Off to Nursery

 Since Steve knew he would be out of town most of the month of October, he arranged with the church nursery leader to have Amy start going a few weeks earlier than the typical 18 mos. to relieve me for those couple of hours to enjoy my lessons. Sunday was her first day...

 She loved it! I have really enjoyed her blossoming personality these days. She is such a truly sweet treat.

Her ability to express herself has increased and she is learning and saying new words daily.

 Lately anytime I say "Good Girl", she repeats it. {I have reason to say this to her a lot.}

Our baby doll is growing up...

                             I'm not sure how I feel about this, so I'll just enjoy her in the meantime.

Change of Plans

Last Thursday, Bryon was voted into the Homecoming Court. What? Yeah, that's what he said! He came home rather surprised and skeptical. He thought his friends were pulling a prank on him. Surely it finally sunk in when he was called up to the stage at his school assembly on Friday. He came home telling me it was for real, donning the official, glorious sash:

*These first three pictures are at the game courtesy of Kate's family via facebook, so please excuse the blur ;).

The girl he was voted in with was Kate (on the right), a friend of his from school and seminary.

This turnout was completely baffling to him, especially since neither he NOR Kate were even planning on going to Homecoming at all and had other plans for Saturday night. We were laughing about it at home, creating extreme senarios in our conversations. After scrambling for a new plan, Bryon met up with some friends for the Friday night game:

{He's pictured here with Kate and her twin brother Zack, who was crowned King later that night}

 then showed up to the dance to fultill his courtly (is that a word?) duty. After the dance, he and his friends enjoyed a homecoming party at one of their houses...

and came home having had a good time, (even though it "inconvenienced" him a great deal to have to attend Homecoming) instead of playing some game on the town called "Commandos".

All in all, Bryon decided he was glad that he went to homecoming. Turns out the guy that arranged the whole game that night, went to homecoming instead too. 

Ahhh, the joys of High School!

Life's a bore!

I haven't posted much lately, as you can well see. It isn't that there isn't anything going on...no! Quite contrare! In fact, there are a lot of things going on that are rather occupying my time. Want a few examples?

Here are a few:

*Note the background mess and uncanned boxes of apples.

Excuse the blurry picture. Although, I don't think it draws away from the point too much, do you?

After cleaning this mess up, I found two more the next day in the same location. I guess it's a great location for egg cracking. We had a good talk. It hasn't happened again. *Whew*

If you look closely you will note a few green lines on the cupboards, maybe dots, maybe more...oh, and on the fridge too.

They continued on until they reached past the back door, then changed direction... 

and became dining room wall art. There was even some decorative element in the entry way.

The bright side is that it encouraged a much needed scrubbing on cupboards, walls and fridge. Things are all a sparkle around here. Although I don't expect it to last, I'll enjoy it while I can.

Simple pleasures are like a holiday around here!

Peaceful Slumber

Babies keep life interesting. You never know what habits they are going to take on, keep, lose, change, or develop. What schedules they are going to form, adapt to, or when they will mix them up completely.

When Amy started to drink from a bottle, the only way we could get her to settle was to commit the cardinal sin of laying her down all a-slirp. She would drink that milk down and quickly give way to blissful slumber. She would then wake up for a 2a.m. feeding and repeat the process. This lasted all the way until well after her 1st birthday. She was our first baby to wake in the night consistantly, even after 4months of age. So, we gave in too tired to do otherwise. After all, sleep is too precious right? So when we gave her that bottle, it was happy magic. That sweet baby would grab that midnight snack, be done with it in seconds, and let sleep again take over until well around 8a.m. Anything to keep our precious babe happy...

Those feedings have been long since forgotten and Amy has decided, contrary to Dr.'s beliefs since the beginning of time, that her nightly bottle is no longer a necessity. She pushes it away and prefers Mr. "D"  (pictured above) for naps, and Mr. Ted (her teddy bear) for bedtime.

She grabs him

 hugs him to her with a smile...and falls peacefully into dreamland. We much prefer this new habit,

                                                                  for she seems to be in such peaceful slumber.

Back to School!

Picture collage customized with Smilebox

We Remember

September 11,2001 will always be especially significant in my mind. It happened soon after our long awaited 3rd baby was born. I had become a new mother for the 3rd time after waiting five long years in wonder as to whether our family would ever have an increase. We had Steve's parents staying with us as they usually did to help out when we had a new baby in the family. It was a time of contentment and joy in our little world. We were quite oblivious to the events of the nation around us as we enjoyed and celebrated the special occasion of our new bundle of absolute joy:

Then, 13 days after Jeremy's birth, Dad Alger told me about hearing something tragic and how it should be on the news, quite unsure of the details. He thought he'd heard it was in Seattle at the Space Needle. When I turned on the television, it was all over the place, the vision of the tragic event that now took place 10 years ago. Each year as I reflect on that event, I am reminded of a song sung by Country star Alan Jackson called, "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning",

 I have never and doubt I ever will forget where I was and what I felt when the world truly seemed to stop turning as I stood in astonishment at what I was beholding as the news broadcast what had just happened that morning to thousands of innocent people, affecting millions of lives forever. Even now when I watch the news that described the event, my heart sinks, my knees are weak making me need to sit down and the uncontrollable desire to weep and possibly bawl overcomes me, as it did that day. It is an everlasting reminder that we as a nation need be united as a people. Tragedy marks the climax in any relationship whether it is a national, personal, worldwide, or eternal one. It marks strength or weakness. Progression, or destruction. It is the test of strength. To me, this is what took place on that significant day. A test to remind us where we are as a nation, a people, a society, and individual families in value and embodiment. It reminds me annually to check where I am spiritually and whether my priorities are in line. Today as I think of that tragic, yet heroic event of those that sacrificed so much on the line, I am grateful for my faith, those I love, and for the blessing to know that this world is just a temporary state of something far better in the life to come. That  the Savior is truly our Redeemer, how blessed we are, and that we live in this great Nation. We are so incredibly blessed. 

He Got It!

So...

          He got it.

It's official. Tyler has his permit. The milestone you're anxious for yet, a little wary of. But truthfully...

I have to say that it was rather impressive how well he drove us home from the DMV. (*sigh of relief) He's rather good!

It must've been all that operating of motorized wave runners at the river in California this summer. We knew it would be worth the sacrifice of sending them off for three weeks for something.