also it's dark outside after church

I have NOBODY in the nursery and one guy in senior primary.

the "surprise" in the car magazine {awesome mom}

this is the story of the "surprise" in the car and truck magazine.

one day about a year ago.

or six months.

or some time a long while ago, that's all i know.

long enough that it was basically a staple around our home.

a car and truck magazine that came in the mail.

that's what i'm talking about.

this is basically chase's favorite thing to come in the mail EVER since he doesn't know about money and grandparent checks and boxes that say amazon on the sides yet.

so this car magazine came,

and he would sit in different places all over the house looking at it.

awe-ing at the different cars and trucks and tanks and boats.

it was such an entertainer that i KNEW it needed to be in the church bag.

and believe me,

it held his attention there too.

it was the magic car and truck magazine.

that's what i thought of it.

so when we went to our nephew's baptism in arizona last month,

knowing how LONG baptisms are in arizona i packed church bags with the regular garb for all three kids to have.

have you ever been to one? an lds baptism in arizona?

it's like 20 kids all on the same day. sometimes more.

it's organized. 

SUPER organized. 

like i sit there and think about how these people are pro's 

at massive primarys with millions of 8 year olds.

they have it down to a SCIENCE i tell ya,

a well oiled machine,

but depending on where you fall in the line up, there's usually a video involved, some talks, a musical number, and sometimes a congregational hymn.

you know, not quite as long as a sacrament meeting that goes over, but about as long as catholic mass on christmas and easter,

which means it's just a little bit longer than the norm b/c well, it's a special occasion.

so i made sure to slip chase's special awesome car and truck and boat and tanker magazine into his monkey backpack for the pre-baptism stuff in the chapel on baptism day,

and let me tell you, we were prepared.

fruit snacks,

granola bars,

and car magazine.

we were one happy of row of out of town gibson's.

and i was feeling pretty awesome.

prepared and awesome:)

oh yeah.

and then chase took his awesome car magazine over to sean and they went through it page by page together with a super spiritual movie about jesus playing on the projector at the front of the chapel,

and i was sitting there looking at my reverent family just feeling, like i said before, awesome:)

and that's when sean looked over at me and was all,

"honey!!! WHERE did you get THIS magazine???"

and i was all, "it came in the mail. isn't it awesome:)"

and i had a huge smile on my face because i just KNEW my husband was thinking how awesome of a mom i was because my kids were being so reverent and out of town church going awesome.

and then he was like,

"um honey, come here..."

and so i scooted over for him to whisper sweet praises into my awesome mom ears and that's when i heard it.

"there's PORN in here!"

and i was like

"excuse me?"

and he was all,

"on page 41 and 42, between the tractor page and tank page!"

"whaaaaat??? what do you mean??"

that's what i said.

and he was like, "naked girls and girls wearing skanky stuff!"

and that's when my eyes got all big,

and i covered my mouth,

mostly because i was laughing and feeling all IRREVERENT because who laughs about porn in your kid's magazine IN A CHAPEL at a BAPTISM anyway???

well, we did.

mostly because it was just so ironic that such a discovery would be made in such a holy place.

and also there's the question we were wondering which was how many times has chase looked at those pictures, and how crazy it is that you can just miss something 

like this IN your home for so long.

so we swiftly closed up that car and truck and tank and boat magazine,

irreverently laughed over the matter for about 5 minutes more because there just couldn't have been a worse place to find such a thing.

and also a funnier place to find such a thing.

and REALIZE such a thing.

and then we walked into parker's baptism with our 

by that point, 3 irreverent kids,

'cause ya know we are SO awesome and prepared and stuff:)

who puts porn in the middle of a mailer car and truck 

and boat and tank magazine anyway???

sickos.

shazam!

1st day of nursery.

not even a kiss goodbye.

set him down at the door,

and he took off running for the bins of trucks and cars.

takes after his big brother.

such a nursery gem those boys are.

second set of double gibbies in the nursery at the same time.

2 yrs apart with spring birthdays will do that to ya.

it's a beautiful thing.

hip hip hooray!

max was looking up at me like, "ma, you're not staying?"

and i was all,

"B-Y-E."

{wink}

that's what i lipped to the nursery leaders across the room.

and then i scooted myself right out to sunday school.

shazam:)

letters to Beth {conference & luxury applesauce}

dear beth,

today i was in my kitchen.

all day.

it was very fulfilling,

listening to conference 

and cooking in my kitchen.

but now,

i don't want to cook for a few days.

i'm all cooked out.

mostly b/c i'm just plain sick of the dishes.

i'm really no fan of dishes.

some people like them.

laundry i like.

dishes i do not.

sean cleaned up the last of them 

for me tonight,

and it was such a relief.

what a guy!

how do you watch conference in germany?

i was thinking about you today.

about how your mom gave me almost all of my conference traditions.

sitting on your couch,

taking notes in our conference notebooks,

cuddled under blankets.

those were relaxing conference days!

now i cook for my family,

help keep my kids entertained and within earshot of the speaker's voices,

and listen the very best i can.

i love it.

i absolutely love it!

new traditions and ways of enjoying the conference spirit in our home.

it was great, great, great.

chase played with paper dixie cups on the kitchen floor next to me for half an hour,

and then went off to find his cars.

i let max get the markers out for the first time in two weeks,

under strict instructions to only color on the paper.

"where?" i said.

"on the paper" she chimed back.

there was a table incident in the tv room two weeks ago.

i still can't get the marker off of the game table top.

any wood cleaning tricks for me would be much appreciated.

so today was her first day back at the markers,

and it went well.

brennan got in on it too.

success and marker happiness all around.

i was so pleased.

we let brennan watch netflix and play games on the ipad for the first session today,

so it was really quiet and calm.

during both sessions yesterday he and max played toys together.

i couldn't believe it.

i didn't even have to put anyone in time out.

they played and listened, and i sat on the couch and listened, 

and made sure chase wasn't unraveling the toilet paper again in the bathroom.

for the second session today we didn't let anyone have any phones or ipads.

it wouldn't have worked,

except my cousins came over after the family yard lunch between conference sessions,

so they all played while we listened.

i made applesauce.

sean's favorite with the red hots.

i will save a quart for you.

i got the apples from my neighbor Briar's tree.

two different blends.

it's DELISH!

i just LOOOOVE using the apple corer and peeler.

an hour of bliss.

john helped me with a few,

and then audrey came over and showed us a way that was about a million times easier for how to use the apple corer and peeler.

life changing.

john made dixie cup towers over and over again.

he kept trying to make them taller than the last.

finally brennan knocked his tallest one down, 

and the big kids assured him he wasn't the one that knocked it down, and then they called the tower making quits.

they all ended up on the trampoline while i made soup,

and it was just so warm and gorgeous outside.

despite us waking up to blankets of frost the last two mornings, it was the perfect sunny, warm, fall weather today.

i loved watching them all play outside together, 

and it made fear the long cold winter that is coming.

when i create my own world,

i fully plan on making it snow warm.

boy do i wish i had two 13 year olds around to help me every day.

good company AND good helpers.

plus, they say really awesome things about life.

audrey sauteed my ground sausage, 

while john played with chase and brennan.

it was absolutely JOYFUL!

and by 7:34pm brennan was falling asleep at the dinner table,

asking to go to bed.

that has happened OHHHH maybe one other time in his entire life.

god bless 13 year old cousins.

i actually felt like i got to LISTEN 

to conference for the first time in 6 years.

a win for sure.

and so that's what i'm wondering,

do you watch general conference from home online?

how does the time change work with that?

do you watch it later?

stay up in the middle of the night?

what do you make?

the scones?

can your allergy people eat them?

probably not.

enlighten me oh beth of many lands!

and tell me all about your german escapades.

i miss you,

and brennan saw your video on facebook today and said,

"i want them to come back from germany. i miss them."

out of the mouths of babes!

love,

emily 

{all of those apples,

and this is what we get.

i can never believe how far they cook down.

tomatoes too. who knew applesauce was such a luxury?}

pink sunsets too {running down north temple in heels}

we were late.

like we were waiting in traffic in the parking garage at 5:40pm.

and you're supposed to be in your seats 2 blocks away 10 minutes ago.

and in utah, 2 blocks away means 2 football fields away.

i kid you not.

so they tell you that you have to be there a half an hour early on your ticket.

5:30pm it says.

or you might lose your seat.

except you're sitting in traffic everywhere b/c everyone else is late too.

because really, when you're gathering 21,000 women in one place 

to something that is going to start on time no matter what,

because it's being broadcast live,

you have to tell them a time to be early.

us women.

except i'm thinking that they should tell us to be there an hour early,

because then maybe more of us would have been there by the time it started.

except we'd probably all STILL just be squeaking in during the open song.

it was amazing to watching the empty seats around us and on the sides fill in,

and in,

and in,

and in,

like dominos falling into red cushion seats.

except women.

so picture my 67 year old mother and i,

running up 200 south and then down north temple,

in heels.

not high ones, 

think kitten ones, 

because we KNEW we wouldn't want anything higher than that.

and the women were all flocking

toward the conference center 

by 

the 

thousands!

and everyone was smiling and laughing.

chatting with their friends,

their moms,

their whatevers.

and my mom and i just couldn't stop giggling.

wishing that we would have just gone to our designated parking area from the start,

instead of trying to go to the $5 lot across the street from the conference center,

which turned out to be handicap only.

it's been awhile since i've been down to temple square during conference time.

you forget how packed it gets.

so a half an hour's worth of traffic later we are finally parked in our designated parking area,

and we're running in heels,

and my mom was all,

"don't forget your mother is 67 and doing this!"

and i was all,

"do you need to stop? are you ok?"

and she was like,

"oh no, i'm good! just don't forget 

that i can do this and i'm 67! 

i feel like i'm in vietnam. this is great!"

and then we talking about how if we were good rule followers 

who went to their assigned parking spots in the first place,

we wouldn't be having nearly as much fun.

then once we got there,

we found friends in the line behind us,

because out of 21,000 women,

in small town utah,

you're guaranteed to see at least 3 of your neighbors

when you go downtown for conference.

really, i saw 3 of my neighbors.

not planned, not looking for them, just ran into them.

small. town. salt lake city.

coming from a small california beach town,

it never ceases to amaze me,

how everyone knows everyone here,

and you see them everywhere.

sometimes it's freaky.

so one of the ushers escorted us to the shortest line through a side door,

they checked our bags,

we went through the metal detector,

and for half a second i was scared.

to be at a large publicized church gathering.

because our world is just different now.

different than it was ten years ago,

the last time i went to something at the conference center.

but then we got inside,

and the opening song was going,

and all of the women were still filing in by the thousands,

and it was just amazing.

because i promise you,

you've never seen a bigger girl's night out than the general relief society conference.

one of my favorite nights of the entire year.

longer lines than disneyland.

and then when it was over,

we took our time walking back to our car,

and sat in traffic again for another hour,

b/c we forgot that it's smarter to eat downtown after.

so we sat in the car,

and talked about the themes of the talks,

how much we loved the talks,

how lucky we were to hear the prophet speak,

and then we ate chinese food at 9:30pm at night,

in a restaurant full of women 

in their church dresses 

and heels.

and we talked about how it's just so wonderful

to 

live 

in 

utah.

pink sunsets too.

last tuesday night {they called her on a mission}

first everybody screamed.

then when she said which MTC she was going to,

everybody screamed again.

but louder!

we all

clapped,

smiled,

and

jumped up and down with the buzz of excitement.

we all talked about how we couldn't believe that ashley was going on a mission,

and i spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out if her area covered my hometown of half moon bay.

it does not.

then we spent the night eating chocolate pie and cookie,

looking through the maps in her packets, 

reading about her mission presidents,

listening to people reminisce about their old mission stories,

and talking about visas and passports and interesting stuff like that. 

sean and jaren watched videos about the mexico city missionary training center 

on their phones and ipad,

and i wished that girls could have gone on missions when they were 19 when i was 19 

{you used to have to wait until 21 and by then i was already smitten with sean 

and was all "mission whaaaat? take me to the temple sean! let's get married and have babies!"}

{best decision of my entire life, BTW!}

the dads of the high school kids all talked about how fast your kids grow up,

and how you blink and your kids are going on missions.

things like that.

and i sat their nodding my head like,

"i know, i know"

but in my head i'm thinking,

"no way, that's soooooooo far away!"

even though i know it's not.

pretty much one of the most fun nights of the entire summer.

everybody made their guesses for about an hour before she opened her mission call. 

i guessed Fiji. 

because doesn't she look like a white Fijian person??!! 

yeah, no one else thought so either.

sean and the kids guessed california.

smart little devils.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

spanish speaking

reporting to the 

MEXICO MTC 

October 30th.

awesome

awesome

AWESOME!!!

i can't believe sean and the kids guessed right.

it's times like these when i wish we were gamblers.

shucks.

brennan can't wait to go,

and max wants to know if i can come with her when she goes.

be still my heart.

i love this life of ours.

and i LOVE this missionary.

Sister Mehr.

...

"i hope they call me on a mission,

when i have grown a foot or two.

i hope, by then i will be ready,

to teach and preach and work 

as missionaries do."

his OVAL boat WITH chairs {and thunder & lightening}

above: a story from the book of mormon.

the brother of jared in his boat. 

his OVAL boat. 

with chairs to sit on.

and babies sleeping on their beds.

{okay, so the story has some added imagination.}

{i love that even more.}

thunder clouds WITH lightening bolts.

and the holes where the air and light could be let in when needed.

...

i love that brennan draws.

i am bursting with pride!

and i really think his brain is just awesome when it does amazing stuff like this.

AMAZING STUFF.

:):):)

AND...
my GIANTS are getting ready to bloom.
their tiny little yellow faces about to POP!
i can hardly wait:)
8 and 9 feet tall beauties.
they tower over me like something out of a childhood story book.
i love to go outside and stand under them.
looking up.

happy happy sunday:)

a volcano in my humidifier

 my entire family falls asleep at 8:45pm, sean included, and i decide to try to clean out the humidifier with vinegar and baking soda. b/c i know vinegar is the greatest cleaning agent on the planet,

but i think maybe the bubbling from the baking soda will make it work better.

and i always loved when we did that in the third grade to make a volcano anyway.

and then alicia reminded me that one's a base and one's an acid, 

so they were probably counteracting each other.

of course!!! i was never good at connecting things like that in science class.

and then linsey testified that if you give her a bottle of dish soap, water, 

and vinegar she can clean just about anything.

and to vinegar, soak, and rinse 2x {hot water.}

and then laura said to let the vinegar sit and then go at it with a toothbrush, 

but that really she usually just throws them out and goes and buys a new one from walmart.

and then my mom said soak, soak, soak in vinegar. and scrub, scrub, scrub,

so i dumped it all out and started again with a huge pool of vinegar in the base of it.

but then i couldn't help myself from making another volcano b/c it was so much fun to watch it bubble up,

but then i decided i'd better get serious about cleaning it out if i wanted it to work in the kid's room tonight,

so i dumped it all out again and filled it with the last of my vinegar.

and then sean walked in and was all, "what is going on? what are you doing???"

with one eye open and still half asleep.

and i just smiled really big and started giggling.

bottle of vinegar and baking soda=$10

group texting my friends on a sunday night 

and science experiments in my upstairs bathroom all by myself=PRICELESS.

and very therapudic:):):)

brennan officially graduated from sunbeams and moved into the CTR 4 class in sunday school today.

he was beaming through the halls tonight as we were leaving church.

with his CTR ring on.

{"Choose The Right"}

{aka make good choices and keep the commandments}

{and by "tonight" i indeed mean TONIGHT. b/c the sun was actually setting 

as we walked out of church. the 2-5pm church block is brutal. 

1 week down. 51 more weeks to go. 47 if you don't count stake and general conferences. 

but who's counting anyway?! wait...}

i was so excited for him i was bursting.

i told him i had always wanted one when i was little.

he told me he can "look at it on his finger, and then his brain will remember to choose the right."

{on the way to church he told us his brain talks to him sometimes.

and tells him stuff.}

i found one at the bottom of the alta canyon swimming pool in elementary school and made it mine.

a ctr ring. not a brain.

it turned my finger green,

but i loved it.

the ring.

but not like gollum or anything like that.

then in high school and college i bought fancy silver ones that are sitting in my jewelry box upstairs.

i have come full circle.

with ctr rings and volcanoes.

i need to go dig out my old ctr rings.

i wonder if my humidifier is done soaking in vinegar yet...