Keeping Up With the Joneses

So there have been a few blog posts and responses to this article in the Friend magazine about a little girl choosing not the buy a shirt because it was sleeveless and "immodest." I actually didn't have super-strong feelings about this seemingly benign story until I saw all the conflict and debate about it online, including some heated responses to a Facebook post my brother made. But I was talking with him and remembered a talk I gave to the YW in our ward a few years ago about my view of what modesty is, and want to share it because I think it represents my beliefs about modesty and young girls. Its just an outline, but here you go: Girl Power XXX has asked me to talk to you about some of the thoughts I’ve had about women in general and young women in the church specifically. One thing I’ve noticed lately has to do with the idea of POWER. Power is not a commodity we associate with Mormon girls and women. o    Friends I’ve had over the years saw Mormon wom...

Like his brothers before him, Max has been attending Miss Julie's Learning Tree Preschool this year. Because he is a little three-year-old and born in August he will likely have two more years of preschool before Kindergarten, but I wanted him to be in preschool this year to have some more social experiences while his brothers are gone at school during the day (the days I work) and to get a little head start in his learning. He has loved it but for a long time we thought he wasn't learning a thing. Then last week I gave him a heart-shaped cookie and he placed it over his heart and said the entire Pledge of Allegiance! We were amazed and very impressed. He filed in with his class holding the flag and was more interested in watching it wave in the wind than recite the Pledge of Allegiance this time, but we know he can do it! He is a good head shorter than any of the other kids and it made me realize how young he really is! Miss Julie took a minute and talked about each ...

Myles had a big day today. First he had his end-of-year kindergarten test on which he scored perfectly. It really wasn't much of a surprise since it is the exact same test he took before starting kindergarten and scored 98 on it 8 months ago. So pretty much all he improved on (according to the test) was that this time he remembered to start a sentence with a capitol letter and end with a period. But I will say he is reading much better and his math has gone up about 3 grades this year (he is already multiplying in his head). Myles just has 3 more half-days of kindergarten and then he is done and is onto 1st grade at a different school next year where he will learn Chinese and hopefully be a little more challenged.  Today Myles also had his 6 year check up (almost a month after his birthday). The doctor declared him very healthy and only advised us to put lotion all over his body 3-5 times a day (the poor boy inherited his mom's skin). He weighed 41 lbs (20.91 percenti...

Last weekend I went to a really great conference on Women & Psychotherapy put on by Harvard Medical School in Boston. My friend Holly from Maine drove down with her kids to come to the conference with me and we had a great time catching up. Holly and I have been great friends for over 12 years now and when we get together it is like we've never been apart.  While I was gone Marshall got ambitious and took my three boys and his nephew William on a hike. He says they did great and even carried a kite up there to fly at the top of the mountain.  Kind of blurry but I love their poses. However, Marshall says that 2 seconds before this was taken Myles was choking both Mason and Max who were screaming.  I wanted to be sure to be home for Mother's Day so I left Boston at 4 AM (2 AM Utah time) and made it home at noon just as they were getting back from Church. The boys were so excited to see me and shower me with gifts (flowers, homemade cards, bath salts, n...

I've been noticing the last few weeks how much Mason is growing up. Over the last month he worked really hard and earned enough money (along with cleaning out his bank account) to buy a big lego set he has been wanting. A few days after buying it, he started worrying that he had spent his money and one day after school he went out to the front yard to sell some of his old toys. The only person who stopped was a creepy old man who got out right in front of him and walked towards him, stopped when he saw me sitting on the porch, and turned around and got back into his car and sped off. No more playing in the front yard without a lot of supervision! He will need to find another way to earn some money. Mason is totally in love with Cub Scouts and anything to do with hiking or the outdoors. Last week there was a scout hike and Mason noticed that some other scouts had pocket knives. He talked to his dad about it and Marshall found his old cub scout pocket knife to give to him. Th...

Every year the kids' school has a big carnival for a fundraiser. This year proved to be quite stressful as I overcommitted helping, found out at the last minute Marshall couldn't be there, and ended up with two extra kids tagging along. My mother-in-law was able to come help, but the frustration just got worse when my van stopped working while I was delivering 120 2-liter bottles of soda. Other than a lot of work and exhaustion, in hindsight it was fun for the kids. Max was so excited to ride our neighbor Jackson's horse. He waited in line forever and when he got on said "yee-haw!" Max really wanted to ride a little pony, but Jackson convinced him he was a big boy and could ride the big horse. He was so proud of himself. When he got off he said "I'm a cowboy!" Myles confidently rode the horse and said "it wasn't scary at all!" Myles spend most of his tickets trying to dunk his principal Mr. Pratt in the dunk tank. H...