Mom's Birthday

Yesterday November 8th was my mother's birthday. She would have been 54 years old this year. It was a difficult day to get through. It is even harder because the holidays are coming up. She was an amazing woman. I miss her every day. She never liked to make her birthday a big deal, but us girls always tried to surprise her with something. I remember one year we made her breakfast in bed. I was about 10 or 12 so my sister Hannah and I did most of the cooking while Bek and Sam made the tray pretty with a flower and tried to fold the napkin in fancy shapes.

Birthdays are a big deal in my family, even though my mom tried to downplay hers. She always made such a special day for us we always wanted to return the favor. One year for my 8th birthday I think, she filled up tons of balloons. I had no idea, but when I got home from school my ceiling was covered in pink and purple balloons. I just wish I had more time with her to return all the favors that she did for me.

It's hard especially because she and I were getting to the stage where we weren't just mother and daughter we were becoming really good friends. My sister Bek sent me a sweet text, that I'm sure she sent to all my sisters. She said she knew that the day would be hard, but that mom would want us to keep our heads up and not boo hoo all over the place. Boo hooing was a term my mom used to explain self pity. I couldn't stop thinking about her all day. I know that she wouldn't want us to be sad, but it's so hard to lose your mother at any age. It is even harder when you didn't get the chance to spend as much time with her for all the important things.

Being the oldest of my sisters I always think about the things she is missing with them. Sam was only 15 when my mom passed away. My mom missed her driving test, her first prom. She will miss her wedding. Her high school graduation. She missed Bek's high school graduation. She will miss all of our college graduations. She will miss all of her grand children being born. Sometimes I feel guilty because she was at my wedding, but she won't be at any of my sisters. I try very hard to keep her memory alive for myself and my sisters. I'm trying to keep the Holiday fairies in tack as much as possible. I know that she will "be there" but it's not the same as physically. I won't ever have pictures of my children with their Ya Ya (that's what she wanted to be called) She said Nana and Mimi were to delicate for someone as feisty as her.

She was an incredible woman. She raised 3 teenage girls that weren't her own, while having four more girls. She stayed at home with us until Sam was in Kindergarten, before going back to work. She always sacrificed so we could have what we needed and most of what we wanted. She worked like mad racing around every where to keep up with chores and after school activities. She made sure we were involved and active in our church youth programs. She would rub our backs till we fell asleep even when I was 15 years old and was sick. She always had that special mommy touch and stern look. She always yelled when she was happy, excited or mad. She always had a zeal for life and her children. She always knew when you needed a hug or to be left alone. She loved serving others and had a huge heart for other people. She was an amazing and loving wife to my dad. She always stood up for herself and her family. She loved us unconditionally even when we were terrors. She was steadfast in her faith even though she was a convert and the only member in her family. She blessed me with wonderful sisters that all remind me of her in different ways.

Since she passed away I've been trying to read this book called Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss by Hope Edelman . I can't read very much at a time because I get all weepy and sad, but it is an amazing book. Grief and loss is some what of a taboo subject in our culture. You're expected to deal with the loss and get over it. It is a cyclical thing. You go through the cycle and then are better for awhile, but something will always set off the cycle again. A birth, an important event, a smell, a song, or sometimes even just a thought. One of the first lines in the book was, "When a mother dies, a daughter's mourning never completely ends." That is so true. The author talks about a friend she had in high school asked how much her mother's death could really affect the rest of her life. She wrote that if she could go back and tell that friend she would tell her,"I would tell her: Everything. It effects everything. When a mother dies, a daughter grieves. And then her live moves on. She does, thankfully, feel happiness again. But the missing her, the wanting her, the wishing she were still here- I will not lie to you, although you probably already know. That part never ends."

I know that sounds like a depressing thing always missing your mother, but it is true. I miss her every day. I am fortunate to have to knowledge to know that I can and will be with her again someday. While I know that I will see her again one day it does take away the missing her and wanting her. I know she will be waiting for me on the other side, but that doesn't fix the right now. I know she's still my mom and she's still there, but she can't be on the other end of the phone listening to me tell her about an argument I had with my husband or sister. I won't ever be able to call her and tell her I'm pregnant. She won't be able to be at the birth of my children. She will miss alot of important things that have yet to happen in my life and the lives of my sisters. I will always miss her. I w ill always love her. Even though she's not physically here she will always be my Momma.

My Mom and Dad in Hawaii

At one of my older sisters weddings.



Halloween, Holidays, and Happy Family

Halloween this year wasn't terribly exciting for John and I this year. We did not dress up, mainly because we didn't have any where to go. On Friday the 29th of October John did have a tall green friend visit one of his classes. Gumby was visiting random classrooms around OU campus, just to freak people out. John of course loving any kind of prank thought the man behind the Gumby suit was a genius. Unfortunately John didn't get a picture of Gumby sitting in on his History of Science class.

While we didn't dress up John's two year old niece decided to be Ariel this year, wig and all. All of the mermaid outfits we could find didn't really have enough room for her to walk in. The tail on the bottom of the costume would be to tight for her to move her feet. Fortunately John and I found a cute little dress that was "mermaid." It was the same colors as the other Ariel costumes, but it stopped around her knees so she could walk normally. Jo was so funny because she wanted the red wig to go with her costume. This of was funny to the rest of us because as a baby she hated bows, hats, or headbands on her head. She looked super cute and was very excited to "twicker tweat." 

Two of my favorite Holiday's are now well on there way!! I love Thanksgiving because all of my family gets to together, and you don't have to feel to guilty about how much that you eat. My younger sisters and I will be cooking this year. We cooked last year too, but it should be interesting because everyone wants to be in charge. My grandpa is making the turkey like he does every year. We always make a cranberry thing that my mother never had a name for. My freshman year of college we had an FHE Thanksgiving, I made my cranberry stuff as I called it. Two of my lovely roommates, Natalie and Kristin, decided it was much more elegant to call it Cranberry Surprise or Cranberry Salad. Now in my family it is known as Cranberry surprise rather than cranberry stuff.

The Women behind the Name of the Cranberry Suprise

Nat

Kristin

I love my family more than anything in the world. We have so much fun most of the time. Anyone that knows my family well, knows that we do not sugar coat things for each other. While we are all very stubborn and opinionated we mesh very well. Once we get past the arguing and screaming we normally get along well. Growing up with three younger sisters does make for a crazy household, especially in the mornings trying to get ready for school. As we have gotten older we seem to be getting along much better. My favorite thing about my family is that we can have fun in any situation. One time we were in Tennessee for a basketball tournament, and we were walking around the mall in between games. My mother always up for games decided we should all talk in a British accent and see if anyone could tell we were really from Oklahoma. I am proud to say we passed it off pretty well. Samantha my youngest sister was 10 or so at the time, and occasionally would slip and say y'all or something along those lines. We did convince the people at the checkout we were really from England. If we weren't mimicking an English accent we would talk in a deep south Mississippian accent.

We have an Aunt Marie and Uncle Bob who live in Mississippi. We would go to family reunions every two years when I was growing up, and for a couple weeks after we would come home we all had a deep south accent for awhile. My sisters are some of the funniest people I know. Sometimes it's planned humor and other times some of the things they say (myself included) is so out there you don't know where it came from. For example, a couple of months ago John, my sister Sam and myself were picking up my dad from the airport. My dad is very particular about how far the gas tank can get before it is imperative to fill up. He doesn't like it to get under a quarter of tank. After we filled up, Sam looked at my dad and John with a serious contemplative look and said, "When a car runs out of gas it just runs on the battery right?" I thought my dad and John were going to die from laughter. Sam immediately realized that she was incorrect and tried to cover it up my shouting over John and my dad's peals of laughter saying "Well hybrids do!! They run on batteries!!" I can't talk much because John almost got me when he said that I needed to go to walmart and get more blinker fluid. I had to think about it before I realized he was pulling my leg. I know this sounds like we Worrall girls no nothing of cars and such but our dad took car of that stuff for us. He was always worried we "wouldn't do it right." John has been quick to fill in my gaps in my car education. I am proud to say I know how the pistons work in the engine. If nothing else the Worrall girls are good for laughs. I love my family despite all of blonde moments (we are all prominently brunettes) and our craziness. A family without some craziness in my opinion would be incredibly boring. Families are forever and I'm so glad to be blessed with the family I have.

Jojo as the Ariel

Our Little Mermaid

(John has grown some more he's 6'6" or 6'7" now. He was 6'5" when we got married.)

Classic Samantha Face

Typical of reaction of to many pictures

Exploring the L.L. Bean store. Great Hats huh!!

Reasons Why I LOVE Fall...

1. Halloween
2. Thanksgiving
3. Fall decorations
4. Fall candles, such as apple spice and pumpkin spice
5. Pumkin Carving
6. Crisp cool mornings with warm afternoons
7. Wearing cute jackets, scarfs, and boots
8 Pumpkin pie and all things pumpkin flavored
9. Drinking hot chocolate on chilly nights
10. Crisp evenings, perfect weather for running

Fall is absolutely my favorite season. I love all the Holidays that happen during Fall. The leaves changing colors is one of the most beautiful aspects of fall. When I lived with my parents I would wake up on fall mornings and see a dusting of frost and sometimes dew on the grass. It is perfect weather for contemplation and self growth. I love grabbing a thick blanket and sitting outside on the deck with a good book, or simply enjoying the wildlife around my parents house. It's the best feeling being all bundled up and warm, with just you nose and ears chilly. I also love fall because it was my mother's favorite season. She lived in Pennsylvania for a few years when she was younger. She told me that the colors of the leaves were vivid shades of red, yellow, and orange. I have never experienced an East Coast fall, but before I die I want to "see the leaves change" some where on the East Coast. We have beautiful trees here that change to fairly bright colors, but I want to drive down that road that you always see in pictures. The road that is nestled between two long rows of trees. The leaves the most pure colors of scarlet, gold, and crisp orange.

Fall is a season full of family traditions. My mom was super into all holidays, but her favorites were Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and St. Patrick's Day. She always bought us girls new holiday themed socks or pajama pants for each holiday. Our house was the house of "Holiday Fairies" as my mother would call them. She would get us lip gloss or a little something to got with the socks or pjs. We would wake up and go into the living room and see our gifts the "Holiday Fairy" left us. It may seem like a minimal thing that she did, but as her children we all remember how excited she got for holidays. I hope that I can share that love of family and holidays with my future children. In a world that is so focused on the value of material things, it is important to maintain family values and traditions. My mother may have been a little excessive getting us little trinkets for every holiday, but she made it important because it was a family traditon. She would always remind us after we got our gifts that, we should be grateful for our opportunities. She had such a strong testimony of the gospel and the strength of the family. I hope that I am able to be half as good of a mother as she was. She told us she tried to serve others with the same love she served us, her children.

Fall just reminds me of what we have to be grateful for and how important it is to remember our families. It is a time to be thankful and recognize the role Christ plays in our lives. As someone who lost her mother to soon, I know how important family is. I was reminded again today by the beautiful story of the birth of my friends daughter. Family is forever, and I'm so grateful I know that through my knowledge of the gospel.

No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one Autumnal face.

~John Donne~
Elegy IX--The Autumnal


Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.


~Stanley Horowitz~

Scottish Fair

Two weekends ago John and I attended the local Tulsa Scottish Fair. The Scottish Fair comes to Tulsa every September. I had never been before, but John went as a teenager. I am a 1/4 Scottish so I figured it would be a lot of fun. John proudly claims his German heritage. He teases me occasionally about my heritage since I'm predominately Irish, Scot, and English. He says well we Germans took you guys over at one point. Anyway we went to get his sister and niece to take them with us. His mom pulled out the family genealogy book and low and behold John is Scot way way back in the day!!! So he had to concede and stop giving me a hard time. Of course the day we decided to go it was like 90 degrees and 100% humidity. We were all sweating so bad, good thing it was outside haha. Poor little Jordyn's face got red from all the heat. John bought Jen and I Celtic knot necklaces. We bought big lemonades to try and cool off. I shared my with Jo, and she drank most of it while I wasn't watching. There was a big tent were different professional groups were dancing. Jordyn loves music and started jumping and dancing around. John had to hang on to her so she didn't fall off the bench. After the music and drink break we walked around again. There was this little shop selling shields and swords for kiddos. Jo of course had to pick the biggest sword possible. She had trouble lifting it. She chose the shield with a lion on it with John persuading her to choose that one. Lowe in German mean lion, so naturally John has a thing for lions. He told Jo she could only get a shield with a lion haha. She finally picked a purple shield with a lion and matching sword. We tried to persuade her to pick a smaller sword, but being 2.5 years old she wanted the big sword because it matched the shield. All in all we had alot of fun, and we probably shed a few pounds from sweating so much.

All the girls

If you can't tell Jen is John's sister. Jo wanted to try on scottish leather caps but "Jen Jen has to wear one too."

Such a cutie trying out shields

Summer and Sooners

We are now loyal OU Sooners. Prior to school starting in August we completed many summer projects. John built a deck for my dad, helped me recover our couches. My brilliant idea to save a little money. Man I got myself into more than I thought of. John is quite the handy man and needed very little of my help with his deck project. I helped lay some decking, but all in all he did most of it by himself with the supervision and direction of my sister Samantha ha ha.

So when we decided that we didn't like our free red couches that John's sister gave us, I decided it would be a brilliant idea to recover the old couches. I of course have never recovered anything prior to this project. Fortunately John's wonder mother helped out. I will say the deconstruction of the couches was much more fun than putting them back together. It took John, his dad, mom, and myself to put the couches back together. The "big couch" took us four hours to put back together. We have yet to finish the love seat. It was a difficult but rewarding experience.

The beginning of the deconstruction

The inside of a couch

All the old fabric off

A glimpse of the "new couch"

About two hours in

Trying to get the arms to fit on right

AHHHHH the finished product (notice it is now dark outside)

Since the recovering of our couch we have enjoyed it thoroughly, and we have received many compliments. This was a fun project. I would have not been able to complete it without the help of my wonderful mother-in-law. She sewed the pieces together for me. She is a much more talented seamstress than I am. I love our new couches and I love that I got two basically "new" couches for less than it would have cost to buy newer. I wouldn't be afraid to tackle other projects just not in the near future.

Youth Conference

John and I had the opportunity to participate as a "Ma and Pa" this year at youth conference. It was such an amazing experience. The youth did a "pioneer trek." It consisted of a total of sixteen miles in two days. It was such an blessing to be able to work with such wonderful youth. So a quick recap. When we arrived at the church ranch, where the trek was taking place, it was raining. It was raining so hard that we could barely see to drive. When all the youth arrived the Stake President said a blessing before we started out and the rain dried up as soon as he finished his prayer. Then we started out on a soggy, muddy, wet trail. Most of us were already soaked in our pioneer getup, mainly the girls skirts and mine. All of the kids our group maintained a positive attitude despite the inclimant weather. At one point the men were rounded up to make the "Mormon Battalion." The boys had just helped all of us ladies pull our handcarts down like a super steep hill that was slick with sticky mud. After the boys had been "enlisted," they informed us ladies we had to turn around and pull the handcarts back up the crazy steep hill by ourselves!! It was so amazing to see these young women get excited and determined to conquer the task no matter how long it took us. They really rallied together and did awesome! We pulled all sixteen carts up by ourselves with no injuries. After arriving at "camp" we had to get dinner cooking and set up our tents. Our "kids" had it together so well that we were the first family eating and had everything set up and put away. The next day we had to "cross the river," which in actuallity was a small creek maybe about two cars wide. I was so proud of our little family!!! The second day was so much different than the first. It was super hot and the sun was out in full force with little cloud cover. This of course was the day we treked through the "plains." We sat through a little devotional that really attested to the struggles and trials the pioneers faced. I got teared up when they told a story about a nine year old boy that died because he carried his four year old brother on his back for twenty-nine hours because the brother couldn't walk anymore. The older brother died from exhaustion by the time they reached camp. It was just really touching and brought to surface how difficult it was to cross to Utah. By the end of the treak "our family" was a well oiled machine. The "kids"communicated so well from the people in the front pulling the carts to the people in the back pushing the carts. I am so grateful to have the opportunity and priviledge to participate in such a wonderful youth conference!!! It really strengthened my testimony of my faith in the gospel, and the definition of endurance. I would do it again in a heart beat. The only thing I would change would be to actually break in my boots a couple of weeks before the trek. My feet have been killing me because I didn't listen to my husband the eagle scout and break in my boots. The one time he's right ;) just kidding. All in all it was an experience I'll treasure it for the rest of my life!!!!

ROMA!!

Ok so it has been like a month since John and I got back from Rome but I'm finally taking the time to blog about what all we did.

Things you should know about Rome:
1) Gelatto is AMAZING and you will be hard pressed to find gelatto in the US that is as good as Italy's

2)The best way to get around is the train/metro super cheap and easy to use once you figure it out.

3)The food is amazing!

4)Most pizza doesn't actually have tomato sauce unless you get pizza magerita

5)The Vatican Musuem was awesome!!

Ok now to start. Once we finally got to Italy on Monday afternoon we took a shuttle bus to our hotel. This was of course after we discovered our baggage never actually made it onto the plane from Chicago to Madrid. Lucky for us I had packed an extra set of clothes in our carry ons with tolietries, toothbrush etc. Monday we pretty much just relaxed at the hotel and had dinner in the hotel restuarant. John had these hollow noodles that had a tomato bacon sauce and I had tortellini in a herb and butter sauce it was delicious.

On Tuesday we had out Coloseum tour and the Best of Rome Walking tour in the afternoon. We took the train to the metro the got off right in front of the Coloseum. The Coloseum is amazing!! It has 80 arches all around the outside. At one point it was completely covered by marble so you didn't see the brick and concrete. After the coloseum we went to Palatine Hill which is "the place where Romuleus and Remus founded Rome." The coolest thing about Palatine Hill is that you can look down into the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum consisted of several buildings one of which was the supposed temple that Juluis Ceaser was cremated in. After our first tour John and I walked around and bought a snack from a little street vendor. Oh John's new favorite thing is to put boiled eggs and tomatoes on his sandwhiches. The put boiled eggs on almost all the sandwhichs over there. Anyway we started our afternoon tour and walked through the upscale apartment area of Rome. We saw where Bernini lived and the Pantheon. The Pantheon is now know as Saint Mary of the Martyrs and is a dedicated Catholic Church. The christian martyrs that were buried in the catacombs are now buried in the Pantheon. Raphael the painter is also buried in the Pantheon. We also saw the Trevi fountain which was huge and very crowded. John and I threw our coins in and made our wish. Supposedly if a man throws in 3 coins he will find a new lady. I of course limited John to just one ;).

Wednesday we saw the crypts and catacombs. Unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures because the sites we saw were considered holy places. The catacombs were kinda chilly and damp and super dark. The alcoves where the bodies were buried were super short and not very deep. John wouldn't have fit in any of them. We came up on a bigger alcove and I told John he could fit in that one but barely. The guide then proceeded to tell me that it was a family grave and up to 10 people would be buried in a space that John would have to climb in and curl up in. After the catacombs we went to the church of St Clement where they have excavated all the way down to 2nd century apartments. It was pretty cool to see the level the soil has risen over the past 1000 years or so. After that our last stop was the Capucin monks monastry. These particular monks take a vow of poverty and don't own anything unless it is given to them. There monastry is decorated with bones of the previous monks because they have no money to buy decorations. It was actually very interesting how they displayed the bones in patterns etc. This particular monastry is considered to be a place of an on going miracle becuase the monks are not decaying at the normal rate. There were some white lilys that had supposedly been there since christmas and some of the blooms hadn't even opened yet and they still looked fresh.

Thursday we spent all day in the "Vactican." We saw the four major basillicas (churches) in Rome which are all extensions of the Vatican City. We first visited Sainta Maria Majorie which was beautiful. The second basillica was where the Pope is made the Bishop of Rome. There are two statues of St Peter and St Paul and rumor has it that their skulls are actually inside the heads of these particular statues. The next basillica was called St Paul outside the walls. This particular basillica is outside the Arellian walls thus the nickname. This basillica had round portraits all around the base of the ceiling with portraits of the Popes starting with Peter and going all the way to Pope Benedict XVI. The Last basillica we say was actually in Vatican city, St Peter's. St Peter's is massive it can hold 60,000 people just on the inside, that does not include the big square in front of the church. The altar in St. Peters was designed by Bernini when he was 20yrs old!! It has something like 450 tons of bronze some of which was melted down from the Pantheon. The altar also sits above the grave of St Peter. Our guide told us that is supposed harder to archeologically harder to prove that it isn't St Peter that it is to prove that it is. The grave has 1s ce coins and they can tell the cause of death was crucifixtion and there are remnants of purple fibers which is what martyrs were buried in.

The afternoon was spent inside the Vatican Museum. The museum consists of 9 mi and is the largest private collection in the world. We were told that if you spent only 60secs looking at each piece of art in the museum it would take you 12 years to see everything!!! There were some pieces in the collection that I didn't even realized were owned by the Vatican City! Interesting little tidbit about the Vatican it is the only absolute monarchy in the world, and the city has 500 hundred citizens. Also the Vatican is 110 acres funny thing my dad's land is 117 acres. I just thought it was cool that my home I grew up in is bigger that the Vatican City which is its own country.

On Friday we went to Naple and Pompeii. Naples we just did a little drive through and our guide pointed things out. Our tour group was kinda interesting it consisted of half english speaking and half spanish speaking. Our tour guide was this little old man who kept switching back and forth between english and spanish and itialian. It was great haha!! When we got to Pompeii it was so quiet it was kinda spooky but there was lots of sun and some of the houses were still in awesome condition structurally. The streets were interesting because they were set deeper into the ground so the streets wouldn't flood the houses in the spring.

Saturday was our day we left. We took a flight to Madrid and the Madrid to Dallas and Dallas to home. It was an amazing trip and was so nice to be with John for a whole week by ourselves. I would definitely recommend Rome as a vacation spot! Lots of history and beautiful artwork

Oh PS we actually walked and drove on streets that were constructed during the Roman Empire!!

Pompeii

Coloseum

Trevi Fountain

St Peter's Basillica and Square

Crazy guy making HUGE bubbles

The train we took to the Metro everyday

Just one of many amazing statues in the Vactican Museum

John's weird egg, ham, olive pizza

St Peter's again

Hall of Maps of Italy (AMAZING)

Me in front of "The School of Athens"

John in front of "The School of Athens"

Us in the Vactiacan Museum

Castle in Naples John commented "Hunnie we could just build a house like that." My reply "Oh yea and who is going to clean it?" John's answer "Well you of course. Why you think it's to big?" My answer "Are you high no way am I cleaning something like that all by myself, I wouldn't get anything else done."

One of the molds of a body in Pompeii

Pompeii