girls? ... seriously?

a conversation i had with will today...

Will: what day is it today?

Me: wednesday.

Will: is it a school day?

Me: yes

Will: oh, good. that means I can see Hannah and Livy. and i can play with them at recess.

Me: why don't you play with the boys at recess? why do you like to play with the girls all the time.

Will: because Hannah and Livy are just so beautiful!

.... 5 years old... going on 16....

pumpkinland

Will's first fieldtrip was to Pumpkinland.

He was very excited to be going on his first school bus.

Of course, it was the day that it had to SNOW... so we went to pumpkinland in the midst of a little snowstorm.

They sang Halloween songs all the way there.

The kids were cold and wet, but they had a lot of fun.

Will's friends from Primary....
Caleb, Will, Isaac, and Seth.

Will and Hannah

"The Pumpkin Group"

Livy, Jacque, Will and Modoc

They each got to pick out their own pumpkin to take home. Will was so ready to leave by then.

the humbling perspective...

So the other day I was helping Will practice the piano... and as we are playing the "cup game", where he chooses one of his "crossings" to play from one cup on top of the piano and puts into the other cup, he notices Brent's high school picture...

Will: Mom! LOOK!! There's a picture of Dad when he was THIN!

Me: Yep, that's a picture when he was in High School.

Will: But Mom, he was really thin!

Me: He was.

Will: But he was thin then.... thin like you!

(Of course, at that point, the love for my son exuded forth...)

Me: (smiling) Thanks, Will!

Will: But you're WIDE thin.

Fall has arrived...

To Autumn

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.


2.Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,

Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.


3.Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

-- John Keats

(photos taken in Provo Canyon)

the canning continues

and then there were tomatoes....

... and salsa!
we have been so blessed by our generous neighbors
and all of the free food we are receiving!

unconditional love...

Me: Will, it's time to turn off the tv and get dressed.

Will: I'm watching another show.

Me: I told you it was time to get dressed when the last show was over.

Will: I know, but now I'm watching another show.

Me: You need to turn off the tv and get dressed.

Will: wait until this show is over.

Me: You can either turn off the tv, or I will turn it off for you.

Will: no, you can't.

~CLICK!~ (off goes the tv)

Will: Where's the phone?

Me: Who do you want to call?

Will: Dad.

He gets the phone and dials the number. He's waiting while the phone is ringing...

Me: Why are you calling Dad?

Will: I'm mad with someone. You know who I'm mad with? (and points at me)

Will: He's not answering! Man!

Later that evening, as I'm putting Will to bed and about to leave the room...

Will: Mommy?

Me: Yes?

Will: Even when you annoy me, I still love you.

Me: Thanks Will. I love you, too.

feeling like the domestic goddess...

peaches!

thanks to our wonderful neighbors, we got free peaches from the broadbents, and a free canning lesson from judy nelson...

and lo and behold, brent and i now have canned peaches!

The First Day of Kindergarten!!

Will was "a little bit nervous" just before it was time to leave for school.

"mommy, i'm a little bit nervous.

i think you need to stay with me all day at school."

"i can't Will. i have to go to the office today. but remember daddy gave you a blessing last night that you wouldn't be nervous at school."

the backpack

Will wanted a superheroes backpack

(even after Brent and I showed him ALL of the other "cool" backpacks)

he was insistant that this was in fact his backpack!

leaving for school....
(not so nervous now)

running to school....
and telling everyone he saw on the way,
"today is my first day of school!"

as I stopped Will from running out into the street....
I showed him the crosswalk just a few feet away!

and there he met
Ellen, the Crossing Guard

finally, getting to school!

and then he had to be reminded that he was not outside, and had to come back out of his classroom and walk in nicely...

(and of course, pose for another picture!)

He found his coat/backpack hook with his name on it.

And his very own cubby with all of his new school supplies...

...and a pose with his new binder, ...

... and his teacher, Mrs. Perry.

and then he found a table with some boys already doing some puzzle games and introduced himself, and I said goodbye. He didn't look back.

Obviously, the nervousness was gone. :)

Will's good friend from Primary, Isaac is also in his class.

His friend, Caleb is in another Kindergarten class,

but we saw him after school.

Will LOVED his first day of Kindergarten!!
and is looking forward to more days to come! :)

The Meisingers come to town...

we love visitors!

on august 3rd we had lots of brent's family come into town.

Penny flew in from Denver. Stephanie and her daughters, Tana and Tara drove down from Idaho.

The following week Brent's Mom, along with his sister Willie and her husband, and their two daughters drove up from Albuquerque.

All of this to support Penny and join with her to celebrate her first temple experience. It was truly wonderful!

We spent a lot of time at the table playing

Hand and Foot, and Nertz.

Our cute Jasmin.

And the ever so lovely Te'a.

...and the comic relief of the family...Willie

Most of the family was able to come and congregate at the house. Those that weren't there were missed terribly.

July 2009

July brought a trip to Montana and Canada!

It was Great Grandpa Gabby’s 85th birthday.

As well as a wedding for the second youngest of Brent’s siblings, Kenny and his Cheryl. (yes, another C/Sheryl to keep track of!) Sorry, no pictures yet.

And we were able to celebrate Brent’s birthday with his family for the first time in many, many years with a breakfast and presents, including this beautiful quilt that his Mom made for him.

Then we headed to Flathead Lake where

Brent spent a lot of summer hours as a boy.

We rented a boat and were able to locate his Great Grandparents’ cabin

and the surrounding homes that he remembers.

Will got a lesson on driving the boat…

and then he thought he could handle it on his own…

he actually did pretty well!
From Montana we headed up to Canada through Glacier National Park. It was beautiful scenery and you can't help but be grateful for and humbled by God's creations.

Our first stop in Canada was Cardston. We stopped overnight at a cute Bed and Breakfast. Brent wanted me to see the Cardston Temple so I went and did a session there while Brent took Will and Lucky on a little tour of the city. (yep, Lucky is now an international traveler!)
From Cardston we went up to Banff and Lake Louise (this should be on everyone’s “Things I Must See Before I Die” List!)

Lake Louise was breathtaking!

Will wanted to rent a canoe and go out on the lake… which we did… and two minutes away from the dock he was ready to go back. I must say that this was largely due to the fact that his parents are not outdoorsmen and quickly revealed their “un” skills at canoeing. After an hour of trying to figure out how to make our canoe go in a straight line (yes, we do understand the “row on opposite sides” theory,… however this did not seem to work for us), Brent finally was able to maneuver us back to the dock. (For further “funnies” on this, see Brent or Lori personally!)

Pitt Family Reunion 2009 - Vernal

Will and I went to the Pitt Family Reunion in Vernal this year with Mom, Karen, Jeff, Kaylee and Kristy... and, of course, Lucky! It turned out to be a Southam Family Reunion with our family. The Southams were wonderful and very gracious to us. They hauled a trailer up the mountain for us and made sure that we were comfortable and had enough water.

Lucky was the first to make himself comfortable in the trailer.

He was not amused when he learned that he would still be sleeping in his crate in the trailer.

We spent lots of time in the trailer playing SkipBo, Hand & Foot, Phase 10, and my favorite from childhood days of camping... Milles Bournes!

I saw Will dragging his camp chair away from the fire pit the very first day and wondered where he was taking it....

Apparently, he saw Nila's shade tent and decided that would be a better place to hang out and have some time to himself!

And then he discovered the ATV!!

And he was never seen in the shade tent again!

Jeff was kind enough to take Will on many ATV rides during the course of our campout. Thanks Jeff!!

All the kids, young and old were very excited that Mom was coming to the campout, because they know that when she is there...

there will be a Candy Tree!!

The hike to get to the tree....

Will spotting the tree for the first time...

very intent on checking out what kinds of candy he is going to grab.

The feeding frenzy...

Kaylee and Kristy helped Will get to the candy he couldn't reach.

We had a great four days hanging out with the family. We had lots of torrential rain, some lightning and thunder, but lots of fun.

Tyson was at our door most mornings asking for Will to come out and play. The little girls were at our door every morning asking for Lucky to come out and play. All the kids loved Lucky and spent a lot of time playing with him and taking him for walks. One of the boys was even heard asking his mom if he could trade his dirt bike for Lucky!

Our boys.

Tired out after a fun-filled campout!