Memorial Day

When I was a kid my family had a blast on memorial day. We got together will Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents and we went grave hopping. Great grandparents, Uncle Jim's great Aunt, My cousin Russel who died in the Army. The two still born babies Grandma's little girl and Aunt Margaret's little boy. Of course the years have added more to include grandparents, Uncle Jim's Dad, and my dad. We have even added in President's of our church.

 One of our favorite activities as a kid was to sit on the wall at the top of the City Cemetery and clap at the cars and people going by (runner's, walkers, and bikers got a standing ovation). It was so much fun to see the reactions. Some people were just confused but most smiled and waved and honked. We as children thought for sure we had some repeat costumers. Now that we are all grown up our children have taken our spots. We of course stand behind them and clap and cheer just to encourage the children. Here is this year's picture. A strange tradition but so fun.

Dressing Sam

I was trying to find a jacket for Sam. We were headed for school and it was raining but I have been packing so there were no jackets. I found a sweatshirt in Holly's closet that was yellow. I grabbed it and began working out in my mind how I would counter act the "I will look like a girl" argument. "You won't look like a girl. Yellow is a boy or girl color". See totally had my argument down. Sam took one look at the sweatshirt and then with a disgusted look on his face said "Mom do you want me to look like an idiot?" I was totally unprepared for the "I will look like an idiot" arguement so Sam found his own jacket.

Awards

Rob won the AML (Association for Mormon Letters) award for Young Adult Fiction 2011. He also won a Whitney Award for Best Young Adult Speculative Fiction. I liked Jessica Day George's comment "Take that mountain lions!" Rob has really fought a lot this year with his brain. It has been a lot of work. We are still working. Congratulations Sweetheart! Marrying you is still my favorite decision.

taken at the 2011 Whitney awards by Erin Summerill Photography.

Soccer

Sam started soccer this spring. His first organized sports experience has been so much fun to watch. He is so happy that he skips around the field instead of running.

Sam's latest

I was reading my scriptures and Sam noticed that I had written in the margins. He asked me why. I said that when I felt the Holy Ghost was telling me something I wrote it in the book. He said oh and left the room. A few minutes later he came in, put his elbow up on the bed and casually asked "so, anything from the Holy Ghost?"

Zombie mom

Max came up to me with his arms outstretched and his hands making grabbing motions saying "Zombie, zombie,zombie zombie". He declared me Zombie mom and said "I love you zombie mom" with his arms around my neck. He then picked up a stick and called it his stick-a-nator and ran off to attack unsuspecting people and eat them.

A Curve Ball

You know that saying "life threw me a curve ball"? This week I felt like "Holy crap I'm playing baseball?". Last Wednesday the family that owns the home we are renting and had been hoping to buy told us they were putting it up for sale. They wanted us to buy but the stars did not align so we are moving, . . . in two weeks. This was just not even in the hemisphere of my scope of vision and it has taken quite an adjustment but we are blessed and have a beautiful home to rent from my brother in North Ogden. My mother-in-law took some pictures and posted them on her blog. Her blog is in my list (the Wells). This post is just to write down the incredible journey we have taken in one weeks time. One that has been hard (lots of crying from us and family) but wonderful. The Lord is most definitely still looking out for us and this is His plan.