Where Are My Sisters ?

My youngest son, Spencer, just turned two around Thanksgiving.  He IS the last child for my wife and I - this is a certainty!

Spencer hates to be alone or without his siblings (or his mommy).  At church, he is now old enough to attend Nursery, where he can play and eat snacks with other toddlers his age.  Today I am especially thankful for sweet Sisters in the Church who are trying to help him learn how to cope with these short separations from family (it will be hard for him to learn anything at school if he cannot be separated from siblings or family members for more than a few minutes).  His separation anxiety screaming today caused me to reflect on some pictures I took of him over the last few months.  I hope you find them as heartwarming as I do.

The Case girls were sleeping in the Movie Room ...
and Spencer didn't want to miss out.
So he was very sneaky and made his way into the room,
falling asleep next to his 'favorite' sister (Myra, age 4 here).

Myra helped make Spencer a mini-bed (in his bedroom)
out of the chair cushion and his handmade-by-mommy blanket.
His smile HAS TO make you smile!

One evening, while Karen and I were chatting,
we noticed that Spencer had wandered off.
A quick search revealed that he had gone to the basement
and had fallen asleep outside his sister's bedroom
(he obviously couldn't get the door open or he'd be inside).
The hallway was completely dark when I found him -
and he hates the dark - but not as much as he missed his sisters!

Song Of The Day:
Sundays are great for a capella music and probably my favorite a capella group is the one my cousin sings Bass for: Eclipse 6.  One of their Christmas CDs includes the song "Lullaby" and it is a beautiful tune any time of year - but I can also imagine Mary singing this to the baby Jesus and it warms my heart in a different way.  I hope you like it.

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Is That Your Pew ?

3 of my 4 daughters enjoying some
drawing time during Sacrament Meeting
(Ben was tired)

I love going to church, most Sundays anyway.  There is a familiarity to the experience and I am grateful for my children's ability to settle into positive patterns while at church.  It teaches social skills and provides an opportunity to gain faith and belief in something greater than themselves.

Because of our consistent attendance at church, our family has our own more or less designated pew.  Virtually nobody ever sits in the front row, as though this was some unwritten social faux pas, but our family pew is the one right after that.  Yes, this is closer than most people would choose to sit, but there's one key reason for it: legroom.

This second bench seat is the first full-sized row.  The first pew is about 3/4 the length of a full pew, which means there are about four feet on either end of the bench with nothing in front of you.  This is excellent for me, as I have longer legs than typically fit comfortably in church pews.


Song Of The Day:
I know we're talking about benches or pews here, but this post is also about Sundays.  Craig Morgan's song "That's What I Love About Sunday" conveys some thoughts on both subjects.  I love Sundays and I also love having our own family pew at church.

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Why Are You Licking The Chair?

This past Sunday I (and my family) was blessed to attend church with my parents at their ward in San Tan Valley, AZ.

Sadly, my youngest son was not as willing to sit quietly during Sacrament meeting, so we spent some quality time together in the halls.

He wouldn't stop shouting and play screaming, so I quarantined us in a classroom.

It was at that point he decided that he wanted to taste the metal folding chairs.

I have no idea why, but it took me several minutes of coaxing to get him to stop (not including picture time).


Song Of The Day:
Sometimes I get the feeling that moments like this will one day be a long forgotten memory.  I think that is part of the reason that I blog about them and share these photos.  I thought of Josh Kelley's tune "Old Time Memory" for this post.  I especially like the lyric when a song is how I remember you because I think music really can connect us to experiences we have lived through.

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Why Don't You Come Watch Me Play More Often ?

Tonight was the final game in our church basketball league.  It just so happened to be the equivalent of a Championship Game (we abolished an actual playoff years ago when things got too competitive).  Our opponents had gone undefeated for their season, and were clearly the better team all year.  With youth, precision passing, unselfish play, and swarming defense on their side it was even fun losing to them.  And they were our only loss this season, so we were relatively clearly the next best team.

Tonight was unique for two reasons:
First, our team only had 5 (five) guys show up to play: Trent VanDenberge, Kyle Ambrose, Dustin Larsen, Mark Puhlman, and myself.  I was our center, standing at roughly six feet nothing (I am aging so it's probably closer to 5'11" nowadays.  (The other team had 10 guys so they were subbing constantly and running us ragged).
Second, my parents were in town from Arizona and despite the 10:00pm start time, they came out to cheer on their son.

I'll skip to the end of the game because it's late and I'm exhausted, but suffice it to say that we only lost by 2 points: 79 to 77.  I was so proud of my teammates who hit clutch shot after clutch shot and never gave up hope that we could win.

My dad, ever being the statistician, kept my "line" for the night and I am very grateful because it was arguably my best game ever.  37 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and only 2 turnovers.  My favorite shot was a running three pointer from just beyond half court that beat the buzzer in the first half, tying the game at 38 apiece.

So in honor of my awesome parents, whose presence always seems to coincide with my best games, I pose today's blog post title question.  :)
Love you mom and dad!


Song Of The Day:
I've recently become quite a fan of Imagine Dragons (thanks Jordan for suggesting them!) and their newest song "On Top Of The World" is fantastic!  It describes how I am feeling this evening and is a great tune to end the day on.  Thanks again to all of my teammates (and competitors) tonight!  That was the most fun I've had in a long time playing basketball!  Y'all are fantastic friends and everything that is right with semi-competitive sports!

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Who's Staying Home ?

When you have seven kids, the odds are much higher that on any given Sunday at least one of them will be ill and/or need to stay home from church.

When you and your spouse both have callings (responsibilities at church) it can greatly complicate the otherwise simple discussion about who is staying home to tend to said sick or otherwise needy child.

This is when it becomes very convenient to have the rest of the other seven kids!



A picture of Spencer from his
birthday a few months ago.
He looks sad like this when he's sick.

Yesterday poor Spencer (14 months old) was the "sick" kid and both of us parents had responsibilities during the 3rd hour of church (I was teaching the lesson to our Deacon's Quorum, while Karen was conducting for the Relief Society).

Enter "compromise" and "cooperation" ...
and Brooklyn.  :)

I stayed home with Spencer during Sacrament meeting while Karen took the other kids and then helped Catalina give her talk in Primary.  Immediately after that, Karen brought Brooklyn home with her to watch Spencer.  Karen and I then headed back to church (so glad it is only about 5 minutes away now that Dublin connects to Peterson) for our respective responsibilities.

I just wonder how other families deal with the "who's staying home?" dilemma.  Does one parent always trump the other?  Does everyone just take turns?  Is it based on who is feeling the need to go to church that day?  Or are there other factors I'm not considering?


Song Of The Day:
On a sad note, yesterday afternevening we received the very sad news that the daughter and sister of one of the families in our ward had passed away.  She has been in the news here in the Springs and in Utah, where she suffered a fatal blow at the hands of an avalanche.  My heart weeps for her loving family, which includes a young man about my oldest son's age who I have worked with for years in Boy Scouts and other church related venues.
Today's song is "It's Not Heavy" which comes from the Batdorf and McLean CD titled Look Inside.  Sady the version I have linked above only has the first 3 minutes of the song (I'll have to upload my own video later because this one gets cut off before the inspirational conclusion to the song).  The burden of a lost loved one would make anyone's heart heavy, but through our Savior Jesus Christ we can have those feelings of sadness replaced with the joy of knowing that we will see that loved one again.  This is the most important part of our Heavenly Father's plan!  And I am so grateful for my knowledge that this family is sealed together for time and all eternity through God's Priesthood power and their Temple Marriage.  Tears will still flow and the days will be difficult, but in the eternal scheme of things I know this family knows they will see their beloved daughter and sister again.

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Wait, What Time Is It ?

At the top of my To Do list for this weekend and coming week was painting our master bedroom.  We chose two colors: a nice purple and a tan/brown color.  But as I've mentioned before, projects usually have several steps and painting is no different.

One wall in our bedroom had been painted when we bought the house.  And the previous owners had done something with gold, silver, and bronze mixed foil-like etching on that wall.  So I had to scrape and scratch and wipe off those flecks of color before I could put a base coat of white paint BEFORE I could paint the new color.  And then there are always the tasks of removing pictures and furniture, patching holes and taping edges ... so many edges.

You can see the "flecks" of foil-like stuff on that green wall.

I was very industrious yesterday and got ALL of the above done, except painting the new color on that wall.  It was a late night, but I was energized by the progress and woke up early this morning to jump right into painting the first color around the room.  And that's when I goofed.

And here is that wall all "white"
(you can also see a portion of the tan/brown)

You see, church starts at 11:00am.  I know this.  It's that way every week (this year anyway).  But somehow, in my head, I had it that I needed to be to church at 1:00pm!  So as it got closer to 11:00am I was happily painting some of the last touch up areas and thought "I'm doing great!  Way ahead of schedule for what I planned.  I'll be to church early.  Life is good."

At approximately 11:23am reality set in.  I don't know what set it off but I realized I was LATE.  Fortunately I was at a good stopping point, but it was still a frantic rush to shave, shower, clean off paint brushes, and skedaddle on over to the building in time for Sunday School.

Sigh.  I just hate it when that happens.  Oh well.  :)


Song Of The Day:
If only for the line "get me to the church on time" I had no choice but to use David Bowie's "Modern Love" as the song today.  Classic tune.  Totally fits today.

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What The ... ?

This past Sunday, while watching my youngest son (Spencer, 7 months old) wiggle on the floor during Sacrament Meeting. I noticed that he kept fidgeting with his pacifier.  He is a very happy baby 99% of the time, but he was getting a little frustrated.  I resisted the urge to just fix things and put the pacifier properly in his mouth.

And I'm glad I did because, apparently, I would have done it wrong!

Here is how he wanted it in his mouth.

I would have never guessed that that was what would return the smile to his face!


Song Of The Day:
I have chosen the song "The Only Exception" by Paramore for this post based on a few different reasons.  One, Spencer's preferred pacifier placement in this situation is certainly the only exception I have seen to the standard use of these thumb replacements.  Two, I heard this song again today and remembered I wanted to use it in a post.  Three, this is a love song, and it made me think of my love of my kids, especially when they just do their own cute, unique things like this.

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