Happy Birthday Matt!

On March 21st we'll celebrate Matt's 5th birthday! As I looked at pictures of these last 5 years I was reminded of the joy our little Matters has been in our lives. He was born on a Sunday afternoon and weighed 6 lbs 10 oz. My contractions woke me up that morning early, but after sitting in the hospital most of my labor with Josh-I wasn't about to do the same. Besides, I had a pretty new calling in the Young Women and I had early meetings to attend in addition to conducting YW that day. The home teachers had called and set up an appointment for after church, too. By Sunday School Keith convinced me that he needed to eat something if we were going to have the baby that day. We lived in a ward with several of Keith's family, so Spencer took care of getting Josh home from church after primary, Heather convinced me it was okay to miss YW and said she would conduct (she was the president). What other choice did I have? We got home, changed, and Keith ate, then we went to the hospital and after being checked by the nurse, she rushed to call the doctor (who happened to be in our ward as well). He rushed to the hospital and within an hour of our arrival, little Matt was here. The doctor thanked me for letting him finish church, apparently he had just walked in the door and taken his tie off when the call came. I did forget to let the home teachers know we wouldn't be home, oops, but they forgave us.
Labor isn't easy for me, but I've found it is easier if I keep busy-not at the hospital-during it.

The day was a special day that we shared with local family that came to visit. Matt's birthday also reminds me that this is when Keith's dad was called to be a Mission President in Ecuador. So Matt's Grandma and Grandpa Caldwell left on their mission when he was just 3 months old, and returned when he was 3 1/2 years old. I don't think Matt ever felt he didn't have them in his life, it is a testimony that the Lord takes care of things when we are serving Him.

Here is Matt's Birthday Questions from Primary. I'm so glad they do these:
Q: How many brothers and sisters?
A: 3 brothers
Q: Who do you want to be like when you grow up?
A: a basketball player
Q: Favorite color?
A: blue and red
Q: Favorite food?
A: rice
Q: Favorite thing to do?
A: Play basketball
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: basketball player
Q: Favorite Scripture story?
A: Nephi & the gold plates
Q: Favorite subject in school?
A: play toys
Q: Strangest food you ever ate?
A: fish
Q: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
A: Tiny 4-wheeler

Since Josh's Birthday, Matt has been talking about his video. Glad I got it finished for him. He insisted I use a certain song, it is from a CD his Dad has in his truck. Matt LOVES to "jam out" to it every time he goes with his Dad.


We are so blessed to have Matt in our family. He teaches me a lot and can always make us laugh.

In Memory of Grandma

This post is mostly for me. It has been a year since my Grandma passed away. Grandma Johnson was the only grandma I had growing up. I always looked forward to visiting her in Salt Lake where she lived all my life. She lived in a condo where there was a swimming pool and we looked forward to summers and swimming all we could while we were there. Grandma would rotate visiting her 4 children at Christmas time and we sure loved having her around and telling her about our lives.
She had a small closet in her condo that she called "The Little People's Closet" where she had a toy trunk full of toys for the grandkids to play with when they visited. I remember her library and she had books to read for all ages. She had all sorts of games to play as well. On some occasions, she would host a "Burn the House Down" party where the kids gathered around with pads of paper, pencils and dice-the objective was to roll the appropriate #s to build your house and then roll for kids. The first person to get their house built and get all their kids won (if you rolled 3 of a kind, it burned your house down and you had to start over). She always had fun little prizes for the winners.
The meanest thing she ever did to me was make me eat cooked cauliflower before I could leave the dinner table. When I went to college I had the opportunity to live with her. That is a time I will always treasure. Grandma went from the lady who gave us stuff, to my friend. She had eye drops she had to put in her eyes every night and she would lie at the end of her bed to "drop her eyes". While the eye drops worked, I would lie on the floor and we would have long visits about life.
I remember her telling me that she didn't feel much older than I was, but when she looked in the mirror, her wrinkles told her otherwise. Because I helped out around the house and cooked meals, she began calling me "The Slave Labor". It was all in fun, and her sister who lived next door would come over regularly for dinner to take advantage of the Slave Labor. Dinners with Grandma and Aunt Wilma were hilarious as they bickered back and forth. I began to see me and my sisters at that age and realized that just because we get older, doesn't mean we grow up.
Grandma would give me the daily mail report when I would get home from work, "There's not any mail from South America today." I think she looked forward to Keith's letters as much as I did. She commented regularly on my dates, referring to one of them as "Garden Variety", meaning he wasn't good enough.
After my little Joe was born (his middle name is Grandma's maiden name), she would always ask what color his eyes were. They hadn't decided yet and were still changing until one day I told Grandma they were green. She told me "I think they will be brown. They are brown." That week Joe's eyes turned brown and never changed again! She loved brown eyes because that was one of her favorite things about her husband, his brown eyes. I had the opportunity to visit her weekly when she was moved to the care center down the road a few months prior to her passing. I still enjoyed the visits with her and we again had some good talks about life.
I talked with her about Family History one day (as she spent much of her life working on genealogy) and mentioned I was working on mine once and wondered what she would do. She promptly responded "Pray!" She knew what was important and seemed to convey that to her grandchildren.
I could say much more about her, but will end at this. I miss her often, but am not sad she is gone. She waited a long time to be reunited with her loved ones and no longer is hindered by her failing body. She was a influence for good in my life, and my friend.

Project

My parents are getting a new bedroom set and were getting rid of their old one, lucky for me, I got first dibs on. I was so excited. We have never had real dressers-I was waiting until I found the "perfect one" and had the money to get it, too. Well, the perfect one happens to be this one, with a little work and minimal cost, it looks completely different and I'm tickled pink to have it (I have to be tickled pink since there is a shortage at this house).
I didn't think to take before pictures, but here is a mid-way through picture. I sanded, and sanded and then stained it with an antique walnut stain and finish in one. (FYI-I've NEVER done anything like this before.)

The dressers began a very light, almost yellow color. This is after the first coat. I didn't think it looked very walnut, but figured it was because the wood was very light. I was a little disappointed, but talked myself into loving the new color. Keith's mom was wonderful and offered her assistance earlier in the week and she came on Friday to help me do the 2nd coat and finish things up. I'm so glad she came. She began helping and asked if I had stirred the can. I was busy running around with the kids and hadn't, so she stirred. Apparently I didn't stir very well the on the first coat, because here is what the finished product looked like--what they should've looked like the first time...

Thank you, Nena for helping me get it right! This is far more what I had imagined. At least I can say I learned some things. *I need to sand better before applying anything. *Don't wipe sanded wood with a wet rag. *And finally, STIR the can really well. I'm happy to have the project finished so I can attend to the things that got neglected and get back to normal life. I LOVE MY NEW DRESSERS!

Almost Forgot...

This morning Keith and I were talking about when we took the boys to the Draper Temple open house last month. I totally forgot to blog about it, so I'm slipping this in late to have a record of it.
When the talk of the open house began I had a feeling that we needed to take the boys. I'm not sure what will result from that experience, but I know we needed to go. I have wondered about my own experience at a very young age of going to the Jordon River open house with my family and Grandma who had been called to work in the temple at that time. I don't remember much, but I do remember always having a desire to go myself, and I believe that experience helped instill that desire. Maybe that is what my boys needed.
Of course the spiritual aspect is what you think about and you hope for these moving experiences for your children as you attend...we may never see that, but it was a fun experience, here are some highlights.
1. They were SO excited to go to the temple, they took a picture of the Vernal Temple I had in another part of the house and put it in their room.
2. When you ask the boys what their favorite part of the temple was--they say it was the bus ride from the chapel to the temple. One of the boys mentioned they really liked the chandeliers.
3. Prior to our visit, we had some family home evenings about the temple, what to expect, and what the temples are about. They saw a picture of the baptismal font and were curious about the oxen and asked a lot of questions-which Keith answered and explained the difference between a cow, ox, steer, bull...etc. (glad it was him, I didn't know the difference).
We are in the Draper temple and Matt is standing looking at the baptismal font and seemed to be deep in thought. I kneel down to have a "moment" with my son and talk about baptisms. Then I asked him if he had any questions, to which he asks "What animals are those again?" I told him they were Oxen, and reminded him that there were 12 that represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Then he asked "Are those the ones with their balls cut off?" I told him I didn't remember, he'd have to check with his dad. That will definitely be one of my most memorable temple visits. I sure love having boys.

Something New I'm Learning To Do....

At home there is always a computer project waiting for Keith (or a few, I should say). He goes to work and comes home...and goes to work on the computers at home. Sometimes it isn't too bad, but on occasion there are more than he has hours in the day to work on. I had been feeling bad for him and decided maybe I could help out. This picture was my first project--I don't remember exactly what I did, but the machine works the way it is suppose to now! Yay for me!
This has been a good project. While I don't LOVE fixing computers-its just not my passion in life-Keith is my passion and because of the computers, I don't get to spend the quality time with him I'd like. So, to free up some of his home time, I've been trying to work on the computers that need fixing through the day. I was surprised to find the sense of accomplishment that it gave me (which as a mom I just doesn't feel as often as I'd like). And, as a BONUS, I get to spend a little more time with my sweetheart and he has a little more time for the family. I think he's also excited about me learning something he does.

Sunrise

The other morning Josh ran to the front door with his camera. He had to take a picture of the sun rising. I'm glad he can appreciate the beauties of the earth and wants to capture them on camera. I was impressed by what he captured.

Tell Me The Stories of Jesus....

Yesterday we were running errands and I asked the boys what our Family Home Evening Lesson should be about. The boys didn't know, so I suggested we learn to say better prayers (we are getting quantity, but not quality, as Joe is learning to pray and wanting his turn all the time). Matt disagreed and said he wanted to learn about Jesus. I told him that was a good idea and asked what about Jesus he wanted to learn. He said, "How he has magic!" I laughed to myself and said, "You mean the priesthood?" He agreed and said, "I want to hear about how he has the force!"
I suppose only little boys would equate the "force" with the priesthood. I think he'll laugh about that one someday, too. But for now, he's quite serious about the matter.

I Think They Are Related!

This is the first meeting of Keifer and his cousin, Finn. We've seen pictures of him and you can tell he's not the same boy as Keifer, but it has been funny to see how much they look alike. So, on a visit to town to see family, Marissa and her mom brought Finn to see the two boys together. Yep, I think they are related!