Cannon's view

Cannon was cleaning the play room while I was on the computer and this is what he wanted to discuss:
Cannon: "It seems like things are harder since Obama won the last election."
Me: "what do you mean by harder, like cleaning up the house and stuff."
Cannon: "yeah, exactly. Mitt Romney is a Mormon right?"
Me: "Yes he is a Mormon."
Cannon: "well, that makes sense because he would know how to have everyone help each other and things would be easier. He know that we are all God's children and that makes things easier."

I was about to say something about Obama believing in God too, but he was busy worrying about how Lyla wasn't doing her share of the cleaning.
He then said Lyla would vote for Obama because she would want other people to work hard and have to pay her. What charitable learning we have going on in our home.

Basketball

We have all been playing a lot of basketball this past month. Miya and Cannon have practiced all month and will start their games this week. I am excited to watch their games. I have been taking them over to the church to practice on the days they don't have team practice and they are both getting so much better. It was part of Miya's punishments (from a very bad day) that she practice and improve her dribbling and make 10 baskets in a row. She is still working hard, but has improved from 3 of 10 to 7 of 10 in just this last week. She may hate basketball after this punishment, but it has been great spending more time together and working on something together.
Phil and I have been playing church ball on Saturdays and practicing on Thursday nights so we have been loving it. I love basketball this time of year because it give me something to look forward to indoors while it is cold outside. My kids keep hoping for snow, but I was happy to run in the cold sunshine this morning.

Lyla

Crazy that this little girl is 6 years old. Lyla is super fun, happy and loving (except when she is not). I am so glad she is my baby and that we have her in our family. Lyla started school this year and I miss her everyday. She was always a fun little companion, but she is doing such a great job in school. Her latest thing is each morning saying "I don't think I can go to school today because my _____ hurts" you can fill in the blank with any body part because I have heard them all. I am not sure why she is not super excited abouts school, but her attitude quickly changes about it once she is there. I love going and helping in her class each week and seeing her interact with all the other students and see how much she loves her teacher. Lyla loves reading now and will write stories and wants to spell everything and it is fun to see how she spells it out. She loves going to the park, swimming, running around with everyone and anyone that can come play. She is my super social kid and yet can play well on her own for hours and sings the whole time.

Old

The other day I was driving down the road on the way to the bank and noticed a lump on the other side of the road and the closer I got I recognized that it was an old lady and her walker. Cars were coming and going and I turned around at the stop sign to go help, but I was sure that others would have already stopped to help her. When I got turned around I noticed that only one other car had stopped and it was a little old lady that couldn't do anything physically to help this lady that had fallen. We helped get her walker out of the road and sit her up to see what had happened and if she was okay. She had soiled herself in the fall and I was worried that she had had a stroke. She was super embarrassed about everything and just wanted me to help her up so she could walk home. I had to lift her up and help her step up on the sidewalk. I asked if I could walk home with her (which was just up the block), but I think she was just too embarrassed to let me walk with her. I stood there and watched her walk the block to the retirement home then climbed in my car and sobbed. Man, it is hard to get old and I was sad that she was all by herself.
Sat my kids down at dinner and told them that we need to make sure we are the people that are always willing to help and that we need to love others. Life can seem super hard sometimes and I love the opportunities to serve and be reminded of all the blessings I have in my life.

Experiences

We took the kids to Oregon for Phil's holiday party. The second day we were there I took the kids down for breakfast. Phil had already headed off to work so it was just the four of us and we had just sat down and started eating. Cannon got to pick the table so we ventured to a different section than the day before. We heard a huge crash and looked up to see a lady on the floor and heard the lady next to her screaming. At first she was just screaming and then she started yelling for someone to call 911. There were a ton of people there and they all got out their phones. The lady that had started scream was still screaming these weird screams while someone was talking to 911. During the phone call before the paramedics got there the lady stopped breathing. They started doing CPR and I felt totally helpless. I really wanted to do something, anything, to help, but I couldn't leave my kids. They were all reacting in different ways and it was interesting to watch them respond to everything that was happening. Lyla just really wanted more apple juice, but everything was happening over by the juice machine. Cannon had folded up arms and bowed his head and started praying quietly to himself. Miya was looking pretty worried and right on the verge of crying. She kept asking me a lot of questions about if I thought the lady would die. Living with a mother that is a nurse and is also very practical I know that very few people actually survive something like this and needing CPR. I informed Miya that she probably would not survive, but that they were doing everything they could to help her. The paramedics had arrived and were busy getting everything set-up and continuing with chest compressions. The woman and man that had come down to breakfast with this woman were standing around looking totally lost. I just kept thinking I wished I could do something for them, but also didn't want to get in the way. The hotel employees were trying to help them, but they looked like they weren't sure what to do either. I was so thankful that I had the knowledge of the Gospel and thought I wished they had the same knowledge and that they could feel the peace I was experiencing as I was trying to help my kids and say they things that would be best for them during everything. I did have a crash rush of adrenaline when everything started, but by the time we left the breakfast room about 30 minutes later my legs were shaking and I was just wishing for Phil to come back and hug me. Miya wanted to stay to see the lady get on the gurney and into the ambulance because I think she thought if they did those things it would mean she was going to be okay. We didn't stay that long because as some point I felt super bad about being there and not helping anyone.
Thinking back on things I feel so blessed to know that I was totally guided by the Spirit to say and do the things that would best help my kids process and learn from the experience and also that the same Spirit can comfort and help that family as they deal with the loss of the woman. It also made me decide to sign up for a CPR course since it has been so long and things have changed so much. Ever though it doesn't say everyone it is still able to save some lives and just knowing what I need to be doing is better than not knowing.