Hanging on by a thread...

...literally.

Lyle split his lip open Monday morning and ended up with 2 dissolvable stitches and one to be removed.  By the time he went to sleep that night, the two dissolvable ones had come out. 

Since then, I have been "hovering" in hopes of keeping his lip together with just the one stitch.

The doctor said, "well if they were identical, they aren't now."

Still so cute.

This afternoon I caught this photo thinking, "this is a day in the life of."

Talmage practicing on the unicycle.

Hyrum and Sariah playing Oscar the Grouch in the garbage can.

Rex and Lyle putting rocks in a bucket.

It was a very pleasant afternoon.

Sariah's Seven

I'm really perplexed why all of a sudden I can't upload photos from my ipod.  I've got some fun pictures of Sariah and her birthday celebrations.

We were headed to hike Badger Mountain on Friday---a tradition we started on her 4th birthday.  The boys were farmed out and I was looking forward to our long talk up and down the mountain.  It was cold and windy when we got there.  My usual way of doing things---tough it out, build character---was what I thought I would instill in my growing daughter on this day.  A few hundred feet up the hill Sariah had her hands clutched at her hood holding it tight to her face and was saying she wished she had some gloves.  All of a sudden, I had the thought, "This is her birthday, she needs to enjoy it. Besides, I surely don't want to make it so she never wants to do it again."  I knelt down beside her and told her if this wasn't fun, we could do something else for her birthday.  She said she wanted to do something else.  So, we ate at Sonic with the sun roof open. She had a corndog, her favorite.  We walked around the Far West Boutique and looked at fancy, modest dresses.  And her favorite part, we got some window paint from JoAnn's and went to the seminary building to write on James's windows.  She was giddy the whole time.  She wrote, "Frum yor favrt gurlfrnds" and drew a lot of hearts.  She was so giggly and excited.  It was real fun.

Bryant bore a special testimony in sacrament meeting today.  Basically, he said that when he had watched conference last week he felt like he needed to bear his testimony.  He then said, "I need to get three things clear."  Then he bore his testimony of the prophet, the church, and prayer.  I was so proud of him because he really didn't want to, but he knew he had felt the Spirit and His promptings. 

He and Talmage did a great job fasting today.  It is not easy for them, but they do it.  It makes me happy.

We had our best sacrament meeting since Rex and Lyle were born.  For a short while, they just sat on our laps and snacked.  Dad said not to get our hopes up, it was just one Sunday.  Perhaps true, but it was so nice.

Dirty Apples

My photos aren't uploading for some reason...

It's nicer outside this week than last, and Rex and Lyle are happiest outside, so...

We spend a lot of time outside---exploring.

The golden delicious apples have been harvested and the boys love to explore with an apple in hand.  Usually, by the time they are done (or more accurately, by the time I finally take their apples away), both apples and boys are very dirty.

Tomorrow is Sariah's birthday.  She has been counting down. 

She went to bed early so it would come faster.

Talmage independently raised $65 for the school fund raiser.  Funny how anything like that makes me SOOO uncomfortable and it doesn't phase him.

Bryant is studying spiders at school and Grandpa captured him one of the giant orb spiders from the porch to take to his classroom.  I'm sure his teacher will be thrilled.

General Conference

The bits and pieces I could pick up from the broadcasts while Rex and Lyle went about their activities make me excited to be able to sit down with our Ensign.  Actually, there will be a few talks I'm going to comb through as soon as they are available online. 

My sister-in-law, Marylan, always made cinnamon rolls for her family for General Conference.  I always thought that sounded so fun.  Now that it's happened for the last two conferences I'm going to officially call it a tradition for our family.  I still haven't figured out how she had them ready for the morning session without starting them at like 2am, but knowing Marylan, she probably does.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Cleaning up after dinner tonight, Hyrum exclaimed:

"We gotta get this mess cleaned up before the next parade starts!"

I couldn't have said it better myself. 

Walk-a-thon

This evening was the Basin City Bobcat Walk-a-thon Fundraiser.  I'm not a fan of fund raisers, but this one was different.  I got to watch the grin on my kids' faces as they ran and walked the laps around the soccer field, looking my way as they'd pass for my thumbs up.  Hyrum and Rex and Lyle cheered them on as I tried to keep them pacified with hotdogs and nachos.  My favorite part of all was when the field cleared and Hyrum asked me if he could run around it.  Talmage said he would go with him.  So, big brother and little brother ran around the field all by themselves, mile-wide smiles.  Mine too.  Oh, how I wish I had had my camera.  When we got home, that same big brother made hot cocoa for that same little brother as little brother hugged him around the leg. 

Bryant may have had the school's highest number of laps.  He's a competitor. 

Sariah bought a licorice rope with her hotdog.  Happiness.

Fish Lips

Lyle has been trying to give kisses lately, but just hadn't quite figured it out until bedtime tonight.  Sometimes he just put his little face close to his target, sometimes he blew a little puff of air.  Tonight, he had the biggest fish lip pucker and he did it.  So sweet.