Happy Conference! Wesley and I read Mosiah 1-2 in preparation for conference and the words were written down afterwards. With each conference I’m more grateful for the upcoming Ensign so that we can study the talks. God expects us to listen intently, but He also appreciates that we care for our kids, that we’re mortal and miss stuff, and that sometimes we just don’t hear all that is being taught. Often I listen and think, “Hey—there’s the answer! What did he just say?” It’s wonderful to be able to continue to ponder them.

And happy, happy birthday to Christine this week! We’re so blessed to have you. We must have been friends in the pre-mortal life. After a lot of begging, God granted that I can have Wes, you, and your family. Sometimes I’m amazed that I still find more to ask for when I have everything! Levi told me more than once how you moved us to Texas from Colorado, then you moved back to Idaho after all of your work; he hopes you’ll move back to Texas soon. Lincoln reiterates with “GRAMCOLE!” They know and love their angel grandma.

We started and concluded the week with pecans. We know nothing about nuts (except that we are nuts), but we’re learning. Wes climbed the tree in the back yard and threw the ripe ones down (ripe when the green husks begin to split open). The boys and I gathered them up. Eventually, Wes acrobatically climbed the tree and scaled the roof—where most of the branches and fruit are—and threw down more. Later we did it again. This time, Wes used a ladder and I husked immediately with plastic gloves on. When you work with the husks your hands turn black. It doesn’t go away. Levi, Lincoln, and I wait for our skin to replenish itself so we don’t look greasy anymore. After husking pecans, you let them cure in the shell for a week or two. We’ve been drying ours out (a few sprouted because we didn’t husk them fast enough!) and will do our waiting. Then we shell them. That’s supposed to be the annoying part, yet we can’t wait. Hopefully our crop turns out! We tried one today and it tasted a bit too fresh, but still good.

At four a.m. on Tuesday, I thought my water broke. I wasn’t sure since my contractions, particularly at night, are normal and constant and since in the past my water broke in the hospital with extra help. We concluded I should go to the doctor just in case. I explained to Levi that the plug in the swimming pool Joule lives in might have been pulled. If the pool drained like a bathtub, then Joule would come soon. “And grandmas!” He was very excited for Joule and for Grandma Stacy to arrive. All that adrenaline and excitement to find that I simply lost control of my bladder. The nurse shrugged, “It’s practically impossible to control after one. I can’t imagine what it is like after three!” Haha! Thankfully it was only a small leak and didn’t even get on the bed (which may have bothered me even more than Wesley, sweet miraculous man). I knew I’d really lost it when my first thought walking away from the doctor was, “I made the bed and didn’t change the sheets! Ahhhhhh!” We learned a few important lessons: I need to finish rewriting my class before this baby arrives, we need to prep our boys a little more, we’re all ready to go if the time surprises us, and we have a lot of awesome friends willing to drop everything to help us. Since then, my contractions slowed down a little—as if Joule was saying, “I really am staying here forever! Get comfortable! Hehehehee.” Last night we went back to our normal schedule—with bladder control intact. What a gift these little babies are. What a crazy blessing our bodies are. How amazing that God allows us to create other people and house his children within ourselves and within our homes. I whine too much about silly inconveniences (oh, the awfulness of sore feet…blahdebladeblah!) when I really cannot comprehend even a smidgen of our blessings. Healthy, beautiful children. Again, how could I ever ask for more when I have everything? Wow.

Wesley continues to plug away. He finished and submitted a paper for publication. He gave a webinar. He shared conference calls. He planned. And he considered how to use his education to further the kingdom of God—since this is a topic he thinks on almost daily. I’d give more details if I knew how to explain it all and if you’d understand it! He’s 100% the best, at home, at school, at play! He has recently determined to learn the Jon Schmidt “I Saw Three Ships”—a difficult feat when helped by four other little boy hands!

We had some “5 sad face days” this week—meaning that Levi and I lost all of our privileges due to poor behavior. He’s back onto waking up ten minutes earlier every morning and no naps and dark circles and craziness. I’ve concluded that I can’t force him to sleep. We’re trying to focus on controlling our emotions and still making wise decisions. Sweet boy. He does much better than his mother. He screamed and jumped off walls and riled sick Lincoln out of a nap one day. We calmed Lincoln down, then Levi and I prayed together. Levi gave lots of ideas and prayed reverently with me. “We tell Doc Holmes I no need sleep on my bed. I maybe sleep on red couch, though. I no need rest. We tell Doc Holmes it okay.” Silly Billy goat. He finally fell asleep today after Wesley sang to him for a half an hour. What wonderful men surround me!

Levi has been pretending to bless and pass the sacrament all week. I didn’t realize how closely he watched those Priesthood holders until he ducked under his blanket on his knees, mumbled something, then passed “first the bread then water” to the congregation throughout the house. When President Monson announced that prepared young men can serve missions at 18, Levi shouted “I want to serve a mission earlier!!! EARLIER!” and Lincoln yelled “HURRAY!” Levi also wants to say every prayer. He doesn’t differentiate between being thankful and asking for blessings (a lesson in itself), so we often hear things like “Thank thee for Lincoln’s rash…” Today we were thankful for the crocodile on his quilt. Lincoln says Amen, but usually he claps happily and says, “HURRAY!” (also another lesson from the mouth of babes, as long as we’re celebrating worship and not its conclusion…)

Aside from their spiritual observance, both boys have been significantly influenced by the football highlights Wesley has shown them: tackling, pretending to be carted off the field, and putting on pads, and shouts of “B-Y-U!” have made a big part of our life lately. We’ve tried to explain to Levi that we can’t tackle Lincoln, even when protecting him (“No put ______ in mouth, Linc!”). He catches hilarious phrases from books and listening. In addition to the ABCs, we hear, “Today we dance in the bathtub!” (from King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub).

Lincoln jabbers and keeps us entertained. He says “Winckin” for his name now (instead of “VI!” for both Levi and Lincoln). We read an I Spy board book and he needed to kiss every horse and duck. He’s particularly fond of penguins—so we kiss those whenever they’re found as well. I showed him an Ensign I was reading. He found all the pictures of Jesus and tickled Him, joyfully. Just another way of showing love, I guess. Whenever Levi is sad, he promptly brings him Peter and the blanket. He spends his days with toy tools fixing everything in the house—from the dresser drawers to the kitchen chairs. He’s picked up on Levi saying, “HEY!” so now when he’s upset he says, “Hey, hey, hey, hey!” and he can’t quite figure out why he doesn’t immediately receive what he wants when he says, “PLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAASE!” When this kid decides something, there is no changing his mind. We can’t mention the possibility of a treat during dinner because he will stop eating and focus on getting that treat now. Or he sees big boys climbing on the playground and the next thing I know he scaled the rope bridge.

Come over. It’s cooled down to 68 today and we’ll share our party. Love you!

Four guys and a crazy lady