Overheard

This is a conversation I recently heard between Aaron and Lucy.

Aaron: "Lucy. I'm going to marry you."

Lucy: "Why you going to marry me?"

A: "Because you are a cute girl."

L: "I'm already married."

A: "You are going to grow into a grownup. You aren't going to stay two."

After she doesn't respond, Aaron starts using his train whistle and walks away.

 I love these two so much! I wholeheartedly agree that Lucy is a cute girl.

P.S. My ankle is slowly healing. I still can't do too much, but I am not in pain while I do little walks around the house.

Happy Sunday

"Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?

’Tis not so; all is right.

Why should we think to earn a great reward

If we now shun the fight?

Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.

Our God will never us forsake;

And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—

All is well! All is well!"

Second verse of hymn #30 "Come, Come, Ye Saints"

By: William Clayton

It was so good to be at church to worship with our ward family. There is power in gathering together and renewing our commitment to follow Christ. I taught the women in our congregation today and they shared so many wonderful thoughts and stories that helped me.

After church and a good nap, I finally got a picture of Samuel on his hands and knees. He's been working on crawling for the past week. He's really skilled at belly crawling and so I've been wondering when he'd switch over. He is so wonderful! He also got his first two teeth over the weekend and has been so chill about it.

Mr. Blue Eyes

After two brown eyed babies, I am thrilled to have a blue eyed boy!

Even as a newborn, it was obvious that there was more blue in his eyes. There's still a chance his eyes will change color, but I'm enjoying our little Mr. Blue Eyes!

Five Years' Time

So much has changed in the past 5 years.

And I couldn't be more grateful!

Church At Home

"So many choices with so much at stake.

Life’s full of pathways, but which should I take?

If I lift up in prayer in the name of the Son,

Through the pow’r of the Holy Ghost answers will come.

Heavenly Father is there,

Ready to answer my prayer.

I will find my own sacred grove.

Away from all of the noise in the world.

I will turn to prayer,

For I know He’s there

I will find my own sacred grove."

"My Own Sacred Grove"

By Angie Killian

It was a good and chaotic church at home kind of Sunday. My ankle is healing, but two hours of sitting still is a bit too much. I'm so grateful for all church at home we did in 2020 because it's so easy to do it now on those off weeks when church attendance just isn't possible.

A Change of Plans

I planned on going to the Houston Temple today. As soon as I hurt my ankle on Sunday, I knew that would not be happening. Earlier in the week, Jonathan said we need to get out of the house on Saturday. By Thursday that seemed reasonable and I knew I wanted to go to the Austin Temple. 

We stopped for donuts on the way there. Aaron picked one with white frosting and green sprinkles and Lucy chose pink frosting with yellow sprinkles. While we were looking at the temple, Aaron grabbed rocks and screws that were in the dirt. He decided the rocks were dinosaur bones and the screws were tools.

It is so exciting to see the progress each time we visit the temple. While this wasn't the temple trip I originally planned for today, I'm still glad we came and we can share our excitement for the completion of our temple.

On the way home, we went through a carwash. While no one cried, Samuel did look extremely concerned about what was going on.

I was wiped out after our morning adventure, so I got the kinetic sand and dinosaurs ready for the big kids while Samuel and I napped. I hid dinosaur bones in the sand and Aaron loved the surprise. It was perfect after how he had been playing at the temple.

This has been a hard week and I've felt discouraged by my injury. I'm definitely healing, but I'm ready to get back to my normal activity. I'm praying that things will continue to improve and I'll be able to get to the temple very soon.

Quiet Mornings

For the past few weeks (before I wrecked my ankle), I've been going on morning walks. They started with Samuel in the front pack, but he now sleeps in late enough so I walk alone. I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this time walking while the sun finishes rising because I am not a morning person. It has been so wonderful and I miss it so much. I walk around our neighborhood and see so many bunnies darting around that I'm certain I've startled Peter Rabbit.

While I walk, I listen to some of my favorite podcasts. They connect me with heaven and how I can practically live out my beliefs. I miss this time terribly, though I don't miss the humidity. I'm hoping that it won't be too long and I'll be back.

My podcast list:

Talking Scripture

Grounded

Inklings Institute

Walk With Him

Magnify

Occasionally I'll also listen to a BYU devotional

Third Time's the Charm

I got out today! I went on a quick drive and it felt so good to be out of the house on my own. While I was gone, Samuel ripped up Lucy's letter Q from the wall.

That was Lucy's second letter Q because she played with the first one too hard and it got ripped. I'm hopeful that third time's the charm and this one will survive.

Wrecked

I wrecked my ankle on my way into church on Sunday. We drove through some massive downpours and it was a light sprinkle when we pulled into the parking lot. As I herded the kids into the church, I slipped on the dirt that turned into mud on the sidewalk. While I didn't fall over, I knew my ankle was sprained very badly. I knew I needed to sit, so we still went inside. It was obvious that I couldn't stay, so as more of our friends arrived we left.

To say it's hard is an understatement, but there are still positives. A big one is that I didn't drop Samuel since I was carrying him when I slipped. Another is Jonathan is able to work from home, so he's been able to fill in a bit during the day. We're praying that my ankle heals quickly so I can get back to normal soon.

One More Minute

I love Lucy. She sits back and observes what is going on around her before joining in. Typically, she jumps in when it's nearly time to go. That happened again today. I told Aaron one more minute until we needed to leave. Lucy ran out to join in the playing. I couldn't stick with leaving in one minute so we let them play longer.

Lucy and Aaron kept up with the big kids fairly well.

Samuel's diaper leaked during Sacrament meeting and his backup outfit wasn't as cute as his original one. We'll try again another time.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."

Hymn #1028 "This Little Light of Mine"

African American spiritual

Soggy 4th of July

It was an odd 4th of July this year. I started it out by giving all three kids and Jonathan haircuts. It was my first time cutting Lucy's hair in about 2 years. She was better at sitting still, though watching her favorite movie (Cars 2) helped. It was an okay first big girl haircut, but I definitely have more to learn. Samuel still doesn't like sitting still, but it went well. Aaron was so much better with the buzzers. He typically raises his shoulders making it so much more difficult but he didn't do it this time. I'm happy to report that Jonathan is the best of the four at sitting still.

We headed over to the annual celebration at a nearby park and it was a soggy ghost town. We went last year and there were people everywhere and this year we got a close parking spot, there were no lines for the rides, food trucks, or bounce houses. We still got bit from a few fire ants, but it was a great time.

I was so impressed that Lucy wanted to go on some of the rides this year. She typically sticks to me and observes what is going on and then maybe for the last few minutes before we need to go she will participate. This time she immediately knew she wanted to go for a "train" ride. (Can you you really call it a train when it's a small tractor pulling barrels?)

Aaron loved the train and had a great time with all the different bounce houses. There was never more than two other kids on the same one he was using. It was so odd!

Then we hustled back home to get dinner ready since at the last minute the missionaries needed a dinner. It was so delicious we forgot to take any pictures. We had homemade barbacoa tacos on homemade corn tortillas with homemade salsa rojo and homemade guacamole. It was so good! Part way through dinner, Lucy wasn't feeling well and so we ended up snuggling in my bed and she was asleep by 7 pm. We heard some fireworks later, but didn't see any.

It was an odd holiday, but still a good one.

Independence Tray

I love a themed sensory tray, so I made one for Independence Day. I made a Texas flag with the rice since it's a lot less elaborate than an American flag.

Both kids dug in and loved it. The Army men and the various vehicles were a big hit.

Aaron used the blue stars to make a river and pushed the rice to make a hill for the vehicles to drive on.