We did it!

We managed to pull off giving talks while not needing to remove any kids during Sacrament! I wasn't so sure it would happen that way, but it worked out. Tyler gave his talk first & then I gave mine while Dave sat in the congregation with the little kids. After the Young Women did a beautiful musical number (I'm not sure who their leader was, but she sat up in the front row facing them & sort of singing along with them, all the while tears welling up in her eyes with pride...she made me tear up, too, with the pride that you could see brimming out of her! What a great leader!!), Dave & I switched off & I sat with the little kids.

The talk Tyler chose to do was on personal revelation. I didn't have anything to do with choosing this at all, so it kind of surprised me that he chose this. It was the topic I was first going to speak about, but wound up changing my mind when I just wasn't feeling it. This morning he decided to change his topic & wound up speaking about Youth Conference instead. He told everyone about his experience with it & the things they did. He even got a good chuckle from the congregation when he mentioned Bishop Ashton (our current bishop) & Bishop Burt (the bishop in our last ward) & Pres. Grant (from the stake presidency) all dressed up as Book of Mormon characters & preached to them along the hiking trail. He got the laugh when he told the congregation he "even saw Bishop Ashton there, dressed up in a skirt". :) He talked about his own hero, my brother Grant, whom he thinks the world of.

I wound up speaking about family history & generational curses & change. Yeah, you had to be there to see how it all tied in together. I got a lot of good feedback though, which I didn't expect after my flubs & turning all mushy at one point. I really tried to avoid talking about anything that would make me cry, but still my tear ducts managed to betray me yet again!

Dave amazes me with his ability to shoot from the hip! He had his talk all planned out & ready to go, but after hearing the songbirds up at the pulpit & being inspired by the words of the song, he only touched on what he had originally intended to talk about & the rest he spoke from the heart about. He wound up talking about his conversion story, telling a few funnies about the things a new convert might go through & the things he went through himself. He said something about how a Stake Center sounds more like a place to eat than a place to meet & that he learned that his bishop was not, in fact, named Rick , after calling him Bishop Rick for a week before finally being corrected. His point to all of it was for the members to be aware of the fact that they might not know if a new convert might be struggling with this new, unfamiliar world of being a member of our Church. And to be considerate of them because being a convert in a group of people who mostly grew up in the Church isn't always easy.

Dave later told me that afterwards the bishop came up to him & said there were a few people in the congregation that really needed to hear what he said. That's the best kind of feedback, if you ask me! He knows the needs & struggles of his ward family more than anyone.

Overall, it went really well. I was proud of my guys & that was really nice. :)

Talks on Sunday

We've been asked to give them, that is. Tyler will be giving his first talk ever. I'm sure he'd nervous about it if he were thinking about it. But I'm pretty certain he's not thinking about it at all. He was pretty mad at me yesterday when, after finishing his homework, I told him he couldn't go to his friends house. He hadn't even chosen a topic, let alone started his talk.

I know **big meanie**.

We sat down at the 'puter last night to narrow the topic down from "I have no idea" to "well that might work". He finally settled on one, we printed out some articles from the Ensign about it, he highlighted it, proceeded to...ahem..."write" his talk (read: copy word for word the things he liked the most), & brought it to me for approval.

Who was he kidding!? Did he really think I'd believe he could spell supernal?? Heck, I'm not even sure I spelled it right. And I won the Spelling Bee back in 6th grade!!

Okay, so really I placed 3rd, but still....

So after some doors (not) shut softly & a bit of grumbling about my mean nature, he fell asleep before it was even bedtime. Now I know what the real trick is to getting him to bed! I might have to pay the Bishopric off to get them to give more talks from now on, but it'll be worth it, fo sho.

This morning, bright & early at 6 a.m., I was as happy as can be. I was at his doorstep, ready to work on that talk. :)

He left for Youth Conference (his first! he was really excited, as you can imagine) right after school today & they won't be back until really late tomorrow night. Thank goodness for 11 a.m. church!

Mine isn't much further than the family intro. I should be working on that right now. But I'm not. Well, I guess I didn't really need to point that one out, did I?

I miss the days of naps....

.....for the little kids....& me. I think both Logan & Hayleah are trying to cut out their naps. *sniff* They seem to be progressively getting shorter every day. *sniff sniff*

How I long for the less whinier days when grumpy, loud cries & protests were not quickly followed by the words "I'm happy!", then (almost just as quickly) followed by more grumpy cries & protests. While grating, this can usually be comical if I'm in the right frame of mind. But let's face it; I'm in need of a good, long nap as much as they are!

I know I don't make much sense when I'm tired, so I'm not sure why I expect them to. When Hayleah practically yells "I'm happy!!" at me, I find it hard not to laugh at the irony there.

These are the times when a small white pill (for me, of course) & a video camera would be SO. MUCH. FUN.!!. ;-) LOL

As for a nap for me....I can look on those memories with a long fonding....err, I mean a fond longing for those days. See, I told ya I needed a nap!

"What was it like before kids?", I ask myself.

Lots of naps, I say. :)

Hey, I can dream!

My little man

Jordan has this personality that can, at times, be confusing & frustrating. He is by far my loudest child (though Hayleah seems to be making an attempt to out-do him in this department). He is amazingly difficult & stubborn when he wants to be.

He is not the same person in public as he is at home. He's very reserved in public, rarely ever showing the light inside him. He can be amazingly sweet with his siblings. If you ever need a helper when organizing things, he is always more than willing. He's a messy perfectionist after my own heart! *Ü*


Though he can sometimes be my most difficult child to deal with, he has a way of softening my heart.


Over the last few months, since we moved in to this new house, he's struggled with school. He doesn't want to be there. He wants to be where I am. We've spoken with him, along with a school counselor & even the principal, to try to find out where the cause of this sudden change in how he feels about school came from. It didn't seem to be anything school-related.


There were a few incidents when the principal &/or vice-principal had to come out to the car to bring him in to school because he refused to step foot out of the car door. He cried & screamed & once even ran after Dave in the car when being dropped off. That was the last time anyone dropped him off.


Since then, I have begun to always walk with him to the spot where his class lines up each morning. It takes a bit more time & preparation on my part, which is a good thing for some people. When Dave's working or we don't have any visitors, I have to take the little kids with me, which is not always easy. I have a few basic "rules", if you will.

~I have to try to pull a comb through at least one persons hair.~

~There are no soggy diapers allowed.~

~I actually have to put a bra on & change from my slippers to my flip-flops before noon. (I know...shocker!)~

Like I said, it's good for some people.

This morning we were running a few minutes later than usual. He had to have a home made lunch today & of course there was drama from him about how dumb he looked in his "short pants". Once we got there the first bell had already rang & his class had already gone in.

There are only two ways he will go to class right now. Either his teacher, Mrs. Johnson (really sweet young teacher in another stake) will walk with him, or I have to walk him back to his classroom. It's a huge improvement, so I'm not complaining. It used to be he had to be pryed off of me, crying all the while. That would never fail to break my heart.


Today, when I walked him back to his classroom, he hugged me & kissed me before we said our goodbyes. He always hugs me, but is too big & mature to kiss his mom in public most of the time.


I got about 20 steps away before I heard him running towards me. My first thought was "great! I wasn't fast enough...let the drama begin!". I was pleasantly surprised by him telling me in a hurried voice, "I needed another hug, Mom", followed by a strong hug & a smile. He ran right back to his class & that was that.


I can't say we're at a turning point in regards to these new issues with him, but it feels so good to feel needed when most of the time it's not that way anymore. So I had to blog about this sweet moment with my sweet little man.


Here he is at his first coach-pitch baseball game of the season last weekend.

The cutest little Joey & Crayon Rolls

Yesterday Vickie, the kids & I were finishing up some shopping at Walmart for a sewing project we were doing at the chapel with some other sisters from my new ward. When making our way back to the craft aisle, something caught my eye. There was a lady in one of those motorized shopping carts that had something in her lap. Strangely, it resembled a baby kangaroo (a joey, as I was corrected more than once ;) ). I'm friendly, but I don't usually stop strangers to ask things like "oh my goodness (!!), what's that there thing in your lap!?" (Of course when surprised I tend to make less sense than usual)

Lo & behold it IS a kangaroo in her lap. I call my 3 year old, Logan, over to me to point & gawk & stop the lady so we can ask a million questions. I figure if she didn't want to be stopped by 100 different people & extend her would-be 30 minute shopping trip to something more like 3 hours, she wouldn't bring an animal with her most of us Americans have never seen in person.

Of course I knew not one of my beloved followers (hi, Mom :) ) would ever believe we saw a real live baby kangaroo...erm, joey...unless I could prove it somehow. So here it is: Logan with the joey & the crazy kangaroo lady.

You'll notice he's representing his new favorite college team. Actually, if you look close enough you can see a red & black thing by his side. It's a glove. It's my winter glove. He thinks he's "Tiger Wood" (his words, not mine) & that's his golf glove. He wouldn't take the hat or the glove off all day. Cute kid, but a little obsessive about golf. :)

So I made my first crayon roll the other day. Vickie & I went to the chapel & spent 2 whole hours sans kids! Sewing is okay; chatting with a bunch of fun ladies is where it's at. I don't get to do that often so it was really nice. I'll post a picture of the crayon roll I made once I take a minute to find my camera, be frustrated at it because it's still not working right, & snap a dozen pictures of it to get the one or two that will do.

Until then....crayon roll heaven: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/