Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Patience...

I am SO not a patient person. I was just thinking the other night about the challenges in my life and how many of them would be handled so much better by a person with more patience than myself. Then it hit me, duh...maybe I'm being handed these challenges as a way to TEACH me to be more patient. Maybe if I handle the situations like a person who is patient would handle them, I could slowly learn the art of patience. Yep, I think it's an art. An art I'm ready to begin studying...NOW! I'm not going to wait... (See, I'm not patient, I told you). I KNOW as I become a more patient person, I will be a better person and my family will like me more! ;)

My thoughts were affirmed when I got this thought in my in box:

"One moment of patience may ward off great disaster.
One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life."
— Chinese proverb

Friday, July 14, 2006

banner time...

...I think I figured out how to add my own personalized banner...but I don't know if I did it right. I hope you can see it...

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The view...

I just ran some garbage out to the can before the truck came...and when I turned around I saw this:







It's not unusual at all to see hot air balloons here -- in fact, when I was younger we lived right next to a huge expanse of fields and people would launch and land their balloons in those fields all the time. And for the last few years, the kids and I saw them almost every morning (when weather allowed) as we were driving in to town for school. But it doesn't matter how many times I see them, I always have to watch and think 'wow!'

I don't think I'd ever want to actually go UP in one, but dang, they look awesome, don't they?!?

Sunday, July 09, 2006

As told by Joshua…

After church today, Josh came running up to me in the hall, excited to show me the picture he drew in primary. I immediately recognized the picture as one depicting the prophet Joseph Smith. I complimented him on his drawing and we left the building to come home. After arriving home, I asked Josh to tell me about his picture.

Me: Josh, tell me more about this great picture you drew today in Primary.

Josh: Well, it’s Joseph Smith, Mom.

Me: Yep, I could tell that it was…did you learn about Joseph Smith today?

Josh: Yes. We did. See those trees? Well, that’s the forest he went in to.

Me: What did he do in the forest?

Josh: Just a second, Mom. See this? (pointing to the head) That is his hair.

Me: That’s great – you did a good job adding his hair!

Josh: And this, right here (pointing to the little smear under the chin)…this is his mustache!

Me: A mustache?!? But honey, when Joseph Smith went into the Sacred Grove and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus he was only 14. He didn’t have a mustache or a beard yet!

Josh: Well, Mom, this is not that time. This is when he was older and he went back to the forest to tell Heavenly Father ‘thanks.’

Me: Oh! I didn’t know that happened. Did you learn about that in church?

Josh: No. I just made that part up, Mom.

I LOVE the faith of this little guy of mine! Of course, I’m sure he is right. I’m sure the Prophet Joseph Smith kneeled in prayer many many times to say ‘thanks’ to Heavenly Father!

A little boy lives here...

...and this is how he likes to spend his Sunday afternoons: (slipping out the back door, in his church clothes, with no shoes...in the dirt!
I swear, dirt works like a magnet with this little guy).
But how can you get mad at that cute little face?
Especially when he sees you and says "take my picture, Mommy."
And after he finally comes inside, I am feeding the baby
and I realize I can't hear him playing anymore.
Then I walk into the living room to see this:
Man, I'm so grateful that this little boy lives here!
I love him SO much -- dirty face and all!!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

just adding a photo...

...because blogger wouldn't let me add this yesterday...

Our All American Crew:

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

How we celebrated the 4th of July…

Our 4th was actually pretty low-key. We had some plans…they didn’t happen, lol. Here’s what we did:

  • Brad and Josh cleaned the boat (Seth also wanted a sponge to help…unfortunately, he just ate the sponge and didn’t actually help much)

  • Meagan went to Park City with Grandpa and Grandma to get parts to fix sprinklers and to buy goldfish for the pond

  • I finished a project for Paper Crafts

  • Josh played games on the computer

  • Zach bounced (a LOT) in the bouncy thing-a-ma-jig that Tony let us borrow – he LOVES that thing!

  • Brad did some laundry

  • Brad surfed the web for houses (he also wanted to go look at some, but it didn’t work out)

  • I read up in my new camera’s manual to try to learn a bit about it

  • It rained – HARD.

  • My mom bbq’d hamburgers for us for dinner

  • Oh, and mmmmmmm….we had watermelon too – what’s the 4th of July without watermelon?

  • We put the fish in the pond and watched them swim around (we need to go take a looksy to see if they are still alive out there today!)

  • I tried to take pictures of the kids … got a couple with all four of them ACTUALLY looking at me. (Never mind the dirty faces and the pop-tart that Seth had to be bribed with)


  • Josh fell off the top bunk at Grandpa’s house…right onto a “Little People’s” house – yikes…that hurt, and he has the wounds to prove it!

  • We set off a few fireworks in Gpa and Gma’s driveway

  • We had planned to go to Midway to watch the “real” fireworks…but time got away from us and by the time we were ready to go, they were ready to begin. So we watched them from the backyard. It actually worked out well, as far as seeing them – unfortunately, we were WAY too far away to try to take pictures (which is a bummer because I was excited to try it with my new camera…oh well, I’ll do it in a few weeks on the 24th!)

Now it’s back to “real life” for the rest of the week.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Because You’re In Charge of That Stuff…

I just ran outside for a second to do something and when I came back in Joshua was lying on the floor next to the baby with a cup of ice water tipped over on the carpet next to him. Here’s how our conversation went:

Me: Josh, did you spill that water?

Him: Yes

Me: You knew you spilled it and you didn’t clean it up?

Him: Yes

Me: WHY?

Him: I was waiting for you to tell me to clean it up.

Me: If you spill something and you know it, please just clean it up yourself. You don’t have to wait for me to tell you to do it.

Him: Sorry, Mom, but you’re just in charge of that stuff!

So now I know why things don’t get done until I ask!! LOL :o) What a kid!!