Girls Night Out

This morning I got a call from my friend Ramona who asked if I wanted tickets to a performance of Alice in Wonderland.  A neighbor's daughter goes to a private school (Pre-K through 12) that was putting on the play and the daughter, Arden, as cast as Alice.  I wasn't really at all interested in going.  Ramona, however, is very persuasive.  She had initially asked another family in our ward, the Bradfords, if they wanted to go.  They have two little girls, one in Blythe's class at school, but they just welcomed a baby into the family and Angela was not feeling hot and Brian didn't feel like he should leave her.  So Ramona said to me, "You could go and take Blythe and Lilly and Emma, and that would probably be a really nice thing for Angela and Brian, and I know the little girls would love it."  She pressured me into it with all that talk of noble service.  I caved and agreed to go.

I will now try to be excessively positive about my review of the evening's entertainment.  The show was short, only about 50 minutes.  The music was fun.  The costumes were bright and colorful.  It was short.  The whole school was involved in the show.  It was short.  Arden looks just like Alice.  It was close to our home.  It was short.  The little girls did, indeed, love it.  And because it was short, we were home in time for bed.

Unfortunately, the microphones of those on stage didn't always work, so kids' mouths would be moving but we could hear nothing that was coming out.  It was a school production, so not wonderful, but it was short, so it didn't really matter.  And I was able to perform a wonderful act of service in getting Lilly and Emma out of their parent's hair for a couple of hours.  That's really the way I look at this activity--it was service, not entertainment, at least for me.  At the end, Blythe said, "That wasn't like the movie at all," but the little girls loved it anyway.

Happy play attendees, Emma and Lilly Bradford, and our Miss B

Cranes

This morning, just before I got in the shower and just after Kent had left for work, he called to say there were two cranes in the empty lot across the street.  "Quick!" he said. "Go out and see the cranes!"  I was not in a fit state to go anywhere except to the shower, but I took care of washing, got dressed quickly, and went out to see if they were still there.

They were!  I was delighted because they were really lovely birds.  I took over the Birds of North America book so I could figure out what type they were and if they were native to Utah.  I had never seen them before, but that doesn't mean anything.  Turns out that they are Sandhill cranes, migratory and were probably just passing through.  They were hunting around for things to eat, and I watched them for fifteen minutes or so before I had to go to school.  It was exciting to see such beautiful creatures at such close range.

From what I read in the bird book, I thought the cranes were lost.  Their normal habitat is not Utah, nor does Utah seem to be below their flight course.  But Kent checked out the Utah birders website and discovered that they are common to our area at certain times of the year.  They can be shot, and when someone on the website asked why anyone would want to shoot one, someone else responded, "They are delicious."  I chose to only shoot them with my camera.  Here's the proof.

Adult stained Sandhill cranes 

  

 

 

A Sunday Walk

After all the activity yesterday, I was pooped and swore I would do nothing today but sit on the couch and maybe read to the children (we are in the middle of a wonderful book Flora and Ulysses).  But about 5:00pm, Kent said, "Let's go wander along the river trail at BYU."  Not five minutes before, Mikayla had called to say that there were baby ducks at the botany pond, so who could possibly resist two such suggestions?

Off we went.

We walked and talked, chased some ducks and oohed and aahed over other baby ones, Kent and I got an impromptu performance by a mime and a hula dancer, and I ogled trees and plants that might work in our backyard.  It was a lovely evening.

As I look at the following pictures, I must comment that Brandt felt compelled to bring his guns because, in his words, "I'm a Red Clone Trooper."  And Blythe wanted me to take a picture of her on every rock we passed.  That was a lot of rocks.

Says Blythe, "I am a princess."

Red Clone Trooper guarding the princess.

"I'm doing a pose," says Blythe.

Cute baby ducklings.

There were two dozen or more ducklings around the pond.

The following pictures are of the show we got.

The emcee introduced dancing, singing, a mime, some hula, and a row by row greeting of the audience.
He didn't announce a bit of a fight, but we got that too.

Just One More Chance

It was my turn to help Blythe get to bed tonight (Kent and I take turns).  I had been reading Flora and Ulysses to both children, so when we went up, I took Blythe's books she needed to read for school.  She didn't want to do it, but after some convincing on my part, she agreed.  She read one book once (she has to read them three times each) but then was fiddling around and wouldn't start a second time.  I was encouraging, but after about five minutes, I gave up.  I put the books down and turned off the light.  She began having a fit, saying, "Mom! I want you to help me! I want to read my baggie books!"

Very calmly I told her I was too tired to continue, I was too tired to deal with her pushing me any more.  I told her I would stay with her for a bit longer and help her get to sleep if she would lie down and stop fussing, but if she continued to carry on, I was going away.  I laid down and she began to hit me, yelling, "I WANT YOU TO HELP ME!"  Still calmly, I got up, said goodnight, and walked out, stopping in Brandt's room to apologize that she was likely to carry on for some time to come.  Then I went downstairs.

Blythe continued to shriek, screaming "MOM!!!!!" at the top of her lungs.  So restful.  When she began screaming for Kent, I went back up.  I said to her, "Blythe, I gave you the chance to read and then I gave you a chance to have me lie down with you.  You made a choice.  I don't think it was a good choice, but it was the choice you made.  I'm sorry.  You have lost the chance to have me be with you and now you must go to sleep.  Stop shrieking."

In a small, considerably less fierce voice she said, "Mom, will you give me just one more chance?"

My initial response was no.  I had been patient, I had given her the opportunity to reconsider her actions, and she had made her choice.  But then she asked again.  "Mom, will you give me just one more chance?"

I thought about my propensity to sin and sin and then sin again.  Do I want to?  Not really.  Do I?  Yes.  All the time.  And do I turn to God, humbled and repentant and ask, "Will you give me just one more chance?"  And He does.  He gives me just one more chance, every time I ask.  He doesn't draw away.  He pulls me in, lovingly patient with my continued struggle to be a better daughter.

So I laid down next to Blythe.  I said a little prayer, I snuggled her, and I sang several songs to help her relax and be calmer.  Her baggie books did not get read, but she and I ended the day positively, and that is far more important.  She is square with me, and I hope I am square with God.

Blythe Speaks in Primary

Blythe spoke in Primary today.  She was really excited and wrote her talk all by herself.  I told her the topic was "how we can strengthen our family," then she dictated.  We practiced it several times and she said she wanted Brandt to help her if she needed.  But she also wanted us all to stand up with her because we are her family.  So when the moment arrived, we all stood up on the stand and when she began, we each counted out loud our number in the family, oldest to youngest.  Here is her talk.

There are (Kent said, "One," I said, "Two," Brandt said, "Three,") four people in my family.  We try to be kinder.  One way to strengthen our family is reading scriptures.  We try to be more obedient to Mom.  We help clean up when it's time.  Another way is to have family home evening.  We do our homework.  All these things we do is to help our family get stronger.  I love my family.

Birthdays

Today was a birthday party celebrating day, and it all happened at our house.  Yesterday was Brick's first birthday, and while Mikayla and Guy celebrated at home, they also wanted to have a big party with family.  Mikayla chose a monster theme and wanted to have breakfast at Rock Canyon Park, but we woke to wind and rain and knew it wasn't going to happen outside.  So, because I was going to host a party in the afternoon for Aunt Georgianne and our house was clean and party ready, we moved it inside our house.  

Mikayla has really gone to a lot of work with the monster theme.  The green cups all had monster faces, she made monster placemats, and had a funny monster watermelon throwing up fruit.  She made coffee cake, scrambled eggs, and bacon, and invited lots of people.  All the DeMartinis came, as well as quite a few Johnsens.  I think we were about thirty people.  Even though it was a bit chaotic, what with all the little people running around (literally), it was fun to be together, and certainly fun to celebrate Brick, a delightfully joyous addition to the family.

 

 

We cleared people out of the house after Brick's party, did a quick clean up of the floor, and launched into preparations for Georgianne's party.  Georgianne turned 70 on Tuesday, and Mom and I decided that was an accomplishment worth celebrating.  We offered to throw her a party and I agreed to host at my house because we invited people from her neighborhood and my house is closer to her than Mom's.  We had fruit, cheese and crackers, a beautiful green salad, a pasta salad, rolls, cookies (two kinds--shortbread and chocolate), and cake.  Everything looked beautiful, and everything tasted wonderful.  Georgianne had stipulated that if we were going to have a party for her, she wanted presents, but she wanted specific presents--flowery or green growing things she could put in her yard.  As her neighbors and friends arrived, my porch ended up looking very cheerful with all their contributions.  The only real negative thing was that not that many people showed up.  I had sent out about 50 invitations to family and friends, and we didn't have more than about 25 people show up.  For those of us who were there, however, it was a fun time, and a delight to celebrate Georgianne. 

Dinosaur Museum

Today was the kindergarten field trip to the dinosaur museum at BYU.  The classes both walked to the museum as it is only about a mile away, but Blythe had a wart burned yesterday and it blistered horribly today, so I drove her down and we met everyone else.  Just like when I went with Brandt's class, everyone had a great time.  There was a charming BYU student who told the kids all about the dinosaurs and asked and answered questions.  She held the children's attention and shared very interesting facts.  My group thought it was especially funny that the museum had petrified dinosaur poop.  

Sam, Amanda, Blythe, and Danny

Kassi, Ellen, and Blythe

Mia Bella and Blythe

Lauren, Mrs. Moffat, Mrs. Bigelow and the back of Daniel's head.

Hyrum and Matthew