Football, Ferris Wheels and Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

If I ever had doubts about how much I would love living in Texas - and people, I did - it was only because I had never been here in October.  70 degrees and sunny, with tons of fun things to do, without the fear that it just may be the last day before winter banishes us all to our burrows for 4+ months?  Yes, please.

To kick off the month of October, we watched General Conference.  It was probably one of my favorites ever.  Is it just me or do they keep getting better?  It was so nice to have a couple of lazy days, together as a family, eating, sleeping and being spiritually uplifted and edified.

To make up for all that rest and relaxation, the next weekend we decided to head on up to Dallas for a little football game and fun at the Texas State Fair.  David was able to find a ticket to the Texas vs. Oklahoma rivalry game, just a few seats down from his good friend from work.  No one expected the Longhorns to win, but David had a good feeling, and he was right!  If you ask David about the best moments of his life, that game is now ranked up there with our wedding day and the birth of our children.

Tallest ferris wheel in North America

Big Tex, with the Cotton Bowl Stadium in the background

The big game

View from the ferris wheel

While in Dallas, we had the pleasure of staying with the Hay family again.  I cannot say enough of my love for this family.   I won't embarrass them by telling all the details of their kindness and hospitality, but I will say this: I know few people as welcoming, loving, and genuine as this family.  They are so sweet with our little girls, and I truly feel like I'm at home when I'm in their home. Though our decision to go to Dallas was somewhat spur-of-the-moment, and they had a million reasons to be less than entirely hospitable, they made us feel like nothing could have made them happier.  Now I know that no family is perfect, but when I think about being Christ-like, I think there are few people who have achieved this as well as the Hays, and I'm a better person for having been in their home.

Sweet Berry Farms

We celebrated Afton's 1st birthday this Saturday by driving an hour out into the country to Sweet Berry Farms.  The weather was perfect, and we all had a blast.  We visited with the goats, rode the Sweet Berry Express, went through a corn maze in the shape of Texas, rode horses, ate strawberry popsicles and pumpkin spice ice cream and finally, chose a perfect pumpkin for carving.

Paisley was thrilled about the goats

Afton was thrilled too, until a goat came close to her.  Then she was just terrified.

Paisley had a blast on the giant trampoline thingy, though she didn't get much time on her feet.

Afton's birthday morning and her new birthday toys

The Sweet Berry Express, led by farmer Joe

Our little cowgirl rode solo

Afton let me ride with her

Afton's First Birthday!

I can hardly believe it's been a whole year since we welcomed this little bundle of sunshine into the world.  I wish I could tell you of the moments of amusement, laughter, exasperation, triumph, tenderness, and growth that we have experienced over this first year of Afton's life.  I wish that by posting these pictures of Afton I could communicate what a sweet, playful, spunky character she is, or how my heart nearly bursts when I look at those big bright eyes of hers.  As I don't think any words of mine will do these things justice, I'll just post some pictures and tell you about some of her traits at 12 months old, and hope you catch a small glimpse of the joy she brings us every day.  

 Afton's loves:

• Walking
• Swimming
• Eating
• Waking Paisley after naps
• Running up to Daddy when he gets home
• The bath tub (mostly dumping water out of it)
• The word 'Dada", over and over again
• Throwing food from the high chair to the floor
• Swinging at the park
• Anything Paisley is playing with
• Flushing/opening/playing in the toilet
• Unraveling toilet paper
• Being held & cuddling
• Growling like a lion cub

Afton started walking a few weeks ago, and she's getting more and more confident.  It's so fun to watch her beaming smile of triumph when she gets to places she wants to go.

 Random facts about Afton:

• She LOVES her sister Paisley.  They fight over toys all the time, but they're the best friends in the world.
• She *still* wakes up once a night, nurses and goes back to sleep.  This is a HUGE improvement, even from 2 months ago, so I'm happy as can be.  
• Her first word was "Mama", but she's traded that one in for "Dada", and can't get enough of it.
• She loves to give and blow kisses, making a loud "BAH" sound.  And lately she just loves to say BAH, kiss or no kiss.
• We're just learning that she's pretty terrified of animals.  

The Media Fast Challenge

In a recent blog post, I began by stating that there just aren't enough hours in a day.  I have had this feeling a lot recently - an increasing amount, actually.  There’s just not enough time to do everything that needs to be done, and everything I want to do, all in one day.  Or week.  Or lifetime, perhaps. Well, tonight I think I found the solution. 

I went to an information session at church about media use and addiction.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but let’s face it – I needed to get out of the house.  The main topics covered were: 1) Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ through media; 2) Internet Safety; and 3) Technology Addiction, including, but not limited to, pornography.  This is some of what I took away from it, and what eventually led me to my epiphany (or inspiration, if you will):

• Technology can be used for such good, but the adversary also uses it to distract us from good things we could be doing, and to bring us down to eventual destruction. 
• We need to keep our use of technology in check, by asking ourselves 1) does this invite or impede the Holy Ghost in my life? 2) Does it enlarge or restrain my capacity to love, lift, and serve others  
• This quote:
• “If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, then one of his most potent tactics is to beguile you and me as embodied spirits to disconnect gradually and physically from things as they really are… And, if we let him, he can cunningly employ some aspects of modern technology to accomplish his purposes.  Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication.” –David A. Bednar

Lastly, one girl spoke about a particularly trying time in her life.  She was inspired to cut out technology from her life for a week - a "media fast", as she called it - including television, texting, facebook, non-essential emailing, etc.  She said that cutting out all of the noise allowed her to follow our Heavenly Father’s invitation to, “Be still, and know that I am God”. 

In my case, I am not going through a particularly hard time; in fact, life has never been quite so good!  But at the end of the evening, I had a strong feeling that if I will cut out all those non-essentials (i.e., all-too-frequent facebook checking, email reading, t.v. watching, etc) even just for a week, I will be a more patient and loving mother.  I will be more present with my little girls.  I will be more focused on things that really matter. My priorities will become clearer in my mind.  I will have a greater portion of the Spirit of the Lord with me.  And of course, having cleared all the extra clutter out of my day, I will have time to do the things that need to be done, as well as the worthwhile things I want to do.  There is my solution, now it’s time to put it to the test.  Feel free to join in!  I'll let you know how it goes.