under the bamboo tree

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

fortunately

i was thinking about the pioneers, since yesterday was pioneer day, and in thinking about their struggles, i began to think about the many people in our country and throughout the world who have grave struggles. and it occurred to me how fortunate my life has been. i have never once gone to bed hungry because we didn't have enough food. i've never once thought we might not have a house to live in or at least one car to drive. i've always had more than enough clothes to wear, more than enough food to eat, more than enough house to live in. i've never been too hot or too cold because we were lacking in some basic necessity. i'm overwhelmed with how carefree my life has been. i'm quite sure that i can't comprehend what it would be like to feel like i couldn't feed my kids adequately. or that they got sick because they were sleeping in the cold or the rain. while we have certainly had our struggles, financially and otherwise, it just hits me sometimes how much i have to be grateful for. so often i'm thankful for my family and the gospel and other blessings that i'm in tune with receiving. but then i look at the most basic things that i take for granted and i'm overwhelmed with God's goodness.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

sleep-deprived

why is it that when my kids have a long day and are completely worn out & i get all excited that we're all going to sleep good and long that it turns out to be the exact opposite? maybe one day i'll stop getting my hopes up....

Sunday, July 16, 2006

times, they are a changing

i was struck this morning with how modern the modern world is. ian picked up an envelope off the table and held it up saying, "its email! here's your email!" and it hit me how funny it was that "email" was more familiar to him than just plain mail. when did that happen?

personal space, please!

when i have a baby, some people mistakenly think that they are allowed to invade my & my baby's personal space. i love for my family and friends to hold and love on the baby, but strangers....i do not want them touching my baby, breathing on my baby, handling the hands she getting ready to put into her mouth....the most recent incident occured at a restaurant while we were on vacation. someone else was holding her and the waitress came up and was admiring her. granted, she is s cutie, but come on! back away from the baby! she rubbed all over her hands for what seemed like an eternity, and touched her cheeks and so on. this lady was chinese, so maybe there was a cultural breakdown. although i've had similar experiences with americans, so maybe certain people just think that the "don't touch someone else's baby" rule doesn't apply to them. i guess we all feel differently about things and we all come from different places where different things seem okay to us. for me, i cannot imagine going up to someone else holding a baby that i don't know and touching them in any way. if the situation presented itself, i might comment that there baby was cute or tiny or something....people in stores in the south like to talk...but i would not touch them. obviously, everyone doesn't feel this way. so there's one of my pet peeves for the day.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

independence day

our town had its independence day celebrationon monday & we went to it. it was so humid and hot. we spread out our blankets on the grass and had a little picnic. then the kids spent some time playing on the slides & bouncies. we listened to some great music by a military band & the nc symphony orchestra. and of course, the fireworks at the end of the evening. it was a fun family activity, even if the kids fell asleep before & during the fireworks. it was just a great independence day celebration.

there were lots of kids activities and games. ian and elise had so much fun, but it was really, really hot.

how cute is this baby?

keeping cool

cory also bought the kids popsicles to keep them cool. ian was really nice to share.

sisters

elise helped keep merry grace happy

cory bought the kids glowsticks to entertain them while they waited for the fireworks.

fireworks

it took a long time to get to the fireworks but they were worth it!

germaphobes, beware...

tuesday morning our ward had our annual 4th of july breakfast at the park. some of the men (cory included) arrived early to cook pancakes, eggs, and bacon on their camp stoves. afterwards (and during), the kids played on the playground. they had such a good time. and yes, here ian is LICKING the swing. disgusting!

in step

i just think this is a cool picture of the girls. of course they had fun playing together. they always do.

tommy boy

elise spent a lot of her time keeping an eye on tommy. here she has her ears covered b/c kyleigh keeps saying, "you're going to marry tommy." you can see that they're all keeping tabs on him. he was playing frisbee with another boy from church. tommy was really good, and after he threw it elise gave the "thumbs up" sign and said, "he's really good!" when the other boy threw it back (not so good) elise goes, "Aaannn" (like a buzzer) and gave a thumbs down. she really has her favorite.

but he really is adorable. and so sweet!

under thirty...

after the breakfast the young men & men played a game of softball with the teams divided up under 30/over 30. the over 30's won, but only by about a run & the under 3o's said they would have won if they'd played 8 innings instead of 7, but the over 30's were too worn out. =)

sparkly

cory's family came over to our house in the evening for a cookout. one thing is for sure, we enjoy food and had plenty of it. i think we'd have had to get together every day for a week to eat all the food we prepared. but we enjoyed visiting together & then finished off the eveing with some fireworks and sparklers for the kids.