Happy Birthday, Julene!

Julene's endured yet another birthday this week. It seemed that there were a lot of things that were in the way of preparing a birthday celebration for Julene: I was attending a seminar on health law at the Palazzo Hotel, I was trying to finish my rehabilitation of the yard at our old house, I needed to put together a talk for Sunday, the kids had tons of homework, Josh had scouts, etc. In other words, just a normal week at the Ballards.

On Julene's birthday, I was able to go shopping for a present for her during a break at the seminar. After the seminar I had to return to the office to get a few things in the out box. When I left the office, I made my way to a few stores to round up a some cards for the kids to give to Julene, candles, an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins, and some flowers.

One of the true pleasures was seeing how excited the kids were to write on birthday cards for Mommy. They were sneaking around, trying not to let her know that they were working on cards for her. As is evident from the picture above, Angelina was especially thrilled to be able to give Mommy a card.

The payoff came as Julene was brought to tears with the surprise of her little birthday party. Julene, who had been somewhat miffed with me all day, was completely caught off guard by this celebration, which made it so satisfying to know that she was truly touched.

Conference Sunday

On General Conference Sunday, we started with a bit of a lazy Sunday morning attitude. The kids were playing in their pajamas in the family room, with Allyse introducing Benjamin to the joys of plastic containers.

As usual, Benjamin started his posing and smiling as soon as he recognized the camera.

Not to be outdone, Angelina put on a cheesy smile.

Joseph worked on his General Conference packet while Brad whipped up the healthy breakfast of poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce over Canadian bacon and English muffins. Wow, that sounds kind of international!

Josh was also working on his General Conference packet. He was also plowing through the books to his side.

Later in the day we went to Grandma Kathleen and Grandpa Wendell's home. Allyse got to practice her songs on Grandma's beautiful Yamaha grand piano.

She's Got Style

"Fashions fade; style is eternal."

Yves Saint Laurent

What Could this Doll Fetch on Ebay?

I was wondering what I could get for this doll if I put it up for sale on ebay. She can do many things, like . . .

close her eyes,

laugh, and my personal favorite,

give you a smile that melts your heart.

Baby with Attitude

Recently, Benjamin has been kind of crazy. He has this little attitude, and he knows it. He will do something totally unexpected, and then look at you with a smile. It is like he knows that he is being funny.

On Saturday, Julene went to get her hair done, so I had several hours alone with Benjamin. He got hungry, so I put him in the highchair and started feeding him. When he had enough, without any warning, he attacked the spoon with his hands, causing the food to go all over the place. In part, that is how he ended up with the messy face, above.

I decided to give him some Cheerios to finish his dinner. He really likes to chew on them, and it seems to keep him occupied. Plus, they are not as messy as mashed baby food. No sooner did he get into the Cheerios than he started doing a little trick with them, part of which I was able to catch on video, posted below.

Also, while Julene was gone, I had to replace the batteries on a digital wall clock. I kept repeating the word "clock" to Benjamin while I had the clock down off the wall. He would repeat back a "cl" sound. He is actually quite good at imitating sounds that he hears. Anyway, while I was saying the word, all of a sudden he said "clock."

When Julene returned home, she really didn't believe me when I told her about Benjamin saying "clock." Later, as she was getting him ready for bed, I got Benjamin to say "clock" again, and make a believer out of his mommy.

On Sunday, I had more time with Benjamin, and I was playing with him using a dog puppet. I kept repeating the word "doggy," and sure enough, he said it. I was also able to have him recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Okay, I'm stretching a bit.

Blogging Back In

Life didn't stop over the past two weeks, but I found myself increasingly busy. As I had caught up writing about much of the summer events, I figured that it was a good time to catch my breath.

I have been focusing on my back yard lately, which has come a long way, but has a long way to go. Mostly, I have been moving dirt piles around the yard. It is more technical than that, but that is what I tell my kids so I don't get into long, drawn out explanations that I know I will be repeating the next time they ask, which generally averages about every 10 minutes.

Actually, my back yard was left in an extremely uneven condition by the builder. I first rented a large rototiller to soften up soil that was slightly softer than concrete. By the end of the day, I had broken five tines on the machine. It wasn't my intent to abuse the machine. I would be going along just fine and suddenly the whole rototiller would nearly jump off the ground, usually because it hit one of the massive rocks or chunks of concrete that the builder left in the area that is supposed to be soil.

In any event, I have leveled much of the back yard and part of the side yard. It has involved a lot of pickaxing, shoveling and wheelbarrowing, but I am very close to achieving the grade I need in the back yard.

I have also installed the valves for the irrigation system. I am now in the process of laying the pipe for the irrigation. After that I will be able to start laying concrete, digging a hole for the trampoline and planting the plants. I'm getting tired just writing about it. I'll post pictures when there is actually something to show other than just moving dirt.

Labor Day

The family gathered again at the cabin at Mt. Charleston. Angelina was my little helper and she wanted to carry my camera case for me. She and I played in a tunnel for a while.

Later, we did the Little Falls hike. Angelina walked most of the way by herself.

This was Benjamin's first trip up to Little Falls. He slept most of the way up and he only woke up seconds before we stuck a camera in his face.

Angelina is finally getting to the point that she can walk around in the rocks and rough terrain without hurting herself. She had a great time playing outside this time around.

Joseph, Joshua, Allyse and Ethan had fun posing for pictures. I think they also played a little bit.