Forgiveness

My friend Julie put this on her blog.  I watched it and was bawling within the first minute of it.  I kept thinking…what dumb things am I not forgiving?  I really need to fix that.  I’ve had nothing even close to this traumatic happen to me and sometimes I still won’t forgive.  What/who do you need to forgive?

Pioneer Day

This past weekend was the celebration of Pioneer Day in the Beehive State.  Our little city happens to have it’s Fiesta Days celebration at the same time so it works out nicely.  We went to the parade this year to watch Jason with his Karate Studio.  Liam loved all the different things at the parade. The beginning with the flags and military Self-portrait—someday I’ll be able to take one that is half way decent The horses—and their poop were a hit-sorry not pics of the poop. Some of Liams awesome dance moves.  He wasn’t picky about the music…he’ll dance to anything. 

The candy—oh, the candy was his favorite by far.  At the beginning I had to go out with him, but by the end he was a pro and holding his own at grabbing up the candy as fast as he could.  He was no match for the bigger kids, but luckily they were pretty nice and didn’t hog all of it.  This picture is for me more than Liam…I love cheer stunts. I tried to get him to look at me with the mask on, but he wouldn’t cooperate.  Jason’s turn was finally here!  (he was almost at the end) Bye Jason! Spinning with joy and possibly from the effects of all the sugar consumed at the parade.

After the parade we headed home for a quick breather and to change our clothes since both mine and Liam’s were covered in stickiness from candy and otter pops.  (Mine were courtesy of Liam in case you thought I was the one that got mine all sticky)

We had a nice relaxing afternoon and then we headed to Provo to have some fun with Jason’s family.  This year marked ten years since Jason’s brother Matthew passed away so we went to the cemetery to decorate his headstone.  I forgot to take a picture of the things the kids made to add to the wind chimes that are in the tree.  They stamped words into washers to hang up.  One said Miss you Matt, and the other one said Love you forever.  It was cute and sweet that they did that. 

Next we headed up the canyon for some good food and some fun playing the kids played “soccer” (mostly they kicked the ball over the ledge onto the Provo river trail and we had to go get it), a kids version of bocce ball, and catch and they just ran around a lot.  Right before we left they all headed down to the river to check it out. 

After all our fun up the canyon we headed home to have a rest before the excitement of fireworks.  Liam’s first experience with sparklers—he didn't like them too much and kept dropping them into the bucket of water.  I love this picture of Liam and Brooklyn.  All the kids mesmerized by the fireworks display Sparklers look so cool in pictures … It was a fun night and a great day of celebrating!  Hope yours was great too!

Grateful Sunday

I know this has been totally hit and miss for me, but I NEED to find some things to be grateful for today. 

I’m grateful for talks like this by inspired leaders that help me figure out how to be better.

My husband that puts up with all my irrational irritability

Kids that are such good helpers even if it is with a bit of resistance once in awhile. 

Summer---

health

 

What are you grateful for?

A little rant

Warning:  pet peeves and ranting ahead.  If you don’t wanna hear it stop reading now.  If it applies to you that doesn’t mean I’m talking about you so please don’t be offended.  I have no one in particular in mind with this post I just need to complain a little. 

When did being 15-30 minutes late become acceptable behavior?  When did it start meaning that you must just have a lot going on and you must be really busy so the rest of the world should wait for you?  I understand that things happen especially if you have kids, but some people are chronically late—you know someone too.  How hard is it to just start getting ready sooner?  If you are late next time start earlier—way earlier than you think you need to.  The worst thing that could happen is that you could end up being ready before you actually need to be somewhere.  I just think it is incredibly rude to be late all the time and to expect people to wait for you—I think it’s equally rude for those who are ON TIME to be kept waiting because some more people might be coming.  That is like saying that I’m not as important as whoever it is we are waiting for even though I made the effort to actually come on time.  We are ALL busy—everyone has a lot going on and if people would just be on time then all of us would have more time to get things done because we wouldn’t waste it sitting around waiting for late people.  OK—I think I’m done with that one. 

Next rant.  When did giving your word/commitment that you are going to do something start meaning that you will do it—but only if it isn’t too inconvenient for you or if something better doesn’t come along?  I find this happening more and more not just with youth, but with adults too.  It drives me crazy!  For church callings I hate having to have “back-up” in case someone doesn’t do their share it’s just easier for me to do it myself and not have to worry about whether it’s going to get done or not.  (I think this is called being a control freak—I am one)I realize that things happen that are beyond your control sometimes, but just let someone know that you are having a problem and need help…and don’t make everything into a major deal.  There you have it.  Two of my pet peeves—thank my parents for instilling in me a sense of responsibility (I wish more people had one) to follow through when I commit to do something. 

In my defense—I am extra irritable right now so hormones are my excuse for the ranting found above.    Have a nice day. 

Family night at scout camp

Last week Jason went to his first scout camp.  He was really excited to go and I was really sad to send him.  I don’t remember my Mom caring so much when we left for camps and things, but maybe she just didn’t tell us.  We missed him all week and Liam asked if Jason was home yet every morning.  Friday we got to go up to the camp for family night.  This is where they show you their campsite (and messy/smelly tent) and then you go to a fireside program complete with silly skits, silly songs, patriotic presentations, and lots of cheering.  It was fun to see Jason have so much fun being silly and crazy.  Bonus: he earned five merit badges!  Liam was glued to Jason for the first few minutes.  The boys from our ward that went to camp—most of them anyway.  Liam was mesmerized by all the craziness during the program.  (Pay no attention to the bags under my eyes…) Flag ceremony.

We had to leave before it was over because it was 10:30 and Liam was on the verge of a meltdown.  But we were happy to go and share the fun with Jason!

Friends

We’ve had some fun times with friends the past week or two. 

Pushing Jayda on the swing Bouncing on a raft with DanielleMore playing on the raft with Camden . What I couldn’t capture with my camera was when Liam would grab the raft and start running and Camden would try to catch him.  They kept going with that game for quite awhile and then Camden grabbed it and started running so Liam could chase him.  Oh to be able to enjoy a good game of chase again.  :) 

We got to go play with our friend Baylie and bonus for me I got to talk with Baylie’s Mom, Kristin.  They had tons of fun at Baylie’s grandma’s house.  I want her for a grandma!  ;)  They enjoyed some snow cones.

climbed the jungle gym then had to call Mommy to get him down.Giving each other “love” on the chair—or maybe they were just fighting…

   Some friends of ours from when we lived in Wymount were here from Virginia visiting family.  Luckily for us they had time to meet us at the park and catch up a little bit.  Liam and Joseph on the slide.

 Emily and Maddie—they are old enough they were both feeling shy and awkward and it wasn’t until we were pretty much ready to go that they seemed to warm up to one another.   Merrilee and me—we had to have  a picture!  I would love it if they were able to move closer so we could see them more now that her husband it finished with his residency. 

While Jason was at Scout camp last week the rest of us went bowling and Em brought her friend Teagan.  They had  a blast bowling and chatting. Liam held his own nicely thanks to bumpers and even got a strike with that ramp you see in this picture.  This was his reaction no matter how many pins he got down.  Bowling goes well with the destructive nature of an almost three year old.  Bonus:  Mom doesn’t have to clean up any mess! He got bored and was practicing jumping over and over.  Look how happy it makes him!  After bowling we headed to the creamer to get lunch and then the girls wanted to walk on the “twirly bridge” by BYU that goes over the road.  While they were gone Liam wanted to check out this fountain in front of the ASB.  After that we went home and Teagan used her awesome skills to help Em. rearrange her room.  I think they had a great time. 

We are looking forward to lots more fun with friends this summer! 

Fun Park

There is a park in Orem called Neilson’s Grove and it’s really a lot of fun.  We went there last week for our weekly Trans-racial adoption playgroup and it was great. They have a great playground for the little ones to play on.  Liam got brave and scaled the rock wall all on his own. There’s a pond where you can fish (we didn’t bring any poles, so Jason is trying it the hard way) and feed the ducks (if they are hungry—they weren’t interested in our bread) so I assume they had already been well fed before we got there Across the big grassy field there is this cool swing.  I hear it used to have a big handle that someone could push to turn the swing in a circle, but it’s not there anymore.  Liam was on the swing though and the movement of Emily swinging behind him kept him swinging so he didn’t mind.  Not too far from the swings is this great fountain.  Liam had fun putting his hands in, but there was a sign saying you couldn’t wade in it—which is a bummer even though I know why they say that.  There was even this cute dog there with it’s owner when we went.  Liam couldn’t get enough of petting the dog.  He is really a dog lover.  So, if you live in the area and you need a good park to go to try this one.  Just drive behind the orem wal-mart and follow the frontage road south and you’ll run into it no problem.  Let me know what you think if you go.     If you have a great park in the area you love please tell me about it!  We are in a park rut and looking for new ones to go to!