SoCo pizza and candy store

 RAIN!

With all of the birthdays this week, I’ve been thinking about this selection from Grandma Mary Wright’s 1979 journal:

            What a lovely time [Rosey] and I had together. We talked about Merlyn’s ancestors,         

            including John Pidding Jones, and their great strengths. This conversation answered           

           many questions I have wondered about her children. How can two people raise so many       

          special children? Now I know the blood line has much to do with it. Families are what        

          it’s all about. What a heaven. No question in these children’s minds whether to do right      

          or wrong.

This just seems to apply so well to this wonderful family I married into as well as own. Happy birthday Grandma Cole, Tressia, Lanny, and Spencer! Happy anniversary Wilsons! Happy birthday Grandma Keller! We love you all.

For FHE we went to South Congress. This is a street with a bunch of stores and restaurants and food trailers that everyone talks about (and can’t believe we’ve never done before). We ate at a New York style pizza place (large, thin, cheesy slices—Wes says it was good, but not greasy enough to compare). The boys loved it. They gave them a ball of dough to play with while we waited. From there we went to a big candy shop which is just dangerous with little boys. But fun. We bought ice cream to share and Wes had a fountain root beer. I know: we’re all so daring.

Keller continues his stuffy, gunky teething process. He’s up to two sharp little knives on the bottom. He loves his new hat. He loves to dance forward, backward, side to side. When Wes walks in after work he cocks his head at Keller who is usually in his high chair as I do dinner prep. Keller swings his whole body to the side and laughs as he conks on the tray. He hums and bounces. He sat in a bouncy chair while I helped clean a girl’s house (they’re moving—Levi and Lincoln helped) and he thought that was awesome. He likes me to hold him above my head while he swims. I taught Levi how to sword fight with brooms. This may not be a safe thing to do with a baby in arms, yet Keller loved it. He laughed so hard he turned red and kind of snorted. We tried to get this recorded. Difficult to hold a baby, a broom, and a camera while sword fighting with an almost 4-year-old and not waking the 2-year-old…We did our best.

Lincoln teases. We often hear the phrase, “No, I am a mean guy!” Like that makes anything okay. He tried to give popcorn to Keller because, despite pretending the mean guy face, he likes to share. He’s trying out his reasoning skills—beginning with nap and bedtime. No matter how much he’s used the potty as we walk out of the door he starts pleading, “But I will pee in my di-aper! But I will pee in my di-aper!” I taught nursery yesterday and Lincoln would move to a new toy then say, “You need to sit right here by me, Mommy” which is almost as beautiful as “I LOVE YOU MOM!” which I do hear with sticky fingers about every day. He prays for Uncle David and Uncle Royal without prompting almost every day. My favorite Lincoln moment of the week was when he stood tall on his booster seat, lifted his arms above his head at an angle and shouted, “I am the temple! I am Moroni!” (blowing the trumpet). Yes, my children are vessels and houses of the Lord.

Levi led the way in balloon fights yesterday, so we’ve heard a lot of “1, 2, 3 LET’S FIGHT!” He initiated dumping out the entire dresser and stuffed winter clothes closet then swimming in the clothes; he helped teach the others to clean up, though. He also leads the way in the best dinner phrase ever, “Ooohh! Yum! I love this! I’m going to eat it all up!” During “rest” time this week, he found all of the extra tithing slips, organized them into the envelopes, then came down to say, “Today, we need to talk about tithing. Okay, Mom, here’s how you do tithing…” And, of course, we fought with brooms quite a bit. He’s working really hard on calming down and not biting/screaming/etc. when frustrated. Instead he comes and reports that he’s sad and why. We’re all making progress. He just leaps and bounds while his mother plods along! I’m proud of my boys.

One of the best parts of the week was when we talked about Grandpa Corrie going to the temple to pray about moving my family to Boise area. We’ve talked to the boys about our eventual move and Levi’s not too keen on it. But we felt the Spirit together talking about the temple and about following the Lord’s will. Lincoln said, “I love the temple.” Levi said, “Let’s live by one. Will Heavenly Father want us to live by one? Why?”

We also had our friends over for lunch. I forget what a normal thing it is for us to pray. And still so special. I’m glad we could share it with them.

Just another wonderful adventure of a week.