Living Full on Life

Predicting the Future

by Leave a Comment

Coming back from Mrs. Willey’s house this week Lizzie said, with great earnestness:”Do you know what I am really, really, really going to beg for and hope you give me when I turn 16? A really nice car, a bright red one, those kind where the top comes off. I would like a car just like grandpa’s car (Audi TT).  If you gave me one of those cars I would put in really big speakers,  so I could drive with the music really loud and a lot of bass. I would drive with the top down, my music playing really loud, something like “Dynamite” (the kids favorite song). And people could hear me coming from down the road.  I would wear nice clothes and wear my hair in a high ponytail then I would pull up next to a cute guy and all my friends and tell them to get in and I’d give them a ride!”
I was taken aback that 1) She had put that much thought into this dream of hers and 2) That she actually thought if she begged enough she might get it! I told her that if she was lucky she would get to drive Grant’s Subaru which would be nearly 20 years old by the time she is 16 and that the only sound people would hear from down the street would be the breaks squealing, the engine backfiring,  and the muffler dragging on the ground.
On this same strain of predicting the future, Sam and I had a discussion today about his future. It started with him saying, “I can’t believe that William will be 8 in just three years! Next thing we know I will be a father and then a grandfather!” I protested, “Whoa Sam! You just took me from a mother of a five year old to a great-grandmother in the space of two minutes! You are starting to make me feel old!” Then I asked him if he was excited to be a father. He said yes, but that he is nervous about it too. He is nervous that because he will be so successful in his career and will make so much money (he says millions), and so many people will seek his expertise that he will have a hard time not dedicating all his time and efforts into it and that he will not spend enough time with his children and family. I told him that if that is the case, then he will have the same challenge that his dad has with balancing all the demands on his time and talents (we don’t have the millions though). Thankfully Grant is the perfect example of balance! He also mentioned that he is nervous about working with so many atheists since he is planning on working in a scientific field. I think he is realizing that he has a lot of work to do in fortifying his testimony so he can be strong enough to counter the attacks that may come on his faith.
I love the glimpses in the lives and future of our children. I  may complain about all the hours we spend in the car, but it is giving me such precious time with my children to listen to their hopes and dreams and concerns. I love that they fight to sit in the front seat next to me because that person gets a better chance of a conversation with mom since the competition is all in the back of the car. I am a lucky, lucky mom! I also think I need to spend some time before bed just talking to each one of them individually.
Now, a few other things I want to remember from this week…
Lately we have been doing a half hour of reading together each night. Last night I read, “I Love You Forever” and made Sam cry.
Wednesday, William spent about an hour working on his grave site in our backyard and instructed me that that was where he was to be buried.
williams-grave

I love his cheerful expression over such a macabre scene!

Today Anna was looking through a bin of clothes the next size up  that I pulled out of the shed.  She found an old blue and white dress that belonged to Rebecca. She said, “This is super cute!” (I’m not kidding! Hearing the words “Super Cute” coming out of her mouth was super cute!) Then she asked if she could wear it. It was 9 am and we were on outfit number three…not unusual for her- I’m just glad she is wearing clothes now unlike a year ago. I put the dress on and then suggested that we take a picture to show Rebecca. Anna hates having her picture taken as much as she loves clothes. This is what I got…
annasad
And one last thing…
I was talking to William today about being better behaved in class as his teacher told me he was a little too chatty. William told me that he couldn’t be better behaved because Satan makes him misbehave.  I explained that he was more powerful than Satan. He excitedly stated, “Because I have the power of God inside of me!” I think he is still working out the whole good and evil concept. To add to the confusion he mentioned that the teacher told him that when children misbehave they will have to go to the BISHOP’S OFFICE! I’m pretty sure she said Principal’s office. I’m also pretty sure that for a child who’s dad is in charge at school and at church things can get a little confusing.

His Name Should Be Muffin…

by Leave a Comment


…Instead we named him Hugo.  This is William’s little dog.  Hugo is turning William from quiet middle child to important owner of the pet all the kids in our family want.  If they want to spend time with Hugo, they go through William. Sammy went so far as to say that William could get Hugo for his (Sam’s) birthday! William is generous with his little buddy, but still enjoying the prestige of having something as his very own. Especially something as cool as this little Havanese puppy! I am wondering if we did the right thing (especially as we muddle through house training), but I think in a couple of months we will know that Hugo was meant to be in our family. In the meantime we will enjoy this super cute muffin face and his sweet and pleasant disposition.

How do you help a middle child not disappear in a family?  I find that one of the things I enjoy about William so much is that he is so easy to be around. He doesn’t demand much.  He is a sober child with a lot of big plans and ideas that he likes to mull over (and draw). And so, when he is with his talkative older siblings he just listens. When we are alone I enjoy a little quiet time so much I’m afraid I don’t try to draw him out. When Sam and Lizzie were at their Grampa and Gramma Zirkle’s house in South Carolina this summer, Grant and I were astonished at what a rich personality William has! He had so much to add, so much to say, and stepped up to the role of the big, helping, supportive older brother that Sam usually is.

So, you get your middle child a dog for him to talk to, and you try every day to give him some airtime. Our car conversations go something like this…”Ok, ok, everyone is talking at the same time…Lizzie it is your turn. Wait Sam, she isn’t done yet. William did you want to tell us what you started to say…” What a gift these children are with their unique personalities, active minds, good hearts and healthy bodies. I feel the magnitude of the gift of them everyday.

Kid Quote Archive

by Leave a Comment

I have been recording kid quotes in my I Phone for the past 1 1/2 years. To help me not feel panicked over the very probable prospect of loosing my phone I will attempt to transfer the kid quotes onto something a little more permanent. I will start with most recent and go back:

July 9, 2012
Anna’s prayer (in entirety): Dear Heavenly Father. We thank thee that I can get candy and become a true princess.

May 31, 2012
After looking at William’s drawings that he had been working on for the past couple of hours I said, “Wow William! You are a great artist!”
William: Ya, I’m going to be an evil artist! And an evil scientist!

(Should I fear for him?)

Same day:
Anna, after trying for some time to get Grant’s attention to show him her owie said, “Dad! Talk me! Talk me Dad!!”

February 18, 2012
We were driving to St. George with Gramma B in the car and had the following conversation.
Grant telling the story about the lepers from the bible said, “Does anyone know what a leper is?”
Lizzie: Aren’t those men who wear little green hats?
Gramma B: No, those are leprechauns

February 16, 2012
William has been so interested in mighty machines, trucks, planes all his life told me with a “I’m going to really amaze you voice”, “A monster truck has three chunks of horsepower so it’s really hard to drive because it can go on light speed when you’re not looking!”

Remind me to never buy a monster truck.

January 3, 2012
William was telling me about his imaginary friend “Leesha” who’s aunt died. I asked him how she died and he said, very matter-of-factually, “I’m afraid she was doing karate with a knife…and it killed her.”

November 23, 2011
After a lesson with his wonderful middle aged violin teacher William gushed, “I really love Mrs. Willey, she’s just a beauty!”

Earlier that same day at the intersection in front of the school William pointing to a passing car said, “When I grow up I’m going to buy my very own car and when I drive that way I will wink at you!”

I am counting on that William!!

October 2, 2011
William loves talking about tough tools. He keeps on talking about a “Samatoger Drill” (Soft G sound). Finally I asked him what a samatoger drill can do. He explained (with a look of shock that I wouldn’t know), that it can blow up a hundred feet of wall! I really wish I could see what a hundred feet of wall looks like inside his head!

July 1, 2011
Sam was making a case as to why he loves the 4th of July, and particularly fireworks so much because I feel that fireworks are a waste of money. He described the smell of the smoke from fireworks as “acrid’. I was so impressed by his grown up vocabulary I gave in to buying them! Ironically, we bought what the kids thought to be a huge pack and excitedly started setting them off. Then, our neighbor who had spent a fortune in Wyoming on the really BIG ones began his show and we all lost interest in ours. I’ll never forget sitting there while one of our lame fountains was going off and we were all turned away the opposite direction ohhing and ahhhing over the neighbors display!

April 30, 2011
William: I wish I died.
Me: How come?
William: Because I like laying in the grass.

April 15, 2011
While driving together as a family in Provo…
Lizzie: Oh look a new Chuck-a-Rama! (our kids favorite restaurant.) Oh, it’s a drive-thru, that’s sad! (I start laughing)
Sam: How would you drive through a buffet (he pronounced it, “buffette”)
(I laugh even harder.)

February 1, 2011
William always asks me if we have an eject button in our car. I say yes (cd player). He is thinking of the kind that ejects the car’s occupant out of the roof at terrifying speeds.  After confirming for the thousandth time that our car is awesome enough to have an eject button we picked up his friend Spencer on the way to preschool. They have the following conversation:
William: I have a reject button in my car!
Spencer: Well I have TWO reject buttons in my car!

These are not quotes but a couple moments to remember that  I entered into my phone.

Yesterday while tying William’s shoe I was bending over him while he stood. His head was close to my neck and he wasn’t feeling very well so he nestled right in with his face buried in my neck and just stayed there for the longest time!

Today on the way to school Sammy told us story after story from the book he is reading about Mt. Everest.  It was wonderful hearing his excitement and interest. I am so glad he has a love for books!

January 19, 2011
William pointed to the temple we were passing and said, “I want to go there someday…with the beautiful flowers and the beautiful spirit. 

Is There Anything Dad Can’t Do?

by Leave a Comment

A couple of days ago we were talking in the car (where we spend most of our time these days). Lizzie asked after we were discussing something positive about Grant, “Is there anything Dad can’t do? I wanted to say, “Yes, he can’t beat me at chess.” Instead, Sam answered, “No, Dad can do anything!” then, thinking he amended, “Actually, Dad can’t relax until his work is done! That is something Dad can’t do!” Thanks for the great example Mr!

Goats and the Suzuki Method

by Leave a Comment

I had NO IDEA that the goats were in so much danger when I read that google search that Sam did. On Thursday morning after he discovered what had happened in the night he came in so worked up and told me all about it. I am getting so immune to the pre-pubescent drama that is going on right now in our household that I was hardly even listening! I think I nodded and said “mmmhmm. Really? Oh dear!” (In a very convincing way.) In the meantime I think I might have been planning out my day. However, I found out later that the goats were in real danger, they could have died! Thursday night when I found myself sticking a three foot tube down one goat’s throat to induce gas release I was kicking myself that I hadn’t listened that morning! Especially when that process induced rumen spew! A lot of green liquid that covered Grant (the one holding the goat), me (the one with the tube) and Sam (especially Sam because he was the one holding Caramel’s mouth open). Lizzie (the flashlight holder) escaped because she was far enough away.  William wanted nothing to do with it and was over by the shed trying to get chicken yuck off his school shoes (the same shoes that Sam ran over the next day and chopped up with the lawn mower).  I will now list all the things we did for the goats over the space of three days:
1) Several Google searches
2) At least six phone calls to people for ideas on how to help them (two ward members, two ranch vets, the breeder who sold us the goats, and a guy at the feed store.)
3) Five trips to two different feed stores, grocery store and walmart to get remedies.
4) Administered an anti bloat serum, mineral oil, and baking soda mix to each goat with syringes. (sadly Caramel swallowed two inches of the rubber tubing we attached to the end of the syringe).
5) The aforementioned tubing vomit incident.
6) Gave them a bowl full of baking soda to munch on during the day – which they wouldn’t touch.
7) Sam hand fed them fresh picked raspberries from the garden which is their favorite treat (or should I say second favorite- chicken feed being their first favorite) to try to give them some nutrients since they weren’t eating.
8) I drove them out of their pen to let them walk around thinking that an open invitation to all the tempting delights of our backyard would get them moving and movement helps relieve gas. They just stood there in the middle of the lawn dazed and depressed until even that was too hard and then they layed down. I had to carry Caramel (who is the one in the worst shape) back to the pen because he wouldn’t move! We were both trembling from the exertion by the time we got back to the pen.
9) Grant force fed them greek yogurt (probiotics) mixed with baking soda from a syringe.
10) Last ditch effort: Pepto-bismol (15 ml each) and that seemed to do the trick. I am happy to report that even with a near brush with a secondary infection of pneumonia the goats seem to be on the mend!
All throughout I wondered if this was all worth it. Animals are so much work, and expensive, and sometimes gross and stinky, often times inconvenient but oh so worth it! While we were out there on Thursday at 10 pm working as a team, in the dark getting drenched in green goo and pulling together for the same cause, learning great life lessons I realized that if I had the choice, I would do it all over again! (I could do without the chickens though.) Our children were learning about sacrifice, life, death, faith and fear, work, love, loss, and consequences (what happens when you take shortcuts and leave the lid to the chicken feed bucket loose). They also learned about prayer! (I can’t even count how many petitions were made to Heavenly Father for the recovery of Caramel, Chester and Friendy!)

On a lighter note: Lizzie had her Half Book Recital at 3pm on Saturday.  Which means she has completed the first half of Suzuki Book One for Cello. Kayson Brown, her teacher, the Saxeys, Gramma Sheri and Leah and Trevor came to watch her play for about fifteen minutes of songs accompanied by Grant on the piano. She played twinkle variations and about six other songs. Then Grant and Lizzie played a lovely song they had been playing together for about six months. For the Suzuki songs it was wonderful to see the fruits of our labor. It has been over a year of hard work for both Lizzie and I as I have striven to practice with her every day. She is a lovely player who is finally getting the feel of the sound her cello can make and the beauty of the instrument. When she was learning “French Folk Song” the first song after all the Twinkle Variations about six months ago Kayson, who was trying to get her to feel the music asked her, “What is the most beautiful instrument in the world?” Lizzie quizzically guessed, “the harp?” to which Kayson indignantly replied, “NO! The cello is the most beautiful instrument in the world!” I think that Lizzie finally feels like the cello IS the most beautiful instrument in the world, and you can hear it in the way she is starting to play.
But far and away the best part of the whole recital was hearing Grant and Lizzie play their song together. I sat there in awe at the beauty of the process and reward of developing our talents. Here was Grant, the father, playing with Lizzie the daughter, pouring their hearts out into the music and exposing those hearts to the rest of us. Here was Grant who can bless our family and others because he had a mother who challenged him and sacrificed to help him develop his talent. And now the next generation is coming forth to develop theirs and I am a part of it! Wednesday after I had been in the car for 3 1/2 hours driving kids and waiting for kids during their lessons I suggested that we should quit everything.  “Wouldn’t it be so great to just come home from school, do a little homework, a few chores and just be free for the rest of the evening?” I asked.  I was met with great resistance and so we continue. Saturday’s recital was just the boost I needed to keep going.

20 Years Since High School

by Leave a Comment

This weekend we were in St. George for Grant’s 20 year high school reunion. What an interesting experience that was! It has been a long time since we were in a room full  of people our same age! That never happens anymore. And what a unique age we are right now too. As I looked around I saw people who had infants and teenagers, some people looked much older that 38 and some much younger. Some people were just starting new careers and some had been in their chosen profession for almost the whole of the 20 years since graduation.We all seemed to be neither young nor old, just somewhere in the middle! It seemed the men were trying to hasten the aging process to gain credibility in their professions and the women for the most part were trying to halt it! I was just happy that the man I was with was the handsomest, best man I know- and the love of my life. Oh, and he got voted to be the “Mitt Romney Lookalike” (I think Grant is way better looking)
We stayed at the Marriott where the reunion dinner took place. Our children stayed in the room one floor up while we were at the dinner. It worked out marvelously. They had a great time eating pizza in the room and having free reign of Grant’s I-pad and my phone. Sam texted us at about eight to let us know that Anna was melting down at which point I went upstairs and tried for the next two hours to get them to settle down and go to sleep!
This is the photo we submitted of our family for the reunion. One of the few recent ones we have of all of us. (I thought my stand up bangs in this photo would fit right in with the 90’s big bangs pictures we would be seeing so much that night)
IMG_3115And this is the photo we submitted of Grant during his high school years:
granthighschool

I would have been just as smitten by him then as I am now!

“Cathy: Grant and Candice and children were in our Sacrament meeting today.  Grant is so darn handsome and his wife is so beautiful;goodness and the spirit emanates from them. You are blessed!——————————-
The children are adorable!  Good his class reunion wasdown here.
    Not much else is happening thisweek.  Hope you had a wonderful week.  Everything is looking goodaround here.  Love, Anna Lee”

— see what a light you two are!  we adore you.  mom and dad
Elder Wendell and Sister Cathy Beckwith
Area Mental Health Advisors
North America South East Area           AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN            
     (435) 619-7222 / 674-7222
Oh, and I had been feeling a little old thinking that we were celebrating a 20 year high school reunion until an elderly woman upon hearing why we were in town said, “Oh, that’s funny, I just had my SIXTY YEAR high school reunion!”
It is always nice to hear such nice things about oneself! After church we went to the visitors center and temple across the street. Every time I go there I am so grateful that we began our family there. Not only because we are an eternal family but simply because that temple is so white, and so magnificent. Lizzie told me that she could really feel the spirit just being there!
We all felt a loss being in St. George and not able to visit Grandpa and Gramma B. We miss them but feel so proud of them.

An Embarassing Moment

by Leave a Comment

Monday night we were heading to Chili’s for dinner with the whole family and got into a discussion about snow cone shacks and how much money they make and if it is a good business or not. Sam had a good idea that made me laugh and not having my cell phone to write it down I borrowed Grant’s and attempted to text myself his idea. This is the text I thought I sent to myself:
“Why don’t we just set up an outhouse and cut a hole in the door and make it a snow cone shack! We could call it “Outhouse Ice”!
About an hour later as we were sitting at dinner,  Grant who was checking his texts often due to a serious accident that occurred involving a seven year old boy whose life hung in the balance, handed me his phone with a questioning look.
I didn’t even have to look to realize what I had done. I had sent Sam’s quote to a member of the ward council, not to myself! And then I had a sinking feeling that in this serious time for our ward, maybe I had sent the message to the whole ward council!?! I hadn’t, but I had to do some explaining right away, especially because I had not prefaced the text with anything like, “Sam said”… or “While we were in the car tonight we had the following discussion”… it was just some harebrained idea sent from the Bishop to a member of the ward!
And so I sent the following explanatory text:
“I’m sorry, this is Candice here, I was trying to text myself this funny thing that Sam said so I can write it in our kid’s quote book.  I didn’t mean to send this to you. I’m just glad it didn’t go to the whole ward council!”
Jeremy’s wife responded:
“This is Laura now. I want to hear the rest of it!” To which we replied:
“Just an entrepreneurial brainstorm amongst our children. More at our next visiting teaching appointment!”
 How grateful I am for a patient husband, witty children and friends with a sense of humor!

New to blogging

by Leave a Comment

I’m finally doing it! Our page may not be cute, my entries may not be eloquent, but at least this will be a way to keep track of our life without having to find my journal and a pen…why is it that I can always find a marker but never a pen? Speaking of markers… the other day while I was engrossed in planning our anniversary trip I noticed that William had found a marker. I erroneously assumed that it was a washable marker. (Why would I ever buy markers that aren’t washable?) I gave him a few sheets of paper and went back to my planning. A short time later when he walked out of my office still clutching the marker I decided that the worst he could do was to write on a wall or two and that writing on a few walls would keep him busy for at least a half an hour. Furthermore it would only take me a minute or two to clean it off- a perfect solution for William’s entertainment. Thankfully it never occurred to him to write on any walls with his permanent marker, but he did decorate his toys, his pants and MY pants! The bright side? It did buy me some time and I left his markings on the toys for his posterity. I must say it wasn’t one of my better moments as a mother but hey- with all that planning we’re going to have a great time in France!

Success

by Leave a Comment

From my brother Isaiah on 03/12/07

Candice! I loved the story (See Happy Snakes post from 3/11/07).  Haha it made me laugh quite a lot.  I could picture it perfectly.  I miss you and your children! Come here! Send them here!  Haha! Candice, what did you do to fight being frustrated on your mission?  I am happy but trying not to be frustrated at times.  How are you feeling?  I understand that you are about to pop and don´t always feel up to writing.  I won´t be offended if you don’t write.  I love you Cando. Tell everyone hi.  Thank you so much for the email

From me to my brother Isaiah on 03/18/07

What did I do to fight being frustrated on my mission? I punched my companion in the face, went for a long swim alone in the Mediterranean, then spent the rest of the day laying on the beach in the sun until I felt better. HA HA. Truthfully? I tried to get exercise- jogging at 5:30 am on my mission was so wonderful- I was breathing too hard to talk to my companion. I wasn’t expected to talk to anyone and the whole world was just waking up. For some reason even though we were walking and biking miles and miles every day that jog in the morning helped so much.

Also, I had to constantly re-adjust my definition of success. Success, when you are doing your best and still not having “Golden” investigators falling from the sky could sometimes mean just being able to testify at every chance you get whether anyone listens or not. Success could mean just feeling love for everyone you meet and not wanting to curse them or resign them to their fate. (I sometimes had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying, “Fine, BURN! See if I care!!!”) Success is also being able to laugh at life, at yourself and your weaknesses and at some of the situations you find yourself in. Success most of all is living close enough to the spirit to know that the Savior will go before you and will be on your right hand and your left and will ALWAYS be with you and will understand how you feel- for did he not experience all and more?

I love that you asked me that question because that was something I struggled with my whole mission. It is something I struggle with right now!  My mind is willing but my body just won’t cooperate. You know how I am in the spring… I get all excited about all the wonderful possibilities in our yard. There is new growth and life budding all around me and I feel almost what I imagine a manic person to feel like- I am exploding with ideas and plans for our yard. So this week I went outside and decided to put up some fencing around the tender little peach trees I planted last year because they are budding now and the deer have already started to snack. Well, I was attempting to drive six foot t-stakes into the ground but my pregnant body balance was so bad that I kept falling over and couldn’t get them in. I endured as long as I could and did a pretty shoddy job but at least I finished one of the two trees. I thought, “FINE, I’ll prune the apple trees then”. The only problem with that is that I literally couldn’t fit between some of the branches in the tree because I am so big. So I could only get some of the perimeter branches. After miserably failing there I decided that really the only thing I could do was rake out the flower beds. I raked part of the front area and by then I was so physically tired that I couldn’t finish and it is nearly impossible to bend down and pick up an armful of leaves with this beach ball size belly of mine in the way. I WANTED success, and I was willing to work hard but everywhere I turned I couldn’t do what I wanted to do! Grant got home that night and I voiced my frustration to my caring, loving husband who reminded me that of all the things I do at home with Sammy and Lizzie and that I am also growing a baby inside of me (a somewhat exhausting endeavor). It is amazing how many times we get to learn the same lesson over and over again.

Now for the our family news: Grant has attained perfection (or is that not news to anyone?) Yesterday he woke up and was outside BEFORE the sun rose and started digging post holes. By the end of the day he had dug and set all the posts for our garden fence (150 feet) ALL BY HIMSELF! (I had meetings all day) Oh, did I mention he had stained them all too? We are doing only the posts in cedar but the rest of the fence will be 6′ metal ranch fencing. We all got excited talking about what kind of fruits and vegetables we will plant in our garden once the deer can’t feast on everything! (Lizzie is going to plant corn and Kiwi for Sam because he love Kiwi so much) Grant has also begun to wage war on the gophers that have started to make themselves at home in the new part of our lawn. I bought smoke bombs this week and he has had a great time planting them in their little holes! (Morbid I know, but when you have worked as hard as we have on this yard, you aren’t very tolerant of anything that mars your hard work- whether they were here first or not!

I am getting released from my position in the primary presidency. I have loved my calling but I was a little nervous about how I was going to do a good job and have a baby at the same time. I am getting  a new calling in the cub scouts! It is amazing how I get all these callings that are so far beyond anything I feel comfortable doing! Scouts is a whole new world! It is overwhelming but not so demanding as my current calling. It will definitely be a learning experience. And, now I will be able to go to Relief Society which I have missed, but still be involved with primary children which I love. I am still on my health kick. We eat a smoothie a day, hardly any sweets, no white bread, no soda, no chips besides tortilla, and I am trying to cut out all trans fats. The kids and Grant have been really good sports about it.

Sam, what can I say about Sammy-bam? We have been working on helping him not sound like a “Know-It-All.” Especially with Lizzie. She will proudly announce a new finding, “‘B’ says ‘Buh'” and Sammy will say, “EVERYONE knows that Lizzie” I want her to have the benefit of learning things and feeling like the smartest kid in the world like Sammy did. He is aware of it now and working on it. Sammy has also taken on the role as Lizzie’s protector, (except when he is in the mood to tease), and comfort giver. Which totally delights me. If she falls down and scrapes her knee (which happens all the time- as we are all aware of how graceful she is) Sammy takes it upon himself to sit down next to her and hug her and kiss her. Then he will check the wound and get her to lie down (even on the pavement outside if that is where the accident occurred). It is very cute.

Lizzie is blossoming so much. She struggles still with fake crying and whining and her normal girl theatricals- but she is getting much better about that. She got a bike last Friday that she is finally able to ride. For the first day or so she just proudly sat on the seat and put stuff in the basket. What four year old girl wouldn’t be proud of a purple and white bike with a basket? Her drawing is even better this week than it was last week because she spends more than HALF her day doing it. She has even started to not just draw what is in her mind but she will look out the window and draw what she sees, mountains, trees, birds etc. It is wonderful. I know I need to send out some of her artwork to you. I promise I’ll do it before you come home. It is so interesting how different these children are from each other.

Well, we are getting very excited for General Conference. I LOVE this time of year. It combines my three favorite things: Easter (my favorite holiday) Conference (so relaxing and uplifting) and Spring (so exciting and fresh and NEW) and this year we get to add one more- when conference rolls around we will only have ONE MORE MONTH before our little baby is born. I feel funny calling him a little baby because he certainly seems big enough right now. He is probably around four pounds and will double in weight in the next seven weeks. Can you believe it? Right now he will move and Grant sitting near by can see my whole belly move. Or, the baby will shift a little in there and suddenly there will be a big bulge on one side of my stomach and I will look lopsided! Grant and I were laughing last night while watching the migration patterns of Jr. because we realized how funny it would look if all of a sudden Grant’s stomach did that! Maybe “funny” isn’t the right word- I think I would be more inclined to take him straight to the hospital! We still haven’t settled on a name but have ruled out Soloman, and Saul-my two favorites. Grant finally helped me see that we couldn’t name our child after a man that had 40,000 concubines, or a man who persecuted members of the church. Why couldn’t they have been better men? They had such great names!

Ok, I think I will end now. Bed time you know. Keep up the good work. I am so glad you are in an obedient mission. We were told ours was the hardest mission too (ten years ago) but we didn’t have an obedient mission and that made it all the harder. Let me know if there is anything you need or want. Do you need any simple recipes or anything? Do you eat with members ever? Or are you always on your own for meals? We love you so much!

Love and xoxox,
Cando