points of interest

I didn't take many photos this week (a couple of Liv hiding behind the piano bench), but we've made a couple of big decisions.

First off, Burke got into the district's gifted program (known as CATS: Chandler Academically Talented Students). After attending the parents' meeting, fasting and praying, and basically pondering "what to do" with Burke for a while now, we've decided to change schools and put him in this program. We are really excited about this opportunity, and feel confident that he will thrive there.

Rob received a job offer on Friday and has accepted a new position (still at Intel). He will now be in the Compensation and Benefits department. He is really excited to have a new challenge and about getting more experience in this area of HR. He will still be at the same location (15 min. away. There is an Intel site only 8 min. from our house so I was hoping that he'd get to move closer to home).

Hewitt is still writing books daily, but has started reading much more. Now I have two kids that don't want to go to bed because they want to "keep reading." Hewitt is so cute to listen to. He adds so much expression when he reads. He was reading, "Are You My Mother?" to Tosh and me the other day and when he reads a question he will make his voice go up high while asking the question and also keep his voice high to say the "he said" or whatever is at the tail end of the question. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's really cute. Hewitt was stacking banana slices on his fork the other night and said, "Look, quadruple banana! Even bigger than that: Fiftoople banana!"

Because there is no daylight savings here, it is light by 5:30-6:00 every morning. Tosh has been waking up at the crack of dawn so we've pulled his little toddler bed into our master closet so he could "sleep in" a bit this weekend. He almost got to 7AM on Saturday, so that's an improvement (too bad it only worked one night). Tosh is generally still a happy kid even though our days can get very long (that darn stage where he needs a nap, but can't take one or else he's up until 10pm!). He does the opposite of what I ask him to do a lot of the time (he's two), but will be so sincere with his apology for making mistakes, "I'm so sorry, Mom!" He's such a sweetie and so charming that it's pretty hard to get upset with him.

Livvy is getting more mobile all the time. She LOVES to crawl up the stairs and can get all the way to the top (one of us stays right behind her, of course). She is crawling up on her knees more and more, but still loves to slide around on her tummy. She makes the funniest faces with a wrinkled nose, and she giggles like crazy if you touch her neck. She seems to be "over" all baby toys, and it is a trick to keep Matchbox cars and Legos out of her path (what she really wants to play with).

I went to a women's conference on Saturday. The theme was "Joy Beyond Measure" and both the lunch and program were very good. One of the speakers talked about the difference between happiness and true joy and proposed that although there are many people that are "happy," there are many out there that may not have experienced real joy. It made me reflect and ponder my life a bit. There are a few specific experiences I've had in my life that stand out to me as events (or moments) of true joy. These were usually a result of a lot of hard work, or part of a process. Some of the details involved would be too personal to share, but some of these experiences would include: Gaining a personal testimony of how the Atonement works, my wedding day, attending the temple wedding of my former mission companion to a Norwegian man that we found, taught and that I got to see get baptized just before I went home, and of course the birth of each of my children. I feel very fortunate that I am able to recognize joy in the many "little" but significant things as well, and that I really feel happy most of the time. I am very blessed and feel very grateful.