Chapter Book

Today Caleb was carrying this book around the house.  He can't read at this level yet....but he loves to hold books and just look at them.  Pictures or not. 

I saw the book and recognized the cover.  My mom read that exact copy to me when I was a child.  How old was I?  8?  I couldn't remember.  3rd grade I think.  Not exactly sure.  I told Caleb that my mom had read the book to me when I was little.  He then asked.  "Can you read it to ME mom?"  I looked at him.
"There's no pictures.  You have to use your imagination."
He didn't seem worried.  "That's ok mom.  I don't need pictures."
We've never read a chapter book together.  This was gonna be a new thing.  I wondered if he would have the attention span for it. 

I got the kids ready for bed and we sat on the couch.  I started reading.  The first 2 or 3 pages set-up the story.  And I could tell he was listening, but wasn't sure how interested he was.  Luckily, this book gets good fast.  As I started reading about Lucy wandering through the wardrobe and into a magical land, he was caught.  Hook.  Line.  and Sinker.  He was sitting on his knees.  Staring at my face,  just waiting for every word to come out.  I finished chapter 2.
"It's time for bed."
"What?!  NO!  Mom!  You have to keep reading!"
I laughed.  I won't lie.  I was actually thrilled to hear him say this.  He was into it!
I read one more chapter.  When I finished he started BEGGING.
"Mom.  One more page please?  Just ONE MORE PAGE."
So I read 3 more pages.
Then it really was time to quit. 
"Caleb.  Do you see how big this book is?  You're not going to find out what happens in just one day.  It's going to take a while for us to get through it.  And you're going to have to be patient.  That's what's fun about a chapter book.  We get to read a little more each day."
I promised to read to him every night if he was good.  He was ok with this.
"Mom can I take this book to bed?"
I laughed.  "sure.  Just don't lose it.  We have to read some more tomorrow."

I can't tell you how proud I am that my son is enjoying a chapter book with no pictures at age 6.I hope he will continue to develop a love for reading.  One of my favorite childhood memories was listening to MY mother read to me.  And what a great book to start with?!  I told him as soon as we finish the book that he can watch the movie.  He was thrilled.  He didn't know there was a movie.  Maybe we'll finish the book by Christmas and Santa can get him the movie.  :)  Proud momma right here.

Just a bad day

November 6th was election day.  Also Nov. 6 is the day I got a new phone.  I haven't had a new phone for about 4 years.  I got the iphone 4 cuz it was free with a contract.  And....I'm loving it.  One awesome thing is that I had a patient tell me about this app that I could download that allows you to make ringtones from your own itunes library.  SWEET!  I made like 10 in 5 minutes.  Way too much fun.  Anyway  this is NOT what I'm blogging about actually.

I found out the election results that evening.  I must say...I kinda knew it would end up this way.  I think that I always knew Mitt Romney wouldn't win.  Not that he wasn't good enough,  or even that Obama wasn't bad enough.  It's just....I knew.  This world we live in.  We all know the government has its corruptions.....but truly it's the people.  We live in such a great country.  Founded on such great principles, by great men.  But America is not THAT anymore.  Our leaders set aside the constitution in order to accomplish their own purposes.  And the people of this country have bought right into it.  So yeah....I knew Obama would win again.  I was just hoping he wouldn't.  So the news still came as a dissapointment.  Whatever.  I'm going to bed right?

The following morning I was driving to work and listening to news radio.  It was then that I learned a few things that I hadn't really been listening to last night.  3 states have legalized recreational use of marijuana?  Is that right?  Are you kidding me?  I felt sick.  Have we come to that?  Lets just open the doors to more sin!  It's not like people aren't doing it anyway.  Lets just make it legal.  Cuz if people WANT to do something, then it should be ok....even if it's not good for them, or their lives, or their families. I just couldn't believe it.  This is when the depression started to set in.  I started thinking to myself.  "This is it."  things are NOT getting better.  And the scripture came to my mind.  I remembered reading in the Book of Mormon about how Moroni's sons wouldn't take the throne to be king in his stead.  And moroni decided that instead of force one of his sons to be king, that he should instead appoint judges to rule over the people.  And the judges would be chosen by the voice of the people.  Here....I'll just quote the entire passage.

"For behold, he has friends in iniquity, and he keepeth his guards about him; and he teareth up the laws of those who have reigned in reighteousness before him; and he trampleth under his feet the commandments of God;
And he enacteth laws, and sendeth them forth among his people, yea, laws after the manner of his own wickedness; and whosoever doth not obey his laws he causeth to be destroyed; and whosoever doth rebel against him he will send his armies against them to war, and if he can he will destroy them....
...now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law- to do your business by the voice of the people.
AND IF THE TIME COMES THAT THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE DOTH CHOOSE INIQUITY, THEN IS THE TIME THAT THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD WILL COME UPON YOU; YEA, THEN IS THE TIME HE WILL VISIT YOU WITH GREAT DESTRUCTION EVEN AS HE HAS HITHERTO VISITED THIS LAND."
Mosiah 29: 22-27

And after this scripture came to mind....I (first of all realized I could read it word-for-word with my handy-dandy iphone...which I did) started to feel this urgency.  I need to pray.  I need to pray for my family, and fast for my husband.  I need to pray that my children can have faith in this crumbling world.  I need to go to the temple.  And then and there in the car, as I'm driving to work the tears came....and it was hard to explain why....except that I knew I was having a prompting.  Something I honestly can't say I've felt (at least not of this magnitude) in quite some time. 

I got to work and talked to my boss and his wife.  They were feeling the same way as me.  I shared the scriptures that had come to my mind while I was in the car.  And then as I was pulling up my charts for my next patient, the headline came on the computer screen.  Gay marriage was legalized in 3 states.  WHAT?!!  MORE bad news?!  Now I was floored.  And I WAS sick.  I felt so empty and depressed.  America WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

I had to pray.  I needed peace.  I said a silent prayer in my heart, and almost couldn't wait for an opportunity to kneel beside my bed and pour out my heart. 

2 hours later one of my co-workers pulled me aside and informed me that Sheri (another co-worker in our office, who was gone today) has ovarian cancer.  She's in her early 40's.  A great woman.  The tumor was very large and needed surgery immediately.  I tried to keep a straight face.  As soon as the conversation was over, I went upstairs and cried.  I had a patient waiting, but I couldn't keep it together anymore.  I sat on the steps and buried my face and sobbed.  What a rotten day.  It took me 10 minutes to pull myself together.  I looked like a mess.  So I kept my mask on my face as I called my patient back.  My face was red and blotchy, and swollen from crying.  My patient complained about my tardiness and insisted I needed to work faster to keep with the schedule.  I apolagized and explained that it's not always in my control (even though today....it kinda was). 

I was a mess all day.  Most of my thoughts were worrying about Sheri from that point on.  The news of the election dampened my mood, but having a friend in the hospital with so many things unknown was by far the most difficult part of the day. 

When I got home I fed the kids something frozen and microwaved, and hustled them into bed.  Then I got to kneel.  And I just stayed there until I felt better.  I prayed for my family.  And for this country.  And for Sheri.  And eventually peace DID come. 

I'm grateful for the gift of prayer.  And the influence that the Holy Ghost can have on our lives if we ask for it.  I haven't had a crappy day like that for a long time.  And I'm glad my Savior was there to carry me through it.

St. George/Vegas Vacation

Parker was invited to golf with Dr. Pickup in St. George last week.  Since our trip in the spring got cancelled because of work....we kinda jumped on this opportunity to take a family vacation.  We decided we'd drive to Ogden on Tuesday night and stay with Aunt Jo.  Then the following morning we woke up and made the trip to St. George.  It took about 6 hours from Ogden.  Angie has a 2 hour bladder.  So 3 stops and we were there.  It REALLY wasn't that bad. 

We dropped Parker off in St. George and then I drove to Las Vegas with the kids, to spend the rest of the week at Robyn's house.  This was a GOOD time.  I must say I REALLY enjoyed myself.  I did pretty much NOTHING the entire time.  And it was awesome.  At one point John said to Robyn, "You need to make sure you take Heather out to do something tomorrow.  I'm sure she didn't drive all the way from Idaho to just sit at our house."  When I heard this I laughed.  I told Robyn.  "I don't want to pack up the kids and haul them around town....I do that at home.  I really like just relaxing and visiting.  I NEVER get to do this!  I read a book while I was there (perhaps you've heard of it):

Michael Vey.  A great read.  I recommend it for sure. Now I need to read the 2nd book.  The kids had fun playing together, since they really don't get to see much of eachother.

On Thursday night we went to a school carnival.  The kids wore their costumes and played carnival games and of course ate too much candy.  We came back to Robyn's house and had pizza and watched a movie.

The following day we relaxed.  I read my book, or played the Wii, and Showed Robyn how to make flour tortillas.  John was impressed, and incase you don't know homemade tortillas are SO FABULOUS that once you learn how to make them you'll NEVER want to eat the store-bought ones again.  Because they taste like rubber.

Friday night we went to Robyn and John's ward trunk-or-treat activity.  Kids in costumes again, and lots of candy again.  It was a great time. 

That night I got to fall asleep listening to Robyn's drunk neighbors.  1:00 in the morning and they were outside howling like wolves.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!  They even woke up Robyn....which is saying something, because she sleeps like a rock.  And since Robyn lives in a neighborhood of 2-story houses stacked about 10 feet apart.....it echoes like crazy.  Good times.  Welcome to Vegas.

Of course, I'm used to getting hardly any sleep, because I'm up anyway with this little corn-on-the-cob!  Garrett had a blast too.  He even woke up for a few minutes for the ward party.

Saturday we carved pumpkins.  John cooked the seeds, and I decided to try my hand at carving ET.  It turned out FABULOUS! (see next blog post for a picture)

Saturday night I drove back to St. George and stayed with Parker at Dr. Pickup's house. Then Sunday morning we started the drive back home.  Angie's 2 hour bladder turned into a 1 hour bladder towards the end.  And Garrett had HAD it with his car seat.  He fussed from Ogden all the way home.  Finally by the time we got to Burley he was so upset I decided I was going to have to take him out of his car seat and hold him.  No we weren't going to stop  AGAIN!  FRom St George we stopped in Fillmore, Sandy, Tremonton, and Snowville.  So many things to deal with at each stop.  Taking the kids potty, get something to eat, oh yeah, and I'm still breastfeeding so I had to pump in the car.....3 times.  It just took forever.  10 hours to be exact.  Caleb and Angie did quite well....Garrett not so much. 

I loved our little vacation.  I only wish I could have spent time with my husband.  But it was so nice to see Robyn.....they live so far away we just don't get to see eachother that much. 

At one point, John was gone running errands in town.  Robyn and I sat on the couch and played the Wii while the kids gorged themselves with candy.  I looked at Robyn and said, "You know....this is the kind of thing that we complain about MEN doing."  She laughed and agreed.  Can you imagine how funny it'd have been if John came home and said, "So what did YOU do while I was gone?"
"Oh.....played nintendo and ignored the kids while they filled up on candy."

And now I don't want to go on another road trip for a very long time!

Halloween 2012

 Halloween this year was lots of fun.  Grandma and Grandpa Lyons came to our house, along with Jayne and Brogan and their 2 kids (Saije, and Channing).  Grandma and Grandpa were SO fun to watch this year.  They haven't had trick-or-treaters at their house in over 15 years....because they don't really live in a neighborhood anymore.  So they really enjoyed giving out candy to all the kids.

Caleb got his costume from Perron Hansen (our old babysitter's son) before they moved.  A pteradactyl (no Idea how to spell that one by the way).  Caleb was especially excited about this costume after visiting the "dinosaur tracks" museum in St. George last week.

 Angie was a fairy.  She got this green "tinker bell" costume from her cousin Camry just a few weeks ago.  I found the wings at "once upon a child" for like 3 dollars.  Add a few glow-sticks for fun, and she just couldn't stop dancing.

I was glad I didn't have to take the kids trick-or-treating by myself again this year.  Parker's had to work late the past 2 halloweens.  So it was nice to stay home and hand out candy while daddy walked the streets with the kids.

I think Caleb likes handing out candy more than going door-to-door.  He gets so excited every time the doorbell rings. 

I am NOT a fan of halloween candy.  Yes I love chocolate.  That's the problem.  I have a very hard time practicing self control.  And the kids are worse.  OH THE SUGAR-HI we had that night.  The kids were WIRED and I could tell Caleb was acting different.  It was like he couldn't hear anything I said to him.  And now every morning, Angie and I have the same fight.  "NO you can't have candy before breakfast!"

Halloween....it's a love-hate relationship.  I think I'll like it a lot better when we can start having parties instead of trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin Carving

 I LOVE carving pumpkins.  This year I did THREE!  The first was Saturday before Halloween at Robyn and John's house.....ET!  This one took me about 2 hours.... I was very pleased at how it turned out.

Then for family night we decided to do some at our house.  I did 2 that night.  I started with "Jack the pumpkin king".  Angie kept saying "it's scary" and so Parker asked her if she wanted a happy face pumpkin.  So they did the happy face pumpkin on the right of Jack.

And after the kids went to bed, I got ambitious and decided to do DARTH VADER.  This one also took me about 2 hours.  Not too shabby huh?  I think I'm getting better at this.