backyard farm.

backyard farms intrigue me.

last night we helped our friends cut down a tree in their neighbors yard and haul branches.

the kids got their first bareback walk down the lane.

Sky, our adopted mare, was a bit frisky from a winter in the barn.

With a big smile on her face, Ellie said, "Now my dream has come true.  I always wanted to ride a horse!"

Her new dream is to run on a horse.

Sweet girl.

as we walked down the lane, other ponies began to peek out from their yards and barns.

i have never seen so many, darling, backyard ponies.

we are going to till this week... and plant soon.

i'm still giddy with anticipation.

some random thoughts...

--todd stopped the car when he saw a lizard on the driveway.  he had all the kids get out and look at it.

i rolled my eyes at the effort, but smiled at the man who stops for lizards.  love him.

 -- anna taught our FHE lesson in the car.  i handed her a magazine (the Ensign) with an article that i had studied and underlined (believe, obey, endure, by President Monson), she read it and taught the highlighted parts.  it was darling.  i really love family night.  really.

 --todd and i had a great talk on Sunday night.  literally.  we talked about GREAT.  how it takes effort and hard work.  we talked about how our life would have been if we had five children and leah would be going into kindergarten next year.  we talked about having another baby.  we talked about our CHOICE. when we choose children, we choose work.  if we want a great family we need to be willing to work hard.  we are recommitted to greatness.  we have a plan and a plan to plan more.  great families take work.  giddy-yap partner!!

 --Reverence-- our primary presidency is concerned about reverence in primary.
honestly, i have reverence issues.
i OFTEN think people who spend their time focused on reverence are just masking problems that THEY have with judging others.  (just my humble, non-judgemental, opinion... hah!)
last year i was interviewing primary kids for our program and i asked them what the scriptures teach us about Jesus... almost EVERY SINGLE child said, "Jesus wants us to sit nicely at church."  "Jesus wants me to be reverent."  "Jesus wants me to raise my hand."  AHHHHH!!  this made me CRAZY.  Guess what?!!  Jesus NEVER ONCE, EVER, told a child to be quiet in the scriptures.
EVER.
the end.
{deep breath.}
so naturally, i am a good choice as the presidency member to teach reverence- again.  (blah.)
one more thing, I LOVE NOISY KIDS!!
when i'm teaching a lesson and the kids are so excited that they are jumping out of their chairs with their hands in the air shouting the answer to the questions, i feel like a GOOD teacher.
i would much rather have loud, interested, excited children who run down the halls to primary than bored, timid, not wanting to come to primary children.
(that was another issue-- kids running down the halls to come to primary.)  blah.
{ok, by now i know that i should write a whole blog about this... but i'm just going to finish it up here and smile at another rambling post...}
i should also add... i don't have issues with my primary presidency-- they are GREAT!
just issues with reverence... it's baggage i'm dealing with.
i DO think it's good to teach kids to be reverent.
i just don't think reverence is trump.
and, i hope kids leave primary with more than a testimony of BEING QUIET.
blah.

anyway--
this Sunday i offered to teach this lesson.
it is a lesson best taught by someone like me-- who has reverence issues.
my new unit is "Primary Children Choose the Right at CHURCH!"
(we're doing this before singing time instead of article of faith time, for 5 minutes.)
i praise them for their good choices.
last sunday we talked about what happens between classes-- after the sacrament meeting closing prayer and before the primary opening prayer.
how it is important to clean up your pew before you leave.
how they have 5 minutes between class to go potty and get a drink.
why it's important to fold your arms as you walk reverently.
how people are watching them.
i showed them how people walk down the isle to get married and teased that the boys practice their wedding walk at home.
we talked about different ways to walk-- down the soccer field, if your house was on fire, in school, and at church.
i told them that people are watching because they know our Primary Children Choose the Right at Church!
next week we're going to talk about manners in primary... how to raise your hand and not talk when someone else is talking.
i'm going to bring a talking stick-- only the person holding the stick can talk.
i'm also going to show them what i see... i'm going to sit on the primary chorister's lap, and bounce out of my seat saying "pick me! pick me!" i may even hide under the chair.
i guess it sounds like my teaching reverence might be a little irreverent.
but, that's what you get when you ask a reverence rebel to teach reverence.
sigh-- i will try to be better.  but, i'm afraid i ran to primary last week.  (oops.)
i sure love those kids!

 --i had to snap some shots out of my car window as we drove home.
i LOVE the colors of my small town!

 -we laugh at a car shop named "BEGGS"...  drew explains that is a horrible name for a store.

 --we splurged and ended the night with DQ.  the car behind us honked because we took so long at the drive-in window.  hah!  you try getting ice cream orders from 9 people...  DQ- that's what we love about Texas!  (oh, i mean, Oregon.)

i love this life.