Mad Hat Re Cap

Since these weekly recaps are getting so popular (for my mom and my sister) I am going to keep it alive. Here is another fascinating look at what held our attention this week.

This little man held our attention when he invited the girls over for a Friday date night. Cousin Henry showed us all of his best tricks from sitting in his bumble chair, to holding a ball, to doing his best burp. We seriously couldn't get enough of him.

This week Anna was moved from the Blue Group to the Red Group in her preschool. This move is causing quite a stir among her friends who get weepy eyed when we talk too much about it. Even Carson Kelly (the preschool crush) told her on the playground, "I wish you were still in the blue group." The Red Group, however, is very excited to have her. Anna likes a chance to make new friends but says, "I sure keep my eye on Carson."

I know. I am making her sound like she is famous in preschool. She might be. But she had a real brush with fame this week when she saw David Archuleta. He came over to visit her friend Leila's family while Anna was playing at their house. It was funny how nonchalantly she mentioned it while cleaning up dinner that night. I was a little skeptical and asked her how she knew it was him. "Mom! I know what he looks like!" I wished she would have asked him where he is going on his mission. Leila's family isn't telling.

We took Lauren and Elise to the do baptisms on Saturday. We have a goal to do this as a family one Saturday a month. I played around with the idea of doing other temple work that day that didn't involve getting wet, but in the end chose to stay with the family. I know I am a wimp, but I had to spend an extra long time blow drying my hair so the wind wouldn't freeze my bones. Scott, whose hair is dry before he gets out of the shower, doesn't have a lot of sympathy. When we left, the temple worker said something about how great it was that we came as a family. It made me feel a little bit warmer. And it was, of course, a great experience to sit next to my girls in the temple.

I am noticing a great surge of families and individuals going to the temple more often and regularly than what used to be the case. I hear so often of youth and others making regular, even weekly, temple trips. I really think temple dedication like that used to be dominated by those over age 70. Perhaps as the world at large heads in one direction, temple work goes in another. We are so lucky that temple trips require no more sacrifice for us than our time. When we drive home from Scott's parents in Lehi, we can look across the valley and see three temples at the same time.

Afterwards, we went to eat. Our conversation was dominated by Lauren's high school scheduling choices. She has so many options and courses she is interested in taking--among them are debate, school newspaper, school musical, and TV production. I keep reminding her how lucky she is that our neighborhood high school happens to have great programs in so many of the areas she loves.

She so quickly has to make decisions about which colleges she is planning on applying for. It reminds me of the animals in the wild who early on leave their babies to fend for themselves. Whenever I watch a nature video, I am shocked at how quickly the mother bear or the mother ducks say goodbye to their children. I just don't feel ready for her to go hunt alone in the wild. I'm glad I'm not a sea turtle. Those mothers never even get a shot. Three years to go. No way will I be ready.