Chris is Six

This was the year for THE FRIEND PARTY! Friend and Family Parties alternate in our home from year to year. And for the past 3 weeks Christopher has been speaking non-stop of Chuck-E-Cheese! AUGH! (Glenn and I can't stand CEC! Glenn even said to me, "Try to talk him out of it!") We tried Pump It Up (bouncy slides), Canyonlands (rock climbing) and a few others but there was no getting past Chuck-E-Cheese.

Now, Christopher is not into The BIG Rat, the stage, the crummy food... he's into THE TOKENS, THE GAMES, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, the GAMES THAT GET THE MOST TICKETS! Why? So, he can get all those trinky-dinky prizes at the end (cash in the tickets for prizes)!

Our goal was to get Ben, Nick and Zach to play all the games that gave out tons of tickets, and they did a GREAT JOB! After exactly 1 hour... we had spent 400 tokens and walked out with 1,600+ tickets. That's my kind of party! Each child had trinkets galore!

He invited 7 friends, but only 4 were able to come! And after an hour at Chuck-E-Cheese, we were ready for pizza and racecar cake!

What To Be When I Grow Up

Remember that question? "Hey little girl, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

This week is College Week at our Elementary School. Each day has a theme and today's theme is "dress like the career you want to have" day. Someday, I want to be...

Ben - Scientist or a Researcher. He is way into geology and rocks and sediment and stuff like that. But yet the other day I found him with a bunch of anatomy books, cancer and burn books... there is so much waiting to be discovered and Ben will get his chance!

Zach - Army Pilot. He loves talking with Uncles about careers in the Air Force! He just thinks it would be neat to fly planes. He likes reading books about the Tomcat and Harrier planes.

Nick - Olympic Gymnast. Nick will challenge anyone (even Uncle Brent) to push-ups. He is found daily doing push-ups by the 100s... by the hundreds... and he enjoys it! And if he's not walking on his feet, he's on his hands! He realizes that an Olympian isn't a lifelong job. After winning a few Gold Medals he'd like to be an Olympic Coach.

Chris - Chef. This boy LOVES food! He especially loves carrots and spinach. He thinks butterscotch pudding/topping is way way to sweet, but will eat a ton of Oreos. He enjoys anything that Mom cooks (pancakes, oatmeal, spaghetti, salmon, chicken, burritos).




We'll have to wait and see... time will tell...

A Special Stake Conference

After being able to listen and see Elder Holland last year , we were ALL very excited ONCE AGAIN to listen and see Elder Nelson this morning. He too is a member of The Twelve Apostles of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. When Elder Holland came to visit last year in Mesa, we arrived at the church 3 hours early (7am) and still sat in the hard chairs! We were advised by many (in this area) that it would be much much different here. "There's no need to come until an hour before. Doors won't open till 8:45am. Etc. Etc.) Well, we wanted to get soft chairs, so we got to the church at 7:15am and were able to get soft chairs about 8 rows back - not bad! We were the first family from our Ward, the Frisco 6th Ward, at the conference!

Well, with a little over 3 hours till Conference started, what was a bunch of boys going to do? Ben was content to read a novel about The Hill Cumorah in the bench. Great! He could watch our seats! Thanks Ben! Zach and Nick and two of the Jensen boys began counting chairs. :) After we multiplied and added from each overflow room they came up with 1,503 seats. (We were putting 10 people in a bench.) Sounds good! Zach is Zach and while he was counting chairs, he spoke with a couple of the ushers... they were planning for about 1,500. They all agreed on his counting ability. Christopher and Emma were off going onto the stage and just roaming the halls and trying out each of the doors - some were open! Score!



Conference was about ready to begin and the Stake President kept coming to the pulpit asking that everyone, please, squish together more and more... tighter and tighter...

Elder Nelson entered and Conference began. The Stake Presidency spoke followed by a few musical numbers. The Mission Pres and wife spoke. The Stake Primary Pres spoke. Elder Martino of the 70 was accompanying Elder Nelson and he spoke. He spoke about "why bad things happen to good" and this was one of my questions that I came to Conference wanting an answer for. He based much of his talk on the book of Romans. At this time I had to do a RR run with Emma and realized just how packed the building was! When we pushed open the door we knocked some guy in the head that was sitting on the floor - I don't really know why he was sitting in the way of the door?!?! Probably because there wasn't much room elsewhere for him.

When we came back there were men doing head counts and President Roberts (Stake President) announced that there were 1,939 people present! Zach later informed us that the church is liable for 1,800 - maximum capacity that he read on a sign somewhere! Oops! No wonder there were people EVERYWHERE!

Elder Nelson spoke last. Of course he spoke about Hurricane Ike. When he and Elders Uchtdorf and Bednar were at the airport, airport personnel gazed at them conspicuously wondering why they would want to be going to Dallas when Hurricane Ike was on its way there too?

Elder Nelson spoke of "teaching our children" mostly. He spoke on missionary work and temple attendance too. He made it very very clear that we need to teach our children that we all come from a loving Heavenly Father. We need to be sure they are taught to pray with sincerity. We need to teach them about the atonement of Christ. We need to teach them to not fear death. Heavenly Father is also awaiting for our return. We will all be resurrected and continue to grow! If we're not thinking about Jesus and the atonement during Sacrament time, then we need to refocus our thoughts. We need to teach them the importance of Prophets, especially Joseph Smith. He taught us "as parents" to not be "quick to answer" our children. Listen to there thoughts. And most importantly to always, always, always have love and kindness in our homes! (I feel like that one HIT home! Glenn and I quickly glanced at everyone!)

He also told a few stories... about the time he went with President Monson to Brazil and they identified a child with cancer at a temple dedication. They were told of this young boy (about 9) who was battling cancer before the arrival. When they got to Brazil and began the work, the dedication began and at the end when they were outside putting some mortar on the capstone, President Monson asked this young boy to come forward. The boy, wearing a ski hat, stepped forward and one of the reporters asked if he could get a picture. He kindly asked the boy to remove his hat, so as to see his face better. When he did, of course he was bald. As he went back into the crowd Elder Nelson said that he leaned over to remind President Monson that it was time to get back inside, but President Monson told Elder Nelson that there was one more person that needed to dedicate the temple. He looked through the crowd, left to right, right to left and finally spotted a woman in the back and she came forward and then the meeting ended. Then went back to SLC and the next day Elder Nelson learned that President Monson had also chosen the boy's Mom. Elder Nelson asked President Monson, "How did you know?" But President Monson looked him in the eye and told him that he did not know, only the Lord knew. We need to have faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He can perform anything through us, his faithful servants!

With the closing of the meeting came the Stake President asking that we respect Elder Nelson's tight flight schedule back to SLC. Basically, please wait in your seats while we leave IMMEDIATELY after the closing song and prayer. A few people crowded the microphone and Zach looked at me and said, "Please, can I just go get a little closer?" I said, "Sure!" Ben and Nick took off to get to the RR, so we would be waiting anyway...

Zach came back beaming. "Mom, I shook Elder Nelson's hand!" "One of the ushers that I spoke with earlier in the morning (when he was counting chairs) gave me a quick shove right into his path and he shook my hand." He said, "I'll see you again in about 3 weeks at General Conference!" Zach said that his hand was a bit cold. Zach didn't think he was any taller than Dad either.

It's The Autumn Equinox

The Autumn Equinox has been the traditional "first race of the fall season" where runners can all measure the effects of their summer training and size up the competition for the races ahead. It is one of the oldest races in Texas. The name of the race originates from the "Autumnal Equinox," which is the day the sun is directly over the equator heading south, and marks the first day of the fall season.

Since we got here last November, I was coming off a high of finally finishing my first 1/2 Marathon. I had continued running but by myself... I would meet one or two "regulars" on a path that I ran... but no connections. I went to church meetings hoping to find someone to hook-up with. I then met Debbie Harris who was just out having a good time. She was running for a bit and I met up with her a few mornings during the week. She lives in the next suburb over so we just meet on Saturdays and do our own thing during the week.

Then, she found a 5-miler and we signed up... I got sick (which is NOT like me). I bowed out. A few months later she found this 15K and once again we signed up.

Last night, the aftermath of Hurricane Ike was headed straight for us BUT was not to reach the Dallas area till 10am... YES... we could still do it and get home in time.

As we drove down the tollway and onto the 635, etc... road signs were lit up everywhere stating "Hurricane Ike is nearing the coast, turn back!" We weren't going to the coast, only going to run a 15K. We got to the race, ran it in a downpour, winds - but nice and warm and muggy!

We both placed in our respectable age categories (Debbie-1st and Me-2nd) and were happy that we beat Hurricane Ike! We headed for home and are glad it's behind us.

The Cowtown in February! Here we come! Come down and join us!

Memory Bag

Zachary (4th) had an assignment last week at school. The assignment was to bring a Memory Bag. In this bag there was to be:

Something warm - a small blanket from his baby days

Something from long ago - a stuffed animal from Grandpa Stara when he was 1 year

Something that makes you cry - a picture of Christian & Stephanie Nielson and family


Something that makes you laugh - a picture of Emma making a funny face


Something as precious as gold - an amethyst crystal from his friend Kyler in San Jose

During the day, Zach's Memory Bag dumped onto the floor and as he was picking it up, one of his friends from another class commented on the picture of Christian & Stephanie. He said, "My Mom reads her blog. I've seen that picture before."

Talk about a small world we live in. Zach said that the small conversation made him feel good inside!

Elder Nelson

A bit of background: A Ward is like a Parish. A Stake is like a Diocese.

OK - This Sunday we will be having a Stake Conference with 4 Stakes in the area (Carrollton, Frisco, Allen and Dallas). At each Conference there will be Apostles and Members Of The 70! Are we excited?!?! YES!!!!

Apostles Bednar, Uchtdorf and Nelson are coming... we are excited!!!! I didn't catch the names of the Members Of The 70; more on that later! (I was too excited about hearing which Apostles would be coming I guess.)

Elder Nelson will be coming to speak to our Stake, The Frisco Stake. The Frisco Stake was recently organized a few months ago. So, for Family Home Evening the other night (family time set aside each Monday night) we had a "get to know Elder Nelson" lesson.

Elder Nelson was born in 1924. He will be 84 years old when he speaks to us on Sunday! His birthday is TODAY!

He graduated from the University Of Utah in 1945 with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1947 he received his Doctor of Medicine from the same University. Then in 1954 he received his PhD from the University Of Minnesota.

He is an Internationally Renowned Surgeon and Medical Researcher.

He has lectured and visited throughout the US and in 69 other nations. He served a 2-year medical term in the US Army during the Korean War.

He was ordained an Apostle in 1984. He was 60 years old at the time.

He was married to Dantzel White in 1945. He was 21 when he was married! They had 9 daughters and only 1 son.

We then reviewed many of the messages he has delivered as an Apostle. We tried to contemplate what message he would be bringing to us on Sunday.

After we discussed all this stuff, Emma said, "WOW! I sure wouldn't like to have 9 sisters. They would mess up my room!"


Emma, you have it pretty darn good! :)

School Begins for EVERYONE!

Emma is participating in a "Round Robin" preschool this year. She is very very excited about going to Preschool.

I call it "Round Robin" because every 6th week it will be at our house. We have a curriculum of ABCs and 123s. (I think I should be able to handle that!) We will also throw in colors and shapes and stuff like that.

The first week was at our house and it was a success! The children all get along well and they are all so unique in each way. There was never a dull moment! :)

Emma is excited about experiencing other people's homes. (There she will find many more dolls and strollers and girly toys I'm sure.) I'm not sure if this is such a good idea!







Now, the boys are doing great at school. Ben is in 5th grade and rotating classes and having a great time! He is excited for Science Camp in November. Zach is in 4th grade and also has 1 rotation in his day. He is already counting down the days till Summer Vacation '09! Nick is in 2nd grade and can be found doing handstands down the hallway. Chris is still going to Kindergarten and enjoys it. Shew... Life is Good!

Funny Sayings

As we were driving to church on Sunday I made the comment, "I will be glad when the new church building opens." (We drive about 30 minutes to get to the church. The new church will put us 5 minutes to the front door.)

"Yes," replied Zach. (LONG PAUSE) "Then the cemetary kids will be so close to the high school," Zach continued to say.

I SMILED! "Cemetary kids?" "You mean Seminary kids!" :)

Ben commented, "Maybe he meant sedimentary kids!"

***

We were at Olive Garden the other night and Christopher leans over and looks around and then whispers to me, "Mom, what are dristfuries?"

"HHhhmmm" "Chris, can you say that again?"

"Dristfuries Mom, what are they?"

"HHhhmmm" (Glenn, help me here.) "Chris, can you put it in a sentence?"

"Like, the tapestry and dristfuries were in the house."

"DRAPERIES???"

"Yes Mom, what are they?" said Christopher.

I guess I need to get rid of some of these blinds in our home and get some dristfuries!