Allie should have been named Plato

This morning, while eating breakfast, Haley, Allie, Emily, and I (Brent) were discussing the ice skating rink at the Eastdale Mall in Montgomery. It is currently undergoing some construction. The girls and I were discussing why it was closed and when, perhaps, Laura would be able to take them ice skating. I told them that the ice had probably melted and that they were having to fix it. Allie furrowed her eyebrows, folded her arms with exclamation, and said, "Dad! If the ice melted they would be offering swimming lessons!" I knew she was ready for kindergarten; I never realized that she was ready for Philosophy 1010.

pictures

Joseph's first portrait.

Allie and me at the skating rink right before we left Utah. Beautiful Emily. I figured Haley and Allie would be tired of ice skating after 15 minutes or so. They skated for an hour and a half. Allie said, "I love this. I could skate right to heaven."

My happy boy. Check out the eyelashes!

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

At the office today, while Dad was on his lunch break, one of his customers came through the door while Emily was standing there looking out the window. Emily turned and looked at Dad's office and told the customer "gone gone." Grammy was teasing Haley about having a boyfriend, trying to tell her she didn't know what it meant to be "in love." But Haley told Grammy, " It's when you love someone so much, you don't want to be married to anybody else." Grammy said, "Actually, that's a really good answer." I know there's been a serious lack of posts for the last two months. I'll try to do better, but for now here's an update: We're living in Millbrook, Alabama. We're home! Emily turned two this last Sunday. Happy Birthday Emmie! Haley and Brent started school Aug. 9 and Brent recently was recognized for receiving the highest grade on his first Legal Writing and Research paper. (He had to write three more this week.) Haley is taking Ballet at the Alabama Dance Theatre. Allie and Emily are taking gymnastics at the Armory. Joseph is six months old, still the most smiley baby, and he's teething. I'm working part-time for my dad and I get to take my three youngest children to work with me. We're loving it! We love our new house and our new neighbors! We have a great new ward and we live on a dead end street so the girls can still ride their bikes and scooters on the road. Life is good all the way around. We're a little busier than usual, but it has some real benefits. Namely, we're not all missing Brent desperately while he's stuck in his books and glued to his computer. We're keeping busy like him.