My baby boy is 16...

It's hard to believe it. It's a huge milestone for him and it's excrutiating for me to realize he's more man than child... will be driving soon, dating, getting ready for a mission... it's a lot to take in.

I checked in on him tonight at 124am... that's the time he was born sixteen years ago. He was sleeping -- looked sweet and peaceful. Fortunately for both of us, he sleeps better now than he did as a baby.

Such a good kid. Such a good young man.

I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Then and Now

I made bread yesterday and again today... an "object" to go with Kendon's Home Teaching message... Today I made another batch of bread so it would be fresh for the rest of his HT families tonight.

Anyway, when my kids got home and smelled the fresh bread, their mouths literally started to water and they headed right over to get a few slices. As they moaned and chewed and sighed, I had to laugh -- they were enjoying it SOOOOO much. I used to make bread all the time, but I haven't been very good about making it lately. My family really enjoys it when I do, though. In fact, they BEG me to make it.

Now onto the then and now part of the story... I remember as a kid, my mom made bread every week, without fail. And it was good. She is an awesome breadmaker. But I also remember begging her, on occasion, NOT to make bread but instead let us eat STORE BOUGHT bread... what a treat for us! Whenever we got to have "boughten bread" I'd take the crust off and eat it, then I'd either flatten out the rest and nibble it, or I'd squish it into a round ball and eat it. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a treat for me.

Fast forward several years into the present. I shared this memory with my kids as they were inhaling piece after piece of fresh bread and they told my I must have been crazy. It's funny to me how a homemade piece of bread can make my kids eyes roll back in their heads when as a kid, all I wanted was store bought bread. Perspective is certainly shaped by what we have / do not have and what we consider "normal" versus "special".

Check this out! Pretty funny

Elder Moon, Man What Will You Do? (Show Me Your Virtue)

Our Master bedroom... looks pretty good
but we usually keep it pretty clean


Madison's room... looks really good. She's
worked hard to get it looking like this


Todd's room looks awesome... it's NEVER
looked this good! And he worked hard to
get it looking this great.

The craziness before more craziness

Well, this weekend is the last one before our house goes on the market. And I've been cleaning and organizing and purging like a maniac for weeks. But today, we got down to the surface stuff. Bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. My kids (and husband) are amazing.

Madi and I talked this morning about what she needed to do. Before I knew it, she had MADE A LIST, complete with tick boxes, and started in on her work. She is a girl after my own heart... a list, can you believe it??

And Todd...what can I say? He doesn't need a list. I told him what I needed him to do and he just went for it. I haven't seen his room so clean EVER!! And he dusted, vacuumed, cleaned his bathroom... then he and Kendon went outside for a little break where Todd thoroughly cleaned up on the BB court... the loser had to pick up dog poop. Suffice it to say, Todd was thrilled to see Kendon picking up after the dog.

Everyone has stepped up today and really taken on a lot of responsibility which has been so nice for me. I've been able to do what I need to do while they all do their chores. And the house is looking pretty dang good. By Monday, it'll look awesome... bring on the buyers!