Go Momma

Hewy had come running to me with the giant plastic jar of pretzles, think pickle jars of huge pickles you see at Deli Counters. How he ran while carrying it, I have no idea. We had just bought them at Costco like we do every couple weeks. It was full and sealed shut. He asked me to open it. I was stuggling with the plastic ring around the outside that held the lid on until you open it for the first time. I was in my own world thinking random thoughts when I realzed Hewy was saying something. I pulled myself out of my own head and concentrated on his two year old vocabulary only to realize he was cheering. . .
"Go Momma, go Momma, go, go, go Momma!"
When he realzed that I realized what he was saying, he broke out into a huge smile. I say the "Go" cheer to the boys all the time. I loved that he "got it" and used it.

favorite pics of President Hinckley

This is Alec's graduation from Law School.
President Hinckley presided and spoke at the graduation.
April 2005

He become someone personal to me, my heart and my faith during our law school years. This was the last time that we saw him in person.

These are just two of my favorite pictures of him. I can see so much in them. So much of him, so much of his thoughts and thinking, his joy and love, his cheer and concern, the weight and strength of his calling. My heart is full of gratitude for this wonderful man and all that he was and will continue to be in my life.

Gordon B. Hinckley

We feel as if we lost one of our dearest friends, a grandfather, a cheerleader and advocate with the death of our prophet,
Gordon B. Hinckley.



We will miss him, his cheerful nature and the gentle way he led and encouraged us.
We feel peace in pondering the joyful display in Heaven as he reunited with his dear wife, our Savior and his other loved ones such as his mother and father of whom we have heard so many stories through the years.

May the Hinckley family feel our prayers on their behalf.

Do I really need to explain?

Donut Bliss!

Noble Got Glasses!

Today, two days after his ninth birthday, Noble got glasses! We had suspected for a while now that the squinting boy more than likely needed some specs. While we were in Florida I realized just how much he squinted and just how far down the corridor her had to walk to read a clock in the airport that I could read from where we were sitting!

He is quite excited and even more excited that he got to pick out two pairs as they were buy one get one free.

Liam is a little sad that he did not need glasses. We had his eyes checked as well, but he has 20/20 vision.

Finish the Saying

I received a forwarded email this week of First Graders answers to common sayings that they were only given the first half of. I thought it was so cute I wanted to see what my own Cutie Pies would come up with. We learn a "Saying" every week in school, so they were familiar with some of them, and Noble knew more than Liam, but they both still came up with some fun replies. I also think there is real insight into their thoughts with some of the answers. What do you think?

Don't change horses. . .
L - shoes
N - miserably

Strike while the. . .
L - speed of light is flashing
N - lightening is falling

It's always darkest. . .
L - at night
N - before dawn

Never underestimate the power of. . .
L - the Dark side
N - Mothers! (I LOVE this one)

Don't bite the hand that. . .
L- feeds you
N - feeds you

No news is. . .
L - shocking
N - good news

A miss is as good as a. . .
L - aim
N - hit

you can't teach an old dog. . .
L - to bark
N - new tricks

If you lie down with dogs you'll. . .
L - bark like them too
N - act like one

Love all, trust. . .
L - them
N - none

The pen is mightier than. . .
L - you think
N - the pencil

An idle mind is. . .
L - better when you are dreaming
N - a bad mind

Where there is smoke there is. . .
they both said: fire

Happy the bride. . .
L - the happier the husband
N - who just won the lottery

You can lead a horse to water. . .
L - when he's thirsty
N - but not in a drought

A penny saved is. . .
L - more than you think
N - is a dollar spent

Two is company, three is. . .
L - worse
N - better

Don't put off till tomorrow. . .
L - because the day just started
N - what has not already happened

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and. . .
L - the whole world cries with you
N - the whole world is sad

There are none so blind as. . .
L - there are those that see
N - the blind

Children should be seen and not. . .
L - given gifts
N - heard

If at first you don't succeed. . .
L - the second time you will be better
N - You will succeed the next time

You get out of something only what. . .
L - you bring
N - you get in

When the blind lead the blind. . .
L - what if they get glasses?
N - they just end up no where


A bird in the hand. . .
L - is always better than whats in the bush
N - is a happy bird

Better late than. . .
L - early
N - never

notes from my birthday lunch with Noble

Today is Noble's ninth birthday. When I asked Noble what he wanted to do for his birthday he said he wanted to go to lunch with just me! Just me?

I arranged for Liam and Hewy to play at a friends house for a couple hours and Noble and I set off on our date.

First we headed to Red Robin for some lunch. He ordered grilled cheese, fries, Sprite and a chocolate milkshake. (Hey, it's his birthday) After we ate, they brought him a chocolate Sundae and sang one of those crazy loud restaurant birthday songs. He was delighted.

At first the conversation didn't seem to roll freely but I kept asking questions and before long he was talking back and forth with me.

I asked what is his favorite possession?
He said: I have a lot of nice, good things. My DS is probably my favorite.

I asked what he liked about being eight the most?
He said D.C. and Florida (I think he has the travel gene)

I asked if he still like homeschool? (delighted that his eyes immediately lit up!)
He said: yes, I get to learn more things about what I want to learn about and have more time with my family.

I asked who his favorite people are?
He said: my brothers, my Dad, my Mom and my family.

I asked if he misses Utah anymore?
he said: sometimes I miss cousins and friends, and Boondocks. He added that "all" his cousins live in Utah. Which I quickly corrected him. If he adds them all up and counts and especially if he counts Todd's kids - he has more cousins in Texas than in Utah.

I asked what he wanted to learn more about this year?
He said: Space.

I asked what about space?
He said: the planets, space shuttles, stars, maybe going to mars.

I probably shouldn't add this, but I asked what he wants to work on this year.
He said: not picking my nose, not biting my finger nails and keep reading the book of Mormon.

After our lunch we went to Barnes and Noble at his request and he picked out a Star wars set of books - it has all six books.

It was a delightful to spend the afternoon with my oldest son and see who he is becoming.

Serendipity

Serendipity is on of my favorite words. I don't say it out loud a whole lot, but I think it a lot. And when I do say it, it's fun to say. Ser-en-dip-ity!

One of my Visiting Teachers shared a message with me yesterday and we talked about Serendipity. Finding the happy coincidences, seeing the good out of the bad, it certainly makes life more fun.

Today I pulled "What Your Third Grader Needs to Know" off the shelf, almost cringing and afraid to see just how far behind we are. (Honestly, we are doing fine.) But I had a Serendipity moment.

While we were in Florida I kept thinking "This all sounds so familiar" but I couldn't put my finger on it. Hee-hee. When I flipped through the book I found a picture that made me stop. It was the very recognizable shape of Castillo de San Marcus! Part of the American History our Third Grader should learn this year is early explorers such as Ponce de Leon (Ponce Inlet); and where they explored such as St. Augustine or the first European Settlements in North America (Florida). How cool is that?! We were there, we were in the fort, we walked the streets, we climbed the very lighthouse named after Ponce de Leon at the Inlet he sailed to.

Serendipity

no pictures???

I don't know why, but sometimes the pictures don't come up. I have found that if i refresh or reload the page they generally come up. I don't know why this is, but hopefully that will work for you too. For the pix that get the most comments about not coming up, I will try and repost them. Thanks for you patience.

Mini Golf

This is another re-post as I don't think the pictures were coming up for everyone. I hope this set works!



We went Mini Golfing one afternoon. I think it had been year since my parents had played. We all enjoyed it, another good across the generations activity. Noble and Dixie both got holes-in-one!

Names in the sand

I posted this one earlier,
but the pictures were not coming up for everyone.
So, here I try again.


William

Noble

Hew

cute quote

"No Spider, my Sandwich!"
said by Hewy as a fly landed on his peanut butter sandwich.

Where have you been

I feel so loved that several people emailed me and asked what on earth was going on in my life that I had not emailed or blogged for a week! I was off enjoying a full week with my kids, sweetheart and parents. We flew into Jacksonville Florida and stayed in Daytona Beach, right on the beach in fact. We stayed in a lovely three bedroom Condo that overlooked the water and waves! There was not easy internet access so I took the easy road and didn't seek the internet out, thus no blogging and only limited emails on my blackberry.

Now that we are home, I have taken the time to fill the blog up with our adventures and highlights. Enjoy the pictures (I came home with 140 from the week) and read what you can when you have time.

My best to you all.

Cars

The top pictures are the boys with the winning car of the Daytona 500 in 2007. The bottom cars are the boys with Racing legend Earnhardt's #3 car.

Daytona USA

Daytona USA is a museum / theme park at the speedway.
It let us get a hands on look at racing and we learned a great deal about the facts of racing.


Liam demonstrates his racing face.

This is just a cute picture of Hewy in his 3D glasses. We all enjoyed the 3D IMAX movie. They had trouble with the film the last few minutes but we stayed and were able to see the end.

This a picture of how it all started - a four mile race track, 2 miles on the beach and two miles on road in Daytona Beach.

I am not sure the boys understood that this was really a gas pump. It looks nothing like the gas pumps that they know. The price per gallon only had cents, not a dollar spot. "But where do you put your credit card?" they asked. See, they didn't understand.

Daytona International Speedway

You cannot stay in Daytona Beach and not visit the speedway!


I have always enjoyed racing, but I even learned a lot about stock car racing with this visit to the Daytona Speedway.

The Daytona 500 is in February and there were a few racers testing their cars the day we visited. It was amazing to see them zoom by at nearly 200 mph.

Because it wasn't a busy time they let us go into the Victory Lane and take pictures.

Beach treasures

Treasures that we found on the beach at Canaveral Sea Shore.

The sand was more course here than it was in Daytona Beach.
There were plenty of Sea Gulls everywhere we went.
Noble found some red sea weed.
The rock looking thing is Coquina (shells and limestone)
My Sweetheart found me some purple sea shells.
Hewy explores the sand, but is scared of waves.
They all enjoyed exploring.
Noble found the first purple shell.
And the coast line.

Canaveral Sea Shore

The rain let up for a bit and were able to walk out to the beach at the Canaveral Sea Shore. It has protected 13 miles of shore that rests inside the National Park. When we entered the park the Ranger let my Dad buy a lifetime Parks membership that got us all in for free because he is a senior citizen. my Dad was in the back seat and as we pulled away the ranger said, "That's the first membership I have ever sold to someone that I couldn't see!"

The dune has the thickest vegetation I have ever seen growing on it for the full length of the park. It is far more beautiful and stunning than the pictures show.

I love these men! I love that my Man is such a wonderful and loving Dad. I love that my boys love their Dad.

Great picture of my parents and Hewy

Eldora

We drove to the Canaveral Coast Sea Shore, which is a National Park, one day. It was the stormiest day that we were in Florida. We had parked and wanted to walk to an old house that remained from the once little town, Eldora. I could tell that it might rain, as it had been raining and looked like more rain, so I left my camera in the car. THANKFULLY! As we did get caught in a downpour! However, that means that we don't have pictures of the beautiful house from the 1800's or the dolphins that we saw swimming in Mosquito Lagoon.

Space Boys

NASA

It's no secret that our family LOVES to go to NASA. When we told the boys we were going to Florida for some family R&R Noble and Liam both asked if we were going to NASA. Of course!

The boys shirts say "My Mom Rocks!"

I would not be surprised at all if one of these boys ends up in the Space program.

Noble's eyes are very sensitive to the sun, so his eyes are almost always closed for pictures outside.