Hooray!

Jeremy and I were able to go to the Temple together on Saturday.  It's been a long time since I was able to have him go with me.  He hadn't seen any of the new videos, but he got to see the first one now. :) It was heaven having him there! :) I thought that he'd want to go to our new Temple, but I guess that the Mesa one is home still in a way, so that's where we went.  You can't tell, but that's where we are in the picture.  We just needed to turn around so you could see the Temple. :)  I think he thought I was silly for doing a selfie.  I agree it's kind of silly, and most of the time I wouldn't do one at the Temple, but this was kind of a big moment for us.  I decided it needed a picture of us to go with it.

Anyway, I'm so thankful!  It was beyond description.  It was beautiful!

And afterwards we were both starving, and we didn't really have a plan for where to eat.  We got as far as Signal Butte on the freeway and Jeremy said, "There are lots of places to eat on Signal Butte."  So we went that way and ended up at In-N-Out Burger.  That was the second time I've been there.  Oh, my goodness!  So yummy!  It's surely super bad for you, though, so it's a good thing we never go there!  Jeremy ordered a double double with extra grilled onions.  That was a lot of onions!  I thought they grilled those onions a little too long, too.  I didn't like it much.  But I did love my regular double double with regular onions. :)

Yesterday Hyrum led the Priesthood as they sang in Sacrament Meeting.  Did I mention how proud I am of him?  Ha! :) Anyway, they sang Called to Serve.  He has been leading the music in Priesthood every week since sometime soon after he turned 12.  He's getting good at it!  I asked Jeremy how Hyrum ended up doing it, and he said that just one day Brother Brown (from the bishopric) asked Hyrum to lead the music in Priesthood, and then he asked him again, and now he just gets ready to do it first thing when he goes in there.  It's funny to me how a lot of responsibility is placed on his shoulders by our ward as well as our family, but kind of appropriate as well since he is who he is.  He does it all so well.  And they're all proud of him as well.

And speaking of which, I feel so proud every Sunday watching him and Joshua pass the Sacrament.  I have felt an increasing need for my family and me to stay strong, to stay in the church.  Of course, we do quite happily and willingly.  It's not something I resent, but I do feel a sense of urgency about it that wasn't there before.  So anyway, seeing them passing the Sacrament and watching their testimonies grow is a huge blessing on my head every Sunday.

And speaking of testimonies, for the last few years every time we have Conference I look at that huge audience and think how cool it is because every one of those people, or at least a huge portion of them, represent a testimony.  Every one of them represents God speaking to man on an individual basis.  So in a way, they all represent that God cares for each one of us individually and loves us as we are.  Also, I've learned as a parent that I love my children BECAUSE of how they are.  Yes, they all have their own individual struggles, but I love them!  And I would even go so far as to say that when Timmy is acting autistic (how else could I possibly say that and mean that it's not intentional but is part of who he is?) my heart swells with love for who he is.  That was a surprise to me!  I knew I'd love my children even if they had disabilities, but I never realized I'd love them because of them.  (I have a hard time with that word - disabilities - too, but I'm not sure exactly how else to say that.  Just know that autism is not something that I feel needs cured in my children.)

So anyway, that was a long tangent, but my point is that I think God loves us BECAUSE of how we are just like how I love my children.  Not that that is the only reason he loves us, but I feel certain it's one reason.

And this is certainly off-topic, but yesterday at family dinner somebody was talking about scary movies.  They said that so-and-so's kids have seen every one of the Lord of the Rings movies and every one of the Harry Potter movies, and that those are just too scary and they would never show them to their kids.  I just sat there playing a game on my tablet and stifling a chuckle.  (No, we are not into horror movies, and we do try to be selective of what we show them.  Yes, we are into movies that go along with good literature.)

Hyrum's Hair

I've been looking through pictures as I work on my next book, and I've just been realizing what a recent thing Hyrum having curly hair is!  I knew he didn't have it when he was a baby, but I also didn't realize it was so recent.

This was a trip to the park with Grandma and Grandpa Badger in Cedar City in July 2012.  *Sniffle*  I still miss that place.  But check out how relatively straight his hair was!

 

Now here he is in August 2013.  This is from a trip up the mountain.  He has a red punch mustache and Cheetos teeth.  Ha ha!

 

 

And here his is last Thursday.  You know, we have a guy at church who likes to tease him, saying that he combs his hair with a firecracker.  He's probably right.  Ha ha!

Books

Soooo

I needed a break from the important books I was reading, and I heard that The Giver was really good. I decided that since they just made a movie out of it I'd better hurry and read the book first. I still haven't seen the movie, and now I'm not sure I want to. How could they possibly make that into a movie and have it come out right? I should probably see it just to find out, huh? ;)

So, yes, I loved that book! It's about a boy who lives in a dystopia, but he learns about how life should be and he changes. It's pretty powerful. It sure made me think about the power of memories and of choice and pain and a whole lot of other things that we really do need to have in our lives.

I was kind of disappointed that the end didn't say I'd he lived or not. It really annoyed me there for a bit, but then I thought about it as I was cooking dinner, and I realized (spoiler alert!) that whether or not he survived wasn't the important thing at that moment. That was quite a sobering realization. The impotent thing, make or or not, was that he courageously did the right thing.

And, of course, when I found that it was actually four books I devoured the others as well. So good! I'm thankful that I got to read them. I just wish that one other thing had been resolved in the last one, but really I can just decide that it was.

I just ordered a book I'm having printed. I haven't been able to order one since we lived in Utah, so I'm a few years behind. I'm excited to have that done! It starts just as we got to Utah in 2011 and ends when Jeremy left for Paris. I'm looking forward to having the next one done too. It'll be just the summer that Jeremy was gone. That was an important summer.

And last, but certainly not least, I've found a fun math curriculum for the children. It's called Life of Fred. It goes from basic math all the way up to college math. It's a series of books. I've been getting one or two each time Jeremy gets paid. They are so fun! They make math fun. There's some good humor in there.  It's not all serious like a lot of math books. We've had lots of fun reading them. :)

Brom's big day!

Today was Brom's blessing day!  Jeremy gave him such a nice blessing. :) It was great.  They had me sit in a chair and hold Brom.  So I went and sat down and was wondering how that was going to work out, and I looked up and there was Paul's handsome face smiling down at me.  It made me so happy!  The blessing mentioned that Brom was given names of great men to help him remember them, and that he has a great heritage through his family.  I liked that. :) He does have a pretty great heritage.  I must say, I'm kind of proud of it, and when I say that I, of course, include Jeremy's side of the family. :)

At first, Brom did not like all those hands on his head, but when the blessing started he calmed down and just sat there.  It's neat.  I think the Spirit touched him, young as he is.  Man, I'm just so thankful to have him in our family!

Oh, and one little detail - when I went up with Brom, Timmy followed me, freaking out a little.  He needed his mommy.  He would not go to anybody else.  So they just let him lay on the floor between their legs.  Ha ha!  Silly boy! 

Paul and Carrie, Mama, and Daddy had to go home after Sacrament Meeting, but it was so nice to have them there!  Mom, Dad, Rachel, and Joe were there, and so were Aaron and Kenzie and their kids.  And Katie got to be there too, since she's in town for a visit. :)

And this afternoon it was our turn for dinner.  I feel like we've had too many turns lately!  We took a turn a week early a few weeks ago.  Mom asked us to because she thought Becca and Austin would be getting back late that Saturday night.  Then Aaron took a turn.  Then Hyrum was ordained and we had another turn.  Then Becca had a turn at Mom's house.  Then it was Mom's turn, but she asked to serve it at our house since Katie's stuff is all over her living room.  Then it was our turn again this week.  Phew!  I'm looking forward to a few weeks not at our house!

But it was a lovely day! I'm so thankful! :)

Oh, one more thing again - Brom got a big, fat blister from getting burned.  It looked awful!  But by yesterday evening it had gone down.  I'm not sure if it popped or what, but it's getting better.  Phew!

Aww

I took that first picture this morning.  He'd been sleeping and Timmy woke him before he was ready, or something like that. He fell asleep again on my lap. He looked so cute and peaceful, and his cheeks are so sweet and his hair had cute curlies. I just needed a picture. I didn't get the curlies in the picture, but I did get the cute cheeks. :)

The second one isn't as happy. I was making stew, and I left the kitchen to work on other things while it heated up to boil. Bubby toddled in there and found a chair that someone had pushed over by the stove. He is getting so quick! Before I knew what was happening he climbed up on the chair and got burned. I'm still not sure if he touched the pot or the fire, but it sure hurt! I just imagine him standing on the chair and wondering about the fire and poking his cute little finger into it. :( Well, anyway, he screamed for at least an hour. Not even a bathie helped. He finally fell asleep on me in the chair again. Now he has a blister on the end of his pointer finger. Poor fella. :(

Bubby

Let the record show that Bubby is opposed to this weaning business.

As promised

Still not the best picture. It looks kind of flat right now, I guess. But this is how long my hair is now. I love it!