Thursday Night Follies II

For the ward Scout Cake Auction and Pinewood Derby, Mandy and I were the world's most enthusiastic Den Mothers. It was a chore, but anything for the Scouts!! So sorry you don't get the whole ensemble pictured here, waist down was pretty awesome, or should I say under the shadow of the mommy pooch.

Thursday Night Follies

November 13, 2008 was a Relief Society Talent Show.....
Mandy Sorensen and I decided that our talent was finding joy in simple household tasks, and this is what came of it.

Wicked Awesome Dude!

While in Boise, Faith enjoyed practicing her half-ollies over Grandpa Dan

catch the moment

There are some moments in life that you are able to catch on film such as these: Walking in the room to find your already angelic child perfectly highlighted by the celestial sunlight in a perfectly poised sleep.

And others you just hope to remember in your mental film such as this:
Josh has been wonderful about taking Faith out on a walk each day when he gets home. Each day she gets her shoes and hops about happily until Josh is ready to take her out. Josh takes her down the steps to the sidewalk and then asks which way she wants to go. I have taken to peeking out the window to watch their gestured discussion as to the merits of each direction. To the left is Broulims, where Faith has figured out has free cookies. To the right is the BYU-Idaho campus with plenty of buildings to explore that are heated. Of course the cookies have lately been the greater pull, so Faith will start edging steps toward the left, point with one hand emphatically while nodding her head yes (I can hear the little voice in my head say Yah!). Josh shakes his finger, takes a couple of steps to the right and gestures to her to 'come.' Faith generally wins out merely by taking a enough steps toward her desired destination that Josh has to follow. What a wonderful daily routine for the both of them, and what a cute conversation to watch every day.

May I have this dance?

This afternoon I had Faith watching a movie (she was having one of those days where she runs into things, or falls of them, or otherwise does herself damage inadvertantly). I was playing with Danny on the couch as Faith wiggled her little body around while still keeping fixed on the TV screen. She was watching "Enchanted" which has a lovely waltz scene. Seconds after Robert asked Giselle to dance, Faith came over to me and offered her hand to guide me to the dance floor. We got up and Faith continued to watch the dance sequence to make sure was getting the steps correct. When the music ended I asked Faith if she wanted to dance again. Her face lit up as she said "Yah!" and made a dash for her blankey. She had notised that there was something missing. She wrapped her blankey around herself in a splendid gown and then looked at me dismayed; she couldn't dance and hold up her dress! I quickly tied two corners together so we could have our encore dance. Well, by the fourth repeat dance, I had employed the handy dress-up clothing of my youth it replace the blankey gown with a fabulous black velvet gown with red throw. She was quite the beauty, and a lovely dance partner.

We're moving...

After reading this headline on CNN last night
"Obama may reverse Bush policies on stem cells, drilling, abortion" he seriously began looking at real estate on New Zealand. It sure would be pretty there, and peaceful.

What passes behind those perfect eyes

It is surprising to me how much Faith understands. Of course, she is brilliant enough to play dumb often enough that you still treat her like she is learning it new every time. Here are two examples of yesterdays intelligence leaks:

While at the grocery store, Faith began as a regular almost-two-year-old by refusing to sit in the shopping cart. I quickly put Danny in the cart as she made a fast sprint into the grocery store hoping to loose me. She quickly found some other kids to pester, which I was content to let her do until I really needed to get some shopping done. When I was prepared to shop, and the kids were gone on obeying their mother, leaving Faith to wander farther and faster from me, it was time to get her in the cart. I quickly caught her and she knew what was happening. She began to put out a screech when I asked her to "slow down a minute and listen to Mommy." I explained to her how I needed her to help me with the shopping and it would be easier to help if she was sitting closer to me and higher up to see things. I then asked "Can you sit up here and help Mommy?" She looked me in the eye, and happily replied "Yah!"

Once back at home, Faith was about and in to things. Her favorite aunt (by virtue of bribbery) had allowed her to use her flavored chapstick one morning while getting ready. Well, Faith knew right were Jill had left the chapstick. She moved the stool over to it, got the lid off and began to apply. Very proud of her accomplishment, she soon came to show me how 'pretty' her lips looked. I agreed they were pretty and took the chapstick away since she didn't need any more. That didn't go over very well. We began the mortal struggle for the pink tube. I got the tube, but Faith had the lid. Once I pryed the lid out of her hands and replaced it on the chapstick, she was super upset. A stroke of genius overcame me and I went to retrieve the clear tape. I secured the lid on the tube and handed it back to Faith, that was after all what she wanted. She was happy to have the chapstick back, but only for a moment until she realized that I had thwarted her plan. She turned on the fake sad as soon as she realized it and asked for "Mommy ophen pleeeeze." Well, I didn't open it and Faith tried with all her mental muster to figure a way to get it open by herself before giving up and playing with her ponies.

Family Car Ride

We drove back from Boise to Rexburg on Friday night. It's not a long drive, but definately long enough with kids. We try to get on the road a few hours before bed time so at least some of the drive is quiet. But that also means that we have to have a snackable dinner available for Faith. Her traveling staple is Goldfish.

I was driving so Josh could study. No sooner had Josh lulled himself to sleep studying endocrinology, then Faith began begging for 'fisheeee.' Playing the dual roll of good mom and good driver, I passed the giant carton back to Faith. Josh had informed me that on the ride over Faith had contented herself with just sticking her hand down in and getting what she wanted to eat. She was content to do that for a whole 5 minutes before this happened;


It was one of those slow motion moments when you know exactly what is going to happen but you can't seem to move your body quick enough to stop it. So I watched in the rear view mirror as Faith turned the half full carton over and began pouring the fishes over her open hand. I did what any panicked mom would do and called for Josh. He woke up too disoriented to stop much of the out flow, just catch the last few to shove them back in the box. I began laughing (whooops, that is positive reinforcement) immediately. What else can you do? You are driving down the interstate, aren't going to stop soon, and you daughter jabbers gleefully while picking up the myriad of eatable playmates around her.
I had forgotten about the mess in the car until Tuesday when I went to pick up Josh for his lunch break. We did a quick stop at the car wash and shook the fishes into the large drain. We spent a worthy dollar on the turbo-vac and teamworked our 3 minutes to a spanky-clean van. No evidence has been left behind but this photo.

Risk-y Times

With all the political hype lately, I kinda lost a little foresight. So much of our energies have been put toward fighting evil around us as it seeps into every facet of our lives, that I had forgotten what is more important; protecting the good.

Are they interchangeable? I don't think so. Use the game Risk as an example. Regardless of how many armies you have, you will loose more than the person you are attacking if you take the offensive. If you stock pile all your armies in one good place, you become strong. You can't just sit there of course, you have to move out and about in order to gain an even more significant advantage through earning more armies. If you have never figured out the strategy of becoming strong and advancing forward, bets are you have never won Risk (particularly if you were playing against my dad, who is a regular Napoleon - which is another side note that when the Russians finally defeated Napoleon it was because they stayed out of the battle long enough that Napoleon got too weak).

Despite the fact that there is a raging moral battle going on right now, we have so key strategist on the Lord's side that are helping to lead his army. Listen closely to Pres. Monson's opening remarks of this October general conference:
It has been my privilege during the past six months to meet with leaders of countries and with representatives of governments. Those with whom I’ve met feel kindly toward the Church and our members, and they have been cooperative and accommodating. There remain, however, areas of the world where our influence is limited and where we are not allowed to share the gospel freely. As did President Spencer W. Kimball over 32 years ago, I urge you to pray for the opening of those areas, that we might share with them the joy of the gospel. As we prayed then in response to President Kimball’s pleadings, we saw miracles unfold as country after country, formerly closed to the Church, was opened. Such will transpire again as we pray with faith.
What are we to do? Gain strength in faith and then move forward to earn more armies. I know personally that the Gospel is the one thing that will truly combat evil. Pure doctrines. Simple principles. A Christ-centered life.
If you need any more good strategy tips, keep reading the General Conference talks, I will. And how about that Book of Mormon?! Every word was specifically chosen to help lead us closer to Christ, even all those war chapters in the middle.
"Fight the good fight, with all thy might! Christ is thy strength and Christ thy might!"

Peek-a-Boo w/Mommy

Faith has become more and more interactive lately. We were having a blast playing peekaboo on Saturday night. I love just having her next to me on the couch and laughing, and laughing, and laughing, .....

Goodbye to one Classy Man

Well, I didn't even have to stay up late last night to here the final word from America as to who would be president. The best part about it was that I got to see Senator McCain bow-out so gracefully that I was at least comforted by he confidence. It was a beautiful concession speech, and although I didn't stay awake long enough to listen to Sen Obama gloat, I leave my thanks to a great canidate in his own words;

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.
Tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama.

Here's to having faith in the American democratic system and the freedoms that may be preserved by righteous men.