Don't Hide Your Talents

In a month our ward is having a talent show and John has decided to be in it. He is going to perform a Bach Concerto on the violin with all of his brothers so that makes five of them. Sarah will be accompanying them on the piano. John has been practicing lately and I am very proud. I didn't think he would really go through with it but he is. Today as I was going to YW I was telling the Bishops wife that John would like to be added to the program and would be playing the violin with his brothers. The Bishop was with his wife and didn't catch much of what we were talking about until the end and he said "Who is going to be playing the violin?" I said "John". He said "I'm impressed". This comes on the heels of the ward just realizing John plays the piano too. One Sunday the EQ Pres. called to talk to John and he was playing the piano and the EQ Pres. said "Is that John?" and I said it was and when John got on the phone he EQ Pres. told John he was the new Priesthood pianist. Yes I married into a musical family and I don't play anything (unless the clarinet and oboe count in Jr. High). To make a long story short tonight Paige was along for the conversation with the Bishop and his wife and she asked- "Why is dad playing with my uncles in the talent show? Is it because he doesn't want anyone to hear his mistakes?" I had to let out a little chuckle but I informed her that, that wasn't the case and that he just wanted to play with them. Later on this evening while we were saying prayers Paige again brought up the talent show and said-"Please bless my dad that he will do good at the talent show". How sweet. Apparently Paige is doubting her dad's ability. That may be because she hasn't really heard her dad play the violin much. So I guess this is a good lesson. We don't want to hide our talents because others and our children may not realize the talents that we possess and share.

Tagged

I was tagged by Brooke----


Four people will be tagged.You have to answer the questions, then post on the person tagged, let them know they are tagged, and then they post the answers. It is always fun to learn more about people!!!

10 Years Ago I was: finishing my associates at UVSC and starting BYU at the same time. I was working at Allstate insurance and moving from one apartment to the other.

5 Things on my To Do List Today

1-Laundry
2-Visiting Teaching
3-Finish Taxes
4-Measure park strip so we can put bark down
5-Watch American Idol-this counts doesn't it!

Things I would do if I became a billionaire:

1- I would pay tithing
2-Pay off my house and student loans
3-Finish my basement
4-Travel
5-Save money for missions and weddings

3 of my bad habits

1-Worrying too much about what others think
2-Eating Chocolate and Ice Cream way too much
3-Not saving money

Places I Have Lived other than here:

1-Las Vegas, Nev.- Born and raised.
2-Provo-four different apartment while single
3-Provo/Orem-Three different places while married prior to moving to Calif.
4-Walnut Creek, Calif.-Two different places
5-San Ramon Calif.
6- Back to Orem for MBA school- lived in house across from John's parents
7- Phoenix, Az.-spent a summer there for John's internship.

Jobs I Have Had (that Paid?)

1-Hostess at Metro Pizza
2-Millers Outpost-Now known as Anchor Blue
3-Runner for a Travel Agency
4-Cashier at Walmart
5-Receptionist at Allstate Insurance
6-Receptionist for Evening Classes at BYU
7-Secretary for Serials Dept. at BYU
8-Laundry worker at the Mount Timpanogos Temple
9-Receptionist at a Business Center
10-Admin. Asst. for JBC Financial Group.

Things Most People Don't Know About Me:

I am scared to fly
I hate to sleep alone and be alone at night.
I like change (new wards, moving furniture, meeting new people)



YOU ARE TAGGED:

Cynthia
Jeannette
Karen
Allyson

Happy Easter

Usually I get professional pictures of my kids for holidays like Christmas and Easter. This year for some reason I have not. It may be that I can't handle Johnny when he is in the confines of his own house let alone in a crowded Kiddie Kandids store. So like Christmas I just sat my kids on the couch and said "Say Cheese". At first Johnny was not going to cooperate, but when I told him he could hold Coen he was all game. The pictures are definitely not as good as Kiddie Kandids and they were free so I have no complaints. Maybe in a few months Johnny will settle down and we can go and get a family picture. But until then these pictures are going to have to do.

Easter Egg Hunt

Today we had an Easter Egg Hunt at my mom's. My sister and her kids were there too. The kids had so much fun looking for the eggs. The kids love getting the candy. My mom buys the good stuff and they pretty much eat it all before the night is through. My mom also puts money in some of the eggs and that is nice so they don't just get all chocolate. After they hunted for eggs we went back inside and we dumped all their baskets out and divided everything evenly. This way the older girls did not come home with the bulk of the money and candy since they are much faster then the younger two. I am so glad that the weather was great and that the kids had a great time with their cousins!

Who Do Our Children Look Like?

Everyone is curious to know who their children look like. Do they look like Mom or Dad? When it comes to our children most people come to the same conclusions that we have. Paige looks like both of us(but many have said on numerous occasions she looks like her Aunt Meredith-John's sister). Johnny looks like me and Coen looks like John's family, particular Grandpa Black. I have seen this Look- A-Like Meter on several blogs and wanted to try it out. Well apparently we were wrong on all our children but Paige. I still don't think this meter was very accurate but who knows, maybe it was the pictures I used. On several occasions John has joked that Johnny isn't his son and that he must be the mailman's son or something. I wish I had a picture of our mailman in Orem to put in this meter (Maybe the parents in Orem could help us out with this J/K!!) Wouldn't that be hilarious if he did look like him. Well, there really is no way he could look like him.(Have you seen the mailman in Orem???) Now John can quite joking about it because apparently Johnny looks like both of us. I don't think that is completely true. I am the first to admit Johnny looks a lot like me. I have been to other blogs and their results do say their child looks like one parent more then the other, so I know that it is not completely rigged. I am curious to see what other people's results are. If you choose to do the meter, I would love for you to leave your results as comments on my blog!

Black Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Black Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Black Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Coen Hands and Feet

Coen loves his hands and feet. Every time that I change his diaper he puts his hands in his mouth. Whenever you are holding him he will grab your face. He really loves John's face. He also loves to grab things. If you are looking at a picture on the wall he will always try and grab it. It is so fun to see your children grow and explore the world.

Making a Difference

It is days like this that I realize that maybe I am actually making a difference in my children's lives. Every night we say prayers with Paige and have just starting saying them with Johnny(As many of you know it is a great feat if Johnny sits still for 1 minute let alone a few to say a prayer). He usually gets up a few times and then says "Amen". Well, tonight we all sat down to say prayers and Johnny just started to say his prayer without any guidance, it was so cute. I know he is three and probably should have done this long ago but for some reason this kid is on his own time table and does things at his own pace and not necessarily when I think he should. It just makes me realize that our children do see what we do even when we don't realize it! And I am the first to admit that they always aren't the good things they pick up on first. But tonight was and it made me realize maybe Johnny isn't as far behind as I had previously thought.

Paige's Book

A few days ago Paige's teacher sent home a blank book for the children to write a story if they were so inclined. I knew that Paige would be all over this, so today I gave her the book. The teacher gave strict instructions that we were to let the children write about whatever they wanted to and to not help them with the spelling of the words (this is to help them learn to spell by sounding out the letters). Well she finished her book and this was one of the pages in the book. I am sure that Daddy and Aunt Julie will truly appreciate this page!!

"Say Cheese"

Today Johnny came up to me with the camera and said "I want to say cheese", so I induldged him and let him "say cheese". These were the results....

And of course he was in his BUZZ outfit!

Rolling Coen

Here is a video I took the other day of Coen rolling over. I put him down for his "Tummy Time" something I am not the best at and he rolled over. So I had to get it on video. Hope you enjoy!

Prayer Of A Child

THIS POST IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANY KIND!!!!

Some content from Paige's prayer....

Paige: "Please bless that my mom and dad will have a baby girl next".

Paige: "But it's ok if it is a boy".

For some reason Paige thinks we are having a new baby soon or something. Every night she starts out her prayers with this. Last night was the first night that she added that it was ok if we had another boy. I told John this and he said it was because he had a little talk with her about the fact that we should be grateful to Heavenly Father for whatever baby we get, whether it be a boy or a girl. As you can tell Paige really wants a sister.

Poor Johnny

As many of you know, Johnny is a little bit delayed when it comes to his speech. He has gotten better in recent months but still seems to be behind the curve. I talked to my pediatrician about it and he recommended I contact the school district. Apparently the school district offers a free assessment for children 3 and up. So I called and they mailed me a packet to fill out. As I was filling this out I realized that he may be a little delayed in his speech(basically we can't understand what he is saying half of the time), but it may not be enough of a delay to warrant speech therapy. I mentioned to the women on the phone that when he talks and we don't understand him he starts screaming and getting extremely frustrated. He screams even when he isn't trying to talk to you now (Many of you have experienced this with him). Since I told her this she sent a separate sheet that talks about emotional and social development. Well, as many of you can guess it seems like he has more of a problem in this area. It asks if he screams, is fussy and is aggressive just to name a few things. But the real kicker was they asked if he is a attached to a particular object or thing. John and I both screamed "YES". Many of my posts have centered around this obsession with a particular object. Just when I think that he is growing out of it, he brings it right back. Needless to say it seems as if Johnny has multiple things that need to be evaluated. There are times that I just want to "SCREAM"(and sadly, sometimes I do) when he is having one of his meltdowns, and then there are times that I just want to squeeze the kid because he is so stinking cute. I will send back the evaluation this week and see what they say. Hopefully there is something that can be done. Wish us luck!

How Many Five Year Olds Can You Take On?

15

I got this website from Sarah's Blog and thought this one was hilarious. Since I do have a five year old and she has five year old friends and I see a billion five year olds everyday when I drop Paige off to kindergarten, I thought this would be fun. Take the test and tell me how many you could take on.