May 31, 2010

Boys will be boys...

The kiddo had his first trip to the doctors office for an injury today. He jumped/fell off a chair while with his dad this weekend and hurt his ankle. He wasn't really phased by it, and kept trying to walk on it, but would then realize that it hurt when he put pressure on it. It didn't stop him from trying to limp around though. While I'm not the type to rush to the doctor's office unless it's really an obvious emergency, after talking it through with his dad, we decided that it'd be best to take him into an children's care clinic and get it checked out just to be safe. They took some x-rays and wrapped it up for the time being, but couldn't find anything major (we'll hear back tomorrow with the x-ray results).

The humor to be found here is in the shirt he was wearing:


I'm not sure it'll be easy to keep him off of it for the next few days, although, the upside of it is that he's a little more content to just curl up on my lap and relax, and THAT is a jar filler!

May 2, 2010

How we turned the day around...

The past few Sundays that I've had the kiddo with me, we haven't been able to make it to church for one reason or another. We've each taken our turns being sick (twice), the kiddo hurt his ankle and I was trying to keep him off it, etc...
Two weeks ago, while we both had the stomach flu, the Primary presidency stopped by to say hello and to ask me if I had given up on the kiddo adjusting to his Sunbeam class. I know my reply sounded like an excuse, but it was the truth and the whole experience left me feeling a little upset.
Today, I planned things perfectly - got the kiddo down for a nap before church, showered, shaved, got all dolled up, got the kiddo in his adorable little suit and tie and headed out the door in perfect time to make it to church, only to find the parking lot empty. I called our home teachers and asked if it was Stake Conference week. They informed me that it had been a Regional Conference - broadcast to our building earlier that morning. Call me a girl, but I cried! It felt like things just couldn't go my way. I couldn't bring myself to head directly home so I drove around for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. I thought about finding another ward to attend, but then realized that since it was a Regional Conference, I'd have to drive quite a ways to have any hope of finding another ward meeting, and it was already after 1 pm by then. I tried calling my mother to have someone to blubber to, but she was in the middle of her own ward. I then called my best Utah friend, who like any great best friend would, let me whine and assured me that my tears weren't totally unjustified. She invited us to come spend time with her family later in the afternoon (which turned out to be a wonderful way to spend our Sunday evening).
After hanging up with her, I decided that I needed to do SOMETHING churchy with the kiddo, especially since we were all dressed for it, so we headed toward Temple Square. Though it was overcast, the grounds were beautiful. The tulips have bloomed and the colors were amazing!
(some of these pictures were taken with my phone so please excuse the quality)


We walked around the North West Visitor Center for a while, looking at the paintings by Harry Anderson (one of my favorite spots), seeing the Book of Mormon display with the giant rotating globe...


...as well as heading to the upper level and seeing the Christus. Grant has started to understand a little bit about what it means to be reverent. While sitting in front of the statue, he folded his arms and whispered with a nod in it's direction, "That's Jesus."


We headed back outside and I took him over to one of my favorite spots on the temple grounds to sit. When I was single and living in downtown SLC, I'd often come to Temple Square with my journal and sit in my tucked away little spot, feel the warm breeze, smell the cool aroma of the flowers, lay back on a little patch of grass and look at the stars, with the temple spires reaching up to them. I remember thinking then of what it would be like to bring my children to that spot. My initial thoughts of that scene were much more calm than reality. Grant wanted to see and touch EVERYTHING. No laying on the grass for us!


He'd walk along the stone ledges, touching the tree branches above him that hung down...


...and smelling as many of the flowers as he could.


I DID manage to get him to sit still for ONE brief moment as I snapped a picture, but I assure you, he was up and running again the moment it was captured.


While it wasn't exactly the day I'd planned to have, the experience turned out to be something I needed. So often I need the reminder that while I can't control some things in life, I can control my reaction and what I make of it. It turned out to be a beautiful day!


A potentially disappointing day turned beautiful = a full jar!