Dandelions

"To some the dandelion is a weed; but not to me, unless it takes more than its share of space, for I always miss these little earth stars when they are absent. They intensify the sunshine shimmering on the lawn, making one smile involuntarily when seeing them. Moreover, they awaken pleasant memories, for a childhood in which dandelions had no part is a defective experience." ~ Excerpted from "The Home Acre," by E. P. Roe

My kids love dandelions! They love picking them and bringing them to me and telling me they love me so much. I must admit that I love that too. I love the bright sunny color they have. We love when the yellow head turns into a white "wish" that we can blow on the wind.
But as we grown-ups know, dandelions are weeds. They take over your yard and make it look a little dumpy. Well, yesterday we had a lawn care specialist come to help us recover our yard from weeds and other destroyers.
Luke was devastated. He cried and cried that they were going to kill our dandelions. It about broke my heart. Jason just doesn’t understand the love that dandelions represent to the kids. They were freaking out because there would be no flowers to pick for me anymore and what would I do? I did my best to comfort them and point out that the park was covered in them and we could pick them there. That seemed to satisfy and I was able to wipe up tears and snotty noses.
Good-bye little dandelions, good-bye!

Brooke's Birthday Cake

It was a Cinderella birthday cake this year (third birthday). I had been checking with Brooke quite frequently the last few weeks and it was Dora cake up until Friday night. I had the pan out and when she saw it she picked it up and said "What's this!?" I replied that it was the Dora cake pan for her birthday. This was not acceptable to her. She stomps her foot, puts her hands on her hips and yells at me, "I don't want a Dora cake!! I want a Cinderella cake!!!"
Mom was very kind despite the outburst. She stopped at the store, got the pan (very happy squeals follow) and stays up until midnight making the cake so it can be decorated the next day between a soccer game and Primary activity.
Many praises of the "Beautiful!" cake from the birthday girl and her big brother make it worthwhile.

Stop to Smell the Flowers

On our visit to Temple Square, we stopped to enjoy the many flowers. The kids had to get down and smell them. Spring is here!!

I Love to See the Temple

After taking the kids to see the Arizona Temple in Mesa a couple of weeks ago and continually hearing "I wish we had a temple in Utah", Jason surprised us with a trip to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake so the kids would believe us when we told them we have lots of Temples in Utah.