A girl in the house

It is the time of year when all the young people 14 - 18 years old go on "trek". I find trek to be a funny Mormon phenomenon. I think that our pioneer ancestors are looking down saying, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS??? Are you crazy? You have cars! It's OK for girls to wear pants! We did this so you didn't have to!" :) That is why I have not and never foresee being asked in the future to be a "ma" on trek. I do have several wonderfully obedient, serving, humble friends that are gladly dressed like pioneers trekking through the desert as we speak. One of those friends asked us if their 8 year old daughter, Rachel, could come stay with us when they were gone. Rachel has been Jack's best friend since he was 4, so we happily said yes.

Having a girl around has been so strange. She listens to me when I tell her something. She actually does what I ask...the first time. She wants to play with the baby all of the time. When I ask the boys, "Where's Logan?" He could be sitting on their head, and they would have no idea. When I ask her where Logan is, she knows. She put him there, and she is keeping him entertained. She can hardly stand it when he naps. She keeps getting him out of his crib. That part is pretty funny. Jack just looks at me and says, "I don't know why, she just did it." Rachel likes everything I feed her. She doesn't ask me for anything. Instead, she quietly says, "Jack I need to tell you something." They leave and I hear whispers. Then Jack comes and says, "Mom, can Rachel, I mean we, get Logan out of his crib?" She makes up fantastic games where Jack and Sam are exterminators and she is a Walmart employee who sells them their gear. She lets Jack tell her all about the critters he is exterminating. She is so patient with Sam and makes sure he is included in everything. They didn't even watch TV today! Plus when Jack does some obnoxious boy thing, I catch her rolling her eyes at him.

The best part is that she has several different pairs of shoes packed in a ziploc bag and bracelets and earrings to match each outfit all packed into a darling pink suitcase. I watched her go through them this morning trying to decide which ones to wear. It is kind of nice having another girl around. Tomorrow she will go back to her family and things will be back to their loud, crazy, normal self again. No one will be wearing bracelets, and no one will know where Logan is!