A Conversation

Whitney: What time did you get home from book club last night?
Me: Oh I don't know, around midnight.
Whitney: Wow, how do you do that, you don't seem tired?
Me: I don't need as much sleep as you do. Kids need more sleep than adults because they're still growing and developing, I'm not.
Whitney: [Laughing] You're developing wrinkles.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: We woke up to breezy cool weather this morning which feels wonderful after having several days of beasty hot temperatures...vive la difference!

Wordless Wednesday

Comment Window Tidbit: I finally finished reading Far From The Madding Crowd! I'm absolutely thrilled to be done with it (though I did end up liking it) so I can read The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag.

A Dream Come True

For several years now, Whitney has been wanting to have a water party of some sort. I think she gets jealous of Landon because his August birthday almost always involves a pool party or outside party that her October birthday doesn't allow. I'm not sure why we haven't done this before, but I finally gave the go-ahead on her "party".

The invitation, which only went to the 3 friends she invited because Bella and Tess were invited by me making a phone call to Amy.

These .94 cent squirt bottles from Wal-Mart are the best squirt guns around.

One of the the friend's couldn't come, so it was just Payton, Madison, Tess, Whitney and Bella (all her favorite friends).

Whitney's menu requests were Powerade, popcorn (with M&Ms in it of course), strawberries (I added watermelon) and ice cream cones.

These 5 played outside for 5 hours and only came inside to use the bathroom!

I was rather pleased with my fruit display, though disappointed in the watermelon because it was rather bland.

I wish it was this easy to make every dream come true!

Summer Culture

Last Monday evening we joined about 2000 other people for a wonderful outdoor concert at our local amphitheater (like 2 minutes away local).

We went to this concert last summer to support Brother Pew (a member of our Bishopric) and were happy that he has since started a symphony here and was performing again.

Lori and Robyn and her kids were there too.

I got about one page of Far From the Madding Crowd read while waiting for the concert to start.

There's something magical about listening to a performance like this while enjoying perfect weather outside.

A 95 year old man from our ward conducted the orchestra for the William Tell Overture, it was painfully sweet.

And then of course, the great Jenny Oaks Baker performed. She is amazing!

Landon and Austin were in the park area (along with a ton of other kids) playing football during the concert, they had a great time.

The crowd.

**Have you been to an outdoor concert recently?

What's your favorite instrument?

Would you like to conduct a song?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I have had a luxurious day of moving sprinklers, going for a walk, folding laundry, watching Netflix, writing cards and painting my toenails...ah summer!

Sunday Thoughts

Last week's Relief Society lesson was on Obedience and the teacher (who is a therapist) asked some poignant questions and pushed us spiritually (which I really appreciated). I think we have such a tendency, as members of the church, to feel like we're hearing the same lessons all the time and that we already know all about each topic, but since we're always expanding our understanding and levels of commitment these repeated lessons hit us differently each time...I love that!

She had everyone participate in making this list of reasons why we're obedient and why we're not obedient and then pointed out that most of our reasons are spiritually immature. I had never thought of it that way before, but she is totally right. If we obey Heavenly Father because we fear punishment, that is a spiritually immature reason for being obedient...it's still better than not obeying Him, but it's not the best reason for doing so. Ultimately we should be obedient to the Lord because we love Him.

• How willing are you to to be obedient?
• Do you trust God?
• Do you know God?
• We are taught through our own experiences.
• Ask yourself..."Why am I obedient?
• Obedience can become a habit, so that it doesn't have to be a decision every time.
• How many times are we afraid to obey?
• How often do we ask God why?
• It takes courage to want certain blessings because we know what it may take to receive them.
• What is my level of obedience to Heavenly Father? 
• Do I pick and choose which commandments to obey? 
• Am I only willing to be obedient to a certain level before it's too uncomfortable?
• What makes me hesitate before I obey?

In the end she challenged us to pick out a Conference Talk that may be a challenge for us (not our usual go-to subjects) and to wrestle with ourselves as we work to overcome those issues. I loved it that she ended her lesson with a challenge/assignment and I appreciate all the questions she posed in this lesson. I am an obedient person, but my reasons are mostly spiritually immature (though I had never realized that before) so now I will be working to change that about myself.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: It's already the last Sunday in June, that's freaking me out! I haven't wanted to savor a summer vacation this much since I was a kid!

Andrew's World

Several weeks ago I was in Payson taking photos for Melinda's family then decided to take the scenic way home rather than get back on the construction-filled freeway. As I was driving down a beautiful country road I passed the group home where Andrew lives (I had never been there before)! I immediately called my dad to see if he had brought Andrew back yet (it was Saturday afternoon) and it turns out they were 20 minutes away, so I waited for them to get there so I could see Andrew and check out his new digs.

Andrew headed into the place without any fuss; this was good to see because I'd hate to think of him not wanting to return "home" each weekend.

He has a very large, private bedroom to call his own.

He has all his furniture, bedding and movies so it looks very much like it did when he lived at home.

His Winnie the Pooh library.

The family photo collage I made for him several years ago.

This isn't the best picture, but it sort of conveys the size of his room and the TV area where he spends most of his time.

More movies! He has dvds and vhs tapes and usually goes through 1 or 2 vhs players a year.

Disney sweet Disney!

Woody and Jessie are always in hand.

Stuart Little was the film choice of the hour.

I love it when he smiles.

Saying goodbye wasn't a big deal.

I think he wanted to watch his movie.

Taking self-portraits with him is always amusing to me.

He seems to be doing really well in his new place and my parents have adjusted too. My mom is enjoying her freedom and is doing more with all the grandkids as a result (woohoo). Of course they miss having him around, but my mom picks him up on Friday afternoons and my dad drives him back on Saturday evenings so it's all good.

**Have you taken the scenic route lately?
Do you still have VHS movies around?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I finally had to turn on the air conditioning yesterday afternoon when our thermostat read 80 degrees! It took 3 hours for it to cool down to 74. I have such a love/hate relationship with summer.

A Good Dad

 We took our annual Father's Day pictures after church last Sunday and I think the photos speak for themselves.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I feel like I really need to get out of town for my birthday (15 days away) but have no prospects or money...not good, especially for my state of mind.

Fahver's Day Gathering

We gathered at my parents' house last Saturday to celebrate Father's Day with lunch and time hanging out on their porch.

Everyone contributed to the meal so no one had to do all the work. Amy made this beautiful salad, Robyn made dessert, Lori brought the rolls, we brought asparagus, and my mom made the roast.

Robyn and Lori were showing how many messages my mom had left Lori about her food assignment plus follow-up/concern messages because she hadn't heard back from Lori. This was rather funny really because Lori had gotten the assignment and didn't think she needed to call to confirm it, nor did she understand why this would cause my mom to worry about her.

Lori's tasty food assignment.

I always take miscellaneous shots of everyone in action.

My plate of goodness.

We hung out talking on the porch for the whole afternoon.

We don't see a lot of the kids (which is how we like it) when we're there because they're usually playing outside or downstairs, but Landon and Austin sat on the deck petting the cat for awhile and I thought that made for a sweet scene.

Andrew comes home to visit most Friday afternoons until Saturday afternoon so we got to see him. He brought my dad a balloon and managed to say, "H-h-happy Fahvers Day".

Adam was full of hilarious new stories that had us gasping for breath...we don't know how he manages to always have new tales to tell, but he does.

My mom heard about this crazy game which involves sewing 8 yards of stretchy fabric together to make a big stretchy circle. Someone from church told her about it, but we were all the skeptical. The idea is that four people get in and take a corner, then the people standing opposite from each other run to switch places, and then the next pair does the same thing and on and on.

We knew there was great potential for hilarity, but the funniest part was when my dad saw it and said, "Oh no, what's this crazy contraption?"

It turned out NOT to be funny when the kids were doing it because the fabric would fall and they were just too little to hold it up. But when the adults tried it, we laughed so hard! Oh my goodness, I haven't seen the video of us doing this yet but I was one of the participants and could not stop laughing.

 We decided that our bigger bodies stretched the fabric in such a way that when two of us would switch places and then  lean back into the fabric it would launch the other two people, and then when they returned to their corners it would launch us. It was strangely fun and made me feel like a kid.

**Did you have any sort of "Fahver's Day" gathering?

Have you ever seen this crazy game?

Does your mom leave you lots of messages?**

Comment window tidbit: I gotta say that I am just loving my new "You Might Also Like" widget the appears at the bottom of each post. I frequently get sucked into old posts of mine and am reminded of why I blog in the first place...I'd forget everything if I didn't!