Wow! Where does the week and a half go! I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated. Tons of fun moments have flown through my hands!

36. Labor Day at the Lake and a cookout. Fishing with Dad, canoeing, and cattails we are planning to use to either catch dogfish (the kids' plan!) or fight Darth Maul.

37. Then there were people at out house and we were trying to learn how to make picco de gallo. Except the 1 halapeno we use turned out to have super heating properties. Haaaaah! (That stands for that sound you make when you eat something that feels like it's going to burn your mouth off. You automatically open your mouth and make that sound to get the heat out!) We tried to add tomatoes to part of it to cool it down, but it was still potent. Only the bravest attempted hot batch.

38. Band. Our unnamed child is playing in the marching band now! We went to the band potluck, then watched the pregame show, let balloons go for the football players and passed out water to the band. Fun new adventures for us all.

39. Skipping. Apparently, my poor youngest has never been taught how to skip. He had to learn in gym class. But now we can practice all the way to pick up the other kids from school!

40. Writing conference sunflowers! I got to do the breakfast refreshments for the all day writing conference. There was a western theme. So I decided to decorate the table with sunflowers and bandannas. Aren't they pretty?

41. Picking the sunflowers. Was so fun. The S-Train and I went on an adventure. We found a field by some new construction. There was a pile of great big limestone construction rocks to climb on. My favorite moment was after we'd pick a few sunflowers. I was giving them to the S-Train to hold. He said, "Mom, are we done?" I said, "No honey, we need to pick enough to fill two giant jars." He looked at the sunflowers he was holding, then looked at me like I'd lost my mind and said, "Mom, my hands aren't as big as two GIANT jars!!"

42. The Girls running the house. While I was gone all day on a Saturday. The girls ran the house. They did some of their Saturday chores. They cleaned the kitchen, and ran the dishwasher twice. Then they got dinner and set the table beautifully using refreshment table left overs. Dad and I had to leave again quick, and they just took it in stride. It's so nice to have a good home support team. With it, you can do great things. Without it, it's really hard. Good job! Thanks kids! Next stop, the laundry. ;)

43. Sheridans. Yummy raspberry hot fudge sundae treats with friends after Saturday night stake conference. Fabulous!

44. The Stake 5K fun run. Sue and Lou and I went to run the fun run. We had a great time! It was a beautiful morning and the sunrise was gorgeous. The girls did really well. We walk/jog a mean 5K.
Of course, we did meet some of the front runners coming back after we'd been going for about 5 minutes. They started the race 5-10 minutes early. We had a hard time getting Mom out of bed and were 5 minutes late. We took a wrong turn and a scenic detour on our run. They even sent a car to see if we were still coming! Our official time was 1:30 something, but we think it took us 1:15 to go 6K. Maybe our new motto should be to "Go the Extra K!"

45. First Dances!!! Yikes Mom. We're growing up!

A New Member of the Family

35. We now have a cousin with the coolest birthday ever! 9-9-09. Welcome to the world!

Miscellaneous stories this week

31. Skiing stories. We had some friends over and somehow everyone got into telling skiing stories. We all laughed so hard. My favorite part was when Mr. C was telling about a ski wreck and said, "I tend to lose my balance when I go down a steep hill really fast!"

32. Numbers and the S-Train. We are working so hard at figuring out numbers right now. A conversation on the way to pick up the group at school went something like this. "Mom, which is longer, 3 hours or 4 years?" We talked about hours and years. "How old are you?" "old." "Are you 10?" "More than 10." "Are you 20?" "More than 20." "Are you 100?" "Less than 100." "Are you 1,000?" "Less than 1,000." "Are you Google?" "Nope. And I'm less that a million, billion, trillion." "How about one hundred and one?"

33. Talking With Friends in Parking Lots. I've had a lot of great conversations with friends in parking lots lately. We've laughed and joked and reminded ourselves what is really important. I'm glad to have friends that I can talk to in parking lots.

34. Freshly Ironed pillow cases. This is a tradition that must be passed down! I am a sucker for embroidered pillow cases. They were always my favorites growing up and make me feel homey. I love a stack of pillow cases and how they look with the embroidery showing on top nice and neat. This week one of Sue and Lou's chores was to iron pillow cases for the family. Yea! One more generation learns how. I feel that jump in my heart that says, "Good job." and makes me feel part of a long line of women keeping house. I wonder where this tradition started and where it will end. I'm just glad to be a link in it.

Fun in the Neighborhood!

There have been lots of things this week that I remember laughing and thinking - that could be my thing for the day that makes me smile! I can't seem to keep many of them in my head for longer than an hour or so. I want to. Unfortunately, that doesn't make it so. But maybe I can figure out one or two.

27. More Empanadas! With rice and Black beans. The S's cooked for us again! Oh my. Yum. I really need to learn how to make these. It's fun to get together with them. So far, they provide the main dish. We cut up a cantaloupe and host the party and send them home with fresh tomatoes. I think we are SO getting the better end of this deal. I really think we should keep them as friends.

28. The S-Train's pictures at Back to School Night. I'll try to get a picture to post tomorrow. Apparently the STrain is the center of all things. My unnamed child and sisters a close second. Mom and Dad are ghostly figures who hang out in the background and drive us places and feed us. (I took pictures and talked to his teacher. Apparently the S-train got tired and she had to encourage him to keep going so that there were six people in his family.)

Also, we walk to school a lot. The S-Train had the only picture of getting to school with a crosswalk. And the people in the cars have cross bars on their windows. Apparently getting stopped at the stop light can be a big deal in others' cars. There were lots of big stop lights in some kids' pictures. I wonder if it's good that they can't spell yet?

And of course, school is where we learn colors.

29. Tennis matches. And my unnamed child looking so grown up in her tennis uniform. Wow. I don't want to blink! If I do, there she'll go! Which is really making me misty, not making me smile. But - funny tennis pictures are.

30. Captive Audiences. Sunday NS came home with us because her parents had to leave early. My daughters wanted to introduce her to the joys of "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown." They played songs for her. Then it turned into acting out the songs with N for an audience on the couch. They all had parts and actions to the words worked out. We had them move on to more interactive things pretty soon, but boy were they enjoying their impromptu audience!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (outside the chapel doors)

23. Outings. Today we got out of Sacrament meeting because the fire alarm went off. I've never had that happen before. Neither have most of the people there. I don't think it will ever happen again. This weird sound started and everyone sat there looking at each other thinking - should we get out? Is this a false alarm? Or should we move? Two or three men got up to go check on things. Brother N. got the front chapel door open so everyone could use it if necessary. The Bishop went out and then came back in and told everyone we were going to clear the building for safety's sake. We all gathered and talked outside. Then they checked the building and reset the alarm. So we all went back inside. Sister S had almost been done with her talk - so they decided to move on with the meeting. Sister G. sang a beautiful version of "Where Can I Turn for Peace." It got us all in the mood to listen to the last speaker. Later N told my unnamed child that it was her little brother C who let us out into the fresh air for a few minutes. It was an adventure! It was kind of exciting. Such a beautiful day for an outing.

And we were still so good in Primary. A little restless, but not as keyed up as you might think.

I was smiling about this at the time. But it mostly makes the list because it is so unusual.

24. One more for the day. A sunbeam's (MD's) socks. Everyone should have black socks with cheetah fur trim on top to wear with their black sandals!

25. Oh, and one more. The cutest boy was visiting us with the S's. He kept nodding and smiling the whole time we we talking to him about visiting us. And we were talking about the word omnipotent. Who could say it. He pops out a little later with - I can say opipitint! Cute.

26. Ok, just one more. The S-train at our picnic Friday. He wanted to go to a tennis court and play since my unnamed oldest is playing. He ran and ran after those balls! Such Energy! Such enthusiasm. If we could bottle that energy I'd never have another light bill! He was so happy. And get him in front of a net - he can actually hit it some of the time and hit it good! It's great exercise for the one he's playing with, because you're never completely sure where it's going to go - but it's always in! :)

How Does That Work?

22. Efficient Homework. Today my unnamed child told me she has decided to do her Honors Geometry Homework in Chinese. Just to practice the characters.

So Many Things to Smile About

14. Peaches and nature hikes. Saturday we went to pick peaches with our new Louisiana transplant friends. We got some delicious peaches. Then we went on a picnic, saw the owl at the nature center and took a LONGER than expected hike at Ernie Miller Park. We even found a turtle!It was a BEAUTIFUL Day. Perfect for an outing.
15. A husband who cans! After getting home Saturday, Mr. C. made 10 pints of peach jelly and canned quarts of peaches. LOVE it when he cooks. I just get out of the way!

16. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. The Saturday News Quiz show on NPR. Even when I'm really angry about something that show can bring me right out of a bad mood and make me laugh out loud! If I'm in the car on Saturday night between 7 and 8, chances are I'll be sitting in a parking lot when I get where I'm going because I want to keep listening. A no fail pick me upper!

17. Straightening hair! Who knew it was so fun! It's like magic. I was easily having more fun with this than the child whose hair I was straightening. Such fun to play with hair. Do we ever outgrow this? (Now oldest child- whose hair I straightened - wants to be the Unnamed child and hide her identity. Funny girl.)

18. Funny stories in Primary. In Sr. Primary everyone was telling stories about their grandparents. Sr. G. Got up and told a story at the end about her father-in-law. Before there were crash test dummies, they used to crash test cars with real people driving them. He did that. He would drive a car at a wall and jump into the back seat right before it crashed! We laughed so hard! She kind of acted it out so you could see him doing it! What a fun way to end primary. It makes me smile every time I think about it!

19. Critique groups and sitting by Lake Latawona. K from my critique group had us over to her house on the lake for our meeting Monday. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I love sitting with these beautiful ladies. Every meeting I learn so much. And I go home energized to try again! Write some more! Figure out that villain! Watch out for those weasel words, and remember that dialogue is like a tennis ball! I'm so glad and happy to have this motivation to write and keep going each month.

20. Department of Justice translation department. They took a translator for Spanish from Salt Lake City to help out in EL PASO?????!!!! That's just silly. And yet. It is. And that same translator just got a writing credit in an on-line news magazine. You go Mr. G!

21. Vacations. I'm so happy for my sister who gets to go Back to Hawaii! This time her husband gets to go with her and they have fun in the sun. It makes earning travel bonus points when working worth it! Have fun sis!

And my other sister and her husband are going to South America not once - but TWICE this year.

Everyone else is having babies - so - no travel for them!! But then, they will get a nice brand new baby out of the deal.

I have already had my big trip for the year. Now I am taking a mini vacation every morning for three hours. It's my - walk a lot- nap a little and fold laundry in between vacation! :) Hopefully by the end of it I'll have a sketchbook filled and a novel written. Not to mention muscles and a cleaner house.


I am easily over one a day for things that make me smile. That's all right. I just keep finding more and more things that make me smile. And that's a good thing. (Me and Martha! :)