"To Capture a Leprechaun..."

Parker is ALL about St. Patrick's Day. He looks forward to it like it was a big holiday. The last few years, he has been intent on capturing a Leprechaun or finding a pot of gold. This year he made a couple of cool Leprechaun traps. He placed one of his traps in the hall right by his bedroom. When I went to check on the boys that night, I couldn't open up his bedroom door because he was sleeping on the floor right by the door. Here's a picture of his inside trap. Notice the green toys placed inside the trap to lure the Leprechaun inside, and the bells to alert Parker of a capture. Well, when Parker first woke up in the morning, he checked out his trap only to find a bunch of coins (Parker thinks that there must have been a hole in the Leprechaun's pocket).

Now it's time to check out the backyard trap. Parker and Dallin carefully look inside for any signs of a Leprechaun.


No Leprechaun, only some goodies with a note saying, "You didn't catch me this time! Better luck next year!" Those darn Leprechauns are so tricky!!



Parker and his St. Patrick's Day attire. Ya, that's a bug net on his head. Hey, it has a green handle, so why not?

When the kids opened up the fridge, they found that the Leprechaun had turned their milk green! Funny, that always happened when I was little too. We gave Dallin a glass of green milk to try and he kept saying, "I don't know about this, I don't know about this." But he was brave enough to drink it.


Hey! I like green milk!!

The Blessings of the Temple

I loved this short clip about Mormon Temples. There is so much misunderstanding, and in some cases outright lies in regards to our sacred Temples. It is unfortunate that there are so many untruths that circulate around in regards to our church. Because of this, I want to share on occasion the truths about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on my blog. And so I start with the Temple. I love the Temple. It is where Stan and I were married and sealed for both time and all eternity. This is important to us. We believe that families can be together forever. I have been attending the Temple for over 18 years now and I can tell you that everything that takes place in the Temples of the Lord is beautiful, simple, sacred, wholesome and pure. It is a place where we can leave the cares of the world behind and draw closer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.

I also came across a Glenn Beck video today. He is a convert to the LDS church and shares his conversion story. He's a funny guy. I really enjoyed listening to his story. The video is on my sidebar.

"Rats!!"

4th grade is the year for the big class Play at Patterson school. Parker debated on whether or not he wanted to try out, but decided to gather the courage to do it. He was hoping for just a small part, but instead was cast as "The Mayor" in the play "Rats". He was excited but really nervous about it all. If you know Parker, you know that he is generally shy. I honestly was a little nervous about how he would perform. I was worried that he would be too timid. Well, I was worried for nothing. I could barely believe my eyes as I watched him perform. He didn't even seem nervous. He spoke and sang with confidence and really acted the part. I know it's just a 4th grade play and all, but I seriously just wanted to cry as I sat there watching him. I was simply amazed at his performance. I was a proud mother!! Here are a few short clips.

Here's the Mayor's Grand Entrance

This was one of my favorite parts.

Parker told me that if they asked him to play a character who has to sing a solo that he would say, "NO WAY!" Well, as it turned out, the Mayor had a few solos, and of course he really didn't have the nerve to say No. Here's one of his smaller solos.

This was such a self-esteem booster for Parker. One of the things that I love about Parker is that he's willing to get out of his comfort zone even though it might be a challenge.

We just had to laugh when a man came up to Parker after the play and said, "Can I take your picture? Someday you're going to become famous!"

Parker took the time to sign a few autographs after the show. Well Okay, they were all family members, but still!! :)

A few pictures:

Singing his big solo

The Mayor and his Grandpa!

Good Job Patterson 4th Graders! You did Awesome!!

What do YOU do at the Dentist's office?

So what do YOU do when you go to the Dentist? Get your teeth cleaned maybe? Get a cavity filled? Well, I do those things too. But have you ever gone to the dentist and ended up looking like this? Ya, I didn’t think so. Well, you’re really missing out. :) As I mentioned in a previous post, I have major TMJ (jaw) problems. And because of this, the dentist’s office has become my second home. In all of 2008, I typically went to the dentist 2-3 times a month. My dentist (Dr. Lesueur) has been trying to solve my jaw problems for a year and a half now. I won’t even try to explain all that’s involved in the process but in the picture you can see that I’m covered in electrodes and an interesting head contraption. This is for the purpose of tracking my jaw movements. Through watching the visuals on the computer, they are able to move my jaw into the “right” position and then make an orthotic for me to wear that would keep my jaw in that right position. Wearing the orthotic would then relieve some of my symptoms which TMJ cause-headaches, hearing loss and other ear problems, jaw popping and so on. Well, I have been through countless different orthotics and none of them have helped. This last year has been a tremendous pain, but my dentist is just so determined to find the solution to my problem. He does not want to give up on me. In the last year and a half, he has had about 40 patients come in for the same treatment as me and has had magnificent results with all of them. All of them except for me anyway. That’s kind of the story of my life. :) I’m the special one I guess. But he’s still determined to figure me out (at no extra cost thank goodness). He really is a great dentist. He has spent so much time and effort in trying to help.

So in October he sent me to a Chiropractor to see if he might be able to help. I mentioned before how I had to see the chiropractor 4x a week at first. Well, 4 months later, I’m finally down to once a week. My Chiropractor said that I have the worst case of TMJ he’s seen. He said that the only person he’s seen that was comparable to me was a guy who was a boxer! Okay, so it’s understandable why a boxer would have jaw problems. But me? Who knows. It’s a big mystery. The good thing is that the chiropractor has been able to help me with my headaches. I’ve only been getting headaches about once a week rather than 5 or more a week. So that’s good. But my jaw problems are still there. My dentist is planning on going to some more training for this particular TMJ treatment in March and hopes to come back with some more ideas on how to help me. Fun times!!

So that I will always remember these “fun” times at the Dentist office, I decided to bring my camera with me on one visit and make my dentist take a picture of me. :) So there you have it!