any of that constitutes wisdom is up for debate.

What I would dearly love to do in this new Mormon Momma column, “Celestial Pressure Canning,” is discuss whether or not the vicissitudes of the life through which we sail are survivable with our sense of humor intact. Whether or not we can do more than we can do. And honestly, whether or not God loves us despite the fact that the last time we attended the temple we fell asleep three times and once we finally did rouse ourselves enough to stand, we turned and smacked headlong into a large post we somehow hadn’t noticed was standing right next to us the whole time. It wasn’t me. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Continue Reading »

• We are commanded to work.
• We are commanded to learn.
• We are commanded to be prepared.
• We are commanded to nurture and raise our children.

How do we balance everything we have and want to do? In this new Mormon Momma column, The Juggling Act, I am excited to explore how all these commandments come together in the modern LDS woman’s world, particularly in the context of work-life balance.

I believe women need to dream and carve out a corner of their hectic lives to develop themselves and their talents. I believe I am a better mother and wife and person when I make time to improve myself and stay current. I am committed to full time mothering, but I also am passionate about women staying connected in one form or another to a professional life. Continue Reading »

Today marks seven years since the launch of Mormon Momma. In blogging years, that’s ancient.

Thanks to all of you who read here and thanks to those who take the time to comment. Look for the big changes coming early this year. They might require the site to come down periodically, but you should like what you see when it comes back.

Love to you all and may 2010 be amazing for you.

One of the challenges and blessings of being single in the LDS church is that you come face to face with your inadequacies and “shortcomings.” Don’t get me wrong, I felt these inadequacies as a married Mormon wife and mother, but the feelings were more easily covered up by the ability to “fit in” and blend (and also by the sheer busy-ness of young Mormon family life). However, once the marriage was gone and I became a square peg, these inadequacies hit me in the face.

I will spare everyone the list of my particular anxieties as I know we all have our own list of how we think or know we fall short. What I hope to focus on is the sweet blessing of this painful experience. I came to realize that it doesn’t matter…no matter how “good” I was or how “competent” or “righteous” I tried to be, it would never be “enough” to not need my Savior and His atoning sacrifice. This knowledge has healed me and continues to heal wounds in me that I wasn’t even aware were there. Continue Reading »

Well, this month has turned upside down, just a little bit.

After months of searching for a job, I have one! Continue Reading »

I’m pedaling my stationary bike again this morning. And reading the Ensign. The two go hand in hand. Something about the two together makes me contemplate eternity and all things pertaining to it.

I’m an empty-nester now and something happens when you no longer have children at home to live your life as an example for. It’s a twenty-something feeling a second time around. At twenty one looks into their bag of values, that they’ve been collecting since birth, and decides how they will live. What path they will follow. You do that again when the kids leave. I’ve watched and seen many empty-nesters have at least a temporary ‘inactive’ period in the church. Some permanent.

When the kids have grown, it feels kind of like you’ve crossed the finished line of a major race and you are(believe me) just glad to still be standing. And you’re mulling around, exchanging slaps on the back with fellow finishers, when suddenly it hits you, “What now?”.

When the kids were young, church was a challenge, just to get there on time with four pair of (matching)shoes on four pair of feet. To make it through Sacrament without a major disturbance, or any hurt feelings, and leave the chapel without leaving part of you behind. It was such an accomplishment! And we made it there every Sunday or nearly so, illnesses excepted.

Now church is—tooo easy. No one bothers me while I try to get ready. I take my time deciding on an outfit that doesn’t make me look fat. I have time(and money finally) to buy myself matching shoes for my dress. I even get to put on two coats of mascara. Three if I want. I hear every word spoken in Sacrament, Sunday School and Relief Society. And I find myself wondering if I can stand this for fifty more years!

If it sounds like I’m whining because I have to cross the prairie on a plane, taking four hours, instead of a covered wagon, taking three months(or however long that was). I guess I am.

When I first got married and life was bliss, I remember deciding to study the scriptures with real zeal to make sure my testimony was strong enough to withstand trials that I knew would come. And come they did. And I withstood them. But how do I gain a testimony to buck you up during monotony and ease?

Of course, I know the answer. I need to find service to give, a mom who needs help, a challenge I can overcome. But somehow it was easier when it was harder. When the challenges were immediate and demanding. Now, I don’t have to face the agenda, I have to make it.

I know many of you only dream of this day, but it’s coming. And you will spend more of your life with your children gone, than you will with them there. Let me say that again, you will spend more of your life with your children gone than you will with them there. Are you living your life as an example for them? Who will you live for when they are gone? You can of course wait until later to decide. I’ve made most of my best decisions before hand though. Dating, temple marriage, word of wisdom, etc. I just didn’t see this one coming.

Forwarded from a senior level person at Chrysler dated July 19, 2009.

Monday morning, I attended a breakfast meeting where the guest speaker was David E. Cole, Chairman Center for Automotive Research (CAR ) and a Professor at the University of Michigan.

Mr. Cole, who is an engineer by training, told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the automotive industry. There have been many meetings where a 30+ year experienced automotive expert has to listen to a newcomer to the industry, someone with Zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero finance experience and zero engineering experience, tell them how to run their business.

Mr. Cole’s favorite story is as follows:

There was a team of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole (engineer, automotive experience of 40+ years and chairman of CAR). They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to produce a car that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) able to go 500 miles so that we wouldn’t “need” so many gas stations (a whole other topic).

They were quoting the BTUs of LNG and battery life they had looked up on some website.

Mr Cole explained that to do this you would need a trunk full of batteries and an LNG tank as big as the car to make that happen. There were also problems related to the laws of physics that prevented them from…

The Obama person interupted and said (and I am quoting here), “These laws of physics? Whose rules are those? We need to change that!” (Some of the others wrote down the law name so they could look it up.)

“We have congress and the administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem. That’s why we are here, to fix these sort of issues”

These are the people that want to ru(i)n our healthcare.

By Monica Moore Smith, age 12

Do you ever think about what celebrity your daughter/son is admiring at the moment? And how they might be overly obsessed with that celebrity? Or practically worshipping them. Do they hang a million posters of celebrities all over their bedroom walls? Do they the wear the clothes that celebrities wear? Do they talk about them all the time? Do you ever think that the so-called “good role models” aren’t someone you’d want your teen to be like when he or she grows up? Think about it!

I know I wouldn’t want my kids to grow up like that. If my daughter came up to me dressed like Lady GaGa or Paris Hilton I know I would tell her to change out of those clothes right that second. Continue Reading »