Funny conversations

1. During the nightly routine, Domonique was talking about something (not really sure what it was now but that's not the main point), her dad made a comment on the side to me, and that's when Domonique said, "Are you even listening?" and the look she gave was priceless.

2. I was sitting in a chair in the school room while nursing the baby. Camdilyn came to see me and climbed onto the chair. I told her that I needed her to get off the chair. She proceeded to climb onto my legs (one of her knees on each of my legs) and said, "I off the chair, Mommy."

3. I told Ben and Emily that Alan Rickman died. They said that was upsetting and I said, "That's just life." Emily came back with, "Actually, that's death." (Note: I mean no disrespect to those who have passed on. It is just part of life. We live to die, and we die to live. Mourning is but for a moment and we will have joy again.)

Learning is happening.

One of Kemiah's gifts was wrapped in princess paper. One of the girls said, pointing to one of the princesses, "Isn't she pretty." Kemiah quickly stated, "No, she's immodest." Awesome! I am glad we have conquered one principle.... now I just wish they could catch the internal desire for being nice and kind to each other. I guess that will come as they get older - and move out of the house and then miss each other and wish they were living closer so they could spend more time with each other. Just the way life is.

Meeting of the Minds

The other day Domonique was in the kitchen putting away the dry dishes, while Emily was washing the dirty dishes. Domonique hurt herself some how, and started crying. Emily tried to comfort her, "You're okay. You're not going to die, are you?" Domonique sniffled and said, "Probably." Emily said, "No you're not." Domonique said, "That's not what probably means." I was laughing in the living room. It was so funny to hear those two talking back and forth. Domonique is Emily's responsibility so they spend a lot of time together (sometimes happy and sometimes not) but they are a lot alike. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the buddy system we set up or not, but they are a good match.

Date Night

Kevin and the three older girls went to choir practice today. Ben, Kemiah, and I were just sitting down to dinner when they came home. Ben asked a question about why they have choir practice on Sunday. Kevin said, "It's the best time for everyone to be available. Monday is for Family Home Evening, Wednesday is activity night at Church, and Friday is date night." Ben said, "Date night? What's that?" Kevin's response was, "Every night is date night." I just thought it was funny that my son doesn't know what that means because we rarely have official dates out of the house. Recently we have been watching nature movies and drinking strawberry orange smoothies after we put the kids to bed so I guess we do have a date every night.

Fall from my backyard

I really want to drive around and take some better pictures of the colors. Of course, I have waited too long so most of the really great colors are gone but there are a few still hanging on. Here are some from my backyard.


Got a bird in this one.


You can see what remains of the corn field behind our house.... nothing.

Emily's kite is still stuck in the yellow tree.

I love the water drops on the grass.

Some fallen leaves in the moist grass.


Canadian Geese heading south... although they were going east when I took the picture.

No Way!

I walked into Church on Sunday and decided that I would sit on the other end of the pew because some one had left their scriptures on our normal end. It all worked out because I was early enough that it wasn't distracting. As I made my way past all my kids I looked around the chapel a bit. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye that I thought I recognized. I know, it's my ward, I should recognize the people in the room. The thing was that I recognized her from another life. I looked directly at her and mouthed the words, "I know you!" Yes, there was great excitement. She stared back at me with amazed recognition as well. She jumped up out of her seat and I moved more quickly so I could greet her with a big hug in the isle! She was the secretary at the Institute of Religion that I attended while I was in college. I graduated in 1998 so it has been a really long time since I have been there or seen her. We were both on the verge of tears with joy and happiness. Turns out she grew up in Saginaw but moved away when she was 10. Turns out she was talking with her dad and they decided to come out and visit Saginaw one last time together. It was really great to see her and I wish we could have had more time to chat. The world is really small and our circle of friends is always growing. But it is always nice to bump into old friends.