Rebel Pride

Saturday night, Wade and I attended the Dixie State College Alumni Fall Event for the alumni that live in Northern Utah. It was held at the Little America Hotel here in Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun to dress up and have a nice dinner in this classy hotel and get to know other people who have the same rebel pride as we do.

When I was in high school, I was sure I wasn't going to attend Dixie because I was such an independent child (just ask my mom!) and wanted to leave St. George for a few years. After placing in the Region Sterling Scholar Competition, I was blessed to be offered scholarships from around the state, including BYU, which was my top choice. But after praying about it for a long time, I felt strongly that I was supposed to stay at home and attend Dixie. And I have never regretted that decision for a second! I grew really close to my parents and my little sister in that time (what better roommate could I ask for?), I saved thousands on room and board, I had incredible professors and institute teachers that knew me by name, made some wonderful friends (including many of you), developed my singing with the Institute Show Choir, Inspiration, discovered a love for children with special needs, and just grew as a person in so many ways.

After a year and a half, I met Wade, and I was especially happy that I was at Dixie. I was also really fortunate that the college had just developed some four year programs, including one in Elementary Education. I knew I wanted to be a teacher, almost as much as I knew I wanted to marry Wade ;) so it worked out perfectly. I was able to receive my Bachelor's Degree and had some amazing experiences being a part of the El. Ed. program. Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to this great school. I'm proud to be an alumni of Dixie State College, and I'm grateful for the education I received there.

Emily's 3-year pictures

I can't believe my little girl is already 3 years old! I couldn't be happier about how her 3-year pictures turned out. I think she looks beautiful in them, but I'm not thrilled with our family picture. When I scheduled our appointment at the JC Penney studio, I had requested Jenny, who can always get my kids to smile, and is just super patient with children. They told me she no longer works there, so I requested another photographer who's been there a long time. On Saturday, when we showed up for our appointment, I was informed that my requested photographer had gone home for the day. I was really bugged! That was totally unprofessional!

The girl who ended up taking our pictures was nice, but because she was behind schedule, she only took like 6 family shots, rather than the usual 20 or so. I hate feeling rushed! Oh, and I forgot to mention that we were there for over 2 hours waiting. This was the best picture she took, and since it was better than the ones at Sugarhouse Park, we just bought a few for our parents and siblings, since we needed to keep it within budget anyway. Of course after our struggle trying to get Jon to sit still and either of them to smile, Emily was absolutely darling on her individual shots. What can you do?

I know many of you thought we needed to try again at Sugarhouse Park. It really was a perfect setting. But the day we went, it was incredibly frustrating with Jon screaming at me because I wouldn't let him swim in the pond while we were trying to take pictures. And Emily was just being plain grumpy. And then she had to go potty, but because it was Sunday, the restrooms were closed, so Wade pulled out a blanket and covered her up while I tried to convince her she could just pee behind the bush. I know, awful right? Well, then her pee trickles down her leg and onto the grass where I'm kneeling. So we're both covered in pee, and she starts crying, and I sure felt like doing the same. We even tried taking the pictures at 9:30 in the morning, a time when both Emily and Jon are usually so happy. We tried bribing them with all sorts of treats and surprises, but to no avail. It was such a pain at the park that we were glad that at least ONE at JC Penney turned out okay. Anyway, sorry about my negative attitude with all the drama! Sometimes a girl's just gotta vent!

haircuts, breakfast, and ice-cream

This is just a cute shot of Emily, last Thurday, right before our cousin, Britni, gave us each a haircut. Britni is a perfectionist like me, so she gives the best haircuts! I usually pay her, but this time we traded haircuts for babysitting, so we both saved money. I watched her sweet little guy, Kyle, while she and Aaron attended the U of U football game. The Utes beat TCU in the last two minutes. Yea! Thanks again, Brit!

Sunday morning, Wade put on my Strawberry Shortcake apron and Emily put on hers, and they made scrambled eggs and toast together for the family. I think the apron is a nice look for Wade, don't you think?

The next morning for breakfast, Emily ran to the silverware drawer and grabbed 6 spoons to eat her cereal with. What a funny girl!

To prepare for the primary program, I made a poster with a big bowl and places for 9 scoops of ice-cream to fit on top of that bowl. If the kids passed of a song, they received an ice-cream scoop to put on the poster. Once they passed off all their songs, they earned an ice-cream party! So here's a picture of Emily enjoying her ice-cream and one of Wade helping Jon eat his, on Tuesday.

While everyone was eating their ice-cream, I read them the comments from the congregation about how well they did and what their favorite part of the program was. Then the kids lined up and cashed in their tickets for prizes. They received tickets for being reverent and well-behaved during the practices and the actual program. Good incentive, by the way! You don't even need to shush the kids, just give one kid a ticket, and the others follow his example, because they want a ticket, too! We had rice-krispy treats, cookies, donuts, pencils, stickers, word puzzle books, and all sorts of little toys that they could buy with their tickets. It was a fun night, and with all the sugar I ate, I knew I would feel guilty watching "The Biggest Loser" after we got home. Too bad I recorded channel 7, rather than channel 5, so I still haven't seen it this week!

Primary Program

Today was our primary program, and the children were phenominal! I feel so blessed to be able to teach them these amazing songs all year long and then watch and listen as they sing so beautifully for the program, bringing the spirit in by the cupfull. It's the best feeling. Wade and I even invited our neighbor, who's not a member of the church, to the program. She's 86 years old and doesn't have family living close by, but she loves children, so we knew she would enjoy it. And she did! :)

We started out with the youngest class each saying their name, how old they were, and what they like to do. The first boy said, "My name is Andy. I am 4 years old. I am an artist of painting, and I want to be a beekeeper when I grow up." It was so cute! Then the last child ended with "...but most importantly, we are all children of God." Then we sang, "I Am a Child of God." It was perfect.

I also really liked the part the 5-6 year-old class did. One boy said, "If the Savior stood beside me, I would want him to see me lego-ing." (Spencer would appreciate that, right Kathy?) Then one girl said, "If the Savior stood beside me, I would want him to see me being nice to my sister...AND my brother." The way she said it, you could tell she wasn't too convinced about being nice to her brother. ;)

I felt so good about the whole program. I had some of the children playing a piano piece for prelude music and a violin duet for "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet." And I included a lot of vocal duets and trios for parts of some of the other songs. The Bishopric even joined us in singing "Called to Serve," with all the children waving mini flags from countries all around the world. It was classic.

On the last song, "A Child's Prayer," I was going to have the children sing the first verse and the teachers and leaders sing the second verse. But last Sunday, I was on my knees in prayer, and the spirit penetrated my heart, and I felt impressed that the congregation needed to join us in singing that song. Today, as we sang it, there were few dry eyes in the chapel. It was a special moment. I am so grateful I listened to the promptings of the spirit. I just wanted to write down the words of that song because it's one of my favorites. And I want you to know, as my friends and family, that I know we have loving Heavenly Father who does hear and answer our prayers.


Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away,
but I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now
something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
"Suffer the children to come to me."
Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee.

Pray, he is there; Speak, he is listening.
You are his child; His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer; He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.

Such happy kids!

haha What a joke! They were absolutely onery the entire time we tried to get family pictures taken. Wade and I thought we could save money and just have my friend Jenica take a few shots of us at Sugarhouse park. Yeah right! So needless to say, I've already made an appointment with JC Penney and we're going to try again. Grrr!

What the heck?

My good friend that lives in Memphis, Tennessee regularly enlightens us all about the strange things she sees or hears happening there. Well, I have one for you, Katie! Wade and I were driving behind this car on the way home from our anniversary trip. According to this lady's bumper stickers, her "family" includes herself, 4 dogs, 1 cat, 3 cows, 3 goats, 2 roosters, 7 chickens, and another animal that kind of resembles a raccoon(?) I was like, "What the heck?" We couldn't stop laughing!

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Critical Vote