The Pledge of Olivia

Yesterday Olivia was proud to tell me she knew the WHOLE Pledge of Allegence. She then repeated it with such conviction:

"The pledge allegence of the flag to the United States of America
And for the republic which is less
One nation underground
Invisible, with liberty and justice for all!!!"

Close enough Livi

Congrats Eric!!!

Last night my brother Eric got his mission call. He is going to the Phillipines. I thought for sure he would go somewhere cold. In my mind I could see him in one of those black wool trench coats. So, I am nowhere near psychic! DANG! It's cool he is going there because that is where my dad went on his mission. Also, Eric will come back speaking Tagalog (not sure how to spell that), you know one of those useful languages. Anyway, Congrats Eric!!!

The leaves are changing

<


Yay! My favorite time of year is almost here. Our family went to Little Cottonwood Canyon to see if the leaves were changing yet.

You win some you lose some

The other day Olivia got a little flyer in her backpack about tryouts for the local play Hansel and Gretel. I asked Olivia if she would like to try out....

Me: "Olivia do you want to tryout for this play? It's Hansel and Gretel."

Olivia: "Ya! I love that story! I could be Gretel."

Me: "Olivia, I think you're too young to be Gretel. They'll Probably give it to someone older."

Olivia: "That's OK, I'm REALLY good at witches! EHH HE HE!(SO CUTE!)

Me: "That was really good Liv, but I think the smaller children don't get the main parts." Do you still want to do it?

Olivia : Sure!
This is a picture of when Olivia was 2.

So, today we went to the auditions for two hours. There were mostly little kids like Olivia. She didn't get a part in the play. She was really shy. The older kids got parts whether they could act or not because there weren't enough of them to go around. I felt bad for Olivia, she took it pretty hard. We told her we were very proud of her for even trying out then, we bought her a chocolate shake. I figure, it's a learning experience for her and we'll try again next year.

Are you kidding?

No, No one was kidding me when I show up to my job, at a school, and find out we are having a practice fire drill on September 11th. I think alot of people at the school thought it was a little creepy. They could have done it on ANY day. I guess that's reality though.

Another weird thing is that I show up to work the other day and there are firemen with their truck shooting tons of water from the hose to absolutely nowhere. Just in the middle of the parking lot. I guessed they were just testing how far the water would spray. How else would they know?

We need a new fence

Today some little girls, who live on the other side of our backyard fence, snuck through the big gap between the slats and asked if they could play in our backyard. The girl that asked, said that her mom was in the hospital and really wanted her to do something (like play in a strangers backyard?). Weird. I really wanted to say no, because I hate when people just use you for your stuff. We have a see-saw and a tire swing is all, but I guess if you have nothing, it looks like alot of fun. I also thought they could get hurt and it would be my fault or they might break our things and I would be really mad (we're supposed to break our things). I said "yes" because I'm a total push-over.
Later, I saw them eating peaches from our tree. I went outside and asked her if she had any food in her house. She said that she didn't. I picked her a bunch of pears. Then, I gave her some candy in a little bag and told her to take them home and share them with her brothers and sisters. She seemed very excited. I had the feeling, she was taking care of herself. Where were the adults? I remembered that we also had some yummy grapes growing on our vine and took some to her over the fence. When I saw her, she was totally pigging out on the pears. I felt so bad for her. She was eating like a she had been starving.
I was happy that she had some food, but I really hope she doesn't come over everyday wanting to play in my backyard. I hope her mom comes home and feeds her and hugs her and loves her.

Has it been that long?

<
It was mine and Emmett's 9th Anniversary yesterday. We both worked all day, and Emmett worked all night too, of course. He came to see me at work for the ten spare minutes he had. It was a nice surprise, since I thought I wouldn't see him at all. I was almost nervous around him when he came. I'm not sure if it was because he was watching me work or because I felt like we had just met(maybe al little of both). It was a good feeling, because eventhough I've been married to him for so long and see him everyday,I thought he was really cute(one of the girls in the office thought so too!) It just doesn't feel old yet. So, eventhough we didn't get to do much, it was a good day! Oh yes, and he bought me some flowers too! I REALLY like getting flowers!

Livin' in the Burbs

Our neighbor lady to the west is ,I swear, The Wicked Witch of the West. Not only does she act like it, she looks like it. She is VERY mean. She has no idea what our names are or what we are like, she just comes over to yell at us because our dog barks when we are not home in the middle of the day. She says that's when she sleeps. My mom was over the other day, and the lady came out in a mumu and starts yelling at our dog. She was barking because my mom was in our back yard, but the lady didn't see her and just starts yelling. My mom said later, "a wicked witch really does live next door." Now she believes us.

So, the other day Emmett is sleeping while we are at the store and our dog starts barking and wakes him up. He looks outside to see about three hispanic guys from the apartments behind us on our fence trying to pick peaches from our tree. When they saw him they took off, but Emmett told them to come back and told them that he didn't mind if they took the peaches except that it makes our dog bark, which makes the lady next door upset. They just said "you don't need the fruit?" I felt bad for them because I think they were hungry. Emmett said "no, you just make the dog bark is all." I wanted to pick all the fruit for them from our pear tree too.

It's sad when people have to pick fruit from their neighbors trees in order to eat and the neighbors get yelled at by the lady that sleeps in the middle of the day because the dog is trying to protect them from the starving people.

Our other neighbor is an anal 80 year old woman who hates plants. She is so anal that she mops the walkway up to her house and sweeps the gutters when they are to dusty. She also lives to drive Emmett and I crazy....

Old Lady: "Eleanor, when are you guys going to cut down this pine tree? I always have YOUR pine needles in MY yard."

Eleanor: "Sorry, I like this tree, it's the only one we have in the front yard."

Old Lady: "Eleanor, your tree is crossing over on my property line. Do you mind if I call some people to cut those branches off?"

Eleanor: "Go for it!"

Old Lady: "Eleanor, we need to get a new fence this one is falling down and I want white vinyl because all by other fences are white."

Eleanor: "I don't think we can afford it right now."

Old Lady: "Eleanor, when we get the new fence was Emmett planning on cutting down any branches on your cherry tree or your apricot tree? They're getting really gangly on my side."

Eleanor: "I don't know."

Old lady: "Eleanor, do you mind if while I'm having your tree in the front yard trimmed, if I just had those trimmed at the same time?"

Eleanor: "Whatever."

I could go on, but I must tell you how she asked Emmett if we were going to get rid of the pretty Virginia Creeper that I was to excited had finally climbed up the house and fence. She says, "I'll get rid of it for you." Emmett says he'll get to it later, that we just haven't had time. The next thing I know, IT'S GONE! ALL of it. Then I come home the other day and she's just finished weeding my garden and killing all living things.

Eleanor: "Thanks, but you REALLY didn't need to do that."

Old Lady: "It was my pleasure."

AAAHHHH!!!!!!

Well, I guess that's just livin' in the burbs!

Kindergarten Kid

Today was Olivia's first day of kindergarten. I can't believe it's already here and at the same time I can't believe she's ONLY in kindergarten because of her grown-up personality.

She was crying and crying last night because she was so nervous and she thought no one would like her. I told her she was crazy! Everyone in her preschool class adored her. They would fight over her when she got there. It was Olivia Mania! Then she wakes up today super excited! She said, "I thought I would be sad today, but I'm not."

She said she made some friends, so I asked her what they talked about. She said," We talked about our dads snoring and about how the toilets are so tiny." Interesting stuff! She is really excited to go back! YAY!!!!