Shave and a Haircut

...$50!?!?!? Snickers' hair was getting very matted and she FREAKS out if we try to brush her. We spent a week going at it anyway with 2 different kinds of brushes, but just couldn't make any progress. So off to the groomers she went, and $50 later came home looking like a rat-squirrel.

Time for more...

....prayer. Here is my conversation with Grace this morning:

Grace: I need to pray more often!
Mom: Really?
Grace: Yep. Last night Ry told me to pray about (xyz) and I did and it helped. Just now I prayed about (xyz) and then I found it!

I was rushing out the door. I WISH I could end this story with me being the perfect mom and using the opportunity to remind her how much Heavenly Father loves her and teach her about prayer. But no. Life doesn't always work like that does it? I think what actually happened is me hmmmming and saying "oh that's great sweetie" or something like that.
Then on the way to work tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought of the absolute gift this child is and how much I love her. Thanks Gracie for reminding me about the important things in life!

Slouchiness

We were gathered in my room for family prayer Sunday night. Ryan had been playing with Grace for a couple of hours, and after prayer they were headed back downstairs to finish whatever it was they were doing...(playing Princess Monopoly I think)? On her way out of the room she said to Ry, "You're the best brother in the WHOLE world!"
Then, noticing Ty sitting on the floor, she pops her curly little head around the door frame, points a finger at him, winks, and says "You're no slouch either!"

!?!?!? Where in the world did she hear that expression! But she's so sweet....she is always careful to not hurt feelings or leave anyone out :)

We are no longer legally liable...

...for anything this 18 year old does! Whoo hoo!


We went bowling, to Training Table, and then watched him eat the chocolate pie from Village Inn...(ok, it was SUPPOSED to be his alone to consume, but after a day of each of us clandestinely swiping spoonfuls of it it was SO gone.)
The coolest part of his birthday came yesterday in the mail. A letter from Dixie State College dated Feb 13, 2010 (his birthday) stating that he received a 4 yr partial scholarship worth $6000! Way to go Ty!

Chinese Valentines Day

Jillian apparently took pictures of my "tablescape" for our Chinese-Valentines-Day dinner last week. So in case you don't look over there to the right-----and go to her blog (which you should! She's fabulous.) I'm posting it here too. And have you ever played with a Chinese yo-yo? It's surprisingly refreshing, rhythmic, and relaxing!

Picture

Our first family picture without either of our parents.

Sleep Texting

Ryan sent this insanely crazy text to one of his friends last week....a girl he met at BYU Chinese camp two summers ago. He and these two girls were hanging out almost every weekend...but then they graduated from High School early and both started at BYU in January. The two girls had a bit of a fight a couple of weeks ago...I think Ry was bugged by it? And that they've been too busy to spend the amount of time together that they used to...he is also clearly distressed by the Mark Twain book he has to read for English......But I digress.
HE SENT THIS TEXT WHILE HE WAS ASLEEP. Seriously. And a bunch of the words were written in Chinese....I've put English translations in ( )... Here goes:

"Bekah i just have sooo much ai (love) for you in my linghuun (soul) or xin (heart) i don't remember which. I just feel like there is this large ocean rift of something bad like macaroni salad rushes in waves between us but wait vampires have no fluids so maybe it is tomato juice or large poufs of marshmallow taffy where I walk but oh no my foot is stuck help i can't get it out but any ways it is a large crevice where small asian children rhythmically jump out and say to you bekah! And then they jump back in but oops they forgot to say how much ryan misses you so with a skip and a jump they hop back in the crevice. And i want you and shayn and me to go to sam wellers book store and have everything be peaches and cream and we will all be the zui hao (best )of pengyous (friends) again like nothing has changed.
but hopefully nothing has changed bekah michelle nothing has changed because sometimes the world is odd and pushes down on the stretching cat in the sun life but the cat still has animal magnetism so everything is ok. Nigger baby! says mark twain in a novel i must read for english. Moving on.
Bekah is a remarkable person. And I never want to stop being pengyous (friends) with her. or shayn. They came together in a package. Because i love them so much it makes me want to gush flowing streams of Rainbows and Butterflies. but i don't so no. sorry. i can't. find your own R and B. and now everything is fine it is just difficult sometimes to sort through the convolution. THE END."

Wow. Just wow. We have laughed ourselves silly over this one. He now puts his phone out of reach before he falls asleep :)

Funny

Saturday was Ty's birthday. I don't have the pictures on the computer yet. We went to lunch and went bowling. He requested a chocolate pie for his "cake". He also squeaked through the Eagle rank deadline by getting his paperwork in and approved about 24 hrs before he turned 18. Whew.
ANYWAY. On the way to lunch, he was asking Grace if she knew what his present was. He began a texting campaign to worm the information out of her. He'd text a question and show her his phone and let her reply. (We got him a camera.) Here was her response:
"It starts with a "c".
"Then an "a"..."n"..."t"....t.e.l.l. y.o.u!"

Hahahaha...

Messing with the Military

Tyler is days away from the big 18th birthday. So of course the phone calls from various branches of the Military have begun peppering our home. Last night was the best one so far:
(big burly Marine): Is this Tyler?
Ty: Yes.
Marine: You're about to graduate High School dude! Do you have any plans?
Ty: Yes, I'm going to college.
Marine: Why? Have you considered the Marines? What is your favorite class in school?
Ty: (without missing a beat) Oh, choir and musical theatre.
Marine:
Ty: Are you there?
Marine: ummm....ummmm....ahhh....if you know anyone that may be interested in being a Marine let me know ok?
Ty: Sure!

Quote Board

Last year in Jillian's dorm they started a "quote board" where they would write down any crazy, random or witty things everyone said. It became quite the extensive post-it decoration in their kitchen.
In December when Jill was home for Christmas, she began a similar post-it quote board in my kitchen. It's hilarious. We've only added to it a couple of times since she went back to school, but I'm going to be more diligent about it this week. It always makes me smile...here are a few examples:
Jill: "Rock, paper, scissors!"
Grace: "You can't believe we're SISTERS!?"

Ryan: "You souped my pants!"

Jill: "I'm so serious sometimes?"
Grace: "Add an M E to that."
Jill: "What?"
Grace: "You are so MEsterious sometimes!"

Tyler: "I told you...don't let Snickers blow on your pigs!"

Mom: "Ok, I have my goat cheese and shavings ready so I can concentrate now."

Tyler: "I can't believe I'm dressed as a girl again!"

Mom: (on the way to taking Ry to road range) "Look! Cows!"
Grace: "It's MOOTASTICAL!"

Grace: "And then maybe robbers from Spain will come..."

Jill: "Where is your imagination, little girl?"
Grace: "I don't know...I gave it to the homeless people."

Mom: "We literally have enough sour cream to last us through the apocalypse."

Ty to Ry: "You can farm WHILE we watch Everwood!"

We sound nuts. But at the time, each of these little quotes made perfect sense!