Nice to be home... and a good book...

William amazed us last night be sleeping 10 hours and 40 minutes. He hasn't slept that long in a while... I almost couldn't believe it that the clock said 7:03 when he finally started making noise. It was so nice. And now he's taking a nap, so I thought I'd finish this post that I started almost a week ago. It is nice to be home, but we are off again on Monday to babysit another family for part of the week. I hope William does as well as he did last time! They are a fun family from our old ward, and bonus that it's across the street from Grandma's house! So now I'll backtrack a week:

For the last week and a half or so William, Danny and I have been house sitting/dog sitting and babysitting. It was quite the adventure. William went from an only child to the youngest of five. He was such a champ. He slept better in the pack n play than he had been in his crib. Unfortunately he is not a big sleeper. 9 1/2 hours (he rarely gives us an occassional treat of 10 hours) a night. But he's still taking 2 (usually) good naps. I can't complain. The youngest of the kids we were babysitting is four, and likes being the youngest, but she was great with William. While the other kids were at school the three of us would go to parks and to the zoo. William went on the carousel for the first time.

He loved it.

He just looked around ooooohing and aaaaaahhhhing the whole time. That will definitely be something we ride again! We can't wait for the warm weather...

He also loved being around the dogs, first with my parents German Shepherd. Sadie is so good around William, and tolerates all of his ear-pulling. We are working on being soft. He also enjoyed the kids' little dog Cookie, and even started making "coo" sounds whenever he heard cookies name. (he's been saying "say" sometimes when he sees Sadie, too). I think Cookie was very relieved when the week was over.

The other benefit of the time we were gone is that it gave me a chance to clean our carpets. My aunt let me borrow her carpet cleaner, and my little buddy was a big helper:

He is such a good kid. It amazes me how well he adapts to all of the changes we put him through. He has such a happy disposition, and although he's a momma's boy, he goes off exploring without looking back and with a strong sense of independence.

We finished our babysitting adventures just in time to have a nice relaxing conference weekend. We followed our tradition of listening to Saturday morning session on Temple Square. We took a blanket and some treats, and relaxed as William explored the grass, fountains, dirt, and flowers. It was a beautiful setting to be in as we listened to the words of the prophets and other leaders of the church. As we left the wind began to blow and we were glad we chose that session to go to on Temple Square. That afternoon, Danny's parents treated us to tickets to Pioneer Theater's The Diary of Anne Frank. They did a great job, with an emotional ending. It made me grateful to be able to have the freedoms that we have. I can't imagine living in such a small place with that many people for that long, not being able to go outside for 2 or so years, and then to be found when the end is so near. I definitely need to go back and read that.

Speaking of reading, I started a book called The Help. My mom recommended it to me, and I'm already sucked in after the first few chapters. I'll let you know, but so far I recommend it.

But back to conference...Saturday night Danny went to Priesthood with his dad and brother as William and I joined my mom, grandma, aunt, and sisters for dinner.

Sunday we stayed home all day, enjoying the peace of not having to do anything, but being able to enjoy conference. We feel so lucky to live downtown and so close to Temple Square. It's a perfect place for where we are in our lives right now.

Now we are back to the present: I finished reading The Help. I highly recommend it. Such an interesting read. It really makes you think about others and the position they are in and how they are treated. It was probably such an experience for the author to write it as she looked back on her childhood and how people treated each other.

And I love these three little birds on the cover and what they represent in the story! I haven't read much lately, but this was worth the time.