Our rainy day adventure

All week long we've planned to go to the Children's  Museum and today we finally went, kinda. We at least drove around it. It had been raining lightly all morning. I found a place to park a few blocks away from the Museum and as we were getting out of the car, the thunder started. I still thought we would be okay to walk to the museum, after all the rain had almost stopped just a few minutes before. As we left the parking garage it was into a pretty steady rain. As we crossed the first street it came down a little harder. As we crossed the second street it was a downpour and we were pretty much soaked. The kids were being good and neither one were complaining about getting drenched, but we were so soaked, I wasn't even sure they would let is into the museum. I decided to turn back and go back home and come again another day. We were all soaked down to our underwear. By the time the kids were loaded into the car and we were pulling out of the parking garage, the rain was only a sprinkle again, and by the time we made it to the freeway, it was sunny. We still went home because we were all completely soaked. We didn't make it to where we meant to today, but we still had a fun adventure. Rachel kept saying, "We are prancing in the rain!" She also kept a good hold on her pretend horses "Cocoa and Jumper" the entire time. On the way home we looked for rainbows. We didn't see any but Rachel sang, "I love to look at two rainbows whenever there is rain!" It cracked me up because the words are "I like to look for rainbows..."  She also said "We were pretending to be fish, cause we got all wet, huh mom!" My sweet little kent boy never once complained about being wet and cold. In fact other than insisting I take his sopping shoes and socks off when we got to the car, he didn't seem to mind at all. He fell asleep on the way home, wet clothes and all.  Hopeful our next trip to the Children's Museum will be a little different, but we still made a fun little memory. 

Book Review

I just read The Quarryman's Bride by Tracie Peterson. I thought this was a fun book. It was about a girl named Emmalyne who just weeks before her wedding, her two younger sisters die so her father refuses to let her marry because of an old family tradition: the youngest daughter cannot marry but must stay home and take care of their aging parents for the rest of their days. Emmalyne's fiance would have her blow off her parents and elope with him, and although she loves him she feels like she need to honor her parents and stay with them instead. Her family moves away and after 10 years they decide to move back. When Emmalyne and her former fiance see each other again they know that they love the felt for each other is still there, but the same obstacle as before is till there as well: her father. I enjoyed reading this book. It was a good book about a daughters loyalty to her parents and it gave an good example of different ways to deal with trials. While Emmalyne tried through it all to move closer to God, her father and fiance blamed him instead, and she was much better off for it.  The book was set in the late 1800's and is a christian novel. It was a clean easy quick read (one of my favorite kinds).

I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishing in return for an honest review. If you would like to review books follow this link: www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers.

A Pet

Rachel has been dying for a pet lately. The other day she told me, "Mom, I really wish we had a pet!" I told her she had to talk to her Dad about it. Later that day I overheard this conversation.

Rachel: Dad, I really wish I had a pet!
Dad: Where would you get the pet?
Rachel: The zoo!
Dad: The zoo doesn't give away their animals.
Rachel: They would let me have one.
Dad: What kind of a pet do you want?
Rachel: A baby elephant!
Dad: An elephant would be too big!
Rachel: But I would like it!

My funny Rachel girl wants a pet so bad. Jacob's rule with pets is that our kids have to save up and earn the money for it themselves and then they have to continue to pay for whatever it needs (food and such). We have started talking to Rachel about money and how you trade work for money and then when you have money, you can trade the money for other things. Yesterday Rachel brought me her stuffed animal and told me she wanted to trade it to me for money. :) We decided that if she works and earns money for it, than maybe when we get to Monterey we will let her buy a fish or something. This little girl makes me laugh! I love that she knows what she wants.

#4- 10 things you would tell your 16-year old self

10 things you would tell your 16 year old self if you could

1. Don't steady date unless its a return missionary and you are at least 18 years old. I had two boyfriends in high school. I regret it. We had fun, but I missed out on a lot of opportunities. I hung out with my boyfriends instead of my other friends. I missed out on other dating opportunities, and when my Mr. Right came around I was still dating someone else who wasn't my Mr. Right, but who I had dated so long that it was just really hard to break it off with him. I don't have a lot of regrets in my life but this is probably my #1 regret.

2. You are important and you are unique. You are a child of God! I always struggled with self esteem. I think so many times we see exactly what we aren't instead of exactly what we are. I am good enough. I am a child of God.

3. Don't be so worried about what others will think.What others think doesn't matter. What your Heavenly Father thinks is all that matters. I was always afraid to be myself. I was afraid to share my insights or to just let go an have fun. I was afraid of what others would think of me so instead of opening up to them and when I could have been helping others, I hid myself away and didn't do anyone any good.

4. Take chemistry instead of physics in high school. Physics is a waste of time. Better yet, take medical anatomy and physiology instead of either of them. 

5. Don't lower your standards for anyone or anything. 

6. Join inspirations at the institute. :)

7. Share your talents. You are more talented than you know. Don't let fear hold you back.You were given the talents you have for a reason.

8. Memorize every single scripture mastery. I only memorized about half of them, but the ones I did memorize, I at least remember part of them. I wish I had done a better job with that. It is a lot harder for me to memorize things now then it was back then.

9. I would tell myself the birthdays of all my future kids. 

10. Have fun and be happy.

Singing

Here's a little video of my cute Kent-boy singing. He loves to sing and he loves it when Jacob or I sing to him. He also sings during the hymns in Sacrament meeting and I love it.

I love my cute singing boy!

If this is sideways, I'm sorry.