I was looking forward to a quiet, leisurely weekend to myself! You see, Brett had invited BJ and the girls to join him at his ward’s Daddy/Daughter campout. So, that meant that I just got to hang out at home with Jase. I had arranged for Normandee and I to take dinner to Jill’s family last night. But, then after 5:00, I knew that I would have the whole night to myself. I borrowed some books from my parents and was really excited to sit and read. Well, when BJ picked the girls up from school, Addy was feeling sick. So, Addy ended up staying home…which meant that she had to tag along when we delivered dinner. Since she was sick, we left her in the car with Jase while we delivered the meal and saw their cute baby. We definitely did not want to bring sick germs into their home! Well, when Normandee and I got back in the car, Jase was crying. I immediately picked him up and I discovered…gum! In his hair! One look at Addy told the whole story. Apparently, her gum fell out of her mouth and got stuck in his hair. Well, she didn’t want to get in trouble so she was trying to get the gum out of his hair. Poor Addy. She was so worried. Well, really…poor Jase. Poor little guy was just standing there minding his own business when she dropped her gum on his head and then started pulling his hair out. But, a litte bit of peanut butter solved it all. There is no trace of gum anymore. I think Jase actually thought it was funny having his hair washed with peanut butter in the kitchen sink!
After washing Jase’s hair, we went out and took a couple of pictures, before coming home and doing puzzles together…

A little dirt never hurt anyone…right?

On the topic of dirt, I thought it was pretty cute that during Sister Beck’s talk tonight at the general relief society broadcast, when she was talking about that faithful pioneer relief society sisters, she said (paraphrasing): “They dealt with dirt, starvation and loss of loved ones…” Dirt! Does that even compare to starvation and loss of loved ones?!? I got a good laugh. Did anyone else even notice that? But, I can relate. Dirt brings my spirits down too. In fact, I have been feeling really frustrated that my house has been so messy lately. So, yes. Dirt can definitely be a hardship!

Introducing…HOLIDAY MINI-SESSIONS!!!

This fall I will be offering mini-sessions…so this is your opportunity to get great custom portraits with less of a time commitment and with less of an investment! See my photography blog (http://www.mindykiddphotography.blogspot.com/) for all of the details.
I would LOVE to take pictures for your friends and family too…so please pass the word along. Thanks!

I LOVE general conference and am prayerfully looking forward to hearing the words of the prophet and apostles. I have always loved general conference weekend. I know that as a child, sitting through the two hour sessions of conference was tedious and it was often difficult for me to focus on what the speakers were saying. But, every conference Saturday, my family would all dress up and drive into Mesa to attend conference with my grandparents and aunts. In between sessions, we went to a local pizza restaurant. At that restaurant, you could make your own ice cream cone for 10 cents! Well, you can be sure that we would fill that cone as high as possible! Surely, the restaurant lost money on conference Saturday with all the ice cream we ate.

But, as I grew older, I came to appreciate conference for the messages. It brings new meaning to the scripture “Feast Upon the Words of Christ.” As I came to understand the significance of conference weekend and recognized that the prophet and apostles were inspired and directed to teach us exactly what Heavenly Father wanted us to know, I realized that just as I looked forward to that special ice cream cone, the conference messages really are a treat for my spirit.

Well, we with cable broadcasting conference right into our home, we no longer dress up and go down to the church, But, we do still have a family tradition of listening to conference. In fact, every year we buy the BIG container of “jelly belly” jelly beans from Costco. They sit on top of our fridge unopened until the first session is about to start. (We use the jelly beans for the conference bingo game.) Well, the girls can see the jelly bellies up there and they know what is coming. So, at least once a day, they eagerly ask me when conference starts and when I say we have ___ more days to wait, they tell me that they WISH it was conference today. Well, one day we had friends over for a playdate and as usual, the girls asked me when conference was and proceeded to wish aloud that conference could start right now! Well, I didn’t even think about it because I knew that they were referring to the jelly beans on top of the fridge But, our visiting friends did not know about the jelly bellies. She was amazed that such small children wanted to hear the words of the prophets! We had a good laugh. I do hope that just as I started out looking forward to the ice cream cone and gradually started looking forward to the messages, that my children will recognize that conference is about more than jelly beans and will hear and implement the messages taught at conference. Amy posted a great idea on her blog that I thought I would share if any of you are looking for ways to help your children appreciate conference…I know what we will be doing for family home evening this Monday! Thanks Amy!

(http://mccallnapiers.blogspot.com/)

Calling all Arizonans! Are you registered to vote? We have the opportunity to stand for what is right. Vote YES for Prop 102. It states that “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.” Please make sure that you are registered to vote and take the time to vote for this important issue. If you aren’t registered to vote, you can go to http://www.yesformarriage.com/ and follow their links. You MUST register by October 6th! You can register right online or print out the form and mail it in. Remember that you need to re-register if you’ve moved or changed your name. Even if you are already registered, you can help Prop 102 by making sure your friends and family are registered, too. Don’t forget about those kids who will turn 18 by November 4th. Prop 102 needs your YES vote, so make sure that you are registered so that you can vote YES for marriage in this November’s election.

I spent the ENTIRE day yesterday on the phone with microsoft support because the “required download” for microsoft money corrupted my file, leaving me with no access to our budget/financial information. But, that is not actually the point of this post.
While I was waiting for my system to restart, the tech guy started some small talk. He was just talking about how unreal it is that 9/11 was seven years ago. He asked if I had realized that it had been so long ago because it just seems like time has flown by. I, of course, did not go into gushing detail with the stranger on the other end of the phone, but for me…those seven years have added significance. It also means that my little girl is growing up, that her childhood has rushed past me.
My Mom vigilantly kept baby books for each of us. In my baby book, she had recorded what world events were occurring around the time of my birth. I am totally going to date myself here, but she recorded that President Carter was the current president of the United States, disco was the latest dance, The best movie of the year was “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”, “Little House on the Prairie” was a popular TV show and straight leg pants were in fashion (thank goodness that fashion has passed). So, just hours after Kennady’s birth, BJ went with Kennady down to the nursery for her first bath. While they were gone, I turned on the news to get a glimpse into the world events of the day. I remember listening closely to the news and thinking to myself, “Seriously?” There was nothing newsworthy in the news! Well, just three days later as I sat at home with my first newborn baby, I received a call from a friend asking me if I had seen the news. I turned the television on just in time to see the second plane crash.
So, while it is true that it seems unimagineable that 9/11 could have occurred seven years ago, I am also thinking about my seven year old girl… {sigh}.

Jase is teething again. His top teeth are about to break in. I know that he will be so much happier once the misery of teething is behind him, but I will be a little sad. This signifies the end of the baby phase. Once those top teeth come in, he will look like a big boy instead of my little baby boy! Yes, he does always have his mouth hanging open…and check out the drool! Ha Ha!

BJ discovered this super scary, creepy, and still somehow amazing (despite all the freakiness) spider in our backyard yesterday.

Did you know that an orb web may have 1,200 junctions, each crafted perfectly? The spider must calculate the exact length and tension of each succeeding line so the earlier ones don’t go slack. Slack lines don’t transmit vibrations. The standard orb web is completed in only 20 minutes at about 3 – 4 a.m. Most orb weavers rebuild their webs once a day; they take the web down and eat it to be completely recycled in their body and reused in about 30 minutes. Spiders coat their feet with an oily fluid from their mouths so they don’t stick to the webs. Because spiders have oil on their legs, the don’t stick to their own webs, while everything else will stick to the web.
During (homeschool) kindergarten, Kennady, Addy and I studied about spiders. One of our assignments was to touch scotch tape and feel how sticky it was. Then, we dipped our fingers in a little bit of vegetable oil and touched the tape again. It was no longer sticky! That lesson about how a spider can build it’s web without sticking to it really “stuck” with the girls and they always find it amazing how a spider can build a web and trap prey. So, when BJ found the spider and it’s web, he found a few bugs and dropped them into the web so we could watch the spider in action.
Web spinning spiders do not have very good eyesight, so they depend of the vibrations from the movement to alert them to prey. As soon as the bug started struggling in the web, the spider quickly climbed down the web and started wrapping it up. So, who needs the discovery channel? We are watching nature unfold in our own backyard.

Happy 7th Birthday to Kennady!
Our birthday activities:
When asked what type of cake she wanted, Kennady told us that she really just wanted apple muffins. So, for breakfast, she got a candle in an apple muffin.

Then, she got ready for school and off she went. She was very excited to take in a treat to share with her school class. This was the first year she has been able to celebrate at school since we did homeschool for kindergarten. Then last year, school started so late in the year that we were still on summer break for her birthday. So, celebrating at school was a big source of excitement. She came home with a folder full of notes that each of her classmates wrote for her. There were several cute and sweet message, but by far the funniest message was written by a little boy in her class:

BJ and I picked the girls up from school about 15 minutes early and headed into Tempe. BJ had to pick up his books on campus for the start of his new semester. The girls thought it would be really fun to see Daddy’s school so we all went in Daddy took us on a little tour. The nice lady in the bookstore even gave each girl a package of gummy bears. Addy came up to BJ and whispered, “How come only boys go to your school?” Ha Ha! Obviously some girls do attend, but an overwhelming percentage of engineering/technology students are male. …just cute that she realized it.
Afterwards, we stopped by The Black Mineral Market at Arizona Mills Mall and gave Kennady $5 to spend on whatever she wanted. Anyone who has spent much time with Kennady recently has seen her rock collection. She is very proud of her collection and will carefully explain the significance of each rock to anyone willing to listen. She very carefully deliberated what she would spend her money on and settled on a stone ring, two tumbled gemstones and a notebook made from dried leaves, which was actually very cool. Then, when we got home, she was excited to see the treasures that David Burk had sent home with BJ for her birthday. He sent her some of his rock collection…including a peice of petrified wood, a large chunk of obsidian and most impressively a geode. She was so excited when she held the unimpressive looking rock and realized that it was cracked and it opened to reveal beautiful quartz crystals lining the inside of the rock. Thank you David for the incredibly thoughtful gift! The girls also enjoyed playing kids karaoke with Kennady’s sing song machine.

About a week ago, BJ made brownies for a Sunday evening treat. While Kennady was waiting for them to cool, she actually fell asleep. Knowing that she would be disappointed if she didn’t get a brownie, BJ woke her up after the other kids were in bed and told her she could come have a little brownie. It was so fun to spend some time with just her. I don’t even remember what we were talking about, but she sighed and said, “I’m glad I’m me.” I’m glad you’re you too, Kennady! Thank you for coming to our family. Happy Birthday to you!

When preparing the spiritual message for our Relief Society presidency meeting last night, I discovered a quote by President George Q. Cannon that was so inspiring and comforting to me. So, I thought I would share it:

“No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is against His character to do so. He is an unchangeable being…. He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and the purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.”