happiness

This picture captures our day. It is the epitome of little boy happiness = diggers, dirt, and popsicles. Michael played out on his "construction site" for a large portion of the afternoon. He was so content. (Insert stories about ant killing here. Michael is obsessed with ants. The other day he proudly brought me some dead ants he had squished in his fingers = gross!)

Of course it was only a few minutes after this picture was taken that Michael dropped his popsicle in the dirt and was almost in tears. As I tried to talk to him about it, he looked up and innocently asked me, "When you were a little boy did you drop your popsicle in the dirt?" I smiled as I remembered that Aaron's dad always told, "When I was a little girl..." stories to his kids when they were growing up.

this is happiness

This picture made me think of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite talks:

"...Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

"'Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less' (Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11)." (Elder Ballard)

Yes, moments are the molecules that make up eternity. 

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