The Relief Society Presidency

Here we are, the lovely ladies of the Huntington 5th Ward Relief Society Presidency. Our second counselor, starting at the left, if Floann Wilson, followed by the president, Sharmon Gilbert, and me .... you know me if you're reading this -- the giant who's casting the shadow on the other two, in case you forgot. We've spent a great three-and-a-half years serving together and decided to go out as any dedicated R.S. presidency should, by hosting one last funeral ... that lasted four hours. It truly is a gift to serve though, so that's not a complaint. We're supposedly going to be released tomorrow, although we'll see if this is the week or not. One things for sure, I never imagined that serving with a woman a couple years older than my mom and another the age of my oldest sister would bring me so much friendship and such a strong bond of love. I value those two ladies and the three secretaries we had during our service like none other. They are my sisters here, my adopted family. What a difference they've made in me, in my attitude toward serving in the Relief Society, for my family and future. Thanks, Floann and Sharmon. You're two in a million, and I love ya for it!

Wendy's Four-Wheeled Hair Flip

Now there's a girl who knows how to work the camera, eugh? I have to admit, I didn't have time to take a picture yesterday. All the kids have been sick and I've been wrapped up in the "Hunger Games" series, that I finished this morning. Excellent reading. I recommend. This picture above is just another choice capture of the last weekend. I think you'll agree that Wendy's a natural talent. I think you should be a feature in the next Bates' Family parade. You could be the drill team.

Orange at Sunset

I'm reading the "Hunger Games" series right now and just started on the second book in the series, "Catching Fire." One of the main characters in the book likes to paint pictures, a commonality that we share. He mentions in the book that his favorite color is the orange in the sky at sunset. I stepped outside of our front door last night and took this shot of a coming storm, and I have to agree with Peeta, it is pretty spectacular to behold.

Kimball and Koria's First Day of Preschool 2010

To quote Kimball quoting Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, "Uh, yikes!" My kids are really growing up too fast. Yesterday marked their entry into their second preschool. I took them a bit too early ( I think we were all anxious) and went to pick them up too early too. Little did I know that I was not supposed to pick them up directly at the door of the preschool, as I found out by first-hand experience. The woman who runs the preschool this year is in our ward. Great lady. VERY structured. I broke up the structure. Inadvertently. When I showed up at the door, she was trying to talk with the kids still, and Koria saw me, exclaiming, "MY MOM'S HERE!" Well, that just threw the soldier line that the teacher was trying to form them all into into a giant uproar. Once they finally marched out of the door, Koria and Kimball break the line formation, some "traditional marching-out-to-their-mommies" line that I was unaware of, and sent kids marching to their own beat. As three and four-year-olds headed around the corner, along with me, the giant mommy who doesn't follow the rules, I see at leat fifteen other women lined up to snap pictures of their little darlings on the eve of their first day of preschool. Bet I made a lovely addition to all their memories of the day, now didn't I? Me, and 17 young children plus a confused teacher to follow.

What can I say? It's been a long month. Already.

Bates Family Nuthouse

I can't help it. The crazy family photos really are the best. I love you guys.

Shots from last Saturday

One of the highlights of the trip for our kids, other than seeing family, was the time we spent at Darby Girls' Camp on the giant slides. I took this picture of Jared and Kimball as we walked back to our vehicles after the adventures of the day.

Kaitlyn, I'll tell you what, I can't believe you're only nine. What a rock star.

The definitely look like their related. Here's Kedryn and Kimball on right before a ride on the four-wheeler.

And this little nugget I like to call "Girls in Bloom." How cheesy is that? You look stunning, ladies! Thanks for coming on the ride with me. Notice the Teton's in the background too.

I love, you Mom and Dad. I can't tell you both that enough. It means the world to me that I was raised by such wonderful, loving parents. Thanks for letting me be one of your children. It's an honor. By the way, Jared took this shot. I happen to love it.

Around the Cabin

I took a lot of pictures this last weekend while we were at the cabin over Labor Day Weekend. Here's a few of my personal favorites. This first one is what Tyler told Becky he'd want for his screensaver. Download it if you want, man.

It took some work to get this close to this butterfly. I liked the outcome.

Kaitlyn, Koria, and Micah all thought that I was a bit off taking this picture, but I loved the look of these boots under the swing.

One of the best parts of the whole trip, for me, was getting to see how much Dad enjoyed holding and talking to Layne. She enjoyed it just as much.

Ahhh, who can resist this face? Not Becky, that's for sure. Luke's been mourning the loss of his favorite person in the whole world (yeah, I think Becky tops me ....) since our return Monday night.

The Real Life Version

Last Thursday, Koria woke up and told me that she wanted "Princess Leia buns" in her hair that day and that she wanted them still in to show Aunt Becky that night when we drove up to Idaho. This is what I came up with, and I managed to talk her out of keeping the curlers in that whole day. We didn't get to Sugar City until around midnight, so I'm glad that I was persuasive enough to convince her out of keeping them in all day long.

Drawings of a Four-Year-Old

I think I reached the point today where I'm ready for K&K to be back at school. I'm one of those rare parents who actually, for the most part, really likes having her kids home for the summer. But today? I felt like hanging a sign on the front window that read, "Sorry, we're closed for the season." Yes, the entertainment factory that I have become has been disabled. This old brain and body need a revamp, a new battery.

Luke and Layne genuinely need some individual help with getting themselves dressed, fed, played with, carried around the house, etc., but the older two were above and beyond needy of my attention today (makes me sound pretty lame for a mom, huh?). When Koria whined for the whateverith time today that I was not doing something with her, I suggested that she draw a picture right by me while I make dinner for the night. Of course, that was not good enough. I had to tell her what to draw. They've been on such a "Star Wars" kick that I suggested that she draw a picture of one of the characters. Naturally, she chose pictures of her favorite, Princess Leia.

When she showed me the pictures, I couldn't help but smile. I love her hair buns. Doesn't get better than that, does it? In fact, that beats any drawing that I've ever done, hands down. Leave it to a four-year-old to show the schooled artist how it's done.

Can't wait to see all the art projects she'll be bringing home from preschool in another week ...

Laundry

It seems we had a laundry list of things to do today -- including laundry. This is what happens when we let the laundry pile up for three days at our house.

My Little Pony Scratch Art

Jared brought home a packet of scratch art from work that was not given away to the kids during some of their benefits fair events, which Koria and Kimball decided was great. They've been having a good time making all kinds of pictures, especially Koria. I think she's inherited my right-brain way of thinking and creating. Kimball's got the logical, problem-solving nature of Jared. Whatever the case, here's some of the artwork and my four-year-olds in the process.

Good-Things-to-Come

Good-Things-to-Come

Lady Killer/Fresh Salsa

I had originally thought of writing about Kimball, pictured below, but when I typed up the title to this post, I couldn't resist putting a picture on here as well of the fresh salsa that I made today. Both titles apply ... to both pictures. You can imagine why.

This, of course, if Kimball "Lady Killer" Black. Today he was spotlighted in Primary, and he could not have been more excited. I wrote up some info about him that was read during Primary, and all of the other kids had a chance to guess who it was. Koria told me that when it was read that the spotlight person was said to like orange as his/her favorite color, she "KNEW then that it was Kimball," as if no other mortal on the face of the earth loves orange in quite the same way as her twin brother. Made me laugh. And yeah, Kimball's quite a good mix, so "fresh salsa" with a lot of jalepeno applies as well to him as the mixture above. I love 'em both.

Patience and Faith

For those of you unfamiliar with our garage, here it is ... at it's best.

Really.

We decided that enough was enough, and we cleaned it up as best as we could. Here's the result.

Tonight while reading scriptures, we read about how the Lord tries His peoples' patience and their faith. Koria replied, "Just like when we cleaned the garage today, right? That was testing our patience AND faith!"

Jared just told me that while he was fixing up their bikes this aftenoon, he mentioned to Kimball that he found a needed screw driver. Kimball's response?

"Yes, Daddy! The screwdriver of awesomeness!"

They've promised to be both "reverent" and "quiet," in their own words, tomorrow at church. That way they get to do their latest hit activity, play board games with us. We hope they succeed ... at both.

Old Barns

I think that barns just get better with age. There's a lot of old barns in the area to take pictures of, and I think they make good subjects.

Good Day For Climbing

It was hot. We were sick of the house. It was a good day for climbing.

Point of View

On Tuesday, August 24, we found ourselves in Salt Lake City for a variety of reasons, mainly Layne's appointment with a geneticist at Primary Children's Hospital. I'll write more about that on the other blog. We also took the time to wander with the kids around temple square, eat at a Mongolian BBQ grill that we loved while living in Orem, and visit the Orem City Park. I loved taking pictures all along the way, but here's just a few of the temple that I took, from a variety of perspectives. I liked them all.

Hay Bales

The other day as we were driving back from the park, Koria and Kimball decided to try and teach Luke a few things to say. Kimball stuck to the basics, but Koria, seeing the nearby field, turned to him and said, "Luke, can you say, 'stack of circle hay bales?'" Kinda reminded me of myself at her age. Hope you can still say "gourmet" Derek.

K&K are always saying things that crack us up, but just to mention another from this last Sunday, they were putting stickers onto their chore charts when Koria grew really excited.

"Hey Mom, we moked our beds this morning!"

Took me a second to figure out that she's creating her own tenses. Hope you "moked" your bed this morning too.

Cow Sign Tipping

We realize that there isn't much to do in Emery County, and although I've heard of "cow tipping" as something for teenagers to do out of sheer boredom, I've never heard of cow "sign" tipping. We really do live in the middle of nowhere.

Per Request of Wendy

How could I resist the urge to post one more classic pic of Uncle Scotty when I had just posted one of the all-time greats of his wife? You rock, bro, you rock!