Firsts

We've had a lot of firsts this week, and we have pictures of them all! :)

The first thing we had was Tyler losing his first tooth. He was VERY excited about this. Because he didn't get his first tooth as a baby until 17 months, I told him he wouldn't lose one until second grade. So, when he lost it a month before second grade, he felt like he was ahead of schedule.

On Sunday he told me his tooth hurt. I asked him if it was loose. Once he realized it was, he was excited and no longer cared that it hurt. Then on Monday he remembered that a kid in first grade lost a tooth when he ate an apple. So Tyler ate an apple and out came his tooth. He told Paul, "It just came out ... on like my 11th try or something." He was very cute asking all about the tooth fairy and even taped his door open so she could find his room okay. Here he is proudly displaying his tooth and where it used to be:



Turns out the tooth fairy leaves two quarters. He was very excited about that. I guess the masking tape holding the door open worked!

Our next first was Shayla's -- she got her first haircut. I debated back and forth about whether or not to do it, because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her hair. The bottom of it grew in like it's in layers, and it naturally has a little curl that flips up at the bottom. However, I finally decided to do it since it's getting food in it and in her face too often. So, when we took Becca in for a cut yesterday I had my niece do it quickly before I lost my nerve. This picture is right before she started screaming:


She only screamed because Alyssa was trying to comb out tangles. After that she was fine, especially since I held her. She wouldn't look at Alyssa and refused to smile since Alyssa was looking at her. Anyway, Alyssa also did a great job in Becca's hair, which you'll see in a little bit. Here's Shayla's new do:


Becca's first is that she has straight teeth for the first time without braces. Hooray! She can eat chewy, gooey candy all she wants now ... or at least sometimes. :) Anyway, we decided to get her a new cut to go with the new teeth, and she looks really cute:


She's also got new glasses on the way, but one of the lenses was backordered. Do they not realize we wanted the full makeover in one day? :) Anyway, that'll give her something to look forward to for another week before we have to start hearing all about the exciting things that will happen at school.

Zachary's first was during swimming lessons. He FINALLY realized that he can do something other than hang onto the wall. His teacher helped him get started floating, and he didn't freak out when she let go:


My boys still do everything they can to keep their faces out of the water, and I don't know how we'll ever get over that fear. In the meantime, they swim with their faces up so that not a drop gets on their faces. Sigh ... no champion swimmers going to happen here!


I didn't mention my $1,000 purchase that I got the same day as all of these pictures -- two new crowns right inside my mouth. Not nearly as exciting, and I'm not about to post a picture ... but if I'm going to spend that much money in one day, I might as well "brag" about it, right? :)

So, I guess our summer hasn't really been as boring and lazy as I mentioned. We have only one more month of summer fun before school begins, so we'll be sure to cram in as much as we can!

Do your best

My cousin recently graduated from seminary (way to go Laura!) to become a Lutheran pastor. Anyway, recently she posted a sermon on her blog, and it made me realize that I don't write enough uplifting things on my blog. So, this is my first in an attempt to write more uplifting things interspersed with my complaining and random thoughts.

I had a profound realization recently that I thought I'd share. I can't count the number of times I've heard someone give a talk or teach a lesson at church and say, "You don't have to be perfect -- you just have to do your best." They always say this as a supposed way to make me feel better about not being perfect, and yet somehow that has never been a comfort to me since I'm not doing my best. I want to do my best, I think I'll do my best, I make plans to do my best and then I DON'T do my best. What is wrong with me?I know that even my best isn't perfect, and I don't even do my best. Aaarrrrgghhh!!!

Well, recently I had a little inspiration to lighten my mental load. Wouldn't doing my best be a bit of perfection? Not the Savior kind of perfect, but the Denise kind of perfect? And if I were doing my best and being perfect, what need would I have for the Atonement? Obviously Heavenly Father knew that I would have weakness and imperfection, and therefore he provided a Savior. If I do my best I have no need for repentance or forgiveness.

Now, I'm not saying this to justify NOT trying to do our best. However, I realized that a better phrase is, "Do a little better." If I do a little better every day, every week, every month, then I am on the way to doing my best. Instead of getting discouraged that I'm not my best self, I can take comfort in knowing that I am progressing as long as I am doing a little better.

I had this thought (which maybe is a "duh" topic for everyone else), and it brought great peace to my mind. Then I picked up an Ensign (Dec. 2007) and it had a talk from Elder Neal A. Maxwell from May 1976. It has a quote that perfectly describes what I've been feeling, "I thank Him for helping me, even forgiving me, when I fall short, when I testify of things known but which are beyond the border of my behavior, and for helping me to advance that border, bit by bit." I love that a talk from 1976 can inspire me even today. I'm so grateful to have a prophet today and to have 12 wonderful apostles to lead and guide us through a troubled world.

I'm also grateful for family and friends like all y'all who help me and encourage me as I try to advance my own border bit by bit. I'm also grateful that this little thought helped me understand and appreciate our Savior's Atonement even more so that I no longer have to feel bad when someone says, "Just do your best." I may cringe a little, but instead I'll just try to think of how I can advance my border next.

Cash only ...

I'm terrible about having cash on me. Somehow I consider it to be "free" money that I can splurge on anything. This probably stems from not having to write it in the checkbook where Paul can see it. (As if Paul would ever look at the checkbook ...) Anyway, because I am more likely to splurge on something I don't need with cash, I don't carry it. It probably saves me a lot of calories, too, because otherwise I might stop often at 7-11 to get a Slurpee and a chocolate-covered chocolate donut. I LOVE those!

Most of the time this is just fine. Almost everywhere we go takes credit or debit cards. If not, I always have my checkbook handy, even though it still has our Washington address. (We just don't mention to them that we moved three years ago! Same account, so who cares ... we usually just pay bills with them anyway. :)

Then there is the rare time that you need cash. I went to my niece's softball tournament on Monday and forgot you have to pay to get in. I had my purse (which I had considered not even bringing), so I started digging through the bottom to see how much change I had. They were very nice and told me I could just go in. However, I wanted to pay what I could (the cost to get in was only $1!), so I dug and dug. Turns out I came up with 92 cents. Yeah! The little teeny-boppers sitting at the table were almost just laughing at my lack of having only $1. Hey, if I can be honest AND give someone a laugh, why not?

There has only been one time when I was really sad about not having cash. It was when Shayla was just a few days old. I had to take her to the hospital everyday since being released to have her jaundice checked. For whatever reason, on the way home I decided I needed one of those chocolate donuts mentioned above. I stopped at 7-11 and went inside. I was sure they were 69 cents, and I had something like 80 cents. Turns out they were 89 cents at the Provo 7-11.

I didn't remember them costing that much, so I thought I'd stop at the gas station in Spanish Fork to see if they were any cheaper there. They had to be! But they weren't. Somehow I felt like I deserved that chocolate donut. I'll blame it on the post-pardum hormones, but I totally started bawling that I couldn't buy my chocolate donut. No worries, that was more than two years ago and I've had several since. :)

Anyway, I'm so glad that technology makes me not have to carry around cash. Otherwise I wouldn't know where half of my money went! In fact, that just reminded me about a story along those lines: As a teenager I just used cash and wasn't good about monitoring where my money went. Several times I thought I had more money than I did, but when I went through my desk drawer to find it, I couldn't. I figured I had spent it somewhere and forgotten about it. Then a couple of years ago -- 15 years later! -- when Becca had the desk she pulled out the drawers that aren't supposed to be pulled out. What did she find? $60! She was very sad when I told her it wasn't hers ... but she sure enjoyed the groceries it bought. :)

Long live debit cards!

Family BBQ

We had a great family BBQ on Saturday with much of my family. We were without my parents (dad was fishing in Alaska with Ryan, mom was on a pioneer trek), the Stewarts (who had a crazy busy weekend) and the South Carolina Palmers (they claim it was too far to come for a measly little BBQ!). Okay, truth be known, we didn't invite the SC Palmers ... but not because we don't love 'em! :)

Anyway, the families of the other six kids got together Saturday and had a fun ol' time. Nothing fancy, because that is definitely not my style. Just a plain ol' BBQ where we get to catch up and have fun. I love my family!

Paul made a new water toy that was quite a hit with the kids ... except our own who get too scared to have water anywhere near their heads. (We're working on this with little success!!!) Anyway, check out this kid wash! I found it in a magazine years ago and ripped it out. I finally got around to asking Paul to put it together, which he did without a hitch:

He drilled holes in the PVC pipes so it squirted out when the hose is turned on. Look at Katie getting ready to brave the water:

And Kimmie decided it was worth not missing, even if she forgot her swimsuit:

The kids all seemed to have a blast, and once again I felt blessed for having a large backyard that is mostly shaded in the evenings. And for the record, this (my niece Ellie) is what I expected my own little girl to look like:

4th of July fun

We had a fun, relaxing 4th of July! We actually broke down and bought our own fireworks this year. However, we bought a pack for about $20 and then used only half of them. That's right -- not to make any of you who live outside of Utah jealous, but we get to do fireworks twice this month! We celebrate the pioneers coming into the state on July 24th, so we get to do fireworks again then and it's all legal.

Anyway, the boys found something they liked to do this year: Use their new water guns to put out the sparklers and cool down the used fireworks. They had a blast doing that. I think the water guns were as good of a purchase as the fireworks! Look at 'em go! (BTW, they both were able to squirt out sparklers this way.)



If you look closely you can see the water squirting toward the sparkler:



My kids have also seen their cousins jump over some ground fireworks like ground blooms/flowers. Fortunately they haven't pressed me to do that, because they're not old enough to do that yet. However, I did let them jump over the smoke from a smoke bomb:



Shayla liked the first few fireworks, and then she wanted to go inside. However, we convinced her to stay outside, but she would only listen. She covered her eyes or put Becca's hands on her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the bright lights:





All I can say is that fireworks are one of many, many things that are a lot more fun to do with kids! :)

Movie Mania

Paul and I have been to something like five movies in the past few months. Maybe not a big deal to most, but we generally go to one movie a year, so this is a big deal for us. It's not just because my nephew works at the movie theater, either, although that does provide its own entertainment.*

Anyway, we're happy to finally have some shows worth going to see! What is it with Hollywood, anyway, that they can't come up with original, good, clean stuff? Makes me want to go write for Hollywood, except that I'm not that creative. (Except for a few nightmares I could write up as screenplays, but they'd be rated R, so I best not pursue that idea.) Anyway, that's why I'm not getting paid to write movies!!! I sometimes wonder why some of those people ARE getting paid. Today we saw a preview for a movie about Chihuahuas. Hello -- I know of a few writers you can fire!

We enjoyed Get Smart (which had real humor -- not the potty or crude humor you see a lot these days), Iron Man, and Incredible Hulk (although it wasn't as good as Iron Man). We enjoyed Kung Fu Panda more than expected, which I suppose balances out Wall-E, which was not nearly as much as I expect from Pixar. (Kung Fu Panda was from Dreamworks so I had much lower expectations, and yet I enjoyed it more than I did Wall-E. Uh, oh ... does this mean I can no longer be a Pixar snob?) The short at the beginning of Wall-E was funny and much better than Wall-E itself.

We only took the kids with us to Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E (oh, and Horton Hears a Who at the dollar theater), but we have decided that Shayla is not allowed to join us at the movies again for another year!!!

Happy 4th of July! I hope your day is better than warm, buttery popcorn at an awesome movie. THAT would be a great day, huh? :)

** Entertainment mentioned above: The first time we ran into my nephew he was at the ticket counter. We got into the line that then splits between two tellers. The other teller got done first, so we let the people behind us go ahead of us. (Turns out they bought the last two tickets to the show we wanted. Oh well ... that gave us time to go catch some Panda Express.) Anyway, the lady with my nephew was apparently asking for some strange stuff, so the other ticket agent finished first again. When I let the people behind me go ahead again, the other ticket agent said, "I really can help you." I think she was getting offended/worried about why we weren't willing to go to her window. I went over and told her we were just waiting to buy tickets from my nephew, which I think made her feel a bit more relaxed about our strange behavior.

The next time we went to a movie he was taking tickets from people and telling them what direction to go to find their theater. He wasn't really paying attention and didn't see us, so we started running like we were going to try to get in without giving him at ticket. He didn't realize it was us until we were right next to him. We got a kick when we looked over and saw that his manager was standing nearby and saw the whole thing. At least Andy tried to stop us instead of just letting us in. He didn't get nearly as big of a kick out of it as we did, but we're "old marrieds" who don't get out as much as he does. :)

Questions only a mom would ask

You know you've watched too many children's programs when you start to ask yourself the following:

- Why aren't the other Wiggles as good as Greg? Does Anthony really think he looks cool with those sideburns? And what does Jeff contribute, anyway? (I watched the credits and found out the answer to the last one -- Jeff writes many of the songs.)

- Where is Dora's mom, anyway? Is she fine with her little girl (I think Dora's five or six) wandering through forests and talking to wild animals?

- How come the eyes on Thomas the Tank Engine move, but the lips don't? And if you've ever seen the full-length move of Thomas, how did Alec Baldwin get into a movie with such horrible actors? Does he realize they look even worse because he is a good actor and they aren't?

- How does the Bear in the Big Blue house move so much? There's got to be a person inside him, but his eyebrows move, too.

- Why did Steve REALLY leave Blue's Clues? And how do Salt and Pepper make Paprika?

- Why is Clifford Puppy Days worse than the regular Clifford? And can't you still make more Cliffords even though John Ritter died? Don't they know the kids would't mind a slight voice change -- assuming they even notice?

- Speaking of Clifford, what parents are going to build a house for their dog that happens to be larger than their own house? And why does Emily Elizabeth have to go by both names?

- Is Bob the Builder the only handyman in town? And where in the world did his cat get the name Pilchard?

- How is it possible that the Backyardigans all have the same imaginary boat/island/horse/etc. And how come they never argue about what this imaginary world should look like or have?

- Don't the parents of the Cyberchase kids wonder where their kids have been for hours? Ditto for Dragon Tales. And speaking of Dragon Tales, what parent is going to let their kids keep some strange thing that was left by the previous owners? And who has wallpaper with dinosaurs on it anymore, anyway?

- Does anyone in this big, big world really watch Big, Big World?

- Does anyone else find Caillou's voice very whiney? And isn't his mom a little too patient? (Although she is built like a "real" mom, so I'll forgive her on that one. :)

- Did the Berenstain Bears have to stop with two kids since they named them Brother and Sister? And why does everyone else in the town have normal names when this family doesn't?

- Does anyone else find the albino on Between the Lions a little creepy?

- Why can't any of the other kids' shows be as good as Arthur?

By the way, never ask your husband one of these questions or he'll look at you with a really weird look on his face. :)