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.

Happy Birthday and Happy Graduation!

Emily didn't care much for eating the birthday cake, but she loved the ice cream!

We thought Haley would want Tinkerbell, princesses or Strawberry Shortcake on her birthday cake, but she surprised us all when she asked for Spiderman.

Who knew? For Allie's preschool graduation we planned a cookout with all the preschool families. The kids really enjoyed themselves. I don' t think they understood what was really happening. They pretended to be dogs while we took their group photo. They were all excited to receive the little photo albums we made for them. Allie still asks when she gets to go back to preschool. Haley wanted her picture taken with her teacher, Miss Harms, on graduation day. She was pretty sad to think that she wouldn't see Miss Harms again. We were really blessed that she had such a great teacher. It was a great Kindergarten year!

Pictures

Allie, Emily, Joseph and I went kite flying yesterday. I think Allie's neck started to hurt from staring at the sky because she just laid down in the field to watch her kite.

Joseph sat in his car seat to watch and Emily played with his feet.

He's such a happy boy!

Baby feet.

Emily found dandelions in the field. I wonder what she wished for. Allie's helping Emily learn to ride her trike.

Allie is such a happy helper and is always ready to try something new. She did a great job mowing the yard.

Emily loves to lay with Joseph in his play gym.

Joseph in his church clothes.

Isn't he handsome?

Emily helped herself to the cake.

Perfect Wife

My wife is perfect. I am so blessed to be married to her. She is the quintessential daughter of our Heavenly Father. She possesses the all of the most admirable qualities a wife, mother, and daughter should. Above all, she is my best friend and I am grateful every day that I get to start and end my day beside her. However, we argue a lot - or so Haley thinks. Last night while saying our family bedtime prayer Haley prayed that, "Mommy and daddy would not fight so much." I opened my eyes during the prayer when I heard that and so did Laura. She had a perplexed look on her face and I was trying to think of an arguement we've had. After the prayer Laura and I asked Haley why she prayed for such a thing. We asked her to give an example of our arguing. Her response revealed a lot about Laura. She said, "Daddy, you and mommy argue a lot about who is going to help. You say 'I'll do it' and mommy says 'No, I'll do it' and you say 'No, I'll do it, you rest' and mommy says 'No, I'll do it, you rest." Laura and I had a good laugh. I was happy to know that that was the extent of our arguing. I go to work and support our family and Laura stays home with our four children. Yet, when I come home she asks me what she can do for me. She wants to know how my day was. She is so selfless. She always puts others before herself. The good news is that our children pick up on that. They see us serve one another and I hope that when they grow up and get married they will argue about who is going to rest and who is going to change the 100th poopy diaper of the day. You see, Laura changes diapers, prepares meals, cleans house, and does a myriad of other things and I work. I work from 4:00AM - 8:00AM or 12:30PM, depending on the day. When I come home I want to help, but Laura wants me to rest. We argue about who is going to make my grits, eggs, and bacon. We argue about who is going to take Haley to school. We argue about who is going to carry the basket of laundry down the stairs. We argue about who is going to unload and reload the dishwasher. We definitely argue about a lot, but I'm grateful that it is not arguing, but pure and simple selfless LOVE. Laura, I love you. Go rest!

Sunset and a Storm

It doesn't storm very much in Utah except for snow storms. When we do get thunderstorms it's a real treat because you can watch the storm move across the valley. Tonight's storm is especially pretty. Not only can you see the rain coming down in sheets all across the valley and mountain ranges, but it's being illuminated by the sunset. It main the rain look orange! The pictures don't do it justice, but it gives you an idea.

You can't hardly see the mountain behind the houses because of the clouds and rain. You can see the rain really well in this one. (below) The sun setting at the end of our street.