Thankful

So last night I was making dinner. It was almost ready I just needed to cook the corn. I boiled the water on the stove and I think there was something that was spilled on the stove because there was a little bit of smoke. I opened the window (we do that here in January) and pulled out the frozen corn. Dang it! The corn was frozen in one huge hunk. I stood there for a moment trying to chisel away at the corn when I suddenly heard a loud buzzing noise and then a small explosion came from my stove.

It looked like the whole burner was on fire and sparks flew all over my kitchen. Not small sparks either. I seriously thought "houses burn down all the time, now it's happening to me." I'm a little disturbed by how unclear my thinking was though. I always thought that in an emergency everything would come to me to know what to do. Not so. I didn't hesitate however to yell at the kids to get out of the house. However, as I said my thinking wasn't clear because the kids were already playing outside. I just stood there for a moment thinking "where is the dang fire extinguisher" (Under the sink in the very back behind the detergent, grocery bag and cleaning supplies. Maybe I should move it to somewhere a little more accessible). Luckily for me the explosion had burned a hole in my pot (Seriously, it burned a hole in my metal pot. Who has ever heard of that happening?), and the water poured out of the pot and put the fire out.

I am thankful that none of the sparks hit me, or the roll of paper towels, or the pile of grocery ads, or anything else flammable.

I am thankful that my corn was frozen in a huge hunk so that my hand wasn't directly over the pot pouring the corn in when it caught fire.

I am thankful that my pot of water put out the fire by itself.

I am thankful that Murphy's law doesn't hold true. So many things could have gone wrong and they didn't. I didn't even have to use the fire extinguisher.

I'm thankful that my house is still standing and my family is all safe.

I am thankful that I have better incentive to prepare for a fire (yes, I moved the fire extinguisher).

Seriously, How does this happen? I'm a little worried that it could happen again?

What's In A Name

I think birthday's have gone really well when a kid really feels special at the end of the day. I think today was a successful birthday. Hyrum turned four today. He got to celebrate with his first "friend party" at the park. It's true what everybody says. I can't believe it's been four years already, but at the same time it feels like he's always been part of our family.

When I was pregnant with Hyrum I really wanted Alan to have a brother to play with and we were thrilled to find out that we were having a boy. The only downside was trying to find a boys name that we liked. I really didn't have any ideas. One day I found a baby name website (I was perusing those quite a bit) that let you do a search for names with a certain meaning. I put in the meaning of brother, the name Hyrum came up, and I had a name for my son. I already liked the name Hyrum. It sounded cool, and of course the first (and really, the only) Hyrum that came to mind was Hyrum Smith. I'm thrilled to name my son after him.

Hyrum Smith was brother to the prophet Joseph Smith. I imagine that his parents were inspired to give him a name that meant brother. After all he was the brother of all brothers. He stuck with his brother through thick and thin and even died with him. I obviously don't want my boys to suffer the same fate, but I hope that when my boys are older they will look to Joseph and Hyrum as examples of how they should be as brothers.

For now, even though they are each others favorite punching bag, they are also the greatest of friends.

My Hyrum

Hyrum

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the cannery, and my dear friend who is also Hyrum's preschool teacher watched Hyrum for me while I was there. When I came to pick up Hyrum I was surprised to get such a sad little boy. While he had so much fun the first few hours he was there, he had spent the last hour crying and upset. I don't remember the last time Hyrum cried for a babysitter. And this wasn't just any babysitter, it was his beloved preschool teacher. He wanted to go home immediately and told me that he never wanted to go back there. What on earth is going on? This is not my Hyrum.

The rest of the day wasn't any better. He was moody all day and scared that night. He even ended up sleeping with Alan last night. This morning wasn't any better. He vacillated between not wanting to go to preschool and telling me that he needed to go right now. Finally about an hour before preschool was to start Hyrum ran into the room crying and blurted out "I threw the ball over the wall!" That was it. He threw the ball over the wall of her house when he wasn't supposed to. The guilt ate him up inside until he couldn't handle it anymore. Do you think he will still be this way in high school? Maybe it will keep him from getting into trouble. Well, as soon as he confessed I got my old Hyrum back.

I remember something similar happening when I was a kid. I don't remember what it was about, but I lied to my mom. I felt so awful I remember just lying on the floor and my mom trying to figure out what was wrong with me. It's funny how terrible I felt about it then, but by the time I was a teenager I could lie with out batting an eye. We kind of get ruined as we get older. Though Hyrum didn't do anything intentionally wrong (I think), his conscience wasn't cleared until he confessed. I suppose this is why the Lord said that we need to be like little children. It's a good thing I have my kids to keep me in check.

I'm so glad they have each other. Much better than them trying to sleep with me.

Catching Up

I haven't posted much lately and I have a bit of catching up to do. At the beginning of the month John's parents and brother came out for a visit. It was fun to have them here, and of course the kids loved being spoiled by them.

Grandma had a birthday while she was here and we celebrated with cake and ice cream. Happy Birthday Grandma!

This next picture is for John's Family. John's Dad grew up in this house and his Grandparents were still in this house until just a few years ago. In the little time since the house was sold drastic changes were made to the house. We didn't even recognize it when we drove by. I thought everyone else in the family would like to see how much it has changed too.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Santa this year got our Family a trip to Disneyland for Christmas. We went last weekend.

Some of my favorite parts

*When ever they would announce "watch your children" Hyrum would remind us that we needed to watch him.

*Walking in the main entry way to California Adventure where they would have music playing, every time Hyrum had to stop and dance.

*I didn't think I would pay the outrageous prices for the pictures they take of you on the rides but I thought Alan's reaction to Space Mountain was priceless.

*Seeing the kids excitement at their first time at Disneyland.

*80 degree temperatures.

*Longest line we waited in was 20 minutes (most were significantly shorter) Do I regret taking my kids out of school so we could go in the off season? Not a bit.

*Deciding to take a "short cut" on our way to the hotel after a long day by deciding to "hop" a six foot block wall. Lesson learned-I'm not sixteen anymore. It's a miracle I made it over.

*Taking a day for the kids to go play with cousins (every bit as fun as Disneyland).

*The kids riding on Aunt Ann's Horse.

*Watching Hyrum try his absolute hardest to pull the sword out of the stone.

*Alan trying to keep a running conversation going even on the roller coasters.

*After getting off of California Screaming, Alan saying to John "You know, I'm just not a very good screamer."

*Spending time alone with my family, and leaving everything else behind for a few days.