the Sunday salamander...

The Sunday salamander.

The kids found him on the back porch. He must have surfaced after the two days of non-stop rain. Salamander sightings aren't too common around these parts...we thought he was pretty cool!!



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Last night Ben was helping me in the kitchen. He was dancing to some music and I asked him if he had ants in his pants. He replied, "no, I have a bug in my bum!"

Three strikes...

I was tired to start with. This morning Elli had an appointment to see the foot doctor and Ben needed to get three booster shots (same clinic, different docs). When we arrived they asked me for the papers I was supposed to fill out for Elli..."Oh, you mean the ones sitting on my desk at home?" Strike one.

.

Next, the nurse for Ben's doctor came to the waiting room and asked if I knew which shots he needed. Feeling confident, I handed her a folded paper from my purse. She opened it, read it and looked puzzled. I glanced over at the paper...it was Elli's report card! Embarrassed, I told her I really wasn't fit to be a mother and then preceeded to call the school so they could fax a copy of the paper I left at home. Strike two

.

We were escorted to the exam room. Ben discovered the camera in my purse while we were waiting for Elli's foot x-rays. I let him play with it. It kept him happy and most importantly, busy. The doctor returned and I listened, trying to give my undivided attention. I was unaware that Ben had the camera pointed inches away from my left eye. Snap...I was BLIND! I couldn't open my eyes and tears began flowing at an unstopable rate. "Go ahead, I'm O.K." I said to the doctor (lying like a rug!). As the doctor continued, Ben preceeded to take a picture of him talking to me! I failed to take the camera away after the blinding incident. Strike three.

.

"Bet you haven't seen a three ring circus like this for a while," I said. He replied, "Not since I left my house this morning." What a good sport!

Blinded by the light and Dr. Ollie

Happy feet?!

Soccer comes to an end...

a BITTERSWEET GOODBYE to...

*six games a week

*three practices a week

*games at the same time or 1/2 hour apart

*driving from one side of Springville to the other side repeatedly

(it was hard on Saturdays not to stop at all the yard sales!)

*54 bottles of water

*looking for shirts, shorts, cleats, shin guards and socks before every game...not an easy task at our house!

*great exercise for the kids

*enjoying the unseasonalby warm weather

*fun with the family

Rachel's team were the STRIKERS. It was so fun to watch her improve with each game. She did such a great job and can't wait to play again next year.

When it comes to soccer, Elli doesn't mess around!

She is a great player!

Her team was PINK THUNDER.

(I'm sure, not a reference to their thighs)

If you've never watched cub soccer...you're missing out! It's entertainment at it's finest! Ben had an amazing coach, Nancy. She has been coaching him for two years and has worked miracles! We are so thankful for her! Ben scored a goal in his last game and we were so excited. He's been known to score goals for the other team...Alex tells him that he is the other teams best player. Ben got to be on the team with his best friend, Gabe and cousin, Josh. Josh's mom, Aunt Heather, took these great photos of the boys!

Follow the Prophet...

General Relief Society Meeting

Saturday, September 27, 2008

We all rose as the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, entered the conference center. My heart was pounding as the spirit testified to me that he is THE true and living prophet on the earth today.

SO MANY great things were said. I wanted to share one...

When President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke he quoted the following:

"Those who bring sunshine to the life of others cannot keep it from

themselves"

-J.M. Barrie

author of Peter Pan

The meeting was great. The company fabulous. The conversation fun. The food tasty. The evening late. The experience completely worth it!

There's nothing like it...

Everytime one of the kids draws a picture or brings an art project home from school, I can't help but smile...there's nothing like it!

Because of Aspbergers, Ben's verbal skills don't always cooperate. He LOVES to draw and spell words. When he won't talk to us, we ask him to draw a picture on his drawing box (his best friend, the magnadoodle). We are always amazed at how well he communicates through pictures.

Pictures courtesy of Rachel, Elli and Ben

My favorite time of the day...

In church today, a friend, Becky, gave a talk about families. She referred to memories of nightly family dinners around the table...it got me thinking.

Alex gets home from work everyday at 6:00 pm. Preparation for his arrival various from 2 hours to 5 minutes. That time often includes looking in the pantry, fridge or freezer hunting for the simplest dinner option, the kids tellling me they are hungry (over and over again), piano practice, homework, tv watching, setting the table, etc. By the time we sit down for dinner, I'm not feeling so perky...in fact, quite the opposite. Thankfully, Alex never complains.

Conversation at the table usually consists of:

"sit up while you are eating...that's a chair not a bed"

"eat with your mouth closed...we don't want to see your food"

"don't eat with your hands...use your fork"

"I hope you don't act like this at school"

"If you don't sit on your chair, you'll have to eat in the pantry"

"that's very nice, now eat your food"

"worry about yourself"

"don't eat like animals"

"if you don't eat your dinner, don't complain later that you are starving"

"eat your vegetables"

Every once and awhile I get a compliment about dinner, we don't feel rushed, we talk about what makes us happy and

we laugh.

It's the one time, everyday, that we are together.

I realized today that...

Dinner time is my favorite time of day.

Finding joy...

I could see the kids playing from afar. They had been playing on the make shift sand pile for almost an hour and I wondered what could keep them content for so long...so I ventured over. I discovered rocks, twigs, a few plastic cookie cutters, a bent piece of rebar and three imaginations keeping their attention. I wanted to capture the moment to remind me how simple it can be to find joy in life.