This Is The Right Place

What an amazing vacation we've enjoyed. I believe that there is nothing sweeter than autumn time! And what a treat to spend some of autumn in Utah, one of my favorite places in the world. Adam and I were able to attend general conference on Sunday morning and Adam went to Priesthood session Saturday evening with his Grandpa Melchin (see pic). I also included a picture of us with my Grandpa Burnett, the night we got to go to dinner with him. We are so blessed to have our grandparents. We love each of them for who they are and the example they've set for us. We're also so blessed to have all of them FOREVER!

Scored Tickets To The Big Event

We're going to general conference!
Okay, I know that may not be a big deal to some of you, but to this little Texan, it is a big deal! I've never been to conference before, but this year we'll be in Salt Lake City for conference time, and so we got some tickets to the Sunday morning session, which includes Music and the Spoken Word. I am so excited. So, for those of you watching conference, look for us in the sea of 25,000 faces! Just kidding. But who knows, maybe they'll have extra time and ask Adam and me to bear our testimonies......
So, we'll be leaving Thursday but I'm sure that we'll have lots to post about after we get back.
Cheers!

Preschool Days

Ellie, Olivia, Kacee, Emma, and Nate Bryce, Jeremy, and Nate

So, Nate is part of two preschool groups, where the moms rotate hosting the group (kind of a joy school type thing). One group is all boys, and the other is all girls plus Nate. It's been really fun to see the difference in dynamics of the two groups. Nate just loves playing with his friends, and because he's an only child, I know how important it is for him to get some social time with other kids. I've posted pics of the two groups. The one with the girls is at our home, when we made Welcome Fall placemats. :) We love our friends here! (But we still miss all our old friends, now scattered all over the country.) I thank God for friendship. Some days, it's all we have! Some days, it's all we need! I suppose true friendship is just an extension of true love, Christ-like love, charity. To all those reading this, who are our friends, past and present: THANK YOU!

Field Trip

Today we took a little preschool field trip to something they have in Kansas called a Farmstead. Maybe some of you know what that is, but I'd never heard of it until we moved here. The city runs a non-profit farm, where the kids can come and see the farm animals, ride ponies, fish in the pond, play on the playground, bottle-feed baby goats, and go on a horse-drawn hay ride. It is free to go, and some of the things cost a small fee. We went there with Nate's preschool, which is just three little boys...but we had the best time! Nate was a little worried about being so close to the goats and sheep. On the way home he told me he was scared of them. That is the first time he's ever used that word, which I thought was interesting...I asked him why he was scared, and he just told me they were scary. I guess it has something to do with them surrounding him because he had a bit of food for them! That would scare me too...they're the same size as him! :)

Gratitude is a Virtue

I wrote this yesterday on my MySpace Blog. I thought I'd record it here.

It's interesting what happens to you when you have children, especially ones that are old enough to observe everything. Today was a particularly interesting experience for me. I really want my children to espouse virtue and virutes in their life. I want to be the one that not only teaches but models virtuous living. I always knew that--but sometimes I sincerely wonder, HOW? How do I make sure that he grows up well-rounded and ready to contribute to the society in which he lives? I'm not sure that I have the answers and I know for a fact that I don't always do everything that I can. But I guess trying is half the battle.
We were at an intersection after we'd treated ourselves to lunch at McDonald's. There was a man with the generic cardboard sign--"Trying to get home. Out of funds. Please help. God bless." I looked down at the double cheeseburger that I knew I shouldn't be eating (My hips are sufficiently round, thank you) and thought that maybe he might be hungry. I rolled down my window and called out to him "Hey, are you hungry?" He shouted back, "Yes, ma'am, I'm really hungry." I handed the bag to him and he kept saying, "Oh, God bless you. God bless you." I also handed him a can of lemonade we had in the car. He just kept saying, "God bless you." I could tell that he was truly grateful, and I just started to bawl. I thought about all the blessings I have and like a wave, it came over me. I was so overwhelmed with Heavenly Father's love that I could barely drive once the light turned green. I hadn't even thought of Nate until he said from the backseat, "You give you McDonalds to the man, Mommy?" I said, "Yes, Nate. That man is very hungry and he doesn't have any money to buy food. So mommy gave him her McDonalds." He said, "We have money, Mommy?" I realized what a great opportunity it was to talk about our blessings, and how lucky we are to have Daddy, who works so hard so that we can have money to buy food. It was a most spiritual experience for me, to teach him about the blessings we enjoy. I fear that I don't take the time enough to help him recognize his blessings. I hope that I can remember to do that more often so that he can learn to praise God for all we have, not curse the world for all we don't. I still have so much to learn in my career as mommy!

What a cute kid, right? :) We've been enjoying great weather around here and last week we went to the park every day! Adam has been working a lot of hours lately and we've just done whatever makes us get through the day! It includes spending a lot of time one-on-one, just me and the little guy. I am one lucky momma.

Finally, a small cold front moved through our area last night and we're not going to see 105 degrees here today! It has been too much like home (Texas) around here and so I was ready to welcome the cooler air.
I'm juggling a lot of projects right now, and it is taking all my energy to keep them all going. I've been asked to present a night for our Enrichment meeting this month about scrapbooking. All they asked me to do was be there to help people with what they brought to work on, but could I keep it that simple? No! Of course not! So, because of my own "brilliance," I'm putting together packets of pages they can purchase that night and put together themselves. It is a lot more difficult than I thought, mostly because I can't decide what to do. Oh well.
I'm also trying to grow my photography portfolio so that I can eventually produce a website and start being a real photographer. You know, the kind that can charge money for their work! :)
I'm just happy to be a mom and I'm thrilled that because I just have one kid, I have the flexibility to do what I want (and what Nate wants, too). Sometimes that means that he wants to go to the park, and we just go. It's a lot of fun.