Libby's Piano Recital

I was so nervous (Libby was not) as Libby was playing her piano piece that I totally forgot to film her. I was sitting there watching and holding the video camera in my hand and forgot to record! Sometimes I wonder about my mental health. I didn't even get a good picture of her at the piano. Fortunately, daddy took a photo of us before the recital. She did so great. All her practicing paid off!

Jackson Weekend

The 3rd annual Jackson Christmas/Birthday Party! What fun we had! The girls were thrilled to ride the Polar Express (more aptly named the Heber Creeper- man it moves slow- especially when you have a child that needs to go potty). I love the picture of Libby looking out the train window. It captures her excitement perfectly. We also went on a wagon ride and saw the lights at Thanksgiving point.

A lovely rendition of "Happy Birthday" was played on the chimes (Todd, I know you don't read this blog, but I am so thrilled I captured you on film so cheerfully playing the chimes!). We enjoyed the nativity and a nice meeting on Sunday. So many more pictures and stories I could post, but all things in moderation, Right?

Ear Piercing

While we were in St.George we took Noelle to get her ears pierced. She has gone a long time without getting in mom and dad's bed and that is our criteria for the privilege of getting ears pierced. So, we went to the mall with all the girl cousins (including Gracie!)and proceeded to break Noelle's heart with the pain of getting her ears pierced. I promise I didn't force her to do it! It about killed me when I saw her big tears (Libby & Savannah didn't cry when their ears were pierced). Fortunately, she quickly recovered and we spent some good girl time at the mall. We pushed Grace around in a lady bug cart. I'm telling you, if Grace lived in Utah we would have a serious problem on our hands. She would be spoiled rotten!

Thanksgiving in St. George- highly recommended

You won't see any pictures of a traditional Thanksgiving feast (although we did eat one- we just weren't sat "properly"), but that doesn't mean we didn't have plenty of fun. The weekend was filled with walks to the park, lounging on the couch (Isaak is a pro at that), playing with barbies, newspaper pirate hats, watching soccer, riding bikes and scooters, and even one garage sale!

Halloween- better late than never!

Halloween was fun this year. The girls were both old enough to walk on their own, but young enough that they were okay with mom and dad tagging along. So, we went trick or treating as a family. We were able to hit most of the houses in the ward and it was only within the last 5 minutes that Noelle's legs gave out and she wanted to be carried. They had fun sorting the candy when we got home and I had fun folding laundry.

Freeze

I've told each girl that they can be officially done growing. I love having them both in elementary school and I'm perfectly happy to have them stay just the way they are.

The words on this post are not going where I want them!

Daren with Peter and Remy, our visitors from Panama. We took them to Southern Utah. They were almost as impressed by the buffalo as they were by the sites in Zion National Park.


With our visitor, Sanjeev. He was here from Bangalore India. It was either this picture with half of Libby, another one with Daren looking like a fugitive (according to my Dad), or one with Sanjeev's eyes closed.




Libby baked brownies from scratch. She did such a great job!

Some seriously large (and some deformed) potatoes from the garden


Quinn came for a visit too!

Conversations

This is one conversation that Noelle and I had as I was trying to put her to bed. Noelle's questions and comments are in bold.

What kind of tubes are in our body?
Oh there are lots of tubes in our body.
I mean the air tube, the food tube (I think she must have got this idea from when I say to her “did it go down the wrong tube?” – if she is choking)
How does our body make the sound of a voice?
When air from your lungs hit your vocal chords they vibrate to make the sound.
How come Heavenly Father makes us sick some times? (she was sick with a cold, just after recovering from hand, foot, and mouth disease- having a pretty rough go at it)
Well, Heavenly Father doesn’t necessarily make us sick. We just have mortal bodies and sometimes we get sick (not a good explanation for a 5 year old)
What does it feel like when you die?
You don’t feel anything. You just get to go and be with Heavenly Father.
No, I mean how does it feel in the dirt?
Here I launch into the spirit/body conversation and explain that her spirit won’t be in her body anymore. I don’t know how well that went, but I did my best.
I’m afraid that is going to happen some day (meaning she will die some day).
You don’t need to worry about that. It won’t be for a long, long time. I took some parental liberties on this one. I just have to be able to promise her it won’t be for a long, long, long time, even if I don’t know that for sure.
Do you know who the real princesses are?
There are no princesses in the United States.
I mean the princesses in Disneyland. Do you know who they really are?
No, I don’t know who they are. (I guess we are over the death discussion and moving on to Disneyland- thank heavens!)
How are Mickey and Minnie so big at Disneyland? (meaning how are their bodies so big)
I don’t know. (I’m getting tired and finished with explanations)
She stopped asking questions then. Until the next night during scripture study...
Are there bathrooms in heaven?

First Day of School

Libby started 3rd grade last week. She was pretty excited the first day (as you can see by the picture). Reality has struck since that time and we had a nice "discussion" about homework today. I'm sure it was the first of many. I'm doing my best to always use a kind, calm voice even when Libby isn't being kind and calm back! This morning I told Libby she needed to feed and water the chickens before she went to school. She wouldn't go take care of it until she was dressed and her hair was done. I told her to just go get it done and then I will do her hair. Nope, "I need my hair done before I go and take care of the chickens." Did I miss something? Do chickens opinions matter? One thing is for sure, I'll never have to beg her to get dressed or do her hair. For that I can be grateful.





Noelle started school today! There is no bus to take her to school (only one bringing both her and Libby home). So I thought I would skip the tears because I wouldn't have to send her on the big yellow bus and then make my lonely walk back home. However, taking her into her classroom was just as tough. She reached for my hand when she walked through the classroom door and I couldn't take it. She had to do this one on her own. Heart breaking! I barely made it out of Greenville before the flood gates opened. I was worried, but she did great. She came home cheerful and excited about the day. (Libby did a great job watching out for her and helping her on the bus)

The Good Days

I've heard a lot about blogs giving people (women, in particular) heart burn. It's happened to me before. I read someones blog and wonder what in the world is wrong with me. Why can't I keep up with whoever it is I'm reading about? Well, I would feel bad if this blog makes someone feel that way. In the past I've tried to be good about posting "real life" stuff. Lately, I've tried to post about the positive because I get enough negative everywhere else. Today is an example of that. I'm going to post 3 videos. They are full of photos of all the good days. I need to do this so I can count my blessings. I had a lousy doctors appt. today. I won't go into details at this point, but just trust me. It was lousy. Anyway, I came home and found these wonderful songs (all by the same artist) and each one represented so well the three most important people in my life. The words of the songs say it all. Listen and you will learn...

Daren's



Libby's



Noelle's





PS Don't let these videos make you feel bad even for a second. The are SO EASY to make. I would love to share the secret of making them with anyone who is interested.

Priceless Photos

What can I say? FUN!
(Thanks Shalise & Eric for sharing your boat and camera. Thanks Kara & Todd for putting the whole thing together. I have some pretty stellar sister in laws!!)