Jack's Prized Pumpkin and Jack'O'Lantern

One of my favorite memories from my childhood was a year where we kids participated in the garden. My mom split the garden into three parts and each kid got to plant whatever we wanted. We took radish seeds (since they grow the fastest) and planted them in the shape of our initials to label our plot. We were responsible for weeding and maintaining our garden. I remember I wanted to grow corn and peas and carrots. Everything grew well except for the carrots because in order to see if they were ready to be pulled, you had to pull one out so that by harvest time there were no carrots left to pull. We got special seeds from J&L that were to grow big pumpkins and we were entered in a contest for that fall. We each one a ribbon and my brother Robby won a little squirrel lawn gnome that still resides in my parents backyard, in the corner with the other tacky animal statues. Laura says its a part of our family because it's been there as long as she remembers. Anyway, I always wanted to participate in this tradition with my own children.

This year, Jack got a seed from Grandma Mushy and planted it in a little cup, way back in March or so. He stared at that dirt for 2 days waiting for it to sprout. Luckily it sprouted quickly and grew into a large plant. He named his pumpkin "Max." Jack would check on Max in the greenhouse every day and he compared it to my belly saying, "Baby brother is growing bigger bigger like my pumpkin." My parents went out of town for a few days and while they were gone, Jacks pumpkin died, but my Mom quickly replaced it and we all figured that what he doesn't know couldn't hurt him. We transplanted the pumpkin to our yard and Jack and I watered it every other day all summer long. It ended up growing two big pumpkins.

(Max weighed in at 52 pounds and 8th place)

We took the larger looking one down to J&L and entered it in the Great Pumpkin Contest. It was free and we thought Jack would have fun. He didn't quite understand though, so when I put his pumpkin down and the put a pin in it with his name on it and then we had to leave it, he started throwing a major fit. He cried and said he didn't want to leave his pumpkin. Embarrassing for me since I was trying to tell the J&L people, "Oh, yeah, this is his pumpkin and he totally wants to do this contest." I lost my keys and wandered around the parking lot for a half hour with him screaming that he wanted his pumpkin back. Every day he wanted to visit his pumpkin, but I was afraid of a repeat tantrum when we had to leave it, so we waited until the contest was over and we went to pick up Max. The only other pumpkins that were there were 2 grown by our neighbor, one that won the state record at 11 hundred pounds or something crazy like that, and one nearly that big grown by J&L. Jack's pumpkin had weighed in at 51 pounds and was given an 8th place ribbon. I doubt there was more than 8 pumpkins entered. I hadn't realized they would be judged on weight alone, I thought maybe Jack would win for "prettiest pumpkin" or "youngest pumpkin grower." The J&L people were very nice though, we won a drip system for watering pumpkins (or flower boxes) and a $10 gift certificate- pretty good for a free contest, even if it's not a squirrel gnome. Jack was happy with his pink ribbon and even consented to let us carve it into his JackO'lantern.

Michael Phelps stinks!

It all started a few weeks ago when my sister Laura came to stay with us for a few days while Adam was working a lot. Whenever I play with Laura, I have lots of fun and sometimes crazy things happen like painting new art for my wall, crazy expensive pedicures (we didn't realize they were charging per toe...), painting her dining set to resemble Cafe Rio chairs-that one turned out really cute. Anyway, we went to Petco in Sugarhouse to watch her roommate Summer's little hamster compete in the Hamster Olympics. She was actually grateful that we showed up with Jack so that she wasn't the only college student beating out a bunch of nine-year-olds for a little plastic trophy. We had so much fun cheering her hamster, named Michael Phelps, who ended up taking first place and winning his own hampster race track.

Summer and Laura told me that Jack absolutely needed a hamster of his own and that it would be so easy to take care of and Jack would learn responsibility... bla..blabbidy..bla..bla..bla... So I bought a cage, a miniature hamster, and some recycled fluff stuff for bedding. On our way home I texted Adam and asked how he felt about very small animals and he wrote back, "I hate them why??" We brought our hamster home and surprised him and, like the great Daddy that he is, he was an excellent sport.

When I asked Jack what our hamster should be named he said, "Michael Phelps." Since our hamster is a she, we tried to talk him into more appropriate names like Ginger, Suzie, Gidget, or Janet Evans but he wouldn't hear of it. So our hamster is Michael Phelps too, and I don't think that she minds all that much. In my mommy heart, I had envisioned that we would all hold our little hamster and he would crawl up our arms and we would hand feed him carrots, raisins, and apples, but it seems that our Michael Phelps thinks that anything that enters his cage is edible and must be nibbled- especially fingers. So that combined with the storekeeper putting Michael Phelps in Jack's hands and him getting scratched has made Jack terrified of Michael Phelps. Adam has been bit and now will only pick him up with a dish towel. I am trying to train him to go into his ball on his own so he can run and we can clean his cage. I hate cage cleaning! Summer said she cleans hers once a week, but Michael Phelps poops a lot! We call his wheel the "poop flinger." His whole corner of the room stinks and since Adam is claiming immunity because getting a hamster was not his idea, I get to clean it several times a week. Just what I needed, one more thing to take care of. What happened to my visions of a loving pet family? Maybe we are just not ready for pets- after all, before we had children, we practiced on fish and had a 75% mortality rate. Speaking of fish, you really need to read my sister Laura's narration on our other Petco purchase that day: Feeder Fish.

(Just for clarification, I don't think the real Michael Phelps stinks, I think he is an amazing athlete with big flipper feet,

and since we wanted our hamster to take the GOLD and be speedy speedy, we figured it a suitable name)

New reasons to blog

I have increased my blogging this month for two reasons:

1. I found out you can turn your blog into a book using sites like blurb which is way cool, because that was holding me back. I thought that if I was going to spend time writing about events and posting pictures, then I should scrapbook so I'd have a hard copy. By blogging about it and printing it into a book, I will be able to do way more journaling, and it will be like a journal and a scrapbook (both of which I have struggled to do regularly). So that is very motivating to me- and SO much easier than getting all the scrapbook stuff out.

2. My friends from my old ward in Bountiful found me and I started reading their blogs and found out about posting links as blogs rather than links, and then you can list what time friends post and the name of their post, which lets me see at a glance, who has something new to say, rather than randomly checking for updates. It also tells me the title of their post and i can guess if it's something that looks interesting to me... ;) I've been surprised how many people update almost daily and I've found that there really is something to say every day (like a journal) and it's just too addicting to find out all this fun stuff about my friends and family. (And I want to keep myself near the top so that's more motivation to keep posting).

So yeah, Adam says I'm addicted to blogging now, and maybe it's just a trend, but I'm having fun and for a semi-stay at home Mom, it helps me feel connected.

7 interesting things

#7 I like the Hannah Montana sitcoms- embarrassing but true. I think they are funny.

#6 About dating Adam: I don't consider our first two dates as dates because at the time my friend was "in-like" with Adam and I didn't want to hurt my friend. But, he ended up telling my friend that he wasn't ready to date anyone seriously, just to end up proposing to me five months later... :)

#5 On our first non-date-outing thing, Adam took me skiing and on our way to the lift for our first run, Adam ducked under a rail in his florescent 80's style snow-pants (he's from park City and doesn't like to look like a tourist, or apparently like he is from this decade.) As he was ducking under the rail, his pants totally split out! He asked the guy behind the counter if he had any duct tape which the guy handed to me saying he wasn't going there. So there I was on a first date-ish up close and personal taping up my dates behind...

#4 Epidurals hate me, which I didn't realize until my second child two months ago. Jackson was born via emergency c-section and was the worse pain I've ever felt in my life. As a therapist I ask people to label their pain on a scale of 1-10 and often wondered what was the worst pain I had ever felt. As they were cutting me open, the only thing going through my head was, "THIS IS A TEN!!!" With Charlie, I had a V-BAC and had more notice. One epidural failed and barely made my foot tingle and they gave me a second epidural which took all the meds they had and only lasted for about 45 minutes before it wore off and I felt everything again. So next time, I think I'll just do it natural and save my sanity.

#3 I love the color green and every time I buy a new shirt, it is either green or I have to go out of my comfort zone to specifically buy a non-green shirt. Actually this year, I've bought 3 orange shirts- maybe orange is this years green.

#2 I hate being home all day, I get cabin fever easily and just need to get out of my house!!

#1 I love Broadway musicals and try and go to New York at least every other year to catch what new shows are out. I can't listen to them without singing as loud as I can. My cell phone ring is "You can't stop the beat" from Hairspray. I've done shows at Rogers theatre but I've never been the star- that's on my to-do list, someday I'll find my perfect part.

I tag Jen F., Eileen S., Juliann, Sara, Cori, Carrie, and Moo

Pumpkin's Coming Home

This post is to honor one of my best friends who I call Pumpkin. She took these pictures of Charlie and has been such a great supportive friend even when my happiness of having Charlie only reminded her of her trials with infertility. I was so excited for her when she found out that there was a possible birth mother waiting for her. She and her husband have been married for 7 years and are one of the most devoted, loving, funny couples that I know. Pumpkin loves her nieces and nephews and friends children unconditionally. I know it must have been hard for her because she mentioned feeling like everyone around her was pregnant even some teenagers who didn't really want to be. Pumpkin is flying home today with her brand new baby boy and I couldn't be happier for her. It makes me giddy inside and I just think about it and smile. She is going to be the best Mommy ever! Pumpkin, you have been so respectful and positive about the birth mothers circumstances, thinking of small thoughtful gifts and ways to show her love and support that would have never occurred to me. You are such a good example to me. Thank you!

It's so fun that your baby will have an October birthday, since it is your month- the month of the pumpkin. I'll look forward to lots of fun pumpkin-themed birthday parties...

Pumpkin and blurry-faced Charlie

Onions, Oats, and Baby Powder

So you would think I would have learned my lesson from the blue paint disaster; that when Jack is quiet- it means trouble. I was downstairs with Charlie when jack woke up and I sent him up to use the potty (and he actually went which is rare). I heard him making noise in the bathroom, he called down that he had gone pee pee on the potty and then I heard him playing in his room. When I came up to check on him, this is what I found:

He had dumped almost an entire container of baby powder all over his legs, his floor, his toys, and his blankets. I just looked at him and asked, "Jack, what in the world made you think that it would be o.k. to make this big a mess?"

He responded with the truthfulness only a three-year old can, "I was making footprints."

These footprints lead from Charlie's changing table into Jack's room. But at least now his room smells baby powder fresh.

Today, Adam and I were in another room working on projects and when we came into the kitchen we found this mess. Jack had opened the food storage and taken the top half of the oats container and put it in the dried onions and the top half of the dried onions and put it on the oats and spilled the other half on the floor and mixed them all together!

(Yes I know that 3 halves is impossible in this context, but this kid can do amazing/impossible things in 5 minutes or less!)

So, does anyone have any ideas of what I can do with onion flavored oats???

I love my Jack, he keeps me on my toes. I love his innocent reasoning behind why he does the things he does. I love how he says, "I sorry I do dat Mommy- I not do dat again." I'm grateful for the things he teaches me. If my life were a beach and all it had were perfectly round particles of sand, with no pebbles to skip or pieces of sticky kelp, sea shells or those sand crabs that leave pock marks scurrying about, it would be pretty boring. Thank heavens I have 3 someones to stir up the sand and bring life to my beach. I'm grateful that Jack is "making footprints" on my life and I pray that I can have a positive impact on those around me and someday look back on where I've been and see my mark, my footprints.

I Voted today! Yea for me! You should too!

I had to vote today as I have been trying to get registered for 2 months now but since I missed the deadline, I had to pre-vote in order to change my address. The other cool thing about voting early is that you can vote anywhere! This is definitely a historical election and one we will all remember for a long time. There is also so much junk out there and mud-slinging it seems so hard to know what is truth. I tried to find out what I could and I carried my large voter information packet with me to the polls. While I scrutinized over my packet, Jack went around the room asking all the court-house employees, What your name is?" Finally, we each walked out wearing our stickers and feeling very patriotic.

Here are some cool sites with interesting info- (thanks John)

Politifact. A site that rates the truthfulness of the claims made by major players in the presidential campaigns and their ads. http://www.politifact.com/

Factcheck. Same idea, with a less exciting interface, but they have an interesting weekly "vidcast," video to summarize the week in politics. http://www.factcheck.org/

VA Joe Candidate Calculator. You answer 22 questions concerning your stance on key political issues, they tell you who you align with. If you don't know where you stand on the issue, click on the question, they will give a very brief summary of it. http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html

"We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society. … such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people. …” (D&C 134:1, 3.)

D. James Cannon wrote, "There are three reasons why you should vote now and every time: (1) Every vote counts. (2) Every election is important. (3) The Lord has reminded you of your responsibility for “the good and safety of society.”

Know the issues. Discover what is being discussed. See if there are other issues that ought to be included. Don’t consider just one point of view. Learn, consider, pray for guidance. Casting a vote is far more serious than many people realize. Know the candidates. Equally important, know the people around the candidates. Encourage good men and women to enter politics and work to help them. Organize political discussion groups. Help destroy the myth that “politics are dirty.” The fact is: politics are essential. The Lord has stressed that we ought to be concerned and involved in promoting good government. Remember you’ve got to do more than talk about politics. You’ve got to vote and act intelligently."

Tagged- I was tagged by Mandy a few days ago

Some of these tag things are interesting but I don't know about this one (here goes)

10 years ago I ...
1. Moved into an apartment with 5 other girls and started living on my own (aka buying sugar cereal for the first time- because I could)
2. Failed my first chemistry class (failed being a C+ but since it was not an A, it ruined my GPA so I ended up repeating it) It was at 7:30 am and after my gym class- what was I thinking? oh yeah, I was a freshman)
3. I did what I swore I would never do and dated, broke up with and re-dated Mr. wrong (seriously girls, if it doesn't work out it's not gonna)
4. Played water polo for USU and went to Oregon for the first time
5. Drove a CJ5 Jeep with a soft top in 0 degree Logan weather

5 Things on today's "to do" list...(since the days half over, I've already been to work)
I rarely have more than one or two things on my half to list. That's the biggest thing Ive learned after having Jack: Set a goal for getting one or two things done, and everything else is just bonus- then I don't feel bad if I don't get everything done.
1. Go to SDRC and work out, then Jack's swim lessons, then swim with jack and Charlie
2. Take kids to Library Halloween story time
3. Find, buy or make something edible
4. Pump- I got home and Adam had given Charlie a bottle. I hate pumping.
5. put kids in bed and relax by checking my friends blogs. :)

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
1. Buy a house with a swimming pool and start investing
2. Travel and do service in 3rd world countries (and pay for Laura to come to)
3. Buy an airplane so we could live somewhere remote and Adam could fly us places to visit with friends and family
4. Go to Europe—heck, live in Europe! (Mandy, aren't we still hopin'?)
5. Set up retirement funds for my parents and education funds for the kids and then take everyone on a cruise (I know that's more than 5 but I have a lot on my someday when we're rich list)

5 places I have lived...
1. Bountiful, Utah
2. Logan, Utah
3. Santiago, Pichilemu, SanBernardo, La Bandera, Chile
4. Burnsville, Minnesota
5. Kaysville, Utah

5 jobs I have had...
1. swimming teacher/ Life Guard (every summer for like 9 years)
2. food cooker, life guard, teacher of mammal studies, astronomy, and archery merit badges and one of seven girls at Bear Lake Boy Scout Camp
3. temp secretary at HK systems
4. waitress at Chevy's (after my mission all I wanted to do was speak Spanish- I tried Chile's for obvious reasons but they weren't hiring)
5. Occupational Therapist

5 things I'm good at
1. Keeping Jack and Charlie alive this long
2. I love water-polo, swimming, volleyball, singing
3. Going to the gym and desiring to wake up early (like training for triathlons)
4. feeding my children (although I sometimes forget to feed myself, well, and sometimes Jack but then he reminds me- o.k. i guess that's not a talent.)
5. I try and do everything which ends up with me being o.k. at a lot of things but not really great at any one thing- but maybe its a talent of mine to juggle a crazy schedule and try and make special memories for my family (and then blog or scrapbook about them so I have proof for the future)

I tag... Laura, Chelsea, Libby, Maricela, and anyone else who reads and wants to do this!

Charlie's a Rock Baby

Before I had a baby, I imagined that it would be so lovely to sit in the rocking chair and gently rock my baby to sleep with crooning lullabies playing in the background. I bought a few Cd's of lullabies but they just did not work. For those who don't know we have somewhat "intense" babies who are never content just to lay on the floor and suck on their toes. (Hard to imagine considering he has such layed back parents :)) We burnt through countless D-sized batteries so that Jack could swing for hours and hours and all through the night for weeks on end. Our saving grace was a DVD Happiest Baby on the Block which taught us how to swaddle our baby and shoosh loudly. It also recommended listening to static or a vacuum to simulate "womb sounds." When we were tired of shooshing, Jack listened to Cori Connors and Norah Jones. They both have uber lovely voices and music that is soothing and relaxing.

Charlie on the other hand is not calmed at all by soft music, but we have this rather rambunctious DVD of a Dave Mathews concert in 7.1 surround. He loves it! He will be screaming and throwing a fit (gasp.. yes our little angel can throw fits) but when we turn on Dave, he quiets right down. He also will calm to Usher, and most everything on 97.5 as long as it's loud. He does not get this from me!! I hate loud rock music that sounds like screaming but Charlie loves it-especially the clapping. Most recently he has calmed to blaring Handles Messiah (in 5.1 surround) so maybe there is hope that Charlie won't die his hair pink, pearce ridiculous parts of his body and turn punk-rocker on me.

I've waited for this day my whole life

After teaching about 30,000 lessons, (well, that may be an exaggeration, but I did teach swimming lessons from the time I was 15 until I graduated grad school which adds up to be ALOT of swimming lessons) Needless to say, after teaching so many lessons, one tends to notice trends. There are always those kids who are terrified to put their face in the water and that ends up being their grand accomplishment after 5 weeks of lessons, there's usually a kid who won't keep his head above water long enough to listen to instructions, the show off who always wants the teachers attention and says "look what I can do!" (Much to my embarrassment, that was me back in the day when I took swimming lessons at the old Bubble). There is a kid in every class who tries like the dickens to do what you ask but just lack the coordination to move both arms and legs at the same time. There are the kids who show up for one or two days of the session and then you never know what happened to them and then there are the cutie-patooties that made me want to have children in the first place- the little boys and girls who come up out of the water with the biggest watery grins and you just want to give them an extra squishy squeeze after they jump in as the third monkey on the wall.

I've had many years to think and wonder about what my kids would be like. I wanted to be the cool Mom that didn't interfere too much and trusted the teacher (and maybe even tipped and thanked her at the end of the session). I wanted my child to be one of those well behaved scrumptious children that made teaching fun. I've been teaching Jack, and I know that I could teach him what he needs to know, but I feel like he shouldn't miss out on the swimming class opportunity. My mom always said that we listened better and took our swimming teacher more seriously than we did her, and I think there's truth in that. So I registered Jack for level 2-(He can already float so he doesn't need 5 weeks of blowing bubbles) and we went to his first swimming lesson Thursday.
He did great!! He kicked, he swam, he did "big arms," he floated on his back, he blew bubbles to the fishies, and he nearly drowned and Laura and I had to jump up to rescue him ( I think his teacher was embarrassed but HELLO- he broke the cardinal rule of teaching swimming- Never turn your back on your class!) I thought Jack was very cute (and squishy) and he actually listened to his teacher (when he wasn't climbing on the platforms handrail). I think he showed up the older girl in his class who wasn't nearly as comfortable in the water as Jack - and yes I just may be a little biased and competitive when it comes to swimming. I think it will be a fun experience for Jack .

(I will take real pictures of his next lesson as these are just from my cell phone.)

I shocked myself by how excited I was to watch Jack's first swimming lesson. I was literally jumping up and down- Adam and Laura thought I was a little crazy. I felt like all those other kids had been preparing me for the time when I would take my own son and teach him this valuable skill. It was such a different perspective to be the one sitting on deck observing the swimming lesson. I considered being a cool mom and not mentioning the teachers error, but then I changed my mind and mentioned it to his boss. I guess safety is more important than being cool.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas??

Did you see the date up there?? Oct 12? This is what we woke up to this morning!!

Luckily I knew where the box of snow clothes was because Jack insisted he needed his snow boots to even look at the snow.

Jack with his pumpkins of the porch

This is jack's first snowman- It's just no fun making snowmen in negative degree weather aka Minnesota. Adam laughed at us but Jack and I gave our snowman hair and a face...

These are the only pictures we will have of our snowman because he only lasted about
a half hour. (Being a top-heavy snowman and 40 degree weather don't mix well)
But we had fun and that's the whole point right??This picture was taken 3 days later and looks totally staged, but we didn't touch it, it just fell and slowly melted away...small....small...small

Confessions of a sugarholic- a failed experiment

My name is Becky, and I'm a sugar-holic. I just love the sticky stuff. When I was younger, it was tough to find a dealer (my parents gave us non-sugared cereals and treats were just for special occasions). Since I became legal and started buying my own cereal, I exhilarated in the freedom to purchase the frosted sugar coated confections. Now I have settled for just buying "lightly sweetened" multi-grain cheerios (but occasionally the marshmallow matees do sneak into my cart). For my birthday this year, the only thing I asked for was a HUGE bucket of jellybellies from Costco ( I claimed I would use some for toilet training treats which I did... "good job using the potty, one for you and a few for me since I helped.." I have noticed, that I am especially susceptible to sugar cravings in the mid-afternoon. It's as if my body cannot rest until it gets a fix. (This all started, as near as I can tell, on my mission when we would always stop and buy a 25 cent ice cream after our huge almuerzo around 4:00. I claimed it was to cool us off, but since then ice cream has become my sixth food group.

It is because of this need for sugar, that I decided to challenge myself and see if I could go a month without sugar. It wasn't really for weight loss, it was mostly to challenge myself and see if it were possible. I have friends who are very strong and have gone off all sugar including carbs and fruit, but I knew I couldn't do that, so I just decided to go off processed sugar and sweets. My friends told me that the first few weeks were hard as they de-toxed, but then their body adjusted and they didn't crave it or even like it anymore. I thought that might be nice, and I even talked my sister Laura into doing it with me. We wrote ourselves 2 cheat days: the 14th which is her birthday and Halloween, but I figured that this would keep me from snacking on Halloween candy all month (Sept 30 I hid all our candy and sweets that we had in the house which is not all that effective because you can't hide something from yourself). The first 2 days were very hard, but then my mom gave me "no sugar added" ice cream which is not the same as no sugar at all, so I felt a little guilty. I survived a few afternoon cravings forcing myself to eat some fruit or string cheese instead. But, on the 9th, I had to make some Halloween cupcakes for our neighbors, and sure enough, before I knew it, I had licked the spoon. I fell off the wagon, and since I was off, I didn't see harm in tasting the finished product and then I had to give jack a bathroom, treat... one for you, one for me...
There are several things I've learned from this experiment:
1. It's a good thing I'm not tempted to fudge on commandments, because once I fell off the wagon (after a lousy 9 days!) I figured I might as well enjoy my guilty pleasures.
2. I did notice that I've had increased headaches with sugar
3. the worst cravings come when I'm stressed out and need something fast, and
4. I have amazing friends Charlotte, Alison, Stacey who have much more will -power than I have and my respect for them has increased dramatically.

Laura says I should re-commit and try again, but I'm not sure. Maybe the idea that sweets are off-limits makes me think about them more.

Goodbye Summer and Welcome Fall

Goodbye Summer, we have enjoyed you. When you arrived, I was hot, miserable, and about 35 pounds larger. We had some fun adventures getting to know this corner of the world and making new friends. Summer, you have been filled with potty-training experiments (many which have failed, but we push on...) The most important thing you gave us was a six pound bundle of joy that has filled a hole in our lives that we didn't know was there. Although you were filled with sleepless nights, stressful jobs and too many diapers to count, you will be missed. Thank you Summer 2008 for giving us Charlie and teaching us how important and supportive our family is and how much we love and need each other.

Welcome Fall. I know that officially the first day of Fall is around my birthday (like Sept. 21) but I feel like with the change in weather and the beginning of October, that NOW Fall has officially arrived. I now officially have permission to decorate my house with orange spooky spider-web lights and let Jack try on all the Halloween costumes that I've been collecting since before he was born (including princess dresses but don't tell Adam). :) We have already enjoyed your beauty, taking family photos in the mountains with the changing leaves. We have been enjoying the spoils of your harvest as my Mom's canning projects had taken over every spare inch of her kitchen and dining area. We look forward to picking Jack's special pumpkin "Max" and participating in the Great Pumpkin contest. Welcome Fall, make yourself comfortable and I'm sure we'll share even more great memories together.

Thank you for a Wonderful General Conference

I love General Conference. Today I explained to Jack that we can watch the Prophet of God who talks to Heavenly Father and then tells us what we need to know to be happy. Jack said he wanted to look like a prophet so we combed his hair (he rarely has his hair combed and he looked kind of like a REALLY young Joseph Smith). My favorite talk was President Monsons on Sunday morning. It is something that I have to keep learning over and over and over and over.... To find joy in the journey. I find that I tend to always look to the future and I am always wondering what will come next and even when I am trying to live life to it's fullest, I think about what fun thing we can go and do or see and explore. Sometimes I get frustrated that Jack's not moving fast enough and I feel like getting both Jack and his shoes in the car and getting Charlie fed and in the car are an incredible superhuman feat. Thank you for the reminder to slow down and enjoy the little moments, to not stress over the messy rooms full of toys and dirty fingerprints and to enjoy life for what it is now and not what it will be.