The Seven of Us

Today I asked Corbin what his favorite part of summer is. Without hesitation he said, "Pot Fighting!". He pronounced the phrase strangely, and I had to ask him to repeat himself several times. Finally, it dawned on me... this is what he meant! (I know the pot looks dangerous. I'm tempted to say it's not. I know, I should know better than to let my kids do this, but it's better than TV, better than climbing on the garage roof, and much better than the squabbling these boys have been doing lately. So, for now, pot fighting stays.)

Field day is usually held just a couple of days before school is out.  My kids have always loved it.  The races (100 m dash and 400m run) and tug-o-war are always the highlight, but there are lots of other fun events, too:  softball toss, soccer kick, shoe kick, free throws, jump rope, hula hoop, long jump).  The kindergarten-sixth grade participate in field day and the 7/8 graders help with the events.  Here are this year's photos. Isaac, with his friends Kya Thacker, Cash Nab, and Ella Coffin. Caleb, Mason Edwards, tate Knapp, Aaron Michael, Megan Brown, Ashely murillo, and Callie Dickerson Kenna, with Eli Meakins,Molly brown, Riley Thompson, and Fernie  Isaac vs. Owen in the 100 m dash

Haxtun's annual FFA banquet was last week.  We felt very gratified that our  favoritist  FFA member won the Star Greenhand award.  In FFA, "Greenhand" refers to a new member.  The Star Greenhand is basically the best new member, or the highest award that a first-year member can receive.   Taylor's advisor, Jeff Plumb, recognized her leadership ability and the  effort she's put into her SAE project.  (Her job at the Daily Grind qualifies for the project.)  The video isn't the greatest; I'd just been given the camera (mother's day!) and the banquet was the first I'd used it. Taylor couldn't decide what her favorite thing was that she did this year was... Her highlights were attending the National FFA conference in Indiana this fall and becoming a Chapter Officer for next year.

It's no secret that kids grow up. Initially they're content with the simplest things.  They love their siblings unconditionally, Laugh spontaneously, And find joy in crazy, child-like pleasures. Then they get hormones. They get friends. They get busy. They morph. And one day they do this. ( Her prom date was Garrett Schafer, an old friend whose girlfriend had to go to her prom at another school that night.  They don't do many of the same activities, but they enjoyed their time together at prom. And I enjoyed knowing it was a "just friends" situtation.) They begin High School, get driver's permits, get jobs, play sports, start seminary, and their "but you said I could(s)" and eye rolls drive us crazy on a regular basis.  The good thing is, there are rays of sunshine which shine through the clouds and give even the most harried parents hope.  After prom, many of those rays came in the form of other's comme...

Just a  couple of things I thought would be fun to read in a few years.  I was getting Corbin to bed and telling him a story when I asked him, "How would you take a bath without a tub or a shower in your house? " He said, "I would dig a hole in the dirt and put water in it!"  Then he said, "But it would get all muddy 'acause the water would evaporate and go down into the earth!" We were in the car one day when Corbin asked, "Who makes the weather?"   I said, "Heavenly Father."  He replied, "Well, does he sit at the computer and press buttons to do the rain and the wind?" [He'd been looking at the weather on Jared's laptop.] Here he is:  My weather-loving, question-asking,  park-going four and a half year-old.

No one in my family has ever been a missionary.  No one. Okay, I'm fibbing. Well, actually, I'm not. To the best of my knowledge, no one named Droddy has ever been a missionary.   Someone named Fredette was, though: my cousin Dan served in Spain and in  Kingman, Arizona during 1989-1990.  The story of his mission is inspiring: he reactivated himself, paid his own way, was sent home midway through to have surgery and returned to finish his mission.  That's pretty awesome, and I do not mean to discount his service just because he's named "Fredette".   In fact, my heart bursts with love for him and for his dad, who taught him the gospel but died when Dan was just eleven.  I really grew to love Dan when I was able to write to him on his mission and again at BYU, where we enjoyed Sunday nights in Sandy together with our family.  And he holds a special place in history for being the first (and so far the only) Fredette missionary...

Corbin loves preschool, but it was hard to tell what he thought of being in the Christmas program.  Initially he had a lot of fun standing next to his friends Zach and Milo.  He sang the songs as best he could.  But after ten minutes he was ready to be done.  Doesn't the photo below just seem to say, "Enough already"? s