Tenth Passage

One of my favorite moments of melding our two families together happened about 3-4 weeks after we were married. David needed to get his ipad replaced, so we all went to the apple store in the Boise mall.  To keep the boys entertained and out of trouble, laptops with a camera and funny camera effects were set up for them. I went from computer to computer to change the current camera effect for each boy, but soon Morgan figured out how to change it himself. At one point William wanted his changed and an employee overheard and came over to assist him.  Morgan told the employee that he knew how to change it all by himself. The employee said, "Well then, why didn't you help your brother?"

Morgan looked at the man with confusion and said, "Brother?"

The man replied, "Oh, he's not your brother?"

Morgan, in amazement, asked, "How did you know he was my brother?"

The employee said, "Well, you came in together, look the same, blonde hair, it just made sense." 

The whole time I just observed this happily. I love going places as a family where people won't know us and won't know that we're a mixed family. I like it when people assume that I am the mommy of William and Owen. I like being a family of six, rather than two separate families of three that are joining together. 

Another time I met a neighbor of ours who was asking about our family. She told me that my kids all look just like me. As much as I disagree, I was happy to hear it! 

Post-it #22

We have a morning glory problem in our backyard. Those pesky weeds are taking over the lawn. But the boys don't see them as weeds, they see them as pretty flowers.

William, in his sweetness, picks me a few flowers on a daily basis. Throughout the day he will bring me one flower at a time, then go back to play. Often Morgan and Owen observe this, so they do it too. What a lucky mom I am. 

 It is 1:45 p.m. as I write this and William has already given me five flowers today.
I remember when I was a little girl and picking dandelions or those little purple field flowers by the handful and presenting them to my Grandma Martin. What I remember so keenly about it was her eager reception of them. I remember her putting the weeds, given to her in love, in a cup of water and placing them on the window sill. And I remember how it made me feel. So, I found my vase with the smallest opening and filled it with water to preserve the sweetness of sweet gifts.

Post-it #21

We have a no-shoe rule in our house, and so have a little shoe rack by the front door. It is supposed to look like this.

Owen's daily chore is to put up the shoes. But we usually have more shoes by the door than fit. So Owen improvises. 

Complete with penguin. 

Ninth Passage

David, Morgan, and Lydia, and I, just returned from a weekend in Utah. Morgan and Lydia hung out with their dad, and David and I went to downtown Salt Lake City. First we checked out the new mall they have down there. Very fancy and pretty. 

Then we went to the Salt Lake temple. 

This was our first time going to the temple together, and it was such a good experience. We felt the Spirit together, and we felt the desire even more, to be sealed together in the Lord's house. I want my David forever. 

After the temple, it was well into the afternoon, and we were HUNGRY. So we went to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building to have an early dinner or late lunch. It served as both. We planned on going to the roof restaurant, but at $40 a plate, we changed our minds and went to the Garden restaurant instead. We had a lovely view.

 But here was my favorite view....

 We had to get a photo together.

 When we were full to bursting we went to the Conference Center to walk on the roof. They have four acres up there with trees, fountains, meadows, and waterfalls. Very cool.

We went back to the JSM building and watched the movie they had playing at the Legacy theater, which was also nice to do together.

We went back to the mall where we had parked the car. We found a broken escalator, so David had to use the wrong side... :)

We had such a lovely day together, and felt so close and in love.

The next day we headed back home. Lydia is a horrible traveling companion. She screams so so much! It can be very frazzling in the car.

We stopped at a gas station in Sublett Idaho so Morgan could go to the bathroom. They had llamas there!

We let the kids feed them.

Oh, and Morgan was playing with my phone for a time and took a multitude of pictures. 74 of those pictures were close-ups of his face, many had hardly any differences. 

What a goofball. 

Post-it #20

I happen to think this is adorable.

Eighth Passage

It's been a couple weeks now, since we went bowling, but I finally got my videos converted to something not macish. (Thanks, David!) 

One weekend we decided to take the family somewhere fun. Bowling it was. And fun it was. Lydia wasn't feeling fantastic, so she was actually more containable than she would have been otherwise. For a lot of the time she just hung out in her stroller, looking miserable. 

The rest of us had a grand ol' time though.  Here's Owen.

Owen's usually took a long time to make it down the lane. But sometimes he got a little help, as seen below. 

But David usually did much better than that! See?

Morgan did really well, and a lot of times didn't even need the bumpers. His poses were funny.

William did the best of the three boys. He had a funny slide that he did, as if sliding home in baseball. And he was so fast approaching the lane that I never got a complete video.

Then there's me. The winner of the day. Boo-yeah! Pretty boring to see though.

And here are the ending scores.

After bowling, we went and got milkshakes, then went to a park to play. Caldwell may be the only place in Idaho where our white family is a minority. I didn't see any other white kids playing on the playground. Just an interesting observation, is all.

Seventh Passage

We acquired a trampoline a little bit ago from a friend. It has been the cause of endless fun over here. William has already learned how to do a flip! And it's fun to hear the boys say that Mommy can do flips, whereas Daddy does a roll.  I must concur. :) 

With the weather getting so warm, I've put the sprinkler underneath the trampoline a couple of times. The boys LOVE it. Morgan and William like to contest for a spot in the middle where most of the water is, while Owen, full of giggles, bounces around the trampoline's circumference. (Personally, I'd prefer him to stick more to the middle!)

 Lydia hasn't had the chance to jump with the water, but she loves trampoline time. That is, as long as no one else is sharing it with her. She's actually pretty good at jumping.