Museum of Church History and Art

We had family night on Monday and we talked about Joseph Smith and how he prayed in the grove of trees and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. We talked about the Angel Moroni and the gold plates. We showed her pictures from the Gospel Art Kit and used a flannel board set we bought from Deseret Book. We sang the song about the first vision and Kate's favorite, Follow the Prophet. During the lesson, I remembered that the Museum of Church History has a replica of the gold plates and some other things that might be interesting for Kate to see. So, we planned an activity for Saturday. We had a spectacular time. 

 They have a children's discovery area upstairs. They had cloth dolls of Book of Mormon characters.

 The replica of the gold plates that you can look at mock engravings, flip the pages, and even try to heft.

 Kate enjoyed trying to "abridge" the plates. They had sample writing that the kids could try to copy.

 We had fun. We even saw the children's art in the basement - bright, beautiful stuff!

Scott loved seeing an original page written in Oliver Cowdery's hand from the translation of the Book of Mormon. We were all fascinated with the replica of the emigration ship made in exquisite detail and an actual handcart from 1847. I loved the hall of the prophets with interesting memorabilia from each prophet of the last dispensation. The Museum had a lot to offer! We bought Kate a little Pioneer figurine set of four at the gift shop before we left. Very cool.

After our fun time we made our way to Kodiak Bakery for a cookie.

Our Cocoa and Cookie in the City

 Kate chose the double chocolate, I think Scott did too.

I love this look I captured in between her, "Mmmm, this is sooooo good" and "I love it!"

 Okay, it's hot chocolate with whip cream on top. I should've told the lady I like it RICH! Creamy is good but I'm one of those gals who puts five, heaping scoops of cocoa in a mug - sometimes more! I had a peanut butter cookie that I scarfed down in maybe four bites. LOVED IT! Kate gave me the, "Yucky mommy, you smell like peanuts," speech. She's a regular bloodhound.

 Silly Kate - trying to walk around like Dopey in Disney's Snow White. I love her questions and all the details she brings up. I love that she remembers things and then tells us, "Remember when..." and we look at her amazed because we didn't really remember until she reminded us and then it's back in full color from her description. She always brings up details I never even noticed. I really like her almost five personality.

Fun time in the city! Let's do it again!

Some about Sam

Most people who know me well know that my 17-year-old niece, Samantha (Sami), comes to my house most days after school (M, T, TH, F). She rides the school bus that drops her off near my house. Her mom, my eldest sister, picks her up before dinner.

Lately, I've been "tutoring" Sam in Geometry. Yes, I know, I'm not known for my superior math abilities. Yes, Math is not my strongest or second strongest subject. Math doesn't even make the long list of my skills and strengths. But tutor, I do. I look forward to it, in fact. Helping her with her math is like completing a challenging crossword puzzle, you feel smart afterward. You feel accomplished and have fun in the process.

Unfortunately, Sam gets sick of doing math and retreats into her natural creative self to do artsy things. But this isn't all bad. Sam's most recent procrastination of math gave Kate a most unusual room decoration.

I like the above shot of Kate drawing because it shows her bruised up thumb nail, remnants of the fracture she received a couple weeks ago.

 Here is Sam and Kate crafting and preparing lanterns for Kate's room just like on the Disney movie, Tangled.

 

And the finished product. They made about 8 in all. Hanging together, Kate's room looks like it's ready for a party.

I love having Sam over. She is good to me. She is never painfully rude - only playfully. And I love that I can tease her back and she takes it. She laughs even. I love that she lets me boss her around with her math and she doesn't get all ornery with me like she does with her mother. I love that I can ask her for advice about things and she helps me make difficult decisions. 

Really, I rely on her way too much. What will I do when I no longer have her to keep me on track everyday? Does this look good here, Sam? Can I wear this shirt with these jeans, Sam? Do you think I should color my hair more blond next time, Sam? Someday, when she no longer comes to my house on the buss and she's off at college somewhere, she'll receive a photo text of two dresses in the middle of her World Civ class with me asking which one I should buy for Kate's Christmas Dress or something. 

She is always right about Kate's medical needs like the time a couple years ago when Kate had a horrendous fever and Sam suggested we take her to InstaCare and it turned out to be a bladder infection. Or the time I showed her Kate's thumb after 3 medical professionals had already said it was fine and Sam said, "I don't know, Julie, I think it's broken, you might should take her in for an x-ray." And, looky there, she was right again. 

Sam doesn't make a habit of reading my blog, but I just wanted to put some thoughts down about a few of the wonderful things I enjoy about her coming to stay with me.

Join the Cyber Revolution

After the urging of my friend in the tab choir, I created a profile on Mormon.org just barely. Right now it is in the review stage and will be available soon by clicking on my "I'm a Mormon" button on the sidebar. I'm excited to be a part of it. I hope you guys do it, too. And check out all the other cool profiles on the website, very motivational. I loved reading and watching the videos about Shawni Eyre and Alex Boye. Very interesting and beautifully done. Shawni has an adorable blog too. Anyway, I hope to see a button on your blog sometime soon and some super, cool things about you on mormon.org...

Today it is SNOWING

I wake up slow.
First Scott comes in around 7:20 am, ready for work, to pray with me and say, "Goodbye."
I hop out of bed to take some medicine with a glass of water and use the ladies room.
I grab the timer and set it for 15 minutes - my snooze alarm.
I race back to bed.
I sleep some more.
The alarm goes off. I push the button again for another 15 minutes - YES!
The alarm goes off. I turn off the timer and turn on my lamp. I start reading the scriptures.
I hear Kate playing in her playroom.
As I finish reading the scriptures Kate comes in to ask if she can watch a movie.
I tell her she will need to get dressed and have her breakfast first.
She jumps into action while I say my prayer.
A couple minutes later Kate interupts my prayer to show me her outfit. I acknowlege her and let her know I'm praying and I'll be done in just a minute.
She says, "Oh."
She waits.
I finish my prayer and she exclaims, "It's snowing!"
She opens my curtains a little and then turns the wand on the blinds carefully with her still gimpy thumb.
We behold the magic as the snow falls in big flakes gently to the earth.
Kate decides she wants to call her Dad and tell him about the snow.
I tell her the phone number and she dials it.

Kate: Dad-da, did you realize that there are big, fat snowflakes and that it's snowing right now?

I don't remember the whole conversation but I love the way she asked him that question: "Did you realize..."
He is doing the Plumbing in the Salt Lake Temple right now during the last week of their two-week shut-down so he didn't "realize" the snow was coming down all around us.
Kate told him that the snow was all over the driveway and that he would probably have to "rake it."

We went downstairs, tennis shoes in my hand, a poptart in Kate's.
I turned on ICE AGE for Kate and an exercise program for me in the other room. After I was done with my exercise, I sorted the laundry.
I called Kate to come upstairs and finish getting ready for Preschool: she brushes her teeth; I brush her hair (amid screams); I clean her nose of boogies; she potties; we bundle in our snow coats with hoods; she puts on her pink boots; I grab her pink, princess backpack and we head out the door into the winter wonderland, up the street to Preschool.
The sidewalk is slippery.

Kate: Mommy, isn't the snow magical?
Me: Yes, magical.

 After Preschool, we made a snowman.

Question of the Day...

Kate: Mommy. Why do people close their eyes when they kiss?

Me: Oh, that's a good question, Katie. Well, let's pretend to kiss. {I put my hand over her mouth as I came in close for our "pretend" kiss because I don't kiss anyone on the lips but Scott - even my own child. She gets kisses from me all over her face, but not the lips - I go in close to her face with our eyes staring at each other, super close, so close that her eye becomes one giant, blurry eye.} What do you think?

Kate: {giggles}
Me: I think people close their eyes because it looks so weird to be so close to each other with their eyes open.

I guess I could have given her a few other reasons. But that reason was the most obvious to me at the time. What would your answer be?

Car for Sale

 ******UPDATE*****
We sold our MAXIMA! I just took the $5,000 to the bank! Wahoo! We are so excited! Dinner at Texas Roadhouse tonight!
  ******************
Our 2002 Nissan MAXIMA SE is for sale. We've listed it on KSL for $5,000. If you know anyone in the market for a nice, zippy car, let me know.

 We've loved having a car and will miss this one terribly. Our other vehicle is a HUGE, 4-door, short bed, Ford Powerstroke that has had some exhaust work and a powerchip (for those who don't know truck-ese, what we have is a beast of a truck with a loud, smelly diesel engine that has been souped up quite a bit so it's even louder and more powerful). Scott drives a plumbing van to work so we really don't need three vehicles sitting around and the money will be most helpful with the financially lean months we've had recently.

 The interior and exterior are in good condition and just barely received professionally detailing so the car looks better than ever.

 The car has Automatic Transmission and a V6 engine, has great fuel economy and great power. Plus the regular perks of automatic windows, locks, remote keyless entry, large trunk space, CD player, tape deck, radio, and more.

 Has 126,442 miles on the odometer.

Just thought I would throw this out in case you know anyone who is interested.