Feel the Love

My friend is trying her hand at photography and our kiddos were volunteered for practice.  I think this picture turned out so fabulous!  Austin is missing his two front teeth and I think he has done a nice job inventing his new smile.  Just had to share.

Thirty-nine is fine

In two-three weeks I will be turning 39.  It is dangerously close to rolling over to 40.  I remember when that 3 was a 2 and I was approaching the big 30 and wondering if I had reached any of my goals set at the tender age of 18.  I don't even have a "by the time I am 40 " list.  I am just not that kind of girl. 

I am preparing to teach a lesson in Relief Society about temples.  I had forgotten that it took 40 years to build the Salt Lake City Temple.  That number has new meaning for me.  In my current lifetime the temple that I love so much and has blessed my life so much would be in the final year of being built.  Amazing!  I can't even begin to draw comparisons about what has been built in my life over the last 39 years.  I desire so much to have something as beautiful, inside and out, as the temple to show for my life here on this earth.  I have to say we are still under construction here.  I plan to spend more time at the temple that is only 5 minutes away from my home.  I know that going to the temple is a sure place to find the peace and happiness that everyone is searching for (including me), but strangely it is usually the last or final resource after stumbling through the trials of life.  My birthday present to me is to modify that behavior.  Won't it be exciting to see what will be built over the next year?  I can't wait. 

The Long and Short

For every short story there is a longer version.  I am not very good at short stories.  I feel like I need to tell the long version for the story to make sense.  This is probably annoying to some people who are really more to the point in life.  I can appreciate this.  A simple comment of your grass sure looks nice may result in a campfire tale of how the grass came to be at our home, which in my opinion is a much more interesting.  I am sure a simple thanks would suffice in this situation, and save the poor soul who offered the compliment from a long drawn out story that really doesn't need to be told at that moment.  

The short stories to be told right now are;

We enjoyed a long bike ride around the Snake River greenbelt on Saturday with the kiddos.  Rider pedaled his little heart out on his two-wheeler with training wheels.  The water was over the sidewalk in places and he didn't even blink an eye.  Danny's favorite part:  we loaded up the bikes in the back of his beloved Orange Pumpkin truck and cruised around the greenbelt like we were the cat's meow.

I planted my garden seeds about 3 inches in the ground and wondered aloud to my farmer husband why I had not seen anything come up yet.  Yikes!  He then offered this sage advice of planting the seed about as deep as the size of the seed.  I am still holding out hope for my carrot seeds that are planted safely about 2 inches in the round. 

We played with brand new baby kitties at Grandma and Grandpa "Too's"  yesterday.  Rider launched four week old Tiger off the front porch and he indeed landed on his feet.  I am happy to report he is better trained in kitty handling now and by the time he left was placing them softly in there beds with two hands. 

We have had a patch of dirt next to our driveway for a couple years now.  We ran out of sod and then it became the favorite neighborhood digging hole.  Then a lovely bike jump was built and we didn't have the heart to take it away.  On Saturday some very generous neighbors offered us their extra sod rolls and we couldn't resist, so alas the dirt pile is gone.  We had some unhappy neighborhood friends in the 2-4 age range, so Danny built a jump for them out of old plywood and a tool box.  It worked like a dream.  I love my husband and his ingenuity. 

Austin is away for a few days.  We don't know what to do with out him.  Rider asks to go in the van about once every hour to find him.  He is the party planner of the family and we can't seem to get a good party going without him.

Danny just stopped home for a bit of oatmeal and some toast and to tell me that a conscientious neighbor had called the Norco Industrial Store (not where he works) to tell them that parking his Norco truck AND The Great Pumpkin truck on the street is a gross injustice of the Subdivision covenants (we don't have any).  I felt sad and angry and then sad again.  They are probably one of those "to the point" kind of people.  And the short version of this story for them would be that they are annoyed with a big white Ford work truck blocking their driving path and don't even get them started about the white trash orange truck. My husband's response is "wait until they see the NEW Norco truck next week!"   It's a Dodge Ram and it might as well be Christmas around here.  We are very excited, well Danny is excited and the rest of us are playing along.

That is about the Long and short of it.