Lindsay Ross Blog

“Real Life Stories–Women of Inspiration” My cousin, Lanie.

Lanie is my cousin. So we’ve known each other since we were babies. Growing up she didn’t live close to my family, but each summer she’d come spend a week or so at our house and I always looked forward to it.

Lanie is one of those people who are just good to their very core. Very relaxed, down-to-earth, always up for adventure, and an amazing mom. She’s also friendly, easy to talk to, and easy to be around.

And she’s one of those people who can have her hair in any style or color imaginable and still look amazing. Score for her.

1. Give me a quick peek at your story.
Well, my name is Lanie Wilkinson. I am a 35 year old mom of 3 and wife of 13 years. I always like to define myself as that first because those are the 2 accomplishments I am most proud of in my life. I’ve moved around a lot in my life but most recently lived in San Francisco, Portland, and have recently moved to Utah. I studied Special Education at Utah State University. I love to read, cook, hike and camp with my family. I love to experience new things and new places and I get restless if things stay the same for too long!

2. Tell me about an “every day moment” you are grateful for.
My youngest is a 5 year old boy. His sisters are both in school so it is just the two of us at home during the day. Every day without fail, he crawls on my lap, puts his chubby hands on my cheeks and says, “I love you mama!” It’s such a small thing but it melts my heart every single time and is such a gift to me!

3. What is one ambition you have right now
I have always wanted to use my education in working with children with disabilities to help those in other countries where there are not services for those with disabilities. My husband and I spent some time in Ethiopia a few years back and it was so heartbreaking to see that the people that had disabilities there had no way of working, no homes to take care of them, no school accommodations. I would love to work to help develop programs to serve those people.

4. If you could speak on anything to a large group of women, what would you talk about?
Ah this is a hard one! To be honest, I don’t feel qualified to talk to a large group of women. I get easily intimidated by all of the amazing people around me. But I guess I would talk about the need we have as women and moms to be an influence for good in our children’s lives. I think about this a lot. As I have gotten older and have my own family, I see women that set amazing examples for their kids or other children in their lives. I think we need more of that in our world. We need to be examples of strong women who stand up for what we think is right. That is what I want my kids to take away from me as their mom.

5. What does the phrase “create a good life story” mean to you?
I love this phrase! When I hear that I think of “creating experiences”. Making memories with the people you love most sounds like a “good life story” to me.

6. Tell me something someone taught you that made an impact on your life
I feel like I have been blessed to have a lot of amazing people in my life that are constantly teaching me things. But I would say one of the most important lessons I have learned has been from my mother-in-law. She has taught me to laugh about almost everything. She has gone through a lot of hard things in her life but she has learned to put on a smile and find humor in almost everything. I am trying to be more like that.

7. Name one event in your life that has made a significant impact on the course of your life story
My decision to stay home with my children. I know it isn’t for everyone and not everyone who wants to is able to. But when we moved to San Francisco so my husband could go to medical school, I had an amazing job offer to work at an autism school in Oakland. I knew the money would help with medical school but I had one daughter already and another on the way. I knew they needed a parent to be available to them, especially with how busy Justin would be in med school. I really feel like the decision to turn down that job and stay home with my kids has had more impact on my life story than almost any other decision I have made.

8. What is something you want to accomplish you haven’t yet?
Lots of things! Bike the Oregon coast with my family.

9. What photographs are you most grateful for from your childhood or teen years?
I love the photos withy my grandparents and family

10. What are you most proud of?
My kids for sure. They are better than I could have imagined!

11. What is the best parenting advice/tip someone gave you?
Someone told us one that before they had kids they had a million theories on parenting and since they’ve had kids, they have none. I thought it was funny at the time but now I realize it’s true and you have to always be changing your tactics!

12. Tell me something you are sure of
I am so sure of my faith

13. What is your favorite quote or your life motto?
I always tell my kids to “Have a Sunshine Day”.

14. What is your favorite part about yourself (not a physical trait)?
This is always a hard question to answer but I would say my ability to talk to people.

15. What type of photographs do you wish you had more of?
Definitely more of us as a family. I am always behind the camera and rarely get pictures of all of us.

16. What is something you do to help drive away fear or anxiety?
Exercise and clean–they both make me feel more in control!

17. What is your favorite part about being a mom? Your least favorite part (just keepin it real on this question–I know you love your kids)?
Favorite part–seeing my kids grow into the people they are, watching the choices they make and how they learn. Least favorite part–cleaning up after everyone, constantly!

18. Tell me something about yourself that may surprise people
I really hate waking up in the morning. I am NOT a morning person at all!

19. What’s one thing you wish you would have known when you were younger?
How important it is to be nice to everyone! I don’t think I was mean to people but I wish I would have always remembered to include others and go out of my way to be kind to them. Now that I have kids in school I am constantly harping on them about that.

And for fun:

Favorite book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Favorite family tradition: Seafood on Christmas Eve

Something you enjoy doing with your spouse: going out to eat at new restaurants

Talent you wish you had: singing

Favorite meal: Indian Food

If you never had to do one specific thing again, what would it be: clean the shower!

Favorite show on TV: Parenthood

Something that scares you: tidal waves

Favorite thing about your husband: his ability to leave work at work and be present with us at home

Something you can’t live without: Ghirardelli dark chocolate and caramel

What’s something you think about often: beach vacations

Thanks for doing this Lanie!! Glad I get to claim you as family.

If you want to read more “Real Life Stories–Women of Inspiration” interviews, click HERE.

Double digits

Today I officially have a child in the double digits. In 10 short (yet sometimes oh so very long) years, she’s taught me more than most people in my life. She made me a mom first. And she, along with her 3 siblings, make sure I earn my title.

We are alike in so many ways. And very different in other ways.

Sometimes I look at her and think “Wow, she looks SO much like I did at that age” And sometimes she’ll do/say something that reminds me of how I was as a child.

This girl loves to be in charge and is very good at doing it. She’s a take control kind of kid and very rarely says “I’m bored”. She creates fun. If she wants something, she goes after it. Relentlessly. And she is more observant than any other human I have ever met. She takes a mental inventory of everything and everyone around her. She knows where things are. She remembers what people say. If I have misplaced something (which is embarrassingly often) she always knows where it is. Always. And she worries. A lot. About everything. Which she (unfortunately) gets from me. Sorry.

Though we certainly have our moments of disagreement, I love to be around her. We’ve been through some pretty rocky moments together, but we continue to love. We’ve also had ridiculous amounts of fun together.

It’s fun to watch her personality develop. She is laugh-out-loud funny and sometimes grit-my-teeth dramatic. And I never ever know what to expect from her. She continually surprises me every day.

Happy Birthday “J”. We sure like having you around.

(Photo of me at roughly the same age)

Please note my little brothers rolled socks. I die.

Show up.

A few things on my mind lately.

“You DO have something to say, we do have something to contribute and if we don’t because of fear, we’re letting people down who are counting on us to show up.”
Seth Godin

And the other.

We all have something to give. We’re all meant to show up. As we are. As ourselves.

I can do it. You can do it. Just keep showing up.

Singing about God and Christ to a crowd of Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

I have been saddened by the recent conflict in Israel. I lived in Jerusalem for 4 months in the winter and spring of 2000 while studying at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies (i.e. the BYU Jerusalem Center) and grew to love the people there, both the Israelis and the Palestinians. I sympathize with both groups and pray for the Peace of Jerusalem always.

(photo courtesy of Nate Spicker–a student who attended with me)

(photo courtesy of Nate Spicker)

The people there LOVED the “Mormons” as we were affectionately known. They didn’t refer to us as Americans (which was, unfortunately, a good thing–Americans aren’t well liked over there).

When you are accepted into the program in Jerusalem, one of the “rules” is you aren’t allowed to talk about your religion to the people who live there. Ever. For any reason. If you are caught discussing religion (even if you answer a simple question) you will be sent home. So if anyone asked anything, we were told to say “I can’t talk about that”. No “Yes’s” or “No’s”. Nothing. Many of the people there knew this. And they’d try to trick you. We got really good at saying “I can’t talk about that”.

(photo from Center website)

But. For some reason, we were able to SING about our beliefs in God and Jesus Christ within the Jerusalem Center (we couldn’t go around the streets singing the answers people asked us, although that could have been wildly entertaining).

During that semester we formed a large student choir with over 100 members. We often sang during church services and at the end of the Semester, we hosted a concert held in the Upper Auditorium. The same room we held church services in. Not sure how they expect anyone to pay attention with a view like that.

(photo courtesy of Nate Spicker)

At the end of the semester concert, we were allowed to invite the public. Anyone of any ethnicity or religion was permitted to attend. The room was full to capacity. Full of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, Palestinians, Israelis and Americans.

And we sang to that room full of people. About God. And about Jesus Christ.

And the people cried.

And we cried.

(photo from Center website–Upper Auditorium)

When it ended, the choir filed into the foyer to greet people as they left. And as those Muslims and Jews and Christians shook our hands, and smiled at us with tears in their eyes and left one by one, someone spontaneously started singing “I am a Child of God”. And the rest of us joined in. And the people stopped. And the ones who had left the building started coming back in. And there we all stood, seemingly so different, and yet so much alike. With the SAME God and the same hopes for happiness and peace, and feeling the same spirit.

We bore our testimonies of love and God and Jesus Christ through song. And for that brief moment, we were all ONE.

(Photo from Center website)

Truth is, we’re all more alike than we are different. We all yearn for happiness. We all yearn for peace. We all yearn for love. And we’re all loved by the same God. Who loves us all equally no matter our ethnicity or religious background. This I know.

(photo I took at the Garden Tomb)

“Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.”
Psalms 122:6-7

To help you use up some of your zucchini

These “zucchini boats” are good. Really good. AND good for you.
Normally I’m not a huge fan of ground turkey. Maybe because when I cook it, it has a weird gray color. But when you add the Taco seasoning it’s a game changer.

Recipe.

Cut zucchini in half and carve out the middle (I use a spoon)
Cook 1 pound of Jenni-O ground turkey on the stove. When it’s fully cooked, add a little water and Taco seasoning (as much seasoning as you prefer–I like it more mild)
Spoon cooked turkey into the zucchini. Add cut up fresh mushrooms and olives (or whatever toppings you like).

Cook at 400 degrees for about 7 minutes. Then add some mozzarella cheese and continue cooking for about 5 more minutes or until zucchini is tender when stabbed with a fork.

Fast. Easy. And healthy.

I’m still trying to warm my kids up to zucchini. They aren’t big fans. So I just put the extra ground turkey and toppings in a corn taco shell for them.

The original idea for this came from an Instagram account I was following but now can’t find. Probably because one of my kids accidentally un-followed them. Anyway, it was tweaked from that to our liking.