Tribute

Back in April we closed on the sale of our home in Meridian. We wondered if it wasn't selling because we would end up moving back to it one day, so there it sat empty and waiting. After 9 long months, much to our relief, it finally sold.

Braxton misses our "long stairs".

Eli and Easton miss our yard filled with all that green grass.

I miss my vaulted great room.

And Brandon misses the bathtub. He actually has had a personal vendeta against taking a bath in the home we are in now, not that he's a big bather type, but he says he doesn't want "to cheat on our other tub." I haven't asked him if he feels differently now that someone else is living there and it is being used regularly.

Yes, we miss our Meridian home, but look forward to finding a home of our own now in Vegas, we'll see how long it takes us to find just the right one.

Eli's Science Project

Eli and a team of his classmates had an assignment to choose an animal to build from scratch. They were to include modern day "simple machines" to represent several of the body parts: the brain was a floppy disk, the kidneys were made out of sponges, the stomach was a soda can, an asthma inhaler for the heart, plastic bags for the lungs, etc. Here is their giraffe. They enjoyed painting and assembling the animal and it was displayed in the hall (with a few others) to celebrate the school's dedication festivities.

The Finished Project

Eli started writing this realistic fiction in school a few months ago. The assignment was given by the writing teacher, Mrs. Simms. He had to take several steps in the writing process, before he could actually start writing, which he wasn't too excited about: character development, story mountain, and planning the scenes. After he started writing, he was excited about how many words he had written so far in his story and sounded determined to have the most in his class. He was really enjoying the project, but it seemed to be lasting longer than the other's in the class. Mr. Asis (his teacher) encouraged him to continue, even after everyone else in the class had finished. He knew Eli was determined in his quest and wanted to let him accomplish his goal. As a month and then two passed, I thought he should "wrap up" the story and I assumed his teacher wanted him to do so, still encouraging him to complete his planned work. Anyway, Mr. Asis emailed the project for Eli to complete on his track break. He worked on it for a few hours the first day of track break and finally finished on the second day!!! So, without further ado...... (BTW it printed out to 14 pages at 16pt font, happy reading)

ELI FABRIZIO
Book 1
The new student

“Today we are going to have a new student!” Mr. Collins said as he put his book away. “His name is Chancho”
“Great,” Conner said to Cooper “Now we’re going to have a pig in our class.” Cooper laughed.
“How rude,” Angle scolded. “I’m excited to meet him.”
The doors opened they saw a kid with his mom step in. The boy had black hair, brown eyes and he was a little on the heavy side.
“Are you Mr. Collins?” The lady asked.
“Yes, yes I am,” Mr. Collins said with a grin.
“This is Chancho,” The lady continued.
“Chancho you can sit by Angle,” Mr. Collins said. “Angle, raise your hand. Put your back pack over there Chancho,” he pointed to the cubbies. Chancho went to his desk and Mr. Collins made him a name tag.
“Hey piggy,” Cooper said quietly which made Conner grin. His mom whispered something into Mr. Collins ear and left.
“Chancho can’t speak much English,” Mr. Collins explained. “Chancho come back up here, we always ask new students questions, Angle.”
“What’s your favorite pet?”
“My favorite is a peg,” Chancho said with a look on his face as if asking, `Did I say that right? ` Then he corrected himself, “Umm, pig.” Cooper and Conner tried not to laugh.
“What is your favorite color?” Mr. Collins continued. “My favorite color is Amarillo,” Chancho replied. All of the boys in the class LAUGHED!
“Very rude, you should be ashamed,” Mr. Collins said with a mad look on his face. “Sorry Chancho, the kids are being mean today, that’s enough for now,”
The rest of the morning they worked on Science, D.O.M. (Daily Oral Math) and D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language). When the bell rang, everyone lined up.
“Hey Chancho, do you want to hang out at recess?” Angle asked.
“Sure,” he replied.
Conner and Cooper shared disgusted looks. The class got outside and scrambled. Chancho and Angle went out to the field, Cooper and Conner followed.
“I know what we’re going to do today,” Cooper said with a grin. “We’ll Spy on them.” They went over close to the field and hid behind the trees. They saw Angle and Chancho.
“Gato is cat, pero is dog,” Angle told Chancho.
“Boring,” Copper said so only Conner could hear. “Let’s go play basketball.”
“Okay,” Conner agreed. The rest of recess Angle and Chancho taught each other their Languages and Cooper and Conner played basketball. The bell rang for lunch and everyone lined up, they got called in first.
“I’m not sitting next to you little piggy,” Cooper said and made a snorting noise.
“Remember,” Angle reminded Chancho.
“You boys are mane.” Chancho tried.
“Ha, Ha,” Copper cackled.
“That’s enough, shut up!” Angle said
“Someone’s learned some language,” Copper commented sarcastically.
“Let’s go over there,” Angle pointed to another table. “Humph, real mature Cooper,” she mumbled as they walked away.
A few minutes later Mr. Collins came in and motioned for everyone to line up. They got back to the class and got ready to go home and finally left for P.E.
“Get in here you ladies,” Coach Steve said in his tough voice.
They started stretching, then they ran a lap, then finally started the main activity.
“1st center is the relay race, 2nd center shooting hoops, 3rd center is Tag-The-Flag.” Coach Steve explained.
Cooper, Conner and some other kids were in group 3, Chancho, Angle and other kids were in group 2.
After P.E. they went home. On the bus, Cooper and Conner were talking.
“Meet me Sunday, 1:00 at the old radio tower,” Cooper said.
“Okay, well maybe, I have a baseball game and my brother has a soccer game,”
“Oh, can I come?”
“Sure it’s at Milwaukee Park at 1:30.”

* * *

“Conner,” Mrs. Hawks called from down stairs. “You need to finish your home work.”
“Wait five more minutes,” he replied.
“What would you be doing that’s more important than home work?”
“I’m talking to Cooper on the web-cam”
“About?” She started
“The things going on in College football,” Conner finished.
“When you’re done, come and finish your home work.”
“OK,” he replied. Cooper and Conner started talking again.
“When do you think you’ll be done with home work,” Cooper asked.
“Well math will take five minutes and spelling will take ten to fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll call back in twenty-five?” Copper asked
“Sure,” Conner said. Conner went down stairs and saw Angle’s mom talking to his. Then she looked at him.
“Conner,” Angle’s mom said. “I heard there was a new student today.”
“Yeah, there was,” he said. “His name was Chancho.”
His mom looked at him like she was very disappointed. “Was that his name?” Mrs. Hawks asked Angel’s mom.
“Yes,” she said, they both shared surprised looks.
Mr. Hawks went to Mexico for a business trip so he learned some Spanish. Chancho, in Spanish, meant pig.
“I’m going to go do my home work,” Conner said.
“I’m not finished,” Angle’s mom said. “And, I also heard that you were being mean to him.”
Conner didn’t know what to say, he was dead meat if he didn’t come up with something.
“C-c-c-cooper f-f-f-d-d-d,” that’s all he could think of.
“That’s what I thought,” Angle’s mom said.
“Get your home work and go to your room we’ll talk when your father gets home,” Mrs. Hawks said.
He went to his room; he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Hey squirt,” a familiar voice said. “You’re in trouble.”
Conner’s bed room door opened. His older brother Zach came in.
“What do you want?” Conner asked.
“Just your wallet,” he replied.
“No, why,” Conner asked.
“Certain reasons.”
“Yeah right,” He said.
“Thanks.” He left the room with Conner’s wallet.
Conner sighed, that’s what big brother’s do, he thought.
He couldn’t finish his home work; he couldn’t stop thinking about today. This might be a little like how Chancho felt, Chancho might have felt even worse! He started to think about it, he should be nice to Chancho. After all this thinking he started to fall asleep.

* * *

“Fire at will,” Colonel Collins shouted.
It was a dark muggy day in Iran, the sound of firing cannons all around you. All the army men were screaming at each other, shooting at the Persians trying to stay alive.
“Ahhhhhhh!” one solider screamed. It was a scary site, the Persians we’re very strong.
“Retreat!” Colonel Collins yelled, all the Persians started cheering.
The Americans started running away. They got back to their camp, many of the soldiers limping most panting hard. Some were even held on a stretcher!
“Was it bad?” President O’Connell asked.
“Yes,” Colonel Collins replied.
“What was so bad?” He continued.
“The Persians bombed our cannons with one left,” Colonel Collins explained. “And we were outnumbered. I didn’t want the army to die so, I retreated the them. Is that bad?”
“No, but if we die we die as an army,” he replied, “and we’ll die valiantly. A president’s favorite thing to hear is ‘they fought hard or valiantly.’”
A soldier came in with an envelope in his hand. “Mr. President Sir, a note from the training area,” he handed the envelope to President O’Connell, he read the letter, then he said, “Send him in.”
“Yes Sir,” the army man obeyed. He left and came back in with a small boy. “This is Chang; he is from Boise, Idaho.”
“Ah, the new spy I assume?”
“Yup,” the solider replied.
“Walk him down to Merlin,” the President said to the army man.
They left the room and started down the hall, they heard the president and the colonel discussing the war.
“Who’s Merlin?” Chang asked.
“He’s an old wizard,” the army man replied. “He gives all spies nick names. What’s his story?” He asked then answered his own question. “He came from Camelot or so he says, he lost his family when he faced the greatest wizard in the world, you’ll have to ask him the whole story.”
“Okay.”
They kept walking and finally got to a big door that had a carving, it was a bearded man with a cloak and a pointed hat that had stars, dots and confetti and a wand pointed as if he was trying to turn you into something else.
The army man opened the door then said, “OK, see you later,” he said.
“Wait this is it?” Chang asked.
“Yup, unless I see you accidentally in the hall,” he answered.
“OK, just one last thing, what’s your name?”
“Gavin, Gavin Douglass.”
Chang walked in, he saw an old man putting green liquid into purple. It really did look like a wizard!
Merlin looked back, “Ah, if it isn’t the new spy.” Merlin reminded Chang of Dumbledore on Harry Potter. “What is your name,” Merlin asked with a slight grin on his face.
“Chang Lingo,” he replied.
Merlin paused; he looked like he was thinking. “How about C.L.A.S.S.?” he asked, but he wasn’t asking himself and he wasn’t asking Chang. An owl swooped down from his perch, landed on Merlin’s lap and nodded then shrugged. “It stands for Chang Lingo a Secret Spy.”
The owl made a disgusted look.
“I’m fine with that name,” Chang said. “Is that all you wanted to do?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Do you have any questions?”
Chang thought for a moment then shook his head. He left and started down the hall. He noticed he didn’t know where to go! He looked around, all he saw were doors. One of them read Multi-purpose room. He thought; maybe there would be a schedule in there. He went in, he saw a very muscular man. There was an obstacle course set up, there were some kids doing it. In the middle of the room there was a poster that said:

“I better get out of here,” he said to himself, “before I get in trouble.”
“Hey you,” said a voice, “What are you doing?”
Chang thought fast, “I’m just here to watch them do the course.”
“Get over here Mr.” he said. “Show me what you can do.”
“OK.”
Chang walked over to the muscleman, he stood next to a red line that said: START. He saw the muscleman’s name tag it was Pete MacIver.
Pete blew his whistle, Chang started running, and he ran up the first obstacle, the stairs. When Chang got to the top of the stairs he jumped into a pile of soft blocks. He acted like he was swimming, by using his hands and feet to get through them. Next, he dodged heavy pillows. He then ran to a rope, got on it and started climbing. When he got to the top he jumped to another rope and swung to a platform. Now he didn’t know what to do. He looked around, Chang finally found a pole; he slid down with a thud. The last obstacle was some horizontal poles, one was high the next one was low and the pattern continued. He saw the finish line.
The Physical Education teacher had his mouth wide open.
“We have a record breaker!” he said astonished.
Chang was surprised, he didn’t think he would win, he just thought he was doing it for fun.
“WOW,” all the students awed.
“Anything I can do far you lad?”
“Actually, yes,” said Chang.
“What?”
“Where do I go? I’m a new spy,” he replied.
“Merlin, then at twelve o’clock you have to go lunch.”
“Thanks,” Chang said.
Chang left, he looked at his wristwatch it was eleven twenty-four. What would he do now? He decided he’d take a nap.
Time went by, he felt very refreshed. He looked at his watch, now it was eleven fifty-eight.
He went down to the lunch room. On the way down an older kid pushed him into the wall. Chang looked back at the kid that did that. Chang recognized the boy; he was a kid in the P.E. room.
“What, are you jealous?” Chang asked.
The kid gave Chang a mad look, charged at Chang and threatened to punch him. He ducked when the kid took a swing, barely missing Chang. The kid tried to punch Chang again but instead of hitting Chang in the face Chang blocked the punch with his hand.
“Do you give up yet?” Chang asked the older kid.
“No,” the kid grumbled.
A streak of light went past Chang and it got the boy; he started to shrink.
“What’s going on?” the kid asked very surprised, and sounding like a chipmunk.
Chang looked back; Merlin was glaring at the older kid.
“Terrible,” Merlin said.
Chang and Merlin started walking down the hall to lunch. The bell then rang, “Beep, beep, beep, beep.”
Conner woke up from his alarm, “It was just a dream,” he said very relieved.
Conner didn’t need a dream interpreter to know what it meant. Chancho was Chang and the boy on the way to the lunch room was him and Cooper. In the P.E. room it was showing that Chancho is just as good as Cooper and Conner (and everyone else).
Conner got out of his bed and called Cooper’s phone# 682-3210.
“Hello?” Cooper’s mom said.
“Hi, this is Conner Hawks, can I talk to Cooper?”
“Hey Conner, what’s up?”
“Instead of meeting at the old radio tower this afternoon meet me there at eight,” Conner explained.
“Okay,” Cooper said.
Conner went downstairs; his dad was already eating. Usually, on Sunday, Conner was the first one awake!
“Why are you up so early?” Conner asked his dad.
“I’m playing basketball with my friends from work,” Mr. Hawks said.
Conner went over to the pantry, no cereal.
“Dad where’s my Honey Nut Cheerios?”
“Zach put Buddy’s squeaky toy in the box and Buddy ate all of the cereal just to get his toy.”
“He did that to make me mad,” Conner grumbled.
Conner had to have disgusting oatmeal. When he was done he asked his dad if he could go play with Cooper.
“Sure,” he replied. “Check in at 8:30.”
Conner ran upstairs, got his shoes and left he heard the squeaks of his sneakers as he walked down the sidewalk, he was so nervous. When he finally got to the radio tower, he saw a note that said:

Conner,
Meet me at the top of the tower, I have something to tell/show you.
By the way, why did u want to meet earlier than planned?
You’re Friend,
Cooper Luferk
P.S. take this note off when you’re done reading it.
Conner grabbed the note and started up the metal ladder. When Conner got to the top, he saw Cooper sitting on the floor drawing something in his note book.
Conner looked up and said, “Hey, so what did you want to talk about?”
Conner then explained his dream to Cooper. Conner explained he got in trouble because he was being mean to Chancho.
“So, you’re saying we need to be nice to Chancho?”
“Yeah, I was just thinking, what would I feel like if some kids came up to me and called me a pig,” Conner said very emotionally.
Cooper stood up and said, “Okay, let’s be nice to Chancho.”
Conner stood up and walked to the doorway, stepped out onto the ladder and started down. He started to wonder if Cooper actually was going to be nice to Chancho.
“Conner,” Cooper said, “I’m sorry I was mean to Chancho.”
“So am I Cooper, so am I,” Conner acknowledged.
Cooper started down the ladder too, Conner kept going. When they both got to the bottom they looked at each other very seriously. They started walking home, they totally forgot about the little meeting they had!
“Tomorrow at school let’s fix the problem,” Cooper finally said.
“Yeah,” Conner replied.
When they got to their neighborhood Cooper went left onto his street and Conner went right onto his.
“See you tomorrow Cooper.”
“See you Conner.”
Cooper started jogging down his street then started running he didn’t want to miss any of the UFC fight this morning. He looked at his watch it was 8:48 the fight was at 9:00 good thing he had Tivo so he could record shows he wanted to watch. When he got home it was 9:03 he better hurry or he might not see the introduction! He ran into the living room his sister Jessie was watching TV!
“What are you doing?!” Cooper asked.
“Watching TV, why?” she asked.
Conner stood with his mouth wide open. Tivo doesn’t record shows if you watch another movie.
“I don’t know what channel UFC’s on,” Cooper said.
Jessie turned back to the television. Cooper stomped up to his room he’s been mad at his sister the past few days.
He jumped onto his bed and said to himself, “Who cares about a stupid UFC fight.”
Latter after that he went down stairs and asked his mom if he could go to Conner’s baseball game. She said yes but right after the game he had to come right back.
Cooper ran to the garage, got his bike and started to ride to Milwaukee Park. When he got there, he saw one of the players on Conner’s team he followed him to field three. Today Conner was playing the best team in his league, the Angels.
“Hey everybody its Cooper,” a voice said, “he can play 1st base since Clay isn’t here!”
Cooper looked around, he saw a kid in his class in the dugout it was
Alex the coach’s son.
Cooper smiled and ran to the dugout.
“What’s up guys,” Cooper said. “Where’s Clay?”
Conner walked over to the fence “He’s sick or something.”
“Sure I’ll play but I don’t have a uniform,” Cooper said.
Conner’s dad the assistant coach said, “I’ve got an extra one.”
Cooper ran into the bathroom and changed. He then realized he didn’t have a glove! Maybe Alex has an extra?
Cooper stepped into the dugout and sat down, “Alex,” Cooper said, “do you have an extra mitt?”
“Yeah” he said. “I always do, here you go.”
Coach Maclver stepped in front of the team, “OK you guys,” he said. “Today were playing the best team in single A. We’re the home team so were in the field first and batting last. We are undefeated so far, let’s try to be the BEST OF THE BEST. This team isn’t good the other teams are just easy.” He waved every one to come up. “Tigers dominate on three, bring us out Conner.”
“One two three,” Conner started.
Then every one finished, “TIGERS DOMINATE!”
Everyone ran out to their positions. Conner-short stop, Alex-pitcher, and Cooper-1st base.
“Batter up,” the Umpire said.
The batter stepped into the batters box, Alex threw a fast ball perfectly into the catcher’s glove.
“Strike one,” the Ump said.
The same thing happened the next time, the third time the batter swung at a low pitch.
“Strike three you’re out.”
The next batter stepped in. Alex threw another perfect pitch; the batter hit a pop fly to center field, the center fielder caught it!
Two outs next batter up, he hit a line drive to 1st Cooper picked it up, ran to his base and tagged the runner.
Now, it was their turn to bat. First person up got a single same thing happened with the next two batters. Alex was up now he hit a fast grounder to the out field HE HIT A GRAND SLAM! Cooper was up next he hit the ball hard into the out field but only got to 2nd base. They thought he was going to run one more base and threw it over the third basemen’s head. Cooper kept going all the way to home plate. You can only score 5 points in an inning in that league so that inning was over.
In the bottom of the 9th inning the score was 8-9 Angels winning. There were two outs, bases loaded and Conner was up. He swung at the first and second pitch the third one was a ball/a bad pitch. Conner was shaking now the pitcher threw a good pitch Conner did the trigger motion his dad taught him, CRACK the ball went flying right over the fence ANOTHER GRAND SLAM! The tigers win against the past best team in single A.
“Conner, Conner, Conner,” everyone cheered.
* * *

The next day was Monday May, 25th 2009. Conner woke up early and got ready for school; he felt like walking to school today.
He went into his mom’s room and asked, “Can I walk to school with Cooper today?”
Cooper always walks to school on Monday, Thursday, and Friday.
“Yeah sure,” she said, she sounded really tired.
Conners walked over to the intersection where his and Cooper’s street crisscrossed. Cooper was walking on his street toward Conner, when Cooper saw Conner he started running.
“Hey Coop,” Conner said.
“Why are you walking today,” Cooper asked.
“I just felt like it today.”
On the way, they planned how they were going to apologize to Chancho.
When they got to school they saw Angle and a mean girl in their class named Brittney talking. Angle saw Conner and Cooper, scolded, and walked away with Brittney.
“Let’s go Conner,” Cooper said he handed a walky-talky to Conner. “I’ll signal you if I find them.”
They ran on opposite sides of the school.
Cooper then said from his walky-talky, “Found them.”
Conner ran to the other side of the school and saw Cooper looking at the girls. Conner ran over to him, grabbed Cooper and started dragging him over to the girls.
“Like what are you doing?” Brittney asked disgusted.
“We need to talk to Angle,” Conner said seriously.
“To bad,” Brittney said. “She totally like does not want to talk to you.”
“Humph, women,” Cooper said.
“Excusé mua,” Brittany said.
“What?” Angle said still mad at them.
“We’re really sorry for what we did and said to Chancho,” they said innocently.
Conner explained his dream and how he got in trouble by her mom.
“Tell that to Chancho,” she said. “But I do forgive you.”
“Touchdown,” Conner said smiling.
They all started walking over to their line next to the door of the classroom. The bell rang, everyone started running to the lines next to the other classrooms. When Cooper and Conner got inside, they saw Chancho was sitting at his desk looking very uncomfortable.
“Chancho,” Cooper said, “we’re really sorry for what we said and did to you.”
“Yeah were really, really sorry,” Conner agreed.
“I’m sorry too,” Chancho said. “For calling you guys rude.”
“That’s nothing compared to what we did,” Conner said guessing Chancho forgave them.
“So, you forgive us?” Cooper asked.
“Of course I do,” he said.
The rest of the day Chancho, Cooper, Conner, and Angle all got along.
When Conner got home his mom asked, “Did you get along with Chancho?”
Conner couldn’t hold in a laugh. . .

Salon de Cuatro Hijos

Brandon, also know as, El Birthday Planner Extraordinaire, has done it once again. Yes, this year he made my birthday celebration an evening to remember by bringing the day spa experience into the very walls of our own home. He, along with his 3 "male beauticians", if you will, worked their magic and the "salon" was worth every star of its recently acquired 5-star rating. Not only was this a total surprise, which I have informed both Eli and Brandon, that I am not easily surprised, I seem to have expectations for surprises....Maybe because when I was growing up, GG (my Mom) always made my birthdays "surprise"-themed, from surprise parties at McDonald's or the 49th Street Galleria to the male, singing telegram, high-top wearing ballerina (10th birthday) or the balloon bearing, birthday sign carrying gorilla telling everyone at 'good old Jordan High' to wish me a Happy 16th Birthday...(long interlude) but this "Fabrizio" Day Spa experience was a heavenly, relaxing, very well thought out production that will bring a smile to my day when the boys are doing their "boy things" and I am feeling "outnumbered" and longing for female companinship in my house of 4 boys. Maybe I can convince them to paint my nails instead of wrestling, playing GameCube, or watching "the game? I doubt it, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right!

I walked in the house after running a quick errand and Eli greeted me at the door with a European accent, "Hello Miss, your tub is ready, it is reserved for one hour", as he's walking me upstairs and the scent of lavender and vanilla is luring me in and relaxing me instantly. I get to my bathroom and yes, the bathtub is full with hot water still running softly and bubbles, not quite overflowing. At this point I am surprised and so impressed by this thoughtful gesture (El Extraordinaire knows how much I love a hot bubble bath, reserved for one hour with no interruptions nonetheless), I'm grinning from ear to ear. The bathroom counter is free from clutter, my bath towel is folded and waiting on the ledge of the tub and my favorite, soft, cozy bathrobe is hanging nearby so I will know to adorn it after my soak, (Is that TMI? I just was loving all the last details and want to keep the record accuately) Jack Johnson is playing in the background to take my thoughts to quiet beaches, and, on our full-length mirrors is a loving Happy Birthday message in dry erase marker from El Extraordinare. Oh, and don't forget the ice water to drink and cookies to snack on if needed. So, I don't know that I actually soaked for a full hour, but I definitely took my time.

After I was well relaxed and the soak seemed very sufficient, I was instructed on a note to "Ring downstairs when finished". I was treated to a massage by Brandon, the Massage Therapist (who knew he had such a skill). Even though there were 3 little boys in the house, somehow they were distracted and patient and kept the atmosphere peaceful throughout the soak and massage. Now that I am completely relaxed, Brandon says I may want to say a prayer before the final salon services, the Pedicure and Manicure, for this is what the boys have been waiting to take part in. Eli starts with my manicure and does just fine, considering he has never filed or painted his own nails, let alone a girl's. He was very professional and got the hang of how to paint without getting it on my fingers or dripping too much.

Brandon does my pedicure, worrying that Easton and Braxton will never be able to do the painting. He realizes he is out of practice and the task is more difficult than he remembers, as it has been about 10 years ago, when I was pregnant with Eli, that he last performed this service. Easton and Braxton come bouncing to me ready to take their turn and Eli helps them paint the "top-coat" on my fingernails. They proceed to rub my hands with lotion to feel like they are a part of the pampering, and it's just enough for them to do just that.

To top off the salon treatment, Brandon made homemade lasagne for dinner which was very yummy and we enjoyed a delectable Black and White Cheesecake from the Sam's Club bakery for dessert. Wow, 32 is starting out absolutely magnificently! I love you, Brand! I love you, Eli, Easton, and Braxton! I hope to visit Salon de Cuatro Hijos again one day!

Best Friend

Easton and his best little buddy, Josh, met when they were about 4 and 5 months old. They grew up across the street from each other for 2 years, then we moved a few blocks away and their frienship continued to flourish. Easton has been missing his dear friend so much lately due to our sudden move to Las Vegas seven months ago. He began calling his stuffed dog, Snake, his "best friend". He told me he was doing this so he could remember Josh (his real best friend). I try to comfort him when he gets sad and is missing his friend by telling him he can call him or get on the webcam and talk to him, but he wants to play with him. Last night Easton was discouraged because he wanted a movie of him and Josh playing together. He didn't think we had one, but I came across this one and when I showed it to him he was grinning from ear to ear!

I told Easton that I'm sure they'll be able to play together again one day soon. In his 6 year-old mind, one day just doesn't come soon enough.

This time last year....

That's right, we were cruising the Mexican Riviera!! Oh, how we enjoyed our first cruise and long to go again one day soon!

Brandon is convinced it's the perfect way to travel.

We were at dinner one night with our friends, Rick and Melissa, and they told us about a great deal they had found on the Princess Cruise line. They told us we should "come along". When we got home from dinner, Brandon totally booked it (not typical for Brandon, he really must have needed a vacation). Melissa called me, ecstatic, before he had even officially announced to me that he was going to do it. Naturally, I was thrilled! It all fell into place for Brandon's Mom to come stay with the boys and we would be sailing out in just a few short weeks.

Party time in Puerto Vallarta! Lunch at Senor Frogs was quite interesting as we witnessed a mother and daughter become completely intoxicated (alcohol and drugs combined). The mother had to be dragged out of the restaurant by a male (son?? or travel partner to her daughter) and a few of the servers. The daughter, on the other hand, was a "lightweight" in a couple of aspects and was easily carried outside to the taxi. Crazy!! We just enjoyed being intoxicated with laughter and singing along to the good old "American" music playing loudly throughout the restaurant.

The port in Cabo was absolutely beautiful with the rocks coming right up out of the ocean. We went on a "Glass-Bottom Boat" over to the rocks. We saw lots of fish underneath the boat and sea lions on the rocks.

I got to fulfill my dream and go parasailing in Mazatlan. I absolutely loved it and would totally do it again. I really am in one of those sails up there. Too bad we didn't have a bigger zoom lens on our camera.

Out of the Mouth of my "babe"

On Sunday morning I was in the kitchen doing some baking for our Ward activity, "Break the Fast", after Church. I was in my dress and ready for the day because Sunday goes much better if I am ready first thing. I don't know if Braxton, at 3 years of age, was feeling the spirit of the sabbath day, or if he saw the picture of the Savior on the shelf in the living room and it sparked his thoughts, but he said, in a sort of whiney, disturbed tone of voice, "I just want to talk to Jesus. When is he going to come?" It was obviously one of those tender, melt your heart moments for a mother. I'm so glad he feels that bond to his elder brother. Maybe he really is catching the messages at Church and from our scripture and Family Night (4 minute) discussions.

A couple weeks ago, there was a talk in Sacrament meeting that touched my soul immensely. The speaker shared the importance of teaching our children to have an understanding of the principles of the gospel. That concept had never really been brought to my attention or stirred such thoughts in my mind before as it did that day and I truly felt enlightened.

side note: I'm so glad I was able to catch the message, as that is not always a possibility with the little guys who sit next to me on the bench. Many of you can relate.

Anyway, maybe this would be considered my most current desire (as I have a list of several desires as a parent, after completing an awesome Basic Parenting course by Kara Sanft), to help my children to understand the principles of the gospel that are plain and perfect and will lead them to happiness in this life and ultimate joy in the next.

Back to Braxton's desire to talk to Jesus, I did remind him that when he prays that's a special time he can "talk to Jesus and Heavenly Father". He said he wanted to tell them that he can wide his bike. So, at that moment he climbed up to the kitchen table and proceeded to offer a prayer, vocally and thanked Heavenly Father for the day and that he can "wide his bike". When he finished, he had a big grin and a little giggly said, "they can hear me". I think, in his 3 year-old way, he is beginning to understand the principle of faith in a Heavenly Father who hears our prayers.......it's a continuing process, for sure. I truly treasure my calling as a mother.