Eat Pray Love

So. Been gone for a while from my little blog. I've been reading a lot: The Help, Northanger Abbey, Eat Pray Love, The Potter and the Clay, The Glass Castle, and I'm currently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I haven't been blogging-I've been reading instead!

But what better time to do some writing than at the beginning of the year?  Of course I have some new goals, but first I want to review last year. My goals are here.  And how did I do?  Well, let me tell ya!

Attend the temple every month. I didn't make it every month, but I did better than the year before.

Earn my honor bee. Well, I did all the work for it, but now that I'm not in Young Women's any more, I don't know if I'll get the official token. But it's nice to know that I did the work to earn it.

Be more financially fit. Done and done.  I still haven't done any investing on my own, but we've been a lot better with our money.

Laser eye surgery. Read about my experience here.

Exercise. Again, a little hit and miss with this. But trying is the thing, right?

Learn to play a new instrument. Nope. Right now I just don't think I have the time to take lessons. This might have to go on a future goals list or something.

Last year my motto was "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!"

This year's motto is....drum roll please...

Eat Pray Love

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

I mentioned reading the book Eat Pray Love.  I really enjoyed reading it, and there were some things that resonated with me.  No, I'm not going to go travel the world. But these are three areas in which I need to work.  And here is my plan.

First, EAT.  To be honest, I eat...not like I should eat. I love me some chocolate, and Coke! A couple of months ago some ladies in my ward did a health challenge, and I thought it sounded really great. So my family and I are going to do this, starting tomorrow.  Here are the things in the challenge: sleep for 7 hours each night, eat 3 servings each of fruits and veggies every day, exercise for at least a half hour every day, no sugar, drink 64 oz. of water every day, and no eating after 8 p.m. It's a point system, and whoever wins (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) at the end of 6 weeks gets the kitty.

For exercise, I've been doing yoga a bit, which I really enjoy.  I also got another exercise video, and a jump rope.  And I go mall-walking with my mom.  So that should keep things mixed up for me exercise-wise.

I'm really excited to do this. It's something that I really need to work on, and maybe I'll get some money out of it, too. It will be nice to do it with other people-I think that will keep me going.  And after 6 weeks, it should become a habit, right?

Next, PRAY. Yes, I pray, but sometimes I just mumble something up to heaven, and get on with my day.  In that book, the author talked about meditating a lot, as in communicating with God. I talk to God, but I don't really take the time to listen afterwards.  So I'm going to work on my prayers, making sure they are sincere, and making sure I take the time to listen to my Heavenly Father's responses.

Also in this category I'm putting my scripture study. Last time I read my scriptures, I did it fast, which was nice because the story really flowed.  The time before, I read a chapter at a time, and wrote down any thoughts that I had about that chapter, or a scripture that stuck out to me.  Both ways, I've gotten things out of reading The Book of Mormon.

As a family we just barely finished reading, where mostly it was me reading to my kids, which was okay, but not the greatest. This time around as a family, we are taking turns reading.  Jakob and Brock split a column of scripture, then I read a column, and then Pete does too. So we'll go a little bit faster, but it will be good for my kids to read out loud and get used to the way the scriptures sound.  And as Troy gets to be a better reader, we'll include him in the rotation.

For myself, I decided I would read my scriptures along with the Gospel Doctrine manual.  That way I can have ready-made questions at my disposal.  And since I teach every 4th lesson, I might as well have it be part of my personal reading.

And last, LOVE. This one is a little bit harder to define into specific goals.  I just want to love more.  I want to give more service.  I want to be kinder.  I want to spend more quality time with my children.  I want to be more patient with them.  I guess if I can do one nice thing every day that I wouldn't ordinarily do, then that's what I could do to develop more love.

So, yeah.  There you go.

I feel bad that I didn't post about Christmas. Christmas night my kids decided that they wanted to take pictures of their toys, so they borrowed my camera, and -surprise surprise- it broke.  Luckily, I had a warranty on it, so we'll see if they can fix it or whatever, but I won't get it back for a couple of weeks.  So my pictures are stuck in limbo for a while.  Our Christmas was fabulous, though.  Not only were we blessed materially, but it always makes me realize how much we are spiritually and physically blessed.  I think some of my kids' favorite new toys have been their pillow pets that Santa brought, although Brock's made him break out in hives.  We washed them, though, and now it's all good.

Well, wish me luck tomorrow, being chocolate and Coke free!  I'm sure I'll need it!



Poor Troy-Boy...

When Troy was little, he had a 4th of July...mishap.  You can read a little about it here. The whole time he was getting fixed up, he kept saying, "Poor Troy-boy. Troy-boy got hurt. Poor Troy-boy."  It was so cute.  And so very sad.  It's kind of the story of his life, though.

One fast Sunday, Troy wanted to bear his testimony.  I told him to go ahead and go up after the current person was done.  There was another person waiting their turn on the stand.  I had told him that once he gets up there to wait until the other people up there were done, but he didn't hear that part.  As he was climbing the stairs, the person on the stand waiting his turn got up.  Troy's little face just crumpled up, and he started crying and ran back down to our seat.  I think he thought that that person cut in front of him or something.  Again, just so sad, but so cute.



The other day, he wanted to go play with a friend that lives around the corner from us.  He was begging me and begging me.  I told him that he could go if Brock went with him.  Brock is buddies with the older sibling, while Troy wants to play with the one closer to his age, though I think they all end up playing together.

So Monday after Brock's homework was all done, the boys took off for their friend's house.  Not two minutes later, I heard screaming and crying coming from outside.  My initial thought was that one of them fell down and scraped a knee or something.

The two of them came bursting through the front door.

"MOM!!!!  There was a BIG, SCARY dog, and it WANTED TO EAT US!!!"

"It was chasing us and tried to GET MY PANTS!!!"

My kids are a wee bit scared of dogs, of all sizes.  I peeked out the front windows and looked up and down the road for a dog, big or small.  I saw some neighbor kids out, who happen to have a dog.

"Was it so-and-so's dog?"

"NO!!!!  It was a BIG SCARY DOG!!!!"

"Where was the dog at?"

They both pointed at the house on the corner.

"Well, let's just wait a few minutes, and maybe that dog will be somewhere else, and you can try walking over there again."

That's when Troy piped up: "But Mom, I lost my SHOE!"

Sure enough, Troy only had one shoe on.

Me: "You ran all the way home without your shoe on?"

Troy: "Well, the BIG SCARY DOG was chasing me and my shoe came off-" (bursts into tears) "-and so I just kept running."

I was trying not to laugh.  Because it was just so cute.  But it was just so sad, too. (Also, a little Cinderella-ish.  Running out of the shoe and all.)

So I bundled up and started walking up and down the street, looking for a lost shoe. Shouldn't be too hard, right?  I went up one side, and down the other.  No shoe was to be seen.

I got back home, and asked Troy if he remembered where he lost his shoe, or which side of the road he was on.  And of course, being 5, his story switched around.  "It was in the road.  It was over there in the yard. It was in our yard."

I sighed a big heavy mom sigh, and told him to get his boots on, we were going to go look for his shoe together.  We went up, we went down, on our side of the road.  Then we started to do the same thing on the other side of the road.  We got close to the house with the dog.  You know, the BIG SCARY dog.  And Troy froze in his tracks.

"Mom, the dog is going to GET ME!" More tears. I assured him that the dog would not get him, and is probably really nice.  He wouldn't budge, and was getting ready to bolt for our house again.

The big, scary dog was in his yard, doing scary things like RUNNING, and WAGGING HIS TAIL.  He reminded me of the dog on Up, named Dug.

Now granted, if some animal came bounding up to me that was as tall as me on all fours, I'd be a little skittish, too.

So instead we turned around and started looking the other way again. 

A minute later, out comes a little boy, who Troy recognized as a kid from his kindergarten class.  Because I'm a bad neighbor, I have no idea who lives where, or half of my neighbors' names.  I suck like that.

But Troy knew him, and this little boy was carrying Troy's shoe.  They met, and the boy said, "My dog took your shoe.  Sorry."  I nudged Troy with a "Tell him it's okay, and thanks for finding it."  We went home, and Troy (and Brock) were no longer traumatized by the dog.

At least for now, until they dare venture to their friends' house again...DUN DUN DUNNNNN!

Memory Monday: Scanner Girl, Part 2

Wanna hear more memories about my current job?  Well, then, you're in luck! (My first post of memories is right here.)

The summer after my senior year I worked by myself.  And actually, I worked 10-hour days.  Sure, it could get boring, but I kept myself occupied.  And I was trying to save money for college. I went in right after showering, with my hair still wet.  And even though it was summer, that would make me get cold.  So I would crank up the heat in that room, and dry my hair in front of the vent.  I would bend at the waist, with my long long hair hanging almost to the floor. Then I usually would pull it up with this purple scrunchie that I had.  I loved that thing, and had it for a million billion years.

The summer before, I didn't pull in quite that many hours, but my sister and mom and I went to deep water aerobics early in the morning, which I LOVED.  Then we'd get ready and go over to work.  It was so awesome.  One of these days, I would love to do the deep water aerobics again.  I tried a couple of years ago, but it was at night, right when I was trying to get kids in bed, etc. etc.  Maybe in a few years when my kids are all at school.  There are a lot of things I want to do when my kids are all out of the house.  Like, read.  Go to the temple often.  Exercise.  Grocery shop.  Scrapbook.

When I was scanning in college, my sister Brianna started scanning with me. At the time, my dad's office had a client that wanted some of their stuff scanned.  It was a doctor's office of some sort.  Our scanning room had been moved again, this time upstairs at the end of the hall.  While scanning the doctor's office stuff, we discovered that they had pictures drawn in their files, about people's ailments.  It was to show where or what was wrong, but...some of them were really funny.  Like cartoons.  There would be a phrase written, like "jambed thumb", and a picture of a hand with a REALLY over-sized thumb. Or they would have funny phrases (well, funny taken out of context).  Like "Man says there is metal shrapnel in his head."  Whenever we came across crazy things like this, we would scan them, then cut them out and tape them to the wall above our scanner.  We taped other things up as well, like outsides of thank-you notes or whatever that would have flowers on it.  We had quite the collection.

Along with the crazy pictures, the same doctor's office had these files on REALLY big papers that were all linked together.  You know that old type of printer that had the rollers on the sides, and the paper would have holes on the edges that you would hook onto the rollers?  And each page was hooked to the next, so you'd have to pull it apart?  There were boxes and boxes of these kinds of files.  And the pages were too big to put into our scanner.  So we had to get creative.

Sometimes we would take the pages and photocopy them but reduce it so it would all fit onto a page, then scan that.  Other times we could cut the edges and bottoms of the pages to make them page-sized.  When they had the normal-sized paper that was hooked together, our scanner was able to grab the first page, and keep going, sucking in page after page in a big stream.  Brianna was really good at getting the machine to do that.  I wasn't very good at it-it gave me paper cuts, and would start scanning crooked, and then it would jam.  So, yeah, I had to tear the pages and scan them separately.

Scanning -and prepping- the big pages took FOREVER.  So my sister and I decided to come in at night a few times and just prep so that we could scan during the day.  We would take a couple of boxes into the conference room, where there was a TV and cable.  There was a TV movie on, called "Au Pair" (which means "nanny" in French).  It's kind of "The Sound of Music" meets...any makeover show like "Pretty Woman" or "She's All That".  And even though it was cheesy, it was strangely addicting.

At that time, Brianna was also into country music.  We'd sit and listen to Z103, but after a while I'd get SO sick of their rotation of songs, so much so that I agreed to listen to a country station with her instead.  Although I could only take so much of that before wanting to switch back, or just not listen to any music whatsoever.

This was also about the time that we met Jack on Crack.  One of my dad's colleagues had a son that..."worked" there as well.  I honestly don't know what he did there.  Shred?  Yardwork?  Or maybe he just hung out there or something.  We could never remember his real name, so we called him Jack on Crack.  Because he was a WEIR-DO!  Very spazzy, and weird. Sometimes he would try to hang out with us and talk to us.  We would keep our door closed in the hopes that he would leave us alone, but even that didn't work with Jack on Crack.  I really hope he grew up to become somewhat normal.

I also scanned with my sister Alexis, when I was pregnant with Troy.  We were more hit and miss, because it was during the school year.  I went in on Friday and Saturday mornings.  We were in a different room-again, and this time had cubicles.  At this time we were scanning pension files, which didn't have cool pictures like the other files.

And now I scan alone, at night.  I'm back in the room where I used to dry my hair.  Life tends to come full circle.  Or maybe it just seems like that because right now my kids are watching "The Lion King".

Are You There, Eyelashes? It's Me, Nat

Well, got my laser eye surgery done.  It's absolutely amazing.  You wanna hear all the gory details?  Okay!

So, you get a Valium, so you don't care about anything.  Then you go lay on a table and hold a teddy bear.  You look at a little green light, and then it gets dark.  They move the table to another area, then back to the green light.  You stare at the green light for about 10 seconds, and then you're done.  Rinse and repeat for the other eye.

Seriously.  It didn't hurt, it wasn't weird.  I could almost instantly see better.  (Right now everything looks as if I am still wearing my contacts.  Cool, huh?)  For a couple of hours following my eyes stung, but they told me to try and sleep.  NOOOO problem there-the Valium made me really tired.  And really, as a mom, when am I not tired?  So I slept most of the rest of the day, putting eye drops in whenever I woke up.  And they felt fine after I slept a little.

The next couple of days I had a hard time with sunlight and with headlights.  But I've been totally fine ever since.  If you're thinking about getting it done, DO IT!!!!  So, so worth it.

There is one downside: I haven't been able to wear makeup from three days before the surgery to a week after surgery.  It's a small price to pay for, you know, VISION.  But.  My eyelashes are really light, and when I don't wear mascara I feel like my eyes disappear.  My brother-in-law said I look "washed out".  Which is true.  I don't think I would want to be wearing mascara right now, anyway.  There are some eye drops you have to put in 4 times a day, and if I were to have makeup on and do that I would look like, well, her:

But in a few days I'll be good to go AND I'll be seeing 20/20.  Oh, and my eyes are a lot less bloodshot without contacts.  I even bought some new mascara to go with my new eyesight.  Fancy, huh?

In other news...well, not much going on.  Just kind of the same old.  Work, work, and more work.  Work at home, work at the office, work at teaching piano, work at keeping things, you know, working.  There are days that I feel like the hamster on the wheel-you just keep running, with no end in sight, and for what?  So you can keep running, with no end in sight.

I hit kind of a lull the last few days.  I'm very project/goal oriented, so now that I got my eyes done, I'm like, what next?  There is plenty to DO, but nothing that I'm really aiming for.  Monday and Tuesday days I felt kind of "meh".  Today I feel better.  Of course, I have all the ongoing things, but they're the hamster wheel kind of things.  Which are important as well, but... I don't feel like I have to constantly have entertainment, per se, but it IS nice to look forward to things, too, right?

Of course, Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming.  I like to do my Christmas shopping in November.  I find there are just as many sales but far less crowds.

Halloween was fun. Last year we were all matchy-matchy, which I loved doing, but this year the kids were all different things.  Ivy was "Gumpunzoh" (Rapunzel), Troy was Batman, Brock was The Count/a vampire, and Jake was a ninja.

Ivy's wig itched her a ton, so she didn't wear it all that much.  Brock's makeup, though very cool, was also very time consuming.  And there were about 20 other ninjas just like Jake.  I told him it was like a Ninja club, but I don't think he really liked that.

Next year the kids will all be different things again.  Brock already told me he wants to be Spiderman.  And today I went to the store and got some costumes for 50% off.  Even though I HATE keeping stuff around (it goes against my minimalism tendencies), I'd rather spend half the money on costumes now for next year.  Cheapness 1, Minimalism 0.

Well, that's about all for now.  I'm off to work!

Memory Monday: Working Girl

Man, it’s been a LOOOONG time since I’ve done one of these!  I haven’t been blogging as much, I think in part because I’ve been working so much-teaching piano, helping with three kids’ homework, and, of course, working at my Dad’s office doing cleaning and scanning.

Which brings me to today’s Memory Monday topic: scanner girl memories.  Oh, where do I begin?

I’ve done scanning on and off for a very, very long time.  I swear I was only 13 or 14 when I started scanning there.  It was my summer job all through high school, and then again in college (summers of ’99 and 2000).  Oh, and not to mention the time I worked there when we first moved to Idaho Falls before I had Troy, so in 2005-2006.

So.  When I was 13-14 years old, we had this REALLY old scanning machine.  It had its own set of discs that were humongous, and very unlike normal computer discs.  It was probably 5”x5”, and an inch thick. Somehow they were able to convert the Beast Discs into CDs or something.  If we wanted the machine to read a page as front-and-back, we had to put in a special paper with little squares colored in for it to do it right.  Same with if the page was too dark or too light-same special paper, but with a different square colored in.

At the time, the scanner was set up in the same room as the kitchen area stuff, so we were right by the fridge.  There was a lady that worked there at the time who was addicted to Diet Coke.  During the time that we (we meaning my sister Karlenn and I) were there, which was maybe half a day of work, this lady came down to the fridge to get a Diet Coke about 5 times.  And each time she came down she would ask, “Having fun?”

Now, Diet Coke Lady wasn’t the only one to frequent the kitchen area.  She was there the most, but she was not the only one.  And each person would ask the same question: Having fun?  We never quite knew what to reply to that.  “Yes, yes I am.  Scanning is a dream job!”  “No, not really.  I hate being here.”  “Not only am I having fun, but I’m working hard, too!  Two thumbs up!”  I mean, what DO you say in response?  So usually we’d just laugh a little, but I think that egged The Question on.

At that time, we were TERRIBLE scanners.  If it missed a page (sometimes the machine would suck in two or three pages at a time), we would just let it keep going, pull out the pages that it missed, and just stuck them in wherever it was most convenient.  I’m sure we missed backs of pages a lot.  And we had no idea what to title things.  I think at the time, though, we would just put it under the client name and the year.  So when the accountants went to find things, I’m sure it was a nightmare, because there would be 10 different files all under the same client and year. 

Oh, and it’s not like you could just look it up any old way, either.  We had these printouts of what was on each Beast Disc, and which Beast Discs were on which CDs.  So we’d have to look at this teeny tiny print to try and find out where the file was at, and then hopefully it was labeled with the right year and the right client.  Good times right there.

The summer after my junior year, I was still working with Kar.  We were in the kitchen for part of the time, but then we moved into an office across the hall when a dude moved out.  His name was Oak.  Not even joking.  My dad has had several randomly-named people work for him: Clain, Oak…okay, I know there’s more, but that’s all I can remember right now.  Clain had a cool last name, too – it was French, but I’m omitting it now for privacy purposes.

During that summer I was dating Ned.  Ah, Ned.  More good times right there.  Anyway, our scanner machine totally broke.  Just…wouldn’t scan, wouldn’t suck up pages, nothing.  So we had to call an 800 number.  We reached a guy named Dave that worked in Salt Lake for the Scanner Fixer Company.  So he came up to fix it, and it was kind of awkward.  We just sat there and prepped files while he cleaned the machine, etc.  By the way, he was really young, I think just fresh off his mission, which at the time seemed really old to me, but whatever - I was 17.  (I’m 17.  I’m 17!  -What movie?)

After Dave fixed the machine, it broke, like, 2 days later.  We called back down to the Scanner Fixer Company, and once again it was Dave that came up.  This time it was way different.  We totally talked to him, and kind of made fun of him for being a tech nerd.

I’m pretty sure the machine broke again, because I remember we called the place again and requested Dave to come up.  Hm, maybe he was trying to make the machine break so he could hang out with us.  Because even though I was 17, my hot sister was 19, so maybe he was trying to bust a move or something, though he never asked her out.

You know what’s funny, though?  A year or so later, Dave got married in Logan, Utah, and he sent us an invitation to the reception!  And…yes, my sister and I TOTALLY attended!  It was very awkward, trying to explain to his new wife that he had “fixed” our scanner, and that’s how we knew him.

One more point from this summer, and then I’m going to have to make a Part 2.  After we moved into the other room, we didn’t have to deal with The Question any more, which was nice.  Our office was next to a guy named Robert.  We teased him ALL the time, just by calling him nicknames.  He’d be all, “My name is Robert,” all deadpan.  And we’d be all, “Hey Bobby?  Question for ya.”  And he’d be all, “It’s ROBERT.”  (Has anyone seen the movie-I think it’s called Office Space?  I caught it on TV once.  There’s a dude that’s all quiet, and people always steal his stapler.  At the end he goes all crazy and, like, blows stuff up or something.  I could totally be making that up, because it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that movie.  Anyway.  Robert was like that dude.)

Okay, THAT tangent over.  Anyway, we gave him other nicknames like Bobert, Robbie, Rob, Bob, and Robert Probert.  The last one is someone’s actual name that at one point had been a client of my dad’s firm.  (Hm. Wonder if he’s still around somewhere.)  We thought it was really funny that someone with the last name Probert would have no creativity and name their child’s first name Robert.  I mean, come on!  There was also a client named Thomas Thompson.  Seriously?

Anyway, since we moved into a more secluded room, we could have a radio.  We listened to a station called Z103.  We would keep tally of which songs got played the most, aptly named The Most-Played Song of the Summer.  One of the songs that was big at the time was called Butterfly Kisses.  It’s a REALLY cheesy song.  So we were listening to that, and we both started singing at the TOP of our lungs.  “BUTTERFLY KISSES, in the blah blah blah!”  Okay, totally don’t remember the lyrics now.  Anyway, a lady named Maggie that worked upstairs paged down to us on the phone, and was all, “Um, we can totally hear you up here.”  So funny.

Another song that was in rotation at the time was a song called “I’m a B----“.  So one day my sister started singing that one: “I’m a B, I’m a lover, I’m a child, I’m a mother, I’m a sinner I’m a saint…”  And Robert came over, stood in our doorway, and just stared at us for a while.  I think he was trying not to laugh, although I couldn’t be sure, because I don’t know if he was capable of laughing.  But it was totally funny.

Alright.  This post is CRAZY long, so I’m going to go.  But don’t worry, I have plenty more where that came from!

Oh, and enjoy this cheese-tastic blast from the past:

In One Month From Today...

...my vision will no longer look like this without contacts/glasses:

(This picture was titled "blurry mess".  I find that to be a very apt title, for both the picture and my current eyesight.)

Yes, that's right.  After much saving, and whining, and setbacks, and extra work to get the money, I have finally succeeded in accumulating enough money to get my beloved laser eye surgery.

Say it with me: WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Because I have astigmatism, and have to wear toric lenses (which kind of help the shape of your eyeball), I have to abstain from wearing contacts for three weeks so my eyes...unshape.  Or something.

Today is day 1 of wearing my glasses again.  Since I got contacts in...8th grade, I've pretty much worn them and NOT glasses.  Here and there, sure, but not constantly.  So after all day of glasses-wearing my ears hurt, because they're not used to having large thingies hanging out behind them.

Also, putting on my makeup this morning was really...exciting, since I couldn't really see what I was doing.

But what is for reals exciting is the fact that I'll be able to see my alarm clock in the morning, and not have to have it 6 inches from my face and I'm still squinting to read the numbers.  It will be exciting to not have to stick my finger in my eye twice a day and blinkety-blink a little clear disk around.  It will be exciting to actually be able to see the big "E" on the eye chart, instead of just knowing that it's down at the end of the room, and only see a big gray blur.

Speaking of "E": my brain, after setting the appointment today, went "EEEEEEEEE!" with giddiness.  (That doesn't sound right.  With "gid"?  Hmmm.  Happiness?  I mean, I would say "excitement", but now that's just overused in this post.  But you know what I mean.)

Let the countdown begin!

Jake's Baptism

Jakob got baptized over Labor Day weekend.  It was so awesome!

We had many family members come for the event: 3 of Pete's brothers (Mike, Mark, and Richard) and their families, Pete's parents, my parents, and my sister Lexi and her hubby Chris.

The only baptisms that I have attended were where just one person was getting baptized.  In our stake, because there are so many young families, they baptize all the kids that turned 8 that month in one big session.  There were 6 kids that were baptized the same day as Jakob.

Because of that, our stake assigns each ward one month to be in charge of the talks and musical numbers.  So...we just had to show up, and that's it.  Easy peasy.

There was a great talk given, and a musical number: "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus".  Then, it was time for the baptism.

It kind of felt like we were riding a train.  First stop: the chapel for the talk, etc.  Second stop: the font for the baptism.  Third stop: a different room for the confirmation.  Pete preformed both the baptism and confirmation, and he did great.  He was really quiet as he was giving the blessing to Jakob - it's because he was trying not to let his voice crack from emotion.  *sniff* So cute!  What a great dad.

Jakob was so cute.  When walking into the chapel, he had a big old grin on his face.  He was just so very handsome when he came out after being baptized and was in his vest and church pants.

After the baptism was over, we had a lunch at our house - sandwiches, and brownies, and salad, and cool caramel dessert (which I need to get that recipe from my mom-it's DELICIOUS), and jello, and chips.... SOOO yummy.

Then we went to the fair.  When we got there, it was almost dinner time.  So we walked around a little bit and saw a few of the animals.  Then we got dinner.  And then Pete's two brothers and their families had to head back down to Utah, so they left.  I felt bad that we didn't get to spend more time at the fair seeing the different things, but oh well.

And this is the one picture I got from the fair.  It's not even very good-it's of everyone's torsos.  Sheesh.  The nice lady on the left let us pet her sheep.  It was a weird species-it has hair instead of wool.  Weird.  So they don't clip it - it sheds in the spring instead.

(Also part of the crappy picture-taking by Nat - the pic of Pete and Jake is all that I got from the baptism.  Had I been thinking 4th-dimensionally, I would have gotten pictures of everyone there, and of our family all dressed up...Doh!)

One thing I did do, however, was ask family members to write a little note to Jakob for his baptism.  My request rendered a few responses.  My plan is to put the letters into a little booklet about his baptism that he can have to help him remember his baptism day.

I hope people don't mind, but I want to share snippets from each of the letters.

From Lex: Your silly dances, faces, and poses can always make me smile.  And you are also a sweetheart!

From Howard: The very first person in my line was named Andrew; he was my great-grandfather.  He joined the Church in Denmark in 1861....There are many generations on both sides of the veil that are there to help you as you progress in your life.

From Marianne: Jakob, we love you and are grateful that you have made the decision to be baptized.

From Kar: You are such a great kid.  One of the things I love best about you is your desire to make good choices.  You always strive to be a good boy.

From Jim and Jennifer: We're proud of the good choice that you have made and the good example that you are to your cousins.

From my mom: I am still learning things about the baptismal covenant and about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, just like you are.  We have to keep learning so that when we make mistakes we will know how and why we repent.

From my dad: Jakob, you are a good boy and a great brother to your brothers and sister.  Always watch out for them...I want you to know that I love you very much and I am so proud to have you as a grandson.

From me: We can hear the Holy Ghost the best when we are doing things like reading our scriptures, saying our prayers, and attending church.  Remember: he uses a still, small voice, like a whisper or a thought or a feeling.  When we have peace inside of ourselves, and take the time to listen, that's when we hear what we need to do.

I asked Jakob how he felt about getting baptized, and he said he was really glad.  I'm glad, too.  What a cutie pie.