April Snow Day

Snow Day in April! In between grading exams I took some time out to put together a small snowman in the backyard with the boys.Emmalee was the architect and project manager for the fortress. It didn't make it much past the second level of snow blocks, but it was quite good for a first attempt.

An hour after this photo was taken the sun came out and our snowman collapsed. It started snowing again awhile later.

The snow is supposed to continue off and on through tomorrow. It should be fun!

Randon Pictures

So, I have been tagged. Sadly, I have been tagged before but haven't done anything about it but today I decided to do something about it. (Peer pressure from Alyssa.)

Anyway, the tag was to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder. Our computer situation is a little complicated. So, I decided to post a couple of random pictures.

The first one is the wild yellow rose bush that used to be in my parents yard. I think they transplanted it when they remodeled their house. I love yellow roses and this is why. This bush was always beautiful and in bloom on my birthday. I always felt like it was a great birthday present. My parents sent me this picture last year for my 30th birthday. It was my favorite present! (Amanda yours was right up there too!)

This picture is my cousin Aleesha and I at our grandma's house. Her mom recently sent this to me. I was lucky enough to have four girl cousins that were about my age! They all lived close together and I lived far away so I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked but I have great memories!

March Birthdays and Visitors

This month we were lucky enough to celebrate two birthdays and have two special visitors! We also got to have two chocolate birthday cakes and lots of fun amazing food including curry. And, all that in the space of one week!

My wonderful sister, Amanda came to visit. That means that she got to do lots of cooking which is fun for her and I got to do less cooking which is fun for me. She also does the dishes without complaining! Does it get any better than that? Her birthday fell during her visit and we were very excited. We were a little late with her birthday present (ethnic cookbooks) and poor Elijah was so concerned. She let us go on a date. We have been very bad at that lately and it was so nice. We think she made a wise choice in her spring break destination. Love you Amanda!

Carlee Ana came to visit too. Her parents (Janalee and Marcelo) decided that they needed to go on a cruise and she decided that she needed to come visit Gracee. We were thrilled. It worked out nice, she was able to fly out with Amanda. Her and Elijah had a great time during the day and when Gracee got home Carlee played with Gracee.

We actually celebrated Isaiah's birthday one day early so Carlee and Amanda could be there. We had beans and rice for dinner. (And curry for the adults!) We also had chocolate (cake) and ice cream. What more could a two year old ask for? The funniest part was him opening his presents with his teeth! His favorite present was the $3 Woody doll that I found on CraigsList.

Carlee Ana
Isn't she sweet? She had been playing very hard that day. We did clean her up a little bit before we sent her home!

Amanda and The Volcano Cake.

My creative friend Callie did a beautiful fondant cake for her son's birthday so I decided that we should try. But instead of beautiful we went for creative. You know all 25-year-olds need a volcano cake!

Amanda and I had a great time making it. The only problem was I was so focused on getting the fondant right that I forgot to frost between the layers. Sorry to everyone who had dry cake!

Isaiah is currently in love with horses (and sheep). We decided that a horse cake would be fun. I think he liked it!

Who opens presents with their mouth? And what made the boy think of that? He did it with every present!

Now the problem with opening presents with your mouth is that there is paper left in your mouth. There was a lot of spitting involved.

Woody!!! As you can see everyone was excited. Before we actually gave

Woody to Isaiah, Elijah kept telling me that he and Isaiah share all their toys. Wishful thinking!

Buzz Lightyear had to come out right away.

Sweet, Sweet Isaiah

or: Why we love Isaiah but we will let you borrow him for a couple of days.

So this is dear sweet Isaiah. Isn't he a cutie. This smile suggests that he could never do anything wrong.

But, it is all just an act. Tuesday after working out I decided that I needed a shower. So, I turned the TV on and put Elijah in charge. Elijah is usually so good about not letting too much trouble occur. He is not a big fan of disorder. After I got out, I noticed that Elijah had turned the TV off and had come upstairs. I went ahead and got dressed. A few minutes later Elijah came in and said, "Mom, you'd better go get your boy, he is into the peanut butter." I knew the peanut butter was on the counter and I assumed that Isaiah had pulled up a chair and was eating peanut butter so I finished getting dressed and then headed downstairs.

This is what I found.

Use your imaginations to guess the amount of the damage. If you look closely you can see gobs of peanut butter on the piano. There was peanut butter on the wood floor, all over the rug, on the leather chair. There was peanut butter on the duck, two horses (with hair) an empty milk jug. It was everywhere. And after I found him I rewarded him with a bath!

We sure do love him!!

Isaiah's Prayers

For past two months Isaiah has been very interested in praying. Every so often we ask him to say the prayer. Generally we get one or two recognizable words and quite a bit that is difficult to understand. After one particularly lenghty prayer, Elijah said, "He prays as long as mom does and some of it's in Chinese."

This past week his prayers have become easier to understand. Last night he did his version of:
"Heavenly Father...somethin', somethin', somethin'. Chips, dog, ball."

Elijah and I decided he was expressing gratitude for chips, dogs and balls...three of his favorite things. He also mentions Elijah in his prayers. (Quite a bit of hero worship going on.)

Perspective on Socialism

In regards to socialism, I found this clip from President Benson which I've heard and read a few times before.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ezra-taft-benson-warns-of-socialist-agenda-must-see/977175578/?icid=VIDURVNWS07

It's interesting that difficult economic times often lead to a desire for greater government intervention. Very seldom do such reactions have good long term results, nor are such reactions easy to reverse.

I think of the enactment of Social Security as part of the New Deal. To many, then and now, it seems a wonderful program that ensures security for the aged population. We pay in now and we will be taken care of later. The price is only a percentage of our weekly or monthly paychecks.

In my opinion, the price is something much higher. Three groups are involved in the program. The government as the executor, the working age population as the funders, and the retired population as the consumers of the fund. In this relationship, the government holds all control. As taxpayers, the working population, pays whatever the government directs into the system. Today, there is little hope that the program will even be viable for those now paying into it when they reach retirment age. For those counting on social security for all of or a significant portion of their retirement, they are at the mercy of the government to provide them with what they need. In essence, if they are reliant on the social security, then they are at the mercy of the government to provide them with what they need.

Freedom is so easily given up in the hope that the government will take care of our needs. Social security is especially interesting. We feel like we are paying for our future needs. The problem is that we give up control to the government. They are free to change the amounts of payouts, not to adjust the cost of living allowances. Today's seniors are paranoid, rightfully so, whenever there is talk of change or adjustments. Their lives hang in the balance. Their only avenue for influence is to pay lobbying groups extra money to look after their interests. And, that begs the question, how do lobbyists influence government?

Family Pictures Take II

Rochelle asked me to post a few more family pictures in case some of you were unable to make it past my political diatribes to the last posting. Please enjoy!