Faith In a Seed

Caleb was eating an apple a few days ago.  When he got to the seed, I could tell he was analyzing it carefully.

  

A few minutes later he came traipsing through the house with a shovel in tow and gloves on.  I asked what he was doing and he replied, "Mom, did you know that an apple seed can grown into an apple tree?" I responded that I did, and asked, "what are you doing with the shovel?" He then said, "Well mom, I am going to plant it so I can have an apple tree", and he then proceeded to plant it in the bak yard. 

The next morning, I heard little footsteps at 5:10 am.  I love those pitter patter steps, however they were not as sweet sounding when they wake you up an hour early form your precious sleep. I asked him to come in my room and informed him that it was too early and that he needed to lay down for a while longer. I noticed he had something with him, and assumed it was one of his stuffed animals.  After another hour of him kicking my back, stroking my hair, and bouncing his feet impatiently, I finally sat up to talk to him.  I spoke to him about how important it is to get enough sleep, especially when you are a growing boy.  He thought about that for a minute and then said in the sweetest voice that I wish I could keep forever, "Mom, can I start that tomorrow?"  Holding back laughter, I told him I supposed that would have to do, since it was apparent he was not going to be going back to sleep that morning. 

I then thought to finally ask why he was so excited to get up.  He pulled out what I assumed was his stuffed animal from under the sheets, and I realized it was a water bottle. 

"I need to water my apple tree!"

Later that night as we were driving down the street, I noticed him staring longingly out the window quietly. A few minutes later he said, "I bet it's growing roots right now." 

Oh, I know, sweetest boy ever! 

As American as Apple Pie

I love the Fourth of July.  I always have.  There is something that feels so wonderful about eating watermelon,  barbecuing, and staying up late into the night watching fireworks go off in the sky as you hear some country rendition of "I'm Proud to Be An American". We always wear patriotic outfits (No, not hand knitted flag vests or beaded American flag broaches) of red white and blue of some sort. (And luckily my children and husband don't even question.  They just go with my American spirit and adhere to my request.)  

We have been fortunate enough to go to Ernie's Grandma's house for quite a few of the 4th of July holidays since we have been married.  It is the picture perfect celebration.  As I see the American Flag kite flying high in the sky as we pull in along their drive, and then pull up to multiple pathways everywhere lined with American Flags, I can't help but feel patriotic.  

It's a full day event.  And this year did not disappoint. 

We started with strawberry waffles for breakfast.

We swam.

(That is Ernie way back there.  He was very proud that he was climbing the high wall.)

We played on the water slide

 (The above picture, I'm afraid, is the closest I have of the two of them together.  I was lucky to even get this.)

We played kickball. 

Well, some of us watched and cheered.

We talked and laughed.  For hours. 

And some of us even snuck in a little bit of a nap.

Grandpa let the younger kids light some smaller fireworks off in the front.  Yes, he let THEM light them.  I tried to close my eyes :). 

We ate prime rib, potato salad and had watermelon, of course. 

We celebrated Grandma's birthday. 

We had delicious shakes made by Uncle Jeff.

We ate festive cupcakes. 

And then we got ready for Grandpa's fireworks show.

We started with (the world's longest, I am sure) sparklers.

And got our glow sticks ready.

 If you look carefully in this poor quality picture above, you can see part of the family.

 And in this equally as poor of quality above is more of the family waiting for the big show.

Caleb loves hanging out with Zack:

 Ernie has always loved the cousins in this age group, and luckily has gotten past the endearing nickname of "Poopy" for one of them :)

Of course, my boys found the Rose kids and Caleb stuck to Heather like glue.

 Caleb was curled up on Heather's lap the whole time, and it was adorable.

Here is a little example of the fireworks show put on by Grandpa.

It was awesome.  (And completely legal :)

And I did get at least one picture of Ernie that night. He was there.  He was in the pool during the sparklers.

What great memories.  Especially for my kids.  I am so grateful we had the opportunity to go.
I am grateful to live in this great country.  I am grateful for the freedoms we have.  I am grateful that we have family that we love to be around.
And how can you help but feel as American as apple pie on a day like that?  

Better Late Than Never

I realized as my son was looking through my pictures earlier tonight that I missed posting a few events.  Well, I am sure I have missed a myriad of things.  However, tonight I will just talk about one.

No, I am sorry to say that we do not celebrate Mothers Day every Sunday into July in our home.

 I'll just be honest and confess. I never got around to posting about my own Mothers Day, and then I just forgot.

My children have taken it upon themselves to be the sole "breakfast in bed" providers.

 Luckily they happened to mention to Big E that they were going to make me a smoothie and he was able to persuade them into letting him just buy one for me.

(Could you imagine what kind of mess that would have been? It would have provided a wonderful story for years to come, however the morning itself would have been a little, well, let's just say more eventful than one would prefer it to be.)

I feel so blessed to be a mother.  And I am so grateful for the mothers in my life. I am also beyond grateful for a very sweet spouse that never fails to impress me with his goodness.  And I am so grateful for the example he is to my boys of how to treat a wife. They will have some lucky women in their life someday.
(Although, I do not believe they will have the privilege of having cold toast that is a little on the crispy side.  But I am more than happy to take bites as they watch intently and ask, "is it really good mom?")

I can not help but mention what Ernie got me this year.

I have longingly looked at these knives for years now.  I was so surprised when I unwrapped them.  Even when I saw the wrapped box I didn't suspect such a sublime gift.  I was ecstatic! 

(And Ernie gets to hear about what a perfect gift it was every time I slice a tomato or cut into a watermelon. At least he knows how much I really do appreciate them!)

As I have been remembering how great Mothers Day is
(hand made cards telling you of your beauty and kindness, dinner provided by someone other than myself, cold burnt toast, children happily taking out the trash and lots of "you really are the best mom I have ever had" comments, to name a few), I decided that we should officially have a Mothers Day in July as well as May.
Since that won't happen, I will tell you how fabulous I believe motherhood is. And I will leave you with this thought from James E. Faust,

“There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation”.


Happy Mothers Day! 

Full of Faith

On Monday a friend I first met years ago in middle school passed away. 

His body had been battling brain cancer for the last 5 years. He was young.  30 years old.  He left a young wife, also about my age, and 2 young children.  

I couldn't believe how effected and devastated I was when I heard the news. A lot of it was the realization that it was someone my age, with children my kids ages. How could that be? We are SO young still. 

 I had only been in contact with him through the wonders of facebook and hadn't actually seen him since my teenage years. I haven't met his wife or kids. That may help give a better understanding of why I was surprised at how deeply I was effected. 

I wept as I thought about what his final years were like as I read through his wife's blog (especially this post). 

I cried because I could not imagine what it would be like to try to help my young children understand. 

More tears came. What would it be like to have to say good bye to a best friend that you still planned on having so much time to figure this whole "life" thing out with. 

It was so depressing. I could envision what it would mean to lose so much, because I am at such a similar time in my life.

I started thinking of so many questions.  I especially couldn't understand why it had to be somebody so young.  With so much ahead that he was supposed to do. How was he supposed to teach his kids everything he could?  It didn't seem fair. Not to his wife.  Not to his kids.

All of a sudden I noticed something.  As I had been reading through Lor's blog, I never once read any questions from her.  She had worries and concerns.  But she mostly had faith. Amazing, perfect, unyielding faith. 

 I was so taken back. 

All of a sudden something changed.  

I still had questions. 

But they were different now.

How strong is my faith? 

How deep are my convictions?  

I remembered that during a Conference meeting last April, a sweet lady asked this question, "How do you and I become so converted to the truth, so full of faith, so dependent on God that we are able to meet trials and even be strengthened by them?"

In other words, my question became, 

how do I become more like his wife Lori? 

As I thought more and more about how sad I had been at the thought of my friend's young children not being able to have their dad around any longer to teach them, I remembered this thought that Elder Eyring had.  He said,"The child who sees a mother or a father pass through the trials of life with fervent prayer to God and then hears a sincere testimony that God answered in kindness will remember what they saw and heard. When their trials come, they will be prepared."

Both Wes and his wife could not have been better teachers than they were these past few years to their children. 

The past week I spent a lot of time sad and wondering.  

It turned into hours of solemn contemplation on how deep my faith was and where my testimony stood. 

It turned into a greater desire than I have ever had in my life to become better.  To be even more faithful and devoted.  

To be a better mother, a better wife, a better daughter, sister, and friend. 

  To pray more fervently. 

To cherish every moment. 

To take in everything around me.  To be grateful for everything I have.

To try to become everything I should be. 

And to keep building my faith. 

To be more like a woman I haven't even met, but has given me so much. 

A Few Hours of Heaven

Last week  I was watching a friends baby.  The minute she got there my boys sat down next to her and didn't move for at least 45 minutes.  Who knows how long they would have sat there playing with her and entertaining her if it wasn't dinner time.  It has most obviously been WAY too long since they have been around little babies.  Big E and I had such a good time watching their reactions to her.  Ernie was so good at entertaining her, and Caleb cracked us up with his constant laughter at everything she did.  Especially when she made any noise at all.   He thought it was especially hysterical when se would communicate with a high pitched scream.  I couldn't help but take some pictures.  

 These pictures were all taken about 20 min apart.  They sat there playing with her for much longer than I ever expected. 

I was so taken back with how much I missed having babies around. I don't have any nieces or nephews near by, and only a few friends with little ones. I miss them! I should probably clarify that this most definitely is NOT an announcement :) It is however an invitation to bring your little ones by any time.  Our whole family was in heaven!