Sunset Play

Over Labor Day, Kandy got to go visit cousins in Colorado with her grandparents. While she was there, her aunt (a talented photographer) took this series of pictures. My sister-in-law wrote: "I haven't even messed with the colors or exposure or anything -- it was this pretty in real life."

I just had to share!

Lost

My mom always said that when you lose something, you should back-track to see where you left it. It usually works. The problem is when something is mislaid, and you subconsciously keep assuming it will turn up. By the time you realize it's really lost, you can't remember the last time you had it and it was lost. It's pretty impossible to track at this point.

Before Abel was born, I crocheted an edge around a blanket for him. It folded up so nice and small that whenever I took him to places where he would be having a nap, I took this blanket. A few months ago, I realized that it had been a while since I had seen the blanket. I'm sure I thought the first time I looked for it that it had just been put in the wrong place. I became certain that it was lost. Through facebook, I asked several friends at whose house he had napped if they had seen it, but they had not. It made me sad, but as usual, time helped me forget.

This morning Abel found the matching burp cloth, and he started asking for his blankie. Even at his age, he remembers.

I wanted to post this so I keep remembering this blanket I made for him. I also wanted to do it just in case any of you who read this blog remember seeing this blanket around your house!

The biggest irony is that I often have an almost super power to find stuff that my kids and husband leave in strange places in the house, but I can't find my own!

9/11 Remembered and Thoughts on our World Now

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. There was a wonderful and special “Music and the Spoken Word,” and KSL also had a special news broadcast this evening. I had the opportunity to talk to the girls about it. The world truly changed that day. Much has gone back to the way it was, such as the bickering and political infighting, but we do still have a sense of unity behind it all. It's kind of like a family: you bicker and argue with your siblings, but you still present a united front to others and dislike it when they pick on and bully a sibling.

We will never have the sense of security we had prior to this horrific attack, and although I understand the necessity, I get frustrated with the measures we take to increase security. I'm not certain they actually help prevent atrocities. I think they mostly inconvenience good people. As my mom says, “Locks are for honest people.” A criminal determined to steal will find a way to break in where a casual thief will not not. Terrorists are innovative and can probably find ways to circumvent much of the current personal violations that we suffer through in the name of security. Due to some articles I've read, I would trust a sniffing dog more than most of the machines we use! I think that some of the terrorists are laughing up their sleeves at how we have bowed to this necessity. They have succeeded in wounding our peace and removing our personal freedoms, albeit mostly small ones. We can still choose to fly, but we have to put up with inconvenience, and we are more restricted than ever about what we can take on a plane. For example, Ben once had to choose between throwing away a pocket knife and mailing it to himself at an airport. The people at CakeWrecks have decided that the security isn't worth it and have decided to conduct their next book tour by car! Finally, as we have necessarily gone to war (which I do support), we have lost many more lives than those they originally stole on 9/11.

ANYWAY...big tangent. I was not planning on jumping on my soapbox! Today was interesting to see what has changed and what has reverted during the past decade.