If this doesn't make you smile then........

I love this!

Oh, It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary......

Mary came to Primary this week.  I am not sure that she added to the reverence, as a matter of fact, I am quite certain that she didn't.  It was a little celebration for a Primary Program well done.  I love my Primary children!

Jack didn't quite know what to make of his Grammy but in the end the umbrella won him over.

Wind from the East.......

Today this came from the nice man wearing Brown-

Inside was this-

With this cute face-

To wear with this-

Oh- I can't wait for Primary next week!!!

Days of Summer

What did you do on your summer vacation?

After Zach left we had quite an eventful summer.   We spent 5 days in Santa Barbara, missed our flight home, arrived at midnight only to get up early the next morning to leave for the annual Yellowstone trip.  We saw an amazing amount of wildlife, had 21 bear sightings, and so much fun with our friends the Waites (and Mitchell's fiance, Rachel, and Peter's friend, Robyn).  

We spent a few days in Sun Valley, headed to Hawaii with 4 of Peter's friends for a week and then I spent a week with my family in Memphis.  We finished off the summer with a trip to Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival and one more trip to California for a nephew's wedding.  

Whew!

Santa Barbara and the Coast Highway

This would be me asking if we could please get some lunch- (for those who have never travelled with the MOMD, we are only allowed to stop for 2 meals a day.)

Necking on the beach--

New trick I learned for cooling off while laying out--

Stay tuned for Part 2- Yellowstone (lucky you!)

Dear Zach

Dear Zachary,
I missed you today.  I decided that enough time had passed and I needed to straighten your room.  I gently placed your guitars in their cases, accidentally strumming the strings and wondering when I would hear you play them again.  I folded all of your BYU lacrosse shooting shirts and tucked them away in a drawer remembering all of the fun you had this last season, starting time as a freshman, not bad.   I stacked the volume after volume of Chris Heimerdinger cds and smiled thinking of all the late nights you and Peter had listening over and over again to Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites.  Peter and Ben still turn them on at night as they are falling asleep. I saw a shiny thing under your desk and reach down and found the sheriff badge from Yellowstone with your name engraved on it and thought of all the Jordan/Waite family trips and you and Patrick wearing those badges proudly pinned to your t-shirts, as high school students.
I found the bag of boondoggle supplies and stuffed it back into your closet.  Who knew that you would be my crafty child?  I hung up your suit that you had so recently outgrown -I wasn't surprised to find a stick of gum in the pocket- and hoped that you are hanging up your suits each day as you wear them.  You know, they will last longer that way.  I reached down and picked a piece of tape up off the carpet.  I closed my eyes and could hear you rolling tape between your fingers....  
 I found your old scriptures upside down by the bookshelf and held them for a minute before I closed them and put them on the shelf.  I thought about putting them in a box with your other things from college but decided I just wanted to see them sitting there.  
I was almost finished when I saw the two black boxes sitting on your dresser.  I couldn't resist opening them and admiring the two state championship rings twinkling back at me.   That's when the tears finally came.  What a great boy you are, and how you have filled my life.   I know you won't be reading this- mission rules and all- but I just needed to write you and tell you how much I miss you.  Every day.  Somehow it makes me feel better.
I love you,
Mom

California Saga:Big Sur

The Man-of-my-dreams took me on a little trip to Santa Barbara last week.   It had been a while since we had a vacation without the rest of the family.  I had a brilliant idea to drive up the Coastal Highway to Carmel. (I now want to live in Carmel.)  It was beautiful--- blue skies, elephant seals, gulls,--MOMD said that we could have driven from Bountiful to Santa Barbara in the time it took us to get to Carmel and back.  

True, but I don't remember an ocean view on that trip.

Hard to Believe

It has been 3 weeks since we dropped Zach off at the MTC.

  Today he left for California and the missionary work really begins.  We spoke with him for a few minutes from the airport and he sounds happy, happy, happy.  He is so looking forward to getting into his first area and talking to real people.  What a great boy!

Peter looks like a random person we pulled into the photo.

Final Countdown

The suits are bought and hanging in the closet, we have the first-aid kit and the flashlight.  White shirts, long and short-sleeved are lined up like soldiers and new scriptures are waiting to be marked. 

There won't be many more days like this where I can hear his music wafting through the house.

I will miss this boy.  

Zach will speak this Sunday in church and then enter the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday.  There is nowhere on earth that we would rather he be.

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

We took the boys to Baltimore for the NCAA Lacrosse Final Four.  It was our last hurrah before Zach leaves for his mission.  The games on Saturday were great and the weather was nice.  Unfortunately, Cornell, who we became big fans of last year at the finals, lost.  So, we had to pick an new team to cheer for.  Duke.  The finals were played on Monday so.... on Sunday we took the boys for a little visit to Gettysburg.  WOW.

To begin the non-stop teasing of their mother, they secretly bought confederate hats and a flag to greet me as we left the visitor's center and returned to the car.......

...hats that they wore the rest of the day.

the 20th Maine Monument

Little Round Top

Looking over the Valley of Death

Always playing- notice the flying saucer, it's a popper that Zach popped off of the wall of the castle monument down to the waiting Peter.

Devil's Den

Once again, we run into a wedding on vacation. What are the odds??? This one was a bit more traditional than the last one.

Soldier's National Cemetery

Rows and rows and rows of flags.

                                       

It is hard to describe the feelings experienced as we walked all over the battlefield. Knowing that my Great-great grandfathers fought for the South made the emotions even more tender. 

Sacred, hallowed ground.    

THE BIG GAME

Duke vs. Notre Dame

          

                 unbelievably hot!!!!             

 Duke wins-glad we bought the t-shirts.

                                       

I love my boys,what a great weekend!

                                    

 These two are going to miss each other.

                                                    

(just a note, all of his life, and I do mean-ALL, Peter has made faces of one kind or another in our family pictures)

really?

Let's Hear It For Our Girl!

Last Friday our Jenn graduated from Brigham Young University. We are very proud of her. She worked so hard and was even back in class about four weeks after Jack was born.

Now, that is dedication.

Here she is with her family after graduation. (She is missing one sister, Alex, who is in school in Arizona and warmer, I am quite certain, than we were!)

We love you Jenn!

What happens when.....

To one little curly headed boy you add---

One jar of pom-poms?

You get.........

A bubble blowing heart stealer!

In This Family You Are Never Too Little To Hold A Lacrosse Stick

As Jack watched his Uncle Zach shooting a little in the back yard he decided that he was now big enough to handle a big boy lacrosse stick.

I promise, it is in the blood.

Sometimes owie's happen.

In the End it is the Hug that Counts

Game over.

I have never felt so conflicted. What do you wear? Blue? Red? No,BLACK. Who do you cheer for? University of Utah? Brigham Young University? No,PETER and ZACH. It's over. They were good sports, they are good lacrosse players and more important, they are good brothers.

The blue team won.

Don't let this face fool you.

Last night we were awakened in the night by a noise in the fireplace of our bedroom. The sound woke Scout, who sleeps in our room, who then began growling and barking and adding to the confusion. The noise then turned into an all out brawl on the roof with a lot of scratching and hissing and rolling around. Now, we have a steep roof, I don't know how our furry friends didn't fall off but this morning there were no bodies on the ground so they must have survived their 15 minute scuffle. Tonight we have a stinky smell coming from the fireplace in the family room. Not a dead smell, just a stinky animal smell. I have searched the internet only to discover that raccoon mommies often look for a chimney in the spring to nest with her babies. Swell.

Stay tuned.