We LOVE Gabe! He's a babe!

I wish this was a picture of four brothers, but alas the big handsome dude is a cousin/nephew. 

We all love Gabe!  Apparently everyone loves Gabe, blah bah blah no big deal.  What IS a big deal is that this funny handsome cool fellow likes us too.  

We went to the park to scooter around and Gabe scooter-ed around too...and then his scooter found a pebble and sent Gabe careening to the asphalt.  Blood was literally dripping off his elbow.  Isaac went to town doctoring him up.  We bandaged him up and then Isaac got Gabe a blanket, a drink of water and a foot rest and anything else Gabe might have needed.

Side Note:

My favorite line of the trip is when Isaac said, "Gabe, you smell like potatoes."  Gabe was like "Huh?" Isaac was clueless, he just thought Gabe smelled like, well, potatoes. I nearly fell off my chair: Gabe is from Idaho. Ha.

Eric thought Segways would be lame and talked me out of 'em, but I rallied up a couple days later and went anyway.  SOOOO glad we went.  There was a little mini private lesson for each person in our party.  Our guide told us "The curb is our enemy" maybe 7 times.  And impressed upon us the cost of loosing control...it took me exactly 2 min and 36 seconds before I totally crashed...into a bench...BEHIND me. Ugh. Upon take off, our guide told me he wanted me right behind him, like I must have ridden the short bus.  Gabe laughed his head off.   To add to my shame I crashed my mini van into a curb coming out of the parking lot on our way home, putting a hole in the wheel. To his credit, Gabe did not laugh...until we got to the wheel store. The curb IS our enemy...like a $200 enemy.  Ugh. 

Man at the wheel store: Your first name?

Me: Jenny

Man at the wheel store: Last name?

Me: Curb Crasher

I wish he had asked me my middle name cause Danger is a cool middle name. 

We make it look so simple and innocent,
but really the life of every pedestrian on the walking path was in our hands. 

This is one of my #1 favorite sights to take my family and friends.  

It is impressive and awe inspiring...at least to me and I hope they catch a bit of that too. 

Gabe went with Eric and Amy to Gettysburg, saw THE spot were 

Mr. Lincoln gave his famous address.  (Awe)

After we received our safety helmets, Mr Smarty-pants leans over to me and says, 

"I sorta feel like we are special ed tourists." 

Moi. Mr. Lincoln. Mr Smarty-pants 

I am always impressed at the quiet respect of tourists at the Vietnam memorial.

Trivia question-

Q:What's the difference between memorial and monument

A:Memorial is dedicated after death, monument while they are still alive

I LOVE it when people follow my lame instructions to them.  This kid has my heart. 

Gabe's a babe.  And that is all.

Thoughts I found on a scrap of paper...

The single biggest problem with 
COMMUNICATION
Is the illusion that is has taken place.
-George Bernard Shaw


LOVE ONE ANOTHER
and you will be  
HAPPY
it is as simple
and as difficult
as that
-Michael Leunig


Nature always tends to act in the simplest way.

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.

Make the most of yourself...

for that is all there is of you

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

If there's anything 

half so much fun

as being alive I'd

like to know what it is!

No act of kindness,

No matter how small 

is ever wasted.

-Aesop

It is truly said: It does not take much strength to do things;

but it requires great strength to decide what to do. 

-Chow Ching

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness.

Making everything in its vicinity freshen into smile.

-Washington Irving

Oh, it's nice 

to get up in the mornin',

but it's nicer 

to lie in bed. 

-Sir Harry Lauder

The difference between the impossible and the possible

lies in a person's determination.

-Tommy Lasorda (yeah, I quoted him)

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls bloom.

-Marcel Proust

lastly, and also my favorite:

The hands that help are holier than the lips that pray.

-Howard W Hunter as heard by President Bretsing 

from Woodbridge Stake conference. 

Six digits

I tell Isaac all the time he can't eat any more veggies or fruits; he just smiles at me and continues to chomp on his carrots.

He turned six.

He is DARling.

He a good buddy to Seth.  At t-ball practice this week they passed out shirts.  The x-small one came out first and landed on the grass.  Isaac asked if he could "take it home for [his] little brother."  Isaac is very a loving brother to Benjamin.  Sometimes in the morning we all end up snuggling (me) and wrestling (Seth and Benjamin) in the same bed.  Benjamin will do something funny and Isaac and I share a laugh together  about his adorableness.  One time we were cleaning up and Isaac said about Benjamin with a smile in his voice, "He sure is cute but he's not very helpful."  Isaac is funny.

Ole blue eyes is a good little athlete.  We go to a gym close to our home for free play.  Isaac had done a few things and the coach gave him safety pointers (like when you are landing on your bum on the tramp, place your hands at your side, not behind you, with the fingers facing forward ).  Later, after 3 such incidences, the coach told me Isaac is very athletic and that he has a good attitude, he listened.

Isaac has an awesome imagination.  He and his brothers play with these baseball dudes for loong periods of time.  (Thanks grandma and grandpa.)  He also asks very good questions about life, WHY things are the way they are, and "How do you know that?" 

Isaac can be very kind and thoughtful.  He responds well to the spirit and he loves to bear his testimony.   I heard him say in his prayers the other night to "bless [him] to be a peacemaker."  (I'm going to pray that for him too, and all are invited to join me.) He wants to be a missionary. Just yesterday he told me he wants to have a yard sale so he can save money to be a missionary.  (Thanks Gabe.)

Isaac knows how to touch my heart. I had been scolding the boys for something.  A few minutes later Isaac said to me, "Mom I love you SO much, but I dont like it when you act mean."  I paused.  A few minutes later he said "Mom, I wouldnt trade you for anything in the whole world.  Not for all (sweep of hand horizontally) the good stuff in the world."  I thanked my little buddy. And then he said, "Even if there was a mom who would let me play the wii everyday, I wouldn't even trade you for her." That was the ultimate compliment.  Glad you joined us six years ago, little buddy.  You made me a mommy.  You fill my heart to the brim.  I wouldnt trade being your mommy for anything (sweep of hand horizontally) in the whole universe.  I love you dear Isaac. 

Eric's shirt

Four little boys have worn this shirt.  The first was Eric, but I have no picture of that.  (Ken or Cindy, if you can send me one I would love it...and I will add E to the group of little men.)   

Isaac wore it next...30 year later...and was the youngest model.

Seth 

Benjamin I think he was about the same age as E when he wore it. 

There. Mom?

Okay C-h.  There you go.  Actually my hair looks much cuter in these pictures than it does in real life...it helps that I am wearing makeup; which happens rarely.  Isaac is not a fan neither is his papa.  My bishop called my hair "candy cane" and my darling Sis-in-law called it purple.  

It's just hair. And besides, it's growing on me. (ha ha)