Happy Halloween!

10/30/2012

1. Here are Brigham and Joseph playing their Halloween recital song.  They were good sports and resurrected it a full TEN DAYS after they played it in their recital.  :-)


2.  It was a good school day.  Thank goodness, because yesterday was not stellar.  Actually, yesterday was kind of a downer for me.  Brigham and Joseph got in a scuffle, there was some extreme unhappiness over a particular assignment from a particular boy, and then on the way to orchestra there was awful traffic and we were 20 minutes late.  It took almost an hour to get there!  Ugh.  But, today was better.  The boys all got along, I believe everyone finished every single assignment, and everyone got two jewels for good attitude schoolwork.

3.  I am a total failure this Halloween.  Not only did we not get any decorations put up, but we're not even going to have any PUMPKINS.  I knew we were cutting it close, but I thought, surely, somewhere there would still be some pumpkins for sale the day before Halloween.  But nope.  We went to three different HEB's and Walmart, and there were no carving pumpkins at all.  Bummer.  Instead we got watermelon and pineapple, which we always do every year anyway.  No pumpkins!  Carving jack-o-lanterns is one of my favorite Halloween traditions!  And that means no roasted pumpkin seeds.  So sad.  But my boys are really good sports.  Brigham said, "Don't feel bad mom, you got us really awesome costumes!"  And we did get candy at Walmart, so all was not lost.  Still-- you can buy Christmas trees the day before Christmas, so why in the world can you not buy pumpkins the day before Halloween?  Phooey.

4.  Ben had his actuary exam this morning.  He wasn't super-hopeful coming out of it, because he ran out of time.  He knew everything on the exam, just didn't have enough time to execute everything.  This is very typical of CAS exams, and it is so annoying.  Actually, everything about the CAS (Casualty Actuarial Society) is pretty dumb these days.  They are a dinosaur organization that is slowly getting sidelined because they can't keep up with the times.  Ben may jump ship and take the SOA exam next year if he doesn't pass this time.  I feel so bad for him-- he's been studying so much.  I've never studied for any exam anywhere near as intensely as Ben studies for these actuary exams, and I've forgotten how many he's sat for.  A lot.  It's so aggravating to be thwarted on an exam not for lack of knowledge, but instead for lack of time.  It makes little sense for an actuary's professional credentials to be determined by exams that do not actually evaluate the candidate's abilities to solve realistic problems using realistic methods.  Instead the exams test how well you have memorized equations in articles and how closely you can regurgitate methods used in those articles.  Ben has failed questions he got RIGHT because he used his own methods and not the method used in one of the articles in the exam material-- a method that wasn't even specified on the exam.  But there is no appeals process with the CAS, and nothing ever seems to change.  Stupid.  AND, the CAS postponed the exam for everyone in the northeast because of the hurricane.  How convenient for them to have extra time to study, AND the very convenient convenience of being able to know ahead of time what is on the exam.  It won't take a lot of searching to find various internet bulletin boards where the exam is being discussed.  It's not fair.
Well, I think I'm more riled up about it than Ben is.  It's just absurd that some geek out there who has spent the past year memorizing articles and taking practice exams and yet has only a shallow understanding of the concepts will pass, and Ben, who is smarter and more capable than almost anyone in his field, won't.
But, maybe he will pass it, we'll see.

10/28/2012

1.  I just watched this.  It is very silly, but very funny.  It has a bit of mild language, in case that bothers you.


2.  Brigham had his Fall violin recital today.  He was the only boy among about 14 girls.  Oh well, I don't think he noticed.  Good ratio for him, though, right?  Not that he cares about that yet.  :-)  His teacher told me she DOES have other boys, they just couldn't make it today.

Aargh.  The video is blurry.  Dumb camera.

3.  Today at church we had two homecoming talks from young men in our ward who both served missions in Brazil.  It was so moving to see and hear these young men who had left as kids two years ago.  Anyone who wonders about the success of Mormon men need look no further.  In ten years it could be my boys up there!  Actually 9, I guess, if they leave at 18.  That is a strange thought.

4.  Here are some pictures from the trunk-or-treat yesterday.  I have been on a photography fast recently.  I have had no time at all and haven't taken out my big camera for a few weeks.  But snapshots are better than nothing.

Yikes, my boys are looking so grown  up.

And here's Mosey.  I couldn't find matching costumes that fit all three boys.  I was getting ready to snap the picture when little Rebecca jumped up on the rock to get in the shot.  She is the most angelic little three year old you ever saw, and I had to laugh seeing the two of them together.  :-)

5.  Here's a video of Mosey practicing for his piano Halloween recital last week.


 

10/27/2012

1.  OK, here is a cool story about today.  I went to archery with Joseph (he did great!), and as we were driving home, he asked me, "Do you know if Nissan owns Infiniti?" (Yes, my boys are still on their car kick.)
"I'm not sure, you'll have to Google that when we get home.  Why do you ask?"
"Well, the Nissan Armada looks just like the big Infiiniti SUV.  You should look next time you see a Nissan Armada."
So that was the end of that conversation until we got to Target, where I decided to stop for some errands before going back home.  What did we see as we pulled into the handicapped parking spot?  A big black Infiniti SUV, just like the one he had been talking about.  Weird, huh?  So Joseph got out and inspected it and pointed out a few things about the car to me, and we walked into Target to do our shopping.
Thirty minutes later, we walked back out of the store, towards our van.  The owner of the Infiniti had since left the parking lot, and guess what car was parked in its exact place?  Yep, a black Nissan Armada.
Now, I ask you-- can that be a coincidence?  That only a few minutes after Joseph and I were talking about those two cars, one would be parked exactly in front of our car is a pretty interesting coincidence.  But to have the other of those two exact cars to be parked in exactly the same place in front of our car when we got out of Target is too wild to be a coincidence.  What are the odds??
I told Joseph that it wasn't a coincidence.  That God was telling Joseph, "Hey buddy, I see you!  I know you're there!  I'm listening to you and I care about you!"
And I believe it.  I am a pretty firm believer that God is usually laissez faire when it comes to the affairs of mankind.  I don't personally believe that he intervenes to change things around all that often.  But I do believe  that he is intimately aware of the personal circumstances of each of us and that he will let his presence be known, if you're looking and asking.
Did Joseph need to know that God is watching over him?  Did I?  We probably both did.  Anyway, I'm thankful for that cool little experience this morning that Joseph and I shared.

2.  OK, here's a brag about Brigham.  He's getting really good on the piano.  So good that he can now sit down and sight-read  hymns.  I love it.  Also, his compositions are really, really good.  I have got to get some of them recorded.  He plays so often at home, I don't always really notice how good he is.  But he is really good.  And he practices hard and has been super about practicing recently.  He said to me yesterday, "Always on Fridays I realize how much better it is to get practicing and math done first before my other schoolwork.  But then on Mondays I forget again."  :-)  But even when he does put off practicing until later in the day, he's been super-willing and has been trying hard to work well with me, and it is paying off.

3.  Joseph's new bow came in the mail today!  It was awesome to see how happy he was.  Ben put it together for him and Joseph's been practicing ever since.  He's hoping to have enough practice on it to be able to use it at his competition next weekend.

4.  The ward Trunk-or-Treat was this evening.  The boys went dressed as soldiers, of course.  I went dressed in my Mitt Romney T-shirt, wearing a hat I ordered off of Amazon-- a super-sophisticated plush elephant head with big googly eyes and a stars and stripes top hat.  I told everyone I was dressed as a Mitt Romney fan.  :-)  Ben stayed home and studies for his actuary exam coming up next week.  The boys had fun, all my chili got eaten up, and most of the candy I purchased went home with other people's kids.  :-)

10/26/2012

1.  Friday!  The big boys had an orthodontist appointment in the morning-- a really quick one this time.  They'll be getting their herbst appliances in two weeks.  I know they are so excited about that.  :-)

2.  Ben stayed home from work to study.  He's been studying SO hard.  I hope he passes his exam next week.

3.  Brigham and Joseph's costumes came in the mail today, which precipitated an unplanned 45-minute diversion from normal schoolwork while they opened the box and put everything on.  They're pretty big costumes (teen size!), but they'll do, and hopefully they'll be able to wear them for a few years at least. They already have plans to dress up in their camouflage fatigues and go prowling around in the forest next to our house.  We made the connection that Brigham has dressed in some sort of combat-related costume for four of the last five years.  In 2008 he was dressed as a medieval knight, in 2009 he dressed as a Civil War soldier, in 2011 he was a British Regular (red coat), and this year he is a modern U.S. soldier.  I'm sensing a theme.  :-)  And if you count Spiderman in 2006 (soldier for justice perhaps?), and a dementor in 2007 (part of Voldemort's army maybe?), that makes 6 of the past 7 years as being combat-related.  Maybe he should be thinking about a career in the military.  :-)

4.  School went pretty well today, orthodontist appointments and unplanned diversions notwithstanding.  Joseph had a bit of a meltdown at the end.  I can't even remember what he was upset about, but I found him lying on the couch in the living room, tears running down his cheeks.  There is nothing that deflates my aggravation more quickly than seeing my boys cry.  If they ever learn to cry on demand, I'm in deep trouble. Anyway, I went over to sit by him and talk to him.  One thing about Joseph-- as often as we go head-to-head sometimes, and as mad as he can get at me, he is almost always affectionate and willing to sit next to me and talk to me.  Makes me feel a little better about the heated words that are sometimes directed against me-- he still loves me.  Anyway, I discovered that he was really worried about his archery competition next week-- his first one.  He still doesn't have his own bow.  He ordered one last week, but it hasn't come yet, and he was feeling panicked that it wouldn't come in time, or even if it did, that he wouldn't have enough time to practice on it and he'd do badly in the competition.
I love that he has something he cares about so much.  I hope he'll be able to maintain perspective and not let the flip-side of that passion give him too much heart-ache.  I tried to be reassuring, but mostly I think he just needed to let that out, and soon enough he was cheerful again.

5.  The boys went to a Halloween party in the evening at the Eckholdts' house.  They had a great time, by all reports.  I went to a dinner at my friend Jacqui's new house in Pflugerville with several other ladies from our ward (or formerly from our ward).  Fun night!  Jacqui had us play a little game-- she gave everyone a secret word or phrase that we had to try to work into the conversation without getting "called out" on it.  It was pretty funny.  Examples were "Too legit to quit," "Hogwash," and "Fiduciary."  Mine was "It's a Christmas miracle!"  And I managed it!  Fun idea for a gathering like that.  I'm glad I went.  My introvert self, when it comes right down to it, would almost always rather just stay home and read or watch a movie or something, but afterwards I'm always glad I went.  It's good to have friends, and I need to work on being a better one.

6.  I stayed up ridiculously late making chili for the ward Halloween party tomorrow.  It's the same recipe with which I won my one and only chili cook-off 7 years ago.  It is a great recipe, but really needs to be made the day before to taste the best.  So on my way home from dinner, I stopped at HEB for a few things, and then stayed up way, way too late chopping vegetables and browning meat.  I made a double recipe, though, one to take, and one to freeze, so it wasn't totally time wasted.  :-)

10/24/2012

1.  We have fruit flies in the kitchen.  Gross.  I made traps with vinegar in glasses and plastic bags, but didn't catch too many, so I sprayed the kitchen tonight with poison.  Poison in the kitchen.  Awesome.

2.  Yesterday school went really well.  It still took us until 7:00 to finish everything.  How can that be?  Today started out well, got a little dicey in the afternoon, but ended OK.  I need to work on my critiquing style.

3.    Too tired for #3 tonight.

10/22/2012

1.  Today was supposed to be a day of turning over new leaves.  And maybe it was, time will tell.  It wasn't a resounding success.  I've been thinking a lot about our goals as parents, and what we're really trying to accomplish as Ben and I try to raise these children.  I spent some time pondering the character traits I'd most like to improve on in the next little while.  I came up with four:
Kindness
Helpfulness
Hard Work
Good Attitude
That's a pretty good list, right?  There are lots of other wonderful character traits as well, but these are four I think we need to work on in particular.  As part of this effort, I went to Walmart and bought a few bags of multicolored glass gems, and three goblet-shaped candle holders.  They really do look like awesome, heavy goblets.  I put all the gems into a glass bowl on the piano.  Whenever Ben and I catch the boys doing something that demonstrates Kindness, Helpfulness, Hard Work, or a Good Attitude, they can get a gem (we're calling them jewels) to put in their goblets.  When their goblet is full, they can redeem all the jelwels for something special of their choice.
I explained it all on Sunday afternoon, and the boys were pretty excited about it.  They all earned several jewels before the night was out, and I didn't have to ask anyone to empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, or anything!  I had very kind, helpful, hard working boys with good attitudes.  It was great!
Today started out well.  Two boys came out of their bedrooms the first time I asked without whining, and they got jewels.  Things continued to go pretty well, except I started to see some competition happening.  "He has 12 jewels, how did he get 12 jewels and I only have 5?"  And, "Didn't you see me wash off the table?  Don't I get a jewel for that?  He got a jewel for taking out the trash!"  Ugh.  I'm not exactly sure how to handle it.  Maybe they need to keep their goblets in their rooms so there is no comparing.  But it is so fun for them to carry around their goblets full of jewels!  Brigham likes to drink ice water from his goblet, jewels and all.
And then there was a big fight.  I shall not name names, but Mosey was not involved.  Mosey and I came home from Tae Kwon Do, and as I was coming out of the garage, I heard some piano practicing.  Yay!  But then Boy A came out to inform me that Boy B (the practicer) had ONLY practiced that one song, and had only been practicing a few minutes.  When I came inside, I told everyone to take a break for lunch.  A couple of minutes later Boy B's piano timer went off, indicating his 45 minutes of practicing should have been over.  Boy B tried to start telling me he had finished almost all of his practicing, when Boy A jumped in and again told me he had only played one song.  Then all heck broke loose and Boy B jumped up and started after Boy A, claiming that Boy A "ALWAYS, EVERY SINGLE TIME!" fibbed about doing all his practicing when I was gone to Tae Kwon Do.  Yelling began, and within a couple of seconds, Boy B was after Boy A, going for blood.  I tried to intercept Boy B, and got slapped away-- very hard-- on the arm.  Well, hitting mom is not OK, no way, no how.  So Boy B got sent to his room, and I called Ben to ask what he thought I should do.  Hitting mom is unacceptable in his book, too, and he headed home.  Meanwhile Boy A and I had a little talk where he told me that he HAD, on occasion, fibbed about practicing when I was gone to Tae Kwon Do, and he had recruited Boy B to back him up in his fib.  Uh-oh.  So we had a talk about honesty.  I don't think he'll do it again, but I think some restitution needs to be made.  I'm thinking about it.
Then I went into Boy B's room and lay next to him on his bed.  He was crying and angry and extremely upset.  But, we talked.  I know he was a turmoil of mixed emotions.  Afraid and remorseful about hitting me.  Embarrassed about getting caught out in a fib.  Feeling totally betrayed by his brother who did not reciprocate the "backing up" of the fib.  I know he didn't consciously mean to hit me.  I mostly got in his way of his getting to Boy A, and in the heat of the moment he slapped me away (hard enough to leave a distinct hand-print on my arm!).  But still, violence can never be an acceptable response in our home.  In fact, that is WHY violence can never be allowed.  Innocent people get hurt, and you end up doing things you never meant to do.  Ben came home.  A pretty harsh consequence was laid down, and after a while everything was OK again.
But, it did make me feel just a little depressed about our whole "kind, helpful, hard work, and good attitude" thing.  We've got work to do.

2.  Brigham and Mosey and I went to orchestra in the evening, as usual.  They sound good.  Brigham loves orchestra.  I'm so glad.

3.  We watched the debate tonight.  I debated watching the debate :-) but Ben turned it on, and I ended up watching the whole thing.  Honestly, I thought it was boring.  I couldn't tell a huge difference in their foreign policies, at least nothing that substantial.  It was mostly "well, I'm pleased that ___ agrees with me that ____."  Or one of them saying that they would do what the other one said, but they'd somehow do it better.  It got more interesting towards the end, and I think Romney finished off more strongly.  I laughed during Obama's final remarks when he said that Romney's foreign polices were "dangerous and reckless"  Really? It seemed like they both spent the evening agreeing with the other's foreign policies!  During the debate I never heard Obama state that anything Romney actually proposed was "dangerous and reckless."  He pulled out that phrase just for the closing remarks, and didn't actually reflect the content of the debate at all.  Oh well.  I can't wait for this election to be over.  Really and truly.

10/21/2012

1.  It was stake conference weekend, which is always a nice little break from the normal church routine.  Elder Nash spoke again and gave a wonderful exposition on the Brother of Jared and how to make our families "tight like unto a dish."  It was a wonderful talk.  Ben and I think he's got to be in the running for apostle one of these years.  Not that there is any "running," but you know what I mean.  :-)

2.  A #10 can of baking soda exploded in our garage.  It was part of a box of food storage items that haven't been put away yet.  You would not BELIEVE the mess it made.  First of all, how does a can of baking soda explode anyway?  The top of it-- plastic lid and all-- completely blew off of the thing, spewin about 3/4 of it's contents all over the garage.  Especially in the around 10 OPENED, partially unpacked boxes still lining one wall.  Oh my gosh.  Everything is covered.  I have no idea how we'll clean it up, or when we'll have time.

3.  Brigham and I went to the Austin Youth Orchestra fall concert in the afternoon.  We heard the top two orchestras, and it was fun for Brigham, I think, to be able to see them perform and anticipate making it into one of those orchestras in a couple of years.

4.  I went to bed at 10:30.  No, really, I did!

10/20/2012

1.  The boys played in their Halloween recital today.  It's for students only, so I didn't get to hear it.  Brigham and Mosey got into a tiff just before we had to leave (over a nerf gun battle, apparently), and Mosey got mad and said he wasn't going to go to the recital.  I had to send Ben to do a bit of fatherly-persuasion.  Brigham and Joseph played a duet-- Ghost Waltz, I think.  They sound great on it, even though Joseph has been protesting mightily over the past two weeks, not wanting to play it.  I think he was won-over, though, when they pulled it together-- they sound great!

2.  The boys did chores today.  I made very detailed lists for each boy, in the hopes of preventing some of the bickering that usually happens during chores.  The playroom is typically a problem since they have to work together.  This time I closely examined the playroom and wrote down exactly what each boy needed to do so there would be no confusion or temptation to protest that someone wasn't doing their fair-share.  Well, it sort of worked, but bickering seems to be part-and-parcel with chores around here.  Sigh...

3.  It is Stake conference this weekend, so Ben spent the afternoon in meetings.  I went to the adult session tonight by myself so that he could squeeze in some study time-- actuary exam coming up in 10 days!  Elder Nash is here from the Seventy and led a good discussion about raising children to understand faith and repentance.  The whole meeting was good with an especially great talk by our old bishop's wife.  I came away with some ideas for our family which I am going to try to implement immediately.  I ended the evening with a trip to Walmart (always my favorite place to be at 11:00 PM!), and then home.

10/19/2012

1.  Oh my gosh, I needed this tonight.  Ben came in to see why I was laughing so hard.  :-)

2.  The boys and I left the house this morning around 9:30.  I treated them to breakfast at McDonalds and then went to Trailhead park to work on schoolwork.  A friend is starting a business and is making an infomercial for kickstart.com and used our house for some of it, so we got out of their hair for a while.  What an interesting process!  Anyway, after I so carefully packed our bag with our school stuff, we got to the park only to realize it got left at home.  Oh well.  Brigham had brought some of his stuff, and Joseph's math book was in the car, so lucky Mosey got to play while his brothers did some school work.  Joseph discovered he is NOT a fan of the associative or commutative properties.  Unfortunately there are many places to go in the park where I cannot follow, so his math lesson was cut a little short when he decided he'd rather hide in the bushes than so any more math.  That boy!  But, he got it out of his system and once we were back home he was pretty cooperative with the rest of his schoolwork, and did get his math finished tonight.  Brigham was a superstar and got all his homework and all his practicing done by 3:30.  Yay, Brigham!

3.  Mosey's Halloween costume came today-- the boys have decided to be US Army Rangers.  I am not sewing costumes this year because I think it might actually do me in if I tried, so we turned to trusty old Amazon.com.  We couldn't find a costume that had both Mosey's and the twins' sizes in stock, so Mosey ordered one, and the twins another.  Mosey's came today and he wore it all afternoon and evening.  He looks so cute!

4.  Our across-the-street neighbor, Chuck (the one who brought us treats the other day) came over while I was outside watering plants.  He said to me, "I have a question for you-- I hope it is not out of line."

Curious, I said, "Sure, what did you want to know?"

"Your boys' names are Joseph and Moses and Brigham, right?"  

"That's right," I said.

"I was thinking about that," he said.  "Joseph and Moses are both biblical names, so I was wondering how Brigham fit in.  And then it occurred to me that maybe he is named after Brigham Young."

"He is!" I said. "And his uncle Brigham who shares a birthday with him."

"Well, and Brigham was Moses for the Mormon pioneers coming across the plains, right?  So does that mean that you are LDS?"

(This surprised me-- he apparently knows something about the church if he knows to call us "LDS" rather than "Mormon.")

Anyway, we had a really nice conversation for about 10 minutes after that.  He's talked to the missionaries a few times as they've come tracting through the neighborhood.  Here in Texas, you never know exactly how people will respond to your being a Mormon, but Chuck was thoroughly nice.  I like friendly neighbors!

10/18/2012

Our art group came this afternoon.  My idea was to make "plastic" out of curdling cream with vinegar.  I've done it before with the boys and it worked out great, but I guess I had defective cream this time, because the reaction refused to occur.  Darn it!  So instead we made gak (glue, water, and borax).  That was also not entirely successful-- it seems that off-brand, five-year-old glue isn't the most high-quality stuff.  :-)  It made slime all right, just extremely sticky, messy slime that made a humongous, gigantic mess.  :-)  Oh well, you only live once.

I am here

I am still here.
We got back from our vacation, and I launched immediately into finishing unpacking, and actually doing school with the boys.  I've been incredibly busy with late, late nights every night.  I pass by the school room (where the computer room is) at 2:00 AM and think about going in to right a blog post, and then decide I better not.
But it is only 11:10 (I was up till 4:00 AM last night/this morning cleaning the house, so this is EARLY!), and thought I'd poke my head in here again for a second.
So, here are some things about today.
1.  ANXIETY!  I believe I suffer from a bit of an anxiety disorder, and it's been going into hyperdrive recently.  My adrenal glands are going to give out on me.  A lot of little things send me into a mini surge of panic.  The election (this is the biggest one, I think), the state of cleanliness of the house and yard, getting into good schedule with school, issues with the boys, Ben's job, etc., etc.  I'm not sure what to do about it.  My old anti-anxiety tactics of going out for a really long run don't work so well anymore.  :-(

2.  Joseph has been very anti-piano lately.  He resists practicing every day and tells me he wants to quit.  I'm not going to give in, though.  He's too good, for one thing, to give up on a talent God gave him.  Second, learning the discipline to push through these tough times is one of the primary reasons I want the boys involved in music in the first place.  Third, every person I've ever talked to who said, "I used to take piano lessons," always follows it up with, "I sure wish I hadn't quit!"  So, we're sticking with it.
However, today he really, really didn't want to go to piano lessons.  When we got there, he got out of the car and ran off down the street.  It was OK because Brigham was going first, but he had to come back because he had to practice his duet with Brigham at the end of his lesson.  So I got back in the car and went after him.  I stopped at the corner and told him to get in the car.  He reluctantly came around the van and opened the front door.  Then he ducked down and disappeared from sight.  Where was he?  Well, he lay down under the car just behind the front wheels, figuring there wasn't any way I was going to be able to drive him back to his teacher's house.  That boy!!
After a minute he did get in the car and we drove back to the teacher's house where we sat in the car and I gave him a pep talk until he was ready to go in.
The ironic thing was that he did great in his lesson-- all of his songs were practiced and ready to go, so I'm not sure what the reluctance was about.

3.  The across-the-street neighbors came over this morning bearing chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.  They are a nice older couple-- the ones that live in the house with all the bronze sculptures in their yard.  I've gotten friendly waves from other neighbors, but these are the first to come over and introduce themselves.  Maybe we'll go around and introduce ourselves to everyone.  Halloween night, maybe?

4.  Mosey is learning fractions in math.  He's a bright little math student, and it is very fun to teach him right now.  He mostly has a good attitude, and there are enough new things to learn that I get the reward of seeing his "Ah-Ha!" moments fairly regularly.

5.  Speaking of Mosey, after piano lessons we went to Lowe's to get some drawer closures and a few other things.  Mosey hadn't brought his shoes, so he sat on my lap on the motorized cart and drove me around the store.  He's not so little anymore, but he still doesn't mind sitting on his mom's lap, so I'm happy.

10/08/2012

1. Morning session of conference was a quiet affair. Tracie and her family went up to salt lake, so it was just us and Kent and Jackee.

2. We went up to salt lake one more time for the afternoon session. After, Ben took the boys down to the front to get a better look at the giant organ pipes. They got to meet the Young Men's General President while they were down there! After walking out of the conference center (and seeing Jessica Fuller's husband again--seriously what are the odds?), we walked around temple square for a while to wait for traffic to die down.

3. Evening was spent with family--it was little Ben's fourth birthday, so cake was involved, always a good thing. Liz has such cute little boys. Makes me nostalgic.

10/07/2012

1. We got up early to go up to salt lake. We got tickets to the morning session of conference from my friend Cheri's dad, who is a stake president. Abe and Eva came up to the Turner's house to ride with us, since we ended up with a couple extra tickets.

2. I have no idea how this sort of thing happens, but out of the 20,000 or so people streaming into the conference center, we happen to get in line right behind Jessica Fuller and her new husband. Jessica was in our ward when I was in Young Women, and I took senior pictures of her for graduation. While I was in the restroom (I have never seen a womens restroom as enormous as the one in the conference center),  Ben also saw the Forts, who were in our ward as well, before the split. It is almost as if there is done kind of magnetic attraction between people who know each other, because seriously, what are the odds??

3. It was pretty great being at the conference center for conference. Especially because the choir sang my two favorite hymns, How Firm a Foundation, and Now Let Us Rejoice. Watching President Uchtdorf speak wasn't too bad either. :-)

4. It took us an hour to get out of the conference center, to our cart, and out of the parking lot. Crazy. Abe and Naomi came back with us to the Turners for lunch, and to watch the afternoon session.

4. Ben's sister Tracie came with her family, and suddenly the house was full! Especially when Liz and her boys and Susie and her boys came over while all the men went to priesthood session at the conference center. So many boys!! Eleven little boys running circles around Tracie's three girls. :-)

10/05/2012

1. Ben went with his dad to do a bunch of dental stuff. It's nice to have a dentist dad. :-)

2. In the afternoon, the boys and I drove up to salt lake city to visit some friends who moved there from Austin a few months ago. Utah is a really fun place to grow up because there are just so many kids. Jacob (the boys' friend) has a regular air soft gun game every Friday afternoon with a bunch of boys in the neighborhood. Brigham joined right in with an extra gun and goggles. He is fearless. Joseph and Mosey opted to watch, which was definitely the less painful option. :-) Although on the way back, Brigham talked it up so much that Mosey was sad he hadn't played too. Looking at the welts on Brigham's arms, though, I still think Mosey made the right call.

3. In the evening, we hung out at the Turner's house. Ben's brother came over with his boys and everyone watched the BYU game-- at least until I made my boys go to bed.

At conference

Sunday afternoon session: we got seats in the plaza section--awesome. There are sooo many people here. It's pretty great. We went to the Saturday morning session, too, and heard the big announcement about Missionaries live. The collective gasp of 20,000 people when the prophet announced that girls can serve at age 19 was really something. It was especially neat being there with my 18 year-old sister as she realized she could go on her mission 2 years earlier than she had thought only moments before. I'm not so sure how I feel about my boys going when they're 18. Yikes, that's only 7 years away for the twins! It have my heart more than a little pang as I watched them there in the conference center in their suits and ties, looking a bit too much like Missionaries already... I'm not ready for that! Ok, president Eyring is talking, I better pay attention.

10/04/2012

1. We went to BYU around lunchtime, walking through the bookstore and then getting lunch at the CougarEat. It brought back lots of memories, and made me feel a little old! When we sat next to a cute freshman girl at our table and I realized she was far closer in age to my children than to me, I felt even older. :-) Walking around the Wilkinson center made me smile at the wonderful uniqueness of BYU. In what other university student center will you find baby changing stations in the restrooms? Or a busy student volunteer office where you can sit down for a few minutes between classes and knit baby hats for hospital NICUs, or sign up to tutor kids for free at the local boys and girls clubs? Or see students studying scriptures over lunch? Our NOT see a single tattoo or hear a single swear word? Or see students with their textbooks in backpacks, walking around with their babies in front packs? I love BYU.
After eating, we went back to the bookstore, and I let the boys each pick out a book. I remember my parents doing that for my siblings and me when we were kids. While the boys and I perused the fiction section, Ben went upstairs to the text books and bought a set of class notes on soil and farming. If that isn't typical, I don't know what is! :-)

2. After walking around BYU, we headed over to my brother Brigham's house. He is now a professor of economics at BYU and lives on the bench near Timpview high school, Ben's old stomping grounds. Ben and the boys, plus Brigham and three of his kids hiked up to the Y on the mountain above BYU while Christine and I stayed behind with baby Jane and talked and got dinner ready. I love that they will be in Utah for at least the next few years, where we will get to see them regularly. We spent more time with them yesterday than we have over the past five years!

3. Eva and Abraham came over for dinner in the evening. Eva looks beautiful and I think is having fun her first semester. And it was so fun to see Abe with his little nieces and nephews. Next semester, I will have four siblings at BYU, either as students or professors. That is the biggest concentration of Frandsen siblings since before Benjamin left home, back in 2005! Abe and Ben helped Brigham assemble a trampoline in the backyard before we left, well after 10:00 pm. I hope we didn't overstay our welcome. :-)

10/03/2012

1. We woke up and explored grandma and grandpa's new house in pleasant grove. It is nice! And huge! The boys went on and on about the basement, which isn't really a basement because it "walks out" on their back yard. It's right at the foot of Mt. Timpanogos.
2. We spent the afternoon in the mountains, driving up American Fork canyon, and through the gorgeous alpine loop highway. This must be the most beautiful time of year here in Utah. The sky was deep blue, and the mountains were green and crimson and gold with the changing foliage; the air was warm in the sun, and crisp in the shade and the mountain breezes cascading down the slopes sent the aspen leaves shimmering in the autumn sun.
We stopped at the trailhead to Mt. Timpanogos and headed up towards Stewart Falls. A little over sixteen years ago, Ben and I went on or second date here. What a difference sixteen years makes! This time, our three boys hiked on ahead of us while Ben heroically carried me on his shoulders.  We made it about halfway up the two mile trail before Ben left me to commune with nature while he caught up with the boys and hiked around the waterfalls. When they came back, Mosey reported that they did a lot of "crazy" stuff, so it was probably good I wasn't there. :-)
3. We all gathered around the tv to watch the debate after dinner. Ben paced the entire time and got banished to the basement by his dad. :-) Ben paces when he's nervous or thinking hard. It's cute. :-) It was really fun to hear all of Brigham's indignant comments whenever Obama opened his mouth. Needless to say, the debate was entirely enjoyable. I almost felt sorry for Obama. But not quite. :-)

10/02/2012

1. Departure day! Why does it take so long to pack for a trip? We got no lessons or practicing done at all. Oh well. We did get laundry done, weeds pulled (I hate morning glory!), house straightened up, and dog delivered to our friends' house in plenty of time to make our afternoon flight.

2. This was the third time a car rental company has failed us with hand controls! We got to the Hertz car rental desk and they had or reservation, had the note for hand controls, but no car. Grr! Ben is really good at expressing displeasure without getting mean, and they gave us a discount, a $100 voucher and a promise to deliver the correct car to Ben's parents' house the next day. So I guess it was ok. But still, what would have happened if I'd been traveling on my own?

3. We made it to Ben's parents' house after 1:00 am. Late night for my boys!

10/01/2012

1.  First day of October.  It suddenly feels like fall out there.  I didn't wake up until 8:00, so we had a late start to the morning, and subsequently didn't finish all our lessons.  I need to find a way to make the boys more accountable for finishing their own work so that I'm not the one constantly asking them what they should be working on.  I know they can work faster if they want to.

2.  Orchestra and archery tonight.  Brigham had chair auditions.  He was the first one to play, and wasn't happy about it.  The auditioner tuned his violin flat, which was really distracting to him.  The curse of having perfect pitch I guess.  So he said he forgot his dynamics and staccatos, but if he hadn't been first, he could have been perfect.  I tried hard to tell him how chair auditions don't matter-- they are purely for the information of the conductor and are no reflection on him at all!  But this point I think is wasted on my perfectionist.  I tried to tell him about saving his angst for when it matters, but for Brigham I think it all matters all the time.  How I wish I could help him with this.
Joseph had fun at archery and came home with an application for his first tournament in November.  Time to buy a bow.  Ben wants him to buy his own bow, but he's a little low on cash now, after buying his bike.  What to do?

3.  Hair cuts for the boys tonight.  Joseph let me cut his hair short!  (In exchange for the last can of soda in the fridge).  He looks handsome, although midway through the haircut, he cried a few tears saying it hurt.  Maybe he really does have nerve endings in his hair?  I don't think I'm pulling his hair!

4. Ben was looking at realclearpolitics.com while I was cutting the boys' hair, and discussing with them the various polls.  I just can't take the anxiety.  I seriously wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep.  I had to put my ipod earphones in while they talked about it.  There must be something wrong with me.

5.  We're going to Utah tomorrow!  We'll attempt lessons before we have to leave for our flight in the afternoon, but I'm guessing not a whole lot will get accomplished.  Maybe we'll just work on finishing what didn't get done today.