here's why

Here's why Ada dreamed about trains tonight. We got to go to the "Day out With Thomas" that the Heber Valley Railroad holds every year. Partly we went because we had a bunch of toddlers to entertain... partly because Jer loves trains. It was fun either way. Here are a couple of the bazillion pictures that we took. We ended up taking Ada's friend Lizzie with us because we ended up with a last minute extra ticket... And I think all the kids had a blast.

This was my favorite because Sammy just didn't want to let go!  He'd stay on that train and squeal every time the whistle blew if he got his way.

Love it.

So... Ada's been in bed for a good two hours and here I am catching up on a bunch of work in the room next door... and I just heard her say, "HI CHOO CHOO TRAIN!"  Very excited and kind of loud.  Can't guess what she's dreaming about!

Picture

So, my mom emailed me this picture and I absolutely love it and love how cute Grandpa is with the kids... but I just have to tell you my first reaction to it...

Okay... so who's doing all the work here?!

So usually....

So usually... I read and comment on the many blogs I'm following before I post... but I only have a minute or two before things get hectic again, so I'm going to do things backwards... (I guess it's kind of a blog independence day).  Yesterday was fun.  Ada, Sammy and I went to Eagle Mountain to spend the morning playing with Mary, Lizzie and James... Our two little girls were so cute and I think they had a lot of fun.  Sammy was so tired from playing at the park that he just rolled over and fell asleep right after I changed his diaper.  He was in the middle of the walk way... but the girls were watching a movie so it didn't really matter.  Then Ada fell asleep on the couch... (and peed... I'm still sorry Mary!) Then as a pre-happy birthday for me... we went up and met both our hubbies after work and went to eat at Red Robin and have ice cream at Marble Slab... not just kind of like Cold Stone... It was fun and we realized as we were eating ice cream that it's been almost exactly a year since they moved out there.  Weird.  So here are the two quotes of the day.... Lizzie right after we got in the car and right after she had already gone to the bathroom... "Mommy, I need to go potty."  "Can you hold it?  We'll be there in a minute." "I'm almost holding it." So laughing we pull over to the side of the road and see if she'll go potty there.  "But mommy.  This isn't a potty."  And my Ada quote of the day... I was teasing her because it was so windy and her hair was going all over.  I said, "Ada, the wind's going to blow you away!" She just kind of laughed... but when we tried to go down the stairs to get to the stroller she was terrified... she wanted to hold my hand but in one hand I had Sammy's carrier and in the other I had the diaper bag and our jackets.  I asked her what was wrong and she said, "The wind is going to blow me away!"  Nice sarcasm Rosanne... now your 2 year old is afraid of the wind.  And this is the child that so matter of factly told me... while looking at one that was about 2-3 inches long... "Mommy, I don't like spiders."  She didn't freak out or anything... she just told me.  Now she's freaking out about wind.  Hmmm.

Saturday is a special day...

So I have the song going through my head.. Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday... And I have a dilema?  Yesterday we got a TON done... I mowed the lawn, tied back the rose bushes, Jer took kids to the store, Jer built a play area for kids in the backyard (pictures down below!), we got it into place... totally forgot about Mariah's birthday party (Sorry Amy, I hope it was fun... I was looking forward to it because Ada seems like she likes your girls a lot!), took showers, saw my parents (they took Ada to visit and I think she loved it because she didn't want to come get me when I went to pick her up), Picked up Ada, and ran 8 miles, took another shower, Jer bathed the kids... now the problem is that even though all of these things are good things... The house is still a mess, I forgot to prepare my Primary lesson, I can barely walk so I didn't really want to attend church and sit on a pew or tiny primary chair for 3 hours... but did anyways... etc... All in all, I don't think I prepared very well for Sunday. 

This is the little play area that I was talking about.  Jer took out all the dead wood under our snowball tree and built a door in part of the bush.  We want to put in a little rock path and put a table in the house.  We also are going to put a knocker on the door... the store didn't have any in stock, but they only cost $2.50 so we thought we'd order it and stick it on when it came.  Cute daddy!

These were the vicious rose bushes that would jump out and bite you every time you opened the door.  I tied them back (and let me tell you... owww!  I have scratches all up my arms and slivers from the dead bushes that I cut away), but honestly I want to do more than that.  I want to repaint the lattice, replace the red fence since most of it's barely standing, take out that tree in front that's shading all the plants from the sun, put in window well covers, and plant some flowers around here... the problem with that is that ever flower that I've planted so far has died except those scrawny excuses for Rose of Sharon in the corner there.  Oh well, at least the roses won't bite you anymore.

Sorry, this is a somewhat nasty picture.  After my run, I had two blisters on each foot.  Both sides in the same place one on the big toe and one on the (index?) toe next to it.  I only took a picture of the one side because you couldn't see them if I did both feet together.   And yes... I know my feet are gross and definitely not for pictures in magazines. I wore flip flops to church today because the thought of wearing shoes just made me hurt... all the 6-7 year olds in my class thought that they were absolutely nasty and took turns telling stories about so and so's blisters that were huge, popped and got blood all over... for some reason I think they were all a little bit of tall tales, but it was funny.  Jer was my team teacher today... which means that everyone wanted to hold Sammy and Sammy didn't want to be held by any of them... hmmm... I don't think that they listened very well.

What would I feel?

It's hard to even start this post because I'm not sure what I want to say.  Our wonderful neighbor's son committed suicide.  They are amazing parents and grandparents, I teach their grandson piano lessons, we served with them while they were ward mission leaders, they try very hard to live not just the letter of the law but the spirit of it, they are active and hard workers, and like all parents... they take great pride in what their kids accomplish.  I often see Bobbie in my head as a beautiful young mom with her large passel of children... because I envy her patience and her ability to teach in situations where I feel like I'd be too busy or angry. 

A couple of days ago I saw some policemen going to their door... today I found out that is was because of their son.  They are older, all of their children are grown and gone from home... I'm pretty sure that all of them are married and I know that their one son that was married later in life just had his first baby (I think he's 35).  So when I think about one of their sons taking his own life I'm incredibly heart broken and a little surprised that I'm mad at him (how could anyone be selfish enough to think that suicide is ever an answer to anything).  I think of the love I have for my Sammy and that, heaven forbid, this could be us in 20-40 years.  How would it feel to have a grown son that you loved and cared for break your heart?  No one is immune to death in their family, that is where I'm so grateful to understand at least that much about the Atonement... but how would you feel if it were your son, your daughter, your husband, a parent intentionally took themselves out of your life?  How would it feel to have someone that you treasure more than any earthly thing make the decision to kill themselves?  (To me it almost feels worse because he was a grown man.  A teenager is stupid, emotional and selfish.  An adult should have learned how to control most of that and is more responsible in many ways.) 

Even though I know you don't even know that I have a blog, I love you neighbors and my heart goes out to you.

Here are the rest

Here are the rest of Becca and James' pictures... I think I got a couple of them too bright in places, but I'm starting to get the coloring a little more subtle, and part of this exercise is to learn how do more in photoshop (some of these probably look better as the origanls... but that defeats my purpose!).

Ada's photoshoot

We were actually on our way out the door, but Ada saw me carrying the camera and said, "Take a picture of me Mommy..." So I did... we didn't really do her hair or prepare anything... but it was cute of her to ask. And I kind of like this picture of Sammy and the 3 musketeers playing Uno.

He's so excited isn't he!

I think her expression is hilarious in this one!

here are some samples

I love how Rocky is looking at their hands like this is the coolest thing EVER!

I think I have to say that this is my favorite one... They were so cute!

I like this one a lot, but my favorite one is still to come (the favorite of the whole family at least).

Well, Becca and James' family let me take their pictures on Saturday!  I loved it, and the lighting was gorgeous, and they wore the cutest colors for Spring... I want to post a ton of the pictures but I'm still in process of playing with some of them in photoshop... so here are the ones that I'm done with.  (I think I played with some of them too much actually... but overall I think they turned out well!)

THANKS BECCA!