Mommy Practice.

My Mom has headed to Oregon to see family. She left me with Miss Lou (10) and S(6). This morning they got dressed with almost no hassle except that S was saddened by the salt in his eggs. Oh well. On the way to school I asked them if they had remembered to bring this or that. Sometimes they get annoyed with all of my questions so I decided to ask them if they had remembered to bring their brains. It worked and they joked about it the rest of the way to school. I am so glad my mom taught them to be silly.
One other thing that was cute in the car ride to school. S and Miss Lou play this game where if you see a yellow car you say bingo and you get a point. Brett and I play this game too only we trade our points in for kisses. So today I saw a car that S normally gets parked on the side of the road and called it for bingo (how was I supposed to know he normally gets that one). He handled it great though. Instead of pouting and saying "that's mine" he asked "do you want to trade it in for a kiss?" Of course I said yes and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then he says "Bingo!! When you trade it in I can have it." Its nice of him to let me know these new rules.

Kids

Why do we go to college?
S-"So we can learn to get married"

When picking up Miss Lou's rental violin S spotted a little one that was HIS size. He was very excited and thought he should have it. When telling him that it was to expensive didn't work Miss Lou took over. It went something like this
Miss Lou-"If you get a violin you have to take lessons so you will know how to play"
S-"No we can get it and I will play MY way"

After my mom wrote out the check for the violin Miss Lou said "Thank you so much mom." Impressed the cashier said he had never heard a child thank his parents before. My mom told him that it is very important to Miss Lou to be nice. Miss Lou told the cashier "I AM a nice girl" When my mom tells the story she adds "and so humble too."

My Aussie Dad was recently watching a BYU football game (see, football is so cool even Australians like it). He gets into watching games so he was yelling at the TV. Most likely somewhat surprised that his dad was yelling A says, "Dad, I'm right here. You don't need to yell"

Kids are the best. I am very thankful that my parents have blessed me with three cute kids that I have gotten to see grow from babies to their personality-filled selves.

Birthday Boy

This boy decided he didn't want to have a birthday. After months if wishing it were his birthday he decided he didn't want to have one. He didn't understand that it's not in your control. Finally on the day after his birthday he let us make him brownies and sing to him. Silly boy. I hope he doesn't change.

My Mother

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
-Abraham Lincoln

Here are some reasons that I'm glad my mom is my mom.

1. She has endless patience. She has never yelled at me when I do things I shouldn't. If I was her I would have yelled at me.
2. She loves her children more than anything. Even when we are annoying and stress her out.

3. She knows when I need things or am having a hard time. Even when I am states away and don't tell her about it.

4. She talks to me and keeps my secrets.

5. She understands me.

6. She is creative. I love the things that she comes up with.

7. She gives without a thought of return.

8. She is an example of living by faith.

9. She makes me laugh at myself and she laughs at the silly things I do.
10. Shes who I want to be when I grow up.

Thanks, Mom, for being the best.

Slacker

So, I was supposed to blog about my conference trip. I know it is a little late but here goes.

IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!! I had a blast. I got to see my amazing grandparents, awesome cousins, my great sister and brother-in-law along with 2 of my best friends. I am so spoiled sometimes.
So what did I do with all these fun people in one of my favorite places in the world? We bowled, ate at the creamery (aw grapes, now I'm hungry. oh well, I'll be there soon enough), walked around BYU, got a few jamba juices, avoided the scrapbook stores (I didn't want to break my little bank), ate yummy food that Grandma made, played games, studied (WOW! Stacie is a super good influence. Oh, for those of you that didn't know she is the friend that drove up with David, Amber (and Sweat Pea), and Kourtney), watched General Conference and went to General Conference. Apart from that we talked and talked and talked.
I love my family. I am so privileged to be related to the wonderful people that I am. I learn so much from their examples and am lifted up from their spirits.

Some things that made the trip special.

-The trip down memory lane to when we would watch General Conference

in the tiny play room at Grandma and Grandpa's Mesa house.

-Getting to have scripture study with Grandma and Grandpa. They know

so much

-Going to General Conference as an extended family. It is always a special

experience to hear the prophets voice, especially when you can see him in

person. It is even better when you are surrounded by your family.

-Taking the picture of all of us cousins in front of the temple. It was a

reminder that my relationship with them gets to continue on for eternity.

TV

I had planned on posting tonight but E, S and my Dad are having a sleepover. They are using the computer as a tv because our tv has decided to go to electronic heaven. I suppose if there was an electronic heaven that our tv would go there because only clean things are shown on it. This is due to my parents teaching us high standards about what we watch. Thanks parents.

Pictures

Did you think I forgot to take pictures of people while out in the snow? Nope. Here they are.

This is Serena

She is new to the high school scene and is handling it great. I am very impressed with her self confidence. She doesn't seem to care what others think. If she likes it she likes it, even if some people would see them as childish or immature. Not that they are but that high school nerves would seem to make them though. Not Serena though. Her out going, fun loving, general happy personality and dedication to her goals conquerors all.

This is Jeremy.

No he is not part Chinese. He just has the eye squinting smile like some of us in my family. Jeramey loves to help in the kitchen when it comes to cooking and, like most boys, just wants to have fun. He also seems to want to be older then he is sometimes. I have tried to explain to him that being a kid is fun and he should enjoy not having the responsibility of various things. It didn't work. Oh well.

Here is Autum.

While in many ways she is a girlie girl she has the energy to keep up with her two brothers that are close in age. She also loves one on one attention, the cat and fisher price dolls. Apart from that she has a set of lungs made for singing. At the ward party Santa came. Darcy, the lady who cut my hair, told her to go tell Santa what she wants. Autum said she didn't know what she wanted. I think in many ways Autum has the ability to be content with what she has as long as there are people to be around and interact with.

The youngest is Wes.

Don't let his size fool you. He is small but is more then capable of holding his own in a squabble.

He also has a tender heart and can be quite the gentleman. Lately he has taken to pushing my chair in for me. He will sometimes even hop up out of his chair so he can. Wes is very creative in a silly way. Sometimes he will tell joking stories about why such and such happened to so and so or they could do this next time that happens. Another thing I find so cute is that he wants nothing more then to be like Jake and Ross. I think that says many good things about the kind of big brothers they are. One of the ways Wes is trying to accomplish this is by eating allot. He is succeeding very well.

Then there are Garn and Aj. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them. They are wonderful though. They both give excellent advice that is based on spiritual understanding and their life experiences. They have taught me so much and I am very grateful for it.

Brown Sugar

Somethings are handed down from generation to generation. One of those things is eating plain brown sugar. This quirk I inherited from my mother who inherited it from her mother who it seems to have inherited it from hers.
When Grandma was a girl her mom would use it as a reward. This makes me think that Great Grandma must have liked it or else she wouldn't have used it as a reward.
I love that I do things that my mother, grandmother and great grandmother have done. Even though it might seem strange to some people (Becca, Serena and Jake) I still like it.

Eggnog

Recently S had been asking my mom if they could buy some eggnog. He had been asking her for about a month. Every time they would would go to the store S would remind her to check. Finely it was in the store so of course they bought some. When they got home my mom put it in a sipy so S could indulge. After taking a sip S said
"Ahhh, one sip and it's like your in the spirit world"
So cute and it continues.
Today my dad got S to talk on the phone to me. Normally all he says is "I really really love you. Bye". I decided that I would try to get him to play our old game. So I say "I love you more then pickles". We continue this for a bit before he says "I love you more then picking up couches" I figured I would comment on how strong he must be to puck up a couch. He liked that. I didn't know that he actually does this now. To think he is only four. I mentioned it to my mom later and she told me how on the way home from church E was talking about a little girl named Sydney.
She is about S's age. S pipes up "I tried to tell her that I could lift couches but she wasn't listening". Yep, he's already bragging to the ladies. How cute. It's a good thing he has brothers and sisters that will help him understand humility when hes older. For now it's just plain cute.