This Old House

Eight years ago today James and I closed on our very first house, our little house in Cheyenne. We were so excited to own our own home that we went out to dinner at Red Lobster, another first for us. I guess we were just so excited about buying a home that there were a few things we failed to notice when we looked at the house. Like the fact that it was only half a block away from an enormous oil refinery! To this day, we still ask ourselves how we could not have seen that! The house was pretty old. The original part (original part consisted of one bedroom, the living room, and kitchen. The other bedroom, the very small bathroom, laundry room, and dining room were added throughout the years.) was built in 1925. It had terrible carpet and some pretty terrible windows that shook when the wind blew. And this was Wyoming, so the wind did blow quite regularly. But it had a nice big flat yard with some huge trees in the front. Stephen got a tire swing for his 2nd birthday and we put it in the tree you can see in the picture above. After we moved the driveway to the side of the backyard we had a nice big garden area. We grew some really nice beets in that garden. To bad neither of us really like beets! We tried potatoes too and got great big beautiful vines, but no potatoes. Evidently that's just the way it is in Cheyenne. No one else in our ward could grow potatoes either.

Looking back at our time in that house, I am amazed we lived there for as long as we did. It was quite literally on the wrong side of the tracks. I mentioned earlier that we were half a block away from the oil refinery. It was to the south of us. Well a block and a half in the other direction took us to the railroad yard, and a very busy railroad yard it was, too. We could hear trains at almost all times of the day and night. Then about six blocks to the west of us was an ambulance shed. We saw and heard ambulances at least three times a day. Stephen and Annie absolutely loved it. As soon as they would hear a siren, they would run as fast as they could to the nearest window to watch the ambulance go past. If by some chance they missed seeing it, they would cry as if they were never going to see another ambulance again. Our house was next to a very busy street and with traffic comes accidents. The worst I remember happened in the middle of the night one night. Anne was just a baby so my ears were always tuned to listen for her in the night. I guess she was the only thing I would wake up for because I was suddenly surprised to wake up and see James standing at the window and bright red and blue lights flashing on the ceiling. A drunk driver had lost control right near our corner and ended up in our neighbor's tree just kitty-corner from us. If that tree hadn't been there, he would have ended up in our neighbor's kitchen. I had slept through the crash and the sirens.

A few months later we had another exciting experience. I had just put Stephen and Anne down for naps one afternoon when all of a sudden there was a great big boom and all the windows shook. I immediately went to check on the kids and as I was going past the window that faced south I happened to glimpse a huge ball of fire at the top of one of the towers at the oil refinery. Everything turned out fine, but we did end up spending the rest of the day at my friend Heather's house who lived on the other side of town.

We never really knew any of our neighbors there. It kind of bothered me at the time. But I think that was probably all for the best. When Stephen was 3 and Anne was almost 2, Stephen came to me and said, "Come see policeman." So I came to the window and saw not just one policeman but about 20 policemen surrounding my neighbor's house. They were there for about 30 to 45 minutes. Dad was Chief Deputy at the time and the kids had recently seen him in uniform and Annie was positive that he was over there amongst all those policemen. Towards the end of the standoff two of the officers walked across the street towards our house because they had parked their car in the alley behind our house. Anne ran to the back door calling "Pagaw, Pagaw!" (Both Stephen and Annie said "Pagaw" for Grandpa when they were little.) She was so disappointed when they drove away and no Grandpa came. We read in the paper the next day that there had been a meth bust in the house across the street.

I'm afraid it sounds like we hated living there. We really didn't. Yes the location could have been better, but it did have some advantages. We could just sit in our back yard and have perfect seats for the air show put on by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds every summer. That was a lot of fun! And we really did love Cheyenne. I never wanted to live in Wyoming. But it was wonderful. Cheyenne really was a pretty nice town (if you could get on the right side of the tracks) and the people there were just awesome. We loved our ward there. It was pretty neat to live in the capital of the state and still only have a population of 50,000 people. I saw the governor shopping in SAM's club one day. He was just getting a few groceries like I was. He's a democrat, by the way. And a member of the NRA. Dave Freudenthal. I think he's still the governor.

Anyway... Sorry to make this such a long post. I guess I'm feeling a little nostalgic tonight. That house we bought and lived in for almost 5 years isn't there anymore. The busy street we lived next to needed to be expanded and our house was in the way. Not that I regret that. It came at the perfect time for us, and we got a really good deal. If the city or county or state ever wants to buy your house, DO IT! They really don't rip you off. And thanks for putting up with my long post. It feels good to have this all typed out.

Halloween Fun at Home

Last night I made pumpkin pancakes. I should have made them with real pumpkin, but that didn't happen. I just made regular pancake batter and divided it, then colored the larger portion orange and the smaller portion green. Then I made pumpkin shapes on the griddle and after I turned them over I put chocolate chip faces on them. They turned out pretty good and the kids really liked them. The chocolate chips melted pretty quick so some of us just spread the chocolate around the pancake, and others ate it just like it was. The kids did ask for syrup but I did tell them no. With the chocolate chips they really didn't need anything else on top.

Stephen thought we needed a picture with something scary in it.

After our unhealthy supper (is there anything healthy about Halloween?) we watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow narrated by Bing Crosby. The kids had never seen the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and kept complaining that it wasn't a Halloween show. I had to keep saying, "just wait." I think they believed me by the end. I really like that cartoon because even though it is a little scary it is still really funny at the same time so even Naomi was not bothered. She just thought it was funny!

Election Issues

The assignment from Chocolate on my Cranium this week was to choose an issue: Abortion, Economy, Education, Immigration, Marriage (just between one man and one woman or should gays be allowed to marry?) ,War (Iraq, Afghanistan, or war in general). I really am not a debater, so this was kind of difficult for me. I have my own opinions and am not really wishy-washy, but at the same time, I really don't like to disagree with anyone. I like to keep my thoughts to myself. But hey, the reason I started participating in Wordfull Wednesday was so I could stretch myself a little bit, and this does. It's also starting to get late, so I really hope this all makes sense.

The kids had mock elections at school last week. Anne asked me a couple of days before the election who I am going to vote for. I told her, but I really wanted her to understand why I had made that choice and I wanted her to think about things and what she thinks is right or best. But I realized, as I started talking about different issues, that most of these issues are just over her head. Really, how do you explain taxes and health care and war to a 6 year old? At this point I had to leave Anne at school, but I continued throughout the day to ponder the issues and what I could tell her. I decided that the only things she would really understand were issues dealing with families. She is part of a family. She gets family. And family is really what matters isn’t it? Family is the only thing that doesn’t go away. It only grows. At the same time, however, I realized that I did not want to discuss these issues with my first-grader. How can I tell her (and why would I want to right now) that there are people who think it is perfectly alright to end an unborn baby’s life? That there are people who feel this way that want to lead our country?

Why am I so opposed to abortion and why can I not support any candidate who agrees with it? To me the issue of abortion is the most prevalent because it is the most basic. It deals with life. Taxes, health care, and war are really all superficial compared to abortion. If we are not alive, do we really care how prescriptions are paid for, or who is paying more or less taxes than we are, or which country has the most nuclear weapons? Those things become irrelevant.

I am a mother to five beautiful and amazing children. Each time I gave birth I was overwhelmed by the fact that a living, breathing, real person had come from me. This new person had a complex brain that functioned and worked. A heart and lungs. Limbs and fingers and toes that could move. Eyes that could see and ears that could hear. And, in the case of my fourth child, a mouth that could really smile the day she was born. I do not understand how any person can feel like they can deny another person the ability to breathe and see and hear and live. And anyone who will not fight to preserve this most basic need, the need to live, does not deserve to lead our country nor does he deserve my vote.

First Grade Fun

I think that overall Annie is enjoying life in the first grade. I think the only thing she really doesn't like is the injustice of consequences that effect the whole class when only a few people are causing trouble. And I don't blame her. That used to make me quite mad when I was in elementary school, and I have to admit, I still don't understand it. I'm not a school teacher though. Maybe it really is effective?

On with Anne...

She is getting really good at the monkey bars. (Little side note here. I call them rings. There are probably 15 - 20 rings hanging in a row that the kids swing across like monkey bars. Does that make sense? They don't have regular monkey bars at their playground.) Anyway, Anne started really playing on them at the end of Kindergarten. She got all the way across at the beginning of this school year and her latest accomplishment is that she can skip. The day she made this announcement came right about the same time as this picture. It's not the best picture, so you can't see all the callouses, there are lots, but you can see that big red spot. She gave herself a blister and kept swinging on the monkey bars until it popped! This was just after we clipped the extra skin off.

Last week Anne got to have her first sleep-over! Sort of. A new family in our ward was about to have their 5th baby and we offered to take their kids when they went to the hospital. Their oldest, Eliza, is Annie's age and they get along really well. The kids came to stay with us on Friday afternoon and spent the night that night. While everyone was supposed to be getting ready for bed I came into the girls' room and found Anne and Eliza doing each other's hair. They played princesses all day and cried when Eliza's dad came to pick the kids up.

Anne got this note from the school counselor. She was very proud of it. So was I.

The U of I Homecoming Parade

But we all called it Stephen's Parade.

Here Stephen is dressed in his uniform and ready to go!

They're coming, they're coming!!!!



Aren't they good?!?!

This band is made of 3rd to 6th graders from all over Moscow. It was so fun to watch. Of course they were only in front of us for a few seconds, but it was still so neat. The rest of the parade was really good too. There were actually lots of marching bands from all over the area. And lots of Idaho cheers. I still have "I - D - A - H - O, Idaho, Idaho, GO, GO, GO!" running through my head. So do most of the kids! We had a fun time and of course came home with lots of candy. After the parade, Stephen went straight to the Kibbie Dome to participate in the pre-game show before the football game. While they were waiting Stephen got to meet some the players from New Mexico State. That was quite exciting! Stephen is having a great time in this band! Next up for the band will be a Christmas concert.

Halloween for a Missionary

This was James' first Halloween on his mission. He was in ThunderBay, Ontario. They went as Men in Black. The poor, unfortunate soul in the middle is "Elder Bob." He was a creation of James' companion. One night James got up to use the restroom and when he went into the bathroom and turned on the light he saw this "body" sprawled on the floor. James made some kind of startled noise and Elder Wangsgard started cracking up. He'd been waiting!

Life in the Jungle

Life here is just crazy and hectic! Just like always I guess. So many messes to clean up, so many meals to cook, so many places to go, so many projects to finish! We are all anticipating Halloween, some with excitement and others (like me) with trepidation. Halloween never was my favorite holiday and things haven't really changed. I like the candy. Well, the chocolate. And, I like anything to do with pumpkins, so that part is good. I am excited to try something a little new with my pumpkin this year. I found this idea in my Wondertime magazine. (For instructions, click HERE. They used a golf tee, but I think a nail would work just fine.) Isn't it so pretty? I just might have to do a whole bunch. It will be so much faster than carving a whole face. Of course we do have to have at least one regular jack-o-lantern so that James can do his talking pumpkin. That is always fun.


What else is going on this week? I've got a box of apples to make into applesauce. We also got a grocery bag full of grapes fom a family in our ward. They have all kinds of stuff growing in their yard! I'm going to attempt to make raisins. We'll see.


James got to help the scouts with their electronics merit badge last night, and had a really good time. They made light sensors and were quite successful. Tonight we have Pack Meeting which is always exciting. They're doing something with paper airplanes.


I got to go to Book Club on Tuesday night and had a wonderful time. We had our biggest turn out ever. There were 11 of us! I think our record up till then had been 8. We read At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon. It is so good! I had already read it twice so it was really fun. I just love going to book club. It is definitely a highlight of my month.


A few days ago Naomi decided, for the 5th time, that she should be done with diapers. Each time has gone a little better and this time is going great. She has stayed dry every night and only had two accidents the whole time! I really hope it sticks this time. I have decided that potty-training just doesn't work until it becomes the will of the child. There's just no way around it.


Thanks for reading my sort of random post. They're mostly just things I want to remember. Hope everyone has a great weekend! We love you!

Walking

Noah took 4 steps yesterday going from me to James. When James turned him around and tried to get him to walk back to me, he just belly flopped on the floor. I don't have any pictures or anything yet, but I'll try. I had to laugh today as I was picking up the newspaper from yesterday and saw the For Better or For Worse comic strip.

Millions of Cats

I had a thought today as I was reading Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (there is supposed to be an accent over the a in Gag) to Ellen: What if everyone doesn't know about this book? I love this book. So I've decided to start "reviewing" books I read to the kids too.

As I said, I love this book about a very old man and a very old woman who are so lonely they decide to get a cat. The old man sets out to find one and comes upon "hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats." They are all so beautiful that he can't possibly choose just one and ends up bringing all of them home. Then the trouble begins. I think my favorite line in the whole book is, "And they began to quarell."

This is just a wonderful book! If you have not ever read it, please do! And you will find out what really makes a pretty cat.

Wildlife

Some of you may or may not have known that James went bear hunting this fall. We live close enough to the forest that James was able to maintain a bait site. He mostly used popcorn covered with used cooking oil and sugar, dog food, and molasses that he bought from the animal feed store. He also put up a trail camera so he could keep track of what was eating the bait and when. It has a motion sensor so it takes a picture whenever it "sees" anything move. It also records the date, time, moon phase, and temperature. These are some of the pictures he got.

a pretty nice buck

there are two bears in this picture



there are lots of moose on Moscow Mountain

bear in the day time

bear at night

a little close up.

James had a really good time hunting bear and was able to get one! We made a whole bunch of breakfast sausage out of it, and it is really really good! We all like it. Here is a picture of the skin.

and a closer look at the claws!

The Queen of Monopoly and JOY

Sometime after school started, we started playing Monopoly every Sunday afternoon. This was our first game.

We usually play while Naomi and Noah are napping. Ellen and I work together until she loses interest, and then I'm on my own. The funny thing is that Anne almost always wins. I think there have only been two times that she hasn't won. James won those two times. Yesterday she did it again. I think the best thing about it is the good sportsmanship we are all gaining. Plus it is really nice to do something fun as a family. We all look forward to it.

One other thought. I heard a neat thought in Primary yesterday. One of the talks was given by one of the 11 year old girls. She was talking about serving others and the happiness it brings us. She came up with this thought for JOY. J is for Jesus, O is for Others, Y is for yourself. That is the way to joy. Think first of Jesus, then others, then ourselves. Neat, huh?

Memories

On Fridays I like to put up "old" pictures. Anything not recent. Like Anne's smile. They are always fun for me to look at and remember, so I want everyone else to see them too.

This is the first birthday I remember. Well, I really only have one memory from that day, and that is seeing my Mom frosting my cake and it was way up high on the counter.

What a Night!

Last night 4 (let me repeat that) FOUR of my children got up in the middle of the night! And not because they all woke each other up. They did it all on their own and at different times. First was Naomi around midnight. She came and climbed into bed on my side and was quickly out so we weren't up too long that time. Then around 2 Ellen had a bad dream and tried to climb into bed on top of Naomi. We tried putting her on James' side, but we could quickly tell no one was going to get any sleep that way. We ended up putting both girls on the floor at the foot of our bed. Sometime after 4:30 it was Noah's turn. He normally sleeps all night so when he does wake up I have to go check on him. He's teething and growing so he's been eating like crazy. So I took him out to the living room and was just about done feeding him when up came Stephen. He had a dream that he had a pet fish and it died. Evidently it really bothered him. So he laid down on the couch next to me and went back to sleep. It was now a little after 5 and Noah had no intention of going back to sleep. So I came downstairs and wrote my wordfull post and then got Noah to sleep just after 6. I get everyone up at 6:30 so there really was no point in going back to bed for just a few minutes. Oh well. Hooray for Annie!!! She slept all night!


Since I'm thinking about sleep I thought I'd post this picture of Ellen. I put her down for a nap one day, in her bed. When I came in half an hour later to put away some laundry I found her like this. Sleeping in the stuffed animal box!

My Worst Fear!

This weeks topic from Choclate on my Cranium is My Worst Fear.

I am actually afraid of a lot of things. But the thing that definitely tops them all is water. Water is all fine and dandy for drinking, bathing, cleaning, etc. But if I have to put my face in it? No way! Water suddenly becomes my mortal enemy. I feel like air is non-existent and I will never be able to take another breath and I panic! Even if my face just gets close to water, my breathing gets labored. This could probably improve with a little practice. But so far I have not been willing to practice. I think I would have a heart attack!

I do not live near water and hardly ever visit, so really this fear of mine shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong. I am married to someone who LOVES the water. He was on the swim team in high school. He absolutely loves the ocean and can't wait to visit again. His dream vacation would be a week of pure snorkeling. The next problem? Our 5 children. How do I teach them that water is OK? This is very difficult. Every summer my children take swimming lessons. It is good for them, I know. And it is very good for me because I see that after two weeks of bobbing and floating and blowing bubbles and jumping off the diving board, my children are all alive! They are learning to enjoy the water and logically I am very happy about that. Still I can't help but completely tense up every time I see one of them go under the water. So far so good, I guess. My next concern, though, is what do I do when I don't have a little baby or toddler as an excuse to stay out of the deep end? Or out of the water all together? Yikes!!

What is the definition of arboretum?

Last night for Family Home Evening we went to the UofI Arboretum. As we were walking along, Stephen asked, "What is the definition of arboretum?" James and I didn't know exactly, so I told him that arbor means tree and James told him that it is like a tree museum. Today, I had to look it up. This is the actual definition: "a place where trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes." We weren't too far off. My main goal in going there was to take pictures of the kids, and I did get a couple of good ones. However I totally forgot that I should take pictures of Noah so I don't have any of him. I'll probably just end up using one I took of him at the park. And somehow I didn't pay any attention to what Ellen looked like. Her shirt was on inside out and was dirty. Her hair was going crazy. And to top it all off, she just couldn't hold still! No matter what James and I said or did. I'll just have to keep trying with her. I'm pretty happy with what I got for Stephen, Anne, and Naomi. While we were there I noticed they had also planted some different varieties of sage brush. I had to go look at it and smell it. I never, ever thought I would miss sage brush, but living where there is none at all has actually made me feel a little excited every time I do see it. The little sign posted next to the sage brush made me laugh a little though. I don't really know why the Big was included.

Tuesdays With Morrie

I know, I know, I just posted a book review. But I read this one so quickly and really loved it, so I just had to blog about it. I think every one I know has read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. But I hadn’t yet. I picked it up the same day I finished reading The Scarlet Pimpernel, and two days later I was finished. I just couldn’t put it down. I think I will have to read it a hundred more times; it was just so good and moving.

Morrie’s wisdom and insights are just amazing. Some of them are almost revolutionary, and yet they’re not. I particularly enjoyed his thoughts on aging. They made me think of President Monson’s talk last week, Finding Joy in the Journey.

“Mitch, it is impossible for the old not to envy the young. But the issue is to accept who you are and revel in that. This is your time to be in your thirties. I had my time to be in my thirties, and now is my time to be seventy-eight. You have to find what’s good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue. The truth is, part of me is every age. I’m a three-year-old, I’m a five-year-old, I’m a thirty-seven-year-old, I’m a fifty-year-old. I’ve been through all of them, and I know what it’s like. I delight in being a child when it’s appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it’s appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am every age, up to my own. Do you understand? How can I be envious of where you are—when I’ve been there myself?”

One of the other things I really like about this book was learning Morrie’s and Mitch’s stories as the book went along. They were very poignant and relevant to the topics Mitch and Morrie were discussing. What a life Morrie had! He must have been a truly remarkable person to have come from such difficult circumstances and to decide to make his life into something completely different. I would love to know more about his step-mother. I also loved Morrie’s comments on family. I feel so blessed to have the family I do. Both the one I was born into, and the one I married into. All of you are very dear to me!

“The fact is, there is no foundation, to secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family. It’s become quite clear to me as I’ve been sick. If you don’t have the support and love and caring and concern you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said, ‘Love each other or perish.’” “This is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting other know there’s someone who is watching out for them. It’s what I missed so much when my mother died—what I call your ‘spiritual security’—knowing that your family will be there watching our for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work.”

Big Smile

James' sister Hannah (of the Cute Little Bainbridge Family blog) took this picture when Annie was 2. This was Annie's response when Hannah said, "Smile!"

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Please read this whole thing to find out how I really feel about this book.

I was stuck, very stuck, on The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. Two different people on two different occasions had recommended it to me. Not only did they recommend it, they practically raved about it. So this summer, when I came across a copy of it for only 75 cents, I quickly bought thinking this would be a great read. I started it back in July. I read the first three chapters, and had no desire to pick it up again. I was having a hard time with the language of the story and I was actually quite bored with it. As far as I could tell the book was about some snooty French girl, Marguerite Blakeny, who was married to simple Sir Percy Blakeny and only cared about herself and her brother. Nope, she didn’t even care about her husband. Then there was the main character, the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel. He was mentioned and explained as a great hero saving countless lives as the people of France went about killing all the noble men and women they could. I was a little interested in him, but didn’t seem to be getting much. So I left the book on my bookshelf for the next two months and did finally pick it up again to read another chapter. Yep, still bored with it. Back to the shelf it went.

Finally about a week ago I decided that I had to read that book. I couldn’t read anything else until I did. I have read plenty of books that are quite slow going for me at the beginning but turn out to be quite enjoyable. I was hoping this would be the case again. And it was! I didn’t have to go much further to get into the real plot of the story. Once there, I was hooked. I still didn’t have much sympathy or liking for Lady Blakeny, but her husband was growing on me. The villain, Chauvelin, was very bad and very easy to dislike which made the story all the more exciting. And the Scarlet Pimpernel was finally really playing into things.

The rest of the story went very quickly and was much helped by some very interesting twists and a beautiful love story. I don’t want to say too much more except that I do really like the ending. It is one of those happy, everything gets resolved, all is well kind of endings. And I learned once again, that I really can’t judge a book by its first few chapters. This one was definitely worth the wait. I would gladly reccomend it!

Fall Collecting

These are a few things Ellen, Naomi and I collected the other day. It is still so new and fun to me to collect acorns. I had never seen a real acorn before we moved here.

Noah, the Boy

It is so fun lately to see Noah's personality really coming out. He is SUCH a BOY! James parks his bike in our front entryway room (we call it the coatroom) and has parked it there since we first moved in. Ellen and Naomi were both babies in this house and they never noticed that great big bike sitting there. Noah, on the other hand, cannot stay away from it. If I can't find him, I usually look there first. He loves that bike. He spins the pedals and just touches as much of it as he can reach.

Just look at the joy on that face!

Noah is also really into balls. He even plays catch! We have a little rubber soccer ball that is just the right size for him to hold. He gets all excited when he sees it. If he is playing with it and someone sits down by him, he will throw the ball at them and wait very excitedly for them to throw the ball back. Annie taught him to play catch. She is such a good big sister!

Noah really likes being around everyone. Whenever I pick him up out of his crib he holds on to me real tight until we get out of the bedroom. Then he starts looking all over to see who else is around. He also really likes getting undressed. He gets all excited when I start unzipping or unbuttoning. He's just Noah, and he's wonderful!

Our General Conference Weekend

We had a really great weekend. It was so nice to be all together, and not go anywhere, and be able to listen to the prophet. So nice! And what great talks there were! We watched on our computer through the Church website. We didn't tell the kids that they had to watch with us, but they ended up doing that anyway. Some of the time they were playing or coloring, but they really did spend more time just listening than I expected they would. I was surprised. On Sunday morning we had our traditional cinnamon rolls. (If you want the recipe, click here.) This tradition started in James' family and we carry it on, but I added just a little something from my side. I always make two batches. One with raisins like James' Mom does it, and one with chocolate chips because my Grandma always makes cinnamon rolls with chocolate chips.

Traditions have become so important to me. Last spring in Stake Conference one of the speakers talked about the importance of traditions and the fact that if you don't establish good family traditions it is just the same as establishing bad family traditions. For example, if you don't make it a tradition to celebrate birthdays you have really made it a tradition to ignore birthdays. Also, if you don't make it a tradition to watch General Conference you have really made it a tradition to not watch. Traditions are like habits. And I really want my kids to have some fun and exciting traditions for good things so that they will hopefully keep doing those good things for a very long time. Does that make sense? I hope so.

I came away from Conference feeling so excited about the Gospel. I usually do, but it seems a little more so this time. Maybe I just paid attention a little better this time. I just feel so encouraged and uplifted! So hopeful! (I again really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk this weekend.) It was so fun to listen to church leaders from so many places around the world. This really is a global church and is just so neat to be able to see it spreading around the world. I'm very excited by what President Monson requested on Saturday morning. I'm anxious to see what happens when we as a church pray for countries to be opened so that more people will be able to have the gospel. I can hardly wait!

Guess Who?

This adorable little boy is James! Is he cute or what? Now you know where my kids get their cute cheeks from. I don't know how old James is in this picture. 3 maybe?

My Favorite Season

It is Wordfull Wednesday again from Chocolate on My Cranium. And today is the 1st of October! Hooray!

I chose to write about my favorite time of year. I really don’t know what season of my life is or will be my favorite. I’m guessing it will be the one I’m in the middle of right now, but who knows.
So, my favorite time of year is fall. I am very fortunate to live in a place where the seasons do change. As long as I can remember having a favorite, it has been fall. But what is it that makes it my favorite? I guess it is lots of little things all put together. I love the colors of the changing leaves, so bright and beautiful. I really enjoy hearing a nice crunch instead of a dull thud when I walk outside. When I was a kid I used to try to walk as far as I could without touching bare ground. Maybe all kids do this. In some places I would wade through the leaves and not have to pay attention to where I placed my feet. But then in other places I would have to jump or take funny sideways steps to be able to stay on a leaf. It was so much fun! It is also quite fascinating to me how some leaves slowly float down to the ground like they would really rather stay up in the air. And then other leaves suddenly come crashing down like they just can’t wait a second longer to get to the ground. Why does that happen? I’ve always wondered.

One of the very best things about fall is the cooler temperatures. I like summer and the freedom and play time and vacation time that come with it, but it is just too hot! I get grumpy when I’m hot. I just don’t like it. So when fall comes around, and things cool off enough to let me breath, I am downright cheerful! The nights start getting cold, but the days are still warm enough to enjoy the outside. It is perfect! And the house is not so hot that I don’t want to turn on the oven. Fall is baking time to me. Pies and breads and muffins and cookies and many, many other delicious things.

When fall comes I am reminded again of the amazing creation of this earth. I just sit in awe when I think of how perfectly the earth works. Everything has a place and a season, even down to the smallest particle. Everything has a purpose and function, and is beautiful at the same time. Fall is also a time of gratitude to me. Maybe because I grew up celebrating Thanksgiving every fall. But it makes sense to me to look back over the year that is ending and see just how blessed I have been. There is a closet door in our living room and every fall I cover it with paper. At the top in big colorful letters I write, “We are thankful for …”. Then over the next weeks we write or draw whatever comes to mind. By the time Thanksgiving comes it is quite full and we do feel very blessed. I think Doctrine and Covenants 136:28 best explains the way I feel in the fall. “If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.”