The Hardware

The awards for the last seven shooting matches finally arrived.


The boys were excited to model their medals.


Where are they tonight??? One guess...yep...another match.

Empathy

Spring is near. I can tell from the pussy willows outside my window and by the warm, sunny days that tease my kids into thinking it's warm enough to wear shorts.

The other morning it was quiet (rare occurrence) enough while we were eating breakfast that we could hear a dove coo-cooing outside in a nearby tree. We all got up and tried to look for the bird that was so insistently calling out.
Our Star Wars fan found him and I made the comment that he must be looking for a wife to start a family with.
Our daughter took a closer look and said, "No Mom, his wife is right there (further up in the tree).
Then our oldest noticed that they were making a nest where a branch met the trunk of the tree. "Look, they have a nest!"
So I innocently made the comment that he must be coo-cooing for some other reason.
My husband got a sly look on his face and said, "I know the feeling."

Yes, Spring is in the air.

Prayers of a Three-Year-Old

Our youngest likes saying prayers. His specialty is saying prayers before a meal. He is concise and says the basics..."Please bless the food." and then he is done. We have been encouraging him to say more, to find something else he could add before ending his prayer. He has learned well and is now grateful for more than just the food. We got a good laugh the other evening when it was his turn to say our family prayer. (He is still thankful for the food, even at bedtime...that is a given). That evening he was feeling particularly thankful and particularly long-winded because after his usual topics, he said, "Bless Dad to shoot a deer, and a elt (elk), and a fox, and a turtey (turkey), and a bad duy (bad guy)."

Our Annual Family Night Talent Show

We enjoyed a real treat last night. For family night Grandma called up all the cousins and invited them to come and share their talents. These were the highlights of the evening:

a budding violinist, a flexing muscle-man,

two bulls-eye precision marksmen,

a talented linguist who taught us some Japanese and a young Casanova who wooed his same-age cousin,

a smiling artist and a gorgeous singer,

a sassy puppy and a fruit-pizza artist (yes, it was delicious),

a sign-language master and a cake decorator,

a poem reciter and a Tae Kwon Do enthusiast,

another gorgeous singer and a real-life Emmy award,

and a stand-up comedian and a concert pianist.

Our favorite talent of the night was a special guest performance by the chin puppets who sang a knee-slapping song with a hidden message. They brought the house down!

We had a really fun evening and we feel lucky to be part of such a talented family!

Babies and More Babies!

Spring is here and you know what that means!? Babies!

We have welcomed two new nieces into our family. Emerson came first...

Jane joined this cute family just a few weeks later...

A new nephew will shortly have these two bursting with pride...

and a new niece will arrive just days after him!

We love all our cute nieces and nephews!

Back on Track

This morning a lovely computer technician (well, I don't know that he was lovely, but his computer-fixing skills were!) arrived, completely tore apart my computer with a million pieces everywhere, put a new part in, somehow put it back together (I had my doubting moments), and now my computer is alive and well once again! Our daughter has been anxious for me to post about her baptism which was last weekend, so here goes!

She started out the day by opening her very own scriptures and case. It's our tradition to give our kids their own copy when they are baptized. She was so excited to have them!

She got to wear to her baptism a very special dress. This dress is one of her cousins and it has been worn by almost all of the girl cousins at their baptisms. She felt special to be able to wear it too.

There was a cute group from our ward who were also baptized that day.

My dad was able to make it down from Oregon....we were so glad he was there! We were also glad that he snapped this group picture of our family!

This is her "Cinderella" dress that she picked out to wear afterwards. She especially likes the "poofy skirt."

We headed to Grandma and Grandpa's after the baptism for a delicious lunch of pulled-pork sandwiches and decadent salads like this one...

but we all saved room for pies! It was a very special day!

Technical Difficulties

We had a wonderful weekend! Makiah was baptized on Saturday and we had a wonderful day! I will have to wait to post pictures until my wonderful computer is repaired...we are experiencing some major technical difficulties. It is a real pain and I only hope that the technician who is supposed to arrive in 1-3 business days can quickly cure my ailing computer! Meanwhile, I get to take on the lovely task of backing up all my files...namely my innumerable photos...which is unpleasant in the best of circumstances! Pray that I don't go insane trying to back up my files with a screen I can barely read, and a computer that shuts down any time a new window tries to open!! Ahhhh!

Finding Joy in Busy-ness

Monday seems to be my day to blog. It is the day that I realize that if I don't stop and take time to do it, it won't happen. It is also when I can take a minute and look back at the last week as a whole...from a distance, if you will. The days and weeks are coming so fast and life is so busy. Last week included no fewer than:

three shooting matches. The boys shot really, really well!! Results will be posted this week and they can't wait for the "official results." More to come.

We also attended our annual blue and gold banquet with our cub scout. The theme was a western round-up. We had a fun evening together!

Our youngest had the fun privilege of joining me for our ward's Young Men and Young Women activity. We went to the BYU basketball game at the Marriot Center and cheered on the Cougs as they took on San Diego State. It was a great game (BYU won) and I think our youngest fit in quite well with our rowdy crowd!!

The highlight of our week was the older boys attendance at the Maturation Program at school. (you know, the fun talk on puberty and all of it's ramifications???) It has been quite enlightening to our boys and all of a sudden they are feeling very mature. Our second oldest is now more diligent with his daily observance of deodorant application. And our oldest has now discovered several black (only in certain lighting conditions) hairs on his upper lip which he is quite proud of. He has named the longest, blackest one Steve.

One more week down, and another is already here!!