Taygan and Brandis

Here are my funny littlest ones. I find them hiding in this cupboard all the time. I used to have stuff in here but Taygan kept getting in there and taking everything out, so I emptied it and now they like to play in there. I wonder where they get that from.



They also just love to get their pictures taken apparently. They decided to pose together and be silly.






They're lots of fun to spend my days with. I'm debating whether or not I want to put Brandis in preschool next year because I'm afraid Taygan and I will miss him too much.

Koen in Scouts

Our ward has a very awesome scouting program. We have lots of great leaders and they go out of there way to make sure the boys have a good time. I have some pictures of the pinewood derby.




Koen did really well at the derby and got second place.


Friday night we went to a Mad Ants game. The Mad Ants are the Fort Wayne basketball team. The scouts got to hold the flags for the National Anthem before the game. Then the Mad Ant came and posed with them. During the second half of the game somebody asked if the boys would like to get a tour of the locker room. Koen and the other boys thought it was really cool to see that. I think that was Koen's favorite part. I guess he's never been in a locker room before.



We had a great time. Our team didn't win because the Reno Bighorns were just too good, but it was nice to enjoy a night out with Koen.

Brandis' Bad Hair Day

Our son Brandis has wild hair. It grows fast and when he takes a nap it goes in every which direction. Here are a few photos to display his bad hair awesomeness.

Photos

I got a new camera for Christmas from my brother Sam and his wife Jenny. I decided today that I need to get my photos off of it so I'll be doing various posts to show off my pictures. I'll start with our New Years celebration. We also got a chocolate fountain for Christmas so we had that and fruit and pound cake and marshmallows, plus the usual chips and stuff for our party.



We also had party hats and noise makers and streamers. We played some music and had a good time. We started our party early and then at 9 pm we acted as if it was midnight and did the poppers and danced. Then we went to bed. It was a lot of fun.

Not Fair!

I know somebody who never gets headaches. This person also never has a sore back and also never experiences being sick to their stomach with worry. I wonder what it would be like to not have thoughts and worries effect your physical being. Luckily I don't get very many headaches anymore, but my neck, shoulders and back constantly have knots. I can get in such a worry that my stomach will ache and ache. My stomach will not rest until I know what to do and make a decision.
So why is this other person so lucky? Who knows, I guess maybe people like that have to suffer in other ways. One thing I do know is that suffering isn't all bad. The R.S. lesson was on sacrifice today which lead into trials and personal sufferings. I remembered there is purpose behind everything that happens to us. Maybe even the way that we each receive our trials has personal purpose for us. It gave me something to think about.

Small World

As I have been getting to know people in my new ward I have found out that I have some connections with some of them. On Wednesday one of them brought a photo that she had of me from a youth conference when I was 15 yr. old. One family has a brother that was the high priest assigned to my old ward and the wife grew up with one of my college roommates. A member of our bishopric and the primary pres. who are married to each other used to live in Linz which is where I served my mission for about 5 mths. We never met but we know many of the same people. Of course some people know my dad from when the stake had larger boundaries a long time ago. Through Facebook I found out that a couple of my friends grew up here and we share friends now. I'm sure it will just keep on coming too.
One thing that the one with the photo of me said was when she showed the picture to her son after she found it. She explained how we met over 15 years ago and must have become friends. She told him that he needs to be nice to people he meets because they might just show up again years down the road. That made me laugh at first but then I really started thinking about it. What if I had left a bad impression on these connections I have? What if I would have been rude to her and she had this photo of me that she drew a mustache on and stuck pins threw the eyes? How awkward would that have been? What if my roommate thought I was crazy and now this friend in my ward is hearing all these wild stories about me and starts spreading it around? You get the point. Well, hopefully nothing like that is the case.
I have decided though that throughout the rest of my life the world will probably continue to get smaller and smaller so I need to make sure I am always keeping myself in check. I mean, if people are going to find out that they both know me, I want them to say something good about me. I don't want my name being tarnished. "Oh, Sarah Bullock, yeah she eats boogers." "Oh I remember her. Her clothes were always too tight." "She always had a filthy mouth." No Way! I want "Yeah, she was always so sweet." "That girl cracks me up." "I always wanted her to marry my brother so we could be sisters." That's the kind of stuff I want said about me.
The End

Honest Boys

The elementary school where my boys attend has a life skills program. Each student is working on one life skill this entire school year. At our first parent teacher student meeting we discussed and picked which one the student would work on. In addition to that the school has a monthly life skill that they focus on. For the month of November it was truthfulness. Each teacher chose one child from their class who they felt displayed the life skill of truthfulness.
Two of my boys were bestowed the honor of receiving this award. I have Eades in the front row, the third from the right. Koen is in the back row, the third from the left. I had to use my camera phone to take a picture so the quality is not very good. I'm telling the truth though, they really did get the award.
We are so proud of them and I didn't want to buy a bunch of copies and cut out the article and mail it out, so I did this instead. Now you can all rejoice in the efforts of my children online.