Josh's First Talk

This is Josh's fourth year in Primary, and his first talk was today. Noah has already given two, and is only in his second year, so Josh was pretty excited to get his chance! We sat down together to prepare, and he was very serious about trying to think of examples and make it good. His topic was, "Heavenly Father answers my prayers in many different ways." I asked him to think of some personal examples, and we listed them. Then, I asked him to think of some examples from the scriptures, and we listed those. I then asked him to choose which ones he wanted to use. I wrote the words out that so he would be able to read them later, but I wrote them as he said he wanted them. There were times I would have made different choices, but it wasn't my talk, it was his, and he did a really thoughtful job. He even thought of the segue to the scripture portion by himself. When he got up to give it he looked so sharp in his tie, and did so well giving it. Even though we have a huge junior primary that can be pretty wiggly, the kids seemed to be listening to him. Talking about it later, Gary said, "If I think about it hard enough, I'll get all choked up." Here is his talk:

Heavenly Father answers prayers in many different ways.

When I'm scared at night, I say a prayer, and Heavenly Father helps me forget the things I was thinking of.

Last year I got lost at Sea World. I said a prayer and then some people took me to the Sea World workers, who helped me find my grandma.

When I'm climbing rocks that are big and I don't know how to get down, I say a prayer, and Heavenly Father helps me to know how to get down.

In the scriptures people said prayers, too, like these people.

When all of the wicked people in Babel built a tower to get to heaven, God made it so everybody spoke a different language and couldn't understand each other. The brother of Jared said a prayer and his family could understand each other.

When Jonah disobeyed God and got swallowed by a whale, then he said a prayer to repent and he was okay.

I'd like to bear my testimony, and I know this church is true, and I know when you say a prayer Heavenly Father answers you in many different ways.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Oh, yes, and our whole family was in there to hear it, too! Noah and Andrew are already in Primary, Gary and I were in there to watch, and Lissy stunk up her diaper at the last minute and ended up watching, too.

Back to It!

I'm struggling with this back to school thing. So weird, because last year I was fine. I've had so much fun having all of my kids with me this summer, and with all of the things we've been up to, it's flown by. Tonight was back-to-school night, and Josh's teacher seemed really great. She told the kids they'll be making pirate maps tomorrow, and also having Otter Pops. Josh is pretty pumped, and after we left I felt excited, too. This is going to be great, I thought. But then, I put him to bed . . . and realized I won't be having leisurely mornings with him. Won't be taking him to the library, or to the swimming pool. When will I read to him? It's sooo hard once school and all it's associated craziness starts. Oh, my, my heart just hurts, I should be used to this by now, there is a literal ache. Reading it back I realize it doesn't seem like a big deal, but when I thought of taking my kids to the pool, the tears just started flowing.

I wrote that the night before school started, and I'm glad I did, because how quickly I forget the poignancy of emotions that have passed. Okay, a re-cap . . .

On Monday, Gary's office had their annual barbeque at a park in Salt Lake, and we had fun eating, playing soccer, finding rocks in a stream, and seeing Gary in the middle of the day. School was to start the next day, and that night held a full line-up of back to school night, family home evening, and getting ready for school. However, when we went to go home, I got the news - Gary had an extremely important meeting on Friday he needed to stay late at work to prepare for. So, revamp the plans, we did it all without Gary. Thanks to some friends who let Lissy run with them, back to school night was great, as I mentioned earlier. I got the boys school shirts, and Noah was so proud to be old enough to get one.

Josh chose caramel sticky buns (which we'd never had before) for his back-to-school breakfast, but when the morning came, he was too nervous and excited to eat more than a bite. I was so sad to send him, I knew I had to do something, so I prepared to go to the gym after I dropped him off. I think the reason I was so sad this year was because I really realized how little I would see him, whereas before I hadn't had the full-day school experience. Josh preferred to walk to class by himself, but the look on his face as he responded to my tearful "I love you" and walked away let me know he really loved and would miss me, too. I started bawling, and Andrew said, "Josh will come back, mom, don't be sad." Noah added, "Yeah, if he wasn't coming back, that's what would be sad." Too true, children. After I called my momma and worked out my sad at the gym, I took the others to the "dinosaur park," and had a great time playing. At one point Andrew and Lissy were on swings next to each other, and they got in the same back-and-forth rhythm. They both started belly-laughing, and Andrew said, "This is hilarious!"

Second year in a row taking his back-to-school photo with my iPod, this time because the camera was sent away for repair. He's so cute, though, regardless! Second grade, here he comes.

Soccer started this week, too, but not without a tinge of drama. Josh has been on a team with the same kids and coach for 3 years, and wanted to again. However, the coach was told there were too many coaches in the league, and asked if he could coach the girls. He said okay, as long as the boys were kept together. Several of them were kept together, but not Josh. I called and emailed lots of different people, but they all said only the director of the league could change it, and he wouldn't. So, even though Josh was about to cry, I took him to his first practice. He came away completely pumped about soccer, and said, "Guess what my team name is, mom?!" I had lots of guesses, but was not prepared for Josh to say, "The Creepers!" Say what? I guess it's from Minecraft, so it's okay? Anyway, I was glad to see Josh excited, and I actually know several of the kids on the team, so we'll have a great season. Andrew and Noah started, too. Noah was crazy excited, and Andrew actually participated, so that's good.

Gary had to work late every night, so imagine how awesome it was to be getting vitamins and a binkie downstairs for bedtime, and hear Josh yell, "Mom, Andrew broke the crib!" Oh, my. It was a slat in the back, right in the middle. I duct taped it and put a cardboard box in front of it for the night (Gary's idea), and then called the company the next day. Turns out the crib has been recalled due to easily-broken slats, so I was told to send in certain pieces of the crib for confirmation, and then we will receive a voucher for a new crib. I was pretty excited - so Andrew wasn't the ruin-er, it was the crib, and we would be getting a new one, what fortune! So, that night Gary literally used a saw (as per instructions) to remove the part they wanted us to send in, and I did so the next day. Only then did I google the situation and find that many people only receive a $65 voucher toward a new one . . . the crib was really pretty and cost waaay more than that originally. Cross your fingers or pray or whatever that the crib situation turns out. It would be nice to cross something off the fix-it/buy-it list, it's getting a bit lengthy. But hey, none of us are on the fix-it list, so that's all we need.

In the absence of the father of the home, the kids and I had a little Cafe Rio trip this week. It was fun and yum, and the next day as we ate the leftovers, I asked Noah, "So, do you like pinto beans better than black beans now?" "Yes," he replied, "Pinto beans have more flavor." Andrew disagreed. "No, jelly beans have more flavor."

I was also amused by the quiet time we had on the first day of school. Noah and Andrew were pretty pumped because we found out we got a Beyblade House Party (hooray!), and then they picked a book about jackals to read. They spent most of quiet time pretending to be jackals, and once my arm was pretty chewed up, I decided we'd been "quiet" for long enough. They made up for it on Thursday by totally sacking out for a few hours.

Poor Gary only got an hour and a half of sleep on Thursday night, but he said the meeting on Friday was awesome, so he done good.

Part-way through the week we got our camera back, hooray! Some friends came over Friday night while their parents went to the temple, and they spent a very long time trying to make a house out of the now-useless crib. It was pretty cute.

These two are buddies, it's adorable.

First soccer games on Saturday morning! Josh did really well. He is still the youngest in his league this year, but he played with a lot more confidence, and had several shots-on-goal. Noah was so excited he was antsy all morning, and then really got into his game. Andrew actually played, so we were happy.

Josh got a chance to be goalie - he was pretty intense, until this moment where the action was on the other end of the field.

It's Josh, dribbling the ball down the field!

Noah's in the mix here.

Noah was working hard out there!

Oh, my goodness, look at his grin!

It was a child who took this picture of the other kids digging into the box of pears, but I think it's funny. It's going to be pear week at our house!

I took Andrew on a date yesterday. That kid is too sweet and adorable. Noah had gotten to go to Coldstone, so I suggested that, but he really wanted to get his ice cream at McDonald's. Too bad for me, but he was thrilled, so I loved it. While we ate, I asked him, "So Andrew, what makes you feel happy?" "Flowers," he replied. "No, picking a flower. No . . . giving a flower!" All that said with a huge grin. He played on the toys a few minutes and stopped to give me that grin through the little windows. He wanted a toy from McDonald's, but I told him that since we were going to the dollar store to get some things for preschool, I'd just let him pick out a toy there. When he got his chance to pick, he wanted to get three of everything he decided on, so Josh and Noah could have one, too. I told him that since it was his date, he didn't need to, but he insisted. His brothers needed what he had. That boy . . . so kind and thoughtful. We really enjoyed being together.

The Last Week of Summer Magic

A snow cone shack opened in our town this summer, and we made the trip to the lake to get one for family home evening on Monday. Yummy, yes, but oh, my goodness, look at this view. We really live in such a lovely place. This summer I've been thinking about how lucky we are. Not only are there wonderful people in our neighborhood, our little town is really a little community. When I went to swimming lessons this summer, I not only knew people from our ward, but from school, soccer, other years of swimming . . . I love it.

Lissy discovered getting piggy back rides from Josh is pretty fun.

Our grandest adventure of the week was on Tuesday, when he headed down to Lehi to hang out with our friends. We met up at the dinosaur museum, ate lunch at their house, then hit up a few rides at Trafalga? Do I need to say the kids loved it? Every second. So did I. Getting together with them always makes me want to move or make them move back so we can let the kids have fun while we solve the world's problems more often. Grand adventure of a day.

Evidence we went to the dinosaur museum

Even had fun in the elevator

These two were best buds ever since they were babies, and still love to play when they get together.

Proof we went to Trafalga - these two loved this ride.

Gary and I got the chance to go to the Bountiful temple that evening. I highly recommend it. We ran ourselves silly trying to get to the 5:30 session, but when we got to the waiting room, there were 2 rows of people who didn't get in, either, because it was full. We were told the next on was at 6:30 - I was disappointed, we couldn't wait that long because of the kids. Just as we were about to walk away from the door and do something else, a worker walked out of the room the session was in and said, "They can take 7 more people." We weren't going to just go ahead of the others who were ahead of us, so we hesitated. "Go!" she said. Okay, thanks! What a huge blessing, since we wouldn't have had the chance to do a session for another month if she hadn't helped us.

The kids and I took our last trip to the community pool for the season. We'd had plans to go with another family, but they got sick. Bummer. However, when we showed up, there were other people we knew already there. I love our town! So fun to catch up with friends. Also, playing with Lissy and Andrew in the little pool while watching Josh and Noah do their fancy tricks off the diving board is one of my favorite things to do. Contentment.

Josh and Noah were part of a little book club some friends and I put together this summer. We had 4 moms each take a week doing activities related to a Magic Treehouse book. The kids LOVED it. Josh said it was his favorite thing of the summer, which is really huge considering our summer and the fact I wouldn't let him attend unless he read the book, which he has to be forced to do. We met at our house the last week, and centered things around the Space Fact Tracker from the series. I was amazed at how much stuff those kids knew! All of them are whip smart. Josh remembered all sorts of things from the book I couldn't believe, but absolutely could not focus on finishing his writing activity if anything else was going on around him. I hope this isn't a problem for school, I'm a bit nervous. After the writing and quiz game, we made some moon art, and then split into groups and put together a play about some space missions. The boys did Apollo 11 (very loosely adapted), and the girls wanted to do the first pets in space. They were all too cute, I wish I had pictures, but that was in my "dead camera" portion of life. The girls put bike helmets on stuffed animals to be pet astronauts and the boys used the swingset as the space ship, the trampoline to do some type of blasting, and the climber as the moon. Oh, yeah, did you know there was a 3rd guy with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who didn't walk on the moon because he flew the ship? The kids felt sorry for him.

I got a random but very interesting opportunity to be part of a legal research study where I was on a mock jury for an actual pending case. I guess both parties want to know how their arguments play to a real jury, and they picked people from various age/ethnic groups across Utah to watch and listen to the case on our computers, then participate in a conference call to deliberate. I can't say what the case was since it's for real, but it was very sad. The deliberations portion was very interesting - when I heard everyone's initial thoughts, I got worried that people don't think sanely, but after a calm and logical discussion, things went really well. I wonder if a case that charged would be more awkward in real life? At any rate, it was great to be at a stage where I could run around doing this and that with my kids while participating - I only had to send Lissy and Andrew to a friend's for 2 hours, and then with naps, playing outside, Josh's burrito-warming skills, and TV, it was covered.

That weekend was our town's "Days." As part of it, on Friday night there was a lighted boat promenade on the lake. Gary bought ice cream sandwiches for us to eat as we watched. It turned out there weren't many boats this year, but wow, look at the view. Of course a camera phone is never going to capture how it really was, especially since the best part was our family being there and enjoying it.

The kids had lots of fun rolling down the hill.

On Saturday night, there were fireworks over the lake. The kids all got glow sticks, and had a great time running around until the show started. You should have heard Lissy's high little voice saying, "Hi-ya!" It was such a beautiful night, and the sunset over the lake was gorgeous. As soon as the first firework went off, Lissy came running to me in a panic, but then sat down and really loved the show. I'm not kidding when I say it was one of the best I've ever seen - the last few seconds had me holding my breath. Andrew said the fireworks were "unsploding."

I'd ask the kids to pose for a picture and they would have to do something awesome rather than stand still. It cracks me up, so I'm saving them.

Right at the beginning - then it's better to just watch. :)

Gary took a picture of me with the kids after the fireworks, and I love this procession of photos - these kids are so much fun. Oh, yes, and I'm wearing a dress because it was the adult session of stake conference.

And this is Captain Underpants and his excited sister.

8 Years to Life

This crazy close-up is all we've got for the anniversary, but the point is that we had fun!

These people have been married for 8 years! Our anniversary fell on a Monday this year, so we had normal Monday things going on - Gary had work, and we had kids over for a water party. Actually, they were there anyway while their mom went to the doctor, so we made it a party. Even though we had regular stuff on the schedule, when Gary came home that day, he wasn't empty-handed -the bag held said Cheesecake Factory. Wow! So, after the kids were in bed, we stayed up and played Scrabble and ate cheesecake. Very fun, though Gary was 100 points ahead the whole time.

On Tuesday, Gary arranged for a baby-sitter, and we got to go out. We played miniature golf, and although I felt like a college-kid as I walked up to get my wrist band, I quickly got into the golf game when I sunk my first hole-in-one. Lucky me, I got two! We played twice (we each won one), and then threw caution to the wind and went on the Dragon Rollercoaster (think Puff the Magic Dragon). Afterwards we ate at Cracker Barrel, yum. It's so nice just to be together. 8 years doesn't sound like a lot in the comparison of marriages, but if you think about the fact that 8 years prior to us getting married we had just graduated from high school, I think wow - you can pack a lot into 8 years. We sure have!

The boys started a their own basketball league this week. Without my knowledge, Josh wrote a note saying that practices would be at our house at 3:00 on Wednesdays and games would be at 3:30 on Fridays. No cleats, no flip flops, he said. He then copied it, and handed it out to all of the kids in the neighborhood. They told me about it before they handed it out, and I thought it was cute, so I let them. Noah planned to be the coach, and said that their friend Brooke could be his "insistent coach." Some of the neighborhood kids were sick when the appointed time came, but they still had a great time. They wanted to buy treats for the game, so I took them to Walmart and let them pick out chocolate milk and fruit snacks. It made it official.

Plugging in the iPod dock outside was a favorite this week, as well. They would turn the music up, then run, jump onto the trampoline, and do a roll off of it. Lissy wanted to jump, (she says, "Jump, mama, jump!") so I held her and jumped on the side while the boys did their extreme sports, and Gary mowed the lawn. One of those perfect nights where everyone is having fun, and the weather is beautiful.

I was getting out of the shower one day, and my boys barged in on me. Noah quickly closed is eyes and said, "I don't want to see your private parts." Andrew came running up to the door and said, "I do!" 3 year olds are hilarious.

Kickboxing is amazing. I never go because it's on Thursday, but since I had been doing to many things and not getting enough sleep my body and mind were shot. I didn't want to do a single thing, but since I know the medicine is exercise, I forced myself to go . . . and it worked! It's like being inside a video game for an hour, but it did the trick.

We worked hard this summer to earn enough reading minutes to win all of the library prizes, the highest level being their end-of-summer swim party. So, on Friday we got to go! Lissy floated it out in her baby-tube, and Andrew smiled it out in his life-jacket. That kid is so much fun - he just loves it, the whole time. There were some Tooele City pageant winners there, to make the swim party more of a party I guess, and they adored Lissy. Every time they'd pass her, they'd comment on her. One of them was standing by the pool smiling at the kids when Noah did a huge (but graceful) belly-flop - gave her quite the splash. Sorry. Josh was big enough to go on the high dive and water slide, so he had the time of his life, and I went around the lazy river and the kiddie pool with the others. I just love taking my kiddos swimming . . . also, the party topped off with an Otter Pop, so hooray for the library prizes.

If you want to see something adorable, I recommend watching Andrew hold up a flashlight to his face in the dark to tell a "scary" story. Oh, my word. My kids got a hold of a flashlight on Friday afternoon, and invited me in to hear their tales. At one point while Andrew was talking, Josh said, "This is getting scary. Cough, Andrew." He did, and it cheered up a bit. When it was Josh's turn he flipped on the lights and watched himself dribble a basketball in the mirror while he told us the Legend of Josh. It included, ". . . and he knew, that if the team was going to win this game, he was going to have to dunk from the 3 point line."

Random - Andrew's torso was covered in an itchy rash this week. Not hives, definitely not eczema, no other symptoms, none of the other kids got it. Poor guy. Also, strange.

On Friday night our ward had a camp out. We joined in the dinner, kickball, some-game-where-I-threw-sticks-at wood, and socializing fun, but then slept in our own beds. We were tuckered out, and Gary didn't want to put everything away by himself while I went to a baby shower the next day. So, we paid our kids out for lack of camping with a doughnut breakfast the next morning. I went to the gym first in preparation, and we had a fun family date at the doughnut shop. I got to see my friends Jennie and Michelle from college at the baby shower (it was for Jennie), and wow, I don't get to see them often enough. Since Gary was there and I had his phone, I got some cute shots of kids at the ward camp out.

These two love being silly together. The trickle of water activity lasted for a very long time.

Josh rounds the bases!

Such a ham - Josh poses while in line to kick.

The location of Noah's outfield assignment was hilarious to me. Some kids also played behind the other fence.

This was Andrew's pose.

Looking for snails in the bushes - all of the kids have spent hours and hours doing it the last few weeks. After they find them, they run and put them on a stool, or whatever the current nest is. They find other amazing things - leaves, sticks, rocks, bugs . . . so much to do! I have loved seeing that Lissy joins in like one of the kids.

On Sunday night we went on a walk, and stopped every few minutes to talk with neighbors. Our walk around two blocks ended up being a very long one, and near the end we saw a couple looking through a house who asked us how the neighborhood is. Really incredible!

From Washing Waldo Woo to Kayla on Capitol Hill

Do you ever get so tired as a family that you can do absolutely nothing and it's actually fun? That's what happened on Monday after our rodeo weekend/grandma's birthday. We were tuckered, and the kids hadn't seen their stuff for so long it was quite novel. I can't remember why, but Josh and Noah did this, and I let them.

I told them this looks like Walter Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.

After the sink baths, the kids found some "Story Cards" I'd picked up for a dollar a while back, and wanted to play with them. So we did. The cards had a setting to use, some props, some adjectives, and a problem. I went first, and while my story started out lame, it turned out to be something I'd write down. The boys were riveted. Josh went next, and did a great job of thinking of a story. He was telling the story about a guy diving for treasure, and said, "He saw some awesome things." "What was awesome?" I wondered aloud. Right away he answered, "Some baby fish being born, that was awesome." Noah had a hard time at first with his, and then Josh said, "Noah, I didn't think I could do it, but I did!" Noah's story was pretty clever, because he used both sides of his setting card and said there was a really tall magic ladder that made it so you could climb between the two settings (the desert and the snowy mountains). Andrew saw one of his props was a hat, and dove right in confidently, "Once upon a time there was an old man with a hat." All three stories were sooo cute, and the boys were really proud. That's one of my favorite things we did together that summer, and it was totally impromptu.

After that, I tried to plan preschool for the coming year. The boys were really quiet, and when I finally went to check on them I saw this:

That's right, they'd made over 100 paper airplanes.

That's the week that Lissy discovered she loooved being naked. Every time I took off her diaper, she'd jump up and do dances - kicks, twirls, whatever was graceful. However, she did NOT want the diaper back on. I let her fly free for a little bit, and she went upstairs and started trying on all of the clothes in her drawer. This chica's not even two! That week she went #2 on the potty for the first time, although it came as a shock to her. She jumped right off the potty and started yelling and pointing.

Great Seven Peaks trip on Wednesday - we met Cindy and Nate, and I probably don't need to finish with the fact it was fun. Sophie, Noah, and I swam and danced (Sophie and Lissy, anyway) at Tidal Beach for a while, Lissy discovered jumping off rocks, Josh and Noah discovered they could go on a double tube together and have fun, and I took Andrew on his first tube slide. He was sooo excited the entire time we waited in line, and then he laughed the whole way down. Seriously, the kid was belly laughing the whole time. He is way, way too cute. That ride was worth my Seven Peaks money right there.  Then, awesome for us all - Kayla came home with us! The boys had been asking me and asking me about it, and then their dream came true. When she got to her bed she couldn't help but count the paper airplanes on it - 159. Even they, who did all the folding, were surprised.

Thursday morning Kayla slept in a little because she was running on only two hours of sleep from the night before. However, the boys nabbed her the first second they got, and introduced her to their game. I tried to take a picture of it, but that is when I discovered my camera is randomly broken. Anyway, they made up this game where they drew a four paths on the back of their train table, and made a big oval in the middle (I believe Kayla streamlined the design). They then each chose a color of cowboys and Indians, then rolled a dice until they got to the middle to "battle." Whoever was the last one with guys that were still alive was the winner. Kayla was awesome enough to play this with them for around an hour and a half. Later I found out she thought that was a game they played all the time. Nope, you were the guinea pig on that invention, Kayla.

The boys worked really hard to read enough to earn a free game of laser tag, and the minute they got the coupons they said they must play with Kayla. They had big dreams, so we went and battled it out. It was actually really fun, although I had to tone down my excitement when I realized I had to stop bulldozing my children. I spent the rest of the time with Lissy on my hip, and we were quite the team. I don't know what is so hilarious/exciting about your family running around a neon room wearing flashing vests, it just is. Gary, Josh, Noah, and Kayla all got some great shots in, and Kayla was the winner, though it wasn't enough to save our team since Andrew must not have been activated. I'll battle you again, Joshua! Afterward we had to go to Coldstone, of course.

Kayla was so awesome as to offer to take the boys shopping for school supplies, and since we needed to turn in our library books, we made it a morning on the town. Brunch at the park (sponsored by the library), then off to the library, and to the store. A little lunch and quiet time, then it was off to Salt Lake to get a tour of Gary's work/the State Capitol. Such a beautiful place, and Kayla was impressed when Gary started getting us into places. I kinda was, too. Afterwards we ate pizza at a cool and yummy place called Stoneground. It had a kind of a hipster vibe to it, and at first I felt dumb bringing kids. However, afterward I felt awesome, because our kids were so good. Yes, the small victories!

After we got our Trader Joe's fix, we picked up Kayla's friend and went home. Kayla, her friend, and I all had to leave at 4:30 a.m. to get them to the airport on time, so we did the obvious thing - stayed up and talked until 1:45. What was I supposed to do, not talk to my adorable sister I never see? Worth it.

As we ate our food, Josh noticed that some had chosen the Utah Utes table, while he was safely on the BYU side. Dad, take note where the loyalties lie!

The kids were all pretty pumped about this stage, especially Lissy. Oh, yes, the other funny thing Josh invented at this place was "walking on water." His reflection on the window while looking into the swimming complex seriously made it look that way.

Here we are at the state capitol.

It's so beautiful! I tried to pick Lissy up, but she wanted to stand like the big kids.

Gary took this pic because the thought my friend would want to see me chillin' with her pal. I post it because I am amused at how it turned out that his hand is on my head.

Doesn't Kayla look like a natural on the Senate floor?

Random: On Sunday I was preparing my lesson, and I heard my boys say, "Let's play that game where you try to pull us down the stairs, and we try and tackle you." Intervention time?

Josh was so great at doing his chores on Saturday, and everybody else wasn't, so I decided it was time for us to have a little date. We went to Maverik and he got a slushie - 3 colored one, pretty fantastic. We did some chatting, and he told me he doesn't want to go back to school because it "ruins all of his play time at home." I don't want summer to be over, either, buddy. Josh climbed this tree to top off the outing.