Tribute #2 "I Know I Love My Father"

When I was 3, my dad made a recording on a cassette tape of me and my sisters talking about ourselves, singing songs, etc. Towards the end, he asked if any of us had anything else we'd like to say. I yelled, "I do! I do!". It got quiet and I said very seriously, "I know...I love...my father." (Although in my 3 year-old voice, father sounded more like "faw-dor".) Everyone laughed and I said, "Hey, that's not a funny word!." Their laughter did not weaken my conviction, however, and I again said, "I know I love my father."

Well, 21 years later, one of the things I still know for sure is that I love my father. He is such an amazing example to me in so many ways. He has always taken such great care of all of us and has recently followed suit by giving everything he has to help one of my little sisters recover from an illness. His testimony of the gospel is unshakeable and has been ever since two missionaries knocked on his door when he was 18. I was so lucky to have him as my seminary teacher my senior year. He taught Book of Mormon to an all-girl class and none of us will ever forget what an incredible teacher he was. Years earlier when he first started teaching seminary, he would spend hours each night preparing lessons, making sure that they were just perfect. By the time he was my teacher, he had his lessons down to a science, or an art really. I grew up getting the best family home evening lessons from him, and even more appreciated, getting the best advice with any problem I could come up with. But what I appreciate most now, from a more grown-up perspective, is how he love's my mom. He is so sweet and gentle with her and love's her more than life itself. My mom's a little fragile now with her pacemaker and head pain (although she would never let you know it) and it means so much to me that she'll always have my dad. No one looks out for her and protects her like he does. I love you, Dad!

From the Bibs of Babes

The world of babies is so much fun and silliness. Here is a list of favorite messages that I've seen on baby bibs and onesies:

• My Mom Rocks (me to sleep)
• Property of Mom
• I just pulled an all-nighter
• Bald is Beautiful
• My dad did my hair (I saw Calla wearing this one.)
  
• I still live with my parents
• Swinging Single and Loving It!
• What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's
  
• Sleep is for the weak
• man in the making
• diape(red) (from Gap--where the proceeds go towards AIDS research? in Africa.)
  

Knott Berry Smart

Cole and Luke and I got to go with Clay and his class of emotionally disturbed boys to Knott's Berry Farm yesterday. It was so much fun and with a double stroller, having both the boys was easy. Clay's students managed to stay out of trouble too. Luke was very content laying back in the stroller, out of the sun, and Cole and I had a great time running to each of the rides. In the picture you can see what Luke's favorite ride was. We mostly stayed at Camp Snoopy but when I saw that there was no height requirement for the log ride in Ghost Town, I had to take him on it. I learned an important lesson from taking him on this "grown-up" ride: you shouldn't take your child on a scary ride just because they're tall enough, more thrilling doesn't equal more fun to a 4 year old. The log ride is basically the same as splash mountain at Disneyland, with the big drop at the end. I had forgotten there were two more drops earlier in the ride, one being in pitch black. After the pitch black drop and all the way until the end, Cole kept saying, "I hate this ride! I hate this ride!". As soon as it was over he said, "I never want to go on this ride again." I felt sooo bad. Hopefully I'll be a smarter parent next time. He got over his fright fast though and enjoyed going on some more of the child-friendly rides. I would have liked to stay a few more hours but we had to leave at 4:30 so the boys could get back to the school by 6:00. In my opinion, you should never leave a theme park before it closes.

Two Little Blessings

A couple weeks ago we had some family pictures taken. These are some of our favorites.
We had a first this week, eating Indonesian food with a family in our ward, the Munsons, and the missionaries. Brother Munson made two amazing chicken curries and other authentic dishes that I can't remember the names of. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing because Cole was so happy there playing with all their Thomas toys.
Sunday was a very special day for us--Luke was blessed followed by cousin Connor. Almost the entire middle section of pews was occupied by family who came to participate. My grandma Lyla and Grandpa Tommy were there, along with my grandma Dorothy and Aunt Tina, my parents, Clay's parents, my sister Emily and her husband Todd and all their kids, Clay's brother Bruce, our sister-in-law Sara with her girls, and Steve and Breanne and Blake. Afterwards we had a luncheon at my parent's house for everyone; the Larson's, the Cazanave's, and the Burton's (Connor's family.) Luke and Connor have blessed our families so much!

The Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Cole had a wonderful birthday! In fact, the entire week was full of fun for him. On his birthday, he went out to breakfast and enjoyed some "Horton Hears a Who" pancakes from IHOP. Then he and Luke and I went to Petco to get the present he wanted more than anything...a pet tarantula! We purchased one along with a little cage, a log for it to hide under, a water dish, and 10 large crickets for it to eat. It finally ate one today, or sucked it's blood out rather. Cole really likes showing it off to people and I must say that I'm quite fond of it myself. For some reason being a mom has made me grow in my love and appreciation for all little creatures. That evening we went to grandma and grandpa Larson's where Cole enjoyed some swimming, playing with their new kittens, opening presents and eating donuts, which was his choice of dessert.
On Saturday, we had his Bob the Builder party at my parents house. We made construction signs, hung up yellow caution tape everywhere, set out some orange cones, and displayed all of Cole's tools and Bob the Builder toys. Per Cole's request we played "pin the hard hat on Bob", pass the tool box (where there's a prize inside and whoever is holding the tool box when the music stops gets to keep the prize), and we did a little craft with those little one dollar wooden model sets from Michaels--the girls built and painted very simple birdhouses and Cole made a bulldozer. Cole had a great time. Again, anytime there's cousins involved, he is in heaven. Throughout the party though, I felt increasingly sick, and by the time it was over I was ready to collapse. Feeling much better now.
On Sunday Clay and Cole drove to Orange County for cousin Calla's blessing. They had a wonderful time and Cole especially enjoyed having his aunt Sara as his Sunbeams teacher.
Today we went to the park for a Memorial Day celebration that was put together for the young couples in the ward. There are a lot of nice people in the ward here, but Clay says that our new ward in South Pasadena has lots of great families too.
So now that Cole is 4, which by the way, took him days to come to terms with, he has aquired new toys, meaning that we have been spending a lot of time doing what he calls, "introduce-
ments." Introducements are very important. It is where old toys meet new toys. The old "Cars" characters meet the new "Cars" characters, his old backpacks meet his new Lightning McQueen backpack, his old playdough meets his new moonsand, etc. Introducements usually go about the same each time and are very much inspired by "Toy Story". All the toys are very excited to meet, the old ones are concerned that they might be replaced, the new ones don't want to believe that they are only toys, but in the end they all agree that being a toy is an important job. The new ones are told what plastic bin they will be staying in and that Giant Cole will be taking care of them. We had an especially big introducement this week between the new tarantula, who has been named Goose, and all of Cole's toy animals (see picture.) It went well, and ironically, the big T-rex was the only animal who was scared of the tarantula.
I love the play world that me and Cole and Luke live in. It's been a great 4 years with that boy!

Moms

I feel like the luckiest mom in the world to have such sweet little boys. On Mother's Day, Cole gave me a letter he had been working on with Clay. This is one of my favorite pages from it. After he gave me the letter he hugged me super tightly and said, "All this love will never come to an end." Clay gave me a card and one of the greatest gifts of all...ice cream.
And I must mention that I have the best mom in the world!!!! She is the greatest, sweetest lady ever and I want to grow up to be just like her!
This weekend we went to Los Angeles and looked in the South Pasadena area for an apartment. Thanks to a tip from some people in the ward, we found a great apartment that's in a really nice area for less rent than we're paying now. So our trip was successful. Hooray!

Cousins

One of my biggest concerns about having another baby was that Cole would feel neglected. But so far, in my opinion, his life is still pretty great. Right now he's at the ward's father's and son's campout, cooking hot dogs, roasting marshmellows, bikeriding, and playing by the pond.

Cousins are such a blessing in his life. He had so much fun last week playing with Emily's girls on their new slip n slide. He also loved cousin Blake's 1st birthday party! He loved playing on the bounce house, the swing set, in the sand box, and running around with cousin Sage. We also got a nice picture of cousins Luke and Calla together with their dads.

And congratulations to Doug and Rebecca, the parents of Cole and Luke's newest cousin, Olivia!