Grant Funnies and back to blogging (maybe)...

Okay, so I know it has been forever. We've been a bit busy with life. But i do miss blogging--it is a great outlet for things I need to say, and I know the grandparents would love to see photos of the kids, so here goes!

Just had to start by recording this conversation i had with Grant a few days ago. We were reading in the Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:18 But ^abefore ye seek for ^briches, seek ye for the ^ckingdom of God...

M: So that means that we need to keep the commandments and follow Jesus' example first, right?

G: Or we could just stay home and still be Christopher.

M: ...um, do you mean Christian?

G: oh yeah, that.

(p.s. my kids have struggled lately asking about their friends who don't go to church. they somehow thought that if they didn't go to church that they were bad people or didn't believe in Jesus. So we've had several conversations lately about how there are good people who believe in Christ in EVERY church and who don't even go to church who still are Christian. Some of my best friends are not of my faith and are amazing examples to me of living a Christian life and truly following Him. So, I guess i still have a bit of explaining to do with Grant before he gets it. But I did laugh the rest of the day about this one :)

Gratitude

Today was the Primary Program at church--my favorite Sunday of the year! The kids were so sweet and cute, and the Sunbeams were so entertaining :) As they sang the songs and said their parts I felt such a sense of gratitude for this young generation.  The future is in good hands. These kids are so valiant and want to do good and be good. We sang "Love Is Spoken Here" for the closing song and I felt the spirit so strongly. It is such a noble and humbling job we do as parents. We are shaping the future by teaching and leading our kids. And they are teaching and shaping us into better individuals as well. More patient and understanding, full of unconditional love. I know so many days I fall short of what I want to be as a parent, but I figure that as long as I am trying and never give up, then eventually, someday, eons from now, I'll be that parent.

So the kids today bore testimony by standing up, holding up their scriptures and saying, "I know the scriptures are true!" I want to add my testimony to theirs. I know the scriptures are true and I am so grateful for them. I'm grateful for those who sacrificed all to pave the way for the Bible to be translated into English and made available to the common man, and I'm grateful to the prophets of old who lived here in the Americas and understood how important it would be for us to have a second witness of our Savior. They took the great time and effort to record the gospel so that we could have it and read it everyday and find the strength to face our challenges and stand tall in the world today. And i'm grateful to Joseph Smith, having the faith and the courage to ask God and then be obedient in all things so the gospel could be restored to the earth again. I know we have a living prophet today, even Pres. Monson, and look forward to hearing from him in a few weeks at General Conference. I know that he speaks the words of Christ, and that I will be uplifted, encouraged and prompted to make changes in my life that will bring me closer to Christ. I know he is my Savior and the Savior of all the world. Such a humbling thought to know that he gave all, even his very life, for me. And for you.

And now for some pictures--totally unrelated to my ramblings today. This is our pitiful garden this year. In spite of our neglect, we were able to enjoy some delicious tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and peppers. I think if I spent some time with the garden watering and weeding it it would do a little better. Just a theory I have, but I think I'll have to try it next year :)

 Miya loved the eggplant

 Trying to get Miya to hold the cucumber--she didn't like the pokeys. Yes, this cucumber was left on the vine a BIT too long. And yes, it is bigger than the eggplant.

 My blonde girl

Hurrah for fresh produce! There is something so satisfying about picking food out of our garden right before dinner and knowing how fresh and good it is. Hopefully next year I will feel motivated to spend a little more time with the garden and we'll have a better harvest.

1st Day of School

The kids are back in school and loving it!

Too much togetherness...

 Yesterday was the last day of summer break, so in honor of the occasion I told the kids they could take the day off--no piano practicing or big jobs. Hurrah! I thought it was a great idea until they decided to fill their spare time with non-stop fighting. Maybe they were just trying to get me excited to send them back to school...

So I told Shayla and Ty that they had lost all priviledges (i.e. no football practice for Ty or gymnastics or friends for Shayla) until they wrote a letter to each other. They had to apologize and then tell each other 5 things they liked about each other. So...here are the letters. As you can see they did EXACTLY what was asked, no more, but still it did help them turn things around and be a LITTLE nicer to each other.

We did eventually make it on a bike ride (adventurous to say the least) to play at the park.

And Ty was able to go to football practice, so it wasn't all bad. Miya loves wearing Ty's pads around. 

Garrett: Mom, did you know that the tongue is the strongest muscle?
Me: Really? I didn't know that...
Garrett: But...probably not for sumo wrestlers. Those guys are HUGE!

Curly Girl

My naturally curly hair has been a blessing and a curse my whole life. I love that it is relatively low maintenance and that I don't have to do much with it, but I sure wish I could have a change of style every once in a while. It's just too much work to straighten it though. I've tried before getting it cut in cute straight styles, but I only fix it straight the first time or two and then I'm back to letting it stay curly. My hair just wants to be curly, so I let it. We are both happier that way.

Recently my hairdresser told me about a book, "Curly Girl," that has changed my curls for the better. The secret for curly hair is...

NO SHAMPOO.

That's right...it has been 42 days and counting since I washed my hair. Before you get all grossed out, let me explain. Instead of using shampoo, I just condition twice. The first time I use the conditioner like shampoo and massage my scalp really well. After rinsing I condition again, this time letting it soak into my hair, then rinse like normal. That's it--it is so simple, but it has made my curls much less frizzy and more manageable. I'm even thinking of growing my hair out to see how it looks long now that I know this secret.

If you are a curly girl reading this and want to try to kick the shampoo habit, be patient. Give it a full 3 weeks with no shampoo before you decide if you like the results or not. When I hit 2 weeks of no shampoo I almost caved because my scalp felt itchy, and i kept thinking my hair must be stinking by then (Tyler assured me it didn't, but I didn't really believe him :)  But once I hit the 3 week mark I was sold. I use much less product now and don't fight the frizz like I used to (well, at least not as much). What have you got to lose? Try it and you'll be a believer!

 Photographic proof: I don't have a good picture of me, but this is the most recent one. After a day of playing water baseball my hair would normally be frizzing out like crazy, and be 3x's it's normal size. But with the curly girl miracle, it's not too bad (all things considered :) 

Totally unrelated, but I thought Miya's wet diaper sag was impressive :) 

What are your hair secrets?

A Mom-of-the Year-Moment

So I know I usually post all the good stuff on my blog, but in wanting to keep it real I thought I'd post my real-great-mom moment I had at the triathlon. The purpose of this post is to make you feel good about yourself, so enjoy!

So when we got to the triathlon for the kids, Tyler took Ty and Garrett in through the boys locker room, and I was to take Shayla, Grant and Miya through the girl's to get to the pool. Well, Grant was being a bit stubborn, and didn't want to go in the girl's locker room. After finally convincing him to come with us, he came in the locker room door, but refused to go into the bathrooms with us. I was pretty frustrated with him and feeling a bit frazzled, wanting Shayla to be out to the race in time and all...So I took Shayla to the bathroom and thought Grant would just follow us. After finishing up in the bathroom we exited the locker room out to the pool area and sat down on the bleachers to wait for instructions. I was looking around, taking in all of the race day excitement, feeling as nervous as the people actually in the race, when a lady walked in the pool area and began asking parents if they had lost a little boy with dark hair. She actually asked 1 or 2 parents before she got to me, and I was about to say no, when I realized that I DIDN'T HAVE GRANT WITH ME!!! I ran out to the lobby with the lady and saw Grant standing there with a bunch of adults around him. He looked mostly mad, and just a little bit scared and lonely. I tried to give him a hug, but he just shoved me away, I thanked the people who found him (just inside the girls' locker room door) and walked back into the pool area.

When Grant was finally talking to me again, he sat on my lap and I asked him where he was. He said he was waiting by the door 'cause he knew I'd have to come out that way. He looked so little and innocent and I felt so bad for misplacing him. I thought, what kind of parent loses their child and doesn't even realize it?!!? Lucky for me, Grant is a pretty forgiving boy, and after a few minutes all was back to normal.

So, this was a first for me. I mean I've lost a kid before, but I've always been franticly searching until I've found him or her. This is a new high--I'm just waiting for the phone to ring for the "mother-of-the-year people to interview me :) On the bright side, I didn't lose Shayla or Miya, so really 2 out of 3 isn't all that bad, right?!