Swimming Lessons

Scott and Emma have been having a great time taking swimming lessons at the Taylorsville swimming pool this summer. They are learning different stroke techniques and new water games. One of Emma's new favorite game is called "Alligator, Alligator, What Time is it?" Both Scott and Emma are gaining confidence with their swimming skills and are having a lot of fun in the process. I love watching them enjoy themselves. We'll definitely do swimming lessons again next year.

I Love My Kids

I was inspired by Stephanie Waite's and Daleen's blogs to write about my step-children and how much I appreciate the little things they do. They are amazing little people, and they mean the world to me.

Scott

Scott is a remarkable artist and Lego genius. I love the way Scott can instantly turn something plain and ordinary into something amazing and unique. He spends hours building things with his Legos, creating things with beads, drawing and painting pictures, making his own board games, and creating movies with his camera. He has an amazing artistic talent.

Scott has an extremely sweet and friendly personality. He has a high respect for Brad and me and never fights or talks back to either of us. He loves to cuddle, hug, and say "I love you" every day. I particularly appreciate the way Scott treats his little sister, Emma. He teases her occasionally (as most boys do), but at the same time I've never seen such a kind and loving brother. He treats Emma as if she is his best friend and they are often inseparable.

Scott is also extremely smart. He inherited his dad's brains and knack for learning new things, and he loves to ask questions about everything, including very advanced and abstract questions. Scott has an amazing memory and can recall things with perfect clarity at times. He loves learning about astronomy, geology, and biology. He is a great writer and reader and likes making up stories.

Scott also has a funny sense of humor. He loves saying silly things and acting goofy to make people laugh. He and I love to tease each other playfully every day. For example, we often play the "you're cute" game with each other. This is something I taught him and he has since passed it on to others. It goes something like this:

Scott: You're cute.

Me: You're cute, too.

Scott: You're cuter.

Me: You're cutest.

Scott: You're cuterest.

Me: You're cuterestest.

Scott: You're cuterererestest.

That's usually when I stop and say, "Thank you."

I love the moments I spend with him laughing and playing. I don't take take these moments with Scott for granted. They're precious to me.

Emma

Emma is our social butterfly. I love the way she brightens up our home with her enthusiastic love for life and her desire to be near us. She cares deeply about what others think of her, and in consequence will always try her best to be friendly and nice. She loves to cuddle with me every day and smother my face with kisses. I love it when she says, "I love you, my Becky! I am so happy you are my step-mom!"

Emma loves music and dancing. Brad and I take turns singing to Scott and Emma every night and Emma always gets excited when it's my turn to sing to her. She almost always picks the same songs: "Little Bunny Foo Foo" and "Icky Sticky Bubble Gum." She also likes it when I sing "E-M-M-A," which I adapted from Mr. Roger's song "You are Special" with a few words switched to personalize it for Emma. She LOVES it! Here's how it goes:

E-M-M-A

You are special

You are my friend

You're special to me.

There's only one of you like you.

Like you my friend

I like you.

In the daytime

In the nighttime

Anytime that you feel's the right time.

For a friendship with me, you see

E-M-M-A

You are special,

You are my friend

You're special to me.

There's only one in this wonderful world

Emma . . . is . . . special.

I also love how responsible Emma is. She cares deeply about doing things right and in an organized fashion. She always gets her homework done on time and asks for my help every day during the school year. She loves maintaining her room and keeping her things tidy. She tries her best to please me and always wants to be a helping hand. I love her desire to be good and helpful. She makes being a step-mom a whole lot easier for me. Both Scott and Emma do.

Scott and Emma are wonderful children and I love them very much. They sparkle up my life and I am grateful to be their parent.

Camping at the Sand Dunes

Here are some photos I took on Friday and Saturday during our Little Sahara camping trip. Our entire family had a wonderful time.

We saw beetles everywhere! I thought they were cute.

Shadow people: Emma and me.

I know I'm weird. I LOVE bugs!

The next day. . .

Emma's Reading Chart

This summer Emma wanted me to create a reading chart for her over the vacation break. She told me that she wants to stay a good reader during the summer so she will be prepared to go to second grade at the end of August. Her goal is to read 60 books over the summer. So far she has read 10 books.

I am supporting Emma's reading chart idea, mainly because I know how much she wants to do well in school. Learning how to read has been a struggle for her in the past, mainly because I think she is a little dyslexic. I try to make things fun for her by throwing in extra surprises so she will keep trying. For example, each time Emma reads 10 books she gets a prize.

Emma finished reading 10 books yesterday and won her first prize: a giant lollipop. She was thrilled and excited to finally make her first goal. She reminds me so much of Brad sometimes, especially when she creates goals for herself and tries her best to accomplish them. She is always willing to improve herself.

I love my little responsible Emma. Here is what she has to say:




"I am so very proud that I am reading books. If I keep on reading books, I can go and learn some more when I am in second grade. Each time when I did not have my 10 books yet, I would always ask Becky if I can read a book. Each time we read one I always asked to read another, but Becky would always say to take a break. After my break I would go and ask Becky to read another book. When I was done reading 10 books we took pictures. I like books because it is very good to read. Becky always gets really good books from the library. She is a really nice step-mom. And that's how I feel about reading books, and I like reading books, and I will maybe not stop. I won't ever say that I do not like reading books."

Second Wedding Anniversary

It's hard to believe that two years have come and gone. I am so comfortable and happy in my new home, and I love my new family. Brad has been a wonderful husband and companion, and I am so grateful to have him with me. I love our marriage and our life together in Utah, and I truly feel I made the best decsion of my life when I chose to marry him. He always knows how to brighten up my day and to help me feel special and loved. He is my best friend.

"We Love Our Daddy!"

Scott and Emma love their daddy very much. He has always been a stable, loving father to them, and I admire his parenting skills greatly. I decided to pay a little photo tribute to him and include a little message I wrote about fathers a while back ago. I wrote this with him in mind:

What is a Dad?

A dad is someone who leads by example. He provides for his home and family, he cherishes his wife and children, he spends quality time with his family each day. He not only teaches good values and morals to his children, but he also demonstrates them through the choices he makes. His children want to be just like him.

A dad knows how to make his children laugh. He knows how to find humor in everyday situations and make hard times seem better. He can lift spirits up, kiss boo-boos goodbye, and listen to a broken heart.

A dad speaks good encouraging words to his wife. He treats the mother of his home with tenderness, love, and respect. She is the most important person in his life and the children feel it and know it. He offers them a feeling of security and stability when he says kind things to his wife.

A dad knows how to push aside the everyday hustles and bustles of life to spend time with his family. He establishes a routine. He spends one-on-one time with each member of his family. He reads books to his children, sings to them at night, and prays with them daily.

A dad is in no way perfect, but he tries his best. He falls short sometimes, but then he gets up and perseveres again. A dad always wants to be a better dad. He tries to find ways to improve himself, and does.

I am very grateful that I married such a wonderful father. I love him very much.

You Stupid Dog!

Don't get me wrong-- I love our Rosie very much. She's cute, pretty, friendly, smart, lovable, fun to play with, and very outgoing, but despite all her good qualities sometimes she drives me CRAZY! For example, here is what she did last night:

Yesterday evening we had ham for dinner. Rosie, our large standard poodle, kept a close eye on us while we were having dinner, and made sure to lie down, sit, and stand anywhere close to us while we ate. She treated us friendlier than usual last night, for obvious reasons: she wanted ham. Normally we do not give her our food as a treat, but those cute puppy eyes kept staring up at us, begging for just a small little helping of food, so Brad took pity on her and gave her a tiny piece of ham over by her food dish. She gobbled it up in an instant.

After dinner I noticed we still had a considerable amount of ham left over, so I pushed the grill back to the middle of the counter, so that Rosie couldn't reach it. My intentions were to leave the ham out for another 40 minutes or so, just in case anyone wanted seconds.

Well, somebody did want seconds. . . but not someone I was expecting.

About a half hour went by, and I was causally going about my evening activities when I noticed Rosie sitting at the bottom of the landing, chewing something enthusiastically. "Rosie! What are you eating?" Rosie stopped chewing and looked up at me with big black guilty eyes, her tail vibrating hesitantly. I saw something pink fall from her mouth and heard the "click" of a small ham bone as it fell onto the tiled floor.

Anger rushed through my body as I realized what Rosie had done with the ham dinner. I yelled at her and grabbed her to lead her back to the dog crate. Rosie, knowing that I was mad at her, felt she needed to submit to me and began peeing on the carpet, leaving a small trail of unpleasantness that I would have to clean up later. Well, that just made me angrier so I smacked her bum and yelled at her again.

After putting Rosie in her crate, I went to check on how much ham was left over on the grill, and was astonished by amount I found. Rosie had eaten at least 10 ounces of ham. I groaned as I put the grill in the sink and washed my hands. I knew that Rosie would probably get sick in the middle of the night, like she often does when she eats things she's not supposed to. Unfortunately, Rosie does not like to be let outside at night and will often bark and whine until someone lets her in. I did not want her to disturb the neighbors so I kept her in her crate in the dining room.

Last night as I went to sleep I decided to keep my ears alert in case Rosie started to whine to be let outside. I knew she would want to go out if she felt sick, and I wanted to let her out as quickly as possible so she wouldn't mess up her bed. At about 3:15 in the morning I heard her soft little whimpers and barks enter my ears as I slept. I woke up and jumped out of bed instantly, and rushed into the dining room to her crate, but I was too late. Rosie had soiled her bed and crate and she smelt very bad.

"You stupid dog!" I threw her out into the cold, dark night, not caring how much she would bark and whine for the neighbors. But on the contrary, Rosie kept quiet and did not make a sound, probably because she knew I was mad at her. I tried to go back to sleep, but my mind was too awake by then and I could not return into my lovely state of unconsciousness. Grrrrr!

Daylight finally came and we had to wash Rosie's bed, crate, and the dining room floor, not to mention we had to give her a bath today, even though she just had one yesterday. Stupid, stupid dog! It's a good thing we love her so much.

She's a beautiful dog, but not as innocent as she looks.