Mormon Bloggers

I got a call this morning around 10:30 am from Sam’s new school that he will be attending kindergarten this year. They wanted us to come in for another evaluation.  I was confused because we already did one of those when we registered, but they told us that that was to see if your child needed special help, this one was to show their progress when they took it again at the end of the year.  All right, I told them, we’d be there in 30 minutes. So I pumped Sam up for it by letting him wear one of his new school shirts.  We drove over to the school and found our way to the kindergarten class.  As we stood there waiting for our turn, Sam took the opportunity to study the class room and the layout.  Sam doesn’t always share his thoughts, so I found myself wondering what he was thinking.  ”What do you think of this class?” I asked him. “I don’t like this class,” he told me. “It’s scary.  I... Read the rest of this entry »

I think we can all say that the end of August is ALWAYS a super busy time of the year.  Why?  Three wonderful, sweet words:  Back. To. School. I don’t know about you, but I am just about ready to drop kick my boys right out the door!  The end of the summer fighting and bickering has escalated to an all new high and I have lost so much hair due to stress, that I think I am starting to lose my eye brows as well! Helicopter — homemade style… The boys and I hit the back to school sales today.  Wondering if they would actually have one of those summer growth spurts people talk about, I actually measured them in the doorway at the beginning of June and then did it again yesterday… My eyes just about bugged out when I saw that BOTH boys had shot up a whole inch each!  No wonder their pants are floating above their ankles… But nothing surprised me more than Sam’s super growing feet.  At the beginning of... Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all seen our fair share of idiot tattoos… I mean heck, one pops up in cyberspace and before you know it, it’s all over Facebook and Twitter.  Millions of people are laughing about your ugly baby, manly looking girlfriend, or misspelled tattoo.  Major bummer… Even though I would never get a tattoo myself, and I wouldn’t want one on my hubby (tats don’t really do it for me, if you know what I mean), I never fail to appreciate some of the excellent art work I see on others.  Maybe it is the artist in me, but some of those tattoo artists are really talented. But I also know bad ones when I see them… or rather “bad idea” tats.  I actually saw one today. I was nosing around on one of the Military Spouse forums, I don’t comment much, but I like to see some of the news and things going on in the military world, and I came across a post where one Army wife was bragging up... Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so the other day I was shooting off my camera taking pictures off little Jake.  He was so cute and happy on my lap that I couldn’t help myself! I loaded them on my computer and scrolled through them: Then came the last one: I still can’t stop laughing about it!!  Have a great day!  Read More →

Do you like cute sandals? I adore them!!  Especially these ones: You can find some of the cutest ones I have ever seen here:  fibi & clo: New York.  They sent me the first pair above to try out.  I was excited, but no matter what I told myself, I couldn’t escape the knowledge that I have seriously wide feet and the only sandals that have ever fit me come in the form of Men’s Flip Flops.  Sad isn’t it.  People don’t believe me when I tell them that my feet are too wide for feminine sandals or heels.  I will say, “Can’t wear those, I have really wide feet…” “Oh, that’s okay, so do I!” I look down at their feet fitting perfectly into some cute sandals and I say to myself, “you have no idea what wide feet are…” Sad… they are almost too wide for my men’s flip flops too… Not only are my feet super wide, they are short too.  So they... Read the rest of this entry »

Look at this face: So innocent… NOT! This little man has developed a case of the potty mouth. Contracted from one Mr. Daddy’o who caught it from spending too much time in Army training. Apparently it is really contagious! And to be fair, I have to admit that I am known to let them slip now and again… not the big ones, mind you… but some of the smaller crude ones.  I just try to do it when the kids aren’t around — but Sam seems to hear everything these days, so who knows. What I do know is that things need to change around the Nutshell. Yesterday, I heard Sam playing by himself in his room.  He gets dialogues going with his toys that never fail to make me smile or laugh.  This particular play was taking place on his Fisher Price pirate ship between Dora the Explorer and Swiper. Background as I understand it:  Dora was on the pirate ship and got the treasure.  BUT Swiper had a spaceship and was trying to steal the... Read the rest of this entry »

As sarcasm rarely translates well on the Internet I feel obliged to post this warning:  THE FOLLOWING POST IS INTENDED AS A WORK OF SATIRE.  Neither the author, nor the Editorial Board of The Loadstone Rock endorse the tenets of Social Darwinism, much less the extreme version of those tenets expressed here.  If you are easily offended, or do not enjoy satire or sarcasm, please do not read this post.  You have been warned. I’m done.  No literally I give up.  After years of resisting, arguing and attempting to advocate for a seemingly better way, I’m surrendering to the cold, unyielding grasp of reality.  That’s right, I’m converting to Social Darwinism.  As a gesture of good faith to my fellow brothers in the creed of “I deserve more because I’m better than you” I would like to offer the following “modest proposal” for the future of our nation.  It is my considered opinion that should the following recommendations be followed to the letter, life will be a lot simpler... Read the rest of this entry »

The book of Elisa, chapter 7, verses 1 – 10 In the beginning Elisa was sleeping. And lo, her mother did call up the stairs, saying “Hark, lazybones, church doth start in half an hour. Thou must getteth out of bed and get dressed.” And it came to pass that Elisa did so, and her hair remained unwashed, and her skirt was very wrinkled. And behold, the lesson at church was on marriage, and it was the third lesson on marriage this month. And Elisa bethought herself that perhaps the overriding theme of life was being revealed unto her. And the woman next to Elisa saith, “Behold, my son is a law student at Gonzaga, and his prospects are exceedingly fine, and his face is glorious to look upon, and he is like unto Abraham in his righteousness, and wouldst thou like to meet him?” And Elisa said “Nay, nay, for he is exceedingy old, and I am not in the market for a husband, but thank you.” And the woman waxed wroth, and walked away, and her countenance was... Read the rest of this entry »

Doesn’t the very thought make you worry? How many of the men or boys in our lives get into the most trouble when they are simply “bored.” Being bored in our home means danger.  Instead of just planting fannies on the couch and playing video games, my boys like to get creative when they have nothing better to do.  If it isn’t drawings on the wall, or food fights in my living room, it’s some crazy invention… do you remember this post? This week, Ben and the boys and the boys went to the D.I. (Deseret Industries Thrift Store) and found… are you ready?  Do you really want to know?  They found a broken zip line.  You can imagine the images that flashed through my head when they came home with THAT!  I knew the kind of things my boys (hubby included) could do with a zip line, broken or not!  Ben had also gone to HomeDept to get some parts to fix it. It was no time at all, and the boys were zipping across our... Read the rest of this entry »

Men. Deep Sigh… You can’t live without them… but sometimes they’re so blasted hard to understand. We know they don’t know how to read between lines, like us women do.  They never get our obvious hints even if they smack them in the face.  And sadly, most men have their personalities written right on their foreheads.  Those of us who know men well, can’t be fooled by their antics.  Unfortunately for them, most of the time we’ve got their number… And more than once we will look our beloved man in the eyes and wonder if he really has a brain in there… somewhere… almost makes me what to break into song!  But I won’t. I will never understand men’s obsessions with “The Grill.” Ben wanted one before we got married and so we purchased a little charcoal tripod one to test the waters of his grilling abilities with the potential fire hazard.  Sadly, Ben failed miserably when... Read the rest of this entry »

So today I went visiting with this woman from church and the following conversation ensued. Me: So I hear it’s really easy to find places in Utah.Gerry: Yeah, it is, since the streets are on a grid system and most of the streets have numbers instead of names.Me: Really?Gerry: Although recently they have been changing some of the street names, I’m not really sure why. The street I used to live on was just changed to Freedom Boulevard, I think.Me: (making what I think is a very funny joke) Did it used to be FRENCH Boulevard?Gerry: Nooo… (long awkward silence)Me: *sigh* I don’t think I’m going to be funny in Utah.  Read More →

As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted in a few days. The weather has been fantastic and I have been super busy with the kids outside, designing my husband’s new website, or supervising Ben with his new grill (last time he had one, he almost burned down our trailer). But just because I’m not here, doesn’t mean stuff isn’t happening, because it is! We have had an eventful weekend. We are an apartment full of strong willed spirits after all! Ben and the boys have been busy going on bike rides. He has been teaching them how to use their brakes safely and proper bike etiquette. So naturally, they come home covered in new bumps and bruises — Ben says they seem to be fearless and keep trying scary tricks landing them face first on the pavement (Nephi) or into a fountain (Sam). The fun just doesn’t end! Now on Sundays, we have this rule that we don’t go out side in the back and play. We go to church then want to come home and have a “Day... Read the rest of this entry »