missionary moment

We live very close to a little Baptist church and for the last two years, the daughter of the minister (she is about 8 or 9 years) is constantly coming over and bringing us literature. On occasion, the minister himself will come over and we're always polite to him.
The daughter has rung our doorbell 5 or 6 times within the last week and keeps coming over. I open the door with a smile and we chat for a minute as she hands me one of her pamphlets. Not even thinking I said, "Hey! Next time you come over, I'll have something for you!" She nodded and left. I immediately called our awesome ward missionaries and requested a couple pass-along cards. They brought a handful over that night.
The next evening, our doorbell rang again. Standing there was the daughter once again, and as always, gave me her pamphlet. I said, "And I have something for you! Let's trade!" I handed her the card with the SLC temple on it. You would have thought I just gave her a $5 bill by her reaction.
She cupped it with both hands, her face lit up and she exclaimed, "It's so pretty!!" I explained that it was a beautiful building that we love. She giggled as she turned around and left. I closed the door and stood there completely bewildered.
Here I was, just trying to nicely get a couple polite Baptists, essentially "off my back" by providing them with some of our literature. However, something happened. My heart was touched and I was filled with the Spirit. That little girl's reaction is one I'll not forget as she saw this beautiful picture of a temple, somehow knowing it was an important building.
She even came back a few hours later, just to thank me again for the 'pretty picture' and this time, she didn't hand me anything.
Who knows, maybe a seed was planted. Maybe down the road, she may remember this little event, I certainly won't ever forget it.

ker-splat!

Splat! Right on the bathroom floor. It was done. The cell phone formerly known as Samsung is dead. I think it still turns on, but the screen doesn't light up, nothing shows up. (since it was completely detached) so I can't see the phone number I dial. I don't even know if I can get any calls on it anymore.

There are a couple pictures of Carter in there that I should have gotten off of it before now! (kicking myself very HARD) The worst part of all? NO texting! I think my best time is like 500 words per minute! (which is horrible, if you are into the texting thing, by the way)

Well, thanks to my Mom for letting me borrow it for the last couple years. It's had a good life.

poor dawson

Saturday morning I ran to get groceries at the store, Ryan was in the shower and Dawson got thirsty. He got a glass that was full of Crystal Light, drank it all and then missed the counter he was setting it down on.

It crashed to the floor, startling him, so he made a run for it--right through the broken glass. I guess that one piece actually stabbed him in the arch and he couldn't get it out. He limped to the bathroom where Ryan was and pulled out the glass. Bleeding on the floor and causing quite a scene (understandably enough) Ryanna started shouting for Ryan to help Dawson.

After it all, I got home from WinCo (I wasn't even gone that long!) and took care of my poor little dude. Ryan had already super-glued the cut back together to help the healing process along.

Dawson only limped for a few days and he has actually recovered pretty well. I'm just thankful that it was only one piece and even then, it wasn't as deep or as big as I originally thought!

Moral of the story: buy a drinking fountain.

cracker crumbs and pumpkin pie

Carter got awfully quiet yesterday morning, so I went to check on him I find the goldfish cracker box has gobbled his arm up! He's dumped fishies everywhere and trailed them from the kitchen to his bedroom. (it's only several feet, but that's like miles in "his" world!) I get out the vacuum and go to town.

5 minutes later....after getting the fishie cracker crumbs out of the carpet, I find him on the kitchen table eating MORE crackers! I guess he's trying to tell me he needs more wheat in his diet.

Ryan loves pumpkin pie, so he and Ryanna made one completely from scratch. I'm talking, picking the pumpkin from the patch (bin at the grocery store) gutting it, making the crust and cooking the pie etc etc etc.

Dawson just being super cute! He didn't want to get in on the gooey pumpkin action.

Ryanna HAD to sit on the table, because "kids aren't high enough" if they sit on chairs.

Mess that resulted. This is the CLEANEST part of the kitchen too!

(Actually, Ryan didn't make that big of a mess, I'm just poking fun at him.) Since we don't have a dishwasher and my kids eat all day long, we constantly have piles of dishes waiting me to wash them by hand. Can't wait for a dishwasher....someday....

Oh yeah, we're waiting for the pie to cool off so we can slice into it...it looks amazing!