Big Boy

Well, this week we've been potty-training Sean so he can be a "Big Boy."  So far, he's had one success and lots of accidents.  Hmmm . . . I'm getting very tired of this week.  Still working on it.  I'm not going back to diapers for him, so he's just got to figure it out some time.  

But he's still feeling like a big boy.  This morning when the kids put on their backpacks to go down to the bus stop, he put on this 72 hour kit backpack so he could walk down to the bus stop with a backpack too.  It made me smile.

1st day of School

This week we started school. Dallin started 1st grade yesterday, and today Daphne went to her very first day of Kindergarten. I can't believe I have two in school now.

Dallin with his teacher, Mrs. Altweis.

Dallin, Daphne and Sean. They really aren't as distraught as they look--it's just that the sun was shining in their eyes. Sean didn't want Daphne to leave him. He lined up with her Kindergarten class and tried to go to school with her. Poor guy. He's really going to miss her!

Dallin on his first day, Daphne on her first day, and Daphne with her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Shoemaker.

I held it together a lot better than when Dallin started Kindergarten--But I was still nervous for Daphne. What if she couldn't find her teacher? What if she got lost in the halls and couldn't remember what her teacher's name is? What if kids are mean to her? We told Dallin to look for her at recess, and to make sure he sat by her on the bus. My friend went down to the school at the end of the day to pick up her daughter, and she called to tell me she'd seen Dallin & Daphne lining up for the bus. She said Dallin was really looking out for her, and when it was time to get on the bus, he took her hand, and helped her up the stairs saying, "Come on up, Daphne . . . this way. . . good job."

Here's Sean riding his bike to meet the kids at the bus stop. He took so long, that we missed them getting off the bus, but you can see them running up the street to meet us in the top right picture. And I love those backpacks! Dallin's fits him a little better this year, but Daphne's is sooo big on her! They had a great day, and both of their teachers seem wonderful, so hopefully we'll have a good year.

9 years!

Today marks our 9th year anniversary. Time is such a funny thing. 9 years sounds like a really long time, and sometimes I think, "Wow, that is so long!" and "I can hardly remember not being together with Arthur." And at the same time, it just goes so fast, and I think, "Where has the time gone?" and "It seems like yesterday . . ."

Love you, Arthur. I am so blessed to share my life with you.

The Last Lazy Day of Summer

School starts this week. Dallin has his first day of 1st grade on Tuesday, and Daphne's first day of Kindergarten is on Wednesday. So today, we just hung out and enjoyed each other! We built forts, played in the baby pool, watched a movie, picked a little bit of produce from our less-than-stellar vegetable garden, and had fresh peach pie for FHE refreshments!

Dallin's fortress.

yeah, mom, whadda ya want?

soggy diapers

Dallin's awesome lincoln log creations have gotten better and better this summer.

Our veggie garden was neglected this year, and in Dallin's words "is hideous!" It is completely over-run with weeds and we are not harvesting anything of note. However, we have salvaged a few veggies here and there. This corn is excellent! We split them and ate them last night, and they were really good.

Sean

Daphne, modeling yet another swimsuit.
I think that girl has a swimsuit for each day of the week.

I'm so lucky to have these guys in my life!

Answer me these questions three:

WHAT is your name?

Sharee

WHAT is your quest?

Depends on the day

WHAT does 3 a.m. have to do mason jars?

3 a.m. is how late I was up on Saturday nite, /Sunday morning

bottling applesauce and peaches.

We are harvesting apples and peaches and trying to keep up with them before they go bad.

It's a race! Hence, bottling sessions ending at 3 a.m.

These apples pictured above, are the best looking apples of the batch. We didn't spray our tree, so our apples were full of worms. There wasn't a single one that I didn't cut bad parts out of. It took forever!

Sean loves applesauce! He was my big helper until it was time for bed.

It's actually kind of miraculous that I bottled any at all because Sean was sitting right next to the bowl of applesauce, like a vulture, licking spoons and fingers and anything else that got applesauce on it.


Wormy Granny Smith apples + water + sugar + Sean's germs = Gariety Homemade applesauce. Actually, truth be told, it's pretty good, despite the worms & germs


And after cutting up three huge bags of apples, I got seven quarts and 4 pints of applesauce. I'm still wondering if it's worth it. . . at least I can say that I'm learning a very useful provident living skill, right?

"So Great a Cause"

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"  

"Yes!  Go forward, not backward . . . on to victory!"

The theme for the Albuquerque Stake 2008 Handcart Trek was "So Great a Cause" from D&C  128:22.  Arthur and I had the privilege of being a Ma & Pa on this 2 1/2 day journey through the desert.  It was so much work getting ready for it, and physically exhausting once we actually got there, but totally worth every minute.  We are changed for this experience.  

We loved our trek family, the Gariety's (aka Gariety gangstas, but just amongst ourselves . . . until Brandon announced it from the pulpit at Testimony  meeting. . . thanks Brandon.  ;)  We had six boys and four girls, and some of the best youth in our stake, I think.

Some of my favorite experiences . . . getting that blasted wagon wheel fixed, FINALLY pulling into camp the first night,  singing with our family--our harmony was sweet, mourning Pa's death, (and glad it was temporary, and we got you back for the remainder of trek), giving birth out in the desert (ha-ha boys, FOOLED YOU!),  looking at the stars, Jana's awesome buffalo stew with honey & apples in it--a culinary masterpiece!, Quinn's classic response to "Temptation Junction:"  "RUN!!!!" Desert sunrises and sunsets, heaven-sent cloud cover, and a tail-wind for the end of a brutally hot day, rattlesnakes with half-eaten rabbits in their mouths (scary beyond all reason--but not really, because although he was really big, he was preoccupied, and couldn't hurt us), missing our son Quinn  when death took him, but comforted that he had an angel escort, ice water and watermelon in the valley!, sharing testimonies.

"If you will be faithful, you have nothing to fear from the journey.  The Lord will take care of his saints."  William Clayton, who penned the words to "Come, Come Ye Saints."

The Lord did take care of us.  

This is one of seven rattlesnakes that were found and shot while on our trek.  Miraculously, nobody was bitten.  (Arthur was the one to discover this beauty.  We all got to have a look since it was eating and couldn't do anything to us.)

Some of our great Gariety Family, waiting for our squeaky wheel to be repaired.

There is nothing like a New Mexico sunrise or sunset.

We are so thankful for this sacred experience.  It has truly sharpened our perspective on the sacrifices the pioneers made for their faith, and made us contemplate the question, what are we willing to give for this faith of our fathers?  The courage, faith and commitment of our pioneer ancestors (whether blood-related or not) is absolutely inspiring.  Arthur and I have come away with a deep desire to be totally committed to this beautiful gospel of Christ.  

It is true!  It is everything!  

It is worth giving everything we have, (fears, doubts, bad habits . . .) to be able to return to the Father someday worthy to hear the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

I bear my witness in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

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(Dallin's counting down the years until he can go. --Two treks from now . . . 8 years.)