Dressing Up

As we've all seen before, Landon likes to dress up.  He has super hero costumes and toys that he just loves to wear.  Well, now we live next to some little girls.  Landon has said several times that he thinks Brooklyn is beautiful, and I think her little sister Tynlee is the cutest thing I've ever seen.  They like to dress up too, only they don't have brothers so it's everything princess.  Landon hasn't skipped a beat and dresses up right along with them.  Oh, the influence of a girl.  They are good little friends.

Proud Momma

So Braden really likes to earn money.  He'll try anything to get me to pay him for various things.  He does the dishes every night and cleans things up that I haven't asked him to clean in the hopes that I'll pay him for his efforts.  At the local toy store he found a toy airplane that looks real, is made of metal, and has really cool features that he really wants.  The cost is $7.99.  I've told him to put it on his Christmas wish list or save up his money until he can afford it.  He really wants this airplane.  He saved until he made it up to $6.00.  Then, the other day he came home from school and excitedly told me he found $2.00 on the side of the road and could we please go buy his airplane.  I told him that I didn't have time right now, and that I would like for him to think about his purchase for a day or two before he spent all his money on a toy just to make sure he really wanted it.  He agreed.  The next day he started asking me questions.  Here's how the conversation went:

Braden: "Mom, if someone steals something really small will they still go to heaven?"

Me:  "I don't know, what do you think? What have we learned at primary and in our conversations at home?"

Braden: "Well, I know one of the commandments is that we shouldn't steal."

Me: "Does that mean even something small?  

Braden: "Yes."

Me: "So what happens if we choose not to follow the commandments?"

Braden: "We can't live with Jesus."

Me: "But remember we can always repent and say sorry and then it's like we never did it because Jesus died for us. Right?"

Braden: "Yeah."

Then off he goes to play with his friends.  I didn't think much of it because Braden and Dalin often pepper me with all kinds of questions, so I just figured it was one of those questions.  But, later that night Braden came to me with some crumpled and slightly damp one-dollar bills.  He said, "Mom, I stole these out of your purse so I could buy my airplane, but I'm repenting now and sorry.  I promise I won't ever do that again. Now I can still go to heaven."  

The relief just poured out of him.  I was floored.  First I couldn't believe my little innocent baby would steal from me, and secondly I was proud and excited that he felt guilty enough and then brave enough to fess up and give me the money back and apologize.  I nearly cried. I told him I was really disappointed that he would choose to steal to get what he wanted but that I was very proud of him and thought it was very brave of him to come and tell me, knowing he could get into real trouble.  I gave him a hug and sent him on his way.  I couldn't bear to punish him further because I felt like he had punished himself enough.  Now he knows it's better to work for your money and earn it honestly than to try to steal or cheat your way into getting what you want.  He has since worked and earned some extra money and, added to his allowance, he should soon have enough to buy his airplane, if he still decides he wants it.

Exploring Sawtooth

We are in a new place so we need to do some exploring.  Twin is kind of out in the middle of nothing with nothing but desert surrounding it.  So we have to drive a ways to get to any mountains.  The major mountain chain is Sawtooth and it's absolutely breathtaking, but you have to drive a ways to get there.  The Salmon River is apparently one of the most popular rivers for avid fishermen, so Dan tells me.  He says people come from all over the world to fish it.  I'll just have to take his word for it.

We stopped at this viewpoint to see the Sawtooth mountains.  You can see them in the background, although pictures never do them justice.  They are made of granite which gives them a very sharp and jagged look to them, hence the name Sawtooth.  

And here's the Salmon River.  It smelled like death.  It was horrible.  We caught the end of the Salmon run when all the fish come from the ocean and up the Salmon River to spawn.  And then, of course, they die.  Huge fish, hundreds of them, dead in the water.  Yuck!  It smelled just like a river full of dead fish would smell.  

Landon made a bridge.

Haha.  You can see Dalin here covering his nose.  It really smelled bad.

Little guy and I went for a walk down this path while the others fished and this cute little critter followed us.  I think he was hoping for a handout, but we didn't have any food so he sat and ate some kind of seed.  

You can see his giant cheeks.  He just kept stuffing them in.  He didn't seem to be worried about us at all.  We had fun watching him.

The outdoors never get old.

My Hope

I came across this quote and it so perfectly describes how I feel about being a mother.  I do hope that one day my kids will understand all my imperfection and know that I did give it my best and I hope it is enough.

My hope is that they will remember that mommy tried.  Even when she was tired, even when she was stressed.  I hope they will know that I did it all for them.  That I had every intention of being great, good, and grand, but that some days all I could be was okay.
-Stephanie Honeycutt

Love

I love more than anything when one of my sweet kids brings me a "flower".  This is the latest one that Landon brought me and I just had to capture the beauty of it.  Little boys sure do know how to melt my heart. 

"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."  -Roald Dahl

New Friends, New Place

Twin Falls is nice.  I like the bigger city.  I like Winco, and Costco, and Target, and Fred Meyer, and I could go on and on.  I do, however, miss the mountains.  Idaho is full of mountains, they just aren't located near Twin.  We have to drive a ways to get there, which we have already done.  I would like to wake up and see the mountains.  I miss them.  They are like a blanket to me.  But, for the most part, we like Twin Falls.  Moving was a bit of stress.  Well, alright, it was a huge stress.  We wanted to buy a house, but the timing was off and we just didn't have enough time before school started to get everything figured out.  We stayed in all really crappy (but cheap) hotel for a week while we looked at places, and the kids missed the first week of school.  We had to get into a place as quickly as possible so we ended up finding a nice place to rent.  We still plan on buying a house, it will just have to wait a little while longer.  *sigh*  But on the up side, our new rental is great.  We live a 

cul-de-sac and have some really good neighbors.  So far so good.

Here is Landon with his new little friends.  Brooklyn is his age, and her little sister, Tynlee, is two.  

Braden and Landon playing cars on our cot, while I am busy putting box-fulls of stuff away.  

Grandma Anne and Grandpa Ron came to visit us in our new place and we got to swim in their hotel.  It was a fun way for the kids to spend their time.  They, all three, love to swim.  I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the hot tub.

Here's to a good life in a new town.