Taking on the Challenge

My mom has been really talking to me lately about writing down "the stories" of our lives.  She's really wishing that there were more stories of her parents written in their own words.  I've posted a few things on here of my childhood.  I know nothing that no one really cares about at this point, but it's something.  I've been wanting to spend an hour every Sunday or at least one a week making an entry or posting on this blog about me.  Why I am the way I am, what experiences have me the person I am.    Maybe I should make a new blog?  I guess it really doesn't matter as long as I do it, right?

So why now?  I'm in my most favorite environment relaxed with a clear mind.  I can reflect without the distraction of work and the daily grind.  I'm on the island of Kauai.  Surrounded by green and smelling wafts of citrus blossoms, I find myself feeling gratitude and fulfillment.  Inspiration seems much more abundant than when I'm dealing with the mundane.  So I'm challenging myself while I'm here to dig deep and write about my life.  Little chunks of it at a time.  I'm not making promises to the quality or even if it will be of interest to any readers at this point.  No matter.  Here goes.

Vacations

As a child I remember vacations as being the whole summer long.  Not every summer really, but every other summer or so.  I'd have to go back and look at the exact years to know for sure, but we would make the long journey to Las Vegas from Flint, Michigan. Grandma and Grandpa Nottage (my maternal grandparents) lived there and eventually all my mom's siblings and their families were there, as well.  I remember one year when I was four or five my parents had a brown Buick Skylark and they put a crib mattress across the back seat and probably suitcases or something under it so that we were laying up high.  I'm sure that could have been a complete disaster if there had been any kind of accident.  As I remember, we slept A LOT!  Then after we'd wake up my mom would give us "medicine".  I asked mom about it years later and she said that it was dramamine to keep us drowsy.  My sister, Sarah was a very difficult child and cried so much that in order to get thru these long trips, they would drug us to make the trip bearable for them.  Wow times have changed! 

After that I remember our vans.  We had an orange and white van (Chevy, I think.) that had windows on the side and in the back.  I can't remember whether it had bench seats or not.  We made the trip in that one year and then my parents bought a blue Ford van as a shell and my dad built a pallet in the back and carpet up the walls (very 1970's) it had porthole windows in the back, but no other windows.  Mag wheels but no seats in the back, though. It was great for road trips but would never pass a safety inspection nowadays, though, as there were no seat belts. We just rolled around the back but it was comfortable for sleeping and reading and playing games. We also put all of our stuff under the pallet to keep things stowed while traveling.  Of course dad had a stereo system and a CB radio.  He used the CB to communicate with truckers which, at the time, was the cool thing to do in order to find out conditions ahead as it related to roads or "smokies" (highway patrol).  I loved it when he put on music.  Dad would spend hours before a trip making "tapes' of songs from his favorite albums.  I remember him playing songs from the musical "Paint Your Wagon", the soundtrack from "Gone With the Wind", soundtrack from "How the West was Won", John Denver, The Tabernacle Choir and of course, my favorite was any of the Beach boys tapes.

I don't remember stopping at hotels or motels along the way.  We stopped at rest areas and sleep a few hours and my parents took turns driving.  It always seemed that we would drive straight thru with small stops for a few hours while mom and dad caught a few hours of sleep before moving on.

Once we got to Vegas, we would pull out our bathing suits and head to the pool.  My mom would always make us go in and say Hi to our grandpa.  He was an invalid and was mostly in his bed back in his room.  We would run in and hastily say hello so that we could get in the swimming pool as fast as we could.  We spent most of the summer in that pool.  Sometimes our cousins would be there when we arrived, or would get there shortly after.   That's when the fun would begin.  I remember endless games of Marco Polo and "bumper butts" on those roasting hot Las Vegas summer days.  Grandma would bring out trays of veggies with dip for us that tasted so fresh and amazing! My grandma had a knack for putting out a spread with little planning.  Although she was known to grocery shop in the middle of the night. Vegas never slept and I wonder if Grandma did?  Grandma would make us get out of the pool and eat and wait to get back in the pool ( I guess so we wouldn't get cramps?)

Being with cousins was something I always looked forward to.  I loved them and thought of them with fondness even during the year when we were far away and didn't have any of the modern forms of communication other than calling on the phone long distance and of course the trusty pen and paper.   

Grandma had pull out couches in the living room and we would sleep on those.  Mom and dad slept in one of the back rooms.  After Charlie came he would sleep outside in the van in the driveway.  Later we found out that he would sometimes take it out for a spin.  My parents had no idea.

The Next Step

This week was a big deal for Gabe; twelve is a big deal!  I just love how he is growing and learning and I see his understanding of things increase.  He's a good boy, er...young man.  This week he was ordained a deacon in the Aaronic priesthood.  He's super excited for the responsibilities that goes along with this office.  

 Gabe's a good example to Jake.  It's pretty amazing to think that as my Gabe accomplishes each milestone Jake is merely 19 months from it and then its done!  It scares me a bit, to be honest!  Especially when I think of what's ahead in the next 6 or 8 years.  Even in the next 3~

 Todd and I are both very aware of this and have vowed to take every opportunity to love and teach and play.  These boys are the world to us and we feel extremely blessed to have them as our sons!

Photo Book

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AWOL

Well, I just realized that I've not posted a thing for almost 6 months!  Crazy how time flies.  I really have been quite busy and I'm dying at how fast this year is fleeing!  I have a semi good reason and that is my new job with JetBlue Airways.  I have gone thru pretty stringent training and am now working as a home reservations agent from my home office.  The pay stinks but the benefits are good, including the flight benefits which I hope to use someday!!  It's been a change working full time.  But I feel very fortunate that I'm able to work from home so that I can keep my eye on my boys during the summer.  It's been an adjustment for all of us.  On my days off I've still been shooting pics and especially lately High School Seniors and missionaries.  I love the photography part and get to use the creative part of my brain.  So life is busy and doesn't seem like it will slow down anytime soon!  The big bummer is that I lost a hard drive with everything I've done over the past few months!  It's costs a ton of money to to get the data restored!  I'm not really sure what to do!  So I'm trying to move forward without thinking about it too much!

Here are some other shoots I've been doing:

My Sister and My mother

 Alisha--Who's now a sister missionary,

 Adriana--who just got baptized,

 Katie who just graduated with her Master's,

 DeAnna--Who just got runner up in a pageant,

 And most promising model with her boy Nick,

 The Burdette's who just got sealed as a family for eternity,

 Trey who just graduated and is leaving on a mission,

 Heather that just got married,

 Paige who just became a big sister...again,

 Shanna--who just gave birth to her third child

 Dawson who left on his mission BEFORE he graduated from high school (he graduated early and has many offers for scholarships for his amazing talent playing the piano,

 And Cindee who sent off her son on a mission the week before and sent this daughter off the week after.

What a blessing to be able capture these moments and occasion in these people's lives.

A New Spin

This past year has been exciting as I am trying to find my niche.  I have been on a site that has been featuring some really inspirational photographers and filmmakers.  Every Christmas I try to do a project to give to my family.  It's a usually a slideshow of something inspiring and has a certain message that I want to convey for the holiday season.  This year I did something different than usual in that I incorporated video.  It isn't very good and now looking back and studying it out more, I realize how bad it is, but incorporating video into these projects has me more excited than ever.  Here's the video from Christmas 2012.  It was exciting to work with Eliza, my niece, since she received her mission call right before Christmas.  I was thinking a lot about her heritage.  She has wonderful parents  and grandparents who have committed their lives to living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So as I was breaking out the Christmas music, I came across a song by Amy Grant called "Heirlooms". The words really spoke to me and I felt inspired to do something using this song.  So it only felt right featuring Eliza and her heritage of missionary work.

http://vimeo.com/56337063

I'm excited and a bit inspired to try a new project this year.  So maybe you'll see another video project from me sometime during the course of the year.

His Apostle

When we first heard that Richard G. Scott was coming to our Stake Conference, both Todd and I knew that somehow we would have to find a way to have Gabe meet him.  You see, he's Gabe's apostle.  The  Sunday morning after Gabe was born I was just getting up.  I had only been released from the hospital myself the day before and was still nursing my c-section.  The phone rang and the voice asked if I was sister Sparks.  I said yes and he introduced himself as Elder Zwick from the Seventy.  He asked if I had a baby at Primary Children's hospital.  I said that I did and then he said that he and Elder Scott were going to be up at the hospital that evening and asked if I would like them to come and have Elder Scott give a blessing to my baby.  I was stunned!  Never would I ever imagine having a phone call such as that, but I was so grateful that he would even be willing to come and bless my sick little infant son.  So later that afternoon our family all gathered and and we met with these two brethren up in the hospital lobby.  He visited with us for a few minutes before we were allowed to bring everyone into the small room in the neonatal intensive care unit.  They had to make an exception to allow that many people in at once since it is the NICU policy to only allow one parent and one other person into the NICU at a time.  Elder Scott had Todd stand in with him and they both placed their hands on Gabe's head and blessed him to heal.  What an honor and a privilege.

Since that time, every time we see Elder Scott on General Conference or a photo of him, we always say to Gabe, "There's your apostle".  So when we heard of him coming and speaking at our Stake Conference we were so excited and happy for Gabe.  The night before we received a call asking Todd if he would be willing to help reserve the parking space for Elder Scott and remove the cones for his car when it arrived at the Stake Center.  So Gabe followed his dad around that morning and they even gave Gabe a little usher button.  After Elder Scott arrived and got out of his car, Todd introduced Gabe to Elder Scott and told him of the blessing he had given Gabe 11 years ago.  Elder Scott was cute and remarked that Gabe certainly looked better than the last time he saw him!    It was a quick moment, but he was gracious while a very sweet lady from our stake snapped a few shots!  I am thankful to her for being right there and then sending them to us.  What a cool experience and one that Gabriel will always remember!

Not My Words, but Just How I Feel

I haven't posted to this blog in a long time, and I thought I needed to post my thoughts.  More than anything so that my children and their children will know where I stand as I watch my generation writing history.  

This week was a hard week for me.  I have been very caught up in the political climate this year in hopes that we could find a man that could lead our country out of impending doom.  I know that sounds drastic and slightly dramatic but I feel like without a real quick change of course we might not ever recover.  We have socialized medicine about to go into effect, we have an economy that is not recovering, The Middle East is burning down and all the current administration is doing is lying about it and the media is doing nothing about it.  The one candidate that I felt could actually make a dent in this mess and that I had voted for lost the election.  I can't even begin to describe my sadness.  I have been in mourning all week since the election.  My sisters and my mom and I have been on the phone with each other all week trying to help each other make sense of it all.  Michelle sent me this blog post that she found online that totally sums up the way I've been feeling and I thought I'd repost it parts of it here because she says it the way I would have.  Thanks, SWARM.

A post Election letter to my Children; why your mother cried all day!

As she fell asleep lying next to me tonight, Betty, my five-year-old, got tears in her eyes (mostly just exhaustion) and said she was sad Obama won. I laughed as she was mimicking her mother, who, at the start of the day, hugged her good morning and began crying telling her Romney lost and her mother was sad. In this moment, I realized I needed to write down my thoughts for my children on this post-Election Day, why I am so sad today and why I will keep fighting tomorrow.

I voted for Mitt, but it wasn't because he was Republican, I hate being labeled into a box. I wasn't even voting for Mitt per se- no doubt he would have been a great economic leader, which is what this country so desperately needed. I was voting for more than a man. I voted for the idea that reward comes with hard work, not handouts. That people are the solution, not the government. I voted with the notion that our President should be held accountable for his actions, and that on 9/11/12, a US Ambassador and three other Americans were killed in a terrorist attack, and that our current President blamed it on a video.  I voted because Obama apologized to terrorists and to the world for our First Amendment and the right to free speech. I voted because I belong to a religion that has seen much hatred, and cruel videos and musicals, and yet I believe it is a right for others to speak, so I peacefully ignore those cruel words and videos and musicals. I voted because God leads this nation and the Democratic Party removed his name from their political platform. I voted because I believe contraceptives are a choice and not a right; and even more that women should pay for their own and not expect others to do so. I voted for the unborn who are killed by partial birth abortion. I voted not to pay for abortions with my tax dollars. I voted for economic recovery and for that silly belief that if you can’t afford it- you shouldn’t get it. I voted for Capitalism and the American Entrepreneur. I voted against redistribution of wealth and the thought that the government can decide who has too much and who deserves more. I voted against a President that seeks to divide (class warfare, war on women, race divisions), and voted to Stand United with my fellow Americans, no matter their race, gender, or financial worth. I voted for the belief that this nation was founded on principles that need to be embraced, not “fundamentally” changed.

I voted for you, Betty & Blue. I voted so that you would be able to grow up in the America I have been privileged to know. I write this so that you know that my vote was not in vain. I realized today that I stood with 48% of American voters, united for a better tomorrow. I will continue to work and serve, and pray so that each year that 48% grows. I learned today that being humble to the Lord and working hard is difficult and tiring, but it’s the only way. I learned that I must make sure, as your mother, that you learn about America, the good and the bad. I learned that America is only as strong as her people. I learned that I am strong. I learned that women are much stronger than men (well that-I already knew)! I learned that even though the outcome is not what I had hoped, fought and prayed for, that a victory was won because of the liberties that allowed me to say I VOTED.

We are so blessed to live in a country that has the freedoms that we have and I will keep fighting for these freedoms by teaching my children about history and the founding fathers.  I will also teach my children the importance of work and honesty and charity.  I know that there are many others that believe as I do (at least 48% of the country) and that we must continue the fight for the cause of freedom.  

Another Beginning...

We've been here before.  New clothes, shoes, backpack.  A new school year

A Proper Good-bye

These kinds of posts are a bit difficult for me to begin.  Or end.  It's because I have some very tender feelings that I'm not really sure how to express properly.  My sweet Aunt Julie passed away a few weeks ago leaving a hole in the hearts of her family.  I have memories of a devoted, hard-working woman who did everything she could to give her children the best!  Spending time in the hot Las Vegas summers at my grandparent's home, I remember having to wait until later in the day for her to get home from work to bring my cousins to Grandma's to play in the pool.  Now that I'm a mom, and have worked outside my home, I have a little different perspective on her.  I'm sure she was exhausted after being a bank teller and standing on her feet all day.  But I know that she thought more about her children than herself and would do those types of things all the time (i.e. school activities, ball games, etc.) to show her love and support for her children.  There are many things that I learned of her over the years.  Things that could make any person feel bitter and sorrowful.  But not Aunt Julie!  She always had a positive attitude and I will always remember her beautiful smile!  Even when I went to see her 5 or 6 weeks before she died, she smiled through her pain.  I come from a long line of strong women and I know this is the same source from which she gleaned her strength.  What a great example to me of someone who could overcome adversity with a positive attitude.  Being her niece was a privilege and I hope I can be a fraction of the mother, sister, aunt or daughter that she was.  I am so sorry for the huge loss that my cousins are experiencing.  I can't imagine the sorrow or the ginormous hole in their hearts from losing their mom.   But I am so thankful that they know that she lives on.  That she's with our Grandparents and that she, as well as Grandpa, are pain free.  That we are an eternal family.  There is much peace in believing in Jesus Christ and that through him we will see our loved ones again.  To Leigh Ann, Ed, Em and Tony, I am so thankful that we were able to come and spend a few days and grieve with you.  No matter how far away we may be from each other or how old we get, please know that I am so grateful to call you all family and that my door is always open to you and your families!  We share the Nottage genes which may tell us a lot about the kind of folk we are, but it also binds us like nothing else can.  Love you guys!

Call Me Delilah!!

I haven't blogged for a while and I have some catching up to do.  So here's one of my latest blunders.  Luckily he can pull this off!  I've been cutting Todd's hair since we got married.  He told me that he didn't want to ever pay, to have what little hair he had, cut.  I've done alright.  Perhaps a few mishaps in the beginning, but it always managed to grow out.  Well, on one particular day Todd asked if I would cut his hair.  I said I would, but apparently I didn't jump right up and get going.  So he went in and got the whole project started.  Todd finally came out and said he was almost done, but needed help with the back.  So I got up and went to shear off the back.   I took one zip right up the back of his head and realized he had already cut that part and had taken the comb off the clippers!  I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry as he was screaming at me that he had already done that part and that he just wanted me to even up the neck-line!  I started to cry.  He just said, "that's it!  I've been wanting to do this for a long time and you've finally given me the opportunity!"  I hated it at first, but I'm getting used to it.  He loves it!  All I know is that it saves on a little shampoo!