We love General Conference! Inspired by Christine’s handout from Relief Society, I dug out our pictures of the apostles—from 1994. Elder Scott has dark hair, Elder Oaks has hair, President Eyring has stylin’ tortoise-shell glasses. We printed off Uchtdorf, Bednar, Cook, Christofferson, and Anderson. Then we taped them in order on our windows going into the toy room. We also have a picture of Christ and the temple up there to enforce what the prophets and apostles teach, how they direct us, and our ultimate goal: returning to Heavenly Father. As they speak, I draw a picture/make notes to remind us of their topic. Tomorrow we’ll focus FHE on a review. We’ve enjoyed it. We’re trying to figure out ways to help the boys participate more actively in Conference. A 4, 2.5, and 1 (BOY) can only cut pictures, color, and sit for so long. They have done extremely well, though, and love comparing the person speaking with their picture on our window. “Those don’t match!” they laugh.

Wesley submitted his NREL fellowship application on Monday. After working on it all last week/end, he didn’t think it was competitive. He e-mailed his mentors with his recommendation to not submit it, but all three told him to do it anyway. It is nice to have people who believe in you and your work, even if nothing comes of it. Writing the proposal turned out extremely beneficial as he’s worked on his research statements and simply processed our plan for the future. Yesterday we submitted applications to Georgia Tech and University of Connecticut. Our goal is to submit the next 26 by October 15 (including one to BYU—their ChemE department is expanding). We won’t hear anything if we don’t get an interview. If he has quite a few people attend his talks at the November AICHE conference, we’ll be able to get a general feel for how his applications are faring. So exciting! My little heart flutters.

From Tuesday to Friday Wes was at Pecan Street project in San Diego. He didn’t really want to go as he’s worked with many of these people and knows their ideas well, but they asked him to share his research. So he did. After we bought plane tickets, they shortened the conference. But! This means that he was able to hop on a bus and go to the San Diego temple. Huge building with a two storey Celestial room, yet only nine people attended his session Thursday afternoon. We’re glad he could go. And we’re always so glad to have him back home close to us. I’m okay while he’s away, but I prefer to be with him as much as possible. I plan on spending eternity holding his hand.

Keller is screaming. He resists sleep (does this surprise anyone? We’re done being surprised with sleep stuff). Two days this week he actually napped in the morning! And he had an afternoon nap almost every day. So we’ll rejoice. We do our best to establish healthy habits, but after almost five years of this I’m tired of hearing myself whine. Change what you can, deal with the rest! Before we put him down to bed, Keller makes his noise for “drink” and reaches for a cup. He’s trying to lengthen out the bedtime ritual and he thinks he’s really funny; he giggles and spews and makes a face like “gotcha!” Watching him and Lincoln gives me a glimpse into the emergency room we should just put on permanent hold now: they have a mischievous understanding. They jump, play bite, wrestle, squeal, attack, dog pile—laughing through it all. The roof leaked in the toy room, Keller found the puddle. He became suddenly quiet and precise as he tried to splash in it as long as possible before discovery. (I then discovered an infestation of more fire ants around the puddle. Bugs!) Like Lincoln, Keller head bangs on the wall, the couch, the floor, his brothers, me. And he loves it. On Monday he smashed his finger in a door, then bashed his face on the tile climbing over his car seat (we were on our way to Lady Bird Lake for FHE). He bit his lip. Blood everywhere. He was mostly mad that he wasn’t rocking back and forth in the chair anymore. Good grief. He points viciously and garbles words, prominently, “DaDAdaDADADA!”  He combs his scant hair with anything resembling a brush. He folded his hands in prayer during dinner; all three boys beamed proudly. He figured out that shoes and outside connect, so he happily compiled with sandals so he could stand and clamber all over the playground. What a joyful (adventurous) life.

Lincoln grew into a new pair of shoes. Shoes, shorts, tools, and balls amplify his life. He put on his new duds and shot through the entire house, giving commentary. “I’m RUNNIN’! I’m RUNNIN’!” Crash. “Sometimes I fall! Then I get up. NOW I’M RUNNIN’!!!” When I asked if he was okay, he responded that his head was fine. I’m sure he’ll tell me the same thing in a few years after he breaks his arm. I found him with Keller in the crib one day, Keller shrieking. Lincoln held the toy broom (which I usually have to pry away from all of them). “Keller bonked his head.” Pause. “The broom bonked Keller’s head.” Pause. “I bonked Keller’s head with the broom?” Smile. While Levi was at preschool, Lincoln and I pulled out the screw drivers to look on the other side of a vent. (We found a lot of water dripping. Hopefully it’ll be fixed soon. We cleaned it up more yesterday, but it had already soaked into the garage!) Ah, screwdrivers! He loves them. We had a lot of 5 check mark days while the boys tested out how firm our reinstated rules are. I heard, “I need to choose my song! I need my song! I don’t like check marks! Let’s do something else!”

Levi slept in until 8:30 one morning! I don’t think this has ever, ever happened. He’s growing as well. As we drove home from preschool he informed me, “I am tired because I work so hard.” They proceeded to turn colored pencils into bows and arrows and shoot them through paper all over the house. “I am PREtecting you, Mom!” They went outside to play. The kiddie pool had water in it; I asked them to not get their clothes wet. Levi had the brilliant idea of stripping completely down. They shared their idea with me by splashing the windows. A few bug bites on the bum later…the fun ended because Lincoln wanted to hand wash Levi’s clothes! When Levi and I worked on school stuff, he told me that he’s decided to marry Cameron because he likes her more and she’s nicer than Hannah. He doesn’t believe that he doesn’t have to determine his future wife right now. On Tuesday we scoured the pantry (weevil infestation took out most of our food storage. GROSS!). “Tell me how I can help! Tell me what I can throw away for you, Mom!” So he loaded out bags and bags and bags from the kitchen to the front door and into the garbage can. We had some crazy runaround days in the van; Levi patiently followed the book/CD combo of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. At the end of our craziness he asked why we didn’t take someone to the storehouse, too. Sweet boy. Whenever he sees someone on the side of the road he yells (even louder than normal), “We need to help them!” He’s right.

I taught the mother’s preschool group with an extra 2-year-old. We worked on the sight word “is” and learned about our bodies. We found new things to add to the phrase, “My body is…” We built bodies out of food. Levi loved it, Lincoln ate it, the others didn’t care—call it success? I hosted book group; I love these good people. This was the first time I didn’t even open the book (I admit I haven’t finished a book for six weeks! Ahhh!). And yesterday, I proved that I’ve really lost it when I came home from a garage sale—we were looking for a scooter or a little training wheel bike!—with a small Bounce ‘Round. You know, those bouncy-house things that are at carnivals? This is one for two people, probably best for age 7 and under. I didn’t think about it and then it was in my van and inflated in the toy room. Seriously? Me! I debate about the fifty cent difference of strawberries and choose not to get them! We’ll bounce around in it for a while, see if it provides a good release and probably sell it soon. Come over and bounce with us. We may be nuts and loud, but we’re happy!

 At Lady Bird Lake

Yes, I really bought this thing.