Antlions vs. Lester

Way back when we created this blog, we declared that we would keep it random. I think we haven't been random enough of late. So here is a story about a random antlion date. Last night Meridy and I had a much needed date. We were on our way to Zion/Springdale, but I decided to pull over in Rockville. Meridy and I like to take walks and look at houses together. Rockville has a lot of old and/or novel houses and yards, so we had fun. Eventually, we got to the cool old bridge. We read the plaque and were duly impressed. It turns out there are hundred of antlions under the bridge...right next to some ant holes...go figure. Here are some educational links for antlions.

I decided to show Meridy the wonders of nature, so I started helping the antlions out. Most of those antlions were hopeless. The ants escaped almost every time. One ant in particular was especially wily, clumsy, but wily. He was Lester. Lester kept stumbling into antlion holes, but he always got away. Billy was not so lucky.

Life out of Order

These are some pictures of our life the past few months, not necessarily in order because it is too difficult to put it in order. Sometimes you just have to let these things go. Like sometimes you have to wear flip-flops to church because, they should just be happy you even made it there today. (I almost wore flip flops to church today, but I could bring myself to do it. So I wore nice black shoes that didn't really match.)

So now you all get to play a really fun game! (This is a phrase that works well during sharing time. You tell the kids whatever you are doing is a game and they usually go along with it.) I'm going to make a list of things of note, that isn't necessarily all inclusive---(I had to say that for legal reasons),and you get to find if there is a picture (or pictures) that coordinate with said item on list. Some items do not have a picture associated with them. Sorry.

Ellie graduated Preschool.

I got called to be Primary President.

Emily came to visit with her kids. Fun times!

We celebrated the 4th of July with a softball game, fireworks in Hurricane and Cedar, whoopie pies, etc.

We did the previous thing all over again for the 24th sans the softball game and Hurricane fireworks.

We celebrated Will's birthday with a pool party and cake, and then again at my mom's house only without a pool.

Ellie got her tonsils removed!! She is looking so much better.

We went to lots of cousin birthday parties that we enjoyed.

We saw old friends, whom we miss.

We got really messy.

We got really messy again trying to potty-train Will.

We grew a garden....and we grew weeds.

We went on a little family overnight vacation to Cedar Mountain.

Nate worked all the time at the law office. His office is nice, you should go see it.

We were silly.

We went to the fair.

Ellie started Kindergarten. She loves it. Will was sad the first day. Then the next day he said, "Today I will not miss Ellie." He still loves her though.

New world, new love

I really like Paradise Lost (both the song by Symphony X and the book by Milton) but I confess that I can only take the book in small chunks. It is so dense, so full of allusions, so old, and so inconsistent in its sentence structures that my mind starts going numb, and I lose comprehension of what I'm reading.

But it's been calling to me lately, and this morning I read some of the argument between Adam and Eve about whether or not they should split up and go exploring. Adam totally digs Eve and doesn't want her to ditch him, plus he fears the Tempter may attack them separately where he would never dare do it while they are together and able to support one another. Eve says Adam should trust her and that they could never be happy living in fear. Untested faith and love could never be real. Eventually, she wins, Adam proves prophetic, and Eve proves to be wise as she brings about the felix culpa.

Anyway, what I really wanted to say is that I love Meridy, and I'm so glad to have her with me as we enter each new world life offers. Meridy has been looking good recently too. Is it normal for a woman to look better as she gets older? Every day my love for her is new, and better.