Spectacular Fall....

Our trip to upstate New York was made at the most perfect time of year -- the fall! Last year our trip back was made about three weeks later in the season so most of the vivid, brilliant colors were beyond their peak, although still very beautiful. But this year the view was breathtaking! My camera can't do justice to the beauty that was all around but I've tried to captured a little.......

I so love the fall -- the changes that are happening, the spectacular colors that have been inside the leaves from their beginning yet only in the fall does it give us a display. The colors flare, then fade, but even in their decline there is beauty to be seen.

Patience Is A Virtue....

So, sometimes I am a bit impatient in traffic...... Today I was with Jacob and feeling rather frustrated with the slow people in front of me that wouldn't edge out far enough into the intersection to commit to turning and I sat through 3 cycles of the light before I could get through it. As we were waiting Jacob said, "Patience is a virtue, Mom." In my frustration I blurted out, "Well, *I* am NOT a virtuous woman!!!!!" He looked shocked and we both busted out laughing! BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Tell Me......

So tell me Jacob...why are you taking your bike out the FRONT door and instead of out through the garage?????

Bless me with patience....please!

What a Great Quote...

"Our families need the peace of God in their lives, and if we can't or won't invite the Lord into our lives, then our families become a reflection of our own turmoil. Women are asked to be nurturers to their families, but we must also be firm; we must be the hard rock footings on which our homes can stand. Our families need us to speak peace to them, just as the Lord speaks peace to us. Our homes need to be places where our families and friends want to be, where all who enter our homes can draw strength and courage to face the challenges of living in an increasingly wicked world. Our children need to hear us 'talk of Christ, . . . rejoice in Christ, [and] preach of Christ' (2 Nephi 25:26) so that they may know to what source they can look for the peace that 'passeth all understanding' (Philippians 4:7)."
(Kathleen H. Hughes, "Remembering the Lord's Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 112)

Laugh For The Day...

Tim was getting Jacob's lunch packed for him for school and Jacob came into the kitchen and saw what Tim was doing. Jacob goes to the freezer, pulls it opened, takes out 2 ice packs and says, "Dad, next time PLEASE don't use these!!" He was holding up a purple butterfly shaped ice pack with pink and yellow on it and a hot pink, crown shaped ice pack that said "PRINCESS"! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Poor Jacob....Last time Tim just grabbed ice packs without looking at them and put them in Jacob's lunch. Jacob likes it when *I* pack his lunch! :)

The Prefect Fall Break....

The kids have Fall Break coming up and while we tried to rack our brains for something "fun" to do with them, we had no great ideas. It was probably a good thing that we had made no plans because, as it turns out, we will be going back to NY over that break from school. That is were I am from and my parents still live there, as well as my sister and brother. It has been a year this month since we have seen them. We made a trip there last year after our oldest son, Tim, returned from his mission to Canada. We visited NY, had Annah's baptism in the same ward that I was baptized in when I was 16 (although it was a branch when I was baptized!) and then we took a trip into Canada to see Tim's mission area. It was there that young Tim and his now wife, Lisa, first met each other in person! It hardly seems like a year could have passed by already! But, it has and with that passage of time the health of my parents, especially my dad, has declined significantly. My mother has MS and my dad has lived 5 years with a pacemaker/defibrillator because of congestive heart failure. Over the last months he's been hospitalized a number of times but each time he improves a little but doesn't make a full recovery. I feel in my heart he is slowly failing. I can't bear to think of him passing away as that brings up a lot of issues that he and my mother have not wanted to deal with (and who does?) concerning who will care for her once he is no longer here. So Fall Break seems like the perfect time to go back and see my parents and visit with them again before something unavoidable comes our way. The kids are excited to see them again and my parents are thrilled at the prospect of seeing them too. I think this is the perfect Fall Break for all of us.

Maybe a Vampire Spider Bit Me......

It doesn't look like much, does it? But that is my vampire spider bite! Of course, I am not sure it was a spider but it is not too far out of the realm of possibilility.

I went to UTC this morning and they were puzzled by my "bite". They too think it is a bite and they also think that it is getting infected. He said that there is so much staph around that we shouldn't take the chance of not treating it like it is infected. (Not to mention that there has been 2 cases of MRSA in the school that I work in!!!) Okay...I am nervous about MRSA so I decided that although I saw the UTC doctor, I would feel better to go to my own physican and get his opinion about it and be sure I am on the right meds. I just got a little nervous when the UTC doc said if I wasn't better to come back. I asked, "How long should I wait to feel better?" He hesistated and said, "Uhh, if you're not better after you finished the medication come back." Ummmm, the meds are for 10 days -- I could be dead by then if the meds aren't right!!!! (okay -- that was a little dramatic!) So, I will go to my doc tomorrow, blow another $20 for a co-pay and hopefully find that I am being treated correctly! :)

***When I titled this post I was just making up the "vampire spider" but apparently (thanks to my son Googling it) there really IS a vampire spider! Who Knew? Not me!! :)