9/11

Woke up to 9/11 this morning. I think about how life has changed for all of us since then, most especially the families who lost loved ones. Not just the fear of what can happen tomorrow or the worry about the kind of lives our kids and grandkids will have but the little things too. I miss getting off an airplane and having Larry at the gate ready with a hug... that was always the best part of traveling.

It's easy to focus on all the negative things in life, but when we do, that's all we see. I like to focus on the good. I can help contribute to the good. When we focus on the good, the negative falls away. Of course it's still there, but we don't give it power to shape our lives. Of course somedays I'm better at this than others.

Today Kelsie & Abby both wore dresses to school with 9/11 in mind. They have done it every year for the last seven years. It is a special day to always remember.
-Brenda

Grab a Coat... it's September

True... It gets to be 70 degrees and Lindsey starts packing on the layers. Weird.

Our Lindsey surprised us all and went back to her natural brown hair. Breathtaking brown on her! I have been nagging her for years to be a brunette and I am so happy happy happy she finally did:)

I hired Lindsey this past week to help get our family photos organized. She needed a part time job and I just need... help BIG TIME with the gabillion pictures I have taken. She has four years completed and 24 years to go. Where does time go? It seems to be picking up speed with each coming year. THANKYOU Lindsey!
I should have done this years ago. It's like I'm multi tasking at freeway speed. I like this!
-Brenda

Yoga

We all turned into human pretzels at Young Women's tonight. Amy Williams is an amazing teacher and took us through many yoga moves... some we could do, most we couldn't. I have never seen anyone in such incredible shape. We loved it so much that the girls and I are going to start taking beginning yoga classes 3x's a week. It was way cool to begin to learn about combining body, mind and spirit together. We are excited to begin...

-Brenda

The Family That Cleans Together...

gets to watch Black Sheep after we're done. Yep! That's what I told Larry, Kelsie & Abby. It is time to take control of our kitchen cupboards. It's hard to believe that it's going on two years since our remodel and we have yet to wipe out the sawdust from the installation... tacky huh? It feels so good to have the kitchen wiped down & organized and their help is much appreciated as we work our way through the rest of the house (I haven't shared that part with them yet).
-Brenda

Sunday at Home

Stake Conference today. For some reason, it felt like an excruciating long 2 hours. I took a nap on Larry's shoulder, woke up and had only lost 11 minutes. Abby kept asking me what time it was and Ashlee & Kelsie talked through just about the whole thing. There seems to always be so much to work on. Today I left thinking that anything less than homemade rolls is falling short... (part of a talk). Somedays it is easy to feel overwhelmed, but then I take a deep breath and try to focus on doing the most important basic things and pray that everything else will fall into place.

Lindsey picked Fajitas for dinner and brought some roommates over. I think it is Ransom's new favorite dinner. Ashlee brought over a peanut butter rice krispy dessert. Our Ashlee has the amazing ability of being able to fancy up even the most simple recipe while making a mess of every pan in the kitchen. We are happy when she brings her treats our way.

We worked it all off by playing a spastic game of four square until it came to a quick end when I accidentally hit Paul below the belt. Our games should come with a warning... they are painful to watch and bring a cup.
-Brenda

Ashlee & Kelsie's yummy creation

Girl Time at the Homestead

The girls planned a getaway to the Homestead in Midway on Friday night. Our plans? To do nothing! The good news? Everyone got along. We ate a yummy dinner, played cards, watched Psych and were entertained by Conrad. Larry also learned how to text from home... a big boy step for him and fun for me.

We went to a couple of Antique shops (my favorite) and then went shopping to the outlet mall for a little bit (not my favorite and Abby was painfully bored). When we were in the dressing room, Lindsey had the nerve to smell her armpit and then asked me if I passed gas? Me? Hmmm... Lindsey, the odor did seem to follow you. This of course led to the what's better question...the natural smell of a person vs perfume. Overwhelmingly, we all like the natural smell of a person except for Lindsey who likes perfume. Thoughts anyone?

Katie finally found a Halloween costume for Conrad... looks like he will be a monkey. My suggestions of manly man costumes were instantly turned down. He will however be the cutest monkey in our neck of the jungle for Halloween.
-Brenda

Good Morning!

Notice the monkey toes...
all the girls curl their toes under just like their Dad every once in awhile

Soul Man

When Katie brought Conrad to our weekly Pebbles meeting today, he and I took a little walk... When we visited Josh & Lindsay it was easy to see that Conrad was quite taken with Josh's soul patch and wanted one badly, so we gave our favorite little guy one of his own... much to the surprise of his Mom. He totally owns this look don't you think?

Kelsie is all smiles :) and floating on air as she begins to count down 34 days ... Today was a good day!
-Brenda