Spencer

This blog is all about Spencer and his day. Spencer's day did not start out very well, nor did his Daddy's. I left for work at 6:00 this morning and Jordan was in charge of getting the kids to school and the babysitter. All went well until Jordan tried to leave and the van wouldn't start. It's been idleing differently and we've been thinking something is wrong with the alternator. So anyway, Jordan ran across the street to get the neighbor to come jump the van and Spencer decided to follow. However, he only made it as far as the street, where somehow his right eye made direct contact with the pavement. Don't ask us how, we don't really understand it. Just know that he is a five-year-old boy and somehow these things tend to happen quite regularly. So Spencer's school day began with a tardy slip and an ice pack.

The rest of his day went well though, and after school the kids and I went out to the front yard where I got busy planting tulip bulbs and pansies in the flower beds. At one point I looked up to see Spencer hammering a tennis ball into the ground... with an actual hammer. It made me wonder, but I just kept on planting. The next thing I knew he'd gone into the house and came back out with a cup full of water which he poured on top of the tennis ball. Finally I asked, "Spencer, what are you doing?"

"I'm planting this ball so we can grow a new tree and get a lot more tennis balls!"

He was quite disappointed and a little bit skeptical when I tried to explain to him that not everything grows on trees, some things are man-made. Ahhh, such are the disappointments of childhood.

Shortly after the tennis ball incident, I was continuing to plant when Spencer came out of the house with a piece of paper and a crayon. He lay down on the cement and began to write. I could hear him whispering the words, "I have money."

"Mom," he said, "how do you spell 'have'?"

I helped him spell "have" and then he asked for help spelling "money." When he was finished he proudly picked up the sign and said, "There, I'm finished. Tomorrow I'm going to sit out in the street with this sign on the ground in front of me."

I didn't really look closely at the sign--I thought he had just written "I have money," so I didn't understand what he was doing.

"Why do you want people to know you have money?" I asked.

"No Mom," he explained. "My sign says 'Can I have money?' I made it because I want people to give me money."

I still didn't understand and began lecturing him that people don't just ask other people they don't know for money.

It turns out I was wrong.

"Yes they do Mom," he said. "In California they do. You know, the old guys, they sit on the street with a sign so that people will give them money."

Apparently Spencer has aspirations of being a bum... We've taught him well so far, haven't we?

October Update

Last weekend was general conference. I have to admit that I only saw or listened to two of the four sessions, but what I did hear was great and I'm looking forward to reading all the talks. I especially liked Sister Beck's talk Sunday morning entitled "Mother's Who Know." It was very inspirational and reminded me what an important job I have as a mother. It also made me feel, as talks about motherhood often do, a little guilty--it made me wonder if I'm doing enough, if I'm a good enough mom. But just when I start to doubt Heavenly Father sends me a little reminder from my one of my kids. This one came from Alexis. We had a nice Sunday afternoon together, went for a walk as a family, had dinner together, etc. Then before bed we read scriptures and Alexis offered the family prayer. Alexis has praying down to a "T" lately. She puts her prayer voice on (you know the voice that's an octive higher and goes up and down a little bit like a roller coaster with each sentence), and prays for everything that is important to her. The best part is that lately she's been thanking Heavenly Father for everyone in the family, individually. She's "thankful for Trista and that she's so adorable, thankful for Dallin and that he's so loveable, thankful for Spencer and that he's such a good brother to play with, thankful for me (Alexis) and that I'm such a good big sister, thankful for Mom and that she gives us food, and thankful for Dad and that he works for us." It makes me laugh that she feels like the most important thing I do for her is get her food! I guess I'm at least getting that part right!

On Monday night we carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening. It was fun, but Jordan and I definately aren't very creative. Oh, well, the kids enjoyed it and we even toasted the pumpkin seeds for our treat.

Yesterday was Alexis' seventh birthday. She had a party in the morning with a few friends from church and school. The girls beaded necklaces, then had cake and ice cream, and then we opened gifts. Alexis got the Barbie Island Princess DVD, a dress and shoes, and some goggles (for swimming class) from the family; money from Grandma and Grandpa; and two Barbies, a jewelry box, and a gift card from her friends. It was a fun day!

Family Pictures

I know, I know, it's been a while since I last posted something. But I've been busy... you know, new job, four kids, out of town, etc., etc. Anyway, here are some pictures of our family at Silver Dollar City. Grandma and Grandpa Salmon are here from Utah and they and my parents came to Silver Dollar with us. It was a great day. The kids were all so good and we had lots of fun!

As you can see, the highlight of Trista's day was the fact that the park is landscaped with many tiny walls that were the perfect height for her to back up to and sit on--all by herself!

The rest of these pictures were taken a few weeks ago when the kids and I were out playing in the yard together. You can clearly see that Spencer and Trista are going to be the next Roger Federer and Justine Henin (except cuter!), respectively.