Happy Father's Day

Being a dad can be a lot of fun...
A lot of hard work...

Very rewarding...


Sometimes you don't appreciate how good you've got until you're a bit older
Some dad's will do anything for their kids...including trying a new hairstyle!

Sometimes it takes being a parent to begin to appreciate what your parents did for you. I am so thankful for my dad, Jared's dad and for the dad that Jared is to our kids.

Strings Camp Concert

Today Rebecca had her concert for her summer strings camp. As I watched her start to play her violin in her first real orchestra, I had to try and hold back the tears. (Thanks mom, for passing on the tear genes to me.) It seems like I choke up at the drop of a hat these days. I guess that's paybacks for when I always asked my mom why she was crying in church again.
Anyway, seeing her play (and seeing my good friend from high school, Ang up there with them) just brought back a flood of memories for me of playing in the orchestra in school. I think Rebecca's favorite part though was when she got to be a part of the "prancers and dancers" act and had fun making crazy poses in time with the music. Sometimes I think it would be nice to go back to the "good old days" where my responsibilities consisted of doing homework and practicing my instruments. That sounds like a lot more fun than housework and disciplining! But then I hear a song on the radio about somebody who's lonely because they just broke up, and I think I am so glad to be past the roller coaster "dating" stages. I love being married to my amazing husband.

A 2 year olds idea of "Matching"

Emily is really big on getting herself dressed. She came into my room wearing this a few days ago. When I suggested she change so she would match, she said, "It matches, see there are stripes and stripes!"
The shirt, shorts and tank top all have a bit of blue. I decided to let her wear it because I thought back to my college classes about Eriksen's stages - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. But when we were heading to the store I reminded her that it was a little cool outside so she might want to change into some pants.:) I made sure I came to her room this time to provide a few "choices" for her. Sorry you have to strain your neck to see the picture properly. After waiting for it to upload I decided to just leave it this way.

First Fishing Trip/Football Game

The boys just back from their first fishing trip. I guess today was free fishing day for kids where they"plant" so many fish in a little pond that everyone has success. They had a great time with their dad catching some fish. Jacob caught the most, but Dan caught the biggest.

Jacob also had his first football game this week. It is amusing to watch as some kids run the wrong way and aren't quite sure of what the game is all about. Jacob is all about offense. He scored the winning touchdown at the end of the game and it was fun to see him run so quickly past all of his potential tacklers. It surprised me after seeing his assertiveness in wrestling that the defensive part of the game is not his "thing" yet. I wish I could post a video.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Jacob turned 7 yesterday and was excited to get up and eat his requested breakfast - waffles with strawberry syrup and cream (thanks for the recipe Kara, it was delicious - karascookingcreations.blogspot.com) Jared took the day off and we got Jacob some pegs for his bike. That was a lot more affordable then getting the "bike with pegs" he's been asking for the last couple of weeks. That reminds me of a little incident that happened a few days ago.
Jacob and Dan decided they were going to "trick" Santa. They wrote a letter to Santa a couple of days ago that said, "Santa, we forgot to ask for a bike with pegs. Jacob & Daniel." Daniel was pretty excited to announce to his dad that they were going to trick Santa into believing that they just "forgot" to add the pegs to last year's list. I think they thought Santa delivers anytime of year and that he might seriously believe them, even though they didn't even know what pegs were last Christmas time. We of course had Jared take the letter to mail it from work...because that mail has a faster delivery time then putting in our mail dropbox:). We also had a little talk about honesty and deceit - even if you trick Santa, Heavenly Father always knows the truth.

Jacob also had fun making the volcano that his grandparents gave him. His love for science was spurred a couple of years ago when he did his first science fair project with baking soda and vinegar.

Family Camping Trip

This weekend we went down to Heber to go camping with a couple of Jared's friends from High School. I really enjoyed their company and we had a fun time fourwheeling and chatting around the campfire. I was so glad we didn't get rained out because it started to sprinkle just as we arrived to set up the tent - but it soon cleared up. Before we left each of the kids took a turn riding on Brad's horse for a little walk around the campsite. Jacob and Dan were pretty nervous - so Emily went first. She is my most daring child. She was just beaming the whole time. Daniel on the other hand was asking to get down after only a few steps.

Family Prayer

Next week I get to teach sharing time about how family prayer strengthens my family. So I tried to think of an incident when I've experienced this in our family but some of the memories coming to my mind wouldn't actually be defined as "strengthening." Family Prayer can be a little bit of a challenge at our house. I have loved how Jared is pretty consistent at initiating morning and nightly prayers - but I sometimes they're far from the "spiritual experience" you envision when you see the pictures of family prayer in primary. Usually Daniel and Emily are so anxious to be the one chosen, they get a little upset if they don't get picked, which is funny because when I was growing up we had the opposite problem at our house. If everyone's happy with who gets to say the prayer, then sometimes there's a bit of contention about who gets to sit next to dad during the prayer.
Emily's prayers are always short and sweet - like her.
Rebecca takes after the Knight genes. She just hopes Emily will insist its her turn when Rebecca gets chosen.
Daniel is very sincere and I love how he usually remembers to pray for others and be grateful.
Jacob is very anxious to let all of his wants known, so we had a little talk before prayers the other night and asked him to try to thank more and ask for less for himself. So as he prayed he said, "Please bless dad so that he can earn lots of money..." (okay at least he's praying for dad to get money - not himself) "...so that he can buy me a motorcycle." Anyway, I think we'll have to keep on having the gratitude in prayer lesson in family night a few more times.
Another recurring incident at family prayer time was spurred by the primary song "Let us Gather in a Circle and Kneel for Family Prayer." Maybe our family takes that circle part a little bit too literally. They all want their knees to be touching so we have a real circle - so sometimes their kneeling can look a little bit more like doing the splits.
I think I'll have to share something about family prayer when I was growing up, because I do remember my mom and dad praying specifically for each of us as children during family prayer and knowing that they loved us and knew the Lord was hearing our prayers. So maybe when my kids are older they'll have those kinds of memories too.

Good things...
My kids love to pray (well at least the younger ones)
My children are listening to the primary songs
My husband is a good example of remembering to pray