Long Hair

"Mommy, I have long hair, just like you!

...except mine has animals all over it."

(please excuse the ketchup all over his face...didn't get a chance to wipe that off before I took the picture)

Duality

Cody takes me to work three days a week so that he can have the car to take Joshua to daycare and go to class. To get to the building where I work, we have to bypass a gate, where a BYU police officer sits and checks the ID of everyone who comes to the gate. This morning, I flashed my ID as usual, but apparently she couldn't see it, so she asked Cody to roll down his window.

"Are you a faculty member?"

I replied, "No, I'm a staff employee."

"Okay, I just couldn't see your ID very well. Thanks!"

And we drove on.

Then, from the backseat comes a little voice: "You're a staff employee? But I thought you were my mommy!"

I'm both, my son--both those things and many, many more. But it's comforting to know that, to him, I will always be, first and foremost, his mommy.

Animals and Dinosaurs

We took Joshua to the Hogle Zoo today. It was a brief trip, very hot and tiring, but he had fun. Some highlights:

Mommy and Joshua checking out some monkeys.

Look, it's an elephant!

They're doing some construction on the bear pavilion, so they had these little shovel thingies that the kids could play with. I think Cody had more fun using it than Joshua.

Giraffe!

My cute little (big) boy :)

Look, a dinosaur!

Love this gorilla.

ROAR!!!

Yeah, we were all tired and sweaty when it was over. Still, a pretty fun trip. Joshua had no problems going straight to bed when we got home :)

Five Years!

Then:

Now:

Then:
Now:

It's been a wonderful five years, full of highs, lows, and a lot of fun. We celebrated by doing some proxy sealings at the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple, then having some yummy crab at Red Lobster. Good times. I love you, my dearest love!!!

Special Day

Today was a very special day for the Alleman Family--and I'm not talking about just our little family of three. Chad, Cody's older brother, was baptized today into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he asked his little (big) brother to perform the ordinance. It was Cody's first time performing a baptism, and it was humbling to have it be for his big brother. What an amazing privilege for both of them! It was a very spiritual event.

Chad and Cody in their white jumpsuits

Our family plus Chad and his wife, Ivy

They had a great little brunch after the baptismal ceremony--here's a lot of the family :)

The Alleman brothers, their dad, and their grandma

The Alleman crew!

The Allemans, plus Chad and Cody's maternal grandmother and her husband

Tomorrow we'll head to Springville again to be there when Chad is confirmed and receives the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It's exciting to be a part of these basic ordinances--the first ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love it.

Joshua the Artist

Joshua's creativity is really coming out these days. First off, his toy sculpture:

Next, Joshua the photog:

(Thanks for the flattering angle, Joshua)

And finally, his drawings, which just a week or two ago really started becoming recognizable as actual things:

This one is awesome. He drew a bunny, asked Cody to cut it out, and then glued it onto another piece of paper. The nose? A piece of couch stuffing (our couches are falling apart...).

A train, of course.

This is apparently a self portrait. Can't you tell?

Some of these are a little freaky-looking, but...yeah :o

And he even tried to write his name! Without help! I'm so impressed :)

The past couple of days when I've come home from work, he has been so excited to show me his latest creation ("Mommy, cwose your eyes! I gotta show ya somethin'!"). I can't wait to see what he makes for me tomorrow.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart...

...and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

All of us must remember this scripture and apply it in our lives. It's a perfect illustration of the fact that we need His guidance over absolutely everything we do. It's hard, sure, but sometimes we are given a swift reminder that we need His help. This can come gently or it can come like a hard blow to the head, like it was for us yesterday. We're still recovering from the shock...

After just five short months, Cody was laid off yesterday. The company is currently "evaluating its changing needs" and his job "has been affected by this reduction in force." The termination is effective immediately, though they are paying him through the end of the week (how kind of them!). Nor was he the only one--we know a few others that were also laid off, including two entire departments. Guess the company wasn't doing so well.

We're not sure what this means for our family. In a way, we feel strangely blessed, because at least we know that I have a stable job (which wasn't the case even just six weeks ago), and plus we're using the healthcare benefits from my job, not Cody's, so our insurance coverage won't change. But this is quite a loss of income, needless to say, and things are going to be tight for us once again. At least we've done it before, so we should be okay. It's just going to be an adjustment...I'll be honest and say I really enjoyed living somewhat comfortably and even putting some money away. We'll need to use that little cushion now.

Joshua is now home with daddy again, at least for the time being, and I just know he's going to really start missing all his daycare friends and the fun activities he did there. And I feel badly that this will affect Maren's income as well, but like she said yesterday when we told her, "It is what it is." Hopefully another job will come along, if only something part-time, that will enable Joshua to return. He's had a great time there and I hate to see it end.

So for now, we're praying to know the Lord's will in all of this. Should Cody plunge headfirst into more schooling to get his bachelor's? That seems like a good idea. Or should he try to find another FT job in a field already over-saturated with fresh college graduates? Or should he try to just find whatever kind of job he can? His income will be sorely missed, so that last one is tempting. This is where prayer comes in, I suppose.

In the meantime, we just need to remember to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. He will direct our paths. I just hope we can see that clearly and recognize His direction when it comes.