Samuel's questions

The kids and I were driving home from volleyball tonight. Aaron stayed home and worked on his clutch with the neighbors. On the way home this was Samuel's conversation with me:

S: "What if dad's not home when we get there?"
M: "Then he'll be at the neighbors' working on the truck."
S: "What if he's not there?"
M: "Then he'll be home."
S: "But what if he's not home or at the neighbors?"
M: "Then I don't know where he'll be."
S: "Maybe he'll be at the store."
M: I look at the clock, its 9:30pm. "No he's probably not at the store at this time of night. Most of the stores are closed."
S: "But maybe one store is open, and dad might be at that store."
M: I gave up. "Sure...yep he might be at the store!"

Vital Check...Are you still alive?

Calista ran around picking up the living room for me the other day so she could watch a movie. After running back and forth several times, she stopped and said,

C: "My heart is beeping!"

M: "It's beeping?"

C: "Yep, I feel it. If our heart stops beeping, then we die."

I've tried explaining to her that our hearts "beat" not "beep," but she is sure it beeps.

I went visiting teaching with Calista and Ellen today. One of the gals I visit asked Ellen how old she was. Ellen said, "8!" I've tried asking her this question before and she has never answered, so I was double surprised. Wow, I guess I never noticed how grown up she was getting. She's 1 going on 8!

Happy Birthday Aaron!!

Today Aaron turned the big 30! Happy Birthday honey! I love you! I'm so glad to have you as a husband/friend for eternity. You are so good to me!

A few weeks ago we bought a new Rossi .45 lever action rifle for his Christmas/birthday/anniversary present (which he loves and thinks its the best gun ever), but the kids and I wanted to have something for him to open on his birthday, so we bought him a few more little gifts this week. He opened them this morning before church and found a 6 volt battery for a flashlight that we needed, and 6 D batteries for other flashlights we have, the Apple Dumpling Gang 1 and 2 DVD, which the 2nd one is his absolute favorite (that is unless you compare it with looney tunes, its a close tie), and a rubiks cube. Not too exciting except he was excited about the rubiks cube. He actually sat down and figured out how to do it on his own, without the book, while he was on his mission, but since then he's lost a little. So now he has a chance to learn it again, or to cheat and use the book.

When we got to church, Samuel decided he wanted to hold the doors open for people as they came in. I'm not sure how many people he told, but the Bishop's wife came up to Aaron and wished him a happy birthday. Aaron wondered how she knew, and she said a little bird had told her (as she was pointing to Samuel). I think Aaron was hoping no one would know, but I'll admit that I told someone at Church too. I love birthdays!

I made my first angel food cake for his birthday, not from scratch though. I had a Betty Crocker cake mix. I forgot to take a picture, but it was really yummy. Thank you Tara and Tricia for all of your advice. Don't worry Tara, I called you first, but then I had other questions and since you had company over for dinner at the time, I had to call someone else. The cakes were a little thin, and Tricia told me that I should do a layer cake with them. Oh it was so yummy, and now it is all gone!

Ellen, Calista and Mommy

I was in the living room the other day, when Ellen comes out from the hallway, pauses at the end of the couch and says,

E: "I mad!" with a scowled face.
M: "You're mad?"
E: "Yes, I mad!" (same look).

I tried to talk her out of being mad, but she was sure that she was mad, so I told her that if she was mad she needed to go down to her room. She didn't pause to think about it, but just turned and left. After about two steps she started crying, and cried all the way down to her room. I told her that if she wanted to be happy, then she could come out. She quickly decided that being "mad" was overrated, and being happy was the right way to be!


Another conversation I had, but with Calista this time. Jacque and Samuel had left to go to Aaron's Stake basketball game, so it was just me and the two youngest home. We had a baptism that we wanted to go to. I got the girls ready and then started getting me ready. I never like getting ready without Aaron or someone around to tell me if what I'm wearing actually looks good, so I always end up trying on several outfits. My first one I tried was a knee length skirt and a button up shirt. I was doubting it would look good, but decided that I would put my contacts in and look in the mirror before I vetoed it. I had to walk into the hall bathroom to get my contacts in, and the girls quickly came to the door. As I was unscrewing the lid to the contact case, Calista says,

C: "Mom, why are you wearing that dress?"
M: "Well I'm not sure I'm going to wear it. Why? Do you like it?"
C: Pause
M: "It's okay if you don't like it, you can tell me."
C: small pause..."No."

So I go back into the bedroom and change into another dress. This time when I come out Ellen runs down the hall and says, "Beautiful!" with Calista agreeing. I ask, "Is this one better?" and Calista says, "Yes!"

I'm so glad that I have someone who will tell me if I look okay or not, because I just am not gifted with that talent.

Chess Shirts!

Samuel and Jacque came home from school last Thursday with a big surprise. They were given chess shirts!! The best thing is that I didn't have to even buy them. Some how they are able to just give them shirts for coming to chess club. They must have a sponsor of some sort. The kids love them and are wanting to wear them every Tuesday and Thursday because that's when they have chess club. It didn't work this week because they were dirty, but I will try to have them cleaned for next week!

These are a couple of pictures I found still on my camera. Aren't they cute! I think its going to be the new style. We wanted to give everyone a chance to see this new fashion, so the girls wore them to volleyball that day. Looking at the pictures now, I can see why Aaron's might've been a little hesitant in letting them wear them, but if the girls wanted to wear them, why not...its only volleyball! Calista might've actually changed first, but I can't remember. Calista has always loved dress up and Ellen is starting to also. As soon as the kids leave for school, Ellen will run to her room and bring out a dress to put on. Then it will stay on until bedtime. Lucky for her, she has two older sisters that don't mind sharing their dresses with her. She's wearing one of Calista's dresses in this picture.

Fun Conversation

On our way home from Baker, somehow this conversation started. It seems like Calista was just saying a random comment, but when she gets bored she always plays with her belly button...so maybe there was a link...

Calista: Cats don't have belly buttons.
Samuel: Yes they do, you just can't see it.
Calista: No, because they don't have shirts.
Samuel: Their fur is their shirt!

Pretty random! I enjoyed listening.

We did it!

Aaron and I finished the Old Testament before the end of the year. When we started reading, we were reading 10 pages a night because it would give us some leeway when the holidays came around, or when Isaiah or another "fun" book came up. We were scheduled to finish on December 15th, but somewhere around Thanksgiving we missed 10 days of reading (good thing we had planned for something like this). We decided that rather than try to catch up, we could just finish on Christmas. We had a couple more nights where we didn't quite read our 10 pages, so on Christmas Eve Aaron read all the way to Malachi while I wrapped presents (I think it was about 25 pages he had to read). We figured that it would be so easy to read the next four pages on Christmas...but Christmas came and went...and pretty soon it was New Year's Eve and we hadn't finished yet. Luckily it was only four pages, and we finished by 5pm December 31, 2009! We still made our deadline of reading the Old Testament in 4 months!! It was a fun goal, and now we just need to decide on the next set of scriptures to read!


Another topic...We just got back from a nice week vacation to Oregon! It was so nice to actually have a long break. Aaron and I haven't been able to take this much time off since we got married and it was fun for all of us. The kids still weren't ready to come home, but I am grateful that Aaron was able to get away from work for so long.

We got a sled for Christmas and we were able to bring it to Baker and go sledding! The kids had a lot of fun...well except for Ellen. She enjoyed the ride around the house until she got on unlevel ground and happened to fall off on her face. After that she didn't like it anytime the sled started to wobble, she'd cry and say "Whoa!" The next day, we drove in James' pickup to a good sledding hill and Ellen liked riding in the pickup. She even let me carry her to the top of the hill. When I went to sit down, she was hesitant, but since I was holding her tight, I think she felt safe. I was a little hesitant myself to go down, seeing how steep it was, but Aaron was on the bottom and encouraged me to go down anyway. We took off and at one point I thought we were going down too fast, so I stuck my feet out to slow us down. It worked, but it also covered Ellen in snow. I think Ellen held her breath until we reached the bottom, and then she started to cry, and she said, "No fun...no, no, no fun!" I figured she just didn't like the height, so we did some smaller, less exciting ones next, but she still kept with the same comment. She did enjoy making snowballs for Aaron to throw at Eli, and eating snow, and poking sticks in the fire, but sledding was "no fun" for Ellen. The rest of the kids loved sledding and didn't want to leave. I think we made some good memories there.

On the way home we were in and out of fog, but just outside of Farewell Bend, at the top of the Three Mile hill, we really ran into dense fog. I was nervous because we couldn't see the road very well, so I said a silent prayer. As soon as I was done, the fog lifted and I figured it was because we were starting down the hill. But then I could see stars up above. Just then Samuel and Jacque said, "We both just said prayers so the fog would go away...and look...its gone!"

I thought this was a great spiritual experience for all of us and it made me happy to see that they have a testimony of prayer! Samuel said that he wants to bear his testimony of this tomorrow in Church. I hope he still remembers tomorrow!!