EPIC PHOTO POST summertime!

Summer was fabulous, and chaotic, and a bit startling/sad, more on that to come...here's a photo montage to go with that episode of bachelor pad you're watching, you filthy animal.

Ro Ro is a gangsta

the perennial lake

the boat tied up is Brandon's new lover

this awesome town called Yak

Vida hiding

my family came to the lake this year!

our little lily of the valley

after our first triathlon

Royce and Dior learning to eat

this is how Vida wears every helmet

BAM

the long and winding road

awwww man, I've told you guys about that problem I have when I start to do something that makes my anxious (like not blogging for a longtime) and then I get extra anxious and keep doing whatever is making me anxious (not blogging some more) until I totally go mental. So....here I am. I'll be back for a while.

Long time coming

Note: I've been trying to write this post for days, it just won't come. There are too many thoughts in my head; so, this post will be mostly for me, to clear that space, to make disjointed ramblings, because that's all that's coming right now.
From the prompt for day three of recapturing beauty:

"Our minds are extremely powerful. Just like it hurts when someone else says something mean to us, it hurts whenever we think or say negative things to ourselves. The opposite is true too. Just like that little girl learning to walk, we change and grow when we feel validated and supported. Support can come from others, and it can also come from us!"

I believe that the mind is a powerful thing. I believe it has the power to heal, and create, and transcend to higher places. It will continue to evolve in a way our bodies never will. My problem is, that my brain holds a lot of anger and ummm, more anger. It's kind of like my default setting. In my family there are some people who have not realized that they are in control of their lives, that their actions affect others, that their anger is really directed at themselves, and all growing up, they lashed out at us. I learned to hide, I learned to doubt myself, and I learned to hate. I used to hate my chubby little kid body so much that I wished that I could literally peel layers off, I would have flayed myself if I could. Like most people with body issues/eating disorders, I felt like I could have some kind of control if I could just control my body. I know that saying bad things about yourself, to yourself and others poisons your body. Ignore your body destroys it. The only way to heal, and to thrive is to love ourselves, to pay close attention everyday to what each cell is telling us. To talk back in a way that is thrilling and gentle, that helps us to use our body as a beautiful instrument to live life to the point of an ecstatic scream. I'm trying, but sometimes the anger spreads through my body, and it spews out on others. I have children at home, I don't tell them they're stupid when they makes a mistake, but I don't think I let them explore their mistakes enough, without my opinion interfering. I want to guide them to form an opinion about their body (and others) by setting a good example, and by allowing them to listen to their own body. By praising what theirs does, and can accomplish. I want them to live in an environment where nothing their sweet innocent little spirits/body/mind can do will shock, disgust, or enrage me. It's time for me to grow up, let go of the issues that plagued my childhood, so that I can raise my children without them. 

A few things I'd like to clarify: 
I love my family very much, we are all flawed human beings. My childhood was not terrible, there were strange, dangerous, and unkind things that happened, but in spite of those things I was raised in an extremely open, loving, and enriching environment. I happened to be very sensitive to the negative, not everyone is. I alone will chose what I will take from those experiences.

At first I wrote the last part of this post in regards to just Vida, and not Royce. I think that it's important for us to remember to not suppress our son's bodies in anyway. They don't have to be tough, athletic, without emotion, or conforming to any other societal gender restraints. In fact, if you read Christ's attributes in the Bible, they are what we commonly look at as female characteristics. Plus, the only way to break the cycle of body objectification (especially female) is to teach both or daughters and sons about the sacredness of our bodies. 

Six months of Livin'

Royce Somerset Lyons is six months old today, huzzah! We call him Roro, Roycie, Roycikins, and all kinds of other stupid names that I hope I grow out of soon. He truly is the sweetest baby, always smiling, and ready to play. He just started army crawling/inchworming it across the floor. He's been sitting on his own for a few weeks now, and he's getting really good with his hands. He' s been super interested in food for a while now, very unlike Vida at this age, so I'e been giving him some fruits and veggies. He seems to like hummus and plain tomato soup the best so far; apple sauce is growing on him. He's been sick again the last two weeks with an upper respiratory infections, and it made his eyes all gross too. We're on the mend again though, it hasn't affected his growth though (haha). The beasty weighs like 23 lbs and is 29 in  long. Good little fella.

Here's some pics we just took right now during Vida's nap.

my sweet little blue eyed wonder.

Singity Songity

my favorite songs right now:

Kimbra Settle Down

and

M83 Midnight City

Recapturing Beauty week 2

Sorry loves, week two is late; I had to relinquish my computer to the apple gods to have the "optical drive" fixed, do you guys know what that is? It's the disc drive, but it's really called an optical drive, who knew?

acting

So, week two's prompt was pretty lds centric, around the patriarchal blessing, if you don't know what that is, check out the link. But basically it is a really, really, really awesome reminder that God loves you for you, he created you to be the way you are, and wants you to know that you have been given special gifts that are meant for you to expound upon and accomplish.

I reread mine, as it states in the prompt, and got to the part were it talks about talents (I will share only a little about my patriarchal blessing, because we hold them so sacred, that we don't really share much with anyone but family), mine mentions my singing, and other talents, that I should continue to develop and use to encourage and uplift the youth. What a what!?! You see I received this blessing while at BYU (for those who don't know, I was baptized at 19), after I had decided to major in acting, instead of following something vocal. My choir teacher had gotten my interested in BYU by having me audition for the vocal program there. Guess what, I didn't really pay much attention to that whole part of the blessing yet, I was more interested in the how to find me a man part (just kidding). For some reason singing makes me more uncomfortable than acting, putting myself out there is still very hard for me. Standing up and saying "I am good at this, really truly good!" is not often easy, but it should be, shouldn't it? To offer that which we have been give, to use to bless other's lives; whether it be the gift to heal, or guide, to make laugh, to teach, or to entertain. Hone your talents the way you've honed the ability to mask you imperfections with makeup,clothes and other false edifice, and your talents will make your flaws your strengths. Because hard work, dedication, belief in yourself, and faith will take you beyond that which holds you back now.

 Fast forward five years, and here we are...I thought about it, am I doing much to develop my talents, honestly not really. Lameo, I know; but, I do keep it always at the back of my mind. And this week I sat down a few times at my keyboard and made up a few ditties, songs that I can work on that help my exercise the demons, and develop the beauty that I love in music. I also sing made up songs to my children all the time, with some top 100's to keep it real fresh in here, so I'm always singing. I keep telling myself that whatever it is that I am trying that is new in my life, I'm still a baby bird at it, that I am still stretching my wings. And so what, I been singing since birth? Well, I haven't been singing in Canada, where I'm cooped up in the house with two non talking miscreants. So you see, even the things that are old to us, can become new again. I believe that if I put my faith in Him, and develop my talents, like he has asked, the Lord will lead me to the opportunities that will help me to become the best me, the most beautiful me. Which has nothing to do with what I look like...unless I want to be on American Idol, and then it most definitely does.

throw back to the choir days, we rocked the cazbah.

peace

Breathe

Recapturing Beauty Week One (and to be clear, the site has a '10&'11 version, I'll be doing '11 to start)

The challenge is body kindness, and it suggests yoga for the prompt. Perfect, since I teach yoga; so my extremely wonderful friend Jacqui, had me come and teach the young women, in our old ward, a yoga class. I was slightly sceptical that they would be able to hold it together, but they were phenomenal. I wish I had a picture of this awesome group of girls! I explained a few things about yoga to them, and I'll share some of that here too:
The word yoga means "yoke" or meaning, to join together, to unite. It is a meeting of mind, body, and spirit. We tend to cut these three into separate pieces. We neglect, or torture, our bodies and expect it not to affect our spirit and soul. How many of you lay down at night in your bed, and all of a sudden you start to feel the aches, the pains that you pushed to the side during the day? We cannot continue to disconnect ourselves from our pain, our sensations, because they're there to tell us something. When I teach yoga I remind everyone to really try and be conscious of what their body is telling them that specific day, to listen, and to respond to your body by giving it what it needs, not necessarily what the mind wants, or especially what you think others are expecting of you. People in the western world think yoga is either for super crunchy granola meditation, or for super toned flexible freaks. It really isn't about that at all, it's about opening space and bringing light into our bodies. It's about excepting where were are at this exact moment, while allowing ourselves to gently roll into a new, further than we've ever gone before place. It's about being kind to yourself so that you in turn can be kind to all things, because as Christ said "love thy neighbor as thou loves thyself." It does not matter how far you take the expression of the posture, but how deeply you can breathe into it.

The prompt for this challenge is beautiful, I urge you to at least read it here . This is my favorite quote: "Drink in the kindness of sunshine and the beauty of the earth. Feel the river of kindness flow through your body and carry you forward." 




I am taking the time to be kind to my body; no more diet pills, laxatives, harsh words, unkind thoughts, or practices. I think about the food I put into my body, think about the activities I do, and strive to live a healthy, happy, sunny life. And even though I might not be exactly were I thought I would be, or where I want to be, I'm ok with who I am. The only way to move forward is to first accept where you are. So now I show kindness to the body that has birthed me two children, allows me to love my husband, runs me around the block, laughs when I'm happy, and gives my opportunities I can only dream of.