So grateful for...

The prophet, Joseph Smith.

This past Friday, during our trip away, Jacob and I were able to visit the birthplace of Joseph Smith.
I actually don't want to take away from the wonderful experience by trying to put it into words,
I will just say it will remain a favorite memory for both of us for a very long time to come.
We were the only visitors there on that particular morning and the Spirit was incredible.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

So grateful for...

A trip away to celebrate our anniversary.

When you are married three days before Christmas, you learn it is a good idea to use the
month before or after to do anything more than a small celebration. And as it was my turn
to plan this year, I decided it was high time for our first anniversary trip away. And Vermont
seemed just the place. It was absolutely incredible! We are so grateful for our friend Lorri
who tended the kids!they had the most fabulous time. Which was a good thing
considering how much Jacob and I enjoyed the two days away.

Here are a few pictures:

The road to the bed and breakfast.

The beautiful place where we stayed.

A gorgeous lake close by.

And a picture that has nothing to do with anything, except that I saw it and had to capture it.

Did I mention we had the most amazing time?
Photos of our favorite part of the trip coming tomorrow...

So grateful for...

This country. And for those that have given so much, and are currently giving so much.

These five minutes were the best I've spent today.

I love this country.

So grateful for...

This man.

So grateful for...

These four.

So grateful for...

Little boys who stand in front of their door mounted basketball hoop and say,

"If dis ball dos in, I'n am going to be suber, suber happy!"

So grateful for...

Our friend, Lorri, who lives with us.

She is so good to us, it is amazing. She acts like it is her pleasure whenever she tends the kids.
She cooks amazing food every Sunday. She makes us laugh. And she isn't afraid to tell me I am nuts.

(In a kind way of course. And unfortunately, she is right every time.)

So grateful for...

This painting, what it means to me and how it made me cry the first time I saw it and realized
what the artist had named it. God answers prayers. I have no doubt. I am so grateful.

Photo taken from here.

So grateful for...

A fun soccer season.

That is over. We loved it, but three games a week, plus three
to five practices a week. It was a lot. The calm feels good.

So grateful for...

A warm home.

Happy Halloween from...

Wesley Sneijder

Hermione Granger

Zorro

and Captain Feathersword

to

YOU!

Just a cool picture of the moon I took

In our yard

The day I made/stole the newspaper

I made it into our town paper a few weeks ago. You really should be impressed. They quoted me a lot and I felt like a celebrity. I don't mean to make anyone jealous, I just thought I should mention it, you know, for posterity.

Why did I make the paper?

Well, thanks for asking.

A while back, I was asked to be the PR representative for the PTA at the kids school. Is that hilarious to anyone else? Me, the PR representative? I'm really good with the public. I always say the right thing. And I should for sure be asked to talk to people who print things permanently, for all to see. Anyway, I asked my friend, who is the president, if she was sure. She said yes. Well, alrighty then.

Making it in the paper was the exciting part of the day. Stealing the paper later that evening was a little less so. When my friend called to ask if I had seen the article, I hadn't. She said it was good. That it would help the school raise money for the playground we need. Hurray, because that is just what we were looking to do. So what choice did I have, but to go grab a copy? And unfortunately, I literally meant grab.

I asked a friend (different friend than the one mentioned above) where you can get the town newspaper. (No need to point out that I have lived in this town for two years and I didn't know where to get a paper.) She told me she thought most anyplace. I asked how much it cost. She thought it was free, as the town she lived in previously was always free. Awesome. I took myself to the 7-11 up the street, walked in and started looking around for papers. And what do you know, they were right up front. I grabbed our town paper, made sure the article I was looking for was on the front page and walked outside to my car. As I was starting the car to go home, I noticed the manager, who must have been in the back while I was in the store, walk to the front and stare out the window at me. Weird, but he is kind of an interesting fellow (one of those who seems bothered whenever you come into his store), so I just assumed he was annoyed I had showed up once again.

On the way home, my mind started thinking. What if the paper wasn't free? Of course it was free, why wouldn't it be? But what if it wasn't? For the last time, of course it is. I'm a trusting person and someone told me it was, so that is the answer. Guess what? It wasn't. There on the front page, in addition the the wonderful article quoting a certain brilliant person, was the cost. Fifty cents. I had just shoplifted a newspaper. Being a criminal doesn't give you the high I thought it might.

I turned the car around, grabbed two quarters from the change compartment in the Honda and headed into the 7-11 to explain.

So, I seriously thought the paper I just took was free. But I just realized it wasn't. So I'm here to pay you. Here is your money. Sorry about that.

And do you know what? Mr.-Please-Don't-Come-Into-My-Store-And-Buy-Things-Because-It-Bothers-Me smiled. And then laughed. And even though he was laughing at me, the crazy lady who would actually assumed a town paper was free, I was okay with it.

Because not only was I no longer a criminal, but two quarters had just purchased my PR debut.

You know, I really should have grabbed a Slurpee as long as I was there, to drink while I was reading. And yes, I would have paid for it.

Rude.

Court of Honor

Tonight was Cam's first official night of Boy Scouts. I'm not sure how that could
even be the case, as it was literally yesterday he started Cub Scouts, but he
was thrilled, so we'll go with it. He is truly such an incredible boy.

Big boy

I'm seldom a fan of pictures taken on my Blackberry, but turn them black and white and
they are a little better. Either way, I'm not sure this photo of Ben having his hair cut
by someone other than his mom, for the first time, could be any more cute.

Nope. I just checked again and it definitely couldn't be.

Blessed

Jacob is currently in China. For a week.

Tuesday at 3am, Ben woke up with the worst case of croup our kids have ever had. It was bad.

I had a migraine start this past Friday. I'm still waiting for it to go away completely. Or at least go away for more than three hours at a stretch.

Jacob's email was hacked by someone in China. And a nutso video was sent to many of his contacts. Not good.

The other day, while running an errand, a woman said to me, "God bless you."

Without thinking, I responded, "Oh, He already has."

And then I got teary.

Because it is so true.

He claims he truly thought it was

The other night, we were all in the car together, talking about some of the ways we want to celebrate birthdays in our family next year. I mentioned some fun ideas, the kids were excited, it was going well. And then they started asking questions about every little birthday detail.

So naturally, I responded,

"Contrary to popular belief, I really don't need to make a rule for every single situation."

To which someone (who shall remain anonymous, but who could possibly be my firstborn) replied,

"But I thought the name of your blog was, A rule for everything."

Makes me happy

Why I love taking pictures of this girl--I always end up with some beauties like these.

Balloon fun

One more reason birthdays are the best!

Esperanza

LOVE this story more than I could ever say.

Yours truly sat on the couch last night sobbing, while watching the rescue take place. Especially when the second to last miner was pulled up and reunited with his wife, who had given birth to their daughter while he was underground.

It isn't possible for me to be more impressed with the president of Chile, Sebastian Pinera. That man is something incredible.

Sitting with Jacob, while those men placed their hats over their hearts and sang the Chilean national anthem, made me emotional all over again. Chile grabbed a piece of Jacob's heart when he served his two-year church mission there. He loves that place and those people something fierce.

I am getting teary again typing this. Good grief, I'm a mess.

I couldn't go to bed last night until the last rescue worker was above ground. Couldn't do it. I had to see everyone safe, and the hole closed, before I could sleep.

I'm so tired, I can't see straight.

And it was worth every single second.

Just in case

Yesterday morning, around 4:00am, Annie woke up, thinking her nose might be bleeding. (She gets a nose bleed kind of often, about once every month or two, and usually during the night.) Gratefully it wasn't a nose bleed. After we made sure that was the case, I gave her a hug and wished her a happy birthday and told her to try and get a couple more hours of sleep. She replied,

"I woke up a while ago, but I didn't know what time it was.
So I sang Happy Birthday to myself, just in case."