So there you have it....

And now my friends, we have reached the end of our Kansas Vacation 09 pictures. Breathe a sigh of relief, because it's over now. I didn't take quite as many pictures as my parents did in Europe, and for which I teased them mercilessly. But I nearly did. You should count yourselves lucky that I only showed you the few that I did. {wink}

Tractor Time

Papa's new toy became everyone's favorite toy. He loves riding it, and so did my kids. Sariah only liked riding it if it wasn't on, but that's okay. They had fun with Papa!





Blowing raspberries at each other here:



They were catching flies in this last picture.

Work in Progress

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Growth

In what way have you grown the most in the last year?


I am learning, slowly but surely, to stand up for myself more, and especially to not be afraid to voice my opinions, even when I know others might disagree with them. This is something that's really difficult for me, because I am a people-pleaser at heart, and I don't like people being unhappy with me. But with the help of my friends, I am learning that just because you disagree with someone doesn't me you dislike them. As always, I'm a work in progress.

The Many Faces of Sariah

And Sariah's a fabulous model, too. Just so long as it's her idea.

911

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Police

Write about a time you had to call the police or other emergency services.


I feel like in responding to this I'm extremely likely to jinx myself. I've never actually had to dial 911. I'm extremely grateful for that, and wish to maintain that record.

There has been at least once when I should have called 911 and didn't. Like this summer, when a thief broke into my car, stole my garage door opener, and actually opened it. I heard the garage door go up, and what did I do? I took my Wonder Dog out to the garage to scare him off. Not my brightest moment, really.

Also, when I was 16, I babysat a police officer's kids once (and only once) for New Year's, and they--the kids--called 911 for prank value. Really, that wasn't pretty either.

The Many Faces of Caleb

Several of my children were pretty obliging with pictures that night:

Fear

Monday, July 27, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Fear

Write about an irrational fear you have, or one you have overcome.


Ummmm....

Most of my fears I can rationalize away. Which would take away from that "irrational" requirement.

I've written about this before, but really my biggest fear is millipedes. Ugh! Even the word makes me cringe. I'm not even sure why they bug me so much. They're just so ... creepy.

Okay, I'm done thinking about this now. It's just too disgusting.

The Many Faces of Rex

One of my very favorite-est things about Rex is that you can have real photo sessions with him. He will attempt everything you ask of him. In this case, however, I let him do what he wanted. And, as always, he delivered!

Warm Remembrances

For some reason, I love this picture of my boys. It somehow sums up the essence of this campfire experience. My parents just moved out to a few acres, and the kids had spent the day helping them clear branches and such from around the place, so that Dad could mow more. Daddy or Papa, one of the 2, promised them they could have a fire to burn the wood as a reward. And of course, somewhere in there, marshmallows got negotiated (and elaborated on when the guests showed up with what else but chocolate and graham crackers). Meanwhile, it wasn't exactly freezing cold outside (although it was unseasonably cool), and the fire burned really hot (but I'm sure that has nothing to do with all the other things they burned with the wood).

Here's my other favorite boy playing with fire. That just warms a mother's heart, doesn't it? Who knows? This could be the record of Sariah's glasses slipping from Bob's pocket, unbeknownst (my spell checker says this isn't a word! isn't it a word?) to him, into the fire and melting into nothing more than 2 little wire circles.
Bob was so devastated. It made both of us a little sick at heart. Fortunately, the day after we returned home, Sariah had an appointment with her eye guy, and we were able to get her new glasses within a week. Good news! Although the difference between the vision in her eyes is not lessening (which is why she wears glasses), her vision is improving, and she has a much weaker prescription now. Yeehaw!

Creation

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Made

Write about something you made as a child.

My mother was rather crafty, so as a child, it seemed like I was always making something, be it cross-stitch, macrame, needlepoint, or little crafts for girl scouts. Two things, however, really strike the chords of my memory.

The first was something we did indeed make at girl scouts for Valentine's Day. They were angels made from old-fashioned clothespins, with heart-shaped construction paper wings of pink, white, and red (what else?). We drew faces on the knobby ends of the pins. Then, Mom, who was the troop leader, sent them off to the nursing home to put on the food trays of the residents there. I couldn't have been more than 7, if not even younger, but I remember how good I felt about doing that. Oh, if only I were as inspired now as my mother was!

And second, believe it or not, was the product of my shop experience in the 6th grade. We made necklaces out of plastic pieces. Mine was exceedingly ugly, as it was orange (which, if you don't already know, if my absolute least favorite color), brown (which, then, was my other least favorite color), and aqua blue. Yeah, they were pretty ugly together. In any case, we had to glue the pieces together, and then shape them and file them down into a pleasing shape that we would turn into the pendant on a necklace, or maybe a keychain. I don't remember shape everyone else picked, but mine was a teardrop ... a big, ugly, plastic, and slightly misshapen and lopsided teardrop. But oh, I was so proud of that! It represented a lot of hard work (not unfamiliar) and patient detailing (not not not one of my talents).

As an adult, I am so very pleased that I had those opportunities for creation. I didn't think of myself as very creative as a child. Even now, my creativity is limited to certain realms (like my writing). But still I found myself a part of the creative process, and learned the joy that came from that. Even if my end-results were not perfect, they were beautiful.

My Life Is....

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Six Word Saturday

Describe your life in six words.

Chaos. Joy. Christ. Books. Children. Love.

(I think it's a good life.)

(You knew I couldn't possibly limit myself to 6 words, didn't you?)

Crisis

Okay, I'm having a little bit of a ... well, a crisis right now.

So, last night I go out to dinner with 4 lady friends of mine. Age-wise, we ranged from my own 33 to a woman in her 50s. Our cook, the big wretch, the big brave wretch, decided to serve us in order of our ages as he perceived them. I was the youngest one there by almost 3 years (although, really, what's 3 years when you're in your 30s, right?), but he still thought I was the 2nd oldest. First, he told me it was the way I dressed. Then my lack of jewelry and make-up. And finally it was my "big librarian glasses." What the heck?!?! That was really self-esteem building.

Bottom line: I have no intention of wearing more make-up. It makes my face break out, and then I look like a really old lady with acne, of all things. I have no intention of wearing any more jewelry. It's too much a hassle, and I tend to lose shiny sparkly things. My glasses? Well, first of all, they're not that big! Have you seen pictures of me from my high school years, people? And second of all, I've tried contacts, and that didn't go well. And as to my clothes ... okay, I have no fashion sense. I wear what I want to wear because nothing really looks good on me, so I might as well be comfortable without being sloppy. Although, I do get comfortably sloppy at home pretty regularly. But I digress.

Bringing it back to my bottom line: I guess I'm just going to have to look old then.

But I hope I don't run into that guy on the street sometime. He makes me really grumpy. And you never know what a crotchety old lady will do when she's grumpy.

My Honeys

Don't my kids take great pics?

Indian Cave State Park

Since we were only 4 miles from Nebraska, I felt compelled to add another state to my list. I was trying to compete with Bob, but he decided to come, and now we just canceled out our additions, I guess. Anyhow, Mom & Dad and my aunt & uncle took us to Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska.

It was a pretty awesome little place. They had a working village of sorts, with a soap maker, a candle maker, a blacksmith, and a broom maker. There was also a school house with a merry-go-round out front which entertained my children for a long while.


I think I mentioned that Grammy got to come. She was such a great picture poser!


Sariah worked hard, darn it. Check it out!


This is the Indian Cave that the park boasts. It has ancient petroglyphs carved on these walls, things like bison and eagles. We had to punish Hannah though, because we thought she made her own carvings. They read HANNAH + JUSTIN. I don't know how she got up so high to carve it where she did, and I'm still wondering who Justin is.... {wink!}


The views were breathtaking.
And of course, we had to take some pictures by the Missouri River. Where we come from, rivers this big are ... well, nonexistent.

Hannah's so awesome!

Independence Visitors' Center

While in Kansas City, we visited the Independence Visitors' Center for our church.

Sariah really liked the statue of the Christus. She kept asking to "be c[l]ose to Jesus."


Outside, there was gorgeous landscaping, and it was just the right temperature, with light drizzle, until we got into our car and zoomed off to Grammy and Papa's house. The kids humored me and posed for lots o' pictures.


Inside, they had not only some life-size representations of LDS pioneer life in Independence, but also a children's area where they could play and test things out. Sariah was thrilled!


We visited 2 other ares there. One was a photo gallery called Reflections of Christ. The pictures were amazing, and gave me all sorts of new things to ponder and contemplate.

The second was a presentation called "God's Plan for His Family," and it was also most awesome. It was a gentle reminder to me of how important family is to Heavenly Father, and how important it needs to be in my life. I walked out with a mental list of things I need to prioritize and work on, so that my family can be as important to me as the Lord wants it to be.