"COINS"

A couple times a week Landon asks if we can walk to the mall. Not because he loves to shop, but because he loves to play on the little firetrucks and other fun rides. He is always asking for "coins" (which I find funny because I've always called them quarters) so that he can take them to the mall. About twice a month we give in and let Landon earn the whopping seventy-five cents it takes to go on a 2 minute ride and we walk to the mall. Luckily, Landon always chooses a vehicle that has two seats so Zachary enjoys it too.

Today, we went to Walmart and as we were leaving I gave Landon a bunch of change to put in the red tin. What I thought was going to be a simple task ended up taking much longer because Landon had to sort the change and in the end would only put the pennies, nickels, and dimes into the tin. The quarters he kept for himself and asked if we could take the "coins" to the mall to go for a ride.

A new calling

About a month ago I was asked to be the new Young Womens President in our ward. A few of the first thoughts that ran threw my mind when I was asked if I would accept included, "Why me?", "I'm too young.", "Wouldn't someone else be more qualified?", and "How am I going to do this with two little kids?" I thought for a moment that I must be dreaming and that I would wake up soon. Well, it turns out it wasn't a dream and yesterday was the first day of this exciting, yet overwhelming calling I now have. Since being called I have had a flood of ideas and I find myself thinking, "How am I going to have time to do all these things?". I'm trying to stay calm and have faith that I can do this. I pray that I will be able to bless the lives of the YW and their families. I know that I am not alone in this endeavor. I am thankful for the help of counselors and advisers. I am thankful that I was counselor for 2 years. I am thankful for the example that the previous President was to me. I am thankful for the young women in my ward, and I am thankful for a husband that supports me in this time-consuming calling and his willingness to help with the kids. I know that it won't be easy, but I also know that I was called for a reason so I will take one step at a time and do the best that I can. I am thankful for opportunities like this that my church gives for I know that it will teach me to love to serve, it will help me grow stronger, and be better.

IMAGINE

Landon's imagination has blossomed the past few weeks. He likes to pretend his train is going to the beach, to Utah, to grandma's and other fun places. When he goes to the beach he pretends to put Thomas the train's swimsuit on for him along with his sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, and he makes sure he gets all of his sand toys. When he goes to Utah he shows Thomas how to throw rocks in grandmas pond. Last night he said he wanted to make a cake, but I told him we couldn't because it was time for bed. He decided to pretend to make a cake on the table and then brought me and Ryan a piece of it. He kept saying how yummy it was and how he wanted more. Then spilled a little on the couch and went to get a rag to wipe it up. This morning he pretended our bed was a boat and he kept falling in the water in hopes that we would rescue him. He also likes to pretend to talk on the phone to his cousins, Jared and Allison. We have fun seeing what he'll come up with next.

Growing Boys!

Zachary turned 9 months old a few days ago. He's got the army crawl down and loves to follow Landon around the house. I let him have the last little bit of my Popsicle as you can see in the picture and he loved it. The cold didn't even seem to bother him. Maybe it even felt good since his 8th tooth is already arriving.




Landon learned to ride his Trike a few months ago and is now getting pretty speedy. He's never liked it when I try to push him so I could take the push bar off, but we keep it on just in case I need to stop him from going into the road. He loves to go down hills, over bumps, and of course, through water puddles.

A Glimpse of Paradise

We recently returned from a week vacation to Hawaii. We stayed 4 days on Oahu and 4 days on Kauai. Both islands are amazingly beautiful and we had fun hiking, swimming, trying to surf, snorkeling, eating shaved ice, and of course visiting with Tyler, Janna, and Lilly. It was also fun to see Thomas and Brooke and their two cute boys. What a great place to live! We missed Landon while we were away, but it was definitely more relaxing with just Zachary and I know Landon had fun playing with with his cousins, Jared and Allison. In fact, we've only been home for four days and he was asking me today if we could go to Aunt Cindy's.

CRAZY.....but True

I've been searching for a place to park our car at the San Francisco airport. The cheapest I could find that's within a couple miles of the airport is $102 for 8 days. If you stay at a park and sleep hotel you get a 1 night stay plus the parking of your car for as little as $75. Crazy, huh! I guess we'll save $ by sleeping in San Fran and not waking up so early.

Wandering Mind

My thoughts today:

~I wish I could speak Urdu and Mandarin so that I can communicate at the park. Only in Milpitas can you go to the park and no one speaks English. (Although a lady from Pakistan is trying to learn...she tries to talk to me, but all I can understand is, "I love to learn English".
~How do I get Landon to stay in his room all night. I often find him sleeping on the floor in my room in the morning. (He knows not to wake me up or I make him go back to his bed)
~Having 3 weeks to prepare a talk to give at church may not be a good thing.
~I never thought I would really like having a van, but I do. I love our Toyota Sienna (We had to get a new car after our Cruiser broke down on the way home from Oregon).
~Hopefully Ryan and his friends make it back safely from whitewater Kayaking (It's Ryan's first time, but I hope he likes it and he takes me sometime)
~Why is it so hard for me to make Visiting Teaching appointments when its so refreshing to visit my ladies (BTW I just made 2 out of 3 appointments so I'm feeling pretty good)