defining my dash.

(Originally written Jan 5 2017, but I'm back dating for continuity.  I have 6 months of things to catch up on, and I don't want to have to look at this at the top of my blog page for who knows how long it will take for me to catch up. )

Zach has been been bugging me for awhile to update this blog.  He announced to me the other day that I was officially 6 months behind.

yeah, yeah, I know, I know.... I'm busy... I've got a lot going on... and yet we seem to do very little that belongs on a blog.  There's no fancy trips or funny little toddlers that do and say funny things. There's just laundry and dishes and work and more laundry.

But there are a few little things I could talk about - Holidays and marching band and birthdays and school concerts.   And then there's that little article I read on facebook the other day.  (Sometimes facebook is good for something other than wasting time).

Anyways, the title of the article was "Defining Your Dash".  Basically their point was that on every tombstone in every cemetery there is the same little mark.  Situated between the date of birth, and the date of death, you will find a dash.  And that's it, one tiny little "-" which represents the whole of a person's existence.  Whether that dash represents a day, an hour, 2 years, or a 100 years, the only indication of it's impact on this world are the dates on either side of it.   And then the article went on to say that within a generation or two, when all that is left of the people who knew us, is a bunch of gravestones with a bunch of dashes, that will be all that is left to define our lives. And the point of the story is to define our dashes.  Write down our stories.  Of course the article suggested that people should write a story a week, which I half considered for a moment, but then I thought about this blog and how I have like 9 years or something of stories on here, and who knows what I already shared, but maybe I just need to go back to this.

Blogging might be so 2010, but that's ok. I do it for me, and for Zach and my other kids.  And the grandparents who can't be in our lives on a daily basis.  And although I've never worried about followers beyond a mild curiosity,  I still need to get over feeling like I don't have anything interesting enough to say.

anyways... here's hoping I can stick with this.  (wish me luck)

Fighting the Bear

Have I ever mentioned how much Christopher loves cub scouts?

I'm told by his leaders that he's the first one there to the den meetings.  I fear he may be too early... (He can ride his bike there, and I work, so I have no idea at what time he goes...)

And I do remember from experience that not only does he always wear his scout shirt, he always wears his neckerchief and slider.  ALWAYS.  We've had melt downs when that little metal slider has gone missing.  My other boys hated wearing their neckerchiefs, and I think one of them hated wearing their shirt.  It was conveniently "lost" most weeks.

Anyways, he was super excited to earn his Bear award.

And in our pack, in order to actually receive your Bear, you have to fight one.

He came out of it victorious, if not a little mangled.

Congratulations, Christopher!

(Side note- 8 years of cub scouts down, only one to go. I can't decide how I feel about this.)

Temple selfies

Maddie wanted to go to the temple to do baptisms and she wanted me to go with her.  The only problem was was that I literally haven't done that since I was her age.   I'm not a fan of getting wet.  Long hair is so annoying to deal with, and it's been so long since I had, that I had no idea where to go or what to do, so I usually stick with what I know.

So Maddie showed the way.  Which was actually a pretty cool experience having my daughter be the one to lead me around.

And then naturally we had to take selfies out front, and naturally none of them turned out that great :/.