It's Happening

Do you remember when you were a child and your parents talked about how things were when they were growing up? I do. So many things that were so old-fashioned. At the time I wondered if my future children would say the same about things that I did as a child. I also couldn't imagine that things would change too much and the world would be pretty much the same for my children as it was for me. Well, it's happening. I am now a mom with children who cannot relate to some of the things from my childhood.

For example, Trevor and the kids were washing the Suburban on Saturday in our driveway. We usually take it to the drive-thru car wash but it closed early that day. So we (ok, they... I sat in a chair and watched the whole time) washed it the old-fashioned way. Aubrey started washing and stopped and asked me if we should take the antenna off first. I paused...has this child ever experienced washing the car at home???

When Parker was a baby he used to take the TV remote and hold it up to his ear and start talking. I paused...has he ever seen me use a telephone with a cord??? I still remember my parents' first cordless phone-- a big, bulky thing with a really long antenna.

Do you remember going out as a teenager and your parents made sure that you had a quarter in your pocket in case you needed to use the payphone to call home? We were watching an old Superman movie with our kids and they had no idea what a phone booth was.

Do you remember going to the library to do research and using the card catalog to look up a book? Or how about the Readers Guide to look up magazine articles? My kids have a hard time believing that we had to actually drive to the library. I have a hard time believing Parker when he says he has to do some research for homework and he hops onto the computer and is done in 10 minutes.



Will our children ever know what to do with a record, record player, 8-track tape or even a cassette tape? My kids can't believe that I didn't have my first cell phone until I was 30 years old. Sadly, they won't experience taking someone to the airport, all the way to the gate, and watching through the window as the plane takes off while they wave goodbye.

So it has officially happened to me. My children think that my life was old-fashioned. Makes me wonder what life will be like for their children!

Catching Up!

Broken ankle or not, life goes on. Here are some things that we've been doing in the last couple of weeks.
Parker was invited to participate in Academic Night at the junior high school because of his good grades over this past school year. We're very proud of you, Parker!
Pearce earned his Religious Square Knot for Cub Scouts. He loves scouts and has such a great attitude.
Aubrey won tickets to the Suns game in a drawing at school. Neither Trevor or I could take her so she and her Aunt Evonne had a GNO (girls' night out if you're not a Hannah Montana fan!) While they were there Aubrey got a t-shirt from one of the shirt throwers. Wow, this girl is lucky! And thanks again, Evonne!Ethan got to help mow the lawn. He was very excited. And as parents we are very excited that are children are learning such great skills. I hope to be able to maintain my lifetime streak of never using the lawnmower. Really, I have never mowed the lawn, ever. I do lots of other things quite well and I have no shame in leaving that chore up to the rest of my family!

Idol Mania Hits the Whitmores!

We are Idol watchers at our house. I'ts been great fun to listen and vote for our favorites. Actually a show that we can watch as a family-- with the exception of some of Mariah Carey's costumes when she was the guest!! We've had our favorites all along, Brooke White from Mesa and David Archuletta from Utah. We've loyally voted for them-- Pearce votes for David and Aubrey votes for Brooke. But our real family favorite has become David Cook. I don't know a lot about him as far as an "idol" for my kids but man can he rock! We will be buying his album for sure and we will play it loudly!! In case you're not a fan...yet...click the links toward the bottom of this page to see our favorite David Cook perfomances. And next week if you felt like voting for him, that would be okay too!

Really Compassionate Service!

I've had lots and lots of help over the last couple of weeks and can't begin to tell you how grateful I am. Meals, housecleaning, goodies, visits, I could go on and on. But probably one of the biggest needs has been help with Ethan. Let's face it, it is close to impossible to take care of a very active, rambunctious and stubborn 3-year old while sitting on the couch. He's learned that he has free reign of the house because I won't be coming to get him anytime soon! (I really do love you, Ethan!) So we have arranged for some play dates for him in the mornings. Today he spent the morning with a friend, playing with her children. I won't give out her name in order to protect her identity! :) She took the children to the park and the little boys were playing with some pretend metal handcuffs that they had brought from her house. Well, Ethan thought they were the greatest thing and he walked over to where my friend was talking with some other ladies and snapped the handcuffs closed on one of her wrists. Well, funny thing is, she couldn't get them off! She tried to slip them over her wrist but it was just getting tighter. No one was sure about how to break them off without hurting her. So she put the kids in the car and drove to the fire station to get some help in getting them off. Perhaps the "Jaws of Life" could be of use to her! She was going to leave the kids with another mom but decided to take them along becuase then her story would be more believable. ("Really officer, I did not just escape from custody. I was just watching my friend's little boy beacuse she broke her ankle...etc....") So Ethan got a field trip as a bonus this morning! FYI-- if you ever find yourself stuck in a pair of handcuffs, you can go to the nearest fire station and ring the bell on the outside of the door and a very kind community servant will be very happy to assist you! Thanks, my dear, anonymous friend. Your service has truly gone above and beyond!

A Case of the "If Onlies"

Why is it that I am seldom satisfied with how things are going at any given time? I think at times I come down with a serious case of the "If Onlies." You know, "If only I could do this.." or "If only things were like that.."
I went back to the doctor on Thursday. They removed the splint and the stitches and put on a cast. Everything looks good, we just have to give it time to heal. A lot of time to heal. My biggest issue has been swelling. Not so good when you're wearing a cast that is not flexible. The only way to relieve that is to keep the leg elevated as much as possible. So I've spent the week on the couch and in bed. Here's where the If Onlies come in. It's been a busy six months since Trevor's accident and I've had lots to do. Quite a few times I found myself saying, "If only I had time to just sit and read.. to do some family history.. to surf the web.. to peruse magazines.. to cross stitch.. to watch chick flicks, etc." Well this week I did all of that and then some! Then I found myself saying, "If only I could go grocery shopping.. clean the house.. work out.. do the laundry all by myself.. cook dinner, etc." Perhaps this accident is teaching me to live more in the moment, to find the joy in whatever the present brings while still hoping for the future. Something that we have definitely learned from this year is that there is a plan and in it there is not much room for coasting. Life has a way of testing us and trying our faith quite often. Our job is to just live the plan and be happy every chance we get. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go read a book, and be darn happy about it!

Super Sunday?

I think I have a love/hate thing going with conference weekend. Please don't take that the wrong way! I love taking the time to set everything aside and listen to the words of our Prophet, Apostles and other General Authorities of the church. I look forward to that part with much anticipation. I look around and see my husband sitting next to me and my children sitting close by eagerly listening to every speaker. The older ones are taking notes and the younger ones are following along with the help of a carefully prepared conference activity packet. OK-- Wake Up! I guess that is my dream about conference weekend with my family. But it's still pretty far from reality. Closer to reality is that it makes for a long weekend because we try to not schedule anything else and we don't even have church to break up Sunday so by Sunday afternoon the kids are still in their pajamas and everyone is a little cranky from all this together time. Yes, we watched a few talks together and being able to stand and sustain a new prophet will always be remembered. But there were still plenty requests to leave and go play after the next talk. We've tried conference bingo but usually the candy is gone before the second speaker begins. Our neighbors watch conference in a tent in their family room (refering to those who gathered in tents to listen to King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon.) The kids tried this but there was a little too much attention paid to the tent and not so much attention paid to what was being said. But I decided that this is all probably closer to the norm than most people will admit and will get better as the years go by. It's doesn't always turn out to be spiritual feast that I look forward to, but maybe that's why they publish the talks in the Ensign to "feast upon" later. And I'm sure that in future years when we're all old enough to sit and listen it may actually get a little, teeny-tiny bit boring!

Pathetic Parents

The last week has been very interesting to say the least. Here's the latest on Lisa and Trevor. First, the picture epitomizes the Whitmore family in a still moment in time that speaks a million words and emotions. I can describe it in one word-- PATHETIC! I just have to laugh and enjoy all the other blessings that we have again say, "Well, I think it could have been worse." We are indeed blessed to have these bumps in the road (I did not say little bumps) although difficult, we have a good attitude. The only thing that could be worse is if Lisa's injury happened about two months ago when I was really in the brace. I guess we would still laugh for a minute, then cry for days. Lisa's mom was over yesterday helping out and was talking to the kids about how everyone needs to pitch in and have a good attitude because mom is still recovering and dad still gets tired easily. Aubrey, ever the dramatic one, said, "It's almost like we don't have any parents at all." Our poor orphaned children!

Lisa is recovering from the ankle surgery and really feeling the pain today. Yesterday we went to the surgery center in Chandler and Lisa underwent ankle surgery. The type of injury she sustained required the surgeon to place several screws and a plate to stabilize the ankle. Here are the X-rays to see how great the ankle looks now. The daily routine for now is leg elevated,ice every hour and bring on the big-gun pain killers! Everything went fine in the surgery and she is off to recovery land. We all know about that around here. Nothing but TIME! The prognosis is good, the recovery time is long but in the end she will do great.
We have been the recipients of so many wonderful blessings, We appreciate all the wonderful service to our family and thank all of you for the prayers and thoughts that are in our behalf. We indeed have been blessed with so many wonderful family and friends to lend a hand of service and help. Thank you all so very much.