Noah's Smiles

Super-Speedo-Hulk?

"Happy People Have Froggies"

This title is one of Isaac's great quotes. I am so glad I started family quote book, but nobody ever sees its contents, so I thought I would share some of my favorites accompanied by pictures of the superhero who I frequently claim as my son.

He loves pretending. Thanks, Bob & Tiffany for the AWESOME superhero kit! He also loves his Incredibles pj's and says several times a day "I'm Dash," often correcting us when we call him "Isaac" or "honey."

After checking out some Arnold Lobel books at the library, he started saying, "I'm frog. You're toad. We're friends."

Admiring one of Jared's old action figures, he has said, "He-Man's mad. Is he wearing a diaper?"

Last month he said, "I married in the temple!" When I asked who he married, there was a tiny pause and then: "You!"

I have also heard him playing under the desk while I'm on the computer. He goes to "the store" and then: "jiggity jig. I'm home!" I think pretending is such a fun part of childhood.

Isaac also has a great sense of humor, as most everyone knows. After getting a wayward hashbrown or noodle into his mouth, he congratulates himself, "Way to suck it in!"

Right after my birthday we had a lot of leftover cake, so we covered it to avoid having Isaac get upset each time he saw it and couldn't eat some. Eventually he figured out its hiding place (under a bowl), and he would often climb up to the counter, lift up the bowl and say, "Hello cake, how are you?"

The best example, though, is when he answered a random question of mine with this: "No, don't talk, you don't have a mouth!"

I think he also thinks it's funny to say, "Um, what did I say?" a lot. We're not sure why.

Another time he cracked us up was when he had a sucker in the car and then suddenly I didn't see it. After many repetitions of "where is your candy?" he took his sweet time to say, "Oh, maybe I dropped it..." in a causal air.

He has also been heard to say, "I need to get a life!" and the other night when he was opposed to blessing the food, he interrupted Jared's prayer with "No! It's messing up my life!"

Perhaps we should just stop there. We hope you have enjoyed the latest Quotes by Isaac. Join us next time!

Tender Mercies

I have been meaning to write this for a while, but I think it's still pertinent. For a while, I had been having extra "down" days. It's easy to get stuck in a rut; it happens to us all. But I was thinking this one was extra hard to get out of, and I was feeling particularly alone.
Have your prayers ever sounded like this: "Thanks a lot. Are you listening?" or "A little help would be great about now!" That's how mine were, but it wasn't a humble cry for help; it was definitely prideful.
It took a lot of things to help me out. Those talks after "Music and the Spoken Word seemed to be just for me. There were miracles, too, particularly the one on Easter when Isaac fell off my mother's porch without a single bruise. I was also touched by others' experiences; I realized I wasn't alone.
Eventually it ocurred to me that there were a million ways the Lord was trying to show me that He cares! Wow. I didn't see it until after the fact, but it was like sitting in the dark with a lamp right beside me, if only I would choose to reach out and turn it on (this picture happens to illustrate that, but it's strictly coincidental).

Noah's smiles are a HUGE tender mercy in my life.

So, yes, potty-training is hard. Actually lots of things are hard about having a toddler-- I'm learning to change my parenting with Love & Logic, so I have hope for the future (and that's another story). But look at the blessings! I love my boys. Even if my hair has been thrown into a crummy-looking pony tail and it's obvious I've been crying recently... you can tell that I am happy. Well, I am. It's like M. Russell Ballard said: "the joys of motherhood come in small moments." Live in the moment!


We all have our trials in life. For some of us, it's being a little crazy (that's me); for others, it's having to live with someone who's a little crazy (that's Jared). Whatever our trials are, they are there to strengthen us, and He knows we can do it.
What tender mercies have you been given today?

Letting Go

Last night my wonderful sister, Bobbie, spent the night at my house so I could get up early and go skiing (with my wonderful Mom!). It was perfect. We were there early enough to be the first (well, second) ones in line. I stepped into the bindings on my newly-waxed and tuned skis and...my bindings both broke in half! Weird.

So then we drove across the parking lot to see if they could be fixed. Then I trashed the parts of the bindings that fell off, stuck my skis in the rental shop and paid for some rentals. Sheesh!

Well, it was still perfect. Nobody there, we had the place to ourselves! I haven't been in over a year and my attendance in the ski-bum arena has been steadily declining since my first year of college. But it was like old times again, except now my mom is AMAZING.

I think she has a death wish. She goes screaming down the mountain, and having gone 70 times this year (no lie), I'm sure she has begun to change the way the trees stand.

Anyway, we had a blast.

Why are there no pictures for this post? I'll tell you. I took some pictures with my phone because I forgot the camera. But guess what? I dropped my phone.

I wish that were an April Fools joke. No. I dropped my phone.

We spent at least an hour looking for it in the powder under the ski lift, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It took a lot out of me to finally let go. Like all things in life except relationships and true principles, that phone was not going to last forever. There comes a time when stuff dies (well, except styrofoam, but who wants to hold on to a piece of styrofoam?).

Just thinking of all the missed calls I'm going to have on that poor phone, lost in the snow up there all alone...maybe I should have a funeral just to get over it.

This was the last picture I sent myself from that phone: Noah's smile. And there were so many other great ones!

If I would have known I'd lose it so tragically, maybe I would have named it...Phannie. Goodbye forever, Phannie!