A Sunday Afternoon

In Saudi, church is two hours away, and after the three hour block friends graciously feed us and then we journey home. Generally people gasp and say, "how awful for you!" but my reply is that I don't mind it. The boys are quiet and happy in the car (with a little DVD assistance) so Chris and I have 4 hours worth of conversations each week. Who else gets that? I don't have to cook a Sunday meal and when we get home the boys have a snack and then get ready for bed. The Sabbath is kept much holier that way compared to us trying to keep them entertained at home with appropriate Sabbath day activities.

During our stay here we have been ward hopping, visiting different friends, and attending any meeting except for the 9AM... until today, and it wasn't so bad. Yes, we got up earlier, but I basically dressed the boys while they were still comatose. It goes much faster that way. After lunch I actually got a fifteen minute snooze on the couch (I cannot remember the last time that happened).

Until Zach decided to fall head over heels down the stairs. When I got to him he was crying that cry where you know they really hurt themselves. He was holding his arm tenderly and I thought for a moment that he might have a serious injury. As I took him in my arms between gasps and sobs he says, "That was SO COOL!"

After all that we still had a beautiful sunny afternoon to fill. So we headed off to visit with family and friends. Uncles are the best!

Some homemade goodness was in the works.

While the ice and salt did their thing we did ours.

We visited...

and executed as many mosquitoes as possible.

Zach hit the jackpot out by the raspberry bushes.

Then this homemade raspberry goodness was served.

While a serious rafting trip was being planned by the adults, the rest of us headed out for a stroll in Kincaid park.

After two pit stops, barely stopping the boys from dropping rocks from the bridge on passing cars, a nursing break, being chased by pirates, several renditions of "I'm a Little Tea Pot", and numerous "I'm too tired to walk" meltdowns, we finished the 1.5 mile walk.

This guy is smarter than the average bear and defiantly more curious. It took him no time at all to figure out how to open the bear proof garbage can. After he opened this door for a passerby to dump her garbage he ran over excitedly shouting, "yeah mom I just did some service!"

When the boys disobey and lose a privilege they dramatically ask if there is anything they can do to earn it back. Sometimes when I'm feeling generous or merciful I will let them do acts of service equaling their age to redeem themselves. So although Ethan wasn't trying to redeem himself, I am really happy he is getting the gist of service. It was a proud mommy moment.