Good book!

I just started reading a book written by my Family Life teacher. I LOVE this class and the teacher so thought I would buy his book and see what I thought. The book is called "Everyday Parents Raising Great Kids." I recommend it so far, it is actually a lot like his class. Anyway- I started reading it today and absolutely LOVED this quote from the end of his chapter on Dysfunctional families. He talked about how you shouldn't let anything that has happened in your past determine your future, but here is the quote:
Thomas Paine once said: "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly."
I thought that quote was SO good. How true is it that the more we are faced with, the more we are blessed with. How glorious it is to be faced with a trial and come out on top. The things that come easily to us, we often take for granted and do not fully appreciate or take advantage of, but the things that we have to fight for and overcome become a part of us that we will never lose. This just made me think about the attitude I should take when I am confronted with trials and hard times- the harder it is, the better it makes me. It's almost like a game... how hard can it get, and how strong can I become. He also says in this chapter that the worst kind of "life pain" is the kind that produces only pain. We have to learn to take it to the next level, and that is when it produces value. Good points Dr. MacArthur... read the book if you get a chance- it really makes ya think!

Moab DOES get cold!

This weekend we decided to take off a couple of days and go camping down in Moab and do some hiking down where it is "warmer." We rounded up some gear and invited Kyle and Alissa along to join in our quest. The plan was to leave right after Kyle's intramural basketball game on Friday night (which he scored a record high 37 points in). We actually pulled out of Provo around 10:00 to start the 3 hour drive to Moab. We pulled into the campground I had very carefully picked out because it had internet, bathrooms, hot tubs, and a heated pool around 1:00 am. It took us a little debating to decide if the campground was open or not, but we decided to pitch our tents anyway. Needless to say... the pool was empty and hot tubs were covered. We picked the spots right by the bathrooms so Alissa and I wouldn't have to travel far. Well, as the guys started putting up the tents, we went to the bathroom... locked. So we helped the guys set up, which was bit of an adventure for Charles and I trying to pump up our air mattress inside our 2 man tent... thats another story in itself though. I held on until I was about to explode and me and Alissa went on a search for another bathroom, we found one that was unlocked, but had no water. So Alissa came to the conclusion that we should just take some toilet paper and go outside. So we went outside and Alissa showed me the proper stance and technique, but I got stage fright. As bad as I had to go, I just couldn't let go. So we aborted that and just went in the empty toilets. I decided that was better than my pants. We got back and explained the situation, not much sympathy from the boys who had already picked and marked their spots on the fence. We finally got settled in an went to bed around 2 am.
Charles and I had sleeping bags that zip up together! We were so excited about it, but after about half an hour of trying to figure out how to get warm with all the extra space, we unzipped and Charles quickly fell asleep. I felt pretty comfortable at first... but that slowly changed. After a few hours of laying there trying to get warm, not anywhere near falling asleep I decided to wake up my husband for some help. Now... I have to explain that this is after about an hour of loud sighs and rolling around on the air mattress making sure to bounce him around a bit so that he would wake up on his own. Finally I shook him and said, "Honey, I am FREEZING" to which, he replied "I'm sorry." I asked what I should do and he rolled over and said he didn't know. Thank you dear... (In his defense, he remembers none of this and was completely out, not just completely insensitive.) So I continued to freeze for a couple more hours until he woke up to go to the bathroom that morning. He came back and made a comment about how annoying it is to have to wake up to go to the bathroom. I replied, well that's nice that you are getting some sleep. FINALLY I got the sympathy I had been wanting. He offered for me to climb in his sleeping bag with him. I told him I didn't want to get out of mine unless he was sure we could both fit in his MUMMY bag (mummy bags... meant to be a tight fit for one person, remember that). He reassured me that there would be PLENTY of room. I think he might have forgotten who he married, but I'm not quite sure. So after some funny maneuvering to get us both in, Charles concluded that I was a "big girl" and couldn't fit. That helped....
It's entertaining to hear him try to dig himself out of that hole. So I climb back in my bag, completely fed up and at my breaking point, started to cry. Charles realized what was happening and after mummying up to me, let out a little snicker and added, "This was your idea." Again... a helpful point of the morning. By this time, it was about 7 am and THEN Charles decides to bust out the handwarmers he had packed in his bag. I finally fell asleep after about another half an hour. Woke up at about 9 and drove off like a mad woman to find a gas station to go to the bathroom. What a night...
The day that followed was great! It took a couple of hours to me get out of my grumpy mood and let Charles off the hook for sleeping, but after that, we all had a blast. We went to Arches and did some fun hiking. Needless to say, our long weekend was cut short and we headed back to Provo around sunset. It was fun to spend the weekend with Kyle and Alissa, we went over to their house tonight and had our tin foil dinners that we had planned on cooking over the campfire. Overall, it was worth it. We listened to some Dr. Lund talks on communication and I think we all learned a lot about each other and how each other's minds work. We were also able to see some of God's BEAUTIFUL creations. It really makes you thankful for the world we are blessed with when you get to get out in nature and really see it all. Here are just a few of the pictures we took.
Tired anyone????






We decided that boys will climb on ANYTHING they can. They shimmied, climbed, jumped... you name it, and these boys did it as they tried to explore Arches... their playground.

The ONE-day pregnancy!

Heather was two days late starting her monthly cycle so, using extensive and soundly founded logic, with absolutely no emotion (cough cough), she concluded she must be pregnant. The possibility of being the father to the 0.01% miracle was exciting for a couple of minutes, but I knew it wasn’t possible. I tried to explain to Heather that there was no use in getting our hopes up after only 2 days of her period not starting, but alas, it was too late. She had already started explaining that she couldn’t get out of bed because her morning sickness was too bad today (see picture above). After the “morning sickness” had passed, I found my wife with my basketball under her shirt modeling in the mirror. She wanted to make sure I would still love her with her new figure. The “Yes dear” answered worked like a charm as I prepped my things for the day and headed to the car. There waiting for me was my wife in the passenger seat, but she had oddly wrapped her scarf around her belly. “That’s cute babe,” I commented. I’m not doing it to be cute,” she defended, “I don’t want the baby to get cold.” I was excited to see her motherly instincts naturally kick in, but her early exuberance was quite worrisome. After returning from out duties, it all came crashing down as I heard singing in the kitchen. Heather sings quite frequently, so this was quite normal. What wasn’t normal was that she was singing Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, and was singing to her belly. I put it end to though when she demanded I sing to it too.