Smiles

Reasons to smile this week:
1. Will says “Papa” now – all the time and crystal clear. And once is not enough. It’s usually “Papa, Papa, Papa!” Aaron loves it. I love it.
2. James walked from the desk to the couch. All by himself. With a big smile on his face. He’s pretty impressed with himself.
3. A 96% on my first French quiz. Merci!
4. General Conference – Sunday’s sessions haven’t started, but Saturday was fantastic. Elders Wirthlin, Oaks, Bednar, and Holland stand out, as does President Uchtdorf. So inspiring and touching – and Elder Wirthlin was so funny!
5. Aaron bought me a nice, warm, gorgeous coat. I love it. Now I need a red scarf.
6. Cocoa with marshmallows with my kids in the morning. I have a recipe from Scharffenberger that is liking drinking soft ganache. It is delightful and gives me my chocolate fix for the day.
7. Rainy autumn weather. The trees are changing. Pumpkins at the stores.
8. Getting out Halloween decorations. Buying more.
9. Driving in the car with the kids and listening to Laurel and Will sing along to the Enchanted soundtrack. Too funny.
10. Planning birthday cakes for next month.
11. Apples at the farmer’s market.
12. Watching “Enchanted” with Laurel and Will, during the ball scene they started waltzing together. LOVE it.
This last one is a story about Laurel:
Aaron and I have a complicated school schedule. We try to use the bus as much as possible, but there are times where I’m finishing a class and he starts a class 10 minutes later. So we meet and he goes to class and I drive home. It is no fun driving through campus, with all the students crossing the street. I was behind a car that stopped at every crosswalk, even when there were no students in it, or even approaching it. It was annoying. Laurel offered to make them go away. I asked her how she planned to do that. No hesitation: “I’ll just sing Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” and wave my wand and they will disappear. She sang it several times and it just wasn’t working. Laurel was losing her faith in fairy godmothers! I told her that that particular spell is probably just for making dresses and turning pumpkins into carriages and the like. She felt better. I wasn’t worried about the car anymore – I was grateful for it for giving me one more memory of my girl to treasure.