Tears of Joy

Alexis is getting baptized in just over a month.  It is so sweet to see the excitement in her eyes and the bright smile that appears every time it gets brought up.  She, honestly, astounds me with her love of the gospel...but especially her love for reading the scriptures.  I do not remember, nor do I ever think I was as bright and interested in the scriptures at 7 years old like she is.  She gets it.  We do not tell her she has to read them every night.  But she does.  On her own.  She doesn't just read to say she read them.  She reads to understand them.  That is what truly amazes both Chad and I.

I decided I needed to have more time with just her to talk about this important decision in her life of being baptized.  The time she opens up the most is when she is in bed and wants me to lay next to her.  Tonight, I decided the dishes can wait...my hobbies can be pushed aside.  Something I should do a lot more often.

I told her I was going to be starting on her baptism dress tomorrow and she asked me how more than one person can feel the spirit at the same time.  I explained it with the analogy of the sun being felt by more than one person.  Then she asked why doesn't she feel the spirit strongly all the time right now and we discussed the importance of her baptism and her receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost afterwards and that being one of the many blessings.  That the Holy Ghost will always be with her to comfort her and help her as long as she is making good choices in her life.  The best way to explain that was through a personal story.

So, I told her one of the greatest lessons I learned about the Holy Ghost.  This is what I told her.  Her eyes were glued to me the entire time.

I was 16 years old.  I had just come home from soccer practice and I was really tired.  I got out of the car and starting walking to the front door when I had a really strong feeling that I needed to lock my door to my car.  I didn't.  I kept walking.


I started unlocking the front door of my house and felt the feeling even stronger that I needed to lock my car door.  I thought to myself, "I never lock my door.  That's crazy.  It's an old car and beat up.  (The car was $500 if that gives you a better picture.)  I don't ever keep anything in it." 


I got inside the house and the feeling was so strong.  I couldn't hear it with my ears but it was as though someone was telling me inside my head to go back outside and lock my car door.  I was tired and I didn't want to walk all the way back to my car.


But that 3rd time, I realized there MUST be a reason I keep feeling this way.  So I walked back out to my car and locked my door.


Later  that night, before I went to bed I got in a fight with my mom.  Over something so silly I don't remember what it was about.  She was probably telling me I needed to clean my room like usual and I wasn't nice back and I didn't listen to her.  I remembered after fighting with her that I needed to go to my friends house and get some homework.  I left really upset.  I came home and went straight to my room and went to bed without talking to my Mom or apologizing to her.


The next morning my sister woke me up.  She asked me if I left my car doors open yesterday and I told her I didn't. 

(Alexis Gasps)


I ran outside to see.  Sure enough, my car doors were open.   I thought about how after I fought with my mom the night before and went to my friends house I forgot to lock my car door when I came back.  And I didn't have that strong feeling to stop me and tell me to go back and lock my door that time.


I checked the car.  My change and change holder to my car were gone.  I'm sure there was maybe only a couple of dollars total so I really didn't care that much.  I really didn't give much thought as to why I would have such strong feelings to lock my door over a few dollars.


I didn't care that much until the next Sunday, when I was looking for my scriptures.  The last place I had them was in my car. 

(Alexis Gasps even louder)

They were gone.  It wasn't just the couple of dollars in change that had been stolen from my car.  But, my scriptures too.  I was really sad.  I realized that the Holy Ghost was trying to warn me to lock my car so my scriptures wouldn't get stolen...not the money.  The money really didn't matter.  Those scriptures were really important to me.  My parents gave me those scriptures on the day I was baptized.  And now they were gone. 

I asked Alexis why the Holy Ghost didn't tell me to lock my door when I came back from my friends house.

"Because you fought with your Mommy."

She was so sad for me.  But she understood the lesson completely.  We talked a little more and she asked me some more questions.  And then she told me this story.

"A little while ago, I can't remember if it was in September or October, I was saying my prayers in bed.  I asked Heavenly Father if he would forgive all of my sins and I started to cry out loud.  Daddy walked by my room and heard me crying and opened the door and asked me why I was crying.  I told him I didn't know.  He kissed me good night and told me he loved me and went to his office.  I was too shy to tell him why I was really crying.  When I asked Heavenly Father to forgive my sins I felt so happy inside.  I started to cry.  But it wasn't a sad cry.  It was a happy cry.  I know it was the spirit making me feel so happy.  I just didn't know how to tell Daddy.  After he left, I quickly finished and said "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."   But, now that I think about it...I probably should have taken more time to really finish my prayer and not end it."

I giggled at her last sentence but tears filled my eyes as we talked about that feeling she felt.  I kissed her goodnight and came out with a confirmation that I needed to do this with my kids more often.  Lay by them one at a time and just talk.

Chad came home from school about 15 minutes later.  I asked him if he remembered a night when he heard Alexis crying in her room and asking her why she was crying.  He said exactly what Alexis said.  That she said she didn't know why she was crying and that he remembered going in there kissing her goodnight and telling her he loved her.

I filled him in on the rest of the story but not without tears in my eyes.  Tears of joy.  He was quiet and amazed and we both just sat there in that quiet, peaceful moment realizing our daughter was on a completely different spiritual level than either of us were at her age.  And not because of us.  That is Alexis.

400 thousand dollars

My handicapped sister is on a mission with my parents in Utah. She emailed me this today:

amber

i will give you 4oo thounder dallor

mel

I wrote back:

Melanie,

Sweet. I could use an extra 400 thousand dollars. When will you be sending it?

Love you,
Amber

She makes me laugh because I have no clue where she gets these things from. And when did she start signing "Mel" as her name. She's too funny.

Cleaning Break

Right now...we are in a mad dash cleaning our house. Just because I want it CLEAN!

Alexis and Carter have been working hard in the playroom for over an hour. I went to throw some dirty clothes in the laundry room and this is what I heard as I passed the playroom.

"Hey, Carter, check and see if I farted."

"Yah...you did."

"Ok, thanks."

End of conversation. Gross? Yes. Hilarious? Absolutely. Had to document it because I can't stop laughing. They don't even know I heard. But I called Chad and we were busting up and we decided...this is why we have kids. Sometimes they just really lighten the mood around here.

Bad Words

A few months before school got out my sister called me to tell me of an experience she had with her 7 year old daughter.

As my sister was typing her daughter pointed out she wrote a bad word. Mindy looked at the computer and saw where her daughter was pointing and sure enough she had pushed the S key down too long for the word "as."

She was shocked. When did her daughter learn that word? She called to warn me that most likely our daughters were already learning bad words. (They were in the same class at school.)

Not all of 2 days later Alexis comes home from school.

"Mom, Jonathan said the "S" word at school today."

"What? Are you kidding me? That's horrible."

I was kinda freaked out because I had just been warned by Mindy...but amongst my freakout I thought...I better ask her what the "S" word is, right?

"Alexis, what is the "S" word?"

"Mom, you know..."stupid."

Stupid. Phew. Oh no. She saw me freak out. I don't want her to know there is another "S" word. So I told her how sad that was that he used that word and that she needed to always remember when kids aren't talking appropriately to go play with someone else who is.

I thought it was over.

Over a month has passed. School is almost out. Alexis comes home.

"Hey, Mom. You know how I told you Jonathan said the "S" word at school."

"Yes."

"Well, I found out today why he said it."

"Why?"

"Because he's Jewish."

"WHAT? Why does that matter?"

"You know. Jewish."

I shake my head not understanding where she is going.

"Mom...Jewish people don't have to keep the commandments."

And then we had bigger problems to sort out like the following:

-Just because something is strictly enforced in our house doesn't mean it's a commandment!
-Jewish people actually do believe in keeping the commandments.

Lazy Days of Summer

I love summer. Especially, since I can send the older kids out to swim while Owen naps. They love it.

Friday was my sister's birthday so I invited her kids over to play so she could have some time to do whatever she wanted.

I seriously laughed the whole time watching them play in the back yard. For one...these girls are SPITTING images of my sister and I. The best of friends...but a fight can erupt suddenly. My sister and I were close and we played together a lot. They thought it would be fun to bring the teeter totter in from the side yard and see how well they could teeter totter in the pool.

Seriously, if you are in need of entertainment...you need to watch kids do this. The tiniest shift of weight and one kid would slip off and the kid on the other end would go flying. I seriously haven't laughed that hard in a while.
The best was hearing Chelsea tell Alexis that she needed to stop moving and tipping them over. Alexis claimed she wasn't...and Chelsea exclaimed,

"Well, it's definitely not me...so it has to be you."

(I swear my sister would have said the same thing to me when we were that age.)

Then Chelsea decided to try it by herself. After she had tried Alexis wanted to try it by herself.

Chelsea says, "Yah...let's see you try. Then we'll see whose tipping it."

Alexis' laughed and I was busting up.

Alexis gets on the teeter totter and gets a huge shove out to the middle of pool by Chelsea (with an obvious attempt to throw her off balance.) Alexis flew off and came up exclaiming..."Yah...I'm not very good.)

I died laughing to say the least.

1) Because Alexis was unaware of Chelsea's intent and
2) Because I was reliving my childhood just watching them.

Airplane Watching

Owen is in love with airplanes right now. He stops whatever he is doing the minute he hears one to find where it is in the sky and points it out to everyone around him. Time stops when an airplane comes by and we all pause whatever we are doing because of Owen's excitement.
One of things on our summer to do list was to go watch airplanes land and take off at the airport. Friday night we were eating dinner and Owen yelled out "Air-pane" three different times while he was eating. We were inside but our windows were open. Chad decided it was a good night to go after that. We grabbed our beach chairs, some waters and popped some popcorn and we were out the door.
All the kids loved it.

Alexis adores her little brothers. Can you tell?
The best part was when the airplanes had landed Owen would turn around and look at us as if to say, "Did you see that?" His finger would stay pointing through the fence at what he had just seen.
There was no time to put on make-up since this was a spur of the moment thing...but I still love this picture anyway. I love being a Mom.
Ryder was a happy camper just chillin' in his cars seat or in my lap.
I highly recommend this activity. It's fun, easy...and FREE!

Swim Team

Saturday was the kids last swim meet. They ABSOLUTELY love swim team. They never complain about going to practice and they love competing.
Alexis had a great year. She finished off this meet swimming in the official race for freestyle and was the last leg in both relays. Since she was in the 7-8 year old group she will compete in that group again next year.
I'm pretty sure 99% of the girls in her age group are over a foot taller than her. I'll have to find our video of her swimming because this picture below just doesn't do it.
She is such a pretty swimmer, she's fast and she's so close to making it all the way across without breathing. So next year may be the year she gets that "no breather" she's been working so hard to get.

Carter shocked both Chad and I. We thought we'd have to convince him into enjoying the competitive side of swimming but once again his competitive nature came out without any push from us. If you only met him on the soccer field, on the t-ball field or at the swim meets you would HONESTLY think he was a feisty kid because he is so into sports. But outside of those settings he's quiet, kind and mostly reserved.
This was Carter's first year so he had to try out before the season started. They changed the rules this year. The 4 year olds now have to swim the entire length of the pool, unassisted, doing side breathing, never flipping to their backs, never touching the side of the pool or lane lines and never stop kicking or doing "big arms." We practiced with him everyday and he worked so hard. At the try-outs he did all of the above. Both Chad and I watched. We were shocked when the email came saying he didn't make it. Carter was so sad. I asked the coach why and he told me it was because Carter looked tired and didn't think he could go back and forth a few times at practice.

WHAT? Made no sense to us...but we cooperated.

Anyhow, the coaches allowed a few kids that were borderline to practice for a few more weeks and try out again 3 weeks later. By that point I had given birth to Ryder and couldn't get in the water with Carter. So, my sister took him to the pool every morning with her boy and Chad took them every night to practice. Carter worked so hard. He swam the length of the pool six times in a row the morning he tried out. He wanted this so bad and and he knew he only had one more chance. His hard work paid off and he made the team.
He's got his big arms down pat. (He's the one in the second lane from the bottom with his head buried in the water.) He's very consistent on his timing...side breathing every 4 strokes and he's got huge kicks. Next year it will be fun to see if he can get his kicking to propel him faster and pull under water with his hands.

Between their races, they enjoyed playing with their friends, playing with their little brothers...

and relaxing while eating the candy they paid for with their hard earned money doing chores at home.
We were so proud of them. They always gave 100% and it was so fun to watch.