David & LaReita Berky

Anthony’s Birthday

Bryn, Benjamin, Karalyn, Brandon, Anthony, LaReita, Samuel, James

uh oh…Samuel can open doors now

A mom usually has two places in the house that she can have time to herself; the shower and the toilet. That is if she locks the door. Samuel loves to follow me around. Whenever I go into the bathroom he just cries and cries, reaches for the knob, bangs on the door and cries some more.

Yesterday I went into the bathroom and Samuel cried, reached for the door knob and he turned the handle and opened the door! I smiled big and said excitedly, “Samuel! You opened the door!” He smiled big too, and shut it, then opened it about 5 times, giggling every time. He was so pleased with himself!

This was a lot better of a 1st time opening a door than Anthony’s experience. The 1st time Anthony had learned how to open a door was when I lay down to take a quick cat nap (think I was pregnant with Benjamin). Anthony had been playing in his room so I figured he would be fine for 1/2 hour. Not too much later after closing my eyes (it seemed) I heard my doorbell ring. A neighbor that lives next to our church (just a block away) had heard him in her front yard looking and talking at her flowers. It was fortunate his guardian angel(s) didn’t let him get too far! To this day my neighbor (who is now my Visiting Teacher) said, “He just seemed so happy to be outside enjoying life!”

That’s my Anthony and Samuel – they LOVE to be outside.
Time to get those child-proof door knob locks back on.

It’s the principle

I had an interesting Sunday today. Had a member of the Primary General Board come to our Primary for our Ward Conference. Fortunately everything went well.

We also actually arrived before the sacrament hymn. We did good today!

It sure is hard getting 4 boys (well I guess 6 boys) up, dressed, fed and out the door by 8:50 am). Though Alex is pretty self sufficient, I have to poke Dave out of bed, prod James into getting dressed, and coax Anthony into considering going to church and all that’s associated with that stressful topic for him. As for Samuel, I really should put him in a diaper only until we are actually heading out the door so he doesn’t make a mess of his clothes. And sometimes we have to do a quick diaper change as we are heading out. And for Benjamin I have to chase him around the house and wrestle his clothes on, and search for his shoes (even though he has about 5 pairs). Actually the shoe hunt and subsequent shoe struggle are a regular occurance on Sundays for us. (I bet that makes mom smile. I was always losing my shoes as a kid.) Then once we actually get to church I hear, “Mooommmm, I’m staaarrrving.” What happened to your breakfast? “I wasn’t hungry then.”

Sigh. Sundays feel like marathons. I have to remind myself, “Remember, we are teaching a principle to our children.”

Also this evening Lynette and LaMont and their families came to surprise me with a belated birthday celebration. (Since on my real birthday we were finishing our reunion and heading out of St. George. Which I thought the reunion with all my siblings and Aunt Elaine was celebration enough!) Dave helped arrange that – he’s so wonderfully sweet. It was a great time talking and laughing together (in between me helping Samuel after his 2 falls and goosebumps to his head). Kris and Aubrey filled Alex in on all the details of how to properly ask a girl out for Homecoming on Friday. Spanish Fork HS has 9 dances in a school year! Every month! Crazy expensive! I think Alex was getting a bit of information overload.