Living in the Moment

I wish we could keep these two just like this forever. Every day is a magical adventure with the Super A and Super S. ("Together, we save the galaxy! Super Kids!!!")

One thing on my list of things to accomplish over the Christmas break was to take the older kids over to the Family Search Library in Riverton for some extra help with descendancy research. Here are the fruits of our hour of research.

Tillman left with a burning desire to do more Family History research, so Mike helped him set up his own account and he has been digging in. He went with Grandma Ilean one afternoon for another visit - where he connected a missing child to his family, and printed out the card for temple work. I am telling you, the youth of this church are hastening the work in ways I never imagined.

This year a funny thing happened to me as I packed away the Christmas decorations. I cried. Usually by the time January rolls around, I am ready to pack things up, get back to our routine. But this year as I went to unplug the Christmas village I found myself taking another long look at it. As I took decorations off the tree (especially the ones the kids have made or brought home over the years) I could not hold back the tears. I found myself sadly humming "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  I know that sounds like the sappiest thing you've ever heard. It all seemed kind of silly to me too, and I wondered why I was feeling this way. I concluded that it must be because I hated to see this Christmas end after the special experiences of love and service we've had this year. I also have to admit that some of my sadness came from knowing that we only have a few more Christmases with all our kids living at home. This makes my heart ache.

Tillman officially graduated from the Cub Scout program. He earned his Webelos badge and Arrow of Light last month and this month got to sign the ceremonial bridge, and become an 11 year old scout.

Mike and Tillman in their Alabama crimson -- supporting the ancestral alma mater. Unfortunately, the Tide was knocked out of the tournament. They are rooting for the Ducks in the championship now. 

You may have heard that a fence is going up for River. Jupiter the Space Donkey got by with an invisible fence, but we needed something more concrete for the next generation. So, getting a family dog just got a LOT more expensive. *sigh*

In reality, a backyard fence is something we probably needed to do anyway...safety, privacy, liability. And since we believe in making people really EARN their money, we waited till January to get them started. (I kind of felt bad about those guys digging post holes all day in the cold.)

Sully watches the BBC Walking with Dinosaurs documentaries at least three times a week. So, for Christmas Sully and Abner got tickets to the Walking with Dinosaurs arena show.
It was really amazing. Also amazing was the fact that Sully would rattle off the names of each of the dinosaurs as they came out before the host ever got a chance to say anything. Sully: "Oh! There's Ornithocheirus!"  And then the host would say, "this is Ornithocheirus..." We thought it was pretty funny. :)

Let's just say that the boys had a fantastic night, especially Sully.
Here's a little taste of the action.

Walking with Dinosuars from Angie Melton on Vimeo.