We were getting ready for bed tonight and Kyler went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. A few minutes later, I walked in and wished I had the camera! He was using his toothbrush and toothpaste as a razor and shaving cream and was "shaving" his whole face! At the time I was a little more irritated than I should've been, but now I realize how cute it was! Just trying to be like daddy . . .
So then I went to Target and couldn't resist buying this for him. He "shaves" like twice a day now! 
"Pink, pink, pink. More than anything Pinkalicious loves pink . . .", except when it's in your eye!
We all have pink eye. Well, except Kyler. This whole let's be sick for a whole week thing bypassed Kyler in every way. Just as long as we're all done with being sick for Disneyland, I'm OK!
After church today, we gathered at our house with a few friends and family for the naming and blessing of our two cute boys. We are so grateful to have such sweet boys. Some people have told us that we've been so good for the boys, but I most definately think it's the other way around--they have been so good for us!
Most people recieve their name and blessing as an infant . . . Since our boys are older, we knew they would most likely carry some memories of this day, so we tried to add to the specialness of it all. We wrapped 2 books last night and left them in the hallway for the boys to find. When they woke up in the morning they were so excited to find an unexpected, silvery gift for each of them. I heard someone wake up and went to the stairs and saw Kyler smiling and hugging his gift. He told me he thought he knew what it was--a book. To be specific, his guess was a Curious George book. Partly right he was. They both opened their books and we read and cuddled in the hallway. Kacin's book was "I Am a Child of God" and Kyler's was "Beautiful Savior" (both with artwork by Greg Olsen). 
When we got home from church, Kacin asked to take a nap (a sure sign of sickness). He had a fever. We debated canceling, but decided to just go ahead and do it. (We found out later he had an ear infection).
I was a little nervous when it was time to start and Kyler started karate chopping, but he settled down. I peeked at both of their faces during their blessings--so reverent and sweet. They were beautiful blessings. Later, I asked Kacin what he thought about it and he said "I felt really happy inside."
We missed having our families with us, but were grateful to share the day with such great friends. It was a beautiful day!
There were so many things I meant to blog about this week. I'm blaming my lack of blogging about them on losing my voice. Which I blame the loss of my voice on the state of Utah. I never used to lose my voice in AZ, but since being in Utah for the past 2 years this is like the 4th time!! This was the worst though. There were times when I would open my mouth to talk and absolutely nothing would come out! I could manage a few squeaks and croaks every now and then. I feel like I somewhat understand what it would be like to be mute. So frustrating! Luckily, at Book Club AnnMarie was so kind as to be my voice when I had things to say. Thank you, AnnMarie! And luckily, I didn't have to teach on Friday--I was in on all day math class instead. The lack of voice got me out of speaking in front of the whole group though. That's a positive.
And though St. Patrick's Day 2009 is now gone and passed, I meant to post this that day. It's a survey that one of my 1st grade students took. They each wrote their own survey questions and gathered data about other kids in our class. I laughed so hard at this! It says, "Do you like Mrs. Allred or a Leprechaun?" 
At least I got the majority!
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| Make a Smilebox postcard |
On Friday night, we met Devon and Nicole, Trey and Lauren, Amber and John and 2 of their kids at Rodizio's Brazilian Steakhouse. Of course, these boys had to get some Brazilian food. It was Trey's birthday and we hadn't seen them all in so long so it was fun to get together. And we're excited that Devon and Nicole and Amber and John live up in Utah now!
It was a pretty late night for the boys--at 8:00pm (bedtime) Kyler was so ready to go home and asking if we could leave.
But Kacin was as happy as could be with an all-you-can-eat meal. At one point, the server gave Eric quite a bit more meat than Kacin got. When Kacin asked why, Eric explained it's because his belly is bigger. Kacin said "Then I want a fat belly!" Gotta love him.
I was 19 the day that Eric and I got married and I had my whole perfect life PLANNED out—a time table, a list of goals, EXPECTATIONS, and dreams. But LIFE gave me something EVEN BETTER than my limited vision and plans: a chance to learn and grow and BECOME by experiencing infertility, foster care, adoption, special needs (autism) parenting, breast cancer, and more. Our lives are often challenging, PAINFUL, and complicated, yet it is no doubt that they are GLORIOUS, wonderful, and exciting, too. Our EXPERIENCES, the ones we DELIBERATELY seek out and the ones we would never have picked but we have to MUDDLE through anyways, SHAPE us. We CHOOSE what that shape will look like in the end by our ATTITUDE and our willingness to EMBRACE the moments of life. For it is the MOMENTS that DEFINE us. I choose to WALK FORWARD in the BRIGHTNESS of hope by noticing those moments, LEARNING as much as I can, SEEKING the good, and TRUSTING in a loving God.
