I think deep down she got the message.

Tess loves to write notes during church.

Do you think she's bored?

Never! Not my kids.

Shame on you for even thinking that.

Here's a recent exchange that took place during the sacrament...the most sacred part of our Sunday worship.

TESS: It's so quiet, I mean I know it's supposed to be quiet but...Ok who died?! 

ERIN: Jesus died. He died for you & me & everyone in this room. Perhaps that's why it's quiet. They are thinking about HIM.

TESS: No, but yes, but it's too too too quiet like we lost a war or somebody left to go somewhere.

NATE: See above. Maybe you should be thinking about HIM. :)

TESS: Dad, you need to work on your handwriting.

Ahh, those wonderful moments when you can sit with your family and all feel the spirit together.

Here are pictures of the Boise Temple Open House...
another event in which we were super-ultra reverent.

While putting these pictures together the kids and I had some fun:

 Tess' favorite

Will's favorite...we're guessing here. Will is on a snowboarding date with his dad.

 David's favorite

 Nora's favorite...oooh pretty rainbow!

The heavenly glow surrounding the temple.
Or as Tess says, "The light from the temple looks like it's killing Will."

From the Mouths of Babes

I love listening to my kids pray. 

I feel like I get a real glimpse into their souls. 

They are such genuinely kind-hearted people.

Like how they prayed for baby Jack for months after he was born.

They have never met baby Jack.

(Jack's family lives in AZ.)

He is their cousin that was born with Down Syndrome.

We talked about it as a family and from that day on they prayed in earnest that "Jack would be happy." And that "the other kids wouldn't tease him because he's different, but instead understand that he's special."

These are not words I gave my children.

They are genuine expressions of love from pure hearts.

My children understand so much more than I give them credit for sometimes.

I'm often moved to tears when I listen to them pray in their rooms at night.

....................

But anywho, that's not what this post is about.

This post is about the funny things that the kids say when they pray.

My children pray that "we will have a good day tomorrow" no matter what time of day it is.

It can be 7:00 in the morning and they are praying for the next day.

But I guess today was covered in yesterday's prayer... so we're good.

And David's prayers.

Forgetaboutit.

It takes some serious will power to not bust up in the middle of them.

You never quite know what is going to come out of his mouth.

A few gems as of late:

• Father, please bless that Mom will know that my shoes are getting too tight, but that I'm not complaining about it.
• Father, please bless that Mom will forget that we have to do chores tomorrow.
• Father, please bless that Mom and Dad will buy me a new skateboard...and that they'll let me take Freddie (the gecko) for a ride on it...just down the driveway...I promise he won't get hurt...because his hands are sticky. 

I think we are all secretly delighted when it's David's turn to pray.

I bet the Lord is too.

I'm pretty convinced He has a great sense of humor.

David's Baptism 12.29.12

And We're Back

We had such a wonderful summer.

Great trips, great friends, great fun. 

It was just delightful.

Until the last couple weeks...

when it quickly dissolved into a state of utter unbearableness.

I think my kids have been trying to set some sort of record for non-stop arguing.

(Is it that way for everyone by the end of the summer? Please tell me it's that way for everyone.)

There were days I was quite certain that World War III would begin in the Meeker home.

Specifically between Wess and Till (names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent).

BUT

we made it.

And just look how cute the kiddos are on their first day of 6th/2nd grade x 3...

Perhaps they're just happy that they are off to 4 separate classrooms...far, FAR away from each other.

Tess spent all morning curling her hair to perfection and finding just the right accessories.

She's so beautiful.

And growing up way too fast that one.

She's started asking me if her clothes make her look fat.

I can't believe we're to this stage already.

It's downright terrifying.

I think we've all been experiencing some anxiety as this school year begins.

The girls have had trouble sleeping.

They're up worrying about problems that they had with friends at recess 5 months ago.

Will is worried about feeling shy.

David was up with an upset stomach last night.

Even I woke well before my alarm this morning.

I guess first-day-of-school jitters happen to Moms too.

The kids get home in a few minutes. 

I can't wait to hear how it went.

I'm going to feed them ice cream and take them to the pool for a relaxing afternoon.

Because strangely enough the house has been a little too quiet this morning.

I hate to say it but I think I just might be missing all the shouting.

Posted with Tess' permission.

Tess plays the harp.

It's cool to be able to finally say that.

We've only been talking about it for 2 years now.

But we moved to Idaho as you may recall.

And then we remodeled a house.

And the timing never seemed quite right.

Until a few months ago when we finally got serious about the idea.

And then, bam!

The harp and harp teacher fell right into our laps.

I think this is one idea the Lord is very much on board with.

He certainly made it easy on us.

You see, we've been praying to find something that Tess could call her own.

Something that would help her feel special.

I think this may just be the thing- she was positively floating by the end of the lesson.

And I'm pretty excited too.

Who wouldn't want harp music filling their home everyday?

I think this may be the start of something beautiful.