What's on my nightstand?

If you know me, you know I love books. Really, I LOVE THEM! I'd rather buy a new book than a fancy purse any day of the week. Better yet, I'd rather get a stack of them from the library for FREE! Every time I go to the library I get giddy about the treasures I walk out with! I even have a trusty crate on wheels that I fill to the brim every time I go. I am often asked if I home school my kids because of the sheer volume I check out. "No, we're just book lovers at my house" I usually reply.

A few weeks ago I was able to go to a BYU "Books for Young Readers" symposium. It was the best day ever! I got to listen to top notch juvenile authors and illustrators for the whole day! On my lunch break I called my husband and could hardly contain my excitement! "Is it okay that I'm a nerd at heart?" I asked...
I listened to the head librarian speak about his favorite books of the year. I had Jessica day George sign her Dragon Slippers books for me. I was able to visit with the BYU children's librarian I used to work for while I was in college. I even got to catch up with a few of my favorite Elementary Ed professors. (One of which taught Children's Literature...surprise, surprise!)
I had such a delightful day, and I hope I can make it a tradition for myself to go every year!
One of my favorite thoughts of the day came from Jessica Day George. She made all our stomachs growl when she described her favorite dessert: triple chocolate cheese cake from the cheese cake factory! Other desserts were okay, some were even pretty good, but when she tried that cheese cake, it was a delectable experience.
She told us that though she was a high reader as a child, she didn't figure out how delicious a good book could be until she read The Hero and the Crown by Robin Mckinley. She found her triple chocolate cheese cake! Since then, she maintains that there is no such thing as a person who doesn't like to read. They just haven't found their triple chocolate cheese cake yet. I loved that!
My husband and I both devour books. My 9 year old is always engrossed in a book. He eats them up! My 7 year old is a superior reader, but hasn't quite found his triple chocolate cheese cake yet. I'm so lucky! I get to keep making trips to the library, and I get to help him sample lots of goodies every time we go!

(In a few days I'll post a list of the librarian's favorite books of the year on my book blog if you're interested in a few new ideas! Just click on the book picture on my side bar)

Brotherly love

There's no other love like the love for a brother. There's no other love like the love from a brother. ~Astrid Alauda

7 peaks

We had a great evening at 7 peaks with the BYU athletics department! We had a yummy dinner under a big white tent, and we ate until the boys just couldn't bear to be away from the water any longer! The older boys loved the tube slides with Dad, and Mitchell enjoyed the kiddie pool with Mom! It was one of our favorite days of the summer!

Tonight Matthew prayed that BYU would do another 7 peaks party next year!

Hiking the Y

A few nights ago, Dallan was filling me in on his plans to hike to the Y with the priests in our ward for a youth activity. When Matthew heard he asked if he could go too. Dallan was glad to take him, and Matthew was so excited! He even called Dallan at work with a list of treats and drinks he wanted him to pick up. Matthew is a delightful 7 year old, However, suffering in silence isn't his strength. I was worried that after a few minutes on a steep hike, Matthew would start to complain. But he never did. He loved it! He took lots of breaks to look at various bugs and rocks and to eat his treats. He told Dallan it was one of his talents to get distracted... He came home with a great big smile on his face, and I was SO proud. Sometimes Heavenly Father asks us to experience some uncomfortable times, and he knows our natural tendency might be to complain. How proud he must be when we do it with a smile, and even enjoy it!
This morning I asked Dallan how the other boys did on the hike. He told me they didn't go, their activity plans had changed at the last minute. Dallan had seen the disappointed look on Matthew's face, so my sweet husband still took Matthew to the Y and they hiked it together...

Remembering pioneers

This week we are thinking about our pioneer heritage as we prepare to celebrate Pioneer day on the 24th. When I was growing up, my parents would take us to an old pioneer cemetery as part of our celebration. There weren't any headstones and it was largely over grown with weeds. Recently, my mom was asked to be be the chairman of the committee to restore the old cemetery. Earlier this week we had the opportunity to attend it's re dedication. It was a sacred event; it was humbling to listen to the stories of these courageous settlers. Many of those little headstones marked the graves of children buried by their broken hearted parents. My mom gave a moving talk, and my dad offered a beautiful dedication prayer. To read my mom's talk and find out more about this project, visit her blog here.

I hope that I can continue to bring my children here so they can feel the courage and faith of their ancestors. (Caleb stayed home with a nurse because it was too warm for him)

The view from the bluff...

Author of the week: Jack London

For our author of the week we studied Jack London, author of the froggy books! We decided to focus on onomatopoeia (sound words). We loved brainstorming our own story with words like "squirt, pop, splash, plop, zip, BOOM..." For some fun froggy ideas click here.

Family at the Falls

For Family home evening we went to Bridal Veil Falls! We had such a wonderful time! Josh and Matthew completely immersed themselves in the frigid mountain water! Michell enjoyed throwing rocks into the water and finding bugs. And sweet Caleb enjoyed going for a walk up the mountain path in his sporty new stroller! The fresh air and sweet smell of the mountains were just what we needed on a hot summer evening!

Bridal Veil Falls

Caleb in his snazzy new stroller!

Heaven shining on my hubby

Rocks, dirt and water = heaven for little boys

My little buddy

Caleb and I walked up the path while the other boys hiked on the mountain side...

We are so blessed to have the magic of the mountains just a few minutes away!

Take me out to the ball game

My home run boys...

A thought for Sunday

Music to my ears

Yesterday my Mom called to see if we wanted tickets to see the symphony at an outdoor amphitheater. I love the symphony! There were even enough tickets for us to bring the boys! I called my husband at work to tell him the good news! Our conversation went something like this:

Dallan: We're going where?
Me: The Symphony! Isn't that awesome?!
Dallan: I might have taken you to the symphony when we were dating to impress you, but now?.....
Me: Oh come on, don't you think it's amazing to see all of the instruments create an amazing soundtrack?
Dallan: Yeah, only there's no movie to go with it!
Me: It's a great opportunity to expose the boys to more music. We'll have fun!
Dallan: Do you know our boys... do you know how they are going to act?...

We kidded back and forth, and we really were glad for the chance to do something out of the ordinary with our boys. We packed up our blankets and prepared for Friday night adventure.

After an hour of traffic and a hefty walk to the performance, we finally made it! The gardens were breathtaking. My boys loved the surroundings and even listened a little. Though we did have our fair share of reminders:

* No Josh we are definitely not buying a six dollar hamburger no matter how many times you ask.
* Matthew if you keep throwing smarties at other people, then it will be obvious we snuck in candy.
* No Matthew, you can't throw them in the pond either.
* Use your inside voices so other people can hear (confusing I know since we were outside...)

Over all, they did better than we thought they would, but when my patience started wearing thin, we left a bit early to get a jump on the traffic.
During our hefty walk back to the car, my passionate 7 year old was begging for us to take the 2 year old out of the stroller so he could ride because his legs were going to fall off. By the time we got to the car he was having a major melt down that continued in high volume once we got to the car. After listening to his discord for 30 minutes while waiting in a never ending line of other "get a jump on traffic-ers," my ears were tired. My response went something like this:

Me: If you are having a medical emergency, then there are plenty of hospitals on the way home. If you really think you are about to die, then we will pull over and take you into the Emergency Room. There they can numb your legs by giving you a big shot in your spine. If that's what you need, then watch for the hospital signs on the roadside, and we'll pull over. Do you think that will help you?
Is that what you need?
Mr. Passion: no
Me: Okay then. For the rest of the ride home I'll be listening to how loud you are back there, and that will show me whether or not we have an emergency..."
Mr. Passion: Silence.
Now that was music to my ears.

I guess sometimes it's easy to react with a bit of passion when you're tired. Sheesh. I wonder where he gets that from ? :)

My Josh

The beautiful surroundings

The great blow-out disaster!

I posted this on Caleb's blog as well. If you want to read more about his doctor visits this past week, you can visit his blog!

(This one's for you, uncle Jacob) and any of the rest of you that don't mind a good p**p story!

As previously noted, Caleb was diagnosed with a bladder infection and so we immediately put him on an antibiotic. When we start Caleb on antibiotics, we also have to be prepared for some turbo powered diarrhea! Being the planner that I am, I tried to help Caleb have a bowel movement 2 hours before our trip to Primary Children's hospital, but had no results...nothing...nada...ZIP. So, when the time came we got every one packed in the car and headed to Salt Lake. After a few minutes we passed a couple of dead raccoons on the road. "Boy those Raccoons really stink" I said. Then after thinking about it, Dallan and I looked at each other and said "Or what if it's Caleb..." We stopped at our pharmacy's drive up window to grab some of Caleb's medications, and decided to do a quick check on Caleb. Dallan reached into his car seat and when he inched Caleb up to check down yonder, he found his hands in huge puddle! He picked Caleb up under his armpits to bring him to the back of the van for changing, and I was immediately hysterical! "DRIPPING! DRIPPING!" I shriek with laughter....(Dealing with bodily fluids isn't Dallan's favorite past time) Dallan runs to the back of the van while Caleb is dripping in huge amounts from both legs. I followed the trail of poopy puddles on the pavement and prepared to change him. Our entire cargo area looked like an atomic poop bomb went off. We used an entire package of wipes to clean Caleb the best we could, put a couple of burp cloths in his car seat so he could get back in, and gave a friendly wave to the woman waiting behind us to get her prescriptions from the window...
I called the hospital to explain why were were going to be late because there was no way they wanted to meet Caleb in that condition...don't worry, the receptionist couldn't stop laughing either.
Anyone want to detail my car for me? Please....pretty please...?

This is the place

Today Caleb had an emptying study at Primary Children's hospital. He had Barium put into his stomach and an xray machine took pictures every 30 seconds for an hour to see how well his tummy empties. While Caleb and I had an adventure at the hospital, Dallan took the other boys to the This Is The Place Monument.

(from the This is the Place website) This Is The Place Monument marks the spot where the Mormon Pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley and marks the end of the 1,300-mile Mormon trail.

It was here that Brigham Young stopped his carriage in July 1847 and, after surveying the desert valley near the shores of the Great Salt Lake, declared, "This is the right place."

On July 24, 1947, exactly 100 years after his declaration, a heroic-sized bronze sculpture of Young and two of his colleagues was placed atop a 60-foot pedestal overlooking the Valley.

Family and Freedom

My boys love the 4th of July just as much as Christmas! They love spending the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house, drinking as much pop as they want, and doing fireworks together! Freedom and family are two of our favorite blessings!

Mitchell thought the sparklers were magic!

Caleb thought Daddy's lap was even better!

and Josh found lots of reasons to drink another can of pop!

You know it's been a great day when you're good and dirty!

You'll enjoy this message about our favorite freedoms...

“When we safeguard (the heavenly virtue of freedom), when we honor it, when we protect it, we will walk with Washington, we will pray with patriots, and we shall have peace on earth, good will to men,” President Monson

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