Watermelon and Card

Here's the watermelon we grew in our garden. It was huge but it wasn't ready when we cut it open. Oh well, we still got a cute picture:






































When Caleb heard Grandma was sick (lip hurting long after surgery) he said, "What should we do for her?" I suggested a card he color and he loved the idea. Here's what we made:

Also, Caleb said his first prayer all by himself last week. Right as we were sitting down to dinner Derrick called and said he was coming home from work. I told that to Caleb right before he started praying. Here's what he said:
"Dear Heavenly Father. We are thankful for this food. We are thankful Daddy is coming home." Then he mumbled something I couldn't hear, "In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
It was perfect. He is such a sweet boy!

Tent, Blankie, Walking

Friday night Derrick went camping with the scouts. Caleb was bummed he couldn't go, so Saturday night we let him sleep in the tent in our spare bedroom. He wanted the window open so he could look at the stars. So cute! We left it open until we went to bed (since the sun shines directly into that room).

Brynn sleeps just like this. She did it while awake on Sunday morning and I snapped a picture. Right thumb in mouth, grabbing her blankie with both hands. It is adorable.

 

Brynn is now walking but before she was, she did this for a few days. Creative girl.

Beeeeeeads

Brynn has an obsession with her bead necklace. Every time I go to get her out of her crib she is standing up, smiling at me and saying, "beeeeeads" before I even get to her. She will cry in protest if you try to leave the room without them.The crazy thing is that she knew how to put them on without us even showing her.
Another thing she starting doing was bringing me her headbands to put on her. I even painted her toenails for the first time this week. She is such a girl...I love that!

The Grand Piano Story

We got up Saturday morning and decided to go to the case lot sale at Macey's. For those of you outside of Utah a case lot sale is where they sell a whole box of canned food for a discounted price, and Macey's is like the cheapest grocery store around.
So we were headed down Lehi Main Street and we start seeing signs "Piano Sale." Derrick suggested we go. I kept telling him no because we've looked at pianos before, we never buy anything and I hate getting pressured to buy. Also, I hadn't showered that day yet and was in work out type clothes. But since Derrick was driving he pulled in to an elementary school, where the signs led us. We saw men in in nice clothes walking in, then I really didn't want to go. Derrick persisted and I went.
The men in suits were the salesmen, so I felt better. I tried out a few of the pianos but what could I say, I didn't think we were going to get one so I didn't say anything.
We ended up finding out that the sale going on was done by a non-profit organization called Pianos For Students Society. They give pianos to schools to use for a year. At the end of the year, they sell the pianos. The schools get the benefit of having nice pianos, the company gets the benefit of having the school help promote the sale.
We found out that because of the program, 40% of the price was tax deductible so the other 60% is the only part taxed. That really started to intrigue us. We were also told that the grand pianos were only used in auditoriums and were only used about once or twice a month.
We were there for about an hour when the guy running the whole thing gave us an awesome price of $9,500 out the door: after taxes, delivery, set up and tuning. I looked to Derrick and said I'd get it but it's up to him. We would be using our savings for my dream, not his of flying lessons or an F150. He said he wanted to get it.
We walked over to pay for the piano and the lady taking payments eyes bulged when she saw the price. She was sincerely shocked at the price they offered us. We really felt like we got a good deal.
Our piano is a Hamilton which is made by Baldwin. 5' 8" grand piano. It sounds and feels amazing. I am amused to know that it is worth more than both of our cars.
 

Since we brought it home Derrick is always asking me to play. He loves it just as much as I do and that made me feel so much better about getting it. It will be a well loved piano!










Here is a recording I made with my camera. It doesn't give the sound justice at all but I had requests so here it is. The song is the 1st verse of an arrangement I did of Homeward Bound. I'm really bummed though because the original songwriter isn't giving out permission to distribute sheet music of other arrangements. This is one of my prettier pieces and I feel sad every time I think I'll never be able to let other people have it. Sorry, little tangent there.

Cecret Lake Hike

We hiked up to Cecret (yes with a C) Lake last night with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Kent. It was a mile long and Caleb walked up the whole way on his own! Derrick carried him down.


When we got to the lake Brynn wanted to go in the water the whole time. Caleb had fun throwing rocks in the water. It was a great Friday night activity.