Gage gets unexpectedly beat out...

I know. This is getting so old. The slide at the park will never be as fun again. I anticipate a visit from Child Protective Services any time now. Which will be nice, I expect they will help me make a padded room.

(On a happier note, I am now pretty much a pro at closing superficial wounds. I'm going to bill Tony. I've saved us almost $2000 this month alone! Woohooo!)

I guess he's the winner this month...

Owwie of the Month Club winner, that is. This one was earned on the bus from playing too rough with kids who are too big. I guess it's like the chihuahua-that-thinks-it's-a-bulldog sort of thing. He was embarrassed that he had cried in front of his friends. The busdriver, thankfully, is a friend of mine who has 6 kids (5 boys) and didn't freak out... Instead of stitches, I went to the pharmacy and got myself some Steri-strips and superglue. Fixed him right up. And saved myself about a thousand bucks. And I gotta say, after seeing how they do it in the ER about 5 times now, I think I did just as good a job as they do. And what little boy doesn't have a scar of some kind by their eye? Answer me that.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Congratulations to my sweet sister who got her first daughter for Mother's Day! Four boys and a girl... finally!

And some tender, heartwarming words of inspiration from Elder Jeffery R. Holland to help us all remember the sanctity and challenge of the mothers' task:
(I highlighted some of my favorite parts!)
"You can’t possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you—He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.

Remember, remember all the days of your motherhood: “Ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.” Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.”

You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even—no, especially—when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibility as mothers, 'Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.' And it will make your children whole as well."

Yikes.

So Jen took some cute pictures of the fam while we were up in Washington... I'm still working on getting them edited and posted due to technical difficulties, but it's still on the list! Don't you worry-

Things here are super busy. I feel like everyone is trying to fit in everything before school ends (Pet day and park day and field trips and we signed Lauren up for a second preschool, soccer and juggling 3 different baseball leagues and Primary presidency meetings and...) So we're busy. So my posts are lame.

I did want to share a scary story. I guess I'm just still amazed that we dodged this bullet. I'm honestly sick when I think about it...
Saturday night we had a hot dog roast in the back yard with my parents. It was very nice and of course, the kids loved it. We even bought those jumbo marshmallows that are so awesome! Afterwards, Tony said he was going to run down to the storage unit to get the kids' bikes; I was helping clean up the BBQ stuff. The kids were all playing in the yard. I take in an armload of stuff and think "I should go get Krew before Tony leaves." I walk out the garage and see Tony running down the driveway. So I run, because the urgency in his movement is obvious.
I see my little precious baby getting up in the driveway exactly where Tony had just been parked. He had a big, bloody scrape on his cheek and his hands were all black. Neither of us saw what happened, but we think Tony backed over him. The truck must have knocked him down and then passed over him. We don't know what happened. All the other possibilities are also scary: was he climbing up on the running board and fell when the truck moved? Was he standing by the tires and got his jacket caught and was dragged down?
For the last few days I haven't wanted to let him out of my sight. I keep kissing him and holding him and following him around and giving him extra treats. I wanted to sleep with him, but I don't fit in the playpen. ;) And I've said about a thousand prayers of gratitude for the narrow miss. Of all the blessings I've begged in my life, the prayers said for my children are the only ones that I really care are heard.
So hug your kids. It's been about ten minutes since I hugged mine- so they're due for another!