The Land of the Dragons

There is a new exhibit at the zoo. We've been waiting and waiting for it to come. it is called The Land of the Dragons.

The Komodo Dragons weren't doing much when we saw them, but I still think they are raelly cool. There were two of them. One boy and one girl. The boy's name is Ivan and the girl is called Gaia. They are really big, but they don't live together. They live in separate cages.

It has really sharp teeth and powerful jaws. The grab on and they don't let go. If they do let go, the animal dies, because they're saliva is venomous. They are 8 feet long.

Sting Rays

My Mom and Dad took me to the zoo. Brandon came, too. One of my favorite things to see is the sting ray exhibit.

Brandon was reaching down to pet a shark. I was going to pet the shark, but I couldn't reach it. It was at the very bottom. It looks like my Dad is going to fall in the water.

The sting rays are so soft. At 10:00, you're allowed to get dead fish and feed them.

Right under that black sting ray is the shark that Brandon petted.

That little basket in the back has a baby sting ray in it. It's in a basket, because the other sting rays will eat it. They eat their babies. It was born on Veteran's Day (yesterday).
I was leaning over to pet the sting rays, when this one speed up and splashed me.

I had to use my jacket as a towel. It was funny.

It was a good thing my mouth was closed so salt water wouldn't get in my mouth.

My mom was the one taking the pictures.

Fear Not, I Am With You

Today at church, the primary children sang songs and bore simple testimonies of how learning about the role of families in the God's plan during Sunday School has blessed their lives. They sang the beautiful hymn, "How Firm a Foundation". As I watched my two youngest sons sing that hymn, I had a strong feeling of peace. The 3rd verse begins,

"Fear not, I am with thee, Oh be not dismayed
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen, help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand."

I have experienced the power of good music in my life even as a young girl. There have been those difficult moments when the verses of hymns were brought to my memory offering strength, conviction, comfort and hope. As they sang, I knew this song would provide similar blessings to them later in their lives.

It was a special Sacrament service. There was a 3-year-old down syndrome girl in bench before us. She was beautiful with little pig tails and such a pure sweet face. It reminded of a little boy named Harley I knew when I was 12. Because he was born with severe heart complications, his 4 years of life were a miracle. At his funeral, I remember this story.

He was on a walk with his grandma. She told him that she felt so happy when she was with him. When she walked with him and held his hand, she said it felt like she was holding the hand of God. Then that sweet little boy looked up at his grandma and said,

"Then hold it Grandma. Hold the hand of God."

Too often I take for granted just how precious and close little children are to God.  Of course, temper tantrums and tears don't help, but at those times we need those fall back moments to remind us who they really are. For me, it's the chapters in 3rd Nephi that describe Christ interactions with the little children. It teaches me that if Christ were here, one of His chief interests would be talking with and blessing the lives of  children. If I'm supposed to pattern my life after His, my interests should be similar.

And here's the best part. When I'm busy helping and loving His children, every aspect of that verse above comes back to me ten fold. When I love His children, I feel His love and support for me. When we hold the hand of a child, we hold the hand of God. Amazing.

The Art Show

Brandon and Jeffrey are taking art classes at ASU on Saturdays. Jeffrey is taking a class that explores different mediums, but Brandon's class is solely photography with lots of time spent in the dark room. Brandon meets in the basement, but Jeff is all the way at the top of the building. He can see me park the car and walk up the walk to pick him up.

(Jeff misses his cousins-but made up for lost time playing with the instructor's son!) We don't have a final picture of Jeff's mask, but I know he enjoyed making it. His favorite project is the ocean landscape. His sketch book has lots of practice work in preparation for the final piece. He also had fun preparing for a space scene-an astronaut floating next to a space ship shooting stars. There's some kind of ironic aspect to this piece that alludes me, but cracks Jeffrey up. He didn't finish that one, since the final day for that project fell on conference week end.

Jeff with his instructors.

Brandon explaining his work to Dad. It was fun to take the boys each week and listen to what they were learning. I miss the art docent program at Antelope Meadows, but I'm sure it will be there when I get back. Brandon's stories especially made me itchy to get in the dark room again. It's been a long time.

Boo!

Pretty, scary-huh? It didn't last long. Turns out, my dog doesn't appreciate the whole, let's-dress-up-the-dog routine. For a dog that thinks he's a person, he sure doesn't appreciate clothes.

Amanda and Mark went shopping last minute for some costumes and trunk or treat decorations. Mark found some great mice to put all over the car. (I had camera trouble. As a result, I have only a few pictures of the costumes, no pictures of carving pumpkins, trunk or treating, or anything else Halloweenish.) Mark also found a light up mouth piece. Pretty cool and went well with his suit. :) Amanda decided last minute to go as a clown. She has some great sun glasses and other gear, but the camera died before she could get those on. Brandon (not pictured) was the fat tourist again. Fun, easy, Brandon. Taylor pulled off the Dunder Mifflin 3 hole punch -again, not pictured.

The missionaries set up a trunk or treat booth with a side walk chalk plan of salvation all laid out. It was awesome. I have some other pictures from some of the sisters at our other blog. They were pretty clever. I've heard of other missionary creativity-but no photos yet.

But if i don't have every picture, at least I have this one.  This sums up our Halloween this year. Big demands from the kids, not so much follow through from the Mom.

Here's the story behind the costume. It started mid September. Jeffrey was doodling in one of the drawing books. He came up with a picture of a demon vampire with two sets of glowing red eyes and 3 sets of hands, blood dripping all over the place. He insisted we take the sketch to Costco so they could make the costume. Again and again, I tried to explain that Costco didn't make costumes. Finally he was persuaded, but only slightly. He was determined to have that costume made. If Costco wouldn't make it, then we could bring them the photo, and they could send it to the makers and then sell it to us. All so logical to his way of thinking-I just 'didn't get it.' I finally convinced him that it was totally cool to make your own costume. That's how we always did it growing up. So we went to Target and bought several sets of gloves and some poly fiberfill. He stuffed the gloves and that's as far as I got. I don't know if it was laziness or fatigue, but we ended up at the halloween store looking for a plain black robe-we found a demon outfit with glowing red eyes (one pair-too bad, but still!) We stitched the extra hands on and my bacon was saved! He wore it to the school carnival Friday night, but was afraid his batteries would go out, so he only used them on 'special' friends.

And I love this part-creative writing at school. Maybe he'll grow up to be a writer/costume designer. Who knows. It worked for George Lucas.

I just need to say thanks

"How do you do it?" I hear that now and then, mostly from people who only see me in passing. If they knew me better, they'd know the truth. I love my life and the situation we're in, but it isn't necessarily any busier or better than someone else's. I can do it, because I don't do the rest. The answer is I don't do it all.   Picking and choosing, and learning to be 'choosier' is becoming a way of life. Times and seasons. Right now in my life is a season to serve my family and to serve the missionaries.

And even the little bit that I end up doing, is only done with a lot of help. Everybody is busy, and none of us do it alone. Even on your busiest days when you feel like you've been running around helping everyone else, somewhere along the way someone was helping you to do something-whether it was something as big as teaching your kids at school or at church or just by example to smaller things like holding the door or bagging your groceries.

And tonight, I want to say thanks to one special person who is always helping me. (After I wrote that statement, I realized it didn't narrow the field hardly at all. So many people fall under that umbrella. I have a lot to be thankful for... but tonight I'm sending this out to someone who is teaching me a lot about serving and loving others.) Every time I see her, she seeks out opportunities to help me. "That's what I'm here for," is her mantra. She helps out regularly with all our meals for the missionary groups taking on a huge bulk of that responsibility. She does all this even though she also takes care of both her elderly parents and her grand daughter every day after school. It's not just that she does it, but how she does it. She always makes me feel like I'm doing her a favor by letting her help me. There are a lot of great senior couples serving with us; we're very blessed. And she's been doing this for over 5 years. That's a long time. So, even though you probably won't have time to read this, I just wanted to tell you, Katrina that I love you, and that I appreciate you. Thanks.

The Bakery

Each Saturday morning, while Brandon and Jeffrey are at their art classes at ASU, I have a little free time to myself. Mark and I discovered this bakery on their first day. It's the perfect place for me to tuck into a little patio corner, study my scriptures and indulge in something wonderful. They have the most indulgent breakfasts...and the macaroons? NEVER have I had anything like this. Bliss.

Here's my attempt to recreate their fabulous hot cereal. Not the same, but still my new favorite when I have time for breakfast.

Crazy Hair Day

Jeff was so excited. i was bummed, because they couldn't add color to their hair. I have some awesome metalic blue hair gel that is so stiff!

But this was good enough for Jeff, until...

he saw Brandon's. I guess this is what he was trying to describe to me.

Maybe it's a case of the grass is always greener?

Yes, they're tough.

Bye boys! Have a nice day at school and be good!

Study, study, study!!!

Look at that building! I know she's in there somewhere. Every time we talk to her, her friends are out playing and she's being a good girl and prepping for her exams! Ha ha. 


 Truthfully, it sounds like Jess is managing to keep a good balance. We're so proud of her.

(The Harold B. Lee Library)

What a gorgeous library! Who wouldn't want to spend the best years of their life there? 

Good luck tomorrow, sweetheart!

(The HGB Testing Center)

PS This place doesn't look at all scary... Don't be deceived.

I'm so excited!