Sorensen Bugz

Grace

2012-01-23T10:45:00.002-07:00

BRAD WILCOX

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Brad Wilcox was serving as a member of the Sunday School General Board of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as a

BYU associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education

in the David O. McKay School of Education

when this devotional address was given on 12 July 2011.

© Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.

Complete volumes of Speeches are available wherever LDS books are sold.

For further information contact:

Speeches, 218 University Press Building, Provo, Utah 84602.

(801) 422-2299 / E-mail: speeches@byu.edu / Speeches Home Page

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I am grateful to be here with my wife, Debi, and my two youngest children—who are currently attending
BYU—and several other family members who have come to be with us.

It is an honor to be invited to speak to you today. Several years ago I received an invitation to speak at
Women’s Conference. When I told my wife, she asked, “What have they asked you to speak on?”

I was so excited that I got my words mixed up and said, “They want me to speak about changing
strengths into weaknesses.”

She thought for a minute and said, “Well, they’ve got the right man for the job!”

She’s correct about that. I could give a whale of a talk on that subject, but I think today I had better
go back to the original topic and speak about changing weaknesses into strengths and about how the
grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient (see Ether 12:27, D&C 17:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9)—sufficient to cover us,
sufficient to transform us, and sufficient to help us as long as that transformation process takes.

Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Cover Us

A BYU student once came to me and asked if we could talk. I said, “Of course. How can I help you?”

She said, “I just don’t get grace.”

I responded, “What is it that you don’t understand?”

She said, “I know I need to do my best and then Jesus does the rest, but I can’t even do my best.”

She then went on to tell me all the things she should be doing because she’s a Mormon that she wasn’t
doing.

She continued, “I know that I have to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the
gap that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that stands between where I am
now and my part?”

She then went on to tell me all the things that she shouldn’t be doing because she’s a Mormon, but she
was doing them anyway.

Finally I said, “Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about
filling gaps. It is about filling us.”

Seeing that she was still confused, I took a piece of paper and drew two dots—one at the top
representing God and one at the bottom representing us. I then said, “Go ahead. Draw the line. How
much is our part? How much is Christ’s part?”

She went right to the center of the page and began to draw a line. Then, considering what we had been
speaking about, she went to the bottom of the page and drew a line just above the bottom dot.

I said, “Wrong.”

She said, “I knew it was higher. I should have just drawn it, because I knew it.”

I said, “No. The truth is, there is no line. Jesus filled the whole space. He paid our debt in full. He didn’t
pay it all except for a few coins. He paid it all. It is finished.”

She said, “Right! Like I don’t have to do anything?”

“Oh no,” I said, “you have plenty to do, but it is not to fill that gap. We will all be resurrected. We will all
go back to God’s presence. What is left to be determined by our obedience is what kind of body we plan
on being resurrected with and how comfortable we plan to be in God’s presence and how long we plan
to stay there.”

Christ asks us to show faith in Him, repent, make and keep covenants, receive the Holy Ghost, and
endure to the end. By complying, we are not paying the demands of justice—not even the smallest
part. Instead, we are showing appreciation for what Jesus Christ did by using it to live a life like His.
Justice requires immediate perfection or a punishment when we fall short. Because Jesus took that
punishment, He can offer us the chance for ultimate perfection (see Matthew 5:48, 3 Nephi 12:48) and
help us reach that goal. He can forgive what justice never could, and He can turn to us now with His own
set of requirements (see 3 Nephi 28:35).

“So what’s the difference?” the girl asked. “Whether our efforts are required by justice or by Jesus, they
are still required.”

“True,” I said, “but they are required for a different purpose. Fulfilling Christ’s requirements is like
paying a mortgage instead of rent or like making deposits in a savings account instead of paying off debt.
You still have to hand it over every month, but it is for a totally different reason.”

Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Transform Us

Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the
piano teacher. How many know what I am talking about? Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can
turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano
teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how
the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing
opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid
but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice,
practice.

If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing (“Gosh, Mom, why do I need
to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player
anyway!”), perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much better
his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.

In the same way, because Jesus has paid justice, He can now turn to us and say, “Follow me” (Matthew
4:19), “Keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If we see His requirements as being way too much to
ask (“Gosh! None of the other Christians have to pay tithing! None of the other Christians have to go

on missions, serve in callings, and do temple work!”), maybe it is because we do not yet see through
Christ’s eyes. We have not yet comprehended what He is trying to make of us.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we
must ‘repay’ him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a
developmental process that, with the Savior’s help, leads us along the path to a saintly character” (The
Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 149; emphasis in original).

Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, referring to President Spencer W. Kimball’s explanation, “The repenting
sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a different purpose than punishment or payment.
Its purpose is change” (The Lord’s Way [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991], 223; emphasis in original).
Let’s put that in terms of our analogy: The child must practice the piano, but this practice has a different
purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change.

I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, “You Mormons are trying to earn your way to
heaven.”

I say, “No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven. We are preparing for it (see D&C 78:7).
We are practicing for it.”

They ask me, “Have you been saved by grace?”

I answer, “Yes. Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully—yes!”

Then I ask them a question that perhaps they have not fully considered: “Have you been changed by
grace?” They are so excited about being saved that maybe they are not thinking enough about what
comes next. They are so happy the debt is paid that they may not have considered why the debt existed
in the first place. Latter-day Saints know not only what Jesus has saved us from but also what He has
saved us for. As my friend Brett Sanders puts it, “A life impacted by grace eventually begins to look like
Christ’s life.” As my friend Omar Canals puts it, “While many Christians view Christ’s suffering as only
a huge favor He did for us, Latter-day Saints also recognize it as a huge investment He made in us.” As
Moroni puts it, grace isn’t just about being saved. It is also about becoming like the Savior (see Moroni

7:48).

The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can live after we die but that we can live more
abundantly (see John 10:10). The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can be cleansed and
consoled but that we can be transformed (see Romans 8). Scriptures make it clear that no unclean thing
can dwell with God (see Alma 40:26), but, brothers and sisters, no unchanged thing will even want to.

I know a young man who just got out of prison—again. Each time two roads diverge in a yellow wood,
he takes the wrong one—every time. When he was a teenager dealing with every bad habit a teenage
boy can have, I said to his father, “We need to get him to EFY.” I have worked with that program since
1985. I know the good it can do.

His dad said, “I can’t afford that.”

I said, “I can’t afford it either, but you put some in, and I’ll put some in, and then we’ll go to my mom,
because she is a real softy.”

We finally got the kid to EFY, but how long do you think he lasted? Not even a day. By the end of the
first day he called his mother and said, “Get me out of here!” Heaven will not be heaven for those who
have not chosen to be heavenly.

In the past I had a picture in my mind of what the final judgment would be like, and it went something
like this: Jesus standing there with a clipboard and Brad standing on the other side of the room
nervously looking at Jesus.

Jesus checks His clipboard and says, “Oh, shoot, Brad. You missed it by two points.”

Brad begs Jesus, “Please, check the essay question one more time! There have to be two points you can
squeeze out of that essay.” That’s how I always saw it.

But the older I get, and the more I understand this wonderful plan of redemption, the more I realize
that in the final judgment it will not be the unrepentant sinner begging Jesus, “Let me stay.” No, he will
probably be saying, “Get me out of here!” Knowing Christ’s character, I believe that if anyone is going
to be begging on that occasion, it would probably be Jesus begging the unrepentant sinner, “Please,
choose to stay. Please, use my Atonement—not just to be cleansed but to be changed so that you want
to stay.”

The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can
feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to
change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without
repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable
with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not
require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change.
We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Jesus did not require
endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would
forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we
are. Put simply, if Jesus didn’t require practice, then we would never become pianists.

Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Help Us

“But Brother Wilcox, don’t you realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano. I
hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.” Now wait. Isn’t that all part of the learning
process? When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We
don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying. Perfection may be his ultimate goal,
but for now we can be content with progress in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to
see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning heaven?

Too many are giving up on the Church because they are tired of constantly feeling like they are falling
short. They have tried in the past, but they always feel like they are just not good enough. They don’t
understand grace.

There are young women who know they are daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves them, and they
love Him. Then they graduate from high school, and the values they memorized are put to the test.
They slip up. They let things go too far, and suddenly they think it is all over. These young women don’t
understand grace.

There are young men who grow up their whole lives singing, “I hope they call me on a mission,” and
then they do actually grow a foot or two and flake out completely. They get their Eagles, graduate
from high school, and go away to college. Then suddenly these young men find out how easy it is to
not be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, or
reverent. They mess up. They say, “I’ll never do it again,” and then they do it. They say, “I’ll never do it
again,” and then they do it. They say, “This is stupid. I will never do it again.” And then they do it. The
guilt is almost unbearable. They don’t dare talk to a bishop. Instead, they hide. They say, “I can’t do this
Mormon thing. I’ve tried, and the expectations are just way too high.” So they quit. These young men
don’t understand grace.

I know returned missionaries who come home and slip back into bad habits they thought were over.
They break promises made before God, angels, and witnesses, and they are convinced there is no hope
for them now. They say, “Well, I’ve blown it. There is no use in even trying any more.” Seriously? These
young people have spent entire missions teaching people about Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and
now they think there is no hope for them? These returned missionaries don’t understand grace.

I know young married couples who find out after the sealing ceremony is over that marriage requires
adjustments. The pressures of life mount, and stress starts taking its toll financially, spiritually, and even
sexually. Mistakes are made. Walls go up. And pretty soon these husbands and wives are talking with
divorce lawyers rather than talking with each other. These couples don’t understand grace.

In all of these cases there should never be just two options: perfection or giving up. When learning
the piano, are the only options performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? No. Growth and development
take time. Learning takes time. When we understand grace, we understand that God is long-suffering,
that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives. When we understand grace, we
understand that the blessings of Christ’s Atonement are continuous and His strength is perfect in our
weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). When we understand grace, we can, as it says in the Doctrine and
Covenants, “continue in patience until [we] are perfected” (D&C 67:13).

One young man wrote me the following e-mail: “I know God has all power, and I know He will help me if
I’m worthy, but I’m just never worthy enough to ask for His help. I want Christ’s grace, but I always find
myself stuck in the same self-defeating and impossible position: no work, no grace.”

I wrote him back and testified with all my heart that Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have
done “all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). He is with us every step of the way.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time
to ‘after’ all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend
our own efforts” (The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 155). So grace is not a booster
engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not
the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved
somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the
Finisher’s touch (see Hebrews 12:2).

In twelve days we celebrate Pioneer Day. The first company of Saints entered the Salt Lake Valley on July
24, 1847. Their journey was difficult and challenging; still, they sang:

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;

But with joy wend your way.

Though hard to you this journey may appear,

Grace shall be as your day.

[“Come, Come, Ye Saints,” Hymns, 2002, no. 30]

“Grace shall be as your day”—what an interesting phrase. We have all sung it hundreds of times, but
have we stopped to consider what it means? “Grace shall be as your day”: grace shall be like a day. As
dark as night may become, we can always count on the sun coming up. As dark as our trials, sins, and
mistakes may appear, we can always have confidence in the grace of Jesus Christ. Do we earn a sunrise?
No. Do we have to be worthy of a chance to begin again? No. We just have to accept these blessings and
take advantage of them. As sure as each brand-new day, grace—the enabling power of Jesus Christ—is

constant. Faithful pioneers knew they were not alone. The task ahead of them was never as great as the
power behind them.

Conclusion

The grace of Christ is sufficient—sufficient to cover our debt, sufficient to transform us, and sufficient
to help us as long as that transformation process takes. The Book of Mormon teaches us to rely
solely on “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8). As we do, we do not
discover—as some Christians believe—that Christ requires nothing of us. Rather, we discover the reason
He requires so much and the strength to do all He asks (see Philippians 4:13). Grace is not the absence
of God’s high expectations. Grace is the presence of God’s power (see Luke 1:37).

Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said the following:

Now may I speak . . . to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the
Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short. . . .

. . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we
must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . .

. . . This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. [CR, October 1976,
14, 16; “Notwithstanding My Weakness,” Ensign, November 1976, 12, 14]

With Elder Maxwell, I testify that God’s grace is sufficient. Jesus’ grace is sufficient. It is enough. It is all
we need. Oh, young people, don’t quit. Keep trying. Don’t look for escapes and excuses. Look for the
Lord and His perfect strength. Don’t search for someone to blame. Search for someone to help you.
Seek Christ, and, as you do, I promise you will feel the enabling power we call His amazing grace. I leave
this testimony and all of my love—for I do love you. As God is my witness, I love the youth of this church.
I believe in you. I’m pulling for you. And I’m not the only one. Parents are pulling for you, leaders are
pulling for you, and prophets are pulling for you. And Jesus is pulling with you. I say this in the name of
Jesus Christ, amen.

Genealogy Fan Chart

2011-12-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool.

Genealogy Fan Chart

Neighbor Gifts

2011-12-15T09:07:00.001-07:00

So I was reading this article the other day about this non-Mormon had moved to Utah and was experiencing how all the social things in the city revolve around Mormon activities not clubs of any other sort. She was explaining how she has been learning to accept living in an area where the majority are Mormon/LDS. Towards the end she talks about neighbor gifts. We have a single guy that lives in the small rental next to us and is from the East Coast. He was not home when we dropped off our gift to him - it was nothing big, just homemade rolls and some candy. As the night went on, I started to wonder if he was thinking the same thing this lady did about how strange it is to be given a neighbor gift. We will see - When Michael walked past last night the box was not on the doorstep anymore so he either got it or someone came and took it (as the Christmas gift stealing has been making headlines here and also here. So I know it is very common! =) )

So my question to you
Do you do neighbor gifts or do you receive them?

What is the most unusual neighbor gift you have received?

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T14:04:00.001-07:00

In October, Michael was recruited to work for another company. He switched jobs at the end of October and has enjoyed learning new things at his new job. He will not be traveling at this point with the new company.

This year it was the Adams' turn for Thanksgiving. They were invited to go to Brian's house in New Mexico so we tagged along. We were able to spend a few days and even experienced Black Friday with Susan. We shopped at 10 pm at Walmart and then on to Target at midnight standing in the Albuquerque cold wind for about 30 mins waiting in line to get in the store.

We went up to the tram to take it to the top of the mountain to look around - it was 15 degrees at the top.

Michael and April

Payton

Dad and Mom

Brian and Susan

On our way home we decided to stop and let Payton experience 4 Corners. He thought it was pretty cool to be in four states at one time. It was fun watching him try to figure out how to put his hands and feet to get it all right. It has changed since Michael and I were there almost 13 years ago - we took a road trip for our one year anniversary and ended up driving through the 4 Corners area. One of the vendors told us that they had even more changes planned in the next few years.

I think we are done traveling for awhile. It seems that we have been hopping somewhere just about every month this year.

Extreme Home Makeover

2011-12-01T13:25:00.001-07:00

We have lived in Daybreak for about 2 and half years when we get a notice on our doors that the empty lot in front of our condo will be made into an Extreme Makeover house - this was happening in June. It was a crazy month watching all the behind the scenes stuff happen and then house built all right from my porch!

A few days before the real action started.

Church parking lot behind my house. They used half the lot for the 2 weeks they were around.

The unveil of the lot is about to happen.

Crowd getting ready to welcome new family. Red shirts are Real SL soccer team.

Here comes the bus with the new family.

And let the fun begin. This was about 8 pm.

about midnight. Could not sleep much over all the noise.

Payton had school still during this construction so we had to have a loud fan on to drown out the noise.

Woke up the next morning to see they had progressed this much.

Camera crews

This is about 2 pm on the second day.

Ty Pennington

We thought since we would not be sleeping much that we would volunteer to help. We chose Friday night since Payton would be sleeping and it was the weekend. We helped from 8 pm - 2 am. Our job was to help pull out the footings from the foundation - they are heavier than they look!

Saturday morning. The 24 hour camera is no longer able to see the front door so we can go out and not worry about being put on national TV.

We were given passes that allowed us to walk more freely without being stopped and questioned why we were walking around to get our mail or just walking. This also allowed us to go to the food tent and eat the food that was brought in for the volunteers - we had Red Robin, Famous Dave's, Cafe Rio, Chick-Fil-A and more. They usually had food brought in a least 4 times a day.

This would make the house vibrate as they compacted the dirt for the driveway.

Paige doing a segment.

Michael Mahoney posing for me. He was really fun to talk to - did not come off stuck up at all!

Xzibit - the rapper

Xzibit and Michael about to do a segment.

That crowd was very common when a segment was being shot - you always knew when one of the designers was around by how big the crowd was.

More Xzibit

The little boy that the house was built for really likes soccer and is good friends with Real SL team. So the players came to write their names in the driveway cement. Here is Kyle Beckerman, captain for the team and Xzibit playing around while we sit on the porch.

Kyle willing to take a photo with Payton on our porch.

Writing their names in the cement.

This is the last night of building. They are bringing in all the landscaping.

This is the great spotlight that sat on the sidewalk all week.

This is a large tree they are trying to put in - it was taller than our balconies.

You can see some of the crowd that is lined up for the unveiling. The rest are on the other side of the house.

Soccer team coming to surprise the family.

Michael going for a smoke behind the house. The church would not allow them to smoke on their property - someone asked what he was doing behind the house and he said he was hiding from the Mormons.

More soccer players

Limo that dropped the family off.

Xzibit posing with Payton

Michael posing with Payton

Soccer players examining their work in the cement.

Family seeing the back side of the house with Ty.

Family's extended family coming to surprise them at the unveil.

This is a mother-in-law type apartment she is renting out to make some income.

Front of the house.

side of the house

church parking lot craziness

Family Photos

2011-12-01T13:00:00.001-07:00

We decided to try something different this year with our family photos. We usually just go to Target but we have a lady in our neighborhood that does a good job and she was having a special on sittings. We went to the little business/shopping area in our neighborhood and took photos. It was raining on and off while we took the photos but it made for good lighting. She let us keep all the photos on a CD. I will post some of them - even the ones that we did not end up printing.

Really liked the temple in the background - it is the little spire that is sticking up over the houses to the left there. And we got the great rainbow too.

The photographer thought it funny to include the Mini in this photo.

Payton being grossed out with the kissing.

End of Year

2011-12-01T12:12:00.001-07:00

It has been a few months since I have updated the blog and with the blog address going in the Christmas card, I thought I should update it with the running around we did over the last few months.

In October, Payton was off track so we took a trip to San Antonio, TX. My friend, Grace, lives close to my sister, Amy so we decided to go for two weeks. Michael was in Canada on a work trip for 10 days so it was not like he would be around anyway.

When we travel we like to find Hard Rock Cafes to eat at - not because the food is great but it is the atmosphere of music memorabilia that we like to look at. We always get a shot glass before we leave too. So our first full day in San Antonio, Grace and her husband, Jason, took us to downtown San Antonio. We started at the Alamo. I have been here before when we lived in Texas but Payton had not and they have learned about the Alamo in school so he was pretty excited to see it in person.

He was excited to touch the cannon. He walked all around it examining.

We noticed that this squirrel/chipmunk was thirsty and was not very afraid of us standing so close.

This Live Oak tree is over 100 years old and was transported from another place in San Antonio in 1914.

We made our way across the street to the Ripley's Museum. Payton loves to read these books so he thought it even cooler to get to see some of the things up close.

Payton was kind of creeped out by this wax man sitting on this couch. He is a replica of a large eyed man.

Getting brave to actually touch him!

This is the Eiffel Tower made out of tooth picks. It looks pretty close to the real thing.

When we were done at Ripley's, we ventured down the road to the Wax Museum. Look at all the celebrities we got to meet.

Johnny Cash

Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy in the background

The cast of Twilight. Payton was not down with this so he showed it with a thumbs down.

Lance Armstrong

The 3 Stooges.

Robert DeNiro

Laurel and Hardy

Payton jamming with young Michael Jackson

Payton having thriller time with Michael Jackson

And not too sure about moon walk Michael Jackson

Payton wanted no part of Madonna either.

Harry Potter

Batman and Catwoman and Joker's knees. (it was too tight to back up and get the whole scene in the photo)

Whoopie Goldberg

Johnny Deep

Payton chatting up Oprah

Payton doing the monologue with Jay Leno

Payton looking at the Top Ten with David Letterman

Beam Me Up! Captain Pacard

Payton with Indy

Payton trying to be Secret Service detail

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Superman!

Let me tell you a story about a man named Jed.

Grace lives on a lot of land and Payton enjoyed playing outside. They own a lot of guns and Payton has not shot a gun before. He was all over the opportunity to learn.

We went to Cave Without a Name and were the only ones on the tour so we were able to actually here all that was being said. I had my iPad on me and the tour guide said that since I had such a nice camera that I should take lots of pictures. I did not want to tell him that the camera on the iPad is not that great of a camera compared to my actual camera that I had left at home so I started snapping pictures. We have been in other caves in Tucson but have not been as close to some of the points of interest as we were here.

Jason pulled out the big gun for us to shoot.

I even took a turn!

It was fun to spend some time with an old friend - we met Grace and family when they moved in on our street in Eagle Mountain and we have kept in touch when we both moved away.

Then it was time to move on to Amy's house.

Yes, Amy owns a pet deer. They call it Smashly. Payton was excited to feed the deer its breakfast the first morning we were there.

My nephew, Dallin. playing on my iPad.

Amy and Brady have purchased land that has a hunting lodge. We spent a night there and Payton liked all the stuffed animals he could touch.

Uncle Brady was pretty cool - he let Payton drive around the grounds.

We went all the way to Africa.

This pond has a crocodile in it. We stopped to look at it and it started to move closer to us so we ran back to the truck.

This is a buffalo that is fairly close to the front door of the lodge.

Our main reason for going to visit was for the baptism of Amy's boy. So we got to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Adams and Great Grandpa Ambler. Scott and his family also live in the same town so we also got to spend time with them. We flew back home on the same flight as Grandma and Grandpa and then said good-bye to them in Denver as we caught our connecting flight on home.

ksl.com - How social media spoils face time

2011-09-06T16:31:00.000-06:00

ksl.com - How social media spoils face time

Wiesbaden, Germany

2011-05-26T15:52:00.000-06:00

On the 12th of May, we caught the train back to Wiesbaden to finish our Europe trip at the Narula Vacation Home. (Narula is my roommate's married name.) Tina and I have not seen each other since the day she got married in 1999 so it was fun to see her with a family and all grown up! We stopped here on Mother's Day as well and were treated to our first real fondue meal.

Friday we decided to take a cruise up the Rhine River to see all the castles on the river. I do not know if we got a photo of all of them but we got just a few.

This was in some park that we passed in the boat.

This is the town of Rudesheim where we caught the boat.

In Rudesheim we had our first doner. This is sort of like a pita but a large one could feed 2 or 3 or 1 person for the day.

Saturday was the big day for Payton. He had been asking since we booked the tickets to Europe if we could go here first.

It was fun to see all the decorations made out of Legos.

They had a driving course for an extra 5 euros. We decided it was worth it for Payton to do since he had specifically asked if he could do this before we even got to the park.

They take the kids for 45 mins (free babysitting!) and then at the end are given a driver's license.

The next stop was a roller coaster. I decided to be brave and go on it. Mike and Payton were in front and Tina and I rode together. I was laughing so hard that I had a hard time catching my breath. Then it was time for the younger boys to ride a roller coaster.

Payton rode with Tina's boys and husband.

This was a ride that took you over much of the park. We were not sure if we really had to peddle or if they just had it there for you to to think you had to. Mike was nice and took the kids in one car and Tina and I laughed in the other.

This ride had you pull yourself up and then let go and it would drop you. You could go up and down as many times as you wanted in the allotted time for the ride.

We came to the Mini Land. This had different places from around Europe build all out of Legos.

Can you guess which place Payton ran to first?

They were making a Star Wars ride that was opening in in June.

We decided to eat at Legoland for dinner. This was the last place open and we had to wait 15 mins for the pizzas to cook for the kids. All the adults had their food - the kids had the look of beggars on their faces - "Please Sir, can I have some more"

Sunday we took the train in to Frankfurt to look around at some museums. We were surprised at all the places that were closed on Sunday compared to the States. We had a hard time finding somewhere to eat lunch and settled on a bar that served schnitzel.

This was a huge football (soccer to us Americans) outside the train station. The Frankfurt train station is suppose to be one of the largest in Europe.

We walked through an expressionists art museum, communications museum, and architect museum. This was about the only time it rained on us too.

Monday we toured the town of Wiesbaden with Tina. We had read that they have the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock so we wanted to go see it.

The store had cuckoo clocks but what I saw was nativity pieces. I decided on was one of these. I had seen one before and thought it very different. The one I really wanted would have been close to $300 and would have been too tall to take on the airplane - it had 6 tiers.

This may have been the last paying toilet we saw the entire trip. I still cannot get over having to pay to use the restroom.

Our last day we went to see this Russian church that was up on the hill. You can take a train to see it and the train is powered by water. We got lost and ended up at the top so we still rode the train down and back up.

This is the view from Biebrich Palace on the banks of the Rhine and Neroberg Hill with the Russian church

Payton and Tina's boy, Oscar, riding with the conductor.

We had to leave for the airport at 6:30 Wednesday morning. We some how did not see that the flight left an hour later and landed an hour later in Atlanta than our tickets said. When we got to Atlanta (11 hours later), they had workers with orange cards waiting for those of us that had about an hour to catch the next flight. This paper allowed us to bypass the passport lines - they took us to the dignitaries line and we did not have to wait long. It was scarier getting back into the US than it was to get past the passport checks in Paris and Germany. We got grilled about where we had been and how long we had been gone and where we went while there and what we had brought with us. Then we had to go retrieve our bags and recheck them and go back through security. The US was the only place we had to remove our shoes for security. We still had the orange card so we still were bypassing everyone. We made it to our gate with only about 30 mins to spare before take off. We were able to grab something to eat while on the plane and some drinks. Then we still had more than 4 hours until we reached SLC.

We had tried so hard to stay awake the whole time. Payton finally passed out the last hour of the flight. It was hard to wake him up. He went right to bed when we got home. But Payton and I woke up for the day at 3. We are just now (a week later) getting back to normal awake times.

We had a lot of fun and are already talking about going back sometime. We just have to save up again and Mike needs to do more flights for sky miles! Next time we may venture to England and Ireland or somewhere around that area. It would be fun to live so close to so many historical places.

Salzburg

2011-05-22T09:32:00.002-06:00

On the 9th of May, we caught a train (2nd class this time but with a compartment for only 6 people so it was not as loud as the normal train cars) to Salzburg. It was amazing to see the country side. It was so green and mostly farm land. They have the rapeseed (canola oil) that grows everywhere so you have these pretty looking yellow flowers all over the country side.

We took a taxi over to our apartment not knowing that we could have walked it in about 40 mins with our luggage but since we were new to the town, it was better that we took the taxi until we familiarized ourselves with the town.

The buildings off to the right is the area that our apartment was in. The apartment was built in 1374. We were on the top floor or 4th floor with no elevator. At the top of each set of stairs you could find a crucifix with Christ hanging on it. We wondered if this was incase you could not make it any more and died right there on the stairs at least you could make your peace.

Our first day was mostly just night since we did not arrive until around 5. We asked our housekeeper, Igor, where we should eat to get authentic Austrian food. We decided to stop at an outdoor place to eat. We were not very bright to bring our jackets - after the 4 flights of stairs, we were toasty so we did not think we needed jackets. When the sun went down it was chilly. We ordered our first schnitzel.

For those of you that do not know what schnitzel is, it is pork that is cooked kind of like chicken fried steak. This plate had Vienna style potatoes with parsley. Mike was not as brave to try the schnitzel. We thought it needed some gravy like you would put on the chicken fried steak but it was still yummy.

Our first full day we stayed in town to look around. We ate breakfast at the Mozart Cafe. Then we went to the Fortress and rode the train up the mountain side.

riding up the train

views from the Fortress - this is so they could see who was coming to attack them.

I was getting tired of all the pictures that Mike wanted me in and I thought he had cut me out of this one - guess not! This is one of the cannon windows in the Fortress with the original cannon.

This was the marionette museum inside the Fortress. In the floor were these glass holes that looked down to money (We were thinking a wishing well type thing.) and this creepy marionette that would wave at you.

Payton and I wanted to be part of the Von Trapp family - can you find us?

When we were done with the Fortress, we came upon a large chess set. Payton likes to play chess so we stopped to let him enjoy seeing the large pieces.

This is the same plaza as the chess set. Each year they showcase some artist's work - this was one of a giant gold ball with a man on top. The man looked real as we were walking up to it.

This is the plaza behind our apartment

This was called the Cloak of Peace.

This was a church close by. There were some musicians playing songs and selling nesting dolls. We bought a small set from them.

This is Mozart's birth place house.

We went over to the Mozart life museum (we decided that this would be more worth the money than going into the birth place just to see where he was birthed) It was fun to see some of the original pianos (harpsichords) he used. It was also hot in this place so Payton and I went faster than Mike did. We stopped at a map of some of the places he and his sister and dad traveled to performing for people.

We passed some quick frankfurter type places on the way back but thought we could eat closer to home. We stopped at the grocery store to get some food for lunch to take with us for the next day. We got more than we thought we would and did not know you had to have your own bags. We had to buy some bags to carry them back with. We took the food back to the apartment and went back out to eat and crossed the bridge to get some frankfurters or something. They were all closed at 6. We are ashamed that we stopped at McDonalds to eat dinner. It was our first and last time in Europe. Mike made me order so I could have the experience. I got brave because all the other places we had been that day spoke some English. They had McRoyals instead of quarter pounders. The meat tasted different than it does at American stores. The fries were the same. I asked for a kid's meal for Payton but was not understood because it is called a Happy Meal and that is all they know it by in English and they did not speak much English here. I learned more understanding for people that do not speak the same language where they are living or visiting.

The next day we did a day trip out of the town to Bergesgarden. We went to two places - one the salt mine and the other was Kongissee (or King's Lake). We took the bus about 30 mins or so our to Bergesgarden and then took another back to the salt mine.

We went in and were immediately given these outfits (this is not us in the photos because we did not think we could take photos in them since we saw signs that said no photos.) We happened to come on a day that an elementary group and middle school group had come on a field trip. It is strange to be around a big group and be the only one not speaking the language everyone else is speaking.

We waiting in line to take a small train into the mine. When we got off the train we were given the history of the mine (we were given translation devices). Our first stop was this.......

This is how the real miners would get to each level of the mine. I am afraid of heights and did not want to do this but did not want to be the only person to walk the stairs down so there we were. Payton and Mike had a great time and we were all laughing the whole way down.

By the end of the tour we had seen how they mine salt - basically just like the coal and copper mines here in Utah. We were given small salt shakers with the salt that they mine.

We then walked back to the bus stop and saw that we would have to wait another 30 mins for it to come and then cut it really close to catch the next bus to Kongissee so we started to walk it back. It was hot that day too and it was a longer walk than we thought it was. Sitting on the bus was a nice break from all the walking.

We had to ask directions to the docks to get the boat to take us on to the lake. (a side note, President Monson likes to go on this lake when he is in the area.) There was a huge tour group of elderly people. They filled 2 whole boats plus the one we were on. They did not have English translation so we just nodded and smiled when everyone else was laughing.

They stop at this point on the lake and play a trumpet and it echos off the mountains around it. There is only one way into the lake other than hiking over the mountains. I did a video of the trumpet - if you listen closely you can hear the echo - it is real faint on the video.

This is the first stop on the ride up. It takes about 30 mins to get here. We decided to stay on so we would have plenty of time to catch the bus back to Bergesgarden to catch the bus back to Salzburg.

This was the second and last stop. We got off here because we needed a restroom. Yes, we had to pay for this one too. We turned the corner and the restrooms did not have the stick figures to show you which one to use. It only had the names in German. We guessed and I made Payton go into his first to make sure we had guessed right. We had!

After this photo we stuck our hands in the lake. It was cold water.

We learned that the word fahrt means exit. You see it everywhere on the highways and the train stations with other words in front of it.

Some random carving on one of the mountain walls on the lake.

We walked back to the bus stop and had a Chinese couple ask us in English if we were going back to Bergesgarden too. It was strange to have someone talk to us in English. We stopped when we got back to Salzburg and had Brats and fries and ate them at the apartment. They basically put fry sauce on the fries but put ketchup and mayo separate on the fries. We carried them the four flights up laughing the whole time that we were going to drop dead each flight because this was our second time up in less than an hour.

The next day we left on a train back to Wiesbaden, Germany to finish out our Europe stay.

We had reserved seats in another compartment on the ride back. We got to our seats and there was someone in them. This is allowed if no one is in the seat during the leg of your trip. You just have to ask them to move and they should. This man did not speak English and was trying to tell us that his companion was out smoking and would be back in (this man looked like Russian mob or something). She got back and tried to tell us that they were already in the seats and we tried to tell them we had the seats reserved. She did not speak English and we did not speak German. Finally she gestured that we take the 3 other seats in the compartment. We were fine with that and we sat down. They were on the train for about an hour and then got off. We then had the compartment to ourselves except for the other man that was in the compartment when we got on. About an hour later an elderly couple got on and the other man was in their seat so he moved over one and decided to spend the rest of his ride standing in the walkway in the hall. After he got off the train, the elderly lady sitting next to Payton started getting lunch out. She pulled out a bag with two apples and gave them to Payton to eat. We then explained that we spoke no German and they spoke no English but they were very nice to us.

In all Salzburg was our favorite spot. The people were friendly. Even the bus drivers who spoke little English still tried to help us know where to go. The scenery was amazing - green everywhere we looked. Maybe we will make it back to Europe and can see more of Austria.

Paris

2011-05-21T15:53:00.001-06:00

Our first ever family trip (first ever meaning going somewhere that was not to family and it was just us) began on May 4. Here was the true test to see if we still liked each other after two straight weeks of being together 24/7.

We landed in Paris on May 5 around lunch time there (here it was more like 3 am). We went through border check fairly quickly and found our way to the trains to go towards our apartment we had rented. It took some time to find just because there were so many exits out of the station at this particular stop. Instead of just taking a quick 10 min walk up the road we went the round about way and took more like 40 mins. Once we got all checked in and showered from the long airplane ride, we took another train over to the Eiffel Tower. On the way over we had to stop and get some "lunch".

Payton enjoying his first real croissant - yes he ate the whole thing!

Mike holding our first real crepes - there was more food there than it looked like and we could not finish it all.

We came to the Tower and were stopped by "beggars" wanting us to pay 5 euros for a caricature of Payton after the fact that they had already told us that they would just draw it and if we liked we could pay for it and if not then no big deal. We were also hounded to give money for the infant orphans by the same people. After we got done with this ordeal, we walked up to the Tower.

We decided not to go up the stairs to the tower nor do the elevator as the lines were long and it was very crowded. They had shut down anyone going up because there were too many people already up. (and I would not go up the stairs because that was way too high for me and my fear of heights!)

We decided to go over and take a boat ride on the Seine River. This was a big mistake for people that were trying to stay awake - as the boat rocked back and forth, we were nodding off. The boat was covered with dirty windows so the photos we took are not great.

The next day we decided to start at the Louvre.

There is a sidewalk there but it looks like they were walking in the fountain thing.

The Louvre was crowded and hot!

This was about as close as we could get. We know we had found her when we turned into the room and saw the crowds.

This was to show how large some of the painting really are.

Payton liked all the heads and feet

Mike thought it was funny to pretend to be the missing head on the statue.

They allowed you to go the basement to see some of the original bricks and foundation of the Louvre.

We then took the train over to the Arc of Triomphe.

This is coming out of the train and Mike wanted a photo with this movie poster - it was translated from Hangover 2 to Very Bad Trip 2.

There is the huge round about that you see in movies so you have to take an underground tunnel to get over to it.

These are the stairs you have to climb up and down to get to the top - well middle section - then there are a few more to go. I bravely scaled them clinging to the wall side so I could not look down - there is one side for going up and then another for going down.

The best experience for Payton here was the restroom. You have to pay to use most toilets in Europe. There was one here at the Arc so we took advantage of it since it was free. There was a line to get into the men's and once Payton got in, he locked himself in and could not figure out how to get out. Mike was not with us so I had to get him to come over and help. Mike had started to climb up and over the door when Payton finally realized how to unlock the door.

We decided to take the street that was full of high end names and just window shop.

Cartier!

We were so tired by the time we got to the end of the shops that we took our first pedi cab ride a few blocks down.

Us in the pedi cab in the middle of the round about with about 3 or 4 lanes of traffic.

The next day, we took the train out to Versailles.

This shows that Rockerfeller helped to restore it.

The King's Bed

The Queen's bed -someone asked if it was a Queen sized mattress.

We still had a little more time after Versallies so we decided to stop at Notre Dame - it was an hour until it closed and it was our last day in Paris.

We left Paris on Mother's Day heading to Wiesbaden, Germany (close to Frankfurt) where my roommate from Ricks is living with her family for a few years. While making the train reservations a few months ago, it was only about 20 euros more to go first class then second class. I have never gone first class anything.

We had purchased some pastries to have for breakfast on the train since we left at 9. We did not know that our price included food - we had yogurt, croissant, roll, cheese, meat and orange juice.

Exciting

2011-03-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

In less than two months we will be here!!

We are so excited to be taking our first trip to Europe. There are so many things we are planning to pack into two weeks.

We will get to experience the Eurorails

We will get to go see

This is Salzburg, Austria.

We will even go to Payton's favorite stop of the trip!

We will be taking tons of photos on my new toy that I get to order on Friday!

So if you have any suggestions on what to see while we are there, let us know. And if you have anything you want brought back, get your orders in now.

Christmas Letter

2010-12-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all! We hope this letter finds you well. We know you have been eagerly awaiting news of our exploits!

Michael is still alive after another year. He still travels for work – this year he traveled to Denmark and China among other places. Michael is serving as a High Priest Group Instructor in our ward. He helped coach Payton’s Flag Football team and plays Basketball with guys from work.

April continues to serve a church service mission doing work at the Jordan River Distribution Center a couple of days a week. April serves as the Visiting Teaching Coordinator in our ward. She also is a co-room parent for Payton’s classroom – organizing parties and helping the teacher.

Payton is in fifth grade. Payton has already finished the Weeblo from Scouts and is working on getting his Arrow of Light. He tied for Vice President in his classroom for Student Council. He played Flag Football this year. Still loves football, Legos, and anything else a ten year old boy likes to do.

May your Christmas season be joyous and we hope to hear from you.

Seeing Past What It Seems

2010-11-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Since it is November and we are suppose to be thinking of all the things we are grateful for, I thought I would post this blog for people to read and to think of all the people in our lives that may not be wearing a sign to tell us what is going on but that they are showing us signs of what they are needing. If we all can be a little nicer to each other, I really feel that this world would be a much better place - if the judgements would stop and we could see past the dust covers!

Seeing past what it seems

Haute Look

2010-09-26T11:23:00.000-06:00

I was just introduced to this site where you can get huge discounts on high end name brands. If you log in (you just have to create an account that consists of your email address and a password) you will be able to see the prices. They are hit and miss but sometimes there is something there that you have been looking for. They only keep the deals for a few days and then they are gone. Click below to get looking at the deals - clothing, food, cookbooks, furniture and so on.

http://www.hautelook.com/invite/ASorensen264

Snickerdoodle muffins

2010-08-22T20:58:00.000-06:00

These were so yummy that I had to share - if I would not make myself sick from eating them, I would eat all 12.

Snickerdoodle muffins by Oopsey Daisy

The only thing that would make them better would be to maybe put some of the topping mixture in the muffin.

Mongolian Dancers

2010-08-22T16:38:00.000-06:00

When we moved to our new home last year, I got brave and we got involved with the city International Dance Festival. Last year we hosted two dancers from Poland (boys). It was their first experience with America. They said that we had big roads and cars here. One of them spoke English so it was fairly easy to know what they needed to eat and whatnot.

This year we hosted a dancer and a singer (girls) from the Inner Grasslands of Mongolia. They have been a dance company for about 50 years but this is the first time they have come to America. They have been in movies and on television as a company in China. They even had to travel with a government official - let's see if you can find that official in the above photo.

The group as a whole spoken no English other than Go, Home, Eat, Dance. Google Translate became our best friend for the week but even that did not translate everything correctly and we had some blank stares trying to figure out what they were trying to say and they were confused as to what we were trying to say - our slang and phrases sometimes did not work.

There are more photos of the dancers on this Deseret News article. The guy dancers had costumes that resembled the Fire Nation from Avatar. Small Bugz was all into that.

One of the guests that stayed with us was a singer and she sang an opera.

Nana singing

I think we ended up having more fun this year than last year. We are still trying to figure out if it was that we had done the hosting before or if it was because we had girls or what. I like that we can learn some of other countries and their cultures and what they think of Americans.

The End

2010-06-11T15:49:00.001-06:00

Today we went to Small Bugz's cardio appointment. He has had to go yearly for check ups since he had his surgeries. Last year they found a spot that they wanted to keep an eye on. This year they said that everything looks good and that there are no murmurs. They told us to come back when he is 13!! I may start to have withdraws from not going to so many specialist appointments for him. I think we are now down to just the yearly check ups with the pediatrician.

Last night, Small Bugz was awarded the Dragon Award. It is a school award for kids that set a goal to work on a list of things (the goals are different for each grade). The 4th graders had to do the standard things like not miss school more than 5 times a quarter or be tardy more than 2 times. They also had their reading and exercise time too. Then on top of that, they had to improve in their grades, do some power point presentations and book reports, plus do some outside projects, like scouting and service projects as well as a few other items. Out of about 800 kids only 280 or so decided to work to get this. They are given a pin to wear on the lanyard that the school gave all the kids. Each year they can earn this award and add to their pins plus get pins for doing Spelling Bee or Geography Bee type things.

We are glad that this school year is coming to an end - only 3 more weeks! It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years already. Just think, 10 years ago at this time I was sitting in the hospital staring out the window (starting June 8th) with a fetal monitor around my not so big tummy. And now he is getting too big to carry but at least he still tells me he loves me!

2010-05-08T20:35:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow Small Bugz is giving a talk in Primary. We were given the topic but he wanted to know why it was not on Mothers since it is Mother's Day. He got to choose if he gave a talk or read a scripture and he chose the talk - I was shocked.

Here is is talk

The Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel Lead Me to Jesus

Following Jesus is important because he was the only person that was worthy to return to live with Heavenly Father. If we want to return to live with Heavenly Father, we need to be more like Jesus. Even though we are not perfect, the Atonement of Christ will help us as long as we try to be like Jesus.

The principles and ordinances of the gospel teach us how to follow Jesus and to be more like him. The first principle of the gospel, faith, teaches us that we should learn about Jesus, believe the things he said, and try to do them. When we learn about Jesus and his teachings, we often find things about ourselves that are not like Jesus. When we try to change our lives to be more like Jesus, we are repenting. The Atonement lets our mistakes be washed away when we repent so that we can be clean like Jesus.

Ordinances, like baptism and the sacrament, let us make promises with Heavenly Father to show that we will follow Jesus and his teachings. In return, Heavenly Father promises to help us do better, by forgiving our mistakes and giving us his help through the Gift of the Holy Ghost. When we keep our promises with Heavenly Father, he always blesses us.

I have felt the Holy Ghost as I try to keep the commandments. The Holy Ghost has helped me to feel comfort when I have been hurt. I am happier when I keep the commandments and follow Jesus. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus live and love all of us.

He says he will be nervous speaking in front of all those people. Just wait until he has to speak in sacrament meeting.

Finally Over!

2010-04-08T13:44:00.000-06:00

So I got my calling about 3 weeks ago. Last weekend everyone was entered into the computer with their VT assignments and Monday comes and I have to make changes. I know that the changes will need to be made but I did not think so often.

Last night I pulled off a conference that I had less then 3 weeks to plan for. I think it went well and the sisters enjoyed themselves and learned a few new things on how to be better visting teachers. I thought that I would have my house back after taking all the items for the conference last night - no way - I brought most of it back home with me since they still have not assigned a storage closet for the new ward. So I get to have centerpieces and plates/cups/napkins/plasticware and whatnot at my house. I also got the great job of washing the tablecloths that we borrowed from the Stake. You may not think that is a big deal but the tablecloths come with 2 pages worth of instructions on how to wash and dry them plus how to apply the stain remover and how to fold them. It actually says to dry one at a time if you don't think you can get them folded before they get wrinkled or if you do not have room to lay them flat.

So, now I am done planning and organizing those things and I almost feel lost as to what I should be doing! It will only stay that way for a few days. I am in charge of book club this month and I have to come up with the discussions for the book and I have less than 2 weeks to plan that.

Big Bugz was called to teach in High Priest group once a month. We think it is a good thing because work has been busy the last few weeks - he brings it home almost every night just so he can be home and not at the office, working until 2 a.m. one morning.

Small Bugz will have most of May off from school. Anyone have any ideas on what to do? Most of his friends are on other tracks so it is usually just us until school lets out for the other kids.

Easter was fun - I will need to get the picture up of the eggs that Small Bugz decorated - Transformer style. I got to cook for the 3 of us this year as family dinner did not happen this year. That was a first for me cooking Easter dinner. We had lamb chops, mashed potatoes, homemade wheat rolls. We even had brown gravy - that was a treat in college. Someone would crave them at any hour of the night and we all would get up and eat instant mashers with brown gravy! What else is there to do in nowhereland, Idaho?

New calling

2010-03-21T15:28:00.000-06:00

So I am the one with the new calling so far. Big Bugz was more than happy to say that he would support me in the call as long as he is not getting one too. I was called as Visting Teaching Coordinator. In a brand new ward that is a lot of work at the very beginning. I have the conference to put on in less than 3 weeks as well as work with the RS Pres. to assign all the routes. I have had this calling before but that was back in college where everyone was in the same boat - going to school. Now we have 1/4 of the ladies that are over 40 and most do not have kids at home anymore and then there are 1/2 that are in their 20s and either don't have kids, have a few or have tons, and then there are those that are in the middle or single. Trying to assign people someone that will best fit their needs at this point is not an easy task. Here's hoping I survive the next month of craziness!

Book Report

2010-03-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

Small Bugz had a book report presentation today. It was done in the fashion of a wax museum. It is was fun to see all the kids dressed up. Small Bugz wanted to do a sports person, but those of you that know him well, know that he is obsessed with sports. We made him choose something different. He did Buzz Aldrin. He was the only one that did something related to space and about the only boy that did not do sports - there were a few that did other things - Bach and Black Beard. I was a proud mom!

Presentation Video

It is hard to hear him because of how loud the class was but there was no way around that since all the kids were doing their thing at the same time.

Mining Museum

2010-03-12T10:55:00.001-07:00

We went to the Western Mining Museum while we were in Colorado. Small Bugz had a great time learning about all the things that mining does.

this is what the miners would use for their steam

Then the miners were able to build bigger steam engines and this is one of them.

The building was built around the wheel since it is so large.

Everyone matters

2010-03-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

So I re-upped for another 6 months today - told them when they are asked by Mission people that they can say I want to extend. I had a great experience today helping a man. I could tell he was not okay and so I asked what he needed and had to go around the counter to help him find what he wanted. As I was seeing what he needed, he apologized for his behavior but said he was 61 and had Parkinsons disease. He had it bad -a lot of twitching and he could not get out what he wanted to say all the time. He was wanting to get some things for his grandchild so they could work on church things together. You could tell that he had a great spirit about him as he was really trying to bring the Spirit unto his home with the things he was wanting to do.

It is sad to see people with those type of diseases. They are all there in their heads/minds, but they cannot get the things out that they need to get out. I bet they are frustrated and embarrassed when stuff happens. My grandmother had Alzheimers for about 10 years and to watch how fast she went and the things she could not remember was sad.

Mission

2010-03-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

So my 6 month mission is coming to a close. I have the option to extend for another 6 months. I have not fully decided to do this but then what else would I do? I don't know if doing this 2 days a week is still allowing me to get the things done that I need to at home on the other days I am home.

It has been a great opportunity for me to serve these people, especially the ones that are going to the temple for the first time. I get to be part of that experience. It has been fun to see.

I have about a week or so to decide what I will do.

Split Again

2010-02-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Our huge ward (over 875) finally split today! This will have been our 5th ward split in 8 years in 2 different cities. We are land locked now so hopefully we will not go through another split for awhile. We are in the new ward so that means that we are no longer ward missionaries. They only called the Bishop this morning so he does not even have counselors at this point. Who knows what our new assignments will be - the possibilities are endless. It is always fun to be in the new ward, starting fresh, never knowing where we will end up nor who we will be able to work with and get to know. I am excited to see where this adventure takes us.

6 month check up

2010-02-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

I had my 6 month check up today. They are lowering the meds from 3 to 2 pills. My blood work all looks great. My blood pressure is still low - 122/76 - last year at this time it was borderline high, I had been doing a spin class for about 7 months when I went in last Aug and was told I had lowered my blood pressure. Someone said that it must be the exercise. I was thinking it must be the fact that I no longer work with stressful, nasty people. Well, today I had it confirmed, I have not been able to get in to my spin class in over 6 months and yet my blood pressure is still low. It is funny how the Lord works and makes sure you get what you need - even if that means having you live in, what seems like at the time, horrible circumstances. Then you are given that tiny thought that it is time to try something new and when that new thing comes along, how much better life seems - the tender mercies given at the right time to lift and support when we most need it. It is all part of the growth we need to endure to the end!

New Washer and Dryer

2010-02-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

So we finally have been able to afford a new front loader washer and dryer!! Thanks to our big, fat refund from taxes and the $150 rebate from the power and gas company for buying energy efficient machines. I decided to get the pedestals so I don't have to bend over to get the clothes in. It is a tight fit in the laundry room and the builders built the room with the washer hook ups on the wrong side of the room so the machines are backwards and the doors hit! Boo to the builder on that one!!

Since they are so tall, I cannot see behind to make sure the delivery guys hooked everything up right. I turned on the washer and could not see any water but I could hear it. I was worried until I read the manual that says, "Do not be alarmed if you do not see water, the clothes are getting the water that they need to be clean." I guess I am so use to them soaking in the water that it is strange to see them dry in the washer.

I delivery guy commented on how great the washer is because he just bought one too and he loves it! I am excited to put them to the test today as we have had the old machines unhooked since Sat since Big Bugz was gone on business - the clothes have piled up!!

Video of riding horse

2010-01-26T19:48:00.002-07:00

For those of you who did not see the video of Small Bugs on the horse, here are some links to see them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JaDuo78K8Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88yycP9_mTo

RADkids

2010-01-26T19:45:00.002-07:00

Small Bugz has been taking a course at school with RADkids (http://www.radkids.org/) He has learned many different techniques to escape any danger he may encounter.

Here he is meeting the RedMan

Learning it is okay to really kick him

Starting the final course to graduate. (The helmet was too big on him! I got to play the "safe" person that they told after the "stranger" was trying to lure them.)

Attacking "Bob" with peppering the eyes.

click this link to see video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q49w7lsX0Y

His class after graduation.

Flatouts!

2010-01-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

We were in Costco the other day and decided to try out the Flatouts. I love wraps, especially is someone else makes them. They had recipes inside the pack so we tried some. We made pizza on them one night and Small Bugz loved them! He ate the whole thing and the calories were less than 300 ( would say more like 200) for the whole thing and it was filling. Next time we may try the tomato and cream sauce instead of traditional pepperoni.

Has anyone else tried anything fun with these Flatouts?? If so, what did you do?

$0.99 tater tots

2010-01-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Are people getting dumber or is it just me?

So today we were on a mission to get a lot of errands run within a four hour period. Every place we went to had some really not smart people. (except Kohl's) We are at Ikea and walking in the parking lot and there is this suburban backing up the whole length of the isle because he was too lazy to go around to park his vehicle in the loading zone. He about hit two cars that were turning into the isle to park. And he kept right on going not caring that those cars were there! Then we are heading to the Apple store (Yes, Grace, I got a new computer - now I can actually use some of the new features that have come out in the last five or so years!) We are at an intersection and two cars pull out into our lane so the car in front of us as well as us have to move over so we do not rear end them. It was not like we were running a red light or anything and they could have waited as there were no more cars coming after us. So we get to the underground parking for the Apple store. You would think that it was rocket science for some of those people to follow the signs and park as well as get out of the parking garage. Then we pass Arctic Circle on the way home and it has a sign advertising $0.99 tater tots. I had to laugh because the whole day reminded me of Napolean Dynamite.

So why did we have to hurry for our errands????

Stalker husband was at it again! But this time he has involved Small Bugz! Brandon Sanderson was going to be at another store today for a book signing. Big Bugz talked Small Bugz into using his money to buy the next two books in the children's series by Sanderson so that they could get them signed. Small Bugz was all for it after he figured out that we were not going to buy the books for him. They are a funny pair sometimes.

Mysterious Ways

2010-01-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I was having one of those days. You know the kind where you think that you are all alone. You feel that you have no friends. No one wants to do anything with you and you think that if you were to do something that you have no one to call in the first place to go do something with. You just wonder why you are here on earth. So as I walked out to get the mail, the girl I visit teach happens to be driving by (I personally think that she is one of the "popular" ones in the ward and everyone knows her and how sad that she has me for a visiting teacher, right?) She actually stops and unrolls her window and says Hi to me. Here I am thinking that no one even notices that I am alive and here is someone that stops just to say Hi - she wanted nothing else - just to wave Hi and drive on.

Then today, I was still kind of feeling the same way and I had my mission service to do. There were so many great and small things that happened today that if you did not sit and reflect on it, you would not realize that it even happened. This lady I was helping stopped in the middle of the interaction to tell me that she thought my skin was beautiful - she thought it was very transparent and fair - I am thinking - you must be crazy because I have so many blemishes on my face right now and I don't feel very pretty with them there. She took the time to tell me what she thought not knowing it would make me feel better. There was another lady that came in and said how great the Spirit is in the building that we are in. She loves to come in just to feel of that Spirit. It is also Cuddly Day - Halmark has a "day" for everyday. We were given cuddly socks from the head ladies there. I love working with them - they laugh with me and they make me feel included even though I am not sure of myself. I think I have a long standing feeling that no one really wants to talk to me because what do I really have to say anyway and I need to get over that.

It is nice to know that the Lord will uplift even if it is in small ways that you may not realize is His handy work. We are all loved and noticed by Him!!

First Time Sledding

2010-01-03T20:27:00.001-07:00

Small Bugz went sledding for the first time this past week. He was really afraid to go until we made him get on with Big Bugz and pushed them down the hill. He came back up and said how cool that was.

This is at one of the parks by the house. We did not stay long because it started to get crowded and it was very windy and cold!

Christmas

2010-01-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Christmas was exciting this year for Small Bugz. He got all the Legos he could handle (well, I am sure he could have handled more if we had gotten more!)

This year it seemed kind of strange for Christmas. I don't know if it was the fact that Small Bugz went to school right up to the 23rd or if it was the fact that I had all the shopping done and wrapped and under the tree at Thanksgiving. We actually stuck to our budget this year. It is much harder to get things when you have a budget to stick to that included the stocking items too.

We started (I say started because we could not stand to watch more than 30 mins of it) to watch this crazy show called "What Would Jesus Buy?" It is a documentary about this preacher guy who is over the Stop Shopping Church - yes, that is really the name of the church. He had good points but the way he went about doing it was so wrong on so many levels! He went into a Disney Store and started shouting that Disney was part of the Devil and that the shoppers were being tempted by the store. He ended up being escorted out of the store by security! The points he was trying to make was that there is no need to go into horrible debt for Christmas. That this is not what Christmas is about. They interviewed some people and they were saying that they did not care if they went broke because it was going to make their kids happy and that it was for the kids. One lady said that it used to be nice to give a small gift and that would be welcomed but now a small gift is laughed at and no one wanted small gifts. They were talking about how this guy was shot trying to buy a PS3 when it first came out and he still wanted to be the first to buy the system, so he was trying to get the clerk to get his wallet out and get to his credit card while he was bleeding out from the bullet. I remember my mom trying to find the Cabbage Patch dolls for us for Christmas. I can't believe how much worse it has gotten since then. They kept saying how even the media tries to tell you that it is your duty to go shop as it gives you the count down "shopping" days until Christmas - not the days until Christmas. They also were saying that we could fit all of North and South America inside all the shopping centers we have in the US. I think that we are very different as far as how much people spend on Christmas. I have heard people saying that they spend $200 + on each kid and they have 4-5 kids plus a spouse. We don't spend that much on the 3 of us for the entire Christmas. I can see spending that if you don't buy anything else throughout the year but I seriously doubt that they do not spend anything else throughout the year - I hate hearing that people (mainly mothers) hate working so much but that they HAVE to so they can sustain the lifestyle they think they need. I heard one person tell me that they have to drive this car and live in this house and so they have to work so they can afford to make their bills every month - if they did not work they would loose it all. I think that is really sad that someone can get themselves (meaning their family) into a situation like that - the pressure you have to feel on a daily basis to keep jobs that you don't really need.

Sorry I ranted - the show got worse so we turned it off. I was more shocked hearing the people on the street telling that they have to spend so much on Christmas or their kids would not be happy. I think there are way too many spoiled brats out there that EXPECT things to be handed to them. And the sad part is that the parents will give them whatever they ask for - it is almost like the parents are afraid of their kids!

Out of the mouth of babes

2009-12-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

So Small Bugz had a book exchange at his class party yesterday. I sent a new book wrapped. He comes home with this ratty book that has the back cover falling off. I am thinking how rude of someone to send a ratty book to exchange. I am getting huffy and puffy over the fact that my child got such an old book. I ask him why he got such an old book. He told me that he exchanged with another kid. So I am getting madder as the conversation goes. I said to him why would you choose a ratty book over a new one. He said because I wanted to. Still getting mad. I asked again. He said that the boy sat out during the exchange and was sad that he did not get a book like all the other kids. So Small Bugz gave the new book he had just gotten to the boy and got the ratty book in exchange. I was shocked that I was getting all mad thinking that someone had been rude, when it really was Small Bugz having the real Christmas spirit!

I am glad that he has learned somewhat how to treat other people.

Saw the movie, Invictus, today - great show!

Hope you all have a great Christmas Day!

I am getting old!

2009-12-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

I went to the eye doctor two weeks ago and was told that it is surprising that I have never had glasses. So I was given a prescription for glasses - my one eye is like 160 and the other is like 40 or something. So today the glasses came in. My eyes are not liking the adjusting - 33 years of trying to focus on their own and now they are being forced to focus on the correct things.

This is the first year that we are not having Santa play a big role in our Christmas presents. It seems to be working out much better this way. Small Bugz has even asked how we do stockings. If we get up really early and do them. He will get to help with that this year too.

We are planning to go see Invictus and Sherlock Holmes this week.

Anyone have any opinions on the government health care plan???

Music to my ears?

2009-12-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

Small Bugz will be learning to play the recorder beginning in Jan, at school. He has brought home the recorder. We did a small lesson with him the other day and he is so excited that he can play "Hot Cross Buns" I am glad that today he took a small break from playing!

Today was a fun day at the Mission. The ladies there are so fun to work with. They get my sense of humor and dish it right back! It has been fun to see the people come in and buy Christmas gifts. We have had grandparents buying for grandkids and missionaries getting ready to go and brides getting ready to be married. My favorite one this week was a lady around 40 or 50 who would be going to the temple for the first time and the excitement you could see on her face but yet how nervous she was at the changes that were coming. I am grateful that I have the chance to see people as they are making huge changes in their lives that will allow them eternal happiness.

Christmas Greetings!

2009-12-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all! I hope your year has been filled with as many blessings as ours has.

Our biggest announcement for this year was that we were able to sell our house in Eagle Mountain and move to South Jordan. We now live about a 10 minute walk from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. We love the area we are in and have enjoyed the new opportunities we have been given

Big Bugz graduated this past August with his Masters in Education - Instructional Design. He still travels for work. Big Bugz is serving as the Ward Mission Leader in our church in a ward with over 750 members after splitting in March.

Momma Bugz is once again a stay at home mom. Momma Bugz has been called on a church service mission doing work at the Jordan River Distribution Center a couple of days a week. It is a great environment and there are some great ladies there. Momma Bugz is a ward missionary in the church as well.

Small Bugz is in fourth grade. He is attending a new school where they have year round schooling. So he goes for nine weeks and has three weeks off. He has already finished the Bear from Scouts and is working on getting his 3^rd arrow until he can start working on Weeblos. He had five teeth pulled to make room for the teeth trying to squeeze in, this summer. Still loves football, Legos, Transformers and any video game he can get his hands on.

May your Christmas season be joyous and we hope to hear from you.

High Ho Silver!

2009-11-19T16:52:00.001-07:00

So Big Bugz has a rich Uncle. He pays part way once a year for us to come to Tucson. While we were there, he suggested that Small Bugz take a private riding lesson for horses. He said it was his treat. So we got to take Small Bugz to learn to ride. He was scared at first but as he went along the more comfortable he got riding.

Small Bugz thinking about getting on Pal.

Getting one foot in.

Getting the final checks done before beginning.

The instructor took him on a big arena to teach him how to make the horse do what he needed to do. Then they went to this obstacle course. He had to lead him around and up hills and make him stop in certain places. Then the real fun came. He was taken into an enclosed area where he would learn to trot. Small Bugz got scared the first time, but then after he knew he would not get hurt, he actually was laughing and singing the Lone Ranger theme song as he would trot.

Small Bugz at the end, petting Pal to tell him thanks for working with him and being so nice.

(There are videos but all the places I have tried to go to to upload them end up getting an error - I will keep trying)

Tucson

2009-11-19T16:27:00.002-07:00

We went on our yearly trip to Tucson this past week. Big Bugz was in Phoenix for a conference so we drove to meet him and stayed in the hotel and drove the rest of the way to Tucson. I had my diet Mt. Dew - I had 48 oz so I was wide awake on the drive down but it was either raining or snowing the majority of the way.

This is what we get to do while there

This is the front of the house when you come up the drive. The just redid the drive with this stone and we had to park outside the gate since the drive was not sealed yet.

This is the path to the guest house - you can see the house in the top left corner. I don't know if you can see the wall here in the front that is like a window - that is their bathroom - their shower wall is that block glass stuff that would let the natural light in. I think that is pretty cool. I am glad that I have never walked past while they are taking a shower though. They do have a his and her bathroom so there are actually two window/walls like that.

This is the croquet course. The just took out their real grass and put this turf in - it looks great and Small Bugs spent hours perfecting his skills.

This is their pool. It is right out from the guest house and is heated all year round.

On the drive down in Utah there are a few towns that like to make people obey the speed limits. They have this

off the side of the road with dummies dressed in uniforms to make you think they are really sitting there clocking you. We think it is kind of creepy to see this dummy looking at the window at you as you drive past. So about 30 mins after I took this photo, karma came to bite us in the rear. Big Bugz did not see the change in speed coming up over a hill and a UHP was waiting for him. He was nice and asked where we were coming from or going to. Big Bugz explained that he did not see the change in speed. He took our info and when he came back he said, "I am giving you a warning this time, but you will not get another. Watch your speed!" So the rest of the trip we would laugh about not getting another and of course, Big Bugz drove no more than five over the rest of the way home.

Now we get to have family and friend visit over the next week or so.

Santa is done shopping!

2009-11-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

I am so happy that I was able to finish all of my Christmas shopping this last week. I have a few things left to get for Big Bugz but I am waiting a few more days to go get those things. I hate the crowds during the holidays - people turn nasty in parking lots and stores.

I did finish the second of two book fairs yesterday. I made another $4000 at this one. I am very tired and glad it is all over - I need a vacation!

I get to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year. I have only done this one other time and it was only for my Father-in-law and for sibling-in-laws. This time I am cooking for my parents - Mom always cooks and knows what she wants and how to make it. They will be traveling here the day of, so it all falls on me to make sure I get it just right.

I am getting involved in a book club - the book for next month is Recovering Charles - I hated it! I hope there are others that feel the same way when we discuss it or I will have to sit silently while everyone else discusses it. In Dec., we have to come up with a book to give as a gift that will also be our choices for next year. Any ideas?

Also, I got picked to do the games at my missionary party in a few weeks. Any ideas on Christmas party games? It is all women and I am the youngest.

Halloween

2009-10-31T21:36:00.000-06:00

Small Bugz new school does a parade at the school for the parents to come see the costumes.

I happened to be there setting up the book fair for the coming week - he was the only Spock in the whole school!

Small Bugz was so excited to go trick or treating tonight. He said I wont eat the candy but you and dad can eat it and that is fine! How lucky are we that we don't have to share his loot with him??

He got so much that we emptied the bag from Big Bugz's work trick or treat and then they went out, (see previous post) and we emptied that and when they came back the last time, Big Bugz had to have some in his pockets so the candy would not fall out.

We only got 6 groups that came to our door. I guess they do not know we are hidden back here but the good news is that Christmas candy is already bought!

Hope everyone had a safe night!

The Stalker has struck!!

2009-10-31T21:27:00.000-06:00

Big Bugz actually stalked the author tonight. He said what better night than Halloween to go over. He took a book with him and got it autographed. Then the author must have seen the excitement because he went over and got the brand new book that was just released into stores and gave Big Bugz a copy and signed that one as well.

Talk about walking on cloud 9. And they are going to try to get together at the start of the year when things are not so busy for the author.

I don't know how he will sleep tonight - he might not even wash his hand!

Long week

2009-10-24T19:37:00.000-06:00

What have I been doing all week -

So I thought I would be nice and take over the book fair at the school this year since I have done a few in the past at the other school. This was before I was called on the mission. So with almost no volunteer help to man the fair, I managed to work the fair plus do my mission stuff this week. The fair was from 9 until 3:30 most days until parent/teacher conferences began on Thurs and Fri., then they went until 8. Since they have year round school, they have to have two fairs, one for each conference session due to some kids not being at school. So we got to take the fair down Fri night only to put another one back up this coming Fri and do it all again the following week. The things we do for our kids!

I am counting the days until Small Bugz is off track - three more weeks!!!!

Stalker Alert!!!

2009-10-16T20:13:00.000-06:00

We have a famous author that lives around us and Big Bugz has been reading his books since he was like 11. So once Big Bugz realized who this person was, he has been trying to devise a plan to talk to him. He has already looked up the author's address and has considered walking over but decided it was a little too far to walk. Then he thought he would corner him at church and discuss the books but decided it was not appropriate at church. So now he is thinking he will just drive to the house and ring the door bell. I asked him if it was Stephen King, would he be going up to his door and his reply was ummm yeah!!

Needless to say, I am past embarrassment! I told him not to give his name out so that the author does not know who I am. I think he may need to enroll in a Sci-fi author stalker program. He is a little too giddy about talking to this author!

Service week

2009-10-12T17:22:00.000-06:00

Today I started my Service Missionary calling. The ladies were shocked at how quickly I caught on to things. I guess they get some older people in that have never touched a computer so it is hard for them to catch on to learning the register. They were all very nice and friendly and I think this will be a great place to be able to have some interaction with some great people a few times a week. Wednesday I will find out more of what my schedule will be and more specific jobs. I will also get my black missionary badge - I guess that will really make it all official. Maybe I will get someone to take a picture of me with it on.

Trees

2009-10-12T17:09:00.000-06:00

The Stake HP had a service project day Saturday morning. It was to plant trees in a bird migration area. I guess the guy running the project was not a member and was overwhelmed with the 300-400 trees that were planted in 3 hours. Here were are planting two trees. We only had that much time because we started the morning out being at the pick up place to get $16 worth (a laundry basket full) of fruit and veggies at 7 am and then we had to pick up the new glasses before 11 down in Orem.

My big strong man digging the first hole.

We were told to bring water so here I am with 3 water bottles stuffed into my hoodie. It was not easy to bend over to help dig the hole with all those bottles.

I hope they call me on a mission

2009-10-08T15:01:00.000-06:00

Since I am so bored at home all day while Small Bugz is at school, I have been racking my brain to come up with something to do. All the scrapbooking is done (as far as photos developed) and my book stack is shrinking. No luck on finding a work from home job or a job that would let me off with the year round school schedule. I did a search on Service Missions and have found one.

Sunday I will be set apart as a Service Missionary. I will be working a total of 8 hours at the distribution center every week. I start my training this coming week. I am hoping this will give me some interaction with people and make my weeks not seem so long.

Now to find something to fill the other days!

First time for everything

2009-10-07T17:45:00.000-06:00

So today is the end of a 12 day business trip for Dad Bugz (he gets home almost to make it 13 days). I am about worn out from playing both mom and dad roles. I don't know how single moms do it all the time!

Anyways, today was one of those battle days with Small Bugz. He was tired and being sassy so he was getting in trouble left and right as he got ready for school. He put his church shoes on a few months ago and said I can't get them to go on, so I got down and shoved his foot into the shoe and it really would not go on. Gasp! His shoes that he had been wearing for the past two years really did not fit anymore. We have gotten so use to the fact that he just does not grow that we don't think he actually grows and needs larger sizes. So back to the original story - I got him out the door after having an argument about him riding his bike to school. He had been gone for about 3 mins when I hear the door. I open the door and he says, "My sock is being weird," and he needs help. I take his shoe off and his sock has slid half way down his foot. I thought in the back of my head that he needed his newer socks that were bigger but he was going to be late to school so I fixed the sock and got him out the door again. The argument started again that he wanted to ride his bike and not his scooter to school. I told him no and to get on to school. I closed the door and looked out the window and saw him sticking his tongue out at me with a sassy attitude. I opened the door up and said that was rude (while inside I was shocked that he was doing that - never before had I seen this from him!) He said, "Sorry, Mom!"

I hope this does not mean that we are hitting the wonderful Preteen years early!

I also went on a field trip with his class today to This is the Place Park. His class his awful and that is putting it nicely. They are so rude and do not listen to anything adults say, not even the teacher. On the way back they were talking about stuff that I don't think I knew much about until I was way older than them (9/10 year olds) One of the kids said a word and someone said what does that mean and he said he had no idea but he had been saying it all day. The park was getting ready for Halloween and had some hung dolls hanging from the rafters and this same boy says Dead Man Walking, Dead Man Walking! I did not even know what this was until I was in my 20s. Is it just me or do kids know more earlier than we did at their age?

Errand Boy

2009-10-06T19:53:00.000-06:00

Small Bugs did his first errand, by himself, for me today! We had to get some money to the Scout leader for a day camp thing they are doing on Friday. Small Bugz put the check in his pocket, got his helmet on, and got on his bike. (He just learned to ride his bike without the training wheels a month or so ago. He has been wanting to ride it to school but school is mostly uphill for him and he is not strong enough, yet, to do that.) He rode the two blocks to her house and back without incident. He was all proud of himself for helping out.

I was thinking the other day that I have less than six years and he will be able to be behind the wheel!! I don't think it will be all that bad as he is one of the most careful go cart drivers around!

Everyone knows it's Windy!

2009-10-04T13:42:00.000-06:00

WOW! That wind is blowing. I had to take my wreath off the door so it would stop screeching on the window. I am thinking if the mat had not been so wet, it would have blown away. I can feel the windows rattle. I guess I should be grateful that it is day time and not trying to sleep with that wind. I can see the waves on the lake. They say that the worst of it is yet to come this afternoon when the cold front comes in.

Conference has had some great talks. Even Small Bugz was paying attention. On one of the talks yesterday, I had to pause (yes, we tivo Conference) so I could hear his thoughts on the talk. He went off for about five mins. It is great to see that even when it looks like they are not paying attention, they are hearing everything.

Friday

2009-10-02T16:05:00.000-06:00

What to do on a Friday with no school??

We were going to see the Toy Story movies in 3D but looked and saw that they were almost sold out and the remaining seats were not great. We saw Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. I loved this book growing up and have bought it for Small Bugz along with the second book, Pickles To Pittsburg. The movie was not the book but it was still an okay show. In the book it is the Grandfather that tells stories about the town Chewandswallow. In the movie, it is about a guy who no one likes because he is smart and invents things that don't work out. He messes up and sends his food maker machine into the sky and it ends up producing the food.

Small Bugs likes the no school days. He can play Madden!

I am in charge of getting birthday things to the women at church and need to go do that for the next week's birthdays but I am already comfy at home. I guess I will have to do that tomorrow between conferences but then that means I have to be presentable and not in my lounge clothes!

Question for the week/month

2009-10-01T18:35:00.000-06:00

What is the last book you read and what are your thoughts on the book???

Mine is the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Once I got into the book, I could not stop reading. We first only bought the first book but then by the time I was done with that one, I ran to Costco to get the second one that just came out. I am now waiting for the third book (no idea when it will be released but I am hoping soon but it looks like 2011!) And I just learned they are making a movie from the series. For those of you that have not read the books, I don't want to say too much about them so you have the same experience reading them that I did.

Where are your glasses?

2009-10-01T18:11:00.000-06:00

So when the soccer clinic was over, I went to find Small Bugz. I did not recognize him. He did not have his glasses on that he has had since he was 18 months old. I asked him in a very motherly tone, "Where are your glasses?" He said, "They broke and I want contacts!" He then told me that one of the ladies running the clinic had them. I went to go find her. This is what I got .......

I was glad that today was the yearly eye check up. I knew we would not be without the correct prescription for long and thank goodness we had a backup pair from two years ago. So after a two hour appointment plus an hour wait for eyes to dilate where we ran to get a flu shot at the other doctor office , we walked away $400 richer, I mean poorer. Isn't having kids so much fun??

Soccer Clinic

2009-10-01T18:00:00.001-06:00

The Major League Soccer team in Salt Lake City is the Real Salt Lake. They play a stadium owned by the people that built the community where I live. So this past Monday they came to hold a free soccer clinic for two hours. Small Bugz was very excited to go. They paired him up with the nine and ten year olds and set off to do about five different activities. One he got to be the goalie (the top photo). And the second photo is all the kids running trying not to get hit my the balls. If you did, you were out and got to help get the other kids out. He had so much fun. I think that will be one of our last days of shorts until next Spring - We went from 88 on Tues to 49 for the high on Wed.

Starting out

2009-09-30T16:12:00.000-06:00

So I have been told to start a blog. So to all of you that have asked me to, here you go!

Not sure what direction I will take this but I will try to post the most exciting things that happen to me like doing dishes and mopping the floors.

I am thinking I will start out with questions and see if we can get some interesting conversations going on different topics. I will stay very clear of politics - that is a nasty topic to get into with anyone.