Pause for Potato Bugs

Preston had been quiet for too long. When question as to what he was doing, he replied that he was playing with his bug!
Saturday was spent in the garden with dad and Grandpa Taylor tilling and planting seeds. Preston proudly brought into the house a bucket of "wormies" and put them in his bedroom so they would be warm. (I discovered this by following the trail of dirt he tracked in with him.) After a spirited discussion on where worms could and could not survive, he agreed to put them back outside, and I agreed to let him keep a potato bug inside a butterfly cage in his room.

Today, I was totally in awe as I watched this highly energetic and physical child sit quietly and watch this little bug crawl all over his hands. Both William and I were impressed at the patience and interest he took in something to tiny. He looked up at us with complete pleasure and happiness and told us how much he liked his friend. "He's special to me." This simple declaration caused us to pause our adult conversation and join him in finding joy in this little creature.

Sometimes it's not the roses that steal our attention and give us reason to stop and take a breath, but the example of a little child who finds endless joy in spending the morning with a bug!

I Can Do Hard Things!

Picture Taken in Dec. 2009 at the Hover Dam while on a family vacation.

This massive bridge under construction is the perfect example of something that is crazy hard to accomplish!

I must thank my friend, Yvonne, for this entry. Recently we had a conversation in which she shared with me a saying she has her kindergartners repeat daily for a whole month at the beginning of a new school year. "I can do hard things!"

This is the perfect message to imprint upon children of such a tender and impressionable age because let's face it: Life if FULL of hard things! A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Dasha was complaining about how hard some things were at school. Then, Preston started to join in on the chime, "That's too hard!" (This is my kid who perseveres and conquers anything he wants to be good at.) ENOUGH, I decided! Since then I have become a broken record repeating, "Yep, but you can do hard things! Let me hear YOU say it! I can do hard things!" I'm happy to report that it's making a difference with them.

At this point I must confess, there have been a few things that have started to pile up quite high and heavy for our family and I've been frustrated beyond words too. Today at church I asked a friend how she was and was told, "Pretty good, but some days are so hard." Without thinking, I repeated my broken record for her. She was surprised and expressed appreciation for the pep talk. Later in choir, she shared this pep talk and her renewed optimism with the group. I was stunned and left feeling like I could benefit from taking a dose of my own medicine. For the rest of the day I have felt a little lighter and ready to tackle the challenges that always seem to come on Mondays. Nothing has changed... except my attitude.

Tonight's facebook update reads: "Monday BEWARE! I'm ready for you. GAME ON! My new motto is: "I can do hard things!" So, bring it!

Spring Break at a Glance

I have a bit of catching up to do. We took off last Friday night and joined my parents, grandparents and a few of my siblings at Sherwood's Cabin for the weekend. We had a wonderful time. I took pictures to document the events and when I went to upload them on Blogger, they uploaded backwards and I don't want to take the time to redo it. So, here's the week in reverse and all mixed up to boot!

Easter weekend brought with it a series of storms that dumped a bunch of snow. It started Friday and continued through Tuesday. The mountains saw nearly 3 feet of snow over the long weekend. Wow! Not often do you get a foot of snow to play in for Easter.

This was the view from the cabin balcony the morning we left. I'm convinced that Heber valley is one of the prettiest valley's in existence. I understand why so many choose to live here full time and commute to Salt Lake. It's tempting for sure.

Dasha didn't want to look at the hole left by her missing tooth (see previous blog post) and figured shutting her eyes for the picture would help. Makes perfect sense to me. She's over that now and looks in the mirror every chance she gets!

My mom bathed the kids and got them ready for bed one night and this is the hairdo she gave Preston. Growing up, we affectionately referred to this hairstyle as "the butt part." When I asked my mom what in the world she was thinking she replied, "Just pushing buttons. It's so much fun even when you're grown up." That comment explains so much.....

During the Easter morning egg hunt, Dasha couldn't find her last egg and Grandma came to the rescue by helping her locate the elusive egg inside the telescope. That Easter Bunny got tricky this year!

Showing off the Easter loot. As if we didn't bring enough junk food to consume over the weekend, the darn Easter Bunny brought more. Fortunately, it wasn't tempting to me. He thoughtfully neglected to leave any Cadbury chocolate eggs to tempt me.

Saturday, my mom, Diana and I went to the cemetery to visit Nancy's grave and put some new silk flowers in the vases on her headstone. I think her headstone is absolutely beautiful. It's perfect! On the back is listed the parents of Jack and Nancy and their children: Melissa and J.B.

The three of us talked, cried, reminisced and laughed. We all miss her tremendously and have greater hope in the resurrection celebrated this weekend so we can be with her again someday. Until then, we were grateful to Melissa for letting our family use the cabin and feel closer to her because of it. Friendships are blessed gifts of love!

Tooth Fairy Time

It finally happened! Dasha has watched as all of her friends have lost tooth after tooth and wondered if it would ever happen for her. At long last, she joins the ranks of the toothless 5-year-old's. I checked her two bottom teeth yesterday and told her to get working on them because I could see adult teeth pushing up. So, she sat all afternoon and wiggled one. At one point she declared with pride, "Mom, I'm being so brave about this!" A while later she asked me to try to pull it out. After one good tug, she pulled back and said, "Can we ask Heavenly Father to help me be more brave?" I guess her bravery has it's limits!

She worked on the tooth for the rest of the evening and I talked her into giving it another try. The first pull was unsuccessful and drew the most infinitesimal amount of blood. She started to cry. (My kids are complete bawl babies when it comes to blood.) I told her I wanted to check for blood, gave it one more good tug, quickly put a tissue to the little hole and faked that it hadn't worked for a second and them said, "wait! I think it's out and you didn't even cry! Woot Woot!!!"
Her reaction was priceless. She was stunned and didn't know whether to join her mother in hooting and hollering with excitement or to cry. She asked if there was blood to which I responded, "I don't know. Hold the tissue there for a bit and then we'll check."

Once I knew it was finished bleeding, I told her I wanted to take a picture of her new grin. She smiled for me and then immediately wanted to see the picture. This is the adorable pose I captured. We were still at the cabin for another night, but William had gone on home ahead of us for work. Dasha was really worried about the Tooth Fairy taking the tooth before her dad could see it. I assured her that if she didn't put it under her pillow, that she could show him the next day. Preston kept saying over and over, "Call the Tooth Fairy just in case." Kids are hilarious!

Tonight, we celebrated the rite of passage by taking the kids to the famous Kaysville Theater (a BIG night OUT for a movie) and saw Tooth Fairy the movie staring Duane Johnson. All I can say is this: if THAT's what the Tooth Fairy looks like, I want to start loosing teeth again! I'm a believer! Thanks to the movie, the kids were excited to go to bed. Dasha will wake to find a $2 bill under her pillow from the handsome fairy (although she insists her's is a girl fairy.)