Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows

LOVED!

Why we left church early today...

We had to leave church unexpectedly today around 11-ish to go to the urgent care because Jackson had gotten his thumb crunched in the hinge part of a heavy wooden door. The bathroom door to be exact in the Primary wing. Colby saw it happen, I was in nursery. He opened the door to nursury, said, "Becca, I need your help," and I went back in to grab Sam and off we went. Colby saw the door close, heard a crack and Jackson's shocked face and when he freed Jackson, that's when Jackson started crying. Off to urgent care.

It was traumatic. Jackson was crying and saying, "All done owie," Sam didn't want to be held so he started hitting me, Colby was trying to hold Jackson. Trauma. I cried. Sam hit me some more. Colby gave Jackson a blessing. X-rays.

No breaks! Yeah! Just a blue sausage thumb and a really tired nap-less Sam at the end of the day. It was a movie day when we got home. The relief in my stomach that it was not broken made me feel like I'd eaten a softball stone of alka-seltzer that was slowly fizzing away but not really making me feel better. The relief that was so visceral I felt sick. In any case, it's not broken.

Then Colby took the kids home and I went back to choir. We're singing next week and I'm the pianist!

Sam's music taste

Sam's favorite music is classical, specifically tocatta Fugue in D and hip hop, specifically Usher.

More Thoughts

Yesterday, Sam was alternating folding his hands, scowling at me and then playing the piano. Colby then pointed out that he was singing and playing the piano, then folding his arms to say prayers, he'd say "Amen" and then go back to playing the piano. Can you tell he's been to church a lot? Love that kid!

He's also been throwing tantrums. He likes to hit and throw. Today he threw a train over Jackson's head for some reason. If he doesn't get his way, if he's holding something, he chucks it. If he isn't holding something, he'll hit the ground/table. If he's not near one of those, like in his car seat, he'll hit himself in the forehead. Then realize that it hurt. He'll also occassionally lie on the ground and bang his head. I hope he realizes quickly that there are places to fling yourself on the ground and places that are not okay to fling yourself on the ground. Like the other day he decided to do it on the concrete outside Jackson's school. I went from being very hated to very desired instantly.

Jackson's been pointing things out. He's really narrating. He likes to eat PB straight from the jar and he'll use a chair, climb up to get the PB, get a spoon and then go to his room, while waving at me and saying, "Bye, Mom!" If I ask do you want a peanut butter sandwich, he'll look at me and say, "Peanut butter spoon?"

He loves to paint. He'll take my makeup brushes and ask to paint with them. He likes playing with my makeup and will put cream shadows running down my cheeks. Last time he did this, he used a purple color and then signed and said, "Sad".

Sam loves to come into the bathroom and flush the toilet. He's also started to say "Dy-pah" when he poops. Colby really wants me to potty train him, but I don't know. I talked to Kathleen Tobler about it and she agreed, "No way." It's just a constant anxiety. So probably not anytime soon :)

Jackson just discovered a mini snowglobe. Awesome.

Sam will sometimes grab Jackson from behind and give him a giant bear hug. And then lean. I'm just waiting for Sam to eat it when Jackson keeps walking and then accidentally kicks him in the face.

Bless This House

Thanksgiving is a time of appreciation and gratitude. A perfect precursor to the crowning event for which we all have need to be grateful for--the birth of the Savior. Thanksgiving humbles my heart and should enrich our homes as we draw close to the people we have to be grateful for. This article found in my church's magazine, The Ensign, brought a tender moment to my heart. How grateful I am for my tiny apartment, my home, sanctuary and refuge and for my husband who has blessed our home with the proper priesthood authority. We are blessed. I really like what this particular family did. I like the plaque idea as a reminder. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bless This House

By Gene and Bonnie Dalton

The dedication of our home brought about a change of heart in our family.

Many years ago, we were excited when we first learned that Latter-day Saints could dedicate their own homes. The idea had never occurred to us, and we sensed that the important things we wanted to have happen in our home could be accomplished better if we dedicated it to the Lord.

We wanted to have the Spirit of God dwell in our home to help us shape the lives of our daughters. We were grateful for Primary, Sunday School, Young Women, and seminary teachers, but we knew that the ultimate responsibility to teach our children to live the gospel was ours.

We wanted our home to be a place where we could study and live the commandments of God and where we could learn to pray, sacrifice, and forgive. If we wanted to live in love and harmony eternally, we needed to begin within those walls.

We hoped our daughters’ friends would see our home as a holy place and treat our girls as daughters of God. We wanted our home to be a place of worship—not an overly solemn, pious place, but a place where every diaper changed for a crying baby, every meal cooked, and every offer to stay home and baby-sit was a godly service and a step toward understanding the Savior and his love.

The decision to dedicate our home was ours to make. God himself has given parents stewardship over their own family and home. A bishop or stake president must seek permission from those in authority in the Church in order to dedicate a chapel or stake center, but a member who wishes to bless his or her home may go directly to the Lord.

When we dedicated our home, the counsel was that it should be paid for. Today the counsel is different. The Melchizedek Priesthood Handbook notes that Church members may dedicate their homes, whether or not they are free of debt, as sacred edifices where the Holy Spirit may reside. A member may dedicate his home as a sanctuary where his family can worship, find safety from the world, grow spiritually, and prepare for eternal family relationships. To dedicate his home, a member might gather his family members around him and offer a special prayer that would include the elements mentioned above or other appropriate thoughts.

Because we were dedicating our home to the rearing of our children, we decided to invite those friends, neighbors, and relatives who taught or cared for them to share this experience with us.

To remind us of the purpose for our home, we decided to order a small brass plaque engraved with the words, “This home is dedicated as a place where the Spirit of the Lord may dwell, where our daughters Denise, Carrie, Sara, Beth, Rachel, Josie, Louisa, and Jennie may learn to love God and serve others, and where friends may feel welcome.”

The dedication itself was simple. Our friends, including nonmembers, came, not knowing exactly what to expect, but with a warm willingness to share in something they knew was important to us. We performed a short musical number, “Bless This House,” in the living room. Then, with our daughters seated around the dining table and the adults standing behind them, Gene offered a short dedicatory prayer. Afterwards, we nailed the plaque to the wall and enjoyed homemade soup and bread.

Did everything change in our home after this dedication? Did we stop hearing cries like “Who stole my hairbrush?” or “Get out of my room!”? Unfortunately not. But the dedication inspired a commitment to invite the Spirit of the Lord into our home. Today, as we often glance at the plaque on the wall and think back on that lovely afternoon, we are reminded that this is His home as well as ours—and we each try to live accordingly.

[illustration] Illustrated by G. Allen Garns

Gene Dalton serves on the Provo Utah Oak Hills Stake high council and is stake Young Men president.

Bonnie Dalton serves as Laurel adviser in the Oak Hills Fourth Ward.

Observations

Sam likes sitting in his upturned kitchen set.
Jackson is talking like CRAZY AND IT'S SO EXCITING.
He loves school.
The more I see a movie, the more I like it. If it's my kids that are watching it.
Grateful for all my blessings.

D-Town today

If you can guess where this is, you'd know where we'd been today. Disneyland! There were so many people in costume. I took many pictures of all the rides we went on. We did get to meet Winnie the Pooh and S kept asking for hugs, but they were both very controlled and would only give him a hug if I okayed it. Great kids.
We went on Winnie the Pooh 2X, Monsters 2X, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion at J's request, Splash Mountain (probably gonna skip that one next time),Buzz Lightyear, Little Mermaid, Mr Toad's Wild Ride ( not my fav), Pinocchio, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Storybookland and many others. What great is that J remembers all his favorite rides (which so far is most) and will remind me what to do when. For example, on our way our, I'd forgotten about Buzz. So he said, "Buzz?" I said, "Sure". Then after Buzz he makes sure he has my attention and then says, "Monsters". Which is in the other park. So off we go. We're all beat!
This is us at the start:

Our first ride of the day...Dumbo. Way better ride than movie.
It was a good opportunity for "taking turns"
Sidenote: It seems like S is destined to be the one in the picture that's always making a face!
Alice in Wonderland which J calls "Happy birthday". Now tell me why he does.

Storybook land
Peter Pan
Mr. Toad's
Meeting a movie star


Jack Skellington's Haunted Mansion

While we were there, S was walking with great purpose and his arm was swinging as high as his face.
This is after Alice

This is during Mr Toad's wild ride.
Getting ready for Monsters
The little mermaid

The jungle cruise
With a guest skipper
And the WTP ride
And here's the Buzz one

Day two of potty training...

one accident at school (but it was discreetly done out of sight of the teacher) and one at home. I'm so proud!
And Hero#2 eats his Oreos (with no coaxing from us) middle first. I eat them whole. Hubsters dips them in milk but Hero #2 eats them (and I saw him do it) by pulling it apart, eating the creme, then eating some of the cookie and then smashing the rest.

If Hero#2 could really talk, it might look like this:

Hero#2 has also taken to spitting and making raspberries all over his seat while we're driving. I think he's getting revenge for being strapped in so effectively. He usually strains against the device after 30 min to 45 in the car.

D-Town today

I got to go to D-town with my good friends the Cools. Jackson tried Star Tours (he held onto my hands really tight-but asked for more alien robots after) and Soarin over CA. He said, "No flying" when I explained the ride but then after said, "More flying". Silly boy.

Sam konked out. We hit up all the regulars and people still told me I was brave for taking two kids into the park by myself. At least the nice ones told me I was brave. The quiet ones were thinking, "She's crazy!"

We had a blast! Jackson was responsible for his special pass and was very eager to show cast members. Sam loves Toy Story, but mostly Winnie the Pooh.

We were gonna go all undies today, but my friend from out of town called and so the undies had to wait until tomorrow.

TV Shows

There haven't really been any pictures lately because we lost our card reader and the cord for the camera. I've had a lot of chores and cleaning and have discovered a new show.No it's not this one. It's this one--Psych. Hilarious. I included Monk because this is also a fantastic crime show.


Honestly, my interest in Castle has flagged a little with the recent episodes. The return of the Triple X Killer was interesting, but I really displike the new chief. Calling her "sir". Really? Lame. In any case, Psych is my new favorite and since I've just discovered the show, I've got lots of catching up to do before I break into the new season.

Been Reading + Some History While I'm At It

Some friends of ours recently got me hooked on the Fablehaven series. Pretty cool. I really liked "The Grip of the Shadow Plague". The books are definitely written for younger audiences and the characters are "young", but it is really creative. It was actually inspiring. I read Harry Potter and think, "Wow. I'll never be able to write that." But this book, I read it and thought, "Wow. This is really creative. I could write something like that!"

I really like writing, almost as much as I like reading. I've got quite a few stories that circulate in my head and it's always been a dream of mine to be published. Really published. To walk into a bookstore and see my books. Awesome.

I've been dying to read "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York." It's a non-fiction "...beguiling concoction-equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller." Honestly, this book is the reason I'm at the computer right now. It was setting the scene for Jazz Age NY and it started talking about Typhoid Mary. Now, I'll admit, deep down I'm a little (okay, maybe a lot) of a geek. I'm not talking nerd. I'm talking geek. I think hierarchal order in Nerdom, geek falls somewhere in between nerd and World of Warcraft-er. I digress. When I heard Typhoid Mary, I immediately thought of the Marvel comic book villain "Typhoid Mary". So I looked it up. Turns out Typhoid Mary was really Mary Mallon, Irish immigrant who was a healthy carrier of typhoid bacteria and worked as a cook, unknowingly spreading typhoid fever to all those she worked for. She infected around 6-7 different families after working as their cook. She would care for them after they fell ill, but would eventually find other employment and the cycle would start over again. She was eventually quarantined and died in isolation 30 years later. Wow. Tough break, Mary. (Mel, if you're reading this, is it any wonder I can only write about dead things ;)

Anyway.

I've also been studying Hokusai, as in this guy:

I've always been moved by this piece. Turns out, he's really one of the only Japanese artists known to the Western world and lived an interesting life. He incorporated Chinese watercolor techniques and rebelled against the studio system becoming an independent painter, painting what he chose. He chose common things in Japanese life, which the Japanese may or may not have liked as it showed intimate details of Japanese life to foreigners. Hokusai lived a poor and desolate life, changing his name and paying off the debts of his no-good grandson.


Hmmm. Appreciate the culture.

Now for pop-culture.

Handsome has recently been enamored of Star Wars. Joanna, every time I watch this I think of you. He only watches Episode V: The Empire Rises and only the Hoth battle. He's gotten far enough in the movie to learn how to laugh like Yoda, but after that, it's back to Hoth. He mostly likes these guys:

The AT-ATs or All Terrain Attack Transport... or something like that. Geeeeekyyy. I love it! Mr. Handsome will catch my eyes and say, "Evil Alien Robot" then sing "DUM, dum, DUM, dum, DEE, dum, DUM, dee dum." You know, the Imperial March. He also uses a vacuum attachment as a laser blaster. And Jo, he says one of your favorite lines from Solo: Who's Scruffy-lookin'?. We're working on "Laugh it up, fuzzball."

In fact, the other night he snuck out of bed while I was reading on the couch and caught my eye at the door. He looks at me and pauses, then says, "Evil Alien Robot" starts to shuffle, and sing the song. Then he stops. Looks at me and says, "Where's the couch?" I say, "I don't know. Where is the couch?" Then he pauses and looks at me and says, "Where's the "sit-down"?" I say, "Would you like to sit down?" He then runs over the couch laughing the whole way and sits down. Love that kid.

That's all for now!

I remember

I am humbled. I am grateful.

Jackson Rode...

...THIS today!


And the teacups and Alice in Wonderland. He didn't cry or anything! Promise. But he didn't want to do the train again.

4 NEW POSTS TODAY!

Wow! Don't miss Jackson's prayer. So cute!

Jackson Started School

Jackson started school and I allowed myself a 5 min cry in the car with Sam in the back thinking, "My mom has lost it." Then I turned the car on, wiped my face and cleaned, groceried and what not.

Jackson loves school. Sam loves dropping Jackson off and getting him and will frequently ask "Where's Jackson?" throwing his hands wide as if freeing the question in the air like a bird. We will have to get a crib tent at some point for Sam because he's already figuring out to climb out. He will use tension from his feet on the slats to push off them with his feet while hanging onto the siding. Jackson is really learning so much (he has started quoting whole movie scripts (in order) including, but not limited to: The Incredibles, Ponyo, Monsters Inc, Peter Pan). He's also singing, singing, singing and I love it. His current favorite song is the Incredibles Theme, Ponyo end credit Theme, and "Hey Jackson". It goes something like: Hey Jackson, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind! And I'm sure you get the rest.

Jackson is starting to get the idea that poop in your pants is no fun! Wee!

Jackson is improving so much. He snuck out of bed and ran to shut Colby's and my door so that he could have the run of the house. He's reenacting scenes from Thomas the tank. He's singing! He's jumping and climbing. He's looking at other people and strangers and I'm so happy. It's all thanks to the help of my family and friends and the help of the Lord. I really believe that the combined faith and fast of family and friends for Jackson with the help of a merciful Heavenly Father has led to an ongoing miracle. Jackson started really talking in December and our fast was not even a month before. Thanks to you all and praises to Heavenly Father.

St George pics from another camera

Alright, last post of St. George
What a beautiful temple! We were able to do sealings there with ALL my sisters (and bro-in-laws) and hubsters. It was fantastic - so joyous to be there with everybody and
so proud of all of us living righteous so we were able to go.

We went to the Tuacahn marketplace there too. Some pretty neat stuff, but BOY, was it hot. Meggie with Bubba

Ice cream at Costco.

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

Logan just absolutely loving Mark.

Celebrating our three August babies.

Logan playing football with Mark.

A close-to-midnight run to Menchies.

Just two boys sitting in the tree.

Mark tried really hard to include Sam.

A very nice "men only" picture.

What what? Who's that? That's right, it's Bryce! He's resurfaced after days of being incapacitated with a kidney infection. Good thing he was able to get to the clinic.
*TANGENT* So after Bryce got medication, he started acting really funny. Turns out, he was having an adverse reaction and having hallucinations from some of the medication. Don't worry, he's fine now, all better. But (no offense Bryce) it was pretty funny while it lasted (it's okay Bryce you were on drugs and couldn't help it). Here are some of the things Bryce said:
-"Shhh!" to Danielle at the dinner table. She wasn't talking.
-"Where's my wallet? Where's my wallet?"
Jared:"Why do you need your wallet?
Bryce: "Why do I need my what?"
-(while watching a movie) There's a man sitting on my chest! There's a man on my chest!
-"It snowed last night!" (taking mom to the window and seeing the dry ground): "Well, obviously itmelted."
-Driving home, there was no music playing, but Bryce sits upright and says, "Can we stop listening to Christmas music?! This is the longest rendition of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' on the accordion I have ever heard!"
Wow Bryce, very specific hallucinations. Impressive.
We love you Bryce and are glad you're ALL BETTER!

There was swimming, playing, eating, toe painting, movie watching,

book reading, sun bathing, and all other kinds of fun.

But alas, it did have to end. On their way back up to the Great North, the fam

stopped off in Provo for lunch. They went to Roll Up Crepes and it was delicious!

Logan and Grandad - each giving each other a "look."

Look at that look on Annelisa's face. That's a candid shot: pure contentment.

Chocolate will do that to you.

It was sad to say goodbye.

Logan actually tried to ditch Meggie and hitch a ride up to Canada, but she caught him just in time.

What a great vacation, family!

Thanks for the fun.

Family, I love you, I love you I do.