Molly Louise

As I was practicing last Thursday for week two of Dancing Up a Storm, I got a text that read, "It's Keli, Kirstens sis in law. She's in labor. Will you call her at Riverton hospital? Thanks!" It was accompanied by a missed phone call from my sister. My heart sank a little bit as I realized that Kirsten's husband was still in Argentina (he was scheduled to fly in two days later). I immediately called her back, hoping that it was a false alarm, but it seemed that the little girl was anxious to get out and see the world.

As I drove up to the hospital, my heart raced. My mom had left a few days earlier for London, and of course Bryan wasn't there, so being her only sister, I needed to be there for her. I didn't know anything about having a baby; plus, I don't deal well with blood and fluids. I was guessing that her mother-in-law would be there too, but I wasn't totally sure. It turned out that she was, as was her sister-in-law.

The afternoon and evening progressed with contractions, but no baby. Bryan watched via webcam in Argentina, where it was the middle of the night. Kirsten was amazing, not really complaining at all, even when she was having a lot of pain before her epidural, and when her epidural wasn't working too well on one side. She really is one of the toughest people I know.

Eventually, Molly Louise Clayton was born at 10:27 PM. She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz (lucky she was two weeks early, or she would have been HUGE). She is beautiful with dark, almost curly hair. Once she decided to come that evening, she came quickly.

And you know what? It was AMAZING to witness. No queasiness or uneasiness, just happiness and joy. It was a testament to me of how truly miraculous and sacred life is. It's kind of hard to put into words just how special it was and I feel really lucky to have been there. I got a sub for my classes and got to spend all day the next day in the hospital with Kirsten and Molly. I even got the special wristband that is generally reserved for the dad. Not too many people get to watch a live birth (no, movies don't count) before they actually give birth, but I'm glad I got to see this girl come into the world:

This photo was taken right after the nurse gave her the first "bath".

A Miracle and a Lesson Learned

Back in October, one of my students that I adore asked me to write her a letter of recommendation for a scholarship. I happily obliged. I got the email, and as emails often do when I don't respond immediately, it fell into the abyss. I had it in the back of my mind somewhere, but was grateful when she reminded me again in December. The deadline was January 18th. It went somewhere on my to-do list, and she graciously reminded me again. She told me that I shouldn't wait until the last day in case there were issues with the website.

My good intentions of turning it in earlier failed, and I sat down to fill out the recommendation form yesterday afternoon. When I logged in, there was a message that said that it was due on the 17th and I could no longer submit the recommendation. I read the initial email again multiple times, and it said that I had until midnight CST to turn in my recommendation. I was 1/2 hour too late to call the place, so I had no hopes of getting help. Everything I read was pretty clear that if you didn't get it in on time, they wouldn't accept it. I wrote multiple emails to them pleading my case, begging them to allow me to submit my recommendation–especially because it wasn't the girl's fault. I was guilt-ridden and heart-broken. I felt terrible to have let down such a fantastic student. Even though the website had a glitch, it was really my own fault, since I had been warned ahead of time that there could be issues. I prayed for forgiveness, but also for a miracle, not for my sake (I didn't deserve it), but for hers.

I called the organization the first thing this morning to see if there was anything I could do. The guy on the other side of the call wasn't very nice and he told me that there was nothing he could do. I explained that it wasn't the girl's fault at all and that she did everything right. He told me that he was sorry (though his tone didn't really convey that feeling) but he couldn't do anything about it. I asked if there was anyone else I could talk to that could help me. He told me all I could do was write an email, but it was unlikely that they would make any exceptions. I could hardly talk, and I nearly broke down and cried.

First period started, and I stammered through the first few minutes. I apologized to my students, telling them that I hadn't had the best morning. Shortly into class, I went to look at something on my computer and saw an email from the organization that was offering the scholarship. They told me that due to technical difficulties last night, they were extending the deadline until 5:00 today. As soon as I had a moment, I turned in a letter with all the praise that I could lavish upon her.

The interesting thing about it was that if not for that glitch, I never would have learned what I did. It would have saved a lot of suffering (and trust me, I had a major breakdown), but I wouldn't have gotten the powerful lesson on procrastination that I did. I'm also grateful for the reminder that God will give us grace in our weaknesses, and that we can always turn to Him for help. It reminded me that I should be merciful to those who humbly, and perhaps even those who not so humbly, ask for my compassion. Lessons learned.

Off to London!

My parents left this morning for London. They will be serving in the England London Mission in the Family History Center. It's finally starting to hit me that they're gone. I miss them already, but I'm so proud of them. They are the best parents in the world, and I'm so lucky to have them.

Dancing Up a Storm

The ballroom team at Westlake puts on a show called "Dancing Up a Storm" (we're the Westlake Thunder). It's like "Dancing with the Stars" where the pros are the dance students and the stars are teachers, students, and members of the community. I was asked to be a "star" for the show. Last Saturday was round one and this Saturday is round two.

I felt sorry for the poor kid who had to teach me to dance, but we had a really fun time, and we ended up doing pretty well on our cha cha last Saturday. We got a 7, 8 and 9 (that judge gave me brownie points because I'm the tennis coach).

I was grateful to have a great cheering section, including my parents (who were in the MTC last week, but got to come), my sister and her kids, Tasha, Jenilyn, and some of my tennis girls. Here, however, is my biggest fan:

Isn't he handsome?

This Saturday we will be doing our quickstep routine. I have to admit that I'll be glad to be done.

Winter Barbecue

My brothers are all quite good cooks. A few of them have really gotten into barbecuing, so of course, we had to get the smoker going while they were here. It was freezing, but they still had a lot of fun. They even put some insulation over the smoker to keep it warm. It might have been the best pulled pork I've ever eaten.

Here is the star of the meal:

And the supporting cast: baked beans, cole slaw, rolls, and garlic mashed potatoes (my contribution)-- all homemade.

So delicious. We Robertsons can put on quite the spread, if I might say so myself.

More Christmas Break

Our entire family was together for the first time in a year and a half, so we had to make a lot of fun plans. My nephew Isaac drew us some pictures to remind us what we had scheduled for the 27th.

Here's the explanation:
*"Picher Day Hol Famliey": We went and had a family picture taken with our entire family. It turned out beautifully. I'll post it as soon as I get a digital copy.
*"Bryan Clayton- USA---A- AA":  Sadly, my brother-in-law had to head back to Argentina right after the photo to fulfill his responsibilities with the embassy. His family stayed here since Kirsten will be giving birth to a baby girl soon. He flew American Airlines, by the way.
*"Café Reoe": After the photo, we went to a family favorite and Utah special, Cafe Rio.
*"Dinner- Taco Night- Christmas Carol": That night, we had one of my favorite Robertson traditions. For FHE at Christmastime, we listen to a dramatized version of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" while we eat tacos and drink hot chocolate.

As advertised, we had our tacos. Here's the little artist himself. Isn't he cute?

Christmas 2010

I finally imported my pictures from my camera from the last month so I thought I'd share a few. Here are some Christmas highlights:

Lots of cousin fun. Here are the two little buddies.

Steve has always had a great sense of fashion.

Lots of presents for lots of kids.

We got something to help Dad keep his physique while he's on his mission.

We did a Nativity. Cute Mary and an angel.

Cutest donkey ever.

King Kyle

Joseph and Mary head to the manger while Grandpa reads from his iPad.

The End.

"...you've never seen, so they tell me, such downright domesticity..."

I decided last Sunday to make a blanket for my beau, Taylor, for Christmas. That night I did a little research, settled on a rag quilt, and designed the pattern. Then after school on Monday, I went to the fabric store, bought everything I needed, showed up at my mom's house, and announced that I was going to make a blanket in three days, since Taylor was leaving on Friday morning. If it had been any other project that intense that hadn't involved a sewing machine my mom would have tried to talk me out of it. However, since my mom has been dreaming of my being a seamstress extraordinaire since my childhood days, she jumped right in to help me. (Isn't she amazing?) There is no way in hades I could have finished it without her. Mom saves the day again!

On Monday we cut out all the squares, Tuesday we sewed each square together with the batting in the middle, and Wednesday we sewed it all together and clipped the seams so it would fray up. I also need to give a shout-out to my amazing cousin-in-law Janelle (who left the next day to move to Boston with my amazing cousin Scott) and my amazing sister-in-law Jenny (here visiting from Texas) who helped with all the snipping. It would have taken FOREVER by myself. I definitely miss having Jenny live close, and I'm surely going to miss having Scott and Janelle around— they're two of my favorites.

Here is my finished product, or at least half of it:

Taylor loved it. Isn't he a lucky boy to have such a domestic girl?

And since I got it in your head, here's the clip of the song. Enjoy.

Good King Wenceslas

Ever since Mr. Harvie, my elementary school choir teacher, (I've been mentioning him a lot lately) introduced me to all of the verses of this song, it has been one of my favorites. Before then, I thought it was kind of a weird Christmas song. It is a great story of a leader and a mentor. Take a little read:

Sad Day

As I was celebrating my last day of school, I received news that the Provo Tabernacle had burned down. I suspect that most of my blog readers are familiar with the building and I suspect that many of you have tender feelings about it. It was a beautiful building and a monument to all of the pioneers who helped build this wonderful valley.

Many of us that have spent a lot of time in the valley have warm memories of the Tabernacle. I have attended countless meetings and concerts in the building. Here are a few memories I have:

When I was in the Northridge Elementary Chorus, we were invited to perform at a Christmas concert there. There were several choirs that sang. We had a bus driver that had requested to take us on every route. He liked us because our director made us be absolutely silent on the bus ride there to save our voices, plus he loved listening to us sing. He knew that if we got a standing ovation, Mr. Harvie would come back out and we would sing an encore. So after our set, a man sitting on the balcony in suspenders stood up amidst the clapping, and the rest of the audience followed. We felt pretty special because we were the only ones to receive a standing ovation that night. We obliged the bus driver (and the audience) with an encore.

I've been to several Stake Conferences there, including one when I was in a BYU Stake. My roommate and dear friend Shalon had curled her hair up all pretty, and it was quite bouncy. One of our more scandalous friends in our ward told Shalon she'd pay her $10 (or some sum of money) to walk up the aisle to the bathroom (the bathrooms were in the front of the building) so her curls would bounce. Shalon was hard up for cash at the time, so she took the dare. I laughed as I saw the girls sitting in front of us making fun of Shalon.

On a more spiritual note, I attended a Stake Conference when I was in that same stake with Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. He quoted Harry Potter in his talk, which we thought was pretty awesome. Afterward we went up and shook his hand, and he was very kind.

                                                                                                                  

Here are a few images of the fire. Warning: If you feel any sort of attachment to the building, they might make you cry.