You Know Your Baby is Growing Up When. . .

For a long time I have been playing the ding dong belly button game with Emily. Hence, she has always called her belly button a "bing bong". Sadly, she has now figured out that the little cave in her tummy is just a belly button. Hmph. Bummer.

Beyond Their Years

Nate discovered that our litttle girls are beyond their years in spirituality. He came into our bedroom and found Rachel and Emily surrounded by books, playing on the bed.
"What are you two doing? he asked.
Rachel politely told him "We are at the temple."
"Oh, and what are you reading?"
"The scriptures," Rachel replied with a smile. Duh. What else would you read at the temple.

The Lord Giveth and He Taketh Away

Last weekend we had a death in our family. . . our van of 5 years finally gave up. It is a truly sad story. We were all packed on Saturday morning, ready to have a adventurous weekend visiting the grandparents. The kids were excited and Nate and I were all dressed to go to the Temple once we got the kids dropped off at Grandmas. Alas, when we got on the freeway, we found, to our dismay, that the van would not shift into fifth gear. Were we aware that the van was ill, you ask? Yes, but I had such great plans for it to keep going, no matter what kind of abuse we put it through. Unfortunately, the van had other plans. So, instead of going to Grandma's we went home. You can imagine what this did to the children. Once home we were stuck with on our tiny pick up truck for transportation. Five people don't fit so well in a pickup. We had to beg rides off of neighbors for several days.

Thankfully, we found a new van today. We are happy to welcome the 2000 Pontiac Montana into our home. We will try not to neglect you so you won't leave us too soon.



Special Thanks to Mom and Dad Stalker, who picked us up in Salt Lake City after we took the Frontrunner down from Ogden. Then they drove us to the dealership in Draper where we bought our new van. Love you guys.

ARE YOU LISTENING!!!!!!

Today, Ben gave a talk in primary. Of course, as is the daddy's privilege, I was there. Ben began great. "I am going to talk about prayer." Reads a scripture... "Yesterday, we decided to go to grandma's house. We were driving on the freeway and the car was broken. We went to a gas station and put in some gas, but it was still broken. Then, we said a prayer that the van wouldn't break and drove home."

Here's where it gets interesting...

Ben looked up and decided to interact with the other children. "raise your hand and tell me if you know what I was talking about." Several hands go up. Ben calls on a boy who says it was about the car that broke down. "That's not right." Ben then calls on another boy, (he would never call on a girl). Next boy, "Prayer!" "Right!" Then Ben is done and proceeds to go to his chair when Mom reminds him that he needs to end "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen" Then Ben ends, again, officially.

Apparently, Ben got his training from the great dictators in history. Demanding attention, respect, and someday, loyalty. Hale Ben!!!

Most parents want their kids to overcome their fear of giving talks, we wish ours was a little more timid.

What I did during the Superbowl

1. Ate and ate and ate. . . ugg, i'm bloated.
2. Played Barbie dolls with the little girls.
3. Talked to my sister in law who was gracious enough to entertain me.
4. Pretended to know what was going on during a few of the big plays.
5. Counted the seconds until it ended.

I am officially accepting the fact that I don't like to watch football on TV. . . I never will. I give up trying to fake it. Amen.

Oh Happy Day!

Things I am currently happy about.
1. We did our taxes and we are going to make it to graduation without any major damage.
2. My classroom looks really cute right now. (The students are another story. We will save that for a different blog.)
3. My husband made dinner tonight. (He does this many nights but especially tonight I am happy because i have been on the computer for a couple of hours and he hasn't complained.)
4. Just so you all don't think that I am a loser, I have been on the computer redesigning my blog. It takes more work than it should. Anyway, I am happy to have my three column blog up and running. Now I just have to think of things to put on it.
5. We are going to the open house for the Jordan Temple this week.
6. We have had family prayer and scripture study for almost a full month now. Quite a feat for us. Yea!
7. My mother-in-law printed off a family calendar I made and sent it to us. Thanks Mary.
8. I am on my way to Hawaii. . . oh wait. . . that's my parents. Well, I am happy for them.
9. Life is good.
10. Life is great.

Sweet Little Ben

I made a goal to blog once a week. Ummm. Here goes.
Today I caught Ben lying to me. We were eating dinner. Something Ben absolutely loathed. I told him if he ate it all he could play Mario Kart. So, we all ate, except for Ben. We all headed off in different directions, except for Ben. Minutes passed and Ben suddenly arrived at my door with a huge smile on his face. "I ate it all." Nate began to congratulate him on the success, but something was off. If you know Ben then you know he has an amazingly sensitive gag reflex. He loathed this food so much I knew there was no way he could have eaten all of it. "Ben, are you sure you ate it. You didn't throw it away in the garbage can, did you?" At this, his face fell and I knew I had hit the nail on the head. "But, it made my throat hurt." UH huh. Cry your river somewhere else. He was very upset about not getting to play Mario Kart. . . I tried to help him feel guilty about lying. I think I succeeded on a small scale. I did feel some power in the fact that he now thinks I have some kind of sixth sense about when he is lying. Maybe he'll think twice next time. Sweet Little Ben.