Ok so weeks ago my cousin Emily tagged me, and than a couple of days ago my friend Alice tagged me, and now I find myself unable to sleep, so I thought hey, I'll respond to those tags.

First the rules.
1. List six quirks, habits, or unknown things about yourself.
2.Tag three other people
3. Let those three people know on their blog that they have been tagged.

I think there were some other rules, but I don't remember them

1. I LOVE cheerios. All kinds, frosted, apples cinnamon, plain, honey nut. I literally have to have a bowl of cheerios every day. I am working hard to instill this love for cheerios in my children, but so far they are too involved with their fruit loops to pay much attention.

2. It is very hard for me to be organized, I have to really work at it, and being on time is one of those near impossible tasks for me that gets harder with each kid. . . oh wait most of you already know that about me!

3. I love being a girl. I love wearing dresses and skirts, I love putting on make-up and doing my hair, I love the color pink, wearing jewelry and I even love wearing high heels.

4. I view the whole world as my canvas waiting for me to make it cute, beautiful or darling. My yard, my house, my children. Honestly sometimes I want to walk up to complete strangers and say, come. . . let me decorate you.

5. I hate having an unmade bed, I know this will shock my mother, but the first thing I do every morning is make my bed, and as soon as my kids are up, I make theirs. The rest of the house can be in chaos, but the beds must be made.

6. This one may be disturbing to some of you, but it's been on my mind, so here it is. I worry that people think that I have an eating disorder. This is probably based on the fact that I have had some very mean and hurtful things said to me, and behind my back about my weight. There have been times when I have almost peed my pants when I am out to dinner with friends because I am worried that if I go to the bathroom people will think that I'm headed off to puke my guts out. I have stuffed myself to the point that I am sick to prove that I really do eat. So there you have it, my great unknown. I don't really like being so skinny. It makes people say mean things and thirteen year olds have more curves than me!

Ladies Man!!

Carson, Katilee and Will, Christmas 2006

I noticed that at a very young age that Carson treated girls differently than he treated boys. His two best friends in our old neighborhood, in Stansbury, were Katilee and Will. Carson would deck Will and take him to the ground (usually in a battle he lost) to take a toy from Will, but would bend over backwards to give Katilee whatever she wanted.

As of late he's started to make some comments that have really made me take notice. Today when I picked him up from preschool his cousin Kaden and him were sitting in the front seat while I arranged car seats. Two of the little girls from his preschool ran in front of my car and started waving, Carson said to Kaden, "Look, there's my ladies, they love me". I sat up and checked out the girls. . . they were pretty cute.

Than tonight Carson tells Ryan and I, "That little girl at IKEA, she was really pretty, I just keep thinking about her" I asked how old the little girl was wondering if she was actually a worker at the IKEA play place. He told me, she was three, but she would be four soon like him.

So, there you have it, four years old and already picking out the cute girls.

I was hoping we could put this off until what. . . he came home from his mission??? SCARES ME TO DEATH!!!

Our New Prophet

I hope that Todd remembers this story the same way I do. When I was about twelve years old my cousin Alisha was married in the Salt Lake Temple. That night they had a beautiful reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. After awhile some of us started to get a little bored so Todd, Staci, Ben (my cousins) and Heidi (my sister) started playing tag on the elevators. During the duration of this game my pretty up-do started to sag and I lost my nylons and sunday shoes. My cousin Ben was it and Todd and I had just gotten off on the same floor he was on, so we dashed into another elevator. Ben made to come after us only to freeze. Instead of Ben, three tall men and a few other flustered people entered the elevator. The last thing I remembered seeing as the elevator closed was my mothers jaw gapping open. I was still bouncing around all jittery about escaping Ben. The tall man standing next to me turned to me and started asking questions. Todd just stood there in shock and I kept thinking, what is wrong with him. I chattered away rather hyper like the entire time we were in the elevator. When we finally reached the last floor, he turned, shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye and said, "It was nice to meet you Sister Painter" I'm sure he said something to Todd as well, but now it was my turn to be in shock, I was so overwhelmed by a feeling of love. It wasn't until he left the elevator and I watched other people stand and swarm to greet him that I realized I had just met Pres. Monson.

I have since met a shook hands with a couple of other apostles including Elder Tom Perry and Pres. Packer, but I have never felt that overwhelming sense of love FOR ME again. I am grateful for a man that took the time to instill a testimony in a messy, flighty twelve year old girl.

Pres. Hinckley

While I have enjoyed reading what other people have written about Pres. Hinckley it has taken me awhile to say anything. I think the biggest reason is that I am not sure how to put into words all that I feel towards Pres. Hinckley On Sat. as I sat watching his funeral the tears started to stream as I watched his family file in for the graveside, I was so touched by their willingness to share their Great Grandpa, Grandpa and Father with us not only today a day, a day that is normally quiet and private for families, but through out his life. I am realizing that it is often easy to give of our time, talents but to do what is necessary to let those we love give of theirs, can be a painful sacrifice. One of my greatest life's lesson was learned when a friend mentioned to me that she had heard that Sister Hinckley had NEVER complained about her husbands dedication to the church. All of this was weighing on my mind as I watched this sweet family surround the casket. Carson saw me crying and simply said, "your said because the prophet died?" I looked at my own "little prophet" and said, "he's the only prophet I really remember, Mommy loves him". To the Hinckley family I say Thank you, thank you, thank you for your endless sacrifice you made so that he could touch so many lives. I am humbled by your example.

The picture above is a beautiful picture painted by Leon Parson. You can learn more about this picture by linking to my friend's Heidi and Brett blog (Brett is Leon's son). Heidiandbrett.blogspot.com The symbolism in this picture is amazing.