Conversations with Elise

Recent conversation with Elise:

"Mommy, if you had three wishes, what would they be?"

"I'd wish for lots of money so we could pay off our debts and go on a Disney Cruise"

(Then I really couldn't think of anything else)


Then I ask her what she'd wish for:

I'd wish that there would be no more bad people in the world and no pollution.

Hm, yeah, I felt pretty ashamed! But heck, I was put on the spot and it was the first thing I could think of.

Deep doctrine with my three year old

Over the past week, I've had lots of conversations with Miles about death, dying, and the afterlife. I had no idea what spurred his questions, but I assumed it was because we've been talking a lot about a friends' dad who recently passed away. Miles wanted to know how we will get to heaven and all kinds of other specifics.

He keeps talking about Jesus getting nailed to the cross and I can tell he is very disturbed. Anytime anyone says "Jesus" in a prayer or whatever, he shouts out, "But Jesus Died!" So I've been explaining that Jesus died, but he was resurrected and he lives again and he helps us, etc. And that when we die (when we are really old) we can live with him again and that he really loves us and we love him and we will be so happy there.

Miles's response? As soon as Daddy walks in the door, "Mommy says we are all going to die, and I don't want to die!"

These are the kinds of statements I've heard over the last week:
"I don't want to be an angel!"
"I don't want to go to heaven because I don't think there are any toys there, because I saw on my Jesus show, and there weren't any toys!"
"I don't think there is going to be anything fun in heaven"
"I don't want to go to heaven because we can't eat food there--or pee."
"In heaven, there are no Spiderman Monster Trucks."
"But how will we get to heaven? Oh yeah, I think we'll have to fly there in a big airplane because it is in the clouds"
When I explained that we don't know right where heaven was, he was disturbed again, "How will we get there if no one knows the way? Someone must know how to get there though!"

So we did a little FHE on it last night and tried to clear up a few things. Afterwards, he started talking about snakes in heaven and I wanted to know why he thought there were snakes there. So Monet jumped in and cleared explained the background and how Miles came to be afraid of death. Apparently when grandma was babysitting and teaching Monet from her art books, Miles was busy studying Michelangelo's "The Last Judgement". I am sure he was fascinated by all those scary angels, skeleton's and snakes. But no wonder the afterlife doesn't look all that appealing. It doesn't look very good to me either represented like this:

And here is the link to the detailed one with the snakes and demons: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Lastjudgement.jpg/

Poor kid! I think he is traumatized. A lot of religious renaissance art IS downright scary. Maybe we'll plan a trip to the Church Museum here soon. I think Miles needs a little something to restore his faith.

Sweet and Sassy

So my darling 20 month old has quite the fiesty streak (I cannot imagine where that came from :). Here is the proof. Jared didn't believe me when I told him that she said "I hate you" so I grabbed the camera everytime she got mad and finally caught her in the act. It was actually pretty funny. When Elise went through this stage (although the I hate you phrase was never used with her, those younger kids pick up quite the vocab), I was SO worried that I'd somehow created a little monster. But this time around, I've been there done that, and feel like if she turns out anything like Elise, I have nothing to worry about.

Elise was very vocal and screamed about everything. Somehow she morphed into the sweetest child and now all that other stuff is history. So hopefully Simone will follow suit. Otherwise, we may be in for it. Here she is and it is naptime. As you can see, her enunciation is not the greatest, but she's got the tone down pat!

Fall Football

Jared and I had a great weekend watching BYU shut out UCLA 59-0. I was hoping that they were going to score 70 plus points, but then Jared explained that they'd get accused of bad sportsmanship if they did that. Sure enough, I guess that was an issue. Darn, I was really hoping for more touchdowns so I could sing the Fight song a few more times. And really, how lame is that? If I were running a race, would I slow down at the end to make sure I didn't hurt anyone's feelings? Come on. Let them play already! I guess the players who don't normally start got some good playing time in.

Jared dragged me out during the fourth quarter insisting that we beat the traffic. It was such a funny moment, I was begging to stay, and he wanted to go? Weird.

We are hoping that we can get another brother over here playing at BYU so we can score some more free tickets like the good old days. Come on Jordy! You can do it. Jared's little brother was Orange County Defensive Player of the Week last week. He had 20 tackles and a fumble recovery in one game. Pretty exciting! We think BYU needs to do some more recruiting down in So. California or Jordan might turn into a Ute. We can't let that happen. http://ocvarsity.freedomblogging.com/2008/09/13/ocvarsity-defensive-star-of-the-week/

My sister Angela and her family was also there. It was fun to see them at halftime


We got to have another marathon date thanks to grandma. We went to see the movie Hancock afterwards. I loved it! The kids did a little spa and movie night with grandma. I love it that they are excited for us to leave!

We've reached a milestone

Elise now wears my shoes. Yes, her feet (at 8 years old) are almost as big as mine. We bought her a darling pair of size SIX womens Nikes a couple of weeks ago. I can't believe it. She is very excited to take after her daddy. She is hoping to be tall, and is always asking me how tall I think she is going to be.


I guess this is what happens when a size 6.5 marries a size 14.

What were YOU like in Junior High?

Because I just saw a pretty funny glimpse of myself the other day.

It all started when a few days ago Elise was sitting at the table writing up a list of names for her future children and asking me how I liked them. It was really cute to hear what she liked and why, and how many kids she planned (she originally wanted 12, but now she is down to 4 or 2) I suggested that she write all this stuff in her journal because it would be so fun to read when she gets older.

I told her that I filled up about ten journals in Elementary, Junior High and High School. I thought it would be so fun for her to read about some of my Junior High experiences. So I went down to the cold storage and retrieved my journal from ages 11-13. All I can say is WOW. I read about two pages (including one in which I rode in a stolen car with some 13 year old girls driving) and realized it will be years before they open any of those books. Back when I was writing, I used to dream of my kids wanting to read my journal and learning through my experiences. I realized that my journal is not for them, it is for ME. It is so that I can refresh my memory of how I used to be and not stress too much if my kids hate me or if they are as reckless, obstinate, moody and insecure as I was!

Fortunately, seventh grade was just a bad year. I shaped up pretty quick, but SHEESH.

Sentences Simone can say now:

I want mom.
I want that.
Where is mom?
I hate you Mommy.

Yes, my 19 month old actually said that to me the other day. Miles had given her a giant chocolate bar, and I took it away and broke off a little piece for her, and she screamed, "I hate you Mommy!"

I was shocked! I can only guess that she learned that from Miles. Sad.