serving the dead and killing the living

Brandon and I went to the Manti Temple yesterday evening--General Conference was a pretty good motivator. On the way home we hit a deer--so Scary and sad. Fortunately, there were no other cars around because Brandon had to veer into the oncoming traffic lane. I'm sure that was an awful death for that poor deer and we felt so bad.
It didn't take long for us to find out the damage to our car. I couldn't even open the passenger door to get out. It is completely dented in and it HAD a chunk of fur stuck to the side of the car. I say HAD because our very curious and "hands-on" little 8yr old neighbor pulled it off just recently. She probably would have kept it if I had not screamed in disgust. Brandon is now out in the garage pounding away at the door and hopefully doing more repair than damage.

Here are some tips in case your vehicle ever comes face to face with a deer (like on your way to visit us.)
DON'T
1. avoid the deer by veering into another lane
2. slam on the brakes
3. travel at dusk on the backroads

DO
1. Travel during the day when the deer are tucked safely away in the woods

I'm just glad I wasn't driving because I didn't know the do's and don'ts before yesterday. My only natural instinct was to scream. It's too bad our temple service had to be marred by such a frightening experience. Next time we'll just follow rule #1 and opt for a morning session.

Bee Prayerful

Dad gave a lesson awhile back for Family Night about prayer. He encouraged us when we pray to think of each person in our family, and then ask Heavenly Father to bless them in a specific way. Since then family prayers have become a lot more interesting...
Here is a potpourri of some of things we have heard from the kids:

Please bless:

that Mom won't get stressed out when her kids don't obey........that Brynn will be nice to the new girl at school.........that Daddy can do a good job at work and that people will feel better after he talks to them.......that Cannon won't play with toilet water.......that Adrie can learn to SHARE.......that Kate can practice the piano and not whine.......that Cannon can grow up to be a handsome young man...

In other news: Kate and Brynn participated in a Spelling Bee for our local Family Statesmanship Academy. We had a winner! Kate won for the 6-8 age group! She asked me today if that counted as one of her assignments for developing her talents--you bet. All the kids got trophies and treats and it was a pretty fun event. I was proud of myself for resisting the urge to yell the correct answers from the audience.

Remember those Reflections contests? Of course you do, they are still alive and well. Brynn won 1st place for a picture she drew "I wonder what it's like on Mars." This is huge news in our family because I brought no scrap of artistic genes to the pool. Every year in grade school, I entered the Reflections contest, confident that my drawing, poem, piece of music, whatever it was (I tried them all) would be a sure winner. And, every year I was shocked to see what the OTHER kids had done--and disappointed that mine was pale in comparison.--A poster size oil painting of a teddy bear on a swing? How does a kindergartner do that, I wondered? Where did they get that paper and those special paints??? Yet, every year I would try again and be sure that THIS was the year I would win. I never won even an honorable mention. sniffle. sniffle.

So, now that I've provided the background you can understand why I was feeling completely happy and fulfilled to see a 1st place ribbon on my daughter's picture and NO I did NOT help her--no oil paints or poster size paper canvasses here! (I didn't win any Spelling Bee's either.)
Just living the dream through my children.

Sisters in Zion

I'm back, with my batteries recharged! I feel renewed, ready to take on Spring cleaning, ready to take on kids bedtime routine, the cooking , the food-only shopping. Buddy's memory of me was fading. But, it only took half a day for him to remember that I used to be his favorite person.

What fun. Sister/Mom week was great. We tried on clothes that were oh so cute, ate out often, went on long walks, played games, read books, explored Zions National Park, watched Celebrity Apprentice, and ate lots of Reeses Pieces.

I have to say that I haven't laughed so hard in a long time--We laughed until our guts hurt. Sometimes the humor went a little too far. Like the time when we were in Zions driving through the one mile tunnel carved into the mountainside and my claustrophobic mom was on the verge of a panic attack. When we finally neared the tunnel's end--the light at the end of the tunnel-- my sister slowed down almost to a stop and said "We're out of gas." The look on my mom's face had her..(us) in an uproar! My sister quickly zoomed out to safety and we continued our scenic drive --although she was hunched over the steering wheel in laughter and could barely steer.

Thanks to Brandon for being Mr. Mom for 5 days and for all the family that helped.

Ready for my Yearly Estrogen Bath

That's what Brandon likes to call my yearly Mom and Sister's Week. This year we are going to sunny St. George for a long weekend. Am I excited? Let me count the ways:

• shopping


• wearing summer clothes


• reading without interruption


• sleeping without interruption


• only having to feed myself and put myself to bed?!!


• no meals to cook


• no messes to clean ( I don't make any!)


• laughing and visiting with sisters and even getting on each other's nerves!
  

I'm looking forward to all of it but I'll probably cry when I have to leave my little ones. What if Cannon doesn't recognize me when I get home?

Brandon thinks he is going to have way more fun on his trip with the kids to Grandma's. ( a lot less estrogen to deal with for sure) Make sure he has fun...but not too much fun.

We celebrated Cannon's birthday #1 this week. Unlike the girls, he didn't get breakfast in bed...he has been weaned for a few days now and is gradually discovering other comfort foods.

Cannon's gift was a stuffed Tigger toy but he was WAY more interested in the camera I was using to try and photograph him. Why do babies like non-toys so much? Happy Birthday Butters!

Apples in Art

Our online teacher is always keeping us apprised of little reasons to celebrate. Yesterday it was Johnny Appleseed day--remember the guy who generously planted apple trees and gave seeds all over early America?
So, yesterday we...


drank apple juice









ate applesauce

planted some apple seeds in the corner of the yard. Someday our grandchildren will be able to come over in cute little smocks and harvest them.

served apple pie for dessert

played Apples to Apples

See, you probably celebrated without even knowing it. And what a great name for a baby girl...if you're a moviestar.

Which is your favorite painting?

Introducing the must-have American Girl Doll...

In this morning's newspaper there was an article about a Doll exhibit at Gardner Village. We were looking at some of the pictures and Kate was thinking how fun it would be to make dolls and design their clothes.

"What if you worked at the American Girl factory and had to design a new doll?" I asked her.

She thought that all of the historical eras had been covered but then she came up with a new one.

Introducing....CAVEGIRL

Experience prehistory with the newest American Girl doll. She comes with a cheetah skin wrap and a club for "knocking down coconuts."

Additional accessories include Rexy the dinosaur pet, grasshopper, snake, and a treehouse. You can even get the companion doll CAVEMAN. With his saw and lantern, he is ready for any adventure. (Cheetah-skin loincloth optional)

Kate the Great

Kate the Great turned Eight and you know what that means....having a lot more chores... and getting baptized! What a special day for the family. Kate was able to be baptized with her cousin Esther. All the family convened in Richfield to celebrate the occasion with us.

Dad started a new tradition with the girls of taking them to pick out a baptism dress. ( I am too controlling when it comes to shopping so this is a good opportunity for the girls to excercise what they call free-will or "agency.") Kate didn't think she would be getting a dress for the event so when Dad announced it to her the day before her face just lit up. (Good job Dad!) They had a fun date together and Kate chose this cute little spring green--it's the new white !

Even though Kate's birthday was on her baptism, we decided to celebrate the day before. It started with breakfast in bed...is that our new tradition?...followed by present opening. Kate learned from having her other sisters' birthdays earlier in the year that you can gain maximum fun if you open presents in the MORNING. That way you have all day to play with them. It made sense.

She got what she really wanted-- a singing machine and a Hannah Montana (technically it's a Sharpay) wig. She has been rockin' to Disney Hits Mania ever since.

She also had a party. Twelve girls came to the church cultural hall where we played crab soccer, freeze tag, red rover, hide-n-seek, had a balloon stomp and a pinata--which was busted WAY to quickly. Next time we'll use a blindfold.

Happy birthday to our sweet, helpful, active Kate.