Young Minds at Work

A few days ago Alex got dressed in the clothes I had set out for him--blue patterned shorts and a light blue polo shirt. Then he put on brown socks and pulled them up above his calves. Our conversation went as follows:

Me: "Alex, let's go pick some different socks that will match."
Alex: "No, I want to wear these!"
Me: "Let's pick some white ones. The brown ones don't match."
I was kneeling down in front of him so we were eye level; he looked at me, very seriously (and a little worried) with his soft brown eyes and said, "Is it against the law?" I said, "Only according to the fashion police." I was fine with the brown socks.

Here's a conversation with my feisty little Emma:
Emma: "How many days do we have left at KinderCare?"
Me: "Two--Thursday and Friday."
Emma: "Oh! I'll have to tell Ms. Ashley that Friday will be my last day! And Elijah."
Me: "Why Elijah?"
Emma: "Because he said he doesn't want me to go to that school anymore because he doesn't like me."
Me: "That wasn't very nice of him to say. It makes me mad that he said that to you."
Emma: "Why do you care? He's not your kid."
Me: "Well, I'm glad."
Emma: "Why are you glad? Because you don't want four kids? (No) How about five? (No) How about ten? No, not ten because then our house would be WAY TOO NOISY! Mommy, is three the perfect number?"
Me: "Yes, perfect."

The Compromise

Our church is located in the valley below Kennecott Copper Mine so every week (well, almost every week) we have an impressive view of the mine. One day Alex excitedly yelled, "The compromise! The compromise! I see the compromise!" I finally realized he meant "the copper mines."

David's family is in town so we finally decided to make the trip to visit the mine. Wow! It's quite impressive! If you've never been there you should check it out. Here are a few pictures:

The road you see that winds around the mine is 500 miles in length. If stretched out you could drive from SLC to Denver.

These trucks are driven down into the mine, loaded with ore and driven back up--ALL DAY LONG. The picture doesn't do it justice but these trucks are enormous.

Here is a tire for those trucks. It weighs ten THOUSAND pounds. On the left is David's dad and he is about 6 feet tall. I don't usually get excited about trucks and dirt but this was something to see!

Pictured from left to right: Stan, Ruby, Emma, Ethan, Alex, Brandon, Lauren and David.

No, not that word

A few nights ago Emma and I were driving home from her dance class. I asked her if she likes to dance and she said yes, just not when she has to do it by herself [in front of the teacher and other dancers]. I commented that it must make her feel nervous to do something new in front of everyone. She said, "No, not nervous. A different word. Shy." Here is my "shy" girl (not) whipping up a mud/stick/leaf/herb pie.